Waffen SS General Karl Wolff had been waiting for nearly six hours in the tiny village of Mitsensk near Orel in the central part of the Eastern front. It was a flat, dreary, snow covered part of Russia heavily scarred by fierce fighting during the initial Barbarossa offensive of the previous summer and fall. The SS general was waiting patiently in front of the fireplace with a few burning logs that provided all the heat in the building. He was wearing his fur-lined greatcoat and kept his muddy boots on because of the intense cold. The main meeting room of what had been the post office, municipal building and local Communist Party headquarters of this modest village of 1500, was now dilapidated and barely usable. All the inhabitants of Mtsensk had fled and the location was nothing more than a dot marking the German army’s intrusive presence on Russian soil. It could again become a major battleground whenever the Red Army counter attacked since the front line was only twenty kilometers to the east where the thick line of the great forest began once again.
The Germans were stalled in the bitterness of the winter of 1941-42. In October the Wehrmacht had reached the suburbs of Moscow and had captured the last underground station stop. Then the Germans were forced to fall back following a violent Soviet counter attack. Because their supply lines were stretched to the limit and they were not equipped for the bitterly freezing cold, they had to stop where they were until the spring. Hitler had overruled and then sacked his commander in chief and assumed the position himself. The general wanted to order a massive retreat all the way back to Smolensk and the Führer would have none of that. The army would stand its ground and not retreat one inch. Soviet propaganda kept on repeating that the Germans had no cold weather clothing, which was true, and that just like Napoleon’s army in 1812, they Axis armies were simply too weak to endure the Russian winter. Wolff knew perfectly well that the logistics for the Barbarossa offensive had been planned only up to Smolensk, some three hundred kilometers to the west. Beyond that point it was impossible to rely on communications and supplies. Therefore they were practically lost at sea!
Crossing the front lines was an elaborate affair that took several days of preparation to establish secure check points on both sides. Wolff rose to his feet when he finally heard the noise of engines stopping and car doors slamming. His staff officer, Waffen SS Obersturmführer Bergman rushed in, saluted and announced,
“The Soviet representative, Colonel Merkulov, Deputy Commissar of the NKVD has arrived, general. Shall I show him in?”
Wolff thought for a moment and checked to make sure the seating arrangements at the rectangular table were properly marked. Then he said, taking off his heavy coat and fur hat,
“Yes, and have the others enter at the same time.”
Kovalevsky, a Latvian who had defected to the Germans during the early days of the Barbarossa offensive and now wearing a Waffen SS uniform, would be acting as the interpreter. He came in preceding Bergman and Schmidt who were to take stenographic notes of the proceedings. They all stood behind their assigned seats along the wall. Then Vsevolod Merkulov short and stocky in a heavy fur coat, with high boots and a dark blue uniform with no decorations, walked in followed by two junior officers, presumably his bodyguards. Merkulov took off his cap and heavy winter gloves and approached Wolff to shake hands. Wolff was surprised and kept his grey leather gloves on as he shook the Russian’s hand, a gesture he knew would certainly be interpreted as an insult. Merkulov wasn’t smiling and was shown to his seat as the other two NKVD officers took their chairs behind him on either side.
The discussions proceeded very slowly. Kovalevsky faithfully translated every word and was often second-guessed by the Russian interpreter who would sometimes object to a particular word offering a different translation whereby the entire exchange would stop and time-consuming discussions would break out among the two delegations.
With every new idea or proposal the Germans set forth, the Russians didn’t even hint at a reaction since the new information had to travel by dispatch rider back to Soviet lines and from there in code to Stalin’s desk at the Kremlin. The dictator’s response and his further instructions came the same way two days later while other topics had been discussed and new messages had been ferried back and forth in the same manner.
Stalin’s offer consisted of a cease-fire with the German army retreating well over one thousand kilometers back to the 1941 borders. Russia was prepared to make minor territorial concessions and accept Germany’s presence in southeast Europe, meaning the Balkans and principally Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia. Stalin also stated that he would join the Axis six to nine months after the cease-fire and declare war on England and the United States. As a personal gesture toward Adolf Hitler, in view of Germany’s anti-Jewish policy, Stalin also agreed to take active part in the extermination of the Jews and other “undesirable” minorities within the USSR. That point was reached after two days of discussions and Wolff reacted to Merkulov’s offer with a surprisingly condescending remark.
“My dear Colonel, I can assure you and General Secretary Stalin that we have perfected the methods for the extirpation and extermination process from our recent successful experience. Our experts manage to get the Jews themselves to organize the census and gather their own people through a number of clever methods we have perfected. The relocation and extermination procedure is then extremely simple to manage with minimal personnel. We can transfer and liquidate hundreds of thousands in a matter of weeks. This can also be done by your services under our guidance.”
Merkulov winced at the words “our guidance” as if the Germans had exclusive knowledge on how to liquidate entire populations. He also noted and sent back a report to Stalin that General Wolff constantly adopted a superior and condescending tone while addressing him, keeping his grey kid gloves on as if to avoid contamination. Stalin noted that Wolff had adopted a superior and disdainful attitude and he wrote a short note of instructions for the NKVD colonel. During the fifth day of the talks Merkulov injected a paragraph that Stalin had written in his own hand.
“The General Secretary of the Party I.V. Stalin informs the German leadership that the territorial demands of the USSR are the minimum it shall agree to and that in the event these talks do not succeed, the German Army shall face the full weight of the Red Army as it attacks relentlessly across the entire front until Germany is utterly defeated and its leaders are killed.”
