The Second Battle of Britain - a Soviet Sealion

Thank you.
As to Norwich, I lived there for a while - back in 2001 to 2003, eighteen months - though not really near the airport.


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I look at the map and I see water there. I was thinking of that river and then all those canals. It's not an impenetrable barrier but I thought it would aid flank defence.
As said, my geographic knowledge here isn't that great. 
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They have a plan which they are sticking to. Nukes are on the table for the story too.
I gave the Soviets a lucky break therefor the London op. I have had the mass air battles over Norfolk, the shooting down of RAF AWACS aircraft and all the hits on air defences, plus using a different route for the transports, but, yes, I helped the story move along with a cheat there too.
The middle of London will need a new lick of paint etc after this!

136 – Imperial Stormtroopers


Prime Minister Whitelaw and Defence Secretary Younger were both told that the initial reports of landings of Soviet personnel in Norfolk were commando raids, albeit on a large scale. There was a lot of confusion over what was happening there with false reports over where and where not there were paratroopers fighting on British soil. This was followed up by news from Central London: another commando raid was underway. British forces in each region were engaging the enemy, the politicians were told, and it was expected that while damage would be done, the commandos would be overcome or driven off. Whitelaw was down in Wiltshire and Younger was at Northwood. They were underground in protected sites though with good access to communications. The country’s senior military officers were in contact with them throughout the morning. The news changed: slowly at first then with rapidity. Younger was informed that this wasn’t looking like it had first seemed. Coming from the Chief of the General Staff (the head of the British Army), he naturally took note of what was being said though that general couldn’t give proper confirmation for some time. More information was coming out of the combat zones spread near to Norfolk airbases and Younger had to wait. Then it all came in a flurry. These weren’t commandos but at least a Soviet Airborne regiment, maybe more. There were more and more transports coming in to land at what were reported to be several captured airbases. With regards to London, the large number of troops there was a concern but it was all of the equipment being dropped which gave the game away. Commandos didn’t need armoured vehicles and heavy guns. Younger spoke with Whitelaw himself and passed on the news. Britain was being invaded. There were thousands of enemy soldiers, certainly more on the way too, inside the country and overrunning military and political sites. All attention needed to be directed to addressing this at once.

Everyone wanted information, the latest and most accurate news of what was happening. The politicians and the senior officers needed this so they could make the necessary decisions. Where were the enemy, what was their strength and where were they moving to next? Those below them in the command chain were under immense pressure to deliver what was wanted from above while simultaneously trying to react to the ongoing events. Troops of their own needed moving about and contact made with installations in the nearby areas. Time was wasted. There was still false information coming in too and, though they weren’t aware, everywhere the Soviets had made their landing sites wasn’t something that the British knew. Whitelaw himself came under external pressure where questions were asked of him for answers that he didn’t know. Reagan’s vice president, George Bush, was in contact: he wanted to know what was happening with the American airbases in Britain. There were nuclear weapons involved, ones which had been flown into RAF Sculthorpe yesterday. The United States didn’t want to once again lose such munitions. Whitelaw knew all about the top secret Empty Quiver event from the day before. Thirteen aircraft-delivery gravity bombs had been lost when Leeuwarden was taken by the Soviets. That airbase in the Netherlands wasn’t a site where the Americans had deployed thermonuclear bombs in peacetime, but they had some there before Soviet tanks rolled in. The US Air Force had flown some into Sculthorpe too. The British Armed Forces didn’t have a special codename for the loss to the enemy of nuclear weapons but they had lost some too. Overnight, a convoy of nuclear shells for heavy guns with the Royal Artillery’s 50th Missile Regiment had been ambushed on the ground while moving through Belgium. Everyone was dead and four nuclear shells were gone. What did the Soviets want with British nuclear weapons – and American ones too – when they had their own? There were all sorts of nightmare scenarios imaginable to the British Government, the Americans and their NATO partners. Whitelaw could only tell Bush that he had the same information that was being made available to his friend across the ocean: there was fighting near to Sculthorpe. In addition, Whitelaw mentioned that the RAF had its own bombs at a nearby airbase – RAF Marham – and while that location had yet to be attacked, it was very near to where the Soviets were. Britain was going to expend whatever effort was needed to keep those weapons of its own and those belonging to its ally out of enemy hands.

