The consequences of an errant shell(story only thread)

[johnboy]

1 May 1942, 300 miles off the East coast of U.S, Atlantic Ocean

Convoy AT-17 had so far had an uneventful journey, many feeling the presence of not one, but two aircraft carriers was of great assistance in this. The other escorts was relatively small, only one old USN destroyer, two R.N boats and three R.N frigates. One of the carriers, the newly commissioned HMS Avenger, was a U.S carrier transferred under lend lease. The second was the USS Long Island. Neither had detected the U-109 until three torpedoes struck the Long Island, breaking her back and sinking her quickly.

It was the tip the American public needed and four days later, on the 5th May, Roosevelt was to declare war. Eight days later on the 13th, Italy followed suit, followed by Slavonia a day later.

 

[johnboy]

2 May 1942, Harbin, Empire of Manchuria

General Vasily Blucher's Far Eastern Front had stabilized almost a month ago, so much so that he had released two divisions to assist the Koreans in their own struggle against the Japanese. Whilst both Port Arthur and Mukden had fallen, the latter after a bloody battle that ate into both armies in early April and unfortunately resulted in the loss of 40,000 prisoners, it appeared that the Japanese were themselves exhausted.

Blucher himself was not unhappy with the situation. With the European front looking brighter all the time, he simply needed to buy enough time and await the reinforcements and modern material that was required to finish the job. He had held the Japanese with a mixture of Cat B and Cat C divisions, as well as the timorous Imperial Manchurian Army. With more men and better equipment he was confident of breaking through the Japanese who, whilst individually brave, had a limited idea of modern combined arms warfare.

In the vast tracts to the North, near the Mongolian border,he had been able to deploy cavalry to harass the rear areas of his opponents.

 

[johnboy]

Map showing Japanese conquests in the Far East(orange golden colour)

 

[johnboy]

6 May 1942, Bolzano, Kingdom of Italy

Newly promoted Marshal Giovanni Messe had received warning orders for "Operation White Falcon", the invasion of Southern Germany. He had timed the operation to commence on the 14th May, two days after what he knew would be Italy's declaration of war.

He had under his command fully 50 Divisions, a Western Army based in Italy comprising 14 Italian Infantry Divisions and nine Italian and three Armenian Mountain Divisions, with support units. In addition, an Eastern Army based mainly in Slavonia comprised two Armoured, three Motorized and nine Infantry Divisions from Italy, two British Infantry Divisions and two Mountain, three Infantry and one partly Motorized Division form Slavonia.

The Russian summer offensive would likely start soon as well, putting what he hoped would be intolerable pressure on the German and Hungarian troops that opposed them.

 

[johnboy]

8 May 1942, General Staff Building, St Petersburg, Russian Empire

Mikhail Tukhachevsky had carefully planned his summer offensive, which was to launch on the 22nd May, eight days after the Italian commencement of their own Southern thrust. It should find the Germans attempting to disengage troops from the Eastern Front and deploying towards the South, as indeed aerial reconnaissance indicated that they were already doing in preparation for an anticipated declaration from the Italians.

With the Americans in the war in the Pacific and now in the Atlantic as well, Tukhachevsky felt confident enough about the withdrawals he had made from the Far East, even though it had committed Blucher's army to a defensive posture.

He had spent the last 16 weeks husbanding his forces, drawing extra units from St Petersburg and the Southern areas, as well as integrating Finnish units, all in preparation for an all out offensive in 1942. His army was now gargantuan, 236 Russian Divisions, eight Finnish, 14 British, three Canadian, seven Polish and 19 Romanian, the later two nationalities all in Romania. In all, it represented over 4 million men. Objectives were simple enough. From the South, a full invasion of Hungary with the objective of knocking Germany's last ally out of the war.

For the remainder, twin pincers from both Kiev and Vitebsk had been allocated much of his armoured assets. Their objective was to exploit any breakthrough and meet as joint pincers to the West of Minsk, hopefully trapping and destroying the German Army Group Center. With this achieved, joint Finnish and Russian Forces could assault the German Army Group North and the Baltics.

 

[johnboy]

10 May 1942, OKW, Zossen, German Reich

Franz Halder reviewed the situation. Intellectually, he know the war was lost. There was no question of the fact. Germany had been defeated by the Russians a second time, it was just that some people did not know it.

Germany had 257 Divisions at her disposal, her allies some 20 more. It sounded like the sort of number that should be able to hold off an assault, even considering the length of the Eastern Front. However, this was misleading. Many of the 257 Divisions were not combat divisions, they consisted of Static Infantry Divisions, Security Divisions, even Training and Replacement Divisions.

Now, in the face of all reports indicating that the Russians were going to launch a summer offensive, he was selectively pulling some divisions from the Eastern Front to try and oppose the Italio-Slavonian army when they attacked, which seemed only days away despite the absence of a declaration of war as yet.

Hitler had raged at the navy for bringing the United States into the war, raged at the army for it's 1942 defeat in the South. He had issued "no retreat" orders for the Eastern Front, Halder thought with potentially disastrous consequences.

The German blockade meant that only imports from Sweden and via France were getting to Germany, the latter at an import premium that was crippling. In addition, the lack of oil from Romania these last four months was starting to bite and although adequate stocks existed at present, it remained to be seen how much longer that would continue. It was a stranglehold that would insure Germany only weakened, where as the allies, now with United States support, would likely only become stronger.

Hitler had placed his faith in "wonder weapons" and remained convinced of delivering a knockout blow at the South to restore the situation, yet there was not enough combat divisions to do that. Halder had officers come to him with plans to remove Hitler, but these were anathema to him. He had sworn an oath and a Prussian General did not rebel. However, he was not blind. Germany could hold on, survive 1942, maybe 1943, but the end itself was inevitable.

 

[johnboy]

12 May 1942, Kure Naval Dockyard, Empire of Japan

Yamamoto watched the commissioning of the ship. The carrier Shin'yō, along with her sister ship that had commissioned a few days earlier, had again brought the navy's carrier strength back up to eleven vessels, although five of those were highly vulnerable escort carriers like Shin'yō herself.

