Opening Moves

“A possible rallying point…. I agree. A beacon to the German soldier that his new friends accept him not as a beaten enemy but a soldier who can advise them on how to fight us. We must strike these groups,” Beria inclined his head to take in a particular word on the page, “These symposiums, and strike them hard. They must not stand Comrade General Secretary. But we cannot do so before Kingdom initiates or we risk alerting the Western Allies unnecessarily.”

“Tea, Comrade Pekunin.” Stalin was not offering, as Pekunin well understood, and he immediately moved to pour three cups.

Stalin tapped out his pipe on his hand and dropped the ash into a bin. Deep in thought, he refilled his pipe and, once satisfied, relit it and drew deeply.

“Comrade General Pekunin. I believe that Marshall Zhukov’s Chief of Staff is in Moscow visiting your department at the moment?”

“It is so, Comrade General Secretary.”

“Have him attend here at 4pm.”

“I will tell him myself Comrade Gen….”

Stalin cut in.

“Then please do so now comrade.”

Pekunin saluted and tuned on his heels, marching out of the room, his victory over Beria being slightly blotted by his obvious early dismissal by Stalin.

“The GRU put one over on you there Lavrentiy,” taunted Stalin once the large double doors had closed.

“We both serve the party and the Motherland, Comrade General Secretary, so I am content.”

“Quite so Lavrentiy,” with a grin the like of which Beria had never seen before. His inner voice whispered to him, ‘The Georgian bastard enjoyed that.’

“Your plan for the rear-areas included security measures for German officer prisoners. I suggest that you implement a broader consideration to include those in the territories we will occupy once Kingdom commences.”

“It will be done Comrade.”

“You suggested assassination of certain generals immediately prior to the attack. I do remember Comrade Zhukov rejecting that, as he would rather fight those he knew and felt were less capable than be surprised by someone new who could possibly perform well.”

Beria smarted again. It had been a good plan and had been rejected out of hand.

“I suggest you revive and modify that plan and target these,” Stalin picked up his copy of the report and read a section again for confirmation, “Symposiums Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Paderborn with the resources you had set aside for that purpose. See what assets you can provide to assist Marshall Zhukov.”

As a father comforting a son, he added.

“I will speak to him about adopting the assassination plan as you submitted. It appeals to me.”

Stalin looked up at the clock.

“It would appear that you have three hours Comrade Marshall. Your submission will then go to Zhukov for incorporation into Kingdom39.”

1600 hrs Monday, 9th July 1945, The Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

When all were assembled at 1600 hrs precisely Stalin took centre stage.

Zhukov’s Chief of Staff awaited his pleasure.

“Comrade General Malinin. There are small but important additions to the plan that the GKO wishes inserted into Kingdom39 immediately.”

Malinin stiffened automatically.

“Firstly, Marshall Beria’s assassination plan will now be included as originally put forward. That is on my order.”

There was absolutely no argument on that score.

“Secondly, Comrade Pekunin will brief you on a new development.”

Beria had to concede it was Pekunin’s right, so he did not bristle as Stalin had hoped.

Pekunin outlined the intelligence received from the Bletchley Park agent.

When he finished presenting the revised version, adapted to protect his source, he stepped back again. “Comrade General, you will understand that we must deal with the potential threat of these symposiums and so Comrade Marshall Beria’s original assassination plan has been expanded. Comrade Beria has the details.”

From the briefcase, five documents were produced, one for everyone present.

“Comrades, this is Plan Zilant, a small but very necessary plan. Comrade General Pekunin will liaise with you to ensure you are kept up to date. You will see we are still lacking some important pieces of information but those must and will be delivered.”

At that moment, he looked at Pekunin, who understood the message loud and clear.

“The sole assets already tasked in Kingdom that are required for this plan are either transport squadrons, which the GKO will authorise removing from the operational transport reserve, and a single third wave formation curiously tasked as ground infantry, whereas the unit is qualified for what we have in mind. Namely,” unusually Beria had to consult the document, “100th Guards Rifle Division ‘Svir’, which is airborne in all but name.”

Malinin knew that obviously, which was why it was lightly tasked only in phase three in order to keep an ace up the sleeve.

“The commanding officer,” again the swift consultation by Beria, “General Mayor Ivan Makarenko, has already been instructed to liaise with Comrade Pekunin to get as much up to date information with which to construct a operational format for Plan Zilant.”