Opening Moves

“That is not the case Comrade Marshall. Once we had the precise locations, we need only to have some knowledge of the area and target. The more time we have the better but we will be relying on surprise and firepower. That will not increase with time, so three days will get the basics into my boys.”

That was quite some speech and marked the fact that this was Makarenko’s first time in his present company.

“Why then are you here in Moscow Comrade, and not practising with your division?”

Makarenko straightened and spoke with real emotion.

“Colonel Erasov, my second in command, was killed in training Comrade General Secretary. I am here to honour him when he is buried today. It is my wish to tell his wife and four sons how proud they should be of their father, who fought from the first day that the Germanski violated the borders of our Motherland.”

Stalin nodded and spoke softer words. “Tell his family that the party feels their loss”. Despite the difference in tone, there was no warmth or sincerity there.

“Thank you Comrade General Secretary, I will.”

“We will not delay you further but do not dally here in Moscow. There is a new development. Comrade General Pekunin?”

Stalin indicated Pekunin and lit up a cigarette.

The GRU General addressed Makarenko directly.

“News has reached us of a new symposium; one run by the French. It too must be eliminated. All we know for now is that it is probably in Alsace. Comrade Marshall Beria and I have assets working tirelessly to locate it. In the meantime you must change your plan to include this new location and allocate the necessary forces to its total destruction.”

Makarenko’s face had grown cold.

Handing over a folder with all the new information Pekunin spoke with conviction.

“I know you can do this Ivan Alexeyevich, and you know I will have that information as soon as I can.”

A nod to Pekunin, a salute to his commander, and Makarenko strode from the room.

From the first moment he had been handed his orders he knew it was a suicide mission. Projections for his troops to fall in with advancing Soviet columns were unrealistic and he knew his troopers were mainly going to death or captivity.

Moreover, that was with only three targets. He mused fatalistically. ‘Now, at least, death would come quicker.’

As Makarenko departed those present turned to other matters. Stalin spoke directly to Pekunin but with words intended for both present.

“The location of this new French operation. We must give Makarenko his three days.”

In the intelligence world, acquiring information was rarely done to timescale but, in Stalin’s case he didn’t care, so he laid out the requirement anyway.

Beria unexpectedly came to Pekunin’s rescue.

“Comrade General Secretary, I have all of my assets in the area focussed on this one task. By sharing information with our GRU colleagues we are removing possible locations from the list each hour.”

Beria looked at Pekunin who took up the baton.

“Comrade Marshall Beria’s staff and mine have managed to reduce the possible locations down to a manageable number and we have both dispatched agents to investigate the remaining potential locations.” Beria risked a swift glance at the GRU man, because even the number left would take their agents days to check thoroughly unless they received something that would allow them to focus specifically.

“We have acquired much intelligence these past months when our officers have mixed with the Western Allies, as the capitalists have loose tongues. GRU and NKVD officer numbers have been substantially increased for every official liaison to assist in intelligence gathering but we must be careful to avoid causing suspicion for our Allies.”

“However, as part of our plan has been to reduce these liaisons for own operational security, as well as causing and provoking minor incidents to keep both sides more apart, there has been less opportunity for this sort of intelligence acquisition.”

Pekunin was very careful to keep his voice neutral in that delivery, as those mainly responsible for the plan to reduce interaction between the armies were listening to him now.

“The shooting down of the RAF planes yesterday evening will greatly affect relationships, as it was planned to do, but will certainly reduce the effectiveness of the liaisons in providing us with information, most certainly with our former comrades from Britain and her cronies.”

Pekunin handed the baton back to Beria.

“However, our agreement with the Western Allies regarding specific German prisoners is holding, and we have three groups touring their prison camps looking for war criminals. From Comrade Pekunin’s reports we have established some likely names for the symposium personnel and have yet to find any in the allies’ camps.”

“That in itself is disturbing Comrade General Secretary. We would have expected to find some of the names on our list by now.”