forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 8, 2019 20:51:03 GMT
This is an old TL I wrote on the other forum. I know there are many flaws in its writing, but I have been asked to post it here and will do so. Enjoy!
I am Governor Jerry Brown/My aura smiles and never frowns/Soon I will be president/Carter power will soon go away/I will be Fuehrer one day
Ultimately, the U.S.-Iran War of 2018 cannot be traced back to any single cause, but rather a series of sometimes unrelated events which culminated to cause the worst conflict in which the United States has been involved in since the Vietnam War. It could reasonably be said that the war was the result of the U.S. and British sponsored coup d’état which overthrew the elected government in 1953, leading to the rise of the Shah. When the Shah’s brutal regime was overthrown by an equally fascistic one in 1979, war between the U.S. and Iran looked inevitable as protestors took U.S. embassy staffers hostage for over three years.
However, the more recent causes of the conflict include the Republican Party’s hawkishness and reluctance to come to a deal over Iran’s nuclear weapons program amidst the perceived view of the Obama Administration seeking “peace at any price.” President Donald Trump, whose cabinet included retired General Michael Flynn and CEO Rex Tillerson, was fervently hawkish and eager to scrap the peace deal reached by President Obama in 2014. When Trump was sworn in on January 20th, the scrapping of the Iran Nuclear Deal was one of several policies set to be introduced during his first one hundred days in office. On August 5th, 2017, the Iran deal was scrapped and trade sanctions re-imposed by the United States.
Other policies included the National Security Act, which, amongst other things, prevented immigration from “Terrorist-sponsoring nations, or nations deemed to pose a national security threat to the United States of America.” This essentially provided the ground work for Trump’s proposed “Muslim ban.” Immigration from several dozen countries in the Middle East was essentially bought to a complete halt, whilst other new laws allowed for the deportation of almost two million undocumented immigrants. In several immigrant-friendly communities, citizens tried to block immigration authorities from entering their neighbourhoods, leading to the National Guard being deployed to quell the protests. Images of armed soldiers beating civilians and storming into houses during “round-ups” became mainstream, spreading across the world’s television and computer screens.
In the Middle East, the new Administration seemed willing to work with Russia and Assad to quell the uprising in Syria. Any thoughts of U.S. intervention on the part of the Syrian rebels faded, as the rules of engagement binding U.S. forces in the region were significantly loosened to allow for easier targeting of ISIS forces. Incidents of USAF aircraft bombing civilians skyrocketed, and accusations of war crimes quickly spread. The Syrian rebels soon found themselves on the brink of defeat, as weapons from the U.S. support ceased completely. Russian and Syrian aircraft continued their ruthless campaign across Syria, driving ISIS underground by the end of the year.
By this time, tensions between the U.S. and Iran were skyrocketing. With the nuclear dear scrapped and sanctions re-imposed, there was little incentive for Iran to cooperate with western needs. Already, the Iranian Air Force had procured two dozen J-10 fighter aircraft from China, along with new radar technology and anti-ship missiles. Russia, on the other hand, was less supportive of its Middle Eastern ally. Behind the scenes, Trump’s foreign policy advisors were working hand in hand with Putin’s to come to a deal than left the U.S. with a free hand in Iran but also kept Putin happy.
On November 6th, 2017, the United States suffered one of the worst terrorist atrocities in recent memory. Armed with AK-47 assault rifles and wearing explosive vests, eight men opened fire on civilians in a crowded shopping mall in Los Angeles, detonating their suicide vests as the police stormed the mall in an attempt to overpower the terrorists. In total, one-hundred-eighty-seven civilians and police officers were killed in the shocking attack. In the midst of the chaos, Congress passed the American Homeland Security Act. The HSA was perhaps the most repressive and authoritarian piece of legislation ever passed by Congress. It allowed for permanent detention or “terrorists, terrorist supporters and those carrying out acts detrimental to the national security of the United States,” without trial and with little due process, whilst simultaneously granting the National Security Agency official authorization to collect data communications of any organisation or individual that they felt posed any sort of threat, however minor, to the U.S. national security. “Enhanced interrogation” was again legalised as President Obama’s executive order banning torture was repealed, whilst the Posse Comitatus Act was also amended to allow the President more leeway in using U.S. military forces on American soil. The Homeland Security Act would later be struck down as being blatantly unconstitutional, but for now, with Trump supporters holding a majority in the Supreme Court, the jackboot began its quite descent onto the United States.
Although the attackers were Sunni extremists, supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, this information would only come to light in the future. It wasn’t as if the FBI and CIA actually planted evidence framing Iran for the attacks, but more that they ignored contradictory evidence. The attackers had no identification on them, and their weapons could not be tracked back to any known sources. Therefore, it was easy for the U.S. Administration to claim that the Sunni terrorists “were linked to elements within the Iranian armed forces.”
At the beginning of 2018, a deal with Moscow was reached. U.S. forces would pull out of European bases, including major facilities in Germany and the UK. In return, Russia would cease providing support and arms to Iran’s military. Retired General James Mattis, Trump’s Secretary of Defence, resigned in disgust shortly after the deal had been reached. The deal meant that 50% of U.S. forces would have to be gone from Europe within the next two years, with 50% more leaving by 2022. With the 2018 mid-terms approaching, Trump’s situation looked precarious. Whilst the defeat of ISIS had secured cross-party support, the National Security Act and the deportation of several million people had lead to a significant rise in liberal sentiment. The deal with Russia, whilst popular with the so-called “alt-right” and with younger Conservatives who seemed to admire President Putin’s strongman characteristics, older conservatives and Neocons saw the deal as a fundamental betrayal of America’s stance in the world.
As February began, U.S. intelligence agencies began citing evidence of an Iranian bomb being produced. The CIA, NSA and U.S. military intelligence units working covertly in Iran found their reports being ignored if the wrong piece of intelligence was discovered. Despite protests from within their ranks, the intelligence services were over all happy to provide the evidence that the Trump Administration wanted to justify its actions in Iran.
Meanwhile, under President Trump’s orders, three United States Navy carrier battle groups centred around the USS Ronald Reagan, USS Gerald R. Ford, and USS John C. Stennis began steaming towards the Persian Gulf. U.S. Army units and elements of the reserves and the National Guard were called to action stations, as America again prepared for war. Marine Corps forces began practicing forced landings on the California coastline in preparation for their future landing at Bandar Abbas, whilst the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry, 10th Mountain and 101st Air Assault Divisions began deploying to Afghanistan.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 8, 2019 20:51:27 GMT
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies/This is the dawning of the rest of our lives /On holiday
March 11, 2018
Approaching from the Indian Ocean, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford arrived in the Persian Gulf, accompanied by the cruisers USS Lake Erie and USS Port Royal, along with the destroyers USS Truxton, USS Mahan, USS Porter, USS Fitzgerald and USS William P. Lawrence. Two more carrier strike groups were set to join the U.S. Navy’s task force in the Persian Gulf within the next two weeks as the United States prepared for war. Meanwhile, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force deployed aboard a fleet of amphibious strike vessels from the East Coast of the U.S. The first U.S. Air Force fighter squadrons began arriving at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, whilst Central Command, under Admiral Mark Fox, USN, moved to establish a forward headquarters in the region.
In Iran, anti-American demonstrations broke out across several cities. Protestors burning the American flag marched through the streets of Qom and Tehran. With the prospect of war looming on the horizon, Iranian President Qasem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force, ordered a general mobilisation of the Islamic Republic’s military forces, including the ten million-strong Basij militia force. Iran’s Air Force began to disperse its assets to airfields scattered about the deserts and mountain ranges in Iran’s wilderness. Anti-ship missile batteries began to move into position along the Gulf Coast in preparation for a forced closure of the Straight of Hormuz.
March 13, 2018
President Donald Trump raised the U.S. military alert level in the Middle East to DEFCON 3. An additional 8,000 U.S. soldiers, members of the reactivated 7th Infantry Division, were discretely airlifted into Afghanistan, whilst three other light divisions were prepared for a move to the region. More U.S. warships arrived in the Persian Gulf as a general mobilisation of reserves and National Guard units was ordered, with the 29th and 36th Infantry Divisions and the 116th Armored Cavalry Brigade ordered to report for duty.
The Bank of America reported a significant network intrusion, and although no major damage occurred, it was clear that an attempt by a hostile power had been made to hack into the banks records. In addition to this, several phone networks went down for a number of hours, also thought of be the result of a foreign power’s meddling. Homeland Security rapidly placed the blame for the cyber attacks at Iran’s door due to the prospect of imminent hostilities with Iran.
Behind closed doors, President Trump engaged in phone conversations with British Prime Minister Theresa May, asking for at least vocal support of America’s actions in the Middle East. However, due largely to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from bases in Europe; Trump’s request was greeted coldly by the British government. Although there were those who wanted to commit troops to a potential war with Iran, much of the British government was war weary from years of conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. The British people certainly did not see the appeal of “jumping into bed with a war-mongering orange gibbon,” as one British comedian put it. Similarly cold responses came from France, Germany and Spain as America’s NATO allies began to reconsider their relationship with the U.S. Administration.
March 16, 2018:
In Afghanistan, the final elements of what was soon to be named as I Corps arrived in place by air. I Corps consisted of the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry, 10th Mountain and 101st Air Assault Divisions, along with the 3rd Marine Division, normally stationed in Japan. The 82nd Airborne Division began making practice jumps in Nevada, whilst additional heavy forces were loaded aboard transport ships to prepare them for deployment to Iran as the second wave of the invasion.
That night, the first major anti-war protest broke out in Washington D.C. as left-wing student groups rallied against the seemingly inevitable conflict with Iran. Although the protests were at first peaceful, violent clashes erupted between police officers and students as the protestors gathered near Pennsylvania Avenue, sarcastically chanting “America Uber Alles”. America was no stranger to violent protests since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, but this one was one of the worst so far. Although nobody was killed, several protestors received serious wounds and one student, a seventeen year old black student named Michael Bryce, was paralyzed by a police officer’s truncheon. Dozens of police officers were also wounded when the protestors threw bricks and rocks at the barricades, and beat down two officers who were caught up in the crowd.
President Trump made waves when he said of the anti-war protestors, “They’re traitors to America, you know? They’re traitors to our troops, I’ve seen them spitting on our troops, applauding Muslims when they bombed Los Angeles. They need time in Guantanamo Bay, that’ll teach em’ to respect out troops, to respect America.”
March 17, 2018:
Demonstrations broke out in Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle following Trump’s perceived threat to imprison protestors in Guantanamo Bay. Although Trump claimed he hadn’t meant the words literally, the National Security Act passed after the LA Bombings the prior year did mean that anyone deemed to be “carrying out acts detrimental to the security of the United States” could be detained indefinitely without trial, leading to worries that, in the words of British comedian John Oliver, protestors would receive the “Pinochet treatment”.
Anti-American demonstrations occurred in the Middle East, with Shia elements in Bahrain attempting to storm the U.S. embassy before being turned back by the Marine guards and local police forces. In Baghdad, the Shia government refused to cooperate with America’s demand for basing rights, allowing protests to occur outside the heavily guarded American embassy.
In Afghanistan, a convoy of U.S. troops was ambushed by Shia militias, working alongside Iranian Pasdaren commandos. Seven American soldiers were killed in the firefight, the first deaths of the U.S.-Iran War, even though the conflict had yet to officially break out between the two nations. Iranian Su-24’s buzzed the U.S. fleet in the Persian Gulf, nearly leading to them being shot down by American interceptors.
March 19, 2018:
The U.S. Navy task force in the Persian Gulf reached its full wartime strength. The carriers USS Gerald R. Ford, USS John C. Stennis and USS Ronald Reagan were leading the task force, along with an assortment of amphibious assault vessels carrying the 2nd Marine Division, and the 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions. Additionally, the 1st Armored and 1st Cavalry Divisions were prepared for the inland advance, stationed aboard several merchant ships further out to sea as part of the second wave of the planned invasion.
Anti-American protests and demonstrations occurred across the Middle East once again. In Bahrain, Shia demonstrators burned American flags outside the U.S. Navy base located in the region, throwing Molotov cocktails at the guards, who nearly returned fire at the demonstrators. Use of lethal force was narrowly avoided when local law enforcement broke up the demonstration.
