Red Ice Box

[Simon Tan]

Russia is not a patch of land. It is the people. My propaganda department came up with that......we call it Idea Marketing. The War is over, the Battle is just beginning. Our little patch of dirt will have to make tremendous efforts to absorb and make use of all the new arrivals.

[GPMG]

We have contracted with European firms including FN Herstal to refurbish weapons in Europe that were left there when our troops moved back to RA. These weapons are planned to be transported back to RA after the completion of LONGBOAT frees up shipping.
Refurbishment of weapons in RA is planned to begin when weapons become avalible from deactivated units.
Weapons in Europe that are surplus to requirements or of a type no longer needed will be disposed of in Europe to Friendly Governments and Organisations either directly or by Signals.
As well as the planned refurbishment of weapons we are converting M1 Carbines to M2 standard and M43 SMGs to M43a1 and M43a1(s) standards. Small arms that are planned to be refurbished and placed in storage are M1 and M1917 rifles ,M1/2 and M1943 Johnson carbines, M43 SMG, M1935 and Smith & Wesson Victory Model pistols, M43 LMG/MMG, M1941 Johnson LMG and M1919 MMG.

Edited November 25, 2013 by GPMG

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 6 September 1945

 

"The people, not the land". I like that. The boys over in the Foreign Ministry might work the idea into the declaration on the matter of Russian citizenship regardless of de-facto regimes sure to accompany both our and the Bolshevists' entry into the UNO next month.

 

Both 3rd Division (-) and US 11th Airborne Division have completed movement of troops to Hokkaido and were assigned to US IX Corps today; 3rd Division also took over national Russian American command and had 1st Airborne Brigade and 1st Yeger Regiment (-) attached. Among the first orders of General Ryder was to pull back 6th Stoyanka Cavalry (-) from the coastal road at Kushiro a bit in preparation for the move of the Bolshevist detachment to the port within the next days; it seems nobody wants any more Abachiri Incidents.

 

However, they remain in support of US 201st Infantry Regiment along with our newly-arrived I./1st Marine Artillery Battalion, and we have been asked for some interpreters to help out with liaison - apparently we're trusted with that. Our troops are expected to stay on Hokkaido until IX Corps has its own divisions complete, which might take two or three months; 3rd Division will certainly leave if and when Soviet 87th Rifle Corps does and take over Urup from the Marines in addition to Shimushir.

 

By previous plans, I Corps will stay in the Kuriles until further notice; at a minimum one division will hold the south on Urup and Shimushir and another the north on Shumshu and Paramushir, small detachments spread throughout the rest of the chain. The third may be partially deactivated if the situation allows, with maybe one active brigade group back on Beringa. Conversely, II Corps will be designated as a reaction force with 4th and 5th Division plus 1st Marine Division on the mainland, but mostly deactivated until next year; one marine brigade group will likely stay active, though there may be some need for overall restructuring of forces for the new mostly defensive posture.

 

Army troops brigades and regiments are also largely planned to return to the mainland and deactivate most of their battalions. As previously mentioned, 1st Guards Mechanized Brigade Group and 3rd European Theater Support Brigade will stay on occupation duty in Germany. Territorial organization will need some thought. I just pulled out the last pre-war OOB from 1942 to remind me how it looked - it feels like it was in a previous life even though it has just been three years. Division commands of II Corps could take over regional administration like they did under I Corps back then, allowing us to demobilize the Territorial Army to the low pre-war level.

 

The Navy has been remarkably relaxed over control of the Marines lately; they seem to have found a new self-esteem in recent operations under Allied Forces North Pacific - which is is intended to stay for the near future, pending provisions of the trilateral agreement with the Americans and Canadians - and maybe in their new toys. Carrier Voyevodski will obviously miss the war now as she completes shakedown at the end of the month, but replace Wrangel when she takes over sea and aviation training duties anyway while we are looking over our Lend-Lease materiél to decide on what to keep; the latter would of course lead to financial obligations, but we expect prices to drop sharply as so much equipment becomes surplus to requirements.

 

Strike Fleet will remain fully active under current plans, but we will definitely deactivate the fast transport squadrons with their old run-down converted four-stackers and pre-Great War destroyers soon. Other transports, landing craft, minesweepers and auxiliaries will follow depending upon requirements of bringing troops home and demining. One squadron in each naval aviation wing may also be deactivated. 1st Marine Regiment will keep the mission of guarding the ports; the coastal artillery regiments will deactivate some of their current units, but with the Kuriles retaken, we think the arm may actually expand post-war. The Navy also will have to run new bases there. The training and replacement regiments will obviously deactivate most of their battalions, too.

 

For the Air Force, we are tentatively basing plans on the expectation that they will have at least two combat wings in the Kuriles, one each on Beringa, on Kodiak, at Nome and in the Aleutians for a total of six compared to currently ten, but maybe more depending upon how allied post-war commitments turn out; as previously stated, we would like two US bases in the Kuriles, one on Beringa and one in the Aleutians, protected by their own ground forces, while air defense of the Panhandle is currently a subject in the talks about joint operations with the Canadians. There will be definitely a reorganization of wings back from the expeditionary structure assumed under the last OOB, so their current and future number may not be comparable.

 

One transport wing may be deactivated as airlift requirements reduce with the overall drawdown; this will certainly involve 20th Aircraft Transfer Squadron. The training wings will obviously reduce just like their Navy counterparts, and we expect most of the numerous staging airfields to be put into caretaker status. For all services, the question of the scope of further use of female auxiliaries arises. But we will have talks with the individual chiefs on their points of views over the next days.

Edited November 25, 2013 by BansheeOne

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 8 September 1945

 

The Bolshevist detachment marched into Kushiro today, apparently about half of 214th Tank Brigade with two companies of brand-new T-34s of the 85 mm-armed variant; it seems they did not bring just T-26s to Hokkaido. They will have an area on the eastern bank of the Kushiro River, limited by Harutori Lake in the east and the railway line in the north; Higashikushiro Station is their designated railhead for movements between there and Rumoi. The rest of the brigade has withdrawn from the coast, and TG 38.3 wants to reembark its landing force in the next days as more US troops come in; lead elements of 81st Infantry Division are announced for 13 September.

 

Interestingly, the London Agreement also includes a guaranteed air corridor for the Western powers from Urup to Hokkaido that runs between Kunashir and Shikotan and the Habomais, where the smallest distance between future Soviet-controlled shores is only 20 nautical miles; since the Bolshevists claim twelve miles of territorial waters, somebody thought it appropariate to write down the rights to innocent passage and overflight.

 

Meanwhile we have come up with a first draft for the drawdown of the army until next year. It largely follows the thoughts presented earlier, though we have made allowance for LONGBOAT running until summer 1946 by maintaining a second theater support brigade in Europe. We also considered it a good idea to leave 2nd Commando Battalion there, though like 1st it will be reduced to just one active company.

