James G
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Post by James G on Oct 31, 2018 20:22:48 GMT
(277)
December 1984: The Western Pacific and Korea
The US Navy’s Pacific Fleet had faced atrocious weather further north off the Soviet Far East and moved southwards in response. Operations under that bitter winter weather were possible yet they were costly where far too many accidents occurred. High-tempo operations by the Pacific Fleet since the start of the war were already taking their toll with further accidents occurring due to tired personnel and also overused equipment. Moving southwards gave the US Navy the time to ease off – not cease – their operations. No longer would they be striking at the Soviet coastline yet they were active still over the Korean Peninsula and increasingly above the edges of China too. The plan was to go back north next year to attack the Soviets again. Plenty of damage had been done up there and there was the real fact that targets were running out. The Chinese nuclear destruction of Vladivostok only added to that. By the Spring, it was hoped that the US Navy would have something new to shoot at when their opponents used the opportunity to bring in new forces ready to be lined up for American attention.
The aircraft carriers USS Kitty Hawk first and then afterwards the USS Ranger made short visits to Yokosuka naval base with each aiming to leave again once January came. Not dry-docked but tied up in sheltered waters, urgent work was done on these two carriers that couldn’t be done while out in the open sea. Other vessels made stops in Yokosuka too while a few more went to either the distant Pearl Harbour or the closer Subic Bay. Two more of the American’s carriers, USS Constellation and USS Enterprise, remained at sea with their battle groups through December. Each of them faced the continued risk of coming under attack like others in the Pacific Fleet had earlier in the war and the Atlantic Fleet’s carriers were still seeing. They stayed mobile and on alert at all times, confident on the face of it that such attacks could be defeated though always moving about in unpredictable manners to avoid those. The Constellation was joined by the Enterprise (free of its Kamchatka mission) which moved in to support the other and the two of them operated in the Tsushima Straits and the East China Sea with aircraft from them ranging north and west. North Korean and Soviet air and naval forces were engaged and there came strikes made over land as well. Soviet encroachment along the Chinese coast took up more and more importance. The carrier’s air wings were diverted from Korean operations to give an increase in focus over China and its waters as the month wore on. The Soviets had airbases on Chinese soil and countered US Navy air operations when possible. Aerial combat in the cold skies went on and if the losers of those survived the clashes in the air, they faced an uncertain fate coming down over land of water anywhere in the region with the Yellow Sea being certainly the most-lethal place to land atop.
The fighting in the East China Sea drew in the forces of other members of the Allies too. The Soviets had some submarines present but no surface forces. It was what they had on land, through occupied portions of China, which America’s allies fought against: plenty of aircraft which ranged far out. Australia and New Zealand sent ships to join those of Japan in either directly supporting the carrier operations or taking part in rear area missions. War still raged in Japan’s skies – having eased off some but not finished – and over in South Korea. Neither of those showed any sign of coming to a stop at any time soon, the fight in the Korean Peninsula especially. With the Soviets operating their aircraft from China too, this put them on the exposed flank of the fight that the Allies had there. This meant that ideas at the top of the US Government, which the US Navy opposed, to detach one or even two Pacific Fleet carriers (the Kitty Hawk and the Ranger) and send them all the way across the Pacific, round the bottom of South America and then up into the North Atlantic didn’t come to fruition. It would be a long journey for them, all the time while out of action, and the fight in East Asia was only getting bigger for the US Navy. The carriers would be staying with the Pacific Fleet; the Atlantic Fleet would just have to make do with what little it had left.
The entry of (relatively) small but capable Soviet forces to the fight in South Korea had brought about serious change there. The Seoul Pocket had been reformed and that Australian-led commonwealth force, alongside South Korean forces, had taken a beating at their hands. The Soviets had eventually come to a stop in their advance, linking up with large numbers of North Korean infantry who’d been unable to do anything without any real fire support and mobility when so far inside South Korea. Before that additional support could benefit the North Koreans on another attack, the Americans and South Koreans attacked them. Tired men fought in terrible weather, striking forwards with all that they had under orders to do so. The time wasn’t right for this but it was something that needed to be done. Much of the South Korean First Army along with the Eighth United States Army – with US Marines attached – were thrown into the fight to the south and east of Seoul.
The Geneva Agreement on the no further use of chemical weapons covered the Korean Peninsula yet the United States didn’t consider White Phosphorus (WP) to be a chemical weapon. It was officially used for marking targets and signalling artillery strikes. The fact that as an incendiary weapon it was lethal to humans was something different. Back during the First Korean War in the early Fifties, North Korean forces had then been attacked with WP and suffered horribly. The sons of those men, sent into South Korea during another ‘liberation’, faced the same. The burns and the choking left thousands maimed and thousands more to die gruesome deaths. WP was employed on multiple occasions ahead of Allied attacks along with napalm and conventional weapons. US Marines used plenty of it, breaking up what were in effect human wave attacks against them by the North Koreans when machine guns and artillery just wouldn’t stop them. WP did though.
For several weeks, the North Koreans were pounded. Allied forces took heavy loses alongside those they fought through. The gains didn’t seem worth it to those on the ground in the fight as their morale plummeted being forced to attack in terrible weather against an enemy which while they could overcome, always seem to have more men to throw into the next line of defences. From afar though, the advance was deemed to be worthwhile. The collapse of the North Koreans was noted as huge holes were torn in their lines which armour poured through to break them up into pockets to be taken on individually. Observations were made of the Soviets too with their pair of motor rifle divisions assigned to the Sixty–Eighth Army Corps. They stayed still while this happened, not intervening. Questions were asked by the Americans and the South Koreans as to what they were doing. Were they waiting to strike in a counterattack? Were they waiting in a defensive role? Were they even aware of the war all around them? No one knew. The Soviets then went back north, going over the River Namhan, an upper tributary of the bigger lower Han River. The withdrawal was done quickly and under air cover. The Allies were taken by surprise at such a thing, wondering why this had been done. Soviet forces don’t withdraw ahead of battle!
They had done so but only to go on the attack several days later. The Sixty–Eighth Corps went southeast along the other side of the Namhan – following its course upstream, not down towards Seoul – and opening up the flank of the Eighth US Army. American and South Korean troops under command scrambled to react, tied up as they were with the North Koreans. Finally, a major engagement took place and the Soviets did come to a stop. Most of a South Korean mechanised division and a portion of the US Army’s 7th Infantry Division fought themselves in a serious fight with the Soviets. They stopped that advance by crossing the river themselves at multiple points down its length ahead of and into the sides of the Soviets, forcing them to stop going forward and fight in a slower battle where the defenders – being the Allies – had the advantage in that. This had been done to the North Koreans before and was now done to the Soviets on the battlefields of South Korea. It had robbed both opponents each time of their momentum in attack and forced them into a fight on ground not of their choosing. It cost many lives though for those striking like this. But it stopped the Soviets and their outflanking advance came to an end. They’d been pretty clever but not enough.
Soviet direct ground intervention wasn’t going to win the war in South Korea unless it was significantly larger than it was: impossible due to the China War still ongoing. They’d hurt Allied forces greatly in both November and December too with what they had sent yet not won the fight here. As to the North Koreans, they were beaten. However, a tremendous amount of South Korean soil was still in enemy hands and behind the lines the horrors of the ‘liberation’ inflicted upon the country continued. As was the case across in China, the war on the Korean Peninsula would keep going while that remained the case and the Allies were still able to fight here. That they did, into 1985.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Nov 1, 2018 4:10:25 GMT
(277)December 1984: The Western Pacific and Korea The US Navy’s Pacific Fleet had faced atrocious weather further north off the Soviet Far East and moved southwards in response. Operations under that bitter winter weather were possible yet they were costly where far too many accidents occurred. High-tempo operations by the Pacific Fleet since the start of the war were already taking their toll with further accidents occurring due to tired personnel and also overused equipment. Moving southwards gave the US Navy the time to ease off – not cease – their operations. No longer would they be striking at the Soviet coastline yet they were active still over the Korean Peninsula and increasingly above the edges of China too. The plan was to go back north next year to attack the Soviets again. Plenty of damage had been done up there and there was the real fact that targets were running out. The Chinese nuclear destruction of Vladivostok only added to that. By the Spring, it was hoped that the US Navy would have something new to shoot at when their opponents used the opportunity to bring in new forces ready to be lined up for American attention. The aircraft carriers USS Kitty Hawk first and then afterwards the USS Ranger made short visits to Yokosuka naval base with each aiming to leave again once January came. Not dry-docked but tied up in sheltered waters, urgent work was done on these two carriers that couldn’t be done while out in the open sea. Other vessels made stops in Yokosuka too while a few more went to either the distant Pearl Harbour or the closer Subic Bay. Two more of the American’s carriers, USS Constellation and USS Enterprise, remained at sea with their battle groups through December. Each of them faced the continued risk of coming under attack like others in the Pacific Fleet had earlier in the war and the Atlantic Fleet’s carriers were still seeing. They stayed mobile and on alert at all times, confident on the face of it that such attacks could be defeated though always moving about in unpredictable manners to avoid those. The Constellation was joined by the Enterprise (free of its Kamchatka mission) which moved in to support the other and the two of them operated in the Tsushima Straits and the East China Sea with aircraft from them ranging north and west. North Korean and Soviet air and naval forces were engaged and there came strikes made over land as well. Soviet encroachment along the Chinese coast took up more and more importance. The carrier’s air wings were diverted from Korean operations to give an increase in focus over China and its waters as the month wore on. The Soviets had airbases on Chinese soil and countered US Navy air operations when possible. Aerial combat in the cold skies went on and if the losers of those survived the clashes in the air, they faced an uncertain fate coming down over land of water anywhere in the region with the Yellow Sea being certainly the most-lethal place to land atop. The fighting in the East China Sea drew in the forces of other members of the Allies too. The Soviets had some submarines present but no surface forces. It was what they had on land, through occupied portions of China, which America’s allies fought against: plenty of aircraft which ranged far out. Australia and New Zealand sent ships to join those of Japan in either directly supporting the carrier operations or taking part in rear area missions. War still raged in Japan’s skies – having eased off some but not finished – and over in South Korea. Neither of those showed any sign of coming to a stop at any time soon, the fight in the Korean Peninsula especially. With the Soviets operating their aircraft from China too, this put them on the exposed flank of the fight that the Allies had there. This meant that ideas at the top of the US Government, which the US Navy opposed, to detach one or even two Pacific Fleet carriers (the Kitty Hawk and the Ranger) and send them all the way across the Pacific, round the bottom of South America and then up into the North Atlantic didn’t come to fruition. It would be a long journey for them, all the time while out of action, and the fight in East Asia was only getting bigger for the US Navy. The carriers would be staying with the Pacific Fleet; the Atlantic Fleet would just have to make do with what little it had left. The entry of (relatively) small but capable Soviet forces to the fight in South Korea had brought about serious change there. The Seoul Pocket had been reformed and that Australian-led commonwealth force, alongside South Korean forces, had taken a beating at their hands. The Soviets had eventually come to a stop in their advance, linking up with large numbers of North Korean infantry who’d been unable to do anything without any real fire support and mobility when so far inside South Korea. Before that additional support could benefit the North Koreans on another attack, the Americans and South Koreans attacked them. Tired men fought in terrible weather, striking forwards with all that they had under orders to do so. The time wasn’t right for this but it was something that needed to be done. Much of the South Korean First Army along with the Eighth United States Army – with US Marines attached – were thrown into the fight to the south and east of Seoul. The Geneva Agreement on the no further use of chemical weapons covered the Korean Peninsula yet the United States didn’t consider White Phosphorus (WP) to be a chemical weapon. It was officially used for marking targets and signalling artillery strikes. The fact that as an incendiary weapon it was lethal to humans was something different. Back during the First Korean War in the early Fifties, North Korean forces had then been attacked with WP and suffered horribly. The sons of those men, sent into South Korea during another ‘liberation’, faced the same. The burns and the choking left thousands maimed and thousands more to die gruesome deaths. WP was employed on multiple occasions ahead of Allied attacks along with napalm and conventional weapons. US Marines used plenty of it, breaking up what were in effect human wave attacks against them by the North Koreans when machine guns and artillery just wouldn’t stop them. WP did though. For several weeks, the North Koreans were pounded. Allied forces took heavy loses alongside those they fought through. The gains didn’t seem worth it to those on the ground in the fight as their morale plummeted being forced to attack in terrible weather against an enemy which while they could overcome, always seem to have more men to throw into the next line of defences. From afar though, the advance was deemed to be worthwhile. The collapse of the North Koreans was noted as huge holes were torn in their lines which armour poured through to break them up into pockets to be taken on individually. Observations were made of the Soviets too with their pair of motor rifle divisions assigned to the Sixty–Eighth Army Corps. They stayed still while this happened, not intervening. Questions were asked by the Americans and the South Koreans as to what they were doing. Were they waiting to strike in a counterattack? Were they waiting in a defensive role? Were they even aware of the war all around them? No one knew. The Soviets then went back north, going over the River Namhan, an upper tributary of the bigger lower Han River. The withdrawal was done quickly and under air cover. The Allies were taken by surprise at such a thing, wondering why this had been done. Soviet forces don’t withdraw ahead of battle! They had done so but only to go on the attack several days later. The Sixty–Eighth Corps went southeast along the other side of the Namhan – following its course upstream, not down towards Seoul – and opening up the flank of the Eighth US Army. American and South Korean troops under command scrambled to react, tied up as they were with the North Koreans. Finally, a major engagement took place and the Soviets did come to a stop. Most of a South Korean mechanised division and a portion of the US Army’s 7th Infantry Division fought themselves in a serious fight with the Soviets. They stopped that advance by crossing the river themselves at multiple points down its length ahead of and into the sides of the Soviets, forcing them to stop going forward and fight in a slower battle where the defenders – being the Allies – had the advantage in that. This had been done to the North Koreans before and was now done to the Soviets on the battlefields of South Korea. It had robbed both opponents each time of their momentum in attack and forced them into a fight on ground not of their choosing. It cost many lives though for those striking like this. But it stopped the Soviets and their outflanking advance came to an end. They’d been pretty clever but not enough. Soviet direct ground intervention wasn’t going to win the war in South Korea unless it was significantly larger than it was: impossible due to the China War still ongoing. They’d hurt Allied forces greatly in both November and December too with what they had sent yet not won the fight here. As to the North Koreans, they were beaten. However, a tremendous amount of South Korean soil was still in enemy hands and behind the lines the horrors of the ‘liberation’ inflicted upon the country continued. As was the case across in China, the war on the Korean Peninsula would keep going while that remained the case and the Allies were still able to fight here. That they did, into 1985. Another great update James. |
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stevep
Fleet admiral
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Post by stevep on Nov 1, 2018 9:31:11 GMT
Good to hear about the impracticality of the thermobarics bombs over Britain being impractical, at least for the near future and hopefully that will be long enough. Does sound like China's in for another battering,  although they might be less destructive than being hammered by nukes and chemical weapons.
