Soviet Domination - A Red Dawn story

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong for Kennedy at this point?

So we end up with a great Kennedy and a Kennedy that will be remember as one of the worst presidents in the history of American presidents.

Also James, congratulations on you promotion to Lieutenant.

(66)

February 1982:

Before the summit with Andropov in East Berlin, Kennedy made visits through early February to Paris, the Republic of Ireland and then Stockholm. After East Berlin in the middle of the month, the president was due to go to Bonn then Rome & the Vatican City (meeting the new Pope in the latter) before heading to Israel as the last stop on his trip. The crowds came out in the French capital to see Kennedy as he made an official state visit there; France and its people loved him. In Ireland, Kennedy went to his family’s historic ancestral home in County Wexford before meetings with the Irish Government. There was no trip up to Ulster for him though: the British Government had vetoed that idea late last year when it was mooted and that decision would cost London harshly come April for Kennedy took that blocking of his travel personally. Then it was Stockholm where the American president attended several official events before meeting with the Soviet leader afterwards down in the East German capital. Rome was a pleasant trip for Kennedy along with his meeting with the new Pope; Israel too was somewhere else he enjoyed with visits to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Negev. The three days in East Berlin were the most important part of the itinerary for the president though.

The press called it the ‘Valentine’s Summit’. Such a name had a nice ring to it for them and was pushed by the American media crews who covered the summit once they were inside the East German capital. As was expected, the activities of them were monitored and controlled by the authorities who didn’t want them wandering. Bad weather and multiple off-the-record briefings by Kennedy’s entourage kept them away from doing what the East Germans feared anyway and telling the world the story of life behind the Iron Curtain that they didn’t want told. Kennedy himself spoke several times to the media as well. He had a series of four meetings in total with Andropov, quite a large number in such a short space of time. Interpreters and advisers were present throughout. Kennedy was treated with the respect that a head of state should expect and was rather comfortable while in East Berlin. He got very comfortable his second night there in fact. A French journalist, a woman whom he’d met when in Paris who’d covered his tour of the French capital, was snuck into his room by his aides when the Secret Service agents looked the other way. Not once did the concept of a HONEYTRAP enter his mind.

At the end of the summit, Andropov and Kennedy came to several agreements on a wide range of matters. Both were to work to support the establishment of peaceful settlements to the conflicts in the Middle East with regard to Israel, Egypt and the Sinai as well as Lebanon; other areas of conflict there would need more work but agreed to have them discussed by Gromyko and Mondale. They discussed strategic missile restrictions on the arsenals of each of their countries and thrashed out cooperation for working towards a SALT III treaty several years hence. There was agreement too on both sides aiming to stop the spread of conflict in Central American nations though nothing specific there away from a commitment to try to achieve an end to ongoing fighting across several countries by non-interference. That was a bit of a mess when it came to the Kennedy Administration having to explain to the press what that meant; Andropov didn’t have to worry about media questions and criticism from home. Gromyko was at the press event on the last day of the summit and was he not Andropov who then surprised the world with an announcement which the Valentine’s Summit would long be remembered for. Kennedy knew what was coming and took pride in making sure that nothing was leaked from his entourage on what the Soviets were going to do. He wanted the affect to be strong at home in the United States and believed that would be best done if nothing was leaked.

Before the end of 1982, the Soviet Union would be removing twenty-five percent of its troops from East Germany. The following year would see another twenty-five percent would leave East Germany too. Gromyko informed the world that the Soviet Union and its people only wanted peace. What better away to achieve this than showing Soviet faith in the American president’s promises that he only wanted peace too? Should the United States and NATO nations wish to match the troop withdrawal of their own from West Germany nor or in the future, the Soviet Union would welcome that. This withdrawal of theirs was unconditional though. The Soviet soldiers would leave regardless of what NATO did or didn’t do. Gromyko told the press that the Soviet Union was beginning the process of a hoped-for reduction in forward-deployed military forces across all of Europe. Furthermore, also leaving East Germany within the next ten months to add to this reduction would be nuclear weapons inside Eastern Europe further then East Germany. He left that details of that statement unsaid.

Kennedy stood to the side, with Andropov between him and Gromyko, beaming for the cameras. Just look at his success in negotiations with the Soviets to secure peace, something which his domestic and foreign detractors said couldn’t be done. He knew exactly what he was doing, didn’t he?

The biggest of all Maskirovkas.
The Game with Saddam was one thing; this Game with Ted is far bigger, more complicated and very dangerous.

Oh, this is so going to backfire horribly...