 

However, we will discharge a bit over 56 percent of the current strength (65 of the female auxiliaries due to their large presence in the Territorial Army which will mostly be inactivated), though what remains is still two and a half times the pre-war size. This reduces both military expenses and puts more than 100,000 back into the civilian economy, more than were originally mobilized in 1942 - which really shows the Army's growth over the war, most of it in the last months due to BATTLEAXE.

 

We will stagger deactivations so as not to unleash a single solid wave of veterans onto the work market; with the additional simultaneous influx from LONGBOAT, integration might be challenging anyway. We will look at the Navy and Air Force next, but they represent smaller numbers and will retain more active units due to their specialist nature.

 

 

Army High Command **** (Stoyanka; 79,150/181,050, including 15,000/33,900 cadre and 4,100/11,600 female auxiliaries)

- Army HQ (400/400)

- Signals Regiment Army High Command (1,100/2,800)

- 1st Commando Battalion (Beringa; 100/300)

- 1st Guards Regiment (Junograd; one active, one inactive battalion plus 1/7th Guards Cossack Squadron; 1,400/2,300)

- 1st Northern Yeger Regiment (Nome; 900/2,400)

- 5th Krasivayaberga Heavy Engineer Regiment (1,100/2,800)

- 11th Stoyanka Heavy Artillery Regiment (1,000/2,500)

- 1st Airborne Brigade (1,200/3,300)

- School Command (1,300/3,000)

 

 

Russian American Army European Command ** (11,950/12,150)

- Russian American European Command HQ (200/200)

- 1st Guards Mechanized Brigade (4,450/4,450)

- 2nd Commando Battalion (semi-active, 100/300)

- 3rd + 4th European Theater Support Brigade (7,200/7,200)

I Russian American Army Corps *** (Beringa; 43,400/54,700)

 

- I Corps HQ (200)

- 1st Army Aviation Squadron (100/150)

- 3rd Army Aviation Squadron (100/150)

- 7th Military Police Battalion (600/750)

- 1st Signals Battalion (700/900)

- 1st Quartermaster Regiment (2,000/3,200)

1st Division ** (Paramushir, Shumshu; 16,450/16,450)

- 1st Division Command (650/650)

- 1st + 2nd Infantry Brigade (6,100/6,100)

- 3rd Mechanized Brigade (2,700/2,700)

- 5th Stoyanka Cavalry Regiment (1,150/1,150)

- 1st Artillery Brigade (3,000/3,000)

- 1st Engineer Battalion (900/900)

- 1st Medical Battalion (750/750)

- 1st Quartermaster Battalion (1,200/1,200)

 

2nd Division ** (Beringa; semi-active, 6,800/16,450)

- 4th Division Command (0/650)

- 4th + 5th Infantry Brigade (0/6,100)

- 6th Mechanized Brigade (2,700/2,700)

- 2nd Kenai Cavalry Regiment (700/1,150)

- 2nd Artillery Brigade (1,700/3,000)

- 2nd Engineer Battalion (550/900)

- 2nd Medical Battalion (550/750)

- 2nd Quartermaster Battalion (600/1,200)

 

3rd Division ** (Urup, Shimushir; 16,450/16,450)

- 3rd Division Command (650/650)

- 7th + 8th Infantry Brigade (6,100/6,100)

- 9th Mechanized Brigade (2,700/2,700)

- 6th Stoyanka Cavalry Regiment (1,150/1,150)

- 3rd Artillery Brigade (3,000/3,000)

- 3rd Engineer Battalion (900/900)

- 3rd Medical Battalion (750/750)

- 3rd Quartermaster Battalion (1,200/1,200)

 

 

II Russian American Army Corps (Reserve) *** (Stoyanka; 8,350/53,400)

- II Corps HQ (co-located with Army High Command; 0/200)

- 2nd Army Aviation Squadron (150/150)

- 4th Army Aviation Squadron (0/150)

- 8th Military Police Battalion (0/750)

- 10th Signals Battalion (0/900)

- 3rd Quartermaster Regiment (0/3,200)

1st Marine Division ** (Kenai; semi-active, 5,400/15,150)

- Division Command (500/650)

- 2nd Marine Regiment (3,050/3,050)

- 3rd Marine Regiment (0/3,050)

- 4th Marine Regiment (0/3,050)

- 1st Marine Artillery Regiment (450/2,250)

- 1st Marine Anti-Aircraft Battalion (200/750)

- 1st Marine Armored Battalion (400/900)

- 1st Marine Engineer Battalion (200/900)

- 1st Marine Quartermaster Battalion (600/1,200)

4th Division (Reserve) ** (Stoyanka; 1,400/16,450)

- 4th Division Command (500/650)

- 10th + 11th Infantry Brigade (0/6,100)

- 12th Mechanized Brigade (0/2,700)

- 8th Cossack Regiment (0/1,150)

- 4th Artillery Brigade (0/3,000)

- 4th Engineer Battalion (0/900)

- 4th Medical Battalion (300/750)

- 4th Quartermaster Battalion (600/1,200)

 

5th Division (Reserve) ** (Krasivayaberga; 1,400/16,450)

- 5th Division Command (500/650)

- 13th + 14th Infantry Brigade (0/6,100)

- 15th Mechanized Brigade (0/ 2,700)

- 9th Cossack Regiment (0/1,150)

- 5th Artillery Brigade (0/3,000)

- 5th Engineer Battalion (0/900)

- 5th Medical Battalion (300/750)

- 9th Quartermaster Battalion (600/1,200)

Territorial Army Command *** (Stoyanka; 4,150/41,200)

 

- Territorial Army Command HQ (co-located with Army High Command; 0/200)

- Central Military Court and Prison (300/800)

 

Central Command ** (Stoyanka; 750/12,600)

- Central Command HQ (co-located with 4th Division HQ; 0/200)

- 4th Stoyanka Infantry Regiment (0/2,950)

- The Iceland Regiment (0/2,950)

- 1st + 2nd Military Police Battalions (one reserve; 750/1,500)

- 2nd Quartermaster Regiment (0/3,200)

- 5th Signals Battalion (0/900)

- Central Military Hospital (0/900)

 

Southern Command ** (Kenai; 700/6,900)

- Southern Command HQ (co-located with 1st Marine Division HQ; 0/200)

- 3rd Kenai Infantry Regiment (0/2,950)

- 3rd Military Police Battalion (400/750)

- 5th Quartermaster Battalion (0/1,200)

- 6th Signals Battalion (0/900)

- Southern Military Hospital (300/900)

 

Northern Command ** (Krasivayaberga; 400/6,900)

- Northern Command HQ (co-located with 5th Division HQ; 0/200)

- 3rd Krasivayaberga Infantry Regiment (0/2,950)

- 4th Military Police Battalion (400/750)

- 6th Quartermaster Battalion (0/1,200)

- 7th Signals Battalion (0/900)

- Northern Military Hospital (0/900)

