forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Mar 5, 2019 15:16:20 GMT
I'll answer the comments later as I went out today to do photography and get some inspiration and am now day-drunk!
There will be a whole load of VCs etc. I might write a couple of pieces about medal ceremonies later on, once the war is over. Provided there is no storm of atomic fire, of course...
Thanks for the comments so far.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Mar 5, 2019 17:11:42 GMT
A dark day for NATO. The Russians won't be able to keep up those raids for long but they do devastating damage when they do occur. Hull, of course, has to be given some structural improvment with KH-55s...
The consequences of this on European attitudes towards defence will be massive. Strategic debates about whether or not heavy weapons like MBTs should be kept in inventory or in production, are now moot. NATO armies aren't fighting a bushfire war, but a proper conventional war. Expect defence budgets to increase post-war and anti-missile defence to be high on the agenda. When Russia finally loses the war, a colour revolution in Russia is a near given in this scenario. Modern Russia isn't the Soviet Union and only so much can be done to crush internal dissent.
Yup, Putin and co may well have triggered the very thing they went to war to avoid.
A lot of NATO countries - the UK, France, Poland and the Baltics in particular - will have a 'never again' attitude regardless of whether or not the post-war Russia is friendly or hostile. Only the US, Germany & Spain really have dedicated long-range air defence systems (Patriots) at the time IIRC. This would change after the war with all the damage being done by air and sub-launched cruise missiles. The US might not get away unscathed by air attacks either, but that, if it happens, is for another day.
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hussar01
Chief petty officer
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Post by hussar01 on Mar 5, 2019 17:56:56 GMT
Imagine THAAD production going into high gear.
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 5, 2019 21:02:45 GMT
Imagine THAAD production going into high gear. Western Europe has the Aster base to work from. This isn't my strongest subject but I agree with you that they'll be doing something. The missile attacks have been destructive and costly. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 5, 2019 21:05:34 GMT
Seventy–Four
With the exception of Iceland which had no standing military, all other NATO members had agreed upon minimum defence budgets relation to GDP to support their armed forces. Those were all meant to be well-equipped, well-trained and capable of working with those from their partner nations. Some countries dodged and cheated their budgets leading often to complaints from across the Atlantic that they were ‘using’ the American taxpayers due to the strength of the United States’ military might. Other countries outspent their neighbours – none came close to the Americans though – as they maintained larger military forces that fellow NATO members thought necessary. There was that wide cooperation and agreements. Many countries had deployed elements of their military’s on overseas missions with peacekeeping and counter-insurgency tasks across the globe alongside their partners. Yet, there were also problems with the state of many aspects of the armed forces of multiple countries though a reasonable and neutral observer could fail to state that any of those were wholly inadequate for their task when it came to working together to defend fellow members of the alliance. All countries brought something to the table with special pieces to built something bigger. Perfection wasn’t a way to describe what was fielded either, that must be said too though. Then there were the Americans who had had a lot of everything yet even they had gaps in capabilities.
Turkey had suspended its NATO membership – a unilateral decision – while both Greece and Italy had declared that they remained in NATO. From Athens and Rome came promises to furious allies that they would defend NATO facilities in those countries as well as their own soil yet they weren’t taking part in NATO military operations abroad. There was a mood in many places to throw those two countries to the wolves yet cooler heads had prevailed and there was work underway to get Greece and Italy to each change their mind. Both of those countries, to say nothing of Turkey, maintained large and capable military forces whose contribution to the fight would be very welcome. The strategic geography of those nations was important too. American aircraft remained flying from Italian bases though Greece had prohibited such a thing. This was all very complicated here.
NATO countries across the rest of Europe and Canada too had all committed to fighting to defend their allies. The decision had been made before the war started – with the hope that deterrence would work – and they were involved from the start where their deployed military forces came under attack and so too did either their home nations or their immediate neighbours. They’d made a promise to supply military forces for war and were keeping their word. Demark and Norway each had Russian troops on their soil and had mobilised to fight those battles. The standing Danish Division and the reforming Norwegian 6th Division were engaged in fighting with reinforcements from within joining them as well as those from outside. The Netherlands had sent men to Poland before the war started (with some marines to Norway too) with almost their entire army either there or moving forwards. Dutch aircraft had fought in the opening moments of war and the Dutch Navy had seen action too. Belgium was sending its army and air force to Poland while also joining with NATO naval efforts to defend alliance partners. Between them, and with some Luxembourgers joining in too, the ground forces of the Low Countries would ultimately reach five full-sized brigades. They would be split up all over the place though rather than concentrated together. Germany’s air and naval forces had seen conflict already with major engagements throughout Europe. There had been significant German ground forces tasked to deploy to Poland pre-war which included a pair of divisions and two combat brigades. Historical issues were there but not openly talked about. The pair of panzer divisions (the 1st and 10th) had yet to see action and the brigade of paratroopers was re-tasked to Norway, but an airmobile brigade had been massacred near to the Belarus-Polish border. Germany had lost – dead, missing and prisoner – over two thousand men. The country was sending more though. Another division (the 13th Panzergrenadier) was now deploying into southeastern Poland to assist in a joint NATO effort to run a ring of troops around the Ukrainian frontier. The Czechs were sending troops to Poland, a brigade to be attached to one of those German panzer divisions, and had another moving into Slovakia. Hungary and Slovakia committed troops to their border with the Ukraine with most of their armies going eastwards. There were Ukrainian forces mobilising towards NATO’s frontiers there and no one knew what their intentions were. A fight was expected either in these small Eastern European countries as well as in Poland although that wasn’t certain. Albania, Croatia and Slovenia all promised forces to aid their fellow NATO members. The ability of Albania, new in NATO, to send combat troops would be questioned and see many of them on rear area tasks though the Croats and the Slovenes would send frontline fighting forces (three combat brigades in total between them) all the way to Poland. Like other countries, they’d lost soldiers already up in Latvia in addition to other personnel deployed elsewhere throughout Europe.
France had large and capable military forces. They had a global reach too on par with Britain. President Sarkozy had committed his country to this war and backed that promise especially since France had been so heavily attacked as it was. French troops in Poland would be quadrupled in size from one brigade to four. Further air assets were already tasked to that region as well along with many commando & intelligence units. French naval forces had seen some combat though most of those, like the rest of France’s army, wasn’t tasked to the fight in Eastern Europe. They were readied for projection southwards instead against Russia’s traditional allies in certain parts of the Middle East. Paris was waiting for the situation here to explode. Portugal and Spain also readied large parts of their armed forces to the same region where they focused on what Libya and Syria would do… or what Russia would make them do. The Spanish had aircraft already in Eastern Europe and started moving a mixed division that way, but they, and the Portuguese with all of theirs, were keeping many forces ready to join with the French in the Mediterranean. Canada was sending its the bulk of its army to Europe with all three standing combat brigades given the tasking of deploying to Poland. A huge logistics effort was underway to move them in addition to sending aircraft to join the fight there. Canadian naval forces were at sea and they expected to see action soon enough as well, especially against Russian submarines out in the open ocean.
Bulgaria had sent troops to Romania pre-war to join the Romanians there in positioning themselves to guard against a Russian-backed assault coming from the Ukraine and also Transnistria. Only the latter had struck, attacking Moldovia and thus having that small nation forced into the Coalition, yet the Ukraine had their huge armies ready with motives unknown. Romanian forces would have been especially useful in Poland yet they were committed at home. Poland had its armed forces fully in the fight and could only call up reservists rather than bring in more of any pre-war standing forces. There were other Polish troops but they were far overseas: in Afghanistan. Poland had a brigade command there and this was the same with also the French and the Germans. Such forces couldn’t come home. It wasn’t a matter of logistics – not with the availability of transportation assets from NATO partners – but rather because Afghanistan wasn’t a quiet region of the wider war. There was fighting there and, as the Americans and British were too, these troops from European NATO countries were involved in it.
British full mobilisation before the shooting started included retirees and discharged personnel. It had been going rather well though the majority of those who had failed to return to the colours due to various reasons before did so once the fighting started. The full Territorial Army was called out alongside those individual reservists assigned to all branches of Her Majesty’s armed forces. A rush of volunteers occurred at the outbreak of war. There were many tens of thousands of men and women who all attempted to join the military. There were plenty of these who were unsuitable and others who had cold feet in the following days when the reality of the idea hit home yet there remained many healthy and capable youngsters who were going to be assigned across the British Armed Forces for training. The best of the bunch were snapped up fast. There hadn’t been anything like this in recent memory with so many willing volunteers for military service: this war wasn’t unpopular among the general public like Afghanistan or Iraq. Things would change in time, it was feared, thus the haste to get those volunteers in training. Whether any of them would ever see service in this conflict was unlikely in the considered opinion of many others in uniform. It would take six months, even a year to train them and surely this war couldn’t last that long? They would be in uniform for what came afterwards though, whatever that might be. Training these volunteers and then equipping them at a later date was quite the daunting task. Plenty of those recalled reservists were assigned to training centres at home – others to backfill forces in the field abroad – and that would help there but equipment was always going to be an issue. It was all a matter of timing but there was no known timetable set on this conflict.
The British Army had the 1st Armoured Division in Poland at the start of the war along with taking the lead with the Mixed Baltic Brigade in Latvia. In Norway, the Royal Marines were there while the 16th Air Assault Brigade left the UK in the war’s first few hours to go to Denmark. Furthermore, the 4th Mechanised Brigade was in Afghanistan. This major overseas commitment was already causing grave worries of overstretch yet the need was great then and even more once the war started. Deployment had started too to send the 3rd Mechanised Division – to be reinforced with attachments from NATO allies; a brigade from either Belgium or Canada – to Poland as well and thus having almost all of Britain’s regular troops abroad in supporting tasks. The now-deceased Fox had, in one of his last acts as defence secretary, given the order for 2nd Infantry Division to be formed as well. This would be a light formation consisting of TA troops. All of these soldiers in fighting units were joined by supporting troops from engineers and gunners to truck drivers and admin staff. So many of Britain’s men and women were involved in this, hundreds of thousands of them. The RAF was fully-deployed too. They had aircraft on the Continent yet also tasked for home defence roles. More aircraft were sent to Eastern Europe. Others though were to be kept at home for national air defence. The aircraft came with ground personnel in large numbers spread everywhere. Warships and submarines with the Royal Navy had seen conflict already with others in position to do so. This included the recalling for those far from home shores, away from the seas where NATO was fighting the Russians. Vessels assigned to the Indian Ocean anti-piracy mission and also protecting the Falklands were withdrawn from those tasks. With the latter, the Royal Navy was forced to keep some ships there because of ongoing Anglo-Argentinean tensions. Argentina hadn’t joined the Coalition and where Britain had hoped that the Americans would make them aware than any attack on Britain was an attack on the whole alliance, the current failings in United States diplomacy due to Clinton’s death were telling here. This still needed sorting out and it was hoped that it would but before then, several ships stayed in the South Atlantic.
