Blue Dawn, 1994

Thank you.

Well... things got complicated. It started out with a realisation but this has doubters. The White House is trying to dig its way out, and thus digging a deeper hole.
That is a good solution. There are plenty of good solutions but the wrong one has been chosen and the result will be a disaster.
What is coming in Moscow will be 5. The name 'coup-grad' came from the US media and it is a bit unfair because they all haven't been.
1 was the OTL August 1991 coup which failed. 2 was the deposing of Ryzhkov by Makashov in violent street battles during the Democratic primaries in the US, resulting in Khasbulatov being put in charge. 3 was a 'palace coup' without violence where Lebed took over. 4 was the battle for power after Lebed's death which saw more street fighting. 5 is coming soon.

99 – Unnecessary force levels


Throughout their participation in Operation Flaming Phoenix, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment has operated far out ahead of larger US Army forces following. Under the command of the US XVIII Airborne Corps initially, the Blackhorse Cav’ led the way through Belarus for the 24th Infantry Division and engaged Union Army elements all the way to Moscow alongside that higher command’s airborne divisions too. The XVIII Corps remains in the Union’s capital though and the Blackhorse Cav’ is now deep in the heart of Western Russia as part of the US III Corps now (alongside the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment too). The southern reaches of the Urals are just over the horizon when the Blackhorse Cav’ reaches Dimitrovgrad today after a night-time crossing of the Volga near to Ulyanovsk. No one has exchanged fire with the tankers and scouts tearing forward since early yesterday and even then, those who still want to fight and die for the deposed former regime didn’t put up much of a fight either. Orders for the Blackhorse Cav’ are to keep going eastwards until either they are ordered to stop or meet those forces of America’s allies in the form of Primakov’s West Siberian Army Group. At Dimitrovgrad, soldiers from Siberia are met. T-80 tanks and BMP-2 infantry carriers with the markings of the 207th Motor Rifle Division are encountered. That is an Eighth Tank Army unit only a few days ago under the Urals Front on the wrong side of the Union’s civil war but they are now with the WSAG. The Blackhorse Cav’ comes to a halt with its MI-A1 Abrams’ and M-3A2 Bradley’s no longer rolling.

The 3rd Cav’ meets with WSAG forces which have come through the Urals near to Naberezhnye Chelny (elements of the Thirty–Sixth Army) and the 2nd Cav’ – with the US V Corps – runs into more of the Eighth Tank Army near to Tolyatti as well. No longer are they encountering scattered Gromov loyalists who are fighting for a lost cause. These were well-armed, well-organised and veteran Union forces coming westwards to meet them. The trio of armoured cavalry regiments, each larger than their pre-war organisation with attachments added especially in aviation & artillery support, have achieved their mission and so stop going forward. Behind them, more than half a dozen heavy American divisions are following the path set and word goes through the III & V Corps of what is happening at the frontlines. Union Army units, these ones answering to allies, are positioned straight ahead. No further advances can be made unless the Cav’ units are ordered to engage them. There is no more of Western Russia to advance through any longer with the WSAG – it is huge now after subsuming the Urals Front – in the way.

On the northern flank, the British pass through Kirov this morning and on their way to Glazov when they make contact with allies ahead of that town. The Desert Rats are once more leading the 1st Armoured Division with the 7th Armoured Brigade reporting up to the British I Corps command staff that they have linked up with elements of the WSAG’s Fifteenth Army that have been travelling fast and light into former Gromov-controlled territory. The Desert Rats link up with the 81st Guards Motor Rifle Division. Away to the south of where the Americans are in the middle, the Polish I Corps detour around the Tatishchevo ICBM field (under higher orders to avoid it) and approach the city of Saratov on the Volga. They had wanted to go over it, go past Engels Airbase and be in a position to be ready to fight any Gromov loyalists coming out of Kazakhstan but find that Saratov is already in the hands of Union airmobile troops flown in this morning. Those allies are on the roads leading away from Saratov including establishing a firm link with the facility housing all of those SS-19 Stilettos at Tatishchevo. The Poles aren’t going any further forward either and it will be later on in the day that they find out that Union Army forces holding onto border areas in Kazakhstan have all defected to the Primakov side too.

