Initiative (The Red Gambit Series Book 6) Read online

  1232 hrs, Wednesday, 12th June 1946, near Route 7312, half a kilometre southeast of Bräunisheim, Germany.

  1329 hrs, Wednesday, 12th June 1946, two hundred and fifty metres southwest of Bräunisheim, Germany.

  2310 hrs, Wednesday, 12th June 1946, near Route 7312, half a kilometre southeast of Bräunisheim, Germany.

  0720 hrs, Thursday, 13th June 1946, near Route 7312, half a kilometre southeast of Bräunisheim, Germany.

  2320 hrs, Thursday, 13th June 1946, 74th Surgical Hospital, Bräunisheim, Germany.

  2330 hrs, Thursday, 13th June 1946, near Route 7312, half a kilometre southeast of Bräunisheim, Germany.

  0007 hrs, Friday, 14th June 1946, 74th Surgical Hospital, Bräunisheim, Germany.

  1102 hrs, Friday, 14th June 1946, 10, Downing Street, London, UK.

  1517 hrs, Friday, 14th June 1946, Office of the Secretary General, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

  Chapter 156 – THE PAIN

  1002 hrs, Saturday, 15th June 1946, Makaryev Monastery, Lyskovsky, USSR.

  1632 hrs, Saturday, 15th June 1946, Freienwalde, Pomerania.

  1635 hrs, Saturday, 15th June 1946, 74th Surgical Hospital, Bräunisheim, Germany.

  1635 hrs, Saturday, 15th June 1946, the woods, one kilometre northeast of Lonsee, Germany.

  1831 hrs, Saturday, 15th June 1946, St. Jakob’s Kirche, Lonsee-Sinabronn, Germany.

  1907 hrs, Saturday, 15th June 1946, 74th Surgical Hospital, Bräunisheim, Germany.

  1944 hrs, Saturday, 15th June 1946, Route 7312, southwest of Bräunisheim, Germany.

  Chapter 157 – THE MASKIROVKA

  1212 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, the Black Sea, between Novorossiysk and Divnomorskoye, USSR.

  1400 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, Camp Rose, on the Meer van Echternach, Luxembourg.

  1800 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, CP, 71st Infantry Brigade, Lohmühlenstrasse U-Bahn station, Hamburg, Germany.

  1937 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, CP, 4th Royal Welch Fusiliers, Hauptbahnhof Nord, Hamburg, Germany.

  2007 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, CP, Special Group Mogris, the Rathaus, Hamburg, Germany.

  2100 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, CP, 2nd Company, 79th Motorcycle Battalion, Special Group Mogris, St Jacobi, Hamburg, Germany.

  2158 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, frontline positions of 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, Springelwiete, Hamburg, Germany.

  2222 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, CP, 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, Steinstrasse, Hamburg, Germany.

  2340 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, frontline positions, 2nd Company, 79th MC Battalion, Special Group Mogris, Hamburg, Germany.

  2351 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, frontline positions, 1st Company, Special Group Mogris, Hamburg, Germany.

  2352 hrs, Monday 17th June 1946, frontline positions, 4th Royal Welch Fusiliers, Brandsende, Hamburg, Germany.

  0000 hrs, Tuesday 18th June 1946, frontline positions, 4th Royal Welch Fusiliers, Brandsende, Hamburg, Germany.

  Chapter 158 – THE WEAPONS

  2303 hrs, Thursday, 20th June 1946, Ul. Rostovskaya, Sovetskaya Gavan, Siberia.

  1101 hrs, Friday, 21st June 1946, Camp 1001, Akhtubinsk, USSR

  1209 hrs, Saturday, 22nd June 1946, Château de Versailles, France.

  1209 hrs, Monday, 24th June 1946, Holzhausen, Germany.

  1313 hrs, Monday, 24th June 1946, Holzhausen, Germany.

  1400 hrs, Monday, 24th June 1946, Holzhausen, Germany.

  1525 hrs, Monday, 24th June 1946, Holzhausen, Germany.

  1554 hrs, Monday, 24th June 1946, Knickhagen, Germany.

  1644 hrs, Monday, 24th June 1946, open ground, north of Fuldatal, Germany.

  1700 hrs, Monday, 24th June 1946, south of Knickhagen, Germany.

  Chapter 159 – THE HAPPENINGS

  1417 hrs, Saturday 29th June 1946, Château de Versailles, France.

  1617 hrs, Sunday, 30th June 1946, Sankt Georgen an der Gusen, Austria.

  0727 hrs, Monday, 1st July 1946, site of the wreckage of B-N, Sankt Georgen an der Gusen, Austria.

  1132 hrs, Tuesday, 2nd July 1946, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

  1152 hrs, Thursday, 4th July 1946, Salisbury Plain, UK.