Russian military attacks against Britain at home and aboard brought pandemonium with them. A lot of this was in Whitehall with the national government. Conservative, Labour and Lib-Dem members of the Cameron Administration brought shame on themselves for their actions. They made many messes of things that they shouldn’t have. However, what they were faced with was something so unexpected. Russian commando activities to open the war and then the scale of the conflict on the Continent were horrific. Then came those air attacks against the UK with cruise missiles. This wasn’t 1940 and there was no mass bombing but when missiles crashed into the country they didn’t always land on target. Near misses and far-misses caused casualties like those which struck military bases. They all brought panic. ‘Keep calm and carry on’ it really wasn’t. Everyone was fearing that the next incoming missile wouldn’t have high-explosive by chemicals or even be nuclear. Rumours ran abound often that attacks with those had already occurred. Attempts were made to swash them though not always with success. Maybe the national government should have been more open with everything rather than declaring so many things military secrets – they did deny chemical or nuclear attacks though – yet they chose not to. Lack of real information caused this yet so did troublemakers. The SAS’s Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Wing was busy at several times across the country in the war’s first few days. They struck at several localities searching for Russian commandos and their associated networks. Those who’d taken part in the attacks on Whitehall and Kinloss were dead or prisoner but there were others out there. Along with missing GRU Spetsnaz there were too SVR spies to be located. Anti-terror police, not always aided by soldiers, went after leads to track them down and also committed raids on properties. They couldn’t get a real line of those they were looking for though. There were armed Russians in the country waiting for orders. They were hidden away and would face significant opposition should they strike, but they were there… waiting.
The Americans intended to send another five full US Army divisions to Europe before the end of the month. The 4th Infantry was on the ground & forming up in Germany with both the 82nd Airborne (minus its brigade lost in Estonia) and the 101st Air Assault Infantry behind them. The 1st Armored & 1st Cavalry were coming too. Additional combat units below divisional-strength, the 3rd Stryker Cavalry Regiment foremost among them, were tasked to deploy to Europe. Grow The Army had begun in 2006 under Bush and Obama, now Biden, had inherited a huge manpower pool to send off to war. By air and sea, the US Army was sending these combat units as well as the huge rear-area support network of supporting forces too. This was a huge commitment and consisted of nearly all of those who could be sent overseas from its regular forces. Reservists – all those veterans from previous wars; many not in the best of ways but with a reserve commitment – were to join them and the National Guard was mobilising as well. If necessary, half a dozen more divisions of national guardsmen, and again immense numbers of supporting troops, would all come across the ocean as well to the battlefields of Eastern Europe. On the flanks, the northern and southern reaches of Europe, where US Marines were fighting in Norway the rest of the 2nd Marine Division was going to join them. Smaller numbers of US Marines were tasked to join with the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade for Mediterranean contingencies. When Biden had promised his country that the United States would fight this war with all that he could, he had meant it. The troop numbers matched those words.
The US Air Force already had air units in Europe yet more were arriving. There were A-10s, F-15s, F-16s and F-22s already on the ground. Others would join them soon as America’s frontline combat aircraft came to the fight raging in European skies. There were bombers too: B-1s and B-52s. Some of the latter had already seen fighting and those who would join them would stay in rear bases in the western half of the continent to undertake missile-firing missions from afar. Supporting aircraft of all forms were deployed & deploying too. All of those reconnaissance aircraft, tankers, specialist rescue aircraft, special operations aircraft and so on were all assigned to NATO missions. The Americans had many of them and Biden was having them all sent to fight Russia in the skies and where they could be found on the ground. The loss of the USS Harry S. Truman had come after two more carrier battle groups were tasked to cross the Atlantic: those built around the USS Enterprise and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The loss of the Truman would hurt the US Navy, and NATO too, gravely but she would be avenged. Those incoming carriers came with their battle groups and there were also surface action groups of warships. Submarines, plenty of those, were putting to sea. The US Navy was deploying aircraft where it could. Russia was going to weep when the full might of American naval power got at them properly.
However, the United States’ military commitment to Europe and fighting the Russians elsewhere – there were mass movements of military forces in the Pacific too – was restricted by the others wars it was fighting. In both Afghanistan and Iraq, there were conflicts raging already against insurgents and terrorists. Throughout the year, as relations with Russia got worse and the military stakes were raised, changes were made to deployment schedules and force numbers. Neither Obama before him nor Biden now wanted to pull out of each, and that would now be impossible with Afghanistan, but that had been forced to make decisions that were seen as damaging the war efforts in those two countries. The Taliban and the death cult which was the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) took advantage. If they didn’t see what they did on the ground, there was plenty of media coverage to make use of where they saw the changes and reductions. They had thus reacted accordingly with an increase in attacks: they believed that the Third World War would see them to victory. Al Qaeda was another threat to the United States not just in the Middle East but worldwide. American military forces had too to be kept ready should varied countries across the globe join in the war alongside the Russians. Just because they hadn’t yet, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t later.
NATO reinforcements to add to pre-existing formations
Belgium
Medium Brigade / Light Brigade > both to NE Poland
Britain
2nd Infantry Division (2nd & 15th & 52nd Infantry Brigades) > to the Continent
3rd Mechanised Division (1st Mechanised & 19th Light Brigades) > to NE Poland
Canada
1st Mechanized Brigade–Group / 2nd Mechanized Brigade–Group / 5th Mechanized Brigade–Group > each to NE Poland
Croatia
Armoured Guard Brigade / Mechanised Guard Brigade > both to NE Poland
Czech Republic
4th Rapid Deployment Brigade / 7th Mechanised Brigade > to Slovakia and NE Poland respectively
France
3rd Mechanised Brigade / 6th Light Armored Brigade / 7th Armored Brigade > each to NE Poland
1st Mechanised Brigade / 4th Airmobile Brigade / 9th Light Armored Marine Infantry Brigade / 11th Parachute Brigade> each facing the Mediterranean
Germany
13th Panzergrenadier Division (37th & 41st PG Brigades) > both to Polish-Ukrainian border
Hungary
25th Infantry Brigade > to Hungarian-Ukrainian border
Portugal
Intervention Brigade / Mechanised Brigade / Rapid Reaction Brigade > facing the Mediterranean
Slovakia
1st Mechanised Brigade / 2nd Mechanised Brigade > each to Slovakian-Ukrainian border
Slovenia
1st Mechanised Brigade / 72nd Infantry Brigade > to Polish-Ukrainian border and NE Poland
Spain
2nd Infantry Division (1st Mechanised & 2nd Spanish Legion & 7th Airmobile Cavalry Brigades) > facing the Mediterranean
Marine Infantry Brigade > facing the Mediterranean
United States
1st Armored Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland
1st Cavalry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland
2nd Marine Division [reinforcing the 2 MEB] > to Norway
4th Infantry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland
82nd Airborne Division (3x brigades) > to NE Poland
101st Air Assault Infantry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland
3rd Stryker Cavalry Regiment > to NE Poland
173rd Airborne Brigade > facing the Mediterranean
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oldbleep
Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Post by oldbleep on Mar 6, 2019 1:25:28 GMT
A couple of observations regarding the citation for LCpl Pun, His rank would be his substantive rank (LCpl) and as a LCpl he would not be an acting Sergeant. In addition his promotion would not be listed in his citation it would be notified through other channels. Also it is very rare for an MID recipient to have a citation. In the London Gazette he would be listed along with the other recipients awarded an MID in that particular action. Below is a link for MID recipients from the London Gazette. www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30900/supplement/10849/data.htmA soldier mentioned in dispatches (or despatches)(MID)is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the soldier's gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy. In the British Armed Forces, the despatch is published in the London Gazette. Soldiers of the British Empire or the Commonwealth of Nations who are mentioned in dispatches but do not receive a medal for their action, are nonetheless entitled to receive a certificate and wear a decoration. Prior to 1979, a mention in dispatches was one of the only 3 awards that could be made posthumously, the others being the Victoria Cross and George Cross. Awards of medals are also recorded for all official gallantry awards made. Only very high awards of medals such as the Victoria Cross/George Cross were accompanied by a written ‘citation’ on a regular basis, most others especially during busy wartime periods were only recorded as a listing without any explanation as to why the award was made. From 1920 to 1993, the device consisted of a single bronze oak leaf, worn on the ribbon of the appropriate campaign medal, including the War Medal for a mention during the Second World War. Since 1993 a number of changes have been made in respect of United Kingdom armed forces: For awards made from September 1993, the oak leaf has been in silver. The criteria were also made more specific, it now being defined as an operational gallantry award for acts of bravery during active operations. From 2003, in addition to British campaign medals, the MiD device can be worn on United Nations, NATO and EU medals. This is not a criticism, just an observation and I continue to enjoy this cracking alternate history. |
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lordbyron
Warrant Officer
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Post by lordbyron on Mar 6, 2019 3:52:11 GMT
Good updates, and congrats at getting over 150k words; BTW, a lot of older Poles are probably having flashbacks to World War II...
