Yaks

Table of Content

2007-04-11T12:49:00.005-07:00

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Introduction

2007-04-11T12:49:00.003-07:00

This blog-novel tells the story of a young Soviet Pilot called Oleg (guess where I got that idea?). The "Yaks Over Memel" campaign from Mandrill7 served as inspiration for this story. I played this campaign a couple of months ago just before the release of 1946.

If you wish you can download the original campaign here. I hope you enjoy this story.

Happy reading

KingAlbert

Chapter 1

2007-04-11T12:49:00.001-07:00

Meeting the Boss

A car stopped near a datcha located in the woods near Moskou. A soldier walked forward and opened the door. Oleg Ivanovich stepped out of the car into the freezing winter. He looked around him. The datcha stood in a small clearing in the woods. Oleg could not see the guards but he knew there would be plenty of them, watching him from the treeline.

"Welcome, comrade Ivanovich, how was your trip?"

A small men stepped forward, his two small eyes looked through round glasses. On his collar he wore the distinct symbols of a political officer. Oleg hated these guys, in fact he hated everybody who was not fighting the Germans.

"It was fine, but I am not used to let other people do the flying", said Oleg, ignoring the political officer.

"I see" replied the officer, "He is expecting you. You are supposed to leave after dinner, but since he likes to spend his evenings drinking vodka, it might be night before you get home"

"No problem, comrade, how do I address him?", asked Oleg.

"Just comrade" the political officer guided Oleg into the datcha. "I'll wait outside comrade, with all the other guards".

Oleg did not knew whether that last remark from the political officer was meant to show the privilege he had of personally visiting the great leader or whether it was a hidden message to make clear that he should not try to do some funny stuff, like a murder attempt.

Oleg entered through the door and stopped, there he saw him: the great leader. He was reading a book, but put it down as he noticed the young pilot in the doorway.

"Ah comrade Oleg, come here", Stalin stood up and embraced heart-fully Oleg. "Let me take a look at this young pilot who is so lauded by our Pravda!". Stalin pulled Oleg to the nearby table.

"Come, sit down and have a drink with me", Stalin poured two vodkas, handed one to Oleg and saluted: "To mother Russia". Both man drank the vodka in one gulp.

Stalin immediately filled the glasses again,"Come one comrade, tell me about your exploits". Oleg hesitated, had the Pravda not already revealed so much about his career, And did Comrade Stalin not have access to all the reports?

Stalin smiled with his little black eyes to Oleg:"I could read the Pravda or the reports your political officer sends but I'd rather hear it from you. Tell me about your first day in the field, when you shot two fascist pilots."

That mourning Oleg had arrived at the forward airfield, fresh from flight academy, he just had learned to fly the Yak-3. Short on pilots the commander of the squadron had no other choice then to immediately send his new recruits into battle. So it happened that Oleg was sitting in the cockpit of his new yak, ready for a patrol over the front-line. Suddenly sirens whaled over the airfield.

The radio crackled as the commander announced: "German fighter-bombers. They are heading this way, everybody take off!"

The Yak in front of Oleg took off. As quickly as possible, Oleg finished the preflight checklist, started the engine and rolled down the runway.

But the Germans were already above them. As he rolled down the runway, Oleg could spot the dark shadows in the sky, releasing small egg-like objects from their belly. Oleg flinched as one of the eggs dropped near the runway, disappearing in a cloud of fire, metal and dust. Metal sprayed his aircraft like hot rain.

Oleg sighted with relief when the wheels no longer touched the runway. Quickly pulling up his undercarriage, he turned towards theoncoming fascist pilots. He jammed the throttle forward, trying to gain some altitude while the German fighters screamed by.

He waited until the last German fighter had passed, before rolling his Yak into a split S on the trail of the nearest German. The Krauts were too focused on the airfield, trying to damage it in a single pass. They probably wanted to get the hell out of dodge before the Soviet pilots would have organized themselves.