It would still be at least two months before crews could be trained and, more importantly, the aircrews and aircraft themselves assembled. With the island fortress of Corregidor due to suffer a final assault tomorrow, hopefully the Philippines campaign would be over and the Dutch East Indies could then be concentrated on.

 

[johnboy]

14 May 1942, Corregidor, Philippines

General Jonathan Wainwright looked around as his men were herded into groups. Corregidor had fallen, as had the Philippines Islands themselves. It was to be the beginning of more than 2 1/2 years of terrible treatment for the U.S POW's. For the Japanese, it freed some of their focus further to the South, where the Dutch East Indies still beckoned like prize just out of reach.

 

[johnboy]

16 May 1942, Bad Rakersburg, German Reich

Yesterday the village, so near the border, had woken to the thunder of guns, a sound that had continued all day until that night German infantry were seen moving through the town.

It was mid afternoon when residents heard the squealing and squeaking of what turned out to be tanks. The elderly Burgomeister went to meet the new arrivals. As the Wolfe tanks passed through the village, the English colonel was able to reassure him they were just passing through.

What were the British doing in Southern Austria he thought? In fact, all along the Southern Front, the combined Italian and Slavonian armies, with British and Armenian support, had commenced operations.

It was only six days from the commencement of the Russian summer offensive and what was to be known as the "Destruction of Army Group Center".

 

[johnboy]

21 May 1942, Kiev, Russian Empire

General of Infantry Georgii Zhukov's plan would be placed into action on the following day. Every effort had been made to convince the Germans that the attack would actually come in the South, following the tactics of the Great War, firstly by liberating the remainder of Transylvania and then getting onto the Hungarian Plain and knocking Germany's last ally out of the war. To that effect Yegorov's command had been shuttling men and equipment backwards and forwards, including newly formed Romanian conscript troops and even police, giving the impression that an attack was building. They had even moved elements of some divisions out of their positions and then back in, in some cases replacing armoured vehicles with wooden dummy's.

However, it was in Zhukov's command area that the attack would come from. Tomorrow would start with a hurricane barrage, including many rocket batteries, followed by a full scale assault of the German lines at two identified points, one out of Vitebsk, the other from well North of Kiev where in a large thrust they would skirt the Pripet Marshes to the North. A smaller force would move South of the marshes. He had stockpiled some 1500 tanks in reserve to exploit the hoped for breakthroughs. They would be used to generate two large pincers that would meet West of Minsk, pocketing sections of the German Army Group Center, itself weakened by transfers to the Southern Front the Italians had opened.

If this could be achieved, then it could be followed up by a broad push along the while front when the Germans were weak and disorganized. By the following morning, the destruction of Army Group Center had begun.

 

[johnboy]

13 October 2015, Garmich, Bavaria, Federal Republic of Germany

It likely was not the kind of after action report his son Wolf wanted to hear from him. Hardly as a child, certainly not as an adolescent in the post war era, when Germans were asking questions about blame and responsibility. And not now either. Wolf von Steiglitz had always been interested in why, and not how, it all happened. He wanted to know why his father had participated, and whether he had lost more during those years in Russia than two fingers on his left hand, I suppose he wanted to know whether he had lost his conscience as well.

His father had explained how he, as a Panzergrenadier or mechanised infantryman, had attacked during the salad days of 1940 and 1941 from inside his armored personnel carrier, that when the enemy's resistance had been broken, how they had often swept them with machine-gun fire. The telling was with the cold eyes of his father's generation, which seemed to have seen things that would have been better unseen.

His father goes silent at the next question from the pretty Russian interviwer. He had often woken up screaming the name, even in later life. Peter von Steiglitz was 95, yet still clear of mind. "Father, who is Max?" Max, same village, same unit, same girls chased and lost. The question transports Peter Von Steglitz back 73 years to a trench in Russia. The journey is still almost immediate. Suddenly he is 22 again, and caught in a ruthless, violent world where the only rule in life is survival-at any cost.

He is crouched on the ground next to his friend Max. They are cowering in the trench, the whole platoon, one man next to the other. It is their only protection. They have been attacked for three days and nights. The platoon commander in front shouts to the soldiers behind him: "Group to the front." He doesn't move, sensing that whoever heeds this command is a dead man.

In the finish the Russians find them again, pressing forward, machine gun troops at the front, in the background a tank looking like a large, angry beetle. They are throwing everything they have into this attack: machine guns, hand grenades and, of course, small mortars. Three men are killed immediately. A fourth man, Raumer, stumbles toward him, his left forearm dangling from the rest of his arm by the tendons. He rips off the nearly severed stump with his other hand. They crawl past dead bodies and the wounded, the ones who have already become victims. Finally they are able to sprint for it.

Max has been hit and is lying on the ground next to him. He tries to get to his friend but runs into another group, he fires and fires but when he checks his pack for another clip there is none. There are Russians and Germans everywhere, and everyone is running and shooting, most just trying to stay alive. Most of them fail, but he runs and survives. Then he hears his friend Max screaming: "Peterrrrrr!" Again and again. Begging. Pleading. Finally despairing. Until suddenly the screaming stops. It may as well have been yesterday, not 73 years ago.

"The destruction of Army Group Center", they called it, the retreat continuing to almost the Polish border at Pinsk. He remembered getting on board the train at Pinsk, until finally he ended up at a hospital near Munich. The shrapnel had taken two fingers, permanently crippling his left hand.

Finally he had talked to his son, even if it was via a third party. He needed his support for the upcoming trip, part of the 70 year celebration of the end of World War 2, although, of course, the European war had finished earlier. Finally he would gaze upon St Petersburg, this time as a guest of the Russian Tsar.

 

[johnboy]

13 October 2015, Cham, Saxony, Federal Republic of Germany

It was a joint Russian IGTRK and German ARD production, a television expo to mark the 70th year after World War 2, although, of course, it would actually be the 72nd years since the European war had finished on the 18th December 1943.

