The Second Battle of Britain - a Soviet Sealion

I agree with this.
Should they be fighting in the same battlefield, friendly fire will be a high possibility.

66 – Fox One, Fox Two, Fox Three


NATO brevity codes for air-to-air combat situations:
Fox One – the launch of a semi-active radar-guided missile, a medium-range one
Fox Two – the launch of an infrared-guided missile, a short-range one
Fox Three – the launch of an active radar-guided, a long-range one

Coalition aircraft continued to be involved in offensive air missions forward over Iraq and Kuwait. Losses were still accumulating but the need was there for them to continue. The ground war was soon, very soon, to go forward. Into the areas below where bombs and missiles struck, Coalition troops would be advancing. They would have air support with them when they moved too yet there was much to be hit before then. There were fighters active too, few of them tied directed to close escort of strike missions. Fighter sweeps were done instead either to cover strike missions behind them or to trick the Iraqis into putting interceptors of their own up thinking that there would be attack aircraft that they could go after. The US Air Force’s 49th Tactical Fighter Wing were using their F-15s as often as possible to do this while F-14s flying from distant carriers were also showing up though the US Navy aircraft didn’t come as close as those Eagles did. The 49th TFW had moved to Dhahran (their initial destination before the loss of that facility sent them to Oman temporarily) and from here they were able to fill the skies over enemy-held territory effectively. Their aircraft were fully involved in the fighter sweeps going forward this morning.

Phoenix Flight – four F-15s from one of the 49th TFW’s now four squadrons (an extra one had been assigned) – went from Dhahran and out over the Persian Gulf. They bypassed the stretch of liberated Saudi coastline and then most Kuwait too. Near to the northern reaches of that occupied little nation, they swung westwards and came over land. Into Iraqi airspace they went next, into the skies above the Al Faw Peninsula. Interceptors came up to meet them. Warning came from a distant AWACS that there were lift-offs of jets coming out of Iraqi airbases. The IQAF was once more sending their aircraft up to try and defend their airspace. Phoenix Flight had strict ROE to follow for their mission. They weren’t to stray into Iranian airspace and should there be a suspicion that any fighters they met might by Soviet instead of Iraqi, they were to get visual confirmation of that fact first. With the former, they were clear of Iranian territory and intended to stay that way. When it came to the Soviets, those interceptors that the AWACS had spotted came out of airbases from where it was known that Moscow had pulled its aircraft from. Information came too that they were almost certainly French-built Mirages: not an aircraft that any Soviet pilot should be flying.

Fighter controllers aboard the E-3 Sentry put Phoenix Flight in the perfect position to engage them. As the Iraqis came into range, the F-15s energised their fighter radars. They had been in stand-by mode while the AWACS did all the work beforehand. Now it was different. Each making the radio call of ‘Fox One’, two of the American pilots alerted their fellow aviators that they were launching. AIM-7 Sparrow missiles went after the pair of IQAF interceptors. These were Mirage F-1EQs, single-engined jets designed for air defence missions. They were good aircraft but stood no chance against the ambush which they had stumbled into. Iraqi radars were tracking intruders on and off without realising what the Americans had come here to accomplish by orbiting their jets over the Al Faw. The interceptors were supposed to blow them out of the sky. The opposite happened though. Radar warning receivers wailed in the cockpits of the Mirages as the pilots were alerted that they were being locked-on. They tried to break that lock as they turned away. Using the Sparrow missile meant that the F-15s had to keep that radar lock to guide their missiles in as the AIM-7 didn’t have one of its own. Following the attempts at evasion wasn’t difficult though. The ambush had been timed with the consideration in mind that the IQAF would make this effort once they realised what was happening.

Each Mirage was hit. One blew up in the sky while the other fast started going down with its pilot ejecting from his doomed jet.

There were another three more IQAF interceptors which came up into the skies though, and these weren’t the Mirages which it had been first believed that they were. Updated information came from the AWACS: the trio were MiG-23BMs. The Soviets weren’t known to have any of those in Iraq either at the one airbase in the south where they remained nor at other sites. Still… New orders came from the E-3 to Phoenix Flight. There was to be a visual confirmation before any shots was taken. The American pilots weren’t best pleased with this but did as they were told. All four F-15s were brought back together – radars were switched off again – and they moved position. They followed directions to engage the MiG-23s which by now were flying all over the sky looking for them as the operations of their ground radars were interfered with by the activities of an EF-111 Raven flying out over the Gulf. The Americans went for another ambush again.