Oleg was gaining on the nearest German, who was ignorant of the Soviet pilot. With the throttle jammed full forward, the distance between the two fighters got close pretty fast. Just as the German fighter almost filled the entire windscreen, Oleg pulled the trigger. 12.7 mm bullets together with a couple of 20 mm shells hit their mark. The German started to trail fire.

But there was no time for a coup-de-graçe. There were still plenty of German fighters left and Oleg wanted to shoot them down before they could do more damage to the airfield.

Ignoring the burning German, Oleg focused on another Kraut. This one was trying to escape the Yaks which were now buzzing around the airfield like angry wasps defending their nest.

But this pilot, sporting the numbers 22 on his fuselage, seemed to be much more capable. As soon as he spotted Oleg, he started to jink. Oleg tried to stick onto his tail, but the German rolled and jinked like crazy.

Deciding that the fight was not favorable, the German dove towards the deck, vainly trying to outrun the Yak.

But Oleg was not stupid, he simply waited until he knew where the German was heading before diving after him.

Oleg caught up with him as he started to climb out of his dive. Spraying the German with shells and bullets, flames and explosions erupted from the fighter.

However luck was on the Germans side, because his fighter withstood the pounding of the shells and bullets. Again Oleg had to pull hard on the stick to avoid crashing into the German.

This time Oleg was much more careful. The German never made the intention to turn on him, so he estimated that he had to be either low on fuel or wounded. So Oleg made sure he matched the speed of his yak to that of the German. Slowly creeping closer, he started to fire with hismachine-guns, firing short bursts. Every hit of bullets was followed by a couple of shells.

Soldiers on the ground, had also spotted the low-level flight. Anti aircraft guns began firing too at the German, carefully avoiding the Yak tailing him.

Finally the Germans luck ran out. A single shell exploded in on of the fuel tanks. The fuel tank was almost empty, but the fumes, set afire explosively by the shell, tore apart the fighter. The burning wreckage fell into the woods not far from the airfield.

"What a wonderful story" yelled Stalin, filling the glasses with vodka for another round, "I read about your two kills, but I prefer your story above dry statistics!".

Perhaps it was the effect of the vodka, when Oleg reacted: "Comrade Stalin, credit where credit due, I never shot two aircraft. I never saw the first one go down and nobody could verify my claim". As the words left his mouth, Oleg realized such words could get him shot. But Stalin laughed loud and handed the glass again towards Oleg.

"Comrade Oleg, I wanted your political officer to tell you this, but I suppose he won't mind if I told you so" Oleg could already see the execution squad.

Stalin gulped the vodka down, "Last week a farmer near your old airfield found the remains of a crashed enemy fighter. It was buried in the snow so it must have been shot down the previous winter and covered in snow, so that nobody found ituntil then". Oleg drank his vodka, preparing himself for whatever news would follow.

Filling the glasses again, Stalin continued with a smirk:" The fighter must have been your first victim, buried in the snow. They even found the fascist pilot still strapped into his seat. So comrade Oleg, you did not shoot one but two fascists on your first mission.".

Oleg sighted silently, raised his glass towards Stalin and said, "Comrade Stalin, I drink to that"

Both men banged their empty glasses on the table. Stalin grabbed another bottle of vodka, filled the glasses again, asking: "Come Comrade Oleg, tell me some more stories!"

chapter 2

2007-04-11T12:48:00.004-07:00

Counter-Attack

"Come let us eat some bread and soup" said Stalin after countless glasses of vodka. Oleg was glad, the vodka started to take effect and he sure did not want to pass out in front of the Great Leader.

Stalin clapped his hands. An old woman emerged from a backroom. "Old mother, bring some food for our hero", ordered Stalin. the woman disappeared in the backroom, to return with a tray holding bread and two bowls of soup. The two man enjoyed the simple buttasteful meal for a while, but Stalin wanted to here more stories from Oleg.

"Tell me comrade Oleg, you did not let those fascists get away with their cowardly attack?"

Oleg quickly swallowed his bread, "No Comrade, we certainly did not"

After the attack on their airfield, a single Yak pilot had followed the German fighters. Soon the Yak-pilot returned to the base with the location of the German airfield. It was time to return the favor. So all Yaks were quickly refueled and rearmed, while Cobra fighters were equipped with bombs. War would arrive at the German's doorstep.

