Minor Fictional Characters in The Hot War

This article lists the various minor fictional characters who appear in The Hot War series. These characters play at best a peripheral role in the series. Most were simply mentioned once, or had a very brief, unimportant speaking role that did not impact the plot. Some appeared only once, others a small number of times scattered throughout a single volume. Most are identified by a name, but not all of them are.

Krikor Agajanian
(Armistice)

Krikor "Greg" Agajanian was the head of Consolidated Cropdusting. He was a burly man with slicked-back gray hair, a big hooked nose, and a grip like a bear trap. In 1952, he hired Bruce McNulty, a veteran of the late war, as a pilot. He warned McNulty that a cropduster's salary paled in comparison to an airline pilot's, but McNulty took the job because it sounded like fun, and because all higher-paying jobs in the region were taken.

Andrei Aksakov
(Bombs Away)

Andrei Aksakov was the radio operator on Boris Gribkov's Tu-4. In addition to the usual duties, Aksakov was in charge of the salvaged American IFF system which allowed the crew to deceive American air defenses. They managed to drop an atomic bomb on Bordeaux in late April 1951, and returned to the Soviet Union unharmed.

In June, Gribkov's bomber was assigned the task to atom bomb Paris. Aksakov was replaces on this mission by Klement Gottwald, a Sudeten German who spoke English. Gribkov noted to himself that Aksakov didn't seem disappointed to miss this flight.

Roman Amfiteatrov
(BA, Fallout, A)

Roman Amfiteatrov succeeded Yuri Levitan as the chief newsreader of Radio Moscow after Levitan was killed in the American atomic bombing of Moscow in March 1951. He was southern, which showed in his accent.

On 1 May, Amfiteatrov announced that the Red Army had taken Milan, and that the army was now driving on Turin. He also reported that "fierce fighting" in West Germany had yielded further advances. He also reported vague victories in the North Atlantic. He further reported on American bombing attacks with conventional explosives on Kharkov and Rostov-on-Don. He claimed that the attack on the latter city killed several children at a child-rearing collective. After reporting on increased production output, Amfiteatrov concluded his report by quoting Stalin's promise that communism would triumph.

In July 1951, Amfiteatrov reported on rapid advances the China and North Korea made into South Korea in the wake of the Soviet Union's atomic attacks on the U.S.-held city Pusan and U.S. positions south of Chongju. He also decried the attacks the U.S. had made on Soviet positions in Western Europe.

Tom Andersen
(F)

Tom Andersen was a logger with the Shasta Lumber Corporation in Weed, California. In December 1951, he was working Billy Hurley when Andersen lost control on an icy road a truck down a scree slope. Hurley was thrown clear, but Andersen was badly injured. Hurley made his way to the road, flagged down a car, and got a ride back to the company office, where he asked the secretaries present to call Dr. Christopher Toohey for help. When Toohey arrived, Hurley led him to Andersen. After gathering up Andersen for the eighty-mile drive to the nearest hospital, Toohey put a bandage on Hurley's head and dropped him off at the office again.

Yefim Arzhanov
(F)

Yefim Vladimirovich Arzhanov was a navigator in the Soviet Air Force during World War III. He was assigned to Boris Gribkov's Tu-4 in June 1951 to replace Leonid Tsederbaum, a suicide. While Gribkov was initially concerned the Soviet government had given him a bad navigator, Arzhanov soon proved he knew what he was doing. He joined the crew in Soviet-held West Germany, and returned with them to Prague.

After a couple of months which saw the Soviet Union's forward positions in Europe destroyed, followed by a slow retreat back east, Olminsky gave Gribkov's crew a mission. This time, Antwerp, one of the key ports to which the Allies shipped men and materiel. The relatively green Arzhanov was the least worried about the planned attack. Arzhanov guided Gribkov's plane over Denmark. The mission was a success, and Antwerp was destroyed.

A few weeks later, a coup in Slovakia managed to seize Bratislava. Gribkov's crew was tasked with helping to put the coup down. When he informed his crew, most had the same unspoken concern about attacking a country that was supposed to be a Soviet ally, save for Yefim Arzhanov, who was vocally determined to punish the enemies of the Soviet Union.

Their attack was launched just after midnight. While Gribkov's crew was able to deliver their payload, their plane was hit by flak, and everyone was forced to bail out.

Babs
(F, A)

Babs was a waitress at a greasy spoon in Weed, California. She waited on Marian Staley and her daughter, Linda, when the two arrived in Weed. When Marian asked if anyone was hiring, Babs suggested that the local lumber companies often hired people for secretary work. She also referred them to a nearby hotel. Marian assumed that Babs probably got money from Roland for every referral.

After Staley got a job and rented a house, she continued to go to the same diner, Babs quickly took a shine to her.

Bartender in Meiningen
(BA)

An East German bartender served Soviet tank commander Konstantin Morozov in January 1951. When Morozov asked him where he'd served during World War II in Russian, the bartender didn't understand until Morozov asked again in German. The bartender admitted he'd fought in France and the Low Countries, and then in North Africa, where he'd lost his right eye. He then showed Morozov his glass eye.

Bartender in Schmalkalden
(BA)

On 15 February 1951, Tibor Nagy had a night pass in Schmalkalden. He conversed with a bartender who'd served in World War II and lost his left leg below the knee to shell fragment near Kiev. The bartender called Nagy's Sgt. Gergely a "sock person", since he was the type of person who could "fit on either foot" easily, that is to say, his political allegiance was flexible.

Steve Bauer
(BA)

Steve Bauer was the bombardier aboard the B-29 commanded by Major Hank McCutcheon. After participating in several key missions, he was killed when their bomber was shot down over the Soviet city of Blagoveshchensk.

Tom Baxter
(BA, F)

Tom Baxter (c. 1923-1945) was the late husband of Daisy Baxter. He was killed in March 1945, when his tank was hit by a Panzerfaust. His widow continued to run his family's pub, the Owl and Unicorn for years after his death.

Charlie Becker
(BA)

Charlie Becker was the bombardier in Major Hank McCutcheon's B-29 during the Korean War and the subsequent World War III. During a massive bombing raid against Pyongyang, McCutcheon ordered Becker to drop the conventional explosive bombs early due to flack piercing the plane's outside. After participating in several key missions, he was killed when their bomber was shot down over the Soviet city of Blagoveshchensk.

Natasha Berman
(F)

Natasha Berman (d. 1951) was the late wife of David Berman. She had died not long before Vasili Yasevich arrived in Smidovich. In late 1951, Berman, knowing of Yasevich's reputation for honesty, sold Yasevich the opium left over after Natasha passed away. During their conversation, David Berman described Natasha as "eveything". Yasevich, realizing how depressed David Berman still was, paid him more for the opium than David had paid in the first place.

Betsy
(A)

Betsy was a teenaged resident of Weed, California, who earned money as a babysitter. Betsy sat for Marian Staley's daughter Linda while Marian went out on dates with Fayvl Tabakman.

Pyotr Boky
(F)

Pytor Boky was a soldier in the Soviet Red Army during World War III. He'd also served during World War II. He gave his comrade Ihor Shevchenko grief when Shevchenko was promoted to corporal.

Borya
(F)

Borya was a Soviet medic stationed in West Germany during World War III. In July 1951, he was charged with driving Ihor Shevchenko from a medical station to a field hospital in Hörstel.

Captain Guarding Norwich
(BA)

A British Army captain assigned to guard the remains of Norwich was patrolling with a soldier named Simpkins when they caught Daisy Baxter who'd got too close to the city. When she gave the two the impression she resided nearby, the captain ordered Simpkins to take Daisy to nearby Bawdeswell.

