Blue Dawn, 1994

   James G ,

84 – Legitimacy


The following day sees Turkey switch official recognition of the Union’s leadership from Gromov to Primakov. The latter is back in Moscow while the former has fled the nation’s capital some time ago. Turkey’s diplomatic relations with the Union at the highest level have been strained since February and the beginning of the civil war, yet Ankara had ties with Moscow and not Novosibirsk. Ankara-Moscow ties are still there… just with a new leader in the capital of the Union. Turkey isn’t alone. China does the same thing. Beijing has long aggravated Gromov by having dealings with Primakov but those have been of a non-official relationship. With Primakov now in the Kremlin, China makes their recognition of his legitimacy as the Union’s ruler official too. The Chinese have spent ten days criticising the American-led Coalition invasion of the Union – calling for non-interference in the domestic affairs of their neighbour – and they are also unhappy at Primakov being put where he now is on the back of American firepower, but diplomatic relations with his regime are now restored. Others are also recognising Primakov’s legitimacy. Across the world, there has been much hand-wringing for many long months over which faction in the Union’s civil war to recognise following Lebed’s death. Ambassadors in Moscow have been few with lesser representation here; there have too been ‘interest sections’ opened in Novosibirsk by countries hedging their bets somewhat. Primakov is in Moscow though and, while American bayonets have put him there, governments across the globe take the opportunity to see full relations with the Union restored.

Primakov makes a broadcast to his people today. He speaks from the Kremlin with his message sent out across the Union, including the republics which have broken away too. A call for unity is made and for an end to the fighting taking place. Supporters of Gromov, be they military or civilian, are urged to abandon him and accept that the Union needs reuniting. An amnesty is promised, one which Primakov says is to be unconditional. He wants the killing to stop and calls upon everyone watching and listening to see that done. The reach of this broadcast is meant to be Union wide though it certainly doesn’t get to every corner of the Union as intended. Regardless, many will hear about it afterwards even if they don’t witness it live. The public messages come with private ones. Primakov and those with him in Moscow – all brought here under American protection – are able to send some messages out from the capital themselves, though it is from out of Siberia that the majority of the communications to enemies desired to be made friends again with are dispatched from. Primakov’s regime urges behind the scenes what he has just done publicly: give in and you will not suffer consequences. Military commanders and civilian officials in important positions of regional power are directly contacted where possible.


Inside Moscow, American soldiers continue to occupy the city. The 82nd & 101st Airborne Divisions have men on the streets while further US XVIII Airborne Corps assets are here too. Britain and Poland have also flown in troops. There are few of them, a couple of thousand combined, and it is in many ways just a symbolic presence despite political posturing of it being an important nature. Soldiers with the Gloucestershire Regiment go to the British Embassy complex, located on the Island just across from the Kremlin, after coming up from lines of communications security duties back in Poland. The Primakov regime does have some soldiers of their own within Moscow as well. There aren’t that many of them and most are from Union forces who switched sides in the face of the Coalition invasion coming out of Eastern Europe. They are here though, pending the arrival of larger numbers of long-term Primakov loyalists from out of Siberia arriving in number. Small parties of them spend today moving with officials from the regime who came in from over the Urals via the Arctic yesterday in going to selected locations within Moscow. The Americans have a presence at the Moscow White House (where the seat of the State Duma is) but, due to agreements made, they stand aside as Primakov’s people arrive: plans are already underway to begin restoring the government. The Lubyanka building has survived the war with the Americans and to there Primakov’s people go too. However, it was only left untouched by falling bombs and cruise missile strikes because Gromov’s regime took over it in February where the FSB personnel there were arrested en masse. The near-destroyed Union military headquarters on Arbatskaya Square is also somewhere that representatives of the legitimate regime go to. Primakov is engaging in games of symbolic presence himself.

