Admiral Halsey
Banned
You killed off Adenauer!? It’s a bold strategy Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for him.
How We Define Paradise or Desolation - An Alternate History of the Cold War
- Thread starter MarshalBraginsky
- Start date
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
Who's Cotton? Also, while I might be aiming for an earlier German reunification. there are some other factors that will have to be taken into account as well, such as the alignment of a reunified Germany.
Admiral Halsey
Banned
So does WW3 end up breaking out over the Balkan's again or is it something else entirely?
What's Tito's problem with the transfer of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast to the Armenian SSR?
Unlike Nakhichevan, it is Armenian and should belong to the Armenian SSR.
Oh well, it looks like he will pay for challenging Premier Mikoyan's USSR.
Unlike Nakhichevan, it is Armenian and should belong to the Armenian SSR.
Oh well, it looks like he will pay for challenging Premier Mikoyan's USSR.
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
Ironically, he did something similar IOTL (ie: Kosovo and Vojvodina) but judging from Tito's character he seems to be some sort of a renegade. Moreover, as a leader of a nation that had just gone through a bloody ethnic civil war, the unilateral transfer of a territory from one nation to another would be anathema to him.
I might have some plans with regards to Nakhichevan though, but since Iranian Azerbaijan would remain in Iranian hands, the Azeris would be compensated with southern Dagestan. Nakhichevan could either become a separate SSR, or it gets handed over to Turkey in exchange for the territories that were given to them in the 1925 Treaty of Moscow.
This is on a premise of a potentially dangerous split between the USSR and Yugoslavia, and how it could affect the entire world.
Not only over the Balkans (potentially), but even in the Far East where the Soviets are planning to help out the Chinese Communists. Let's say that Germany and Japan ITTL will do a lot more soul searching, especially if the US needs Japanese military bases from which they can attack the USSR, and German bases from which they can launch bombing campaigns.
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
Turn Six: Shall We Fall into the Abyss Once Again?
TROTSKYITES HOLD MEETING WITH TITO IN BELGRADE
The Washington Post, October 31, 1946
In what appears to be a possible ideological split within the communist movement, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had officially invited Esteban Sedov into Belgrade for a special meeting with Marshal Tito earlier on October 27th. The meeting had a special symbolic meaning as the Yugoslav leader continues to steer an independent course from the Soviet Union while in the midst of an ideological balance of power, the Soviet Union had ironically steered off course from the mainstream communist ideology as a result of the successive policies of Josef Stalin and Anastas Mikoyan that earned them condemnation from Tito himself. Esteban Sedov, as the world should remember, is the famous grandson of murdered ex-Bolshevik and arch-rival of Stalin, Leon Trotsky, and his presence in the Yugoslav state signals to the world that the communist movement had effectively been split into the so-called Marxist-Leninist-Trotskyite School of Thought and the Stalinist-Mikoyanist Deviationist School of Thought.
Tito later called on the rest of the communist movements around the world to sever ties with the Soviet Union because of that development while at the same time the Stalinist factions within the Eastern European communist movements called on the expulsion of Tito from power and to replace him with a pliable pro-Soviet vassal ruler. Unfortunately, the rift between Tito and Mikoyan is further widened when it was revealed that Tito's secret police the UDBA had uncovered a plot made by prominent communist Vladimir Dapcevic to overthrow Tito and to assume the leadership himself. When Tito moved to denounce Dapcevic and many other crypto-Stalinists, Dapcevic chose to flee from the Yugoslav capital. As of now, Dapcevic is moving closer to the Hungarian border.
----
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Anastas Mikoyan
Chapter Nine: Redemption in times of War
Now you may wonder by now as to what really happened with the Soviet Union's infamous traitor who chose to defect to the German jackals. Unlike Stalin who would simply shoot the bastard, I merely had him locked up in Lubyanka Prison and moved him as far away from Rodzaevsky as possible. Of course, the rat bastard who proved to be an opportunist had merely wanted to side with the fascists in order to save his own skin, but at the same time one could not see just how Vlasov was willing to go far to act like a ruthless careerist. Marshal Zhukov was also weary of this turncoat, mainly because Vlasov had also been proven to be a tactical and strategic genius in the art of war and he even played a role in saving Moscow from the German Army.
That was then and this is now, and right now I find myself visiting this poor sorry of a creature in his cell to ask questions. I had this nasty feeling that Vlasov might try to escape from his captivity the same way Draza Mihailovic escaped from Tito's clutches. Three Red Army soldiers were with me, as well as two NKVD officers who were there to make sure that Vlasov did not do anything stupid that will end his pathetic life in a whim. When we reached his cell, he looked at me with a hostile gaze. I merely glared back at him and did not talk until I entered inside his cell.
"So, Andrei Andreyevich. It's a pity that we weren't able to put an end to your worthless life because I would like to kill you myself with my bare hands," I snarled with a deadly voice. "All your decorations have been stripped and your rank is worthless now. There is no redemption for the likes of you now."
"You may try, bastard, but at least I knew too well that the Soviet Union that I know no longer exists. I don't believe in the nonsense that I had to force myself to believe in since being under German captivity allowed me to do a soul searching and in the end I decided to take up the mantle of the Russian nationalist. I am a nationalist now, Mikoyan, and if you kill me, the ROA will howl for revenge against the Soviet state and not to mention that I will even throw my support behind Rodzaevsky should he become the leader of a free Russia." I spat on the floor of his cell and stepped on it. Then, I kicked him in the stomach while the two NKVD guards dragged him back up.
"Spoken like a traitor, I see. Well, we'll decide if you're better off hanged or shot in a firing squad," the NKVD agent told Vlasov. "Comrade Mikoyan, perhaps we should take our leave."
Vlasov then gave a loud laugh. "You think you're still a good communist, Mikoyan? Even after you angered your Azeri brethren with the theft of their territory-"
"That is just simple readjustment, and you should know it. As of now, I did not authorize the transfer of any Russian territory to the other republics, except for the Caucasus. Now it's time for me to leave." I turned around and walked away.
The next couple of months were nothing short of a lackluster since we hardly did anything, unless you count the attempted defection of comrade Dapcevic to the Hungarian Socialist Republic, but Djilas also tried to defect when it became clear that he didn't want any Trotskyites influencing his line of work, which caused Tito to arrest him and to strip him of his positions. By the time 1947 had arrived, the constant reports on the Soviet naval buildup in the Far East had resulted in the development of the Soviet shipbuilding industry in the Far East. Komsomol youths were encouraged to move eastwards as a part of their training for future careers in the Soviet government, and several of their required training exercises involved working on collective farms, helping out with the construction and improvement of roads and railways (despite the West accusing me of employing child labor), as well as military training. I also happen to take a page out of the old Ottoman Empire's book on training janissaries by sending orphans who lost their parents during the war to orphanages where they can either be adopted by Communist Party officials or the government takes charge of their welfare, sending them out to families who worked on collective farms as farm hands. What I was actually doing though, was building upon the controversial legacy of Stalin by turning the Soviet Union into some sort of a National Bolshevik state. I felt that Bolshevism should be refined and reformed, and the wheels of history constantly change all the time.
Finally, Vyshinsky gave me reports on the war in China as Liu Shaoqi's forces had managed to drag the Kuomintang into a conflict with the communists in northern China. I also decided to give up on the creation and admission of the Uyghur Soviet Socialist Republic because there are other territories in the Eurasian continent where I can simply expand my influence there without actually conquering territory. However, my biggest challenge has yet to come and it did arrive on March 17th, 1947 when Ismet Inonu himself arrived in Moscow to follow up on Hasan Saka's visit. Although I was looking forward to finally making a deal with the Turks, a part of me still wanted to force them to pay up for what they have done to my people. I'm still Armenian at heart, and I had Armenian friends who lost their families during the Genocide. My son Sergo was just graduating from the Komsomol and was slotted to join the foreign relations department within the Soviet Union, so that is why I invited him here to observe how I dealt with foreign dignitaries. Also present was Vyshinsky and Mirza Ibrahimov, the Azeri leader of the Azerbaijani SSR. This was going to be the meeting that should finally restore the balance of power in the Soviet Union, and to avoid any further bloodshed between the Armenians and Azeris.
"I thank you for arriving on such a short notice, and it's nice to see the President of the Turkish Republic instead of Mr. Saka," I said to Inonu. We shook hands as Inonu nodded. "Now then, the business at hand, we should discuss. The fate of Nakhichevan and Nagorno-Karabagh is simple enough, the latter goes to the Armenian SSR. However, I've had some second thoughts on Nakhichevan because of the possible negative backlash from the Azeri and Turkish public."
"That is indeed true, and for a second I wanted to just simply cut off relations with the Soviet Union. However, because we've been hearing disturbing things coming from Greece that mentions something like 'we shall create a Greek state free of Muslims' and 'we shall liberate Cyprus from the Turkish yoke'. I can't help but feel alarmed at how the West is willing to back the Greeks. We tried to be neutral, but at the same time some of our own citizens are being targeted by both Greek communists and royalists." Inonu looked at the map of the Soviet Union. "And you need my help with solving the issue with regards to Nakhchivan, which I am willing to do. However, Nakhchivan only borders our own country and the Shahdom of Iran, and you may face a potential backlash from your own people of you expanded the Azeri state. What if you instead of expelling the Azeris of Nakhchivan, you just create a 16th Soviet Socialist Republic that is different from the Azerbaijani SSR?"
Mirza Ibrahimov gasped and glared at Inonu. "Mr. Inonu, as a fellow Turk, I wish to bring up the issue of my people who are about to be expelled by these Armenian bastards! We want our land back."
"Nakhichevan was Armenian land until you Azeris stole it from us!" I snapped.
"Stole it!? We lived in it, and I can't have you Armenians steal it back!" Ibrahimov snapped back. Inonu placed his hand on Ibrahimov's shoulder.
"What if I offered to take Nakhchivan under Turkish sovereignty?" he asked back.
Ibrahimov then looked at Inonu. "While I might be pissed at having to give up my people's territory, entrusting it under our Turkish brothers' control might be the only option. However, Pan-Turanism is something both Iran and Armenia will not tolerate and they will be the ones to overthrow Mikoyan out of power. The Armenian nationalists instead of us Azeris."
Just then, Vyshinsky arrived once again. This time, he was accompanied by Hossein Navab, the Iranian Foreign Minister who wanted to visit the Soviet Union in response to the crisis that is unfolding in Nakhchivan. I was relieved since I needed the Iranians' help in addition to the Turks with regards to this very same issue at hand. First, Navab handed me a letter that was written by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, thanking me for deciding to give up territorial claims on Iranian territory in exchange for peace and Iranian neutrality. I simply placed the letter on the table before going back to the conversation that I'm having with Inonu.
"What do you think of the situation in Nakhchivan, Navab-jan?" Ibrahimov asked the Iranian Foreign Minister. "We're in need of help and the Armenians might steal the rest of our territory."
"This is where I could be of use. You see, His Excellency the Shah of Iran is worried about Kurdish separatism and he was wondering about solving the Kurdish Question. As you know, the Kurds are the largest group without a homeland of their own, so if we can ask the Soviets for help in creating a Kurdish homeland that would be useful to both Turkey and Iran, that would be pleasant," Navab explained.
I nodded as I looked at the map. "We already decided to give up on the inclusion of northern Iran into the Soviet Union, but if what you've said was right, then perhaps the answer lies with Nakhchivan."
"Really?" Ibrahimov and Inonu raised their eyebrows. "Why would you factor in Nakhchivan?"
"Think of this way, esteemed guests. Nakhichevan doesn't want to be a part of Armenia, the Turks are offering to take them in, and we also want to keep Nagorno-Karabagh while maintaining good relations with Turkey and Iran. So here is what I'm proposing. Comrade Vyshinsky, jot this down and close the door." I drew out the proposed borders on the map while comrade Vyshinsky took out his notebook. "The Soviet Union shall pass a decree relinquishing control of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Oblast, currently under the control of the Armenian SSR, and cedes it to the Republic of Turkey."
"In exchange," Inonu added. "The Republic of Turkey shall cede the lands of the former Kars Oblast to the Soviet Union, to be assigned to the Armenian SSR, and for Turkey to acquire the northern region of the West Azerbaijan province from the Shahdom of Iran in exchange for gaining the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic from the Azeri SSR."
"You're taking Nakhchivan from us, Inonu-jan?" Ibrahimov asked back.
"Better Turkish control than Armenian, right?" Inonu replied back.
"Yes, but still. We have different religions, and I know too well what happens to the Alevi community," Ibrahimov told Inonu. He was right about the current issues regarding the Shia Alevis in Turkey, but the inclusion of the Azeris of Nakhchivan would eventually lead to a much better Turkish society that is secular and tolerant, as envisioned by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
"One final thing: Southern Mahabad Republic that is dissolved, could we try and move the Kurdish population in Turkey towards the Iraqi Kurdish provinces and Mahabad? If that fails, the Soviet Union can create a 'Caspian Kurdish ASSR' within the Kazakh SSR, probably in the western Kazakh lands." Mikoyan replied back. "If that fails, then should we have another war on our hands we can simply conquer the Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish provinces and turn it into an independent Kurdish Republic."
"Agreed. We should be the ones gaining the respect of the Kurdish population for making a serious attempt at creating an independent Kurdistan, and it's about time for Turkey's Kurdish population to be relocated elsewhere." Inonu finished his speech. Vyshinsky then drafted the Treaty of Moscow for all of us to sign, and when we finally signed it, we all shook hands. Ibrahimov may have lost the most, but Inonu now had a new purpose.
"If this goes well, then it shall be up to me to start something that Ataturk should have done a long time ago: we should reconcile and apologize to the Armenian survivors of the Massacre. If Germany could cleanse itself of its sinful past from the Holocaust, then Turkey should do the same. A Turkish-Armenian reconciliation can be something the Azeris need to pay attention to," Inonu said.
----
"This is Radio Moscow speaking from the Soviet capital. Today, a historic event has been made when on March 19th, 1947, the Shahdom of Iran, the Republic of Turkey and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have signed the 1947 Treaty of Moscow that replaces the earlier Treaty of Moscow and Treaty of Kars which demarked the border between the Soviet Union and Turkey. This peace treaty had not only solved the Nakhichevan crisis that tormented our Azeri fraternal brothers, but it also gave the Republic of Turkey enough territory to compensate for the cession of the former Tsarist-era Kars Governate to the Armenian SSR. The Iranian state also acquired the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic from the Azeri SSR in exchange for neutrality in the event that the Soviet Union and the capitalist powers get into conflict. Finally, Ismet Inonu has began with his efforts to reconcile with the Armenian people and to mend relations with them as a result of this new change of policy. Upon arriving in the Turkish capital, President Inonu began his famous tour around the country to try and reconcile the Turkish people and to convince them that the Republic of Turkey is better off neutral. In addition, with the final territorial adjustments, both Turkey and Iran pledged neutrality and non-interference in any dispute between the two sides." Radio Moscow broadcast, March 19th, 1947.
TROTSKYITES HOLD MEETING WITH TITO IN BELGRADE
The Washington Post, October 31, 1946
In what appears to be a possible ideological split within the communist movement, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had officially invited Esteban Sedov into Belgrade for a special meeting with Marshal Tito earlier on October 27th. The meeting had a special symbolic meaning as the Yugoslav leader continues to steer an independent course from the Soviet Union while in the midst of an ideological balance of power, the Soviet Union had ironically steered off course from the mainstream communist ideology as a result of the successive policies of Josef Stalin and Anastas Mikoyan that earned them condemnation from Tito himself. Esteban Sedov, as the world should remember, is the famous grandson of murdered ex-Bolshevik and arch-rival of Stalin, Leon Trotsky, and his presence in the Yugoslav state signals to the world that the communist movement had effectively been split into the so-called Marxist-Leninist-Trotskyite School of Thought and the Stalinist-Mikoyanist Deviationist School of Thought.
Tito later called on the rest of the communist movements around the world to sever ties with the Soviet Union because of that development while at the same time the Stalinist factions within the Eastern European communist movements called on the expulsion of Tito from power and to replace him with a pliable pro-Soviet vassal ruler. Unfortunately, the rift between Tito and Mikoyan is further widened when it was revealed that Tito's secret police the UDBA had uncovered a plot made by prominent communist Vladimir Dapcevic to overthrow Tito and to assume the leadership himself. When Tito moved to denounce Dapcevic and many other crypto-Stalinists, Dapcevic chose to flee from the Yugoslav capital. As of now, Dapcevic is moving closer to the Hungarian border.
----
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Anastas Mikoyan
Chapter Nine: Redemption in times of War
Now you may wonder by now as to what really happened with the Soviet Union's infamous traitor who chose to defect to the German jackals. Unlike Stalin who would simply shoot the bastard, I merely had him locked up in Lubyanka Prison and moved him as far away from Rodzaevsky as possible. Of course, the rat bastard who proved to be an opportunist had merely wanted to side with the fascists in order to save his own skin, but at the same time one could not see just how Vlasov was willing to go far to act like a ruthless careerist. Marshal Zhukov was also weary of this turncoat, mainly because Vlasov had also been proven to be a tactical and strategic genius in the art of war and he even played a role in saving Moscow from the German Army.
That was then and this is now, and right now I find myself visiting this poor sorry of a creature in his cell to ask questions. I had this nasty feeling that Vlasov might try to escape from his captivity the same way Draza Mihailovic escaped from Tito's clutches. Three Red Army soldiers were with me, as well as two NKVD officers who were there to make sure that Vlasov did not do anything stupid that will end his pathetic life in a whim. When we reached his cell, he looked at me with a hostile gaze. I merely glared back at him and did not talk until I entered inside his cell.
"So, Andrei Andreyevich. It's a pity that we weren't able to put an end to your worthless life because I would like to kill you myself with my bare hands," I snarled with a deadly voice. "All your decorations have been stripped and your rank is worthless now. There is no redemption for the likes of you now."
"You may try, bastard, but at least I knew too well that the Soviet Union that I know no longer exists. I don't believe in the nonsense that I had to force myself to believe in since being under German captivity allowed me to do a soul searching and in the end I decided to take up the mantle of the Russian nationalist. I am a nationalist now, Mikoyan, and if you kill me, the ROA will howl for revenge against the Soviet state and not to mention that I will even throw my support behind Rodzaevsky should he become the leader of a free Russia." I spat on the floor of his cell and stepped on it. Then, I kicked him in the stomach while the two NKVD guards dragged him back up.
"Spoken like a traitor, I see. Well, we'll decide if you're better off hanged or shot in a firing squad," the NKVD agent told Vlasov. "Comrade Mikoyan, perhaps we should take our leave."
Vlasov then gave a loud laugh. "You think you're still a good communist, Mikoyan? Even after you angered your Azeri brethren with the theft of their territory-"
"That is just simple readjustment, and you should know it. As of now, I did not authorize the transfer of any Russian territory to the other republics, except for the Caucasus. Now it's time for me to leave." I turned around and walked away.
The next couple of months were nothing short of a lackluster since we hardly did anything, unless you count the attempted defection of comrade Dapcevic to the Hungarian Socialist Republic, but Djilas also tried to defect when it became clear that he didn't want any Trotskyites influencing his line of work, which caused Tito to arrest him and to strip him of his positions. By the time 1947 had arrived, the constant reports on the Soviet naval buildup in the Far East had resulted in the development of the Soviet shipbuilding industry in the Far East. Komsomol youths were encouraged to move eastwards as a part of their training for future careers in the Soviet government, and several of their required training exercises involved working on collective farms, helping out with the construction and improvement of roads and railways (despite the West accusing me of employing child labor), as well as military training. I also happen to take a page out of the old Ottoman Empire's book on training janissaries by sending orphans who lost their parents during the war to orphanages where they can either be adopted by Communist Party officials or the government takes charge of their welfare, sending them out to families who worked on collective farms as farm hands. What I was actually doing though, was building upon the controversial legacy of Stalin by turning the Soviet Union into some sort of a National Bolshevik state. I felt that Bolshevism should be refined and reformed, and the wheels of history constantly change all the time.
Finally, Vyshinsky gave me reports on the war in China as Liu Shaoqi's forces had managed to drag the Kuomintang into a conflict with the communists in northern China. I also decided to give up on the creation and admission of the Uyghur Soviet Socialist Republic because there are other territories in the Eurasian continent where I can simply expand my influence there without actually conquering territory. However, my biggest challenge has yet to come and it did arrive on March 17th, 1947 when Ismet Inonu himself arrived in Moscow to follow up on Hasan Saka's visit. Although I was looking forward to finally making a deal with the Turks, a part of me still wanted to force them to pay up for what they have done to my people. I'm still Armenian at heart, and I had Armenian friends who lost their families during the Genocide. My son Sergo was just graduating from the Komsomol and was slotted to join the foreign relations department within the Soviet Union, so that is why I invited him here to observe how I dealt with foreign dignitaries. Also present was Vyshinsky and Mirza Ibrahimov, the Azeri leader of the Azerbaijani SSR. This was going to be the meeting that should finally restore the balance of power in the Soviet Union, and to avoid any further bloodshed between the Armenians and Azeris.
"I thank you for arriving on such a short notice, and it's nice to see the President of the Turkish Republic instead of Mr. Saka," I said to Inonu. We shook hands as Inonu nodded. "Now then, the business at hand, we should discuss. The fate of Nakhichevan and Nagorno-Karabagh is simple enough, the latter goes to the Armenian SSR. However, I've had some second thoughts on Nakhichevan because of the possible negative backlash from the Azeri and Turkish public."
"That is indeed true, and for a second I wanted to just simply cut off relations with the Soviet Union. However, because we've been hearing disturbing things coming from Greece that mentions something like 'we shall create a Greek state free of Muslims' and 'we shall liberate Cyprus from the Turkish yoke'. I can't help but feel alarmed at how the West is willing to back the Greeks. We tried to be neutral, but at the same time some of our own citizens are being targeted by both Greek communists and royalists." Inonu looked at the map of the Soviet Union. "And you need my help with solving the issue with regards to Nakhchivan, which I am willing to do. However, Nakhchivan only borders our own country and the Shahdom of Iran, and you may face a potential backlash from your own people of you expanded the Azeri state. What if you instead of expelling the Azeris of Nakhchivan, you just create a 16th Soviet Socialist Republic that is different from the Azerbaijani SSR?"
Mirza Ibrahimov gasped and glared at Inonu. "Mr. Inonu, as a fellow Turk, I wish to bring up the issue of my people who are about to be expelled by these Armenian bastards! We want our land back."
"Nakhichevan was Armenian land until you Azeris stole it from us!" I snapped.
"Stole it!? We lived in it, and I can't have you Armenians steal it back!" Ibrahimov snapped back. Inonu placed his hand on Ibrahimov's shoulder.
"What if I offered to take Nakhchivan under Turkish sovereignty?" he asked back.
Ibrahimov then looked at Inonu. "While I might be pissed at having to give up my people's territory, entrusting it under our Turkish brothers' control might be the only option. However, Pan-Turanism is something both Iran and Armenia will not tolerate and they will be the ones to overthrow Mikoyan out of power. The Armenian nationalists instead of us Azeris."
Just then, Vyshinsky arrived once again. This time, he was accompanied by Hossein Navab, the Iranian Foreign Minister who wanted to visit the Soviet Union in response to the crisis that is unfolding in Nakhchivan. I was relieved since I needed the Iranians' help in addition to the Turks with regards to this very same issue at hand. First, Navab handed me a letter that was written by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, thanking me for deciding to give up territorial claims on Iranian territory in exchange for peace and Iranian neutrality. I simply placed the letter on the table before going back to the conversation that I'm having with Inonu.
"What do you think of the situation in Nakhchivan, Navab-jan?" Ibrahimov asked the Iranian Foreign Minister. "We're in need of help and the Armenians might steal the rest of our territory."
"This is where I could be of use. You see, His Excellency the Shah of Iran is worried about Kurdish separatism and he was wondering about solving the Kurdish Question. As you know, the Kurds are the largest group without a homeland of their own, so if we can ask the Soviets for help in creating a Kurdish homeland that would be useful to both Turkey and Iran, that would be pleasant," Navab explained.
I nodded as I looked at the map. "We already decided to give up on the inclusion of northern Iran into the Soviet Union, but if what you've said was right, then perhaps the answer lies with Nakhchivan."
"Really?" Ibrahimov and Inonu raised their eyebrows. "Why would you factor in Nakhchivan?"
"Think of this way, esteemed guests. Nakhichevan doesn't want to be a part of Armenia, the Turks are offering to take them in, and we also want to keep Nagorno-Karabagh while maintaining good relations with Turkey and Iran. So here is what I'm proposing. Comrade Vyshinsky, jot this down and close the door." I drew out the proposed borders on the map while comrade Vyshinsky took out his notebook. "The Soviet Union shall pass a decree relinquishing control of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Oblast, currently under the control of the Armenian SSR, and cedes it to the Republic of Turkey."
"In exchange," Inonu added. "The Republic of Turkey shall cede the lands of the former Kars Oblast to the Soviet Union, to be assigned to the Armenian SSR, and for Turkey to acquire the northern region of the West Azerbaijan province from the Shahdom of Iran in exchange for gaining the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic from the Azeri SSR."
"You're taking Nakhchivan from us, Inonu-jan?" Ibrahimov asked back.
"Better Turkish control than Armenian, right?" Inonu replied back.
"Yes, but still. We have different religions, and I know too well what happens to the Alevi community," Ibrahimov told Inonu. He was right about the current issues regarding the Shia Alevis in Turkey, but the inclusion of the Azeris of Nakhchivan would eventually lead to a much better Turkish society that is secular and tolerant, as envisioned by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
"One final thing: Southern Mahabad Republic that is dissolved, could we try and move the Kurdish population in Turkey towards the Iraqi Kurdish provinces and Mahabad? If that fails, the Soviet Union can create a 'Caspian Kurdish ASSR' within the Kazakh SSR, probably in the western Kazakh lands." Mikoyan replied back. "If that fails, then should we have another war on our hands we can simply conquer the Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish provinces and turn it into an independent Kurdish Republic."
"Agreed. We should be the ones gaining the respect of the Kurdish population for making a serious attempt at creating an independent Kurdistan, and it's about time for Turkey's Kurdish population to be relocated elsewhere." Inonu finished his speech. Vyshinsky then drafted the Treaty of Moscow for all of us to sign, and when we finally signed it, we all shook hands. Ibrahimov may have lost the most, but Inonu now had a new purpose.
"If this goes well, then it shall be up to me to start something that Ataturk should have done a long time ago: we should reconcile and apologize to the Armenian survivors of the Massacre. If Germany could cleanse itself of its sinful past from the Holocaust, then Turkey should do the same. A Turkish-Armenian reconciliation can be something the Azeris need to pay attention to," Inonu said.
----
"This is Radio Moscow speaking from the Soviet capital. Today, a historic event has been made when on March 19th, 1947, the Shahdom of Iran, the Republic of Turkey and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have signed the 1947 Treaty of Moscow that replaces the earlier Treaty of Moscow and Treaty of Kars which demarked the border between the Soviet Union and Turkey. This peace treaty had not only solved the Nakhichevan crisis that tormented our Azeri fraternal brothers, but it also gave the Republic of Turkey enough territory to compensate for the cession of the former Tsarist-era Kars Governate to the Armenian SSR. The Iranian state also acquired the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic from the Azeri SSR in exchange for neutrality in the event that the Soviet Union and the capitalist powers get into conflict. Finally, Ismet Inonu has began with his efforts to reconcile with the Armenian people and to mend relations with them as a result of this new change of policy. Upon arriving in the Turkish capital, President Inonu began his famous tour around the country to try and reconcile the Turkish people and to convince them that the Republic of Turkey is better off neutral. In addition, with the final territorial adjustments, both Turkey and Iran pledged neutrality and non-interference in any dispute between the two sides." Radio Moscow broadcast, March 19th, 1947.
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I agree with Patton- how did the Werewolves manage to get capable enough to kill Adenauer when their post V-E Day resistance was never that effective in OTL?
