Soviet Domination - A Red Dawn story

The Americans are doing well with the first wave.
What happens when the second wave arrives? More Soviets, more Warsaw Pact troops, more tanks, helicopters, aircraft etc. The WP production facilities are well away from the fighting and can keep churning out supplies, the American arms plants, less so.

  That is likely to be the big advantage for the US in N America once they recover from the initial shock and disruption.  Its going to be very, very difficult getting any Soviet equipment and munitions, let alone men to the front and attempts are likely to be costly with heavy losses, even if they 'succeed'.  The Reds will very much be limited to what they have now and what can be supplied locally.  Not to mention how long can their naval/air forces and related civilian transport resources take such heavy losses?  Plus if things take off in China as suggested that could well be a huge sink for Soviet resources.  Especially given the need for continued force presences in E Europe and the problems with the food supply.

  Just to check has there been much impact on American space and satellite facilities?  Think both in terms of communication and of their ability to see say Soviet supply convoys attempting to cross either ocean or other military activity.  Could be a problem with launch control centres and the like as I think a number of them were in Texas and California so could be threatened or attacked by air if nothing else.

We can assume that the death toll already has surpass that of the Great War and will most likely surpass World War II as well.

More complicated than this; basically it's a competition with both side trying to send the most from Europe, Siberia, whatever to North America and both side will try to block their adversary attempt to deliver men and supply; not considering the neutrals.

(170)

26th–31st September 1984:

South Texas had been under foreign occupation for more than a week, since that fateful afternoon when Cuban and Soviet forces had gone over the border from Mexico. The frontlines of the war, such as they were, had moved far away and were now in Central & Eastern Texas. San Antonio and everywhere below there was occupied territory. There was plenty of military activity due to the arrival of further forces coming in from abroad while at the same time the ‘security situation’ across South Texas was something of great importance to the occupiers too. There were hundreds of thousands of Americans who were caught behind those frontlines. They hadn’t been able to get away like so many others did or had made the mistake of staying when opportunity to leave had come to them; that mistake was costly. Tight discipline was supposed to be maintained by combat troops in Cuban and Soviet uniform with no contact between them and American civilians meant to be undertaken apart from in exception circumstances. Maintaining order in the area under occupation was the duty of security units brought in specially to undertake that. There were vices which could corrupt fighting men and those in combat-support roles; opportunities to cause trouble would be aplenty too. Regular military personnel were thus kept away from those civilians. Instead, it was the responsibility of teams of carefully selected KGB and DGI officers (including many mobilised reservists) to ensure security. Their priority task, above everything else, was countering resistance to the occupation and the use of South Texas for military forces here in America to fight. That resistance was expected upon arrival and was anticipated to come in many forms, not just the American national obsession with personal firearms. Some reconnaissance work had been done by a few personnel ahead of the attack yet what was found by the majority of those sent in was quite the surprise. South Texas was just going to be uncontrollable.

Countering resistance mean stopping active and passive interference with military operations from civilians. It meant too making sure that the flame of organised partisan & guerrilla warfare was extinguished right away from those who tried to lead opposition to those occupying South Texas. People control was sought and that wasn’t subtle. There were other places were that might work, but not here. Intimidation and open threats were used instead of propaganda or deception. Upon arrival of the security units after military units had passed ahead of them, there was a focus to shut down the movement of civilians and then start registering them. Police stations and offices of the IRS saw men arrive and start shouting orders (not always in the best of English) for lists to be created. Those who raised a fist or a voice were taken away and shot. Local police forces and the tax authorities had the information which was needed. Where people lived, what their occupation was and whether they were going to be trouble. Homes were visited with searches made for people at the top of each list. There were some special cases identified pre-war – local leaders, activists and senior retired or reserve military personnel – who were at the very top but then downwards the occupiers conducted a hunt for those who were to be detained. These were the leaders of the community and they would be taken into custody. Some were killed quickly while others were held as hostages so that the rest of those in the occupation area would behave. Public announcements were made. People were to turn up at work and do their work. Children would go to school. Those who didn’t work would stay in their homes. Only for purposes of work would people leave their homes at first and then afterwards there would be visits allowed to be made to food distribution points. Social events and religious services were cancelled. Unauthorised leaving of homes between dusk and dawn wasn’t allowed. All personal firearms were to be handed into collection points. Travel in personal vehicles no matter what the reason was banned: public transport was running or the use of your two feet was allowed. Food and medicine could only be sought from the recognised distribution points and would be rationed. Electricity would not be running overnight. There was no telephone connection available and the mail service was cancelled. Sales of vehicle fuel, alcohol and ‘deviant material’ was banned. Anyone with medical training was to report at once to certain points; others with any previous military experience was to report to other locations.