Coalition aircraft – American ones mainly but with the British, the Canadians & the Poles making their presence felt as well – have spent some time now flying from captured bases on occupied soil. They have established themselves at many localities while maintaining significant concentrations in a few places at improvised fortified facilities. Those airbases furthest east being used are the trio of Camp Falcon, Camp Guardian and Camp Kerrey. The first is at Chkalovsky Airbase near Moscow, the second is at Lipetsk Airbase and the final one, named after the president whose death this war is all about, is near Moscow again with Ramenskoye Airbase in American hands. Each of these are some distance back from where Coalition ground troops have gone charging towards, and then over, the Volga. There are many smaller facilities located here and there but these big airbases – as well as other ones further west – are where dozens upon dozens of daily air missions are being flown from. There are no more like them away to the east due to the speed of the recent forward movement and the winding down of the war. Using airborne tankers, in addition to holding divert sites for emergencies, the lack of a closer big airbase isn’t much of an inconvenience though. There is still plentiful air cover available for those on the ground and they also have their own significant numbers of helicopters too. There isn’t anywhere else that they can use to such a degree though, even if there were standing orders to go and seize one. Ivanovo Severny & Lebyazhye Airbases have each been looked at yet the two of those attractive-looking facilities are in hands of defectors from the Gromov regime who declared for Primakov several days ago and hold onto what they have. Forcing them out would mean a fight: Primakov’s regime is meant to be an ally.


Ahead of contact being made on the ground late this morning, that of August 13th, orders for the WSAG came that overnight forward advances were to be made of their own with no stopping until they reached the Americans, British & Poles coming towards them. The previously slowly advancing armies that came through the Urals, and those on the western side of those mountains too, were instructed to make haste and head Coalition ground forces off. Under no circumstances are they to open fire upon the Seventh US Army (unless fired upon first in a deliberate attack) but they are to meet them as far west as possible. It is all ‘friendly’ territory though which they moved across in darkness and then through daylight but it certainly doesn’t feel that way to many of those on the ground. American aircraft have been filling the sky and behaving especially aggressive. Local civilians – their own people! – haven’t been very welcoming too as the columns of tanks and armoured vehicles moved forward. They aren’t ready to throw out the welcome mat for foreign troops but neither have they been happy to see the Union Army making another show of strength. The WSAG has done as ordered though and, finally, put a physical stop to the oncoming Coalition armies. They do this without firing a shot.

Instead, they have gotten firmly in the way.

The advance orders came from Novosibirsk. Marshal Shaposhnikov’s name is on the instructions which have come down the chain-of-command with no excuses for delay to be allowed. Reach the Americans, his subordinates have been told, and make sure that they know who you are and that there is no way for them to go around you to keep on moving forward themselves. This has now been achieved.

Union Army generals haven’t been told what is going on big picture-wise. They know nothing of the secret meeting yesterday at Camp Raven in Western Siberia. However, they do have a better understanding of things that their opposite numbers in terms of Coalition commanders below the very top rung. Stopping the Coalition – or just ‘the Americans’ as they are told – is what they understand they must do. For those on the other side, they are all still in the dark: those Americans, Britons and Poles are simply instructed to chase down Gromov loyalists and link arms with their allies. At the same time though, the individual Coalition officers aren’t dummies. They know something is up. Their orders to go onwards make sense but the force level is unnecessary for this mission. Done carefully and quietly, their own deployments are made so that if something goes wrong, if they end up fighting against the WSAG, a force double its previous strength now the Union’s civil war is finished, they are in a position to do so. A fight with the WSAG isn’t supposed to be on the cards but if it happens, it will be quite something indeed with those on the Coalition side certain that they can win that just as they beat Gromov’s armies on the way to Moscow.


While the link-ups between allies occur, at Dimitrovgrad and many other places, something else is going on though far from the furthest expanses of Western Russia within sight of the Urals.

Fighting returns to the streets of Moscow yet these aren’t engagements which Coalition forces inside the city are involved in this time around.