Oleg flew his Yak above the enemy airfield as the Cobras swooped down, dropping bombs on hangars, aircraft and fuel tanks. The Germans were completely caught off guard. They wereprobably still refueling their fighters after their return from that mornings attack. Nevertheless some German fighters got into the air and started attacking the Cobras.

Oleg spotted one Cobra who was in trouble. Two Focke-wulfs tailed the Cobra which tried desperately to shake them off.

Oleg came to late to save the Cobra, which crashed near the airfield. But his murderer did not survive long after him. A quick burst from Oleg's 20 mm canon sent the Focke-Wulf spiralling towards the ground with one wing less.

Pulling up from his attack on the Focke-Wulf, Oleg spotted another German desperately trying to take off. The Germans were like sitting ducks, to slow to evade the Soviet fighters. Oleg rolled his Yak onto its back and dove towards the struggling German.

The German pushed the throttle forward, desperately trying to escape his attacker, but he was to low and to slow to evade Oleg.

Again, a short burst of machine-gun fire and a couple of canon shell was all it took to set the German fighter ablaze.

The German pilot tried to crash-land his burning fighter, but to no avail. Touching the snowy ground to fast, the fighter exploded into a cloud of metal and flesh. But Oleg did not bother with the faith of his latest victim. He was already scanning the airfield for more targets.

When he overflew the German airfield, he had spotted some large big birds on the ground. A couple of FW-200 Condors were sitting on the runway. They were a tempting target. So Oleg circled around and prepared to hammer them with some shells.

But the condor crews were not sitting idle. Taxiing on the runway, their gunners fired at the approaching Yak. It was unlikely they would shoot it down, but at least the return fire could offset Oleg's aim.

Dirt kicked up around the condor as the Oleg's shells hit the ground. Some of them even hit the condor's wing, but a Condor was much more sturdier then a Focke-Wulf and the shells did not much damage to the aircraft.

The squadron commander decided that the Germans had been beaten enough. He called his fighters back. Oleg rushed away from the airfield and the two Condors. They had escaped their destruction, for now. German wreckage littered the ground around the airfield as Oleg's Yak rushed homeward.

"That was a nice tale", answered Stalin when Oleg finally went silent.

"We managed to shoot every German fighter that took off, Comrade Stalin" replied oleg.

Stalin smiled, "Come lets go outside, a little walk after such a good meal will do us well".

Oleg quickly stood up and helped Stalin into his coat. Both men went outside, into the cold outdoors of mother Russia. both men walked for several minutes, each engrossed in his own thoughts. Oleg thought he could see the shadows of the guards in the edges of the forest.

Finally Stalin opened the conversation again. "Tell me Comrade Oleg, I have read you were also involved in some special operations?"

Oleg tortured his brain to what mission Stalin might refer, he had flown so many missions. Then he recalled the Spetnaz mission, "Yes, comrade Stalin, do you want to tell me about?".

End of this Chapter

Chapter 3

2007-04-11T12:48:00.003-07:00

Capture The Bridge

Stalin and Oleg walked around the datcha. Oleg could feel the eyes of the guards lurking in the forest on him. He knew they would shoot him on the spot if he made one suspicious move towards the Great Leader.

"Comrade Oleg, tell me now about that Spetnaz mission" urged Staling Oleg.

The Soviet troops had finally repulsed the Wehrmacht and were now pushing them back towards Germany. But the German soldiers fought like devils, realizing the disaster that would befall their loved ones at home if the Soviets broke through.

Soviet command had discovered a bridge that was left unguarded by the Germans. The Soviet tanks could break through the German frontline and reach the bridge, but that would take too much time. It would also mean taking the risk that the Germans guess the Soviet plan and blow the bridge before it could be captured. So a cunning plan was designed. Spetnaz troops, elite airborne troops, would fly in with cargo-planes and parachute above the bridge. They would capture the bridge and fend of the Germans untill the Soviet tanks would arrive.

