AN INTERVIEW WITH GORSHIN (Part 14)


By KATZMAREK(C)


The Russian Naval base at Kronshtadt is on Kotlin Island in the estuary of the river Neva. A short distance away lay Petrograd, the city founded by Peter the Great as his capital. Prior to 1914 it had been named Saint Petersburg, but that was too German sounding. In the nationalist euphoria following the outbreak of war, it was thought it should have a Slavic name.


The cruiser Oleg had survived the battle of Tsushima to become modernised into a new class of vessel, a light cruiser. The vessel had been retrofitted with modern, quick-firing main guns and a central director for these was perched above the expanded bridge. Its three funnels remained, but below she'd been fitted with a new set of French Belville boilers, then popular with the Russian Navy. Its triple-expansion, reciprocating steam engines still pushed her along at 24 knots, a reasonable speed for a vessel now 15 years old.


The Oleg lay off Kronshtadt at the base's 'ready' anchorage. Her boiler fires were banked, allowing her to set sail, if need be, with a half hour's notice. On this night, however, instead of the St Andrews Ensign waving fitfully in the weak breeze, a new flag dangled from the staff on the stern of the ship.


The flag was red and carried the letters 'VMF RKKA' in gold Cyrillic script. Translated, the letters stood for, 'The Red Fleet of the Workers and Peasant's Army.' The year was 1919 and much had happened in the last two years.


Not far away, Comrade Yvgeny Ivanovich Gorshin, his woollen greatcoat pulled up around his ears, looked out from the stern rail of the Destroyer Gavriil. His three-funnelled command had been built in 1916 at the Baltic Shipyards. She displayed her British influence in her narrow lines, smart businesslike design, and powerful Parsons Steam Turbine propulsion that pushed her along at over 33 knots.


Yvgeny Gorshin's journey to the Gavriil had started in March 1917 on the day that Tsar Nicholas the Second had abdicated in favour of the Grand Duke. Michael had not wanted the job so eventually a civilian Government was put together from pro-war factions under the War Minister, Alexander Kerensky.


Gorshin, like all servicemen, had sworn loyalty to the person of the Tsar. Upon his abdication, many considered they were under no obligation to follow the dictates of a civilian Government. Personal loyalties to outstanding personages and comrades became more important.


So too was the Socialist programme espoused by the Socialist Revolutionary Party that had gained overwhelming influence in the Navy. Their fierce adherence to democratic principles, however laudable that may have been, often meant, though, that their decision-making process was lengthy and arduous. The Bolsheviks, with whom they'd formed a Popular Front, by contrast, were tightly disciplined, pragmatic, secretive and ambitious. 


The 'Kerensky Offensive' under the able Marshal Brusilov had successfully pushed back the Central Powers in the Carpathians. When that attack ran out of steam, the Popular Front exerted its muscle. Within weeks virtually the entire Russian army deserted its posts and drifted back from the front.


A desperate Kerensky called on the Cavalry Corps to put the Petrograd Soviet in its place, but the Cossacks were met with a solid wall of determined militias and deserting soldiers. The Cossacks dissolved, some going over to the Soviet, while others returned to the Caucasus to found the Cossack Southeastern Union. Under overwhelming pressure the civilian Government collapsed and out of the chaos stood one man, Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov, known by his alias, Lenin.


Lenin had the decisive support of the Kronshtadt sailors who'd met him at Finland station when he returned from exile. 


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"You ask why I joined the Bolshevik cause?" continued Admiral Gorshin, "well," he tugged his white beard, "simply, my men begged me not to desert them."


"In the Navy we sailors judge men by different rules. Courage, comradeship, these things are more important than grand speeches. I did not warm to Lenin when he first came to Kronshtadt. He was a fine speaker, sure, said all the right things, but I always thought there was something driving that man, something inside... not natural. Trotsky was a small man with a big voice. I didn't care that he was Jewish, although some did. But in the end, there was no doubting his courage. He rallied the Red troops at Kazan, all by himself... saved the day against the Left SRs. He visited all the fronts in his armoured train. He personally led his cavalry into battle. That impressed us greatly."


"What part did you play in the Civil War?" asked Ensign Koscuisko.


"I was given the Gavriil by Comrade Dubrovnin, then Commissar of the VMF RKKA. The Destroyer men voted for me to command them, a great honour. Three other Destroyers elected to be part of my flotilla, the Vladimir, Konstantin and Azard. That's the way we did things then until Comrade Trotsky ordered the foundation of the Soviet Navy in April 1919, with ranks, discipline and chains of command. We had to do that, it was too chaotic."