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lordroel
Administrator
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Post by lordroel on Mar 6, 2019 4:12:22 GMT
Seventy–FourWith the exception of Iceland which had no standing military, all other NATO members had agreed upon minimum defence budgets relation to GDP to support their armed forces. Those were all meant to be well-equipped, well-trained and capable of working with those from their partner nations. Some countries dodged and cheated their budgets leading often to complaints from across the Atlantic that they were ‘using’ the American taxpayers due to the strength of the United States’ military might. Other countries outspent their neighbours – none came close to the Americans though – as they maintained larger military forces that fellow NATO members thought necessary. There was that wide cooperation and agreements. Many countries had deployed elements of their military’s on overseas missions with peacekeeping and counter-insurgency tasks across the globe alongside their partners. Yet, there were also problems with the state of many aspects of the armed forces of multiple countries though a reasonable and neutral observer could fail to state that any of those were wholly inadequate for their task when it came to working together to defend fellow members of the alliance. All countries brought something to the table with special pieces to built something bigger. Perfection wasn’t a way to describe what was fielded either, that must be said too though. Then there were the Americans who had had a lot of everything yet even they had gaps in capabilities. Turkey had suspended its NATO membership – a unilateral decision – while both Greece and Italy had declared that they remained in NATO. From Athens and Rome came promises to furious allies that they would defend NATO facilities in those countries as well as their own soil yet they weren’t taking part in NATO military operations abroad. There was a mood in many places to throw those two countries to the wolves yet cooler heads had prevailed and there was work underway to get Greece and Italy to each change their mind. Both of those countries, to say nothing of Turkey, maintained large and capable military forces whose contribution to the fight would be very welcome. The strategic geography of those nations was important too. American aircraft remained flying from Italian bases though Greece had prohibited such a thing. This was all very complicated here. NATO countries across the rest of Europe and Canada too had all committed to fighting to defend their allies. The decision had been made before the war started – with the hope that deterrence would work – and they were involved from the start where their deployed military forces came under attack and so too did either their home nations or their immediate neighbours. They’d made a promise to supply military forces for war and were keeping their word. Demark and Norway each had Russian troops on their soil and had mobilised to fight those battles. The standing Danish Division and the reforming Norwegian 6th Division were engaged in fighting with reinforcements from within joining them as well as those from outside. The Netherlands had sent men to Poland before the war started (with some marines to Norway too) with almost their entire army either there or moving forwards. Dutch aircraft had fought in the opening moments of war and the Dutch Navy had seen action too. Belgium was sending its army and air force to Poland while also joining with NATO naval efforts to defend alliance partners. Between them, and with some Luxembourgers joining in too, the ground forces of the Low Countries would ultimately reach five full-sized brigades. They would be split up all over the place though rather than concentrated together. Germany’s air and naval forces had seen conflict already with major engagements throughout Europe. There had been significant German ground forces tasked to deploy to Poland pre-war which included a pair of divisions and two combat brigades. Historical issues were there but not openly talked about. The pair of panzer divisions (the 1st and 10th) had yet to see action and the brigade of paratroopers was re-tasked to Norway, but an airmobile brigade had been massacred near to the Belarus-Polish border. Germany had lost – dead, missing and prisoner – over two thousand men. The country was sending more though. Another division (the 13th Panzergrenadier) was now deploying into southeastern Poland to assist in a joint NATO effort to run a ring of troops around the Ukrainian frontier. The Czechs were sending troops to Poland, a brigade to be attached to one of those German panzer divisions, and had another moving into Slovakia. Hungary and Slovakia committed troops to their border with the Ukraine with most of their armies going eastwards. There were Ukrainian forces mobilising towards NATO’s frontiers there and no one knew what their intentions were. A fight was expected either in these small Eastern European countries as well as in Poland although that wasn’t certain. Albania, Croatia and Slovenia all promised forces to aid their fellow NATO members. The ability of Albania, new in NATO, to send combat troops would be questioned and see many of them on rear area tasks though the Croats and the Slovenes would send frontline fighting forces (three combat brigades in total between them) all the way to Poland. Like other countries, they’d lost soldiers already up in Latvia in addition to other personnel deployed elsewhere throughout Europe. France had large and capable military forces. They had a global reach too on par with Britain. President Sarkozy had committed his country to this war and backed that promise especially since France had been so heavily attacked as it was. French troops in Poland would be quadrupled in size from one brigade to four. Further air assets were already tasked to that region as well along with many commando & intelligence units. French naval forces had seen some combat though most of those, like the rest of France’s army, wasn’t tasked to the fight in Eastern Europe. They were readied for projection southwards instead against Russia’s traditional allies in certain parts of the Middle East. Paris was waiting for the situation here to explode. Portugal and Spain also readied large parts of their armed forces to the same region where they focused on what Libya and Syria would do… or what Russia would make them do. The Spanish had aircraft already in Eastern Europe and started moving a mixed division that way, but they, and the Portuguese with all of theirs, were keeping many forces ready to join with the French in the Mediterranean. Canada was sending its the bulk of its army to Europe with all three standing combat brigades given the tasking of deploying to Poland. A huge logistics effort was underway to move them in addition to sending aircraft to join the fight there. Canadian naval forces were at sea and they expected to see action soon enough as well, especially against Russian submarines out in the open ocean. Bulgaria had sent troops to Romania pre-war to join the Romanians there in positioning themselves to guard against a Russian-backed assault coming from the Ukraine and also Transnistria. Only the latter had struck, attacking Moldovia and thus having that small nation forced into the Coalition, yet the Ukraine had their huge armies ready with motives unknown. Romanian forces would have been especially useful in Poland yet they were committed at home. Poland had its armed forces fully in the fight and could only call up reservists rather than bring in more of any pre-war standing forces. There were other Polish troops but they were far overseas: in Afghanistan. Poland had a brigade command there and this was the same with also the French and the Germans. Such forces couldn’t come home. It wasn’t a matter of logistics – not with the availability of transportation assets from NATO partners – but rather because Afghanistan wasn’t a quiet region of the wider war. There was fighting there and, as the Americans and British were too, these troops from European NATO countries were involved in it. British full mobilisation before the shooting started included retirees and discharged personnel. It had been going rather well though the majority of those who had failed to return to the colours due to various reasons before did so once the fighting started. The full Territorial Army was called out alongside those individual reservists assigned to all branches of Her Majesty’s armed forces. A rush of volunteers occurred at the outbreak of war. There were many tens of thousands of men and women who all attempted to join the military. There were plenty of these who were unsuitable and others who had cold feet in the following days when the reality of the idea hit home yet there remained many healthy and capable youngsters who were going to be assigned across the British Armed Forces for training. The best of the bunch were snapped up fast. There hadn’t been anything like this in recent memory with so many willing volunteers for military service: this war wasn’t unpopular among the general public like Afghanistan or Iraq. Things would change in time, it was feared, thus the haste to get those volunteers in training. Whether any of them would ever see service in this conflict was unlikely in the considered opinion of many others in uniform. It would take six months, even a year to train them and surely this war couldn’t last that long? They would be in uniform for what came afterwards though, whatever that might be. Training these volunteers and then equipping them at a later date was quite the daunting task. Plenty of those recalled reservists were assigned to training centres at home – others to backfill forces in the field abroad – and that would help there but equipment was always going to be an issue. It was all a matter of timing but there was no known timetable set on this conflict. The British Army had the 1st Armoured Division in Poland at the start of the war along with taking the lead with the Mixed Baltic Brigade in Latvia. In Norway, the Royal Marines were there while the 16th Air Assault Brigade left the UK in the war’s first few hours to go to Denmark. Furthermore, the 4th Mechanised Brigade was in Afghanistan. This major overseas commitment was already causing grave worries of overstretch yet the need was great then and even more once the war started. Deployment had started too to send the 3rd Mechanised Division – to be reinforced with attachments from NATO allies; a brigade from either Belgium or Canada – to Poland as well and thus having almost all of Britain’s regular troops abroad in supporting tasks. The now-deceased Fox had, in one of his last acts as defence secretary, given the order for 2nd Infantry Division to be formed as well. This would be a light formation consisting of TA troops. All of these soldiers in fighting units were joined by supporting troops from engineers and gunners to truck drivers and admin staff. So many of Britain’s men and women were involved in this, hundreds of thousands of them. The RAF was fully-deployed too. They had aircraft on the Continent yet also tasked for home defence roles. More aircraft were sent to Eastern Europe. Others though were to be kept at home for national air defence. The aircraft came with ground personnel in large numbers spread everywhere. Warships and submarines with the Royal Navy had seen conflict already with others in position to do so. This included the recalling for those far from home shores, away from the seas where NATO was fighting the Russians. Vessels assigned to the Indian Ocean anti-piracy mission and also protecting the Falklands were withdrawn from those tasks. With the latter, the Royal Navy was forced to keep some ships there because of ongoing Anglo-Argentinean tensions. Argentina hadn’t joined the Coalition and where Britain had hoped that the Americans would make them aware than any attack on Britain was an attack on the whole alliance, the current failings in United States diplomacy due to Clinton’s death were telling here. This still needed sorting out and it was hoped that it would but before then, several ships stayed in the South Atlantic. Russian military attacks against Britain at home and aboard brought pandemonium with them. A lot of this was in Whitehall with the national government. Conservative, Labour and Lib-Dem members of the Cameron Administration brought shame on themselves for their actions. They made many messes of things that they shouldn’t have. However, what they were faced with was something so unexpected. Russian commando activities to open the war and then the scale of the conflict on the Continent were horrific. Then came those air attacks