Oleg's squadron was tasked with providing air cover for the cargo planes. Their orders were clear and simple, stop any German attempt to shoot down the cargo planes before they dropped the troops.

The Yaks waived back and forth above the cargo planes. Oleg squinted his eyes, checking the horizon for German fighters. The sky seemed clear, in the distance he could already spot the bridge. Suddenly he spotted a grey shadow in the corner of his eye. The shadow rushed with much speed through the formation of Yaks. Germans! they had climbed above the Yaks and were now diving towards the cargo planes.

"Break, break, attack the fighters!", yelled Oleg over the radio, before diving after the Germans. But the Germans had the speed advantage and were rapidly closing in on the cargo planes. To his dismay, Oleg had to watch how the first fighters, blazed away at the cargo planes, before climbing back to higher altitude.

But as the German fighters climbed, they crossed the path of the diving Yaks. Oleg pulled hard on the stick, slipping behind a Focke-Wulf. With all guns blazing, he poured a torrent of lead on the German fighter.

The German pilot never knew what hit him, because one of Oleg's cannon shells hit the fuel tank, engulfing the Focke-Wulf in a ball of fire. Oleg slipped the Yak aside, to evade the falling debris of the German and also to check whether the German wingman was not on his tail.

But there were no Germans chasing the Yaks. They were too busy chasing the cargo planes. Oleg had respect for those cargo pilots. Without defensive guns the cargo pilots kept pushing onwards to the bridge. They ignored the German tracer fire, the desperate yells of the soldiers in the back, who wanted to jump out before the planes became their coffins.

Oleg spotted a Me-109 hot on the tail of a cargo plane. The cargo pilot was slipping his aircraft in a desperate attempt to evade the German bullets, but the Me-109 kept hanging on.

With a push forward, Oleg's Yak dove towards the Me-109. The German became bigger and bigger in Oleg's gunsight. He would only have a split second to fire. Oleg pulled the trigger, first firing his machineguns. As the bullets hit the Me-109, Oleg added the canonfire. The combined force of bullets and cannon shells, tore away the Me-109's tail.

The tailess body, spinned around like a wounded butterfly and crashed into the icy waters of the river below. Oleg had not seen any parachute. But he could not care less. The Germans had invaded his country and they would pay deerly for it.

Further ahead, the cargo planes had reached the bridge. The Spetnaz stood already waiting in the doors. As soon as the green light lit up, they jumped outside. A cord, attached to the aircraft, made sure that their parachutes were pulled out. Floating below their canopies, the men stared at the sight above them. Cargo planes dropping troops while Yaks finished off the remaining German fighters.

Oleg joined the remaining cargo planes. As he buzzed over the enemy bridge he could see the Spetnaz storm the bridge, killing the few German defenders. For a moment he feared that Germans would still blow up the bridge, but when no explosion occured, he realized the mission was a success. But the cargo planes had paid a heavy price, most of them were trailing smoke, limping back to base. Others were less fortunate and had crashed into the snowy fields surrounding the bridge. Hopefully after they had dropped their troops.

"Those cargo pilots are real heroes," said Stalin after oleg's story, "but don't underestimate your role, comrade Oleg"

"I won't, comrade" replied Oleg, who wondered why comrade Stalin had such an interest in him.

"That was an interesting story Comrade oleg, but it was not the one I wanted to hear" said Stalin, before stopping in the snow.

"What missions do you want to tell me about, comrade Stalin" asked Oleg, who was eager to please Stalin. He would do everything to avoid a shot in the neck.

Stalin turned towards Oleg and with a twinkle in his eyes he asked:"Tell me about the day you shot Hitler!"

End of this chapter

Chapter 4

2007-04-11T12:48:00.001-07:00

Unlikely Target

"That was an interesting story Comrade oleg, but it was not the one I wanted to hear" said Stalin, before stopping in the snow.

"What missions do you want to tell me about, comrade Stalin" asked Oleg, who was eager to please Stalin. He would do everything to avoid a shot in the neck.

