Blue Dawn, 1994

   James G ,

67 – Walkover


American-led Coalition ground forces continue with their approach towards the goal which is taking Moscow. They come further eastwards today, clashing with outposts of small resistance throughout their push towards the Union’s capital, and not meeting any significant opposition beyond those roadblocks and attempts at ambushes. With three corps involved, each multi-divisional units, they are spread out over a wide area to allow for room for movement. There is limited bunching up of the advancing forces too, therefore giving less opportunity for any possible ‘limited’ nuclear attack to stop them. From the west, southwest, and south, Moscow is closed in upon.

The US V Corps send the 3rd Infantry Division and the Canadians out to the left, northwards, overnight so today they push forward with there being width for the whole corps to operate better. They are following the course of the Baltic Highway as it runs towards Moscow now and this gives room for the 1st Armored & 1st Infantry Divisions to use the route of the Belarus Highway to approach Moscow. Elements of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment are out ahead on both axis’ of advance and it is they who continue to deal with the majority of what enemy forces there are present. The terrain of the Smolensk Uplands through which the 2nd Cav’ leads the V Corps is easy going. On the map it looks more promising for any defensive effort than it actually is. The Union would need to fill this collection of rolling hills, forests and shallow valleys with plenty of armour and mobile infantry, covering them with artillery and air support, to block the offensive which rolls through here today. There is none of met by the V Corps. All that they encounter is that sprinkling of opposition from a few men here and there armed with rifles and RPGs. Attacks from AH-64 Apaches or the crash of the cannons from the M-1A1 Abrams’ with the 2nd Cav’ wipe that out. Significant headway is made by the V Corps. Rzhev is reached and the upper reaches of the Volga River at nearby Zubtsov are crossed: the 1st Canadian Division and the 3rd Infantry Division have a straight shot at Moscow now without any geographical barrier in their way. Vyazma is another potential blocking point for those on the right yet here as well such an objective is rolled through with near contemptuous ease. Union tanks arriving from the Urals Front are due to arrive here tomorrow with the intention being that they will block off access towards Moscow from Vyazma but US Army soldiers wearing the divisional patches of the Big Red One and the Old Ironsides drive past this town just off the highway and keep on going too.

National guardsmen with the 35th Infantry Division are due to join with the US XVIII Airborne Corps starting tomorrow but for now the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment continues to lead the 24th Infantry Division forward from Roslavl’ all the way as far as Yukhnov. That latter town is next to the Urga River and, while not a strong defensive position, is completely clear of any opposition. Engineering units begin assembling multiple crossings over the water without any difficulties too: no one fires ballistic missiles from far off nor tries to bomb them. The Urga is no more anything to be concerned about and the Americans can continue to push onwards from Yukhnov at their leisure. That they intend to do. Both the 82nd & 101st Airborne Divisions carry on being held ready for the upcoming assault operations envisioned by them by the XVIII Corps. They will be going into action in the coming days, not now. Their entry into this fight is yet to be required as the tanks on the ground keep on going forward without any need for the XVIII Corps to bring in its paratroopers and air assault troopers in. That is because there is nothing slowing the Blackhorse Cav’ down as it continues to push further forward into undefended territory.

The Urga is wider near to Kaluga. On this river, five hundred plus years beforehand the forces of Moscovy faced down the Great Horde from the east and saw them withdraw in a feat which ended up with Moscow being freed of ‘Asiatic’ rule. Gromov wanted his tanks coming across from the Urals here as well, fighting the Americans to keep Moscow free. The 2nd Armored Division, on the left of the US III Corps’ advance, only encounter the barest of enemy fire from light weapons around Kaluga and on the banks of the Urga nearby. They’ve come up from near Bryansk through today, led by 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment reconnaissance elements, and go over the river. The road onwards to Moscow is completely open. Near to Tula away to the southeast, the 4th Infantry Division finds nothing in their way in crossing the (far narrower) Upa River. They avoid the city of Tula itself. The Klokovo Airbase and the historic Tula Arms Plant have lightly-armed reservists dug in around each of them but the 4th Infantry Division isn’t interested in taking such places after F-111 Aardvarks have previously worked each over. The route towards their ultimate objective of Moscow takes them past Tula, not through it. Upstream along the Upa, on the right and further east, the 1st Cavalry Division does meet Union Army tanks. The lead element of the Seventh Tank Army, coming back from the Urals, are approaching. There is a regiment-group out front, this is leading the way for the delayed and already-bombed force behind them. At a little place called Gritsovo, the division’s own Cav’ units encounter BRDM-2 scout cars trailed by T-80s. There is a ‘time on target’ attack made: everything is thrown at the enemy units at once from above and one the ground. The Battle of Gritsovo is short and devastating. There is nothing left of the Union force afterwards and the 1st Cavalry Division moves onwards near unscathed. They begin to position themselves for what is coming next, the rest of the Seventh Tank Army and up behind them comes the 49th Armored Division. These national guardsmen from Texas are due to be in place before nightfall and when the rest of those Union tanks begin to arrive. They are coming this way and will be halted in a far bigger ambush than has already been sprung.