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
Well IOTL as late as 1946 the Allies continued to capture satellite groups of the Werewolves, and if you could look up Stephen Fritz's book Endkampf: Soldiers, Civilians and the End of the Third Reich, he mentioned a lot of stories about post-war Werewolf. However, with the potential crisis between the Soviets and the Allies, the Werewolves might have become more dangerous. Playing the Allies and Soviets off against each other, they could be a dangerous distraction.
Fun fact: OTL's Socialist Reich Party was founded by Otto Ernst Remer, the man who prevented Hitler's assassination from succeeding and even became the godfather of Holocaust denial. Since he's basically the brains behind the Nazi underground, his specialty would be highly coveted by the Arabs, Croats, Latin American far-right movements, and even possibly Asian anti-communists.
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Deleted member 14881
Hey, I'm taking over for MarshalBraginsky.
[new update from MB]
Turn Seven: It Doesn’t Hurt to Plan Ahead
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Anastas Mikoyan
Chapter Ten: The Crux of the Matter
Although the official agreement to change the borders in the Near East seems to have been completed, the Azeris were still angry that they remained the biggest losers in the territorial adjustment. Even after Inonu offered and agreed to give northeastern Turkey to the Soviet Union as part of the Armenian SSR, the question of Nakhchivan remained thorny. To make matters worse, I don’t know which territory the Azeris should be compensated with since they made it clear that they wanted their territory back. Yes, some Azeri Communist Party leaders thought that their brethren in the Nakhichevan province would be better off in Turkey, but at the same time the Iranians had compensated themselves with the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic from the Azerbaijani SSR. It was not until I met Inonu and Ibrahimov once again in June of 1947 that I found myself once again being confronted with a new foreign policy problem. To my surprise, it wasn’t about the Turks or Azeris this time, they needed some clarification on the possibility of establishing a Kurdish nation state and the upcoming proposal for the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine with the possibility of creating an independent Jewish state.
“Mr. Mikoyan, with regards to the referendum about the creation of the Jewish state what is your opinion on such a proposal?” Ibrahimov asked curiously.
I sighed. “Comrade Stalin would have voted right away, but there is a potential problem with the creation of an independent Jewish state. First and foremost, the reaction of the other Arab states because they will not tolerate a Jewish state on what is in their view, Muslim territory. On the other hand, the recent Holocaust had forced the entire world to face the reality that only an independent Jewish nation-state can finally end the centuries of persecution against the Jews. While we have a Jewish Autonomous Oblast within the Soviet Far East, that experiment isn’t going well.”
“No one wants to live in a very cold place, comrade Mikoyan. However, with your recent proposal to give cash and commodity incentives to any Soviet citizen who is willing to relocate to the Far Eastern regions for economic purposes, that could work. We don’t want to turn Vladivostok into a dull looking city, not with the newly acquired Korean territory of Chongjin that we can use as our new Special Administrative Zone.” Ibrahimov replied back warmly. Since the cession of Nakhchivan to the Turks, some Azeris were actually beginning to come around with my sincere gesture to our Turkish adversaries and even supported me. Truth and reconciliation is one good way of preventing problems from springing up once again.
Inonu then spoke up. “Was there any other proposed territorial changes that you had in mind?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Say if another war were to break out in the Balkans once again, this time over Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and how the Western Allies could take advantage of that plus the increasing aid to the Greek royalists in military and financial support. What if that Greek anti-communist government began to persecute the remaining Jews and Turks?” I asked Inonu. His eyes widened. “Yes, you know where this is going. Apparently during the Great Patriotic War, the German jackals had apparently occupied a strip of Greek territory between Turkey and Bulgarian occupied Greek Thrace. What if I were to say that I’m willing to revive that idea and attack Greece with the intention of taking that piece of territory?”
“I’m not sure if I’m following you, Mr. Mikoyan. Do you honestly want to go on a land-grabbing campaign; only years after your German enemies did the same thing?” Inonu asked back. “The Allies wouldn’t be happy at all.”
“Not if the intended territory that I will conquer will be given to your country, Mr. Inonu. Comrade Stalin said that he agreed to leave Greece in Western influence. I did not say that, and if a Third World War could break out over the Balkans, I can renege on that promise and come out as a winner. I will even award that occupied Thrace to the Bulgarian Socialist Republic, but I also wanted to expand Soviet territory as well but for different reasons. I intend to not only smash Stalin’s legacy, but to build my own better legacy.” I showed Inonu and Ibrahimov the proposed border changes in Europe.
“So that was why the Germans desperately wanted us in the war; they offered us that strip of territory in exchange for our participation,” Inonu replied back.
“If the Red Army cannot defeat the Western Allies in an open conflict, all we have to do is to start fires around any potential conflict zones and ship weapons to anyone who is willing to fight for our cause. Even if the Western Allies will do the same thing, we’d use proxys to fight our wars too. While at the same time, the Red Army can take a rest until they’re needed to fight once again,” I said as Inonu and Ibrahimov nodded and left.
The next three weeks starting on July of 1947 was spent on discussing new decrees and projects that I had in mind with my inner circle. Kosygin in particular, wanted to brainstorm his own ideas for the great Soviet reconstruction project that will take place in its western provinces while Voznesensky wanted to launch a major renovation project in Siberia and the Far East. As far as we were concerned, the Ten Year Plans were going to focus on simple reconstruction of the entire country. With regards to Chongjin though, it was Voznesensky who wanted to rebuild that port in the same vision as Leningrad was built. I also had in mind the construction of a future capital city of the Soviet Union, one where even the Allies cannot reach quickly, even if they were attacking from India. I had my sights on the small city of Akmolinsk, in the Kazakh SSR, as the most important city. By moving my government from Moscow to Akmolinsk, I would give more attention to the less developed regions of the Soviet Union and promote the Central Asian city as a federal city within the USSR.
With regards to Europe, I was pleased to hear that the pro-Soviet Communist Parties are actually seizing power at such a plausible pace. Since our troops occupy the Eastern European nations, they helped out by taking out any potential anti-communist opposition figures as well as neo-Trotskyites who were becoming more dangerous than irritant. I did not forget the current events in Asia as well, because from what I learned from our Chinese friends, the Americans had their soldiers in Chinese territory with the intention of helping the Kuomintang regain power. It was a rather disappointing setback for us when comrade Stalin cancelled the operation to take the Japanese island of Hokkaido because we could have used Hokkaido as a bargaining chip to neutralize Japan’s potential strength if it was going to be used against us, or the fact that MacArthur had jeopardized the plans to occupy Japan the same way Germany and Austria had been occupied by the four powers (in this case, KMT China would occupy Shikoku) by running the entire show by himself. Moreover, we also needed some good blackmail material to convince the Allies to give us what we want, and it did came in the form of an autopsy report that was given to the Soviet authorities by Liu Shaoqi’s men when they came across what appeared to be the remains of Unit 731.
In addition, I received a disturbing report from our NKVD agents stationed in Germany and the Soviet sector of Austria, as well as in Hungary and Yugoslavia that the Allies were having second thoughts about launching Operation: Keelhaul, or the plan to repatriate the Eastern European population whose homelands were now under our control since they wanted to go back to planning anti-Soviet activities. To make matters worse, the Cossacks and their German leader Helmut von Pannwitz were having negotiations with the very same Allied leaders who had conveniently kidnapped those German scientists who worked on the V2 project. Yet despite our setbacks in trying to gain a technological advantage, we got the better deal: we got the German scientists that did not fall under American captivity, as well as the German records of how the rockets worked. However, I intend to use the rockets as a last resort, a secret weapon, if you like to call it. Not only because we already have experience with rockets (ie: the Katyusha launchers), but we don’t want to attract too much attention to the Western Allies of our intentions more than we already have. Speaking of which, it became more intriguing that Klaus Fuchs and the two Rosenbergs became more interested in helping me advance with the nuclear program so much that I had to convince the NKVD to try and secure their safe passage from the United States without attracting suspicion. Yet with the ongoing ‘cold war’ that we have with the Western Allies, any bold move might backfire horribly, and the Soviet Union hasn’t recovered fully from the war. It was not until October of 1947 that I had two important meetings going on: the Soviet military leadership wanted to see me about reassigning Marshal Zhukov to the Far East to train and upgrade the Soviet Far Eastern Military District’s troops there and my first trip outside the Soviet Union to Diyarbakir where Inonu invited the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee on the Israel issue. Unfortunately, I was interrupted with shocking news.
“Comrade Mikoyan!” an NKVD leader yelled as he came close to my office.
“What is it!?”
“Bad news, comrade. The traitor Vlasov, he has escaped!”
“Who the hell shirked off in their duties when this happened?” I yelled back.
“Apparently he had an accomplice. It was that Rodzaevsky fellow who helped him, but they won’t get far.” The NKVD leader told me. I doubt the NKVD would capture a man with such an intellect, especially if he wanted to use his wits to escape.
“Search the entire city. Get me Shelepin immediately!” I snapped. Twenty minutes later, comrade Shelepin arrived. “Report.”
“Yes, Comrade Mikoyan.” Shelepin handed me a note. “It appears that Vlasov blindsided his captor who went to relief himself and took his gun. He shouldn’t get far.”
“I don’t know how Vlasov could escape, but do not let him get away,” I replied back coldly.
All of the NKVD’s agents kept me informed on where Vlasov and Rodzaevsky were going until an hour and a half later when Shelepin and two other NKVD agents arrived back in my office with grins on their faces. They handed me a folder containing new information on the Vlasovtsy soldiers who were living in Liechtenstein that they were clamoring to create a new Russian Liberation Army division in the event that Vlasov would be executed. Furthermore, it was Shelepin who spoke first.
“Comrade Mikoyan, the traitors have been liquidated.”
---
Excerpts from “Yet Again, Conflict Calls”
by: George Patton
Bloomberg Press
Chapter Eight: Scandal
The continued mystery surrounding Adenauer’s assassination by the Werewolves seemed to multiply as we did not know how some assassin could have managed to target him when in fact the Werewolves seemed to have been subdued. Eisenhower was still not willing to let me come back to Europe due to my so-called crypto-Nazi sympathies but as September had already come and gone (well, it appears that I am writing this passage on the Canadian Thanksgiving, rather than the American Thanksgiving), I had a nagging feeling that we might learn about Adenauer that the Werewolves didn’t want the whole world to know. All of this chaos is going on while I’m still traveling between Japan and the Philippines and MacArthur being a pain in the rear end as usual. However, the US presidential elections are coming up so Dougout Doug was disappointed to hear that he wasn’t ready to campaign yet. At least for him, he has four extra years to clean up his act and finish whatever he’s doing in Japan before he goes back to the States. Me? Now it became clear that my position as MacArthur’s foil in Japan has become pointless since General Krueger wanted me to retrain the Philippine Army while he goes to Japan and replace MacArthur.
It was not until September 21 that Krueger approached me with an envelope that was stamped “TOP SECRET” while I was busy supervising a couple of Filipino recruits on how to reload the M1 Garand. I allowed Captain Henry Mucci (the same hero who led the Raid on Cabanatuan) to take over for a bit while Krueger and I entered the office in Malolos. We had to make sure that none of the other US officers were present, because of the very nature of this secrecy, but I have a nasty feeling that whatever got Adenauer killed, the letter held the key to everything. I was too nervous to know what secret it is, to be honest. Krueger on the other hand, was relieved that he didn’t have to deal with the same stuff Eisenhower had to put up with in Germany, and I was one of the few people who opposed the ‘disarmed enemy combatants’ status that led to God knows how many German prisoners died. Now I opened the letter and gasped.
“It appears that Adenauer had somehow got wind of what was afoot in Germany since the US had demobilized three quarters of its soldiers from Europe that elements within the former Wehrmacht and the SS wanted to create an army, even though military organizations were against Allied regulations and laws, in order to defend Germany in case the Soviet Union or its Eastern European puppets invaded. At that time, Adenauer was being groomed to take over as the first post-war Chancellor of a democratic Germany. Because he had by accident stumbled upon the meeting of the Edelweiss Pirates who had actually hijacked the name of the anti-Nazi organization also bearing that name, the Werewolves decided that he was too much of a threat to be ignored and so they killed him. In addition, Adenauer had some connections to the Nazi Party that had to be sealed, for example the letter that he wrote to Hermann Goering on the inclusion of the Nazis into the German Weimar Government and at one point Hitler wanted to include Adenauer into his party because of his contributions to civic projects before deciding that he was too much of a hostile opponent.” The letter read. It continued on, “At one point Adenauer was close to General Patton in terms of how they both exchanged information on the current situation in Germany and Patton’s fears of a communist revolution happening in the absence of a functioning government. However, the Werewolves were also aware of Patton’s crypto-Nazi sentiments when he chose to keep 16 ex-Nazis in the administration of Bavaria and his opposition to Eisenhower’s ‘disarmed enemy combatants’ status as nothing more than a mirror action of what the Nazis had done to the Jews.”
“So these Nazis wanted to use you as poster boy for possible Allied-German cooperation against the Soviet Union. With that kind of attitude, no wonder why Eisenhower was not fond of you,” Krueger told me.
“It’s not just that. My reasoning for keeping those ex-Nazis was that we couldn’t find anyone else competent enough to run the Bavarian government that wasn’t a Nazi, but Ike still chucked me out,” I grumbled. “And now God must be laughing at me because now I have to put up with this arrogant bastard who not only wanted to be president of the US, but he’s getting off scot free for the same kind of stunt that I got in trouble for!”
“Keep it down, Patton!” Krueger whispered harshly. “Do you want to utter that secret that wasn’t supposed to be told?”
“I suppose you’re right. I still have a duty here in the Philippines before going back to Japan. At least the Tokyo War Crimes Trial should start soon,” I replied back, but Krueger shook his head. “Oh no. You’ve gotta be joking.”
“I’m afraid not, General. It appears that with the Allies and the Soviets on the collision course, the War Crimes Tribunals for both defeated Germany and Japan might be postponed until everything calms down,” Krueger replied back once again. “It would be up to Mikoyan to solve this stuff before it blows up, and with the business in Greece regarding the civil war-“
“The Chetnik exiles plus those poor American pilots that were shot down over the Balkans during the war in Operation: Halyard that are now fighting as volunteers on their side against the Greek communists supplied by Tito who is now being courted by the grandson of Leon Trotsky, and now the Yugoslav Communists are still dealing with the stuff the Croats pulled, this is just a war waiting to be triggered,” I sighed. “I won’t be surprised if Keelhaul was cancelled because Mikoyan decided to pull a MacArthur and be a jerk to the whole world.”
“About Keelhaul, General. There’s another piece of information that you should learn,” Krueger told me before we exited the office. “General Vlasov of the disbanded Russian Liberation Army along with Konstantin Rodzaevsky of the so-called Russian Fascist Party was both killed while trying to escape from their captivity in Moscow by the NKVD after a gun battle that did not claim the lives of a single NKVD agent.”
“I knew Keelhaul was going to end up being cancelled! Along with those Cossacks led by von Pannwitz who were still imprisoned on Mikoyan’s orders, many other Russian volunteers who fought for the Nazis called the RONA were clamoring to join the rebuilt ROA in Liechtenstein. Just why is Pannwitz still alive?” I wondered. Then again, Mikoyan wanted to use German POWs as bargaining chips for any kind of shady deal he wanted to make. “More importantly, could we use anti-communist Russians in overthrowing the Soviet government?”
“Whatever Mikoyan has up his sleeve, he’s already begun to lose this poker game. After all, Russians don’t play poker,” Krueger replied back. “But it doesn’t mean they don’t know any tricks that could be used against us.”
---
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Otto Ernst Remer
Chapter Eight: Tricks Up the Sleeve
I was rather pleased when news of Adenauer’s assassination reached my cell through my spies within the prisoner population. Although the Werwolf organization had seemingly been eliminated by the Allies, I still felt that the German population needed something that will trigger them to revolt. Unfortunately, as I am still stuck in prison I can’t do anything right now. That is, until another visit from the Soviets and General Eisenhower had come about by this normal September of 1947. With the news of Vlasov’s untimely demise (he proved to be a good leader for an army full of cannon fodder) and the death of Rodzaevsky announced at the same time, I can’t help but feel sorry for the refugees who might be forced to go back towards those terrible communists. I decided to play it safe and pretend that I did not learn anything.
“This is the last and only visit that I will make, seeing as comrade Mikoyan will reassign me to the Far Eastern Military District,” Zhukov started. “Chuikov is now in charge of the Soviet sector of Germany, but I will make this brief. Effective on September 27th, the German prisoners of war that are in the gulags will return to their homes in Germany, and this will include some of the prisoners that are incarcerated here. You on the other hand, will be spared the death penalty in exchange for your help in identifying the locations of all Werewolf hideouts.”
I didn’t know how to respond, and Eisenhower only added his comment. “We know that you and your Werewolf organization were responsible for the murder of Konrad Adenauer. Unless you want us to hang you by the neck, you will confess to your role in his murder. If you cooperate, we will release you.”
“You expect me to betray the very movement that I believed in, in exchange for my own life? Are you seriously asking me to turn traitor to the Fatherland and condemn me to death by the hands of my own comrades?” I scoffed.
“You are already marked for death the moment that you joined those murdering thugs,” Zhukov replied back. “However, since comrade Mikoyan wanted German neutrality even though I disagree with the plan to give up my domain in exchange for a non-aligned Germany, he released those prisoners of war as a sign of goodwill. You should take advantage of comrade Mikoyan’s mercy.”
“I see.” I looked around before giving my answer. “How about I give you some new information? The Alpenfestung was supposed to be where the Fuhrer’s government is to be relocated in the event that Berlin falls to the Red Army. Even though Herr Goebbels managed to make the Alpenfestung a big lie to deceive Allied forces, it is where most of the V-2 scientists that you Americans captured were found. In addition, I should provide the names of the resistance groups that hijacked the names of the original anti-Nazi resistance like the Edelweiss Piraten.”
“We already know that, Mr. Remer. What else can you tell us that we haven’t known?” Eisenhower replied back.
“How long will it take for Europe’s economy to recover from the war, and as a result of Werwolf actions that damaged economic properties?” I asked back. That question, was something no one answered.
By the end of September, I was released from my imprisonment and moved to the border with the Soviet sector of Germany where I was kept under American surveillance. I had to proceed slowly and distance myself from my former comrades so that the Allies won’t suspect me of anything. I didn’t ask anything about the fate of General Patton because if I did so, then I’d be sent back to prison and that is the last thing that I needed. Thus I had to work on my own with regards to forming that secret army that I needed. However, I have a long work ahead since I sacrificed the ineffective Werwolf groups for my own freedom, but a freedom I needed to move towards the formation of a secret Schwarz Wehrmacht.
---
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Vladimir Dapcevic
Chapter Five: Defection and Death
It was a couple of months since the fateful visit by Esteban Sedov that the Yugoslav communist unity had begun to crack hard. I for one did not like the flirtation with Trotskyism at all and saw Tito’s embracing of that ideology as embarrassing. Didn’t we change Yugoslav communism to be a bit more ecletic? I thought we were done with the alien Trotskyite ideology that had caused so much alienation from the regular people that led them to embracing fascism in the first place. I was not only unsatisfied with where Tito was going with his flirtation with Sedov, but he even began to suspect me of becoming Mikoyan’s lackey. To make matters worse, I was placed under house arrest for no good reason at all. It is as if Tito wanted me to crack under pressure in order to force the so-called Yugoslav deviationists to conform to his views, with refusal to do so would be to go on a one way ticket to Goli Otok. Fortunately, I was not imprisoned in Goli Otok, but I was confined to a safe house, just a few kilometers away from the Hungarian border.
Arso Jovanovic joined me in our house arrest, but he was confined at another safe house, this time on the border with Romania. Unlike me, there were a few Yugoslav Partisans who liked Jovanovic much better than Tito, and these men actually fought under him. While his guards were supposed to keep an eye out on him, they actually looked the other way and let him get into contact with his family and friends. However by September 30th, one of Jovanovic’s friends managed to sneak out of the country as Romanian border guards took him in without any hesitation. Before Jovanovic’s friend left, he relayed a passage to him and then to me that my brother Peko will join me in his house arrest, because he too, turned against Tito and he was caught smuggling top secret documents to both the Soviet ambassador to Yugoslavia and to an OSS agent. Now that my brother was here, he and I would plot our escape together.
“So Vlado, any plans on how to get past our own border guards and let the Hungarian security detail know of our intentions?” Peko asked me. “Tito has already stripped me of my rank and position, so at least Arso can join me in our escape to the Soviet Union.”
“Well, if we had the same kind of guards as Arso, we’d be much better. Unfortunately, the guards here are loyal to Tito.” I looked around to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. “However, we have to escape at night, during the changing of the shifts when guards would be relieved by new arrivals.”
“Before we can escape though, we have to watch the time for the changing of the guards. Also, we’ll need clothes, provisions and money. I don’t know if our dinars would be good or that we may need to convert to Hungarian pengos.” Apparently we forgot that the Hungarian pengo is useless as a currency and that the new Hungarian forint was the new, legal tender.
I checked my wallets for cash, and sure enough, I only had 500 Yugoslav dinars. I don’t know how much would that be in Hungarian forints. Peko on the other hand, only had 300 Yugoslav dinars, so we’re lucked out on how we can get the necessary amount of cash needed once we’re inside Hungarian territory. Even worse, we don’t know the language there and we don’t speak Russian. It would be a miracle if we ran into a Red Army soldier on patrol who would understand what we’re talking about, even if our languages seem to sound similar but totally different. We waited for three weeks, in which we observed the guards changing shifts from both the Yugoslav and Hungarian sides. By luck, one of Arso’s other friends managed to sneak past the guards in Kikinda and arrived at the safe house with additional cash that was later revealed to be stolen from a bank in Kragujevac.
“Additional 2,000 Yugoslav dinars for you two, and some sandwiches there that my wife packed.” The friend showed us some food that was wrapped in tissue. “Good luck.”
Finally on the anniversary of Stalin’s death, we saw the changing of the guard for the last time at 10 in the evening. We started to sneak out of the safe house, but not before Peko disabled his guards and knocked them out cold. He then placed the guards on top of the bed we used to sleep in and began to move closer. We had to be careful and not make any noise at all. We approached the Hungarian border by 11:30 at night and was about to enter the border post when five Yugoslav border guards stopped us. We were nervous because for some odd reason, we were already caught.
“Don’t make any suspicious moves or we shoot you dead!” snapped one of the Yugoslav guards. Peko and I looked across the border posts as the Hungarian border guards mobilized.
“Make a run for it.” Peko nudged for me to start running. “RUN!”
The two of us began to run towards the border post as we dodged the bullets that were fired from the Yugoslav side. One of the Hungarian border guards pointed his rifle at us, but Peko raised his hands up as he tried to explain his situation to them. Since none of us spoke Hungarian, the border guards had to get a local Red Army commander to understand what we’re trying to say. Just before we successfully crossed the border, another burst of gunfire had struck me in the chest. I lay dying as Peko dragged me into the ground while he turned around and saw two Hungarian border guards with similar gunshot wounds as one of them was already dead.
(continued by Peko Dapcevic)
How could this happen? My brother Vlado was shot by Tito’s men while we had already crossed the border into Hungary, and two Hungarian border guards were also killed in the process. I explained everything about the incident to the Red Army commander who maintained a garrison in the Hungarian border with Yugoslavia. An ambulance arrived to pick up my brother and taken to a local hospital in Kelebia, but he was already pronounced dead by the time we arrived. In another hospital located in Tompa, the two Hungarian guards’ families cried in grief when they saw their loved ones already dead. It was not until October 14th that I found myself meeting with Marshal Voroshilov that he explained everything.
“The news of your brother’s death was indeed a tragic affair. However, the Hungarian government is now considering a form of punishment meted out against the Yugoslavs for the deaths of their border guards, and because of the border skirmishes with the Romanian and Bulgarian border guards that had already occurred before this incident, the Soviet Union is now considering the possibility of going to war against Yugoslavia,” Voroshilov explained to me while we stayed in Kelebia. “Comrade Mikoyan would like to see you in Moscow.”
“Thank you, comrade Marshal. What of Arso Jovanovic?” I asked.
“He has survived, but three Red Army soldiers and one Romanian border guard lost their lives protecting Jovanovic from the Yugoslavs. Since our own troops were killed by these neo-Trotskyites, there will be negative consequences beyond scope,” Voroshilov replied back. “I’m sorry about your brother. From what I heard, he’s the man comrade Mikoyan would support in the possible installation of a pro-Soviet regime in Yugoslavia.”
“I wouldn’t be sure. The neo-Trotskyites could still try and seize power in Eastern Europe, unless the Red Army clamps down on them,” I told him. “If need be, we have to liquidate Esteban Sedov.”
Voroshilov nodded. “I am aware of the fact that Trotsky’s grandson is stirring up trouble in Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union is tired from the Great Patriotic War and they need more time to recover before we can launch a new war.”
“You may not get a chance to rest though, if the Western Allies are planning to help the Chinese reactionaries retain power there and there’s also the issue of Korea as well. Please bring our right-minded Yugoslav comrades to Moscow, comrade Marshal,” I pleaded while looking at the dead body of Vlado.
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“This is Radio Free Europe reporting from Stuttgart in Allied occupied Germany. Today on the same anniversary as Stalin’s death, the defection of Peko Dapcevic and Arso Jovanovic from Yugoslavia to the Soviet Union has been confirmed. It is also confirmed that Vladimir Dapcevic is among the many people who are killed in the Yugoslav Border Skirmishes, and in the same day as his death two Hungarian border guards are also shot dead. Mikoyan’s response to the growing militant behavior of the Yugoslav government was the increase in Soviet troop strength that is stationed in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as in the Soviet Far East. As of October 14, 1947, the Soviet Union has severed diplomatic ties with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and is considering the idea of going to war against them. While we may consider this as an internal affair within the communist movement, the Western Allies remain committed in bringing the destruction of the Soviet state and the restoration of democracy and freedom in Eastern Europe.” Radio Free Europe broadcast, October 14, 1947.
[new update from MB]
Turn Seven: It Doesn’t Hurt to Plan Ahead
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Anastas Mikoyan
Chapter Ten: The Crux of the Matter
Although the official agreement to change the borders in the Near East seems to have been completed, the Azeris were still angry that they remained the biggest losers in the territorial adjustment. Even after Inonu offered and agreed to give northeastern Turkey to the Soviet Union as part of the Armenian SSR, the question of Nakhchivan remained thorny. To make matters worse, I don’t know which territory the Azeris should be compensated with since they made it clear that they wanted their territory back. Yes, some Azeri Communist Party leaders thought that their brethren in the Nakhichevan province would be better off in Turkey, but at the same time the Iranians had compensated themselves with the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic from the Azerbaijani SSR. It was not until I met Inonu and Ibrahimov once again in June of 1947 that I found myself once again being confronted with a new foreign policy problem. To my surprise, it wasn’t about the Turks or Azeris this time, they needed some clarification on the possibility of establishing a Kurdish nation state and the upcoming proposal for the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine with the possibility of creating an independent Jewish state.
“Mr. Mikoyan, with regards to the referendum about the creation of the Jewish state what is your opinion on such a proposal?” Ibrahimov asked curiously.
I sighed. “Comrade Stalin would have voted right away, but there is a potential problem with the creation of an independent Jewish state. First and foremost, the reaction of the other Arab states because they will not tolerate a Jewish state on what is in their view, Muslim territory. On the other hand, the recent Holocaust had forced the entire world to face the reality that only an independent Jewish nation-state can finally end the centuries of persecution against the Jews. While we have a Jewish Autonomous Oblast within the Soviet Far East, that experiment isn’t going well.”
“No one wants to live in a very cold place, comrade Mikoyan. However, with your recent proposal to give cash and commodity incentives to any Soviet citizen who is willing to relocate to the Far Eastern regions for economic purposes, that could work. We don’t want to turn Vladivostok into a dull looking city, not with the newly acquired Korean territory of Chongjin that we can use as our new Special Administrative Zone.” Ibrahimov replied back warmly. Since the cession of Nakhchivan to the Turks, some Azeris were actually beginning to come around with my sincere gesture to our Turkish adversaries and even supported me. Truth and reconciliation is one good way of preventing problems from springing up once again.