Occupied by foreign troops, Moscow hasn’t seen the descent into chaos which plagued Leningrad and Minsk before they fell nor have there been the scenes on the streets of troubling incidents post-capture such as in Kiev and Riga. However, Muscovites aren’t welcoming of the Coalition forces here. The Americans are everywhere throughout the city. Interactions take place between the occupiers and those who call this city home. Only a small portion of them are violent and come about when the Americans come under attack – or believe they are about to – yet it seems as if everyone knows about these… and hear a different version of what happened rather than the truth. There is no organised resistance from pro-Gromov armed parties but the odd riflemen with loyalties to that dying regime who hasn’t surrendered or switched factions to Primakov takes opportunities when presented to engage the Americans. This doesn’t work out well for them, not with the Americans everywhere. HMMWVs and helicopters move soldiers around the city at speed to respond to shooting incidents. Those other interactions come between civilians and the foreign troops with regards to security. The Militsiya – Moscow’s Police – didn’t fight to defend the city alongside what few troops that Gromov was able to get to defend his capital. They do not have the manpower though to stop acts of criminality now taking place. That is where the Americans step in when their attention is drawn to robberies, looting and violence. Elsewhere, Muscovites watch as the Americans are all over military sites across the city and extend cordons around them. Those who live here do not like these foreigners telling them what to do and pointing weapons at them when they refuse to. Insults are given, stones are thrown and, on occasion, ‘Molotov cocktails’ are also chucked. The worst of this unpleasantness isn’t everywhere but where it does occur, it exasperates a worsening situation.

US Secretary of State Blanchard arrives in Moscow late in the day. He visits Primakov at the Kremlin and the matter of troops in Moscow comes up. The two of them both want to see a lower number of American forces inside the city. Primakov wants to bring loyalists here, those from out in Siberia. The situation in the Urals complicates that but the air-link – via a roundabout route – is still viable. Blanchard is amenable to this and an agreement is reached to allow that to happen. He and the US Government both want to see Primakov’s forces taking responsibility for security in Moscow with the ultimate, long-term goal for there to be no American troops on the streets. A pull-out will take some time yet it is desired by each side. The still ongoing fighting with Gromov’s forces is something to factor in yet the two of them both know that Primakov legitimacy and his amnesty are having an effect throughout the Union. Successful discussions on this are met with disagreements on other things though. The details of what Primakov said when he called for national unity were unknown to the Americans ahead of that. That unity being spoken of was directed towards the other republics of the Union as well as within Russia. Primakov wants Central Asia back. He also wants to see the Union maintaining other territory to the west too. The Baltics aren’t included as per long standing agreements between the Coalition and him, but Primakov tells Blanchard that within Belarus and the Ukraine, those in power there want to stay with the Union. In response, Blanchard politely informs Primakov that those in power are actually Coalition troops. Independence for those two nations is what the Coalition wants. The Kaliningrad Oblast is another matter too. The different points of view on these matters aren’t going to be worked out as easily as the manner of troops on Moscow’s streets.

  James G ,

Is Finland going for a Round Three to get its 1940 borders back.

85 – Switching sides


3 PARA conducts an airborne drop deep inside Western Russia at dawn. The battalion of British Army paratroopers land just before dawn at two selected areas along the banks of the Volga River downstream from the Rybinsk Reservoir. At Glebovo and Myshkin, small localities far away from where the frontlines of war are, the Paras arrive at sites marked by pathfinders who arrived during the night. Low-flying Hercules C3s flown by the RAF are the aircraft from which the Paras jump. The landings are generally on-target. Very few men end up blown off course or hurt by physical obstructions. From landing sites each side of where the Volga is particularly wide here, the Paras rapidly move upon their riverside objectives. There are Union Army engineers in their way, reservists from bridging and transportation units, along with a few riflemen up ahead. Gunfire is exchanged and where those near to Myshkin put up strong resistance, an air strike comes in with the RAF making a return. Tornado GR1 strike-bombers flying from the captured Pskov Airbase come in much lower than the departed Hercules’ did and drop their own cargoes. Explosions rock enemy positions, killing many and wounding more. Away the Tornados go and the Paras come forward themselves. Resistance is soon over at Myshkin when the Paras get in-close. Up at Glebovo, the single 3 PARA company dropped either side of the river here – the other two companies of men landed upstream – find no one willing to fight them: surrenders now follow desertions which occurred the moment the British were sighted. 3 PARA takes control of the bridge and ferry crossings over the Volga. Less than two hours later, they are reached by ground forces. The Desert Rats, the 7th Armoured Brigade, arrives with Royal Engineers tucked in behind the lead tank units. Sappers go to work to allow for the passage over the Volga of not just the Desert Rats but the rest of the 1st Armoured Division following behind them. The Volga here is quite the physical water barrier to forward movement but 3 PARA’s success in taking control of the Union’s own crossing links, to send their men west whereas the British wish to go east, mean that it won’t stop the advance going forward. The rail bridge at Glebovo is of use though there are better connections over the river at Myshkin with two vehicle ferries now in British hands. The Royal Engineers bring their own equipment to help move the 1st Armoured Division over the river too. German-built M2 amphibious bridging vehicles arrive and enter the Volga to allow for British tanks & armoured vehicles to roll over them. Work begins on erecting temporary bridges as well.