It is all becoming a walkover. Moscow is another day’s advance away, two at the most. Where the Group of Tank Armies out of the Urals are coming forward, they aren’t going to be getting in the way of the seizure of the Union’s capital. All that is in the way is immaterial and being brushed aside with seemingly little effort.

   James G ,

69 – Dnipropetrovsk


Under the overall command of the Fifth United States Army, Coalition forces are now entering the Eastern Ukraine. American soldiers and marines are joined by Poles and men from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia in now pushing for the highly-populated region next to the Russian border. This is unfriendly territory where ethnic Russians, as well as Russian-speaking Ukrainians too, have loyalty towards the Union. There has been strong opposition to the efforts at rebellion which have been seen elsewhere in the Ukraine. This has brought out a big turnout of reservists as well as patriotic volunteers too. The Donbas region is the centre of this pro-Moscow feeling yet up in Kharkov and also down in Dnipropetrovsk, a readiness to fight for the Union is present in abundance. With regards to Dnipropetrovsk, this city on the Dnieper River is where the revolt against Union rule began. Those who secretly allied themselves with the Coalition ahead of Operation Flaming Phoenix beginning have long departed and recently found themselves not in favour up in ‘liberated’ Kiev either. This is a Union city though one now physically divided after each and every crossing over the river has been destroyed by air strikes: Dnipropetrovsk is split between each bank of the Dnieper. Polish troops are approaching the city today after completing their week-long advance through the Western Ukraine, one supported by American air power. It is Polish aircraft which support the final push into Dnipropetrovsk though. Sukhoi-22 Fitter attack-fighters and Mil-24 Hind helicopter gunships engage the defenders outside the part of the city on the western banks of the river. They make daylight attacks against dug-in but lightly-armed opposition and make way for elements of the Polish I Corps to easily proceed right up to the city’s edges. More Soviet-era Polish military equipment being put to use where no one not a few years ago could ever have expected to see it employed is now brought into play. The Poles have their T-72 tanks, BMP-1 infantry carriers and 2S3 self-propelled artillery engage more reservists & volunteers carrying rifles & RPGs fighting here to keep them out of Dnipropetrovsk. It is an uneven fight, another walkover. The engagements see defenders blasted now out of buildings where they have chosen to make a stand. The western side of Dnipropetrovsk becomes a battlefield as the Poles engage in urban fighting. This isn’t something that the Americans themselves would do – they would rather see the city masked – but the Poles push on: the Fifth US Army headquarters doesn’t give any official objection to this being done as it does mask things elsewhere. As the Poles fight their way in today, taking over half of the city, there is a whole load of armour-heavy Union forces stuck on the other side of the river and unable to interfere.

