Soviet Domination - A Red Dawn story

No Eastern European Bloc ore will they not be able to survive without the Moscow masters.

The issue there with the infrastructure at the lost airbases is something I've covered in the next update. It is something I missed with Arizona so added it in to the next one.
Soviet forces being drawn off ahead of their big planned attack is going to happen elsewhere too: too many unreliable / weak allies to rely upon.




That is quite a prediction! I only have an outlining of an end rather than anything concrete.
I should add that Poland has revolted once and been crushed hard, very hard.
Kaliningrad as noted by others below it a bit of a no-no for Germany too. For anything like that to happen, territorial loses, the Soviets would have to lose and lose very hard. They do remain very strong despite losses overseas and haven't faced an internal revolt. There is plenty of domestic tension yet war against a set of foreign 'aggressors', as sold to them, does unite a population very well. Bodies coming home en masse can change things yet that does take a while.



Stalin's ethnic cleansing indeed. You are correct: there are no Germans there.
To lose Kaliningrad, like the Baltics or any other part of what they consider their own soil, would mean the Soviet Union would have to really lose a war. A major loss like that is nowhere in sight at the minute. America is far away, so too Sweden or the western Med.




Thank you.
As to Sweden, do you recall the speculation from the British officer DLB a few updates back? He speculated that rather than it being a case of something happening in Europe on purpose - i.e. Western Europe growing a pair or even the Soviets striking hard -, an accident when two armies are next to each other could set things off.
American appreciation will be there, yes. Over time, things might change but, yes, after the war, the US will look to 'the Allies' rather than any co-belligerent for ties.



Nothing here I disagree with entirely - yet not sure if I'll go down those routes - though Japan grabbing bits of Soviet soil would take a lot of moxie when the Soviets have used nukes and Japan fears them gravely.
The USSR has yet to really lose and remains strong. And, as you say, has that nuclear arsenal.



That is very true. They've been hurt but not beaten. Even a 'loss', which is something far beyond the Soviets at the moment, would have to be major to strip the US of at least its inter-hemisphere role. US victories in the Pacific are irreversible at the moment too, assuring its position there unless the Soviets could force the issue to a finish on US soil.


The European split looks likely at the moment: things won't be forgotten as domestic politics will play a role.
The West German neutrality did give others an excuse though France stepped back because the Americans told them that they were pulling their troops home. To fight then looked crazy from France's point of view especially as it was left unmolested.
The little details will be forgotten by many though, on both sides, for political gain: as it always the way in these things.

(292)

February 1985: The Rockies, Denver and eastern Colorado

From a starting point of one, then two and ending up with four, the Soviet Air Force had sent air armies to the fight in North America. These were taken from across the western parts of the Soviet Union though with components from all over the place including units based in Eastern Europe too. Their peacetime deployment structure was changed dramatically upon arrival on the other side of the world yet also during the ongoing war. The Fourteenth & Twenty–Four Air Armies were in Texas, the Fourth Air Army was stationed across Arizona (until driven out during February) and the Twenty–Sixth Air Army was based through Colorado and New Mexico. Captured American airbases – for their air force, army, navy, marines – were made use of as well as civilian airports large and small. There was additional dispersion to some highway-strips and also improvised airstrips were created. Soviet military aircraft were designed for ‘rough field’ operations and while this didn’t mean that they could fly from just anywhere, there was the ability to make use of a lot of places that the Americans wouldn’t fly from. At the bases which they used, the Soviet air armies spent a lot of effort expanding them to suit their needs. Runways were lengthened, taxiways added and new structures erected. Defensive positions were constructed in and around them. Deception efforts were made to hide some activity while also set up dummy sites as well. Use was made of slave labour (POWs and civilians who were ‘volunteered’) to do all of this heavy work though the Soviets did bring in much equipment or used captured gear as well rather than solely rely upon unreliable hands. This was especially apparent where early on in the war, American POWs caused them a lot of trouble when put to work at sites which needed urgent expansion. Civilian construction vehicles as well as Soviet armoured engineer vehicles could do far more work than men with pickaxes and shovels; moreover, a vehicle wouldn’t try to attack its masters with the tools it had been given… or steal explosives to create a massive bomb blast.