It is all a massive compromise.
The WSAG answers to Shaposhnikov, so, it better be!
Gromov ran things through STAVKA, down the Urals Front (in the east) / Western Front (to the west) but Primakov run a tighter ship military wise. The WSAG is now eight armies strong - four ex-Gromov ones - and, with attachments, will have... say 25 divisions. Seventh US Army has an overall equal force - sort of - but unlike Gromov's armies, the WSAG is all together as one rather than strung out with many haven't seen a fight / weakened. A fight near to the Urals will be much, much bloodier!
As long as the takedown of Primakov goes well, the WSAG should stay on-side. There's nationalism there but they are obeying orders without question, even the defectors from the previous Urals Front.

100 – Moscow’s last coup


Through air corridors opened by the Coalition, military transports with the Union Air Force and civilian airliners in Aeroflot colours fly soldiers across Western Russia from Siberia to Moscow. The US Air Force has fighters up and they shadow the aircraft involved in the airlift. At any moment, they could put a stop to it: those Union aircraft are unescorted and flying through hostile skies despite the own country being below. That doesn’t happen though. Most of them fly to Domodedovo Airport though there are landings made at the American-controlled Ramenskoye Airbase too. Each of these are located to the southeast of Moscow with a ban on any Union air activity from supposed allies in effect until this morning. Ramenskoye continues to function as Camp Kerrey with frontline American combat aircraft based here while Domodedovo has been serving as a major aero-MEDEVAC hub as well as from where the bodies of dead US service-personnel have been flown home from. Aircraft bringing in Union soldiers are expected but few on the ground welcome the sight of them nor their human cargoes. Those are ‘good Russians’ and not ‘bad Russians’ they’ve been told. There’s no real difference in the eyes of many.

Despite the use of heavy-lift military cargo transports such as An-22s and Il-76s – alongside the airliners –, there isn’t much equipment which comes out of them along with all of the soldiers. Armoured vehicles and heavy artillery could have been flown across during the airlift yet the American-imposed restrictions on what friendly Union forces can bring into Moscow remain in effect. The arriving soldiers bring their assault rifles and also have man-portable heavy weapons – missile-launchers, mortars and such like – but that is really it in terms of equipment. These soldiers serve with the 55th Naval Infantry & 105th Guards Airborne Divisions and each of those are light units. They have been operating tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and self-propelled guns when in Siberia yet not here they will. There are trucks and civilian buses waiting for them as transport and towards them they move off to begin loading for a trip up to their capital.

Primakov knows these troops are on their way. He has signed off on their incoming arrival. Marshal Shaposhnikov has been promising for a few days now that he will make sure that loyal troops are sent to Moscow to ensure the security of Primakov’s rule in the re-united nation’s capital. They are here now and have come through air facilities that the Americans have previously refused to allow for their allies to use. Only Vnukovo Airport has seen Union flights come in and out and they have been single aircraft bringing in only a limited number of people at a time from Siberia. A mass airlift of soldiers is welcome. These are ones which Primakov wants to see in Moscow. There are others here but they are all Gromov defectors: he has more faith in what Shaposhnikov is sending over. Loyal soldiers from the Airborne Troops and the Naval Infantry arriving in number into Moscow give him comfort in the security of his regime.

Inside the Kremlin, Primakov is holding meetings this morning with political figures. There are those who have come in before today from Novosibirsk and others who have spent the many months of the civil war in Gromov-controlled territory. The final stages of a working political agreement to govern the nation, much of it very democratic too (at least on paper), are being finalised. The meeting is suddenly interrupted. One of Primakov’s aides gets his attention and calls away the nation’s leader to another room where the FSB Director has urgently requested to see him.

Primakov is told by his chief spymaster that there is a coup underway… right now! Shaposhnikov has turned on them!


