His hand shot out and slapped Trufanov in the process of speaking.
“I am, Com…”
“Next in seniority?”
16th Tank Corps armour commander stepped forward.
“Polkovnik Abashkin, Comrade Leytenant General.”
Abashkin had a steady eye, and the man exuded competence.
“Very well. You have command, on my authority, until you are replaced. Clear, Comrade Polkovnik?”
“Yes, Comrade Leytenant General. If I may?”
Abashkin grabbed a map and went to work, dragging in the engineer Major and the two rehabilitated Colonels.
Khannikov looked at the broken Trufanov with dripping contempt.
“Now, you may speak.”
“Comrade, I protest! You take the word of a mere Mayor over mine. That cannot stand, Sir. He’s lying.”
Khannikov silenced the protests with a raised hand.
“Comrade Mayor Golubtsov is not a liar.”
He slapped the officer on the shoulder and smiled benignly, as an uncle would do to a favourite nephew.
Trufanov looked from one to the other, not understanding.
“I have known Vladimir Georgiyevich all of his life, and I have never known him lie to me. Do you know who his father is, Trufanov?”
“No.”
“Malenkov. Georgy Malenkov.”
Trufanov saw his doom approaching.
Malenkov was a member of the GKO and one of the most powerful men in the Soviet Union.
“Now, do you wish to change anything you’ve said to me, traitor?”
The Major General collapsed both physically and mentally.
Khannikov stepped back, allowing his men to drag the condemned man outside.
“I bring regards from your father and mother, but it seems you are needed, Vladimir Georgiyevich. I will not stay. Take care and I will come back soon.”
“Thank you, Uncle.”
The two embraced and kissed as Russian men do, before they stepped back and saluted, in which they were joined by the three colonels.
“Good luck, Comrades.”
Khannikov turned on his heel and strode from the room, his departure marked by a single shot from somewhere outside that, in turn, underlined the change of command for 16th Tank Corps.
Everyone stopped talking and looked at the Signals officer with different eyes.
He looked defiantly at them, senior and junior, each in turn.
“Comrade Polkovniks, it makes no difference. I’m here, and under my mother’s name. I seek nothing that I haven’t earned, and I am not threat.”
He moved forward to the table where Abashkin was planning.
“Your orders. Comrade Polkovnik?”
Both Pavelkhin and Maslov leant over the map and slapped the younger man on the shoulder, grinning from ear to ear, before returning to the tactical situation.
The 16th Tank Corps went back to war.
| 1946 | NOW |
|---|---|
| Berg Dievenow | Dziwnów |
| Damerow | Dąbrowa Nowogardzka |
| Eberstein | Wojcieszyn |
| Farbezin | Wierzbięcin |
| Grosse Mokratz | Mokrzyca Wielka |
| Hagen | Recław |
| Kartzig | Karsk |
| Klein Mokratz | Mokrzyca Mala |
| Minten | Miętno |
| Naugard | Nowogard |
| Neu Kodram | Kodrąbek |
| Plötzin | Płocin |
| Strelowhagen | Strzelowo |
| Swinemünde | Świnoujście |
| Treptow an der Rega | Trzebiatów |
| Wismar | Wyszomierz |
| Wollchow | Olchowo |
| Wollin | Wolin |
Chapter 145 – THE PANTOMIME
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
The paratroopers had come together well, only a handful of men missing from the unit tasked with taking and holding the Dziwna bridges at Wollin and Hagen.
At 0300 precisely, ninety-eight RAF Lancaster bombers visited themselves upon Anklam, intent on disrupting the Soviet rail and road network by bringing down the bridges over the Peene.
Although a precision daylight strike would undoubtedly have been more effective in reducing the existing rubble of Anklam to smaller pieces, their purpose was also one of distraction; a distraction that required split-second timing. The deluge of high explosives and incendiaries, and subsequent inferno, would provide a diversion to draw the attention of any guards at Wollin, as well as an orange sky against which enemy sentries would be illuminated as the 101st troopers advanced.
Officers pumped their fists, sending men forward, as the bomber’s display provided the backdrop for silent killing.
Small groups had gone ahead, armed with the tools for deadly close work, with orders to remove the sentries.
Ahead of his headquarters group, First Battalion swept forward. Able Company, closely followed by Charlie Company, moved over the Zamkowa Bridge, dropping off a few squads to wreck any wiring that might be found.
Baker Company moved to the south, ready to provide a base of fire if the lead units got into difficulties.
Battalion headquarters and the support company remained in reserve, ready to move forward and react to any enemy threat.
To the north, Second Battalion had the real prize. It was tasked with taking the rail bridge and adjacent road bridge, creating a secure perimeter, but it was the rail bridge that was all-important.
The road bridge was a recent repair, and Allied planners had been rightly nervous about its ability to take heavy tanks, whereas the rail bridge suffered from no such problems.
Third Battalion provided rear security, setting blocking forces on all approaches to ensure no surprises came from the east.
The 501st was tasked with taking the three bridges, and establishing a bridgehead across the Dzwina into Wollin, holding until relieved.
Taking it was a relative doddle, the small Soviet defensive force gobbled up in a moment, with scarcely a shot fired.