The air armies operated on the army–division–regiment–squadron internal structure. Such a level of downwards command worked well for the Soviets. They incorporated additions of regiments flown by their allies into their divisions for ease of command. However, there were two Soviet air services who had elements sent to North America. The Soviet Air Force – the VVS – was joined by selective PVO regiments, from the Soviet Air Defence Forces, which included both interceptors and missile units too. Integration of these within the air armies didn’t happen at the PVO’s behest no matter what the VVS wanted to see there: they answered instead to the Soviet Army-led Front commands which controlled field armies and air armies. This was more than just an administrative matter. The VVS and the PVO had very different ways of doing things in the air and on the ground. There was an overlap in types of aircraft fielded though different variants were used. Inter-service rivalry was intense, enough to be a serious detriment to the war effort. The PVO really didn’t want to see its units sent overseas when their primary mission was defence of the Soviet homeland. The VVS didn’t want them in North America unless they could directly command them and integrate them as they had done with Eastern Europeans and Latin Americans. Such a split carried on though regardless. It was all about politics back home and wasn’t going to change. Meanwhile, the Soviet Air Force carried on with the war which it had to fight. The winter had seen even more extensive work down at the airbases which they operated from across occupied territory due to both the upcoming planned Spring offensive and also the reinforcements which they themselves received. The Fourteenth & Twenty–Sixth Air Armies were the main beneficiaries of that reinforcement. There had been plans to send more units that what came yet the situation in Europe halved that number. What was sent though were some particular VVS units recently either stood up as new at home or having transitioned to new aircraft / air defence missiles before they came across to North America. Many more Sukhoi-25 attack-fighters, designed for low-altitude battlefield roles, arrived and so did S-300 SAMs to counter American strike aircraft. Then there were the Sukhoi-27s. These Flankers were really needed. Concerns had been expressed back home that ‘wunderwaffe’ like these fighters weren’t ready to enter a war zone and needed more testing – the PVO had their Flankers in service before the VVS and sent some to Florida; in December, those had come off badly in clashes with American F-15s – yet these were dispatched to the war against the United States. There was a war to win and these aircraft were seen as war-winners.


Attached to the Twenty–Sixth Air Army were five aviation divisions. These were involved in three different conflicts though with overlap between each fight and the assigned air units. Denver and eastern Colorado were one fight, the second was flying from New Mexico against the Americans in the Texan High Plains and the third was in the Rocky Mountains. The 105th Mixed Aviation Division had that latter task. There were MiG-23 fighters and MiG-27 attack-fighters. Sukhoi-24 tactical bombers were flying in number and were joined by Su-25s too. Back in January, a regiment of Su-27s turned up. Much of the 105th Division was based inside the San Luis Valley within south-central Colorado. The valley was set among the mountains all around it. Two big Soviet airbases had been established inside (along with dispersed strips) with others outside away to the east outside the Rockies. The Soviet Air Force had put a lot of effort into establishing themselves here with the intention of staying. Paratroopers with the 76th Guards Airborne Division were fighting through the Rockies along with Spetsnaz some distance from the San Luis Valley so it was deemed a secure region especially since the flat terrain gave little cover for guerrillas. The airbases were defended close-in and far outside by missiles and also ground personnel on security duty. The surrounding mountains did give cover for approaching American aircraft on attack missions yet those same mountains were also full of radars and missiles too.

At the beginning of February, the 76th Guards, began falling back under higher orders. As they did so, there came the order that the 105th Division was to pull out of the San Luis Valley.

The Soviet Air Force objected strongly. Its bases at Alamosa and Monte Vista – huge expansions upon small civilian airports – were of great importance. Just outside the valley, over at La Veta on the edges of the High Plains, the new airbase there where the Flankers were flying from would be too close to the planned new frontlines to be of any viable use now. The whole 105th Division would need to relocate causing disruption to the Twenty–Sixth Air Army’s war. They demanded to know why did the 76th Guards needed to withdraw that far back. Couldn’t they hold back the Americans north of the valley and wasn’t it just a lone national guard regiment that a whole division of Soviet Airborne was facing? The orders stood though. A withdrawal orders for the paratroopers stood as the whole Soviet position in Colorado was shifting. Those airbases were to be abandoned and the infrastructure for the 105th Division needed to be removed where possible and destroyed where not. A timescale was given for this to be done. It was a timescale interrupted by uncooperative American actions.