"And what of Katka, your family?"


"I moved them onto base for safety. Mobs of ill-disciplined troops and militias were all about, murdering, raping... They had no cause, there was no-one to stop them. I got myself a submachine gun, a Bergmann, like the German Stormtroopers used. I got into a fight outside the mansion one day at the end of 1918... very handy weapon," the Admiral smiled.  (The original 'Stosstruppen' of WW1. Not the Nazi version, the Brown-shirted 'Shturm Abteilungen')


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CMB 9 was a 55 foot Coastal Motor Boat of the Royal Navy. Armed with a single 18 inch torpedo, CMB 9 was one of a flotilla of light forces based along the Northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. A variety of engines powered these small boats, mostly converted aero-engines. CMB 9 had a Thornycroft, although Beardmores and Rolls-Royces were also popular.


What made Russia's former allies, the British, French, Japanese and the Americans intervene in the Revolution and subsequent Civil War? The reasons changed with the fortunes of the World War. Even today, the Allied Intervention is subject to much debate.


With the rise to power of the Bolsheviks in October 1917 (old style calendar) it was clear the new Government intended to take Russia out of the War and abrogate her undertakings to the Allies. It was strongly suspected also, that Lenin was acting under authority from the German Government. His passage through Germany from his exile in Geneva suggested conspiracy, to Paris, London and Washington.


When a ceasefire was negotiated and peace talks began at Brest-Litovsk between representatives of the Bolsheviks and the German Government, the Royal Navy began to pull its submarine flotillas away from possible capture by German forces. 7 boats were based at Reval, now Talinn, Estonia, and these sailed over to Helsingfors (Helsinki) together with some Russian subs with which they'd been operating.


Royal Marines at Murmansk and Arkhangel'sk took control of the tons of British war materiel piled up on the docks, again for fear they would be handed over to Germany. In fact, the Murmansk Soviet asked the British to do this as the local forces were weak and feared the Germans more than the British.


However, in the Baltic, German forces were still on the move and threatened Riga. In Finland, the constituent assembly felt they were no-longer under any obligation to remain as part of Russia. Their oath of loyalty was to the Tsar, not a civilian Government in Petrograd.


The Bolsheviks had promised self-determination to all the Russian provinces, and were shocked when most took the new Government at their word. Finland was the first, then Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania promptly split from Russia and declared independence, albeit under German 'protection.'


In a cunning about face, Lenin had Stalin rewrite the rules. Now independence could only be declared upon a referendum of the Working Class only. The Upper and Middle classes were to be disenfranchised. As the vote was to be taken through the local Soviets, well under control of the Central party, Moderates and Nationalists saw the whole thing as being rigged, and the Civil War ensued.


In Finland, Marshal Mannerheim, Tsarist commander of the Finland Military District, called on General Hoffmann of the German 5th army for help to oust the Red Guards from Finland. The Germans promptly sent a division to Hango, who then advanced on Helsinki. The Royal Navy scuttled their Submarines and withdrew the crews. End of round 1.


In the Caucasus there arose Independent Republics in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, which promptly began squabbling over territory. The Turks seized Trebizond and began advancing along the Black Sea coast. The Cossacks declared their independence and formed the Southeastern Union.


In August 1918, the Socialist Revolutionaries formed independent governments at Samara and Omsk in Western Siberia. Incidentally, they captured the Tsarist Gold reserves at Kazan.


The Czech Legion was made up of prisoners of war who had signed up with Imperial Russia. They had been promised that they'd be sent to France to help free their homeland from the Habsburg Empire of Austria-Hungary. A deal of some sort was negotiated with the Bolsheviks for them to exit Russia via the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Bolsheviks didn't want this well-disciplined force to be used by their enemies.


In one of the Bolsheviks' about-faces, however, and one of Trotsky's serious mistakes, in May 1918 the Red Guards blocked their route and ordered the Legion to side with the new Government. The Czechs promptly revolted and eventually seized most of the railway.


The plight of the Czech Legion captured the World's imagination. The Japanese offered to land in Vladivostok and open an escape route. Suspecting Japanese motives, the Americans waded in and suggested a joint landing. Eventually a large Japanese force was followed by a smaller American contingent, and they slowly advanced West along the railway.


