“We do have the use of 1,550 B-17’s, 1,091 B-24’s, 2,024 medium bombers of all types, 2,020 fighters and fighter-bombers of most types, and 980 transport aircraft, with more to come. These air units are to be used for tactical operations. The B-29’s and B-32’s, as well as the jets and long-range escort fighters are off the table and out of our command structures, gentlemen.”
“All of the new heavy bombers and most of the jet fighters and long-range escort fighters have already been transferred to the Strategic Air Command, or S.A.C. I am confident that they will be operational soon, and we will see just what they can do. I suspect we will be seeing some mushroom-clouds in the distance, soon.”
“For the time being, it will be our late-war prop-jobs against theirs… at least, I hope. We expect whatever S.A.C. is up to will draw most of their jets, like flies to shit.”
“With these assets we have to decide between the various plans proposed for winning World War Three. Do we attack on a broad front fighting our way through Western Europe starting from the Spanish border? Or, do we stage another D-day and start our attack from the French coast? Do we go for broke with a blitzkrieg-type narrow-front encircling-type attack? Or, do we stage a series of coordinated amphibious landings? Do we go straight for Moscow; or their oil fields? Do we attempt the counterattack with a ninety-division army in the spring or summer, or do we wait another year to match the Soviets’ two-hundred fifty divisions and advance on a broad front?”
“In other words, we have to advise the Joint Chiefs on what we believe will bring Uncle Joe to his knees.”
The Kremlin,
Moscow
August 17th, 1946
Beria rises to speak. “Gentleman, you have all been summoned to give your reports on the situation regarding our struggle with the Capitalist forces around the world. We need your honest and frank assessments of the status of the units under your command. First Comrade Stalin would like to hear the news from the Western Front. Comrade Marshal Zhukov you have the floor.”
“Thank you comrade. Our ground forces now consist of one-hundred eighty-three Category ‘A’ combat divisions, with sixty-three of those now engaged in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. Twenty-six divisions are facing the combined Scandinavian forces in Finland. Eleven divisions are on occupation duty in Germany, France, the Low Countries, and Denmark. Sixteen divisions are waiting in France near the in Italian border, to make sure our new Italian ‘friends’ keep their word and another eleven are assisting our allies in the liberation of Greece. Forty-seven are on reserve status waiting to exploit a breakthrough into Spain. Another twenty-six are on strategic ready-reserve to counter any sudden amphibious or airborne attacks, and performing police duties in various cities in the Balkans region.”
“Our allies, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Hungary have supplied a combined total of twelve divisions, slated for the liberation of Greece, with a further twenty in reserve, on the Italian border, and another forty-five in a strategic reserve pool awaiting any moves by the NATO forces and again on police duties against possible anti-government events.”
“Comrade Marshal Novikov please give us a report of the status of the air war in the West.”
“Our air assets in the Western Zone consist of 4,136 aircraft on the Pyrenees Front. 4,574 aircraft are being positioned to suppress the British along the English Channel coast with another 1,520 in transit from the Transcaucasia Front soon to join them. That will bring the total up to… um… 6,124 frontline combat aircraft. We are relying on 786 aircraft from our allies to sweep the skies over Greece. It appears to be enough.”
“The Soviet air forces in the West have been able to meet the requirements of the Red Army. We have negated the vaunted U.S. Army Air Force and with the addition of the Special Ground-to-Air Forces, we have been able to intimidate the strategic air forces. I can report to you that there have been no significant attacks on Soviet cities. As you may recall, the svolochy Amerikosy tried to drop their atomic bomb on Leningrad; the most heinous weapon ever devised was slated to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent Soviet citizens. The combination of our brave fighter forces and ground-to-sky missiles thwarted their plans.”
“As a bonus we have recovered one of their atomic bombs from the aborted Leningrad raid which failed to detonate. It is being studied by our scientists day and night. In addition, a second major attack was intercepted, and heavy losses were dealt to the bomber force sent to pattern-bomb Toulouse. As a consequence, the enemy has significantly curtailed its strategic-bombing attacks. In the meantime we are adding thirty more ground-to-sky missiles per week to our defensive forces.”
“Our air forces are also receiving one-hundred ten new jet planes per month evenly split between the MiG-9 and Yak-15 models. Production of most propeller-driven fighter aircraft has been suspended to make this possible. We estimate that current stocks of medium bombers will be enough for the duration of the war. We are increasing the production of the Pe-9 which is being used as a platform to launch the X-4 plane-to-plane missile. It has proven to be very instrumental in breaking up bomber formations allowing our fighters to attack them more effectively.”
“Additionally, the Czechs can now field twenty of their own Me-262 jet fighters. Their state aircraft bureau, Avia has begun mass-production of their version of the Me-262. We have also transferred all the airframes, spare parts and associated machinery involved in their manufacture that we liberated from Germany, for their use. We estimate that the Czechs will have another thirty to forty flyable planes by spring.”
“Our ground-to-sky missile system is undergoing major upgrades with a new generation of guidance system being installed. This system will greatly reduce the need for ground-controllers, once the missiles are within three kilometers of the target aircraft. They are totally self-guided after that and have shown remarkable abilities to intercept their targets. Nevertheless production of these new missiles is time- and labor-intensive so their numbers remain low. We can produce seventy-five a month, currently. By reducing the number of tanks manufactured and fully concentrating on missile production, we estimate that we can reach a potential rate of six-hundred a month by year’s end. As you know, I have proposed this very…”
“Enough Novikov! I have your proposal!”
“Yes of course, Comrade Stalin… to continue, we have 2,140 aircraft based in the Far East, and five-hundred ten fighters guarding the oil fields in the Transcaucasia. Most of our training units are located there as well…”
“Comrade Beria…”
“Err… Yes, Comrade Stalin?”
“It has come to my attention that we have lost sight of thousands of American strategic bombers, and possibly up to thirty divisions. What do your sources have to say as to their locations and probable intentions?”
“Thank you for mentioning this subject Esteemed Comrade. I was just about to inform the Politburo of this situation. We have information that the Americans are having trouble with their recruiting efforts Comrade. We believe that is why both their strategic-bombing forces and their field armies are not on the battlefield, as they must train new recruits instead of using already-trained veterans. As you also know they have had a series of strikes, beginning in January, which has been supported by our comrades in the Communist Party — U.S.A. and their various allied labor unions. We have further word that fully ninety percent of their heavy industry had shifted back to frivolous consumer products and the capitalist factory owners were loath to make the switch back to wartime production out of puerile fear of losing their extravagant profits. All of these events, combined with the disastrous losses they incurred during the failed attacks on Leningrad and Toulouse, leads us to believe that we will not be seeing any further bombing attempts until spring.”