In Asia, North Korean armoured and mechanized units were deployed to the DMZ without warning. The South Korean government increased the alert status of the ROK’s armed forces in response, but the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division was not mobilised to counter the potential threat to the north. Much of the 2nd Infantry Division had been already been deployed to the Middle East in time for potential action against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
With the U.S. on high alert and its military forces in position, the attack on Iran was scheduled to begin on March 21 at 00:00 hours.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 8, 2019 20:52:34 GMT
This is what we've waited for/This is it boys/This is war
March 20, 2018:
As U.S. forces made their final combat preparations, mass protests broke out across many U.S. cities, along with college campuses and even in high schools. Calls for peace echoed across the country in a protest movement far bigger than that which had preceded the war in Iraq. Protests in several cities were violently dispersed by police and in some cases by National Guard troops. Three people were killed in Chicago when rioters broke through the police line. Mass arrests took place across the U.S., with over seven hundred people detained under the National Security Act.
Protests also took place in Europe, with the American embassy in London besieged by student groups for several hours. In Iraq, there came reports of an escalation in the sectarian violence which had been taking place since the rise of ISIS. On the Korean Peninsula, the mobilisation of North Korean forces continued, as did the response by the Republic of Korea. This information received little attention in the White House as President Trump and his cabinet prepared for the first strikes on Iran.
Iranian generals were calling for a first strike against the United States; however, watching the international situation and the massive protest movement against an American invasion, the Iranian government made the decision to instead pander to international sympathy, rather than risking turning world opinion against Iran by striking first.
March 21, 2018:
At 0100 Local Time on March 21st, the cruisers USS Port Royal, USS Lake Erie, and USS Leyte Gulf, the destroyers USS Statham, USS Fitzgerald, USS Arleigh Burke and USS Farragut along with the attack submarines USS Virginia and USS Sea Wolf launched a barrage of over five hundred Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets across Iran. Their targets included the known locations of Iranian anti-ship missiles, radar facilities, command centres, airfields and communications facilities.
United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft swarmed towards targets across Iran, aiming to destroy air defence facilities before moving on to take on the more significant strategic targets, such as nuclear facilities and government bunkers. These SEAD missions were carried out largely by F-35 stealth aircraft and advanced F/A-18 strike fighters. Whilst the American fighters did achieve the destruction of several key missile sites, losses were heavy. The Americans were met by a hail of anti-aircraft fire as they approached their targets. Coming in over the gulf coast, two Navy F/A-18s were shot down by Iranian surface-to-air missiles. Additionally, an F-16 was shot down by an older American-made Hawk missile battery whilst it attempted to strike the Iranian barracks at Birjand. Another aircraft, an F-15E, was downed by an S-300 missile during a bombing run on Mehrabad Air Base outside Tehran.
American losses rose once again as the Iranian Air Force soon rose to meet the Americans in combat. The United States had not lost an aircraft in air-to-air combat with the enemy since the Vietnam War. An Air Force F-15E strike fighter was downed in an engagement with Iranian J-10s, procured only months ago from the People’s Republic of China. A Marine Corps F/A-18 was also shot down in a dogfight with Iranian MiG-29s. Another F/A-18, thus one a navy aircraft from the USS John C. Stennis, was shot down by Iranian fighters over Bushehr whilst attacking the nuclear reactor located there.
Iran’s air force, whilst putting up a strong fight, suffered far heavier losses than the Americans. Twenty-three Iranian fighters, including six J-10s and four MiG-29s, along with fourteen older airplanes, were downed in just that one day, whilst many airfields were damaged by U.S. air strikes. Despite suffering heavy losses, the Iranians had managed to keep their command and control network intact, and Army units had been well hidden to keep them out of the clutches of U.S. airpower.
All of this had been occurred by 0600 local time.
As dawn broke, however, Iran was beginning to strike back. At 6:37am, a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker was struck by two anti-ship missiles, sinking with dozens of crewmembers killed. Twenty minutes later, Shahab-3, -4, -5 and -6 missiles began to rise from their launch positions hidden in the Zagros Mountains. By 07:30, missiles were raining down on U.S. bases in Afghanistan. Although 25% of Iranian missiles had been destroyed by U.S. airpower, more than enough remained to inflict hundreds of casualties. American soldiers ran for cover as air raid sirens sounded. Missile after missile rained down on targets selected by Shia militia’s, supported by Iranian commandos. Kabul International Airport, Bagram Air Base and many other smaller targets such as Forward Operating Bases occupied by company-sized U.S. units were targeted. Casualties in Afghanistan alone rose into the low hundreds during these first couple of hours of fighting.
More missiles were fired at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. Amongst the targets was Al Udeid Air Base, where Central Command was controlling the battle. Despite a vigorous defence by the PATRIOT missile batteries stationed around the airfield, four Shahab-5 missiles were able to get through. They cratered the runway with explosives, destroyed an aircraft hanger, killing a dozen airmen as they frantically searched for shelter, and damaged the command centre where Admiral Fox was attempting to command the battle.
American retaliation against any missile sites that were discovered was swift and merciless, but many of the mobile missiles sites had already moved to different locations by the time American fighters had been able to find them. Nonetheless, other thirty missiles sites were destroyed by American firepower by the time the sun set on March 21. The price of oil skyrocketed as several Saudi oilfields were hit by enemy missiles. In Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit, local authorities declared martial law and mobilised the National Guard as rioting broke out on a scale even larger than the night before.
Internationally, condemnation came from around the world. The Chinese President called American actions “reckless and immature”, whilst most other nations either damned the American actions or, in the case of a few stalwart allies, refused to comment. As required by the deal signed earlier in the year, president Putin remained silent in the face of the U.S. onslaught against Iran, probably smirking to himself quietly as the price of oil reached hundreds of dollars per barrel.
March 22, 2018:
Iranian missile units continued to strike at American bases in the region. These missile units used “Shoot and scoot” tactics, firing off missiles rapidly and then going to ground in the mountains in order to avoid destruction by patrolling U.S. warplanes. American bases in Afghanistan were amongst the hardest hit, with forty-two servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan alone by accurate missile and rocket fire.
In the skies above Iran, fierce battles raged for control of the air. The Iranian Air Force saw another sixteen of its fighters downed, but it did successfully shoot down an F-16 and a Navy F/A-18, whilst surface-to-air missile units were responsible for shooting down no less than four kills of their own; two F-15Es, an F/A-18 and another F-16. Airfields in Iran were damaged and some command centres destroyed, but the Iranian military had successfully hidden many of its most vital facilities. For now, the U.S. high command decided to focus on striking missile launching facilities and anti-aircraft defences to reduce the casualties for further attacks.
In the Persian Gulf, the attack submarine USS California reported sinking a Kilo-class submarine with torpedoes as the Kilo attempted to infiltrate the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group. U.S. warships also opened fire on several small vessels seen heading towards the task force. At 2345 local time, fifteen Iranian anti-ship missiles, believed to be DF-21s procured from China, streamed towards the American task force. Air defence batteries destroyed eleven missiles, but a lone DF-21 struck the destroyer USS Farragut. Her magazine exploded, killing all 312 crewmembers in an enormous fireball. Another two Iranian missiles plummeted into the sea, but the last missile scored a direct hit on USS William P. Lawrence. The missile detonated near the destroyers’ helicopter pad, killing 19 crewmembers. The damaged destroyer began to limp back to Bahrain, which, itself, was under intense missile bombardment.
President Trump promised “revenge of the most brutal kind,” as American families watched footage of the sinking USS Farragut playing out across their television screens. Naturally, mainstream U.S. news channels failed to reveal the sheer number of casualties suffered by the United States armed forces in just these two days of conflict. Actual casualties stood at 514 killed in action so far, mostly from either missile strikes on American bases or the sinking of the USS Farragut. Several pilots had also been killed over Iranian airspace, as had special forces operators inside Iranian territory. Iranian casualties were at well over 1,500 at this point in the war. In United States, rioting continued and martial law was imposed in dozens of cities. Anti-American demonstrations occurred everywhere from Beijing to Dublin. Rioters in Islamabad stormed the American embassy, beating the ambassador to death before being pushed back by Pakistani police and U.S. Marines.
March 23-March 26, 2018:
Additional Iranian missile strikes took place against oil fields in Saudi Arabia, sending the price of oil skyrocketing even higher than the past few days of war had. The main American military priority at this point was switched to the destruction of Iranian missile batteries, and some success was met in achieving this goal. Fighters from the American aircraft carriers in the region, as well as Navy SEAL operatives working in the Zagros Mountains, destroyed two dozen more missile facilities. However, despite now having achieved the destruction of 50% of Iran’s missiles, the U.S. was still suffering heavy losses when missiles rained down on its bases. Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, thought to be a safe haven, was hit by two Shahab-6 IRBM’s, killing eighteen sailors and airmen.
America’s air campaign against Iran continued with even more vigour than before, with U.S. planners knowing full well they had to stop the missile bombardments before further action could be taken. A major U.S. success was achieved when a command centre controlling missiles on the Gulf Coast was destroyed by a bomb from an F-35A fighter aircraft of the United States Air Force. Additional strikes took place against Iran’s air defence network, achieving some significant success. However, yet again, losses were heavy. Three F/A-18s, two F-16s, two F-15Es and an F-35B were downed by ground-to-air missiles over the course of these three days. Also, a B-52H and an F-15C were shot down by Iranian fighters near Tehran in air-to-air combat.
Captured American airmen were taken to two separate prison camps; the first being near Sirjan, and the second being located on the outskirts of Tehran. The Americans were, throughout the war, subject to torture and abuse at the hands of their captors. Several were paraded on television for propaganda value, but would find artistic and intelligent ways to resist. However, later in the war, 19 American POW’s, including the crew of the B-52H downed on March 25, would simply disappear of the face of the earth, with many speculating that the Iranians had given these valuable POW’s to the Peoples’ Republic China in return for material and international support.
On March 26, the Iranian Air Force sortied from its few undamaged bases for a major strike against the United States Navy. In total, forty-six Iranian aircraft, including several older models packed with explosives and flown by remote control, streamed towards the American fleet. They flew in fast and low through the Zagros Mountains to avoid detection. By the time U.S. Navy radars were able to start tracking the bombers, it was too late; the strike force fired dozens Sunburn and Exocet missiles. U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18s and F-35s engaged the Iranian fleet and downed eighteen enemy fighters, for the loss of two F/A-18s. However, it was too late to stop the missiles. Thirty-five were destroyed by fleet air defences, but eleven got through. The cruiser USS Lake Erie took two Exocets and one Sunburn hit. She sank an hour later with 94 of her crew. USS Porter eventually sank after six-hour struggle, although much of her crew was able to abandon ship. USS Mahan was also damaged by a missile hit, along with USS Oscar Austin.
The infuriated President Trump promptly fired the Chief of Naval Operations, and ordered a massive U.S. retaliation against Iran. The night after the attack, eight B-1Bs struck the city of Tehran, hitting targets that were barely of any military significant, such as television stations and civilian power plants and transportation links. Hundreds of Iranian civilians died during the bombardment, which only served to cause world opinion to turn against the United States even further.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 8, 2019 22:21:35 GMT
Salt, sweat/sugar on the asphalt/sign up, the picket line or the parade
March 27-March 31, 2018:
American losses continued to mount despite the continued air campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Six additional U.S. aircraft were shot down by Iran’s air defences, the effectiveness of which was beginning to wane due to targeted American air and missile attacks. Nevertheless, downed aircraft included an EA-18 Growler electronic warfare aircraft and a B-52H bomber, with several crewmembers captured alive by Iranian militiamen.
Despite these losses, many U.S. military successes were achieved in these final few days before the beginning of the ground war. Dozens more missile sites were destroyed by air attacks guided by Navy SEAL teams inserted along the Gulf Coast. The SEAL units operated at great risk to themselves and with little or no support from high command. Grizzly fates awaited them if they were captured alive by enemy forces. On several occasions, special operations teams were discovered by Iranian patrols, leading to the killing or capture of dozens SEAL’s, Green Beret’s and Force Recon Marines. Despite the risks on these danger-fraught missions, a large part of the defeat of Iran’s missile capabilities can be attributed to special operations forces locating them on the ground.
The few missiles that remained, however, caused much damage to America’s military infrastructure in Afghanistan and Bahrain. Dozens were killed and wounded by the near round-the-clock bombardment as the Iranians tried desperately to prevent American ground forces from staging a ground invasion. Additionally, Shia militia’s in Afghanistan launched several major attacks against U.S. forces stationed there, with U.S. forward operating bases coming under sustained, infantry-style attacks from said militias. Whilst the U.S. Army did take several casualties, superior American firepower managed to beat back the attackers on virtually every occasion.