Freddy Cullenbine
(F)

Freddy Cullenbine was a British trumpet player. He clearly patterned himself on the more famous (and talented) Louis Armstrong. He was pot-bellied, and proficient trumpet player at best, but his enthusiasm made him entertaining. Daisy Baxter and Bruce McNulty saw Cullenbine and his band twice. First on New Year's Eve, 1951, and then again in May, 1952.

Viktor Czurka
(F)

Viktor Czurka was a captain in the Hungarian People's Army during World War III. He was captured in 1951, and sent to the POW camp outside Lyon, France. He became the head coach of the Hungarian football team. When he met Isztvan Szolovits, Czurka seemed unhappy to have a Jew on the team, but decided to see what Szolovits could do.

Aram Demirchyan
(F)

Aram Demirchyan was an Armenian who served in the Soviet Red Army during World War III. In late 1951, he was part of Sgt. Anatoly Privshin's section west of Paderborn. Privshin was suspicious of non-Russians, and abusive, too. Demirchyan was on the receiving end of this abuse. Demirchyan became friends with Ihor Shevchenko, another soldier who was the object of Privshin's abuse.

When nearby American troops fired on the Soviet positions with a German MG-42. Privishin decided his section would take the gun, much to Demirchyan and Shevchenko's horror. However, Privishin proved to be a brave and reasonably competent sergeant. The section took the gun, and Shevchenko even killed an American who was about to ambush Privishin, an act he rather regretted, as did Demirchyan.

As the fighting outside Paderborn continued, Demirchyan grew to hate Sgt. Privishin more and more. Shevchenko shared that hatred, as did the other men under Privishin's command. Finally, during an assault on Paderborn, which sent Soviet troops into the path of an American machinegun, Privishin went too far, commanding his men to take the machinegun nest. Instead several Soviet men were killed, Demirchyan included. In revenge, Shevechenko shot Privishin in the back, killing him.

Dolores
(F)

Dolores was a secretary with the Shasta Lumber Corporation in Weed, California. She worked alongside Marian Staley. In December 1951, loggers Billy Hurley and Tom Andersen were involved in a truck accident. Hurley was thrown clear, but Andersen was badly injured. Hurley made his way to the road, flagged down a car, and got a ride back to the company office, where he asked the secretaries present to call Dr. Christopher Toohey for help. Dolores made the call. She also helped Staley give first aid to Hurley When Toohey arrived, Hurley led him to Andersen. When Staley asked how they were going to get the bloodstains out of the rug, Dolores suggested cold water. She also informed Staley that the nearest hospital was in Redding, about eighty miles away.

Doyarenko
(BA)

Doyarenko was a Ukrainian colonel in the Soviet Red Air Force. He commanded a base at Provideniya in the early 1950s. In 1951, a number of planes were transferred to his command in response to rising tensions between the USSR and the United States over the course of the Korean War.

On 2 March, flyers under Doyarenko's command, including Captain Boris Gribkov, launched a series of atom bombing raids on the West Coast of the United States. In response, the U.S. destroyed a number of strategic Soviet points, including Provideniya. When he learned of the bombing, Gribkov presumed Doyarenko was killed.

Dale Dropo
(F)

Dale Dropo (b. c. 1916) was the editor of the Weed Press-Herald, the weekly newspaper of Weed, California. In December 1951, after an accident that involved loggers working for the Shasta Lumber Corporation, a secretary of the company, Marian Staley, approached Dropo about the fact that the town didn't have a hospital or an ambulance service to the nearest hospital in Redding. Dropo agreed that it was a problem, and wrote up an editorial. He cautioned Staley that the town didn't pay much attention to his editorials.

People in fact did notice the editorials. After the death of another logger named Leroy van Zandt, Staley approached Dropo again with the suggestion that if all of the lumber companies in town pooled their monies, they could establish an ambulance service at minimal costs to them on an individual basis. She admitted she got the idea from Fayvl Tabakman, the new cobbler in town (and an old friend of hers). Again, Dropo agreed to put petitions in the paper, but made no promises. The petitions did yield fruit in the long run, though.

Anatoly Edzhubov
(BA)

Commander Anatoly Edzhubov was the skipper of the destroyer Stalin. He was responsible for picking up Captain Boris Gribkov and his bomber crew after they atom bombed the Seattle area on March 2, 1951.

Edzhubov carried Gribkov and his crew to Korf. They had originally been headed for Petropavlovsk, but that city, along with other key ports, had been destroyed by the U.S.. Edzhubov also told Gribkov that Provideniya, Gribkov's original base, had been among the cities destroyed.

Gribkov was frequently seasick on the voyage. Edzhubov gave Gribkov vodka to help; Gribkov found it helped him sleep, anyway.

Ferenc
(BA)

Ferenc was a private in Tibor Nagy's squad. He came from Szekesfehervar‎‎. When he found out that the United States had destroyed his home town with an atomic bomb on 15 February 1951, he was livid, and made several attempts to cross from Schmalkalden, East Germany in to West Germany to kill Americans. He was stopped by the men in his squad. Tibor Nagy and Isztvan Szolovits had the best luck in calming Ferenc.

Fieberg
(F)

Lt. Fieberg was a West German soldier during World War III. He helped command the retaking of Marsberg from Soviet troops in December, 1951.

Fred
(BA)

Fred was an aide to Presiden Harry Truman. After Truman's plane landed in Honolulu on December 18, 1950, Fred told Truman his car was ready. Truman sarcastically replied that he was sure that it was, then apologized, suggesting he was tired, and that maybe the weather would be nice outside and he would be, too. By the look on Fred's face, he didn't believe it.

Fursenko
(BA)

Colonel Fursenko was the air-defense commander at the Red Air Force base in Provideniya in the days leading up to World War III. When Boris Gribkov learned that the Tu-4s that had bombed Elmendorf Air Force Base had been painted to look like B-29s, he suggested to his immediate commander, Colonel Doyarenko, that the U.S could paint its B-29s to look like Tu-4s. Colonel Doyarenko replied that he would pass his concerns on to Colonel Fursenko.

Nina Fyodorova
(F)

Nina Fyodorova lived in Smidovich. In July 1952, she hired Vasili Yasevich to build a cabinet for her. To her surprise and delight, he finished it on time and delivered it on the day he promised, as it was common for handymen in town to go weeks past their promised deadline. Fyodorova paid Yasevich half again as much as the origin price.

Gennady Gamarnik
(BA)

Gennady Gamarnik was the engineer in Boris Gribkov's Tu-4. He checked over the bomber before the crew took-off to drop an atomic bomb on Seattle. He survived the water landing after the bombing run and escape and continued to serve under Gribkov on a new Tu-4.

Bohdan Gavrysh
(BA)

Bohdan Gavrysh was a farmer on kolkhoz 127. In May 1951, he participated in sowing the collective farm's fields. He used up his grain seed much too soon, but the kolkhoz's headman, Petro Hapochka, didn't seem to care. Later, he proclaimed that Stalin would be pleased by the farm's harvest, and then further announced that without Great Stalin, the Soviet Union would collapse.

In June 1951, the MGB collected Bohdan Gavrysh and Ihor Shevchenko for the fighting in Europe.

Geza
(F)

Geza was a lance-corporal in the Hungarian People's Army during World War III. He was captured and sent to the POW camp outside of Lyon, France. He became the captain and striker of the football team the Hungarians put together. In Isztvan Szolovits' estimation, he was small, quick, and dangerous.

Hyman Ginsberg
(BA)

Sgt. Hyman Ginsberg (d. May 1951) was radioman in Major Hank McCutcheon's B-29 crew during the Korean War and the subsequent World War III. After participating in several key missions, he was killed when their bomber was shot down over the Soviet city of Blagoveshchensk.