Stalin was signaling that this was the last chance for Hitler to negotiate and that the Red Army’s excellent performance in December was only a sampling of what would come later on. It was therefore important to come to terms quickly or eventually face total defeat and annihilation. When Wolff read those words he threw his head back and replied.
“Commissar Merkulov I can assure you that the Wehrmacht has decided on a temporary halt due mainly to the speed of its success but that this coming year shall witness our complete victory as we attain the territorial objectives set by the Führer.”
As he said those words, Wolff rose and put his cap on as his aide helped him get back into his fur coat. Merkulov was surprised to see the talks end so abruptly but he assumed that Wolff was also following very precise instructions he had received from Hitler. Merkulov then remarked:
“If Germany wishes to defeat Russia she will have to make sure each soldier has a coat as warm as the one the general is wearing.”
Wolff looked at him contemptuously with his cold blue eyes and the conviction of his own superiority and simply walked out without shaking hands or saluting. The talks had failed.
The Germans had been sending messages back and forth by radio and in code from a Wehrmacht communications railroad car at Mtsensk to Hitler at Rastenburg. A report drafted by Bergman was handed to General Wolff who then edited it rather heavily adding his personal recommendations. He presented it to the Führer himself on March 2. Hitler hesitated and procrastinated then decided to shelve the matter at least until the scheduled meeting with Mussolini.
Upon their return to Moscow the two NKVD officers accompanying Merkulov were immediately taken to the Lubyanka on Stalin’s orders where they were subjected to brutal interrogation followed by summary execution. Stalin automatically suspected anyone who had come in contact with either the enemy or even the western Allies as being potentially disloyal. Merkulov was spared until after the war when Beria dismissed him from the NKVD. He world be shot in 1953 on Khruschev’s orders. While the Wolff report was kept in the secrecy of Hitler’s headquarters, there was a second top-secret version of the “report” that was being prepared by a specialized NKVD unit headed by Pavel Sudoplatov working under Beria’s direct supervision. It purported to be a verbatim account written by Merkulov and addressed only to Stalin greatly exaggerating the points discussed and the timing of events.
A copy of that false report suddenly turned up in Stockholm a few days later. A tall distinguished looking gentleman was sitting at a corner table at the Café Baltica near the city center one afternoon quietly reading a British newspaper. A much less flamboyant character joined him at his table some twenty minutes later. They shook hands formally and the tall man was handed a thick envelope by his visitor. The doctored report concocted by Beria’s men then landed on Mussolini’s desk a few days later as he was preparing his notes for the conference with Hitler at the end of April. He read the report very carefully and immediately summoned Ciano for a discussion that lasted several hours. The Duce was now convinced that a cease-fire with Russia was at hand and that he could vigorously make the case for a new “Mediterranean” strategy now that Hitler was about to put an end to the nightmare he had created in the wilds of Russia. Right after Ciano left Mussolini summoned Admiral Calamai.
“Admiral” boomed the dictator in a buoyant mood as the navy man appeared on the threshold of his office at the Palazzo Venezia, “this time we may have reason to hope that the war in Russia may end quickly in a political settlement. It is therefore possible that the bulk of the Axis forces focus on the Mediterranean theater as we have been strenuously suggesting since 1940. Malta is clearly the most urgent problem, which must be resolved as quickly as possible. Without our occupation of the island our convoys cannot be secure and provide the necessary fuel for the Axis in Libya.”
The Admiral was prepared and had brought a detailed plan of what was now dubbed “Esigenza C.3” or Operation C. 3 inspired by the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and Malaya.
“Duce, we have worked on the naval aspects of the plan and are now convinced that with aggressive underwater attacks we can neutralize the anti-submarine nets and mines and destroy most of the installations protecting the port of Valletta. The ships at anchor could then be easily sunk.”
The Admiral described the main features of his plan that included an attack on the port carried out by seven SLC teams followed by the very effective ‘barchini’ or explosive speedboats carrying one thousand pounds of TNT that was primed to detonate on contact. The Duce was now almost euphoric, convinced that everything was ready for the operation to be launched in the late spring. However the Admiral had to point out that because of heavy losses of experienced personnel there was a dearth of expert divers and that one of their best men was currently blocked in New York.
“Ah yes, I remember that operation.” said Mussolini suddenly delving into minute detail to show off his expert grasp of every issue something he did especially when he was on shaky ground.
The Admiral saw an opening and said,
“I could use that diver for Malta right now. He has operated there before very successfully. Military success is significant against the United States only if we can concentrate far greater firepower; in other words with more teams and better equipment.”
Mussolini was ready to back the Admiral’s enthusiasm for the Malta operation and wasn’t informed of the actual situation on the ground in New York.
“Well Calamai, if you need your best man then do everything to bring him back. We will return to American waters very soon in any case.”
Mussolini looked as confident as ever and the Admiral assumed that there had to be positive details that he couldn’t share with the head of underwater warfare.
Calamai hurried back to the Castle where he met with Ferri and among other things discussed the fate of Fred Spada.
“He’s been on the run and is clearly in difficulty. If we need him back it must be done very quickly.”
“Set it in motion. What are the choices?”
They quickly reviewed the routes Spada could take to exfiltrate the United States and agreed that the best one was the least obvious but would in all likelihood take over one month. A message was encrypted and sent through the naval system by radio to the relay station in Buenos Aires and from there by Western Union telegram to New York.
At the same time the OVRA desk was transmitting a message to the main New York agent still able to operate.