Inonu then spoke up. “Was there any other proposed territorial changes that you had in mind?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Say if another war were to break out in the Balkans once again, this time over Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and how the Western Allies could take advantage of that plus the increasing aid to the Greek royalists in military and financial support. What if that Greek anti-communist government began to persecute the remaining Jews and Turks?” I asked Inonu. His eyes widened. “Yes, you know where this is going. Apparently during the Great Patriotic War, the German jackals had apparently occupied a strip of Greek territory between Turkey and Bulgarian occupied Greek Thrace. What if I were to say that I’m willing to revive that idea and attack Greece with the intention of taking that piece of territory?”
“I’m not sure if I’m following you, Mr. Mikoyan. Do you honestly want to go on a land-grabbing campaign; only years after your German enemies did the same thing?” Inonu asked back. “The Allies wouldn’t be happy at all.”
“Not if the intended territory that I will conquer will be given to your country, Mr. Inonu. Comrade Stalin said that he agreed to leave Greece in Western influence. I did not say that, and if a Third World War could break out over the Balkans, I can renege on that promise and come out as a winner. I will even award that occupied Thrace to the Bulgarian Socialist Republic, but I also wanted to expand Soviet territory as well but for different reasons. I intend to not only smash Stalin’s legacy, but to build my own better legacy.” I showed Inonu and Ibrahimov the proposed border changes in Europe.
“So that was why the Germans desperately wanted us in the war; they offered us that strip of territory in exchange for our participation,” Inonu replied back.
“If the Red Army cannot defeat the Western Allies in an open conflict, all we have to do is to start fires around any potential conflict zones and ship weapons to anyone who is willing to fight for our cause. Even if the Western Allies will do the same thing, we’d use proxys to fight our wars too. While at the same time, the Red Army can take a rest until they’re needed to fight once again,” I said as Inonu and Ibrahimov nodded and left.
The next three weeks starting on July of 1947 was spent on discussing new decrees and projects that I had in mind with my inner circle. Kosygin in particular, wanted to brainstorm his own ideas for the great Soviet reconstruction project that will take place in its western provinces while Voznesensky wanted to launch a major renovation project in Siberia and the Far East. As far as we were concerned, the Ten Year Plans were going to focus on simple reconstruction of the entire country. With regards to Chongjin though, it was Voznesensky who wanted to rebuild that port in the same vision as Leningrad was built. I also had in mind the construction of a future capital city of the Soviet Union, one where even the Allies cannot reach quickly, even if they were attacking from India. I had my sights on the small city of Akmolinsk, in the Kazakh SSR, as the most important city. By moving my government from Moscow to Akmolinsk, I would give more attention to the less developed regions of the Soviet Union and promote the Central Asian city as a federal city within the USSR.
With regards to Europe, I was pleased to hear that the pro-Soviet Communist Parties are actually seizing power at such a plausible pace. Since our troops occupy the Eastern European nations, they helped out by taking out any potential anti-communist opposition figures as well as neo-Trotskyites who were becoming more dangerous than irritant. I did not forget the current events in Asia as well, because from what I learned from our Chinese friends, the Americans had their soldiers in Chinese territory with the intention of helping the Kuomintang regain power. It was a rather disappointing setback for us when comrade Stalin cancelled the operation to take the Japanese island of Hokkaido because we could have used Hokkaido as a bargaining chip to neutralize Japan’s potential strength if it was going to be used against us, or the fact that MacArthur had jeopardized the plans to occupy Japan the same way Germany and Austria had been occupied by the four powers (in this case, KMT China would occupy Shikoku) by running the entire show by himself. Moreover, we also needed some good blackmail material to convince the Allies to give us what we want, and it did came in the form of an autopsy report that was given to the Soviet authorities by Liu Shaoqi’s men when they came across what appeared to be the remains of Unit 731.
In addition, I received a disturbing report from our NKVD agents stationed in Germany and the Soviet sector of Austria, as well as in Hungary and Yugoslavia that the Allies were having second thoughts about launching Operation: Keelhaul, or the plan to repatriate the Eastern European population whose homelands were now under our control since they wanted to go back to planning anti-Soviet activities. To make matters worse, the Cossacks and their German leader Helmut von Pannwitz were having negotiations with the very same Allied leaders who had conveniently kidnapped those German scientists who worked on the V2 project. Yet despite our setbacks in trying to gain a technological advantage, we got the better deal: we got the German scientists that did not fall under American captivity, as well as the German records of how the rockets worked. However, I intend to use the rockets as a last resort, a secret weapon, if you like to call it. Not only because we already have experience with rockets (ie: the Katyusha launchers), but we don’t want to attract too much attention to the Western Allies of our intentions more than we already have. Speaking of which, it became more intriguing that Klaus Fuchs and the two Rosenbergs became more interested in helping me advance with the nuclear program so much that I had to convince the NKVD to try and secure their safe passage from the United States without attracting suspicion. Yet with the ongoing ‘cold war’ that we have with the Western Allies, any bold move might backfire horribly, and the Soviet Union hasn’t recovered fully from the war. It was not until October of 1947 that I had two important meetings going on: the Soviet military leadership wanted to see me about reassigning Marshal Zhukov to the Far East to train and upgrade the Soviet Far Eastern Military District’s troops there and my first trip outside the Soviet Union to Diyarbakir where Inonu invited the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee on the Israel issue. Unfortunately, I was interrupted with shocking news.
“Comrade Mikoyan!” an NKVD leader yelled as he came close to my office.
“What is it!?”
“Bad news, comrade. The traitor Vlasov, he has escaped!”
“Who the hell shirked off in their duties when this happened?” I yelled back.
“Apparently he had an accomplice. It was that Rodzaevsky fellow who helped him, but they won’t get far.” The NKVD leader told me. I doubt the NKVD would capture a man with such an intellect, especially if he wanted to use his wits to escape.
“Search the entire city. Get me Shelepin immediately!” I snapped. Twenty minutes later, comrade Shelepin arrived. “Report.”
“Yes, Comrade Mikoyan.” Shelepin handed me a note. “It appears that Vlasov blindsided his captor who went to relief himself and took his gun. He shouldn’t get far.”
“I don’t know how Vlasov could escape, but do not let him get away,” I replied back coldly.
All of the NKVD’s agents kept me informed on where Vlasov and Rodzaevsky were going until an hour and a half later when Shelepin and two other NKVD agents arrived back in my office with grins on their faces. They handed me a folder containing new information on the Vlasovtsy soldiers who were living in Liechtenstein that they were clamoring to create a new Russian Liberation Army division in the event that Vlasov would be executed. Furthermore, it was Shelepin who spoke first.
“Comrade Mikoyan, the traitors have been liquidated.”
---
Excerpts from “Yet Again, Conflict Calls”
by: George Patton
Bloomberg Press
Chapter Eight: Scandal
The continued mystery surrounding Adenauer’s assassination by the Werewolves seemed to multiply as we did not know how some assassin could have managed to target him when in fact the Werewolves seemed to have been subdued. Eisenhower was still not willing to let me come back to Europe due to my so-called crypto-Nazi sympathies but as September had already come and gone (well, it appears that I am writing this passage on the Canadian Thanksgiving, rather than the American Thanksgiving), I had a nagging feeling that we might learn about Adenauer that the Werewolves didn’t want the whole world to know. All of this chaos is going on while I’m still traveling between Japan and the Philippines and MacArthur being a pain in the rear end as usual. However, the US presidential elections are coming up so Dougout Doug was disappointed to hear that he wasn’t ready to campaign yet. At least for him, he has four extra years to clean up his act and finish whatever he’s doing in Japan before he goes back to the States. Me? Now it became clear that my position as MacArthur’s foil in Japan has become pointless since General Krueger wanted me to retrain the Philippine Army while he goes to Japan and replace MacArthur.
It was not until September 21 that Krueger approached me with an envelope that was stamped “TOP SECRET” while I was busy supervising a couple of Filipino recruits on how to reload the M1 Garand. I allowed Captain Henry Mucci (the same hero who led the Raid on Cabanatuan) to take over for a bit while Krueger and I entered the office in Malolos. We had to make sure that none of the other US officers were present, because of the very nature of this secrecy, but I have a nasty feeling that whatever got Adenauer killed, the letter held the key to everything. I was too nervous to know what secret it is, to be honest. Krueger on the other hand, was relieved that he didn’t have to deal with the same stuff Eisenhower had to put up with in Germany, and I was one of the few people who opposed the ‘disarmed enemy combatants’ status that led to God knows how many German prisoners died. Now I opened the letter and gasped.
“It appears that Adenauer had somehow got wind of what was afoot in Germany since the US had demobilized three quarters of its soldiers from Europe that elements within the former Wehrmacht and the SS wanted to create an army, even though military organizations were against Allied regulations and laws, in order to defend Germany in case the Soviet Union or its Eastern European puppets invaded. At that time, Adenauer was being groomed to take over as the first post-war Chancellor of a democratic Germany. Because he had by accident stumbled upon the meeting of the Edelweiss Pirates who had actually hijacked the name of the anti-Nazi organization also bearing that name, the Werewolves decided that he was too much of a threat to be ignored and so they killed him. In addition, Adenauer had some connections to the Nazi Party that had to be sealed, for example the letter that he wrote to Hermann Goering on the inclusion of the Nazis into the German Weimar Government and at one point Hitler wanted to include Adenauer into his party because of his contributions to civic projects before deciding that he was too much of a hostile opponent.” The letter read. It continued on, “At one point Adenauer was close to General Patton in terms of how they both exchanged information on the current situation in Germany and Patton’s fears of a communist revolution happening in the absence of a functioning government. However, the Werewolves were also aware of Patton’s crypto-Nazi sentiments when he chose to keep 16 ex-Nazis in the administration of Bavaria and his opposition to Eisenhower’s ‘disarmed enemy combatants’ status as nothing more than a mirror action of what the Nazis had done to the Jews.”
“So these Nazis wanted to use you as poster boy for possible Allied-German cooperation against the Soviet Union. With that kind of attitude, no wonder why Eisenhower was not fond of you,” Krueger told me.
“It’s not just that. My reasoning for keeping those ex-Nazis was that we couldn’t find anyone else competent enough to run the Bavarian government that wasn’t a Nazi, but Ike still chucked me out,” I grumbled. “And now God must be laughing at me because now I have to put up with this arrogant bastard who not only wanted to be president of the US, but he’s getting off scot free for the same kind of stunt that I got in trouble for!”
“Keep it down, Patton!” Krueger whispered harshly. “Do you want to utter that secret that wasn’t supposed to be told?”
“I suppose you’re right. I still have a duty here in the Philippines before going back to Japan. At least the Tokyo War Crimes Trial should start soon,” I replied back, but Krueger shook his head. “Oh no. You’ve gotta be joking.”
“I’m afraid not, General. It appears that with the Allies and the Soviets on the collision course, the War Crimes Tribunals for both defeated Germany and Japan might be postponed until everything calms down,” Krueger replied back once again. “It would be up to Mikoyan to solve this stuff before it blows up, and with the business in Greece regarding the civil war-“
“The Chetnik exiles plus those poor American pilots that were shot down over the Balkans during the war in Operation: Halyard that are now fighting as volunteers on their side against the Greek communists supplied by Tito who is now being courted by the grandson of Leon Trotsky, and now the Yugoslav Communists are still dealing with the stuff the Croats pulled, this is just a war waiting to be triggered,” I sighed. “I won’t be surprised if Keelhaul was cancelled because Mikoyan decided to pull a MacArthur and be a jerk to the whole world.”
“About Keelhaul, General. There’s another piece of information that you should learn,” Krueger told me before we exited the office. “General Vlasov of the disbanded Russian Liberation Army along with Konstantin Rodzaevsky of the so-called Russian Fascist Party was both killed while trying to escape from their captivity in Moscow by the NKVD after a gun battle that did not claim the lives of a single NKVD agent.”
“I knew Keelhaul was going to end up being cancelled! Along with those Cossacks led by von Pannwitz who were still imprisoned on Mikoyan’s orders, many other Russian volunteers who fought for the Nazis called the RONA were clamoring to join the rebuilt ROA in Liechtenstein. Just why is Pannwitz still alive?” I wondered. Then again, Mikoyan wanted to use German POWs as bargaining chips for any kind of shady deal he wanted to make. “More importantly, could we use anti-communist Russians in overthrowing the Soviet government?”
“Whatever Mikoyan has up his sleeve, he’s already begun to lose this poker game. After all, Russians don’t play poker,” Krueger replied back. “But it doesn’t mean they don’t know any tricks that could be used against us.”
---
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Otto Ernst Remer
Chapter Eight: Tricks Up the Sleeve
I was rather pleased when news of Adenauer’s assassination reached my cell through my spies within the prisoner population. Although the Werwolf organization had seemingly been eliminated by the Allies, I still felt that the German population needed something that will trigger them to revolt. Unfortunately, as I am still stuck in prison I can’t do anything right now. That is, until another visit from the Soviets and General Eisenhower had come about by this normal September of 1947. With the news of Vlasov’s untimely demise (he proved to be a good leader for an army full of cannon fodder) and the death of Rodzaevsky announced at the same time, I can’t help but feel sorry for the refugees who might be forced to go back towards those terrible communists. I decided to play it safe and pretend that I did not learn anything.
“This is the last and only visit that I will make, seeing as comrade Mikoyan will reassign me to the Far Eastern Military District,” Zhukov started. “Chuikov is now in charge of the Soviet sector of Germany, but I will make this brief. Effective on September 27th, the German prisoners of war that are in the gulags will return to their homes in Germany, and this will include some of the prisoners that are incarcerated here. You on the other hand, will be spared the death penalty in exchange for your help in identifying the locations of all Werewolf hideouts.”
I didn’t know how to respond, and Eisenhower only added his comment. “We know that you and your Werewolf organization were responsible for the murder of Konrad Adenauer. Unless you want us to hang you by the neck, you will confess to your role in his murder. If you cooperate, we will release you.”
“You expect me to betray the very movement that I believed in, in exchange for my own life? Are you seriously asking me to turn traitor to the Fatherland and condemn me to death by the hands of my own comrades?” I scoffed.
“You are already marked for death the moment that you joined those murdering thugs,” Zhukov replied back. “However, since comrade Mikoyan wanted German neutrality even though I disagree with the plan to give up my domain in exchange for a non-aligned Germany, he released those prisoners of war as a sign of goodwill. You should take advantage of comrade Mikoyan’s mercy.”
“I see.” I looked around before giving my answer. “How about I give you some new information? The Alpenfestung was supposed to be where the Fuhrer’s government is to be relocated in the event that Berlin falls to the Red Army. Even though Herr Goebbels managed to make the Alpenfestung a big lie to deceive Allied forces, it is where most of the V-2 scientists that you Americans captured were found. In addition, I should provide the names of the resistance groups that hijacked the names of the original anti-Nazi resistance like the Edelweiss Piraten.”
“We already know that, Mr. Remer. What else can you tell us that we haven’t known?” Eisenhower replied back.
“How long will it take for Europe’s economy to recover from the war, and as a result of Werwolf actions that damaged economic properties?” I asked back. That question, was something no one answered.
By the end of September, I was released from my imprisonment and moved to the border with the Soviet sector of Germany where I was kept under American surveillance. I had to proceed slowly and distance myself from my former comrades so that the Allies won’t suspect me of anything. I didn’t ask anything about the fate of General Patton because if I did so, then I’d be sent back to prison and that is the last thing that I needed. Thus I had to work on my own with regards to forming that secret army that I needed. However, I have a long work ahead since I sacrificed the ineffective Werwolf groups for my own freedom, but a freedom I needed to move towards the formation of a secret Schwarz Wehrmacht.
---
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Vladimir Dapcevic
Chapter Five: Defection and Death
It was a couple of months since the fateful visit by Esteban Sedov that the Yugoslav communist unity had begun to crack hard. I for one did not like the flirtation with Trotskyism at all and saw Tito’s embracing of that ideology as embarrassing. Didn’t we change Yugoslav communism to be a bit more ecletic? I thought we were done with the alien Trotskyite ideology that had caused so much alienation from the regular people that led them to embracing fascism in the first place. I was not only unsatisfied with where Tito was going with his flirtation with Sedov, but he even began to suspect me of becoming Mikoyan’s lackey. To make matters worse, I was placed under house arrest for no good reason at all. It is as if Tito wanted me to crack under pressure in order to force the so-called Yugoslav deviationists to conform to his views, with refusal to do so would be to go on a one way ticket to Goli Otok. Fortunately, I was not imprisoned in Goli Otok, but I was confined to a safe house, just a few kilometers away from the Hungarian border.
Arso Jovanovic joined me in our house arrest, but he was confined at another safe house, this time on the border with Romania. Unlike me, there were a few Yugoslav Partisans who liked Jovanovic much better than Tito, and these men actually fought under him. While his guards were supposed to keep an eye out on him, they actually looked the other way and let him get into contact with his family and friends. However by September 30th, one of Jovanovic’s friends managed to sneak out of the country as Romanian border guards took him in without any hesitation. Before Jovanovic’s friend left, he relayed a passage to him and then to me that my brother Peko will join me in his house arrest, because he too, turned against Tito and he was caught smuggling top secret documents to both the Soviet ambassador to Yugoslavia and to an OSS agent. Now that my brother was here, he and I would plot our escape together.
“So Vlado, any plans on how to get past our own border guards and let the Hungarian security detail know of our intentions?” Peko asked me. “Tito has already stripped me of my rank and position, so at least Arso can join me in our escape to the Soviet Union.”
“Well, if we had the same kind of guards as Arso, we’d be much better. Unfortunately, the guards here are loyal to Tito.” I looked around to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. “However, we have to escape at night, during the changing of the shifts when guards would be relieved by new arrivals.”
“Before we can escape though, we have to watch the time for the changing of the guards. Also, we’ll need clothes, provisions and money. I don’t know if our dinars would be good or that we may need to convert to Hungarian pengos.” Apparently we forgot that the Hungarian pengo is useless as a currency and that the new Hungarian forint was the new, legal tender.
I checked my wallets for cash, and sure enough, I only had 500 Yugoslav dinars. I don’t know how much would that be in Hungarian forints. Peko on the other hand, only had 300 Yugoslav dinars, so we’re lucked out on how we can get the necessary amount of cash needed once we’re inside Hungarian territory. Even worse, we don’t know the language there and we don’t speak Russian. It would be a miracle if we ran into a Red Army soldier on patrol who would understand what we’re talking about, even if our languages seem to sound similar but totally different. We waited for three weeks, in which we observed the guards changing shifts from both the Yugoslav and Hungarian sides. By luck, one of Arso’s other friends managed to sneak past the guards in Kikinda and arrived at the safe house with additional cash that was later revealed to be stolen from a bank in Kragujevac.
“Additional 2,000 Yugoslav dinars for you two, and some sandwiches there that my wife packed.” The friend showed us some food that was wrapped in tissue. “Good luck.”
Finally on the anniversary of Stalin’s death, we saw the changing of the guard for the last time at 10 in the evening. We started to sneak out of the safe house, but not before Peko disabled his guards and knocked them out cold. He then placed the guards on top of the bed we used to sleep in and began to move closer. We had to be careful and not make any noise at all. We approached the Hungarian border by 11:30 at night and was about to enter the border post when five Yugoslav border guards stopped us. We were nervous because for some odd reason, we were already caught.
“Don’t make any suspicious moves or we shoot you dead!” snapped one of the Yugoslav guards. Peko and I looked across the border posts as the Hungarian border guards mobilized.
“Make a run for it.” Peko nudged for me to start running. “RUN!”
The two of us began to run towards the border post as we dodged the bullets that were fired from the Yugoslav side. One of the Hungarian border guards pointed his rifle at us, but Peko raised his hands up as he tried to explain his situation to them. Since none of us spoke Hungarian, the border guards had to get a local Red Army commander to understand what we’re trying to say. Just before we successfully crossed the border, another burst of gunfire had struck me in the chest. I lay dying as Peko dragged me into the ground while he turned around and saw two Hungarian border guards with similar gunshot wounds as one of them was already dead.
(continued by Peko Dapcevic)
How could this happen? My brother Vlado was shot by Tito’s men while we had already crossed the border into Hungary, and two Hungarian border guards were also killed in the process. I explained everything about the incident to the Red Army commander who maintained a garrison in the Hungarian border with Yugoslavia. An ambulance arrived to pick up my brother and taken to a local hospital in Kelebia, but he was already pronounced dead by the time we arrived. In another hospital located in Tompa, the two Hungarian guards’ families cried in grief when they saw their loved ones already dead. It was not until October 14th that I found myself meeting with Marshal Voroshilov that he explained everything.
“The news of your brother’s death was indeed a tragic affair. However, the Hungarian government is now considering a form of punishment meted out against the Yugoslavs for the deaths of their border guards, and because of the border skirmishes with the Romanian and Bulgarian border guards that had already occurred before this incident, the Soviet Union is now considering the possibility of going to war against Yugoslavia,” Voroshilov explained to me while we stayed in Kelebia. “Comrade Mikoyan would like to see you in Moscow.”
“Thank you, comrade Marshal. What of Arso Jovanovic?” I asked.
“He has survived, but three Red Army soldiers and one Romanian border guard lost their lives protecting Jovanovic from the Yugoslavs. Since our own troops were killed by these neo-Trotskyites, there will be negative consequences beyond scope,” Voroshilov replied back. “I’m sorry about your brother. From what I heard, he’s the man comrade Mikoyan would support in the possible installation of a pro-Soviet regime in Yugoslavia.”
“I wouldn’t be sure. The neo-Trotskyites could still try and seize power in Eastern Europe, unless the Red Army clamps down on them,” I told him. “If need be, we have to liquidate Esteban Sedov.”
Voroshilov nodded. “I am aware of the fact that Trotsky’s grandson is stirring up trouble in Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union is tired from the Great Patriotic War and they need more time to recover before we can launch a new war.”
“You may not get a chance to rest though, if the Western Allies are planning to help the Chinese reactionaries retain power there and there’s also the issue of Korea as well. Please bring our right-minded Yugoslav comrades to Moscow, comrade Marshal,” I pleaded while looking at the dead body of Vlado.
----
“This is Radio Free Europe reporting from Stuttgart in Allied occupied Germany. Today on the same anniversary as Stalin’s death, the defection of Peko Dapcevic and Arso Jovanovic from Yugoslavia to the Soviet Union has been confirmed. It is also confirmed that Vladimir Dapcevic is among the many people who are killed in the Yugoslav Border Skirmishes, and in the same day as his death two Hungarian border guards are also shot dead. Mikoyan’s response to the growing militant behavior of the Yugoslav government was the increase in Soviet troop strength that is stationed in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as in the Soviet Far East. As of October 14, 1947, the Soviet Union has severed diplomatic ties with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and is considering the idea of going to war against them. While we may consider this as an internal affair within the communist movement, the Western Allies remain committed in bringing the destruction of the Soviet state and the restoration of democracy and freedom in Eastern Europe.” Radio Free Europe broadcast, October 14, 1947.
Last edited by a moderator:
Admiral Halsey
Banned
So a new writer enters the fray. You taking over permanently?
Edit: Damn forgot MB was banned.
Edit: Damn forgot MB was banned.
The Author
Despite their shortcomings behavioral,that led him to his current situation, it should be recognized
* that is or was a persistent author and considerate of your readers ... does post updates even having been banned from the board !!!
Despite their shortcomings behavioral,that led him to his current situation, it should be recognized
* that is or was a persistent author and considerate of your readers ... does post updates even having been banned from the board !!!
Deleted member 14881
Turn Seven Point One: Contingency Plans
Excerpts from "Operation: Groznomorye"
Objectives: In the event that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were to go to war with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Soviet Red Army will not be able to win the conflict due to mountainous terrain, as well as the battle hardened Yugoslav People's Army. In addition, any Soviet invasion from Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria will also be dealt with in a ruthless manner, costing the Soviet Union greatly in men and materiel. In order to win this war against Yugoslavia, one must not approach this from an ethnic view point, but rather ideological. First and foremost, the Soviet Union should help create a rival Yugoslav government that is firmly loyal to the USSR and if need be, to merge the Serbian portion of Yugoslavia with the People's Republic of Bulgaria to create a new, pro-Soviet Yugoslav Republic, or if possible, admit the Serbo-Bulgarian "Yugoslav" state into the Soviet Union as the 16th SSR but with the status of "SFSR" due to its binational character, like the Russian SFSR.
Procedures: The Soviet Union should focus on developing a rival Yugoslav government with anti-Titoist figures centered around Andrija Hebrang, Peko Dapcevic and Arso Jovanovic. In terms of ideological struggles, the NKVD should play a large part in instigating rebellion against Tito's rule, even if it meant breaking Yugoslavia apart. Since Tito is now under the influence of the neo-Trotskyite movement centered around Esteban Sedov, either Dapcevic or Jovanovic should take control. However, the Red Army and the NKVD should also take into consideration the possibility of having pro-Soviet Macedonians or Bulgarians leading this bi-national state, and to curb the influence of the Titoist faction. Moreover, any possible additional territorial adjustments may either be expanded or reversed, depending on the situation at hand. Should this bi-national state proposal fail, then we may have to settle for a new Yugoslav regime and Bulgaria keeps its independence.
Possibilities: The Greek Civil War that is escalating may reach the borders of Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Though the Soviet Union has not yet decided on whether or not they will bring Albania under Moscow's influence, the ensuing Civil War may be exploited to its advantage by both the USSR and the Western Allies. In the event that Greek troops from either the Royalist or Communist side 'accidentally' attack either Bulgaria or Turkey, the Soviet Union will give military intel to the Royalist faction in order to neutralize Turkey's geopolitical threat to the USSR and at the same time, give Bulgaria an excuse to reclaim its lost territory under the cover of 'spreading socialism' in territories targeted for Bulgarian expansion. The final goal of Bulgarian expansion is to establish a Soviet naval base on Bulgarian soil, and additional bases in Cyprus (which could be persuaded to declare independence from Britain and to bring it under Turkish suzerainty. Cyprus shall serve as an experimental testbed for future Greco-Turkish rapprochement.
Hopeful Results: Soviet benevolent expansion in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with the possibility of courting the Arab world in the event that Israel would be established as a state. The Soviet Union is also anxious to establish neutral Arab states that may support Soviet power against the Western Allies, and with Turkish advice, we can gain insight on how to deal with other Muslim neighbors on our southern borders, such as Afghanistan. In addition, it is crucial that the Soviet Union enhance relationships with other potential oil producing nations in order to control the sale of oil should any other conflict break out.
---
Excerpts from the Speech of Ismet Inonu, dated October 12th, 1947:
"The Turkish Republic has now approached a crossroad of destiny where we must decide whether or not we can live with a clean conscience or to live with a guilty burden of keeping a skeleton in the closet forever. The world has seen how Germany had to atone for its sins of committing genocide against Europe's Jewish population, but didn't our nation sided with the wrong faction in the Great War and also committed atrocities against the Christians within the Ottoman Empire? The Ottoman Empire's reputation as an empire of tolerance was forever branded as a fallacy and an illusion with the atrocities committed by bashi bazouks against innocent Christian civilians that ultimately led to the greater expulsion of Ottoman Muslims from the Balkans and the Caucasus by vengeful, newly independent Christian states that had once been a part of this empire. We shall never forget how 1.5 million Armenians, 900,000 Pontic Greeks, and 400,000 Assyrians were perished at the hands of rabid individuals who used the war as an excuse to commit these terrible crimes.
Insulting Turkishness is still a crime in this nation-state, yet at the same time we have been given an opportunity to make amends with our neighbors and to build long lasting relationships with them. I speak of the Armenian leader of the USSR, Anastas Mikoyan, for whom I've become his personal friend when he graciously gave Nakhchivan to us despite our Azeri brothers' concerns, and in return we gave back the provinces the old Tsarist Empire lost during the Great War. However, we could not speak the same thing about our Greek neighbor because it has been embroiled in a civil war between the Communists and the Royalists. The Royalists may have been supported by the West, but it also allowed certain individuals who harbored genuine hatred towards Balkan Muslims who had no qualms about killing them in revenge over what happened during the war. I speak of the Yugoslav Royalist movement who did not bother to hide their anti-Muslim bias and its soldiers are busy fighting communists and other possible leftover collaborators.
