The sun was rising over Leningrad, and only it's early rays told Viktor the time.
He had lost the habit of looking at the clock, sleeping when he was exhausted for a couple of hours, and going back to work in his office right away. It was new, comfortable and well-equipped, but Viktor was sick of it already, having spent the better part of the last three weeks essentially living in it.
His thoughts, broken away from work because of the sun's interruption, now took him back to that April 25th when a phone call from Moscow all but ordered the Commissariat to give Admiral Kuznetsov a research team so he would develop a firmer doctrine on how to use carriers to support the Soviet fleets.
Of course, the Admiral already had a mighty fleet to lead, but no-one would dare tell Stalin that. No-one, but Commissar Viktorov, who was confident on his relation with the Secretary General - and angry at having orders given directly to his offices - to get on his car and drive all the way to Moscow to explain why the Navy could make a better use of resources than more investment in carriers.
His article on the
Pravda, praising our Great Leader and explaining how he decided the best way to serve the USSR was dedicating fully to the Pacific Fleet, was indeed very moving.
At the time Viktor had enjoyed the promotion and new desk, but fate would have it that such bliss would last less than two months, when Germany declared war, and the new Commissar took the Fleet out into the Baltic to meet the Kriegsmarine, leaving "Comrade Andreev"
de facto in charge of the office.
His immediate concern back then was organizing the transfer and escort of troops from Leningrad to Riga's harbour, but right in the first return trip the modestly named
17th Fleet was faced with a Finnish attempt to hold the Finland Gulf, taking advantage of the new battleship's absence.
They were expelled, without losses.
It had been Viktor's idea and initiative to remove the
Moskva from the
17th Fleet and send it to help Kuznetsov's hunt, and while it had been the Admiral who requested the Naval Infantry be transported to the shores of Turku again, it fell on Viktor to arrange it.
Now, Kuznetsov was sailing back to support the Turku disembark and minimize the
Moskva's exposure. Viktor had spent the whole night preparing transports to support the Naval Infantry, and he was almost ready.
A knock at the door.
It was a messenger, and he looked nervous.
Before Viktor could ask, he yelled the news.
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SIR! It's the Bismarck!