Ilya Goledod
(F)

Ilya Goledod was a Soviet bow gunner during World War III. He was assigned to a T-34/85 under Konstantin Morozov in December, 1951.

They were then assigned to the regiment of Major Kliment Todorsky, and joined a drive on Paderborn. Todorsky freely admitted he was using the T-34s as point vehicles in his platoons to draw fire, and then using T-54s to finish off the enemy. They survived the drive, and, against all odds, the whole tank crew grew rather fond of their old tank. As March gave way to April, Paderborn was still in American hands. Goledod, Morozov, and the crew were once again part of a drive on the town, under the command of Captain Lezkov. Morozov's tank was the point-tank of the platoon. Upon hearing this, Goledod suggested it would be a shame if the tank suddenly broke down before the attack. Despite his own misgivings, Morozov warned Goledod not to sabotage the tank or he'd be court-martialed and executed in short order. Goledod understood.

In the end, it didn't matter much. After a kilometer and a half, a bazooka round hit the engine compartment, crippling the tank. The crew evacuated safely, and there were no further attacks.

When the time came for a new tank, Morozov flatly refused to be assigned another T-34. He demanded the tank-park sergeant fetch an officer with a great deal of mat. The park's senior officer, a lieutenant colonel, initially threatened Morozov with court-martial and execution, but Morozov stood his ground, assuring the colonel that putting him in the T-34 would have the same result. Convinced, the colonel gave Morozov's crew a T-54. Since they no longer needed a bow gunner, Goledod was reassigned.

Klement Gottwald
(BA)

Klement Gottwald was a Soviet air force radio operator during World War III. He was born a Sudeten German, and spoke German and English. He was assigned to Boris Gribkov's TU-4 during the crew's mission to drop an atomic bomb on Paris in June 1951. He was able to deflect suspicion during the flight by answering a question in English over the radio, allowing the plane to drop the bomb.

Literary Comment
This character shares a name with the historical ruler of Czechoslovakia from 1946 to 1953, but is clearly not the same person. Nor is there any reason to think they are related.

Misha Grinovsky
(F)

Misha Grinovsky (c. 1931-1951) was an aspiring pipefitter from Podolsk, a town not too far south of Moscow. Drafted into the Red Army during World War III, he was assigned to the same unit as Ihor Shevchenko, a Great Patriotic War veteran. Shevchenko briefly became a mentor to Grinovsky, showing the younger man how to wrap his feet with footcloths, and how to take care of his rifle. While Shevchenko made a point of collecting Grinovsky prior to the attack on Rheine, it was in vain; Grinovsky did not duck as quickly as Shevchenko and Dmitri Karsavin did during an artillery attack, and was torn to pieces by shell fragments.

Pavel Gryzlov
(BA)

Pavel Gryzlov (d. May 1951) was the gunner of the T-54 commanded by Sgt. Konstantin Morozov during the first months of World War III. Like everyone else in the tank, save Morozov, Gryzlov was too young to have served in World War II.

Gryzlov was part of the Soviet invasion of West Germany, with Gryzlov's unit as part of the initial spearhead towards Fulda. The advance pushed west. In April, Morozov's tank was hit by a British or American tank. While the shell killed the tank's engine, it didn't immediately destroy the tank, allowing Morozov and his crew to escape into a Soviet fox hole. The tank was destroyed almost immediately after they'd escaped. The driver, Misha Kasyanov, was shot in the leg. They were able to carry him in as well, and he received treatment.

The crew was issued a new tank within a few week, a repaired one that had previously sustained damage from an armor piercing round. They were also given a new driver, Yevgeny Ushakov. Once the crew was squared away, they were sent to help break into Arnsberg. Their talent as a crew meant that they were frequently the tip of the spear in the Soviet drive.

Gryzlov and the crew, save for Morozov, were killed in Dortmund by a bazooka shell that destroyed their tank.

Randolph Hackworth
(F)

Brigadier General Randolph Hackworth commanded a U.S. Army division in South Korea after the Korean War was folded into World War III. In December 1951, he responded to a complaint from South Korean army Captain Pak Ho-san about U.S. Captain Cade Curtis after Curtis prevented Pak from abusing one of his men. However, when Curtis quite earnestly pointed out the U.S. Army would not have allowed the abuse that the South Koreans committed, and further made it clear that he would stand his ground, Hackford sent him back to the lines without punishment.

Petro Hapochka
(BA, A)

Petro Hapochka (b. 1905) was the chairman of kolkhoz 127 outside of Kiev. He'd served in the Red Army during World War II, losing his left foot in 1943 to a German landmine.

In April 1951, after World War III was only a few months old, a farmer on the kohlkoz, Ihor Shevchenko, presented a slab of pork ribs to Hapochka. He also asked Hapochka if he'd heard when Kiev, which had been destroyed by an American atomic bomb the month before, would be rebuilt. Hapochka didn't know.

Hapochka oversaw the sowing in May.

Irina Hapochkova
(BA)

Irina Hapchkova was the wife of Petro Hapochka, the headman of kohlkohz 127.

Matt Harrison
(BA)

Matt Harrison (born c. 1895) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He commanded a base near Pusan, South Korea before and after the Korean War became part of World War III.

In January 1951, he informed the base that President Harry Truman had authorized the use of atomic bombs against China, and that all of the atomic bombs at the base now had pits in them. He gave the pilots under his command a chance to withdraw if they had qualms of conscience, and promised that their would be no black marks on their record (which was almost certainly an empty promise). He scowled when several flyers left.

A few weeks later, Harrison informed the base that Truman had transferred the final decision making to MacArthur, authorizing the general to use them if, in MacArthur's view, their use was the only way to improve the situation. The situation had certainly worsened, as the Chinese had relentlessly marched south throughout December and into January, recapturing Seoul, the South Korean capital. Harrison also informed the base that aerial reconnaissance showed that the Soviets were moving fighters and bombers onto airstrips in southeastern Siberia. One pilot, Bill Staley, asked about the possibility that the Soviets might paint their Tu-4's to look like B-29s, the model the Soviet bombers were copies of. Harrison hoped that U.S. forces would be alert, but admitted they may not always be.

After the U.S. and the Soviet Union traded a series of atomic attacks that led to World War III, Harrison oversaw several other attacks early in 1951, including attacks on several Soviet port cities. In mid-April, Harrison ordered a massive bombing raid against Pyongyang, in an effort to kill Kim Il-sung. The attack used conventional explosives, rather than atomic weapons. However, after the planes left, Harrison's base was attacked and destroyed by enemy planes. Whether Harrison himself survived was unknown.

Hawkeye
(A)

Hawkeye was a surgeon with the U.S. Army in the Korean theater of World War III. Captain Cade Curtis was one of his patients.

Walter Hoblitzel
(F)

Walter Hoblitzel (d. 1951) was an American soldier killed by Hungarian soldier Isztvan Szolovits during the Soviet drive to the west in July 1951. Szolovits stumbled on Hoblitzel and another American. Reflexively, Szolovits shot from hip, hitting Hoblitzel in the head. The other American surrendered. Ironically, Szolovits actually wanted to surrender to Americans, but the situation would not allow it. Szolovits went through Hoblitzel's corpse, and apologized to it.

Horst
(BA)

Horst was a grocer in Fulda, West Germany. After the Soviet Union occupied Fulda early in World War III, they began supplying Horst with their unwanted foodstuffs, such as beets and sardines. He warned one of his customers, Luisa Hozzel, that the food wasn't very good. He did sell her some strawberries because she was a good customer.

