Operation Rod of Iron: AU fic

[Kalafrana]

Once more, James makes important points.

In Britain, domestic electricity only spread quite slowly, even in towns. I remember my father telling me that his parents' house, in what was then a pleasant part of Liverpool, didn't have electricity until the 1950s. There was also a scheme during the bitter winter of 1947, when it became extremely difficult to move coal to power stations,  to provide power to coastal towns by using submarines. Non-nuclear submarines, of course, use their diesel engines to charge the batteries used when submerged. It was calculated that connecting up two submarines to the local electricity supply would provide enough power for a town of 20,000.

Ann

[TimM]

I remember my father telling me that his parents' house, in what was then a pleasant part of Liverpool, didn't have electricity until the 1950s.

Wow, it was that recent.

[JamesAPrattIII]

The man who kept Moscow's power on all through the revolutions and Civil war got purged by Stalin at a later date.

As for using ships to supply electrical power the US Navy did it during the drought of late 1929/early 1930 the aircraft carrier USS Lexington CV-2 which had a turbo-electric propulsion system supplemented the electricity of Tacoma , Washington

[JamesAPrattIII]

There was a British agent George Alexander Hill who operated in Russia during the civil war period. he has a wiki bio where which mentions 2 books he wrote. he also was quite an expert at blowing things up.

[JamesAPrattIII]

other books you find interesting
Rise and Kill First Renen Bergmann on the Isreali hit operations
Malice Afterthought A History of Booby traps from World War I to Vietnam  Ian Jones
from Osprey
WW II Axis Booby traps and Sabotage tactics
WW II Allied sabotage devices and booby traps

[JamesAPrattIII]

Here is some more of Rod of Iron Next Sunday

Bylinkin is waiting on a street corned watching for his contacts and the Cheka down the street in a abandoned building a black market operation is going on. There are people passing him coming and going to buy and sell about 100 meters away was his partner Nikifor. he the spots Natalia wearing her old ragged coat.
 They meet and go to a nearby ally and he gives her a hug.
Bylinkin: How was your trip? Where Mikhail?
Natalia: the trip wasn't too bad. We got here Thursday. Mikhail is back down the street a little ways in case this is a trap. We traveled to Moscow with a group of refugees and have registered with the Tsentroplenbezh, the organization that handles refugees. We are now living with them in an old warehouse. We are both looking for jobs and food. The Bolsheviks don't feed refugees too well.
Bylinkin: I glad you both made it! The Bolsheviks don't feed anyone very well. half of Moscow is starving! I have this list of names and addresses of some of our targets. memorize and destroy
Natalia takes the list looks at it and puts it in the front of her dress
Natalia: Friday I spotted Medvedev while job hunting
Bylinkin: Are you sure its him?
Natalia: Positive! I would know that bastard any where. I would like to try and kill him tomorrow, Monday.
Bylinkin: (pauses) Do it! and take Mikhail with you.
Natalia: I will
Bylinkin; I wish you both luck. have you seen any of the others?
Natalia: No
Bylinkin: well then get going. Wensday I will be at the Liberty Street corner and next Sunday I will be back here. Be seeing you.
Natalia: I hope so
They hug again and they both leave the ally she goes and meets up with Mikhail and they leave He goes back to his street corner
30 minutes pass Then He spots Feliks and Angelika they meet up go into the ally and Bylinkin hugs both of them.
Bylinkin: How was your trip? any problems?
Angelika: We didn't have any problems we arrived in Moscow late wendsday. and I contacted a uncle and aunt of mine. They provided us with a room to sleep and helped us both get jobs. I am going to be working as a secretary for the supreme economic council and Feliks is going to work at the rail yard repairing locomotives.
Bylinkin: this is good but very risky
angelika: My uncle is a Bolshevik party member and works with the Komprod the Commisariat of supply. I haven't told him we are spys. He thinks we are married
Bylinkin : I don't like this
Angelika: No one knows I am a spy. I haven't even told my parents who are in vladavostok. Who are both left SRs. No doubt I can get information as a secretary and felikks can really fix some locomotives.
Bylinkin: All right. Here is a list of some of the names and addresses of our targets read and destroy. I will be here next Sunday and Wensday I will be on Liberty street. well we better get going. Be seeing you
Angelika and Feiks: By
They leave the ally Bylinkin goes back to the street corned while the other two leave.

to be continued

[Nictionary]

Very nice.  I'm actually reading Bergman's book and I got some ideas from it which I might incorporate in future chapters.  In the meantime I'm working on a short filler which I'll try to post by the end of next week.  Speaking of which... would a city like Moscow at this time have any means for a private citizen to make a phone call?  I just want to make sure this time.

