World War III in May 1946

This is my first shot at this so be gentle..:)

World War III 1946 an Alternate History

In a painstaking process this alternate history storyline has been researched and is presented for your entertainment.

By using historical documents from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff we know exactly what the contingency plans were in the case of an expected Soviet attack in 1946. It is clear from public polls and private correspondence that the US military and government officials fully expected an attack by its former ally at any time starting in the spring of 1946.

Based on these plans code named Griddle and the other Pincher series plans we have developed a historically plausible alternate history scenario on which all these campaigns are based. These plans were based on the best estimates of Soviet forces and their plans for war.

Check the World War III 1946 Blog at ... www.wwiii1946.blogspot.com


Unknown

On page 466 in Simon Sebag Montifiore's book Stalin: The Court of the Red Tzar is a picture whose label reads...

"Power and family: the heir apparent Zhdanov. At the end of he war, a tired but cheerful Stalin sits between the two rivals: the flabby, viscous and pusillanimous"clerk" Malenkov--who was nicknamed "Melanie" for his broad hips-- and (right) the smiling, alcoholic Zhdanov. Kaganovich sits on the left. (Back row, left to right):unknown, Vasily Stalin, Svetlana, Poskrebyshev."

The importance of this photo is in the identity of "unknown". The first person on the left in the back row. He is the key to WWIII 1946. His name is Sergo Peshkov. If he would not have been born in Moscow in 1895 on May 2nd the following would never have happened.


Sergo Peshkov

As a boy Sergo is fascinated by birds and flight. All he dreams about is is feeling the wind on his face and the freedom of the hawk and eagle. When he first hears that man is trying to fly he is obsessed with all things related to putting man and machine together in a glorious harmony that can transcend gravity. He dreams of soaring with the hawks and kestrels on his grandfathers farm.

During the summer of 1910 he designs a glider at the farm. On July 16th, 1910 he hauls it to the roof of the barn and launches it straight into the ground. He loses sight in his right eye. He will never fly again.

His fascination with all things flight related remains and as a young man he devours anything related to the war in the air during World War One. In 1915 he tries and fails to enter the world of academia. Although brilliant his lack of any knowledge outside of flying dooms him from the start. His obsession with all things related to flight has severely narrowed his options in life.

He follows some of his boyhood friends and becomes a member of the Communist Party and because of his native brilliance rises in the ranks. When he is not working he is studying flight and air warfare. He never marries and from all accounts was celibate all his life. He lived and breathed flying machines, rockets and eventually jets.

He catches Stalin's eye at one of dictators infamous parties. No one knows why he is at the party for he neither drinks, smokes, takes drugs or is interested in sex. This of course attracts the bully in Stalin and he corners Sergo and starts to relentlessly teases him. Someone in the crowd trying to impress Stalin, mentions Sergo's passion for flight and in an attempt to humiliate Sergo further Stalin calls on the leading expert in the field Mikhail Gurevich. Gurevich is the G in MiG.

Gurevich is bullied into quizzing the unfortunate Sergo and to eveyone's amazement Sergo proves to be up to the task and dazzles Gurevich with his knowledge.

For whatever reason Stalin takes a liking to Sergo and has him transferred to his staff as a special aviation advisor and the rest as they say is history. Sergo has Stalin's ear and a brilliant mind. Both are put to masterful use in the next 36 months.

There are many who believed in the 40's that Stalin was a true communist. He was not. He was just your everyday run of the mill dictator and mass murderer. Many true communists became spies for Stalin throughout the war thinking that by helping Stalin they were creating a better world. These spies were truly amazing and were rivalled only by the British and their Ultra in gaining knowledge for their master.

By 1943 the US Abomb program and the Nazi Army Research Station in Peenemünde were infiltrated and the secrets of both the Germans and Allies were pouring into the Kremlin and anything related to aircraft, flight, rockets and jets goes directly to Sergo Peshkova.