(67)

February 1982:

World attention was focused on the fallout from the superpower summit in East Berlin. What It All Means was what everyone was trying to figure out. A certainty of peace was what many said. That might have been true with relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. However, elsewhere there was an uneasy peace about to be broken in Central America. Inside Belize, a British crown colony on the verge of independence, late-February saw the beginnings of a bigger conflict begin. Small groups of Guatemalan soldiers were infiltrated over the border into what Guatemala – when under various governments; this revolutionary communist one the latest – claimed was rightfully theirs. Whether the territory to their east was called by others British Honduras, the colony of Belize or an independent Belize, Guatemala regarded it as part of Guatemala. It was historically theirs. It belonged to them. The troops dispatched were under orders to establish a presence inside this stolen land and help with a revolt among the ordinary people so they could finally throw off the shackles of foreign imperialism and join with the new Guatemala being built across to the west. The poor exploited peasants (the opinion of Guatemala’s leaders, not those inside Belize) across in Belize would be encouraged to join in with the continuing revolution sweeping through Central America. They wouldn’t be the last ‘encouraged to join’ either.

Those soldiers inside Belize soon found themselves engaged in combat. The Guatemalans fought with troops serving in the Belize Defence Force (BDF), an organisation raised by and supported by the British authorities in Belize City. This was an army meant to take over the defence of the country when – whenever that might be – the British left Belize. The clashes between them and the invading Guatemalans were isolated events involving groups of no more than a dozen, maybe a dozen and a half at sites separated by many miles over the period of the last week of February. The BDF was responding to intelligence reports from locals of armed groups active in the jungle and on the edges of border villages. They stumbled into the Guatemalans on the first few occasions and then hunted for them afterwards. Those opponents of the BDF had failed in their mission to keep their presence hidden from the BDF and inciting an uprising. The Guatemalans soon found themselves fighting instead. Those localised infantry clashes between the two sides were short and violent affairs with civilians caught up in them. Both sides lost men killed, wounded and captured. There came withdrawals from the Guatemalans, deeper into the jungle, and chases made by the BDF after them. The BDF soldiers identified who they were chasing and aimed to kill them while also recovering the comrades dragged away as prisoners by an enemy who wouldn’t stand and fight but rather run away. The fighting continued after each initial clash with pursuits turning into more exchanges of fire. More BDF troops flooded into the area and they soon weren’t alone either: British forces inside Belize joined them.


The UK was eager for Belize to gain its independence and for the then country to join the Commonwealth and other international organisations. Diplomatic problems had caused a delay though 1982 was meant to be the year that Belize became a sovereign nation… no matter what Guatemala had to say. Guatemala had long had a lot to say on the issue of Belize. Since Guatemalan aggression had begun back in 1972, Britain had been forced to keep military forces inside Belize to deter Guatemala from invading and annexing the territory. Such an action would be against the wishes of the people in Belize, British interests and international law. Guatemala regularly intimidated that they were about to do that and therefore a garrison of troops supported by aircraft and helicopters was inside Belize. During early 1982, that British force to support the local BDF consisted of a stronger detachment than in recent years due to Guatemala’s revolution and public claims made of Guatemalan sovereignty over Belize. The British Army had a regular infantry battalion – 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Wales – in Belize along with the majority of a battalion of Gurkhas too which had been sent from Brunei late last year: that latter unit being the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Gurkha Rifles. The RAF had aircraft in Belize in the form of half a dozen Harrier attack-fighters organised into a flight (a partial squadron) and another flight of multi-role Puma helicopters. There were British citizens in Belize and British interests to protect, though the official mission was supporting the Belizeans themselves as they got ready for independence. When confirmed that Guatemalan troops were inside Belize, and fighting the BDF, British forces moved to respond. There were deployments to the border of part of that garrison and readiness increased across the rest ready to defend the country from further border-crossings. The men on the ground were ready to fight. They waited on word from London.

London would make a big mistake with the initial reaction to the sudden conflict in Belize. When what became the Belize War fully got going some time after the February clashes, there would be a major domestic political dispute. Resignations would come with some accepted and others deferred until after that conflict. War with Guatemala was a few months away though. When the reports came of border fighting by isolated groups of Guatemalan soldiers inside Belize, the British Government made the decision not to inflame tensions anymore than necessary. Those Guatemalans inside Belize were to be engaged. The BDF would be supported in doing so by British forces inside Belize there to defend the country. There was no hesitancy in that approach, one which was regarded at that point as being proportional. Meanwhile, diplomacy was the main approach taken. Guatemala was to be given the sternest message of British resolve to support Belize during its path to independence and told that Belize was still British territory in the meantime. Further border incursions would be met with force, not limited to just inside Belize either. This decision came from the top of the British Government with a certainty that the Guatemalans would listen. There was no military reinforcement of the garrison in Belize though. What was there was believed to be able to handle any more incursions, especially since the BDF had made a fine showing of itself already. Diplomacy and the implied threat of force, such was what London decided. However, the real decisions on how the conflict in Belize would go weren’t being made in London though: they were being decided in Guatemala City… and Havana too.