I suspect that Hu will last longer than the Soviet will to continue the war but it could be a close run thing and China's going to be one hell of a mess afterwards. Even if Hu's government collapses I don't rate Taiwanese chances much, especially if its without western support after a Soviet collapse. For one thing having been seen to 'side' with the Soviets their going to be distrusted and for another just a few tactical nukes could screw any military chances they have and I don't think the Taiwanese will have any more certainty than the Soviets that all the CCP weapons are accounted for. At this point I suspect the CCP don't know that either.
Will you be resolving the future of Sweden and of whether some/all the neutral bloc enters the conflict as Luke and me are going in circles at the moment. As I say, much as I would like them to get involved, one way or another, to take some pressure off the allies, it seems unlikely given the current situation and if the Black sea fleet reaches Gibraltar that does suggest their either won decisively in Italy [which seems unlikely] or the bloc is still neutral.
With the volunteers I'm think the primary need is for anything to support the RAF in holding back the Soviet air and naval units in the Atlantic. Not only is Britain itself getting a battering and supplies from further away than Europe probably being virtually impossible cutting reinforcements to N America is important to enable the US to clear its homeland so that it can support its allies on other fronts. As without that or the neutral bloc doing a 180, Britain isn't going to be able to do it on its own and if the Black Sea fleet get active Iberia is going to be in for a rougher time as well.
On the naming a suitable alternative would be acceptable as it would save a lot of hassle. 
As has always been the case with wars in China, these things just go on and on. The country is too big for a limited war for political objectives to win. Should Taiwan take that step, it won't end well for them in the long-term. There remains the good chance of instant sunshine from the Chinese too. I will be returning to Sweden then Gibraltar Straits in about a week / ten days. By the end of this year IRL, all questions will be answered as I plan to finish by that point.
James
Thanks. Last bit is good, finding out what happens and bad [where's my Red Dawn fix!!!]. Will you only go to the end of the main fighting, i.e. with the Soviets or look at the situation after that with moping up, reconstruction and what happens in places like China and possibly Central America where there's going to be damned awful messes?
Steve
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stevep
Fleet admiral
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Post by stevep on Nov 1, 2018 10:07:08 GMT
Good idea for everybody, now let’s get back to discussing the war. I have a question, how long can Hong King survive the flood of refugees who are flooding the crown colony. Not long. A refugee flood of several millions Will be able to bring a medium country to its knees at the best of times and Hong Kong is niether that big nor in a good situation. So massive riots, food shortages and all that stuff. Plus Soviet bombing if they feel like it. Why would the Soviets bomb Hong Kong, there is not military benefit to it. I think by now all of China minus Taiwan is in chaos. It is but weakening the British presence in Asia can't hurt. I think Hong Kong will be in chaos. So many Chinese are seeking safety and they will care not for any obstruction. Some will be armed too. There are British forces there plus local volunteers but they are outnumbered horrible. The people will pour in if not overland then by boat. I think too that the Soviets would have struck there, even at long-range. It is an Allied garrison - with a port and airports - on the mainland of Asia. An attack too will cause the British to consider sending more forces which can only benefit the overall war.
Under the current circumstances I can't see Britain either having the will or the capacity to send aid to the colony. Its a bloody long way away with a lot of hostile or contested sea in the way and Britain currently needs every a/c and warship and MS it has for helping protect the homeland and seeking to block Soviet use of the N Atlantic. Also given the mess in China you would probably need say the entire pre-war BAOR or a similar sized force and to occupy neighbouring areas of China to try and maintain order. Which would not only be expensive but expect hostile reactions from whats left of the Chinese communist and from the Soviets because such a substantial British force might pose a threat.
Even without the massive influx of refugees I would suspect that the colony would be in trouble because most of its trade routes are cut off and with a lot of conflict throughout the region there would be very little chance to import needed supplies via sea.
Possibly some of the SEA powers, including ANZ here for simplicity, as they and Singapore could send some aid depending on how heavily their pressed at sea. [Haven't read the latest update yet so this might have an influence]. Or just possibly Taiwan might see offering protection as a route that could try and gain influence but whether the colonial authorities [and London] would agree to that and what reaction, probably very hostile, the CC would give to such a move.
Frankly if the Soviets had any sense they would probably stop any further land movement in China - if they haven't already but given the reinforcements moving in from other parts of the Asian SU it sounds like their planning further aggressive action. Then just dig in, bombard approaching enemy forces and remaining industrial centres to hurt the remains of the communist state and use rapid firepower to smash any Chinese attacks on what they hold. Probably wouldn't need a lot of the reinforcements their sending to China in those circumstances. However does look like sense and the current regime in Moscow are estranged to put it mildly.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Nov 1, 2018 10:23:01 GMT
(277)December 1984: The Western Pacific and Korea The US Navy’s Pacific Fleet had faced atrocious weather further north off the Soviet Far East and moved southwards in response. Operations under that bitter winter weather were possible yet they were costly where far too many accidents occurred. High-tempo operations by the Pacific Fleet since the start of the war were already taking their toll with further accidents occurring due to tired personnel and also overused equipment. Moving southwards gave the US Navy the time to ease off – not cease – their operations. No longer would they be striking at the Soviet coastline yet they were active still over the Korean Peninsula and increasingly above the edges of China too. The plan was to go back north next year to attack the Soviets again. Plenty of damage had been done up there and there was the real fact that targets were running out. The Chinese nuclear destruction of Vladivostok only added to that. By the Spring, it was hoped that the US Navy would have something new to shoot at when their opponents used the opportunity to bring in new forces ready to be lined up for American attention. The aircraft carriers USS Kitty Hawk first and then afterwards the USS Ranger made short visits to Yokosuka naval base with each aiming to leave again once January came. Not dry-docked but tied up in sheltered waters, urgent work was done on these two carriers that couldn’t be done while out in the open sea. Other vessels made stops in Yokosuka too while a few more went to either the distant Pearl Harbour or the closer Subic Bay. Two more of the American’s carriers, USS Constellation and USS Enterprise, remained at sea with their battle groups through December. Each of them faced the continued risk of coming under attack like others in the Pacific Fleet had earlier in the war and the Atlantic Fleet’s carriers were still seeing. They stayed mobile and on alert at all times, confident on the face of it that such attacks could be defeated though always moving about in unpredictable manners to avoid those. The Constellation was joined by the Enterprise (free of its Kamchatka mission) which moved in to support the other and the two of them operated in the Tsushima Straits and the East China Sea with aircraft from them ranging north and west. North Korean and Soviet air and naval forces were engaged and there came strikes made over land as well. Soviet encroachment along the Chinese coast took up more and more importance. The carrier’s air wings were diverted from Korean operations to give an increase in focus over China and its waters as the month wore on. The Soviets had airbases on Chinese soil and countered US Navy air operations when possible. Aerial combat in the cold skies went on and if the losers of those survived the clashes in the air, they faced an uncertain fate coming down over land of water anywhere in the region with the Yellow Sea being certainly the most-lethal place to land atop. The fighting in the East China Sea drew in the forces of other members of the Allies too. The Soviets had some submarines present but no surface forces. It was what they had on land, through occupied portions of China, which America’s allies fought against: plenty of aircraft which ranged far out. Australia and New Zealand sent ships to join those of Japan in either directly supporting the carrier operations or taking part in rear area missions. War still raged in Japan’s skies – having eased off some but not finished – and over in South Korea. Neither of those showed any sign of coming to a stop at any time soon, the fight in the Korean Peninsula especially. With the Soviets operating their aircraft from China too, this put them on the exposed flank of the fight that the Allies had there. This meant that ideas at the top of the US Government, which the US Navy opposed, to detach one or even two Pacific Fleet carriers (the Kitty Hawk and the Ranger) and send them all the way across the Pacific, round the bottom of South America and then up into the North Atlantic didn’t come to fruition. It would be a long journey for them, all the time while out of action, and the fight in East Asia was only getting bigger for the US Navy. The carriers would be staying with the Pacific Fleet; the Atlantic Fleet would just have to make do with what little it had left. The entry of (relatively) small but capable Soviet forces to the fight in South Korea had brought about serious change there. The Seoul Pocket had been reformed and that Australian-led commonwealth force, alongside South Korean forces, had taken a beating at their hands. The Soviets had eventually come to a stop in their advance, linking up with large numbers of North Korean infantry who’d been unable to do anything without any real fire support and mobility when so far inside South Korea. Before that additional support could benefit the North Koreans on another attack, the Americans and South Koreans attacked them. Tired men fought in terrible weather, striking forwards with all that they had under orders to do so. The time wasn’t right for this but it was something that needed to be done. Much of the South Korean First Army along with the Eighth United States Army – with US Marines attached – were thrown into the fight to the south and east of Seoul. The Geneva Agreement on the no further use of chemical weapons covered the Korean Peninsula yet the United States didn’t consider White Phosphorus (WP) to be a chemical weapon. It was officially used for marking targets and signalling artillery strikes. The fact that as an incendiary weapon it was lethal to humans was something different. Back during the First Korean War in the early Fifties, North Korean forces had then been attacked with WP and suffered horribly. The sons of those men, sent into South Korea during another ‘liberation’, faced the same. The burns and the choking left thousands maimed and thousands more to die gruesome deaths. WP was employed on multiple occasions ahead of Allied attacks along with napalm and conventional weapons. US Marines used plenty of it, breaking up what were in effect human wave attacks against them by the North Koreans when machine guns and artillery just wouldn’t stop them. WP did though. For several weeks, the North Koreans were pounded. Allied forces took heavy loses alongside those they fought through. The gains didn’t seem worth it to those on the ground in the fight as their morale plummeted being forced to attack in terrible weather against an enemy which while they could overcome, always seem to have more men to throw into the next line of defences. From afar though, the advance was deemed to be worthwhile. The collapse of the North Koreans was noted as huge holes were torn in their lines which armour poured through to break them up into pockets to be taken on individually. Observations were made of the Soviets too with their pair of motor rifle divisions assigned to the Sixty–Eighth Army Corps. They stayed still while this happened, not intervening. Questions were asked by the Americans and the South Koreans as to what they were doing. Were they waiting to strike in a counterattack? Were they waiting in a defensive role? Were they even aware of the war all around them? No one knew. The Soviets then went back north, going over the River Namhan, an upper tributary of the bigger lower Han River. The withdrawal was done quickly and under air cover. The Allies were taken by surprise at such a thing, wondering why this had been done. Soviet forces don’t withdraw ahead of battle! They had done so but only to go on the attack several days later. The Sixty–Eighth Corps went southeast along the other side of the Namhan – following its course upstream, not down towards Seoul – and opening up the flank of the Eighth US Army. American and South Korean troops under command scrambled to react, tied up as they were with the North Koreans. Finally, a major engagement took place and the Soviets did come to a stop. Most of a South Korean mechanised division and a portion of the US Army’s 7th Infantry Division fought themselves in a serious fight with the Soviets. They stopped that advance by crossing the river themselves at multiple points down its length ahead of and into the sides of the Soviets, forcing them to stop going forward and fight in a slower battle where the defenders – being the Allies – had the advantage in that. This had been done to the North Koreans before and was now done to the Soviets on the battlefields of South Korea. It had robbed both opponents each time of their momentum in attack and forced them into a fight on ground not of their choosing. It cost many lives though for those striking like this. But it stopped the Soviets and their outflanking advance came to an end. They’d been pretty clever but not enough. Soviet direct ground intervention wasn’t going to win the war in South Korea unless it was significantly larger than it was: impossible due to the China War still ongoing. They’d hurt Allied forces greatly in both November and December too with what they had sent yet not won the fight here. As to the North Koreans, they were beaten. However, a tremendous amount of South Korean soil was still in enemy hands and behind the lines the horrors of the ‘liberation’ inflicted upon the country continued. As was the case across in China, the war on the Korean Peninsula would keep going while that remained the case and the Allies were still able to fight here. That they did, into 1985.