In August 1944 three United States B29 Super Fortress bombers landed in Vladivostok Russia after becoming damaged bombing Japan. They were never returned to the US and Sergo Peshkov had them all to study.

He becomes convinced that air power would be the key to any conflict with the Western powers. He learns every flight specification and nut and bolt of the B29 and any other allied plane being flown or on the drawing board. He has drawings and plans of many of the German super weapons being built or designed and he has the undivided attention of one Joseph Stalin.

Sergo turns out to be a brilliant industrialist as well. All the great minds that are wasting away in gulags all over the USSR are tested. Intelligence and dexterity tests are given to every Jew, Pole, German, gypsy, civilian, women and teenager regardless of race, creed, sex or religion. Everyone currently not active in military service or involved in the production of war materials is tested. Everyone who has a potential talent is put under the control of Sergo Peshkov. As German scientists and intellectuals are captured they are turned over to Sergo.

All blue prints, plans, models, captured weapons, prototypes etc. are transferred immediately to his care. He scours the Soviet society for talented people and gathers them all in secret production facility behind the Urals. He is called the Czar of Technology behind his back.

As the Nazis are pushed further and further from the motherland Stalin begins to think about the future after Hitler. Stalin listens to Sergo Peshkov and gives him what he needs to prepare for the next war.
 
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The first Victim

Police Report
December 21, 1945
Santa Fe, NM
19:10 hours
Corner of 5th and Yardley
Officer Patina Badge 582

White male 25 years old was hit and run. Victim was killed instantly by a dark Ford traveling at a high rate of speed East on 5th.

Victim identified as Army Sgt. Jerome Wilcox of Dixon, IL. No other information was available.

Body was claimed and picked up at 23:26 hours by a special squad led by Major John Jones US Army. No id # given.

No further investigation authorized.

End of report per Chief of Police Winston Jackson of the Santa Fe Police Department.
 
The Nineteen Victim

Police Report
December 26, 1945
Delavan, MI
02:32
Snuffies Bar
589 12th Ave.
Officer Norm Smyth Badge 102

White male 23 years old was stabbed to death in an apparent mugging outside Snuffies Bar.

Victim identified as Lt. Marvin Boyson of Delavan. Stationed in NM and home on leave.

Body was claimed by US Army Major John Jones and was not released to family pending Army investigation.

No further investigation is authorized.

End of report per Chief of Police Grady Monahan.
 
Western Union

Urgent Your Eyes Only …………………………..STOP

Gadget assembly teams not able to function STOP
Locate others and seek shelter STOP
Highest priority STOP

…………………………………………………………………………………..

January, 2 1946
Pentagon
Washington, DC

Sergeant, get me General Hightower now.

Holy shit Jim. I have more than a dozen reports on my desk and they all involve the deaths of 15 of the 22 assembly team personnel and the crippling of another 4. Someone has been targeting our assembly teams for the gadget when they went home on leave over the holidays.

We have a mole and they have fingered our assembly teams. All the other gadget personnel are locked away in Los Alamos but these guys were allowed to go home. Whoever they are they just crippled our program and I’m sure the Reds know it. It could be 6 months before we find the talent we need. We are really screwed.

Yeah you said it. I gotta call the Admiral. He can get the word to the President. Yeah you take care too Jim.
 
...................................Top Secret For Your Eyes Only.......................................

The Kremlin
January 23, 1946

This transmission is to be read to Headquarters staff at 1500 hours


Our former allies, the so called Western Democracies, have demobilized entire armies and have sent many of their armed forces home. The US and England have a fraction of their former forces stationed on the European mainland. They mistakenly believe that their so called Atomic Bomb has altered our plans.

Our glorious leader, Tovarishch Stalin, has given us of his vision of a worldwide workers paradise led by his guiding hand.

He does not fear the Abomb. He has seen the devastation it has brought to untold numbers of innocent victims he does not fear its wrath.

Although he has no doubt that our armed forces can storm through the blasted hulk of the former Germany and France to liberate the suppressed workers of Europe, he does not want to use force unless absolutely necessary. Recent events have forced his hand and the very existence of soviet society is being threatened.

