Code Name Apple

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: My code name is I Don't Own Castle. Rating: K Time: The year 1919, mostly.

January 8, 1919. The Baltic Sea.

"Welcome aboard HMS Caledon, Captain Castle." The Royal Navy Sub-Lieutenant said. "Follow me, please. Admiral Cowan is anxious to meet you."

Lieutenant Commander Richard Castle, US Navy, called a captain since he commanded a warship, was happy to get out of the driving sleet and snow and onto the deck of the cruiser. At least now he was out of the wind.

Normally he would have wanted to stop and look around at HMS Caledon. It was one of the Royal Navy's newest light cruisers. It mounted five 6-inch guns, two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two sets of four 21- inch torpedo tubes on a normal displacement of some 4300 tons. All together she was far more impressive than his own destroyer. The Royal Navy's Baltic squadron had another such cruiser, HMS Royalist and a flotilla of some eight or nine modern V and W Class destroyers.

He was led to a passageway which while cold, was both out of the wind and out of the sleet and snow. He was led through passageways and up ladders until he got to Admiral Cowan's office. An enlisted sailor sat at a desk outside the admiral's office.

"Please, Captain Castle. Go right in. The admiral is anxious to meet you."

Castle decided it would be polite to knock and heard a cheerful, "Come on in, Captain."

Castle was unsure of how to report to Admiral Cowan, so he saluted and introduced himself.

"Lieutenant Commander Richard Castle, commanding USS Thomas Ford, sir."

Cowan smiled at him.

"I know who you are, but I suppose I should introduce myself as well. I'm Admiral Sir Walter Cowan, commanding the Royal Navy's First Light Cruiser Squadron and all Royal Navy units in the Baltic Sea."

Cowan took a long look at Castle.

"Dear me, Captain. You're soaked. Here, let me have your overcoat and hat. I'll turn the heat up as well."

For several minutes Cowan busied himself taking care of Castle.

"I think, Captain Castle, that a nice mug of Royal Navy cocoa with a tot of pusser's rum in it is what we need now. Oh, yes, I know the US Navy is dry, but the Royal Navy certainly isn't." He raised his voice. "Fredericks, two cocoas with a bit of rum in them, if you please."

In seconds a white coated steward came in with the two mugs. Castle tasted his and decided that the size of a Royal Navy tot must be quite large indeed.

"Now, you're probably interested in why I invited you here?"

"I am, sir."

"There are other American warships in the Baltic, three destroyers to be exact. They're supporting the American Relief Administration, providing food aid to Eastern and Central Europe. Their orders pretty much limit them to assisting and protecting American merchant ships providing foodstuffs. Your orders are a bit different."

Cowan took some papers off of his desk.

"Your Navy Department was kind enough to send a copy of your orders to our Admiralty and they sent a copy to me. Your orders are to assist the Relief Administration, if necessary. However, you're also tasked with obtaining intelligence concerning the entire Baltic Sea area. Quite a job for one rather junior officer with one ship at his command."

Castle had to agree with him.

"That's true, sir. But because of the late World War and the resultant upheavals in Europe, the US has virtually no diplomatic representation in the area. Our only full embassy is in Sweden. I was told to contact the embassy and the naval attaché's office, but the naval officers were elsewhere, and the ambassador could only tell me that things were very complicated."

Castle did not add that Ambassador Peabody was not at all helpful. He seemed to resent the Navy being involved in what he obviously thought was the State Department's business.

"Perhaps I can fill in a few things?" Cowan said helpfully.

"I'd appreciate it, sir."

"First off are the Russians. They come in two types, at least as far as the Baltic is concerned. There are the Reds, also referred to as the Bolsheviks or the Communists. They want to spread their revolution worldwide, and by gunpoint. Opposing them are the White Russians, a catch all for all manner of people who oppose the Reds. Some are diehard monarchists who want to restore the Czars, and some are various kinds of socialists, democrats and others who want a different, more liberal kind of Russia. There are also nationalists of various kinds who want out of Russia completely. We'll get to them in a bit. While the White Russians are numerous, they are divided politically. The Reds are not at all divided."

"Next, we have the Germans, who are here in three types. There's the old Imperial German Army, although Germany is now a republic. But that army overran the southern Baltic coast of Russia back in 1917 or so. Their plan in '17 was to set up a Baltic Duchy that would be part of the German Empire. That idea collapsed when the Kaiser abdicated, and the Germans surrendered. Regrettably, the German army is still a power in the Baltics under a fellow named General von der Goltz. The Allies wish to keep the Reds from overrunning the new Baltic nations that are emerging, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland to the north. Consequently, the Allied Control Commission which supervises the armistice with Germany has allowed the German army to stay to keep the Reds out. However, the Germans are doing their best to set up pro-German governments here."