Ouch Korea is a mess. I didn't realise that the communists still held so much of it as thought that most of them had been defeated and driven back/destroyed before the Soviet intervention. Thought the Soviets also had a lot of forces from parts of Asia still heading for the China theatre but possibly their already there? China sounds like the disaster that keeps on giving death and devastation for all involved there.
If the USN did have the chance to move carriers from the Pacific would it be better moving through the Indian Ocean and around Good Hope? Don't think there's a lot of hostile forces in the Indian Ocean and Good Hope is better for passage than the Horn I would have thought? Sounds like its not going to happen for the moment and any ships involved would be out of the war for a while but given that the primary threat to the US is in the Atlantic I can understand why Washington would be thinking about it and the middle of winter, when there's limits to what they can do in the north might be the best time for such a redeployment.
Can see the Soviets objecting to the use of WP and napalm but they might decide that Korea is included in the Chinese theatre or simply its not worth risking a restarting of the wider chemical question, especially given a lot of their 'allied' troops in N America are poorly protected and the ports their going to be landing reinforcements at [they hope anyway] could well be vulnerable.
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Dan
Warrant Officer
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Post by Dan on Nov 1, 2018 12:55:52 GMT
Can see the Soviets objecting to the use of WP and napalm but they might decide that Korea is included in the Chinese theatre or simply its not worth risking a restarting of the wider chemical question, especially given a lot of their 'allied' troops in N America are poorly protected and the ports their going to be landing reinforcements at [they hope anyway] could well be vulnerable. I think you're most of the way there, I think they'd not complain to make sure that no one thinks to add Korea and China to the list of areas where chemical weapons are NOT used. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Nov 1, 2018 21:26:07 GMT
(277)December 1984: The Western Pacific and Korea The US Navy’s Pacific Fleet had faced atrocious weather further north off the Soviet Far East and moved southwards in response. Operations under that bitter winter weather were possible yet they were costly where far too many accidents occurred. High-tempo operations by the Pacific Fleet since the start of the war were already taking their toll with further accidents occurring due to tired personnel and also overused equipment. Moving southwards gave the US Navy the time to ease off – not cease – their operations. No longer would they be striking at the Soviet coastline yet they were active still over the Korean Peninsula and increasingly above the edges of China too. The plan was to go back north next year to attack the Soviets again. Plenty of damage had been done up there and there was the real fact that targets were running out. The Chinese nuclear destruction of Vladivostok only added to that. By the Spring, it was hoped that the US Navy would have something new to shoot at when their opponents used the opportunity to bring in new forces ready to be lined up for American attention. The aircraft carriers USS Kitty Hawk first and then afterwards the USS Ranger made short visits to Yokosuka naval base with each aiming to leave again once January came. Not dry-docked but tied up in sheltered waters, urgent work was done on these two carriers that couldn’t be done while out in the open sea. Other vessels made stops in Yokosuka too while a few more went to either the distant Pearl Harbour or the closer Subic Bay. Two more of the American’s carriers, USS Constellation and USS Enterprise, remained at sea with their battle groups through December. Each of them faced the continued risk of coming under attack like others in the Pacific Fleet had earlier in the war and the Atlantic Fleet’s carriers were still seeing. They stayed mobile and on alert at all times, confident on the face of it that such attacks could be defeated though always moving about in unpredictable manners to avoid those. The Constellation was joined by the Enterprise (free of its Kamchatka mission) which moved in to support the other and the two of them operated in the Tsushima Straits and the East China Sea with aircraft from them ranging north and west. North Korean and Soviet air and naval forces were engaged and there came strikes made over land as well. Soviet encroachment along the Chinese coast took up more and more importance. The carrier’s air wings were diverted from Korean operations to give an increase in focus over China and its waters as the month wore on. The Soviets had airbases on Chinese soil and countered US Navy air operations when possible. Aerial combat in the cold skies went on and if the losers of those survived the clashes in the air, they faced an uncertain fate coming down over land of water anywhere in the region with the Yellow Sea being certainly the most-lethal place to land atop. The fighting in the East China Sea drew in the forces of other members of the Allies too. The Soviets had some submarines present but no surface forces. It was what they had on land, through occupied portions of China, which America’s allies fought against: plenty of aircraft which ranged far out. Australia and New Zealand sent ships to join those of Japan in either directly supporting the carrier operations or taking part in rear area missions. War still raged in Japan’s skies – having eased off some but not finished – and over in South Korea. Neither of those showed any sign of coming to a stop at any time soon, the fight in the Korean Peninsula especially. With the Soviets operating their aircraft from China too, this put them on the exposed flank of the fight that the Allies had there. This meant that ideas at the top of the US Government, which the US Navy opposed, to detach one or even two Pacific Fleet carriers (the Kitty Hawk and the Ranger) and send them all the way across the Pacific, round the bottom of South America and then up into the North Atlantic didn’t come to fruition. It would be a long journey for them, all the time while out of action, and the fight in East Asia was only getting bigger for the US Navy. The carriers would be staying with the Pacific Fleet; the Atlantic Fleet would just have to make do with what little it had left. The entry of (relatively) small but capable Soviet forces to the fight in South Korea had brought about serious change there. The Seoul Pocket had been reformed and that Australian-led commonwealth force, alongside South Korean forces, had taken a beating at their hands. The Soviets had eventually come to a stop in their advance, linking up with large numbers of North Korean infantry who’d been unable to do anything without any real fire support and mobility when so far inside South Korea. Before that additional support could benefit the North Koreans on another attack, the Americans and South Koreans attacked them. Tired men fought in terrible weather, striking forwards with all that they had under orders to do so. The time wasn’t right for this but it was something that needed to be done. Much of the South Korean First Army along with the Eighth United States Army – with US Marines attached – were thrown into the fight to the south and east of Seoul. The Geneva Agreement on the no further use of chemical weapons covered the Korean Peninsula yet the United States didn’t consider White Phosphorus (WP) to be a chemical weapon. It was officially used for marking targets and signalling artillery strikes. The fact that as an incendiary weapon it was lethal to humans was something different. Back during the First Korean War in the early Fifties, North Korean forces had then been attacked with WP and suffered horribly. The sons of those men, sent into South Korea during another ‘liberation’, faced the same. The burns and the choking left thousands maimed and thousands more to die gruesome deaths. WP was employed on multiple occasions ahead of Allied attacks along with napalm and conventional weapons. US Marines used plenty of it, breaking up what were in effect human wave attacks against them by the North Koreans when machine guns and artillery just wouldn’t stop them. WP did though. For several weeks, the North Koreans were pounded. Allied forces took heavy loses alongside those they fought through. The gains didn’t seem worth it to those on the ground in the fight as their morale plummeted being forced to attack in terrible weather against an enemy which while they could overcome, always seem to have more men to throw into the next line of defences. From afar though, the advance was deemed to be worthwhile. The collapse of the North Koreans was noted as huge holes were torn in their lines which armour poured through to break them up into pockets to be taken on individually. Observations were made of the Soviets too with their pair of motor rifle divisions assigned to the Sixty–Eighth Army Corps. They stayed still while this happened, not intervening. Questions were asked by the Americans and the South Koreans as to what they were doing. Were they waiting to strike in a counterattack? Were they waiting in a defensive role? Were they even aware of the war all around them? No one knew. The Soviets then went back north, going over the River Namhan, an upper tributary of the bigger lower Han River. The withdrawal was done quickly and under air cover. The Allies were taken by surprise at such a thing, wondering why this had been done. Soviet forces don’t withdraw ahead of battle! They had done so but only to go on the attack several days later. The Sixty–Eighth Corps went southeast along the other side of the Namhan – following its course upstream, not down towards Seoul – and opening up the flank of the Eighth US Army. American and South Korean troops under command scrambled to react, tied up as they were with the North Koreans. Finally, a major engagement took place and the Soviets did come to a stop. Most of a South Korean mechanised division and a portion of the US Army’s 7th Infantry Division fought themselves in a serious fight with the Soviets. They stopped that advance by crossing the river themselves at multiple points down its length ahead of and into the sides of the Soviets, forcing them to stop going forward and fight in a slower battle where the defenders – being the Allies – had the advantage in that. This had been done to the North Koreans before and was now done to the Soviets on the battlefields of South Korea. It had robbed both opponents each time of their momentum in attack and forced them into a fight on ground not of their choosing. It cost many lives though for those striking like this. But it stopped the Soviets and their outflanking advance came to an end. They’d been pretty clever but not enough. Soviet direct ground intervention wasn’t going to win the war in South Korea unless it was significantly larger than it was: impossible due to the China War still ongoing. They’d hurt Allied forces greatly in both November and December too with what they had sent yet not won the fight here. As to the North Koreans, they were beaten. However, a tremendous amount of South Korean soil was still in enemy hands and behind the lines the horrors of the ‘liberation’ inflicted upon the country continued. As was the case across in China, the war on the Korean Peninsula would keep going while that remained the case and the Allies were still able to fight here. That they did, into 1985. Another great update James. Thank you. More to come.
James
Thanks. Last bit is good, finding out what happens and bad [where's my Red Dawn fix!!!]. Will you only go to the end of the main fighting, i.e. with the Soviets or look at the situation after that with moping up, reconstruction and what happens in places like China and possibly Central America where there's going to be damned awful messes?
Steve
I will finish the war fully in all ways possible. It will be 60-70 updates. Then I will get started on my next story - more war - though as I am not doing it all alone I will have time for side diverts: short ideas I have for flash fiction pieces.
Under the current circumstances I can't see Britain either having the will or the capacity to send aid to the colony. Its a bloody long way away with a lot of hostile or contested sea in the way and Britain currently needs every a/c and warship and MS it has for helping protect the homeland and seeking to block Soviet use of the N Atlantic. Also given the mess in China you would probably need say the entire pre-war BAOR or a similar sized force and to occupy neighbouring areas of China to try and maintain order. Which would not only be expensive but expect hostile reactions from whats left of the Chinese communist and from the Soviets because such a substantial British force might pose a threat.
Even without the massive influx of refugees I would suspect that the colony would be in trouble because most of its trade routes are cut off and with a lot of conflict throughout the region there would be very little chance to import needed supplies via sea.
Possibly some of the SEA powers, including ANZ here for simplicity, as they and Singapore could send some aid depending on how heavily their pressed at sea. [Haven't read the latest update yet so this might have an influence]. Or just possibly Taiwan might see offering protection as a route that could try and gain influence but whether the colonial authorities [and London] would agree to that and what reaction, probably very hostile, the CC would give to such a move.
Frankly if the Soviets had any sense they would probably stop any further land movement in China - if they haven't already but given the reinforcements moving in from other parts of the Asian SU it sounds like their planning further aggressive action. Then just dig in, bombard approaching enemy forces and remaining industrial centres to hurt the remains of the communist state and use rapid firepower to smash any Chinese attacks on what they hold. Probably wouldn't need a lot of the reinforcements their sending to China in those circumstances. However does look like sense and the current regime in Moscow are estranged to put it mildly.
Hong Kong is something that Britain just can't help at the minute. The Five-Power Defence Agreement (UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and NZ) will see maybe some, little help for Hong Kong and Brunei is also in the war. The war in Korea demands more attention for Britain's allies at the moment and neither the US / Japan / South Korea / Philippines can really help. You can bet Taiwan is looking at Hong Kong though Canton did get a nuke early in the war before the Soviets started leaving the coastal regions alone. That would be a good idea for the Soviets when it comes to China. A better idea would never have been getting involved in the first place.
Ouch Korea is a mess. I didn't realise that the communists still held so much of it as thought that most of them had been defeated and driven back/destroyed before the Soviet intervention. Thought the Soviets also had a lot of forces from parts of Asia still heading for the China theatre but possibly their already there? China sounds like the disaster that keeps on giving death and devastation for all involved there.