Jurgen watched the cameraman set up before he turned his attention back to the interviewer, Valentina. Mmm, yummy. Dressed well, in a style he had been vaguely remember being told by his sister was "Petersburg chic". The tiny blonde was stunning. The small gold Star of David around her slim neck a sign of her own faith. They had been traveling for a week and interviewing World War 2 vets and would do the same thing in Russia after this, their last interview in Germany at Garmich late tomorrow afternoon. Maybe it would be easier to scrape up the liquid courage there.

Valentina chatted before the interview with the old vet, Wilhelm Kloster, in perfect German. "I understand you know Russian?" "Yes, well that is a long story." "We can do the interview in Russian if you like." "Time dims the memory young lady, I just know words now, I'm not sure I am conversational like I used to be."

Valentina Mozvoi: In the late summer of 1942, you was serving as an infantryman in Russia as part of the German Sixth Army, itself part of Army Group Centre. You remember well the level of obedience required a common soldier.

Wilhelm Kloster: We occasionally received nonsense orders from the rear, from the division or the army corps. I remember that on one occasion a position was to be regained at any cost, and our young commander refused to attack again because half of his men had already lost their lives. And they did attack, and they were all just sacrificed. They kept on attacking until only three men were left, and that of course makes you wonder when it will be your turn. But those were the men of the General staff. They had their little flags and positioned them on a map. And then they would say, ‘This position must be regained at all costs, whatever sacrifices it involves.’ Turns out that sacrifice was us.

Valentina Mozvoi: Hitler had ordered that German units create so called fortified places, so that once encircled by the Imperial Russian Army, they could then fight back.

Wilhelm Kloster: We were encircled, and there was a tank that covered the main village square which the Russians had buried into the ground with just the turret looking out. This took only one night, I cannot say how they managed to do that. Anyway, they were firing furiously, they seemed to have had a huge amount of ammunition. You don't feel whether it's hot or cold, light or dark, and, and you don't feel thirst or hunger. It is something akin to, as if you, I don't know, I'm unable to describe it. It's like some kind of extreme tension. You have to think of the mental burden on the individuals. I intentionally didn't marry during the war because a widow with children will find it difficult to find another husband, when they already have limited means. But those who were married and had two or three small children at home… well, I felt sorry for them.

In this situation you think, well, the people at headquarters, it's easy for them to talk. We did not restrain ourselves from using disparaging remarks, we were unstinting with them. You half saw yourself as a prisoner of war already, but somewhere, subconsciously, there was still a remnant of hope of being, being able to escape, of some sort of rescue. And I had already learned Russian just in case, as we talked about, so that I would somehow be able to make my way through, to the West, towards Germany. On the other hand, there was still this obedience, many called it blind obedience but I never felt that way.

And I remember that one forward observer requested fire onto his own position when the situation had become hopeless. So, rather than falling into Russian hands, he preferred to be killed by our artillery. Those are the real heroes I guess, or perhaps they were just fools. Well, and then the final order came saying: ‘Destroy all vehicles! Shoot the horses! Each man take as much hand ammunition and supplies as he can carry! Every man for himself!’ Then it was just try to save your skin. Some were nervous, others barely in control of themselves, and of course the bombers would drop their bombs again and you tried to find a place somewhere into which to duck. We were harassed unmercifully from the air. We tried to break out but we were getting fired on and then there was panic. An ordinary soldier, a young chap, was lying or sitting there under a birch tree.

As you no doubt know, there are an enormous amount of birch trees in Russia. He was sitting there and his stomach was spilling out of his body. And he was screaming: ‘Somebody shoot me, please shoot me!’ And everybody walked by. I stopped but I could not shoot him. Eventually someone delivered the coup de grace with a pistol to his temple. I thought to myself, if his mother only knew how her son had ended. Instead all she will receive is a letter from the squadron saying: ‘Your son fell on the field of honor for greater Germany.’ This was the kind of wording the squadron commanders had to send to the bereaved, you see. That's if anyone escaped to tell his fate at all. "The destruction of Army Group Center" they called it. It was hard to be quite that clinical when you were there.

Valentina Mozvoi: Thanks you Herr Kloster

It was an emotional story and Valentina was clearly effected by it. It was probably the wrong time, but what the hell. Jurgen decided to start with something simple.
"My family live not twenty kilometers from here. Perhaps you would like a home cooked tea rather than room service."

The blonde smiled and nodded.

 

[johnboy]

15 October 2015, Volodono, Imperial Russia

They set up for the second last interview of the series, the crew well practiced and the home large and comfortable.

Valentina Mozvoi: On 19th January 1943 the Germans occupied the rump of Hungary, arresting and replacing the Regent Horthy. This included Budapest. What was the effect of that?

Simon: We were right near the German border and had heard stories, about Jews, about what happened to Jews. We were protected until then. Of course, when the Germans came we were not sure whether we would survive or not. We knew we had to fight for real or flee. All I could do with a wife two small children was flee to the South-East. We believed we may be rescued by the British, the Russians, even the Romanians. Soon where we were staying at a village near the front line was surrounded, locals had tipped off the Germans. We did everything to destroy things that would work to our disadvantage, such as ID cards and birth certificates. All possible documents, because we knew it will work either to the advantage of the Germans, or else won’t do us any good.

Valentina Mozvoi: The German treatment of Jewish people was shocking. More than two million did not survive the war. And your experience at the hands of the Germans demonstrates just why so many died.

Simon: The first camp for us was situated next to Szolnok. There were fields in this area, and there was wheat. It was a vast open space that was then surrounded by the German soldiers. And under the open sky, with no barbed wire, only controlled with soldiers, the camp was then organised. There were about six thousand people in there, mostly Jewish. They were not fed and they were not given water during the first week, we could only get water from the river and there was no food at all. If anyone had some food with them, it remained the only supply they had. We had only sugar and some dried bread left, many had nothing. We were staying there, under the open sky, with no food and no water. In the second week, they threw boxes with food into the crowd. There were a few boxes with salted herring and there were a few with some dried foodstuff. So these boxes were thrown into the crowd, to be ripped in to pieces. They never considered us to be humans. They could kill us or beat us up for no reason. I saw it a few times, when the whole barrack, all the people who lived there, were beaten up practically to death. They were beaten up with sticks. They just never considered us humans. Not at all.

