The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 1 The Alaska-Siberia Connection The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 2 The Alaska-Siberia Connection The World War II Air Route By Otis Hays, Jr. Texas A& M University Press College Station The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 3 Copyright (c) 1996 by Otis E. Hays, Jr. Manufactured in the United States of America All rights reserved First edition The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48-1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability. Maps provided by Cartographic Service Unit of the Department of Geography at Texas A& M University Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hays, Otis, 1915- The Alaska-Siberia connection : the World War II air route / by Otis Hays, Jr. p. cm. — (Texas A & M University military history series ; 48) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-89096-711-3 1. World War, 1939-1945—Aerial operations, American. 2. World War, 1939-1945—Aerial operations, Soviet. 3. World War, 1939-1945— Transportation. I. Title. II. Series. D790.H3895 1996 940.54’4973—dc20 96-17489 CIP The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 4 For my cheerleaders, Sonny and Patricia and Judy and Gordon The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 5 Contents List of Illustrations Preface Chapter 1. Connection and Disconnection 2. Reconnection by Air 3. ALSIB Route Plans 4. ALSIB Route at Last! 5. Face-to-Face 6. The Invisible Barrier 7. Aircraft Quantity and Quality 8. Winds of Change 9. The End in Sight 10. Disconnection, Again Postscript Notes Appendix A. Aircraft Deliveries via ALSIB Appendix B. Soviet Personnel in Alaska Bibliography The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 6 Illustrations PBYflying boat Capt. Roman Pokrovsky inspects insignia Lt. Elena Makarova Lt. Natasha Fenelonova Capt. Louis Klam and Capt. Peter Gamov Col. Michael Machin Col. Peter Kiselev Brigadier General Gaffney with Colonel Vasin Officers assigned to I&I Russian section Nome liaison office Snowball fight at Ladd Field Officers meet in Nome Vice President Henry Wallace P-63 fighters Soviet personnel at Fairbanks ALSIB reunion The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 7 Maps Russian/Soviet Air and Railroad Routes Northwest Route to Alaska The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 8 Preface Two hundred years after Vitus Bering made his Siberian connection with Alaska in 1741, the German inva- sion of the Soviet Union in 1941 set the stage for a renewed Alaska-Siberian connection during World War II. An expansion of the U.S. Lend-Lease program held together an unlikely Soviet-American alliance. Various seaborne and airborne routes funneled vast amounts of Lend-Lease supplies and military equipment, includ- ing aircraft, to the embattled Soviet Union (chap. 3). The Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) Air Ferry Route 1 was one of the funnels. Fifty-six percent of the Lend-Lease aircraft that reached the Soviet Union war front flew over the ALSIB route in 1942-45.2 The Army Air Force’s Air Transport Command ferried factory-new airplanes from Great Falls, Montana, across Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska, over the Northwest Staging Route.3Red Air Force pilots with the Soviet Military Mission at Fairbanks began the relay of the aircraft from Alaska across Siberia. In 1942-43, the relationship between Americans and Soviets in Alaska presented challenges to build and maintain confidence of one for the other. Unforeseen problems were frequent. Although liaison personnel were fluent in each other’s languages and dedicated, misunderstandings could and did occur. Undercurrents of suspicion were always present. Later, secrecy and rumors of intrigue clouded the story of the three-year Alaska-Siberian aerial reconnection. However, progressive international cooperation ensured the success of the ALSIB route’s mission. American and Soviet airmen shared subarctic flying hazards in which men died. They surmounted most of the divisive language and cultural barriers. They refused to allow mutual mistrust overwhelm them.4 As a member of the Alaska Defense Command’s military intelligence staff and as supervisor responsible for Soviet liaison activities, I was aware of the ALSIB story as it unfolded. Most of the Alaska-Siberian reconnection story, from the ALSIB route’s birth to its development into an effective Soviet-American Lend-Lease delivery system, came from three main sources of primary informa- tion: military intelligence files, liaison officers’recollections, and Russian contributors. Asearch of the National Archives records located the Alaska Defense Command/Alaskan Department’s 1943- 45 weekly military intelligence (G-2) reports. Specialized annexes were integral parts of many of these intel- ligence documents. One group of annexes contained “Russian Information Reports” from Nome and Fairbanks, Alaska. 5 Another group of annexes addressed either “USSR Personnel” or “Foreign Liaison (Russia).’’6 Former American liaison officers who served at Fairbanks and Nome provided a second body of essential information, their reminiscences furnishing many details not previously available. They included George G. Kisevalter of McLean, Virginia, the first chief liaison officer at Fairbanks, in 1943-44; Michael B. Gavrisheff of Silver Spring, Maryland, liaison officer (later chief liaison officer) at Fairbanks, 1943-45; David Chavchavadze of Washington, D.C., interpreter at Fairbanks, 1943-44, field-commissioned to become liaison officer at Fairbanks, 1944-45; and Igor A. Gubert of Oakland, California, liaison officer-in-charge at Nome, 1943-45. The Alaska-Siberia Connection Page 9 Russian sources made other valuable contributions to the story. Among the contributors were Elena Makarova, Peter Gamov, Victor Perov, and Aleksandr Kotgarov, all members of the ALSIB section of the Soviet War Veterans Committee in Moscow, Russia; Silvio Sclocchini of Irkutsk, Siberia; and the editors of Soviet Life and Russian Life in Washington, D.C. In addition, valuable reminiscences, photographs, assistance, or encouragement came from Adm. James B. Russell, USN-Retired, Tacoma, Washington; from several Alaskans, including John H. Cloe, Chief of History, Eleventh Air Force, Elmendorf Air Force Base; Edward J. Fortier, retired executive editor,Alaska magazine, Anchorage; Richard R. Hoopes, Randy and Marion Acord, and L. D. (“Corky”) Corkran, Interior and Arctic Alaska Aeronautical Foundation, Fairbanks; Edward A. Long, Fairbanks; Robert N. DeArmond, Juneau; Kay Shelton and the staff of the Alaska Historical Library, Juneau; and from Joseph Kerns, Tucson, Arizona; James A. Ryan, Bakersville, California; Louis B. Klam, Warner Robins, Georgia; Cecelia and Theodore Suchecki, Milton, Massachusetts; Hans-Heiri Stapfer, Horgan, Switzerland; Michael Schneider, Washington, D.C.; and Cindy Frazier and her library staff, Monett, Missouri.