Finally, we as the Turkish people must choose right now: to either side with the West and force the Soviets to reconsider their territorial adjustments, or to cultivate good relationships with our neighbors. I do not advocate communism for the Turkish Republic, but we can help the Soviet Union with its own Turkic population and how they can behave towards their Muslim population. I advocate neutrality because we do not want to anger either side, but if we cannot help it, we will fight on the side of whoever opposes the Greeks."
---
A Letter from Georgi Dmitrov to Anastas Mikoyan:
"Dear Comrade Mikoyan,
I am sorry about the recent incidents that had occured in Yugoslavia when two communists who are not easily fooled by Tito's neo-Trotskyite flirtations had to flee from their homeland to seek refuge in the Soviet Union. I am also sorry to hear about Comrade Dapcevic's demise and if there is anything that the People's Republic of Bulgaria can do to help its Soviet comrades, we're ready to help. Comrade Zhivkov even proposed the idea of Bulgaria joining the USSR should a planned Balkan Federation project with Yugoslavia end in failure, but as of now we're not ready to relinquish our sovereignty yet.
As you might be aware, the Greek Civil War is escalating to the point where Greek Royalists and Communists alike have opened fire on Bulgarian border troops along the border we share. Under your instructions, we were not to help any sides at all but we fear that Greece will end up as a very reactionary state. I don't know what you've planned for Greece, but I'm beginning to understand why you had your sights on neutralizing Turkey's potential threat to the Soviet union. It is even more important that Albania be integrated into the Soviet zone of influence, as a planned, Soviet-supported Balkan Federation consisting of Serbia, Albania and Bulgaria will grant the USSR access to both the Aegean and Adriatic Seas.
Finally, we've received reports that you're due to meet the Arab delegates to address the issue about the planned partition of the Palestinian Mandate controlled by Great Britain from your agents who communicated with our own. I would advise you on being neutral or at least show some support to both sides for that matter. While the world is now committed to giving the Jewish people a homeland of their own, there is a slight chance that the Jews will want to side with the Western Allies instead of the Soviet Union. In that case, an alliance with the Arab world plus the neutralization of Iran is in the best interests of the USSR.
Yours Truly,
Georgi Dmitrov"
Excerpts from "Operation: Groznomorye"
Objectives: In the event that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were to go to war with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Soviet Red Army will not be able to win the conflict due to mountainous terrain, as well as the battle hardened Yugoslav People's Army. In addition, any Soviet invasion from Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria will also be dealt with in a ruthless manner, costing the Soviet Union greatly in men and materiel. In order to win this war against Yugoslavia, one must not approach this from an ethnic view point, but rather ideological. First and foremost, the Soviet Union should help create a rival Yugoslav government that is firmly loyal to the USSR and if need be, to merge the Serbian portion of Yugoslavia with the People's Republic of Bulgaria to create a new, pro-Soviet Yugoslav Republic, or if possible, admit the Serbo-Bulgarian "Yugoslav" state into the Soviet Union as the 16th SSR but with the status of "SFSR" due to its binational character, like the Russian SFSR.
Procedures: The Soviet Union should focus on developing a rival Yugoslav government with anti-Titoist figures centered around Andrija Hebrang, Peko Dapcevic and Arso Jovanovic. In terms of ideological struggles, the NKVD should play a large part in instigating rebellion against Tito's rule, even if it meant breaking Yugoslavia apart. Since Tito is now under the influence of the neo-Trotskyite movement centered around Esteban Sedov, either Dapcevic or Jovanovic should take control. However, the Red Army and the NKVD should also take into consideration the possibility of having pro-Soviet Macedonians or Bulgarians leading this bi-national state, and to curb the influence of the Titoist faction. Moreover, any possible additional territorial adjustments may either be expanded or reversed, depending on the situation at hand. Should this bi-national state proposal fail, then we may have to settle for a new Yugoslav regime and Bulgaria keeps its independence.
Possibilities: The Greek Civil War that is escalating may reach the borders of Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Though the Soviet Union has not yet decided on whether or not they will bring Albania under Moscow's influence, the ensuing Civil War may be exploited to its advantage by both the USSR and the Western Allies. In the event that Greek troops from either the Royalist or Communist side 'accidentally' attack either Bulgaria or Turkey, the Soviet Union will give military intel to the Royalist faction in order to neutralize Turkey's geopolitical threat to the USSR and at the same time, give Bulgaria an excuse to reclaim its lost territory under the cover of 'spreading socialism' in territories targeted for Bulgarian expansion. The final goal of Bulgarian expansion is to establish a Soviet naval base on Bulgarian soil, and additional bases in Cyprus (which could be persuaded to declare independence from Britain and to bring it under Turkish suzerainty. Cyprus shall serve as an experimental testbed for future Greco-Turkish rapprochement.
Hopeful Results: Soviet benevolent expansion in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with the possibility of courting the Arab world in the event that Israel would be established as a state. The Soviet Union is also anxious to establish neutral Arab states that may support Soviet power against the Western Allies, and with Turkish advice, we can gain insight on how to deal with other Muslim neighbors on our southern borders, such as Afghanistan. In addition, it is crucial that the Soviet Union enhance relationships with other potential oil producing nations in order to control the sale of oil should any other conflict break out.
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Excerpts from the Speech of Ismet Inonu, dated October 12th, 1947:
"The Turkish Republic has now approached a crossroad of destiny where we must decide whether or not we can live with a clean conscience or to live with a guilty burden of keeping a skeleton in the closet forever. The world has seen how Germany had to atone for its sins of committing genocide against Europe's Jewish population, but didn't our nation sided with the wrong faction in the Great War and also committed atrocities against the Christians within the Ottoman Empire? The Ottoman Empire's reputation as an empire of tolerance was forever branded as a fallacy and an illusion with the atrocities committed by bashi bazouks against innocent Christian civilians that ultimately led to the greater expulsion of Ottoman Muslims from the Balkans and the Caucasus by vengeful, newly independent Christian states that had once been a part of this empire. We shall never forget how 1.5 million Armenians, 900,000 Pontic Greeks, and 400,000 Assyrians were perished at the hands of rabid individuals who used the war as an excuse to commit these terrible crimes.
Insulting Turkishness is still a crime in this nation-state, yet at the same time we have been given an opportunity to make amends with our neighbors and to build long lasting relationships with them. I speak of the Armenian leader of the USSR, Anastas Mikoyan, for whom I've become his personal friend when he graciously gave Nakhchivan to us despite our Azeri brothers' concerns, and in return we gave back the provinces the old Tsarist Empire lost during the Great War. However, we could not speak the same thing about our Greek neighbor because it has been embroiled in a civil war between the Communists and the Royalists. The Royalists may have been supported by the West, but it also allowed certain individuals who harbored genuine hatred towards Balkan Muslims who had no qualms about killing them in revenge over what happened during the war. I speak of the Yugoslav Royalist movement who did not bother to hide their anti-Muslim bias and its soldiers are busy fighting communists and other possible leftover collaborators.
Finally, we as the Turkish people must choose right now: to either side with the West and force the Soviets to reconsider their territorial adjustments, or to cultivate good relationships with our neighbors. I do not advocate communism for the Turkish Republic, but we can help the Soviet Union with its own Turkic population and how they can behave towards their Muslim population. I advocate neutrality because we do not want to anger either side, but if we cannot help it, we will fight on the side of whoever opposes the Greeks."
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A Letter from Georgi Dmitrov to Anastas Mikoyan:
"Dear Comrade Mikoyan,
I am sorry about the recent incidents that had occured in Yugoslavia when two communists who are not easily fooled by Tito's neo-Trotskyite flirtations had to flee from their homeland to seek refuge in the Soviet Union. I am also sorry to hear about Comrade Dapcevic's demise and if there is anything that the People's Republic of Bulgaria can do to help its Soviet comrades, we're ready to help. Comrade Zhivkov even proposed the idea of Bulgaria joining the USSR should a planned Balkan Federation project with Yugoslavia end in failure, but as of now we're not ready to relinquish our sovereignty yet.
As you might be aware, the Greek Civil War is escalating to the point where Greek Royalists and Communists alike have opened fire on Bulgarian border troops along the border we share. Under your instructions, we were not to help any sides at all but we fear that Greece will end up as a very reactionary state. I don't know what you've planned for Greece, but I'm beginning to understand why you had your sights on neutralizing Turkey's potential threat to the Soviet union. It is even more important that Albania be integrated into the Soviet zone of influence, as a planned, Soviet-supported Balkan Federation consisting of Serbia, Albania and Bulgaria will grant the USSR access to both the Aegean and Adriatic Seas.
Finally, we've received reports that you're due to meet the Arab delegates to address the issue about the planned partition of the Palestinian Mandate controlled by Great Britain from your agents who communicated with our own. I would advise you on being neutral or at least show some support to both sides for that matter. While the world is now committed to giving the Jewish people a homeland of their own, there is a slight chance that the Jews will want to side with the Western Allies instead of the Soviet Union. In that case, an alliance with the Arab world plus the neutralization of Iran is in the best interests of the USSR.
Yours Truly,
Georgi Dmitrov"
Deleted member 14881
Turn Eight: Let the Dogs of War Howl for Blood
The Hukbalahap Revolt of 1945-1948 was one of the major post-war revolts that occurred in the Philippines during that time period, when the Hukbalahap organization carried out savage reprisals against suspected Japanese collaborators and their families. The most notorious incident that occurred was on April of 1946 when Jose Cojuangco and his wife Demetria were killed in an Ermita hotel that left Pedro Cojuangco and the children of Antonio Cojuangco homeless in Manila. Subsequently, they were reluctant to return to Tarlac, and with such a good reason. On June 13th, 1946, Luis Taruc led 400 Huk fighters in the raid on Hacienda Luisita that resulted in 12 farmers dead, but none of the Cojuangcos were killed because they were hiding in Pangasinan, under the protection of the US Army authorities. Because of the chaos that unfolded in the Philippines, the planned date of independence had to be set back for two years until the Huk Rebellion could be defeated, as several Huk attacks also caused the deaths of US servicemen throughout Central Luzon.
It was against the backdrop of the Huk Revolt that also changed the face of Philippine political history, as Manuel Roxas, who was supposed to be the frontrunner for the Presidency, was assassinated by the Huks in Manila. This time, the Philippine Supreme Court tried the assassins for murder and had them executed, including a prominent peasant leader named Juan Feleo. In response to the growing attacks made by the Hukbalahap, the US Army began to retrain and re-equip the Philippine military for the purpose of sustaining a counter-insurgency operation, with General Walter Krueger leading the training mission before being replaced by George Patton on December of 1947. Patton became immensely popular with the Filipino trainees who learned more from him than they ever did from General MacArthur, though Patton was annoyed by how much the Filipinos still loved MacArthur. There were some leftover Japanese weapons that the Americans had secured and were given to the Filipino soldiers (mainly Arisaka rifles that the Japanese themselves had given up during their surrender) but most of them had been taken by the Huks themselves.
In addition to the retraining of the Philippine Army, the United States Army Force in the Far East has not yet disbanded due to the growing Huk Rebellion. In an effort to rely less on American troops pacifying the countryside, the USAFFE would create special anti-communist paramilitary units that are also efficient in guerrilla warfare. Among the anti-communist guerrillas who fought against the Huks were two veterans who contributed to the Raid on Cabanatuan (Eduardo Joson and Juan Pajota). Pajota and Joson each became commanders of their own paramilitary unit, and Joson’s unit was deployed to Nueva Ecija in order to suppress the Huk rebellion there while Pajota would move towards Pampanga and do the same thing. Most of the time, the anti-communist Filipino paramilitaries carried out raids on pro-Huk villages while carrying out atrocities against sympathizers, leading to Huk reprisals that killed a good number of peasants and landowners alike.
Landowners who feared Huk reprisals formed their own paramilitary units as well in order to protect their own properties, contributing to the growing problem of the Huk guerrillas who liked to stage raids on sugar plantations and animal farms, depriving both sides of their food supply. Ultimately, the Huk Revolt began to turn against the Huks when news of several defections reached Manila, and it was only when the rebuilt Philippine Army began its operations against the Huks on March of 1948, the Huks were greatly weakened by the lack of food supplies given to the Huk guerrillas (as more recruits had greatly outpaced the food supply the Huks kept in order to feed themselves and their supporters). Even more importantly, the Soviet Union under Anastas Mikoyan stopped aiding the Huks in exchange for a bigger Soviet role in the occupation of Japan. Unfortunately, when the rebellion finally ended on May 9th, 1948, the Huks who surrendered were quickly executed en masse by vengeful paramilitaries as punishment for inflicting additional suffering. It was this kind of brutality that taught the lesson to future communist guerrilla leader, Jose Mari Sison.
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Excerpts from “Yet Again, Conflict Calls”
by: George Patton
Bloomberg Press
Chapter Nine: My Kind of Work
I soon found myself taking over for Krueger as the Commander in Chief of the US forces in the Philippines after he was recalled to the United States, and with my new position, I was called upon the Philippine military to retrain their forces for the counter-insurgency operation against these communist guerrillas who also fought against the Japanese forces during the war. It was rather close to Christmas, and it’s my first time to spend the holidays in the Philippines where the weather is warm, rather than in Europe where it can get cold. When I first saw the training session of the new Filipino recruits, I must have been appalled because these recruits were rather shaky. Even MacArthur had a hard time training these men, so I was determined to outdo Dougout Doug in whipping these boys into shape. Needless to say at first, the Filipinos didn’t like me at all because my approach was different from MacArthur’s approach. It was not until this regular July of 1947 that I had to give out my inspirational speech that some of them may not have liked.
“Look, I know that this is hard for you recruits to understand, but I am not Douglas MacArthur! I commanded an army across Europe and North Africa while your precious hero retreated to Australia and did hardly anything until when it’s time to go back here to liberate this nation from the Japanese occupation. Do NOT ever compare any other US military leader to General MacArthur at all because he’s nothing more than an egomaniac! I have a different approach on how to whip you boys into shape, and I’m not afraid to spread some tough love. Now when I say jump, you all jump! When I say crawl, you crawl, goddammit! And when I say charge forward while enemy machine gunfire erupts, then bloody charge forward!” I yelled. This terrified the new recruits for sure. “Get out of this outfit if you can’t survive because under my training regimen, I will not hesitate to weed out weaklings and cripples in order to make this an effective fighting force. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Good. We start training real hard, gentlemen. You’re no longer whiny, baby boys. By the time I’m done training the lot of you, you all will become real men. Real soldiers, by God!” I snapped.
The training did take place though, as I had US Army Rangers help out with the training regimen. It certainly helped me a lot when I had to observe local customs (such as slapping a local Filipino will result in a much, graver consequence, as the Japanese soldiers found out when they often slap civilians around in the Philippines), and it was Juan Pajota who told me about the dos and don’ts of etiquette in the Philippines. By the end of August of 1947, 25% of the recruits had dropped out of the army and I felt awful that I might be responsible for the destruction of the Philippine military. Yet at the beginning of September, the Huk revolt gradually escalated and farmers who were thrown out of their homes gradually joined our outfit. They were more eager to fight for their country than the poor, sorry rejects who could not survive my training program. Filipino officer cadets were also subjected to the same, rigorous training regimen as regular soldiers, an executive order that I personally requested.
It was not only retraining that had to be done; in fact, the rearmament of the entire Philippine military had to be done immediately, and this often meant giving our M1 Garands to the Filipino soldiers as their mainstay weapon. I didn’t mind seeing them carrying Japanese Type 99 Arisakas or even Type 99 light machine guns, but at one point I spotted a Filipino officer with a captured SVT-40 rifle, presumably taken from a dead Huk fighter. The only thing that I have yet to see is a Filipino soldier carrying a German MP40 Schmeisser submachine gun, but thankfully the Filipinos would not have the sense to buy anything from Germany for a while now. Actually, come to think of it, the Soviets felt that they could not rely on the Red Army to keep up the peace in their sector of Germany, which led to the formation of the Kasernierte Volkspolizei, or the People’s Police. It was an informal paramilitary unit, despite Germany’s ban on having a formal military in the first place.
I was not due to return back to Japan until 1948 when the Huk rebellion was over that someone in the US State Department must have caught wind of what MacArthur’s doing and wanted to recall him back to the United States as soon as possible. If there is anything that I’ve learned, it’s that MacArthur would come up with a spinning tale about his actions, as if it can be justified even if it was illegal. In addition, the US Presidential election was coming up and I had placed my hopes on seeing Truman win another term. To my surprise however, I found out that some shady guy named Thurmond was also running for President, although as a Dixiecrat, or one of those Southern Democrats who were pro-segregation. I had no ill will towards Jews or blacks despite that slimy bastard Remer’s claims that I ‘hated’ Jews because of my actions with the ex-Nazis in Bavaria. For MacArthur however, I heard a disturbing news from a newcomer named Robert Beightler about Dugout Doug’s plans for the presidency. He told me about it during my down time just outside Cabanatuan.
“It appears that big business interests are aiming at organizing MacArthur’s campaign for the 1952 elections,” said Beightler. He handed me a folder containing information about the donors for the so-called “President MacArthur 1952 Campaign”. Sure enough, there was the famous name Rockefeller and even JP Morgan, who had a huge business interest in Japan. “I’m not sure if MacArthur is the right man for the job though.”
“I don’t know if anyone else would be interested in challenging MacArthur for the presidency,” Beightler replied back. “Maybe you or Eisenhower could run together.”
“Ike won’t be interested in running for the presidency unless I step in for the Democratic ticket. Even if I were to run, I’d rather run as an Independent candidate, unaffiliated with any political party whatsoever,” I told him. “It will be a very tough campaign for me, should I run for the presidency. MacArthur won’t hesitate to conduct some sort of political mudslinging that will discredit me.”
“Either way, anyone would be better as President than MacArthur, and I mean anyone but MacArthur should be president.” We paused for a moment. “Ike should be persuaded to run for the presidency if he can stop MacArthur, or you can.”
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Anastas Mikoyan
Chapter Eleven: Return to the Battlefield
It was October of 1947 when I finally arrived in Diyarbakir to meet President Inonu, along with Foreign Minister Saka. I brought Vyshinsky with me to represent the USSR as its foreign minister, and in Diyarbakir I finally got a chance to meet the leaders of the Arab Higher Committee. Yet I was also surprised when a special guest had arrived to meet up with the Arab Higher Committee and myself, and it was fitting for this historic meeting that I would come face to face with the eventual founder of the Arab Ba’ath Party, Michel Aflaq. The Arab delegation finally began to sit down inside a conference room while the Soviet and Turkish delegates took their seats on the opposite side. I was unsure of how to deal with the Arabs because the Soviet leadership in Moscow wanted me to support the creation of Israel, but like I mentioned earlier, I have doubts about how the partition will go.
“Friends, we have come here to discuss the fate of the Palestine Mandate that is under British control. As you all are aware, the creation of the Israeli state is something that the Soviet Union would be wary due to its potential for unresolved conflicts down the road. As the Arab nations have the numerical advantage in population and oil production, it would be fit for the Soviet Union to support Arab national aspirations. In addition, the Republic of Turkey is also here as a mediator and a go-between,” I explained to the Arab delegates.
A man named Jamal al-Husayni spoke back. “The Arab League and the entire Islamic community are anxious to hear the Soviet response because it has hosted a large number of Jews within its borders at one point. However, you seem to be extremely hesitant to support the creation of the Israeli state, preferring to side with us. Why is that?”
“The Soviet Union has a large number of Muslims living within its borders, and any policy that would inflame the Muslims of the USSR will result in a violent case of jihad from Central Asia to the Volga region. In addition, while I may address the issue of the Crimean Tatars that are in exile, comrade Stalin’s decree might still be in place. Moreover, Soviet-Turkish rapprochement has allowed me to address the possibility of a Soviet-Arab alliance against the rootless cosmopolitans who threaten to destroy our way of life,” I replied back. As much as I hated it, I felt uncomfortable with the anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Aflaq spoke for the first time. “The Arab Ba’ath Party is in a dire need of help from the Soviet Union since we share the same common goal as the Soviets: advancing the socialist revolution within the entire world. In addition, we will be of great help should the Soviet Union need advice on Islamic matters.”
“That is indeed true, but would the West condemn you for rejecting the creation of Israel though?” Al-Huseyni asked me. “Although we’re more numerous than the Jews, the Western Allies would still find a way to guilt trip the Soviets into supporting the creation of Israel. I mean, they can employ various kinds of nasty black propaganda for the masses to eat up.”
As much as I didn’t like to admit it, the Arabs have a point. With the Holocaust still fresh in our minds plus the large number of our own citizens killed by these Nazi bastards, we might be vulnerable to an Allied propaganda drive, possibly demonizing us if we didn’t want to support Israel’s birth. At the same time though, the Arabs are feeling the brunt of Western hypocrisy and we felt that with our rising popularity among the non-Western nations (though in the future, the Chinese would also gain the same kind of popularity that the USSR will enjoy) plus the rapprochement with Turkey had eased up the worries among the Turkic speaking populations around the world. Our diplomacy with the Turks and Iranians will also gain dividends in the long run, especially when we might be required to help solve the next diplomatic problem: what to do with the crumbling British Raj when sectarian violence threatened to plunge it into civil war.
“Turkey could learn a thing or two from any possible Arab success in the region, given the fact that we still have to solve the Cypriot problem and the Soviet military can help modernize its Turkish counterpart. Though the Soviet Navy will still need a naval base from which they can project their power around the world, we already gave up on administering the Bosporus, hence why we planned to push Greece to act rashly towards its neighbors. We’re just waiting for a new war to break out and the end result should be the expansion of Bulgaria and Turkey’s borders.” I showed the map of the Mediterranean Sea for everyone to see. “Here is Drama.” I showed the location of Drama. “And here, is Kavala. Kavala should be a suitable naval base for the Soviet Navy, but Cyprus should also be suitable, provided that we fight against the Western Allies.”
“Cyprus is indeed a suitable naval base, and its location makes it possible to reach our borders, as well as the MidEast states.” A newcomer arrived as we looked at him. The newcomer in question, happened to be a Turkish Army general named Tahsin Yazici, who was accompanied by three Turkish soldiers. He didn’t look happy at all. “Mr. Mikoyan, I assume?
“What can I do, General?” I asked.
He handed me an envelope. “For you. Normally, this would be given by the Soviet ambassador to our nation, but he’s in a meeting with several other Turkish government officials. Something about a report from Marshal Voroshilov.”
I gasped as I opened the letter. After I read its contents, I turned to the Turkish hosts and Arab delegates. “Comrades, it appears that the Yugoslavs may have lit the fuse of which we may end up fighting a new war.”
“What happened?” Aflaq asked me.
“Vladimir Dapcevic died while trying to defect to Hungary. Arso Jovanovic and Peko Dapcevic managed to survive, but two Hungarian border guards are killed. Hungary now has a caucus belli to consider going to war against Yugoslavia, while Romania and Bulgaria are mobilizing their troops as well. The Red Army garrison in those states is also on high alert, and Voroshilov has asked me to come back. Gentlemen, the Soviet Union is now facing a new world war, and let us wish for our survival.” I told them. “However, the NKVD shall start sending weapons to the Arab armies through Turkey, but it will be captured German weapons that we possessed. We’re talking about surplus MG 42s, Schmeisser submachine guns, Mausers K98s and Gewehr 43s that fell under our control. We might have some leftover Arisaka rifles, but they’re given to the Chinese.”
I caught a plane back to Moscow as soon as I can, and when I finally arrived in the Kremlin, several NKVD and Red Army figures saluted to me. I hurried back to my office where the STAVKA awaited for my orders. Already, Marshal Zhukov was present as he got a call from STAVKA while overseeing the reformation of the Far Eastern Military District while Marshal Malinovsky was engaged in a conversation with General Chuikov. There were ambassadors from the Eastern European nations that are under our control as they struggled to get the message that they need to relay back to their governments. Finally, I started the entire meeting while the NKVD officers and Red Army generals sat down on their seats.
“Comrades, the Yugoslavs have shown their true face as the brainwashed neo-Trotskyites that fell under Esteban Sedov’s influence. Our Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian comrades have expressed their anger and hatred over the loss of their soldiers who died at the hands of the Yugoslavs, and we will be there to provide their desire for revenge. Now is the time to win the hearts and minds of the Eastern Europeans who still view us with suspicion!” I started. Everyone nodded in approval. “Unfortunately, we are still tired from the Great Patriotic War, so here’s how we’ll approach this new war: we’ll send Soviet volunteers who will form the core of our new special forces, the Spetsnaz. Comrade Marshal, how shall we proceed with the new formation of the Spetsnaz?”
Zhukov stood up. “Comrade Mikoyan, if we could take around 54 separate companies that will consist of 200 battle hardened soldiers, most of whom will be selected from among the Partisans that fought during the war for special training missions. They’ll have to undergo further training before they can be deployed into Yugoslavia.”
“And while we’re at it, we might leave this covert war to the NKVD, and that is the last thing we’ll need. Forget about training, these men that you’ll choose had years of combat in their belt. Some of them would have fought in Berlin, while others would have been in the Far East.” I beckoned for Chuikov and Malinovsky to stand up. “You two will select the men that have battle experience from among the million strong Red Army troops, this will be very difficult to achieve. Perhaps send only a quarter of the Red Army troops that are stationed in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. We will have to resume war production so that we can send extra weapons to our comrades in those regions. Of course, the Greek Civil War will be over soon, but we will have the means to push Greece into the Western camp while we bring the Turks closer to us.”
Malinovsky chuckled. “Push the Greeks and bring the Turks closer, eh? Not a bad idea, comrade Mikoyan. While we’re at it, not only we’d betray the Greek comrades who are fighting to establish a socialist state-“
“Greece is too saturated with reactionaries, while the Yugoslav Royalists are also fighting the communists there. Turkey is much closer to us.” I pointed at the map of Turkey, including the borders that have been changed. “In addition, I originally envisioned a neutral Turkey, but thanks to my generosity, I ended up making it our ally.”
“Sir, if Yugoslavia goes to war with the Soviet Union plus its allies, would this mean that the Western powers would also try to launch a new war to liberate Eastern Europe?” Chuikov asked me.
“That might also be a possibility, and the Czechoslovaks have not yet embraced socialism. Combine with Russophobia in Poland and the Baltics, I think it’s about time we teach these bastards a lesson they’ll never forget should they rebel against us.” I turned to Shelepin. “We will also have to deal with the anti-communist movements within our own borders, as the Forest Brothers are making our administration of the Baltic States a lot more troublesome.”
“What do you prefer to do, comrade Mikoyan?” Shelepin asked me. I grinned maliciously.
“Liquidate the entire bandit organization, and deport say, 60% of the entire population of the Baltic States to the gulags, or we could simply liquidate the entire population on the border with the Russian SFSR. Latgale could be attached to the RSFSR, as well as the Estonian borderlands, and the fate of Prussia is still up in the air. I could have it attached to the Byelorussian SSR, or keep it as a separate SSR for the German communist population there. If that won’t work, we’ll just give its entirety to the Byelorussian SSR instead,” I spoke back. I then turned back to Chuikov and Zhukov. “I honestly don’t give a damn if these Balts hate us. They’ve always been on the side of the reactionaries, and even Stalin wasn’t merciless enough towards them. It’s about time we showed the meaning of Soviet discipline.”