When it was done, Phoenix Flight attacked in pairs from above and below, on either flank of the three IQAF interceptors which had stuck together. Two of the Americans – one in each element – got a look at the roundels on the MiG-23s. They saw green triangles instead of red stars when flashing past the Iraqis. Those IQAF pilots spun their heads left then right, looking up and down as the F-15s criss-crossed the skies through which they flew. They were buffeted by the turbulence and left completely surprised. The trio of jets broke formation, aiming to go after the Americans. However, they were behind the curve. The US Air Force was after more kills and was about to get them.

There were multiple calls of ‘Fox Two’. Each F-15 made a launch, firing from behind the MiG-23s. They used AIM-9 Sidewinders which bored onward towards the heat-sources which were the engines of the Iraqi interceptors. Two were quickly hit but the third managed to dodge one of the inbound Sidewinders. That luck didn’t last long though. There been four missiles put into the sky and the MiG-23 was struck. Watching the Iraqis going down wasn’t for the Americans to do once they had their kills. They were directed to climb and go back over the Al Faw. They’d strayed north of there, coming close to Basra and the border waterway which was the Shatt al Arab.

They were still inside Iraqi airspace when they were fired upon from a distance. No radio call of ‘Fox Three’ was made by those who launched on the F-15s yet those firing long-range radar-guided missiles had some time ago been trained to do such a thing. The Iranians in the F-14 Tomcats firing AIM-54 Phoenixs had their own, updated calls instead. Six of those missiles filled the sky, each coming from over the Iranian side of the invisible line in the sky and heading westwards. The American AWACS was tracking those Iranian interceptors like they were others over there, F-4s too, but hadn’t realised what was about to occur. The missiles launches weren’t seen until too late, not until the F-14s re-engerised their radars to give final guidance to the missiles already flying and heading for the Americans. Information was instantly sent over a datalink – this was all US-built technology now being used against them – and then those AIM-54s were on their own. Their onboard radars were less powerful than that on the launching interceptors but were enough.

Shouts of ‘Evade!’ came. The F-15s made a valiant effort to do so. Two of the pilots failed to get their jets out of the way though and Iranian missiles made impact with them. One American fighter exploded in the sky while the other lost most of one wing. The pilot from that stricken jet would be forced to eject and soon end up in Iraqi custody. Both surviving fighters managed to get out of the way of the barrage of Iranian missiles as they dodged and jammed their way out of the attack. Their pilots called on the AWACS for targeting information on where to find those who had shot their countrymen down. They wanted to return fire. Different orders came though and it was a return to Dhahran instead. Furious and eager for revenge, the 49th TFW pilots did as they were told though.

A new player had entered the game. Iran had fired war-shots, purposely targeting American aircraft over Iraq. It was now up to politicians, not aircrews on the frontlines, to decide what to do next.

The surprise attack element could reslly work in the Soviets favour. While they won't be prepared, NATO will be even less ready.

Troops will literally be asleep in their barracks. It must take hours at least for them to form up, retrieve weapons from their armouries, get vehicles out of motor pools, fuel and arm tanks and AFVs etc...

And weren't battalions from different brigades based in seperate locations in some cases? NATO could well be in a situation where two battalions from brigade X are coming under immediate attack while the other two battalions are ten or twenty miles away where the HQ and artillery elements of Brigade Y are stationed.

Not sure if that last part is accurate but it sounds right for the BAOR, less so the Americans. I'd expect their brigades to be grouped together at the same garrisons.

68 – Into Iraq


US Marines, with the British alongside them, went into Iraq. The I Marine Amphibious Force moved up the western, Iraqi side of the Wadi Al-Batin. This valley which through ran a seasonal river defined the border with Kuwait. Over on the other side, Kuwaiti border defences, ones which Iraq had bypassed when invading, were still there and while arrayed east-to-west, they would still pose a problem to a south-to-north movement. The Iraqis hadn’t covered their side of the border with all of those anti-tank ditches, minefields and barricades that the Kuwaitis had. However, they’d recently tried to do the same with their frontier defences facing south into Saudi Arabia, but they weren’t up to much after the short time available to do that work. In no time at all, those had been overcome as the I MAF advanced into Iraq. Iraqi troops behind those were soon beaten through too. Then, the Coalition ground troops here moved across the desert as they struck deep into the enemy’s homeland. The night-time fighting saw the Iraqis defeated. That defeat didn’t mean that they were wiped out though. The 1st Marine Division, the 1st & 7th Marine Amphibious Brigades and the British 3rd Commando & 24th Infantry Brigades all had to face resistance from their opponent. Iraqi units were shattered but their men were fighting to defend their country. That they did, until they were either dead or out of ammunition. Those who surrendered proved troublesome as well. Ammunition expenditure was higher than projected once again along with the casualties too. There were many dead and wounded among the American and British ranks as a consequence of the advance.