Destroying the Union’s Eighth Guards Army has occurred in recent days through the Eastern Ukraine. Hit first was the 79th Guards Tank Division with massed American air attacks ahead of it reaching Dnipropetrovsk. There are survivors there, on the other side of the river to where the Poles now are, but there is only about a third of the division left active. The Coalition doesn’t consider them a threat at all. Yesterday’s fighting between US III Corps elements still left in the Ukraine and the rest of the Eighth Guards Army witnessed that devastation inflicted upon the 20th & 39th Guards Motor Rifle Divisions near to Poltava. There are scattered remains of them left, nothing more than a few combat battalions who have fallen back in the direction of the city of Kharkov. While they didn’t race from where they’ve previously been fighting in Kazakhstan into the Eastern Ukraine to defend it – the intention was to strike towards Kiev and into the rear of American forces Moscow-bound –, the destruction caused to the Eighth Guards Army has left the Eastern Ukraine undefended of any strong Union forces. Those remnants left around both Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkov are in no position to do anything to oppose the Coalition doing what it wants. American troops victorious at Poltava move deeper into the Eastern Ukraine through the space between those two cities. The III Corps is closing in upon Moscow and so the 5th Infantry Division & 194th Armored Brigade have been transferred out from under that headquarters command. They currently report to the Fifth US Army directly in a situation which no one likes but is a result of American success on the battlefield. Once the Poles come over the Dnieper elsewhere other than at Dnipropetrovsk where they are in effect only putting on a show, these US Army forces will join their I Corps to rectify that command issue. Meanwhile, while the Poles are doing what they are doing in getting other troops on the Dnieper, the Americans come down to meet them. They have all sorts of small-scale engagements with enemy units spread all over the place. There are men with AK-47s and the odd RPG-7 too willing to die in the face of American tanks. Other local civilians look on with cold stares towards what they see as invading enemies. No welcome is here for the Americans and that is sure to continue the deeper into the Eastern Ukraine they go.

The II MEF has been now assigned to the Fifth US Army after previously being conducting independent operations when in the Crimea. They are now along the Azov Littoral of the Eastern Ukraine. Behind them, coming on from their victories won in Mykolaiv and Odessa is the Eastern European Corps but the US Marines are out front. The overnight Arc Light air strike with those B-52s has cleared the way ahead for the advance to move past Melitopol. The 2nd Marine Division today makes entry into the Donbas. With their tanks and helicopters out ahead, US Marines soon reach the edges of Mariupol. This industrial and port city sits on the shores of the Sea of Azov. It is defended with men dug into buildings. The II MEF doesn’t copy what the Poles are doing up in Dnipropetrovsk. There is no real value to Mariupol with regards to the war effort. Previous air and Tomahawk attacks have done enough to make it of no immediate value to the Union war effort at the time being. All that taking it will achieve is a lot of dead: civilians and young US Marines. The 2nd Marine Division moves onwards. Eastern European Corps lead units are racing to catch up and follow this route towards Mariupol to then make a turn north towards Donetsk but there are different orders for the US Marines. They are going out of the Ukraine and into Russia. Rostov is up ahead of them and they cross the border near to Taganrog before the end of the day. Here they run into Union armour, not riflemen running around with a ‘shoot me, I’m asking for it’ attitude. Tanks and mechanised infantry are encountered instead.

The professional and well-equipped soldiers met near to Taganrog are from the Forty–Ninth Army. This small Union field army is home-based in the North Caucasus and has spend the past week receiving different orders to deploy here, there & everywhere without seeing action until late today. The 9th & 19th Motor Rifle Divisions which form the Forty–Ninth Army were first told to prepare to launch an invasion of Georgia – in conjunction with the Fourth Army out of Azerbaijan – before that instruction was rescinded and they were sent to the shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of the Azov in response to the activities of the II MEF in the Crimea. No second series of amphibious landings has been made by the Americans though. Naval Infantry units remain where they are dug-in along the coast (covering a huge area with very few men) while the Forty–Ninth Army has moved up towards Rostov. The orders are for entry to be made into the Eastern Ukraine to fight in the Donbas alongside locally-raised light units there. However, the Americans have moved faster than could ever be anticipated through there. The Battle of Taganrog comes unexpectedly. Like everyone else that the US Marines have fought so far in their time on the Union’s southern flank, when they meet this latest opponent, they throw everything that they have at the enemy in terms of firepower. Carrier air support from the absent USS America is missed but the II MEF retains its existing own air cover. This is added to by other Coalition air units who have a Ukraine mission. Darkness comes to the fighting around Taganrog but the fighting goes on. The 2nd Marine Division doesn’t close up with the Forty–Ninth Army. There is the employment instead of as many heavy weapons and air support as possible from afar while the US Marines wait for that to come to an eventual conclusion. They will go forward tomorrow and mop up the survivors before the current plan is for them to avoid any costly fight for Rostov itself and instead cut off the Eastern Ukraine from the outside. They’ll loop around behind the Donbas, cutting off those inside there from the rear.

