Chapter 1019: Repay a Hundredfold

“Comrade General! Comrade General!” A Soviet intelligence officer ran into General Vatutin’s office in a panic. He was in such a hurry that he almost knocked over a coat rack, his face pale as he handed a piece of intelligence to General Vatutin, who was busy preparing for the military parade.

“What is it? So flustered… Have the Germans attacked?” Vatutin frowned and snapped. He didn’t really mean to reprimand the man, however. After saying his piece, he put down the document he was preparing.

“This morning, there were three more German reconnaissance planes than yesterday! From the moment the sun rose, a German reconnaissance plane circled at high altitude for several loops before leaving!” the intelligence officer who had burst into the office quickly reported. “Now, they’ve had at least five planes fly over Moscow at high altitude. The director sent me to report this situation immediately!”

Vatutin was stunned. He thought it over carefully. He knew that the military parade might have been leaked, and not just a little. The Germans knew that the Soviet Union was holding a grand military parade today and apparently intended to interfere. This was not a good thing for the Soviet side; at least for Stalin, this was bad news.

So, the Moscow City Defense Commander quickly grabbed the phone in front of him and called the leader, Comrade Stalin, who was in the process of straightening his uniform. Clearly, Comrade Stalin was also busy. He had no shortage of things to prepare on his end; at the very least, he needed to dye his already graying hair back to black.

“Great leader, Comrade Stalin, I just received news from the air defense forces. This morning, the Germans sortied many aircraft and conducted unusual reconnaissance activities over Moscow. I suspect that it is possible our opponent, the Germans, have learned of our plans for the military parade.”

“How could the Germans know? This is a top-secret matter. They shouldn’t have been able to find out!” On the other end of the line, Stalin’s tone was clearly very unhappy. He was preparing to review his troops who were defending Moscow, only to receive such fatal news. After all, Moscow was now within the range of many heavy artillery pieces. To review his troops under such unsafe conditions was an extremely dangerous move.

“Because of this parade plan, most of the frontline officers were notified… Great leader, Comrade Stalin, I think it is possible that among the officers recently reported as killed in action, some were in fact captured by the Germans,” Vatutin said after a moment’s thought, pushing the blame onto those high-ranking officers who had likely been listed as killed.

Stalin thought for a moment and felt that this explanation was acceptable. After all, it was impossible to keep such a thing completely secret, especially in the last few days when many frontline officers were being invited to participate. The level of secrecy for the parade was not as strict as it had been in the first few days.

But he still began to curse loudly. After all, his entire plan might be postponed or even canceled because of this intelligence leak. “Those bastards who have gone over to the enemy! They are all complete idiots! Stupid pigs! So what if Rokossovsky surrendered? In the end, wasn’t he still secretly shot in a concentration camp on the outskirts of Berlin?”

The Allied side, of course, would not let Rokossovsky’s death go easily. They had, based on normal association, made a big deal out of this high-ranking general’s death. In any case, there was no proof. It was a card to be played. As for the already-dead Rokossovsky, even if the Germans had admitted it was a suicide, Stalin would absolutely not admit it. After all, according to his own promise, Rokossovsky should have died in battle at Stalingrad, not have clung to a ignoble life only to die a muddled death in Berlin.

Vatutin remained silent on the other end of the line. He had to wait for Stalin to vent his anger before he would get the answer he wanted. After cooperating for so many days, he had grown accustomed to this mode of communication. He remained quiet, accustomed to letting Stalin curse out all the traitors who had betrayed the Soviet Union.

In short, as the war progressed, as the situation became more and more unfavorable, the number of times Stalin cursed was also gradually increasing. The current situation was already just one step away from despair, so the number of times Stalin cursed had already reached the point where he would open his mouth and let loose at any time, any place.

Finally, after silence returned to Stalin’s end of the line, Vatutin cautiously and slowly spoke, asking in a low voice, “Then, great leader, Comrade Stalin, the military parade originally planned for today, is it canceled or will it proceed?”

Stalin, after his customary tirade, was also preoccupied with considering whether this parade should continue or be canceled. He thought about it carefully. He really didn’t know if, during the parade, the air-raid siren suddenly rang out, whether he and the troops he was reviewing should scatter to the air-raid shelters, or if they should continue with the parade.

And so, he could only open his mouth and ask Vatutin for his opinion. “Comrade General, what is your opinion? Should we abandon this parade plan, or should we insist on completing it?”

“I suggest… it would be better to postpone it until tomorrow… Great leader, Comrade Stalin. After all, this parade is for the whole world to see. If German bombs were to fall, it would ultimately be unfavorable for us.” Vatutin didn’t have to think much and immediately answered the question. After all, this was not a major, life-and-death decision like mobilizing troops. For a small matter like delaying an event, General Vatutin was still willing to show off his intelligence.

And so, Stalin on the other end nodded and agreed to Vatutin’s suggestion. He also knew that although to postpone it for a day was also very disgraceful, it was much better than having the parade disrupted by the Germans. “I support your opinion! Then, as you’ve suggested, have the parade troops withdraw from their waiting areas and return to their original barracks to stand by!”

“Yes! Great leader, Comrade Stalin!” Vatutin put down the phone and then immediately picked it up again. “Get me the parade troops’ command post… This is Vatutin! Today’s parade is officially canceled! You are to return to your barracks immediately! Yes! This is an order from the great leader, Comrade Stalin! I will send you the order documents later! Execute it immediately!”