Mary Ann House
(A)

Mary Ann House was an administrative assistant in the history department at UCLA. Richard House was her husband, and they had a young son. In 1952 they purchased a refrigerator which was delivered to their home by Blue Front. She tipped deliverymen Aaron Finch and Istvan Szolovits two dollars apiece.

Richard House
(A)

Richard House taught medieval history at UCLA. Mary Ann House was his wife, and they had a young son. In 1952 they purchased a refrigerator which was delivered to their home by Blue Front.

Pete Huntington
(BA)

Pete Huntington was a resident of Fakenham, England when World War III broke out. The Owl and Unicorn was his local and he would hustle both the American and British airmen from nearby Sculthorpe at darts. They generally didn't know that he had won tournaments throughout East Anglia and so would be willing to accept his challenges.

Billy Hurley
(F)

Billy Hurley was a logger with the Shasta Lumber Corporation in Weed, California. In December 1951, he was working Tom Andersen when Andersen lost control on an icy road a truck down a scree slope. Hurley was thrown clear, but Andersen was badly injured. Hurley made his way to the road, flagged down a car, and got a ride back to the company office, where he asked the secretaries present to call Dr. Christopher Toohey for help. Secretary Marian Staley administered first aid, helping to staunch Hurley's bloody nose and the gash in his forehead. Hurley hadn't thought he was badly hurt until he saw the blood Staley had sopped up with tissues. When Toohey arrived, Hurley led him to Andersen. After gathering up Andersen for the eighty-mile drive to the nearest hospital, Toohey put a bandage on Hurley's head and dropped him off at the office again.

Ivan Ivanov
(F)

"Ivan Ivanov" was the name a GRU major used when he interrogated Boris Gribkov about the suicide of Leonid Tsederbaum in June 1951. Gribkov doubted the name was real.

While Ivanov followed the Soviet line that "weaklings" didn't belong in such important military positions, he also informed Gribkov that his crew would not be grounded and that they would be getting a new navigator.

Daniel Philip Jaspers
(BA)

Daniel Philip Jaspers was a refugee at Camp Nowhere. In April 1951, he attempted to break into the vehicle and de facto home of fellow inmate, Marian Staley. When he saw Staley approaching with her young daughter Linda and their elderly neighbor Fayvl Tabakman, he charged them. Tabakman picked up a rock and threw it, hitting Jaspers in the head. Jaspers was taken into custody, and subsequently convicted after Marian Staley testified against him.

Johnson
(BA)

Johnson was an American soldier during the Korean War before it became part of World War III. He was part of the failed evacuation to Hungnam. On November 23, when the troops were suddenly attacked by Red Chinese forces, Lt. Cade Curtis ordered Johnson and another soldier, Masters, to man an LMG and cover the retreat of the remaining troops, ordering them to hang on to the position as long as they had to. When Masters asked how long that was, Curtis answered again for as long as they had to. All three knew that meant that Johnson and Masters had to stay until the Chinese killed them.

Dmitri Karsavin
(F)

Dmitri Karsavin was a Russian veteran of World War II. Despite losing half of his right buttock to shrapnel in Budapest, leaving him with a profound limp, by mid-1951, the Soviet Union drafted him back into service during World War III. He met fellow veteran Ihor Shevchenko; the two were the only experienced fighters in their unit.

Karsavin participated in Soviet Union's successful capture of West German town of Rheine. By July 1951, the unit was near Hörstel when Shevchenko sat on a glass bottle and cut up his left buttock. Karsavin was charged with taking Shevchenko back to Hörstel. That night, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the unit's position. Shevchenko, safely in the hospital, never knew how many in the unit survived.

Elizabeth Kasparian
(BA)

Elizabeth Kasparian and her husband Krikor were neighbors of Aaron Finch and his family. Both had survived the Armenian Massacres during World War I. In Glendale, the two sold chickens and eggs to their neighbors. After a Soviet atomic bomb destroyed downtown Los Angeles, the Kasparians found their costs for feed had gone up, and had to pass those costs onto their customers.

Krikor Kasparian
(BA)

Krikor Kasparian and his wife Elizabeth were neighbors of Aaron Finch and his family. Both had survived the Armenian Massacres during World War I. In Glendale, the two sold chickens and eggs to their neighbors. After a Soviet atomic bomb destroyed downtown Los Angeles, the Kasparians found their costs for feed had gone up, and had to pass those costs onto their customers.

Misha Kasyanov
(BA)

Mikhail "Misha" Kasyanov was the driver of the T-54 commanded by Sgt. Konstantin Morozov during the first months of World War III. Like everyone else in the tank, save Morozov, Kasyanov was too young to have served in World War II.

Kasyanov was part of the Soviet invasion of West Germany, with Kasyanov's unit as part of the initial spearhead towards Fulda. The advance pushed west. In April, Morozov's tank was hit by a British or American tank. While the shell killed the tank's engine, it didn't immediately destroy the tank, allowing Morozov and his crew to escape into a Soviet fox hole. The tank was destroyed almost immediately after they'd escaped. Kasyanov, was shot in the leg. They were able to carry him in as well, and he received treatment. He was replaced by Yevgeny Ushakov.

Kitty
(F)

Kitty was a resident of Fakenham, United Kingdom. She'd survived the Soviet atomic attack of 11 September 1951 on nearby Sculthorpe that also leveled Fakenham, as did her brother, Stuart. Both had known Daisy Baxter all of her life; Kitty had gone to school with Daisy.

Stuart and Daisy ran into each other at a club on New Year's Eve, 1951. He told her that Kitty had also survived the bombing, and was waiting tables at a café in Wells-next-the-Sea.

Stanislav Kosior
(F)

Stanislav Kosior (d. 1952) was a lieutenant in the Soviet Red Army during World War III. He was Ukrainian and a devout communist.

In January, 1952, he informed Ihor Shevchenko that he'd been promoted to corporal. Kosior struck Shevchenko as one of the so-called "New Soviet Men", parroting slogans that showed his absolute devotion to communism and Stalin. Shevchenko did his best to appear that he agreed with Kosior's enthusiasm. A few days later, he oversaw another attack on Paderborn, West Germany, where the Soviets had become increasingly bogged down.

In May, 1952, Kosior's division was pulled out of the lines and sent east to help put down an uprising in the Polish People's Republic. Kosior was shot dead in the first engagement with the rebels.

Geza Latos
(F)

Geza Latos (or perhaps Latos Geza) was a secret policeman of the Hungarian People's Republic stationed in Magyarovar during World War III. He took protective custody of Soviet pilot Boris Gribkov after Gribkov was forced to bail out of his plane over Bratislava, in Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and arranged for a Soviet convey to pick Gribkov up. While Gribkov awaited the convey, he and Geza Latos (or Latos Geza) drank the wine called the Bull's Blood of Eger. The Hungarian congratulated Gribkov for attacking the uprising in Bratislava, and disparaged the Slovaks. However, Geza Latos was also forced to admit that the uprising brewing in Bratislava had crossed the border, and parts of northern Hungary were also proving restive.

Gribkov was never quite clear which order the man's name was.

Ledesma
(A)

Mr. Ledesma was a senior customs agent for the Port of San Francisco at the end of World War III. A plump little man with a lounge lizard moustache, he was initially skeptical of Major Cade Curtis' claim that a Korean going by the name Jimmy Curtis was a legal immigrant to America. A careful review of the papers Major Curtis handed him, convinced Ledesma of Jimmy's legitimacy. The war medals on the Major's uniform did not hurt Ledesma's faith in him either.

Lefty
(BA)

Lefty was a GI during the Korean War before it became part of World War III. He was part of the failed evacuation to Hungnam. On November 23, 1950, he asked Lt. Cade Curtis for reassurance that they would make it to the port.