An attempted Iranian airstrike on Al Udeid Airbase was repulsed when six Iranian fighter-bombers were shot down by F-22 Raptor fighters and PATRIOT missile batteries, with no American casualties suffered during the engagement. Additionally, American bombers were able to completely destroy several Iranian airfields and take out the command facility of the Iranian Army’s Northern District, softening up the ground forces for the invasion. Although these were notable successes for the U.S. military, it still had to contend with casualty figures reaching the high hundreds in just a week of open warfare. Already, three times of the number of troops killed in the initial invasion of Iraq had died during this war, and the ground invasion had not even begun yet.
When it was leaked to the New York Times that 681 American troops had been killed in action, mainly at sea and during missile attacks against U.S. bases, but also in the air war and during special operations missions on Iranian territory, there came an outpouring of grief across the nation, and on both sides of the political spectrum. The right immediately seized on this opportunity to “rally around the flag” and support the President even further, and there were several voices on the left that did not disagree. Some liberals reminded themselves that Iran’s government was a human rights abusing dictatorship and there was some justification for war if the allegations about Iran’s involvement for the Los Angeles bombings were true. Nevertheless, there were constant accusations that this was a fabrication, and televised scenes of weeping parents and widows, distraught to hear of their family member’s deaths in combat. Trump’s approval rating was mixed, since many of his white working class support base had voted for him because he promised change for them, not because he would start a war in Iran.
His approval rating began to plummet.
And this was before the United States was to suffer its greatest single military loss since World War 2.
On the evening of March 29, as squadrons of F/A-18s launched to strike Iranian targets, Iran’s sole surviving Kilo-class submarine penetrated the defensive ring around the U.S. amphibious fleet. Armed with Russian-made torpedoes, the Kilo was able to attain a firing solution. She fired five torpedoes, and then dived desperately for safety. Two torpedoes, packed with high explosives, slammed into the grey hull of the amphibious assault vessel USS Bataan. A third torpedo hit the destroyer USS Zumwalt. The latter vessel would survive the attack, but Bataan never had a chance. A firestorm raged through the ship’s hull, and the captain gave the order to abandon ship in an attempt to save his crew. A valiant rescue effort, fraught with danger, by other American ships in the area meant that 2,000 crewmen and women could be saved, but 613 sailors and marines would perish with the USS Bataan. The offending submarine would be sunk shortly after, with the loss of all hands.
America’s response would be truly punishing. Dozens of B-1B, B-2A, and B-52H bomber aircraft flew sorties against yet more civilian targets in Iran. These targets included power plants, roads and bridges, and civilian communications facilities. This served only to further infuriate the Iranian people, and there were calls in the United States – some coming from those with disturbingly close access to the president himself – to use nuclear weapons against Tehran and bring a swift end to the conflict. According to an autobiography released years after the event, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were only able to persuade Trump from using nuclear weapons by flatly telling him that they would refuse to obey such an order.
However, U.S. airpower relentlessly pounded targets across Iran with renewed vigour for the next few days. In addition, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was assassinated when his convoy was ambushed by a U.S. Army Delta Force team outside Tehran. These final attacks were meant to prepare Iran for the now imminent ground invasion. Targets were now shifted to focus more on ground troops and their communications links rather than on enemy airpower. Iran’s air force had suffered heavy casualties, having lost about 65% of its combat aircraft either in duels with American fights or whilst on the ground. Iran had, however, succeeded in dispersing and hiding much of its Army in well-fortified defensive positions.
With U.S. casualties now standing at over 1,000 and Iranian casualties standing at 15,000 dead, the war was far, far from over.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 8, 2019 22:21:53 GMT
London calling to the fare away towns/now war is declared and battle come down
April 1:
America’s ground war in Iran began at dawn on April 1, 2018. It did not, as expected, begin with a marine landing, but with the parachuting of 6,000 men of the 82nd Airborne Division into the Zagros Mountains, just outside the town of Sarzeh. The purpose of this deployment was to secure Highway 71, which led through the Zagros Mountains. Three Iranian armoured brigades and an infantry division were spread out to the north of the highway. Should they be able to use Highway 71 to move into Bandar Abbas, there would be a genuine risk that the marines landing there would be thrown back into the sea before their heavy armoured support could arrive in force. Therefore, at 00:30 Local Time – Zero Dark Thirty in military lingo – a fleet of C-130 cargo planes, escorted by F-22A Raptor fighters, and approached the drop zone. The 6,000 paratroopers landed in three waves, securing the highway and maintain a defensive perimeter. Soon after securing the target area, troops from 2nd Battalion, 325th Parachute Infantry Regiment, came under attack by advance elements of the 18th Infantry Division. Though this initial attack would be repulsed, several more attacks would be mounted over the course of the next few days, leading to massive casualties amongst the 82nd Airborne Division.
At dawn, under the cover of intense naval gunfire, the 2nd Marine Division stormed ashore outside Bandar Abbas. Cobra attack helicopters and F-35B strike fighters relentlessly pounded the Iranian defences. Despite the bombardment, Iranian gunfire racked the beaches as the marines moved ashore. Artillery and mortar fire destroyed several Amtrak and LAV-25 fighting vehicles filled with marines, and Iranian riflemen even managed to sink three landing craft using an anti-tank missile fired from their entrenchments at the top of the beach. The casualty list climbed as the marines fought for every inch of bloody sand that they took. Many units ended up being pinned down on the open beaches and slaughtered before they could advance. The Navy did its best to soften up the Iranians, but they were well dug in and naval gunfire was not always accurate. Helicopters ferried marines inland to hit the Iranians from behind, and two of these aircraft were shot down. It took hours of ruthless fighting, but the marines slowly secured the beaches around Bandar Abbas. Six hundred Iranian troops were captured by the advancing marines as they finally overran the defensive line along the beaches. Havadarya Airport, located along the coastline, was secured by a surprise infantry assault mounted by 2nd Recon Battalion. More importantly though, the 2nd Marine Divisions M1A1 tanks and LAV-25 armoured vehicles were able offload on the secured beaches, taking care of the many wounded who the Marines had been forced to leave behind on the beache as they stormed enemy defensive positions. The next step was to secure the port city of Bandar Abbas itself. Once the marines had achieved this objective, the III Armored Corps would be able to offload and race northwards to reach the cut-off 82nd Airborne Division.
As dusk fell on the evening of April 1, the exhausted 2nd Marine Division, having suffered 14 officers and 652 enlisted troops killed in action at the beach, began its assault on the western side of Bandar Abbas. The marines used armoured Humvee’s, tanks and assault vehicles to advance into the city. Hidden in civilian buildings, in dug-outs and in trenches, the Iranian Army and elements of the Basij militia force fought back bitterly. It was hoped that if Iranian resistance could be quelled with relatively few casualties here, Iranian units further in Bandar Abbas would retreat or surrender. The marines knew that above all else, they had to secure the ports, of the four heavy divisions that would form III Corps could not be offloaded, and the 82nd Airborne would be overrun. As they entered Bandar Abbas, U.S. Marines found themselves pinned down in bitter house to house fighting. The conventional Iranian Army units in the area, however, had largely retreated, leaving the defence in the hands of the more lightly-armed Basij. The Americans were unable to use air and artillery support in large quantities because of the nature of the fighting; even if the risk of civilian casualties was ignored, which, under the Trump administration, was entirely possible, the marines would still be calling in air strikes on themselves. Support came from AC-130 “spectre” gunship aircraft, laying down accurate fire on the armed Basij units that engaged the U.S. Marines and also on the less-armed mobs of infuriated civilians which attempted to overwhelm the Marines. Multiple LAV-25 vehicles were knocked out by anti-tank missiles. American gunners swiftly retaliated against such positions, often destroying entire buildings to clear out the enemy positions. Despite suffering from severe casualties, the 2nd Marine Division had secured the western side of Bandar Abbas by the next day.
The U.S. air campaign continued, this time focusing more on the support of ground troops than the destruction of strategic targets. Only a few Iranian fighters remained active, but one Iranian pilot managed to down an American F-16 near Mashad. The 82nd Airborne was virtually dependent on air support for its very survival as swarms of Iranian infantry and armour poured down towards its harrowingly vulnerable positions. Troops called in “Arc Light” bombing runs, where B-52H bombers dropped tonnes of unguided munitions on infantry columns. These strikes were all that saved the men of 2nd Battalion, 325th Parachute Infantry Regiment, when they were assaulted by nearly a regiment of Iranian infantry and light armour.
Internationally, there was outrage in several European countries, particularly from the Spanish had German governments, both of whom had invested billions of dollars in industries such as power generation in Iran. Several of the power plants targeted by the U.S. air and cruise missile strikes had been built with Spanish and German governments. The day ended with Spain’s government privately threatening to cut off over flight rights to U.S. military aircraft. Germany did not go quite so far, but there was both private and public protest against attacks on Western-funded facilities. China’s reaction remained staunchly anti-American and prop-Iranian.
Across the world, there was continued condemnation and unrest at the U.S. invasion. A renewed wave of anti-war protests took place in major cities, leading to nearly a dozen deaths and hundreds of mass arrests by police and National Guard troops. Those arrested under the National Security Act received little due process and rarely got the opportunity to see a lawyer. There were reports – albeit unconfirmed ones – that some police officials had tortured detainees to learn information about their accomplices.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 8, 2019 22:22:19 GMT
It’s time to taste what you most fear/right guard will not help you hear/brace yourself, my dear/brace yourself, my dear/it’s a holiday in Cambodia/it’s tough, kid, but it’s life
April 2, 2018:
Fighting continued in Bandar Abbas as the 2nd Marine Division secured the dockyards and pushed through the remnants of the cities weakened defences. The marines suffered several attacks on their rear area units by Basij troops and armed civilians, and casualties were sustained despite the successes in seizing the port. Numerous American armoured vehicles were destroyed and damaged, but the use of attack helicopters and AC-130 gunships proved effective where artillery and heavier airpower had failed. As the city fell to American troops, much of Bandar Abbas was aflame. Many civilian buildings had been damaged or destroyed as both sides fought out of them. The situation for the fanatical Basij looked hopeless, but they continued to inflict casualties on U.S. Marines as they slowly succumbed to the might of American firepower. As Marine Corps infantry and LAV-25s rolled down Pasdaren Boulevard, clearing out the buildings on either side of the highway, the 2nd Recon Battalion assaulted Bandar Abbas International Airport, moving in using heavily-armed Humvee’s with heavy air cover. The marines’ attack was successful, but the Iranians fired their own artillery at the airfield as it was overrun, damaging the facilities and causing several fatalities amongst the marines. The city had been overwhelmed by the end of the day, but it was far from secure, as Basij troops continued to strike behind American lines.
Nevertheless, the ports had been seized, and heavy forces could now start moving.
To the north, the 82nd Airborne continues to repulse Iranian mechanized assaults using airpower and shoulder-fired anti-tank munitions. Despite significant losses occurring to the paratroopers, they were able to hold their own for another day. The Iranian 81st Armored Brigade, moving south from Shiraz to Bandar Abbas, was devastated by a wave of U.S. Air Force B-1Bs as it attempted to advance through the mountain passes held by the 82nd Airborne. However, the 82nd Airborne commander knew full well that his troops could not hold out forever. He estimated that they could only hold the mountain passes for another forty-eight hours before they would be overrun by the numerically superior Iranian Army. He was informed by a solemn Admiral Fox that it would be at least seventy-two hours before the lead elements of the U.S. Army invasion force could reach is encircled men. That night, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 325th PIR, was cut off by Iranian infantry. The encircled company fought back bitterly, but soon began to run out of ammunition. Shortly before midnight, the eighty-seven survivors of Charlie Company surrendered to the Iranians, thus becoming the first significant infantry formation to be captured by the enemy since the Korean War. Footage spread across the world of American POW’s being frogmarched northwards to the POW camp at Sirjan.
Two Iranian Shahab-3 missiles, some of the few survivors, struck Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, damaging several aircraft hangers. However, the damage was miniscule compared with the massive missile bombardments that U.S. troops in Afghanistan had to content with at the outbreak of the war. American troops clashed with Shia militias and Iranian commandos throughout the day, Iran sought to prevent the U.S. from opening up a second front on the Afghan border.