Meanwhile, the 3rd Mechanised Division reaches the large town of Cherepovets, on the far northern side of the reservoir. British tanks and infantry have come here ready for a fight after intelligence reports suggested that mobilised reservists have been instructed to report to Cherepovets to be armed with weapons taken from storage sites. The Army Air Corps helicopters flying scouting missions ahead of the arrival of the division’s 1st Mechanised Brigade aren’t shot at though when flying low and having a nose about. No gatherings of large numbers of armed men are spotted either. The 1st Mechanised Brigade rolls in with instructions to secure the mass of transportation links which converge here. That they do and meet no serious resistance. A few odd shots here and there are taken at them from some patriots who are willing to fight for the town but that doesn’t have any real impact. Cherepovets falls with ease. In discovering what has happened to the expected opposition, a Union Army colonel makes an appearance and declares to the brigadier commanding the 1st Mechanised Brigade that his loyalties no longer lie with the Gromov regime. He personally cancelled the mobilisation with regard to Cherepovets and is willing to work with Coalition in helping them rid his country of such illegitimacy. With this objective secured in this manner, there are moves made past Cherepovets by the 3rd Mechanised Division to reach further objectives. Fedotovo Airbase some distance away to the east is taken and then the town of Vologda reached. Union Navy aviation personnel at Fedotovo put up resistance – and are run through in a tank attack – but at Vologda, there are similar scenes as witnessed in Cherepovets. No fighting takes place in that second town and a senior officer echoes that of his distant comrade in stating that despite what communications the British might have intercepted talking of a mass mobilisation of fighting men, that has been shelved on a local level.

The Ninth Army has been formed during the past week on instructions from STAVKA to oversee the mobilisation of reservists across towns & cities through a large area around the Rybinsk Reservoir. Equipment from storage sites in the form of T-55s, BTR-50s, AK-47s and such like is meant to be issued to a complete field army assembled in Cherepovets, Vologda and other places. Reservists have answered the call in good numbers and STAVKA had intended to use the Ninth Army in conjunction with others raised elsewhere to march westwards. The British have reached this area first but there was still anticipated to be a fight put up. At Yaroslavl where the headquarters for the Ninth Army is, the general named as its commander was willing to do just that up until late yesterday when news came that not only Moscow had fallen but that Primakov was there in the Kremlin. Ahead of today’s call from Primakov for national unity and the promise of an amnesty, he’s already made his mind up to switch sides. The Ninth Army is going to be turned over to Primakov when the general figures out how to do that. Yet, his command over the widely scattered units raised out of cadre status collapses all around him. Subordinates have cut communications with his headquarters and are doing everything they can to rob the Ninth Army of all that it could have been. What is seen at Cherepovets and Vologda is done at Kostroma and Rybinsk too. Only in the city of Yaroslavl is his authority holding. Indecision grips the general through today when it comes over what to do. Does he stand the Ninth Army down? Does he try to maintain order somehow when everything is falling apart? The British I Corps ‘helps’ him find a solution. Their 1st Armoured Division approaches Yaroslavl after the Desert Rats come across from Myshkin. There is only silence from that outpost and the thinking was that there was mutiny there, not enemy action. Now streaming towards the city is a mass of armour. Aircraft and helicopters reach Yaroslavl ahead of the Desert Rats and they are engaged. Anti-aircraft guns open up on them and there comes the launch of a few SAMs but the Ninth Army has no air defences capable of doing anything much more than providing a dangerous nuisance. STAVKA was willing to send them into battle against Coalition forces without protection from above regardless. An impassioned plea is made by one of the Ninth Army’s headquarters staff officers to make a fight for it, to defend the Rodina against foreign invaders, but it doesn’t carry any weight. The army commander issues ceasefire instructions. The Ninth Army will not fight the British but will switch sides instead. Soon enough, the British are in Yaroslavl after beforehand taking Rybinsk. The Desert Rats will go all the way to Kostroma before the end of the day too, all without resistance.