71 – Group of Tank Armies


STAVKA has disestablished the Western Front. This army group command, hastily formed following the Coalition invasion, is no more. Among the staff, there have been arrests of suspected coup plotters against Gromov and the firings of many others for incompetence. When McCaffrey at his EURCOM headquarters is informed of this event (information gained by a confirmed series of signals intercepts), the overall commander of the Coalition’s war efforts into the Union out of Eastern Europe is disappointed to see CINC-West go. STAVKA is perfectly correct in deeming the man incompetent and McCaffrey wished for CINC-West to stay in-charge for as long as possible. That general’s leadership of the Western Front has seen the destruction of the Union Army everywhere west of Moscow allowing for the rapid advance to take place bringing McCaffery’s forces near to that city which is the Union’s capital. He will be missed. Without the Western Front, the Group of Tank Armies is now the opponent of EURCOM forces which are Moscow-bound.

For several days and nights, American air & missile attacks have been hitting the mass of armour coming out of the Urals Front and heading west. The Group of Tank Armies leading component, the Seventh Tank Army, has taken the brunt of these strikes and also made first contact with Coalition ground troops yesterday near to Tula. Striking from above, the Americans have done everything they can to directly smash up the incoming reinforcements destined beforehand for the Western Front but also cause delays too. Gromov’s ‘iron fist’ coming to save Moscow has been something that the Coalition has eviscerated as much as possible ahead of today. Such attacks from above have gone as far as bomb runs made near the small city of Murom on the Oka River in the early hours of today. Murom is located some distance to the east of Moscow – closer to Gorki than it is to the Union’s capital – but the US Air Force swept the skies of enemy fighters, hit identified air defences with stand-off anti-radar missiles and then brought in a squadron of B-1 Lancers. These are nuclear-capable aircraft operated by Strategic Air Command but they have a low-level penetration capability and a large bomb bay. Elements of the Sixth Guards Tank Army, trailing behind the Fifth Guards Tank & Seventh Tank Armies, were caught in the Murom attacks. Closer to Moscow, the other components of the Group of Tank Armies continue to be blasted throughout today too with more tactical-rolled strikes. Their movement towards the frontlines carries on despite it all. There is no way that they are going to get in front of Moscow in time to save it but their orders are to do so. The Group of Tank Armies’ commander, General Semyonov, has been told by Gromov to make that attempt. McCaffrey and his subordinate General Maddox who leads the Seventh US Army (equivalent in size to Semyonov’s overall command: what the Union calls an army is to Maddox only one of his several corps) still miss the old CINC-West but his replacement leading this new opponent is showing himself to be just the right type of Union Army commander that they wish to face.


The 1st Tank Division, part of the Fifth Guards Tank Army coming west from the Urals, engages Canadian troops near to Istra. An onrush of armour comes forward in the face of American and Canadian air attacks to stop them to meet with the 1st Canadian Division. If the 1st Tank Division can get through the Istra area, they will reach the Baltic Highway (linking Moscow to Riga) and get the following divisions with the tank army they are part in front of Moscow. Immense casualties are taken on the approach and then when they meet the Canadians in battle. The flood of T-72 tanks followed by BMP-2 & BTR-70 infantry carriers are hit by everything that the Canadians can bring to bear. Many Canadian Leopard-1 tanks wrack up impressive kill claims and so too do dismounted infantry teams carrying man-portable missile-launchers. Union forces come to a halt, facing increasing air attacks including the liberal use of US Army Apache gunships too. The Canadians counterattack, going forward to finish them off. Some stubborn resistance is encountered during this. Pinned down enemy units who wish to fight to the very end are pounded from above while rolling artillery cover aids Canadians efforts to tear past the forwardmost Union units and get to those in the rear. Fighting near Istra goes on through the morning and into the afternoon. The 1st Tank Division is eventually ripped to shreds. Meanwhile, avoiding the main fight – yet encountering a few Union stragglers who have wandered far – the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division follows the Baltic Highway to get very close indeed to Moscow itself. They fight with Union paramilitaries near to Luzhki and then Leshkovo. Interior Ministry troops on foot are nothing of any significance. Union Airborne Troops are then met, right on the city’s edges. They are dug-in among improvised fortified position on the city’s edges among residential and industrial areas. Air support has to be more carefully targeted due to civilians about. The advance slows down as night falls but the 3rd Infantry Division has Moscow in sight and there are is none of the Group of Tank Armies’ armour to fight.