In addition to this, several American POW’s, Captain Steven Miller, a USMC F/A-18 pilot, Lt. Sarah O’Connell, navigator of a downed B-52H bomber, and Staff Sergeant Charles Grey of the 5th Special Forces Group, made television appearances on Iranian networks. The three prisoners showed signs of resisting, pronouncing words and phrases wrong and even issuing blinked warnings in Morse code. Iranian POW’s were also treated poorly when first captured. The Iranian soldiers who had surrendered when the 2nd Marines had taken the beaches had been beaten by some vengeful marines, and there were cases of prisoners being shot out of hand by American troops grieving for their lost comrades. Basij surrenders were sometimes ignored altogether, with militiamen being cut down as they emerged from their hiding places. This reprehensible behaviour was condemned by U.S. officers, but defended by President Trump, who tweeted; “They aren’t soldiers, they’re terrorists, and terrorists aren’t subject to the rules.”
Several retired generals condemned the Presidents’ statements about the mistreatment of POW’s. His words did little to quell the protests occurring across the United States, and there were even rumours amongst several officers of Trump’s tweet being synonymous with him issuing unlawful orders to the military to execute POW’s. The Joint Chiefs of Staff did warn Trump that his comments were downright dangerous and could have a damaging affect on his relations with military officers who were trying to conduct what they knew to be an ill-thought-out and potentially disastrous war.
In Beijing, a hushed meeting occurred between the Iranian ambassador and Chinese military officials. Certain PLA generals wished to grant military support, and the idea had support in Beijing, who had its quarrels with the Trump Administration. There was no way that China would deploy military forces to support Iran, but the Iranian Army needed weapons and ammunition to keep up the fight against the invaders. Of particular need were small arms, shoulder-fired anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. An agreement was eventually reached for China to provide such needed weapons to Iran, in return for intelligence, including Iran allowing PLA officers to interrogate certain high-value U.S. prisoners of war, such as those with knowledge of communications intelligence and aircrew who had flown aircraft that the Chinese military was interested in.
Whilst anti-war protests continued, they were met with counter-protests from right-wing, pro-war groups, especially in the south. One rally mounted by local Muslims in Dallas was met by armed protestors numbering in the high dozens. The police did little to condemn the armed American protestors, but publicly attacked the anti-war group, condemning them for “inciting violence against the police and against U.S. troops.” There were some scuffles, but no shots were fired. The same story could not be said for Los Angeles, where protestors violently clashed with the National Guard in several city suburbs, leading to six deaths and multiple buildings destroyed and damaged.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 8, 2019 22:25:16 GMT
Don't wanna be an American idiot/Don't want a nation under the new media/And can you hear the sound of hysteria?/The subliminal mind-fuck America
April 3, 2018:
With Bandar Abbas still burning, cargo ships moved into position and began offloading the lead elements if III Armored Corps. These included the 1st and 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Teams of the 1st Cavalry Division and the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division. Despite efforts by Iranian resistance to sabotage the offloading, the Americans were able to deploy slightly faster than expected. Every effort was being made to get these heavy units onshore and moving northwards as soon as possible. The 2nd Marine Division, badly weakened by its casualties suffered during the beach landing and during the Battle of Bandar Abbas, cleared the outskirts of the port city. Using Shohade Boulevard to drive northwards, Marines seized the railway station and secured a defensive perimeter in the deserts outside the city. The remaining brigade of the 77th Infantry Division launched several counter-attacks that day, launching infantry and mechanized assaults against the defensive lines outside Bandar Abbas. Enemy BTR-60s and BMP fighting vehicles engaged the American positions, suffering heavy casualties at the hands of Marine Corps M1A1 tanks and LAVs. In several positions, however, U.S. Marines were overwhelmed, with eleven Marine Corps riflemen captured at Tal Siah before the Iranians could be repulsed. A-10 fighter bombers inflicted heavy losses on the Iranians, along with Cobra attack helicopters. Before day’s end, the 77th Infantry Division had been largely destroyed during its failed counter-attack.
Despite having suffered 719 killed in action and countless wounded, along with several men captured, nobody could deny the huge achievements made by the 2nd Marine Division; the marines had landed, secured a beachhead, seized an entire port city and held off a medium-sized enemy counter-attack in the space of just three days. U.S. military personnel worked to establish a major Forward Operations Base at Bandar Abbas International Airport. Staff from all four service branches deployed to set up a motor pool, medical aid station, ammunition depot and other military facilities. Helicopters and Marine Corps F-35B fighter aircraft flew countless sorties from the airfield to support the Marines outside Bandar Abbas and the 82nd Airborne to the north.
Meanwhile, the situation for the 82nd Airborne near Sarzeh became ever more precarious. Supply drops of ammunition and food arrived, giving the paratroopers a fighting chance. Repeated Iranian infantry attacks where pushed back with losses mounting on both sides. Another group of paratroopers, numbering fifteen strong, was captured when one of the forward-most platoons was overrun by Iranian BTR-60 fighting vehicles. American troops with shoulder-fired missiles hit the enemy armour repeatedly, knocking out multiple BTRs, but their situation continued to deteriorate. Air support from the U.S. Air Force, and from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, was once again all that saved the encircled paratroopers. F/A-18s swooped in and hit the Iranians with cluster bombs, breaking up infantry columns and destroying vehicles. Artillery units pounding the paratroopers were also struck by repetitive strikes in an all-out effort to prevent the paratroopers’ form being overrun.
The remnants of the Iranian Air Force, which amounted to a sum total of about twenty aircraft this point, including six J-10’s and three MiG-29s, along with some older aircraft, ferociously engaged the U.S. Air Force, downing an F-16 near Isfahan, but losing much of its own strength in the process. In what was a series of blunders by U.S. forces, an E-8 JSTARS aircraft directing the battle was left without fighter escorts as it patrolled over territory between Bandar Abbas and Sarzeh. The E-8 was shot down by a lone F-4E Phantom which managed to penetrate the Combat Air Patrol. It crash-landed in the mountains, where the crew destroyed the aircraft as best they could before being captured by an Iranian patrol. These valuable crewmembers, including many communications and intelligence specialists, where swiftly whisked away to Tehran by the VEVAK secret police.
Protests in the U.S. were becoming smaller and less coordinated as organisers were detained under the National Security Act. By this point, many arrested at the beginning of the war were either being charged or released as police departments sorted through the masses of detainees. However, many joined protests right after their release, only to be arrested once again. Across the country, there were an estimated 1,300 people being held without charges due to their involvement in the anti-war movement. This was widely condemned by several friendly governments, such as that of Canada. However, in Europe, some governments had recently passed similar laws and thus when they condemned these actions, were shown to be hypocrites by the U.S. government.
Internationally, the world was in economic chaos. Oil was in the hundreds of dollars per barrel despite the fact that Iranian strikes on Saudi oil fields had cased. Damage had already been done, and there were discussions within the Saudi government of intervening militarily against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Many officials wanted to avoid intervention to avoid further unrest from the Shia community, and heated debates took place. European neutrality was also upheld, but there was civil unrest in several European capitals due to the massive hike in oil prices. Condemnation continued globally, with the exception being Russia under President Putin. Further moves were made by the European Union to condemn the war in Iran. France, Germany and Spain specifically, issued condemnations of the United States actions’, which would eventually lead to a strong anti-European movement in the U.S. Great Britain was in a difficult position, caught between risking its relationship with the EU by refusing to condemn the U.S., and potentially destroying its relationship with the United States. However, due to the ongoing withdrawal of American troops from UK soil, along with the need to secure trade deals with Europe, the UK government eventually chose to condemn America’s invasion as “potentially destabilising.” However, that was as far as it went, unlike in mainland Europe. Eastern Europe, whilst largely under the control of hard-right government’s who admired Trump’s strongman image, was rightly furious about the U.S.’ deal with Russia. The Polish foreign minister called the deal “Appeasement at its shameless worst,” whilst the Czech Republic and the Baltic States both moved to strengthen their own militaries in preparation for the end of U.S. support. Most governments went out of their way to show that they in no way endorsed Iran’s human rights abuses, but also made it clear that they thought the war was unjust and based on evidence which “bordered on being frivolous.”
That evening, U.S. satellites detected the movement of Russian armoured brigades to the Ukrainian and Estonian borders.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 9, 2019 13:05:57 GMT
I got my photo bomb/I got my Vietnam/I love a lie just like anybody else
April 4, 2018:
Meanwhile, at airfields in northern China, six Y-20 cargo planes were being loaded with ammunition, assault rifles, man-portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, mortars and other equipment, along with several PLAAF intelligence officers and MSS personnel to collect and interrogate high-value U.S. POW’s being held in Tehran. These cargo planes would discretely transport the necessary equipment to Pakistan, where it could be moved by Iranian forces and Chinese agents into Iran. PLA special operations personnel were deployed with the weapons systems to provide training, but they were to withdraw from the country when it looked like U.S. forces where approaching their locations. Although Iran would have very much liked for Chinese armour and tanks to be supplied to them, such equipment would take a long time to effectively be utilised due to training and supply issues. Still, in a drawn-out war, the anti-tank and in particular anti-aircraft weaponry that China was providing would help. Even a single anti-aircraft missile could shoot down a helicopter carrying dozens of soldiers. A few of these mass-casualty events would seriously hamper any U.S. airborne assaults and bring about morale issues as the superiority of U.S. airpower would be bought into question.
In addition to supplying weapons through flights over Central Asia, the Chinese military began planning supplying weapons through Pakistan. This would take at least the tacit cooperation of the Pakistani government, and bore a huge risk of discovery by the United States. However, it would allow significant amounts of weaponry to be moved to Iran by land; mobile radars, command and control systems and even light armoured vehicles could be supplied through routes in Pakistan.
In Iran, fighting continued. The lead elements of the 4th Infantry Division, now offloaded, began to move northwards to link up with the 82nd Airborne. U.S. armoured and mechanized forces, spearheaded by M1A2 tanks passed through the defensive line held by the 2nd Marine Division, and began their advance up Highway’s 69 and 71. The area here was protected mainly by the remnants of the Iranian 77th Infantry Division, along with a motorized rifle brigade with attached tank battalions and several thousand Basij troops. Thanks to the 82nd Airborne, Iranian forces to the north had yet to break through. The Iranian motorized brigade was stationed on Highway 96, dug in with its small armoured detachment. The Iranian tanks included Zulfiqar-4s and ancient British Chieftains, upgraded by Russian engineers since the 1990s. As dusk fell, the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team clashed with the Iranian 11th Motorized Infantry Brigade in the desert around Highway 96. The American commander was nervous about advancing with an exposed right flank, but intelligence had reported no significant Iranian force in that area, and so he went ahead with the advance in the dash to liberate the 82nd Airborne.
The American M1A2s far outranged their opponents, and they picked off fifteen tanks and eleven infantry fighting vehicles at two miles away. The two tank forces closed to engage further, and three M1A2s were hit by enemy fire, including the commander of Alpha Company, 1st battalion, 66th Armor Regiment. Another thirty-six Iranian tanks were killed, for the loss of another M1A2 and five Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. To make matters worse for the Iranians, the headquarters company of their armoured battalion was cut off by U.S. forces and forced to surrender. The battle had been bloody, with twenty-nine U.S. tankers and riflemen killed, and four tanks destroyed in combat. It was far worse for the Iranians, though, who had lost forty-seven tanks and countless other fighting vehicles. One-hundred-ninety-two Iranians were killed, and another one-hundred-thirty captured by U.S. troops. This tank battle, the first of many, was one of the less bloody ones.
In Bandar Abbas, the 2nd Marines were used as to defend the port, patrolling the streets and securing known Basij positions. Militia attacks came almost on the hour, with suicide bombings, shootings, ambushes and mortar strikes against the U.S. positions in the rear hampering the supply effort. The sheer number of Marines and U.S. Navy security personnel located around the dockyards was able to prevent any successful attempts at sabotage, but not for lack of trying. Seventeen Marines and sailors were killed by a suicide bomber driving a van rigged with explosives. Dozens more were killed or wounded by ambushes as the Basij sought to fight the beginnings of a resistance war in the U.S. occupied Bandar Abbas.
For the 82nd Airborne, it looked like salvation might soon arrive. The division was making one of the greatest defensive stands in history, and was paying the price. The Iranians had overwhelmed several American positions, but the paratroopers continued to hold out. Airdrops of food and water were all that sustained these men, many of whom had resorted to using captured enemy weapons after running of out ammunition or losing their weapons in Iranian artillery strikes. Whilst U.S. aircraft swooped in to provide round-the-clock air support, the terrain in which the fighting was taking place made this difficult.
