Der er ikke bange! Der er ikke bange! Vi er venner!
Valeriy Andreev repeated the sentence a million times to anyone who stayed around long enough to hear. Apart from the ones in Hungarian uniform, naturally.
As a newcomer to the 3rd. Naval Infantry Division, he couldn't have asked for a better first mission. Important target, guaranteed glory, and not really much of an opposition. Even if there had been, the guns of the battleships would have just beat it down.
Valeriy even had some good laughs out of local posters, asking himself where were these skinny looking Vikings now?
Sure, it was exhausting to fight for all of 8 hours, but he had been well trained, he could handle it.
And after two days of little sleep, there was the promised glory, not at all tarnished by the relatively weakness of the defence. After all, the Marines had struck right under (above?) Hitler's nose, and taken a waterway of vital importance.
The Baltic was Red! The men in black uniforms could look proudly on their accomplishments.
Back in Leningrad the mood was festive as well. October had been spent preparing for this attack, and the lack of German action or noticeable movements had left many - especially a certain Viktor - worried about possible Nazi intelligence.
The sighs hadn't been that slight, after all.
First the 17th Fleet had been assigned air cover.
Then the new transports were launched, manned and also assigned to the 17th Fleet.
Naturally it wasn't all about the Copenhagen Operation, but almost. The only non-Baltic related news of the month was the rebasing of the repaired Arctic Fleet back to Murmansk.
On the administrative side, improved decryption devices were installed in the Commissariat Offices, and the order was given, for improved equipments and tactics to be prepared for the Marines, using acquired experience of the last years.
Then the time came, and as the Fleets assembled, everyone was afraid the
Bismarcks would pop up and sink the new transports...
Anyhow, that was over now. The USSR won the day!
Now the only issue was what to do with that victory...