“Damn it! I explicitly told Green not to get flanked! That just shows what would have happened to all of us, if we had tried to dig in and take a stand at the Rhine or even on the Loire. We just don’t have enough troops to cover the line. Shit, the Russkis are like a bunch of army ants. Crawling all over the place leaving nothing behind in their wake. If you stand in their way, you will get surrounded and eaten alive.”
“Did you see that poor bastard Green all over the front page of yesterday’s Izvestia? Damn, did he look like a licked puppy!”
“Hell, prison camp is too good for the bastard! His actions hurt us badly. Shit, we had to use the 101st to plug the gap in the line. We had plans for those jump-happy jokers. Now that’s out the window, thanks to ‘Fighting General Mark Green’. That’s what the idiot referred to himself as in front of his staff… ‘Fighting Mark Green’ Jesus, what an asshole!”
“Yeah, and he’s the asshole who just lost us half a division and all its equipment. I saw the numbers and the Reds now have their hands on 130 slightly-used M-26 Pershings. From what I heard of them they can have them. At least you can run in a Stuart. You can’t even get those Pershings out of second gear. I mean what is it with America, and us building tanks that can’t do the job?”
“I think it all stems from the mistakes made by General McNair and his anti-armor doctrine. What he failed to realize is that it’s rather easy to use mortars and artillery to suppress open-topped tank destroyers, like the M-10. I mean, you can take it out with a blasted hand grenade, for crying out loud!”
Chapter Thirteen:
The Leningrad Raid
Eyewitness report of Sergeant Matt Henley,
Bombardier in a pathfinder B-29
U.S.A.A.F. Raid #1 of the Third World War
Target: Leningrad, The U.S.S.R.
July 27th, 1946
The raid was composed of 52 B-29A’s, 2 B-29 Silverplates, 224 P-51D escorts. A Mark III atomic bomb was loaded on one of the Silverplates.
The beginning of the raid was uneventful. We took off from RAF Leuchars and made our way east to Swedish airspace, near Stockholm. The pre-positioned fighters took off from the airfield in Sweden and were waiting at altitude. Everything was nominal. Radio silence was maintained.
We formed up with the fighter escort and headed east, over the Baltic Sea, and observed bogies forming as we reached the Gulf of Finland.
Near Gogland, what looked like V-2 rockets, started launching from the island.
I know what a V-2 looks like, because I had seen them being launched in the last war.
These rockets appeared to be smaller, and they seemed to be vectoring in towards our bomber formation. A number these missiles seemed to be purposely directed towards individual bombers, like they were guided by someone. I caught a glimpse what seemed to be a wire coming out the rear of the rockets, yet, when they got close the wires fell off. This did not seem to divert the missile’s trajectory and they just keep on coming, and even seemed to be compensating for lead, just like someone shooting ducks.
It was the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.
I counted about thirty of these things coming up from the island. About ten of them exploded on, or near, the B-29’s near the middle of the formation. I saw Pete Hoskins’ plane, “Knickers,” explode with no survivors and Jim Sheppard lost both engines on the port side, and spiraled straight down. I counted three parachutes, until they disappeared into a cloud.
The other twenty or so missiles seemed to have missed their targets completely and just continued on through the formation, detonating at a higher altitude. One such explosion damaged, or destroyed outright, five of the escorts who were too close.
The whole event was so unreal that no one reacted, and the remaining bombers continued on their way as if nothing had happened. I think we were all in shock, and just couldn’t react.
Then I noticed that approximately one-hundred twin-engine medium bombers were closing in from below and at about a forty-five degree angle. They pointed their noses in our direction and launched a volley of one-hundred smaller missiles at our formation from below. I just happened to get thrown to the side and caught a glimpse of some bomber-sized bogies mixed in with the medium bombers, off at another angle, also launching missiles at us.
The escorts were going crazy chasing those medium bombers, but as they dived on them, Franks (Yak-9’s) and Fins (La-7’s) were in perfect positions to engage them, and if they followed the bombers lower, they were dragged into flak traps from what I heard.
Meanwhile, the new volley of missiles was getting closer, and again a good number of them seemed to be steering themselves towards the bombers. Another fifteen or so were hit by the second wave of missiles, including the two Silverplates who were supposed to keep flying to Leningrad with a heavy escort to drop the atomic bomb. The rest of us were just kind of decoys and were supposed to turn back before Leningrad and run for it. The atomic bomb was supposed to do the job we came for.
Anyway, this was too much for the remainder of the formation, and when the next volley of missiles from those medium bombers, and those other bomber jobs, were launched, the boxes broke up and it was every man for himself.
I hate to say it, but we panicked. I saw at least ten mid-air collisions, as every B-29 dodged and weaved trying to shake off those missiles that, in our minds, were being steered right at us. Thinking back on it now, most of the missiles came nowhere close to us but just the horrifying sight of those missiles zeroing in on those ships who bought it, scared the crap out of us.
As the bomber formation broke up, and with all the maneuvering, we lost both altitude and speed. The Reds were on us with hundreds of conventional fighters in no-time flat, and the flight degenerated into a series of individual fights between one or two B-29’s being engaged by five or more fighters, and even some twin-engine heavy fighters, at lower levels.
All semblance of a formation ceased to exist and we ran, with our tails between our legs for home. I saw at least seven more B-29’s just drop from the sky. We made it to Sweden on two engines, but then had to ditch, and six of the crew were rescued by the Swedish Navy.
Gogland Island
Leningrad, USSR
27 July 1946
10:05 hours
General Georgi Malyshev,
Commander of Ground-to-Sky Missile Battery, Number One
Missile site was operational, as of 8 August, at 11:43 hours.
At launch minus 3 hours, thirty V-3 missiles were installed. At launch minus 1 hour, the missiles’ guidance systems were calibrated, and prepared to receive their fuel. The missile operators were on duty, as of 10 August, at 04:00 hours.
Radar reported multiple targets en-route from the west, at 2,900 meters, at a speed of 400 km/ph, at 7:12 hours. The enemy formations were on time, and on target just as we had been told to expect.
The skies were clear and visibility was unlimited.
Missiles were launched in volleys of ten in a dispersed pattern at one minute intervals. This allowed the missile operators to follow their assigned missile and choose their targets. Despite this precaution, seven missiles were lost before reaching the 8-kilometer wire-release threshold, thus allowing the Columba system to take over flight control.