 

Eastern Command ** (Junograd; 1,800/6,900)

- Western Command HQ (100/200)

- 2nd Northern Infantry Regiment (0/2,950)

- 5th Military Police Battalion (400/750)

- 7th Quartermaster Battalion (600/1,200)

- 8th Signals Battalion (400/900)

- Eastern Military Hospital (300/900)

 

Western Command ** (Kuskokwim; 1,800/6,900)

- Western Command HQ (100/200)

- 3rd Northern Infantry Regiment (0/2,950)

- 6th Military Police Battalion (400/750)

- 8th Quartermaster Battalion (600/1,200)

- 9th Signals Battalion (400/900)

- Western Military Hospital (300/900)

Edited November 26, 2013 by BansheeOne

[swerve]

I've been talking to Nikitin about the economy, & employment, He thinks that there's a lot of pent-up demand, both here and in some of our allies. Our fish canneries, for example, have been running below capacity, but there are a lot of hungry people in Europe. Apparently demand has already picked up. The chief constraint is their ability to pay. The timber industry is in a similar position.

 

Speaking of which, I'm told that most of the South Americans are on short-term contracts. If we stop recruiting, their numbers will diminish, & if we stop renewing work permits when contracts run out, numbers wil go down faster. Hard on them, but they'll be going home with money in their pockets. That should provide openings for a lot of soldiers. Some of the women may go back to being housewives, or marry returning soldiers & become housewives.

 

Nikitin & his Finance Ministry friends expect some unemployment, but not disastrous levels. Let's hope their optimism is well-founded.

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 11 September 1945

 

First draft of the Navy drawdown. As Wrangel is slated to take over the training mission from Almaz following the end of Voyevodski's shakedown this month and a subsequent yard period, she will assume reserve status like her predecessor; correspondingly, so will 4th Naval Fighter Training Squadron. The auxiliary squadrons will return to a mixed makeup as one is deactivated.

 

Like with the Army, we're making provisions for the continuation of LONGBOAT by keeping a second sealift squadron active. The bulk of Transport Fleet and Coastal Command will deactivate; however, as the Navy takes over the port of Kataoka on Shumshu, there is actually necessity of standing up a fourth battalion of 1st Marine Regiment and a fourth coastal artillery regiment, which will even be fully active while the others resume their semi-present peacetime status.

 

The Navy is thinking about how to fortify the Kuriles against the Bolshevists; obviously they will be able to build upon the Japanese installations, but there is also an idea to acquire heavy gun turrets from US ships which may come up for decommissioning now on the cheap. However, defense of the chain will obviously be an inter-service mission, and all three might have to substantially reorganize their assigned forces in the mid-term; given the rather static setting, artillery might be largely unified under either the Army or Navy.

 

Comparison with war levels is not straightforward due to the assignment of 1st Marine Division to the Army, but overall we are discharging about 45 percent of Navy personnel, over 63 percent of the female auxiliaries; those are another nearly 30,000 soon-to-be veterans.

 

 

Navy High Command **** (Novoarkhangelsk; 35,250/64,100, including 7,950/13,650 cadre and 1,400/3,800 female auxiliaries)

- Navy High Command HQ (300/300)
- Navy High Command Signals Battalion (900/900)
- Navy School (800/1,500)

Naval Operations Command *** (co-located with Navy High Command, Novoarkhangelsk; 19,750/29,700)

- Naval Operations Command HQ (100/200)
- Naval Operations Command Signals Battalion (0/900)

 

Strike Fleet ** (8,100/8,750)

- Carrier Division 1 (semi-active; Wrangel, Voyevodski, 750/1,400)

- 1st Destroyer Squadron (1 x Nakhimov class, 6 x Sumner class, 2,200/2,200)
- 2nd Destroyer Squadron (1 x Nakhimov Class, 6 x Sumner class, 2,200/2,200)

- 3rd Destroyer Squadron (1 x Kolchak Class, 9 x Rudderow class, 2,200/2,200)

- 1st Submarine Squadron (6 x Tench class, 2 x Mackerel class, 1 x submarine tender, 750/750)

 

Auxiliary Fleet ** (4,000/6,600)

- Auxiliary Fleet HQ (100/200)

- 1st Auxilliary Squadron (3 x fleet oiler, 1 x repair ship, 1 x icebreaker, 1 x fleet tug, 1,200/1,200)
- 2nd Auxiliary Squadron (reserve; 2 x icebreaker, 1 x fleet oiler, 1 x replenishment ship, 1 x salvage ship, 1 x fleet tug, 0/1,000)

- 3rd Auxiliary Squadron (3 x replenishment ship, 1 x repair ship, 1 x icebreaker, 1 x fleet tug, 1,200/1,200)

- 1st Minesweeper Squadron (12 x Isles class, 1 x minesweeper tender, 750/750)

- 2nd Minesweeper Squadron (12 x Isles class, 1 x minesweeper tender, 750/750)

- 3rd Minesweeper Squadron (reserve; 12 x Isles class, 1 x minesweeper tender, 0/750)

- 4th Minesweeper Squadron (reserve; 12 x Isles class, 1 x minesweeper tender, 0/750)

Transport Fleet ** (4,800/10,100)

- Transport Fleet HQ (100/200)

- 1st Sealift Squadron (6 x transport, 1,400/1,400)
- 2nd Sealift Squadron (6 x transport, 1,400/1,400)
- 3rd Sealift Squadron (reserve; 6 x transport, 0/1,400)

- 4th Amphibious Squadron (12 x LST Mk 2, 1,400/1,400)

- 8th Amphibious Squadron (reserve; 12 x LST Mk 2, 0/1,400)

- 9th Amphibious Squadron (reserve; 12 x LST Mk 2, 0/1,400)

- 10th Amphibious Squadron (24 x LCT Mk 6, 1 x LCT tender, 500)

- 11th Amphibious Squadron (reserve; 24 x LCT Mk 6, 1 x LCT tender, 0/500)

- 12th Amphibious Squadron (reserve; 24 x LCT Mk 6, 1 x LCT tender, 0/500)

Naval Aviation Command ** (2,750/3,150)

- HQ Squadron Naval Aviation Command (200)

- 4th Naval Helicopter Squadron (18 x Sikorsky R-5A, 150)

- 1st Naval Aviation Wing (1,200/1,400)

- 1st Naval Aviation Wing Operations Group
- 1st Naval Patrol Squadron (9 x Sikorsky S-44)
- 2nd Naval Patrol Squadron (9 x Sikorsky S-44)
- 3rd Naval Patrol Squadron (reserve; 9 x Sikorsky S-44)

- 2nd Naval Aviation Wing (1,200/1,400)

- 2nd Naval Aviation Wing Operations Group

- 4th Naval Fighter Training Squadron (reserve; 18 x FM-2)

- 5th Naval Fighter Squadron (18 x F6F-5)

- 6th Naval Attack Squadron (18 x TBM-3)

