New Update
First of all I want to thank Naraht, Michel Van, and my Pastor Clay Smith who was a pastor at a church in St. Louis for helping me with information for this update. I hope it will answer some questions and will be enjoyable. Please enjoy and comment on it. The two Russian officials with the asterisks are fictional. I trust I got the Russian names all right.
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Date: November 14, 1944
Location: Vladivostok, U.S.S.R.
Time: 10:00 a.m. (Vladivostok time)
As General Hawthorne and Mayor LaGuardia were coming to an understanding several thousand miles away a plane was landing in Vladivostok. The plane was a Russian diplomatic courier plane, clearly marked which had just flown in from Tokyo. Three passengers quickly debarked. All three of them were met at the bottom of the ramp by Russian officials from the Foreign Ministry and the NKVD. The officials introduced themselves to the three men that had just gotten off the plane and asked to see their papers. After examining the papers presented to them and finding everything in order they led the way to the car that was waiting for them nearby.
The Foreign Ministry representative, one Yuri Gorkov*, spoke to one of the three men as they drove off. “Ambassador Fernandes, we have made arrangements for you on the Trans Siberian Express. It will be leaving at 10:30 so we must move quickly. I and Comrade Tereschenko* will be accompanying you as far as Moscow.” “I understand,” replied Luís Esteves Fernandes, ambassador to Portugal. “And how long after that until we can make the air connections to Lisbon?” “A Portuguese diplomatic plane will be waiting at Sheremetyevo airport; from there you will be traveling via Ankara to Lisbon.”
Luis nodded. Getting out of wartime Japan had been no mean feat, it had not helped that the ambassador had needed to do so quickly. Even with Foreign Minister Shigemitsu managing to cut some of the red tape still there had been many questions asked. Why was the ambassador leaving so suddenly? The simple answer had been he was being temporarily recalled for consultations with his government. That had raised still more questions and suspicions; too many for Luis’ liking. After several delays, Luis had decided not to go through the regular channels but had decided to call in a few favors from the Russian embassy. The Russians had agreed to help though Luis knew there would be some diplomatic favor they would ask in return down the road, it was the way the game was played.
The Russians had agreed to fly Luis out on one of their own planes as far as Vladivostok, there, supposedly owing to the unsafe nature of air travel to Moscow in war time Luis would take the Trans-Siberian Express from Vladivostok to Moscow. From there a Portuguese diplomatic courier plane would take him via Ankara, Turkey to Lisbon.
Luis knew that the Soviets were dragging their feet for a reason. Rumor had spread that he was carrying a vital piece of diplomatic material in his briefcase and of course the Russians wanted to know that it was; thus the delay of travel by train instead of by plane. The Soviets hoped that a week together on the train plus some fine wines and vodka carefully warming the relationships between the Ambassador and his Soviet handlers would produce some details on the contents of the briefcase that Luis kept scrupulously by his side.
Ambassador Fernandes had been shocked, to say the least when he had been summoned to a secret meeting with the Emperor himself. After his audience with Hirohito the Ambassador had decided to handle getting this briefcase to Lisbon personally. He had alerted Lisbon that he would be returning for an important meeting while being somewhat vague on the reasons for his return. After he was in Ankara he would send a message through the embassy there that he needed to see the American Ambassador to Portugal at the Foreign Ministry in Lisbon upon his landing.
The briefcase that Emperor Hirohito had given him stood by his side. The key to open it kept in his left shirt pocket. He would transfer it to his nightshirt when he slept. He had instructed his aides, who were embassy guards, traveling in civilian clothes to ensure that no one came near the briefcase for those times that he must put it down. They would sleep in shifts to ensure someone was near him at all times. Not even Ambassador Fernandes knew the contents of the briefcase and if he had his way no one would until it was opened in the presence of the American Ambassador in Lisbon.
Unfortunately for Ambassador Fernandes, the Emperor of Japan, and many others, time was a factor here. It would take Ambassador Fernandes 11 days to reach Lisbon, Portugal. Well before that time the first of the balloons launched from Japan almost two weeks ago would be arriving over the West Coast.
Date: November 16, 1944
Location: Washington, D.C (OCD)
Time: 9:00 a.m.
At the daily meeting of NATJAB once more the score sheet on the wall continued to grow as did the red pins on the map of the U.S. beside it.