The 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment broke through around Salida and pushed away the retreating Soviet paratroopers out of the lowland there up into the mountains above. They didn’t chase them but instead did as feared – just earlier than Soviet projections – and kept on going south. Highway-285 took the men from Idaho and Oregon into the San Luis Valley. American aircraft supported the tanks and infantry carriers as they drove through the excellent tank country which was the valley. At the spa resort of Mineral Hot Springs, there was a ‘fork’ in the road network. This was a good place to stop an attack, especially as beyond it two roads going south through the valley could be used afterwards. The bottleneck wasn’t defended though. The anti-tank unit which had meant to have been here saw its orders reversed as the 76th Guards chose not to see them lost for no good cause. The two platoons of gunners and missilemen wouldn’t have held for long and they were needed elsewhere. Such a decision doomed the 105th Division as the breathing room they were meant to have to evacuate in time didn’t come. Highway-17 was used like -285 was as an avenue of attack to charge directly at Alamosa and Monte Vista directly.

The 116th Cav’ crashed into Alamosa first, then Monte Vista next. Soviet personnel at each put up a fight. They stood no chance though. Each airbase was a hive of ongoing activity as forces pulled out from elsewhere were converging on both sites as air operations were being wound down too ahead of withdrawal. Communications with the 76th Guards headquarters were with the 105th Division but there was a delay – an accident, not something deliberate – in telling them about the American breakthrough. By the time that message was sent, battles were being fought at the airbases. The Americans on the ground and in the air did much damage and killed many enemies. There was an effort to spare some of what they found at the airbases but defending troops were everywhere. More firepower was unleashed in response to overcome this. American lives were valued more than capturing aircraft sitting on the ground.

The Americans would move on afterwards once they eliminated the last resistance at each airbase. Control over the whole valley was established when the 116th Cav’ went as far south as the Conejos area. They met resistance from the eastern flank where the Soviets blocked access to their approaches though inside the valley they were busy rounding up prisoners from occupation forces rather than any more serious fighting. In the skies above them, only after the losses of Alamosa and Monte Vista, did the 105th Division finally managed to get some significant air power to play a role. It was too late though. Those Flankers from outside the valley came over the mountains and met with both F-15s and F-16s in battle. Here they did well, holding their own in the sky. Just as the Soviet Air Force feared though their operating base was too exposed. The La Veta airbase was back from the La Veta Pass over the Rockies keeping it safe from ground attack but not from the air. The US Air Force used Leach Airport – inside the San Luis Valley and one of those dispersal sites for the 105th Division which hadn’t been fought over but abandoned successfully – to base a detachment of A-10s at. The ‘Hogs’ went over the mountains at low-level and popped up above La Veta. Their 30mm Gatling guns (with seven barrels: a fearsome weapon when used correctly) and waves of short-range rockets did terrible damage when making three attacks over four nights, each time getting past Soviet defences designed to stop them. Half a dozen of those Flankers, put inside partially finished protective shelters, were lost along with everything else done. La Veta would too have to be abandoned. What was left of the 105th Division would afterwards be broken up, attached to the other aviation divisions which were involved in the wider fight for the rest of Colorado including Denver.

***

February was when the Siege of Denver was once and for all broken open. That earlier gap in the encirclement north of the city wasn’t directly expanded upon but instead, attacks elsewhere to the south smashed apart Nicaraguan defenders. The Soviets couldn’t get to their aid in time. They ended up withdrawing their own troops first to Centennial on the edges of the city and the Castle Rock far outside. This left the Nicaraguans back closer to Denver all on their own. Instructions came for them to hold pending a return of Soviet forces. That was a lie: they were left to fight so the Soviets could establish stronger blocking positions in central Colorado. The Nicaraguans did what was demanded of them and held on until the very end. Almost two weeks of fighting took place before they were finally overcome. It was a very bloody final fight for them and saw Patriot forces – Denver militia groups – heavily-involved as the US 82nd Airborne Division left them too finish off a beaten opponent.

The siege would be declared over officially by February 11th though it was only by the 22nd that the last of the Nicaraguans around its outskirts of the city were eventually overcome. This news was spread wide and far across North America, then afterwards across the world as well.