Lefty was from one of the smaller industrial cities in Ohio. Curtis could not remember which one.

Lengyel
(BA)

Lengyel was a Hungarian soldier in Isztvan Szolovits's squad. In April 1951, their sergeant, Gergely, announced that their particular stretch of West Germany had become the slum of World War III. When Lengyel asked him what he meant, Gergely called Lengyel an idiot before informing his men that the Soviets had positioned Polish troops next to the Hungarians.

Lezkov
(F)

Captain Lezkov was the CO for a Soviet Red Army tank regiment during World War III. He was the lead tank in a drive on Paderborn, West Germany in April, 1952, the latest in a series of attacks on the U.S.-held town.

Madinov
(BA)

Colonel Madinov commanded the air base the Soviet Union established near Munich during World War III. In June 1951, he oversaw Boris Gribkov's mission to atom bomb Paris. He was upfront about the fact that he didn't want to destroy Paris, but made it clear that it was necessary for the war effort.

Orest Makhno
(BA)

Orest Makhno was a farmer on kolkhoz 127. He was one of several people from the collective farm who went to Kiev to see the city after it was destroyed by an American atomic bomb. Unlike others who went to Kiev, Makhno did not return. While some hoped that he'd found a stash of gold and struck out on his own, he most likely ran into an MGB agent and was summarily executed for looting.

Volodymyr Marchenko
(BA)

Volodymyr Marchenko resided on the same kolkhoz (collective farm) as Ihor and Anya Shevchenko. At a feast on 15 February 1951, as World War III was about to erupt, Marchenko toasted Joseph Stalin and to victory. A week later, the MGB came to the kolkohz to collect men for the infantry, ultimately taking Marchenko and three others.

Olga Marchenkova
(BA)

Olga Marchenkova was the wife of Volodymyr Marchenko. At a feast on 15 February 1951, as World War III was about to erupt, Olga turned on the radio for Radio Moscow.

Masters
(BA)

Masters was an American soldier during the Korean War before it became part of World War III. He was part of the failed evacuation to Hungnam. On November 23, when the troops were suddenly attacked by Red Chinese forces, Lt. Cade Curtis ordered Masters and another soldier, Johnson, to man an LMG and cover the retreat of the remaining troops, ordering them to hang on to the position as long as they had to. When Masters asked how long that was, Curtis answered again for as long as they had to. All three knew that meant that Johnson and Masters had to stay until the Chinese killed them.

Helen McAllister
(F)

Helen McAllister was a resident of Los Angeles during World War III. Her home was located in one of the neighborhoods that survived the Soviet atomic attack in March 1951. In June 1952, she ordered an icebox and washer from Blue Front. Aaron Finch and Jim Summers delivered it to her home. She thanked them by giving them lemonade made with lemons from the tree in her back yard, then complained about the colored family that was moving in down the block. Summers, a racist, was extremely sympathetic.

McMullin
(F)

Captain McMullin was the co-pilot aboard President Harry Truman's plane, the Independence, when the Soviet Union atom bombed Washington, DC. He agreed with the pilot Major Pesky's plan to divert to Richmond, overruling Truman's request that they go to Baltimore. He also monitored the radio and relayed information to Truman as he received it.

Bela Medgyessy
(F)

Bela Medgyessy was a colonel in the Hungarian People's Army during World War III. He was captured during the fighting, and sent to a prisoner of war camp outside Lyon, France. He was the senior officer at the camp for most of 1951.

Medgyessy greeted Isztvan Szolovits when he arrived in the camp in December, 1951. While unenthusiastic about Szolovits' status as a Jew, Medgyessy gave Szolovits the lay of the land, and further drafted Szolovits onto the football team the Hungarians had put together.

Mei Ling
(BA)

Mei Ling was a server at a teahouse in Harbin during World War III. Vasili Yasevich was sweet on Mei Ling for a time, and she seemed inclined to reciprocate. However, after the Chinese government began investigating Yasevich, he fled China altogether, and any chance for romance was stillborn.

Osip Milyukov
(BA)

Osip Milyukov was a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Force during World War III. He was stationed at a base outside Leningrad. In April, 1951, he assigned Boris Gribkov and his crew to drop an atomic bomb on Bordeaux, France. The route was quite complex to allow the bomber to slip into and out of France. He did provide Leonid Tsederbaum, the navigator, precise bearings and distances prior to take-off.

Moishe
(BA)

Moishe was a Jewish resident of Everett, Washington. He was a Belarussian, and survived World War II and the Holocaust. He survived the Soviet atomic bombing of the Everett-Seattle area on March 2, 1951. He was reunited with friends Fayvl Tabakman and Yitzkhak in a refugee camp some weeks after the bombing. All three had definite opinions of Stalin. Moishe remembered that, as a young man, he'd seen Stalin in Minsk, and felt lucky that Stalin had not seen him.

Mykola
(BA)

Mykola was a farmer on Kolkhoz No. 127 in the Ukraine S.S.R. Ihor Shevchenko thought he wasn't particularly good at farming but was very handy at fixing mechanical objects so kept him in mind as someone he could make a trade with when he slaughtered Nestor, a personal pig he kept.

Nestor
(BA)

Nestor was a pig raised by Ihor Shevchenko on Kolkhoz No. 127 in the Ukraine S.S.R. He lived a pampered life, being personally raised with kindness by Ihor. Ihor was quite fond of Nestor, and caressed him gently before slaughtering him. As much as Ihor liked Nestor as an animal, he knew would like him even better as meat. Ihor made a deliberate effort to ensure that Nestor died with as little pain as possible. Nestor provided a good supply of food for Ihor and his wife Anya, as well as a generous amount of meat to trade with neighbors such as Mykola. A bit of Nestor became a bribe to Kolkhoz Chairman Petro Hapochka, so that Ihor would stay in the latter's good graces.

Ninel
(F)

Ninel ("Lenin" spelled backwards) was a sergeant at a Soviet tank park located near Dassel, West Germany. In April, 1952, Ninel tried to place Konstantin Morozov and his crew in a T-34. Morozov flatly and obscenely refused, prompting Ninel to get his superior officer, lieutenant colonel. The colonel threatened Morozov with court-martial and execution, but Morozov stood his ground, assuring the colonel that putting him in the T-34 would have the same result. Convinced, the colonel ordered Ninel to give Morozov's crew a T-54, one that was not a lemon.

Nowak
(F)

Captain Nowak was Gustav Hozzel's company CO in July 1951. He would not have approved of Hozzel's schemes to sneak out at night and enter enemy territory to procure supplies and weapons, so Hozzel didn't tell him.

Mrs. O'Byrnne
(BA)

Mrs. O'Byrnne was a housewife in Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles that was not badly damaged by the Soviet atomic bombing of downtown L.A. on March 2, 1951. She had a young daughter, only a few months old. In April 1951, she ordered a refrigerator via letter from Blue Front, an appliance company in Glendale.

Bernie O'Higgins
(BA)

Bernie O'Higgins was a sergeant in Lt. Cade Curtis' company. In April, 1951, in an effort to slow down an advance of T-34s, Curtis ordered O'Higgins to fire a burst of machine gun fire at the T-34s, then take the gun off its tripod, retreat from their position, and use the machine gun as a light gun. When O'Higgins protested that he would get more accuracy with the tripod, Curtis remained firm, asking O'Higgins how long he thought his position would stand up to shelling. Reluctantly, O'Higgins agreed.

