He could see that bridging equipment had been brought up the previous day, and knew the enemy crossing was imminent. But they did not expect the surprise Karpov had waiting for them that day.
“Well, Bogrov,” he said to his airship Captain. “Today we teach Volkov a lesson he will not soon forget. You will see what the real application of power is here. Mark my words.”
Bogrov marked them, though he inwardly felt there was something cowardly in the action. He had seen the test dropping of the weapon near the coal mines, and he knew there was not a flock of sheep down there, but men, human beings. Yes, they were enemies, but something in him preferred the more equal duel of airships, gun to gun, man to man, and not this dastardly attack. Karpov could see that he had reservations, though the Captain had said nothing.
“You have issues with this, Bogrov?”
“Sir? Well, war is war, I suppose, but they won’t know what hit them, will they.”
“Volkov will know when he gets the news. This war is just getting started, Bogrov, and the gloves have not yet come off. This is strategic bombing. Before this war ends both sides will adopt this tactic, mostly the allied powers. Entire cities will burn in a single night. You will see.”
There it was again, thought Bogrov, that odd way the Admiral had of talking about the war as if it had already happened, as if it was something he had read about once in a history book.
“And what will Volkov do when he gets the news, sir? That was on my mind.”
“Hopefully he will take a hard lesson from what happens here today, and realize who he is dealing with when he raises his hand against Vladimir Karpov.”
Bogrov thought he had raised it against the 18th Siberian Division encircled at Omsk, but he said nothing of that. “I suppose I meant that Volkov might think to do the same thing to us, sir. He has a lot more airships than we do. Suppose he were to rig out his zeppelins with these new sub-cloud car bombs as well. Then what?”
Karpov thought about that. What would the Japanese have done if they could have gotten their hands on an atomic bomb after being hit at Hiroshima?
“Perhaps you are correct,” he said. “He may think to fight fire with fire, unless I can talk some sense into him after this. But first, the lesson, the hard lesson of war-retribution. We’ll see how keen he is to cross the Ob after I get finished with his 9th Infantry Division down there. It’s a pity he hasn’t moved up all of his 8th Armored Cavalry yet, but we must go today. The weather will not hold, and today it is perfect. Signal Big Red. They may begin their bombing run.”
The massive zeppelin maneuvered out in front, and ten minutes later Karpov saw them fall, one, two, three, sailing down through the grey dawn to awaken the troops below when they ignited in a blinding flash and broiling fireball that carried a tremendous shock wave. Eardrums burst, the very breath of a man was literally squeezed from his chest as the shock wave thundered over the scene with terrible force. Yet more terrible was the searing fire that came after, devouring anything exposed, and literally sucking the oxygen right out of the air. Indeed, when the first small charged burst the weapon open to disperse the deadly contents, the liquefied coal droplets relied on the oxygen in the air to increase the potency of the detonation.
Karpov heard the three loud booms from far below, saw the bright red-yellow fireball ignite with their fury, and a slow smile crept onto his face. It worked! One of the three fireballs was slightly off target, very near the tributary, but that was also good, for it smashed a pontoon bridge under construction there. The other two had fallen amid the encamped enemy division, and thousands would not awaken that morning for reveille-a wakeup call that was never to be heard.
“Excellent!” Karpov said aloud. “Now! SignalKalmenikov to start his attack!”
That night, the thick woods to the north of the site had been slowly infiltrated by Karpov’s tough 2nd Cossack Cavalry Division. The men moved like shadows on their grey white steeds, emerging from the tree line like a sweeping fog. They moved out at thecanter, the mass of horsemen slowly gaining speed until the bugler sounded the attack. Then the Cossacks drew their cruel curved swords and came charging south toward the main road that led back to Omsk.
There were elements of the 2nd Armored Cavalry, armored cars, motorized infantry, who had also been roused by the thunderous explosions to the east near the river. The Majors told the Captains, and the Captains told the Sergeants, with orders shouting the alarm as the charge came in. The Sergeants told the buglers, and the buglers thought to raise their horns to rouse the sleeping men, but the Cossacks told them all.