The Americans follow the Volga Highway away from where they are east of Moscow towards Gorki. US III Corps elements, supported by massed air power, engage with the last remnants of Gromov’s Sixth Guards Tank Army on the way. The 55th Artillery Brigade and the 93rd Guards Motor Rifle Division spent yesterday exchanging fire with their supposed comrades-in-arms who were surrendering and not switching sides as believed, but today those Union Army forces in the area around Vladimir face the Americans. Led by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment to make initial contact, the 2nd Armored Division comes into play once Union forces are under fire. A huge tank battle rages across the countryside north of the Volga Highway and then behind Vladimir to the east. The Americans push forward making use of all of their firepower on the ground and above to blast their opponents to pieces. A withdrawal back to better defensive positions eastwards would have been the best thing for the Union troops to do once they make contact with an overwhelming force like they do, but their commander obeyed orders coming down direct from STAVKA to hold their ground her. The result is this destruction on a grand scale along with many, many lives lost. The Battle of Vladimir was envisioned by the Union’s senior-most military commanders to be one which would last at least a full day and give them time to get other forces into defensive position closer to Gorki. This isn’t something that they get the chance to do.

From Vladimir, the Americans move further onwards. The Blackhorse Cav’ is back out in front and the III Corps has the 1st Cavalry Division (an armoured division in all but name) in behind too. Combat losses incurred with the 2nd Armored Division don’t mean that it can’t continue the advance but that follow-up division is believed necessary. There is strong opposition reported ahead of Gorki and back through that city on the Volga. Gromov has raised the Second Army there, something similar to the Ninth Army that the British are dealing with to the north. Poorly-equipped and nowhere near at projected strength it is yet the III Corps come prepared for a full-scale fight with it. That begins on the banks of the Klyazma River past Gorokhovets. Second Army troops put up a fight to try to stop the III Corps from following the Volga Highway past this narrow waterway. Once more, all that the Americans can bring into play they do. The Blackhorse Cav’ fought with the US XVIII Airborne Corps inside Belarus and they know how to effectively (and safety) coordinate air and artillery support to ensure they overcome opposition like this. Engineers are soon helping the Cav’s tanks and armoured vehicles get over the Klyazma as they go through brave mobilised reservists who should never have been sent into a fight like this. By the time the trailing 2nd Armored Division reaches that river, the Blackhorse Cav’ is already closing in upon the Mulino military base. Gromov and STAVKA are gone from here and there are just more riflemen armed with AK-47s supported by the old, ineffective tanks to try and stop its capture. Onwards, always onwards, the Blackhorse Cav’ go. The industrial city of Dzerzhinsk beside the Oka River is bypassed as the charge is made directly for Gorki. Since Moscow fell, the Coalition has considered Gorki to be Gromov’s de facto capital and the Americans want to take it. Alas, Gorki will not fall today.