Joint Task Force Moscow is the command entity for Coalition forces in and around the Union capital. It is separate from the Fifth & Seventh United States Armies spread across Western Russia and is led by General Binford Peay. The US XVIII Airborne Corps is the major combat component of JTF Moscow but there are many attachments including air units, small numbers of Coalition forces assigned to the city and special forces elements under orders. Furthermore, much of the logistics support network for Coalition forces spread across the Union is centralised within the Moscow area due to the many transportation links here and all of those involved in that – more personnel than those on combat tasks – report to Peay too. He reports directly to General McCaffrey and his superior has told him only this morning what is going on.

Disgust comes from Peay. He’s angry at what he is told about Primakov being involved in the Kerrey assassination last month but his strongest feelings, those which leave him in a sickened rage, come about due to what else he is told. They’ve known in Washington for several days now that Gromov was innocent of killing America’s president and yet there has been continued fighting inside the Union against remnants of his regime… while the United States remains allied to Primakov! This has been kept from him and also everyone else. There is a political dimension, McCaffrey tells him, and that is one which Peay can grasp. However, what has happened in an outrage! McCaffrey informs him that Primakov is to be deposed today and Peay’s first thoughts are that the XVIII Corps will be involved in that. Such an idea is quickly shot down by what McCaffrey says about the incoming Union troops from Siberia. There is another faction out there and they are America’s new allies: Peay is to have JTF Moscow forces stand aside and let the Union sort this out by themselves with those new leaders becoming America’s new allies.

The disgust only grows at such a thing. He obeys his orders but makes a protest to McCaffrey at this. This isn’t how things should be, Peay tells him. He’s told to like it or lump it though because those in Washington are making the decisions. They have the authority and the duty of Peay is to obey his legal orders. He issues his own instructions once the Union soldiers arrive to have his forces stand aside as the takedown of Primakov gets underway. However, his mind is ticking over as to what to do in response. His conscience will not allow him to forget nor forgive those in the Robb Administration that have done this. They’ve lied to the American people, the whole world too, and are continuing that lie now. Who are these new people they have allied themselves with? How can they be trusted? What if they too had something to do with the murder of Robb’s predecessor and once more his country has gotten in bed with another monster?

Not under Peay’s command are intelligence officers from various organisations within the US Intelligence Community assigned to field stations within Moscow. The CIA, DIA & NSA all have people in the Union’s capital. They monitor the coup as it unfolds with Shaposhnikov sending his soldiers to take the Kremlin and get rid of Primakov. Information from them is delivered in real time back to those in Washington where there are those waiting on the edges of their seats to see if the outcome that they desire will be the one which they will get. Satellite observation, communications intercepts and on-the-ground scouting reports are fed back to the White House. In addition, intelligence is being shared by them with new allies too. Shaposhnikov’s soldiers launching a coup have American support.


Back in Siberia, Shaposhnikov has other troops going into action. Rear-area forces not under the command of the WSAG near the Urals go into action across the Union. They attack elements of the Primakov regime who are caught unawares of the plot afoot to allow for Chernomyrdin to take over.

Novosibirsk is where the main activity is. A motor rifle unit, supported by tanks, seizes the centre of the city which has been Primakov’s powerbase since February. The soldiers involved engage their fellow countrymen in battle around the buildings where Primakov had his seat of government, where the rump Duma sat and the temporary FSB headquarters. Interior Troops paramilitaries are overwhelmed and have no clue what is going on while they die fighting. FSB officers fight too… and also lose their lives. There come surrenders from many others though: men who throw up their arms and come out seeking parley. Once gathered up, they are gunned down in groups with mass graves soon dug for them. This includes the deputy head of the organisation, a man who only managed to reach Moscow with his concerns over what was coming their way far too late. He dies knowing full well that he failed.

Khabarovsk, Omsk and Vladivostok also see violent incidents as Shaposhnikov uses troops to secure Chernomyrdin’s rule. Much of this is overdone. There is no need for the use of soldiers on the attack against a fixed and stunned opponent. The mass killings are also unnecessary, especially after surrenders occur. It is done though, again and again. There are Americans in Siberia while this is going on. General Clark has all those stationed from the Urals to the North Pacific, at air facilities and transport links, stay in their bases. This isn’t their fight and to get involved would be suicide. It is the same with State Department staff in Siberia who have functioned as part of diplomatic links with the Primakov regime: they stay in their offices and have no involvement in what is going on outside as a coordinated wave of violence occurs.