Over the course of the day, several concentrated Iranian attacks were repulsed, with some companies suffering up to 75% killed, wounded or captured during the battles. Iranian artillery also harassed the Americans, striking their command centre and narrowly missing the field hospital located in the middle of the 82nd Airborne’s defensive circle. Their stand would become known as one of the most heroic endeavours in U.S. military history.
In Europe, pro-Russian protests broke out in Estonia over the treatment of ethnic Russians’ living in the border towns. These protests swiftly turned violent as unknown instigators began throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the police.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 9, 2019 13:09:02 GMT
If it's not love then it's the bomb/the bomb/the bomb/the bomb/the bomb/the bomb/the bomb that will bring us together
April 5, 2018:
As U.S. forces along the coast advanced inland, there were several skirmishes with Iranian infantry, but no major engagements between the U.S. and Iranian armoured units. Iran’s heavy forces were still to the north, blocked from advancing by the 82nd Airborne. Throughout the day, the 4th Infantry Division, along with elements of the 1st Cavalry Division, advanced up Highway 71, clearing out dug-in Iranian infantry units and destroying several armoured vehicles. Whilst these engagements saw few U.S. casualties, heavier fighting would soon be seen. The infantry brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division was forces to dismount from its Bradley fighting vehicles to secure the mountainous Geno Protected Area. These infantry skirmishes were hard-fought and bloody, often with entire platoons and even companies being torn to pieces by the defending Iranian troops, who were dug in and holding the high ground. Close air support did inflict severe casualties, but an A-10 attack aircraft and two AH-64D attack helicopters were shot down by Iranian troops using hand-held anti-aircraft weapons. By day’s end, however, the mountain range had been cleared and four hundred Iranian troops had been captured. The price for the 1st Cavalry Division, however, was heavy; 179 troops killed in action and three times that number wounded in the fighting.
Bandar Abbas continued to see skirmishes between the Marines who were holding the city and Basij troops. The number of casualties slackened, but there were repeated suicide bombings and ambushes of patrolling Marines. Iranian missile units fired Shahab cruise missiles at Bandar Abbas International Airport, damaging the runway and killing twelve U.S. servicemen. Other U.S. troops were killed in ambushes around the city, whilst a second attempt to sabotage the dockyards was halted by U.S. Navy security troops as the 1st Armored and 3rd Infantry Divisions unloaded their heavy equipment in preparation for the advance northwards.
The 82nd Airborne was now beginning to collapse. Although they only had to hold out another twelve hours until the lead elements of the 4th Infantry Division was expected to arrive, the divisions casualties were truly massive. The 6,000 men had suffered 30% of its strength killed, wounded or captured. There was no prospect of evacuation for the wounded, and the field hospital was absolutely overwhelmed by the sheer number of casualties to process. In one incident, after his platoon had been cut to pieces by enemy artillery fire a young soldier by the name of Specialist Michael Clayton was able to hold off an entire platoon of Iranian infantry single handed, using nothing but a captured enemy AK-47 and a knife before making his way back to friendly positions, an act which earned him the Medal of Honour. Similarly, another soldier, Captain Alex Mitchell of the 325th PIR, saw that his company was being overwhelmed by enemy BTR fighting vehicles, and, despite being wounded, was able to destroy no less than three such vehicles by tossing grenades inside the crew hatches of the vehicles before finally succumbing to his wounds. There were even incidents of surrounded troops calling in airstrikes on their own positions to buy time for their comrades to escape. In spite of these acts of bravery, U.S. lines began to collapse under the weight of the Iranian attacks, with Iranian troops breaking through U.S. defences in several areas before being pushed back.
It was late evening when the second front opened. The U.S. Army’s I Corps, consisting of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, 7th Infantry Division, 101st Air Assault Division and 3rd Marine Division, under the cover of heavy airpower and massive artillery support, advanced into Iranian territory from Afghanistan. I Corps was facing lighter resistance than U.S. forces in the south, but it also faced a gargantuan area of operations, stretching all the way from Mashad to Kerman. The first engagements seen here were between the reactivated 11th ACR and elements of the Iranian 88th Infantry Brigade, where U.S. troops ran into the Iranian reservists dug in along Highway 99 almost by accident. The first attempted assault by the 11th ACR was beaten back when four Stryker fighting vehicles and an equal number of Humvee’s were destroyed by anti-tank fire. U.S. airpower soon swooped in, destroying many of the Iranian positions and sending the reservists into disarray. Although 49 American casualties were sustained during the second attack, over two hundred enemy soldiers were killed and four hundred taken prisoner.
At a small airfield in northern Iran, a Y-20 transport aircraft landed in the dead of night. Soldiers quickly unloaded the Chinese made missiles and ammunition. A few moments later, two military trucks arrived. Out of the trucks were thrown nineteen bloodied figures, handcuffed and wearing tattered U.S. military uniforms. These bedraggled people – eleven men and eight women – were hustled aboard the Y-20 at gunpoint by members of the VEVAK secret police. These prisoners were a mixture of electronic warfare specialists, intelligence personnel, pilots flying SEAD missions, B-52 crewmembers and, of course, the pilot of the lone F-35 downed by Iranian air defences.
In Eastern Europe, two pro-Russian protestors were shot dead during the night, not by the Estonian police but by an unknown sniper who evaded capture. There was a particularly large outbreak of violence in the border town of Narva, with many buildings burning to the ground as rioters grappled with the police for control of the streets. Elements of Russia’s 20th Guards Army, positioned along the border during the previous couple of days, went on high alert and cancelled troops’ leave. When asked about the deteriorating situation in eastern Europe, President Trump responded – to the fury of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and much of his own cabinet - “The defence of Europe is not the responsibility of America, and Russia has the right to defend its citizens. I’ve seen how the Estonians treat ethnic Russians, they can’t even vote, they’re murdered all the time.”
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 9, 2019 13:10:46 GMT
Jail, that's what you get/stepping to the system/profiting from war
April 6, 2018:
In the early hours of the morning, the M1A2 tanks of 3rd Armored brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, engaged the Iranian motorized infantry units attacking the 82nd Airborne from the south-westerly side of their defences. A dozen BTRs were slaughtered by the American tanks, for the loss of a single M1A2 to an anti-tank missile. Iranian infantry units scattered, with many troops being cut down by machine gun fire as they ran. As the 4th Infantry Division attacked from the south, the 325th Parachute Infantry Regiment launched a small-scale counter-attack, heading southwards to link up with the U.S. armour that had finally arrived. Casualties were sustained, both by the 82nd Airborne and by the lighter units of the 4th Infantry Division, but within a half hour, the U.S. heavy forces had broken through Iranian lines and were able to link up with the 82nd. The American tanks passed through the 82nd Airborne lines to hold off further attacks. The price of the 82nd Airborne’s stand around Sarzeh had been staggering; 891 killed in action, 1,291 wounded in action, and 193 troops taken prisoner of war.
It was a huge relief to the U.S. military to have reinforced the 82nd Airborne, who had held out for no less than six days against unimaginable odds. Now that U.S. forces had advanced past the town of Sarzeh and secured the surrounding area, it meant that the major division-on-division combat expected to take place would begin. III Corps infantry units would have to clear out dug-in IRGC troops in the mountains, whilst the heavy units would be responsible for seizing larger areas and destroying enemy armoured formations.
Outside Sarzeh, a nine-man recon squad of the 2nd Marine Division was ambushed, with five Marines killed and four captured – not by the Iranian Army but by the Basij. Hours later, a rescue mission was launched, and two of the Marines were recovered. The others had been beheaded, and evidence at the scene showed that their Basij captors had planned to upload videos of the killings to the internet for the world to watch. After discovering the gruesome scene, U.S. Marines in southern Iran stopped taking prisoners.
Moving out of Afghanistan, I Corps engaged in some fierce fighting in certain areas, but was able to seize some towns with minimal resistance. Particular resistance was met in the town of Taybad, when the 10th Mountain Division was forced to fight bitterly for control of the urban city. A regiment of the Iranian 55th Airmobile Division was dug in outside the town, with two battalions of Basij troops lying in wait inside the town. The Iranian regiment fired coordinated artillery barrages at the 10th Mountain Divisions Humvee’s’ column, destroying several vehicles and causing significant casualties due to the lack of adequate protection for infantrymen. American counter-battery fire, along with AH-64D helicopters called in by U.S. Air Force forward recon teams was able to neutralise much of the Iranian artillery force, but the 10th Mountain Division, lead by 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, was forced to fight across the rugged terrain outside the town and dig the Iranian infantry troops from their foxholes in ferocious fighting. Furthermore, when 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, entered the city from the south, they were met with missile and RPG fire. Shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles had a devastating effect on Humvee’s and transport trucks. Throughout the day, bitter fighting took place until the city was secure. The Iranian airmobile regiment had been mostly destroyed, with a couple of hundred prisoners taken and many more killed. Additionally, the 3rd Marine Division and 101st Air Assault Division both took quite significant casualties when securing the small mountain range lying between their line of advance and the city of Birjand.
U.S. airstrikes continued across Iran, destroying much of the country’s civilian infrastructure. Iranian air defence batteries remained active, shooting down a couple of F-16s and an AC-130 gunship aircraft. With nearly four hundred American servicemen and women now prisoners of war, Special Operations Command began planning a rescue attempt of the 246 POWs being held in Sirjan. These POWs included the 193 members of the 82nd Airborne captured near Sarzeh, along with eleven Marine Corps infantrymen. The others were a mixture of aircrew and special operations personnel. Though the extent of the plight of American POWs had yet to be fully revealed, it was understood that prisoners who were likely to know information useful to the Iranian military’s campaign were being abused. Therefore, it was decided that a rescue mission for these prisoners would be mounted as soon as possible. The POWs being held in Tehran would have to wait, due to Iranian defences being far too strong to be infiltrated by an assault force at this time.
Rioting continued in Estonia, with the pace of the violence quickening. In European capitals, there was a virtual panic as NATO countries struggled to respond after the comments made by President Trump. It was thought, almost unanimously, within European NATO governments, that a war with Russia for the sake of Estonia – especially without U.S. support – was not a viable option. If Russia chose to invade Estonia, most NATO countries would be desperate not to respond militarily. In Germany, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal came the most pacifistic attitudes. Although Poland, the Czech Republic, France and Great Britain were more prepared to fight, they knew they couldn’t face a war with Russia without a strong possibility of defeat. Even if those nations alone were to defeat the Russian military, such a war would cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and would destroy Europe economically for a generation. And that was if the conflict remained conventional. Although great lengths were taken by European intelligence agencies to hide this “peace at any price” attitude amongst Western leaders, Russian military intelligence did pick up on the general anti-war sentiment. In the Kremlin, Putin and his advisors gleefully watched as Trump effectively turned his back on the NATO alliance.
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forcon
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Post by forcon on Jan 9, 2019 13:13:20 GMT
Panic on the streets of London/Panic on the streets of Birmingham/I wonder to myself/Could life ever be sane again
April 7, 2018:
U.S. reconnaissance aircraft detected the movement of Iranian troops from the north towards southern Iran, where III Armored Corps was advancing from. These Iranian troops included the 18th and 20th Armored Divisions, the 64th Infantry Division and the 28th Mechanized Division, along with multiple separate brigades and regiments. From these developments, U.S. military intelligence assets decided that it was likely that the Iranian Army was moving form a large-scale, armoured and mechanized line of resistance stretching from Isfahan to Kerman. U.S forces would first have to clear the Zagros Mountains, which it was believed would take roughly five days to achieve, using largely infantry formations to dig the Iranians out of their enclaves. After this, III Corps would use its heavy armour to punch through the Iranian defensive line. Some officers suggested that I Corps line of advance be changed so that they could hit the Iranians from their flanks, but the suggestion was rejected because I Corps already had important military objectives, and needed to secure everything from Afghanistan to Chah Bahar.
Bitter infantry fighting consumed the Zagros Mountains as the 3rd Infantry Division joined the fight, backed by the National Guard’s 116th Armored Cavalry brigade Combat Team. In the scorching heat of the Iranian deserts, there were dozens of casualties from heatstroke and exhaustion. However, the main lump of casualties, of course, came from the stiff Iranian resistance. Iran’s 89th Infantry Division and 45th Commando Brigade were stationed in defensive positions in the mountains, holding the high ground. U.S. airpower caused many casualties across the defenders, but Iranian troops used heat-camouflaging materials to disguise their positions. Despite suffering losses unseen in decades, III Corps achieved multiple successes. Infantry units captured many key mountains, often using air assault tactics with a murderous amount of artillery and air cover. 1st Armored Division was responsible for advancing toward the Iraqi border and capturing Bushehr, along with securing the border area. Eventually, the 2nd Marine Division and 36th Infantry Division would join in this endeavour, but for now, the task was solely the responsibility of 1st Armored.