All of those issues aside though, the I MAF ended up holding a significant piece of ground deep into Iraq by the next morning. They’d won the fight which they were sent to take place in. The Iraqis hadn’t stopped them despite all their best efforts to defend their country effectively from the invasion taking place. The I MAF was ready to advance once more come the following night. But… those Coalition units fighting either side of the I MAF were in the best of shape to do so after their first night going into Iraq and Kuwait too.

The US XVIII Airborne Corps was on the left flank of the US Marines. The lighter units of that command – the airborne and air assault divisions – were held back and instead it was the heavier American and French forces sent forward. Improvised border defences were engaged first. Iraqi troops inside their trenches were often buried inside them: the Americans used armoured earthmovers to collapse them atop the strongest points of resistance. Other Iraqis were blasted to pieces with their weapons silenced when high explosives were used instead of moving sand. The 3rd Cav’ went forward first before the 24th Infantry Division, the reservists with the 157th Infantry Brigade and the Frenchmen serving in their 6th Light Armored Division followed them. The Iraqi desert wasn’t as empty as the Saudi desert. It was one which the Iraqis had fortified better than what could be found to the south. Anti-tank guns and missile-launchers opened fire on the Coalition attack. Tank guns returned fire, aided too by the attack helicopters in the sky. The mobility that the XVIII Corps had allowed them to push onwards whereas those who had tried to stop their advance from getting going had been immobile. Iraqi tanks were expected to be met though, along with Iraqi infantry deploying from armoured vehicles. That happened soon enough. Several battles commenced through the night. These took place on the fly, at unexpected times. Each side bumped into the other rather than being able to conduct an ambush. The ability of the Iraqis to get their held-back mobile forces forward like they did caused the XVIII Corps to rage at the inadequacy of their air cover but also the reconnaissance failures too. The 3rd Cav’ had gone too far ahead, celebrating the amount of ground they had taken and thus failed to properly fulfil their role. It was victory disease which had affected them: they gone from victory to victory in recent weeks, storming across the desert and overcoming all before them. All it took was for them to take their eye of the ball a little and the rest of the corps was in trouble. The fighting which the XVIII Corps got into didn’t go brilliantly. The Iraqis had their own terrible difficulties too though. American and French forces managed to beat those they faced but it was no easy feat. They weren’t achieving here in Iraq what they had done down in Saudi Arabia and winning almost one-sided victories.

Before dawn arrived, the new corps commander, Lt.-General Schwarzkopf, was forced to pull back the 3rd Cav’ and effectively give back taken ground. He had them come in from behind against retreating Iraqi units which had caused the rest of his troops so much trouble through most of the hours of darkness. Good co-ordination was achieved in doing this between those friendly forces moving in each direction but it was all too late. There were other Iraqis who managed to slip away, escaping in the shuffle. Schwarzkopf was forced to report to Third Army HQ only partial success in his mission. He’d come here ready to charge on the Mesopotamian Valley but found that the Iraqis were not yet beaten. It was a rude surprise. He was quick to make sure that he secured his flanks after the forward advance stopped. Linking up with the US Marines to the east was easy enough and then he had one of the 101st Air Assault Division’s brigades make helicopter assaults just as it was getting light to the west and northwest. This made sure that when Schwarzkopf went back on the attack again, he’d be in a position to do so without having to worry about an Iraqi spoiling attack. That success aside wasn’t much consolation for the fact that the XVIII Corps had only gone half as far forward as it was supposed to overall.