against the UK with cruise missiles. This wasn’t 1940 and there was no mass bombing but when missiles crashed into the country they didn’t always land on target. Near misses and far-misses caused casualties like those which struck military bases. They all brought panic. ‘Keep calm and carry on’ it really wasn’t. Everyone was fearing that the next incoming missile wouldn’t have high-explosive by chemicals or even be nuclear. Rumours ran abound often that attacks with those had already occurred. Attempts were made to swash them though not always with success. Maybe the national government should have been more open with everything rather than declaring so many things military secrets – they did deny chemical or nuclear attacks though – yet they chose not to. Lack of real information caused this yet so did troublemakers. The SAS’s Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Wing was busy at several times across the country in the war’s first few days. They struck at several localities searching for Russian commandos and their associated networks. Those who’d taken part in the attacks on Whitehall and Kinloss were dead or prisoner but there were others out there. Along with missing GRU Spetsnaz there were too SVR spies to be located. Anti-terror police, not always aided by soldiers, went after leads to track them down and also committed raids on properties. They couldn’t get a real line of those they were looking for though. There were armed Russians in the country waiting for orders. They were hidden away and would face significant opposition should they strike, but they were there… waiting. The Americans intended to send another five full US Army divisions to Europe before the end of the month. The 4th Infantry was on the ground & forming up in Germany with both the 82nd Airborne (minus its brigade lost in Estonia) and the 101st Air Assault Infantry behind them. The 1st Armored & 1st Cavalry were coming too. Additional combat units below divisional-strength, the 3rd Stryker Cavalry Regiment foremost among them, were tasked to deploy to Europe. Grow The Army had begun in 2006 under Bush and Obama, now Biden, had inherited a huge manpower pool to send off to war. By air and sea, the US Army was sending these combat units as well as the huge rear-area support network of supporting forces too. This was a huge commitment and consisted of nearly all of those who could be sent overseas from its regular forces. Reservists – all those veterans from previous wars; many not in the best of ways but with a reserve commitment – were to join them and the National Guard was mobilising as well. If necessary, half a dozen more divisions of national guardsmen, and again immense numbers of supporting troops, would all come across the ocean as well to the battlefields of Eastern Europe. On the flanks, the northern and southern reaches of Europe, where US Marines were fighting in Norway the rest of the 2nd Marine Division was going to join them. Smaller numbers of US Marines were tasked to join with the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade for Mediterranean contingencies. When Biden had promised his country that the United States would fight this war with all that he could, he had meant it. The troop numbers matched those words. The US Air Force already had air units in Europe yet more were arriving. There were A-10s, F-15s, F-16s and F-22s already on the ground. Others would join them soon as America’s frontline combat aircraft came to the fight raging in European skies. There were bombers too: B-1s and B-52s. Some of the latter had already seen fighting and those who would join them would stay in rear bases in the western half of the continent to undertake missile-firing missions from afar. Supporting aircraft of all forms were deployed & deploying too. All of those reconnaissance aircraft, tankers, specialist rescue aircraft, special operations aircraft and so on were all assigned to NATO missions. The Americans had many of them and Biden was having them all sent to fight Russia in the skies and where they could be found on the ground. The loss of the USS Harry S. Truman had come after two more carrier battle groups were tasked to cross the Atlantic: those built around the USS Enterprise and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The loss of the Truman would hurt the US Navy, and NATO too, gravely but she would be avenged. Those incoming carriers came with their battle groups and there were also surface action groups of warships. Submarines, plenty of those, were putting to sea. The US Navy was deploying aircraft where it could. Russia was going to weep when the full might of American naval power got at them properly. However, the United States’ military commitment to Europe and fighting the Russians elsewhere – there were mass movements of military forces in the Pacific too – was restricted by the others wars it was fighting. In both Afghanistan and Iraq, there were conflicts raging already against insurgents and terrorists. Throughout the year, as relations with Russia got worse and the military stakes were raised, changes were made to deployment schedules and force numbers. Neither Obama before him nor Biden now wanted to pull out of each, and that would now be impossible with Afghanistan, but that had been forced to make decisions that were seen as damaging the war efforts in those two countries. The Taliban and the death cult which was the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) took advantage. If they didn’t see what they did on the ground, there was plenty of media coverage to make use of where they saw the changes and reductions. They had thus reacted accordingly with an increase in attacks: they believed that the Third World War would see them to victory. Al Qaeda was another threat to the United States not just in the Middle East but worldwide. American military forces had too to be kept ready should varied countries across the globe join in the war alongside the Russians. Just because they hadn’t yet, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t later. NATO reinforcements to add to pre-existing formations
BelgiumMedium Brigade / Light Brigade > both to NE Poland Britain
2nd Infantry Division (2nd & 15th & 52nd Infantry Brigades) > to the Continent 3rd Mechanised Division (1st Mechanised & 19th Light Brigades) > to NE Poland Canada
1st Mechanized Brigade–Group / 2nd Mechanized Brigade–Group / 5th Mechanized Brigade–Group > each to NE Poland Croatia
Armoured Guard Brigade / Mechanised Guard Brigade > both to NE Poland Czech Republic
4th Rapid Deployment Brigade / 7th Mechanised Brigade > to Slovakia and NE Poland respectively France
3rd Mechanised Brigade / 6th Light Armored Brigade / 7th Armored Brigade > each to NE Poland 1st Mechanised Brigade / 4th Airmobile Brigade / 9th Light Armored Marine Infantry Brigade / 11th Parachute Brigade> each facing the Mediterranean Germany
13th Panzergrenadier Division (37th & 41st PG Brigades) > both to Polish-Ukrainian border Hungary
25th Infantry Brigade > to Hungarian-Ukrainian border Portugal
Intervention Brigade / Mechanised Brigade / Rapid Reaction Brigade > facing the Mediterranean Slovakia
1st Mechanised Brigade / 2nd Mechanised Brigade > each to Slovakian-Ukrainian border Slovenia
1st Mechanised Brigade / 72nd Infantry Brigade > to Polish-Ukrainian border and NE Poland Spain2nd Infantry Division (1st Mechanised & 2nd Spanish Legion & 7th Airmobile Cavalry Brigades) > facing the Mediterranean Marine Infantry Brigade > facing the Mediterranean United States
1st Armored Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland 1st Cavalry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland 2nd Marine Division [reinforcing the 2 MEB] > to Norway 4th Infantry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland 82nd Airborne Division (3x brigades) > to NE Poland 101st Air Assault Infantry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland 3rd Stryker Cavalry Regiment > to NE Poland 173rd Airborne Brigade > facing the Mediterranean Nice update James GI do not hope all brigades of some countries have are send, because they need some for internal security and a reserve pool. |
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Dan
Warrant Officer
Posts: 258
Likes: 185
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Post by Dan on Mar 6, 2019 8:19:04 GMT
Potentially you could be looking at tens of thousands among all of the nation's taking part. The major medals: Victoria Cross, Medal of Honour, Croix du Guerre, Ehrenkreuz Der Bundeswehr - you're probably only looking at a very small handfull for some truly outstanding acts. You know Dan , when mentioning medals ore something else, you must always make sure you also put something Dutch in there, that will get you a good friend with a certain admin on this forum  . It does rather depend on where the Royal Netherlands Marines serve in this... I have little doubt that There will be a number of Bronze Lions and knights of the Order of William inducted. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
Posts: 7,608
Likes: 8,833
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Post by James G on Mar 6, 2019 9:42:43 GMT
Seventy–FourWith the exception of Iceland which had no standing military, all other NATO members had agreed upon minimum defence budgets relation to GDP to support their armed forces. Those were all meant to be well-equipped, well-trained and capable of working with those from their partner nations. Some countries dodged and cheated their budgets leading often to complaints from across the Atlantic that they were ‘using’ the American taxpayers due to the strength of the United States’ military might. Other countries outspent their neighbours – none came close to the Americans though – as they maintained larger military forces that fellow NATO members thought necessary. There was that wide cooperation and agreements. Many countries had deployed elements of their military’s on overseas missions with peacekeeping and counter-insurgency tasks across the globe alongside their partners. Yet, there were also problems with the state of many aspects of the armed forces of multiple countries though a reasonable and neutral observer could fail to state that any of those were wholly inadequate for their task when it came to working together to defend fellow members of the alliance. All countries brought something to the table with special pieces to built something bigger. Perfection wasn’t a way to describe what was fielded either, that must be said too though. Then there were the Americans who had had a lot of everything yet even they had gaps in capabilities. Turkey had suspended its NATO membership – a unilateral decision – while both Greece and Italy had declared that they remained in NATO. From Athens and Rome came promises to furious allies that they would defend NATO facilities in those countries as well as their own soil yet they weren’t taking part in NATO military operations abroad. There was a mood in many places to throw those two countries to the wolves yet cooler heads had prevailed and there was work underway to get Greece and Italy to each change their mind. Both of those countries, to say nothing of Turkey, maintained large and capable military forces whose contribution to the fight would be very welcome. The strategic geography of those nations was important too. American aircraft remained flying from Italian bases though Greece had prohibited such a thing. This was all very complicated here. NATO countries across the rest of Europe and Canada too had all committed to fighting to defend their allies. The decision had been made before the war started – with the hope that deterrence would work – and they were involved from the start where their deployed military forces came under attack and so too did either their home nations or their immediate neighbours. They’d made a promise to supply military forces for war and were keeping their word. Demark and Norway each had Russian troops on their soil and had mobilised to fight those battles. The standing Danish Division and the reforming Norwegian 6th Division were engaged in fighting with reinforcements from within joining them as well as those from outside. The Netherlands had sent men to Poland before the war started (with some marines to Norway too) with almost their entire army either there or moving forwards. Dutch aircraft had fought in the opening moments of war and the Dutch Navy had seen action too. Belgium was sending its army and air force to Poland while also joining with NATO naval efforts to defend alliance partners. Between them, and with some Luxembourgers joining in too, the ground forces of the Low Countries would ultimately reach five full-sized brigades. They would be split up all over the place though rather