After finishing this order, Vatutin breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at a huge clock on one of the walls. It was three minutes to eight o’clock. He gave a bitter smile, then shook his head and called for his secretary. “Strengthen the air defense alert! Perhaps the Germans…”

Before he could finish his order, the shrill sound of the air-raid siren began to wail. In the instant he was stunned, an officer from the air defense forces had already burst into his office and was loudly reporting what had just happened. “Comrade General! Radar! The radar station has detected a large number of aircraft! Not ours, they’re German!”

He was a little incoherent, but compared to his pale face, that was nothing. Because he had just heard an astonishing adjective, a word used to describe the German planes that were invading Moscow’s airspace this time—”Never seen so many!”

Yes, they had never seen so many. In the operations room of the radar station that the Americans had helped to build, several Soviet radar operators were looking at the chaotic, jumping, flickering lines on their screens. At first, they had thought their machines were malfunctioning. It was only after a call had come in from the frontline visual observation post that they had known their equipment was not broken, but that the number of planes the Germans had sortied was simply too great.

The FW-190D fighters had been loaded with as many small bombs as possible. These bombs were to be used to attack as many of Moscow’s building targets as possible. Then there were over 300 Stuka and Stuka II attack planes. These planes had all been sortied, with orders to suppress Moscow’s fragile air defense. And even more were a full 500 DO-217 bombers. These medium-range bombers, which did not have a long range but had very good performance, were responsible for destroying all of Moscow, and were carrying a large number of high-explosive bombs.

The main reason they were only carrying a small number of incendiary bombs was because the air force intelligence department had analyzed that Moscow, for the function of warding off the cold, had used a large number of brick and stone structures in its buildings. A direct drop of incendiary bombs might have a mediocre effect. So the air force had decided to first test the waters with high-explosive bombs and, at the same time, to test the blast resistance of Moscow’s buildings.

Who would have thought that the German army would be so extravagant as to use 200 fighter planes as attack aircraft, and to sortie over 1,100 aircraft of various models in one go, to carry out the most massive bombing attack on Moscow since the beginning of the battle.

At the same time, at 8 o’clock sharp, the 210mm howitzers that had been placed behind the German positions were the first to roar. A full 30 of these towed, large-caliber cannons hurled their heavy shells over 25 kilometers. These cannons were to be used to supplement the firepower density of the railway guns. Although they might not be able to hit the city center of Moscow, they could hit the urban area and give the Soviets a bit of a shock.

Vatutin was stunned by the news he had received. He had just settled into his underground air defense command post when he had heard the news of the Germans bombing the western part of the city. Subsequently, news had come from some of the observation posts, claiming that they had just been subjected to an enemy artillery bombardment.

The phones were in chaos. All the phones seemed to be ringing. Vatutin and his secretary had to deal with these incoming inquiry calls separately. Almost every one was from a big shot he could not afford to neglect. There were mayors and government officials. They were all confirming one thing: where was the German artillery fire coming from?

Stalin’s call was picked up by Vatutin. This phone was the line of communication connecting this command post and Stalin’s air-raid shelter. As long as this phone rang, Vatutin had to answer. “Great leader, Comrade Stalin! This is Vatutin!”

“Damn it! Someone said the explosions in some of the city districts are not from the German bombing, but from German artillery! What on earth is going on? How many kilometers are the enemy from Moscow? Have their 150mm howitzers already reached Moscow?” Stalin was furious on the other end of the line. For Moscow, a bombing and a shelling were two completely different things.

Vatutin was no fool. He of course knew that the closest German troops to the city of Moscow were only a pitiful 18 kilometers away. But he also knew that the ones shelling the city were not those 150mm howitzers with their very limited range, but at the very least, 210mm heavy artillery.

And so he quickly comforted Stalin. “Great leader, comrade, I assure you, those cannons are not the German 150mm towed artillery! Their range is definitely not that long… I suspect it is the 210mm heavy artillery that the Germans used when they attacked Stalingrad.”

“I don’t care what weapon can hit Moscow! The enemy is now shelling our capital! General Vatutin! Think of something!” Stalin, hearing that he had not been deceived, relaxed a little. But to be attacked by artillery was indeed something that greatly affected one’s mood. At the very least, it would affect the mood of all the high-ranking officials in the city of Moscow—the enemy was really close enough to them!

The German army had no intention of letting Moscow go. Although the buildings were all very sturdy, the hundreds of tons of bombs dropped by the German bombers in the sky still had their intended effect. A large number of civilian houses were hit and collapsed. The rubble from the explosions covered the streets and alleys… huge craters were everywhere. Moscow had finally experienced its greatest catastrophe since the beginning of the war.

And then, the even more terrifying 280mm large-caliber shells from the K-type railway gun landed near Red Square. One of these huge shells directly pierced a towering spire of the Kremlin. This building collapsed with a roar, and then the huge explosion of the shell spread through the vicinity. All the windows were shattered by the vibrations.

The Soviet soldiers who were maintaining security in the city leaned against the sandbagged shelters at the entrance of the air-raid shelters, looked up at the sky above them, watched those graceful German planes fly past the buildings, and dropped one after another of bombs on the city they had sworn to defend to the death.

“Everything the Germans have done to the Soviet Union! I will repay them ten times, no, a hundred times! I want to make that Akado cower in a basement! And wait for my troops to cut off his head!” Stalin cursed loudly in his underground shelter, listening to the dense sound of explosions overhead and feeling everything around him tremble.

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