The Egyptian Expeditionary Corps – with a couple of Moroccan battalions recently attached – were going into Iraq too but were taking a ‘detour’ through Kuwait first. Avoiding all of those obstructions in the way close to the Wadi A-Batin, they went through the western half of this country just away from the abandoned Kuwaiti defensive lines. They were liberating Kuwait on their way to invade Iraq. Iraqi forces met them on the border and provided quite the strong resistance. The Egyptians had the numbers and the firepower with them and overcome the defenders. It took time though, far longer than expected. Finally, the Iraqi lines were broken and the Egyptians went forward. The Moroccans saw battle for the first time during this and didn’t have a good experience of warfare. Inside Kuwait, the intention was that there would be an advance made following the course of Highway-70. The crossroads at Jahrah was intended to be reached and with that the coast of the Persian Gulf: all of eastern Kuwait, including the capital city, would be cut off by getting that far. Jahrah was left just a different dream for these Coalition troops. They couldn’t get going properly once over the border as the Iraqis had fixed defences and also made localised counterattacks. The fight was confusing and came with each side mis-identifying their own comrades and their opponents repeatedly. Friendly air cover promised for the Egyptians was at often times neither friendly (Egyptian troops were bombed by American aircraft) nor cover either: the IQAF managed to get some air strikes in, even at murderous cost to their aircraft. This area of the battlefield was where Rashid’s generals had expected the main fighting to occur. That it should be in the Coalition’s view that the real fight to liberate Kuwait would come inside Iraq was immaterial. The Iraqi Army was prepared to fight here. A sweeping advance through the western half of the country onwards to Jahrah made sense to them. They had believed it would be the Americans they could encounter yet fought the Egyptians just the same. By morning, the Egyptian advance was measured in less than a dozen miles. They were fought out too, unable to go onwards come again the following night.

Saudi and GCC troops in the pan-Arab force, the recently designated Joint Forces Corps, were like the Egyptians tasked to go into Iraq by way of Kuwait too. The thinking was that they would be a follow-up force, getting into Southern Iraq long after everyone else. Kuwait City was their first objective though and to reach that far would mean they would first have to go through eastern Kuwait and reach Kuwait City. It was big ask for these troops, men who were veterans of this war but having seen much costly action. Going over the border and entered Kuwait was something that the Joint Forces Corps wholly failed to get though in the first night of the Coalition attack northwards. Bahraini, Emirati, Omani, Qatari and Saudi tanks & soldiers failed to make any significant progress. The Iraqis held the line against them. They’d drawn a line in the sand just like this pan-Arab force, back when it was under Prince Sultan’s command, had done near Hofuf and it was one which couldn’t be crossed. In many ways, this wasn’t crippling for the Coalition. The frontal attack here was supposed to take the heat of the Egyptians and allow their breakthrough in the west to be made. However, the belief had been that the Iraqis would give ground and the Joint Forces Corps would make some headway where retreating Iraqis would be pushed back into the Egyptians which eventually should arrive behind them. Them failing to do anything in terms of going forward wasn’t gamed out as a likely scenario. The Iraqis had been hit with countless air and artillery strikes, in addition to serious naval shelling undertaken too, but they held back the armies of their neighbours.

Third Army HQ was aware during the night of what was going on and there was knowledge there long before dawn that the offensive hadn’t gone to plan. Only the I MAF had achieved what they were supposed to. The XVIII Corps had opened up a reasonable advance with Schwarzkopf saying that he was going to ‘correct’ the issue the next night but what happened over in Kuwait was the real concern. A broad front advance had been planned but that had all gone awry. General Chambers had to report failure to General Crist at CENTCOM: trying to sugar-coat what had gone wrong as anything but that just wasn’t going to work. CENTCOM’s commander was displeased though not enraged at the inability of just one night’s offensive work to break the Iraqis. Since they’d been pushed back to where they had come from, they had improved their military performance significantly. Yet, Crist believed that they would break soon enough. The Iraqi Army was beaten and they just needed convincing of that. He ordered Chambers to continue what he was doing though switch the majority of the air support that had been given to the Joint Forces Corps – which hadn’t done them much good – elsewhere. He’d rather see it try to open up the battlefield with the Egyptians and the XVIII Corps. Should the Iraqis wish to fight a fanatical battle to hold onto eastern Kuwait, Crist was willing to let them do that. They could be pinned there and held in-place as far as he was concerned.

On receipt of that order, Chambers had his staff make plans to see them implemented. He spoke to his corps commanders and when talking with Schwarzkopf, he went through the changes he wished to make. That newly-arrived general had come to the Gulf and been thrown into combat, fighting a battle someone else had planned. The corrections were going to come fast after a night of frustration. XVIII Corps’ commander had a question for his superior. How were the Iraqis going to respond to having their country invaded? From what he had seen, the Iraqis had good troops covering their own border region but the very best ones were over in Kuwait. So they hadn’t been expecting that attacks made by his command and the I MAF. What was this Rashid character going to do when surprised like this? Chambers didn’t have a precise answer but he did say that he expected some sort of strong reaction from Baghdad.

Sounds like an OK name, and things are getting worse...