Cities/ Number of Casualties/ Deaths/ Special
Los Angeles/ 2,038/ 194
St. Louis/ 45/ 30
New York/ 47/ 23
Seattle/ 13/ 6
Portland/ 7/ 6
Youngstown/ 8/ 6
San Bernadino / 3/ 1
San Francisco/ 5/ 2
Chicago/ 2/ 1/ contained
Oakland/ 2/ 1/ contained
Atlanta / 1/ 1 contained
Totals: Number Infected: 2,171; Deaths: 271
Although numbers were still rising, epidemiologists hoped that they might soon reach the crest of this epidemic in most of the cities that had been infected. The task forces in each of the infected cities had begun recommending extensive rat extermination programs in the infected areas in the hopes of wiping out the animal vector for the disease. And isolating those with the disease, though in a far more humane manner then what had been tried in New York would hopefully eliminate the human airborne vector.
The task force had been asked by the White House how long before the plague subsided. With the beginning of cold weather which would drive many rats to seek shelter it was hoped that the worst might be over before the New Year. However, given the way this had developed many in the task force were suspicious that things would be getting worse before they got better.
Date: November 16, 1944
Location: St. Louis (North Grand Avenue)
Time: 7:00 a.m. [CST]
The score sheet in Washington was not accurate. In St. Louis on North Grand Avenue there were several houses in the poorer section of town. The people who lived here lived in the most unsanitary of conditions not by choice but because of their economic and racial background. Rats were a common problem here. Many had simply been forced to accept this as a way of life for several generations. However the conditions here were perfect breeding grounds for the plague. Several families in the area were now infected. Doctors here were in short supply and many simply took care of their loved ones at home as best they could. Behind closed doors the number of victims of the plague unleashed by I-400 submarines eleven days ago was growing. It was now double the number shown on the score sheet in Washington.
Date: November 16, 1944
Location: Somewhere 1,000 feet over the state of Washington
Time: 5:30 p.m.[PST]
The first of the Fu-Go balloons had reached the West Coast. Over a heavily forested area an intricate series of timers finished their count. From the gondola of the balloon a bag of seed corn was released. It would rip open on its way down releasing a cloud of corn seeds to land below in the forests of the state of Washington. Within a week hunters would begin to notice a thinning of the deer and elk populations in the area. While they would recover within a year, deer and game hunting would be extremely poor in the Washington area for the remainder of the winter.
The forests of Washington however were not the balloons' primary targets however. Many of the balloons’ primary targets were, with luck and good prevailing winds, the cattle ranches of Montana and North and South Dakota.
The second wave of Operation Falling Cherry Blossom had begun.
Date: November 16, 1944
Location: Bremerhaven, Germany
Time: 11:00 p.m. (German time)
Otto Skorzeny was busy poring over a list of dates of departure for freighters in an office of the naval ministry in Bremerhaven. It must have confused the German intelligence agents in Stockholm, Sweden greatly when they were asked to provide copies of the departure dates of all Swedish freighters bound for North America. Getting copies of the information had been easy enough. Getting it back to Germany had been another matter. Skorzeny had insisted that the information had to be brought by courier. He no longer trusted the secure codes generated by the “Enigma” devices. Too much information seemed conveniently to find its way into Allied hands. Despite assurances that the present codes were unbreakable Skorzeny was taking no chances. His request for information had been hand-delivered by a courier a few days ago. Likewise once the information has been procured it had been flown back by the same courier.
Now Skorzeny was looking at the schedules of departure for Swedish freighters to the U.S., specifically for the middle weeks of December. For what the plan known as Operation Trojan Victory required he needed a large freighter.
Lt. Colonel Otto Skorzeny had formulated the plan for Operation Trojan Victory within a few days after being summoned to Berchtesgaden by Hitler. He had been forced to turn the final preparation stages of his Operation Grab which was to supplement the upcoming Watch on the Rhine operation over to one of his lieutenants. But he had confidence they would be able to handle the final preparations at this point.
Skorzeny had told Himmler he would need a group of crack troops from the SS. They had to be versed in commando tactics. In addition it was to be made clear to them this was a one-way mission. Once they were chosen they would be taken to Bremerhaven for a one week crash course in how to handle a merchant ship at sea.
Skorzeny had already consulted with Admiral Donitz on using a Type IX submarine for the first stage of Trojan Victory. Donitz had given his full cooperation though there was a trace of reluctance in his actions.
Skorzeny quietly put aside the shipping schedules and turned to a personal matter. He opened a drawer took out a sheaf of papers and began looking over his last will and testament. He would make sure this was on file with his lawyers before he left Germany to lead Trojan Victory. The operation was of such a nature Skorzeny felt he could not entrust command of it to anyone but himself. The operation had less then a month to prepare but Skorzeny was confident they could be ready by then. If all went well Trojan Victory would be a Christmas present or perhaps a New Year’s greeting for the Americans.