The craziness of these restrictions became apparent from the very first day. They were unworkable though those enforcing them gave no leeway to any deviation from them. There were people who couldn’t go to their places of work because they were unable to travel there or there were soldiers there (who were doing different tasks from the security units). Civilians had to visit relatives elsewhere who were ill and depended upon them. The rationing of food was set up according to what was printed on a list, not what the situation on the ground was. In the small towns, let along the big ones, then San Antonio afterwards, the civilian population was unable to follow these alien concepts nor willing to either. Hostages held were shot faster than more could be selected. There was criminality committed alongside what were acts of sabotage against the infrastructure. Local cooperation from some officials (those who were willing to do what must be done to help their fellow citizens; those who would be derided as traitors straight away) who were forced into ‘Committees for Public Safety’ fell apart at once when the occupiers started shooting people for making errors when trying to follow these restrictions, let alone doing anything deliberate to antagonise the occupiers as so many others were. Cuban and Soviet military personnel who were meant to be staying away from the civilians didn’t: not when there were opportunities to steal and commit acts of violence. The insanity of the occupation rules only pushed forward what was going to come anyway. Anyone, even people who just wanted to get on with their lives when around them the world had gone crazy, pushed back against this. There began the third wave of shootings in response: the first had been identified targets of political opposition and the second had been those hostages. Now the occupation entered its most brutal stage, especially around San Antonio where what had failed elsewhere was attempted there in a city of that size and which had already seen the face of war. More and more people were shot. Paperwork wasn’t always done on who was shot and why and the bodies weren’t carefully buried anymore. There was gunfire everywhere. Members of those security units encountered terrible ends in some cases: ‘people’s justice’ extended to perceived traitors too. Civilians either stayed in their homes or were out trying to fight back to defend their communities. South Texas was up in arms with that flame of resistance fully burning now.


POWs had been taken across South Texas since the war had begun. There were national guardsmen captured on the border and others in the rear. US Air Force personnel were taken prisoner and so too were US Navy aviators from the many training airbases around Corpus Christi. Captured US Army soldiers taken in the fighting outside San Antonio joined them soon enough and so too did what downed aircrews were recovered from aircraft and helicopters. Few of these POWs had surrendered without incident. They had seen others with them shot and been beaten themselves. Female military personnel had had been victims of sexual violence as well. Prisoners were valuable, standing orders for the Cubans and Soviets were, and so they were taken alive generally apart from those wounded (almost always shot) or hadn’t wanted to come peacefully. These POWs weren’t treated according to international regulations. They weren’t shipped off to Mexico or Cuba as many thought that they would be too. Instead, they were put to work. There were dangerous tasks which were assigned to them in clearing mines and unexploded ordnance as well as some backbreaking physical work. Resistance was cut short with firing squads. Escape attempts were plotted and a few of them succeeded. Those who were left behind afterwards suffered for those who got away. The captured prisoners were in for a torrid time as this continued unabated.