If the USN did have the chance to move carriers from the Pacific would it be better moving through the Indian Ocean and around Good Hope? Don't think there's a lot of hostile forces in the Indian Ocean and Good Hope is better for passage than the Horn I would have thought? Sounds like its not going to happen for the moment and any ships involved would be out of the war for a while but given that the primary threat to the US is in the Atlantic I can understand why Washington would be thinking about it and the middle of winter, when there's limits to what they can do in the north might be the best time for such a redeployment.
Can see the Soviets objecting to the use of WP and napalm but they might decide that Korea is included in the Chinese theatre or simply its not worth risking a restarting of the wider chemical question, especially given a lot of their 'allied' troops in N America are poorly protected and the ports their going to be landing reinforcements at [they hope anyway] could well be vulnerable.
The North Koreans rammed in hundreds of thousands of men. US nuke strikes tactically on SK soil and up across the border helped to defeat them but that defeat meant smashing them up completely. They are still south of the DMZ. The Soviet transfer is taking time. They formed a group of tank armies with five of them in the end to join the seven inside China, stripping forces from across the country including about half of what was left in the western USSR ready for an Eastern European reinforcement. Some of these have reached China, the rest are on their way. You're correct and I was wrong on the carriers. IF they had gone, the Indian Ocean route would have been better. But they are not going as the Soviets have such a big air presence in China now and that is on the flank of Korea and in fact brings southern Japan plus Okinawa into range so the carriers will stay. The issues for the Soviets with gas was it wasn't working for them on Allied troops after the initial strikes. Stopping the Allies from using it robbed them of an effective weapon which they tore into Moscow's allies with. Legally WP isn't a chemical weapon. In addition, if the Soviets and Allies decided to follow the international laws - correct me if I am wrong - in 1984 those only covered civilians targeted by gas. But then the Geneva thing was a handshake agreement and can be broken at any time. |
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James G
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Post by James G on Nov 1, 2018 21:27:34 GMT
Chapter Nineteen – Settling Scores
(278)
January 1985: The two Californias and Arizona
The armies of Democratic Mexico were on the offensive through Baja California. They moved southwards down the peninsula and also eastwards into the Mexicali Valley. The fight was against those serving in the forces of Revolutionary Mexico: rebels and traitors. The going was hard and slow with an opponent who fought back well yet the Tijuana Government’s forces made good progress. They were only able to do this though due to outside support from the Americans and increasingly the Chileans too. On their own, this would have been an impossible task for Democratic Mexico. The fighting on the peninsula ranging southwards was spearheaded by US Marines with the Mexicans in support. The former used their mobility with helicopters and landing craft to leap-frog down the Pacific coastline yet also strike inland through the mountainous spine. The latter were brought in to deal with stubborn and dug-in enemy forces. It was their country after all and if they wanted it back, they would have to fight for it: such was the position of the Americans on this. From the initial entry point of Ensenada secured last month, the 1st Marine Division reached as far south as San Quintin by the end of January. The coastal plain was favourable to the Americans though the mountains just inland remained hard going for the Mexicans fighting alongside them. There came plenty of air support for the Mexicans who fought their fellow countrymen yet it remained them who had to get up-close-and-personal in slugfests through strongholds. On countless occasions, scores were settled when prisoners serving in the army of Revolutionary Mexico – mostly officers though often common soldiers too – were summarily executed because they were seen as traitors. It was an outrage, a violation of the laws of war. It went on though, a lot. General Pinochet had sent Chilean forces to the United States with the aim of seeing them help liberate American soil – a very calculated move on his part – though they ended up fighting in Mexico instead. A mixed brigade-group of marines and paratroopers (with some light armour) aided Democratic Mexico forces in fighting out of the mountains and into the Mexicali Valley. The Chileans didn’t take on easy tasks but were instead right in the thick of the fighting alongside those fighting Mexico’s foreign-backed communists. Once down out of the mountains, the going got easier. Mexicali next to the US border was bypassed at first as the fertile valley was mission goal. It was taken and a link up made with American forces over on the far side who had retaken Yuma last year and moved from there downwards. The Chileans moved towards the Altar Desert and over where more American forces were on Mexican soil; those Mexicans they had fought alongside turned towards Mexicali. A fight began for control of the ruin of that city, one which would go on into February.
The arrival of the Chileans behind them ready to fight was welcomed by the Americans though they were still waiting on an effective resupply to build upon what they had. Portions of the Sixth US Army held onto the shorelines of the Gulf of California and a stretch of road across the desert running back to Yuma, but they remained incapable of doing anything else for the time being. Some fuel and ammunition had come forwards though nowhere near enough. The 5th Armored Brigade – the pre-war OPFOR Group from Fort Irwin – was eager to carry on with the successful war it was having. The way ahead for them was regarded as being open, all the way to deep into inner parts of Sonora if given the chance. That was not to be though. They were ordered to hold where they were for the time being. Above them in Mexico’s skies, there were some aircraft which aviation enthusiasts would have been very interested in when such planes clashed. Flying from MCAS Yuma now that it was free of the extensive Soviet air presence there earlier in the war, the US Air Force had F-5E Tiger light fighters tasked for the Ninth Air Force’s part-detached air division assigned to operations above Mexico alongside some F-4s and F-16s. These were from an aggressor squadron (similar to what the OPFOR Group had been doing) and were good aircraft flown by men who knew what they were doing; other F-5s in US Air Force service were flying in Arizona, Colorado and South Korea with each coming from aggressor units too. On two different occasions when above the Altar Desert and just over the waters at the top of the Gulf of California, the F-5s met French-built fighters. It was Super Mystères the first time, Ouragans on the second occasion. These were aircraft which had served previously in the air arms of Honduras and El Salvador with each of them having been supplied to those now-fallen regimes by the Israelis after they had previously made such good use of them in conflicts in the Middle East. After the fall of each Central American nation, their aircraft had either been destroyed by those who flew them or taken into Nicaraguan service. It was in Nicaraguan colours though flown by pilots from both those nations forced to serve their new masters in Managua that these aircraft showed up in. The Super Mystères fared better then the Ouragans yet each were taken down by the American aggressor pilots whizzing across Mexican skies and out-preforming their opponents. Post-engagement analysis on the part of the Americans questioned the use of such aircraft. The Nicaraguans and Guatemalans both were known to be almost out of Soviet-supplied MiGs but there had hadn’t been the expectation that such aircraft as what were seen would show up. The Soviets were focused elsewhere, even Cuba’s air force was busy in other theatres. This was of great importance for when the fight eventually moved onwards further into the northern parts of Mexico… when the supplies and reinforcements arrived that was.
In Southern California, war devastation was still widespread and crippling for the Americans as they reestablished control over their liberated soil. The huge Los Angeles Basin was one thing but it was further afield than that. The Imperial Valley had been repeatedly fought over and then there had been that pursuit of defeated & fleeing Cubans into Orange County. San Diego County was another site of much ruin. Ground combat, aerial interdiction and the deliberate sabotage (firstly by the Americans then the Cubans too) had wrecked a wide area. On example of the sabotage would be the Northrop Aircraft site at Hawthorne in Orange County, where those F-5s over Mexico were built. There had been a hasty evacuation from there of important equipment and personnel back in October by the Americans where they got out what they could and destroyed much more. The Cubans had then been all over the site – with the GRU too – when the area was occupied yet when the Americans came back, they found that the already partially-destroyed site had been thoroughly destroyed with complete demolitions by the retreating Cubans. The extent of general war damage was highlighted by a stretch of Interstate-8 which ran east-west across the bottom of the Imperial Valley: aka ‘the highway of death’. There were the wrecks of military vehicles as well as civilian cars all across it, burnt out ruins hit from the air over and over again. Cuban supply columns had been struck by B-52s on bomb runs during the push on San Diego and then during the last stages of Cuba’s fight in California, evacuations had been tried down this same road when parts of the earlier wreckage had been pushed aside only to be hit by more American air attacks when A-10s firing their mini-guns turned up. Bodies, in various states of decomposition, littered the vehicle wrecks yet all along the sides too. The whole area was extremely hazardous to human health and it was only one stretch of Southern California’s major roads vying for that title of ‘highway of death’.
American forces inside Southern California were reorganised though January after the fight had moved out of the state elsewhere. The US Marines were already gone but now the parts of the Sixth Army not in Arizona already moved across there. National guardsmen from the US IV Corps shifted eastwards to join the US I Corps. They left behind the 40th Infantry Division – California’s own guardsmen, the men who ‘had run’ from the first fight in L.A. – along with those two incomplete divisions of the Army of the United States who were now never going to be properly formed. Those volunteers and draftees raised in central and northern California who’d been directed into L.A. in a military police role after only a few months in uniform were staying there for the time being. There wasn’t going to be the entry of 23rd and 49th Infantry Division to the US Army’s order of battle as fully-formed divisions. The city of Los Angeles and the whole of Southern California needed their presence for security duties (the police forces had suffered gravely under foreign occupation) but also the big clean-up too.
Guatemala’s First Army – of three weak divisions plus attachments – held on to parts of Arizona still. If it wasn’t for the geographic factor of the Soviets stretching all up the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains nearly cutting the United States in two, they would have been long go defeated even when the whole mess of the Cubans in California had been going on. They should have been torn apart yet remained where they were along southern reaches of the state next to Mexico and then through eastern portions backing onto the mountains behind them. American forces moved in from California and doubled their ground strength as the majority of the Sixth Army was now in Arizona. The Ninth Air Force transferred aircraft across from California too. This movement of already assigned forces with both the Sixth Army and the Ninth Air Force wasn’t followed by any real reinforcement from outside though nor any big resupply either. Especially until the latter came, the Americans could only make limited offensive strikes against the Guatemalans. This was concentrated around the outskirts of Tucson and down near to the Mexican border. Tucson itself remained beyond the American’s grasp though for now. There were a lot of Mexicans there with the Guatemalans: men not well-trained or organised very well yet greatly armed. When they could, the Americans would retake the city but until then they remained fighting around its edges with raids and aggressive patrolling plus air strikes. US aircraft struck at Davis-Monthan AFB and Libby Army Airfield (next to Fort Huachuca) repeatedly, engaging Soviet air units flying from those sites. Far from helpless in the face of air attacks, which the Guatemalans often were, the Soviets struck back. They put together a big air attack late in January which focused upon Phoenix. All around that city, the US Air Force was using the military airbases and the airports for their own air operations which the Soviets went for along with the McDonnel Douglas military helicopter plant at Mesa too. Soviet fighters engaged American interceptors up high while down low there came waves of attack aircraft on strike missions. Aircraft on both sides went down, many of the Soviet ones from ground fire too coming out of Phoenix. The Ninth Air Force would claim a victory though it was a hard won one. The Soviets lost plenty of aircraft and were unable to achieve mission objectives yet they were hardly defeated in the manner than the Americans claimed either. The air battle which saw over two hundred aircraft ultimately involved in clear daylight skies above chilly but sunny Arizona was quite the sight for anyone on the ground to witness.
