Soviet Domination - A Red Dawn story

Well this is a surprise.

Well I hope he has the bals to stand up to the Soviets.

There will be a game to be played out with this president. For most of that game, the other side will not want a war like he doesn't. When they do though, the events earlier in the game will come back to hurt his country.
He will also have to stand up to Cuba, Nicaragua, Libya, Iraq, North Korea and others while upsetting allies - the UK but also the rest of NATO - as well.

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November 1980:

Ustinov had ordered an emergency test of the Soviet Union’s conventional warfighting capabilities back in September with a no-notice mobilisation drill sent to the command staffs of the Baltic, Belorussian, Carpathian and Kiev Military Districts (those on the western borders) as well as a drill for Groups of Forces spread across Eastern Europe as well. The results had been rather disappointing. Even after the debacle which was the for-real mobilisation late last year in the Trans-Caucasus and Turkestan Military Districts – where commanders had been fired and there had been major staff replacements there – those elsewhere in the Soviet military hadn’t gotten the message that there were to be no more lies and they needed to get their house in order. Ustinov had done this in reaction to the ongoing events in Poland and believed that the results wouldn’t be that bad; he had even resisted the urge to ‘cheat’ by giving some forewarning of what was coming so he could really see afterwards where the problems were. Those problems were everywhere. If the alert had been for real, if NATO had attacked and sent West German panzers along with American fighter-bombers eastwards… That didn’t bare thinking about. He hadn’t been happy. Neither had been his Politburo comrades. The falsified readiness reports, the no-shows with staff officers and the lies told for so long about practised mobilisations had all seen those found guilty in subsequent court martials punished harshly.

The Politburo had wanted this done because at that time there was the need to see if it was possible to go into Poland with Soviet troops and correct the issues there with a country on strike. Ustinov hadn’t been eager to see that happen and neither had Andropov either who didn’t think it would work. Others had believed that it was best to see if it had been possible and to also tighten the screws on the Polish government as well by letting them know that the Soviet Union was serious. Ustinov had previously been to Poland himself, to ‘inspect’ Soviet troops there, and the news of the mobilisation was passed onto the Poles… though not its failures, naturally. Still, even with that and all that the KGB was doing inside Poland to eliminate those behind the troubles in creative manners, the situation there hadn’t been resolved. Warsaw’s current politicians couldn’t fix the problem. A different solution was tried in the end, once the Americans had had their sham election, one which didn’t involve compromising with the demands from counterrevolutionaries nor using Soviet troops to impose Moscow’s will. Poles would deal harshly with Poles instead.


A few days after the US presidential election it began in earnest. Poland saw a change of government late on the Friday night with Geirek and his own politburo detained by Polish soldiers following KGB guidance. The disgraced Stanisław Kociołek made a return, supported by the guns of troops directly under the command of generals Jaruzelski and Siwicki. Kociołek was infamous in Poland for how he had dealt with striking workers years beforehand and the only viable Pole to do what needed to be done as far as Moscow was concerned; the two generals were political soldiers who had ambitions above their station but would following guidance from the Soviet Union.

The bloodless coup d’état was followed by a weekend of consolidating power by the new regime using the weekend as cover when those subject to arrest were at home and the strikers weren’t involved in their at-work sit-in. Resistance to the change in government was near non-existent, especially since very few people knew what was going on. Then came the Monday morning when the workers across Poland on strike – close to forty per cent of them by now – showed up to their places of work to continue their protests. ZOMO riot police, ORMO communist party militia and also Polish Armed Forces soldiers in the background moved against them preceded by Polish intelligence officers. Examples were made. Trouble was sought. There were too many strikers and not enough armed men to take them on, plus likely other civilians who would probably get involved. The attacks by the state on their own people were targeted. Factories around Warsaw, the shipyards on the Baltic coast and the coal mines in Silesia were where the peaceful protests were made no longer peaceful. It was a day of bloody violence. Cordons of soldiers stayed back to surround areas where they knew nothing of which was going on inside as hyped-up militia and professional head-crackers went to work. The 10th of November was a bloody day indeed. So was the next day too, elsewhere in the country at other selected sites. It was then that the newspapers and state television & radio informed the country of the new leader of their nation. Promises were made by Kociołek to the Polish people – vague ones though – of a new way of doing things with the Polish state which included wage increases and the lowering of prices on many necessities. Further job opportunities were announced to help build a ‘new Poland’ and Kociołek asked his people to support and aid him in that. There was no mention made of the crackdown taking place that was coming with a great loss of life. Word-of-mouth would let the people know about that, including lies spread about what had happened to induce fear but also obedience in the Polish people.


As can be expected, there were reactions outside Poland. Ford condemned the self-coup and denounced the violence with American intelligence picked up the details of (though not exactly what occurred as the KGB had been busy muddling the waters) almost straight away. Kennedy had something to say too, as did other American politicians. Across Western Europe, leaders were outraged at what they were hearing. Attention was focused upon Warsaw though and Kociołek. Condemnation of Moscow, which was behind this, came second as the new Polish leader was the face of it all and already a known quantity as someone with a history like he had.

However, from Rome, Pope John Paul II didn’t follow the lead set by those politicians. No, instead he laid the blame for the events in his native land with the Soviet leadership. He made quite a big deal out of it as well with no intention of talking about it once and then moving on. Just as he wanted them to be, his words were heard in Moscow.

Part II - the years 1981, 82, 83 - begins tomorrow.

Nasty events in Poland and that last bit, sounds like someone in Rome is going to have an unfortunate 'accident'. Which could have dramatic consequences if the KGB mess things up.

You mean something like Pope John Paul II assassination attempt in 1981