 

Coastal Command *** (co-located with Navy High Command, Novoarkhangelsk; 13,500/31,700)

- Coastal Command HQ (100/200)
- Coastal Command Signals Battalion (0/900)

Novoarkhangelsk Navy Command ** (co-located with Coastal Command; 3,350/7,050)

- Novoarkhangelsk Navy Command HQ (100/200)
- Novoarkhangelsk Port Battalion (600/1,200)
- 1st Navy Training and Replacement Regiment (1,100/2,900)
- 1st Coastal Artillery Regiment (700/1,900)
- I./1st Marine Battalion (850/850)

Kodiak Navy Command ** (3,350/9,450)

- Kodiak Navy Command HQ (100/200)
- Kodiak Port Battalion (600/1,200)
- Stoyanka Port Battalion (reserve; 0/1,200)
- Baranov Port Battalion (reserve; 0/1,200)
- 2nd Navy Training and Replacement Regiment (1,100/2,900)
- 2nd Coastal Artillery Regiment (700/1,900)
- II./1st Marine Battalion (850/850)

Kataoka Navy Command ** (3,350/7,050)

- Kataoka Navy Command HQ (100/200)
- Kataoka Port Battalion (600/1,200)
- 3rd Navy Training and Replacement Regiment (1,100/2,900)
- 3rd Coastal Artillery Regiment (1,900/1,900)
- III./1st Marine Battalion (850/850)

Unalaska Navy Command ** (3,350/7,050)

- Unalaska Navy Command HQ (100/200)
- Unalaska Port Battalion (600/1,200)
- 4th Navy Training and Replacement Regiment (1,100/2,900)
- 4th Coastal Artillery Regiment (700/1,900)
- IV./1st Marine Battalion (850/850)

 

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 14 September 1945

 

The Air Force will discharge the least personnel, both proportionally and absolutely; their high technical requirements and geographic responsibilities need a lot of their wartime growth to be maintained. Even though some pre-war airbases like Baranov and Yakutat get deactivated due to reduced necessity with longer aircraft ranges in addition to many staging airfields for the lend-lease routes, and Shemya is planned to be transferred completely to the Americans, new bases are to be run in the Kuriles.

 

Most of the deactivated airfields will likely become civilian-operated as commercial flying rebounds post-war; the trend in aviation seems to go to land-based aircraft with better performance rather than floatplanes and flying boats, and those runways may come in handy to develop the country further. This also means they will stay available for military emergency use.

 

Overall reduction is just 37 percent or less than 20,000, untypically even lower for the female auxiliaries at 21 percent because the Air Force had integrated women more than the other services. However, the late standing-up of the female squadrons means they come up first for inactivation, which obviously includes the now-redundant 20th Aircraft Transfer Squadron, but also 22nd Fighter and 24th Transport. I'm a little worried the girls may take it hard to be summarily grounded like this.

 

As stated earlier, wings are changing back from an expeditionary to a defensive structure with different groups and squadrons under the same command at a base. Four are slated for inactivation, but they will mostly consist only of ground units at joint military-civilian airports while the squadrons go elsewhere. The only different cases are 1st Wing at Baranov and 8th (Transport) Wing at Ketchikan; 7th Wing at Yakutat may become an inactive caretaker unit while 6th on Kodiak takes over the training mission, not quite as out of the way and sharing a contingency defense mission with 2nd Naval Aviation Wing, homeported on the same island.

 

2nd Division's previous ground-bases anti-aircraft artillery wings now become standard wings in the Kuriles, though distribution is preliminary; with bigger aircraft ranges, there may be bigger wings concentrated on fewer bases. We intend to cut 3rd and 6th Air Division HQs completely to save command personnel in the new situation; combat wings will be distributed between home and island defense, with the boundary beyond Adak. Command of auxiliary airfields returns to 4th (Transport) Division.

 

We are also looking at a unified combat squadron model of 18 aircraft for both the Air Force and Navy, though in the former case this largely means a different method of counting reserve aircraft; there were differences even within the Air Forces previously, since the transport wings held their spares at wing level while the mixed combat wings held them in the squadrons. Some new aircraft variants are still on the horizon, like the "lightweight" P-51H and radar-equipped Mosquito TR Mk 33 torpedo bomber, but with the drawdown and the advent of jet aircraft, it is unsure if and when they will see introduction.

 

Ketchikan is in the focus of joint air defense of the Panhandle in talks with the Canadians, who will withdraw their units to the mainland shortly. The Americans will also redeploy 28th Bombardment Group to the US until next month, as well as most of their troop carrier squadrons save one, which they want to base in Stoyanka; Eleventh US Air Force will assume a new designation reflecting the drawdown, though 343rd Fighter Group will stay, its squadrons spread over Shemya, Beringa, and two bases in the north and south of the Kuriles, each protected by an infantry and anti-aircraft battalion respectively, satisfying our requirements for an American presence. The Australians are also packing up.

 

 

Air Force High Command **** (Stoyanka; 33,200/51,000, including 8,650/12,400 cadre and 4,600/5,800 female auxiliaries)

- Air Force HQ (300/300)
- Signals Group Air Force HQ (900/900)

Air Combat Command *** (Stoyanka; 18,450/24,550)

- Air Combat Command HQ (co-located with Air Force High Command; 100/200)

- Signals Group Air Combat Command (reserve, 0/900)

- 1st - 4th Forward Air Control/Security Squadron (two reserve, 200/400)

 

 

1st Air Division (Home Defense) ** (Stoyanka; 6,550/11,450)

- 1st Air Division HQ (100/200)

1st Wing (reserve; Baranov, 0/1,650)

- Baranov Air Base Group

- 1st Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 22nd Fighter Squadron (18 x P-51D)

3rd Wing (reserve; Junograd, 0/1,650)

- Junograd Air Base Group

- 3rd Anti-Air Artillery Group

6th Wing (reserve; Yakutat, 0/1,650)

- Yakutat Air Base Group

- 6th Anti-Air Artillery Group

9th Wing (Adak; 1,850/1,850)

- Adak Air Base Group

- 9th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 4th Fighter Squadron (18 x P-51D)

- 25th Attack Squadron (18 x Mosquito FB Mk 26)

 

13th Wing (Nome; 1,850/1,850)

- Nome Air Base Group

- 13th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 8th Fighter Squadron (18 x P-51D)

- 10th Attack Squadron (18 x Mosquito B Mk 35)

17th Wing (Holodnayabuhta; 1,850/1,850)

- Holodnayabuhta Air Base Group

- 17th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 7th Fighter Squadron (18 x Mosquito NF Mk 30)

- 26th Attack Squadron (18 x Mosquito FB Mk 26)

 

- 5th Anti-Air Artillery Group (reserve; Kenai, 0/750)

2nd Air Division (Island Defense) ** (Beringa; 11,600/11,600)

- 2nd Air Division HQ (200/200)