It only took three weeks for the entire Red Army garrison in the three countries that I’ve mentioned to mobilize, by which the Western Allies began to send military advisors to Yugoslavia. At the same time, the NKVD fed me reports of defecting Yugoslav soldiers who were also disgusted by Tito’s flirtation with the neo-Trotskyites and were formed into a “Yugoslav National People’s Army” led by Arso Jovanovic. By the time November 22nd approached, I gave the order to launch the invasion of Yugoslavia. Comrade Marshals Voroshilov and Chuikov were appointed to direct the Soviet invasion (mainly using light units while the tank and artillery units would be utilized by the Hungarians, Romanians and Bulgarians) while Red Air Force bombers would pound Yugoslav cities. When the actual invasion kicked off, I grew worried that we may have gotten a bigger problem than we’ve bargained for, and since even the Germans could not defeat the Yugoslav Partisans, I don’t think we’ll defeat them with firepower alone. Luckily, we’ve got the Macedonian socialists who were influenced by our NKVD agents to agitate for the return of Macedonia (or Greater Macedonia) with Bulgaria. That should scare the Greeks out of their wits, if we also agitated for northern Greece to be attached to the pro-Soviet government in Albania.
“Comrade Mikoyan, we’ve received bad news.” A new general named Valentin Varennikov arrived at my office on a regular day in November 29th, 1947. “Yugoslav resistance movement is much more dangerous in the southern regions around Vranya, and it’s causing our Macedonian comrades grief.”
“What is the good news?” I asked back.
“From the Far East, Comrade Zhukov has told me to relay this message to you: Comrade Liu Shaoqi and the PLA leadership have also launched their attacks on the Chinese reactionaries in northern China. Once they take control of Fujian Province, they will invade Taiwan to cut off KMT’s route of retreat. However, since the US Pacific Fleet is present in Okinawa, we may have to deploy our own Pacific Fleet’s submarines and frigates to assist the PLA in the invasion of Taiwan.” Varennikov handed me his report. “With your permission, the Korean socialists would like to launch the unification campaign against the reactionary south.”
“Denied. They’re not ready yet, and I haven’t decided as to who should be the new Korean socialist leader.” Just then, Varennikov handed me another folder. This time, it contained the list of potential Korean puppet leaders who are groomed to take over the Korean communist leadership. “What about this guy? His name is Kim Il-Sung, and he is an unknown in the political arena.”
“Not sure since we don’t know what his political stance is like. There’s also Choe Yong-gon, but he’s a battle hardened veteran and so he would be more compatible as socialist Korea’s Minister of Defense. Finally, there’s Pak Song Chol who’s suitable,” Varennikov told me. I thought for a moment that Pak would be a good fit, though our Chinese comrades might want their views to count towards the selection of the Korean communist leader.
“Perhaps if we could contact comrade Liu and ask him on who should lead the one, true Korean state, he might have some answers. Anyways, if we go back to the war at hand, I need the Bulgarian forces to close their borders with Greece and if necessary, they should be mobilized for an invasion of Greek Thrace. I do believe it’s time we awarded our Bulgarian and Turkish friends with some slices of Greek territory,” I smirked.
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Liu Shaoqi
Chapter Six: How Shall We Demonstrate Our Wisdom
It has been a while since I got into contact with the Soviets that a lot of events had now taken place, and major changes have been occurred. The first thing that happened was the Soviet Union becoming embroiled in a war against our Yugoslav comrades, but then again it was inevitable since the Trotskyites are coming out of their hidey holes and trying to stir chaos against the USSR. As the followers of Joseph Stalin, we Chinese communists fully understood the true meaning of fighting rootless cosmopolitanism and the Trotskyites represent a dangerous threat to the communist movement. At the same time, the Soviets were also stuck with a decision so difficult that they had to ask for our help. What was the difficult decision, you may ask? It just so happens that the Soviets are unsure of who they should choose to lead Korea, since they had to consider the factors that may allow either the Moscow Faction or the Yenan Faction to select their candidates. Of course, the Yenan Faction is the Korean comrades who fought alongside us.
There was one more guest who arrived at our current base in Luoyang when our PLA troops launched their offensive. At first I was not comfortable who this man was, but apparently he had a powerful base of support in Manchuria and the Soviets took a liking to this guy. It never occurred to me that Gao Gang was going to join us in this expedition, and his support of Soviet-style industrialization schemes was something that would go well with comrade Deng’s own vision of an economic revival for the Chinese state. As for our offensive, it actually started a while back when we moved in to consolidate control of Manchuria through the help of the Soviet Red Army. We continued to endure KMT offensives until the time was right for us to attack. When we finally attacked, the KMT were helpless in the face of our overwhelming might, and we had seen KMT soldiers defect to our movement precisely because of the factors that comrade Lin Biao mentioned about the average KMT soldier. As the Soviets had advised us on capturing the coasts became more important, we shifted our troops to capturing the crucial provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan. However, consolidating Manchuria was more important.
“Comrade Liu, we’ve received a message from comrade Xie Fuzhi.” A PLA officer handed me a note. “We’ve started to launch an offensive around Mt. Funiu against the reactionaries.”
“Winter is coming, comrade, and do we have the necessary materials needed to survive against the KMT? It seems that we’re growing rather too large and the supplies cannot keep up with the demand,” I told the officer before turning towards Gao Gang, who had just arrived. “Where were you?”
“I was on the border in Yanbian, comrade Liu, where I monitored the Soviets and the Koreans. We haven’t gotten any orders from comrade Mikoyan about Korea, but his difficulty in choosing a suitable candidate is the reason why he asked us for help: because the Yenan faction may want to select their own candidate as well. Although we and the Soviets may be on the same page, the Soviets have their own Eurasian communism while our own version is exclusively Asiatic. Without comrade Mao to inspire the Chinese people, it has now fallen upon either you or me to lead the masses,” Gao told me. He certainly had a point when it comes to the Yenan faction. “Here’s how I would do it: the Moscow faction can take over the civilian government, while the Yenan faction takes over the military.”
“Good idea, but who do we choose for the military faction?” I asked back. It was when Lin Biao entered. “Comrade Lin, how goes the selection process?”
“Comrade Choe might be a good fit to become Minister of Defense, but we may need something more should the South Korean communists join their fellow Northern brethren. By the way, a new report from Laiyang came back.” Comrade Lin handed me a folder. “It appears that the Soviet Pacific Fleet that consists of seven submarines and five light cruisers are being moved towards Qingdao while comrade Mikoyan has authorized the construction of several new submarines and surface ships in its Far Eastern shipyards.”
“Ah, so that is what he meant by the meaning of ‘taking the coasts’ before the KMT does. He’s trying to give us an advantage in our war against the reactionaries, and comrade Mikoyan knows that if the KMT would try to set up a free zone, it would be in Taiwan. However, this strategy has several flaws,” Lin said to us. He has a point after all, due to his experience as a military strategist. “By taking the coasts, we’re giving the KMT the very same advantage that we enjoyed during the war against the Eastern devils. If we really mean to win against the KMT, we have to do more than just take the coasts: we have to carry out land reforms and implement it on the entire country.”
I nodded and turned to comrade Gao. “Comrade, if you and comrade Deng come up with some crazy, wild idea on how we can revive the Chinese economy, then you two will have to share power. I can only be an advisor since I have yet to fully embrace the leadership.”
Reports kept on filing in as the weeks had gone by, with news of our success against the KMT in northeastern China. With the Soviets giving up their proposed plan of an East Turkestani SSR in Xinjiang, we gained more territory through their actions, though I had some uneasiness with giving up Yanbian to the Koreans in exchange for the Soviets getting Chongjin. The winter of 1947 was among the worst of its kind in northern China, but the CCP made sure that our supporters have plenty of warm clothing to last through the winter, which is how comrade Deng came up with an ambitious project called Winter March, which was an economic project aimed at mass producing winter clothing for the civilians. Though we might not have gained any profits from the sales of these jackets (it was one of those ideological compromise that we had to make, as the production of clothes and selling them for low price to the peasantry was more important than to adhere to orthodox Marxism), we managed to restart our own textile industry. Comrade Gao gave instructions to provincial and municipal leaders within the CCP to establish textile and clothing factories where the peasantry could work for low wage (though we had to freeze the wage increase due to the war effort) in exchange for food and shelter.
The Western Tai’an Campaign also became a successful operation, though more Soviet military aid in the form of weapons and ammunition gradually helped us in the long run and not to mention the increasing defections from the KMT forces allowed us to master the hardware that they brought along during their defection. At one point several KMT soldiers had actually brought in a German style helmet that the Soviets called a Stahlhelm, which we obviously didn’t like due to its negative connections with the German fascists back then. It was not until the Soviets began to introduce to the Chinese PLA their own helmet, which was an older version called an Ssh-39 helmet. Though we didn’t like to wear those helmets, the Soviets stressed the importance of preventing head injuries that could injure a soldier’s head long enough for him to be taken out of action. Eventually casualty rates declined due to the increased longevity of the soldier wearing a helmet, as evident by the Huaihai Campaign, which was finally launched in the beginning of February of 1948 when we launched a simultaneous attack on the Chinese coasts that the Soviets wanted us to focus on. Well, we had more things to worry about when Lin Biao returned to Luoyang from his campaign with some bad news.
“Comrade Liu, the Americans are attacking our forces in Shandong Province!” he announced. “It appears that several thousand of our troops have been killed while engaging the Americans!”
“But how could the Americans do that!?” I thundered.
“Well, that is one other thing that I wanted to tell you, Comrade Liu,” Lin continued. I could tell that he was shaking with fear. “The Western Allies have announced that the Soviet Union is at war with Yugoslavia.”
“I know that portion!-“
“I’m not done!” Lin yelled back. “The Americans in Europe are planning to give aid to anti-communist forces in the territories occupied by the Soviet Red Army. Furthermore, the United States might be planning on increasing its military presence in the mainland and even change its mind on Taiwan. They might give Taiwan back to the Eastern devils!
The Hukbalahap Revolt of 1945-1948 was one of the major post-war revolts that occurred in the Philippines during that time period, when the Hukbalahap organization carried out savage reprisals against suspected Japanese collaborators and their families. The most notorious incident that occurred was on April of 1946 when Jose Cojuangco and his wife Demetria were killed in an Ermita hotel that left Pedro Cojuangco and the children of Antonio Cojuangco homeless in Manila. Subsequently, they were reluctant to return to Tarlac, and with such a good reason. On June 13th, 1946, Luis Taruc led 400 Huk fighters in the raid on Hacienda Luisita that resulted in 12 farmers dead, but none of the Cojuangcos were killed because they were hiding in Pangasinan, under the protection of the US Army authorities. Because of the chaos that unfolded in the Philippines, the planned date of independence had to be set back for two years until the Huk Rebellion could be defeated, as several Huk attacks also caused the deaths of US servicemen throughout Central Luzon.
It was against the backdrop of the Huk Revolt that also changed the face of Philippine political history, as Manuel Roxas, who was supposed to be the frontrunner for the Presidency, was assassinated by the Huks in Manila. This time, the Philippine Supreme Court tried the assassins for murder and had them executed, including a prominent peasant leader named Juan Feleo. In response to the growing attacks made by the Hukbalahap, the US Army began to retrain and re-equip the Philippine military for the purpose of sustaining a counter-insurgency operation, with General Walter Krueger leading the training mission before being replaced by George Patton on December of 1947. Patton became immensely popular with the Filipino trainees who learned more from him than they ever did from General MacArthur, though Patton was annoyed by how much the Filipinos still loved MacArthur. There were some leftover Japanese weapons that the Americans had secured and were given to the Filipino soldiers (mainly Arisaka rifles that the Japanese themselves had given up during their surrender) but most of them had been taken by the Huks themselves.
In addition to the retraining of the Philippine Army, the United States Army Force in the Far East has not yet disbanded due to the growing Huk Rebellion. In an effort to rely less on American troops pacifying the countryside, the USAFFE would create special anti-communist paramilitary units that are also efficient in guerrilla warfare. Among the anti-communist guerrillas who fought against the Huks were two veterans who contributed to the Raid on Cabanatuan (Eduardo Joson and Juan Pajota). Pajota and Joson each became commanders of their own paramilitary unit, and Joson’s unit was deployed to Nueva Ecija in order to suppress the Huk rebellion there while Pajota would move towards Pampanga and do the same thing. Most of the time, the anti-communist Filipino paramilitaries carried out raids on pro-Huk villages while carrying out atrocities against sympathizers, leading to Huk reprisals that killed a good number of peasants and landowners alike.
Landowners who feared Huk reprisals formed their own paramilitary units as well in order to protect their own properties, contributing to the growing problem of the Huk guerrillas who liked to stage raids on sugar plantations and animal farms, depriving both sides of their food supply. Ultimately, the Huk Revolt began to turn against the Huks when news of several defections reached Manila, and it was only when the rebuilt Philippine Army began its operations against the Huks on March of 1948, the Huks were greatly weakened by the lack of food supplies given to the Huk guerrillas (as more recruits had greatly outpaced the food supply the Huks kept in order to feed themselves and their supporters). Even more importantly, the Soviet Union under Anastas Mikoyan stopped aiding the Huks in exchange for a bigger Soviet role in the occupation of Japan. Unfortunately, when the rebellion finally ended on May 9th, 1948, the Huks who surrendered were quickly executed en masse by vengeful paramilitaries as punishment for inflicting additional suffering. It was this kind of brutality that taught the lesson to future communist guerrilla leader, Jose Mari Sison.
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Excerpts from “Yet Again, Conflict Calls”
by: George Patton
Bloomberg Press
Chapter Nine: My Kind of Work
I soon found myself taking over for Krueger as the Commander in Chief of the US forces in the Philippines after he was recalled to the United States, and with my new position, I was called upon the Philippine military to retrain their forces for the counter-insurgency operation against these communist guerrillas who also fought against the Japanese forces during the war. It was rather close to Christmas, and it’s my first time to spend the holidays in the Philippines where the weather is warm, rather than in Europe where it can get cold. When I first saw the training session of the new Filipino recruits, I must have been appalled because these recruits were rather shaky. Even MacArthur had a hard time training these men, so I was determined to outdo Dougout Doug in whipping these boys into shape. Needless to say at first, the Filipinos didn’t like me at all because my approach was different from MacArthur’s approach. It was not until this regular July of 1947 that I had to give out my inspirational speech that some of them may not have liked.
“Look, I know that this is hard for you recruits to understand, but I am not Douglas MacArthur! I commanded an army across Europe and North Africa while your precious hero retreated to Australia and did hardly anything until when it’s time to go back here to liberate this nation from the Japanese occupation. Do NOT ever compare any other US military leader to General MacArthur at all because he’s nothing more than an egomaniac! I have a different approach on how to whip you boys into shape, and I’m not afraid to spread some tough love. Now when I say jump, you all jump! When I say crawl, you crawl, goddammit! And when I say charge forward while enemy machine gunfire erupts, then bloody charge forward!” I yelled. This terrified the new recruits for sure. “Get out of this outfit if you can’t survive because under my training regimen, I will not hesitate to weed out weaklings and cripples in order to make this an effective fighting force. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Good. We start training real hard, gentlemen. You’re no longer whiny, baby boys. By the time I’m done training the lot of you, you all will become real men. Real soldiers, by God!” I snapped.
The training did take place though, as I had US Army Rangers help out with the training regimen. It certainly helped me a lot when I had to observe local customs (such as slapping a local Filipino will result in a much, graver consequence, as the Japanese soldiers found out when they often slap civilians around in the Philippines), and it was Juan Pajota who told me about the dos and don’ts of etiquette in the Philippines. By the end of August of 1947, 25% of the recruits had dropped out of the army and I felt awful that I might be responsible for the destruction of the Philippine military. Yet at the beginning of September, the Huk revolt gradually escalated and farmers who were thrown out of their homes gradually joined our outfit. They were more eager to fight for their country than the poor, sorry rejects who could not survive my training program. Filipino officer cadets were also subjected to the same, rigorous training regimen as regular soldiers, an executive order that I personally requested.
It was not only retraining that had to be done; in fact, the rearmament of the entire Philippine military had to be done immediately, and this often meant giving our M1 Garands to the Filipino soldiers as their mainstay weapon. I didn’t mind seeing them carrying Japanese Type 99 Arisakas or even Type 99 light machine guns, but at one point I spotted a Filipino officer with a captured SVT-40 rifle, presumably taken from a dead Huk fighter. The only thing that I have yet to see is a Filipino soldier carrying a German MP40 Schmeisser submachine gun, but thankfully the Filipinos would not have the sense to buy anything from Germany for a while now. Actually, come to think of it, the Soviets felt that they could not rely on the Red Army to keep up the peace in their sector of Germany, which led to the formation of the Kasernierte Volkspolizei, or the People’s Police. It was an informal paramilitary unit, despite Germany’s ban on having a formal military in the first place.
I was not due to return back to Japan until 1948 when the Huk rebellion was over that someone in the US State Department must have caught wind of what MacArthur’s doing and wanted to recall him back to the United States as soon as possible. If there is anything that I’ve learned, it’s that MacArthur would come up with a spinning tale about his actions, as if it can be justified even if it was illegal. In addition, the US Presidential election was coming up and I had placed my hopes on seeing Truman win another term. To my surprise however, I found out that some shady guy named Thurmond was also running for President, although as a Dixiecrat, or one of those Southern Democrats who were pro-segregation. I had no ill will towards Jews or blacks despite that slimy bastard Remer’s claims that I ‘hated’ Jews because of my actions with the ex-Nazis in Bavaria. For MacArthur however, I heard a disturbing news from a newcomer named Robert Beightler about Dugout Doug’s plans for the presidency. He told me about it during my down time just outside Cabanatuan.
“It appears that big business interests are aiming at organizing MacArthur’s campaign for the 1952 elections,” said Beightler. He handed me a folder containing information about the donors for the so-called “President MacArthur 1952 Campaign”. Sure enough, there was the famous name Rockefeller and even JP Morgan, who had a huge business interest in Japan. “I’m not sure if MacArthur is the right man for the job though.”
“I don’t know if anyone else would be interested in challenging MacArthur for the presidency,” Beightler replied back. “Maybe you or Eisenhower could run together.”
“Ike won’t be interested in running for the presidency unless I step in for the Democratic ticket. Even if I were to run, I’d rather run as an Independent candidate, unaffiliated with any political party whatsoever,” I told him. “It will be a very tough campaign for me, should I run for the presidency. MacArthur won’t hesitate to conduct some sort of political mudslinging that will discredit me.”
“Either way, anyone would be better as President than MacArthur, and I mean anyone but MacArthur should be president.” We paused for a moment. “Ike should be persuaded to run for the presidency if he can stop MacArthur, or you can.”
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Anastas Mikoyan
Chapter Eleven: Return to the Battlefield
It was October of 1947 when I finally arrived in Diyarbakir to meet President Inonu, along with Foreign Minister Saka. I brought Vyshinsky with me to represent the USSR as its foreign minister, and in Diyarbakir I finally got a chance to meet the leaders of the Arab Higher Committee. Yet I was also surprised when a special guest had arrived to meet up with the Arab Higher Committee and myself, and it was fitting for this historic meeting that I would come face to face with the eventual founder of the Arab Ba’ath Party, Michel Aflaq. The Arab delegation finally began to sit down inside a conference room while the Soviet and Turkish delegates took their seats on the opposite side. I was unsure of how to deal with the Arabs because the Soviet leadership in Moscow wanted me to support the creation of Israel, but like I mentioned earlier, I have doubts about how the partition will go.
“Friends, we have come here to discuss the fate of the Palestine Mandate that is under British control. As you all are aware, the creation of the Israeli state is something that the Soviet Union would be wary due to its potential for unresolved conflicts down the road. As the Arab nations have the numerical advantage in population and oil production, it would be fit for the Soviet Union to support Arab national aspirations. In addition, the Republic of Turkey is also here as a mediator and a go-between,” I explained to the Arab delegates.
A man named Jamal al-Husayni spoke back. “The Arab League and the entire Islamic community are anxious to hear the Soviet response because it has hosted a large number of Jews within its borders at one point. However, you seem to be extremely hesitant to support the creation of the Israeli state, preferring to side with us. Why is that?”
“The Soviet Union has a large number of Muslims living within its borders, and any policy that would inflame the Muslims of the USSR will result in a violent case of jihad from Central Asia to the Volga region. In addition, while I may address the issue of the Crimean Tatars that are in exile, comrade Stalin’s decree might still be in place. Moreover, Soviet-Turkish rapprochement has allowed me to address the possibility of a Soviet-Arab alliance against the rootless cosmopolitans who threaten to destroy our way of life,” I replied back. As much as I hated it, I felt uncomfortable with the anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Aflaq spoke for the first time. “The Arab Ba’ath Party is in a dire need of help from the Soviet Union since we share the same common goal as the Soviets: advancing the socialist revolution within the entire world. In addition, we will be of great help should the Soviet Union need advice on Islamic matters.”
“That is indeed true, but would the West condemn you for rejecting the creation of Israel though?” Al-Huseyni asked me. “Although we’re more numerous than the Jews, the Western Allies would still find a way to guilt trip the Soviets into supporting the creation of Israel. I mean, they can employ various kinds of nasty black propaganda for the masses to eat up.”
As much as I didn’t like to admit it, the Arabs have a point. With the Holocaust still fresh in our minds plus the large number of our own citizens killed by these Nazi bastards, we might be vulnerable to an Allied propaganda drive, possibly demonizing us if we didn’t want to support Israel’s birth. At the same time though, the Arabs are feeling the brunt of Western hypocrisy and we felt that with our rising popularity among the non-Western nations (though in the future, the Chinese would also gain the same kind of popularity that the USSR will enjoy) plus the rapprochement with Turkey had eased up the worries among the Turkic speaking populations around the world. Our diplomacy with the Turks and Iranians will also gain dividends in the long run, especially when we might be required to help solve the next diplomatic problem: what to do with the crumbling British Raj when sectarian violence threatened to plunge it into civil war.
“Turkey could learn a thing or two from any possible Arab success in the region, given the fact that we still have to solve the Cypriot problem and the Soviet military can help modernize its Turkish counterpart. Though the Soviet Navy will still need a naval base from which they can project their power around the world, we already gave up on administering the Bosporus, hence why we planned to push Greece to act rashly towards its neighbors. We’re just waiting for a new war to break out and the end result should be the expansion of Bulgaria and Turkey’s borders.” I showed the map of the Mediterranean Sea for everyone to see. “Here is Drama.” I showed the location of Drama. “And here, is Kavala. Kavala should be a suitable naval base for the Soviet Navy, but Cyprus should also be suitable, provided that we fight against the Western Allies.”
“Cyprus is indeed a suitable naval base, and its location makes it possible to reach our borders, as well as the MidEast states.” A newcomer arrived as we looked at him. The newcomer in question, happened to be a Turkish Army general named Tahsin Yazici, who was accompanied by three Turkish soldiers. He didn’t look happy at all. “Mr. Mikoyan, I assume?
“What can I do, General?” I asked.
He handed me an envelope. “For you. Normally, this would be given by the Soviet ambassador to our nation, but he’s in a meeting with several other Turkish government officials. Something about a report from Marshal Voroshilov.”
I gasped as I opened the letter. After I read its contents, I turned to the Turkish hosts and Arab delegates. “Comrades, it appears that the Yugoslavs may have lit the fuse of which we may end up fighting a new war.”
“What happened?” Aflaq asked me.
“Vladimir Dapcevic died while trying to defect to Hungary. Arso Jovanovic and Peko Dapcevic managed to survive, but two Hungarian border guards are killed. Hungary now has a caucus belli to consider going to war against Yugoslavia, while Romania and Bulgaria are mobilizing their troops as well. The Red Army garrison in those states is also on high alert, and Voroshilov has asked me to come back. Gentlemen, the Soviet Union is now facing a new world war, and let us wish for our survival.” I told them. “However, the NKVD shall start sending weapons to the Arab armies through Turkey, but it will be captured German weapons that we possessed. We’re talking about surplus MG 42s, Schmeisser submachine guns, Mausers K98s and Gewehr 43s that fell under our control. We might have some leftover Arisaka rifles, but they’re given to the Chinese.”
I caught a plane back to Moscow as soon as I can, and when I finally arrived in the Kremlin, several NKVD and Red Army figures saluted to me. I hurried back to my office where the STAVKA awaited for my orders. Already, Marshal Zhukov was present as he got a call from STAVKA while overseeing the reformation of the Far Eastern Military District while Marshal Malinovsky was engaged in a conversation with General Chuikov. There were ambassadors from the Eastern European nations that are under our control as they struggled to get the message that they need to relay back to their governments. Finally, I started the entire meeting while the NKVD officers and Red Army generals sat down on their seats.
“Comrades, the Yugoslavs have shown their true face as the brainwashed neo-Trotskyites that fell under Esteban Sedov’s influence. Our Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian comrades have expressed their anger and hatred over the loss of their soldiers who died at the hands of the Yugoslavs, and we will be there to provide their desire for revenge. Now is the time to win the hearts and minds of the Eastern Europeans who still view us with suspicion!” I started. Everyone nodded in approval. “Unfortunately, we are still tired from the Great Patriotic War, so here’s how we’ll approach this new war: we’ll send Soviet volunteers who will form the core of our new special forces, the Spetsnaz. Comrade Marshal, how shall we proceed with the new formation of the Spetsnaz?”
Zhukov stood up. “Comrade Mikoyan, if we could take around 54 separate companies that will consist of 200 battle hardened soldiers, most of whom will be selected from among the Partisans that fought during the war for special training missions. They’ll have to undergo further training before they can be deployed into Yugoslavia.”
“And while we’re at it, we might leave this covert war to the NKVD, and that is the last thing we’ll need. Forget about training, these men that you’ll choose had years of combat in their belt. Some of them would have fought in Berlin, while others would have been in the Far East.” I beckoned for Chuikov and Malinovsky to stand up. “You two will select the men that have battle experience from among the million strong Red Army troops, this will be very difficult to achieve. Perhaps send only a quarter of the Red Army troops that are stationed in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. We will have to resume war production so that we can send extra weapons to our comrades in those regions. Of course, the Greek Civil War will be over soon, but we will have the means to push Greece into the Western camp while we bring the Turks closer to us.”
Malinovsky chuckled. “Push the Greeks and bring the Turks closer, eh? Not a bad idea, comrade Mikoyan. While we’re at it, not only we’d betray the Greek comrades who are fighting to establish a socialist state-“
“Greece is too saturated with reactionaries, while the Yugoslav Royalists are also fighting the communists there. Turkey is much closer to us.” I pointed at the map of Turkey, including the borders that have been changed. “In addition, I originally envisioned a neutral Turkey, but thanks to my generosity, I ended up making it our ally.”
“Sir, if Yugoslavia goes to war with the Soviet Union plus its allies, would this mean that the Western powers would also try to launch a new war to liberate Eastern Europe?” Chuikov asked me.
“That might also be a possibility, and the Czechoslovaks have not yet embraced socialism. Combine with Russophobia in Poland and the Baltics, I think it’s about time we teach these bastards a lesson they’ll never forget should they rebel against us.” I turned to Shelepin. “We will also have to deal with the anti-communist movements within our own borders, as the Forest Brothers are making our administration of the Baltic States a lot more troublesome.”
“What do you prefer to do, comrade Mikoyan?” Shelepin asked me. I grinned maliciously.
“Liquidate the entire bandit organization, and deport say, 60% of the entire population of the Baltic States to the gulags, or we could simply liquidate the entire population on the border with the Russian SFSR. Latgale could be attached to the RSFSR, as well as the Estonian borderlands, and the fate of Prussia is still up in the air. I could have it attached to the Byelorussian SSR, or keep it as a separate SSR for the German communist population there. If that won’t work, we’ll just give its entirety to the Byelorussian SSR instead,” I spoke back. I then turned back to Chuikov and Zhukov. “I honestly don’t give a damn if these Balts hate us. They’ve always been on the side of the reactionaries, and even Stalin wasn’t merciless enough towards them. It’s about time we showed the meaning of Soviet discipline.”