  1321 hrs, Sunday, 7th July 1946, the Rathaus, Aachen, Germany.

  1812 hrs, Sunday, 7th July 1946, Versailles, France.

  2301 hrs, Sunday, 7th July 1946, Sankt Georgen an der Gusen, Austria.

  1203 hrs, Monday, 8th July 1946, the Rathaus, Aachen, Germany.

  1303 hrs, Tuesday, 9th July 1946, Camp 1001, Akhtubinsk, USSR.

  1306 hrs, Wednesday, 10th July 1946, mouth of the Ondusengo River. South-West Africa.

  1316 hrs, Wednesday, 10th July 1946, mouth of the Ondusengo River. South-West Africa.

  1556 hrs, Wednesday, 10th July 1946, at sea, off the Skeleton Coast. South-West Africa.

  0356 hrs, Thursday, 11th July 1946, mouth of the Ondusengo River, South-West Africa.

  Chapter 160 – THE BETRAYALS

  1600 hrs, Friday 12th July 1946, House of Madame Fleriot, La Vigie, Nogent L’Abbesse, near Reims, France.

  1021 hrs, Saturday, 13th July 1946, Château de Versailles, France.

  Chapter 161 – THE MATURATION

  0930 hrs, Monday, 15th July 1946, Fulda, Germany.

  1030 hrs, Monday, 15th July 1946, Fulda, Germany.

  1123 hrs, Wednesday, 17th July 1946, Magdeburg, Germany.

  1125 hrs, Wednesday, 17th July 1946, approaching Magdeburg, Germany.

  1133 hrs, Wednesday, 17th July 1946, skies above Sülzetal, Germany.

  0703 hrs, Thursday, 18th July, 1946, Av. V. Lenine 2445, Lourenco Marques. Mozambique.

  1952 hrs, Thursday, 18th July 1946, Office of the General Secretary, the Kremlin, Moscow.

  1002 hrs, Friday, 19th July 1946, Makaryev Monastery, Lyskovsky, USSR.

  Chapter 162 - THE HILL

  1002 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Hemmendorf, Germany.

  1029 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, the Saale, Ockensen, Germany.

  1107 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Height 462, near Marienhagen, Germany.

  1204 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Height 462, near Marienhagen, Germany.

  1204 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, the Stadtpark, Gronau, Germany.

  1215 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Height 462, near Marienhagen, Germany.

  1300 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Height 462, near Marienhagen, Germany.

  1331 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Height 462, near Marienhagen, Germany.

  1530 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Height 462, near Marienhagen, Germany.

  1530 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, slopes of Height 329, southeast of Marienhagen, Germany.

  1602 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Bruggen, Germany.

  1604 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Height 462, Marienhagen, Germany.

  1628 hrs, Saturday, 20th July 1946, Château de Versailles, France.

  Chapter 163 - THE MEDALS

  2228 hrs, Monday, 22nd July 1946, Schloss Hartenfels, Torgau, Germany.

  2028 hrs, Tuesday, 23rd July 1946, the Duingerwald, east of Folziehausen, Germany.

  Chapter 164 - THE SCIENTISTS

  1109 hrs, Thursday, 25th July 1946, Arzamas-2510, VNIIEF Secret Facility within Prison Camp 1001, Akhtubinsk, USSR.

  1829 hrs, Thursday, 25th July 1946, Prison Camp 1001, Akhtubinsk, USSR.

  2242 hrs, Thursday, 25th July 1946, Arzamas-2510, VNIIEF Secret Facility within Prison Camp 1001, Akhtubinsk, USSR.

  1009 hrs, Friday, 26th July 1946, Prison Camp 1001, Akhtubinsk, USSR.

  2229 hrs, Friday, 26th July 1946, Grossglockener, Carinthia, Austria.

  1058 hrs, Saturday, 27th July 1946, Schloss Hartenfels, Torgau, Germany.

  1238 hrs, Saturday, 27th July 1946, Private Dacha of the Deputy Head of NKVD, Kuntsevo, Moscow.

  1500 hrs, Sunday, 27th July 1946, United States Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London.

  Chapter 165 - THE BRITISH

  0803 hrs, Sunday, 28th July 1946, office of the Gene
ral Secretary, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

  1223 hrs, Sunday, 28th July 1946, office of the General Secretary, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

  1333 hrs, Sunday, 28th July 1946, south of Neu Matzlow, Parchim, Germany.

  1413 hrs, Sunday, 28th July 1946, Elde River crossing, Parchim, Germany.

  1410 hrs, Sunday, 28th July 1946, Parchim, Germany.

  1420 hrs, Sunday, 28th July 1946, Parchim, Germany.

  1456 hrs, Sunday, 28th July, 1946, Route 59, Dütschow, Germany.