I Corps, despite having suffered severe losses from engagements taking pace the prior day, made attempts to keep up its advance. The tanks of the 3rd Marine Division engaged Iranian Zulfiqar-1s outside Esfedan, with predictable results; eighteen enemy tanks were killed, for the loss of one Marine Corps M1A1 and three LAV-25s. Iranian artillery proved problematic for the Americans, also, with well-coordinated strikes inflicting casualties whenever the Americans stopped to regroup and reorganise. American counter-strikes knocked out several Iranian guns, but the Iranians were far more skilled than the Iraqi Army had been in 2003, and moved its artillery to covered positions to avoid the wrath of patrolling USAF A-10s. One such aircraft was downed by a mobile SA-19 missile launcher.
U.S. air raids continued across Iran, with B-1Bs bombing Tehran and other cities to crush potential resistance. Losses were sustained by both sides, but by now, U.S. airpower had managed to destroy virtually all of Iran’s air force, bar about ten fighters. Iran’s ground-to-air capabilities had also been severely reduced, but enough anti-aircraft guns and missile systems were still potent enough to inflict some losses on American aircraft. New mobile anti-aircraft weapons from China were hastily being rushed into service, some, as would be discovered in the future, were even manned by officers of the Peoples Liberation Army. China wanted to give some of its personnel combat experience against the Americans, and it was thought that if Chinese service personnel were killed, their bodies would probably be destroyed, considering the fact that they were solely operating against U.S. airpower and in incredibly small numbers.
Anti-war protests continued in the U.S., as there came worries about the reintroduction of the draft for the future occupation of Iran. The U.S. invasion force numbered about nine active duty divisions, the 1st Armored, 1st Cavalry, 3rd Infantry, 4th Infantry, 7th Infantry, 82nd Airborne, 101st Air Assault, 2nd Marine, and 3rd Marine, plus the incoming National Guard divisions. U.S. forces in Europe were practically non-existant, whilst only the 1st Marine and 25th Infantry Divisions remained available for deployment to Korea if nescessary. The 1st Infantry Division was also being held as a strategic reserve. Not enough troops remained to occupy Iran and satisfy the U.S.'s security obligations around the world.
Riots continued in Estonia, backed by Russian money and intelligence personnel. Although the U.S. had essentially pledged non-intervention in Europe with Trump's ignorant statements about America's defence commitments and NATO, Putin did not want to risk a devastating war in Europe. The economic damage would be unfathomable, when Russia could just as easily sit back and lap up the profits from its booming oil industry. The apparant chaos in Estonia was actually being carefully controlled with the purpose of destabilising NATO and the EU and bringing the Baltic States further under Russian control without a war.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 9, 2019 13:15:22 GMT
Hell-hurrah, what a nice day for the Eton Rifles
April 8, 2018:
In the upper echelons of the U.S. Military, there was a closeted outrage at President Trump’s previous statements about Europe and his abandonment of NATO in favour of appeasing Putin’s Russia. Many officers also disagreed with the invasion of Iran – It was not that they opposed using force to destroy potential Iranian nuclear facilities – but more that they knew the costs of a ground invasion were bound to be horrifically bloody for both sides, and that it was causing untold damage to the U.S.’s international reputation. At this point, the divide between the United States and Europe had reached a point of no return. Whilst the British government wanted to maintain its alliance with the U.S., this was seen as politically unviable by many, including members of Theresa May’s cabinet. The mainland European powers were far less forgiving; Days ago, after Trump had stated that Europe was not “America’s problem”, the German prime minister called the United States government “treacherous and unprincipled” whilst the French foreign minister commented “It is a shame that our long-lasting friendship must end with the United States abandoning Europe.” In the hallways of The Pentagon, military officers spoke in hushed, nervous tones about the increasingly erratic actions of their Commander-in-Chief...
Despite the domestic upset caused by the rioting in Estonia, America’s apparent abandonment of Europe, and the ongoing war in Iran, U.S. forces continued their advance in Iran.
The story was the same as ever in the Zagros Mountains; U.S. infantry units slogging across the mountains, fighting hourly engagements with the defenders and taking horrendous losses as they did so. One particular engagement, an air assault was launched by troops of the 4th Infantry Division. One of the Chinook helicopters was shot down, crash-landing and leaving forty-five men stranded on a mountainside, facing an entire company of Iranian infantry. By the time reinforcements reached them, half of the Americans had been killed and nearly all were wounded in one way or another. Further efforts by U.S. Army units lead to several key positions being taken throughout the day. American troops also mounted assaults on the towns of Gohreh and Gerash. The 1st Armored Division took Gerash after a few hours of fighting, whilst Gohreh was the responsibility of two battalions of the 4th Infantry Division. By the end of the day, nearly a thousand Iranian troops had been killed or captured by the advancing Americans.
Moving from Afghanistan, I Corps also engaged Iranian troops. The U.S. troops had advanced slightly quicker than they had expected to in this area of operations, but casualties were immense. That day, Torbat-E-Jam fell with little resistance. In the evening, U.S. troops began to prepare for assaults on major cities; Zahedan, Birjand and Mashad. Whilst there was still some territory that had to be taken before these key cities could be assaulted, the preparations were being made. The 10th Mountain Division was to seize Mashad, whilst Birjand would be the responsibility of the 101st Air Assault Division and Zahedan the objective of the 7th Infantry Division. Throughout the day, as I Corps approached these cities, sporadic engagements with retreating Iranian forces took place. The 7th Infantry Division ran into a battalion of Iranian motorized troops in the evening, with a ferocious firefight taking place. 29 Americans were killed, and over a hundred Iranians were left dead, with the rest of the battalion captured as prisoners of war.
In the cabinet, the war in Iran was leading many to support the idea of reintroducing the draft. The Joint Chiefs agreed that it was a necessary evil, whilst some of Trump’s advisors believed it would bring the younger generation a taste of discipline. However, they also knew that the idea would be political suicide if carried out, unless there were literally Chinese tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue. President Trump decided that he would ask Congress to reintroduce the draft, but he would attempt to wait until after the midterms, which would occur in the autumn. For now, increased recruitment and a stop-loss policy would have to suffice.
In Yemen, Saudi forces came under increased and sustained attack by militias loyal to the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee. The conflict had been ongoing since 2015, but had slowed throughout 2017 until the beginning of the conflict in Iran in 2018. The coalition, compromised of Saudi forces and troops from several other regimes across the Middle East, sustained serious casualties throughout the day, and quickly retaliated with massive airstrikes on enemy positions, also targeting some civilian areas including a hospital, killing fifty-two civilians. The west mostly remained tight-lipped with regards to the renewing of the conflict in Yemen, trying to pretend that war crimes by Saudi forces weren’t happening. Also in Saudi Arabia, there was an attempted attack on an oil field near Dahran by commandos. The attack was halted by Saudi security forces and five of the assaulters captured after a brief firefight.
Other developments also occurred. Iranian proxies in Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel. Mostly bases in Lebanon, these rockets and mortars were improvised and not as effective as the Shahab, Fateh and Ghadir missiles Iran had been using to target U.S. bases across the Middle East. However, they caused dozens of civilian casualties across southern Israel as they struck populous cities, destroying buildings. Thus opened the second front of the Iran War...
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 13, 2019 21:37:15 GMT
Sir leads the troops/Jelous of youth/Same old suit since 1962
April 9-April 17, 2018
In the UK, the British government announced a sharp increase in defence spending. The Royal Air Force was to get more Typhoon and Lighting II fighter jets, along with anti-aircraft weapons to defend against the frequent incursions by Russian bombers. The British Army was also planned to increase in size to build a larger infantry force, along with additional mechanized units to fight off a Russian invasion of Eastern Europe.
The United States military moved to reactivate several of its Cold War-era divisions; the 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 24th Infantry Divisions and the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions. A stop-loss policy was used to boost numbers, along with a massively increased recruitment drive. Former servicemen were being called back to duty, whilst reservists who had not been assigned specific units were also being deployed. It would take a herculean effort to rebuild these divisions, but it was a risk that the Administration was willing to take. The draft would be bought back, yes, but it would have to be after the 2018 mid-terms, otherwise the Republicans would be slaughtered.
In Washington D.C., arguments between sections of Congress and the White House broke out. The sides of this dispute could be broken down into three basic factions; the anti-war left, staunchly anti-Trump and opposed to the Iran War, the hawkish traditional conservatives, such as Lindsey Graham and John McCain, who were both in favour of invading Iran, and in favour of standing up to Russia, and the “alt-right” type supporters, who, whilst being in favour of invading Iran, were also opposed to conflict with Russia and wanted to see Trump-Putin alliance to oppose radical Islam across the globe. With regards to Russia, both the left and the traditional Conservatives were willing to work together to oppose Putin and also to oppose Trump’s most authoritarian domestic policies, such as detention-without-charge of protestors and “terror suspects”. These groups were – largely, and with some exceptions – willing to forgo their political differences with regards to economic and social policies in the name of opposing Putin.
Fighting in Iran continued regardless of political differences back home.
Amidst the fighting, on April 11, a task force from 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment launched an assault on the Iranian POW camp at Sirjan. The Rangers moved in by helicopter, using MH-47s and MH-60 Black Hawks to approach the compound. F-35As bombed the prison compound wall, allowing the Rangers to storm in and reach the prisoners. Four Rangers were killed during the assault, along with five POWs who were caught in the crossfire. However, 43 Iranian guards were killed and 17 captured by the assault team. 241 POWs were secured, prepared to be returned to their units if they could fight, or returned home if they could not. The Rangers and the POWs, armed with captured enemy weapons, walked for a mile to the extraction point before being picked up by American helicopters and returned to friendly lines. During their debriefing, several POWs reported seeing several Americans forcibly removed from the camp and forced aboard military trucks – these prisoners included an intelligence officer and a comms specialist with the 82nd Airborne, captured at Sarzeh, an Army Special Forces Captain and his Communications Sergeant, a U.S. Navy electronic warfare specialist attached to a Marine squad captured near Bandar Abbas, an EA-18G Growler pilot and navigator, and the four surviving crewmembers of the E-8 JSTARS plane shot down earlier during the war.
U.S. troops spent days clearing the Zagros Mountains in brutal fighting. Iranian artillery hampered American efforts, taking out rear area headquarters and supply units before counter-battery fire could destroy the Iranian guns. American soldiers found themselves marching up and down hilltops and mountain sides in the baking heat to overwhelm the dug-in defenders, whose machine gun fire tore American infantry units apart. The towns and hamlets that littered the Zagros Mountains were seized by infantry and mechanized assaults, which lead to brutal fighting throughout these tiny villages and towns. Basij troops and armed civilians met the Americans at every corner. Bradley and Stryker fighting vehicles were taken out by anti-tank missiles, often taking their whole crews with them in the explosions. Entire villages were raised to the ground as U.S. troops dashed northwards through the mountains. Some companies and even battalions lost over 50% of their men during these fights across the mountains and villages. Two divisions of the Iranian Army, along with two separate brigades, were destroyed, the vast majority of their men killed or captured by U.S. troops. Additional troops from the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij also fought in the mountains, these troops often dying where they stood rather than retreating or surrendering.
Finally, on April 12, U.S. troops from the 1st Cavalry Division reached the outskirts of Shiraz, having cleared most of the Zagros Mountains. Shiraz was protected by a mechanized brigade, a motorized regiment and two infantry regiments of the Iranian Army, along with 5,000 men of the Basij. The Iranians were dug-in around the city, in hidden fighting positions, well-stocked with ammunition and supplies. The local population had largely evacuated or armed themselves in order to help fight the Americans. The first American unit, the 4th Squadron of the 9th Cavalry Regiment, advanced into Kafari, and was met by dug-in Iranian troops. Infantrymen and Scorpion and BTR-60 AFVs opened fire on the advancing armoured cavalrymen, knocking out two M-3 scout vehicles with anti-tank missiles. The Americans returned fire, tanking out six Scorpions and a BTR-60, and strafing several infantry dug-outs before retreating. Once the cavalrymen had fallen back, a second assault was mounted by 1st battalion, 9th Cavalry, using a coordinated force of dismounted infantry, M2A2 Bradleys and M1A2 tanks. This time, Kafira fell after an hour-long firefight, which saw 22 American and 91 Iranian casualties.
