Three Kings

“ Bismarck at Brest. Hindenburg at Saint Nazaire. They broke out some months ago and evaded the British pursuit, but they have sat there for some time now, and have not sortied again. The threat they pose is enough of a danger to the British convoy routes to the Middle East, but they also have help from the French Navy, which is still operating from Casablanca.” He told Gromyko how both France and Spain were now active members of the Axis.

“I thought the Allies took Casablanca during the war,” said Gromyko.

“In 1942, and only with the support and assistance of the United States. As it stands, Great Britain has neither adequate assault shipping, or manpower available to mount an operation like the Torch offensive that knocked Vichy France out of the war.

“Yes, I suppose that’s a tall order for Great Britain,” said Gromyko.

“That it is,” said Admiral Volsky. “Particularly when the Germans hold Gibraltar. There could be no landings at Oran or Algiers, so the old Operation Torch as we knew it will probably never occur in this war.”

“Perhaps the British may launch a limited offensive against French West Africa,” said Fedorov. “But that remains to be seen.”

“We will learn their immediate plans for future war operations soon,” said Volsky. “In the meantime, we must make plans of our own. Germany must not be allowed to build up forces in North Africa that could pose a grave threat to Egypt, and by all means, they must not be allowed to secure the Bosporus. They may take Istanbul by land, but they must never cross that channel into Turkey, nor will any ships be allowed to carry Ivan Volkov’s oil to the German Reich.”

“Who controls the Crimea?” Gromyko asked. The place had long been a bastion of Russian naval power, one of three kings in the hierarchy of the Russian Navy: Murmansk in the north, Sevastopol in the Crimea, and Vladivostok in the far east.”

“Sergei Kirov and the Soviets still hold all of Ukraine and the Crimea. In fact, he has invaded the Caucasus, and there is fighting at Novorossiysk. Volkov has his hands full there, but the Germans have Bulgaria now, which brings them to the Turkish frontier. They must not be allowed to establish an overland link with Volkov through Turkey, and I am afraid that the Turkish Army may not be able to prevent that, which is where we come into the picture.”

“How so, sir?”

“You can take your boat into the Mediterranean Sea easily enough. Yes?”

“From here? Through the Suez Canal?”

“That would mean you would have to surface to make that transit, and we feel it essential to keep the knowledge of your presence here a secret at the moment.”

“Agreed,” said Gromyko. “Well I can go by way of Gibraltar, no matter what the Germans have there.”

“Good enough. We will have to part company again, but we will stay in coded communication with you.”

“You will not take that route?”

“We could fight our way through, but at great expense to our SAM inventory if the Germans decide to throw their Stukas at us. Thankfully that is not a problem you have with Kazan. I see no point in taking that course when we can just as easily sail north from here and go up through Suez. This, after all, is our objective, to protect the British position in Egypt. We will defend the Suez Canal.”

“Alone?”

“With the assistance and support of the British fleet,” said Fedorov. “At present, however, they have little in the way of anti-aircraft defenses, limited air power there, few searchlights, and only one radar. The Germans and Italians are about to finish up in Greece, much sooner than they did in our history. Once Greece falls, then the Germans will have good airfields from which they could strike at Crete, North Africa, Suez, Palestine and the coast of Turkey. With Kirov positioned near Suez, we could put our radar and SAM defenses to good use and make sure the canal is kept safe.”

“And once you join us in the Eastern Med, you will hold the Bosporus closed,” said Volsky with a smile. “Two fat fingers in the dike, and let us hope we can stem the onrushing tide. Come, let us join Director Kamenski for a good meal. Then we toast and I have one more request to make of you before we part.”

That request was for more missiles, which Kazan still had in abundance. Kirov had fired four of the of the P-900s Kazan had given them earlier, and Volsky was hoping he could have those replaced to bring them up to 27 SSMs.

“We had a full complement of missiles,” said Gromyko. “I’ll send you another group of P-900s and bump you up to 32! That will still leave us the entire Onyx system, and all our torpedoes. Consider it done, Admiral.”

“Good enough,” said Volsky. “Because we may have to use them sooner than we think.”

Part V

Rommel

“Have a bias toward action — let's see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.”

Indira Gandhi