  1502 hrs, Sunday, 28th July, 1946, Dütschow, Germany.

  1559 hrs, Sunday, 28th July 1946, Friedensstrasse, Spornitz, Germany.

  0053 hrs, Monday, 29th July, 1946, Hotel National, Moscow, USSR.

  0948 hrs, Monday, 29th July 1946, Vnukovo Airfield, USSR.

  1539 hrs, Monday, 29th July 1946, Grossglockener, Carinthia, Austria.

  1701 hrs, Tuesday, 30th July 1946, Karup Air Base, Denmark.

  Chapter 166 - THE STRAW

  0934 hrs, Wednesday, 31st July 1946, the docks, Swinemünde, Pomerania.

  1017 hrs, Thursday, 1st August 1946, the Oval Office, Washington DC, USA.

  2357 hrs, Thursday, 1st August 1946, eight kilometres northwest of Darsser Ort, the Baltic Sea.

  2357 hrs, Thursday, 1st August 1946, eight kilometres northwest of Darsser Ort, the Baltic Sea.

  1847 hrs, Sunday, 4th August 1946, the Guards Club, London, England.

  Tuesday, 6th August 1946. Editorial piece, First edition, Washington Evening Star.

  1423 hrs, Tuesday, 6th August 1946, the Oval Office, Washington DC, USA.

  Chapter 167 - THE PHOTOGRAPHS

  1545 hrs, Wednesday, 7th August 1946, Bad Nauheim Air Base, Germany.

  1005 hrs, Thursday, 8th August 1946, 8th US Air Force Headquarters, Chateau de Foulze, Bourgingnons, France.

  1604 hrs, Thursday, 8th August 1946, Headquarters of the Red Banner Forces of Soviet Europe, Schloss Hartenfels, Torgau, Germany.

  1614 hrs, Thursday, 8th August 1946, private office of Marshal Vasilevsky, Schloss Hartenfels, Torgau, Germany.

  Chapter 168 - THE UNTHINKABLE

  1000 hrs, Friday, 9th August 1946, Andreyevsky Hall, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

  1444 hrs, Friday, 9th August 1946, Andreyevsky Hall, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

  2155 hrs, Sunday, 11th August 1946, Dybäck Castle, Sweden.

  0624 hrs, Monday, 12th August 1946, the Guards Club, London, UK.

  0719 hrs, Monday, 12th August 1946, Chequers, Ellesborough, UK.

  0950 hrs, Monday, 12th August 1946, Chequers, Ellesborough, UK.

  0912 hrs, Tuesday, 13th August 1946, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

  Chapter 169 - THE DIALOGUE

  1100 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, Camp Vár conference facility, Lungsnäs, Sweden.

  1155 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, Hofbieber, Germany.

  1207 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, Hofbieber, Germany.

  1240 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, Hofbieber, Germany.

  1258 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, Height 444, Hofbieber, Germany.

  1302 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, Hofbieber, Germany.

  1358 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, Height 444, Hofbieber, Germany.

  1435 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, US Twelfth Army Group Headquarters, Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, Koblenz, Germany.

  1452 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, 2nd Red Banner Front of Soviet Europe’s Headquarters, Grandhotel Pupp, Karlsbad, Bohemia.

  1857 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, 733 15th St NW, Washington DC, USA.

  2303 hrs, Wednesday, 14th August 1946, Vinogradar Young Communists Sailing Club, Black Sea, USSR.

  Chapter 170 - THE RESPONSE

  1000 hrs, Thursday 15th August 1946, Camp Vár conference facility, Lungsnäs, Sweden.

  1200 hrs, Thursday, 15th August 1946, Eberschutz, Germany.

  1225 hrs, Thursday, 15th August 1946, Astride Route 83, Trendelburg, Germany.

  1607 hrs, Thursday, 15th August 1946, Height 299, Trendelburg, Germany.

  1611 hrs, Thursday, 15th August 1946, 450 metres south of Deisel, Germany.

  1631 hrs, Thursday, 15th August 1946, Route 763, Trendelburg, Germany.

  1352 hrs, Friday, 16th August 1946, Chateau de Versailles, France.

  1920 hrs, 16th August 1946, Chateau de Versailles, France.

  Chapter 171 - THE NEGOTIATIONS

  1113 hrs, Saturday 17th August 1946, Buckingham Palace, London, UK.

  1258 hrs, Saturday 17th August 1946, Hauptstrasse, Haserich, Germany.

  1333 hrs, Sunday 18th August 1946, Officer’s Canteen, US 130th Station Hospital, Chiseldon, UK.

  1759 hrs, Sunday, 18th August 1946, the Oval Office, Washington DC, USA.

  0008 hrs, Monday, 19th August 1946, the Rathaus, Aachen, Germany.