It only took three weeks for the entire Red Army garrison in the three countries that I’ve mentioned to mobilize, by which the Western Allies began to send military advisors to Yugoslavia. At the same time, the NKVD fed me reports of defecting Yugoslav soldiers who were also disgusted by Tito’s flirtation with the neo-Trotskyites and were formed into a “Yugoslav National People’s Army” led by Arso Jovanovic. By the time November 22nd approached, I gave the order to launch the invasion of Yugoslavia. Comrade Marshals Voroshilov and Chuikov were appointed to direct the Soviet invasion (mainly using light units while the tank and artillery units would be utilized by the Hungarians, Romanians and Bulgarians) while Red Air Force bombers would pound Yugoslav cities. When the actual invasion kicked off, I grew worried that we may have gotten a bigger problem than we’ve bargained for, and since even the Germans could not defeat the Yugoslav Partisans, I don’t think we’ll defeat them with firepower alone. Luckily, we’ve got the Macedonian socialists who were influenced by our NKVD agents to agitate for the return of Macedonia (or Greater Macedonia) with Bulgaria. That should scare the Greeks out of their wits, if we also agitated for northern Greece to be attached to the pro-Soviet government in Albania.
“Comrade Mikoyan, we’ve received bad news.” A new general named Valentin Varennikov arrived at my office on a regular day in November 29th, 1947. “Yugoslav resistance movement is much more dangerous in the southern regions around Vranya, and it’s causing our Macedonian comrades grief.”
“What is the good news?” I asked back.
“From the Far East, Comrade Zhukov has told me to relay this message to you: Comrade Liu Shaoqi and the PLA leadership have also launched their attacks on the Chinese reactionaries in northern China. Once they take control of Fujian Province, they will invade Taiwan to cut off KMT’s route of retreat. However, since the US Pacific Fleet is present in Okinawa, we may have to deploy our own Pacific Fleet’s submarines and frigates to assist the PLA in the invasion of Taiwan.” Varennikov handed me his report. “With your permission, the Korean socialists would like to launch the unification campaign against the reactionary south.”
“Denied. They’re not ready yet, and I haven’t decided as to who should be the new Korean socialist leader.” Just then, Varennikov handed me another folder. This time, it contained the list of potential Korean puppet leaders who are groomed to take over the Korean communist leadership. “What about this guy? His name is Kim Il-Sung, and he is an unknown in the political arena.”
“Not sure since we don’t know what his political stance is like. There’s also Choe Yong-gon, but he’s a battle hardened veteran and so he would be more compatible as socialist Korea’s Minister of Defense. Finally, there’s Pak Song Chol who’s suitable,” Varennikov told me. I thought for a moment that Pak would be a good fit, though our Chinese comrades might want their views to count towards the selection of the Korean communist leader.
“Perhaps if we could contact comrade Liu and ask him on who should lead the one, true Korean state, he might have some answers. Anyways, if we go back to the war at hand, I need the Bulgarian forces to close their borders with Greece and if necessary, they should be mobilized for an invasion of Greek Thrace. I do believe it’s time we awarded our Bulgarian and Turkish friends with some slices of Greek territory,” I smirked.
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Liu Shaoqi
Chapter Six: How Shall We Demonstrate Our Wisdom
It has been a while since I got into contact with the Soviets that a lot of events had now taken place, and major changes have been occurred. The first thing that happened was the Soviet Union becoming embroiled in a war against our Yugoslav comrades, but then again it was inevitable since the Trotskyites are coming out of their hidey holes and trying to stir chaos against the USSR. As the followers of Joseph Stalin, we Chinese communists fully understood the true meaning of fighting rootless cosmopolitanism and the Trotskyites represent a dangerous threat to the communist movement. At the same time, the Soviets were also stuck with a decision so difficult that they had to ask for our help. What was the difficult decision, you may ask? It just so happens that the Soviets are unsure of who they should choose to lead Korea, since they had to consider the factors that may allow either the Moscow Faction or the Yenan Faction to select their candidates. Of course, the Yenan Faction is the Korean comrades who fought alongside us.
There was one more guest who arrived at our current base in Luoyang when our PLA troops launched their offensive. At first I was not comfortable who this man was, but apparently he had a powerful base of support in Manchuria and the Soviets took a liking to this guy. It never occurred to me that Gao Gang was going to join us in this expedition, and his support of Soviet-style industrialization schemes was something that would go well with comrade Deng’s own vision of an economic revival for the Chinese state. As for our offensive, it actually started a while back when we moved in to consolidate control of Manchuria through the help of the Soviet Red Army. We continued to endure KMT offensives until the time was right for us to attack. When we finally attacked, the KMT were helpless in the face of our overwhelming might, and we had seen KMT soldiers defect to our movement precisely because of the factors that comrade Lin Biao mentioned about the average KMT soldier. As the Soviets had advised us on capturing the coasts became more important, we shifted our troops to capturing the crucial provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan. However, consolidating Manchuria was more important.
“Comrade Liu, we’ve received a message from comrade Xie Fuzhi.” A PLA officer handed me a note. “We’ve started to launch an offensive around Mt. Funiu against the reactionaries.”
“Winter is coming, comrade, and do we have the necessary materials needed to survive against the KMT? It seems that we’re growing rather too large and the supplies cannot keep up with the demand,” I told the officer before turning towards Gao Gang, who had just arrived. “Where were you?”
“I was on the border in Yanbian, comrade Liu, where I monitored the Soviets and the Koreans. We haven’t gotten any orders from comrade Mikoyan about Korea, but his difficulty in choosing a suitable candidate is the reason why he asked us for help: because the Yenan faction may want to select their own candidate as well. Although we and the Soviets may be on the same page, the Soviets have their own Eurasian communism while our own version is exclusively Asiatic. Without comrade Mao to inspire the Chinese people, it has now fallen upon either you or me to lead the masses,” Gao told me. He certainly had a point when it comes to the Yenan faction. “Here’s how I would do it: the Moscow faction can take over the civilian government, while the Yenan faction takes over the military.”
“Good idea, but who do we choose for the military faction?” I asked back. It was when Lin Biao entered. “Comrade Lin, how goes the selection process?”
“Comrade Choe might be a good fit to become Minister of Defense, but we may need something more should the South Korean communists join their fellow Northern brethren. By the way, a new report from Laiyang came back.” Comrade Lin handed me a folder. “It appears that the Soviet Pacific Fleet that consists of seven submarines and five light cruisers are being moved towards Qingdao while comrade Mikoyan has authorized the construction of several new submarines and surface ships in its Far Eastern shipyards.”
“Ah, so that is what he meant by the meaning of ‘taking the coasts’ before the KMT does. He’s trying to give us an advantage in our war against the reactionaries, and comrade Mikoyan knows that if the KMT would try to set up a free zone, it would be in Taiwan. However, this strategy has several flaws,” Lin said to us. He has a point after all, due to his experience as a military strategist. “By taking the coasts, we’re giving the KMT the very same advantage that we enjoyed during the war against the Eastern devils. If we really mean to win against the KMT, we have to do more than just take the coasts: we have to carry out land reforms and implement it on the entire country.”
I nodded and turned to comrade Gao. “Comrade, if you and comrade Deng come up with some crazy, wild idea on how we can revive the Chinese economy, then you two will have to share power. I can only be an advisor since I have yet to fully embrace the leadership.”
Reports kept on filing in as the weeks had gone by, with news of our success against the KMT in northeastern China. With the Soviets giving up their proposed plan of an East Turkestani SSR in Xinjiang, we gained more territory through their actions, though I had some uneasiness with giving up Yanbian to the Koreans in exchange for the Soviets getting Chongjin. The winter of 1947 was among the worst of its kind in northern China, but the CCP made sure that our supporters have plenty of warm clothing to last through the winter, which is how comrade Deng came up with an ambitious project called Winter March, which was an economic project aimed at mass producing winter clothing for the civilians. Though we might not have gained any profits from the sales of these jackets (it was one of those ideological compromise that we had to make, as the production of clothes and selling them for low price to the peasantry was more important than to adhere to orthodox Marxism), we managed to restart our own textile industry. Comrade Gao gave instructions to provincial and municipal leaders within the CCP to establish textile and clothing factories where the peasantry could work for low wage (though we had to freeze the wage increase due to the war effort) in exchange for food and shelter.
The Western Tai’an Campaign also became a successful operation, though more Soviet military aid in the form of weapons and ammunition gradually helped us in the long run and not to mention the increasing defections from the KMT forces allowed us to master the hardware that they brought along during their defection. At one point several KMT soldiers had actually brought in a German style helmet that the Soviets called a Stahlhelm, which we obviously didn’t like due to its negative connections with the German fascists back then. It was not until the Soviets began to introduce to the Chinese PLA their own helmet, which was an older version called an Ssh-39 helmet. Though we didn’t like to wear those helmets, the Soviets stressed the importance of preventing head injuries that could injure a soldier’s head long enough for him to be taken out of action. Eventually casualty rates declined due to the increased longevity of the soldier wearing a helmet, as evident by the Huaihai Campaign, which was finally launched in the beginning of February of 1948 when we launched a simultaneous attack on the Chinese coasts that the Soviets wanted us to focus on. Well, we had more things to worry about when Lin Biao returned to Luoyang from his campaign with some bad news.
“Comrade Liu, the Americans are attacking our forces in Shandong Province!” he announced. “It appears that several thousand of our troops have been killed while engaging the Americans!”
“But how could the Americans do that!?” I thundered.
“Well, that is one other thing that I wanted to tell you, Comrade Liu,” Lin continued. I could tell that he was shaking with fear. “The Western Allies have announced that the Soviet Union is at war with Yugoslavia.”
“I know that portion!-“
“I’m not done!” Lin yelled back. “The Americans in Europe are planning to give aid to anti-communist forces in the territories occupied by the Soviet Red Army. Furthermore, the United States might be planning on increasing its military presence in the mainland and even change its mind on Taiwan. They might give Taiwan back to the Eastern devils!
Deleted member 14881
update from MB
Turn Nine: How Terrifying the Old Ghosts Reappear Once Again
Disclaimer: This update may contain racial slurs that will be used for historical purposes and does not intend to provoke anyone of ethnicity in question. Please be advised that the racial slurs used in this update are meant to reflect the historical time period. You have been warned.
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Excerpts from “The Eternal Flame of Ukrainian Freedom”
by: Roman Shukhevych
Chapter Six: Not Yet Defeated
Ukraine has not yet perished, despite the numerous efforts by both the Germans and the Muscovite imperialists to eliminate its very existence. We proved our brave talk in our numerous battles against the Wehrmacht during the war, and then finally against the Soviet Red Army. One must not forget how the Moskals had often called us Ukrainians as ‘khokhly’, and even compared us to pigs. Yet the spirit of the Ukrainian fight for freedom still burns within our hearts, and the fight has not yet ended even after the Second World War officially ended. I led an UPA regiment in the western region of Ukraine in the Volhynia province where the Red Army was busy fighting against us, but we were also outgunned because the puppet Polish communist government decided to suppress the Ukrainian resistance movement against both Poland and the Soviet Union. It was also surprising that Czechoslovakia joined in the suppression of Ukrainians since they hardly did anything bad towards us in the inter-war era, but it all changed with just a single act that we viewed as God’s miracle. What was the miracle, you may ask?
The chief architect who was responsible for the mass starvation of our people had died of a heart attack on October 10, 1945, and his replacement was none other than Anastas Mikoyan. Mikoyan, as we suspected, would outdo even Stalin in terms of how many people he will kill, as his orders to suppress our activity went beyond just executing the captured UPA fighters and their families. In the beginning of 1948, Mikoyan had figured out that we were receiving support from the Greek Catholic Church and thus decided to launch a new crackdown on the Uniates who gave their support to our cause. Mikoyan knew too well of the bloody history that resulted in the creation of the Uniate Church, so he began to apply the lessons that were applied by various Russian Tsars in forcing the Uniates to come back to Orthodoxy. Ironic, given the Soviet Union’s supposed atheism but given the recent situation in which Mikoyan acted more like a Red Fascist than an actual communist, it wasn’t surprising. Unfortunately, the persecution of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics within the Soviet Union became much more dangerous. It was in the city of Lviv during the early months of January of 1948 that I saw the brutal face of the Moskals and their anti-Catholic bigotry.
“Look at that church, Roman!” an UPA soldier told me as he pointed at a nearby church. I was stunned, because the damned Muscovites were busy burning down St. George’s Cathedral, which was a very important church to us. Being a Uniate myself, I felt furious at this act of insult. When we retreated to the nearby woods, I turned to the survivors who were still capable of fighting the Muscovites.
“It appears that the Western Allies are gearing up for a war against the Soviet Union, which is why we need to start recruiting more people into our organization. At the same time, there are elements within the former Polish Home Army-“ Some of our fighters booed when I mentioned them. “-who wanted to join up with us in our struggle to rid our nations of communism.”
“Why the hell would we need the help of those damned Polacks!?” Vasyl Kuk said angrily. “We fought viciously against our former overlords and they even killed our people!”
“Gentlemen!” a voice boomed out of nowhere. We turned around to see a man with an unusual haircut and carrying a suitcase arrived, accompanied by three bodyguards. “Instead of arguing over whether or not we should accept any help at all, we should be grateful that we are receiving help.”
I gasped. “We’re sorry, Mr. Bandera.”
“All is forgiven, Roman,” Stepan Bandera smiled back at me. “While you guys struggled to contain the menacing Red tide, I was in touch with the Western Allies. Thankfully they cancelled the plan to forcibly repatriate citizens of countries that have now come under Soviet occupation, so the British approached me with the daring plan to instigate an uprising in Western Ukraine.”
“So how big will our proposed Ukrainian state look like, Stepan?” Kuk asked back. “The eastern portions of the country are heavily influenced by the communists and the Kuban region has accepted the Russian identity. Not to mention that the plan for the creation of the Trans-Curzon Republic we had in mind was shattered with the Polish decision to launch Operation: Vistula. Now we might have to rely on the Western Allies getting successful in booting the Muscovites out of Poland.”
“That is a good point, Vasyl. Our concept of Velika Ukraina has not yet changed, but it will be soon should another war break out. From what I heard, even the Canadians are itching to help us since most of our people live in their lands. They’re as reliable and friendly as ever, the Canadians who granted our people permission to live there,” Bandera glowed.
I nodded. “The Americans may also be interested in helping us as well, and with the Greek Civil War still going on, we may need the help of other anti-communist factions.”
“Like the Chetniks?” one UPA soldier asked back. “I heard from one of the careless Red Army soldiers about the Chetniks fighting alongside Greek royalists.”
“True, but do we need a group of people who would kill Catholics without remorse?” I asked back. “We already have the Muscovites rounding up and executing Uniate priests, we don’t need bigoted Serbs in our ranks that could jeopardize our fight. Given the recent savage war in the Balkans, I don’t want a repeat of that tragedy unfolding in Ukraine.”
“Nor do we need our Catholic counterpart that is just as ruthless and vicious, even if they’re killing Orthodox Christians. We have to attract Ukrainian Orthodox Christians as well, or the fight for Ukrainian freedom will be viewed as a Halychynan regional separatist movement,” I warned. Everyone nodded in agreement. “The Allies must recognize our effort to get rid of communism in Ukraine as a legitimate act of liberation. I don’t know how the war will turn out if we would join in the fight against the communists. Maybe even launch an invasion of Russia itself and raze Muscovy to the ground.”
“We should just limit ourselves to expelling the Moskals out of Ukraine since they were brought in by Stalin,” Kuk told everyone. “We’ll worry about the others, but the Zhids would be dealt with in another time.”
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Otto Ernst Remer
Chapter Nine: Divulging Deeper
I was not expecting to hear that the Soviet Union was declaring war against Yugoslavia by the time I began my clandestine activities, and when additional news of Soviet Red Army deployment at the border of Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria reached me, I knew that this was a golden opportunity to collaborate with the Soviet Union against the Western Allies, even if it went against my previous convictions that the Soviets are a mortal enemy of Western civilization. However, the Western Allies led by the United States proved to be an even more unreliable bunch of protectors than the Soviets, and they really would like to see Germany remain divided. More war veterans who resented the Western Allies began to come to my sanctuary and talk about how bitter they are that the German civilians are disrespectful towards them because of the Holocaust. While I knew a little about what happened in camps like Auschwitz and Sobibor, I still harbored much hatred against the Jews.
The formation of the secret Schwarz Wehrmacht was something that I had to be careful with, since I was still under American surveillance and it was not long before one of the war veterans approached me with an offer to relocate to the Soviet side. I was rather surprised when it turns out that Friedrich von Paulus wanted to help me with my secret project, while former members of the Hitlerjugend, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe were also present at this meeting. Three sentries were posted to warn us of any incoming Allied personnel who might be curious and nosy about any ‘unauthorized’ meetings that are held.
“Herr Remer, it appears that the Fatherland might be in danger from yet another war due to the Soviet antics in Yugoslavia. However, the Western Allies are itching for a war to remove the Soviets from Europe, and even if we disagreed with the Soviets before, the new Mikoyan administration is slowly transforming the USSR into a warped mix of Stalinism and the ideology that the late Fuhrer had propagated. However, I am wondering if we might be turning Strasserist due to the Strasser brothers’ creation of their own brand of National Socialism that is alien.” One of the veterans pointed out about the plan. “If we don’t do something soon, then the Zionist alliance with US financial interests will continue to destroy the Europe we know and love.”
“I am aware of that, Herr Grabner,” I told the veteran. “Mikoyan has also announced that the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal would formally cease due to the inevitable conflict. Unfortunately, we should eliminate those incompetent swine that have led us to such a disaster that we’re experiencing right now.”
It was then that Paulus scoffed. “Those men were the ones that ran the Reich! How could you say that we should eliminate them?”
“As far as Party bosses go, Herr Feldmarschal, they squandered the wealth that they have and they seem to care more about favoritism than competence. Recall that Hans Frank’s corruption in Poland has made the administration of the General Government untenable. Do you want to let these assholes be humiliated? Also, we’d be doing them a service by sparing them from being humiliated in front of a foreign court and will probably die a common criminal’s death instead of a firing squad,” I replied back. I then grabbed a folder that I kept around and showed it to Paulus. “We need to attack Nuremberg and kill these fools.”
“Nein, too risky. You’re still under surveillance and an operation like that can give the Americans a good reason to have you killed,” Paulus replied back.
I nodded. “True, but we’ll also have to gather intel and pass it to our friends in the Soviet sector. No doubt that they’ll relay the information to Moscow, allowing Mikoyan to formulate a plan. Although we’re all in favor of German reunification, the problem will still exist with regards to East Prussia because most of the Germans in Eastern Europe have been expelled from there.”
“You have a point there,” A newcomer told us. We turned around and saw just one man coming in. “Ernst Niekisch at your service, Herr Remer.”
“Wilkommen, Herr Niekisch,” I said as I shook hands with him. “You never liked the Fuhrer, did you?”
“Nein, I didn’t like the demagoguery that he displayed. Herr Stalin displayed a much better Fuhrerprinzip, and now that he’s dead, Herr Mikoyan has become the talented politician that has surpassed even Hitler and Stalin combined. Not only that, he has demonstrated his willingness to give concessions to neighboring states in exchange for their friendship, as shown when he gave a part of the Soviet Union to Turkey in exchange for Turkish rapprochement with the Armenians.” Niekisch handed me an old newspaper article. “This is Der Arbeiter, a newspaper that is mainly a mouthpiece of the communists, but as I am beginning to respect Mikoyan’s diplomacy, he will eventually crush the neo-Trotskyite movement in Yugoslavia. Perhaps he can succeed where even the Fuhrer failed in subjugating the wily and unpredictable Yugoslavs.”
“I wouldn’t count the Yugoslavs as unpredictable. Tito has always been a proud man who refused to bow down to Stalin, and his calling of Mikoyan a Red Fascist did not go well with the Soviet government. On top of that, Vladimir Dapcevic’s murder in his botched defection attempt and the deaths of two Hungarian border guards, which I may add, has made headlines throughout all of the German newspapers. So what do we do now?” I asked back.
“Come with me to the East, Herr Remer. You’re not safe in the Western zone, and I doubt that the Allies will want to keep you alive,” NIekisch told me. I nodded in agreement.
It took three days for Niekisch to make arrangements for our travel plans, and by the time he returned the next day on November 29th, he arrived with a suitcase. I looked at my passport and travel visa as I thanked him for securing these documents. Finally, we arrived at the border between the American and Soviet sectors. Determined to prevent the repeat of the incident at the Yugoslav-Hungarian border, the driver that we hired acted in a calm manner. Yet when the American sentry looked at the passenger side of the car, I looked down with my hat covering my face. For a minute, he was unsure of who I was but two Soviet Red Army soldiers and a German Kasernierte Volkspolizei officer beckoned for the car to move forward that the American sentry realized who I was.
“Stop that car! Stop that car!” the American soldier yelled. The driver began to drive as three American MPs ran towards the border post. “That’s Otto Remer inside that car! We’ve gotta tell General Eisenhower that Remer has violated his parole!”
“Hurry up!” I yelled at the driver. No sooner did the driver obeyed that the American MPs began to open fire upon the car. The bullets ricocheted off the car’s door, but one bullet struck the driver in the head. The Volkspolizei then dragged the dead driver from the car as he himself took charge of the steering wheel and continued. Ten minutes later, a platoon of American soldiers had engaged in a firefight with a Red Army platoon. “Weapons? Do you have any weapons?”
“Nein, sir.” The Volkspolizei continued to drive. “Well it’s Dapcevic all over again, but this time your driver’s dead.”
Niekisch nodded, but looked back as two American soldiers were shot dead and four Red Army soldiers fell five minutes after we fled. “This incident is gonna end badly.”
“The thing is we managed to escape to the Soviet zone. Now all we need to do is to establish a ratline for the war veterans to move from the Western zone to the Soviet zone, especially the Waffen SS veterans,” I warned.
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Excerpts from “My Turbulent Presidency”
By: Harry S. Truman
Bloomberg Press
Chapter Four: We Make Them Pay
1947 was the most memorable year of my presidency as it was certainly the last one for me. I grew exhausted from the wartime presidency that I assumed after FDR’s death and to be honest, I wanted someone else to become president instead of myself. Of course, it didn’t stop Thomas Dewey from campaigning aggressively in his efforts to become president and Storm Thurmond was a nasty fellow who campaigned on a pro-segregationist platform. I don’t know if it’s too soon to integrate the two races that have lived in the United States for a long time, due to the Jim Crow laws that governed race relations between black and white, plus all of the other anti-miscegenation laws that have governed relations between other coloreds and whites, especially Asiatics. Alben Barkley and Richard Russell emerged as the democratic ticket for the 1948 presidential election since I declined to run.
As it turns out, the 1948 elections were rather close, with Barkley and Russell narrowly losing to Dewey and Earl Warren. I’m not sure how would a Republican administration will handle a Third World War, especially one that has broken out over, of all things, some damned foolish thing in the Balkans. Only this time we can thank the Soviet Union for causing this kind of conflict to spread. I don’t want to admit this, but a war against the Soviets might be a good thing if we are to completely crush communism before it spreads like a virus. Yet even as we held the advantage over the Soviets in our nuclear monopoly, I knew something wasn’t right. I was rather suspicious towards the Rosenbergs since they acted rather strangely these days. Klaus Fuchs, who worked with us on the atom bomb project, also acted rather in a different manner.
Now that I was safely out of the presidency, I can now focus on the big project of helping the United Nations work as a better international organization than the failed League of Nations. Unfortunately, with the war in the Balkans heating up, there was absolutely no way that Europe could be rebuilt with American aid, and Asia is also on the verge of a new world war as well, with the Soviets acting rather differently in the Pacific. Speaking of which, the Soviets had recently began to increase their naval strength in the Pacific for some odd reason. Before Stalin’s death, the Soviet Pacific Fleet was only miniscule, barely worth supporting should they get involved in the war against Japan back then. However, they made up for their naval weakness with the strength of their army, as demonstrated in their invasion of Manchuria. Now that the Soviets and the ChiComms are switching strategies to attacking the coastlines, the KMT are forced to undergo a long march back to Chongqing.
I was currently resting in my private home on the outskirts of Kansas City when someone from the federal government knocked on my door. I opened it and sure enough, it was Joseph MacCarthy who wanted to see me. I don’t know enough of his reputation, but MacCarthy strikes me as someone who was rather dedicated to his job of rooting out communists, if it was a bit too extreme. He’d be MacArthur’s favorite kind of pal though.
“How are you doing, Mr. Truman?” MacCarthy asked me.
“I’m fine. The countryside does wonders for a man who has been stuck in the government since Franklin kicked the bucket,” I replied back. “What is it that you wanted to see me?”
MacCarthy got to the point. “Mr. Truman, we’re sorry to hear you decide to forego the campaign, but in the upcoming elections for the 1952 campaign, I was wondering if you’d be able to launch your bid again.”
“I’m done with politics, Joe. For now, at least, but I do intend to run for senator though.” I looked at MacCarthy and saw a worried look on his face. “What’s the matter?”
“All of America knows about the Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia and I’m not sure how to proceed from there. Though we kinda see it as a conflict within the communist nations, I can’t help but feel if we should get involved,” MacCarthy replied back. “Yet all of the countries around the world are exhausted from the war, plus the incident in the two zones of Germany where Remer nearly got shot, I wonder if we can easily define the world as heading towards some sort of paradise or desolation.”
I nodded in agreement. It is rather tragic that World War Three is upon us, if it was only three years after the second one was over. I’m not sure if the controlled conflict of wits between the United States and the Soviet Union could count as a cold war, but from what I’ve learned about Anastas Mikoyan, he doesn’t hesitate to pull any punches, and like Stalin before him, he’s ruthless.
“There’s something else that you need to know,” I told MacCarthy. “The Rosenbergs began to ask some odd questions and one of the guards spotted them spying on the scientists that we grabbed from Operation: Paperclip. I’m not sure if they wanted to merely meet Von Braun or to kill him.”
“Why would the Rosenbergs want to kill a Nazi scientist? He didn’t design those death camps,” I answered, but MacCarthy shook his head.
“A rocket scientist that’s under our custody and the Rosenbergs are too curious for their own good. I have a hunch that they may be working for Mikoyan,” MacCarthy answered once again. Just then, my wife Bess poured some coffee on our cups as I nodded at her with gratitude. “Although there’s also something funny going on with Mikoyan. I can’t help but feel paranoid that Mikoyan’s façade about repealing Stalin’s legacy may be a cover to implement his own legacy.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am talking about how Josip Broz Tito had denounced him as a Red Fascist and that the Soviet Union has gone off course. Not to mention that Trotsky’s grandson was in Belgrade to meet with the Yugoslavs. We might be looking at this kind of struggle as more than just communism vs capitalism: this is a battle within the Bolshevik movement between the Trotskyites and the Stalinists.” MacCarthy sipped his coffee. “We should be content and let the Bolsheviks self-destruct themselves.”
“And what should be your plan with regards to what happens when the Soviet Union falls apart as a result of our actions?” I asked curiously.
MacCarthy smirked. “Well, we do have the pretender fascist by the name of Anastas Vonsyatsky as well as a former ROA general named Boris Smyslovsky. Now that Keelhaul is cancelled as a result of Mikoyan’s idiotic move in Yugoslavia, we could easily turn these refugees into potential volunteers willing to fight against the Soviet regime.”
“That would be nice. Why don’t you tell President Dewey about your plan?” I suggested. “If he agrees, then Europe and the free world could emerge stronger than ever.”
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Anastas Mikoyan
Chapter Twelve: The Plan in Action
“Sir, comrade Marshal Voroshilov has sent this report from the Hungarian Front. He says that the Soviet infiltration mission into Yugoslavia has been a difficult task to complete, but most of the actual fighting has been done by our fraternal Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian brothers,” a Soviet GRU agent told me. It was the winter of 1947 and it may have been a bad time for the Soviet Union to launch an invasion of Yugoslavia. However, we could no longer tolerate any more of Tito’s antics and decided to launch an invasion. Unfortunately, the invasion route that we chose happened to be the very same ones as the Germans used with only one minor difference: we are not invading from Austria. Unfortunately, Albania is not within the Soviet sphere of influence though, so we could not mount a push through Kosovo.
“Our reports from Bulgaria have come in.” Another GRU agent handed me a folder. “General Chuikov has been sent to Bulgaria to oversee the Red Army garrison troops there, and he has reported that the Macedonian socialists are revolting against Tito’s government. They’re siding with us.”