[TimM]

Did private citizens even have their own phones at this point in time?

[JamesAPrattIII]

I would say in Moscow in 1919 about the only place you would find a telephone that was working would be a government building and about the only people who you could call would be someone in another government building.

[Nictionary]

The intended recipients are actually in govt buildings.  Any chance an agent could sneak into another building and use the phone for a few minutes?

[TimM]

I would say in Moscow in 1919 about the only place you would find a telephone that was working would be a government building and about the only people who you could call would be someone in another government building.

Yeah, that would be about right.  Of course, now everyone has a phone.  We've come a long way in 100 years.

[Forum Admin]

The first telephone installations in Russia were made by the American Bell System in the early 1890s, which charged an incredible $2,500 for each new installation.  The Bell company's contract expired in 1901, and the Russian telephone system was taken over by the Swedish Ericsson Company.  By the beginning of World War I most Russian cities had some kind of telephone service, and it was possible to telephone from St. Petersburg to Moscow, with long distance service to most major cities.  By 1911 there was a total of 181,000 telephones in all of Russia.

[Nictionary]

Thanks so much for the info, FA.  Of course as James has pointed out the civil war would have disrupted communications so not all those 181,000 would have been in working order in 1919

[JamesAPrattIII]

I would say it would be possible for someone to sneak into a government building and make a call on a telephone when someone wasn't watching or walk in and ask to use the telephone for official business.

Moscow from 1917 to 1920 the population dropped by one half. In Petrograd the population dropped by 2/3s
Food was hard to find people were starving the only way to get enough extra food was on the black market brought in by bagmen who the Cheka spent a great deal of time hunting down and arresting. Bolshevik economic policies cause much of these problems.
People left in Moscow were often starving.
Inflation was terrible
Crime was rampant
Most men walked around Moscow wearing parts of army uniforms. Besides what was left over from the old Russian army many soldiers in the red army often soldier their uniforms and equipment for food.
Most stores except for a few that sold government supplied or issued items were closed. The black market was booming.
The Bolshevik government many departments just didn't work that well
you will here more on this

[JamesAPrattIII]

back to our story:
Bylinkin continues to wait on the street corner periodically looking at his old pocket watch. After awhile he walks over to Nikifor
Bylinkin: It looks like no one else is coming lets see if we can get some else to eat and head home.
They head towards the Black market, passing a number of ragged thin looking people heading away with bags of food, they also pass store after boarded up store.
 later at their safe house they are siting around eating in a small backroom empty except their belongings and some blankets.
Bylinkin: Feliks has a job repairing train engines what do you have that he can use to really fix them?
Nikifor: I have 3 lumps of coal that have bombs in them.
Bylinkin: Good!
Nikifor: I also have some long delay fuses to attach to the explosives that he can set in a ammo train causing it to blow up a few days alter. he knows about putting dirt in gearboxes and how to clog up a lubricating line. I have been doing some thinking.
Bylinkin : What about?
Nikifor: When or If Galina and Zakhar get here why don't we send them on to Tambor and get Lisitsyn and then they can head to Denikin's lines
Bylinkin: I was thinking the same thing. I am also thinking of leaving Feliks and Angelika behind as agents. I know it is risky but their jobs could provide us with all sorts of information.
Nikifor: Sounds good!
Bylinkin: I am also planning on sending Mikhail and Natalia back to Siberia with information for the Admiral after we have taken care of a few of these scoundrels. We will then head for Astrakhan and take care of Kabanov then head for Denikin.
Nikifor; good! We need to kill these bastards and be gone. If we stay here to long we may get picked up by the Cheka or run out of money and starve.
Bylikin: true! I find it hard to believe things are so bad in Moscow compared to when I last saw the place early last year.
Nikifor: I agree! The sooner our armies get here and drive out these scum the better.