Yulian Olminsky
(F)

Yulian Olminsky was a brigadier in the Soviet Air Force during World War III. He commanded the Soviet airbase at Prague in July 1951. Although he was a general, he could still be overridden by the MGB. Thus, even though one of his flyers, Boris Gribkov was a decorated Hero of the Soviet Union eager to fly again, Olminsky had to keep him grounded as Gribkov was also judged unreliable after his navigator Leonid Tsederbaum committed suicide the month before. When Gribkov begged Olminsky to let him fly again, Olminsky was fairly forthcoming about why he would not.

Finally, after a couple of months which saw the Soviet Union's forward positions in Europe destroyed, followed by a slow retreat back east, Olminsky gave Gribkov's crew a mission. This time, Antwerp, on of the key ports to which the Allies shipped men and materiel. Gribkov successfully completed the mission. A few weeks later, an uprising in Slovakia managed to seize Bratislava. Olminsky tasked Gribkov with helping to put the coup down. To Gribkov's relief, he would not be using another atom bomb (there were none to spare) but conventional ordinance with the goal of leveling Bratislava. Olminsky was forced to concede that the Slovaks would have air defenses, including flak. As the TU-4 was actually quite vulnerable to such defenses, Gribkov was alarmed by this knowledge. When he informed his crew, most had the same unspoken concern about attacking a country that was supposed to be a Soviet ally.

Opium-addicted Commissar
(BA)

In April 1951, Vasili Yasevich was approached by a Commissar addicted to opium. He said that Comrade Wang's Wife had told him that Yasevich could get him whatever he wanted and he wanted opium. Yasevich denied having any since the penalty for possession was death. The Commissar first offered him a handful of gold coins but Yasevich continued to deny having any. The Commissar became angry, raged at Yasevich then slapped him and stormed off. Yasevich did have a glass jar of opium which he quickly took from his dwellings and hid in an abandoned blacksmith's shop three blocks away. A few weeks later, Yasevich fled Harbin after he spotted a jeep parked in front of his shack.

Andras Orban
(BA, F)

Andras Orban was a soldier in Isztvan Szolovits' squad. When he saw the Jewish Szolovits eating ham, Orban threatened to tell Szolovits's rabbi on him. Szolovits retorted that the rabbi wouldn't hear Orban as Orban had his head up his own ass so far no sound would come out. When Orban seemed ready to fight Szolovits, Sergeant Gergely intervened, thoroughly shaming Orban.

Orban maintained his antagonistic relationship with Szolovits throughout the Soviet drive west, and Szolovits treated Orban "like the asshole he was."

Orban was present near Wesel when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Soviet positions there. Like most of the Hungarians, Orban was too far away to be directly killed in the blast, but he did stare too long at the initial flash, and was blinded as a result.

Pak Ho-san
(F)

Pak Ho-san was a captain in the South Korean army. In the fall of 1951, almost a year after the Korean War had been folded into World War III, Pak led a company that placed into a regiment commanded by U.S. Captain Cade Curtis. It was hoped that the South Koreans would fill out the thinning American lines. Curtis, who remembered how badly the Republic's soldiers had fought when the war broke out, was not enthusiastic about this plan at first. He was also disturbed by the fact that many of the South Korean officers used a model of discipline patterned on one the Japanese had used. When Curtis approached Pak Ho-san to suggest that the South Koreans integrate in with the Americans, Pak declined, determined to prove that he and men could fight.

That night, the Chinese launched an what was intended to be a surprise attack. However, one American was able to fire off a burst before he was killed, alerting his comrades, who launched flares and met the Chinese, who ultimately retreated. The ROK soldiers proved their mettle. However, when Curtis when to congratulate Pak Ho-san, Pak Ho-san met Curtis half way, and attempted to present Curtis with the decapitated dead of a Chinese soldier. Curtis was horrified, and Pak was surprised by how soft Curtis was.

In the weeks that followed, Curtis grew increasingly disgusted with the way Pak and his non-coms beat on their subordinates. He finally resolved to intervene the next time he saw Pak being abusive to one of his men, a scheme Howie Sturgis counseled against. When Curtis saw Pak upbraiding a soldier named Chun Won-ung for having a muddy uniform (from the muddy trench), he ordered Pak to leave the man alone. He also pointed his PPSh at Pak for good measure. While Pak was initially astonished to see an American officer chastise him, the gun forced Pak to break off from the conflict, and Curtis had Chun join his unit. Pak complained to the U.S. Army brass, but Curtis stood his ground with Brigadier General Randolph Hackworth, and avoided punishment.

Igor Pechnikov
(BA)

Igor Pechnikov was a corporal in the Soviet Red Army during World War III. He was an RPG man. In the spring of 1951, most of his squad was killed, so he was in the process of being transferred to another unit. During his stay at the assignment depot, he shared a cigarette with Sgt. Konstantin Morozov. When he found out what Pechnikov did, Morozov suggested that they probably couldn't be friends. Morozov was called in for reassignment before he could further elaborate on his joke.

Simon Perkins
(F)

Simon Perkins (b. c. 1899) was a chemist in East Dereham. A confirmed bachelor, Perkins rented out a room above his shop to Daisy Baxter in the first part of 1952. Baxter found him precise and neat, and wondered about his sexuality. Because of his fussiness, Baxter had to maintain the sexual part of her relationship with Bruce McNulty in places other than her room.

Pesky
(F)

Major Pesky was piloting President Harry Truman when the Soviet Union atom bombed Washington, DC. He was diverted to Richmond, overruling Truman's request that they go to Baltimore.

Plummer
(A)

Plummer was one of several Geiger-counter-wielding technicians from the Defense Department, who escorted President Harry Truman through the ruins of Washington, DC after it was hit by a Soviet atom bomb. He had stormcloud-grey eyes behind his spectacles. As he was the son of a Polish immigrant (who had changed his name from Plazynski to Plummer), he was hopeful that Poland would succeed in rebelling against the Soviet Union.

Anatoly Privshin
(F)

Anatoly Privshin was a sergeant in the Soviet Red Army during both World War II and World War III. He was deeply suspicious of non-Russians. When Ihor Shevchenko was transferred to his section, Privshin made it clear that he had his eye on the Ukrainian Shevchenko, heaping verbal abuse on him. He was also hard on Armenian Aram Demirchyan.

While located near Paderborn, West Germany, nearby American troops fired on the Soviet positions with a German MG-42. Privishin decided his section would take the gun, much to Shevchenko's horror. However, Privishin proved to be a brave and reasonably competent sergeant. The section took the gun, and Shevchenko even killed an American who was about to ambush Privishin, an act he rather regretted. Privishin never thanked him.

As the fighting outside Paderborn continued, Sgt. Privishin earned the hatred of his command more and more. Shevchenko in particular had no use for Privishin's abusiveness. Finally, during an assault on Paderborn, which sent Soviet troops into the path of an American machinegun, Privishin went too far, commanding his men to take the machinegun nest. Instead several Soviet men were killed. Seeing the carnage, Shevechenko shot Privishin in the back, killing him.

Gyula Pusztai
(BA)

Gyula Pusztai (d. 1951) was part of the same unit of the Hungarian People's Army as Tibor Nagy and Isztvan Szolovits. When they were first moved west on 1 February 1951, he asked Nagy to confirm that their sergeant, Gergely, had announced that they were on the verge of fighting the United States. When Nagy did confirm it, Pusztai announced that the Americans would slaughter them. Sgt. Gergely, instead of disciplining Pusztai, gave him cold comfort, first by reminding Pusztai the he, Gergely, had survived World War II, but then also pointing out that many of the men he'd served with had been slaughtered.

Pusztai was killed in combat in April.

Pyotr
(BA)

Pyotr resided on the same kolkohz (collective farm) in the Ukraine as Ihor and Anya Shevchenko. He was a Russian, but no one held that against him. At a feast on 15 February 1951, as World War III was about to erupt, Pyotr toasted the soldier's hundred grams.