At Brest-Litovsk a Ukrainian delegation suddenly turned up and began separate negotiations with the Germans. Eventually a puppet regime was formed in Kiev and German forces occupied the territory. The Russian Black Sea Fleet abandoned Odessa, which was occupied by the German Army.


Admiral Kolchak formed his 'Siberian Republic' with former Tsarist Officers and began negotiating with the Czechs for joint operations. His initial target was not the Bolsheviks, however, but the Left SR Republic at Omsk. This he captured in early 1919 driving the SRs Westward.


Tsarist Chief of Staff General Alexeev fled the Red Guards South with such of Stavka that wanted to go. He formed the 'White Volunteer Army' and began negotiations with the Don Cossacks.


At Arkangel'sk, the British began arming local White Forces under Tsarist General Miller with a view to linking up with Kolchak's Siberians.


In two short months, Russia's borders had shrunk to those of the 16th century. Its very viability was in question, as was its ability to feed itself. Many of the industrial and manufacturing centres had been shorn off. The Revolution was in serious trouble.


For years Moscow blamed the murder of Nicholas Romanov and his family on the local Red Guard, but it's now obvious the elimination of the former Tsar was ordered by the top leadership of the Party. Regardless, it dealt a serious blow to the anti-Bolshevik forces. Now the Monarchists no-longer had a viable, agreed candidate around whom to build a future Government. Many senior Officers decided it was a lost cause and made plans to leave Russia.


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"The Allies now saw Russia as pro-German, or even an enemy," continued the Admiral, "and wasted little diplomatic effort to bring down the new Government. Things were finely balanced in France and a flood of new German Divisions transferred from the Eastern Front might see things fall the way of Germany. That is perhaps understandable, but we were very angry at this interference in our affairs. Had we not spilt enough blood on their behalf? Had we not given enough sons? Russia alone had suffered more casualties than the rest of them put together and still they weren't satisfied."


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For some weeks previously Royal Navy seaplanes had flown over Kronshtadt. Once the armistice with the Central Powers was signed, in November 1918, the British were once again able to build up their forces in the Gulf of Finland.


A White Army was formed in Estonia with British equipment under General Iudenich and began to march on Petrograd. The Russian Capital, however, had been abandoned by the Government who had removed to Moscow. The British intended to eliminate the Baltic Red Fleet as a threat to enable the Whites to attack the former Capital.


Four Battleships of the Baltic Fleet survived WW1: two Dreadnoughts, Poltava and Petropavlosk, and the 'intermediate Dreadnoughts' Andrez Pervozanni and Pavel the First. The combined artillery from these heavy ships would have made an assault on Petrograd problematic.


Red Destroyers and Minelayers were very active sowing new fields in the already dense defenses. These were protected by a motley collection of old and new cruisers. After some inconsequential sparring between the Royal Navy and the Red Navy's light forces, the British decided to take firmer action.


Their problem was the minefields surrounding Kotlin, the confined waters and the heavy guns of the Russian shore batteries and Battleships. Coastal Motorboats and aeroplanes seemed a promising way to penetrate the Russian defences.


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"I heard them coming," recounted Gorshin, "but I couldn't tell whether they were aeroplanes or their motorboats. We knew they had fast torpedo boats based in an inlet to the East of Helsinki, but they sound the same as their seaplanes. It's a kind of rattling, droning sound... only when they got closer could we hear the thumping of their hulls as they bounced over the waves."


"The Oleg switched on her searchlights. At first they swept the sky searching for aircraft, then played over the sea. They're very hard to spot, these motorboats, especially at night... I'm sorry we missed them."


"When I saw the Englishman, he was very close to Oleg. The Cruiser hadn't time to man her guns. We got a machinegun into action but it was too late. A torpedo hit Oleg amidships."


"She settled slowly then rolled over onto her side. Most of the crew were on shore anyway and those that remained on board jumped and were picked up by launches. After that I asked that our gun crews remain on standby. In those days, I had to ask, while explaining carefully why it was needed. I was better off than some of the Captains who had trouble getting the crews to do anything. Old Rhozdventsky would have been beside himself," the Admiral chuckled.


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The next day a British Naval Felixstowe Flying Boat came over the Khronshtadt anchorage to observe the result of the night's work. It was met by a fusilade of fire from practically every gun in the fleet. The Oleg had been a popular ship.


Some of the Baltic Fleet's Destroyers had been transferred via the Volga into the Caspian Sea. These were soon in action against British Naval forces based at Baku. On the river Dvina, near Arkangel'sk, another British squadron fought it out with a Red river flotilla of old gunboats. At Vladivostok, the Royal Navy's Cruiser HMS Kent landed her guns to support the Japanese and American forces operating on the Trans Siberian Railway against a scratch force of Red Guards.