Our former Allies have made a fateful blunder and the world shudders at the consequences and prospect of another World War. They have rejected our rightful demands regarding Manchuria, Turkey and the liberation of Eastern Europe. In a stupendous miscalculation the US has base a squadron of B29 Super Fortresses in West Germany in an attempt to intimidate us. The B29 is an offensive weapon not a defensive weapon. There can be only one conclusion and that is that they intend to use their Abomb in a sneak attack on the Motherland we hold so dear.

They continue to gather former German scientists and their wonder weapons and have been stealing them away to work on even more destructive weapons and delivery systems. We must act and we must act now. The situation will only get worse as time passes.

We need to create a buffer so that the motherland is never subject to attack again. Our vision is that all future wars will be fought in the no man’s land that is the former Nazi homeland and as long as capitalism survives there will be more wars. It's all a matter of where and when these wars will be fought because Capitalism and Communism cannot occupy the same space.

Some say the second atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki intimidate us and to reinforce the power of the atom bomb in our mind. In addition it was to demonstrate that America has not only one but many bombs and is ready to use them. Tovarishch Stalin is calling their bluff.

Today we received word through our massive network of agents that American has a total of only 6 nuclear bombs. Now is the time to strike and to save the motherland from nuclear destruction. We have to attack now before they gain more of these monstrous weapons and use them.

We will no longer allow the West to dictate its will on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and our glorious leader Tovarishch Stalin. He will once and for all remove the threat to Mother Russia. No longer will there be a gun pointed at his head from West Germany.

.................................End of Transmission................................
 
Yes it would be very bad with much pain and suffering. I'm sure Stalin wouldn't have been concerned however. I can just hear him saying ..."you have to break some eggs to make an omelet" or some such thing.
 

Satrap

Donor
Sergo Peshkova

Isn't an 'a' ending to surname the femine , shouldn't it be :-

Sergo Peshkov?

Just being picky.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
What is the POD delaying construction of the the weapon types in July of 1945?

After the first Mk-III was built it became much less of a specialist job. By late 1945 it was, while far from assembly line, fairly straight forwar.

There would also be 4 Mk-I weapons available. They were almost stupid easy to construct (assuming you has the highly enriched unranium available) once the original math was worked out.
 

Grey Wolf

Gone Fishin'
Donor
As a note, I believe Sergo is a Georgian (sometimes Armenian) spelling of Sergei. I just did a quick search on Google and of the 4 people on the 1st page called Sergo, 3 were Georgians, 1 Armenian.

Of course in Stalin's USSR being Georgian is an advantage (at least perhaps if yo were Mingrelian) so its certainly no block to a character being named that. Just to bear in mind if you discuss his ethnic origins

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
What is the POD delaying construction of the the weapon types in July of 1945?

After the first Mk-III was built it became much less of a specialist job. By late 1945 it was, while far from assembly line, fairly straight forwar.

There would also be 4 Mk-I weapons available. They were almost stupid easy to construct (assuming you has the highly enriched unranium available) once the original math was worked out.

I have a number of references that state that the teams that assembled the bombs were in scarce supply.

"It took a specially trained thirty-nine man team two days to assemble a bomb which could remain in its ready state for only forty-eight hours..."

"There also existed a grave shortage of assembly teams."

"January 1949 there were but seven fully trained teams"

Another factor is that at the end of the war the production of nuclear materials was dramatically reduced. The the end of 1946 we only had 9 weapons available. We had moved on to producing cars and homes.
 
Sorry CalBear missed the first sentence.

The POD will be the ascendance of one Sergo Rostov in 1943 and his abilities to both counsel Stalin and his organizational abilities. Someone who is obsessed with air power and what it can do.

A soviet version of General Giulio Douhet, General "Hap" Arnold and Air Chief Marshal Hugh Trenchard.
 
