Three Kings

With Hungary and Bulgaria also cowed, he now planned on the final resolution of the Balkans as a prelude to the decisive campaigns of 1941 against either Soviet Russia or the British Middle East. Operation 25, as it was called, was the plan to devour Yugoslavia, with armies staging on every frontier of that beleaguered state. Hitler would move the 1st Panzer Group to Bulgaria near Sofia, the XLI Corps to Romania and the XLVI Corps to Hungary to place a cordon of steel all along Yugoslavia’s eastern borders. From the north, the German Second Army would stage from Austria with three Infantry Corps, from the west, the Italian Second Army would field a similar force, and the whole operation was happening three months earlier than it did in the history before Kirov staged from Severomorsk.

Now he stared at Volkov across the conference table, his dark eyes taking the man in, noting every line and detail of his uniform, the insignia, his military officer’s cap. It was clear that Volkov saw himself as a military man, while Hitler sat there in civilian dress, the plain grey suit he often wore, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Hesized the man up now, as a man might inspect a tool he was planning to use for some task. That was all Volkov was at the moment-an unwitting tool in the Fuhrer’s hand.

So Hitler would make him his ally, for his longstanding feud with Sergei Kirov was most convenient. He was tying down nearly forty Soviet divisions along the frontier from the Crimea and along the Volga all the way to the wilderness of Siberia north of Samara. That was very useful. Those were troops Kirov could easily move to his European theater were it not for Volkov. So he needed this man just now, and he would have to find a way to appease him, a nice scrap or two to throw him while he continued to devour Europe.

“I see that you have a bit of a problem on your hands in the Caucasus,” said Hitler.

“Kirov’s troops have invaded from the Crimea and invested Novorossiysk.”

“And he has crossed the Don south of Volgograd. Will you stop him?”

“Of course,” said Volkov, knowing he could not show weakness here. “He merely took advantage of the situation in Siberia, that is all. I will reinforce that sector in due course and stop him.”

“Will you?” Hitler tapped the table with his pencil, looking at the map. “Why the attack at Omsk, Volkov? You had an accord with the Siberians there, and you threw it away.”

“Karpov,” Volkov said flatly. “It was all his doing. The man cannot be trusted. He was maneuvering troops to that frontier even as the ink was drying on the Omsk accord. So I took the necessary step of eliminating him from the scene before we begin joint operations to settle these affairs.” He lied about this, but lies had always served his purpose before, and this was no different.

“I see…” Hitler knew Volkov was lying, knew that Volkov had initiated hostilities and violated the accord, almost as if he had planned it all from the very first. “You had Omsk,” he said. “Now you must take it back?”

“Omsk was bait, nothing more. I wanted to see if I could get Karpov to move off his main line of defense along the Ob River. Then I could trap those forces in a quick pincer movement, smash them, and eliminate this nuisance.”

“And did he take your bait?”

“To a degree. He moved up three divisions, one in the city, two others guarding its flanks.”

“Yet he still sits on theOb with the rest of his army,” Hitler tapped the map again. “My intelligence services tell me you suffered a severe setback recently. I’m told this man Karpov gave your troops a nasty surprise!”

“So I have taken stronger measures,” said Volkov. “Yes, Karpov is ruthless, but I will deal with the matter. If the bear will not come out of his cave, then I will go in after him. I have sent another army, and a heavy squadron of my Airship Corps across the frontier, and they are driving on Barnaul as we speak. I should reach that place by nightfall. From there I can swing north and take his main defensive bastion at Novosibirsk from behind. This will make a costly battle to cross the Ob unnecessary.”

“But you must force the river to the south first,” said Hitler. “Suppose you get another surprise there?”

“The Siberians have only two divisions there, the 93rd and 133rd. My airship fleet can isolate that place by cutting the rail lines. The only reason Karpov succeeded at Novosibirsk was because of inadequate air defense against his zeppelins. All of mine were busy elsewhere, but that has changed. Rest assured. I will cross the Ob in a matter of days.”

“Very well. And how soon before you finish with this distraction?”

“A few weeks… Perhaps a month.”

“And all the while Sergei Kirov will continue to push into the Caucasus.”

“I can prevent that. It will be necessary to utilize my armies from Kazakhstan and the Caspian region, but they will be enough.”

“Oh? My intelligence services tell me that the Soviets are approaching Krasnodar and threatening the oil facilities atMaykop.”