There are more paratroopers encountered by other US V Corps elements also approaching Moscow from the west. Coming forward from near Vyazma, the 1st Armored & 1st Infantry Divisions, led by the 2nd Cav’, clash with them near Dorokhovo and then around Kubinka Airbase. A trio of parachute divisions have in recent days been airlifted into Moscow after being pulled out of the Urals. They report to the Group of Tank Armies now but can’t seriously be considered as blocking the way to Moscow. The Old Ironsides and the Big Red One blast elements of the 103rd Guards Airborne Division encountered fighting alongside paramilitaries. Before the end of the day, they’ve reached the area around Odintsovo, a Moscow suburb. The international airport at Vnukovo is taken by M-1A2 Abrams’ supporting infantry out of M-2A3 Bradleys. Vnukovo was somewhere looked at in the preceding days for an American air assault operation but it is taken by ground assault. It hasn’t been bombed during Operation Flaming Phoenix air attacks and neither has the Union done any real demolitions here. An international airport like this taken almost intact is an excellent prize with the ability to move supplies for the V Corps forward by air into it to aid the final push into Moscow.

It was the US XVIII Airborne Corps which was considering a drop at Vnukovo. The 82nd Airborne Division conducted a D-Day airborne operation in Belarus and a follow up close to Moscow was on the cards for the airport now taken by American tanks. Maddox’s staff correctly judged that the V Corps could punch its way ahead because Union tank forces weren’t going to be in the way and he also didn’t want the V & XVIII Corps’ area of operations to overlap; McCaffrey wants to keep the 82nd Airborne Division for operations inside Moscow now. The XVIII Corps has the 101st Airborne Division conduct its planned air assault operation today at another site outside of Moscow though. A heli-borne lift sees the division take Yermolino Airbase (it is planned to soon be operational as Camp Hunter) in an opposed assault. With the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment racing that way up from near Yukhnov, a link-up is made faster than expected between the corps’ ground and airmobile elements close to Obninsk. The 24th Infantry Division and then the national guardsmen with the 35th Infantry Division are following behind. With Yermolino in-hand and nothing of substance in the way, the Blackhorse Cav’ keeps on going. Naro-Forminsk falls and the Aprelevka garrison complex is reached. Before their 1992 disestablishment due to be on the wrong side of the Union’s first real coup, Aprelevka was home to the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division: the once renowned Taman Guards. Their old home base in now in American hands and, like the V Corps, the XVIII Corps is right on the very edges of Moscow proper.

The US III Corps approaches Moscow from the south. From near Kaluga and Tula, American tanks race forward with no real opposition to them. Serpuhov is passed and so too is Chekhov. The 1st Cavalry & 2nd Armored Divisions, with the 3rd Cav’ storming ahead of them, reach Podolsk. Domodedovo Airport is taken with this facility being bigger than Vnukovo though recently having been the scene of Union demolitions where possible. Somewhere also looked at for an airborne drop close to Moscow in recent days before the US Air Force was able to so successfully bring a delay to the Group of Tank Armies’ progress, it is overrun by a ground attack instead of a parachute assault. Paratroopers from the 106th Guards Airborne Division are met near to Chekhov and the international airport. They fight well. They are also defeated. Their opponent is the US Army on the offensive bringing everything it can bring to the fight with immense firepower. All the bravery of the men with one of the 106th Guards Airborne Division’s dismounted regiments counts for nothing when the Americans bring in their A-10 Thunderbolts for close air support and also use their artillery and helicopter gunships as they wish. Those paratroopers die where they stand. For their credit, where paramilitaries often run away or throw their hands up when the end comes, they themselves fight until the end. It doesn’t really matter though. They are here to defend the final approaches to Moscow and are torn apart while failing to achieve that.