Now the frontlines had moved southwards. The Castle Rock position blocked an American drive down the Interstate-25 corridor towards Colorado Springs. The Soviet Air Force had that area (plus further south towards Pueblo) littered with airbases for more of its air units and if lost, that would probably be worse than what occurred over in the San Luis Valley. Up at Castle Rock, the Soviet Twenty–Second Army was told to hold on. Their 66th Motorised Rifle Brigade and 120th Guards Motorised Rifle Division had taken terrible losses in the fights around Denver yet were in a position to stop the Americans with their US XI Corps from coming further south for the time being. The flanks were of concern though. The 76th Guards were over in the Rockies to the west and repositioning well though the Americans were applying a lot of pressure. To the east, over better terrain stretching southwards, that was where there was a lot of worry. More Nicaraguans who were joined with Revolutionary Mexico troops under their command holding a huge frontage. The Soviets had a brigade of their airmobile troops – men using light armoured vehicles as well as trucks – with them though the Canadians there increased in number and capability through February. Some British troops were among them too, other men who’d fought in Alaska earlier in the war and come south. Furthermore, Soviet intelligence-gathering spotted more reinforcements. Arriving in Colorado to come under the command of the Canadian I Corps was a division of the Army of the United States, one of those new-built formations raised at Fort Riley in Kansas and in its final stages of training now. What was identified as the 37th Infantry Division was going to be ready to strike soon enough. ABC forces (Americans, British and Canadians) were judged to be in the position to go through the NMS troops (Nicaraguan, Mexican and Soviet) with ease when they choose to. It looked likely they would get behind the Twenty–Second Army and cut them off by seizing Colorado Springs or Pueblo soon enough unless somehow stopped.

Permission for the withdrawals made in the Rockies and then from Denver had come from the highest levels. Moscow wasn’t in the mood to authorise retreats across occupied American soil. The propaganda value of doing so for the United States was one thing but so too was the planned upcoming major March offensives. Neither of those were benefitted by pulling back. They’d seen sense on those other withdrawals but not withdrawing all the way to Colorado Springs, maybe Pueblo, by their troops at Castle Rock. This wasn’t acceptable in Moscow’s eyes. Reinforcements were promised (from the broken up Eleventh Guards Army) but before then something was done of a strategic nature to put a stop to the flank threat.

Last-minute American intercepts of communications pointed to something about to happen in Colorado. There were worries than another gas attack, possibly even a tactical nuclear strike, was incoming. Soviet movements were alarming. Warning was sent to the highest-levels and this included the president where he went through (yet another) emergency evacuation, something he was grudgingly very used to by now. Things happened very fast though, before there could be a runaway reaction. Over Colorado, a pair of Tu-22Ms appeared. They’d flown from the occupied Dyess AFB down in Texas and each carried just the one bomb. Others of these type had been field tested by the Soviets just before Christmas down in Libya. Now they were used as part of the Soviet conventional arsenal. The Soviets were unaware of American interception of communications (which they couldn’t crack) informing their men to seek cover. There was no understanding of the risk they were running in seeing things get far out of hand. All they wanted to do was to put two extremely powerful bombs into action.

The towns of Limon and then Kit Carson were each hit by thermobaric bombs. Larger than what hit Sirte in Libya, these two bombs did as much damage as what occurred there and thoroughly destroy each target here in the United States. The equivalent of twelve tons of TNT but taking a longer-lasting and far hotter explosion than a conventional weapon was the yield of these bombs. Limon and Kit Carson were obliterated by what hit them. However, neither was knocked out for no reason. There were few American civilians at each and they weren’t a primary target either. Why these attacks came here were to destroy the Canadian military presence at Limon and the British around Kit Carson. The pair of towns were at crossroads in eastern Colorado and behind the frontlines. Here there were significant rear-area forces supporting the forward troops. Supply, communications, vehicle maintenance, medical and transportation units were concentrated. As intelligence information that the Soviets also had correctly said, the Canadian I Corps was right on the edge of a major attack. Hitting dispersed troops at the frontlines would have taken more bombs and not been as effective, the Soviets decided, but smashing apart these two support nodes would be. Covered by Flankers who had been moved to Pueblo Airport, and who engaged RAF Phantoms successfully, those bombers got in and out without taking any loses. Casualties were anticipated to be extensive among Allied troops at the targeted sites. As to the incoming major attack to cut their rear, the Soviets didn’t get hit by one afterwards. They waited on their own reinforcements and held onto what they had in Colorado, confident that eliminating the enemy military presence around Limon and Kit Carson had been enough. Time would tell on that.