Outside of where Sormovo Airbase is, next to the ruins of the Sokol Aircraft Plant (American bombing has destroyed one of the Union’s largest aviation manufacturing facilities), the Blackhorse Cav’ are brought to a halt. Even with the supporting efforts of AH-64 Apaches and A-10 Thunderbolts, there is no getting past an effective defence being mounted. This is repeated at Strigino Airport too. Both of these open areas of ground are located just outside the city itself and dug-in defenders from the Second Army are present. Back into the urban areas just behind them where Gorki’s western outskirts are, there are more defenders too. Artillery is within civilian areas and there are missile teams there which harass American aircraft enough to see the free-for-all witnessed earlier in the day with air power used as it was now ending. Infantrymen with the 2nd Armored Division come up and help to clear away the toughest defences at both the airbase and the airport but there are riflemen who fall back into Gorki itself once pushed out of open ground. The city beside the Volga is full of many civilians who are now in areas where the Americans would have to blast their way through if the effort is to continue with a full-on drive forward. The Americans come to a halt in terms of going into Gorki directly. However, they are still busy. Air attention is shifted away from the western reaches of Gorki to elsewhere to try to impede the movement of more Second Army units into the parts of the city on this side of the Volga. Gorki extends across the very base of the Oka and on the far side of the Volga too. The defended bits can be cut off. The 1st Cavalry Division doesn’t cross the Klyazma to follow the rest of the III Corps and instead goes over the Oka downstream near to Pavlovo. American tanks are quickly isolating Gorki from the south and meet surprised Second Army units during the night as they do so. Much of this reserve army is yet to reach where the frontlines are in Gorki and the Americans stop them from doing that by blasting their way through them away from urban areas. Orders from McCaffrey at EURCOM headquarters sent down the line to the III Corps are that the city’s defenders are to be pinned and bypassed: further III Corps units coming up with encircle the city until it eventually falls. Gorki will not provide the impediment to further advances deeper and deeper into the Union as STAVKA wishes it will be. The Americans plan to push onwards and, if need be, they will go all the way to the Urals.

Other events today elsewhere away from here and any other portions of the frontlines of the war will make that all unnecessary though. Further instances of the switching of sides are taking place and they are widespread with much significance.

86 – Rats are abandoning the sinking ship


US Marines near to Rostov stay where they are. Either side of them, Coalition forces coming out of the Eastern Ukraine go into the attack as they advance into Southern Russia. The defiant stand by the Union’s Forty–Ninth Army only the Lower Don comes to an end. Hundreds of tanks, supported by waves of aircraft & attack helicopters, tear into their flanks to open up passage through. It isn’t Rostov which those on the attack aim to capture but they will eventually do so before the end of the day. Much to the annoyance of those serving with the 2nd Marine Division, they have no involvement in that either. Hungarian troops and US Army reservists go into the city as elements of the Eastern European Corps complete their operation to pound their way through the resistance offered by the 19th Motor Rifle Division. It is the US Marines which keep the Union’s attention facing to their front but the entrance into Rostov when opposition collapses is something that they can only watch from afar. Union forces surrender to the Hungarian’s 80th Mechanised Infantry Brigade and the American-manned 157th Infantry Brigade after they later proceed to come at those on the frontlines from behind. The 19th Motor Rifle Division is still firing on the US Marines up until the very end and are only giving up due to a complete destruction of their rear areas. In the grand scheme of things, when it comes to the progress of the war, this really shouldn’t matter. Enemy troops surrendering is good for the Coalition. However, the 2nd Marine Division would have much preferred to be the ones to which their long-term opponents outside Rostov laid down their weapons for. It is rather unfair.

The Eastern European Corps brought a small portion of its assigned units down to Rostov with most of the command’s units remaining up in the Donbas. In contrast, when the Polish I Corps attacks the 9th Motor Rifle Division to the east of Rostov, breaching the defensive line of the Don River, most of that force is here. Only the Poles with their 11th Armored Cavalry Division and the American 194th Armored Brigade are still in the Donbas: everyone else is here in Southern Russia. A three division attack goes forward upstream of Rostov. Polish troops with their 10th Mechanised Division fight Union Army units and locally-recruited Cossack volunteers on the edges of the small cities of Novocherkassk (an historic Cossack city) and Shakhty, while in between those two areas more Poles with their 1st Mechanised Division and the US Army’s 5th Infantry Division charge forward. They go over the Don and then the narrow Manych River on the way before spreading out once clear of water barriers. Air support rains bombs down from above on anyone in their way and those sighted up ahead too. The Poles break to the right, the Americans go straight ahead. Their tanks shoot at any distant targets which the air support has failed to silence and the infantry mounted in both division’s many infantry carriers aren’t called upon to dismount and dig-out opposition from anywhere. South of the Forty–Ninth Army’s forward positions on the Don, there is no one in the rear of any note that is capable of causing any form of slowdown to the advance underway. The Polish I Corps race through the North Caucasus.