Just away to the east of where the left flank of the US III Corps is fighting, the 4th Infantry & 49th Armored Divisions (the latter with national guardsmen) engage more of the incoming Seventh Tank Army. Union forces are coming onwards through that aerial battering over the Oka River between Kolomna and Ryazan. The 19th Guards Tank & 34th Tank Divisions are met in battle. On paper, it is an equal fight but in reality, numbers wise, the Americans have a two-to-one advantage: they rest of the Seventh tank Army isn’t getting over the Oka today to join in either to tilt that back the other way. The Americans have complete control of the skies too. Dozens of small clashes occur through the day and into the night. Tanks shoot at each other and infantrymen fight it out as well. The fighting is costly for each side. Union forces can not get where they want to be, through the American’s positions and around to get in front of Moscow, but holding them off, even with all of their firepower, causes many casualties for the Americans. The 4th Infantry Division takes more losses than the 49th Armored Division does. Still, the III Corps’ right flank holds on and defeat comes to their opponents. Hundreds of Union tanks and hundreds more infantry carriers are left burning hulks. The Iron Fist hasn’t even been a Finger.


The 103rd & 106th Guards Airborne Divisions have more men inside Moscow proper along with all of the 76th Guards Airborne Division too. Organised under a corps-level command, they are here to defend the city against the final American attack. Paramilitaries have joined them though their capability to fend off what is coming surely first thing tomorrow is poor. As part of the Semyonov’s deployment, he planned to have the Sixth Guards Tank Army come into Moscow too: the two other tank armies would be on the flanks of that move. The Sixth Guards Tank Army isn’t here. That Murom air attack with low-flying heavy bombers was just one of many devastating attacks from above. Gromov isn’t in Moscow and neither is STAVKA. However, this is the Union’s capital. The Coalition wants to take it. The presence of the Union Army’s tank heavy forces rushing here only increased the importance of Moscow in the eyes of President Robb and his allies in London, Warsaw and elsewhere.

Maddox’s Seventh US Army doesn’t just have those three operational corps to complete the Moscow and Group of Tank Armies mission. He has the Polish II Corps coming up after their journey through Belarus and also the US VII National Guard Corps approaching too. Both area few days behind but available for combat operations against the Group of Tank Armies, Union Airborne Troops and whatever else Gromov and Semyonov can muster. Fighting now on the edges of Moscow, to break into the city and keep its outer defenders attempting flank manoeuvres at bay, will continue through tomorrow with what is already at the frontlines and those coming up behind if need be joining in.

McCaffrey has told Maddox to send American troops into Red Square. That is where they are going, come hell of high water.

Late this evening, McCaffrey’s headquarters assists an operation separate from the final push onto the Union’s capital. A few air assets are redeployed towards a last-minute mission though the diversion isn’t going to change much. A hundred odd miles north Moscow, up near to the city of Rybinsk, Operation Screwdriver takes place. It involves a company of the 75th Ranger Regiment making a parachute jump alongside the US Army’s Delta Force. It is the first combat mission for this special forces unit though that is certainly not the case for the Rangers who give fire support for the Delta operators. Screwdriver is a United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) mission which McCaffrey’s EURCOM aids USSOCOM with air assets. The skies above Rybinsk are suddenly full of aircraft and helicopters. Delta has come here to snatch someone with the Rangers helping them make sure he doesn’t get away and neutralise anyone who tries to stop them. The Screwdriver mission is successful. From a facility on the edge of the city, lifted out alive is the head of the GRU. The Union’s military intelligence chief is taken away. McCaffrey was told who Delta was after and believes he understands why Washington would want the man. It makes sense to snatch him for his intelligence value if such a situation arose as knowing where he would be at a certain time. However, EURCOM’s commander doesn’t know the whole story. He isn’t aware of everything going on back home and why the man in charge of the GRU was taken like this – a laser-guided bomb would have done the job with less risk – at a time when there are very many difficult questions being asked in Washington about what this war is really all about. With an ultimate destination being a deniable holding location – a black site if there ever was one –, this captive is going to be asked if his organisation really did kill President Kerrey back on Independence Day.


End of Part Four