Valentina Mozvoi: Then Simon was transferred to another POW camp for Jewish prisoners near Dresden. And here his life took a seemingly impossible turn – and deteriorated still further.

Simon: It was even worse there, more people, about one hundred thousand people, mostly but not all Jews. And we all sat under an open sky, there was nowhere to hide. What we tried to do is during the night time was we dug holes in the ground and tried to sleep there, because they were shooting at us all the time, to stand too long was to risk being shot. We had lice in this camp, and therefore many caught typhus, those that did not freeze or starve. Lice were a problem. Somebody’s head could simply move because of them. And if you’d lie on the ground, then the ground would move afterwards, when you get up. We spent about a month there, the rest of winter. There were many rats around and there were times when you would catch a rat by the tail, the rat it starts biting your hand. You would hit that rat, but it won’t let go, you strike it until it dies. Then you would get a piece of meat which you could cook and eat. This proves how hungry we were. And this is where the some cases of cannibalism started to take place. This was all because of hunger and feeling completely hopeless. People had to get food somehow, and some went as far as cannibalism. I couldn’t possibly imagine that even the conditions we had in this camp would ever make me do that, would ever make me allow myself to do that.

Valentina Mozvoi: The plight of the Jewish had another tragic dimension – beyond the story of their appalling mistreatment in captivity.

Simon: In April, they split the camp, “non productive” people moved out by train. My son had already died, I never saw my wife and daughter again. They moved us again to a work camp further inside Germany, then West again in September. We had to walk the last transfer from Bremen to near Essen. Most died, those that dropped out were simply shot. I’m not sure how I survived. Eventually the guards simply left one day. I stayed at the camp, where else was there to go? Two days later a British officer arrived, he told me the war was over, that Hitler had been assassinated almost a month before yet we had known nothing of it.

Valentina Mozvoi: What happened post war?

Simon: Well of course the major occupiers of Germany and Hungary were the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy and Russia. I was in the British Zone, but after medical treatment eventually made my way when back to Budapest in the Russian Zone to try and search for my wife and daughter. This required an immense amount of paperwork and time. There were displaced people everywhere. There was nothing to find for me. Eventually I followed a friend- he wanted to go to Palestine but could not afford it. He had heard land was being made available to Jews in was then Kalingrad Special Oblast and that, even though there was numerous delays and permits required, transport was free. I settled near Volodino, obtained a job as an accountant. It’s not like there was anything in Hungary, only bad memories. I eventually remarried, as you know, some 10 years later. I had a son later in life. Eventually two beautiful granddaughters, although one lives in St Petersburg, sad to say. I don’t see her as often as I would like.

Valentina Mozvoi: Thank you Grandfather.

Jurgen followed her outside. “Fuck, I’m sorry”. “What do you have to apologize for, you have done nothing wrong. It’s all a long time ago, but for me, the connection remains. My father was born in 1956, over ten years after the war. Since it overtook the U.K in the 1980's Germany is Russia’s greatest trading partner, it’s all history now."

Come on, I want you to meet my grandfather.”

 

[johnboy]

15th October 2015, Leipzig, Federal Republic of Germany

Valentina settled down to interview the grizzled old man. It would be the final in a series of such interviews in Germany, where she had learned a lot and had a surprising encounter with the personable young German man. She launched into the interview.

You were sent to the Eastern Front?

Yes, I got there in late 1941, I was assigned to the Veterinärkompanie of the 38th Infantry Division. That winter was terrible and the horses suffered greatly on the Eastern Front, and their suffering seems to have been forgotten. We were treating more horses for pneumonia and frostbite than for battle injuries. Horses could also suffer from exhaustion. We had many problems in Russia. Our equipment was not designed for the rough usage it got. Even simple items like feedbags became a problem. Our army feedbags were made of canvas and were worn out by that winter. The army had set higher supply priorities on items like food and ammunition so they were not replaced. We were forced to build wooden feed troughs like you see in farms today. The only problem with this was that it made it easier for the horses to contract disease.

Did the German Army really use that many horses?

Ha, ha, yes, they did young lady. You see, Hitler expanded the army in the 1930's quicker than he could build modern vehicles for transport. Hitler hated horses, he wanted a modern, completely motorized army like Britain had, but the army grew too fast. Horses were readily available and the people of Europe were more accustomed to them than they were automobiles, so the horses took up the slack.

What were they fed?

Many people do not know that a horse needs a lot of food to keep going. It needs about 10 kilos (20 lbs) of food a day! Why is this so important, you may ask; why not just let them eat grass from the fields? If a horse is going to eat grass for energy, he must eat grass for between six and eight hours a day. This does not leave any time for work, does it?

The standard meal consisted of a pressed cake of hay, straw, potato shavings, bread yeast, but mostly oats. This was the issue food, we often got the horses feed from the local farms. In Russia this was a problem because there was often nothing much to be had, especially in winter.

Were you issued a weapon?

I had a pistol that I bought myself before I went to the Russian Front. And I was expected to know how to use a rifle. Everyone in the German Army were expected to be a fighting soldier, even the bakers. In Russia, you never knew when the enemy would appear and to them it did not matter whether you were a paratrooper, veterinarian, or chaplain; they shot at anyone in a German uniform.

How did you get along with the other services?

Not too bad, except with the SS and the Party clowns. Some of the cops gave us a hard time, but because they thought because of my veterinarian red tabs I was an officer and left me alone, well normally they left me alone. The SS would strut around and bump you right out of the way if you did not move aside, they called us Hilfsvölker, which means something like "helper tribe." That is, until they needed us. Once, I sat with an SS high ranking officer on a train from Hanover to Magdeburg, he was stationed at the SS training unit at Goslar, which was not too far from where I was stationed. He was arrogant and condescending, I remember thinking: "When will this trip be over?" He would ask me a question and then use my answer to insult me. We exchanged names and stations, and I threw his away when I got off the train. Then, a few months later, he calls me up, he wants a favor. He wanted special shoes put on his horse, and wanted me to have it done for him. Now he was so friendly, the veterinarian service was wonderful, and the SS farriers were clods, they didn't know anything about horses. Imagine that. The SS was always short on technical specialists. Later on I find that he arranges me a merit badge.

