26-June-9-July/1915
The infiltration into Russia had begun as always, slipping through the cracks of an offensive. The Polish army had been ordered to launch an attack against Russian positions trying to block the German advance toward Kiev, which left multiple openings that we used to move while Russian troops repositioned to seal the most direct route.
Our objective was different. Strike the railway lines in the rear, far from the main combat zone.
It was clear that the Russians had multiple armies in the region. While the German Tenth Army on the Daugava River was only holding back two Russian armies, here there was a massive concentration of forces. Seven Russian armies, more than a million n, possibly close to one and a half million, defending the area against German and Austro-Hungarian offensives.
On paper, the situation looked balanced. Germany had the Eighth and Ninth Armies, along with the Polish army and four Austro-Hungarian armies. But efficiency was not the sa. Austro-Hungarian forces left much to be desired, and the Russians on this front were proving more effective than expected. In combat, the balance was not real.
The area was saturated with Russians, or with the many nationalities that made up their empire.
Even so, we managed to cross their lines during the night, taking advantage of constant troop movents that left temporary gaps.
Russian patrols were frequent. They watched small villages and moved through the vast Ukrainian wheat fields. Because of that, most of our movent was through those fields, using camouflage adapted to the color of the terrain. The crops served as cover. Locals barely watched them, except for a few farrs checking the harvest, which was already close.
For days we advanced like that. We used the daylight to sleep in safe spots, either inside the wheat or in positions where we could observe anyone from hundreds of ters away.
Finally, we reached the first sabotage point, the Kiev–Kursk line. Hans and his company stayed behind in the area, preparing the plan to place explosives and identify possible Russian detachnts that could be attacked at the sa ti as the detonation.
An additional objective was to determine the schedule of Russian trains. If we could coordinate it, we would not only destroy the tracks, we could also blow up a moving train, eliminating soldiers or destroying supplies.
The other groups continued the mission undetected. My estimates had been conservative. The vast wheat fields allowed us to move faster than expected, without needing to stop for hours.
In just four days, we had reached the first objective.
As for , I stayed with a small group of twenty n who were, in essence, the best you could find in a battalion. Among them was Friedrich, who had beco my spotter and, to a large extent, the one helping maintain control of the group, since he was the only Unteroffizier present. Ferdinand and Hans had both been promoted to Hauptmann, and Ernst had stayed supporting Hans. The other junior officers I had personally promoted remained with their companies to maintain unit cohesion.
Our group carried two machine guns, eighteen submachine guns, and our precision rifles, along with a large amount of ammunition so we could fire without limitation if needed.
For my part, I had two additional objectives that I considered interesting based on the intelligence I had received. There were small cells of Ukrainian collaborators who usually passed information to Austro-Hungarian forces. Many of them were part of local police or garrisons in small villages. I could try to contact them, since I spoke enough Ukrainian to hold a basic conversation without raising too much suspicion.
The idea was to coordinate possible local guerrilla actions to harass Russian movents, especially during a retreat if our sabotage succeeded. A Russian withdrawal would be the perfect mont to hit them, fire into their marching columns, and disrupt any attempt to reorganize a new defensive line.
The second objective was more ambitious. Locate a Russian general, or better yet, the commander of the forces in the area. It would be a massive blow, though unlikely. Still, I would not ignore the opportunity if it presented itself.
We began moving toward the villages marked in the intelligence reports, navigating with map and compass, as well as the many Cyrillic signs I could read well enough to avoid getting lost.
When we reached the first village, I stopped to think about how to enter without drawing attention. Walking in with a ghillie suit and a steel plate on my chest was not an option. Anyone would spot us, and it was almost certain there would be guards or police watching during the night.
Speaking Ukrainian gave a small advantage. I could deceive a Russian who did not know the language, but if I ran into a native Ukrainian, they would imdiately notice I was not one of them. And without speaking Russian fluently, I could not pass as one either.
But it was the only option. I did not like risking myself like that, but I had to take the opportunity. Driving the Russians out of Ukraine at this point would practically an winning the war. Russia would fall into food shortages and workers would begin pushing with strikes.
So, in one of the houses on the outskirts of the village, I stole peasant clothes. I hoped my scar would not draw too much attention.
I left my n nearby, ready in case I needed to run. If sothing went wrong, I only had to make it out of the village and the sound of machine guns would take care of the rest.
In the middle of the day, I began moving through the village, looking for the address where the agent supposedly lived. According to the intelligence, he was a local policeman.
After finding the street and the house, I waited until evening, trying to stay unnoticed. I kept myself busy cleaning windows or moving things around, anything that would not draw attention. There was intermittent Russian military presence, so I avoided eye contact at all costs.
When it started getting dark and people began going inside their hos, I saw him. A policeman approached the indicated address.
I waited.