than concentrated together. Germany’s air and naval forces had seen conflict already with major engagements throughout Europe. There had been significant German ground forces tasked to deploy to Poland pre-war which included a pair of divisions and two combat brigades. Historical issues were there but not openly talked about. The pair of panzer divisions (the 1st and 10th) had yet to see action and the brigade of paratroopers was re-tasked to Norway, but an airmobile brigade had been massacred near to the Belarus-Polish border. Germany had lost – dead, missing and prisoner – over two thousand men. The country was sending more though. Another division (the 13th Panzergrenadier) was now deploying into southeastern Poland to assist in a joint NATO effort to run a ring of troops around the Ukrainian frontier. The Czechs were sending troops to Poland, a brigade to be attached to one of those German panzer divisions, and had another moving into Slovakia. Hungary and Slovakia committed troops to their border with the Ukraine with most of their armies going eastwards. There were Ukrainian forces mobilising towards NATO’s frontiers there and no one knew what their intentions were. A fight was expected either in these small Eastern European countries as well as in Poland although that wasn’t certain. Albania, Croatia and Slovenia all promised forces to aid their fellow NATO members. The ability of Albania, new in NATO, to send combat troops would be questioned and see many of them on rear area tasks though the Croats and the Slovenes would send frontline fighting forces (three combat brigades in total between them) all the way to Poland. Like other countries, they’d lost soldiers already up in Latvia in addition to other personnel deployed elsewhere throughout Europe. France had large and capable military forces. They had a global reach too on par with Britain. President Sarkozy had committed his country to this war and backed that promise especially since France had been so heavily attacked as it was. French troops in Poland would be quadrupled in size from one brigade to four. Further air assets were already tasked to that region as well along with many commando & intelligence units. French naval forces had seen some combat though most of those, like the rest of France’s army, wasn’t tasked to the fight in Eastern Europe. They were readied for projection southwards instead against Russia’s traditional allies in certain parts of the Middle East. Paris was waiting for the situation here to explode. Portugal and Spain also readied large parts of their armed forces to the same region where they focused on what Libya and Syria would do… or what Russia would make them do. The Spanish had aircraft already in Eastern Europe and started moving a mixed division that way, but they, and the Portuguese with all of theirs, were keeping many forces ready to join with the French in the Mediterranean. Canada was sending its the bulk of its army to Europe with all three standing combat brigades given the tasking of deploying to Poland. A huge logistics effort was underway to move them in addition to sending aircraft to join the fight there. Canadian naval forces were at sea and they expected to see action soon enough as well, especially against Russian submarines out in the open ocean. Bulgaria had sent troops to Romania pre-war to join the Romanians there in positioning themselves to guard against a Russian-backed assault coming from the Ukraine and also Transnistria. Only the latter had struck, attacking Moldovia and thus having that small nation forced into the Coalition, yet the Ukraine had their huge armies ready with motives unknown. Romanian forces would have been especially useful in Poland yet they were committed at home. Poland had its armed forces fully in the fight and could only call up reservists rather than bring in more of any pre-war standing forces. There were other Polish troops but they were far overseas: in Afghanistan. Poland had a brigade command there and this was the same with also the French and the Germans. Such forces couldn’t come home. It wasn’t a matter of logistics – not with the availability of transportation assets from NATO partners – but rather because Afghanistan wasn’t a quiet region of the wider war. There was fighting there and, as the Americans and British were too, these troops from European NATO countries were involved in it. British full mobilisation before the shooting started included retirees and discharged personnel. It had been going rather well though the majority of those who had failed to return to the colours due to various reasons before did so once the fighting started. The full Territorial Army was called out alongside those individual reservists assigned to all branches of Her Majesty’s armed forces. A rush of volunteers occurred at the outbreak of war. There were many tens of thousands of men and women who all attempted to join the military. There were plenty of these who were unsuitable and others who had cold feet in the following days when the reality of the idea hit home yet there remained many healthy and capable youngsters who were going to be assigned across the British Armed Forces for training. The best of the bunch were snapped up fast. There hadn’t been anything like this in recent memory with so many willing volunteers for military service: this war wasn’t unpopular among the general public like Afghanistan or Iraq. Things would change in time, it was feared, thus the haste to get those volunteers in training. Whether any of them would ever see service in this conflict was unlikely in the considered opinion of many others in uniform. It would take six months, even a year to train them and surely this war couldn’t last that long? They would be in uniform for what came afterwards though, whatever that might be. Training these volunteers and then equipping them at a later date was quite the daunting task. Plenty of those recalled reservists were assigned to training centres at home – others to backfill forces in the field abroad – and that would help there but equipment was always going to be an issue. It was all a matter of timing but there was no known timetable set on this conflict. The British Army had the 1st Armoured Division in Poland at the start of the war along with taking the lead with the Mixed Baltic Brigade in Latvia. In Norway, the Royal Marines were there while the 16th Air Assault Brigade left the UK in the war’s first few hours to go to Denmark. Furthermore, the 4th Mechanised Brigade was in Afghanistan. This major overseas commitment was already causing grave worries of overstretch yet the need was great then and even more once the war started. Deployment had started too to send the 3rd Mechanised Division – to be reinforced with attachments from NATO allies; a brigade from either Belgium or Canada – to Poland as well and thus having almost all of Britain’s regular troops abroad in supporting tasks. The now-deceased Fox had, in one of his last acts as defence secretary, given the order for 2nd Infantry Division to be formed as well. This would be a light formation consisting of TA troops. All of these soldiers in fighting units were joined by supporting troops from engineers and gunners to truck drivers and admin staff. So many of Britain’s men and women were involved in this, hundreds of thousands of them. The RAF was fully-deployed too. They had aircraft on the Continent yet also tasked for home defence roles. More aircraft were sent to Eastern Europe. Others though were to be kept at home for national air defence. The aircraft came with ground personnel in large numbers spread everywhere. Warships and submarines with the Royal Navy had seen conflict already with others in position to do so. This included the recalling for those far from home shores, away from the seas where NATO was fighting the Russians. Vessels assigned to the Indian Ocean anti-piracy mission and also protecting the Falklands were withdrawn from those tasks. With the latter, the Royal Navy was forced to keep some ships there because of ongoing Anglo-Argentinean tensions. Argentina hadn’t joined the Coalition and where Britain had hoped that the Americans would make them aware than any attack on Britain was an attack on the whole alliance, the current failings in United States diplomacy due to Clinton’s death were telling here. This still needed sorting out and it was hoped that it would but before then, several ships stayed in the South Atlantic. Russian military attacks against Britain at home and aboard brought pandemonium with them. A lot of this was in Whitehall with the national government. Conservative, Labour and Lib-Dem members of the Cameron Administration brought shame on themselves for their actions. They made many messes of things that they shouldn’t have. However, what they were faced with was something so unexpected. Russian commando activities to open the war and then the scale of the conflict on the Continent were horrific. Then came those air attacks against the UK with cruise missiles. This wasn’t 1940 and there was no mass bombing but when missiles crashed into the country they didn’t always land on target. Near misses and far-misses caused casualties like those which struck military bases. They all brought panic. ‘Keep calm and carry on’ it really wasn’t. Everyone was fearing that the next incoming missile wouldn’t have high-explosive by chemicals or even be nuclear. Rumours ran abound often that attacks with those had already occurred. Attempts were made to swash them though not always with success. Maybe the national government should have been more open with everything rather than declaring so many things military secrets – they did deny chemical or nuclear attacks though – yet they chose not to. Lack of real information caused this yet so did troublemakers. The SAS’s Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Wing was busy at several times across the country in the war’s first few days. They struck at several localities searching for Russian commandos and their associated networks. Those who’d taken part in the attacks on Whitehall and Kinloss were dead or prisoner but there were others out there. Along with missing GRU Spetsnaz there were too SVR spies to be located. Anti-terror police, not always aided by soldiers, went after leads to track them down and also committed raids on properties. They couldn’t get a real line of those they were looking for though. There were armed Russians in the country waiting for orders. They were hidden away and would face significant opposition should they strike, but they were there… waiting. The Americans intended to send another five full US Army divisions to Europe before the end of the month. The 4th Infantry was on the ground & forming up in Germany with both the 82nd Airborne (minus its brigade lost in Estonia) and the 101st Air Assault Infantry behind them. The 1st Armored & 1st Cavalry were coming too. Additional combat units below divisional-strength, the 3rd Stryker Cavalry Regiment foremost among them, were tasked to deploy to Europe. Grow The Army had begun in 2006 under Bush and Obama, now Biden, had inherited a huge manpower pool to send off to war. By air and sea, the US Army was sending these combat units as well as the huge rear-area support network of supporting forces too. This was a huge commitment and consisted of nearly all of those who could be sent overseas from its regular forces. Reservists – all those veterans from previous wars; many not in the best of ways but with a reserve commitment – were to join them and the National Guard was mobilising as well. If necessary, half a dozen more divisions of national guardsmen, and again immense numbers of supporting troops, would all come across the ocean as well to the battlefields of Eastern Europe. On the flanks, the northern and southern reaches of Europe, where US Marines were fighting in Norway the rest of the 2nd Marine Division was going to join them. Smaller numbers of US Marines were tasked to join with the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade for Mediterranean contingencies. When Biden had promised his country that the United States would fight this war with all that he could, he had meant it. The troop numbers matched those words. The US Air Force already had air units in Europe yet more were arriving. There were A-10s, F-15s, F-16s and F-22s already on the ground. Others would join them soon as America’s frontline combat aircraft came to the fight raging in European skies. There were bombers too: B-1s and B-52s. Some of the latter had already seen fighting and those who would join them would stay in rear bases in the western half of the continent to undertake missile-firing missions from afar. Supporting aircraft of all forms were deployed & deploying