10th Wing (Amchitka; 1,850/1,850)

- Amchitka Air Base Group

- 10th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 5th Fighter Squadron (18 x P-51D)

- 18th Attack Squadron (18 x Mosquito B Mk 35)

14th Wing (Beringa; 2,100/2,100)

- Beringa Air Base Group

- 14th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 9th Attack Reconnaissance Squadron (12 x B Mk 35, 12 x PR Mk 34)

- 23rd Night Fighter Squadron (18 x Mosquito NF Mk 30)

15th Wing (Paramushir; 1,900/1,900)

- Paramushir Air Base Group

- 15th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 6th Attack Squadron (18 x Mosquito B Mk 35)

- 12th Night Fighter Squadron (18 x Mosquito NF Mk 30)

18th Wing (Urup; 1,850/1,850)

- Urup Air Base Group

- 18th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 16th Attack Squadron (18 x Mosquito B Mk 35)

- 27th Fighter Squadron (18 x P-51D)

19th Wing (Shumshu; 1,850/1850)

- Shumshu Air Base Group

- 19th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 11th Fighter Squadron (18 x P-51D)

- 14th Attack Squadron (18 x Mosquito FB Mk 26)

20th Wing (Matua; 1,850/1,850)

- Matua Air Base Group

- 20th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 17th Fighter Squadron (18 x P-51D)

- 15th Attack Squadron (18 x Mosquito FB Mk 26)

Air Force Auxiliary Command *** (Stoyanka; 13,550/25,250)

- Air Force Auxiliary Command HQ (co-located with Air Force High Command; 100/200)

- Signals Group Air Force Auxiliary Command (reserve, 0/900)

 

 

4th Air Division (Transport) ** (Stoyanka; 6,500/11,050)

- 4th Air Division HQ (100/200)

2nd Wing (Stoyanka; 1950/1,950)

- Elmendrov Air Base Group

- 2nd Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 21st Transport Squadron (12 x C-54)

- 28th Transport Squadron (12 x C-47B)

4th Wing (Krasivayaberga; 1,950/1,950)

- Laddski Air Base Group

- 4th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 3rd Transport Squadron (12 x C-47A)

- 13th Transport Squadron (12 x C-47A)

8th Wing (reserve; Ketchikan, 0/1,950)

- Ketchikan Air Base Group

- 8th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 2nd Transport Squadron (12 x C-47A)

- 24th Transport Squadron (12 x C-47A)

Auxiliary Base Command (2,500/2,500)

- Galenya Air Base Group (500/500)

- Kuskokwim Air Base Group (500/500)

- Lavrentia Air Base Group (500/500)

- Makkrazky Air Base Group (500/500)

- Naknek Air Base Group (500/500)

Reserve Base Command (0/2,500)

- Cordova Air Base Group (0/500)

- Kiska Air Base Group (0/500)

- Severoputi Air Base Group (0/500)

- Umnak Air Base Group (0/500)

- Yakutat Air Base Group (0/500)

5th Air Division (Training) ** (Kodiak; 6,050/13,100)

- 5th Air Division HQ (100/200)

- Air Force School (800/1,200)

7th Wing (Kodiak; 1,950/2,100)

- Kodiak Air Base Group

- 7th Anti-Air Artillery Group

- 1st Training Squadron (18 x Tiger Moth)

- 19th Training Squadron (12 x P-51B, 12 x Mosquito T Mk III)

- 25th Training Squadron (reserve; 12 x P-51B, 12 x Mosquito T Mk III)

- 5th Training Wing (Stoyanka; 800/2,400)

- 11th Training Wing (Junograd; 800/2,400)

- 12th Training Wing (Kodiak; 800/2,400)

- 16th Training Wing (Kenai; 800/2,400)

[swerve]

I have authorised the appointment of female instructors, it having been found recently that we didn't have provision in our regulations for that - after one of our female pilots had applied for, & been accepted on, an instructor training course. Borodin believes that several of our women (I have discovered that female officers mostly dislike being called girls) would make good instructors, & is happy to take them on. Flight training is not expected to have spare capacity, even with a reduced Air Force establishment. We will reduce (but not end: the connection is too valuable) the amount of training done in Canada, rather than reducing our domestic training.

 

Some female liaison pilots will have to continue in service for the time being. We have realised that we do not have male pilots currently qualified on all our light transport types, & I have no intention of wasting training time or fuel on qualifying pilots merely to get women out of the service. Female liaison pilots will therefore retire with their aircraft, but not before.

 

I still expect complaints, but I will be able to point out that we are not dismissing pilots merely because they are women, but because their units are now redundant or the aircraft they fly are being retired.

 

Our administration is now more female than male, as any visitors to HQ will have noticed. To my mind, it is the better for it. The offices are cleaner & tidier, for a start, & the typing is done quicker & more accurately. I have no intention of reverting to all-male clerks.

 

Our current priorities are re-organising ourselves for the peace & our new deployments, assessing the Bolshevist threat anew, & evaluating new aircraft types with a view to facing that threat.

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 17 September 1945

 

In my opinion there will have to be a rather thorough evaluation and reorganization of the overall armed forces from the infantry squad up in the mid-term; so many lessons were learnt during the war and so much new technology has arrived, which we just tried to shoehorn into the existing structures. It has generally worked, but we really need to see what is sustainable with our domestic personal, financial and industry ressources. On top of that, all this needs to fit into the allied organization we hope to keep in some form to guarantee our neighbors' commitment to our security.

 

Our current structures are ultimately still geared towards landing in Vladivostok and marching on Moscow, something I think everybody recognizes as an unlikely contingency now though few people say so aloud. They are particularly unsuited to defending islands in the Kuriles and Aleutians. It is pretty clear to me that service cooperation should be rather high on the list; the forces can't just keep working alongside each other rather than together except on an ad-hoc basis. There may need to be some hard decisions about concentrating capabilities in one service, like mentioned for the marines and coastal artillery.

 

Then there may need to be some new branches altogether - not just due to new equipment, but because we neglected some areas with our low population base. An example are chemical troops which we haven't had so far except for gas officers at unit headquarters who were supposed to somehow organize detection and decontamination, since we have put little importance on chemical weapons due to concerns about their effectiveness in our climate. But with the still somewhat unclear effects of the new atomic bombs and the emerging reports of biological weapons trials by the Germans and Japanese, I don't think we can afford to keep this level of preparation for unconventional means in coming conflicts.

 

On the subject of women in the forces and what to call them, one thing I'll personally propose is doing away with the auxiliary corps; with their serving not just as staffers, signallers and nurses but truck drivers, mechanics, pilots and even in the Guard and military police, it has been an increasing bureaucratic pain to tell them apart from the male soldiers who are doing the same jobs. Even now, looking at the Air Force numbers for the drawdown I suspect there is a good deal of confusion and double-reporting since they are so untypically high. I say we should give ourselves a push and just consider them troops with limitations to serve in certain occupations.