Stalin turned towards Oleg and with a twinkle in his eyes he asked:"Tell me about the day you shot Hitler!"

Oleg swallowed, he had received strict instructions to tell nobody about that particular mission. But Stalin was off course the Great Leader, he had the right to know.

Oleg and his wing-man had been circling over Berlin. The Red Army was at its doorsteps and the Soviet pilots were asked to stop any aircraft taking off from the city. Oleg decided to head for Templehof-airfield. If there were Germans trying to escape by air then they would certainly take off from there.

The airfield loomed in the distance, covered by dark clouds. The weather was appalling, the Germans might use it as cover to escape. Oleg spotted a plume of dust kicking off from the airfield. Someone was taking off!

"Ivan, follow me!", called Oleg on the radio as he dove towards the airfield.

There had to be an important person on board that aircraft, since the entire airfield lit up as FLAK began to fire at the two Yak's. Oleg pulled up from his dive. There was no need to risk being shot down. He could simply wait until the German bomber flew out of FLAK range.

The bomber tried to reach the cloud cover, but Oleg had anticipated its move. Once out of reach out of the Flak, Oleg could dive onto the bomber, spraying it with shells and bullets.

Oleg could only imagine the horror inside the bomber, as his bullets riddled its wings and fuselage. Incredibly there was no return fire from the bomber, perhaps they had removed the guns to be faster. But it would not help them, as Oleg was gaining quickly on them.

The yak buffeted as it got into the propeller wash of the bomber. Getting closer towards the bomber, Oleg could see that someone aboard was banging at cockpit, trying to break it open. For a brief moment, Oleg and the man looked each other in the eyes. Oleg recognized the man, he had seen him on countless propaganda movies. He could not believe his eyes until the bomber rudder loomed large into his windscreen.

With a scream, Oleg pulled hard on the stick, his propeller tips barely missing the top of the rudder with a few inches. The Yak started to climb upwards. Behind him Ivan started his dive towards the bomber. Now it was his turn to spray the aircraft with bullets.

Oleg glanced down as the Yak arrived at the top of the loop. The German bomber was descending rapidly, but without any sign of smoke or fire.

Completing his loop, Oleg prepared for another run on the bomber, but it would be no longer necessary. With a huge splash, the bomber hit the water of a lake, disintegrating in a thousand pieces.

Ivan, who was trailing the bomber, climbed back towards Oleg.

"Ivan, did you see any parachutes?", asked Oleg.

"No I did not Oleg. Your guns must have riddled their cockpit." replied Ivan.

Oleg watched at Stalin, who had savoured the entire story. Then Stalin asked him:"You did recognize him?"

Oleg nodded, "I am sure about that, Comrade, from all the pictures"

Stalin stroke his moustache, thinking about the situation: "And your wing-man? Does he now about it?"

"No, I never told him?", replied Oleg.

Stalin wrapped his arm around Oleg, pulling him closer and started whispering:" Comrade Oleg, I like what you do, you are a fine pilot for the Motherland. But now i must ask you to never tell this story, to anybody. You understand?"

Oleg quickly nodded, sensing that it would be better to shut up.

"Now Comrade Oleg, It is time to join your squadron again. And rest assured, Mother Russia won't forget you." With those words, Stalin guided Oleg back towards the car that brought him to here.

Oleg opened the door, turned around, saluting to Stalin, before diving into the car. He looked back as the car drove away, happy that he had survived this meeting with the Great Leader.

The political officer with the glasses joined Stalin, asking him: "Comrade Stalin, if you wish we could arrange an 'accident'?"

Stalin looked at the car, disappearing in the distance: "No, that won't be necessary. I like that pilot and besides, once the KGB has finished their operation, nobody will believe him anymore.

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From wikipedia

The generally accepted cause of the death of Adolf Hitler on April 30, 1945 is suicide by gunshot and cyanide poisoning. The dual method and other circumstances surrounding the event encouraged rumours that Adolf Hitler may have survived the end of World War II along with speculation about what happened to his remains...

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END OF THIS BOOK