Only once they get near to the city of Krasnodar do the 1st Mechanised Division meet serious opposition. US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons are already engaging enemy units when the Poles show up on the ground. An accidental blue-on-blue soon occurs where a company of T-72s are attacked by the F-16s despite every precaution taken. The losses aren’t that serious though there will be Poles going home in body-bags because someone above them broke the rules. Other air support is far better directed. Without those Americans above, the victory won at Krasnodar wouldn’t have been as successful as it is and would have certainly be far more costly than it ultimately is. Enemy tanks are met by the Poles. These are T-55s but the ones fielded by the Union Navy’s marines here are up-gunned with additional armour add-ons. The 810th Naval Infantry Brigade is positioned to defend the coastline from further American amphibious assaults – there have been feinted moves at this; the US Marines are all up near Rostov and not aboard amphibious ships spotted out in the Black Sea – but now has enemy units coming from behind them. Their commander reacts well to the sudden Polish drive towards his rear and puts tanks in their way. In opposition, there are a lot of T-72s though and all that air power to be faced. Union tanks are blown up and BTR-60 infantry carriers rushing forward with the marines forming brigade’s on-hand operation reserve are hit too, many before they can unload their cargoes of riflemen. A major defeat is incurred by 810th Naval Infantry Brigade detachments sent away from the coast. The 1st Mechanised Division moves on from the Krasnodar area soon enough. They don’t go into the city but instead move on the coast from inland. More Naval Infantry units are encountered as it gets dark. They are spread over a large area with a sea-based defence and the Poles come at them from behind using weight of numbers, air support and then are assisted to by shelling from US Navy warships too. Through the night, the marines guarding the Black Sea coast will be overcome. Novorossiysk and the Taman Peninsula will both be reached.

The 5th Infantry Division advances towards the city of Stavropol, another important communications link for the North Caucasus. Cossack volunteers are met on the way there and there are also a few Union Army reservists also run into where men marching towards the Don are encountered on the way to battle. Nothing of substance is met to slow down the drive of American forces deep into Southern Russia. The 5th Infantry Division isn’t regarded as one of the best units of the US Army and is on the deactivation list (that has been put off again and again over the past few years) but how far forward through enemy territory it moves today is impressive. Air support is key to that. Without it, only half the distance would be covered. The presence of enemy forces in the way is reported and then attacked long before the 5th Infantry Division’s units can reach them. When they do, they run through what survivors are left and stay on schedule to get where they need to be. Stavropol’s airport doubles as a Union Air Force training facility. When American tanks and infantry carriers get here, they see the destruction caused by submarine-fired Tomahawks and aircraft from the USS America. The facility was supporting Union air efforts over the Caucasus before being knocked out of action. The airport is located northeast of the city and is taken first as part of the securing of the transportation links. Entry into Stavropol is then made. Armed personnel are reported to be in here complete with tanks. A careful entry by an American armoured column is made to reach that opposition and test its reaction. That reaction is a rapid collapse. Men abandon their units and run. The few who remain don’t fire on the Americans and instead make a call for parley. There will be no defence of Stavropol and no need for the whole city to be taken by the 5th Infantry Division. The Americans can look to move elsewhere come tomorrow.


Down in Georgia, Union forces fighting there have no idea that Southern Russia is being overrun: the idea that the Americans and Poles are just over the mountains would be dismissed as ridiculous when the frontlines are meant to be on the Don at Rostov. American senior officers are made aware through the day of the speed of the advance but the commander of Joint Task Force Thunder, General Griffith, knows that that isn’t going to have an immediate effect on the ongoing fighting throughout this Coalition country. The Polish I Corps would have to reach the Caucasus Mountains, come over them and then enter Georgia itself for the battle to be significantly affected by that advance from the Don. That could take a couple of days. The more pressing issue at hand is the Union’s Fourth Army. His forces fighting near Kutaisi are holding the enemy back but more of Adjara is overrun through today and the fighting reaches the very edges of Batumi. Flights into the airport of transport aircraft are cancelled. The F-16s are still flying – making combat take-offs and daring landings – but the presence of the 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division practically at the gates of this port city make the air support they can give limited. There is too much ordnance in the air and Camp Bowie is under artillery fire. National guardsmen with the 39th Infantry Brigade out of Arkansas are doing their very best but they are being driven all the way back to the sea.