Between the frontlines, there were parts of Texas were the Americans had withdrawn organised military forces from and the Cubans & Soviets hadn’t pushed their troops into yet. Civilians streamed out of this area, terrified of suffering the same fate as what was said of those who didn’t get away. They were heading towards FEMA camps set up in other parts of Texas though oftentimes going elsewhere, anywhere else. In what could be called no man’s land, there was fighting taking place regardless of the absence of heavy forces from either side. Guerrillas were active and it must be said that not all of them were noble with honest intentions – war can bring out the worst in people – where looting occurred and there were acts of violence against the helpless by some of the on the wrong side of resistance. That shouldn’t have taken away from the value of patriotic volunteers wanting to do their bit, so many of them, though it naturally would. Special forces teams and reconnaissance units were active as well. They clashed with each other at times while on other occasions purposely hide from the other. The Cubans and the Soviets had brought in their men and the Americans were funnelling in theirs too. There were scouting missions, sniping at enemy personnel, attacks made against helicopters by men armed with missiles and mines laid. American Green Berets – regulars joined by reservists – conducted demolitions in places while the Soviets held onto infrastructure ahead of it being blown up. Raiding operations took place against airbases on the edges of those frontlines: Randolph held by the Cubans and Bergstrom which remained in American hands. Prisoners were taken with the Cubans hunting for select people fleeing the occupation zone behind who might be of interest, the Soviets trying to grab American scouts and the Americans going after downed enemy aircrews looking for the information which they could provide. This went on across an area of Texas stretching from the Interstate-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio in the west across to the east to the Gulf of Mexico between Houston and Victoria. Those in this no man’s land had no idea of how long the shadowboxing between the armies outside it would take place and were all trying to do something to influence that coming fight without knowing when against it would begin.


The stand-off, that shadowboxing, took an awful long time to end. The American-Cuban clash along Highway-90 west of San Antonio and the follow-up American-Soviet fight near Victoria afterwards saw both sides pull away from each other. Neither realised how badly beat-up the other was as they focused upon their own losses. Political and staff recriminations came once the killing was over with each battle and there were reorganisations made. In addition, what caused the delay of several days before they would all return to the fight, was the incoming of reinforcements to each side afterwards which were regarded as needed before any fresh attack could be made. The Soviets poured men into South Texas while convinced at any moment the Americans would attack upon realising how weak they had left the Cubans. The US Army set about funnelling men into Central & Eastern Texas from across the United States and get them there before the Soviets (who they were convinced were stronger than they were) could join with the Cubans to make a fresh attack. Reconnaissance efforts by each side gained some information though there were missing pieces to the puzzle as well. This led to there being a lot of wrong analysis. Opportunities were missed.

The Fifth US Army more than doubled in size through the last week of September. There had come reinforcements moving in with haste and also organisation changes made. The III Corps had seen the 2nd Armored Division declared combat ineffective when withdrawing and what was left was merged into the 1st Cavalry Division. There had been howls of complaints from that former division’s headquarters staff yet the latter division needed what was given unwillingly to bring it up to strength. South of Austin (from where the Texas state government had departed: what a morale booster!) the 1st Cavalry was redeployed to with behind it the 82nd Airborne Division… which had just the one combat brigade. III Corps retained command over the 5th Infantry Division which moved into the Colorado River area to the left of the 1st Cavalry. Joined by lots of artillery, engineers and further supporting units, the III Corps wouldn’t be defending the Colorado River as a defensive line but rather fighting in front of it. The Cubans down around San Antonio looked likely to advance this way and they were whom the III Corps was to stop. Complicating the defensive plan for a mobile battle was the position of Bergstrom south of the river. The US Air Force would have to leave there should the need arise and that was made clear in no uncertain terms for the US Army wasn’t about to try and make any form of last-stand near to it or in it should the worst happen. The Colorado River ran towards the sea and also along its course was the V Corps: the 3rd Armored & 24th Infantry Divisions joined by an ad hoc division (called the 39th Infantry but not truly organised capable of fighting as a complete whole) of national guardsmen from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. The national guardsmen were motivated and reasonably well-equipped but there was some concern over whether they would be able to do everything that would be demanded of them, duke it out with the Soviets in a real battle, should that come. They were here though. Acting as a reserve and located around Houston, was the 4th Marine Division. Those reservists, including the marine riflemen who had fought at the Edna-Victoria engagement, had come from across the country and poured into the Houston area. A whole battalion, one mobilised back in Massachusetts yet with men from across New England, was kept assigned for a separate task though. They were to provide security for combat engineers who’d been busy pre-scouting a lot of the infrastructure around Houston. There was the city’s airport and then Ellington Field ANGB as well. Port facilities through Galveston Bay were looked at through the lens of what might have to be blown up less it be taken intact if the Soviets won a victory. The Johnson Space Centre was in Houston too: personnel and equipment were leaving as a pre-emptive measure but key parts of that site would be destroyed if necessary to deny it to the Soviets. Finally, off in West Texas, and yet to see any real action apart from being struck at by commandos and run around all over the place, was a brigade of Texan national guardsmen. The 49th Armored Division had lost its other two on the war’s first day. That third brigade had seen its heavy equipment funnelled towards it while it withdrew back from exposed forward position, abandoning a border over an area not crossed. They were spread out and seemingly forgotten about, covering a flank through which the enemy couldn’t and wouldn’t make use of… not anytime soon anyway. Six divisions and two bits of divisions reported to the Fifth Army. They were all ready to fight and some were already veterans. Their position was generally defensive yet that didn’t mean that that was all that they could do.