Did you win any decorations?

The medal for the Eastern Front, everyone who was there in that winter of 1940-1941 got one. Also, I got the Kriegsverdienstkreuz for service during that winter. Plus the merit badge I obtained via the SS. These were both very common awards, I was no hero. My only concern was for the horses. When I found out what had happened behind the lines in the war I looked at the merit badge, then the others. I actually threw them away. What use are medals awarded from such people?

Were you ever in combat?

Oh yes, but for me it was a rare event, I was normally behind the lines. Once a Russian tank drove into our horse collection station, That was terrible. It got stuck in the creek we were set up near, and the crew just jumped out and tried to run away. They ran over into a truck repair park where the mechanics killed them with their rifles.

What happened to you at the end of the war?

After the collapse, I was near Hanover. There was a place that supplied horses for the Army. I was there until the allies came. I didn't want to go to a prisoner camp, so I put on civilian clothes and tried to get through the lines. That was a failure and I was eventually picked up but not held too long.

 

[johnboy]

13 October 2015, Ishigaki, Kingdom of Ryukyu

Moon In-Sik prepared to interview the venerable old man. He was making the documentary solely for Korean television, yet felt it prudent to interview at least one Japanese to provide some balance. The old man had moved to the islands after the war, almost certainly illegally, yet had somehow conspired to stay. He had explained that he had no family, his wife dying some years before.

Moon was a well known Korean presenter, a native of Dongyang and fluent in Japanese and Russian. He, like everyone in Korea, was well aware of the tensions that still existed even today between Asia's second and third largest economies. The war had been a bloody business, the eventual expulsion of the Japanese in late 1944 from Korea itself a testament to that. Japan's diffidence in relation the subject of reparations and it's reluctance to apologise had led to a productive trade relationship, yet one that still contained a measure of distrust. Perhaps not to the level of the "two Chinas" but a palatable air of coolness none the less. These islands served in many ways as "neutral ground" between the State of Japan, the Republic of China, the Republic of Manchuria and the Empire, benefiting the coffers of the Shō government. Tensions existed in this part of Asia, but had only broken out into war once, during the 1957-8 China-Manchuria conflict that had ended in a Russo/Korean imposed peace. With both Korea and particularly China's nuclear capability, war now would be an act of madness.

He returned to the interview:

Moon In-Sik: Jiro Ono, you left your university to join the armed forces. But you had a goal.

Jiro Ono: I wanted to be a pilot. If you have to join the army, I thought being a pilot may be interesting. A simple motivation, to stay out of mud and trenches. I never knew that such a sad end awaited. If you have to go to war of course you may meet your death, but being a pilot and dying may be a lot better rather than fighting on the ground being bayoneted. It was simple thinking.

Moon In-Sik: Then in the mid 1944 you and the rest of the trainee pilots at your base were ordered to assemble and listen to the words of a colonel.

Jiro Ono: All the pilots were called together, about 90 total, and the colonel, the base commander, told us that they were recruiting for a special mission and at the end of this special mission there is no survival. That was the lecture. It was just straight up like that, no distractions. Everybody returned to their room and we discussed among ourselves what this special mission was all about. We had thought that it must be a war winner, that some way had been found to strike at the American President Roosevelt and similar nonsense. We were foolish enough to convince ourselves of that. We would have volunteered for that. There had been deaths during training, just a few. So we thought that if we fulfill this special mission, why is it that we cannot come back alive? I was nominated to talk to the colonel to ask what this special mission is all about. We were to have a bomb on our plane and then simply crash into an enemy vessel and explode ourselves. No possibility of survival.

We were all shocked. It was not a mission I would willingly apply for. Everybody thought that it was ridiculous and not many were really willing to go. Later on we thought, 'Can we even say no? What would become of us?’ We were trapped in a way. If you are sparing your life, you are not dedicated enough, a coward. How can one respond to that? We could not simply say that we are not willing to meet our death on such a mission. To join the army, you should be determined to dedicate your life, to throw your life away, if need be. I would be labelled as a coward and not worthy of being an officer. No doubt eventually sent to the forefront of the most severe battle to meet a certain death anyway. It would be reported back to my family. When they are informed of this, how will they feel? They will be shunned in the community. A son that is a coward, dishonorable, shame. We had heard of cases of such. So thinking that, we had no choice but to agree. Most put down the answer opposite from what they were feeling. It’s unthinkable in the current days of peace. Nobody really wanted to, but we agreed. That was the expectation and we could not resist.

Moon In-Sik: You were sent to special training, training to dive your planes onto enemy ships. And one day in early August 1944 you were told to take off to attack allied ships off these very islands. Your plane had technical problems so you couldn’t leave with the pilots you had trained with.

Jiro Ono: I went to my friend, whose engine had already started and was on the runway. I gave him a silver kami. He said, ‘I am going ahead of you but I will meet my destiny with you eventually.’

Moon In-Sik: But your turn came five days days later when, your plane repaired, you took off with a new group of pilots.

Jiro Ono: Everybody was calm. It has been said that we were fanatics and charged to attack the enemy. It wasn't really the case. I was very calm. What happened at the last moment, you can say that human beings think about various things, but in the end you have to be fully determined, your course preset. It was when I had only 20 minutes to go, then I felt differently. You see one's own death is something you can experience before, so it becomes a shock. Even though your death is hanging right in front of you, it's still difficult to fully convince yourself that in 20 minutes time you will be dead. There is fear, fear with no way back. I had crossed the line of no return.

Moon In-Sik: But before you reached the target, your again developed technical problems, and forced you to make an emergency landing on a nearby island. From there you were taken back to face your commander.