I smiled. “Excellent. Now if we could launch a conflict against the Greeks, we could entice the Turks with one more territorial adjustment.”
“What would that be?” Shelepin asked as he came in. Accompanying him were four NKVD agents, each of them with their own folders in their possession.
“Comrade Shelepin, good to see you. Rhodes would be a juicy target because under Greek control, it’s a spear aimed at the heart of Anatolia,” I answered back. I grabbed the folders that each NKVD agent has in their hand and looked at its contents. “So you want me to give the order to launch purges against Macedonian socialists in league with Tito, as well as some potential Titoists. Deal.” I picked up a pen and signed it.
I had little sleep to spare as my agents within the NKVD and the GRU have given me updated reports through telegram and secret codes. Yet we know very well that the Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia would not be this easy, but I can never imagine that our little stunt might have dire consequences far beyond our expectations. The Forest Brothers in the Baltic States are rebelling against our forces, which takes away valuable soldiers who might otherwise be employed to fight the mobile and battle hardened Yugoslav Partisans. In addition, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is also making a ruckus but the main difference is that most of the rank and file goons within the UPA have taken part in the massacres of Poles and Jews. Even the Poles who were recruited by the NKVD to work as informants were murdered by the UPA, and there was news that Nikita Khrushchev was nearly killed when he took the tour of Ivano-Frankivsk.
From what I can gather with the intel that my officers gave me, the Soviet special troops only had minimal success in penetrating through Vojvodina, while the Hungarian People’s Army performed rather poorly in their attempt to capture Belgrade. The Romanians and Bulgarians fared little better, as the former also sent troops through Banat while the latter launched an attack against Yugoslav positions in Macedonia. However, it was in Macedonia that our Red Army forces had been more successful, as they managed to seize the border posts that straddled the Yugoslav-Greek border. It was my full intention that the Greek communists were to fall apart in order to appease the Turks, though I know that it might very well backfire.
January of 1948 was unlike any other New Year that we as the leadership of the Soviet Union had celebrated. Unlike previous New Year’s celebrations, we had no such thing this year, as our troops were still bogged down in Yugoslavia. It was not until January 14th that two GRU agents arrived in Moscow with Peko Dapcevic in tow. He must have looked stressed, for I can tell that he did not eat well since his stay in Hungary. Following him was Arso Jovanovic, who was rather shaken by the presence of the NKVD agents working inside the Kremlin, and finally, Vladimir Stoychev, who has graciously surprised us with his visit to the Soviet capital. For some reason, Stoychev looked pleased with himself, but I chose not to inquire any further. I also groaned inwardly, as I had scheduled a meeting with Inonu in Moscow as the Turks were concerned and desperate for the territorial gains I promised them.
“How come no one told me about your plan to kill someone like Blaze Koneski?” Stoychev asked me accusingly. “At least you could have told the Macedonians who are against Tito that you wanted to incite a rebellion against Belgrade.”
I sighed. “Comrade Stoychev, while I wanted to keep that operation secret, I am sorry for not notifying the Bulgarians beforehand. However, if this secret was leaked to Belgrade, how would I react? Moreover, how would Tito and Sedov react?”
“You also closed down the Yugoslav border with Greece in order to cripple the Greek communists in order to curry favor with Turkey. This isn’t like you at all,” Stoychev told me as Arso and Peko nodded in agreement. “I understand if Comrade Stalin didn’t want to help the Greeks-“
“Turkey is much closer to us than Greece, and the latter is already saturated with known anti-communist factions. Do you a group calling themselves the Goryani?” I asked the Bulgarian comrade. Stoychev shook his head. “One of our NKVD agents had assassinated a radio operator working at a Goryani radio station on the Greek border with Bulgaria.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but if you strengthen the Greek royalists, then how would that help the Soviet Union?” Arso Jovanovic asked me.
“Turkey holds a strategic value to both us and the Americans. If Turkey was under American influence, then they could be used to launch an attack on our southern flank. What will happen to the Soviet regions in the Caucasus? Even more, I am still Armenian and the welfare of my people should not be neglected,” I replied back hardly. “Moreover, you both should know the reason why I summoned you here. I was thinking of an idea to merge Serbia and Bulgaria to form a new Yugoslav state.”
Peko gasped as Stoychev glared at me. “Are you fucking insane!?” The entire Kremlin stopped when they heard the commotion. I held up my hand to signal for them to not do anything rash. “The first Yugoslavia failed because it was a Serb-dominated state. The second one is gonna fail for sure, so how do you think the third one might be successful?”
“Because I am also offering you and the Serbs a chance to be admitted into the Soviet Union as an option,” I proposed. Once again, Stoychev gasped in shock. “You have a long time to think about it.”
“I would rather see Bulgaria under the fascists again than to be merged with the Serbs. It’s just not possible,” Stoychev replied back, but I glared at him.
“The Soviet Union itself, by theory, should not be a successful experiment, if we’re going by your theory, comrade Stoychev. Or there’s that Balkan Federation that was thrown as a proposal to unite Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania, but I doubt that our Romanian comrades would be pleased to be lumped together in a different union that is a rehash of the older unions,” I explained. While I had it hard when it comes to negotiating with the likes of Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Albanians are another matter entirely.
Peko then spoke up. “There is something that I should have told you, comrade Mikoyan.”
“Oh, and what is that?”
“Draza Mihailovic and the Chetnik movement had established their training camp in Salonika and were calling on all Serbs from the Diaspora to join in their fight to free Yugoslavia from Tito’s control. In addition, there’s even talk of nominating Peter II as King of Greece since Paul of Greece had died from complications because of his typhoid fever. However, the Greek Royalists wanted Constantine II to rule, with Frederica as the Regent. Though I’m not sure how the Greek public would react when they learn that the Royalists had triumphed thanks to the Soviet Union.” Peko gave me a map of Greece. “So you proposed that Turkey should grab the eastern region of Greece while the Bulgarians get their old territory in the Aegean.”
“I don’t know if I should question your sanity, comrade Mikoyan, but do you honestly want a second Drama Massacre?” Arso asked me. “I don’t know your motives anymore.”
“Kavala and Alexandropoulis are two important ports that could be of great use to the Soviet Navy, as well as the Bulgarian People’s Navy. Besides, we are also planning on more than just investing in the economies of the fraternal Eastern European nations that are under our control-“Just then, a GRU agent stepped into my office. He saluted, but looked as if he suffered from hypothermia. I can tell that whatever news he has, it isn’t good.
“Comrade Mikoyan, the Western Allies have begun to launch their invasion of Soviet occupied Germany!” I gasped.
“How the hell did that happen!?” I shouted.
“I’m not sure. However, ten of our border troops were killed by American soldiers when they took the town of Erfurt. Moreover, President Truman is leaving the Oval Office and is being replaced by the new man, Thomas Dewey.” The GRU agent handed me his report. “Comrade Mikoyan, I’m sorry to say this, but World War Three is upon us. The Western Allies, being the capitalist pigs they truly are, have taken advantage of our situation in Yugoslavia and attacked our positions. They know that both sides are tired, but we’re at a disadvantage here.”
“This is bad. Anything else?” I asked again.
The GRU agent nodded. “Da. Apparently the Vlasovtsy bastards are issuing a manifesto, calling on all citizens of the Soviet Union to rebel against the ‘criminal regime of Anastas Mikoyan’.”
“Is it Bunyachenko?”
The GRU agent shook his head. “Nyet. Boris Smyslovsky issued the manifesto. Apparently, the Western Allies are changing their minds and the traitorous bastards who were supposed to be returned to us under the agreement we made with them are now being conscripted into the ROA. On top of that, we have a report of numerous Red Army deserters and defectors who unfortunately enough, have fallen for the Vlasovtsy trick. Among them is a decorated commander of a sound ranging artillery battalion by the name of Aleksander Solzenitsyn.”
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Excerpts from “Yet Again, Conflict Calls”
by: George Patton
Bloomberg Press
Chapter Ten: A War! A War! My Life for a War!
World War Three has begun. Those were the words I wished I didn’t hear, but it happened. As of January 24th, 1948, the world has entered into a new conflict. The root of this conflict however, began with that infamous border incident in Germany where Otto Remer managed to escape into the Soviet zone, despite our heavy surveillance on him. As if it wasn’t enough, I was being recalled to Japan to plan out the invasion of the Soviet Union from our Japanese base while Dugout Doug is being sent back to the United States in order to prepare for his presidential campaign that will take place in 1952. Since that start of the war, half of the Soviet sector of Germany fell under our control and the Red Army troops are being pushed back. In addition, tiny Denmark has agreed to host an Allied naval base from which we can send weapons and ammunition to the Polish Home Army that has now been reactivated for the sole purpose of waging a guerrilla war against the Soviet occupation forces. If that wasn’t enough, the Baltic States and even Ukraine are revolting against the Soviets.
What am I doing as of right now? Landing back in Atsugi Air Base where the American occupational authorities waited for me while various Japanese civilians are chatting amongst themselves. With World War Three becoming official, it’s only a matter of time before Japan will definitely get involved in another conflict, but this time as an ally of the United States. That was something the Soviet Union and China was determined to prevent, even if the KMT was in charge because of the recent memories of the Japanese occupation of China. With Mao gone and some stranger named Liu Shaoqi in charge, I don’t know why I am still writing this, even if the world would become extinct by the 1950s. Though our secret bombs won’t still be reproduced once again (as our supply of the unknown ingredients have run out), the Allies can win this new war simply by forcing the Soviets to deal with the rebellions within its own territories. Yet we should be aware by now that this is the Soviet Union we’re talking about, so expect corpses to litter the entire country. The Soviet repression would make Nazi Germany look like the Confederacy in terms of massive genocide.
“Sir, the US military leadership waits for your command,” Fellers told me when I arrived inside the US occupational authority HQ. I was surprised when he said ‘my command’. “Does this mean that Mac has left me in charge?”
“Nope, President Dewey’s orders were to put you in charge of Japan.” Fellers directed me to the meeting room. Inside were several US Army and Navy officers with notebooks on their spots. “You may start.”
“Thank you.” I nodded. I then turned to the US military leadership and sighed. “We are back to war, gentlemen. We can thank Mikoyan for giving us a second chance to eliminate communism for good, but that is not why I am here.”
“The ChiComms are miniscule in the naval side of things, but we’ve noticed that they’re gunning for the coastlines. It’s a rather different strategy that they’ve employed, and not to mention that additional PLA troops were being mobilized in Fujian province. We can only conclude that they’re preparing for the invasion of Taiwan,” one US Navy officer told me.
I nodded in agreement. “That is indeed true. The ChiComms may be shrewd, but we know too well as to who would provide the naval support. Recently, the Soviet Pacific Fleet has begun to expand their shipbuilding capability towards the production of submarines and landing craft. Even worse, the Soviet economy might be on the brink of collapse due to its status as a war economy and has never shifted back to a peace time economy.”
“Agreed. If we can send aid to the various anti-communist forces that are fighting the Soviets, we may be able to launch a successful invasion of Russia itself and topple the communist forces there. I also suggest that we break Russia up into several smaller republics so we can manage the Eurasian continent a lot easier,” Fellers suggested. However, I shook my head.
“If we break Russia up, it will only feed their paranoia about the West and it will encourage Mikoyan to move closer towards Liu. At the best, we just need a democratic Russian government to emerge, but we can implement the same policy of population transfer for those ethnic Russians that are living in the Baltic States, Ukraine and the Caucasus.” I showed them the map. “Unfortunately, we also need a way to integrate Russia with the rest of Europe because if we showed them our disrespect, they’ll only encourage themselves to integrate more with Asia. Combine that with China and possibly India now that we’ve got the partition of the former British Raj already happening, and the possibility that communism would spread into SE Asia, we can’t afford to let that happen.”
“So what should be the real solution?” This time it was Admiral Halsey who asked me the question. “We have the naval advantage in the Pacific, but bringing the US Atlantic Fleet to Europe will be a logistical challenge. Not to mention that we would have to re-mobilize our soldiers who are already demobilized.”
“Gentlemen, we start our fight against the Soviets and we do it now. First thing we ought to do is to capture the Kuril and Sakhalin Islands from the Red Navy. From there, we’ll attack the Russian Far East at Kamchatka Peninsula and move our forces west.” I continued to show the map detailing the attack. “At the same time, General Eisenhower will be joined by General MacArthur in pushing the Allied advance into Moscow. Unlike with the Germans, we have plenty of winter clothing and we can easily win over the locals who are eager to fight the Soviet government. Finally, we will let the Russian Liberation Army do the fighting, as they might be needed.”
Fellers raised his hand. “There may be a problem with that plan, General Patton.”
“Yes, I am aware of the fact that the ROA will be viewed negatively due to their status as Nazi collaborators. Hence I will also propose another policy that the new President Thomas Dewey should pay attention to,” I concluded just before all of the officers in the meeting got up. “It’s called De-Bolshevization, and it’s exactly like De-Nazification, only on such a massive scale. We will integrate Russia and Turkey into Europe, but also including Central Asia as well. This is where we’ll need British help in Iran and to persuade the Turks to switch sides and even grab the Caucasus so that we can finally de-Bolshevize the entire soon-to-be former Soviet Union for good! Russia will be brought into Europe, even if we have to drag them kicking and screaming!”
[/QUOTE]
Turn Nine: How Terrifying the Old Ghosts Reappear Once Again
Disclaimer: This update may contain racial slurs that will be used for historical purposes and does not intend to provoke anyone of ethnicity in question. Please be advised that the racial slurs used in this update are meant to reflect the historical time period. You have been warned.
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Excerpts from “The Eternal Flame of Ukrainian Freedom”
by: Roman Shukhevych
Chapter Six: Not Yet Defeated
Ukraine has not yet perished, despite the numerous efforts by both the Germans and the Muscovite imperialists to eliminate its very existence. We proved our brave talk in our numerous battles against the Wehrmacht during the war, and then finally against the Soviet Red Army. One must not forget how the Moskals had often called us Ukrainians as ‘khokhly’, and even compared us to pigs. Yet the spirit of the Ukrainian fight for freedom still burns within our hearts, and the fight has not yet ended even after the Second World War officially ended. I led an UPA regiment in the western region of Ukraine in the Volhynia province where the Red Army was busy fighting against us, but we were also outgunned because the puppet Polish communist government decided to suppress the Ukrainian resistance movement against both Poland and the Soviet Union. It was also surprising that Czechoslovakia joined in the suppression of Ukrainians since they hardly did anything bad towards us in the inter-war era, but it all changed with just a single act that we viewed as God’s miracle. What was the miracle, you may ask?
The chief architect who was responsible for the mass starvation of our people had died of a heart attack on October 10, 1945, and his replacement was none other than Anastas Mikoyan. Mikoyan, as we suspected, would outdo even Stalin in terms of how many people he will kill, as his orders to suppress our activity went beyond just executing the captured UPA fighters and their families. In the beginning of 1948, Mikoyan had figured out that we were receiving support from the Greek Catholic Church and thus decided to launch a new crackdown on the Uniates who gave their support to our cause. Mikoyan knew too well of the bloody history that resulted in the creation of the Uniate Church, so he began to apply the lessons that were applied by various Russian Tsars in forcing the Uniates to come back to Orthodoxy. Ironic, given the Soviet Union’s supposed atheism but given the recent situation in which Mikoyan acted more like a Red Fascist than an actual communist, it wasn’t surprising. Unfortunately, the persecution of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics within the Soviet Union became much more dangerous. It was in the city of Lviv during the early months of January of 1948 that I saw the brutal face of the Moskals and their anti-Catholic bigotry.
“Look at that church, Roman!” an UPA soldier told me as he pointed at a nearby church. I was stunned, because the damned Muscovites were busy burning down St. George’s Cathedral, which was a very important church to us. Being a Uniate myself, I felt furious at this act of insult. When we retreated to the nearby woods, I turned to the survivors who were still capable of fighting the Muscovites.
“It appears that the Western Allies are gearing up for a war against the Soviet Union, which is why we need to start recruiting more people into our organization. At the same time, there are elements within the former Polish Home Army-“ Some of our fighters booed when I mentioned them. “-who wanted to join up with us in our struggle to rid our nations of communism.”
“Why the hell would we need the help of those damned Polacks!?” Vasyl Kuk said angrily. “We fought viciously against our former overlords and they even killed our people!”
“Gentlemen!” a voice boomed out of nowhere. We turned around to see a man with an unusual haircut and carrying a suitcase arrived, accompanied by three bodyguards. “Instead of arguing over whether or not we should accept any help at all, we should be grateful that we are receiving help.”
I gasped. “We’re sorry, Mr. Bandera.”
“All is forgiven, Roman,” Stepan Bandera smiled back at me. “While you guys struggled to contain the menacing Red tide, I was in touch with the Western Allies. Thankfully they cancelled the plan to forcibly repatriate citizens of countries that have now come under Soviet occupation, so the British approached me with the daring plan to instigate an uprising in Western Ukraine.”
“So how big will our proposed Ukrainian state look like, Stepan?” Kuk asked back. “The eastern portions of the country are heavily influenced by the communists and the Kuban region has accepted the Russian identity. Not to mention that the plan for the creation of the Trans-Curzon Republic we had in mind was shattered with the Polish decision to launch Operation: Vistula. Now we might have to rely on the Western Allies getting successful in booting the Muscovites out of Poland.”
“That is a good point, Vasyl. Our concept of Velika Ukraina has not yet changed, but it will be soon should another war break out. From what I heard, even the Canadians are itching to help us since most of our people live in their lands. They’re as reliable and friendly as ever, the Canadians who granted our people permission to live there,” Bandera glowed.
I nodded. “The Americans may also be interested in helping us as well, and with the Greek Civil War still going on, we may need the help of other anti-communist factions.”
“Like the Chetniks?” one UPA soldier asked back. “I heard from one of the careless Red Army soldiers about the Chetniks fighting alongside Greek royalists.”
“True, but do we need a group of people who would kill Catholics without remorse?” I asked back. “We already have the Muscovites rounding up and executing Uniate priests, we don’t need bigoted Serbs in our ranks that could jeopardize our fight. Given the recent savage war in the Balkans, I don’t want a repeat of that tragedy unfolding in Ukraine.”
“Nor do we need our Catholic counterpart that is just as ruthless and vicious, even if they’re killing Orthodox Christians. We have to attract Ukrainian Orthodox Christians as well, or the fight for Ukrainian freedom will be viewed as a Halychynan regional separatist movement,” I warned. Everyone nodded in agreement. “The Allies must recognize our effort to get rid of communism in Ukraine as a legitimate act of liberation. I don’t know how the war will turn out if we would join in the fight against the communists. Maybe even launch an invasion of Russia itself and raze Muscovy to the ground.”
“We should just limit ourselves to expelling the Moskals out of Ukraine since they were brought in by Stalin,” Kuk told everyone. “We’ll worry about the others, but the Zhids would be dealt with in another time.”
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Otto Ernst Remer
Chapter Nine: Divulging Deeper
I was not expecting to hear that the Soviet Union was declaring war against Yugoslavia by the time I began my clandestine activities, and when additional news of Soviet Red Army deployment at the border of Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria reached me, I knew that this was a golden opportunity to collaborate with the Soviet Union against the Western Allies, even if it went against my previous convictions that the Soviets are a mortal enemy of Western civilization. However, the Western Allies led by the United States proved to be an even more unreliable bunch of protectors than the Soviets, and they really would like to see Germany remain divided. More war veterans who resented the Western Allies began to come to my sanctuary and talk about how bitter they are that the German civilians are disrespectful towards them because of the Holocaust. While I knew a little about what happened in camps like Auschwitz and Sobibor, I still harbored much hatred against the Jews.
The formation of the secret Schwarz Wehrmacht was something that I had to be careful with, since I was still under American surveillance and it was not long before one of the war veterans approached me with an offer to relocate to the Soviet side. I was rather surprised when it turns out that Friedrich von Paulus wanted to help me with my secret project, while former members of the Hitlerjugend, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe were also present at this meeting. Three sentries were posted to warn us of any incoming Allied personnel who might be curious and nosy about any ‘unauthorized’ meetings that are held.
“Herr Remer, it appears that the Fatherland might be in danger from yet another war due to the Soviet antics in Yugoslavia. However, the Western Allies are itching for a war to remove the Soviets from Europe, and even if we disagreed with the Soviets before, the new Mikoyan administration is slowly transforming the USSR into a warped mix of Stalinism and the ideology that the late Fuhrer had propagated. However, I am wondering if we might be turning Strasserist due to the Strasser brothers’ creation of their own brand of National Socialism that is alien.” One of the veterans pointed out about the plan. “If we don’t do something soon, then the Zionist alliance with US financial interests will continue to destroy the Europe we know and love.”
“I am aware of that, Herr Grabner,” I told the veteran. “Mikoyan has also announced that the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal would formally cease due to the inevitable conflict. Unfortunately, we should eliminate those incompetent swine that have led us to such a disaster that we’re experiencing right now.”
It was then that Paulus scoffed. “Those men were the ones that ran the Reich! How could you say that we should eliminate them?”
“As far as Party bosses go, Herr Feldmarschal, they squandered the wealth that they have and they seem to care more about favoritism than competence. Recall that Hans Frank’s corruption in Poland has made the administration of the General Government untenable. Do you want to let these assholes be humiliated? Also, we’d be doing them a service by sparing them from being humiliated in front of a foreign court and will probably die a common criminal’s death instead of a firing squad,” I replied back. I then grabbed a folder that I kept around and showed it to Paulus. “We need to attack Nuremberg and kill these fools.”
“Nein, too risky. You’re still under surveillance and an operation like that can give the Americans a good reason to have you killed,” Paulus replied back.
I nodded. “True, but we’ll also have to gather intel and pass it to our friends in the Soviet sector. No doubt that they’ll relay the information to Moscow, allowing Mikoyan to formulate a plan. Although we’re all in favor of German reunification, the problem will still exist with regards to East Prussia because most of the Germans in Eastern Europe have been expelled from there.”
“You have a point there,” A newcomer told us. We turned around and saw just one man coming in. “Ernst Niekisch at your service, Herr Remer.”
“Wilkommen, Herr Niekisch,” I said as I shook hands with him. “You never liked the Fuhrer, did you?”
“Nein, I didn’t like the demagoguery that he displayed. Herr Stalin displayed a much better Fuhrerprinzip, and now that he’s dead, Herr Mikoyan has become the talented politician that has surpassed even Hitler and Stalin combined. Not only that, he has demonstrated his willingness to give concessions to neighboring states in exchange for their friendship, as shown when he gave a part of the Soviet Union to Turkey in exchange for Turkish rapprochement with the Armenians.” Niekisch handed me an old newspaper article. “This is Der Arbeiter, a newspaper that is mainly a mouthpiece of the communists, but as I am beginning to respect Mikoyan’s diplomacy, he will eventually crush the neo-Trotskyite movement in Yugoslavia. Perhaps he can succeed where even the Fuhrer failed in subjugating the wily and unpredictable Yugoslavs.”
“I wouldn’t count the Yugoslavs as unpredictable. Tito has always been a proud man who refused to bow down to Stalin, and his calling of Mikoyan a Red Fascist did not go well with the Soviet government. On top of that, Vladimir Dapcevic’s murder in his botched defection attempt and the deaths of two Hungarian border guards, which I may add, has made headlines throughout all of the German newspapers. So what do we do now?” I asked back.
“Come with me to the East, Herr Remer. You’re not safe in the Western zone, and I doubt that the Allies will want to keep you alive,” NIekisch told me. I nodded in agreement.
It took three days for Niekisch to make arrangements for our travel plans, and by the time he returned the next day on November 29th, he arrived with a suitcase. I looked at my passport and travel visa as I thanked him for securing these documents. Finally, we arrived at the border between the American and Soviet sectors. Determined to prevent the repeat of the incident at the Yugoslav-Hungarian border, the driver that we hired acted in a calm manner. Yet when the American sentry looked at the passenger side of the car, I looked down with my hat covering my face. For a minute, he was unsure of who I was but two Soviet Red Army soldiers and a German Kasernierte Volkspolizei officer beckoned for the car to move forward that the American sentry realized who I was.
“Stop that car! Stop that car!” the American soldier yelled. The driver began to drive as three American MPs ran towards the border post. “That’s Otto Remer inside that car! We’ve gotta tell General Eisenhower that Remer has violated his parole!”
“Hurry up!” I yelled at the driver. No sooner did the driver obeyed that the American MPs began to open fire upon the car. The bullets ricocheted off the car’s door, but one bullet struck the driver in the head. The Volkspolizei then dragged the dead driver from the car as he himself took charge of the steering wheel and continued. Ten minutes later, a platoon of American soldiers had engaged in a firefight with a Red Army platoon. “Weapons? Do you have any weapons?”
“Nein, sir.” The Volkspolizei continued to drive. “Well it’s Dapcevic all over again, but this time your driver’s dead.”
Niekisch nodded, but looked back as two American soldiers were shot dead and four Red Army soldiers fell five minutes after we fled. “This incident is gonna end badly.”
“The thing is we managed to escape to the Soviet zone. Now all we need to do is to establish a ratline for the war veterans to move from the Western zone to the Soviet zone, especially the Waffen SS veterans,” I warned.
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Excerpts from “My Turbulent Presidency”
By: Harry S. Truman
Bloomberg Press
Chapter Four: We Make Them Pay
1947 was the most memorable year of my presidency as it was certainly the last one for me. I grew exhausted from the wartime presidency that I assumed after FDR’s death and to be honest, I wanted someone else to become president instead of myself. Of course, it didn’t stop Thomas Dewey from campaigning aggressively in his efforts to become president and Storm Thurmond was a nasty fellow who campaigned on a pro-segregationist platform. I don’t know if it’s too soon to integrate the two races that have lived in the United States for a long time, due to the Jim Crow laws that governed race relations between black and white, plus all of the other anti-miscegenation laws that have governed relations between other coloreds and whites, especially Asiatics. Alben Barkley and Richard Russell emerged as the democratic ticket for the 1948 presidential election since I declined to run.
As it turns out, the 1948 elections were rather close, with Barkley and Russell narrowly losing to Dewey and Earl Warren. I’m not sure how would a Republican administration will handle a Third World War, especially one that has broken out over, of all things, some damned foolish thing in the Balkans. Only this time we can thank the Soviet Union for causing this kind of conflict to spread. I don’t want to admit this, but a war against the Soviets might be a good thing if we are to completely crush communism before it spreads like a virus. Yet even as we held the advantage over the Soviets in our nuclear monopoly, I knew something wasn’t right. I was rather suspicious towards the Rosenbergs since they acted rather strangely these days. Klaus Fuchs, who worked with us on the atom bomb project, also acted rather in a different manner.
Now that I was safely out of the presidency, I can now focus on the big project of helping the United Nations work as a better international organization than the failed League of Nations. Unfortunately, with the war in the Balkans heating up, there was absolutely no way that Europe could be rebuilt with American aid, and Asia is also on the verge of a new world war as well, with the Soviets acting rather differently in the Pacific. Speaking of which, the Soviets had recently began to increase their naval strength in the Pacific for some odd reason. Before Stalin’s death, the Soviet Pacific Fleet was only miniscule, barely worth supporting should they get involved in the war against Japan back then. However, they made up for their naval weakness with the strength of their army, as demonstrated in their invasion of Manchuria. Now that the Soviets and the ChiComms are switching strategies to attacking the coastlines, the KMT are forced to undergo a long march back to Chongqing.
I was currently resting in my private home on the outskirts of Kansas City when someone from the federal government knocked on my door. I opened it and sure enough, it was Joseph MacCarthy who wanted to see me. I don’t know enough of his reputation, but MacCarthy strikes me as someone who was rather dedicated to his job of rooting out communists, if it was a bit too extreme. He’d be MacArthur’s favorite kind of pal though.
“How are you doing, Mr. Truman?” MacCarthy asked me.
“I’m fine. The countryside does wonders for a man who has been stuck in the government since Franklin kicked the bucket,” I replied back. “What is it that you wanted to see me?”