The Americans advanced past Kafira, moving down the road and into the outskirts of the city. 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry and 3rd Battalion, 7th Cavalry also assaulted the city, moving in from the south-west to be greeted by a vicious defence. The airport fell hours later, after the Iranian troops there retreated into the city during the night, having knocked out several American vehicles. On April 13, U.S. forces moved into the centre of the city. Virtually every building burned, some structures being destroyed by the Iranian Army as they retreated. Ambushes by the Basij hampered American supply lines and inflicted heavy losses. Every street was fought over, until there was nothing left to fight for. Iranian snipers picked off U.S. officers, whilst American airstrikes laid was to the north-western side of the city before troops moved in. By the end of it, 421 American soldiers were dead, along with 2,000 Iranian soldiers and countless civilians. All this had occurred in the space of six bloody, long days. By the time it was over, two dozen burnt-out carcasses of American tanks and fighting vehicles littered the city streets, and many of the buildings that had once stood tall had fallen to the ground.
The U.S. 1st Armored Division stormed into Bushehr on April 14, having advanced along the coastline to reach the Iraqi border. By now, the 2nd Marine Division had replenished its losses and was advancing beside the 1st Armored, along with leading elements of the 36th Infantry Division. The Battle of Bushehr lasted throughout the day and night, with the Iranian troops stationed there being reinforced by an armoured regiment. The Iranian tanks, ancient M-60 Patton’s ironically made by the U.S., engaged the M1A2s of the 77th Armor Regiment outside the city. Forty-four Iranian tanks were destroyed, along with one M1A2. Another two American tanks were damaged, but no casualties were sustained. Urban fighting continued within the city, until U.S. forces seized the key government buildings and the nuclear reactor, long since destroyed by U.S. Navy fighters. Basij militiamen continued to fight by attacking supply lines and ambushing U.S. patrols despite the city having fallen.
Similar urban fighting was faced by I Corps. Mashad, the first major objective of the 10th Mountain Division, saw fighting of a similar brutality. The 10th Mountain was forced to fight almost entirely on foot and faced well-prepared defenders. Seven soldiers of a supply unit were kidnapped by the Basij during the battle, four of them being executed before a Delta Force rescue team arrived. Battles continued with even more ferocity after that. One CNN cameraman captured live footage of an AH-64 helicopter being shot down by a shoulder-launched missile and plummeting to the ground, destroying a hospital as it exploded. Mashad fell on April 16th, with very few Iranian prisoners taken by U.S. troops. Additionally, Zahedan was taken by the 7th Infantry Division. Although the fighting here was less intense, it still saw a tragic number of casualties during its five days. The defence of this city had been left mainly to the Basij to take the pressure off of the overstretched Iranian Army. Though these militiamen fought bitterly and with almost no regard for their own safety, their defence could not match the sheer might of American firepower. The Basij knocked out several Stryker vehicles using ATGMs and killed dozens of Americans in house to house fighting throughout the course of the week, but they eventually fell back and allowed the city to fall.
Birjand, the objective of the 101st Air Assault Division, was perhaps the bloodiest battle for the Americans. The division commander insisted on the 101st using its standard tactic to assault the city; air assault. His brigade and battalion commanders were desperate to avoid doing so, because although Iranian air defences had taken a severe beating, some batteries still remained. Even more problematic was the sheer number of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, impossible for U.S. warplanes to locate and destroy. After a massive air strikes and an artillery barrage, two battalions moved in by helicopter, only to meet an ambush. Iranian troops coordinated their defence, using ZSU-23 anti-aircraft guns and shoulder-fired missiles; no less than three MH-47s and five MH-60s were shot down by anti-aircraft fire, killing 183 American servicemen and forcing the Americans to retreat. The division commander was promptly relieved of his command, and a second assault was mounted on the ground on April 11. This time, the assault was successful, and the two Iranian battalions stationed in the city were destroyed in a four-day-long engagement with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne and elements of the 3rd Marine Division.
Also, Chinese weaponry began moving through Pakistan. These weapons included mobile radars, communications equipment and guidance systems, HQ-7 anti-aircraft missiles, and mobile anti-tank systems travelling in convoys protected by Chinese troops. These first convoys included about eight trucks filled with such equipment, along with a security force. U.S.-Pakistan relations had already entered a downward spiral before the war, due to comments made by the Trump Administration along with the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, which the Pakistani police did little to stop. Chinese officials thought that U.S. intelligence would be likely to miss the convoy travelling into Iran through Pakistan, due to its fairly small nature along with the mountainous terrain in the area. The Pakistani governments official line on the subject was one of denial. The elected government was barely holding onto power, amidst the massive surge in anti-American sentiment, along with its own quarrels with the military leadership of the nation. And the government knew it could not afford to use force to stop China from moving weapons through its territory – some reports indicated that the government wasn’t totally aware of the situation, having been misinformed or left out of the loop by the ISI and the Pakistani Army.
In Lebanon, Israeli forces retaliated to the Hezbollah missile attacks initially with massive airstrikes against suspected enemy positions. However, on April 12, the Israeli tone shifted to one of a ground offensive into Lebanon to bring an end to the strikes. One Hezbollah missile attack lead to the deaths of fifty-six civilians when a school was struck by mortar rounds and makeshift missiles, and similar Israeli retaliation killed dozens more civilians. Six Israeli brigades crossed the border into Lebanon on the night of April 12, clashing with Hezbollah fighters in several bloody urban battles.
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Jan 13, 2019 21:38:01 GMT
Gold help me, I was only 19
April 18-April 30:
On April 20, having cleared the Zagros Mountains, U.S. III Corps saw a major engagement with the Iranian corps defending the area from Esfahan to Kerman. The first major bout of fighting occurred along Highway 86, where the 4th Infantry Divisions’ heavy brigades clashed in the desert with the Iranian 18th Armored Division. Two Iranian mechanized and armoured brigades lay in wait for the advancing American M1A2s, who saw the heat signatures of the Iranian tanks and readied for battle. 1st battalion, 68th Armor Regiment lead the assault, wiping out two dozen Iranian tanks and armoured vehicles during the first moments of the battle. The Iranian T-72s they faced, however, were far better and more modern than the T-72s faced by the Americans in the Gulf Wars. The upgraded T-72s, fitted with longer range guns, heat-sensitive sights and better ammunition, hit back at the M1A2s, destroying two of the American tanks and damaging two more. Across the horizon, flashes erupted as tanks exploded, often taking their four-man crews with them as they burned. Unlike the Iraqi’s, the Iranians manoeuvred their vehicles and launched artillery strikes on the American rear area units, damaging American communication lines. Another seventeen T-72s were knocked out within minutes, before an M1A2 – belonging to one of the American company commanders – was hit by two shells from Iranian tanks and destroyed. Iranian infantry units used ATGMs to hit more American vehicles. After fifteen minutes, the Battle for Highway 86 was over; when the cost had been counted, sixty-seven Iranian tanks and fighting vehicles had been destroyed, and five hundred POWs taken. The U.S. Army had also lost five M1A2s, along with seven M2A2 Bradleys; twenty-four U.S. troops were dead. A similar engagement took place along Highway 67, between the 3rd Infantry Division and the Iranian 28th Mechanized. Long-range tank battles almost entirely favoured the Americans, but the Iranian armoured units were often able to use the mountains as cover to move their tanks closer to the Americans and engage them on more equal terms. Nevertheless, the result was predictable; an American victory, but with heavy losses. Two Abrams’ tanks and a multitude of other vehicles destroyed, for the loss of forty-one enemy vehicles.
It was then that the III Corps commander saw the perfect opportunity to cut off two Iranian divisions and five separate regiments and brigades – nearly 40,000 men in total. In a move that would make him a hero of the war, the Lieutenant-General ordered his 4th Infantry Division to swing north-westwards from its positions to the south, whilst ordering the embattled 3rd Infantry Division to advance to the south, where the two divisions could meet up north of Shiraz, secured by the 1st Cavalry Division. Both divisions raced in the directions of their advance, fighting several more clashes with Iranian tanks and infantry units until dawn on April 22, where the reconnaissance battalions of the two divisions ran into each other, very nearly causing a friendly fire incident, near Mashdavt. Some Iranian units had fallen back, but 35,000 Iranian troops, including an entire armoured division, had been encircled in the desert between Shiraz and Mashdavt.
Throughout the next three days, the 3rd Infantry Division advanced on the encircled Iranians, fighting several fearsome engagements in the desert. The Iranian divisions cut off outside Mashdavt were low on ammunition, food, water and medical supplies from U.S. airstrikes even before they became encircled during the battle. It took several bitter engagements, but on the evening of April 24, an entire Iranian mechanized regiment surrendered to the Americans. Throughout the night, more surrenders took place at company and battalion level, and by the morning of April 25, the Iranian commander on the ground knew his situation was hopeless. Nevertheless, the Iranians kept up the fight for another twelve hours, leading to the destruction of another brigade and over several hundred American casualties, before surrendering in the mid afternoon on April 25. The 3rd Infantry Division began collecting the 28,000 Iranian POWs who had suddenly fallen into their hands.
Along the coast, the 1st Armored Division also grappled with the Iranians. Advancing past Bushehr, 25,000 U.S. troops moved to secure the area near the Iraqi border. Resistance was lighter here, with the main defence being separate infantry brigades and and Basij militiamen. Nevertheless, there were some heavy battles which saw many American deaths as well. One armoured engagement between older Iranian M-60s and modern American tanks saw the slaughter of the Iranian unit and only a single U.S. Army tank destroyed. That, however, was the end of the "easy ride" in that theatre. The city of Manshahr was assaulted on April 26; the fighting there was savage in its nature, with the American dismounted infantry units repeatedly being pushed back to the suburbs by dug-in Basij men. Rules of engagement slackened to allow for airstrikes on "suspected" enemy positions even when such positions were quite likely also filled with civilians or non combatants. Much of the city was leveled in the fighting the Americans fought block by block with their opponents. Respite finally came on April 30th, when the city centre fell.
There was a relative quieting on the Afghan front, after I Corps had seized its three largest city objectives. Now, the 45,000 men of I Corps would have to advance across thousands of miles of desert to sieze everything from Bam to Gorgan. However, the 7th Infantry Division was peeled off from I Corps main line of advance, and ordered to begin advancing southwards Chah Bahar. It was thought that the city could be seized by an assault from behind it, which would leave the entire coastline of Iran in American hands and prevent III Corps from having to advance along the coastline as well as northwards towards Tehran. Although the fighting had slowed in this area, it was expected to pick up again when I Corps reached cities such as Bam, Kerman and Gorgan. However, there was major fighting in Sabzevar and Kashmar, involving the 10th Mountain Division and the Basij. Assaulted on April 15, both of these cities fell on April 22, allowing I Corps to continue its advance on Tehran from the east. The fighting in Sabzevar and Kashmar had been limited to only a battalion-strength defensive force due to the general retreat of Iranian forces within that area of operations. Nonetheless, 319 American soldiers were killed during the fighting there.
The Iranian Army was now seriously stretched, having lost four divisions fighting III Corps in the Zagros Mountains, and was hard-pressed to mount a defence in its vast deserts and mountains; instead, troops largely began pulling back to urban areas, leaving the Iranian armoured units to engage the Americans in the desert. The infantry units pulling back into the cities knew from past experience that they could bog the Americans down in bitter house to house fighting for months, inflicting casualties to the point that the American public would turn against the war...Or so was the plan, anyway.
The air war went on, as usual, but with heavier U.S. losses than in previous weeks. Two F-16s, an A-10, a B-1B and an F/A-18 were shot down by Iranian anti-aircraft weapons. U.S. military intelligence struggled to find a reason for this, but failed to prove their theory conclusively. Chinese HQ-7 short-range, mobile anti-aircraft missiles had been used to down four of the five U.S. airplanes, transported in through Pakistan and over Central Asia. These missiles used a mixture of Iranian crews with back up from Chinese instructors, operating deniably at the request of the MSS rather than the Chinese military to give them combat experience against the Americans in case it became necessary in a future conflict. Iran already operated dozens of Chinese-made missile systems even before the war, and so it was thought that the U.S. Military would not be able to identify these systems as being Chinese-made. Once the U.S. discovered this, it would lead to a U.S.-China proxy war and the essential collapse of Pakistan as a nation...