Jiro Ono: It was a dishonor, because the special attack mission means you meet an honorable death. Your mission is unfulfilled if you survived. Whatever the reason, survival gave you a sense of burden. Your friends, to whom you have often in war a stronger bond than your family, have died, however, you simply survived. I was reprimanded and told, ‘Don’t you feel shameful and guilty in the face of all those that have passed away? You are a disgrace to them.’ It was weakness that I survived in their minds. I was beaten by a bamboo cane until I could hardly move.

During the war most suffer miserable experiences. Wars are something which should never happen. Combatant or non, everybody is drawn in to take part. You can't simply say no and stay away. So on my part, whether I liked it or not I was a missile, so I have to fulfill my mission. But that special mission, that was an operation of stupidity in a war already lost.

 

[johnboy]

11 October 2015, Ulsan, Empire of Korea

Moon In-Sik sat himself down in one the floor, facing the older lady. His interviews were meant to cover the Pacific War from both the Korean and also Manchurian point of view would take him from Ulsan in the South to Dongyang in the North. He would even be making a trip to Rome.

Moon In Sik: It has been 75 years since that fateful day but Park Sang-Mi cannot forget how Japanese soldiers eliminated her family, effectively marking the beginning of nearly two months of wholesale slaughter, rape and destruction in Pusan. Stabbed twice and left for dead, can you tell me the first terrifying moments of that morning when Japanese troops first pounded on the door of your house.

Park Sang-Mi: It was my father who went to open the door and the soldiers shot him as soon as he opened the door. Eight family members had been hiding in our home for weeks as Japanese bombs and shells fell around us and fighting raged in the city for two months. You did not dare to go outside. Everything was in ruins and there was dust and smoke everywhere, as the city was a complete mess. Bodies were everywhere. Some sheltered areas were knee deep in human waste.

Moon In Sik: It took 63 days and thousands of casualties to expel the Korean army from Pusan, which finally fell to Japanese troops. What happened then?

Park Sang-Mi: My mother was embracing my one-year old sister under the table. They dragged my mother out from under the table and immediately stabbed my sister to death. They killed her just like that. Ten or so soldiers then set upon my mother, gang raping and then strangling her.

As they turned to my grandparents I grabbed my three remaining sisters and ran into another room. I heard screams and gunshots from the other room but we were so scared we didn't dare to make a sound. Everything went quiet before the soldiers finally stormed in, raping and killing my 16 and 14 year-old sisters. I blacked out, having been bayoneted twice afterwards.

Moon In Sik: What happened after that?

Park Sang-Mi: I don't know how long it was before I came to, but I was woken by the crying of my seven year old sister. I was soaked in blood, and had been stabbed twice in the back. I could not move the corpses, so we hid in the house with them for the next week. We didn't dare move or eat in daytime, Japanese soldiers were near by and they walked by our house on patrol every day, looking for Korean army stragglers. I was out one night when one was spotted, he managed to kill a Japanese soldier with a shovel, but was bayoneted to death by others.

Moon In Sik: How did you eventually escape?

Park Sang-Mi: I was down near the docks, a dangerous thing as there were many Japanese there, but we were starving and there was food to be had there. A fisherman agreed to take us out of the city.

Moon In Sik: The city saw 110,000 Koreans and 90,000 Japanese casualties, then it is estimated civilian casualties were over 130,000 dead as the Japanese army ran amok. It was thought that the acts committed in Pusan, the first Korean city captured to be by the Japanese, was designed to terrify the Korean people, the government and the Emperor into surrendering as soon as possible. It failed to work as Korea eventually not only defeated and expelled the Japanese with help from the Russian army, culminating with a bloody massacre of the Japanese themselves in Pusan in late 1944. Finally, what happened post war?

Park Sang-Mi: There were attempts to assist those left without means of support. Many came to nothing, however, I was lucky and obtained a position as a cook at the British legation. That kept us alive post war. Eventually, things improved, I met a man and married. We had two sons, both work at Hyundai Heavy Industries here, where we moved in the 1970’s.

 

[johnboy]

16 October 2015, Via dei Condotti 11, Rome, Republic of Italy

Moon In-Sik looked around the apartment, expensive furnishing and drapes in one of the most expensive areas of Rome. The lady was old, frail now, wheeled in by a teenage girl with a shock of black and blue hair, who spoke, unusually for a European in quite conversational Korean. "Please don't tire her out, she has not been well". "Don't be ridiculous girl, a little talking won't tire me. I sometimes wonder if you are my son's granddaughter."

Moon started the interview.

Moon In-Sik: "What should I call you? Princess Yeonghye, Yeonghye, Mrs Ciano?

Svetlana: Call me Svetlana, that's what I was known for most of my life.

Moon In-Sik: So, you are the daughter of the late Emperor Yeong. How as it to grow up as a Princess?

Svetlana: Well I lived a perfectly normal life until 1925, when my mother died. We had always been comfortable, my father was aware of me and sent money. My mother was a musician, however, she died in 1925 quite young when I was only four. That provoked a great change. I was packed off to Seoul in Korea. New language, new people. My father's wife was icily polite and no more. It was hard to be not fully Korean. Only my younger sister was truly friendly.

Moon In-Sik: Then your life changed again in 1938 when you met your late husband.

Svetlana: Yes, it was at a function at the Italian Embassy in Seoul. He was very handsome, older than me, 35 to my 17. For me, it was love at first sight. Gian was, I think, less sure, for any relationship would be a scandal and he was very career minded. I think I was always strong willed. I insisted on being called Svetlana, only my father called me Yeonghye. It reminded me of my mother.

Moon In-Sik: You eventually married later that year?

Svetlana: Yes, it does cause a scandal. Gian's colleagues felt he had married beneath him with a half asian wife. My father felt I should have married a Korean, that I had perhaps married beneath myself. However, I was determined and, although a bastard, his favourite. Plus his wife pressed him to accept the match, to be rid of me I think.

Moon In-Sik: Your husband held some key diplomatic posts during the war?