Flagstaff Airport in east-central Arizona was another centre of American air operations. It was home to two squadrons of A-7D Corsair attack-fighters (national guard units from Arizona and New Mexico) while not that far to the west, the Ninth Air Force had F-16s at Prescott Valley Airport too. The latter were busy with fighter operations and strikes far into the Rockies though did aid the former when they supported the 81st Infantry Brigade spread across eastern Arizona. Out ahead of those national guardsmen on the frontlines were Green Berets as well as Rangers operating inside occupied territory. A wide area was alive with special forces activity alongside the operations undertaken by guerrillas too. Native American tribal lands as well as mountains and forests were dangerous for the Guatemalans. They were safer at the front. The KGB had some people in those dangerous areas and for many of them, January in Arizona was fatal. They were hunted by the Green Berets for kill or capture missions. A big Rangers strike saw Winslow Airport raided, where the Soviets had Sukhoi-17 multirole attack-fighters, with much damage done to the aircraft there. Then there were the guerrillas. They sought targets of opportunity, often Guatemalan patrols or exposed fortified outposts that allowed the occupation to cover such a huge area. American propaganda was painting quite the picture of ongoing guerrilla activities nationwide though didn’t touch upon what was really going on when it came to the brutality shown by guerrillas to those they encountered. This was especially true with alleged collaborators and traitors which they would shoot when captured, even torture at times. There was a lot of settling of scores among locals. Those who hadn’t ‘taken to the hills’ and stayed behind with their families were accused of working with the occupiers. Some had, yet not willingly nor with malice against their fellow Americans. They did so to survive and because they were scared. They were then killed by their former neighbours. Green Beret teams witnessed this on many occasions when working with guerrillas to collect intelligence and also supply them with captured Soviet weaponry. Sometimes they stepped in to intervene and stop this, other times they looked away. The war behind the frontlines when it came to this was as brutal as it was on them.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Nov 1, 2018 21:45:36 GMT
Chapter Nineteen – Settling Scores(278)January 1985: The two Californias and Arizona The armies of Democratic Mexico were on the offensive through Baja California. They moved southwards down the peninsula and also eastwards into the Mexicali Valley. The fight was against those serving in the forces of Revolutionary Mexico: rebels and traitors. The going was hard and slow with an opponent who fought back well yet the Tijuana Government’s forces made good progress. They were only able to do this though due to outside support from the Americans and increasingly the Chileans too. On their own, this would have been an impossible task for Democratic Mexico. The fighting on the peninsula ranging southwards was spearheaded by US Marines with the Mexicans in support. The former used their mobility with helicopters and landing craft to leap-frog down the Pacific coastline yet also strike inland through the mountainous spine. The latter were brought in to deal with stubborn and dug-in enemy forces. It was their country after all and if they wanted it back, they would have to fight for it: such was the position of the Americans on this. From the initial entry point of Ensenada secured last month, the 1st Marine Division reached as far south as San Quintin by the end of January. The coastal plain was favourable to the Americans though the mountains just inland remained hard going for the Mexicans fighting alongside them. There came plenty of air support for the Mexicans who fought their fellow countrymen yet it remained them who had to get up-close-and-personal in slugfests through strongholds. On countless occasions, scores were settled when prisoners serving in the army of Revolutionary Mexico – mostly officers though often common soldiers too – were summarily executed because they were seen as traitors. It was an outrage, a violation of the laws of war. It went on though, a lot. General Pinochet had sent Chilean forces to the United States with the aim of seeing them help liberate American soil – a very calculated move on his part – though they ended up fighting in Mexico instead. A mixed brigade-group of marines and paratroopers (with some light armour) aided Democratic Mexico forces in fighting out of the mountains and into the Mexicali Valley. The Chileans didn’t take on easy tasks but were instead right in the thick of the fighting alongside those fighting Mexico’s foreign-backed communists. Once down out of the mountains, the going got easier. Mexicali next to the US border was bypassed at first as the fertile valley was mission goal. It was taken and a link up made with American forces over on the far side who had retaken Yuma last year and moved from there downwards. The Chileans moved towards the Altar Desert and over where more American forces were on Mexican soil; those Mexicans they had fought alongside turned towards Mexicali. A fight began for control of the ruin of that city, one which would go on into February. The arrival of the Chileans behind them ready to fight was welcomed by the Americans though they were still waiting on an effective resupply to build upon what they had. Portions of the Sixth US Army held onto the shorelines of the Gulf of California and a stretch of road across the desert running back to Yuma, but they remained incapable of doing anything else for the time being. Some fuel and ammunition had come forwards though nowhere near enough. The 5th Armored Brigade – the pre-war OPFOR Group from Fort Irwin – was eager to carry on with the successful war it was having. The way ahead for them was regarded as being open, all the way to deep into inner parts of Sonora if given the chance. That was not to be though. They were ordered to hold where they were for the time being. Above them in Mexico’s skies, there were some aircraft which aviation enthusiasts would have been very interested in when such planes clashed. Flying from MCAS Yuma now that it was free of the extensive Soviet air presence there earlier in the war, the US Air Force had F-5E Tiger light fighters tasked for the Ninth Air Force’s part-detached air division assigned to operations above Mexico alongside some F-4s and F-16s. These were from an aggressor squadron (similar to what the OPFOR Group had been doing) and were good aircraft flown by men who knew what they were doing; other F-5s in US Air Force service were flying in Arizona, Colorado and South Korea with each coming from aggressor units too. On two different occasions when above the Altar Desert and just over the waters at the top of the Gulf of California, the F-5s met French-built fighters. It was Super Mystères the first time, Ouragans on the second occasion. These were aircraft which had served previously in the air arms of Honduras and El Salvador with each of them having been supplied to those now-fallen regimes by the Israelis after they had previously made such good use of them in conflicts in the Middle East. After the fall of each Central American nation, their aircraft had either been destroyed by those who flew them or taken into Nicaraguan service. It was in Nicaraguan colours though flown by pilots from both those nations forced to serve their new masters in Managua that these aircraft showed up in. The Super Mystères fared better then the Ouragans yet each were taken down by the American aggressor pilots whizzing across Mexican skies and out-preforming their opponents. Post-engagement analysis on the part of the Americans questioned the use of such aircraft. The Nicaraguans and Guatemalans both were known to be almost out of Soviet-supplied MiGs but there had hadn’t been the expectation that such aircraft as what were seen would show up. The Soviets were focused elsewhere, even Cuba’s air force was busy in other theatres. This was of great importance for when the fight eventually moved onwards further into the northern parts of Mexico… when the supplies and reinforcements arrived that was. In Southern California, war devastation was still widespread and crippling for the Americans as they reestablished control over their liberated soil. The huge Los Angeles Basin was one thing but it was further afield than that. The Imperial Valley had been repeatedly fought over and then there had been that pursuit of defeated & fleeing Cubans into Orange County. San Diego County was another site of much ruin. Ground combat, aerial interdiction and the deliberate sabotage (firstly by the Americans then the Cubans too) had wrecked a wide area. On example of the sabotage would be the Northrop Aircraft site at Hawthorne in Orange County, where those F-5s over Mexico were built. There had been a hasty evacuation from there of important equipment and personnel back in October by the Americans where they got out what they could and destroyed much more. The Cubans had then been all over the site – with the GRU too – when the area was occupied yet when the Americans came back, they found that the already partially-destroyed site had been thoroughly destroyed with complete demolitions by the retreating Cubans. The extent of general war damage was highlighted by a stretch of Interstate-8 which ran east-west across the bottom of the Imperial Valley: aka ‘the highway of death’. There were the wrecks of military vehicles as well as civilian cars all across it, burnt out ruins hit from the air over and over again. Cuban supply columns had been struck by B-52s on bomb runs during the push on San Diego and then during the last stages of Cuba’s fight in California, evacuations had been tried down this same road when parts of the earlier wreckage had been pushed aside only to be hit by more American air attacks when A-10s firing their mini-guns turned up. Bodies, in various states of decomposition, littered the vehicle wrecks yet all along the sides too. The whole area was extremely hazardous to human health and it was only one stretch of Southern California’s major roads vying for that title of ‘highway of death’. American forces inside Southern California were reorganised though January after the fight had moved out of the state elsewhere. The US Marines were already gone but now the parts of the Sixth Army not in Arizona already moved across there. National guardsmen from the US IV Corps shifted eastwards to join the US I Corps. They left behind the 40th Infantry Division – California’s own guardsmen, the men who ‘had run’ from the first fight in L.A. – along with those two incomplete divisions of the Army of the United States who were now never going to be properly formed. Those volunteers and draftees raised in central and northern California who’d been directed into L.A. in a military police role after only a few months in uniform were staying there for the time being. There wasn’t going to be the entry of 23rd and 49th Infantry Division to the US Army’s order of battle as fully-formed divisions. The city of Los Angeles and the whole of Southern California needed their presence for security duties (the police forces had suffered gravely under foreign occupation) but also the big clean-up too. Guatemala’s First Army – of three weak divisions plus attachments – held on to parts of Arizona still. If it wasn’t for the geographic factor of the Soviets stretching all up the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains nearly cutting the United States in two, they would have been long go defeated even when the whole mess of the Cubans in California had been going on. They should have been torn apart yet remained where they were along southern reaches of the state next to Mexico and then through eastern portions backing onto the mountains behind them. American forces moved in from California and doubled their ground strength as the majority of the Sixth Army was now in Arizona. The Ninth Air Force transferred aircraft across from California too. This movement of already assigned forces with both the Sixth Army and the Ninth Air Force wasn’t followed by any real reinforcement from outside though nor any big resupply either. Especially until the latter came, the Americans could only make limited offensive strikes against the Guatemalans. This was concentrated around the outskirts of Tucson and down near to the Mexican border. Tucson itself remained beyond the American’s grasp though for now. There were a lot of Mexicans there with the Guatemalans: men not well-trained or organised very well yet greatly armed. When they could, the Americans would retake the city but until then they remained fighting around its edges with raids and aggressive patrolling plus air strikes. US aircraft struck at Davis-Monthan AFB and Libby Army Airfield (next to Fort Huachuca) repeatedly, engaging Soviet air units flying from those sites. Far from helpless in the face of air attacks, which the Guatemalans often were, the Soviets struck back. They put together a big air attack late in January which focused upon Phoenix. All around that city, the US Air Force was using the military airbases and the airports for their own air operations which the Soviets went for along with the McDonnel Douglas military helicopter plant at Mesa too. Soviet fighters engaged American interceptors up high while down low there came waves of attack aircraft on strike missions. Aircraft on both sides went down, many of the Soviet ones from ground fire too coming out of Phoenix. The Ninth Air Force would claim a victory though it was a hard won one. The Soviets lost plenty of aircraft and were unable to achieve mission objectives yet they were hardly defeated in the manner than the Americans claimed either. The air battle which saw over two hundred aircraft ultimately involved in clear daylight skies above chilly but sunny Arizona was quite the sight for anyone on the ground to witness. Flagstaff Airport in east-central Arizona was another centre of American air operations. It was home to two squadrons of A-7D Corsair attack-fighters (national guard units from Arizona and New Mexico) while not that far to the west, the Ninth Air Force had F-16s at Prescott Valley Airport too. The latter were busy with fighter operations and strikes far into the Rockies though did aid the former when they supported the 81st Infantry Brigade spread across eastern Arizona. Out ahead of those national guardsmen on the frontlines were Green Berets as well as Rangers operating inside occupied territory. A wide area was alive with special forces activity alongside the operations undertaken by guerrillas too. Native American tribal lands as well as mountains and forests were dangerous for the Guatemalans. They were safer at the front. The KGB had some people in those dangerous areas and for many of them, January in Arizona was fatal. They were hunted by the Green Berets for kill or capture missions. A big Rangers strike saw Winslow Airport raided, where the Soviets had Sukhoi-17 multirole attack-fighters, with much damage done to the aircraft there. Then there were the guerrillas. They sought targets of opportunity, often Guatemalan patrols or exposed fortified outposts that allowed the occupation to cover such a huge area. American propaganda was painting quite the picture of ongoing guerrilla activities nationwide though didn’t touch upon what was really going on when it came to the brutality shown by guerrillas to those they encountered. This was especially true with alleged collaborators and traitors which they would shoot when captured, even torture at times. There was a lot of settling of scores among locals. Those who hadn’t ‘taken to the hills’ and stayed behind with their families were accused of working with the occupiers. Some had, yet not willingly nor with malice against their fellow Americans. They did so to survive and because they were scared. They were then killed by their former neighbours. Green Beret teams witnessed this on many occasions when working with guerrillas to collect intelligence and also supply them with captured Soviet weaponry. Sometimes they stepped in to intervene and stop this, other times they looked away. The war behind the frontlines when it came to this was as brutal as it was on them. Another great update James, i wonder if we can reach the magic 200 pages with this timeline. |