  List of Figures within Initiative.

  Glossary

  Initiative Paperback rear cover

  Bibliography

  Read the first chapter of Endgame now.

  Chapter 172 - THE STRAIGHTS

  1509 hrs, Monday, 19th August 1946, Chateau de Versailles, France.

  0101 hrs, Tuesday, 20th August 1946, Two kilometres northwest of Ksar es Seghir, Morocco.

  Fig # 179 – Europe, May 1946.

  Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds.

  Robert Oppenheimer, quoting Krishna, avatar of Vishnu, from the Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita.

  Chapter 149 - THE POWER

  1000 hrs, Tuesday 30th April, Frankenberg an der Eder, Germany.

  It was the eighty-third anniversary, and the French Foreign Legion’s most important and significant day of the year.

  Camerone Day celebrated the lost battle of Camerone, named for a hacienda in Mexico, where sixty-five legionnaires resisted a force of nearly three thousand Mexican soldiers.

  It, above all other Legion battles, had created the mystique that surrounded the unit from that day forward.

  The commander on the day, a Captain Jean Danjou, was killed early on in the battle, but his false wooden hand was subsequently found, and became the subject of veneration each Camerone Day, when the icon, the symbol of the Legion’s fighting spirit against all odds, was paraded in front of ranks of legionnaires.

  The honour of holding the icon and marching with it in front of assembled legion units was a singular one, an honour that had once been afforded to the long dead Vernais, tortured to death in front of Brumath.

  Normally, the most precious item in the Legion’s inventory remained safely within the confines of its headquarters but, as most of the Legion was in the field in Germany, the Camerone Day parade was being held in a large open green space on the north bank of the Eder River.

  Every Legion unit in the French First Army had a representative section present, the main guard being mounted by men of the 1st Régiment Étrangère D’Infanterie.

  The Legion Corps D’Assaut group was led by a proud Lavalle, the mix of ex-SS and long-service Legionnaires blending seamlessly into one group, and into the parade in general.

  It had been too much to expect one of the new German contingent to be included in the direct parading of Danjou’s hand, but it was a source of celebration and immense pride that Haefali had been honoured with command of the parade, and the singular honour of carrying the sacred relic had been granted to a Marseille-born Legion Caporal-chef from the Alma, and command of the honour guard given to Oscar Durand, Lieutenant in the 1st Régiment de Marche.

  There was even a small honorary squad comprising members of the 16th US Armored Division, until recently a solid member of the Legion Corps, their tank being one of two on parade that day.

  The other vehicle was the only noticeable singularly German contribution to proceedings.

  The 16th’s Sherman M4A3E8 led the way, followed closely by the noisier and larger Tiger Ie.

  Only a day beforehand, a Legion tank crew had been assembled at the repair facility and presented with their vehicle, lovingl
y restored by cannibalism from wrecks found across the battlefields, or by manufacturing those pieces that escaped detection.

  Each of the five men wept as Walter Fiedler, the workshops officer, presented them with the repaired heavy tank...

  ...Lohengrin.

  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Camarón]

  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Danjou]

  1100 hrs, Wednesday, 1st May, 1946, Red Square, Moscow, USSR, and the Oval Office, Washington DC, USA.

  Stalin stood upright and proud amongst the political and military leadership of the Soviet Union, as large bodies of troops and vehicles swept past, the traditional ‘urrahs’ launched from thousands of enthusiastic throats.

  It was an impressive display, that fact more appreciated by the hierarchy than the multitude of citizens gathered for the traditional International Workers’ Day parade, who saw nothing unexpected about the standard huge display of Soviet military might.

  For the citizenry it was as impressive as ever but, in reality, it was an illusion.

  The participants had been stripped from internal commands, soldiers on leave, those recuperating from wounds; anything that could drive, stand, or march was on parade.

  The Soviet war machine was nowhere near the powerful all-conquering monster it had been the previous year.

  Of course, all received rapturous receptions. T-34m46’s, with thicker armour and adapted to take the 100mm, T-44’s similarly armed, followed by a phalanx of one hundred and twenty IS-III battle tanks, decked out as a Guards formation, the assembled citizenry appreciated all as clear indicators of continued Soviet military superiority. Had they known the real truth, and not consumed their spoon-fed daily bulletins comprising specifically edited reports of fighting in the frontline, they may have felt differently.

  The fly past of Red Air Force regiments was extremely impressive.

  The political decision to retain the majority of new and replacement aircraft, depriving the front line units solely to ensure sufficient numbers were on display on May Day, had been heavily contested by the military contingent, but to no avail.

  More importantly to the hierarchy, the large numbers of aircraft were also there to protect them from any Allied attempt to disrupt the Soviet showpiece.