1 squadron of Mosquitoes
12 combat aircraft[31]
“How go the preparations Novikov?Do you have all you need to give us a smashing victory?”
“Yes sir, we have over seven-thousand aircraft at our disposal. Combined with the knowledge of how the Germans were defeated, it should be smashing victory indeed, Comrade Stalin.”
“What will we be doing to avoid the errors of the Luftwaffe? I know that we have much larger numbers as do the British. I do not want to hear any news of failure Novikov. You have the finest-equipped, and best-trained, forces that have ever been assembled. I understand that our engineers have increased the range of certain models of aircraft?”
“Yes, Esteemed Comrade. Many of our fighters have now been fitted with auxiliary tanks attached to the wings. This gives them an additional 600 liters of fuel, per wing. That is more than enough fuel to reach all of southern Britain, and beyond with enough time to fight once they get there. In the case of the Yak-9, a new model has been developed, called the Yak-9DD, and it has a longer range than the Yankee Mustang. Yes with all of these developments there is no part of the British Isles that is beyond our reach.”
“Very good, Novikov.”
“We will not make the same mistakes the Germans did. Their airfields and radar will be our first targets. The Sturmoviks will make short work of them, along with any anti-aircraft guns that may be protecting them. We can detect where the radar is emanating from and can use it to discover their location. The only way to disguise them is to shut their radar down, which serves our purposes anyway. With our numerical superiority we will cover their airbases at all hours. We will hover over their bases, day and night. Even if their Meteor or Vampire models are pitted against our piston aircraft, it will be similar to what they did to the early German jets. You destroy them when they are taking off, or landing. Even a Pe-3 or Tu-2 can destroy a Meteor when it is on the ground or clawing for altitude. It will be a continuous effort, and we will not be lured into attacking their cities and factories. We will only concentrate on their fighters until they are destroyed and we gain absolute mastery of the air.”
Stalin; still under the malaise of his latest drug, slowly asks a question.
“Doesn’t their radar and organization give them an advantage over ours, comrade? We all have seen the movies with the women in uniform pushing the wooden blocks here and there, and by doing so, defeating the svolochy Nemetski.”
“Until we destroy their radar sites yes, but we counter this by overwhelming concentrations. Concentrations they cannot match even with a maximum effort. We can concentrate on up to four areas, with more power than they can produce in one. Unlike the propeller- driven fighters of times past, the new jets need concrete runways. They cannot take off from any cow pasture, and all of these facilities are known through our agents. Like us they have a limited number of jets. Once they are destroyed, our conventional planes are more than a match for the best equipment they have in greater numbers. Our jets will fly air-superiority missions, while our fighters seek out theirs and the ground-attack aircraft destroy anything that is on the ground. We know that the Germans were very close to winning the last Battle of Britain when they were diverted away from their task. We shall not be diverted away from our main goal of destroying their Fighter Command.”
“Hmm… I see… what do you estimate will be our losses, and the time frame until we reach air-superiority over the English?”
“We will lose two pilots for every Englishman Comrade, it cannot be helped. The battle will be fought over enemy territory, and many of our damaged planes will not make it back while the English will be able to crash-land in friendly territory if need be, possibly even rejoining the fight in a very short amount of time. Because of this, it will take three months to subdue them if they continue to fight until the bitter end.”
“Well, we are committing four pilots per English pilot, so we should be victorious in the finish, yes?”
“Yes Comrade, your math is correct, as always.”
“Still no sign of the Americans joining in the fight, so now is the time to strike.”
“But you have given them a deadline, sir?”
“Pah. How soon can we begin operations in earnest?”
“The first blows can fall in three weeks’ time, Esteemed Comrade.”
“Da. That will be a good time to start. We can fly better in adverse weather than they can. After all, we have had much practice in the Ukraine.”
Chapter Twenty-One:
Toulouse
Eyewitness report of
Hervey Fontaine
A local farmer and Mayor
Toulouse, France
August 5th, 1946
Our agents were able to find a survivor of the Toulouse raid, and after several hours they were able to acquire some useful information. The following are the events in Mr. Fontaine’s words translated into English. Translation of his testimony as follows:
“It was early in the morning, and I was tending to the cows. There had been many air-fights over the past weeks, so I didn’t think anything of it when I first heard many aircraft engines. Then the noise was joined by a decidedly odd sound like a low rumble, and I started to scan the sky for the source of the noise.”
“Pillars of fire were erupting from the place where the Dubois family used to farm. It had been taken over by the Russians about a week ago and Dubois was put in jail. Then we heard the roar of many, many, American bombers and fighter planes, along with hundreds of jets, and Russian fighters.”
“Never had I seen such numbers before.”
“The battle was much lower in the sky than usual so it was easier to see what was happening. The pillars of fire turned out to be rockets. Once they left the ground, they flew for a few seconds and seemed to be under the control of the devil. They streaked straight for the American bombers. It was uncanny how they managed to hit the bombers destroying them instantly. The ones that hit seemed to have a mind of their own.”
“There were about thirty rockets and many hit the bombers. In spite of all this, the brave Americans kept on flying in formation and even with large gaps in their numbers, they still kept on coming. Meanwhile the fighters from each side dueled and died. I saw two-dozen planes crash myself.”
“Then the bombs started to fall. They came down like a curtain and they just rolled along exploding, gradually getting closer to Toulouse. As I said there were many gaps in their formation so the curtain was not perfect and gaps appeared where no bombs fell. While right next door the whole neighborhood was destroyed, small patches of houses were not directly touched.”
“My farm is to the east of Toulouse and the bombers started to bomb from the west. At first it looked like we were to be spared, but alas, it was not to be.”