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stevep
Fleet admiral
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Post by stevep on Nov 1, 2018 22:48:18 GMT
Chapter Nineteen – Settling Scores(278)January 1985: The two Californias and Arizona The armies of Democratic Mexico were on the offensive through Baja California. They moved southwards down the peninsula and also eastwards into the Mexicali Valley. The fight was against those serving in the forces of Revolutionary Mexico: rebels and traitors. The going was hard and slow with an opponent who fought back well yet the Tijuana Government’s forces made good progress. They were only able to do this though due to outside support from the Americans and increasingly the Chileans too. On their own, this would have been an impossible task for Democratic Mexico. The fighting on the peninsula ranging southwards was spearheaded by US Marines with the Mexicans in support. The former used their mobility with helicopters and landing craft to leap-frog down the Pacific coastline yet also strike inland through the mountainous spine. The latter were brought in to deal with stubborn and dug-in enemy forces. It was their country after all and if they wanted it back, they would have to fight for it: such was the position of the Americans on this. From the initial entry point of Ensenada secured last month, the 1st Marine Division reached as far south as San Quintin by the end of January. The coastal plain was favourable to the Americans though the mountains just inland remained hard going for the Mexicans fighting alongside them. There came plenty of air support for the Mexicans who fought their fellow countrymen yet it remained them who had to get up-close-and-personal in slugfests through strongholds. On countless occasions, scores were settled when prisoners serving in the army of Revolutionary Mexico – mostly officers though often common soldiers too – were summarily executed because they were seen as traitors. It was an outrage, a violation of the laws of war. It went on though, a lot. General Pinochet had sent Chilean forces to the United States with the aim of seeing them help liberate American soil – a very calculated move on his part – though they ended up fighting in Mexico instead. A mixed brigade-group of marines and paratroopers (with some light armour) aided Democratic Mexico forces in fighting out of the mountains and into the Mexicali Valley. The Chileans didn’t take on easy tasks but were instead right in the thick of the fighting alongside those fighting Mexico’s foreign-backed communists. Once down out of the mountains, the going got easier. Mexicali next to the US border was bypassed at first as the fertile valley was mission goal. It was taken and a link up made with American forces over on the far side who had retaken Yuma last year and moved from there downwards. The Chileans moved towards the Altar Desert and over where more American forces were on Mexican soil; those Mexicans they had fought alongside turned towards Mexicali. A fight began for control of the ruin of that city, one which would go on into February. The arrival of the Chileans behind them ready to fight was welcomed by the Americans though they were still waiting on an effective resupply to build upon what they had. Portions of the Sixth US Army held onto the shorelines of the Gulf of California and a stretch of road across the desert running back to Yuma, but they remained incapable of doing anything else for the time being. Some fuel and ammunition had come forwards though nowhere near enough. The 5th Armored Brigade – the pre-war OPFOR Group from Fort Irwin – was eager to carry on with the successful war it was having. The way ahead for them was regarded as being open, all the way to deep into inner parts of Sonora if given the chance. That was not to be though. They were ordered to hold where they were for the time being. Above them in Mexico’s skies, there were some aircraft which aviation enthusiasts would have been very interested in when such planes clashed. Flying from MCAS Yuma now that it was free of the extensive Soviet air presence there earlier in the war, the US Air Force had F-5E Tiger light fighters tasked for the Ninth Air Force’s part-detached air division assigned to operations above Mexico alongside some F-4s and F-16s. These were from an aggressor squadron (similar to what the OPFOR Group had been doing) and were good aircraft flown by men who knew what they were doing; other F-5s in US Air Force service were flying in Arizona, Colorado and South Korea with each coming from aggressor units too. On two different occasions when above the Altar Desert and just over the waters at the top of the Gulf of California, the F-5s met French-built fighters. It was Super Mystères the first time, Ouragans on the second occasion. These were aircraft which had served previously in the air arms of Honduras and El Salvador with each of them having been supplied to those now-fallen regimes by the Israelis after they had previously made such good use of them in conflicts in the Middle East. After the fall of each Central American nation, their aircraft had either been destroyed by those who flew them or taken into Nicaraguan service. It was in Nicaraguan colours though flown by pilots from both those nations forced to serve their new masters in Managua that these aircraft showed up in. The Super Mystères fared better then the Ouragans yet each were taken down by the American aggressor pilots whizzing across Mexican skies and out-preforming their opponents. Post-engagement analysis on the part of the Americans questioned the use of such aircraft. The Nicaraguans and Guatemalans both were known to be almost out of Soviet-supplied MiGs but there had hadn’t been the expectation that such aircraft as what were seen would show up. The Soviets were focused elsewhere, even Cuba’s air force was busy in other theatres. This was of great importance for when the fight eventually moved onwards further into the northern parts of Mexico… when the supplies and reinforcements arrived that was. In Southern California, war devastation was still widespread and crippling for the Americans as they reestablished control over their liberated soil. The huge Los Angeles Basin was one thing but it was further afield than that. The Imperial Valley had been repeatedly fought over and then there had been that pursuit of defeated & fleeing Cubans into Orange County. San Diego County was another site of much ruin. Ground combat, aerial interdiction and the deliberate sabotage (firstly by the Americans then the Cubans too) had wrecked a wide area. On example of the sabotage would be the Northrop Aircraft site at Hawthorne in Orange County, where those F-5s over Mexico were built. There had been a hasty evacuation from there of important equipment and personnel back in October by the Americans where they got out what they could and destroyed much more. The Cubans had then been all over the site – with the GRU too – when the area was occupied yet when the Americans came back, they found that the already partially-destroyed site had been thoroughly destroyed with complete demolitions by the retreating Cubans. The extent of general war damage was highlighted by a stretch of Interstate-8 which ran east-west across the bottom of the Imperial Valley: aka ‘the highway of death’. There were the wrecks of military vehicles as well as civilian cars all across it, burnt out ruins hit from the air over and over again. Cuban supply columns had been struck by B-52s on bomb runs during the push on San Diego and then during the last stages of Cuba’s fight in California, evacuations had been tried down this same road when parts of the earlier wreckage had been pushed aside only to be hit by more American air attacks when A-10s firing their mini-guns turned up. Bodies, in various states of decomposition, littered the vehicle wrecks yet all along the sides too. The whole area was extremely hazardous to human health and it was only one stretch of Southern California’s major roads vying for that title of ‘highway of death’. American forces inside Southern California were reorganised though January after the fight had moved out of the state elsewhere. The US Marines were already gone but now the parts of the Sixth Army not in Arizona already moved across there. National guardsmen from the US IV Corps shifted eastwards to join the US I Corps. They left behind the 40th Infantry Division – California’s own guardsmen, the men who ‘had run’ from the first fight in L.A. – along with those two incomplete divisions of the Army of the United States who were now never going to be properly formed. Those volunteers and draftees raised in central and northern California who’d been directed into L.A. in a military police role after only a few months in uniform were staying there for the time being. There wasn’t going to be the entry of 23rd and 49th Infantry Division to the US Army’s order of battle as fully-formed divisions. The city of Los Angeles and the whole of Southern California needed their presence for security duties (the police forces had suffered gravely under foreign occupation) but also the big clean-up too. Guatemala’s First Army – of three weak divisions plus attachments – held on to parts of Arizona still. If it wasn’t for the geographic factor of the Soviets stretching all up the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains nearly cutting the United States in two, they would have been long go defeated even when the whole mess of the Cubans in California had been going on. They should have been torn apart yet remained where they were along southern reaches of the state next to Mexico and then through eastern portions backing onto the mountains behind them. American forces moved in from California and doubled their ground strength as the majority of the Sixth Army was now in Arizona. The Ninth Air Force transferred aircraft across from California too. This movement of already assigned forces with both the Sixth Army and the Ninth Air Force wasn’t followed by any real reinforcement from outside though nor any big resupply either. Especially until the latter came, the Americans could only make limited offensive strikes against the Guatemalans. This was concentrated around the outskirts of Tucson and down near to the Mexican border. Tucson itself remained beyond the American’s grasp though for now. There were a lot of Mexicans there with the Guatemalans: men not well-trained or organised very well yet greatly armed. When they could, the Americans would retake the city but until then they remained fighting around its edges with raids and aggressive patrolling plus air strikes. US aircraft struck at Davis-Monthan AFB and Libby Army Airfield (next to Fort Huachuca) repeatedly, engaging Soviet air units flying from those sites. Far from helpless in the face of air attacks, which the Guatemalans often were, the Soviets struck back. They put together a big air attack late in January which focused upon Phoenix. All around that city, the US Air Force was using the military airbases and the airports for their own air operations which the Soviets went for along with the McDonnel Douglas military helicopter plant at Mesa too. Soviet fighters engaged American interceptors up high while down low there came waves of attack aircraft on strike missions. Aircraft on both sides went down, many of the Soviet ones from ground fire too coming out of Phoenix. The Ninth Air Force would claim a victory though it was a hard won one. The Soviets lost plenty of aircraft and were unable to achieve mission objectives yet they were hardly defeated in the manner than the Americans claimed either. The air battle which saw over two hundred aircraft ultimately involved in clear daylight skies above chilly but sunny Arizona was quite the sight for anyone on the ground to witness. Flagstaff Airport in east-central Arizona was another centre of American air operations. It was home to two squadrons of A-7D Corsair attack-fighters (national guard units from Arizona and New Mexico) while not that far to the west, the Ninth Air Force had F-16s at Prescott Valley Airport too. The latter were busy with fighter operations and strikes far into the Rockies though did aid the former when they supported the 81st Infantry Brigade spread across eastern Arizona. Out ahead of those national guardsmen on the frontlines were Green Berets as well as Rangers operating inside occupied territory. A wide area was alive with special forces activity alongside the operations undertaken by guerrillas too. Native American tribal lands as well as mountains and forests were dangerous for the Guatemalans. They were safer at the front. The KGB had some people in those dangerous areas and for many of them, January in Arizona was fatal. They were hunted by the Green Berets for kill or capture missions. A big Rangers strike saw Winslow Airport raided, where the Soviets had Sukhoi-17 multirole attack-fighters, with much damage done to the aircraft there. Then there were the guerrillas. They sought targets of opportunity, often Guatemalan patrols or exposed fortified outposts that allowed the occupation to cover such a huge area. American propaganda was painting quite the picture of ongoing guerrilla activities nationwide though didn’t touch upon what was really going on when it came to the brutality shown by guerrillas to those they encountered. This was especially true with alleged collaborators and traitors which they would shoot when captured, even torture at times. There was a lot of settling of scores among locals. Those who hadn’t ‘taken to the hills’ and stayed behind with their families were accused of working with the occupiers. Some had, yet not willingly nor with malice against their fellow Americans. They did so to survive and because they were scared. They were then killed by their former neighbours. Green Beret teams witnessed this on many occasions when working with guerrillas to collect intelligence and also supply them with captured Soviet weaponry. Sometimes they stepped in to intervene and stop this, other times they looked away. The war behind the frontlines when it came to this was as brutal as it was on them. Another great update James, i wonder if we can reach the magic 200 pages with this timeline.
Well Luke and me could restart our 'discussion'. Don't panic, only joking.
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lordroel
Administrator
Member is Online
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Post by lordroel on Nov 2, 2018 9:14:28 GMT
Another great update James, i wonder if we can reach the magic 200 pages with this timeline. Well Luke and me could restart our 'discussion'. Don't panic, only joking.
Lets not shall we, one war is enough, and James war is the only one i like to see in this thread. |
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Post by redrobin65 on Nov 2, 2018 12:03:28 GMT
Good update as per usual.