too. All of those reconnaissance aircraft, tankers, specialist rescue aircraft, special operations aircraft and so on were all assigned to NATO missions. The Americans had many of them and Biden was having them all sent to fight Russia in the skies and where they could be found on the ground. The loss of the USS Harry S. Truman had come after two more carrier battle groups were tasked to cross the Atlantic: those built around the USS Enterprise and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The loss of the Truman would hurt the US Navy, and NATO too, gravely but she would be avenged. Those incoming carriers came with their battle groups and there were also surface action groups of warships. Submarines, plenty of those, were putting to sea. The US Navy was deploying aircraft where it could. Russia was going to weep when the full might of American naval power got at them properly. However, the United States’ military commitment to Europe and fighting the Russians elsewhere – there were mass movements of military forces in the Pacific too – was restricted by the others wars it was fighting. In both Afghanistan and Iraq, there were conflicts raging already against insurgents and terrorists. Throughout the year, as relations with Russia got worse and the military stakes were raised, changes were made to deployment schedules and force numbers. Neither Obama before him nor Biden now wanted to pull out of each, and that would now be impossible with Afghanistan, but that had been forced to make decisions that were seen as damaging the war efforts in those two countries. The Taliban and the death cult which was the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) took advantage. If they didn’t see what they did on the ground, there was plenty of media coverage to make use of where they saw the changes and reductions. They had thus reacted accordingly with an increase in attacks: they believed that the Third World War would see them to victory. Al Qaeda was another threat to the United States not just in the Middle East but worldwide. American military forces had too to be kept ready should varied countries across the globe join in the war alongside the Russians. Just because they hadn’t yet, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t later. NATO reinforcements to add to pre-existing formations
BelgiumMedium Brigade / Light Brigade > both to NE Poland Britain
2nd Infantry Division (2nd & 15th & 52nd Infantry Brigades) > to the Continent 3rd Mechanised Division (1st Mechanised & 19th Light Brigades) > to NE Poland Canada
1st Mechanized Brigade–Group / 2nd Mechanized Brigade–Group / 5th Mechanized Brigade–Group > each to NE Poland Croatia
Armoured Guard Brigade / Mechanised Guard Brigade > both to NE Poland Czech Republic
4th Rapid Deployment Brigade / 7th Mechanised Brigade > to Slovakia and NE Poland respectively France
3rd Mechanised Brigade / 6th Light Armored Brigade / 7th Armored Brigade > each to NE Poland 1st Mechanised Brigade / 4th Airmobile Brigade / 9th Light Armored Marine Infantry Brigade / 11th Parachute Brigade> each facing the Mediterranean Germany
13th Panzergrenadier Division (37th & 41st PG Brigades) > both to Polish-Ukrainian border Hungary
25th Infantry Brigade > to Hungarian-Ukrainian border Portugal
Intervention Brigade / Mechanised Brigade / Rapid Reaction Brigade > facing the Mediterranean Slovakia
1st Mechanised Brigade / 2nd Mechanised Brigade > each to Slovakian-Ukrainian border Slovenia
1st Mechanised Brigade / 72nd Infantry Brigade > to Polish-Ukrainian border and NE Poland Spain2nd Infantry Division (1st Mechanised & 2nd Spanish Legion & 7th Airmobile Cavalry Brigades) > facing the Mediterranean Marine Infantry Brigade > facing the Mediterranean United States
1st Armored Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland 1st Cavalry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland 2nd Marine Division [reinforcing the 2 MEB] > to Norway 4th Infantry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland 82nd Airborne Division (3x brigades) > to NE Poland 101st Air Assault Infantry Division (4x brigades) > to NE Poland 3rd Stryker Cavalry Regiment > to NE Poland 173rd Airborne Brigade > facing the Mediterranean Nice update James G I do not hope all brigades of some countries have are send, because they need some for internal security and a reserve pool. Thank you. There are some forces left behind yes. Good updates, and congrats at getting over 150k words; BTW, a lot of older Poles are probably having flashbacks to World War II... Thank you. Yes and also flashbacks too of Germans on their soil which Russia is playing up greatly. It does rather depend on where the Royal Netherlands Marines serve in this... I have little doubt that There will be a number of Bronze Lions and knights of the Order of William inducted. Forcon is sending some Dutch soldiers into the fight in Poland with his update today. Those Dutch marines in Norway shall be addressed in my update tonight. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
Posts: 7,608
Likes: 8,833
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Post by James G on Mar 6, 2019 9:43:53 GMT
A couple of observations regarding the citation for LCpl Pun, His rank would be his substantive rank (LCpl) and as a LCpl he would not be an acting Sergeant. In addition his promotion would not be listed in his citation it would be notified through other channels. Also it is very rare for an MID recipient to have a citation. In the London Gazette he would be listed along with the other recipients awarded an MID in that particular action. Below is a link for MID recipients from the London Gazette. www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30900/supplement/10849/data.htmA soldier mentioned in dispatches (or despatches)(MID)is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the soldier's gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy. In the British Armed Forces, the despatch is published in the London Gazette. Soldiers of the British Empire or the Commonwealth of Nations who are mentioned in dispatches but do not receive a medal for their action, are nonetheless entitled to receive a certificate and wear a decoration. Prior to 1979, a mention in dispatches was one of the only 3 awards that could be made posthumously, the others being the Victoria Cross and George Cross. Awards of medals are also recorded for all official gallantry awards made. Only very high awards of medals such as the Victoria Cross/George Cross were accompanied by a written ‘citation’ on a regular basis, most others especially during busy wartime periods were only recorded as a listing without any explanation as to why the award was made. From 1920 to 1993, the device consisted of a single bronze oak leaf, worn on the ribbon of the appropriate campaign medal, including the War Medal for a mention during the Second World War. Since 1993 a number of changes have been made in respect of United Kingdom armed forces: For awards made from September 1993, the oak leaf has been in silver. The criteria were also made more specific, it now being defined as an operational gallantry award for acts of bravery during active operations. From 2003, in addition to British campaign medals, the MiD device can be worn on United Nations, NATO and EU medals. This is not a criticism, just an observation and I continue to enjoy this cracking alternate history. Thank you for your observations and kind words on the story! |
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 988
Likes: 1,739
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Post by forcon on Mar 6, 2019 12:36:30 GMT
Seventy-FiveFirst Guards Tank Army attempted to cross the Narew River. The main effort was made by the 5th Guards Tank Division a few kilometres shy of the Polish settlement of Wizna. Pushing up northwards through farmland which epitomised the term ‘tank country’, the Russian tanks hit the defensive positions on the other side of the river. The US 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division, once a premier formation made up of vast numbers of tanks and armoured vehicles, manned by personnel who were veterans of campaigns in the Middle East, had been shattered in the past three days of fighting. The first day of war had seen them withdraw westwards while fighting few real engagements with the Russians, but on the second and third days they had been in near-continuous fighting. The division had already suffered over a thousand dead and hundreds missing. They were in no shape to contest the Russians’ crossing of the Narew alone. North of the American 3rd Divisions’ positions, the Polish 11th Armoured Cavalry Division was continuing its own fight with the Russian 2nd GMRD. This was a battle that neither side was winning. The Poles, as they had trained to do, were falling back from one defensive position to the next, both taking and inflicting grievous losses. Their fight was one of secondary importance when compared with the Battle of Wizna. Lieutenant-General Ryan had been in near constant contact with General Mattis at Seventh Army headquarters in Krakow since late yesterday night when the American division had fallen back over the banks of the Narew. Mattis told Ryan to hold his position and Ryan relayed these orders down to his division commanders. Whatever happened, the Russian forces couldn’t be allowed to cross the Narew; in doing so, First Guards Tank Army would have put itself in a position to tear a gap in the lines between V Corps and what was now I Allied Corps in Northern Poland. That just wasn’t going to be allowed to happen.
A truly immense artillery bombardment came before the Russians tried to actually cross the river. TOS-1 rocket launchers hit the Americans with thermobaric weapons while the 5th Divisions’ MLRS and howitzers as well as corps-level fires pounded the dugouts and buildings in which soldiers waited for the attack to come on the ground. Air attacks were launched by both sides; Russian Su-25s and Mi-28s made several attack runs against the American positions. The whole town of Wizna smouldered by the time the first bombardment was over. NATO airpower hit back in turn; American A-10s and German Tornado IDS’s dropped countless different types of munitions but found the airspace that they were supposed to rule contested by MiG-29s & Su-27s. The US Air Force sent its F-22s out over Eastern Poland and those aircraft scored many victories. 1st ATAF command was hesitant to channel a large portion of its resources to the tactical air campaign, however, and the loss of two F-22s to SAMs and a pair of AWACS planes to MiG-31s yesterday only made the command back at Ramstein even more cautious. As the war seemed to go day-in and day-out, both sides inflicted a great many casualties upon one another in the air, but these tactical engagements saw the US Air Force getting the better of the fighting, albeit having suffered greatly in the process of doing so. Russian and American tank crews again fought each other, this time from different sides of the Narew. American M2A2 & -A3 Bradleys used their Javelin ATGMs to knock out Russian vehicles. Dismounted infantrymen did the same, this time with more cover in the smouldering buildings that had once been the homes, schools and offices of Wizna. There were woodlands to the north as well from which the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team fired at Russian vehicles from that direction. Abrams tanks poured down fire from their 120mm guns and the American artillery units contributed to the reign of explosives that was falling on the northern side of the Narew. The Russians, of course, fired back and scored their fair share of hits. The first attempt to cross the river had been a failure though; the carcases of burning T-80s, BMPs & BTRs lay scattered across the highway leading up to the Highway-64 Bridge which would have given the Russians access to the river. The 5th GTA’s commander shifted his artillery to the American positions which had now been exposed by their defensive efforts during his first attempt to cross the bridge. This second wave of artillery was more pinpointed that the first salvo had been. The positions used by American infantry units down to the battalion level had been sniffed out when missiles had been launched from them, and although doctrine would have called for US troops to move to different locations after firing off their Javelins, there was simply nowhere else to move to. Only the small forest and the buildings of the nearby towns provided cover. Those places were hit again by Russian artillery. American counterbattery fire struck back and eventually the Russian guns fell silent, but by this time the Russian commander felt confident enough to attempt a second crossing of the Narew.
