Eagle Guardian: The War of 2010

One Hundred and Fifty–Eight

Operation Noble Sword continued as NATO forces entered Belarus. The US V Corps moved across the border from Poland and entered the territory of Russia’s closest ally. There remained troops of both Belarus and Russia on Polish soil, caught up in pockets of various sizes, but instructions from General Petraeus were that those were to be left behind. SACEUR issued those orders which his subordinates General Mattis – commander of CJTF–East – and General Ryan (who headed the V Corps) followed. There were some misgivings expressed from each of those two other men to their superior about not fully overcoming those forces of the destroyed First Guards Tank Army beforehand, but SACEUR wanted them to continue advancing. That other field army, Russia’s Thirty–Sixth Army, was yet to be fully in-place to stop Noble Sword. Petraeus wanted to catch the Russians on the move.

The V Corps did just that. American and Polish forces led the drive into Belarus with the French following them. This was over the northern and central sections of the border. They went forwards through small-scale but messy fights with Belorussian Border Guards & Interior Troops before then engaging the Russians on a ground of NATO’s choosing. There were two Russian divisions – the 21st Guards and 122nd Guards Motor Rifle Divisions – who were faced by twice the number of opposing NATO formations. That numerical advantage was important on the ground especially since the Russians hadn’t dug-in anywhere. In the skies above, NATO had almost complete control of the air. A few times, Russian fighters might show up but their only real opponent were air defences. More effort was spent on hitting them than allowing attack missions to take place against ground forces for Ryan’s liking but he had the air cover he needed. They were able to help get the Russians where he wanted them. The Polish 11th Armoured Cavalry Division was first into combat followed by the US 1st Cavalry Division. Each of them engaged an opposing division in a mobile battle spread over a huge area of northeastern Belarus. It was a costly fight for both sides. Once it got going, the US 1st Armored Division and also France’s Division Rapiere got involved, taking on the Russians from the flanks and behind too where possible. This was a fight which Russia at once started to lose. Withdrawal orders came from their higher command. They started to fall back from a fight they had only just gotten involved in after being ambushed. This wasn’t easy to do at all though. The V Corps sought to stop a retreat and if they couldn’t stop it, then they’d make the Russian’s pay for trying. The 122nd Guards suffered the most when fighting both the Americans and the French. This was a second-rate formation which had come to Belarus all the way from Siberia. It didn’t have the best of anything: weapons, men or communications. They were fighting some of the best forces that NATO had to offer. Half of the division was lost before the remainder could get away. The 21st Guards – again out of Siberia – did a little bit better in combat though was still forced to run away from the fight. A quarter of their initial strength was gone, left behind dead or prisoner. The retreat was one made in disarray and one which came under furious air attack from above.

The battle of the border had been won by the V Corps and those forces which had already gone across continued their advance into Belarus. Ryan’s command was rather large with more than just those four divisions. There was the still unused US 101st Air Assault Division sitting in Poland. They weren’t yet to see action neither inside Belarus nor against the pockets of enemy forces left inside Poland. They’d be wasted going up against the latter and in the case of the former – entering Belarus – a later operation (drawn up by Mattis’ planning staff) awaited them. A big airmobile move was being readied for them. Previously-engaged NATO units who’d come off worse for wear when stopping the Russians during their earlier advance into Poland were moved closer to the frontlines inside Poland’s Podlachia region. The US 3rd Infantry & German 10th Panzer Divisions remained with the German-Dutch I Corps and set about eliminating those pockets. It was hard going for each of them with the Germans joined by Slovenian troops and the Americans there consisting of many reinforcements which had come from the mainland United States to replace immense earlier losses. This was all not a fight for the V Corps anymore.

In addition to the 101st Air Assault, Ryan had another division of Poles and one of Italians as well. Centring on the occupied Polish city of Biala Podlaska and with the main road linking Brest and Warsaw, Highway-2, through the middle of it, was what was being called the Podlaska-Brest Bulge. NATO forces were on three sides though the Belorussians and Russians caught inside still had an avenue of escape back into Belarus to the east. The Bug River formed the border between the two countries and was the way out of the Bulge should they flee. No order had yet to come for those on the ground there to withdraw. Those were First Guards Tank Army elements from many smashed-up formations, while reaching Brest in recent days was the third of the Thirty–Sixth Army’s divisions. The smaller pockets of resistance left on Polish soil could be, and had been, bypassed by the V Corps but not this one, especially with that fresh 131st Motor Rifle Division sitting around the excellent communications centre of Brest with all of its road links. The Polish 12th Mechanised Division remained fixing in-place the majority of those inside the Bulge – holding a large stretch of the frontlines – but the Italians were ordered by Ryan to go forwards. Mattis had granted the V Corps’ commander his request for the attachment of a reinforcing attacking unit direct from CJTF–East’s central control to see the attack succeed.

It was the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment which led the Italian Division Centauro into Poland. The Blackhorse Cav’ was a training unit of the US Army based in California which had shipped over to Europe early in the war. They’d been guarding the approaches to Warsaw for some time, far in the rear and meant to be the last line of defence against a sudden breakthrough. They’d stayed there when they were needed elsewhere due to the worry that should the Russians make a dash for Warsaw, Polish resistance could have collapsed. Now the Blackhorse Cav’ went into Belarus. They struck to the north of the Bulge: between where the Bug was on the right and the near-impassable Białowieża Forest on the left. The Americans led the Italians towards Brest and through southwestern Belarus. They came right from behind, surprising their opponents by their presence and the rush forward aiming to get to Brest and cut off the Bulge. Italian A-129 Mangusta attack helicopters joined with US Army Apaches in blasting the way forward through flank screen forces. Brest lay ahead and that Russian division scrambled to intercept them. There was going to be a major fight outside of Brest with only one winner due to emerge. Whomever that was would control the fate off all of those Belorussian & Russian forces – in a bad way but still capable of fighting – stuck over in Poland. Commanders on both sides waited for news…