The Third Shock Army has been assigned responsibility for the Moscow region by the Primakov regime. It is a big name for a small force. There are those turncoats from Gromov regime who all report to this command yet few of them are actually inside the city. Those that do are limited in their deployment, equipment and cohesion. The use of such a designation for their higher command is all about politics. Back at the start of the civil war, the Third Shock Army (along with the Twentieth Guards Army: both only a few years before based in East Germany) were on the frontlines of the fighting against Gromov’s Urals Front before being destroyed in huge battles that gutted so much of the then-divided Union Army. Re-established in Moscow once Primakov is back, those soldiers arriving from Siberia today are meant to make it a real force separate from all of those scattered company-, battalion- & regiment-sized units. The Third Shock Army will garrison Moscow to secure Primakov’s rule with the reminder who has won the civil war made clear by their name.

The divisional commanders of the two divisions are answering to different masters though. They ignore Third Shock Army instructions on where to go to on Moscow’s outskirts and instead do their own thing. The 55th Naval Infantry Division begins engaging those around the city who wish to fight from Primakov. They show up and demands are made that units submit to new authority. If this isn’t done at once, then fighting commences. None of their opponents are in anyway capable of offering any real resistance. Victories are won all over the place… all while the Americans are nearby and under orders to not intervene. As to Shaposhnikov’s paratroopers, he has the 105th Guards Airborne Division go into the centre of Moscow. Less than a week ago, a trio of Airborne Troops divisions serving under Gromov failed to keep the US Army out of Moscow. Now more ‘Blue Berets’ are in the city, this time taking it. They are all over the place before anyone knows what is happening. Lightly-armed and surprised Third Shock Army units, riflemen mostly, crumble. A select element of Blue Berets go ahead and storm the Kremlin.

Primakov is in the middle of fleeing at the time. There is no way out via air nor underground for him but a road convoy is ready to go. He’s held on for too long though, trying to confirm what is happening. Back in February he fled from the Kremlin with speed when things went the wrong way yet today, he has hesitated. He has taken too long to consider news about that secret meeting between the Americans and Shaposhnikov in Siberia yesterday and failed to see the connection between that and Shaposhnikov sending soldiers here today until it was far too late. He doesn’t know either that the Americans are monitoring everything and supplying detailed information to those coming here to take his life. The convoy is caught when exiting the Kremlin. The destination of Vnukovo was where Primakov was going though he would have been no safer there due to the Naval Infantry already having a presence at that airport. Regardless, he’s in his vehicle when soldiers surround it. There is a gunfight between his bodyguards and the Blue Berets. The end result of this short engagement is no surprise.

Dragged from his vehicle, Primakov expects to be taken prisoner. His belief is that Shaposhnikov has turned against him – Chernomyrdin doesn’t even enter his mind – and will want to seize him for some sort of political move to assert the power he looks likely to be taken. However, he is shot instead. The execution of the Union’s legitimate head of state is done quickly without any formality in the Kremlin’s grounds. Its pretty bloody but intentionally that way. There are Spetsnaz men with the paratroopers and they have experience at staging a scene. Primakov’s death will later be sold as the result of a gunfight where he was ‘shot trying to escape’ and so the apparent evidence to support that is needed. A blindfolded, bound man with a single bullet wound wouldn’t achieve that. A corpse riddled with bullets thrown between two vehicles looks better for the military media teams inbound to record the aftermath.


Chernomyrdin and Shaposhnikov are in Moscow a couple of hours later. The Union’s new leader and his loyal military officer are taking over following what they hope will be Moscow’s last coup. They set about selling a story of what has happened here today, one entirely a creative work of fiction that will take a lot to be believed by those who will hear it.

Elsewhere, President Robb is about to address the American people. The time has come for him to begin presenting another work of fiction now that it is all over. Likewise with the lies being told in Moscow, those coming out of the White House are going to be questioned for their veracity… and their gall.