The 5th GTA’s leading tank regiment began to roll across the Highway-64 Bridge. This time, the artillery continued and though there were losses the Russians got their troops across the river. Concealed M1A2s made short work of the BRDM reconnaissance vehicles as they began to head into Wizna, but they faced a tougher fight from the T-80s which followed. The 3rd Infantry Division was too beaten up to fight for much longer. The division simply couldn’t hold and General Ryan at V Corps had been screaming for reinforcements for days. Just as the Russians crossed the river, his wishes were granted when German troops arrived in numbers to contain the Russian bridgehead. The 10th Panzer Division, with its Leopard-2s and Marder IFVs came to the rescue. The Americans slowly began to pull back, taking up positions further north and east, allowing the Germans to pass through their lines. By now, a whole tank regiment was across the Narew, along with a pair of battalions from the motorised rifle regiment. American aircraft covered the 3rd ID’s withdrawal with AH-64D Apache gunships soaring over the treeline and obliterated what targets they could find with Hellfire missiles. The Germans would face a tough fight in containing that Russian bridgehead. They came under artillery attack before they had even reached the frontlines, suffering somewhat and yet still remaining in fighting order. Titanic clashes occurred as the 12th Panzer Brigade’s Leopard-2s hit Russian armoured columns pushing up from the bridge into the town of Wizna itself. The Royal Netherlands Army had its 13th Mechanised Brigade attached to the German formation and their tanks contributed to the fight as well, raining down accurate fire on the Russian's bridgehead. Explosions roared and many vehicles were obliterated, their crews facing the worst deaths imaginable – being burned alive – as ammunition and fuel stocks cooked off. Before any more Russian forces could cross the river, the Highway-64 Bridge was blown to smithereens by German artillery. In their haste to withdraw, American engineers had failed to blow the bridge last night; an attempt had been made by the unit was overrun before it could complete the task. Almost as if by a miracle, the bridge had survived the fighting. This was due to the sheer number of air defence batteries located around it. Russian artillery units had forced their American counterparts to keep their focus on them rather than the crossing. Now, though, that bridge was blown and a regiment-and-a-half of Russian troops was on the northern side of the Narew. Bridging units assigned directly to 1GTA headquarters were sent rapidly to the front to set up pontoons, but for now those forces on the northern side of the river would be on their own against the 10th Panzer Division. The regimental commander on the ground outside Wizna kept pushing forwards. He wanted to be aggressive, to knock the Germans back and make them cautious. He sent motorised rifle troops into Wizna down the main highway while his own tank regiment pushed south-east, running into what was effectively a meat grinder of effective German fire. Those motor riflemen that went into Wizna came head-to-head with the Bundeswehr’s 23rd Mountain Brigade. These excellently-trained infantrymen were in their element inside urban terrain and used their own ATGMs to make the streets of Wizna into impassable pile-ups of destroyed armoured vehicles. Behind Russian lines, bridging units went forwards, and the fight for Wizna continued. * NATO forces in Northern Poland had previously been under the command of Lieutenant-General Shireff’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. That formation had now been renamed as I Allied Corps. It was an effective analogue to NATO’s Cold War-era Northern Army Group. With the British 1st Armoured Division and the Polish 16th Mechanised Division doing the bulk of the fighting thus far, I Corps faced off against the 20th Guards Army just as it had done yesterday. August 10th was set to be another day of heavy fighting and tremendous casualties. General Shirreff’s I Corps had been engaged in a near-constant fighting withdrawal for days not and his men were on the brink of exhaustion. Russian tactical airstrikes were taking a heavy toll on Shirreff’s supply routes through Poland. None of his units were going to actually run out of fuel or ammunition within the next twenty-four hours, but beyond that, Shirreff was told by his staff, this would start to happen at the platoon and company level. Shirreff’s position was extremely precarious here. With the Americans holding along the banks of the Narew River, he couldn’t withdraw very far or the very same gap in NATO lines that the Americans and later Germans farther south were fighting to prevent would occur. I Allied Corps had meant to get the 10th Panzer Division as it moved up to the front through Poland, but that unit had instead been assigned to Lt-General Ryan’s V Corps and was now heavily engaged in preventing the Russians from reinforcing their bridgehead over the Narew. Shirreff’s only reinforcement had come from the French 2nd Armored Brigade, which had been involved in several localised engagements since yesterday. The Polish 16th Mechanised Division in the northern sector of I Corps lines was doing better than anybody had expected. In compliance with Shirreff’s orders they had pulled back somewhat yesterday to prevent a Russian breakthrough and keep the flanks of the British 1st Division secure, but they were holding out well along the Elblag-Ostroda salient, inflicting severe losses on the Russians’ 1st Motorised Rifle Division as they pulled back. The expected amphibious assault on Gdansk had instead occurred on Zealand and that was the Danes’ problem; for the 16th Division the failure of the Russians to land here could have been described as a miracle. Without worrying about Russian forces in their rears, the Polish division could focus on stopping the assault out of Kaliningrad. Using antiquated Soviet-era air defences, the Poles suffered heavily under a steady stream of air attacks as more Allied aircraft were diverted southwards to the ongoing fight on the Narew. They successfully downed a few Frogfoots and Hinds, but the losses suffered on the ground were extremely heavy. Their situation only worsened throughout the afternoon and after successfully holding out in place all morning the 16th Division was forced to begin pulling backwards at around three p.m. in the afternoon, leaving many hundreds of corpses behind in the countryside. Shirreff’s 1st Armoured Division was busy engaging Russian troops with their 10th Tank Division. That Russian unit, with its T-90s, T-80s & upgraded T-72s actually outnumbered the British 1st Armoured, but that hadn’t stopped the British division from making the Russians pay in blood for the ground that had been given up yesterday. The 7th Armoured Brigade – the Desert Rats – had suffered particularly immense casualties when holding off an attempt by Russian forces to find a weak point in the division’s lines, although other units within the 1st Armoured had taken grave losses as well. Troops were forced to be more conservative with their ammunition usage given the precarious supply situation, although this didn’t stop missile teams knocking out several Russian attack helicopters with their Starstreaks. Infantry units with Javelin missiles fought well, blasting away at enemy armour in conjunction with the Challenger-2s assigned to the 1st Division. Scores of Russian tanks were left burning as the 1st Armoured Division fought their opponents for control of the area stretching from Gyzcko to Elk. Both of those settlements were left as smouldering ruins before the day was out. If I Corps situation had been bad yesterday, it was about to become desperate. The 4th Guards Tank Division, a unit that had moved up through Kaliningrad from the occupied Baltic States, went forwards into battle once again. The 4th Division hit the point directly between the Polish 16th Division and the British 1st Armoured, tearing a hole open and thus achieving a breakthrough. Two days ago Russian forces had achieved a similar breakthrough further south where a brigade of the US Army’s 3rd Division had been overwhelmed. In that case, a speedy withdrawal had prevented the Russians from obliterating the American’s supply units in the rear, albeit while ceding yet more of Poland over to the invaders. Here, with I Corps general tactical situation, a hasty withdrawal wasn’t going to stop the 4th Division. They hit the northern flanks of the British 12th Mechanised Brigade, the 1st Division’s northernmost unit whose lines were meant to intersect with those of the Poles along the coast. An air attack by Su-24s did heavy damage to the 12th Brigade’s field headquarters and killed the brigade commander, leaving the unit in chaos while battalion (or rather, battlegroup) commanders fought to delay the Russian breakthrough. Shirreff had no choice but to send his outnumbered French reinforcements from their 2nd Armored Brigade into the battle head-on. Sending a lone brigade up against a whole tank division, a well-equipped and battle-hardened one at that, was not something that any commander would willingly choose to do. The I Corps commander didn’t have the luxury of a choice though. He could either send the French into battle with a force far superior in numbers, or see the Russian division keep pushing forwards and encircling at best an entire NATO heavy division and at worst annihilating the entire corps. The men of the 2nd Armored Brigade went into battle knowing that the fate of the entire corps rested on their shoulders. First contact between the two units was made at Olsztyn when artillery shells came thundering down around the town and then French Leclercs met Russian T-80s. After a tremendous battle that lasted all throughout Tuesday afternoon, the French were able to plug the gap between the Polish and British division’s lines, albeit suffering murderous losses in doing so. A fighting withdrawal was made by the French brigade with them covering the area between the 16th and 1st Divisions as they pulled back, giving up as little ground as possible in order to avoid exposing the flanks of the still-holding V Corps in Southern Poland. Another day in World War III came to an end.
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 6, 2019 13:02:34 GMT
Cracking update! Pure war porn.
NATO will have to stop the Russians somehow, when they've failed before, or start a serious withdrawal even further west... which the Poles will be furious about.
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lordroel
Administrator
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Post by lordroel on Mar 6, 2019 15:10:07 GMT
Seventy-FiveFirst Guards Tank Army attempted to cross the Narew River. The main effort was made by the 5th Guards Tank Division a few kilometres shy of the Polish settlement of Wizna. Pushing up northwards through farmland which epitomised the term ‘tank country’, the Russian tanks hit the defensive positions on the other side of the river. The US 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division, once a premier formation made up of vast numbers of tanks and armoured vehicles, manned by personnel who were veterans of campaigns in the Middle East, had been shattered in the past three days of fighting. The first day of war had seen them withdraw westwards while fighting few real engagements with the Russians, but on the second and third days they had been in near-continuous fighting. The division had already suffered over a thousand dead and hundreds missing. They were in no shape to contest the Russians’ crossing of the Narew alone. North of the American 3rd Divisions’ positions, the Polish 11th Armoured Cavalry Division was continuing its own fight with the Russian 2nd GMRD. This was a battle that neither side was winning. The Poles, as they had trained to do, were falling back from one defensive position to the next, both taking and inflicting grievous losses. Their fight was one of secondary importance when compared with the Battle of Wizna. Lieutenant-General Ryan had been in near constant contact with General Mattis at Seventh Army headquarters in Krakow since late yesterday night when the American division had fallen back over the banks of the Narew. Mattis told Ryan to hold his position and Ryan relayed these orders down to his division commanders. Whatever happened, the Russian forces couldn’t be allowed to cross the Narew; in doing so, First Guards Tank Army would have put itself in a position to tear a gap in the lines between V Corps and what was now I Allied Corps in Northern Poland. That just wasn’t going to be allowed to happen.