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Likes: 8,833
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Post by James G on Nov 2, 2018 20:12:20 GMT
Chapter Nineteen – Settling Scores(278)January 1985: The two Californias and Arizona The armies of Democratic Mexico were on the offensive through Baja California. They moved southwards down the peninsula and also eastwards into the Mexicali Valley. The fight was against those serving in the forces of Revolutionary Mexico: rebels and traitors. The going was hard and slow with an opponent who fought back well yet the Tijuana Government’s forces made good progress. They were only able to do this though due to outside support from the Americans and increasingly the Chileans too. On their own, this would have been an impossible task for Democratic Mexico. The fighting on the peninsula ranging southwards was spearheaded by US Marines with the Mexicans in support. The former used their mobility with helicopters and landing craft to leap-frog down the Pacific coastline yet also strike inland through the mountainous spine. The latter were brought in to deal with stubborn and dug-in enemy forces. It was their country after all and if they wanted it back, they would have to fight for it: such was the position of the Americans on this. From the initial entry point of Ensenada secured last month, the 1st Marine Division reached as far south as San Quintin by the end of January. The coastal plain was favourable to the Americans though the mountains just inland remained hard going for the Mexicans fighting alongside them. There came plenty of air support for the Mexicans who fought their fellow countrymen yet it remained them who had to get up-close-and-personal in slugfests through strongholds. On countless occasions, scores were settled when prisoners serving in the army of Revolutionary Mexico – mostly officers though often common soldiers too – were summarily executed because they were seen as traitors. It was an outrage, a violation of the laws of war. It went on though, a lot. General Pinochet had sent Chilean forces to the United States with the aim of seeing them help liberate American soil – a very calculated move on his part – though they ended up fighting in Mexico instead. A mixed brigade-group of marines and paratroopers (with some light armour) aided Democratic Mexico forces in fighting out of the mountains and into the Mexicali Valley. The Chileans didn’t take on easy tasks but were instead right in the thick of the fighting alongside those fighting Mexico’s foreign-backed communists. Once down out of the mountains, the going got easier. Mexicali next to the US border was bypassed at first as the fertile valley was mission goal. It was taken and a link up made with American forces over on the far side who had retaken Yuma last year and moved from there downwards. The Chileans moved towards the Altar Desert and over where more American forces were on Mexican soil; those Mexicans they had fought alongside turned towards Mexicali. A fight began for control of the ruin of that city, one which would go on into February. The arrival of the Chileans behind them ready to fight was welcomed by the Americans though they were still waiting on an effective resupply to build upon what they had. Portions of the Sixth US Army held onto the shorelines of the Gulf of California and a stretch of road across the desert running back to Yuma, but they remained incapable of doing anything else for the time being. Some fuel and ammunition had come forwards though nowhere near enough. The 5th Armored Brigade – the pre-war OPFOR Group from Fort Irwin – was eager to carry on with the successful war it was having. The way ahead for them was regarded as being open, all the way to deep into inner parts of Sonora if given the chance. That was not to be though. They were ordered to hold where they were for the time being. Above them in Mexico’s skies, there were some aircraft which aviation enthusiasts would have been very interested in when such planes clashed. Flying from MCAS Yuma now that it was free of the extensive Soviet air presence there earlier in the war, the US Air Force had F-5E Tiger light fighters tasked for the Ninth Air Force’s part-detached air division assigned to operations above Mexico alongside some F-4s and F-16s. These were from an aggressor squadron (similar to what the OPFOR Group had been doing) and were good aircraft flown by men who knew what they were doing; other F-5s in US Air Force service were flying in Arizona, Colorado and South Korea with each coming from aggressor units too. On two different occasions when above the Altar Desert and just over the waters at the top of the Gulf of California, the F-5s met French-built fighters. It was Super Mystères the first time, Ouragans on the second occasion. These were aircraft which had served previously in the air arms of Honduras and El Salvador with each of them having been supplied to those now-fallen regimes by the Israelis after they had previously made such good use of them in conflicts in the Middle East. After the fall of each Central American nation, their aircraft had either been destroyed by those who flew them or taken into Nicaraguan service. It was in Nicaraguan colours though flown by pilots from both those nations forced to serve their new masters in Managua that these aircraft showed up in. The Super Mystères fared better then the Ouragans yet each were taken down by the American aggressor pilots whizzing across Mexican skies and out-preforming their opponents. Post-engagement analysis on the part of the Americans questioned the use of such aircraft. The Nicaraguans and Guatemalans both were known to be almost out of Soviet-supplied MiGs but there had hadn’t been the expectation that such aircraft as what were seen would show up. The Soviets were focused elsewhere, even Cuba’s air force was busy in other theatres. This was of great importance for when the fight eventually moved onwards further into the northern parts of Mexico… when the supplies and reinforcements arrived that was. In Southern California, war devastation was still widespread and crippling for the Americans as they reestablished control over their liberated soil. The huge Los Angeles Basin was one thing but it was further afield than that. The Imperial Valley had been repeatedly fought over and then there had been that pursuit of defeated & fleeing Cubans into Orange County. San Diego County was another site of much ruin. Ground combat, aerial interdiction and the deliberate sabotage (firstly by the Americans then the Cubans too) had wrecked a wide area. On example of the sabotage would be the Northrop Aircraft site at Hawthorne in Orange County, where those F-5s over Mexico were built. There had been a hasty evacuation from there of important equipment and personnel back in October by the Americans where they got out what they could and destroyed much more. The Cubans had then been all over the site – with the GRU too – when the area was occupied yet when the Americans came back, they found that the already partially-destroyed site had been thoroughly destroyed with complete demolitions by the retreating Cubans. The extent of general war damage was highlighted by a stretch of Interstate-8 which ran east-west across the bottom of the Imperial Valley: aka ‘the highway of death’. There were the wrecks of military vehicles as well as civilian cars all across it, burnt out ruins hit from the air over and over again. Cuban supply columns had been struck by B-52s on bomb runs during the push on San Diego and then during the last stages of Cuba’s fight in California, evacuations had been tried down this same road when parts of the earlier wreckage had been pushed aside only to be hit by more American air attacks when A-10s firing their mini-guns turned up. Bodies, in various states of decomposition, littered the vehicle wrecks yet all along the sides too. The whole area was extremely hazardous to human health and it was only one stretch of Southern California’s major roads vying for that title of ‘highway of death’. American forces inside Southern California were reorganised though January after the fight had moved out of the state elsewhere. The US Marines were already gone but now the parts of the Sixth Army not in Arizona already moved across there. National guardsmen from the US IV Corps shifted eastwards to join the US I Corps. They left behind the 40th Infantry Division – California’s own guardsmen, the men who ‘had run’ from the first fight in L.A. – along with those two incomplete divisions of the Army of the United States who were now never going to be properly formed. Those volunteers and draftees raised in central and northern California who’d been directed into L.A. in a military police role after only a few months in uniform were staying there for the time being. There wasn’t going to be the entry of 23rd and 49th Infantry Division to the US Army’s order of battle as fully-formed divisions. The city of Los Angeles and the whole of Southern California needed their presence for security duties (the police forces had suffered gravely under foreign occupation) but also the big clean-up too. Guatemala’s First Army – of three weak divisions plus attachments – held on to parts of Arizona still. If it wasn’t for the geographic factor of the Soviets stretching all up the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains nearly cutting the United States in two, they would have been long go defeated even when the whole mess of the Cubans in California had been going on. They should have been torn apart yet remained where they were along southern reaches of the state next to Mexico and then through eastern portions backing onto the mountains behind them. American forces moved in from California and doubled their ground strength as the majority of the Sixth Army was now in Arizona. The Ninth Air Force transferred aircraft across from California too. This movement of already assigned forces with both the Sixth Army and the Ninth Air Force wasn’t followed by any real reinforcement from outside though nor any big resupply either. Especially until the latter came, the Americans could only make limited offensive strikes against the Guatemalans. This was concentrated around the outskirts of Tucson and down near to the Mexican border. Tucson itself remained beyond the American’s grasp though for now. There were a lot of Mexicans there with the Guatemalans: men not well-trained or organised very well yet greatly armed. When they could, the Americans would retake the city but until then they remained fighting around its edges with raids and aggressive patrolling plus air strikes. US aircraft struck at Davis-Monthan AFB and Libby Army Airfield (next to Fort Huachuca) repeatedly, engaging Soviet air units flying from those sites. Far from helpless in the face of air attacks, which the Guatemalans often were, the Soviets struck back. They put together a big air attack late in January which focused upon Phoenix. All around that city, the US Air Force was using the military airbases and the airports for their own air operations which the Soviets went for along with the McDonnel Douglas military helicopter plant at Mesa too. Soviet fighters engaged American interceptors up high while down low there came waves of attack aircraft on strike missions. Aircraft on both sides went down, many of the Soviet ones from ground fire too coming out of Phoenix. The Ninth Air Force would claim a victory though it was a hard won one. The Soviets lost plenty of aircraft and were unable to achieve mission objectives yet they were hardly defeated in the manner than the Americans claimed either. The air battle which saw over two hundred aircraft ultimately involved in clear daylight skies above chilly but sunny Arizona was quite the sight for anyone on the ground to witness. Flagstaff Airport in east-central Arizona was another centre of American air operations. It was home to two squadrons of A-7D Corsair attack-fighters (national guard units from Arizona and New Mexico) while not that far to the west, the Ninth Air Force had F-16s at Prescott Valley Airport too. The latter were busy with fighter operations and strikes far into the Rockies though did aid the former when they supported the 81st Infantry Brigade spread across eastern Arizona. Out ahead of those national guardsmen on the frontlines were Green Berets as well as Rangers operating inside occupied territory. A wide area was alive with special forces activity alongside the operations undertaken by guerrillas too. Native American tribal lands as well as mountains and forests were dangerous for the Guatemalans. They were safer at the front. The KGB had some people in those dangerous areas and for many of them, January in Arizona was fatal. They were hunted by the Green Berets for kill or capture missions. A big Rangers strike saw Winslow Airport raided, where the Soviets had Sukhoi-17 multirole attack-fighters, with much damage done to the aircraft there. Then there were the guerrillas. They sought targets of opportunity, often Guatemalan patrols or exposed fortified outposts that allowed the occupation to cover such a huge area. American propaganda was painting quite the picture of ongoing guerrilla activities nationwide though didn’t touch upon what was really going on when it came to the brutality shown by guerrillas to those they encountered. This was especially true with alleged collaborators and traitors which they would shoot when captured, even torture at times. There was a lot of settling of scores among locals. Those who hadn’t ‘taken to the hills’ and stayed behind with their families were accused of working with the occupiers. Some had, yet not willingly nor with malice against their fellow Americans. They did so to survive and because they were scared. They were then killed by their former neighbours. Green Beret teams witnessed this on many occasions when working with guerrillas to collect intelligence and also supply them with captured Soviet weaponry. Sometimes they stepped in to intervene and stop this, other times they looked away. The war behind the frontlines when it came to this was as brutal as it was on them. Another great update James, i wonder if we can reach the magic 200 pages with this timeline. Thank you. Challenge accepted! Good update as per usual. Thank you. More to come. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
Posts: 7,608
Likes: 8,833
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Post by James G on Nov 2, 2018 20:14:07 GMT
(279)
January 1985: The Rockies
Back in December, five Soviet Army helicopters had been lost to enemy action over the Rocky Mountains west of Denver. During January 1985, that number reached seventeen: a three-fold plus increase. January’s helicopter losses to hostile action (accidents were another disturbing number) included the shooting down of one by an OA-37 Dragonfly light attack-fighter rapid firing its minigun and the downing of another when hit by a pair of RPGs – captured weapons in guerrilla hands – just after take-off. The further fifteen, almost one every other day, were brought crashing to the ground while in flight by the extensive use of man-portable air defence systems. These successful MANPAD hits were a couple of Soviet-manufactured SA-7s fired by the enemy though all the rest were American Redeye and Stinger missiles. There were other missile firings in attempts to down more helicopters with more MANPADs used too: the number of seventeen could have been as high as thirty if they’d all got through. The mountains were full of missile teams who had been brought in to purposely target the helicopters being used to move around & give fire support to the Soviet Airborne present. The 76th Guards Airborne Division needed those helicopters to aid its fight and when they went down, the losses really hurt. Mil-8 Hip assault transports and Mil-24 Hind gunships took the brunt of these attacks against helicopters in-flight. However, both single examples of bigger heavy transports helicopters were taken down as well. Carrying an underslung load of a 2A36 howitzer, a 152mm gun being moved to a new firing position, a Mil-6 Hook helicopter was shot down by a Stinger: the ammunition for that piece of artillery was inside the helicopter and detonated when the Hook crashed. Worse than that was the elimination of an even bigger helicopter, this one a new Mil-26 Halo, which was overloaded with paratroopers carried inside it going into battle. Another Stinger got this one and when the Halo crashed and burnt, just over a hundred men were killed. Attacks by Hind gunships using their mass of carried weapons as well as intelligence-led patrolling on the ground went after the missile teams. The Soviets got themselves American helicopters of their own supporting these men when a couple of UH-1 Hueys were downed and also shot out of the sky was an OV-10 Bronco flying low ready to airdrop another missile team. American helicopters weren’t as prominent in the fight as the Soviet ones were. Instead they were using Broncos and Dragonflys, derided as ‘slow-movers’ by other aircrew in the US Air Force. Tasked for observation & tactical reconnaissance, counter-insurgency and light attack roles, the aircraft supported the fight on the ground at a lower altitude to the ‘fast-movers’ – A-10s and F-4s mainly – higher above them. There was a lot for them to do above the forested mountains through the winter where they were painted in a winter camouflage scheme to remain hidden as best as possible. Such aircraft made use of improvised airstrips all over the place, those protected by the men of the pair of national guard armored cavalry regiments they were supporting as well as Green Beret teams too.
While events in the skies above were important, for those fighting on the ground what they had in front of them in the mountains was of more importance. On each side, the clashes with the other that they had were tough and costly. Neither the Americans nor the Soviets could force any sort of victory through Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. The weather got worse than it had been the month before with the cold and the snow favouring no one. Troops from the two armies fought on with little gain in a series of disjointed, confusing fights. Higher commands of each had come to their senses and realised that neither could win: access to Denver couldn’t be forced open yet neither could it be completely shut off. The forces involved weren’t pulled out though by either the First US Army or the Soviet Twenty–Second Army. The result was that the men left up in the mountains were on their own and without any real purpose but to fight and die just because that was the way things were to be. Guerrilla activity took place around them with Patriot groups and independents in the mountains. Their raids and bombings had purpose to them, that being to kill the occupiers and anyone who was assisting them. Just as was the case down in Arizona, some rather unpleasant events took place and often within view of American special forces teams passing through. Soviet prisoners and also fellow Americans accused of collaboration with the occupier were killed. The guerrillas were hunted by specially brought-in counter-insurgency forces, men who’d helped break resistance in Afghanistan, Iran and Poland in past years as well as recently in parts of Texas. Their actions weren’t of the heavy-handed fashion – artillery strikes and machine-gunning dozens of hostages at a time – employed beforehand but with a more-targeted fashion using informers and technology to do this. Whether they could be successful in this, bringing an end to the mass of guerrilla activity, time would tell there.
In the shadow of the mountains, Denver started the year still under siege. Within weeks though a corridor was opened into the city, one that wasn’t via the air route or the dangerous paths up into the mountains. The whole siege wasn’t lifted, but a major hole was punched into the surrounding forces to the very north and it was widened to a width of four miles across by the end of the month. Boulder was the site of this gap, a town left a ruin when fought over. The Nicaraguans there held back the Americans as long as they could and waited on promised Soviet reinforcement which never came. They could no longer hold on as attacks came from ahead, from behind and from above. A withdrawal was made of what was left of a regiment, one authorised only by the regiment’s acting commanding officer. That major was an experienced man, a good officer with excellent political connections back home too. None of that saved him from a firing squad afterwards. He had withdrawn without higher permission and against orders, opening up Denver to the Americans to link up with their forces inside. The firing squad was formed of his own men under Soviet instruction and once they completed their task, the major’s body was thrown into an unmarked grave. Far away in Managua were the major had those connections with the ruling Sandinistas, they wouldn’t discover this until February and be very unpleased yet unable to do anything about that nor a million other matters that the Nicaraguans had no control over.
