Opening Moves

“However, Romanowsky outflanked the position, forcing and capturing the crossings at Vilshofen, destroying an American infantry unit in the process, caught on the march and attacked by aircraft and tanks in turn. He is moving this unit round to take Passau in the rear and thinks it will fall today.”

The pencil was stayed, as was the execution.

“At Linz we are engaged in heavy fighting, 49th Army pressing from the north and 70th from the east. The enemy are well-handled and good quality troops. However, it appears that 5th Shock Army can seal their fate as it is already past Linz to the south, pressing here at Gmunden and here at Wels.”

A casual observer would be able to see that Wels was the back door to Linz and the units still defending there were all but cut off.

“Berzarin has turned some of his forces north to strike at the escape route of the capitalist troops. We have identified their 11th Tanks and 65th Infantry. They should be destroyed in situ.”

“Tolbukhin, Chuikov and Yeremenko are holding as previously ordered, but seek confirmation.”

Zhukov cut over the end of his deputy’s words, showing his irritation at this unexpected and wholly unnecessary problem.

“Confirm their orders, hold in position for now but be ready. Saturday’s meeting will decide much.”

Changing gear slickly and moving to a new subject, an excellent ability Malinin demonstrated well when his chief was aggravated, the facts and figures of the Pacific war were brought out and reviewed, also seemingly showing superiority and victory throughout the region.

1131 hrs Wednesday 8th August 1945, Office of the NKVD Chairman, the Lubyanka, Moscow, USSR.

The messages dispatched from London on the 4th August were the last to leave before the flow dried up for good.

Contained within the bag was one message destined for NKVD headquarters and marked ‘eyes only chairman’ which arrived into Lemsky’s care.

It was a short note and easily decoded with the right knowledge.

In its readable form, it now sat on Beria’s desk, informing him that, as directed, the Rezident had met in a public place with asset ‘Baron’.

What the message clearly did not say or ask was why the NKVD Chairman had certainly deliberately blown the cover of ‘Baron’ and revealed the existence of this valuable agent within Britain’s most secret establishment.

Beria was extremely satisfied with his work, and penned a swift note to Zhukov assuring him that he had crippled Allied higher level communications for at least four days, possibly as long as two weeks.

He smugly thought that at the cost of one female agent, not an ideological person or one who spied through conviction but one who worshipped solely at the altar of money, no-one in Bletchley would trust anyone and the allies would use slower, less effective means to relay orders for some time to come.

It all worked out very nicely.

Beria rose from his desk and decided to surprise Danilov in his own lair with a request for his car.

1210 hrs, Wednesday 8th August 1945, Geesthacht, Germany.

In Geesthacht, two worlds were about to collide.

General Lenskii was ecstatic, and with good reason. His 43rd Army had the allies on the run and he was ahead of schedule.

Spreading the latest map across the bonnet of his jeep, he made a few swift appreciations and then started to issue his orders, sending out the tentacles of his rifle corps to exploit the fluidity of the situation as much as possible, fingers making movements over the paper giving life to his words. The officers gathered round him made records of their own on maps or in notebooks, ready to translate his needs into operational orders. He paused as a rattle of sub-machine gunfire overcame his thoughts and sent a Lieutenant to investigate. Life was sweet and the rewards of a professional soldier when things went well were great.

At the other end of the scale was Helga Dein, who was still in a state of shock at seeing her family destroyed before her eyes a few hours beforehand.

Her father, her rock and her idol, had survived six years of European War only to fall this day, victim of a Soviet grenade tossed into the basement of their home in Krumme Straße. The family had taken refuge here during the brief fighting and had not moved since the town grew silent some time beforehand. His attempt to cover the blast with his body failed, and the grenade claimed not only him but also her mother and sister.

Her grief and upbringing determined that life was now pointless and Helga resolved that hers would end this day, but not before her family were avenged.

With tearful eyes, she had taken up the weapon her father had dropped and, as he had shown her, braced herself, pressing the trigger and destroyed the two Soviet infantrymen who ventured into the cellar after the grenade.

The MP40 jerked in her hands again and over half the bullets were on target as a third man charged in, only to be thrown back bloodily into the entrance.