A truly immense artillery bombardment came before the Russians tried to actually cross the river. TOS-1 rocket launchers hit the Americans with thermobaric weapons while the 5th Divisions’ MLRS and howitzers as well as corps-level fires pounded the dugouts and buildings in which soldiers waited for the attack to come on the ground. Air attacks were launched by both sides; Russian Su-25s and Mi-28s made several attack runs against the American positions. The whole town of Wizna smouldered by the time the first bombardment was over. NATO airpower hit back in turn; American A-10s and German Tornado IDS’s dropped countless different types of munitions but found the airspace that they were supposed to rule contested by MiG-29s & Su-27s. The US Air Force sent its F-22s out over Eastern Poland and those aircraft scored many victories. 1st ATAF command was hesitant to channel a large portion of its resources to the tactical air campaign, however, and the loss of two F-22s to SAMs and a pair of AWACS planes to MiG-31s yesterday only made the command back at Ramstein even more cautious. As the war seemed to go day-in and day-out, both sides inflicted a great many casualties upon one another in the air, but these tactical engagements saw the US Air Force getting the better of the fighting, albeit having suffered greatly in the process of doing so. Russian and American tank crews again fought each other, this time from different sides of the Narew. American M2A2 & -A3 Bradleys used their Javelin ATGMs to knock out Russian vehicles. Dismounted infantrymen did the same, this time with more cover in the smouldering buildings that had once been the homes, schools and offices of Wizna. There were woodlands to the north as well from which the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team fired at Russian vehicles from that direction. Abrams tanks poured down fire from their 120mm guns and the American artillery units contributed to the reign of explosives that was falling on the northern side of the Narew. The Russians, of course, fired back and scored their fair share of hits. The first attempt to cross the river had been a failure though; the carcases of burning T-80s, BMPs & BTRs lay scattered across the highway leading up to the Highway-64 Bridge which would have given the Russians access to the river. The 5th GTA’s commander shifted his artillery to the American positions which had now been exposed by their defensive efforts during his first attempt to cross the bridge. This second wave of artillery was more pinpointed that the first salvo had been. The positions used by American infantry units down to the battalion level had been sniffed out when missiles had been launched from them, and although doctrine would have called for US troops to move to different locations after firing off their Javelins, there was simply nowhere else to move to. Only the small forest and the buildings of the nearby towns provided cover. Those places were hit again by Russian artillery. American counterbattery fire struck back and eventually the Russian guns fell silent, but by this time the Russian commander felt confident enough to attempt a second crossing of the Narew.
The 5th GTA’s leading tank regiment began to roll across the Highway-64 Bridge. This time, the artillery continued and though there were losses the Russians got their troops across the river. Concealed M1A2s made short work of the BRDM reconnaissance vehicles as they began to head into Wizna, but they faced a tougher fight from the T-80s which followed. The 3rd Infantry Division was too beaten up to fight for much longer. The division simply couldn’t hold and General Ryan at V Corps had been screaming for reinforcements for days. Just as the Russians crossed the river, his wishes were granted when German troops arrived in numbers to contain the Russian bridgehead. The 10th Panzer Division, with its Leopard-2s and Marder IFVs came to the rescue. The Americans slowly began to pull back, taking up positions further north and east, allowing the Germans to pass through their lines. By now, a whole tank regiment was across the Narew, along with a pair of battalions from the motorised rifle regiment. American aircraft covered the 3rd ID’s withdrawal with AH-64D Apache gunships soaring over the treeline and obliterated what targets they could find with Hellfire missiles. The Germans would face a tough fight in containing that Russian bridgehead. They came under artillery attack before they had even reached the frontlines, suffering somewhat and yet still remaining in fighting order. Titanic clashes occurred as the 12th Panzer Brigade’s Leopard-2s hit Russian armoured columns pushing up from the bridge into the town of Wizna itself. The Royal Netherlands Army had its 13th Mechanised Brigade attached to the German formation and their tanks contributed to the fight as well, raining down accurate fire on the Russian's bridgehead. Explosions roared and many vehicles were obliterated, their crews facing the worst deaths imaginable – being burned alive – as ammunition and fuel stocks cooked off. Before any more Russian forces could cross the river, the Highway-64 Bridge was blown to smithereens by German artillery. In their haste to withdraw, American engineers had failed to blow the bridge last night; an attempt had been made by the unit was overrun before it could complete the task. Almost as if by a miracle, the bridge had survived the fighting. This was due to the sheer number of air defence batteries located around it. Russian artillery units had forced their American counterparts to keep their focus on them rather than the crossing. Now, though, that bridge was blown and a regiment-and-a-half of Russian troops was on the northern side of the Narew. Bridging units assigned directly to 1GTA headquarters were sent rapidly to the front to set up pontoons, but for now those forces on the northern side of the river would be on their own against the 10th Panzer Division. The regimental commander on the ground outside Wizna kept pushing forwards. He wanted to be aggressive, to knock the Germans back and make them cautious. He sent motorised rifle troops into Wizna down the main highway while his own tank regiment pushed south-east, running into what was effectively a meat grinder of effective German fire. Those motor riflemen that went into Wizna came head-to-head with the Bundeswehr’s 23rd Mountain Brigade. These excellently-trained infantrymen were in their element inside urban terrain and used their own ATGMs to make the streets of Wizna into impassable pile-ups of destroyed armoured vehicles. Behind Russian lines, bridging units went forwards, and the fight for Wizna continued. * NATO forces in Northern Poland had previously been under the command of Lieutenant-General Shireff’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. That formation had now been renamed as I Allied Corps. It was an effective analogue to NATO’s Cold War-era Northern Army Group. With the British 1st Armoured Division and the Polish 16th Mechanised Division doing the bulk of the fighting thus far, I Corps faced off against the 20th Guards Army just as it had done yesterday. August 10th was set to be another day of heavy fighting and tremendous casualties. General Shirreff’s I Corps had been engaged in a near-constant fighting withdrawal for days not and his men were on the brink of exhaustion. Russian tactical airstrikes were taking a heavy toll on Shirreff’s supply routes through Poland. None of his units were going to actually run out of fuel or ammunition within the next twenty-four hours, but beyond that, Shirreff was told by his staff, this would start to happen at the platoon and company level. Shirreff’s position was extremely precarious here. With the Americans holding along the banks of the Narew River, he couldn’t withdraw very far or the very same gap in NATO lines that the Americans and later Germans farther south were fighting to prevent would occur. I Allied Corps had meant to get the 10th Panzer Division as it moved up to the front through Poland, but that unit had instead been assigned to Lt-General Ryan’s V Corps and was now heavily engaged in preventing the Russians from reinforcing their bridgehead over the Narew. Shirreff’s only reinforcement had come from the French 2nd Armored Brigade, which had been involved in several localised engagements since yesterday. The Polish 16th Mechanised Division in the northern sector of I Corps lines was doing better than anybody had expected. In compliance with Shirreff’s orders they had pulled back somewhat yesterday to prevent a Russian breakthrough and keep the flanks of the British 1st Division secure, but they were holding out well along the Elblag-Ostroda salient, inflicting severe losses on the Russians’ 1st Motorised Rifle Division as they pulled back. The expected amphibious assault on Gdansk had instead occurred on Zealand and that was the Danes’ problem; for the 16th Division the failure of the Russians to land here could have been described as a miracle. Without worrying about Russian forces in their rears, the Polish division could focus on stopping the assault out of Kaliningrad. Using antiquated Soviet-era air defences, the Poles suffered heavily under a steady stream of air attacks as more Allied aircraft were diverted southwards to the ongoing fight on the Narew. They successfully downed a few Frogfoots and Hinds, but the losses suffered on the ground were extremely heavy. Their situation only worsened throughout the afternoon and after successfully holding out in place all morning the 16th Division was forced to begin pulling backwards at around three p.m. in the afternoon, leaving many hundreds of corpses behind in the countryside. Shirreff’s 1st Armoured Division was busy engaging Russian troops with their 10th Tank Division. That Russian unit, with its T-90s, T-80s & upgraded T-72s actually outnumbered the British 1st Armoured, but that hadn’t stopped the British division from making the Russians pay in blood for the ground that had been given up yesterday. The 7th Armoured Brigade – the Desert Rats – had suffered particularly immense casualties when holding off an attempt by Russian forces to find a weak point in the division’s lines, although other units within the 1st Armoured had taken grave losses as well. Troops were forced to be more conservative with their ammunition usage given the precarious supply situation, although this didn’t stop missile teams knocking out several Russian attack helicopters with their Starstreaks. Infantry units with Javelin missiles fought well, blasting away at enemy armour in conjunction with the Challenger-2s assigned to the 1st Division. Scores of Russian tanks were left burning as the 1st Armoured Division fought their opponents for control of the area stretching from Gyzcko to Elk. Both of those settlements were left as smouldering ruins before the day was out. If I Corps situation had been bad yesterday, it was about to become desperate. The 4th Guards Tank Division, a unit that had moved up through Kaliningrad from the occupied Baltic States, went forwards into battle once again. The 4th Division hit the point directly between the Polish 16th Division and the British 1st Armoured, tearing a hole open and thus achieving a breakthrough. Two days ago Russian forces had achieved a similar breakthrough further south where a brigade of the US Army’s 3rd Division had been overwhelmed. In that case, a speedy withdrawal had prevented the Russians from obliterating the American’s supply units in the rear, albeit while ceding yet more of Poland over to the invaders. Here, with I Corps general tactical situation, a hasty withdrawal wasn’t going to stop the 4th Division. They hit the northern flanks of the British 12th Mechanised Brigade, the 1st Division’s northernmost unit whose lines were meant to intersect with those of the Poles along the coast. An air attack by Su-24s did heavy damage to the 12th Brigade’s field headquarters and killed the brigade commander, leaving the unit in chaos while battalion (or rather, battlegroup) commanders fought to delay the Russian breakthrough. Shirreff had no choice but to send his outnumbered French reinforcements from their 2nd Armored Brigade into the battle head-on. Sending a lone brigade up against a whole tank division, a well-equipped and battle-hardened one at that, was not something that any commander would willingly choose to do. The I Corps commander didn’t have the luxury of a choice though. He could either send the French into battle with a force far superior in numbers, or see the Russian division keep pushing forwards and encircling at best an entire NATO heavy division and at worst annihilating the entire corps. The men of the 2nd Armored Brigade went into battle knowing that the fate of the entire corps rested on their shoulders. First contact between the two units was made at Olsztyn when artillery shells came thundering down around the town and then French Leclercs met Russian T-80s. After a tremendous battle that lasted all throughout Tuesday afternoon, the French were able to plug the gap between the Polish and British division’s lines, albeit suffering murderous losses in doing so. A fighting withdrawal was made by the French brigade with them covering the area between the 16th and 1st Divisions as they pulled back, giving up as little ground as possible in order to avoid exposing the flanks of the still-holding V Corps in Southern Poland. Another day in World War III came to an end. Nice update forcon |
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hussar01
Chief petty officer
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Post by hussar01 on Mar 6, 2019 19:30:13 GMT
Great update and second on the war porn. The cassualties of the modern battlefield is brutal and the lethality of modern weapons is something we hope to never see in reality. I wonder if both sides are expeciencing much more cassualties and expenditure of ammo then even their wildest estimates. It will come down to LOC and the side with the airforce able to disrupt this will win.
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