 

Meanwhile, US 81st Infantry Division has started to arrive on Hokkaido; TG 38.3 has withdrawn its landing force. US 201st Infantry Regiment will likely not return to Russian America as it is an activated unit of the American National Guard. The buildup of IX Corps is planned to be complete by late November, by which time we intend to have withdrawn 3rd Division Group. The deadline to hand over Iturup and the Habomais to Soviet forces is still the end of the year, and we have begun repatriating their Japanese garrisons; our intelligence indicates that the Bolshevists are deporting Japanese from Sakhalin and Hokkaido to the USSR, not really in keeping with the Geneva Convention, and we won't give them more warm bodies if we can help it.

 

We are planning a major official victory celebration with parades of returning troops; the joyous mood at the Japanese surrender here has been somewhat muted by the Bolshevist move on Hokkaido, since we had to continue operations just like before to counter them. Even now, the military display will probably not be too representative of the troops' wartime effort; the bulk will probably be by 5th Division after they have completed transfer from Europe in four weeks - which is ironic given that they were formed only months ago and are 60 percent Osttruppen who spent most of the war fighting first for the Bolshevists, then the Germans. On the plus side, it should make them feel very welcome to their new home.

 

There will be delegations from all other formations of course, and we are trying to shuffle replacements around so that long-serving veterans from I Corps and the marines will have the chance to get somewhat of the public gratitude. We think the place to get most of that would be Stoyanka rather than Junograd - though there may in fact be two events - and the date shortly after the signing of the tripartite agreement during the UNO founding conference. We will ask our closest allies if they will participate in some small way to signify not just the joint effort, but the lasting alliance. Of course we could get more troops home to attend if we waited a few months, but then it would be deep winter - not very conductive to mass events - and the war probably well on its way into the history books.

Edited December 1, 2013 by BansheeOne

[Simon Tan]

Signalboats are back in the game. Our craft can out sneak and outrun anything the bolshies have.

Dont you worry about the ladies in flightsuits.....Transpacific Aerolines will take all of them. Seattle-Sapporo begins in a month.

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 22 September 1945

 

The actions of the small boat forces may be the most underreported of this war. That goes not only for the Signalboats which are operating very hush-hush by their nature, but also the port protection squadrons which are part of the port battalions under the Navy's Coastal Command and never got mentioned in the reports of the Naval Operations Command. Yet they were going out daily with their Canadian Fairmile motor launches and subsequent evolutions, operating as minesweepers, subchasers, rescue boats and general motor gun and torpedo patrollers.

 

Then there are the naval Homeguard units which did much the same, only with tired hand-me-downs from the regular forces and armed private cutters, yachts and trawlers. I often saw a beautiful Elco 57" Veedette with Oerlikons forward and aft out in Fritz Cove when I went to and from the Junograd airport - I think some yacht clubs turned wholesale into Homeguard units. Somewhere in the drawdown planning we'll have to spend some time on what should become of the Homeguard; the effort of those patriotic citizens whom the regulars would not have has been nothing short of admirable, and we should not let the experience go totally to waste in case we ever need this organization again. If nothing else, it might get some use out of older equipment now being retired from active service.

 

As it is, it's ironic that much now becomes abundantly available that will go directly into reserve depots. That goes from Garands and M2 carbines replacing what is left of the M1917 and Johnson rifles, but also the M43 submachineguns, to hardly-used Shermans in 12th and 15th Mechanized Brigade which were initially equipped with the remaining Rams, and all sorts of other stuff. Then there are unresolved procurement issues which have survived even the end of the war - the three services still have not agreed on a new heavy anti-aircraft gun for example, and it will now probably become a case for allied standardization under the upcoming tri-partite agreement.

 

Which by the way is turning out to transcend immediate military issues - the bit about developing lines of commerce and communication between the parties we put into the Berlin Memorandum seems to develop into rather precise agreements about progressing with the road and rail links between Canada and Russian America, and reducing the obstacle of customs controls at the border as suggested earlier. And at Berlin we mostly came up with the blurb about prosperity of the North American continent to start the text off on a peaceful note, because the Americans didn't want it to look too much like being directed against the Bolshevists ...

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 27 September 1945

 

US 98th Infantry Division has begun arriving on Hokkaido, though buildup of the 81st is also still going on. The Americans and Bolshevists are working on a detailed timetable for the exchange of control over territory; we don't have much input in this other than being asked when and how quick we can move our troops which are concerned

 

From a logistics point of view, we would actually like to hand over Iturup as quickly as possible so we could start bringing home 1st Marine Division before the ice goes south; there is talk of the Marines being intermediately relieved by US troops which would then pass on control to Soviet forces, an approach favored by all involved due to it's lesser potential for more inter-Russian incidents. This might fall to 201st Infantry Regiment, which has the beauty that our Marine artillery battalion currently supporting them on Hokkaido can pack up at the same time as the rest of the division.

 

Late October looks likely as a start date for redeployment of 3rd Division to Urup when US 81st has completed movement, which also plays into this. Repatriation of Japanese personnel in the Southern Kuriles will be largely concluded until then, though in the north they may have to stay until spring; we have engineers going over existing accomodiation and extending and improving where necessary.

 

There is a new report from LONGBOAT. Five months after the start of the program, about 25,000 DPs have arrived in Russian America so far. A total of 90,000 are either on their way to, stopped over in or moving on from Australia. 15,000 are on the Canadian link and another 6,000 on the South American route. The North African transit camps continue to empty slowly, with 17,000 still reported there. The French camps are still at full capacity of 100,000, but a decrease may be in the cards soon as only about 30,000 are estimated to remain in the French occupation zone of Germany which will be transferred within the next month or so.

 

If the situation doesn't change in the rest, supply will dry up afterwards except individual cases we are still managing to bring out. We are working on the British and Americans to discontinue forced repatriations and think we're seeing some success; after what the Bolshevists pulled on Hokkaido the lengths to which occupation authorities will go to fulfill the Potsdam agreements have shortened considerably, and repatriation of the remaining Domanov Cossacks in Austria remains suspended. On the other hand the French and several other Europeans are now close to their own agreements with the Bolshevists; but only France really matters to us, and we think provisions will reflect the representations we have made.

 

Return of our forces from Europe continues unimpeded. The last troops of 5th Division have landed in Canada and are making their way towards Russian America; 4th Division has begun relocating from Czechoslovakia to France for embarkation.

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 4 October 1945

 

US 201st Infantry Regiment has now been ordered to relieve 4th Marine Regimental Group on Iturup a week from now on the 11th; our Marine artillery battalion will leave Hokkaido with them and stay embarked while the Iturup garrison boards there. The ships will then go on directly to Stoyanka where they are expected on the 24th. They will be overtaken by 1st Airborne Brigade and 1st Yeger Regiment which will start leaving Hokkaido on the 18th using aircraft on the return trip of the US-Japan great circle route.