Svetlana: (Laughs). Well not straight away, he was in disgrace. Our first posting as husband and wife was Montenegro. That was where our son was born. It was the least prestigious appointment there was. However, the ambassador dying unexpectedly around the time of King Alexander's death in Serbia allowed us to broker a treaty there and from there things took off. Gian was the ambassador to Russia from 1941 to 1945, then in the U.S from 1945 to 1948. With our son nine and our daughter six, we then had a choice of politics or a longer term role away from the spotlight. I wanted to come back to Korea. The country had been hit hard by the war and needed assistance. All that time away had given me contacts and I wanted to use those to assist.

Moon In-Sik: What did you do from there?

Svetlana: Well Gian was the ambassador, but as his wife I had much free time. I started White Magpie to assist the many "comfort women" and other victims of abuse. Setting up accommodation, attempting to find jobs for such women. It was the Korean way at the time that great shame befell such women, despite them being forced into the life they led. Later we attempted to gain compensation in the late 1950's and early 1960's but he Japanese government was completely resistant.

Moon In-Sik: Did you go back to the Imperial household?

Svetlana: My father's first wife had died and he had remarried. Things were easier, but of course I was a married woman then. I still saw my father and he reigned long enough to see Korea become a modern power. I think my father ruled wisely, gradually dispersing his powers, yet making sure we did not get involved in disputes like the 1956-7 China-Russia border incident that ended so badly and the attendant China-Manchuria war. When he died in 1970, the country was on it's way to being an economic power house. He was able to keep the dynasty popular in Korea and avoid the clamors for a republic that saw the overthrow of the Manchurian dynasty in 1957 or the terrible succession crisis of 1983-84 that saw the end of the Savoys in 1984 here after Umberto II died. After the 1956 overthrow in Manchuria the family settled in Korea, their daughter had married my brother, after all.

Moon In-Sik: How long did you stay in Korea?

Svetlana: We conspired to stay a long time and were there 14 years until 1962. My charities did not need my participation then, Korea was fully recovered and on the verge of a boom. I came back annually to visit for a week or two, back to bi annual after my father died. When Gian died in 1984, I came a few more times to 1994 for the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. I was 74, I felt that would be the last. My brother died after less than a year as Emperor in 1971, my sister in 1982, both far too young. The family connection was more distant and as far as many in the court were concerned, I was still an outsider. The new Emperor was only 26, new reign, young man, young ideas. By 1994 Korea was trading more with Japan than Russia, our traditional main trading partner.

Moon In-Sik: So you settled back in Rome?

Svetlana: Well, I had led a fortunate life. My husband was well paid, my father left me some money. Of course, I knew Italian, had Italian citizenship as well as Korean and Russian, where I was born. I was lucky enough to be fluent in all three and English. Gian had been made a Count in 1962 on retirement. My son and daughter had both gone back to Italy for higher education. My son had married an Italian girl, my daughter a Hapsburg. It seemed like the natural thing to do.

Moon In-Sik: Thanks you for your time.

 

[johnboy]

7 October 2015, Vladivostok, Russian Empire

The old clock ticked onto the half hour as he looked around the room. Yet again he asked himself what he was doing the this ass end hell hole. He had joined the Okhrana on graduation, progressed through the ranks well enough to reach major in 1990. Married in 1983, two daughters in 1985 and 1986 respectively.

However, one promotion only in the last 24 years. His career had stagnated. Draw downs in the intelligence services had started in the 1980's and really hit their straps in the 1990's as relations with the U.S, the world's other major power, had become less competitive. It had never been a bad relationship per see, but both had viewed the other as the only possible threat to assuming leadership of the developed world, hence there was a large intelligence presence as both competed to be top dog. With a warming in previously bad Chinese relations, the Russian intelligence services had taken a hit.

A sordid affair in Germany in 1990 with what had turned out to be a BND operative had killed both his career and his marriage five years later. With nothing left in St Petersburg and no connections or strings to pull, he had finally gained his promotion by agreeing to come to the Far East in 2012. He had just turned 63, two more years and then retirement. What then though?

The office smelled of stale sweat, leather, pepper vodka and perhaps vomit. He had made himself unpopular here with his hair line temper and taciturn manner. His ex wife had moved on and he had no friends in Petersburg. His two daughters never talked to him. One was a journalist in Holland and lived with her boyfriend there. The other lived in Finland with a hockey player.

Even the job itself was routine. The office had to give approval for visits from foreign journalists, it was essentially mundane, just rubber stamping unless someone had been classed as a threat. He looked down at the application from a Korean journalist named Moon In-Sik and then back at the clock and the portrait of Tsar Alexander IV. He then slammed the rubber stamp down, shaking the desk. Another quarter of an hour, just a quarter of an hour had passed. Dear God. Three more hours then down to the supermarket for vodka and back to his small flat. At least it was Thursday. He had even become addicted the horrible American show "The Bachelor". Such was the life of Lt Colonel Vladimir Putin.

 

[johnboy]

11 December 2015, Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow, Russian Empire

Jurgen had been using every possible trick to find reasons to come to Russia and had in the finish taken two weeks leave. He had flown to Moscow for what would be Valentina's last days of work and then they would have over two weeks together, including Christmas. They would stay in a hotel tonight and then go back to St Petersburg via the high speed train tomorrow. However, he was able to admit a personal interest in today's proceedings, being a mad football fan.

The scandals within FIFA had rather tarnished the fact that Russia had been awarded the 2018 World Cup. The room was thick with European journalists. The draw itself was done behind closed doors, then the envelopes given to journalists and the draw re-enacted. It was all elaborate theatre. They had brought out the big guns for the ceremony, Popov, several hockey players, Sharapova, Russian Prime Minister Rifat Shaykhutdinov and finally the Tsar's wayward third and youngest child and only daughter Anna, smart in a charcoal business suit after a recent controversial romp in London that saw her photographed in Bild with her tongue down Prince Harry's throat in a London nightclub. Nobel-Lorikov were everywhere, it was, after all, the major sponsor of the event. By far Russia's largest company, it was the third largest company in the world after Walmart and Royal Dutch Shell and was growing faster than the later. It was represented by it's Chairman Thomas Nobel.