MacCarthy got to the point. “Mr. Truman, we’re sorry to hear you decide to forego the campaign, but in the upcoming elections for the 1952 campaign, I was wondering if you’d be able to launch your bid again.”
“I’m done with politics, Joe. For now, at least, but I do intend to run for senator though.” I looked at MacCarthy and saw a worried look on his face. “What’s the matter?”
“All of America knows about the Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia and I’m not sure how to proceed from there. Though we kinda see it as a conflict within the communist nations, I can’t help but feel if we should get involved,” MacCarthy replied back. “Yet all of the countries around the world are exhausted from the war, plus the incident in the two zones of Germany where Remer nearly got shot, I wonder if we can easily define the world as heading towards some sort of paradise or desolation.”
I nodded in agreement. It is rather tragic that World War Three is upon us, if it was only three years after the second one was over. I’m not sure if the controlled conflict of wits between the United States and the Soviet Union could count as a cold war, but from what I’ve learned about Anastas Mikoyan, he doesn’t hesitate to pull any punches, and like Stalin before him, he’s ruthless.
“There’s something else that you need to know,” I told MacCarthy. “The Rosenbergs began to ask some odd questions and one of the guards spotted them spying on the scientists that we grabbed from Operation: Paperclip. I’m not sure if they wanted to merely meet Von Braun or to kill him.”
“Why would the Rosenbergs want to kill a Nazi scientist? He didn’t design those death camps,” I answered, but MacCarthy shook his head.
“A rocket scientist that’s under our custody and the Rosenbergs are too curious for their own good. I have a hunch that they may be working for Mikoyan,” MacCarthy answered once again. Just then, my wife Bess poured some coffee on our cups as I nodded at her with gratitude. “Although there’s also something funny going on with Mikoyan. I can’t help but feel paranoid that Mikoyan’s façade about repealing Stalin’s legacy may be a cover to implement his own legacy.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am talking about how Josip Broz Tito had denounced him as a Red Fascist and that the Soviet Union has gone off course. Not to mention that Trotsky’s grandson was in Belgrade to meet with the Yugoslavs. We might be looking at this kind of struggle as more than just communism vs capitalism: this is a battle within the Bolshevik movement between the Trotskyites and the Stalinists.” MacCarthy sipped his coffee. “We should be content and let the Bolsheviks self-destruct themselves.”
“And what should be your plan with regards to what happens when the Soviet Union falls apart as a result of our actions?” I asked curiously.
MacCarthy smirked. “Well, we do have the pretender fascist by the name of Anastas Vonsyatsky as well as a former ROA general named Boris Smyslovsky. Now that Keelhaul is cancelled as a result of Mikoyan’s idiotic move in Yugoslavia, we could easily turn these refugees into potential volunteers willing to fight against the Soviet regime.”
“That would be nice. Why don’t you tell President Dewey about your plan?” I suggested. “If he agrees, then Europe and the free world could emerge stronger than ever.”
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Anastas Mikoyan
Chapter Twelve: The Plan in Action
“Sir, comrade Marshal Voroshilov has sent this report from the Hungarian Front. He says that the Soviet infiltration mission into Yugoslavia has been a difficult task to complete, but most of the actual fighting has been done by our fraternal Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian brothers,” a Soviet GRU agent told me. It was the winter of 1947 and it may have been a bad time for the Soviet Union to launch an invasion of Yugoslavia. However, we could no longer tolerate any more of Tito’s antics and decided to launch an invasion. Unfortunately, the invasion route that we chose happened to be the very same ones as the Germans used with only one minor difference: we are not invading from Austria. Unfortunately, Albania is not within the Soviet sphere of influence though, so we could not mount a push through Kosovo.
“Our reports from Bulgaria have come in.” Another GRU agent handed me a folder. “General Chuikov has been sent to Bulgaria to oversee the Red Army garrison troops there, and he has reported that the Macedonian socialists are revolting against Tito’s government. They’re siding with us.”
I smiled. “Excellent. Now if we could launch a conflict against the Greeks, we could entice the Turks with one more territorial adjustment.”
“What would that be?” Shelepin asked as he came in. Accompanying him were four NKVD agents, each of them with their own folders in their possession.
“Comrade Shelepin, good to see you. Rhodes would be a juicy target because under Greek control, it’s a spear aimed at the heart of Anatolia,” I answered back. I grabbed the folders that each NKVD agent has in their hand and looked at its contents. “So you want me to give the order to launch purges against Macedonian socialists in league with Tito, as well as some potential Titoists. Deal.” I picked up a pen and signed it.
I had little sleep to spare as my agents within the NKVD and the GRU have given me updated reports through telegram and secret codes. Yet we know very well that the Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia would not be this easy, but I can never imagine that our little stunt might have dire consequences far beyond our expectations. The Forest Brothers in the Baltic States are rebelling against our forces, which takes away valuable soldiers who might otherwise be employed to fight the mobile and battle hardened Yugoslav Partisans. In addition, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is also making a ruckus but the main difference is that most of the rank and file goons within the UPA have taken part in the massacres of Poles and Jews. Even the Poles who were recruited by the NKVD to work as informants were murdered by the UPA, and there was news that Nikita Khrushchev was nearly killed when he took the tour of Ivano-Frankivsk.
From what I can gather with the intel that my officers gave me, the Soviet special troops only had minimal success in penetrating through Vojvodina, while the Hungarian People’s Army performed rather poorly in their attempt to capture Belgrade. The Romanians and Bulgarians fared little better, as the former also sent troops through Banat while the latter launched an attack against Yugoslav positions in Macedonia. However, it was in Macedonia that our Red Army forces had been more successful, as they managed to seize the border posts that straddled the Yugoslav-Greek border. It was my full intention that the Greek communists were to fall apart in order to appease the Turks, though I know that it might very well backfire.
January of 1948 was unlike any other New Year that we as the leadership of the Soviet Union had celebrated. Unlike previous New Year’s celebrations, we had no such thing this year, as our troops were still bogged down in Yugoslavia. It was not until January 14th that two GRU agents arrived in Moscow with Peko Dapcevic in tow. He must have looked stressed, for I can tell that he did not eat well since his stay in Hungary. Following him was Arso Jovanovic, who was rather shaken by the presence of the NKVD agents working inside the Kremlin, and finally, Vladimir Stoychev, who has graciously surprised us with his visit to the Soviet capital. For some reason, Stoychev looked pleased with himself, but I chose not to inquire any further. I also groaned inwardly, as I had scheduled a meeting with Inonu in Moscow as the Turks were concerned and desperate for the territorial gains I promised them.
“How come no one told me about your plan to kill someone like Blaze Koneski?” Stoychev asked me accusingly. “At least you could have told the Macedonians who are against Tito that you wanted to incite a rebellion against Belgrade.”
I sighed. “Comrade Stoychev, while I wanted to keep that operation secret, I am sorry for not notifying the Bulgarians beforehand. However, if this secret was leaked to Belgrade, how would I react? Moreover, how would Tito and Sedov react?”
“You also closed down the Yugoslav border with Greece in order to cripple the Greek communists in order to curry favor with Turkey. This isn’t like you at all,” Stoychev told me as Arso and Peko nodded in agreement. “I understand if Comrade Stalin didn’t want to help the Greeks-“
“Turkey is much closer to us than Greece, and the latter is already saturated with known anti-communist factions. Do you a group calling themselves the Goryani?” I asked the Bulgarian comrade. Stoychev shook his head. “One of our NKVD agents had assassinated a radio operator working at a Goryani radio station on the Greek border with Bulgaria.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but if you strengthen the Greek royalists, then how would that help the Soviet Union?” Arso Jovanovic asked me.
“Turkey holds a strategic value to both us and the Americans. If Turkey was under American influence, then they could be used to launch an attack on our southern flank. What will happen to the Soviet regions in the Caucasus? Even more, I am still Armenian and the welfare of my people should not be neglected,” I replied back hardly. “Moreover, you both should know the reason why I summoned you here. I was thinking of an idea to merge Serbia and Bulgaria to form a new Yugoslav state.”
Peko gasped as Stoychev glared at me. “Are you fucking insane!?” The entire Kremlin stopped when they heard the commotion. I held up my hand to signal for them to not do anything rash. “The first Yugoslavia failed because it was a Serb-dominated state. The second one is gonna fail for sure, so how do you think the third one might be successful?”
“Because I am also offering you and the Serbs a chance to be admitted into the Soviet Union as an option,” I proposed. Once again, Stoychev gasped in shock. “You have a long time to think about it.”
“I would rather see Bulgaria under the fascists again than to be merged with the Serbs. It’s just not possible,” Stoychev replied back, but I glared at him.
“The Soviet Union itself, by theory, should not be a successful experiment, if we’re going by your theory, comrade Stoychev. Or there’s that Balkan Federation that was thrown as a proposal to unite Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania, but I doubt that our Romanian comrades would be pleased to be lumped together in a different union that is a rehash of the older unions,” I explained. While I had it hard when it comes to negotiating with the likes of Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Albanians are another matter entirely.
Peko then spoke up. “There is something that I should have told you, comrade Mikoyan.”
“Oh, and what is that?”
“Draza Mihailovic and the Chetnik movement had established their training camp in Salonika and were calling on all Serbs from the Diaspora to join in their fight to free Yugoslavia from Tito’s control. In addition, there’s even talk of nominating Peter II as King of Greece since Paul of Greece had died from complications because of his typhoid fever. However, the Greek Royalists wanted Constantine II to rule, with Frederica as the Regent. Though I’m not sure how the Greek public would react when they learn that the Royalists had triumphed thanks to the Soviet Union.” Peko gave me a map of Greece. “So you proposed that Turkey should grab the eastern region of Greece while the Bulgarians get their old territory in the Aegean.”
“I don’t know if I should question your sanity, comrade Mikoyan, but do you honestly want a second Drama Massacre?” Arso asked me. “I don’t know your motives anymore.”
“Kavala and Alexandropoulis are two important ports that could be of great use to the Soviet Navy, as well as the Bulgarian People’s Navy. Besides, we are also planning on more than just investing in the economies of the fraternal Eastern European nations that are under our control-“Just then, a GRU agent stepped into my office. He saluted, but looked as if he suffered from hypothermia. I can tell that whatever news he has, it isn’t good.
“Comrade Mikoyan, the Western Allies have begun to launch their invasion of Soviet occupied Germany!” I gasped.
“How the hell did that happen!?” I shouted.
“I’m not sure. However, ten of our border troops were killed by American soldiers when they took the town of Erfurt. Moreover, President Truman is leaving the Oval Office and is being replaced by the new man, Thomas Dewey.” The GRU agent handed me his report. “Comrade Mikoyan, I’m sorry to say this, but World War Three is upon us. The Western Allies, being the capitalist pigs they truly are, have taken advantage of our situation in Yugoslavia and attacked our positions. They know that both sides are tired, but we’re at a disadvantage here.”
“This is bad. Anything else?” I asked again.
The GRU agent nodded. “Da. Apparently the Vlasovtsy bastards are issuing a manifesto, calling on all citizens of the Soviet Union to rebel against the ‘criminal regime of Anastas Mikoyan’.”
“Is it Bunyachenko?”
The GRU agent shook his head. “Nyet. Boris Smyslovsky issued the manifesto. Apparently, the Western Allies are changing their minds and the traitorous bastards who were supposed to be returned to us under the agreement we made with them are now being conscripted into the ROA. On top of that, we have a report of numerous Red Army deserters and defectors who unfortunately enough, have fallen for the Vlasovtsy trick. Among them is a decorated commander of a sound ranging artillery battalion by the name of Aleksander Solzenitsyn.”
---
Excerpts from “Yet Again, Conflict Calls”
by: George Patton
Bloomberg Press
Chapter Ten: A War! A War! My Life for a War!
World War Three has begun. Those were the words I wished I didn’t hear, but it happened. As of January 24th, 1948, the world has entered into a new conflict. The root of this conflict however, began with that infamous border incident in Germany where Otto Remer managed to escape into the Soviet zone, despite our heavy surveillance on him. As if it wasn’t enough, I was being recalled to Japan to plan out the invasion of the Soviet Union from our Japanese base while Dugout Doug is being sent back to the United States in order to prepare for his presidential campaign that will take place in 1952. Since that start of the war, half of the Soviet sector of Germany fell under our control and the Red Army troops are being pushed back. In addition, tiny Denmark has agreed to host an Allied naval base from which we can send weapons and ammunition to the Polish Home Army that has now been reactivated for the sole purpose of waging a guerrilla war against the Soviet occupation forces. If that wasn’t enough, the Baltic States and even Ukraine are revolting against the Soviets.
What am I doing as of right now? Landing back in Atsugi Air Base where the American occupational authorities waited for me while various Japanese civilians are chatting amongst themselves. With World War Three becoming official, it’s only a matter of time before Japan will definitely get involved in another conflict, but this time as an ally of the United States. That was something the Soviet Union and China was determined to prevent, even if the KMT was in charge because of the recent memories of the Japanese occupation of China. With Mao gone and some stranger named Liu Shaoqi in charge, I don’t know why I am still writing this, even if the world would become extinct by the 1950s. Though our secret bombs won’t still be reproduced once again (as our supply of the unknown ingredients have run out), the Allies can win this new war simply by forcing the Soviets to deal with the rebellions within its own territories. Yet we should be aware by now that this is the Soviet Union we’re talking about, so expect corpses to litter the entire country. The Soviet repression would make Nazi Germany look like the Confederacy in terms of massive genocide.
“Sir, the US military leadership waits for your command,” Fellers told me when I arrived inside the US occupational authority HQ. I was surprised when he said ‘my command’. “Does this mean that Mac has left me in charge?”
“Nope, President Dewey’s orders were to put you in charge of Japan.” Fellers directed me to the meeting room. Inside were several US Army and Navy officers with notebooks on their spots. “You may start.”
“Thank you.” I nodded. I then turned to the US military leadership and sighed. “We are back to war, gentlemen. We can thank Mikoyan for giving us a second chance to eliminate communism for good, but that is not why I am here.”
“The ChiComms are miniscule in the naval side of things, but we’ve noticed that they’re gunning for the coastlines. It’s a rather different strategy that they’ve employed, and not to mention that additional PLA troops were being mobilized in Fujian province. We can only conclude that they’re preparing for the invasion of Taiwan,” one US Navy officer told me.
I nodded in agreement. “That is indeed true. The ChiComms may be shrewd, but we know too well as to who would provide the naval support. Recently, the Soviet Pacific Fleet has begun to expand their shipbuilding capability towards the production of submarines and landing craft. Even worse, the Soviet economy might be on the brink of collapse due to its status as a war economy and has never shifted back to a peace time economy.”
“Agreed. If we can send aid to the various anti-communist forces that are fighting the Soviets, we may be able to launch a successful invasion of Russia itself and topple the communist forces there. I also suggest that we break Russia up into several smaller republics so we can manage the Eurasian continent a lot easier,” Fellers suggested. However, I shook my head.
“If we break Russia up, it will only feed their paranoia about the West and it will encourage Mikoyan to move closer towards Liu. At the best, we just need a democratic Russian government to emerge, but we can implement the same policy of population transfer for those ethnic Russians that are living in the Baltic States, Ukraine and the Caucasus.” I showed them the map. “Unfortunately, we also need a way to integrate Russia with the rest of Europe because if we showed them our disrespect, they’ll only encourage themselves to integrate more with Asia. Combine that with China and possibly India now that we’ve got the partition of the former British Raj already happening, and the possibility that communism would spread into SE Asia, we can’t afford to let that happen.”
“So what should be the real solution?” This time it was Admiral Halsey who asked me the question. “We have the naval advantage in the Pacific, but bringing the US Atlantic Fleet to Europe will be a logistical challenge. Not to mention that we would have to re-mobilize our soldiers who are already demobilized.”
“Gentlemen, we start our fight against the Soviets and we do it now. First thing we ought to do is to capture the Kuril and Sakhalin Islands from the Red Navy. From there, we’ll attack the Russian Far East at Kamchatka Peninsula and move our forces west.” I continued to show the map detailing the attack. “At the same time, General Eisenhower will be joined by General MacArthur in pushing the Allied advance into Moscow. Unlike with the Germans, we have plenty of winter clothing and we can easily win over the locals who are eager to fight the Soviet government. Finally, we will let the Russian Liberation Army do the fighting, as they might be needed.”
Fellers raised his hand. “There may be a problem with that plan, General Patton.”
“Yes, I am aware of the fact that the ROA will be viewed negatively due to their status as Nazi collaborators. Hence I will also propose another policy that the new President Thomas Dewey should pay attention to,” I concluded just before all of the officers in the meeting got up. “It’s called De-Bolshevization, and it’s exactly like De-Nazification, only on such a massive scale. We will integrate Russia and Turkey into Europe, but also including Central Asia as well. This is where we’ll need British help in Iran and to persuade the Turks to switch sides and even grab the Caucasus so that we can finally de-Bolshevize the entire soon-to-be former Soviet Union for good! Russia will be brought into Europe, even if we have to drag them kicking and screaming!”
[/QUOTE]
Deleted member 14881
Update from MB Turn Nine Point One: How Shall We Divide the World?
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Liu Shaoqi
Chapter Seven: To Regain a Lost Vassal
The news of the Western capitalists' attack on the Soviet Union was hardly expected, but when we heard about our own forces being engaged in a skirmish with American troops, that was when we realized the true nature of comrade Mikoyan's continued progress of not only replacing Stalin's legacy with his own, it also made sense that the Western Allies are marching hand in hand with the neo-Trotskyites in order to destroy what they called the 'caricature of socialism'. However, what should replace the defeated Soviet Union is where the neo-Trotskyites differ from the Western Allies. While we were busy fighting the KMT forces in our continued offensive by February of 1948, there was some serious discussion about the events that unfolded in Asia. Since the Soviets were alerted to the possibility of the Americans rearming the Eastern devils, comrade Mikoyan sent comrade Vyshinsky to our camp in Shenyang where we all stayed while the PLA was fighting the KMT's NRA.
"Good to see you, comrade Vyshinsky," I said as I shook hands with the Soviet foreign minister. "I assume that you've gotten the reports that we gave you."
"Da, and we're also here to discuss our spheres of influence. Now as you know, Mongolia under Choibalsan wants to remain pro-Soviet, so what if we allow the selection of a pro-Chinese candidate to rule Korea?" Vyshinsky told us.
Gao Gan looked at him as if he had performed a miracle. "You'd give us Korea in an instant?"
"In case Taiwan does not fall into your hands," Vyshinsky added. He showed us the map of Asia and where each communist country will spread its influence. "We're unsure about India, but SE Asia will definitely be yours for the taking except for the Philippines since its pro-US government will definitely be reactionary. The wild card is Japan."
What Vyshinsky said was indeed true: Japan's communists would definitely fall under Soviet jurisdiction, but we're talking about the same nation that had been one of the premier anti-communist states that was also a fascist one. While the Japanese may have harbored some Russophobic sentiment, their Sinophobia is stronger. We also have a good reason to believe that the Japanese would be content with becoming an American puppet if it helped them escape from their obligations to pay war reparations. Lately, we also heard rumors that the Americans was indeed going to hand Taiwan back to them, and since it was this General Patton fellow who's managing the war in Asia, we fear for the worst.
The next few days were spent on reviewing and reading updated reports on the situation in the battlefront as our PLA forces extended their campaign. By sticking to our passive defense strategy, we were not only able to preserve our army in exchange for sacrificing our territory, but we were able to wear the KMT forces down to the point where demoralization had struck the enemy ranks. At the same time, I gave Lin Biao the autonomy he needed to prosecute the war, and he told me of a great and bold strategy that he had in mind, which is what I also had in mind as well.
"Comrade Liu, I wanted to attack Shanghai if it's possible." He showed me the map of China, and which towns we will launch an attack on Shanghai from. "If we take control of Shanghai, then we will be in a position to capture both Nanjing and to launch our attack against the capitalist pigs situated in Taiwan."
I nodded, but frowned soon after. "Should we capture the railways and ports before proceeding towards Shanghai?"
"That is what I also told him, comrade Liu," Deng Xiaoping arrived at my camp and we shook hands. Beside him was one of the Yenan faction Korean communists who accompanied comrade Deng into our camp. "May I present-"
"Comrade Kim Tu-bong of the Korean communist movement." I shook hands with this unusual Korean guest. "I understand that our Chinese fraternal brothers are willing to help us reunify the entire Korean peninsula."
"Da, and while the Soviet Union will concede control of the entire Korean peninsula to the Chinese Communist Party, we will of course, keep the strip of northeastern Korea where Chongjin is located. We already made this agreement that in exchange for letting the USSR keep Chongjin, we give you Yanbian with its entire Korean population and China in turn, can get its hands on Taiwan and the Diaoyutai." I knew where this discussion was going, because when Vyshinsky mentioned that we'd get our hands on Diaoyutai,it also meant removing a potential barrier to our eventual reconquest of Taiwan.
"If we are going to aim for a complete reunification of all the Chinese lands, may I suggest that we kill off Chiang Kai Shek before we proceed further? No doubt that bastard's swaggering to the entire KMT leadership of how comrade Mao has been killed off, but little does he know, his own demise is coming." I looked at comrades Deng and Lin before beckoning for Vyshinsky to come closer. "We need to know where Chiang will be next, because the key to locating him lies with patience and stealth."
"As well as reliable intelligence. The KMT has security details that are protecting Chiang, so we need more than just patience. We need loads of luck," comrade Lin spoke back.
"Then it is agreed that we'll find a way to trap Chiang and kill him before he does any more damage, correct?" I asked back. No one answered after that.
---
"American troops have engaged PLA forces in the vicinity of Qingdao for the fourth straight day as they await KMT reinforcements. This is on the heels of the official start of World War Three when the Western Allies had finally entered the Soviet occupied sector of Germany and cleared it of retreating Red Army units before proceeding into Poland, where Polish Home Army units have commenced guerrilla warfare against the very same Red Army soldiers. In other parts of Central Europe, the population transfer of the German minority has been suspended due to the redirection of the Czechoslovak and Hungarian security services towards combating Soviet forces that are still occupying their homelands. Finally, the Soviet forces that invaded Yugoslavia from Hungary has been dealt a heavy blow by the Yugoslav People's Army while international communist volunteers flood into Yugoslavia to fight the so-called 'Red Fascist Hordes of Anastas Mikoyan the Red Traitor'. Romanian and Bulgarian forces still battle JNA forces in eastern Serbia alongside the Red Army. This is Radio Free Europe, reporting from Paris, France." Radio Free Liberty broadcast, February 19, 1948.
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Liu Shaoqi
Chapter Seven: To Regain a Lost Vassal
The news of the Western capitalists' attack on the Soviet Union was hardly expected, but when we heard about our own forces being engaged in a skirmish with American troops, that was when we realized the true nature of comrade Mikoyan's continued progress of not only replacing Stalin's legacy with his own, it also made sense that the Western Allies are marching hand in hand with the neo-Trotskyites in order to destroy what they called the 'caricature of socialism'. However, what should replace the defeated Soviet Union is where the neo-Trotskyites differ from the Western Allies. While we were busy fighting the KMT forces in our continued offensive by February of 1948, there was some serious discussion about the events that unfolded in Asia. Since the Soviets were alerted to the possibility of the Americans rearming the Eastern devils, comrade Mikoyan sent comrade Vyshinsky to our camp in Shenyang where we all stayed while the PLA was fighting the KMT's NRA.
"Good to see you, comrade Vyshinsky," I said as I shook hands with the Soviet foreign minister. "I assume that you've gotten the reports that we gave you."
"Da, and we're also here to discuss our spheres of influence. Now as you know, Mongolia under Choibalsan wants to remain pro-Soviet, so what if we allow the selection of a pro-Chinese candidate to rule Korea?" Vyshinsky told us.
Gao Gan looked at him as if he had performed a miracle. "You'd give us Korea in an instant?"
"In case Taiwan does not fall into your hands," Vyshinsky added. He showed us the map of Asia and where each communist country will spread its influence. "We're unsure about India, but SE Asia will definitely be yours for the taking except for the Philippines since its pro-US government will definitely be reactionary. The wild card is Japan."
What Vyshinsky said was indeed true: Japan's communists would definitely fall under Soviet jurisdiction, but we're talking about the same nation that had been one of the premier anti-communist states that was also a fascist one. While the Japanese may have harbored some Russophobic sentiment, their Sinophobia is stronger. We also have a good reason to believe that the Japanese would be content with becoming an American puppet if it helped them escape from their obligations to pay war reparations. Lately, we also heard rumors that the Americans was indeed going to hand Taiwan back to them, and since it was this General Patton fellow who's managing the war in Asia, we fear for the worst.
The next few days were spent on reviewing and reading updated reports on the situation in the battlefront as our PLA forces extended their campaign. By sticking to our passive defense strategy, we were not only able to preserve our army in exchange for sacrificing our territory, but we were able to wear the KMT forces down to the point where demoralization had struck the enemy ranks. At the same time, I gave Lin Biao the autonomy he needed to prosecute the war, and he told me of a great and bold strategy that he had in mind, which is what I also had in mind as well.
"Comrade Liu, I wanted to attack Shanghai if it's possible." He showed me the map of China, and which towns we will launch an attack on Shanghai from. "If we take control of Shanghai, then we will be in a position to capture both Nanjing and to launch our attack against the capitalist pigs situated in Taiwan."
I nodded, but frowned soon after. "Should we capture the railways and ports before proceeding towards Shanghai?"
"That is what I also told him, comrade Liu," Deng Xiaoping arrived at my camp and we shook hands. Beside him was one of the Yenan faction Korean communists who accompanied comrade Deng into our camp. "May I present-"
"Comrade Kim Tu-bong of the Korean communist movement." I shook hands with this unusual Korean guest. "I understand that our Chinese fraternal brothers are willing to help us reunify the entire Korean peninsula."
"Da, and while the Soviet Union will concede control of the entire Korean peninsula to the Chinese Communist Party, we will of course, keep the strip of northeastern Korea where Chongjin is located. We already made this agreement that in exchange for letting the USSR keep Chongjin, we give you Yanbian with its entire Korean population and China in turn, can get its hands on Taiwan and the Diaoyutai." I knew where this discussion was going, because when Vyshinsky mentioned that we'd get our hands on Diaoyutai,it also meant removing a potential barrier to our eventual reconquest of Taiwan.
"If we are going to aim for a complete reunification of all the Chinese lands, may I suggest that we kill off Chiang Kai Shek before we proceed further? No doubt that bastard's swaggering to the entire KMT leadership of how comrade Mao has been killed off, but little does he know, his own demise is coming." I looked at comrades Deng and Lin before beckoning for Vyshinsky to come closer. "We need to know where Chiang will be next, because the key to locating him lies with patience and stealth."
"As well as reliable intelligence. The KMT has security details that are protecting Chiang, so we need more than just patience. We need loads of luck," comrade Lin spoke back.
"Then it is agreed that we'll find a way to trap Chiang and kill him before he does any more damage, correct?" I asked back. No one answered after that.
---
"American troops have engaged PLA forces in the vicinity of Qingdao for the fourth straight day as they await KMT reinforcements. This is on the heels of the official start of World War Three when the Western Allies had finally entered the Soviet occupied sector of Germany and cleared it of retreating Red Army units before proceeding into Poland, where Polish Home Army units have commenced guerrilla warfare against the very same Red Army soldiers. In other parts of Central Europe, the population transfer of the German minority has been suspended due to the redirection of the Czechoslovak and Hungarian security services towards combating Soviet forces that are still occupying their homelands. Finally, the Soviet forces that invaded Yugoslavia from Hungary has been dealt a heavy blow by the Yugoslav People's Army while international communist volunteers flood into Yugoslavia to fight the so-called 'Red Fascist Hordes of Anastas Mikoyan the Red Traitor'. Romanian and Bulgarian forces still battle JNA forces in eastern Serbia alongside the Red Army. This is Radio Free Europe, reporting from Paris, France." Radio Free Liberty broadcast, February 19, 1948.