Facing them across that no man’s land, the Cubans hadn’t been reinforced. What was left of two full divisions and the bits of another two formed their Second Army. This was a battered force. They hadn’t been beaten and arguably had won the Battle of San Antonio but that wasn’t how those Cubans there thought about the fighting along Highway-90 and the subsequent failed attempt to chase & catch the Americans who had gotten away afterwards. Losses had been immense and crippling in places. If ordered to attack again, the Second Army could but another fight like the one where they had destroyed an American division by staying still and returning fire would be the end of them. Mobility should have been their real potential yet that was denied to the Cubans following their victory. American aircraft had taken their time to be effective in cutting the Cuban’s supply lines back to Mexico but that had finally been achieved. Fuel and ammunition was bottlenecked around the Rio Grande crossings…and those trapped convoys were perfect targets for more incoming air attacks. Playing their unwitting role in the shadowboxing before the second big fight in Texas took place was all that the Cubans could do for now. If only the Americans had known how effective their air strikes had been, they could have ignored the Cubans for the time being. The Soviets knew and that was what mattered. That was why they had accelerated their movements of troops into Texas. Immense strain was put on the ships and aircraft, the harbours and the airports, to get the Eighth Tank Army across from Texas to meet a schedule which had slipped yet couldn’t be allowed to fall any further behind. American attacks came but weren’t concentrated enough. South Texas, plus bits of Mexico just across the border, saw increased arrivals. There were ships and aircraft which didn’t make it carrying cargo and men. Improvisation occurred once the Eighth Tank Army received an order to start forming up properly and heading northwards. What should have been four divisions was three after temporary mergers. Artillery, rocket units and helicopters were numerous yet still not all that should have come across from Cuba. No American submarines had showed up and the danger had been aircraft. It hadn’t been enough to stop the Soviets from reaching Texas. Now they were ready to see if what was ahead of them in terms of American troops would be able to stop them. Soviet light units already in Texas joined with the Eighth Tank Army when the orders came to attack starting on the 1st of October in the lower reaches of the Colorado River. Towards Houston the Soviets would go.

I didn't know where the HQ was and, yes, that is gone. Vandenberg is well away from where the fighting is in California. Cape Kennedy / Patrick is open to attack though especially as there is a no-holds-barred attitude. I'll think on this.
As to the occupation zone, the schools things is something not thought through. At the beginning, the Soviets believe by keeping some sense of normality, things won't be so bad. Teaching kids communism and the glory of Lenin etc is not yet something started. 'Free America' is something I am turning to soon before going on the world tour. I'll add in the media angle into my notes.

Another good update that shows us what is happening in Texas, that makes me wonder, we now what old Bush is doing, nothing sins his stint as the CIA director, but what is Yong Bush doing.