Red-Tie
(BA)

An MGB agent and his partner, Vanya, went to kohlkohz 127 in June 1951 to collect Ihor Shevchenko and Bohdan Gavrysh for the fighting in the West. As Shevchenko never learned the name of Vanya's partner, he thought of him as Red-Tie.

Roland
(F)

Roland ran a motor court in Weed, California. He rented to Marian and Linda Staley when they arrived in town in September 1951. They'd been referred there by Babs, a waitress at a local greasy spoon. Roland gave Marian a discount when she told him about Babs.

Mogamed Safarli
(BA)

Mogamed Safarli was the loader of the T-54 commanded by Sgt. Konstantin Morozov during the first months of World War III. Like everyone else in the tank, save Morozov, Safarli was too young to have served in World War II. He was a so-called "blackass" from Azerbaijan or some other such part of the Soviet Union.

Safarli was part of the Soviet invasion of West Germany, with Safarli's unit as part of the initial spearhead towards Fulda. The advance pushed west. In April, Morozov's tank was hit by a British or American tank. While the shell killed the tank's engine, it didn't immediately destroy the tank, allowing Morozov and his crew to escape into a Soviet fox hole. The tank was destroyed almost immediately after they'd escaped. The driver, Misha Kasyanov, was shot in the leg. They were able to carry him in as well, and he received treatment.

The crew was issued a new tank within a few week, a repaired one that had previously sustained damage from an armor piercing round. They were also given a new driver, Yevgeny Ushakov. Once the crew was squared away, they were sent to help break into Arnsberg. Their talent as a crew meant that they were frequently the tip of the spear in the Soviet drive.

Safarli and the crew, save Morozov, were killed in Dortmund by a bazooka.

Frank Sanderson
(F)

Frank Sanderson was a PFC in the U.S. Army, serving in the Korean front after it had been folded into World War III. In July 1951, Sanderson assisted Lt. Cade Curtis in destroying a Red Chinese Maxim gun with bazookas. Both survived and returned to their own lines safely.

Del Shanahan
(BA)

Lt. Colonel Del Shanahan was with United States Air Force Intelligence during World War III. Shanahan met with Aaron Finch a few days after the Soviets successfully atom bombed several U.S. cities, including Los Angeles. Shanahan clarified a few points about Finch's capture of Lt. Yuri Svechin, one of the flyers who'd bombed L.A., including how they communicated (Finch's Yiddish was close enough to German, which Svechin spoke), and that Svechin was willing to surrender when he saw Finch wasn't going to hurt him. The two discussed the fact that other Soviets who had parachuted into the L.A. area had been killed by angry mobs, and some of the international legal issues those deaths had raised. Once Shanahan was convinced Finch was merely a "chance passerby" rather than a spy, he sent Finch home.

Simmons
(F)

Mr. Simmons was a U.S. government accountant assigned to Camp Nowhere. In July 1951, he informed Marian Staley that she was getting $15,000 from her late husband's government life insurance policy. This was enough for her and her daughter to get out of Camp Nowhere.

Marian Staley thought Simmons looked more like an auto mechanic than an accountant.

Simpkins
(BA)

Simpkins was a soldier in the British Army during World War III. He was a "Geordie", probably hailing from north England. He was part of the detail that cordoned off and patrolled Norwich after the Soviets dropped an atomic bomb on 1 February 1951. Towards the end of February, he and a captain caught Daisy Baxter near the edge of Norwich proper. When she gave the two the impression she resided nearby, the captain ordered Simpkins to take Daisy to nearby Bawdeswell. During the drive, Daisy was able to get Simpkins' impression of what the center of Norwich looked like now. He said that spots of the road were fused to glass, and most of the buildings had been leveled. She told him that her husband had been killed in the last war, he shared this his own cousin had been as well. When they reached Bawdeswell, Daisy got on her bike and returned home.

Dave Simpkins
(A)

Dave Simpkins was a young man who interviewed prospective personnel for United Airlines' Oakland office just after World War III ended. He told applicant Bruce McNulty that McNulty's record was impressive, but that the airline had no openings for a pilot.

Mrs. Simpkins
(F)

Mrs. Simpkins was a middle-aged woman who survived the atomic bombing of Sculthorpe, United Kingdom on September 11, 1951. She was placed in a British Army tent along with Daisy Baxter and six other women while she recovered from radiation sickness and a wounded leg. Given her condition, she, like the rest of the women, required the aid of the sisters on staff to do simple things like use a bedpan. There was effectively no privacy, so everyone in the tent heard when the sister announced that there was almost no blood in Mrs. Simpkins' urine.

Smushkevich
(F)

Lt. Smushkevich was a company commander in the Soviet Red Army during World War III. In June 1951, Smushkevich was placed in command of a hastily assembled regiment of young draftees and some veterans. He asked two veterans of World War II, Ihor Shevchenko and Dmitri Karsavin to keep an eye on the new kids in the unit.

Smushkevich participated in Soviet Union's successful capture of West German town of Rheine. By July 1951, the unit was near Hörstel when Shevchenko sat on a glass bottle and cut up his left buttock. After examining the wound, Smushkevich deemed it serious enough to transfer Shevchenko back to Hörstel, and ordered Karsavin to drive him. That night, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the unit's position. Shevchenko, safely in the hospital, never knew how many in the unit survived.

Soviet Tank Park Corporal
(BA)

When Sgt. Konstantin Morozov's T-54 was destroyed, a corporal in a tank park showed him a replacement T-54 that had been repaired. The corporal was apologetic about the stink of kerosene in the fighting compartment but indicated the Soviet Red Army needed all the tanks they could get. Morozov knew that the repair crew had used it to mask the smell of decaying flesh and blood from the dead, previous crew.

The corporal also showed Morozov the patch welded onto the frontal armor where the AP round had penetrated. Morozov thought he would hang spare track links over the spot just in case it remained a weak spot. The corporal agreed that was a good idea and stayed with the refurbished machine when Morozov went to get his crew.

Heber Stansfield
(F)

Heber Stansfield ran the Rexall in Weed, California. In Spring, 1952, he and Marian Staley talked about the recent death of Leroy van Zandt, and agreed that the logging companies that ran the town at a minimum should do more for their injured employees. Stansfield cautioned Staley about being too vocal, since she worked for Shasta Lumber Corporation.

Willi Stoiber
(BA)

Willi Stoiber was the Burgomeister of Fulda just prior to the outbreak of World War III. He was a fat blowhard. Fulda resident Gustav Hozzel wondered how Stoiber had gotten past the denazification process.

Stuart
(F)

Stuart was a resident of Fakenham, United Kingdom. He survived the Soviet atomic attack of 11 September 1951 on nearby Sculthorpe that also leveled Fakenham. He'd known Daisy Baxter all of her life; she'd gone to school with his sister, Kitty.

Stuart and Daisy ran into each other at a club on New Year's Eve, 1951. He told her that Kitty had also survived the bombing.

Yuri Svechin
(BA)

Lt. Yuri Svechin was part of one of the Soviet bomber crews that atom bombed Los Angeles on March 2, 1951. The crew parachuted after the attack. Several members went missing, others were attacked and killed by angry civilians. Svechin landed near Glendale, where he was promptly captured by appliance deliveryman Aaron Finch, and taken to the Glendale police station. Svechin knew German and Finch knew Yiddish, so the two were able to communicate.

Szulc
(A)

Szulc was the name of a crewmate of Aaron Finch when he was in the Merchant Marine during World War II. Although Finch read the Polish written name as "Zulk," it was pronounced "Schultz." Finch remembered this trivia in 1952 when discussing alphabetical culture shock with Istvan Szolovits.