The piecemeal, and fitfully weak, attempt by the Allies to turn back the Red tide served to stiffen the resolve of many Russians to repel these invaders. Although they may not have been supporters of the Bolshevik cause, this was an affront to patriotic sensibilities and those forces that the Allies supported, the Whites, suffered as a result. Consequently, when Trotsky prevailed on ex-Tsarist Officers to join the Red Army in April 1919, some 50,000, including General Brusilov, rallied to the cause.


By contrast, the most effective White Army in the field, the Volunteer Army/Don Cossack force in Southern Russia, unlike the Red Army, had an overabundance of Officers.


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The night of the 17/18th of August 1919 was clear and still. A pale blue glow emanated from the North. Following the attack on the Oleg, Kronshtadt was in a state of constant alert. Searchlights played over the anchorage and patrolling Destroyers weaved in and out of the warships and in an arc out into the Gulf.


This night Gavriil was the guardship. Comrade Gorshin stood on the upper, exposed bridge with the lookout, as was his habit. He found the enclosed wheelhouse suffocating with the press of seamen, helm, signalmen, exec, et al. 


They all called each other 'comrade', regardless of their position. Gorshin, though, had insisted that some sort of hierarchy be maintained. In action there was no time to debate instructions. They had to work as a team and a team must have its leaders.


Following the loss of the Oleg there had been a lot of bickering among the crew. Gorshin's patience had finally snapped. In future they would do things his way or he'd be taking his kit and leaving the ship. After a lengthy meeting of the crew's committee, they'd finally relented and accepted his ultimatum. Yvgeny was pleased, he'd taken a liking to his 'sea greyhound.'


That evening, eight British CMBs slipped out of Bjorko Sound, Finland. They knew Bolshevik agents were keeping watch along the coast so they sailed in a wide arc, beyond Bolshevik Primorsk and well out into the Gulf.


Their shallow drafts meant that they could ignore the Russian minefields but they needed to keep watch for any mines that might have broken loose from their anchoring chains.


Commander Dobson in CMB 31 ordered the flotilla to throttle down their engines. He was concerned about the light, much brighter than the night they'd sunk the Oleg. As they neared Kronshtadt he was worried, too, about the amount of activity around the Red Naval Base.


The CMBs' stacks emitted engine exhaust into the open air, as opposed to below the waterline. This night they crackled alarmingly in the quiet night as the highly-tuned engines struggled with their wild valve timing. Throttled up, blue flames from the twin exhaust pipes lit up the sterns of the vessels like flares. A foot long, these could be seen from miles away.


'8 Bees bearing WNW 6 kilometres,' crackled the headset of the Gavriil's radio. A signalman climbed the ladder to the upper bridge and passed on the news. Comrade Gorshin put his binoculars to his face and scanned the sea.


"Lights off, darken ship," he 'advised.'


"Comrade?"


"Don't fuck with me, Zhidanov. Do it!" he barked at the young comrade signalman. "Alarm!" he yelled down the voice tube, "action stations... and keep it quiet. No banging gongs and blowing whistles or I'll heave the silly fuckers responsible over the side, you hear?"


"Yes Skipper, I mean, comrade, sir," came the startled reply from the bridge below.


"Helm, steer 5 points to port. Engineer, I want all the power you've got. Guns, 8 targets to starboard, watch for their exhaust flames and aim three boat lengths in front. Remember they'll be pulling close to 40 knots and leaving a plume of water higher than Kolchak standing on a box."


There was a ripple of laughter.


5 minutes later, they could all hear the drone of the oncoming engines.


"Steady, steady so..." Yvgeny cautioned, "open arcs... come to port a little..."


"All guns bearing, Comrade Skipper," came a voice from the bridge.


"Good... steady... now, fire!" There was a deafening crash, the night disappeared in a blinding flash as the Gavriil lurched under the recoil of its four, 4 inch guns. "Come about to Starboard," Yvgeny 'advised,' "keep it up, men. General firing... machine guns, hose that bastard off our Starboard bow, you see him? He's on fire at the stern, look!"