When he took out his keys and opened the door, I walked in behind him. The mont he crossed the threshold, I pulled out the pistol hidden under my clothes and pressed it against his back.
"Move forward and don't say anything… I have a gun" I said in Ukrainian quietly, pushing him inside.
He tensed for a few seconds, but obeyed. We entered and I closed the door behind us without lowering the weapon.
"Agent V-37" I said in Ukrainian.
"Yes…" he replied, slowly turning to look at .
"We need to talk" I added, pointing toward the hallway.
"My wife and children are here… put the gun away" he said, annoyed.
"Don't try anything stupid" I replied, keeping the weapon close, though partially hidden under the vest.
"I won't" he said, walking toward the back of the house.
As we entered, I saw a woman in the kitchen working over a pot. Four children, three boys and a girl, were helping clean.
"Kateryna… I brought soone I know for dinner" he said, gently taking his wife's hands.
She turned and looked at carefully.
"Did you do sothing wrong?" she asked.
"Not at all. We'll talk about a few things and he'll leave" the agent replied.
"Ah… I see. Nice to et you" she said with a nervous smile.
"The pleasure is mine" I replied with a slight smile.
"Co… this way" the agent said, pointing to a wooden staircase leading down beneath the house.
"The food will be ready soon" the woman added, looking at her children.
"We won't take long" he replied as he started going down.
We descended the stairs. The mont we reached the bottom, the agent moved quickly. When he turned, he already had sothing sharp in his hand and I was pointing directly at him with my pistol.
"Who do you work for?" he asked, breathing tensely.
"The Deutsche Kaiserreich" I replied without hesitation.
"Oh…" he exhaled, relaxing. "I thought I had been discovered…".
He set the object aside and began searching through so crates.
"If you had been discovered, you would already be chained and under interrogation" I said without lowering the weapon.
After a few seconds, he pulled out several papers and handed them to .
"You could… you know… stop pointing that at " he said with a nervous smile.
"Fine" I said, holstering the pistol but kicking the sharp object away from us.
"Alright… sorry. I really thought I had been exposed. Look, here I have the Podpolkovnik's itinerary, the train schedules passing through the town, and the addresses of the other agents" he said while handing the docunts.
"It's in Cyrillic… I can't read Cyrillic.I can recognize so words, but I can't read" I replied, looking at the papers.
"But… then why did you co?" he asked, studying .
"Because I wanted to know if it's possible for Ukrainians to rise against the Russians. It's only a matter of ti before they are pushed out of here, and when that happens we will need people who can turn their retreat into hell" I said, holding his gaze.
"Well… yes… but I don't know how many. And we don't have weapons. I have a pistol and little else" the agent replied.
"There is an arsenal here. This is a train station, Russian forces must be ard. You can take their weapons when they're dead. But you need to gather as many people as possible inside the village. When the ti cos, you act. If not, you will be the ones who die when the front moves" I said coldly.
"How much ti do we have? How long to speak with the others? Most are Ukrainian… many would agree" the agent said.
"You have two weeks. I don't know exactly when the German attack will happen, but that is your window. And for your safety… you never saw " I replied as I started heading upstairs.
When I reached the top, I saw the family gathered. The wife and children were setting the table. There was beet soup, boiled potatoes, and pork fat.
"It's ready. We didn't account for your guest, so we'll have to reduce portions" the woman said.
"I'm leaving already, don't worry" I replied, walking straight toward the exit, hearing the family murmuring behind .
I left the house and moved through the streets before it got completely dark. So guards looked at , but I didn't raise suspicion. I returned to where my n were hidden and we moved out.
During the following days, before the charges were detonated, I focused on contacting other agents using the sa thod. I entered as a peasant, covered in dirt after a day of work, enough to look believable.
I moved from village to village, speaking with policen, rchants, and so craftsn. I couldn't do much beyond planting the idea. Coordination required ti, identifying targets too, and speaking to the wrong person ant being captured.
Even so, I managed to establish contact with several agents. They would handle asking questions and recruiting those willing to switch sides. I also gathered information on the movents of high-ranking Russian officers. Most were well protected in camps, waiting for offensives, so eliminating them directly was risky. The best option was to ambush them during a retreat.
I coordinated with Hans, who was in charge of placing explosives on the railway lines. We tried to cover as many routes as possible, positioning n near main roads to intercept any vehicle transporting officers.
The days passed like that, speaking with Ukrainian spies from the Austro-Hungarian network and trying to ensure local police and soldiers would switch sides when the mont ca.
We positioned ourselves on the outskirts of several villages, waiting.
Finally, the day ca.
Without radios, we could only trust that the agreed date was correct.
July 9, 6 AM.
Dozens of explosives detonated along Russian railway lines. At the sa ti, multiple telegraph lines were cut.
And in parallel, the attacks began.
Hans' groups initiated skirmishes in several villages.
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