Rivke Tabakman
(Posthumously referenced throughout series)

Rivke Tabakman (d. ca. 1944) was a Jewish citizen of Poland before the Second World War. When the Nazis invaded Poland, Rivke, together with her husband Fayvl and their son and daughter, joined a resisting band of partisans. Eventually the family were captured and sent to Auschwitz. Rivke and her children died there, and Fayvl was the only member of the family to survive the war.

Tank-park Colonel
(F)

A grey-haired lieutenant colonel commanded a Soviet tank park located near Dassel, West Germany. In April 1952, when the park's sergeant tried to place Konstantin Morozov and his crew in a T-34. Morozov flatly and obscenely refused, prompting Ninel to get the lieutenant colonel. The colonel threatened Morozov with court-martial and execution, but Morozov stood his ground, assuring the colonel that putting him in the T-34 would have the same result. Convinced, the colonel ordered Ninel to give Morozov's crew a T-54, one that was not a lemon.

Christopher Toohey
(F)

Christopher Toohey was a doctor in Weed, California. In December 1951, he called to the office of Shasta Lumber Corporation to treat loggers working Billy Hurley and Tom Andersen. The two had been driving lumber when Andersen lost control on an icy road and sent their truck down a scree slope. Hurley was thrown clear, but Andersen was badly injured. Hurley made his way to the road, flagged down a car, and got a ride back to the company office, where he asked the secretaries present to call Dr. Toohey for help. When Toohey arrived, Hurley led him to Andersen. After gathering up Andersen for the eighty-mile drive to the nearest hospital, Toohey put a bandage on Hurley's head and dropped him off at the office again.

Vic Torre
(A)

Vic Torre was a heavily five-o-clock-shadowed young man who interviewed prospective personnel for Continental Airlines' Oakland office, just after World War III ended. He told applicant Bruce McNulty that McNulty's was very well qualified, but that the airline had no openings for a pilot. When Torre suggested that McNulty rejoin the Air Force, McNulty stated his desire never to drop another atom bomb, and Torre looked at McNulty as if the latter were a werewolf. He tried to console McNulty by telling him he was a hero, but McNulty already had enough medals to his supposed heroism that he was too jaded to be moved by the assertion.

Vitya Trubetskoi
(BA)

Corporal Vitya Trubetskoi was the rear gunner in Boris Gribkov's Tu-4. He survived the water landing in the Pacific after the crew dropped an atomic bomb on Seattle. Gribkov was pleased; he was sure that Trubetskoi would drown as the plane had landed tail first.

US Air Force Major
(BA)

One morning in May 1951 in Camp Nowhere, Marian Staley had just dropped off Linda at the camp kindergarten when the loudspeakers called her name and asked her to report to the administrative center. She did so and was taken by a clerk to a private nook behind some file cabinets to met a US Air Force Major. After he verified her identity, he told her that her husband Bill had been killed during a bombing mission. It took a moment to sink in, but when it did Marian let out a shriek and then tried to strike him. The Major grabbed her wrist before she could connect, showing he had done this duty before.

Yevgeny Ushakov
(BA)

Yevgeny Ushakov was a Soviet T-54 driver during World War III. He was assigned to Konstantin Morozov's tank in April 1951. He participated in the breakthrough at Arnsberg. He and the rest of the crew, save Morozov, were killed by a bazooka in Dortmund in May.

Leroy van Zandt
(F)

Leroy van Zandt (d. 1952) was a driver for the National Wood and Timber company in Weed, California. In the spring of 1952 he swerved to avoid a deer and went down a steep slope. The truck caught fire. While van Zandt was able to get out, he was burned before he could. As Weed had no ambulance, van Zandt died in the back of the car of Doctor Christopher Toohey on the way to the nearest hospital. This being the latest in a series of accidents that emphasized Weed's lack of an ambulance, Marian Staley began working with local journalist Dale Dropo to convince the logging companies to collectively buy a new ambulance.

Vanya
(BA)

Vanya was one of two MGB agents who went to kolkhoz 127 in June 1951 to collect Ihor Shevchenko and Bohdan Gavrysh for the fighting in the West.

Alexei Vavilov
(F)

Commander Alexei Vavilov was the skipper of the Soviet submarine S-71 during World War III. In May, 1952, the S-71 collected the Tu-4 crew commanded by Boris Gribkov after they destroyed Washington, DC. Vavilov toasted the crew as heroes. Later, Vavilov and Gribkov discussed the future of warfare.

Jeff Walpole
(BA)

Jeff Walpole was a major in the U.S. Army. He was Cade Curtis's superior officer in Korea in April, 1951. He explained to Curtis that a psy-ops colonel named Linebarger, an officer with substantial clout and fluency in Chinese, created a program for American troops to broadcast via loudspeaker at the Chinese and North Korean troops across no-man's land. The program used the Chinese words for "love" and "virtue" and "humanity", which when taken together also sounded like English for "I surrender", allowing the Reds to surrender without losing face.

In May 1951, he informed Cade Curtis and Sgt. Lou Klein that the U.S. had atom bombed Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk. Shortly after making that announcement, their position came under shelling, and Walpole was injured in the leg.

Comrade Wang
(BA)

Comrade Wang was a Chinese communist commissar from Peking. He and his wife were sent to Harbin to help rebuild it after the U.S. used an atomic bomb on the city. His wife approached Vasili Yasevich about getting her husband something to perk him up. Yasevich provided her with ma huang.

Comrade Wang's Wife
(BA)

The wife of Comrade Wang approached Vasili Yasevich about getting something to perk her husband up. Yasevich provided her with ma huang, after some harsh haggling between them. Despite her status as the wife of a communist official, she didn't demonstrate many egalitarian qualities. She did recommend Yasevich to other women she knew.

Emma Watson
(A)

Emma Watson (b. c. 1921) lived in a neighborhood that had just barely escaped the atomic bombing of Los Angeles during World War III. The broken stump of City Hall was visible to the north. Shortly after the war, Blue Front drivers Aaron Finch and Istvan Szolovits delivered a television and washing machine to her. Mrs. Watson was the first Negro of Szolovits' acquaintance who could afford luxuries like these.

Roger Williamson
(BA)

Roger Williamson was the navigator aboard the B-29 commanded by Major Hank McCutcheon. After participating in several key missions, he was killed when their bomber was shot down over the Soviet city of Blagoveshchensk.

Wu
(BA)

In April 1951 at a ceremony celebrating the reopening of the rail-line through Harbin, a man named Wu approached Vasili Yasevich for ma huang. Feeling uncertain about the stranger, Yasevich told Wu he'd meet him the next day after work. Wu insisted twice that he could go home with Yasevich for the ma huang. When Yasevich told Wu no and insulted him, Wu looked ready to fight so Yasevich reached for the straight razor in his pocket. He didn't have to use the razor; Wu stomped off.

Yakov Benyaminovich
(F)

Yakov Benyaminovich was the dentist in Smidovich. He extracted an infected tooth from Gleb Sukhanov in spring of 1952.

Yitzkhak
(BA)

Yitzkhak was a Jewish resident of Everett, Washington. He'd been born in Eastern Europe, and survived World War II and the Holocaust. He survived the Soviet atomic bombing of the Everett-Seattle area on March 2, 1951. He was reunited with friends Fayvl Tabakman and Moishe in a refugee camp some weeks after the bombing. All three had definite opinions of Stalin.

He and Fayvl didn't care for camp life but acknowledged the food was better and more plentiful than those in Nazi and Soviet camps. Nor were they being worked to death. Their stories of previous hardships both fascinated and horrified Marian Staley, who realized she was just a comfortable American.