Commander Dobson on CMB 31 was taken by surprise by the Gavriil's onslaught. He swung the boat away from the firing, the plume of its wake masked the telltale blue flame of the CMB's exhaust. He observed that his next in line, CMB 62, had been set on fire but he couldn't help. Instead, he and CMB 79 rushed at the first available target they could see. It was the Torpedo School Ship Dvina, the old cruiser Pamiat Azova, and it was lit up like a Christmas tree.


CMB 79 released its torpedo at point blank range, regardless of the heavy fire now bursting all around it. The 18 inch torpedo struck the Dvina just below the forward torpedo room and the old ship blew apart almost immediately. 


In the ensuing confusion, CMB 88 released its torpedo haphazardly. By a stroke of luck, or misfortune depending on one's side, it struck the Battleship Andrez Pervozanni just forward of its propellers. Dobson's CMB 31 made for the bulk of the Dreadnought Petropavlosk hitting her with one 18 inch torpedo. The Battleship settled on the shallow bottom of the anchorage.


No-one noticed the burst of flame on the water as CMB 62's tanks, full to the brim with aviation gasoline, exploded.


The Gavriil dispatched another of the attackers, CMB 24, as it tried to escape from the awakening defence. A third CMB was sunk that night, the CMB 79, claimed both by the Destroyers Konstantin and Vladimir. Further, a dead crewman was fished from the sea. His papers identified him as a Lieutenant Steele of the CMB 88.


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"The old Dvina," said Admiral Gorshin, sadly, "was nothing but an unarmed hulk full of cadets. What the Hell good did it do for the British and her Counter-Revolutionary lackeys? Petrograd was still secure! Even the Pervozanni and Petropavlosk could still use their guns."


"In October 1919, our Army smashed Iudenich and his Estonian Whites. Sailors had recovered the old Dvina's ensign and the Cadets from Kronshtadt joined in the assault with that flag waving proudly. The Whites dissolved like snow and Heaven help any Englishman left on the battlefield. The boys brought back crates of English Gin and we toasted the old Dvina with the stuff."


"Did the cadets capture any Englishmen?" asked the young Archivist.


"Who knows?" shrugged the old Admiral, "there was talk, but you can't get any sense out of a drunken sailor," he grinned.


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The end of the World War, too, allowed a French landing in Southern Russia. A large force arrived and took control of the Black Sea ports of Odessa and Sevastopol in the Crimea as the German Army evacuated. There the French found the dreadnought Ekatarina the Second capsized at her dock. The Turkish dreadnought Battlecruiser Yavuz, the former German Goeben, made a hasty departure as the French arrived. The remaining vessels of the Russian Black Sea fleet were powerless against the combined Allied fleet.


The French immediately began to funnel war materiel to the White Volunteer Army based in the Don Region of the Eastern Ukraine. British Rolls Royce Armoured cars arrived as did a number of Whippet Tanks. The sight of these metal monsters put the fear of God into the local peasants.


The entire intervention in Russia by the Allies was illegal and, since the end of the World War, had little justification. Winston Churchill and the French Marshal Foch, in particular, had been horrified by the Bolshevik Revolution and continually urged their Governments to support the Counter-Revolutionary cause. It would be fair to say, though, that Washington was less enthusiastic and if the Japanese hadn't sent troops to Vladivostok, they probably would have procrastinated. In the end, the American force was a token and the main assault along the Trans-Siberian Railway was by the Japanese.


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With the defeat of Iudenich's White Army in Estonia, the Royal Navy began to disengage in the Gulf of Finland. Pragmatic as ever, the Bolsheviks concluded a secret treaty with Marshal Mannerheim's Finns, guaranteeing Finland's borders in exchange for removing British forces from Bjorko and other bases. The Royal Navy retreated to the Gulf of Riga, too far for small boat operations against Kronshtadt. In any case, with the White's defeat in Estonia, there was little point in continuing operations.


Elsewhere, by late Summer 1919 the Red Army had forced Kolchak's Siberians East of the Urals, preventing their link-up with Miller's Forces in the Dvina region. Consequently, the British began to pull their Naval forces back to Arkangel'sk. But the real test was just beginning. In the Autumn of that year the Volunteer Army and the Don Cossacks began to advance from the Eastern Ukraine. Now under General Denikin, by early November they had reached Orel, 250 miles from Moscow.


By then, however, Trotsky was able to put no fewer than 5 Red Armies into the field. This massive force of nearly 500,000 troops crushed Denikin and drove him back. By March 1920, the remnant of the White Army was being evacuated from Novorossisk on the Black Sea by the British. A short revival took place while the Red Army became bogged down in Poland, but Baron Wrangel, Denikin's successor, was smashed for good in October.