"Secondly, there are the Freikorps, usually translated as a free corps, or more properly as a volunteer corps. Most are paid, equipped and armed by the regular German army, but a few are independent. A very few are little better than criminal gangs."

"Lastly, are the Baltic Germans. Germans have been settling in the east for seven or eight hundred years. They are a small minority in the Baltic regions, but they are an educated and wealthy elite. While Russia ran the Baltics as they have for several hundred years, the Baltic Germans considered themselves good Russians. It wasn't until the German Army overran everything that they remembered they were Germans. They've been trying to set up pro-German governments with little success."

"Then there are the Baltic peoples themselves. Until the war Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were provinces of Russia. Finland was a bit different as it was a grand duchy, but the Grand Duke was the Czar of Russia, however, they had a tiny bit more freedom than the rest of Russia."

"The four Baltic nations have declared independence, but there are both nationalists and communists among them."

"Everybody seems to fight everyone else."

"Lastly, I suppose are the wartime allies. My ships were sent here to support the Baltic nations and keep out the Reds. In addition to sea power, the Royal Navy has provided weapons, ammunition and other material aid. There's a French flotilla here as well, but the political left is strong in France and the government of France doesn't want to upset their own left by attacking the so-called workers' state."

Castle tried to take this all in.

"As I was told, it's very complex."

"There's one more item in your orders that I'm interested in. They say you should cooperate with the allied and associated powers to secure intelligence or in any other manner as long as it's in the interests of the US government. That's a rather vague order. What do you make of it?"

Castle knew what it meant, and he was sure that the admiral did as well. It was the sort of order a higher headquarters issued when they wanted to be seen to be doing something in a crisis but didn't really know what to do. If Castle did something and it turned out well, then headquarters could claim some credit for giving him free rein. If Castle did something and it turned out disastrously, headquarters could point to the order and truthfully say they had not authorized Castle to do what he did. He was not about to admit that to an admiral of another navy.

"It's a vague order, sir." He said.

"Mine are vague as well, I fear. However, I believe we can help each other out."

"In what way, sir?"

"We have an intelligence agent, code name Apple, in Latvia. Our agent runs a whole string of people going all the way from Petrograd, the Russian capital, to the eastern part of Germany. Apple has a great deal of intelligence and no way to get it to me."

"Why not?" Castle asked.

"Apple is in the town of Pribau, a port on the coast of Latvia. The town isn't occupied by any of the contending forces but is surrounded by them. To the east is a brigade of Red troops. Not much of a brigade. It has perhaps a thousand men all together and a half a dozen light artillery pieces. Thanks to the Reds having shot or chased away most of their officers, they're not well led."

"To the southeast is a Latvian nationalist division. Perhaps three thousand troops, but lightly equipped, with little artillery. Their troops are raw recruits and most of their officers are green as well. They're well motivated but have little else going for them."

"To the southwest is a White Russian unit. Mostly cavalry led by a Cossack general named Orlov. He hates the Reds, the Germans and the Latvians and pretty much everyone else. He does have some artillery, but not much."

"To the west is Assault Regiment von Bohlen, a Freikorps unit. Von Bohlen may be getting support from the regular German army, but he's just looking for a chance to set himself up as a petty warlord. He has about eight hundred veteran infantrymen, well supplied with machine guns and trench mortars. He also has a dozen or more guns, plus an armored train. He has a small cavalry detachment, less than one hundred men, recruited from the local Baltic Germans. They're on their home ground and know the area well. He also has some airplanes."

"Why doesn't one side or the other occupy Pribau?" Castle asked.

"Each worry that if they took Pribau the other three could surround them and cut them off from further supplies. We could supply the Latvians, but they seem to be too disorganized to realize that or do anything about that."

"Why not send your own people to pull this Apple out?" Castle wondered.

"The Royal Navy is not popular with the Germans or the Reds. Orlov, the White Russian, hates us for supporting the independence of the Baltic states. He wants them back as part of Russia. Each side does have some agents in Pribau and even send the occasional small patrols into the town, usually at night. If we sent in a Royal Navy officer, even with a small bodyguard, they could be assassinated. A larger force would likely cause several of the combatants to assume we're trying to take the town and attack."

Cowan smiled at Rick.

"However, an American officer, with a few men, could walk in safely. You American's are very popular due to Mr. Hoover's food program. And if you get Apple out safely, I'll see that you get all of the intelligence we get."

"How would this American officer find Apple?"

"There's a small pier at Pribau's harbor and one public house, what you Americans call a saloon, on the pier. When you go in, Apple will contact you, making small talk at first, then Apple will say, "I wish I had an apple." You'll reply with, "My country has many fine apples."

Castle wasn't sure it would be as easy as Admiral Cowan had suggested, but he knew that Cowan had a reputation as a fire-eater. And for that matter, Castle had a reputation for boldness himself.

"I'll go."

TBC