 

The remainder of 3rd Division Group will begin redeployment to Urup on the 25th, relieving 2nd Marine Regimental Group there; the latter will return to garrison at Kodiak about 11 November. 5th Division is to complete its move from Europe on 10 October; 4th Division has begun embarkation for the trip from France, though they still have a rear guard in Czechoslovakia. However, they should all be home by late November.

 

We have now decided that there will an official celebration of the war's end in Junograd on Sunday, 21 October, however the big parade has been pushed back a week to include more returning units and will be held in Stoyanka on the 28th. That will mean just three days of rehearsals for the Marines, Paras, Yegers and Commandos, but I'd rather have them participate even if they march out of step, and we're risking worse weather with every week we wait. Today 13 degrees and rain were reported there, quite warm for October if wet - by November it will be freezing.

 

A look at domestic arms production. CRZ has stopped the M43 submachinegun line since the weapon is planned to be replaced by the M2 carbine; production of the M43 machinegun continues at low capacity to replace the remaining M42s in the force, but will probably switch to the somewhat delayed M45 which eliminates the option to switch between belt and magazine feed and will overall be better suited as a general purpose machinegun along the lines of the German MG 34/42; it may make the M1919 in the ground forces redundant. The company also continues development of their own automatic rifles and carbines, but has not presented a definite result yet.

 

CRZ also continues low-rate assembly of the Hispano Mk V autocannon for the planned incoming variants of the Mosquito, but has stopped wartime production of the Oerlikon and Bofors. Production of the 105 mm M39/44 howitzer goes on to rework some remaining guns in the original caliber to fire American ammunition and equip 4th and 5th Division, but will cease soon after the 105 mm M35 cannon and 15 cm 5mm M37 howitzer; they are preparing for a possible additional run of the M1928 15 cm gun to equip new coastal artillery units after that.

 

They are also suggesting a more powerful successor to the Six-Pounder anti-tank gun. Our allies have of course already introduced weapons in 76 mm caliber, but development has continued towards even heavier guns. Obviously this is closely linked to tank development, plus there are the new recoilless guns which show some promise of good effect in a lighter package; a decision on this will probably made as part of the post-war lessons-learned evaluation, but not quickly.

 

Per lessons already applied for vehicles, the Hellcat is still being fitted with turret roofs for overhead protection, and production of the mortar and anti-air variants of the M39 cavalry vehicle continues for 4th and 5th Division; the Americans have cancelled the 90-mm-armed M18 variant though, and further upgrades will also become part of the mid-term evaluation process.

 

As mentioned, de Havilland Kenai will probably continue to assemble new Mosquitos for some time to replace older marks.The Horsa glider line has already been stopped though, as has Sikorsky Stoyanka's flying boat production; the latter is however bringing the existing S-44A and few cannon-armed S-44B up to the common C standard with new engines, twin 20 mm nose turret and some other improvements. Production of the R-5 helicopter is ongoing to replace older R-4s and R-6s in the Army and Navy, and there are orders from the US and UK though they will be largely built in local plants. Igor is developing a more powerful version that will seat four instead of the current two and may lead to an entirely new model.

Edited December 10, 2013 by BansheeOne

[swerve]

We have not yet identified a possible successor to the Mosquito.

 

We are interested in three jet fighters at the moment: the Gloster Meteor, Lockheed P-80, & the new de Havilland Vampire. They are seen as possible replacements for our single-engined fighters, though we have concerns about the range of all of them.

[Simon Tan]

The War Recovery Commission has been established to convert excess war materiel into materiel suitable for peacetime usage. Everything from radar to DUKWs. It is also responsible for collecting, stowing and disposing of weapons and such, both our own as well as captured stuff.

 

I have sent the Technical Department to Obendorf to have a look at Mauserwerke. We are curious about their small arms and aircraft cannon.

[swerve]

We have established a number of civil uses for radars, for example controlling civilian air traffic. We have had approaches from civilians wishing to buy war surplus transport aircraft, in order to set up air transport businesses. We've referred them to the Ministry. I've heard that they've had more requests than we expect to have surplus aircraft, & some potential buyers are looking abroad, to Canada & the USA. I expect there to be a big increase in civil air transport, & a corresponding increase in the need for control of the traffic around airports.

[Marek Tucan]

For that matter we are still approached from time to time by people who look for surprlus and/or captured weapons. Usually the contacts are made through various Czechoslovakian army officers as middle men. Destination is unknown but hot and dusty climate was mentioned several times. And a strict confidentiality, especially with regards to the Brits, is demanded.

 

Given where a large part of Czechoslovakian units in the West was recruited and its ethnic makeup (same as with the "core" of unit in USSR), it is not hard to put two and two together. However we probably may not want to subvert the Brits. Plus amounts/sums mentioned so far are too small to risk it I guess.

[Simon Tan]

There are no Czechs involved in any gun running. I can guarantee you that Signals is on the case and we would never allow the indiscriminate movement of war materiel.

[swerve]

The Air Force has just held an informal conference to discuss future procurement.

 

Those attending were informed about the evaluation of Me 262 which our technical section has been carrying out, the brief experience of fighting it our fighters in Europe had, & what we have managed to glean about the Arado 234, Heinkel 162 & the new British & American jet fighters. Mention was made of rumoured developments elsewhere. In particular, they were reminded that we must assume that the Bolshevists have plenty of German jets & German engineers. France is also known to have obtained German jets, & there is a rumour that the Swedes are working on a jet already.

 

There was also discussion about our relationships with allies, the condition of our allies, & how our needs fit in with theirs.

 

It was agreed by all that It is only a matter of time before the Bolshevists build jet bombers, & we will need to obtain jet fighters. .

 

There was a consensus around the unfeasibility of going it alone, & the need to import aircraft - or at least designs & major parts of aircraft - from abroad. It was agreed that although it would be prudent to stay abreast, as far as possible, with what is going on around the world, & cultivate good relations with as many potential suppliers as possible, it would be wise for us to try to build a long-term relationship with one country. There was a lack of unanimity on which country, however. Some favoured the USA, as the largest & most industrially advanced of our allies. Others suggested that the British might be more help to us, as they appear to be more advanced in building jet engines. But the most popular candidate was Canada, despite its relative industrial weakness. As one officer said "The British have run out of money & the Americans hardly notice we exist, but the Canadians take us seriously." It was also thought that our needs coincide with theirs more closely than with any other possible collaborators.

 

It was therefore agreed that we would prepare a report for the Ministry recommending that we approach Canada with regard to co-operation in the procurement of aircraft, & meanwhile put out our own feelers to friends in the RCAF. A representative of the Ministry procurement office was present, & stated that he believed the office would endorse our view, though it would necessarily entail co-operation on purchases from third parties (i.e. the USA & UK).

.

