I failed to calculate their plans, and it cost the Red Army's already depleted long-range aviation new losses. Five heavy long-range bombers in exchange for three German Dorniers. Two more got away – I just didn't have time to get to them…
“Comrade Senior Major of State Security, mission accomplished. Bomb strikes on enemy headquarters, communication centers and key infrastructure were carried out. The air group's losses were three TB-7s and two Yer-2s. Three enemy night fighters, provided with the latest equipment, enabling them to attack our planes without being illuminated by searchlights and without commands from the ground, are destroyed.”
“Five long-range bombers?” It was dark, but I noticed the change in Sudoplatov's expression. “You lost half the unique aircraft entrusted to you and you report a successful mission?”
“Mission accomplished, comrade…”
“Silence! Senior Lieutenant of State Security Nagulin, you're under arrest! Surrender your weapons.”
Chapter 4
“Comrade People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, your order has been carried out. Senior Lieutenant Nagulin was arrested by me personally right at the airfield and taken to Moscow.”
“Very well,” nodded Beria, looking intently at Sudoplatov. “Come in, Pavel Anatolievich, have a seat. I see you have questions about this case, and I'm ready to answer them.”
“Actually, I only have one question,” Sudoplatov shrugged and sat down in a chair at the conference table. “Why?”
“He is dangerous,” Beria answered briefly, and the Senior Major did not like the expression on his face.
“I absolutely agree with you, Lavrentiy Pavlovich,” replied Sudoplatov, who was not so easily embarrassed, “He is extremely dangerous. To our enemies.”
“Now, yes, but this is now. I look at the situation from a broader perspective and from a different angle. At the moment, the Soviet Union and Citizen Nagulin have a common enemy, and as long as that is the case, he acts as our ally, but he is a stranger here, Pavel Anatolievich. Think about it. You, me, and all of our comrades are Soviet people who grew up, were educated, and had careers in the USSR. Yes, the older generation remembers Czarist Russia, but that was a long time ago. Since then, the very idea of life has changed, new values have been formed, and we are waging a merciless war against the enemy for those values. Nagulin is a stranger here. Our system, all the achievements of the Revolution, are just words to him, behind which there is nothing.”
“That does not mean that he is an enemy,” Sudoplatov disagreed.
“It doesn't,” nodded Beria, “But all my experience tells me that he is fighting not for the Soviet Union, not for comrade Stalin, not even for Russia. Nagulin is pursuing some goals that only he knows, and for him we are all just a means to achieve them.”
“Aren't you being too hard on him, Lavrentiy Pavlovich?” cautiously objected Sudoplatov, but it was obvious that the words of the Commissar of Internal Affairs made him think, “His contribution to the struggle with the enemy…”
“I know,” Beria stopped his subordinate, “if it weren't for that, he would have been felling wood somewhere beyond the Urals a long time ago, or given a capital punishment – he had behaved very un-Soviet all this time. Given his merits, Nagulin is sitting in quite decent solitary confinement in Lubyanka, and investigators are strictly ordered not to use any coercion on him.”
“So what's next?”
“And that will depend on what happens in the next few days. No matter how you look at it, your Nagulin has killed five heavy long-range bombers, and the result of their actions is not yet quite clear. It's such a mess right now…”
“But the corridor to the surrounded troups was cut through!”
“And what grounds do I have to believe that it was due to Nagulin's actions? This corridor was being cut through by ground troops, and they did cut it. But where did the German night fighters, which were also equipped with the latest radar and night sights, come from? Are you silent, Pavel Anatolievich? And I'll answer. The Germans knew about Nagulin's operation and were preparing an ambush, which cost us great losses in the end. There are only two options here – criminal error or betrayal. And I still have to report to Comrade Stalin about it – long-range aircraft, by the way, were allocated to us under my personal responsibility.”
“Nagulin shot down three fighters himself,” Sudoplatov did not give up; he had the arrest of his subordinate stuck in his throat, but he carried out the order without hesitation.
“I know. Our agents were part of the TB-7 crews, and I received detailed information about the operation while the bombers were still in the air. That's why I gave you the order to arrest Nagulin on a formal, but quite weighty reason. Understand, Pavel Anatolyevich, we do not know the limit of his capabilities.
In this night battle, he again demonstrated abilities that an ordinary man cannot possess. He, unlike the Germans, had no radar, and he tracked enemy fighters as if he had been directed to them by radio, and even in the daytime when the weather was clear! Do you understand what this means? No amount of calculating, analyzing, and forecasting skills would help here. He just knew where the German planes were! He knew it, that's all! That means he's hiding some of his capabilities from us. And why should he hide them if he is not an enemy?”
“In other circumstances, I might have congratulated you, Colonel. You made a brilliant analysis of the situation and accurately predicted the Russians' plans.”
“Thank you, Herr General,” Richtengden replied in a steady voice, “Unfortunately, the correct prediction of the actions of the Russian marksman was not enough to win. This is somewhat at variance with the tone of the official reports, but I cannot call what happened near Kiev anything other than a catastrophe.”
“I would not be so categorical,” the General grimaced irritably. “Let's just say it could have been much worse, and the fact that just about half of the encircled enemy troops broke through, is to a large extent you merit. The night fighter attack failed to completely thwart the Russian plans, but it prevented the destruction of dozens of our headquarters and communications centers and allowed the surviving generals to restore control of the troops relatively quickly.”
“Surviving generals…” Richtengden repeated slowly, as if tasting the words. “We lost top officers who had gone through Poland and France, defeated the British, surrounded and captured hundreds of thousands of Russians. The catastrophe is just that, Herr General, not the fact that a crowd of demoralized Russians, who had abandoned all their equipment and artillery, broke out of the pocket.”
“Five Russian bombers were shot down,” the General, not wanting to continue the unpleasant discussion, changed the subject, “Our troops captured eight crew members of these planes. We weren't able to get all of them to talk, but we did get some things cleared up. You were right again. The Russian marksman was on board one of the bombers, the only Pe-2 the enemy had engaged in this operation. Initially it was not supposed to take part in bombing attacks and in combat operations in general, but after the appearance of our Dorniers, it took on the role of a night fighter, which was a very unpleasant surprise to our pilots.”
“I am aware of our losses, Herr General,” Richtengden nodded.
“The losses were not in vain, Colonel. Enemy pilots who were shot down gave detailed accounts of how the Russian spotter directed the actions of the bombers. Frankly speaking, it reeks of mysticism and makes