Apart from the Baltic States, Finland and Poland, and some territories on the old Imperial Russian periphery, by late 1920 the bulk of Russia had been restored. The Caucasus and the old Khanates still caused trouble but resistance to Moscow was gradually eliminated. Turkestan was the last to succumb. The Basmachi guerilla fighters weren't overcome there until 1926.


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"Militarily, the Red Armies had the advantage of controlling the spider's web of Railways that spread out from Moscow. The French designed the system that way, ironic, no?" laughed the old Admiral. "If we'd lost Moscow, I think the Revolution would have been finished. As always, Moscow was the key to the door."


"We were able to transfer troops between Fronts, quickly. The Whites helped because they could never manage to co-ordinate themselves, they were too far apart and it took weeks for them to communicate with each other."


"Eventually a deal was reached with the Czech Legion after Kolchak was beaten. The ever-practical Czechs weren't about to be shackled to a dead man. Under international pressure, the Japanese withdrew from the East. I don't think the Japs wanted to leave, they had their eye on Siberia's oil and mineral reserves. The Americans, of course, pulled out as well."


"Even today, we Russians have a habit of arguing, falling out with one another, and that can go on for years. We're a stubborn race. Senior Staff Officers seemed to take it as their job requirement to constantly bitch with one another. There are always rivalries between the services, between departments. This was particularly true of the Counter-Revolutionaries of the Civil War. Alexeev was a sick man who couldn't get along with anybody. Denikin fell out with the Don Cossack Hetman and thought Kolchak was an ass. No White Commander ever seemed to be able to pull everyone together."


"On the other hand, Trotsky was a dictator who could be ruthless if he detected disaffection. He had Political Officers in all the units who reported to him personally if they thought someone was not pulling their weight. It was brutal, perhaps, but effective. The Party was the glue that got the Red Forces moving in the same direction, otherwise we'd be still arguing about what to do."


"My ships were dictatorships. I didn't give a fuck for Democracy when we were at sea. You can't operate a Navy in that fashion. But you must have a sense of humour, and you must acknowledge the most lowly of of the crew. They must see that you have their best interests at heart. Pat them on the head when they've done good and they'll follow you into oblivion if you ask them. That's the way we did things in the Soviet Navy, benign Dictatorships, and my ships were always happy ships."


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In the years immediately following the Civil War, the Russian Fleet experienced a sharp decline. In February 1921, following on from revolts in Moscow over harsh war measures, Kronshtadt broke out in open mutiny. The mutineers turned the guns of the fleet on their own soldiers and some 10,000 Red Soldiers died in the subsequent battles. Under instructions from Stalin and Zinoviev, some 2500 sailors were executed by firing squad and an indeterminate number dispersed to the wastes of Siberia.



Stalin lost trust in the Soviet Navy and its rebuilding was slow and painful. Two Battleships remained, the others consigned to the breaker's yard. These were gradually modernised over a period of 10 years and only one, the Oktobyrskaya Revolutskaya was capable of any action when war broke out with Germany in 1941. In any case, the old ship was used as a floating battery, anchored in the Kola Inlet in the frozen North.


Gorshin dodged the Kronshtadt Mutiny, having been posted to the Marine Department in Moscow. He, Katka and the family moved into a spacious apartment off Red Square. Formerly the apartment had been used by the Khlodovsky family. Gorshin was reticent about how he came to acquire such luxury. Compared to the kitchen at Petrodvorets, he felt privileged indeed.


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"It was a time to keep one's head low. Stalin was just beginning to consolidate power and, particularly after the Mutiny, the Navy was in very bad odour. I took comfort in the family, we had more children until I had a family of six, and I played my cards carefully."


"I rose steadily through the ranks, being regarded as a loyal and trustworthy Officer. My misdeeds I kept to myself. We learned to be secretive about what we did. In fact, the Party was built on secrecy and conspiracy, it was almost expected that we all would have little rackets going. But God save us if we were ever found out!"


"I was turning sixty when Hitler invaded. I was posted to the Northern Fleet to assist Admiral Golovko as Senior Staff Officer, Light Forces. I had to remain at Murmansk. My Katka followed me there with my youngest son, Rolf. He was a pilot flying Beriev Flying Boats for the AV-VMF (Soviet Naval Aviation)."


"And I sneaked onto a Destroyer whenever the 'cabbage hats' weren't watching," the Admiral smiled.


KATZMAREK(C)