As a note, I believe Sergo is a Georgian (sometimes Armenian) spelling of Sergei. I just did a quick search on Google and of the 4 people on the 1st page called Sergo, 3 were Georgians, 1 Armenian.

Of course in Stalin's USSR being Georgian is an advantage (at least perhaps if yo were Mingrelian) so its certainly no block to a character being named that. Just to bear in mind if you discuss his ethnic origins

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

Thank you Grey Wolf. Excellent information.
 
April 1st, 1946 The White House

April 1st, 1946 13:00 hours
White House briefing room
Washington DC

Mr. President thank you for your time. I have just a few facts for you today. My purpose is to inform you of an imminent threat. We believe that our former ally, the USSR, is planning a sneak attack. We believe that the attack will start on or before May 15th, 1946.

We have discovered a spy ring in Los Alamos, NM and in other Manhattan Project facilities. We fear that certain facts have been passed on to the NKVD and from there to Stalin himself. These facts include

1. The actual number of functional Mark III atomic bombs.
2. The time it takes to assemble these bombs.
3. The exact weight and configuration of these bombs.
4. The number of assembly teams available and their locations and identities
5. The number of specially designed B29 bombers that can carry the devices.
6. The number and location of the pits needed to load the devices into the bomber.
7. How many hours of shelf life these devises have before they have to be disassembled and then reassembled again.

What this means is that Stalin may no longer fear the Atomic bomb in its present form. He now knows how vulnerable these devices and the bombers that deliver them are.

We also have reason to believe that he is in possession of information as to how many devices our own military believes is necessary to defeat the Soviet Army. The lowest estimate is in the order of 70 and all 70 must be 100 percent efficient. So in reality this means at least 140 devices minimum are needed.

We further believe that the basing of the B29s in West Germany was a grave error and gives Stalin the causa belli that he needs to convince his military and populous that we are going to attack first. This in turn leads to the conclusion that he must attack us first before we can use our atomic bombs. It appears to be a terrible misunderstanding that could cause WWIII.

In addition 19 out of the 22 member of the assembly teams have been attacked and 15 have been killed. Someone knew the identities and importance of those individuals. There "accidents" have crippled our Abomb program for at least 6 months.

What was that sir? Oh yes we can certainly fill you in on the 7 facts.

1. We only have 4 devices. Yes that is correct sir only 4. We had 6 but of course we used 2 on Japan.
2. It takes over 2 days to assemble the device.
3. The two different models weight 8,900 and 10,000 lbs each. Yes sir they are very large and that is why we need the pits to load them.
4. Currently we only have 2 trained assembly teams and as I told you earlier they have been put out of action for at least 6 months.
5. We have 12 Silver Plate B29s that are capable of loading the Mark III atomic bomb.
6. The two pits we have are in the Okinawa and England.
7. The devices have to be use within 48 hours of assembly.

Some other factors to consider that we believe the Soviets are aware of.

Troop strengths

We currently have 22 divisions in Europe. The British have 12 and the French 8. Almost all are at half strength. Even a relatively small force of 60 full strength Soviet divisions would cut through our lines like a hot knife through butter. Our air force is in better shape with 10,000 frontline aircraft worldwide.

Our demobilization effort was wildly successful. Five months after VJ Day 8.5 million Allied soldiers had been demobilized. As you will recall sir that when you tried to slow up the demobilization there were riots in some of our units. Our soldiers want to get home and go back to school on the GI Bill.

In contrast our estimates are that the Soviets have 66 full strength divisions that can attack at anytime. Within 30 days they can mobilize a total of 273 war strength divisions and by D-day + 60 they can deploy 270 divisions in Europe, 42 in the Middle East and 49 in the Far East. They have over 14,000 frontline aircraft in service currently.

Their satellites states have 84 of what we would consider 2nd line divisions with another 850 aircraft. More than enough to attack Greece and Italy.

In summary Mr. President we are up to our ears in alligators.

Yes sir I know its a lot to comprehend. Yes sir we'll talk again tomorrow so you have a chance to digest the report and its ramifications.
 
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