From out there in the Black Sea, the USS George Washington is now on-station. America is having a brief stand-down and jets from that newly-arrived carrier are in Georgian skies. They are flying missions from distance at the beginning of today though the carrier is sailing at flank speed eastwards. More air missions can be launched and ordnance loads increase as the hours go by. Bombs and missiles come off the A-6 Intruders and F/A-18 Hornets, slamming into Union forces below. There is an especially bad friendly fire incident where a dozen national guardsmen are killed & wounded due to a communications mix-up but elsewhere the air attacks hit where they are supposed to. Still, despite all of that, the 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division edges its way forward. Not much is left of this unit but it is enough. They continue to get closer and closer to Batumi. Things change come the evening. Just after five o’clock, the advances halt. Union riflemen – there are oh so few tanks left – halt where they are and start digging-in. US Navy aircraft still bomb them and the men with the 39th Infantry Brigade engage them in fire-fights, but there is no further advance. A surrender isn’t happening and no ceasefire is taking place yet forward movement is over. Orders from JTF Thunder are for American forces here to continue what they are doing in firing on them. Griffiths is informed a few hours later that the 295th Motor Rifle Division is no longer trying to advance near to Kutaisi either. They cannot go forward through the defence mounted there by American and Georgian forces fighting together but are no longer trying those suicidal efforts to do the impossible. Fighting, and the deaths which come with that, goes on for the rest of the day regardless. The Washington makes heavier strikes as well. Meanwhile, events developing elsewhere which brought this halt to the Fourth Army’s advance are slowly being revealed to explain all of this.

During the period where non-Russian republics of the Union were the tail wagging the dog, before Lebed took charge in Moscow, there were wide-ranging and truly significant changes in the post-Soviet military forces of the Union. The West focused on the cutbacks and withdrawals out of Eastern Europe. There was an awareness of what else was going on though not as much attention was paid to the rising ethnic dynamics of Union military units. In the past, the Soviets had mixed ethnicities across their armed forces. A unit based in one location through their empire was formed from men conscripted nationwide and they were all garrisoned far from home. It made sense to the Soviets and wouldn’t allow for any nationalistic revolt in one region to allow for separatists there to gain control of large numbers of troops in coherent units to oppose Moscow. Additions to the New Union Treaty upon the formation of this new country saw that all discarded seemingly without a care. The republics gained control over the make-up of the military. It was still the Union Armed Forces but the republics filled units based in their territory with their own people. There were many exceptions to this – Spetsnaz, the Airborne Troops, Naval Infantry and the Strategic Rocket Forces being the best examples – and even at the level of ‘normal’ tank & motor rifle formations it wasn’t fully complete. However, when the Union fell into civil war and then since the Coalition began Operation Flaming Phoenix, the effect is just what Soviet system was there to stop. Central Asian troops stayed loyal to their homelands when succession came. Ukrainian troops who’ve recently surrendered near to Moscow did so with the knowledge that their homeland was free of Moscow’s rule and they wanted to go home.

The Fourth Army is an Azerbaijan formation. Ethnic Azeris make up the majority of its personnel including the command staff. Azerbaijan has remained loyal to Gromov’s Union throughout everything. That is until today. President Ayaz Mütallibov in Baku is deposed and a former leader of the Azerbaijan SSR when it was part of the Soviet Union, Ilham Aliyev, takes control. Aliyev is a former KGB man who fell from favour with Gorbachev back in 1987. He lost power back then though has never gone away. A reinvention of who he is has long been in the making and with the support of forces in Baku, Aliyev seizes power when Mütallibov has a sudden and very unnatural heart attack. Aliyev orders a halt to the Fourth Army’s attack in Georgia – regardless of the situation on the ground – and begins the process of taking Azerbaijan out of this war, out of the Union and to independence. There is talk of freedom and liberty from Aliyev but Azeris aren’t about to get any of that. This is all about one man and his power trip. More rats are abandoning the sinking sink that is the Gromov regime.