The Spy

A loudspeaker hung in the mess hall. When the metronome’s ticking ceased, all eyes turned to Levitan’s voice reciting Sovinformburo bulletins. The vagueness of “successfully repelled enemy attacks, inflicting significant losses” needed no decoding for the men here. It meant the Germans kept advancing. Smolensk had fallen. Leningrad was besieged. Moscow’s outskirts burned. By October, Kerch was lost, and Red Army units retreated to the Taman Peninsula.

Twenty-five bombers of the Special-Purpose Group relocated to Grabtsevo Airfield near Kaluga, preparing for the Vyazma airborne operation. But camouflage failed. On 27 January 1942, Ju-88s and He-111s struck in waves. Four aircraft from the 1st Regiment, three from the 3rd, two TB-3s each from the 14th Regiment and 4th Independent Squadron—all gone. A follow-up raid on 3 February incinerated two more bombers under repair.