Every inch of that opened corridor was exposed to artillery fire. The Soviets couldn’t close it when they made a counterattack with tanks but they aimed to make it near-useless by shelling it. Through Boulder, traffic moved both ways in and out of Denver despite that artillery. What ammunition, fuel, food and medical supplies which could be spared went into Denver. Coming out were wounded American soldiers and some prisoners as well as civilians. The latter moved on foot and were officially barred from making the trip through the military area through no one in uniform was in the mood to try to stop them… many soldiers wished they could join them in fact. The shelling killed civilians on the way out yet those who made it had escaped from the hell which they considered Denver to be. Elsewhere around the city, the siege remained in-place though with other Nicaraguans battling the 82nd Airborne Division and civilian volunteers who defended Denver. The ‘Boulder gap’ was something sought to be repeated elsewhere. With cooperation from those inside, the 4th Infantry Division on the outside attempted to do the same in the Denver suburbs around Aurora. Buckley AFB (unusable) was in America hands outside of the siege lines with Stapleton Airport (partially usable) inside. The Nicaraguans right in between both, dug-in through housing tracks and burnt-out buildings. They wouldn’t be dislodged. Some progress was made in going forward but the Nicaraguans held on: there was a Soviet presence at their local headquarters, the Americans would discover afterwards, forcing the Nicaraguans to not withdraw or do anything but keep fighting. If Aurora could have been opened up, the whole siege could have fallen apart with it. That wasn’t to be. Maybe next month there would be more progress in freeing Denver.
Outside of the city and further eastwards away from Denver, the Soviets and other Nicaraguans not involved in the Denver siege directly held onto a lot of ground through Colorado. They were opposed by a significant Allied force where America’s allies had troops on the ground in number. The Americans themselves had the 174th Infantry Brigade – those soldiers from West Berlin – which formed the US XI Corps with the 4th Infantry Division as the First US Army’s northern force. The Canadians and British were to the south of them. The Canadians had formed a corps command of their own and included men who’d fought last year at Colorado Springs now joined by those who’d taken part in the battles for the upper part of the Alaskan Panhandle. Two Canadian divisions, one of them including a British infantry brigade, had assumed responsibility for a stretch of the frontlines running all the way to the New Mexico state line. It was a wide frontage though stretched over ground which favoured north-south – or south-to-north as the Soviets had done last year – manoeuvre rather than any attack east-west or west-east. The Soviets were constantly improving the defences of their long flank stretching back past Colorado Springs and all the way south against an attack coming with defensive positions including anti-tank guns, minefields and demolitions to create obstacles. The Canadians were looking at going westwards in the coming months as part of a general Allied offensive in the Spring. Reconnaissance efforts saw the Soviet preparations to meet that. It didn’t look like it would be easy for the Canadians to do. Some might have even said it was going to be an impossible task unless some magic trick could be employed. The longer the delay, the longer the Soviets had there to improve what they had.
Not directly attached to either the British 14th Infantry Brigade nor the Canadian I Corps, teams of specialist British officers and NCOs were also in Colorado. They were on an intelligence-gathering mission, looking at the terrain and the enemy. Back in London, there were still discussions ongoing with the national government as to whether the British Army should be sent in number to fight in North America. If they were to, if that decision was to be made to sent tens of thousands rather than just a few thousand to the fight, Colorado was one area being looked at: North Texas, the wider Dallas area, was another location where there was a second team. Matters such as where to locate supply points in the rear were just as important as the ground to be fought over and who was over there. The British Army team was in Colorado for several weeks in the middle of the month. They didn’t like what they saw and their later report wouldn’t give any favour to the idea of this being a place to make the best use of the British Army. The Texan team would paint a better picture. However, no decision on whether make that deployment across the North Atlantic to either had yet to be made back home. Events in Europe as January went on, those made it increasingly unlikely that the British Army could be making the Atlantic crossing too.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Nov 2, 2018 21:24:11 GMT
(279)January 1985: The Rockies Back in December, five Soviet Army helicopters had been lost to enemy action over the Rocky Mountains west of Denver. During January 1985, that number reached seventeen: a three-fold plus increase. January’s helicopter losses to hostile action (accidents were another disturbing number) included the shooting down of one by an OA-37 Dragonfly light attack-fighter rapid firing its minigun and the downing of another when hit by a pair of RPGs – captured weapons in guerrilla hands – just after take-off. The further fifteen, almost one every other day, were brought crashing to the ground while in flight by the extensive use of man-portable air defence systems. These successful MANPAD hits were a couple of Soviet-manufactured SA-7s fired by the enemy though all the rest were American Redeye and Stinger missiles. There were other missile firings in attempts to down more helicopters with more MANPADs used too: the number of seventeen could have been as high as thirty if they’d all got through. The mountains were full of missile teams who had been brought in to purposely target the helicopters being used to move around & give fire support to the Soviet Airborne present. The 76th Guards Airborne Division needed those helicopters to aid its fight and when they went down, the losses really hurt. Mil-8 Hip assault transports and Mil-24 Hind gunships took the brunt of these attacks against helicopters in-flight. However, both single examples of bigger heavy transports helicopters were taken down as well. Carrying an underslung load of a 2A36 howitzer, a 152mm gun being moved to a new firing position, a Mil-6 Hook helicopter was shot down by a Stinger: the ammunition for that piece of artillery was inside the helicopter and detonated when the Hook crashed. Worse than that was the elimination of an even bigger helicopter, this one a new Mil-26 Halo, which was overloaded with paratroopers carried inside it going into battle. Another Stinger got this one and when the Halo crashed and burnt, just over a hundred men were killed. Attacks by Hind gunships using their mass of carried weapons as well as intelligence-led patrolling on the ground went after the missile teams. The Soviets got themselves American helicopters of their own supporting these men when a couple of UH-1 Hueys were downed and also shot out of the sky was an OV-10 Bronco flying low ready to airdrop another missile team. American helicopters weren’t as prominent in the fight as the Soviet ones were. Instead they were using Broncos and Dragonflys, derided as ‘slow-movers’ by other aircrew in the US Air Force. Tasked for observation & tactical reconnaissance, counter-insurgency and light attack roles, the aircraft supported the fight on the ground at a lower altitude to the ‘fast-movers’ – A-10s and F-4s mainly – higher above them. There was a lot for them to do above the forested mountains through the winter where they were painted in a winter camouflage scheme to remain hidden as best as possible. Such aircraft made use of improvised airstrips all over the place, those protected by the men of the pair of national guard armored cavalry regiments they were supporting as well as Green Beret teams too. While events in the skies above were important, for those fighting on the ground what they had in front of them in the mountains was of more importance. On each side, the clashes with the other that they had were tough and costly. Neither the Americans nor the Soviets could force any sort of victory through Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. The weather got worse than it had been the month before with the cold and the snow favouring no one. Troops from the two armies fought on with little gain in a series of disjointed, confusing fights. Higher commands of each had come to their senses and realised that neither could win: access to Denver couldn’t be forced open yet neither could it be completely shut off. The forces involved weren’t pulled out though by either the First US Army or the Soviet Twenty–Second Army. The result was that the men left up in the mountains were on their own and without any real purpose but to fight and die just because that was the way things were to be. Guerrilla activity took place around them with Patriot groups and independents in the mountains. Their raids and bombings had purpose to them, that being to kill the occupiers and anyone who was assisting them. Just as was the case down in Arizona, some rather unpleasant events took place and often within view of American special forces teams passing through. Soviet prisoners and also fellow Americans accused of collaboration with the occupier were killed. The guerrillas were hunted by specially brought-in counter-insurgency forces, men who’d helped break resistance in Afghanistan, Iran and Poland in past years as well as recently in parts of Texas. Their actions weren’t of the heavy-handed fashion – artillery strikes and machine-gunning dozens of hostages at a time – employed beforehand but with a more-targeted fashion using informers and technology to do this. Whether they could be successful in this, bringing an end to the mass of guerrilla activity, time would tell there. In the shadow of the mountains, Denver started the year still under siege. Within weeks though a corridor was opened into the city, one that wasn’t via the air route or the dangerous paths up into the mountains. The whole siege wasn’t lifted, but a major hole was punched into the surrounding forces to the very north and it was widened to a width of four miles across by the end of the month. Boulder was the site of this gap, a town left a ruin when fought over. The Nicaraguans there held back the Americans as long as they could and waited on promised Soviet reinforcement which never came. They could no longer hold on as attacks came from ahead, from behind and from above. A withdrawal was made of what was left of a regiment, one authorised only by the regiment’s acting commanding officer. That major was an experienced man, a good officer with excellent political connections back home too. None of that saved him from a firing squad afterwards. He had withdrawn without higher permission and against orders, opening up Denver to the Americans to link up with their forces inside. The firing squad was formed of his own men under Soviet instruction and once they completed their task, the major’s body was thrown into an unmarked grave. Far away in Managua were the major had those connections with the ruling Sandinistas, they wouldn’t discover this until February and be very unpleased yet unable to do anything about that nor a million other matters that the Nicaraguans had no control over. Every inch of that opened corridor was exposed to artillery fire. The Soviets couldn’t close it when they made a counterattack with tanks but they aimed to make it near-useless by shelling it. Through Boulder, traffic moved both ways in and out of Denver despite that artillery. What ammunition, fuel, food and medical supplies which could be spared went into Denver. Coming out were wounded American soldiers and some prisoners as well as civilians. The latter moved on foot and were officially barred from making the trip through the military area through no one in uniform was in the mood to try to stop them… many soldiers wished they could join them in fact. The shelling killed civilians on the way out yet those who made it had escaped from the hell which they considered Denver to be. Elsewhere around the city, the siege remained in-place though with other Nicaraguans battling the 82nd Airborne Division and civilian volunteers who defended Denver. The ‘Boulder gap’ was something sought to be repeated elsewhere. With cooperation from those inside, the 4th Infantry Division on the outside attempted to do the same in the Denver suburbs around Aurora. Buckley AFB (unusable) was in America hands outside of the siege lines with Stapleton Airport (partially usable) inside. The Nicaraguans right in between both, dug-in through housing tracks and burnt-out buildings. They wouldn’t be dislodged. Some progress was made in going forward but the Nicaraguans held on: there was a Soviet presence at their local headquarters, the Americans would discover afterwards, forcing the Nicaraguans to not withdraw or do anything but keep fighting. If Aurora could have been opened up, the whole siege could have fallen apart with it. That wasn’t to be. Maybe next month there would be more progress in freeing Denver. Outside of the city and further eastwards away from Denver, the Soviets and other Nicaraguans not involved in the Denver siege directly held onto a lot of ground through Colorado. They were opposed by a significant Allied force where America’s allies had troops on the ground in number. The Americans themselves had the 174th Infantry Brigade – those soldiers from West Berlin – which formed the US XI Corps with the 4th Infantry Division as the First US Army’s northern force. The Canadians and British were to the south of them. The Canadians had formed a corps command of their own and included men who’d fought last year at Colorado Springs now joined by those who’d taken part in the battles for the upper part of the Alaskan Panhandle. Two Canadian divisions, one of them including a British infantry brigade, had assumed responsibility for a stretch of the frontlines running all the way to the New Mexico state line. It was a wide frontage though stretched over ground which favoured north-south – or south-to-north as the Soviets had done last year – manoeuvre rather than any attack east-west or west-east. The Soviets were constantly improving the defences of their long flank stretching back past Colorado Springs and all the way south against an attack coming with defensive positions including anti-tank guns, minefields and demolitions to create obstacles. The Canadians were looking at going westwards in the coming months as part of a general Allied offensive in the Spring. Reconnaissance efforts saw the Soviet preparations to meet that. It didn’t look like it would be easy for the Canadians to do. Some might have even said it was going to be an impossible task unless some magic trick could be employed. The longer the delay, the longer the Soviets had there to improve what they had. Not directly attached to either the British 14th Infantry Brigade nor the Canadian I Corps, teams of specialist British officers and NCOs were also in Colorado. They were on an intelligence-gathering mission, looking at the terrain and the enemy. Back in London, there were still discussions ongoing with the national government as to whether the British Army should be sent in number to fight in North America. If they were to, if that decision was to be made to sent tens of thousands rather than just a few thousand to the fight, Colorado was one area being looked at: North Texas, the wider Dallas area, was another location where there was a second team. Matters such as where to locate supply points in the rear were just as important as the ground to be fought over and who was over there. The British Army team was in Colorado for several weeks in the middle of the month. They didn’t like what they saw and their later report wouldn’t give any favour to the idea of this being a place to make the best use of the British Army. The Texan team would paint a better picture. However, no decision on whether make that deployment across the North Atlantic to either had yet to be made back home. Events in Europe as January went on, those made it increasingly unlikely that the British Army could be making the Atlantic crossing too. Another great update James. |
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although they might be less destructive than being hammered by nukes and chemical weapons.