[shep854]

Deleted; redundant

Edited December 13, 2013 by shep854

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 11 October 1945

 

The question of cooperation in procurement is being mentioned in the trilateral agreement for which negotiations have now nearly concluded ahead of the planned signing at the UN conference in San Francisco next week; the original Berlin MoU statement of

 

Admitting Russian America to the Permanent Joint Board of Defense for North America as a full member to facilitate cooperation in procurement and operations of their armed forces;

 

has been enlarged to include the expressed intention of the parties to strive for standardization of equipment and therefore identify and consult over procurement decisions that could be taken jointly. However, that does not mean such decision can only be made by all three; the language makes it clear this could also be done by two of the partners or indeed not entered at all if one sees particular requirements for its national needs, as both we and the Canadians didn't want to end up just purchasing whatever the US with their vastly disporoportionate weight see fit.

 

There is now agreement with the Canadians over joint defense of the common western seaboard whereby a joint ground and air forces command respectively will be established, one led by a Russian and one by a Canadian officer with deputies from the respective other nation at any time, nationalities alternating at two-year intervals; there will also be a US liaison element in each, providing for possible integration of American forces if necessary. It will not be big commands in peacetime, probably skeletal two-stars, but additional forces will be assigned as the situation warrants it.

 

At the roots, the Canadians will keep basing air units at Ketchikan, while we may base coastal artillery or anti-aircraft troops south of the border, depending upon how post-war reorganization shakes out. Further west, the Americans will retain their presence at Elmendrov, Shemya and Beringa and also base units at Imaizaki Airfield on Shumshu and on Urup. The latter two will be joint use, but the agreement stipulates the Americans will provide local defense.

 

A supplementary basing agreement is being developed from the wartime precedents, defining rights and duties of Canadian and US troops based on our side and Russian troops on theirs. All provisions will be mutual. The only thing still being debated is what command will be on top of it all since North Pacific Area has now been inactivated; the current position is that it will just be reactivated in wartime as it was, though some adjustments are still under negotiation to reflect the tighter tri-partite nature if it is divorced from the previous global effort.

 

As mentioned earlier, the economic side has taken on a surprisingly large shape and in fact consumed most of the negotiating time due to the details involved; it has now been agreed that Russian America will become a party to all free trade agreements Canada and the US have bilaterally enacted since 1935, with some specific exceptions and additions I don't have to hand. As with military cooperation, there is expressed intent to explore additional areas of commerce not yet covered, though again those may be done by just two of the partners.

 

Finally, there is now rather specific language on further development of lines of communication between Canada and Russian America, including commitments by the US out of strategic military and commercial interest. This involves some complicated division of cost for individual road and rail links buried in various annexes. It has all grown quite impressively from our thin MoU once the real diplomats got it in their paws, but I'm being assured it will be finished in time for the signing ceremony next week.

 

Meanwhile, we have our own little shakeup at the Ministry; the chief of staff will be retired next month after the victory celebrations, two years past his normal retirement age. His deputy will assume the post - Navy guy, but otherwise nothing wrong with him. He'll probably not stay on too long after this delay, unless another war breaks out ... there is talk that the operations chief will become new deputy, or else somebody coming in from the troops, but definitely not me at this time.

 

In fact I have been advised I might take over European Command to get some time in command before climbing the ladder further - I've been pretty much riding desks ever since I came over from the old country. Obviously European Command would not be much different, but it would count as leading troops, unlike about everything else I have done since the Civil War. Sounds an interesting job anyway if with a narrower focus, and I could return after two years or so reasonably aged for prospects for a third star.

[swerve]

 

 

...as both we and the Canadians didn't want to end up just purchasing whatever the US with their vastly disporoportionate weight see fit. ...

Exactly why we feel that it would be better for us to co-operate more closely with Canada than with the USA.

[BansheeOne]

Junograd, 18 October 1945

 

The UNO conference began in San Francisco yesterday. As planned, the opportunity was taken by the attending heads of our three nations to sign the North American Cooperation Treaty. It will of course still have to be ratified by the appropriate national parliamentary bodies, but at least on our side assent of the State Council will come quickly. The foreign office drones have shifted the focus of their attention to the draft of a declaration about our continued executive mandate for all citizens of the former Russian Empire to accompany our official accession to the UNO; we expect the Bolshevists to do the same. However, proceedings at San Francisco will likely take a few weeks.

 

4th Marine Regimental Group left Iturup for Stoyanka on the 12th after relief by US 201st Infantry Regiment occurred as scheduled, and today 1st Airborne Brigade and 1st Yeger Regiment started withdrawal from Hokkaido. Most of 1st Marine Division command dropped off at Urup en route and will stay until 2nd Marines there will be also relieved by 3rd Division in a week, then return home with them; 3rd Marines will stay at Matua for the time being but will be relieved by Army troops at an as-yet unspecified point, too. One battalion will end up at Kataoka as the Navy takes over the former IJN base there.

 

5th Division has of course completed movement from Europe, and their large contingent of former Osttruppen has had some exposition to their new home these past weeks. There are no major issues reported, but of course they are being kept busy rehearsing for the great victory parade in Stoyanka on the 28th. 4th Division has cleared out of Czechoslovakia and is continueing embarkation in France; their first elements arrived home two days ago.

 

It looks like I will in fact take over European Command, currently planned to be co-located with Third US Army HQ at Bad Tölz on the German-Austrian border; 1st Guards Mechanized Brigade will move there from Kaprun sometime in the next weeks, the fate of the remaining Domanov Cossacks no longer in our hands but reasonably sure not to be forced handover to the Bolshevists anymore.

 

Unfortunately General Patton was relieved of Third Army command recently, following his previous firing as military governor of Bavaria by Eisenhower over some controversial statements regarding the continued employment of former Nazi officials in public functions. By all accounts he would have not been easy to work with, and seems to have taken the end of the war particularly hard; but he was quite sympathetic with us during the thrust into Bavaria and Czechoslovakia, and I would have liked to meet him.

 

There might still be the chance, as he has apparently been banished to Fifteenth Army up in Hesse, responsible for writing the history of the war in Europe. But new Third Army commander is Lieutenant General Truscott, formerly of Fifth Army in Italy. Seems a nice enough guy by reports.

 

 

[RETAC21]

For that matter we are still approached from time to time by people who look for surprlus and/or captured weapons. Usually the contacts are made through various Czechoslovakian army officers as middle men. Destination is unknown but hot and dusty climate was mentioned several times. And a strict confidentiality, especially with regards to the Brits, is demanded.

 

Given where a large part of Czechoslovakian units in the West was recruited and its ethnic makeup (same as with the "core" of unit in USSR), it is not hard to put two and two together. However we probably may not want to subvert the Brits. Plus amounts/sums mentioned so far are too small to risk it I guess.

 

A party of my knowledge is also interested in surplus Merlin engines or its American equivalents. Since the Mossies are going to be scrapped...

[swerve]

Our Mosquitoes won't be scrapped for a few years, & we have no surplus engines.