Sculthorpe fell not long after the trans-Atlantic phone call. The Pentagon knew before Northwood did, quite something considering that that airbase was in Britain not the United States. British and American personnel had made a withdrawal and they had removed the nuclear weapons from there. They were on the run though, fleeing from an enemy which was growing in strength while on the ground. Younger was told about this at the same time as the latest report came in from Central London confirming that locations such as Buckingham Palace, Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament each had Soviet soldiers there. There was a scattered mix of British troops fighting throughout the heart of the capital but they were on the back foot with an enemy all around them. The Chief of the General Staff considered Norfolk over London to be the biggest threat, the issue which needed addressing the most. Younger understood fully the implications of what was going on in East Anglia but he was also seriously concerned about the nation’s capital. The defence secretary had been made aware of what the Soviets had done with the propaganda games after capturing Bonn and Amsterdam: he correctly anticipated that they would be getting images out to the world of London in Soviet hands. Whitelaw agreed that this was likely and that it really would have a negative effect upon the country to have occupying troops appearing to have free rein of the historic centre of London for the world to see. One of the prime minister’s aides with him deep below Wiltshire brought him up to speed on the Soviet’s paratroopers. The term used to describe them was ‘Imperial Stormtroopers’. It was a Star Wars reference… not an accurate one to be honest. Regardless, those VDV troops were elite soldiers sent on high-risk, important missions. They wouldn’t have been sent all the way to Britain to be wasted: the Soviets were out to take Britain with what men they had sent here, banking on the country having the majority of its forces elsewhere. To do that, they were using their best men with no intention of using them unsupported.

In a telephone conference involving Whitelaw, Younger, a couple of other ministers & the top-level military officers, a plan of action was formulated. There would be effort directed to counter the twin invasion sites rather than just focusing on one of them. Each was regarded as important. Enemy presence in London was small and up in Norfolk it was larger, yet each would get equal importance in efforts to force a defeat of those who had landed in Britain. The Chief of the General Staff voiced disagreement over this but his uniformed superior, the admiral serving as Chief of the Defence Staff (heading all three armed services) and the politicians especially were unconvinced by his argument that London was just a distraction operation for Norfolk. They didn’t believe that the southernmost landing needed to be treated as such with only screening forces sent to the capital. Orders went out for that plan to deal with the invaders. Troops, aircraft and ships were issued instructions. The naval element involved turning around the carrier HMS Ark Royal from its projected Norwegian Sea mission and using it in the North Sea. In the skies, RAF aircraft were going to be sent to bomb British soil itself. British troops preparing to leave the country to join the still-raging fight on the Continent would converge instead on the Soviet landing zones. When it came to those troops, that meant that the 2nd Infantry Division – a TA unit much delayed in transit but now ready to start moving towards the Southern Netherlands by way of Belgium ports – wasn’t going overseas. Nor was the 1st Infantry Brigade either: the ships which its gear was aboard had cleared The Solent a few hours before but were to turn around to go back to Southampton. Furthermore, Britain made a request from allies for more men too. Whitelaw didn’t feel that there was any shame in asking for help at a time like this. Three NATO partner nations offered troops (one able to send more men than the other two) with the United States, Canada and Portugal all going to be quick to deploy those soldiers.

When they discovered this, Stavka, the Soviet high command, would be pleased. Operation Red Eagle was all about winning the war on the Continent. Now NATO countries were rushing men towards the fighting on British soil. Their own men there, those VDV super-soldiers – not Imperial Stormtroopers though –, were outnumbered already and that inbalance in forces would only increase, but the ultimate goal was being fulfilled.

No wonder they chose the name Broken Arrow for the movie, the term Empty Quiver is not going to get you any people to watch.

Will Whitelaw authorise a nuclear response within the UK?

What if somewhere like Porton Down was threatened?

I agree. They aren't wide and can be forded easily but they present some flank protection.
My thinking is that too much stock will be put in them by the Soviets and the British will 'step over' them to hit the flanks hard.




Sense should hopefully break out once they get a better read on what has come in... and what hasn't too.
The middle of London will become a war zone and it will be major casualties for urban fighting among opposing troops though there wouldn't be that many civilian around.
The later escalation will be rather terrible for a lot of people.



I'd think if things got to that point, he'd have to. No leader would ever want to blow nuclear holes in their own country though.


It really will be a battle of the crossroads in Norfolk: see the story's first post.
Both sides will have few tanks though there will be tracked armoured vehicles used. Still, it will be a mainly infantry fight with each side using air and artillery support. Any armoured units racing far out ahead are likely to be spotted, yes, and come under fire with little cover.
Great description of the challenges of terrain here! I'll keep it in mind.
Ah, yes, civilian refugees. Something I will address as part of tomorrow's update for sure.