In addition to this, U.S. military intelligence began investigating the locations of suspected POW camps. The POWs rescued from Sirjan had reported that several of their fellow prisoners - EW specialists, communications and intelligence personnel, and other high-value individuals - had simply vanished without a trace from the Sirjan POW camp, and the DIA was at a loss to where they had gone. Two more camps had been identified , one in Tehran and one near the Armenian Border, where it was possible that those prisoners missing from Sirjan had been moved to. However, some analysts began to suspect that the POWs had been moved to Russia or China, where they could be interrogated for information valuable to those governments.
After thirty-six days of fighting, U.S. military casualties stood at 35,192 Wounded in Action, 10,243 Killed in Action, 192 Missing in Action, and 281 Prisoners of War (This number had been larger but 241 POWs had been rescued at Sirjan).
Iranian military (including Basij) casualties stood at 91,614 Wounded in Action, 76,918 Killed in Action, 1,821 Missing in Action, and 43,571 Prisoners of War.
Iranian civilian casualties stood at no less than 50,000 dead and three times that number wounded during the fighting.
In the United States, anti-war protests gained new vigour as the sheer number of casualties was revealed to the public...
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 988
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Post by forcon on Jan 13, 2019 21:39:18 GMT
Ground control to Major Tom/Your circuits dead/There's something wrong/Can you hear me Major Tom?
May 1-May 7:
U.S. intelligence assets had been begun to suspect that the recent surge in American aerial losses was due to the use of Chinese weapons either by Iranian hands or perhaps even by Chinese troops operating covertly in country. American assets in Pakistan were able to identify suspected shipments on weapons by heavy lifting vehicles travelling through Pakistani territory, protected by elements of the Pakistani Army and in some cases by Chinese PLA troops. When President Trump summoned the Chinese ambassador to explain this, the ambassador appeared to be ignorant of what was occurring, and further communications between both governments proved nothing. With Chinese-made weapons causing significant U.S. casualties, President Trump ordered the Joint Chiefs to prepare for a series of covert air raids and special operations missions inside Pakistani territory to destroy these supply columns.
Chinese-made missiles caused additional losses to U.S. airpower as well. An U.S. Navy F/A-18 went down near the Armenian border area, its pilot escaping into Turkey. Another F/A-18, this one belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps, was shot down over the desert, its pilot killed during the crash. The Air Force lost an F-15E during an attack run near Tehran, whilst, perhaps most severely, on May 2, a B-1B bomber aircraft was shot down near Qom. As the crew radioed for a pick-up, their transmissions were intercepted by Chinese-made equipment, and when the CSAR team arrived in an HH-60 helicopter, it was also shot down, leading to the capture of all four B-1B crewmembers as well as the survivors of the Black Hawk crew; its co-pilot, one of the door-gunners, and the three Air Force Para-Rescue men in the back. All nine of them were imprisoned near Tehran; Captain John Bowman, USAF, the B-1Bs navigator, was able to escape from the POW facility and return to U.S. lines.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military’s advance in Iran met with some significant success in the south-east of the country. Whilst I Corps advanced on Sabzvar and Kerman, fighting several fierce engagements in the desert with retreating Iranian Army units as they did so, the 7th Infantry Division peeled off from the main line of advance and begin moving towards Cha Bahar. The 7th Infantry and its support unit, th 2nd Cavalry Regiment, advanced quicker than expected, taking Khash on April 29 and Bam on May 3rd, after engaging dug-in Basij units in these cities, which had been abandoned by Iranian government forces in the most part. The 10th Mountain Division, to the north, was able to sieze Torbat and Neyshabur, whilst the 101st Air Assault Division also saw combat whilst clearing out smaller towns dotted across the main line of advance of I Corps. These smaller towns and cities saw fierce fighting, with most engagements lasting between two to five days and leaving the towns in question raised to the ground. By May 5th, I Corps had suffered another eight hundred of its troops killed in action during the fighting in this area.
III Corps kept up the pace of its advance, morale high after the victory in the desert. The Bahktegan National Park was the scene of a major battle between the 4th Infantry Division and the Iranian Army, with dismounted U.S. troops facing constant ambushes from the Iranians. Storming through Iranian trenches, those American soldiers overwhelmed the Iranian brigade dotted across the area over the space of three days, from April 26th to April 29th. Additionally, there was heavy fighting in Yasuj and the area surrounding the city, between the 1st Cavalry Division and What remained of the Iranian 20th Armored Division, whose commander, humiliated by his defeat to the south, ordered his men to fight to the last man. They did just that, joined by the local Basij regiment. For four days, urban fighting consumed the city before the remainder of the Iranian troops finally surrendered or retreated into the night.
Isfahan was the next major target of III Corps, which would have to be taken before Qom and Tehran could be assaulted. Eventually, watching the situation closely, the Joint Chiefs approved a change in the U.S. Militaries’ line of advance. It was decided that III Corps could link up with I Corps in the area of Qom, by which time most of Iran would have been secured, except for the far north and the areas to the north-west of Tehran, which would be only lightly defended. After this had been achieved, III Corps could continue its advance towards the Armenian border area, leaving the seizure of Tehran in the hands of I Corps, with perhaps one of III Corps heavy divisions left behind to provide I Corps with more armoured firepower. The general strategy of the Iranian Armed Forces was also shifting. Initially, it had been hoped that the four Iranian divisions encircled by III Corps near Mashad would have been able to defeat the U.S. Army’s main invasion force during a major armoured engagement and drive them back into the mountains, but this had failed spectacularly. Now, the Iranian Army was mostly relying on fighting in its cities and towns, bleeding the Americans dry in the hope that they could inflict such casualties that the Americans would withdraw before they took Tehran. Much of the desert was abandoned, although there were daily engagements between Iranian armoured and mechanized units as they retreated northwards towards the major cities that they planned to defend.
Along the Iraqi border, the 1st Armored Division, backed by the 2nd Marine Division and the National Guard 36th Infantry Division, advanced towards Turkey. American strategists decided to rename this force as V Corps, separating it from III Corps and allowing it further mobility. This would take time, but whilst this occurred, the U.S. Army mounted its assault on the city of Ahvaz. Here, the 36th Infantry saw its first major battle. Advancing in along Highway 86, the 36th Infantry Divisions’ M1A1s and M2s met with a thunderous barrage of ATGMs and small arms fire from Iranian motorized infantry troops using armoured vehicles concealed in buildings and dug-outs. American commanders had been reluctant to saturate the area with artillery due to the risk of civilian casualties, but soon the National Guard Lieutenant-Colonel in command called in fire support to break the Iranian defence. Many buildings were squashed and enemy troops killed, but a fearsome defence continued. It was midnight on April 27 before they advanced past the suburbs. By April 28, the 36th Infantry and the 2nd Marines had seized much of the city, but were forced to rebuild the bridges over the Karun River after the bridges had been destroyed to by the Iranians to buy them some time. Iranian artillery hit back at the Americans as they waited to cross the river, causing severe casualties. It took till April 30 for them to cross the river, and a further two days to overwhelm the remainder of the Iranian defences.
The Battle of Ahvaz was a stark reminder of just how brutal urban fighting could be. And, whilst for now, the U.S. Army’s main line of advance took it through the deserts of Central Iran, avoiding major cities where Iranian resistance was to be heaviest. There were frequent, small-scale engagements throughout these desert highways, largely with enemy units retreating into the desert rather than those who had dug in for a fight. Behind U.S. lines, Basij troops and armed civilians launched almost constant attacks on American supply lines as well, hitting columns moving through the deserts to resupply American troops closer to the front. In several instances, American supply soldiers were captured by militiamen. There were also infrequent but potent missile attacks against the U.S.-held dockyards at Bandar Abbas.
Furthermore, the international situation continued to deteriorate for the U.S. Its long-standing agreement with the United Kingdom meant that the UK Mission in Washington D.C. worked with the U.S. intelligence services extremely closely. However, due to the U.S. invasion of Iran, the reintroduction of torture as official U.S. government policy, and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from European soil, the decision was made “mutually” to withdraw this agreement. Though the UK would maintain its embassy and SIS officers would continue to be posted their under diplomatic cover, the British government would dramatically decrease its intelligence cooperation with the American intelligence agencies. By this point, however, the U.S. Department of Defence was leaking like a sieve; mostly to journalists, but sometimes to European intelligence services, U.S. officials voiced their dissent and promised that the U.S. would reverse its foreign policy and return to its commitment to NATO.
Washington new that the situation was becoming increasingly dire. Militarily, they had the means to defeat Iran, but the political will was lacking. Though they wanted to avoid introducing the draft until after the mid-terms, President Trump decided to introduce a call-up for retired military personnel of certain expertise; medical personnel, in particular, were in demand. The blanket order was issued on May 6th, for retired military medical personnel under the age of fifty-eight to begin going to their local recruiting stations for medical evaluations as to whether or not they were fit to deploy and as to whether or not they needed retraining. Some personnel, those not fit enough to deploy, could be used to fill training posts in the U.S, allowing those active duty personnel currently holding training posts to be deployed to the front.
In Moscow and Beijing, there was the view that Pax Americana was coming to an end. America was looking very isolated indeed, with allies turning their backs on her and the opposite happening as well. The Russians were making very ambitious plans indeed with regards to Europe. It was thought that if in the next round of European elections, far-right governments could be elected – their popularity was on the rise, although they had failed to sieze power in France and Germany – then NATO and the EU would eventually dissolve. The Dutch government, headed by Gert Wilders, was already making comments against both organisations. The UK was in the process of leaving the European Union. Rioting continued in Estonia, and with the help of the GRU, it could spread to Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and even Romania at President Putin’s will. Oil revenues were booming due to the conflict in the Middle East, and President Putin was already making moves to expand Russia’s military prowess twofold with such money. Plans were drawn up for more T-50 fighter jets and T-99 tanks, whilst money was also focused on creating more incentives to join the Russian military voluntarily.
The Chinese government, headed by hawks, was eyeing up the Pacific Ocean. Since the beginning of the Middle East War, China had shifted vast amounts of money to its defence industry. China had already been undergoing a major military build-up before the war, but now it looked as though America would no longer have the resources to protect its Asian Allies. China focused its industry more on the building of warships, aircraft and anti-ship missiles, and also on its expanding nuclear arsenal. The Chinese nuclear force had recently been upgraded with DF-41 missiles carrying ten warheads apiece, bringing China’s nuclear capabilities far closer to that of the U.S. and Russia than it had been only a few years prior. Taiwan held numerous military drills in order to ward off a potential China assault on the island, doing its best to prevent a war. Indeed, the PLAN – China’s rapidly expanding Navy – launched its first Type-055 guided missiles cruiser as the chaos unfolded in Iran. On May 6th, the People’s Republic of China signed a deal with Sudan to allow for a permanent presence of Chinese military forces on Sudanese soil; the ultimate goal of the PRC was to place DF-21 anti-ship missiles, along with the needed support facilities and several air defence batteries, along the Sudanese coast, which would allow China to hold significant leverage over the Red Sea, and by extension, the Suez Canal. Additionally, the PRC wanted to build a naval base in Indonesia, whose government it had become ever more friendly with over the recent years.
The U.S. Military, now desperately short on resources, began considering deploying additional forces to Iran. The 25th Infantry Division in Alaska and Hawaii could be deployed, but would leave both of these territories almost undefended. Nobody in the U.S. government really thought there would be Russian paratroopers dropping into Anchorage, but nevertheless, leaving a state only fifty miles from the territory of a nationalistic Russia without any ground troops to defend it was not an option that was on the table. However, on May 4th, the decision was reached to redeploy elements of the 25th infantry Divisions’ two brigades stationed in Hawaii to Iran – the brigades main infantry components would not be deploying to the war zone, but medical staff and other experts were ordered to prepare for their deployment to the Middle East. U.S. Military forces across the Pacific Ocean were stretched thin also. The 1st Marine Division in California and the 2nd Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea were the only full-strength ground forces that were available for deployment. The 3rd Marine Division, now operating with I Corps in Iran, was supposed to be ready for movement to Taiwan in the event of PRC aggression, but that task was now to be handled by 1st Marine Division if it became necessary – leaving no reinforcements other than an under strength cavalry brigade to reinforce U.S. and ROK forces in the event of a North Korean attack.
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