He watched as his girlfriend, he supposed he could call her that now, was passed a thick, expensive looking cream envelope tied with a ribbon of all things. He reached over to take the envelope only to have his hand slapped away.
"Come on, I need to know who Germany have in their group." he whispered.
"You can wait. Don't be such a child. Men, I swear football and sex, is that all there is to you?"
"No, sometimes, we think about food to."
"Look, now they have started", said Valentina, her lips curving in amusement.

It would be seven groups of six, Russia not being included as the host she would automatically qualify. The tiny Principalities of Monaco and Bijuni had football teams but were not FIFA members, so had not entered. Probably since a number of high profile players held citizenship in these tax free havens. Nor had the Vatican. Grand Duchess Anna made the announcements.

Group 1
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Kingdom of France
Kingdom of Sweden
Kingdom of Bulgaria
Faroe Islands Dependency
Grand Duchy of Luxemburg

Group 2
Portuguese Republic
Swiss Confederation
Republic of Hungary
Kingdom of Finland
Republic of Latvia
Republic of San Marino


Group 3
Federal Republic of Germany
Kingdom of Slavonia
Czech Republic
Northern Ireland
Kingdom of Norway
Republic of Azerbaijan

Group 4
Wales
Republic of Austria
Kingdom of Serbia
Irish Republic
Kingdom of Estonia
Kingdom of Georgia

Group 5
Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Denmark
Republic of Poland
Kingdom of Montenegro
Kingdom of Armenia
Republic of Cyprus

Group 6
England
Republic of Slovakia
Scotland
Hellenic Republic
Republic of Lithuania
Republic of Malta

Group 7
Kingdom of Spain
Italian Republic
Kingdom of Belgium
Kingdom of Albania
Republic of Iceland
Principality of Liechtenstein

Well, that was it, Germany was in a quite good group. No major challengers, although both Slavonia and the Czech were good, top 15 in Europe. As they started to leave, Valentina passed him the envelope.
"Here, now you can unwrap this."
As he watched his girlfriend's swinging hips, he had other thoughts. "Perhaps this is not all I wish to unwrap."
She threw him a dazzling smile that left him weak at the knees. "Perhaps that envelope is not the only thing with a surprise beneath the cover."

 

[johnboy]

12 January 2016, Peter and Paul Cathedral, St Petersburg, Russian Empire

Anna stepped out of the limousine she shared with her parents. Her father at 59 still looked young and vigorous, her mother Elena likewise at 56. She still worked every now and then as a doctor. The family were there for the annual service to mark the end of World War 2, thankfully a little lower profile than last years 70th anniversary that had seen her dispatched to Seoul and Vladivostok for celebrations there. Her father Alexander IV was the second Tsar after her twice great aunt Olga the Great, following her grandfather Peter IV.

It was seen by many as the ultimate sinecure, but it not an easy task being the child of the Tsar. Constant attention, bad enough in Russia but much worse in Western Europe, with their laxer privacy laws. Everything scrutinized. Heaven forbid one should show emotion, cry or even laugh too hard. In Russia to, behavior was seen as paramount, particularly for women in a society that was still patriarchal, if not in regards to careers at least in regards to family values. In that manner Russia was much closer to America than Western Europe.

Relationships were another matter again. They had to be able to withstand an intense public spotlight, not only in front of Russia's 328 million inhabitants, but the world as a whole. The Romanov's, much like the Windsors, generated enormous publicity. Hence why both herself and her younger brother had completed University in the U.K, to get away from the fishbowl. At least both her older brothers now seemed settled. Both had ended up with actresses. His older brother Nicholas had married Russian actress Olga Kurylenko, a lovely but somewhat serious girl in late 2014. The fact that she had been married twice before caused the usual controversies, the press trying very hard to muckrake any potential story, however she was an intelligent girl that spoke Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, English and French fluently and had fitted in well with the family as a whole. Anna also knew what the public did not, that Olga was carrying the next generation of Romanov. She had also assisted in finding a partner for her younger brother George, or "floppy" as he as often called due to his languid manner and habit of throwing himself down in chairs. Both brothers had visited the set of Olga's last film "The Water Diviner", a Russell Crowe epic about set in and around Zadar about the Australian landings there in the First World War. George had been introduced to Isabel Lucas, an Australian actress and things had been heavily intense ever since. Her parents approved and she was a fun loving, clever girl who already spoke passable Russian and fluent German in addition to English.

She stepped out, her boots crunching on the snow, watching both her brothers assisting their partners out of the limos. For Isabel, it would be her first "official" event. She was glad to see George's smile. The collapse of his high profile romance with Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic and the media spotlight had hit him hard for some time.

There was the usual handshaking and flesh pressing with the mayor, the Patriarch, heads of all political parties including Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, even the odious Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the extreme right wing Union of the Russian People. The most notable of the foreigners was Bernie Sanders, locked in battle for the Democratic nomination for president to replace Hilary Clinton against Barack Obama, who had gone within a heartbreaking 18 votes of the democratic nomination himself in 2008. With the democratic vote strong, likely even stronger after the addition of the two Spanish speaking states after the 2012 election, it was likely one of the two men would be President.

She filed into the church. She was not herself religious, however, the Orthodox Church was still a strong institution in Russia, even though it did not have the power of a century ago. The media painted her as a wild child, but she just didn't want to conform all the time. She saw herself as similar to Prince Harry, a spare yet still restricted in what she could do, juts a little bit on the "outside" of the traditional court fogies, hence probably why they had always gotten on well, having had a couple of periodic flings.

As she passed her Great Great Aunt's simple tomb, she wondered what it would be like to have the grinding weight of so much responsibility so young, to be Tsarina for 53 years, to fight through two large and one small war. The monarchy itself had changed so much. From a complete autocracy to a constitutional role. The Duma and State Council were now 100% elected, the position of the Tsar not quite a figurehead but certainly not an autocrat. The Tsar could veto legislation not approved by 55% of both houses and, unlike most monarchs, could introduce legislation. In practice, both of these things had happened less than five times in the last thirty years, twenty of those under her own father. The only legislation her father had ever introduced was to clean up Russia's state run child protection sector, which was a disgrace. Yes, her Great Great Aunt's reign had changed not only Russia but probably the world.