James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 24, 2020 20:00:44 GMT
It's going well for now. The 10th SFG must be very busy with all those Eastern European forces. In Desert Storm, CENTCOM had Alpha Teams assigned to the Coalition forces (excluding British & French units) down to the battalion level to call in airstrikes and advise Allied commanders from the nations with less reputable militaries. I would think they're doing the same with the Poles and Czechs. Some issues have cropped up but nothing serious. That cant go on for long though. Problems will arrive once the Coalition starts pushing far. I have the 10 SFG in Eastern Europe but also brought in the 3 SFG: the latter helped out in the Gulf in 1991 despite that not being its AO. I'm thinking the 3 SFG is aiding the Poles, Czechs, Hungarians and Slovaks quite a bit with Ukraine area operations. The 10 SFG is with the Poles elsewhere but so too will be the SAS: all three regiments have bene sent. James G , Well that's an impressive start and the reference to rebellion in the Ukraine suggests that some of those political contacts earlier are coming into play. That could be very useful in speeding the collapse of Gromov's forces there and open up a massive hole in the defences, as well as remove a hell of a lot of resources from his state. Presumably one high priority would be securing the nuclear launch sites in the area?
This is similar to what the Soviets did in your previous TL, with an attack from bases and further back to take the opponents by surprise. Working very well again here helped by the disorder inside the Union.
In terms of the flanks obviously one will be around Murmansk. I don't know if anything would happen via Turkey into Armenia and Georgia or whether it would be more amphibious into say the Crimean. Unless their trying to work with Nazarbayev and striking through Kazakhstan to turn the flank of Gromov's forces that had been driving into Siberia but that could be being too ambitious at this point.
Anyway looking forward to developments, as long as you can keep those damned nukes under control this time please? 
Steve
They're off to a flying start. In Moscow the 'this is impossible' thinking screwed those on the frontlines. The Ukraine thing is going to be big. With the nukes, I still need to make my mind up on what is where in terms of strategic weapons. I had a 60/30/10 split when the civil war erupted with regards to strategic nukes: Primakov, Gromov, Nazarbayev. So which ICBM sites - that 30% - Gromov has I am trying to pick. I have a general idea but I'm thinking the Cold War site in the Ukraine was decommissioned - I had that done earlier - like so many west of the Urals were between 91 and 94. The running start is like the last TL though a bit bigger. So much of Gromov's armies, even if the HQ is in the west, have been stripped of components to go to the Urals. The weakness is major and so the Coalition can start without everyone ready. Its Kola and the Crimea. Central Asia is a mess and won't work. There is a third flank surprise in the update below - an idea by forcon I have used. Nukes: we will see later on. |
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James G
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Post by James G on Mar 24, 2020 20:00:55 GMT
22 – Hit the beach
US Marines land in the Crimea. It is an opposed landing for them. Marine Riflemen arrive via landing craft and assault helicopters with cover from the air and also naval gunfire support. The 6th Regimental Landing Team (6 RLT) – built around the 6th Marine Regiment – conducts the assault. Out ahead of their parent division and also a corps-sized higher command for Crimean operations, the 6 RLT arrives on the southwestern coast in and around Sevastopol. Overnight air and missile attacks have struck here as well as across the island-like peninsula yet there is still opposition for the US Marines when they ‘hit the beach’. Union Navy base defence troops are joined by what elements of the Black Sea Fleet’s Naval Infantry are left here after most of them departed the other month to go off and fight the rebellion on the border with Kazakhstan. Demoralised and ill-equipped they are according to pre-landing briefings for the 6 RLT but they can certainly fight. Furious, close contact engagements take place. The US Marines push on through that resistance with the aim of securing Sevastopol and the immediate area around this strategic naval site.
Those US Marines come from the amphibious assault ships USS Wasp and USS Nassau. These two vessels, mini-carriers in many ways yet also with vast internal docks, are part of a flotilla of US Navy ships which have come racing north through the night towards the Crimea. A further two small amphibious transports are with them along with half a dozen warships including the missile-cruiser USS Mississippi. Putting the 6 RLT’s assault elements ashore are helicopters, hovercraft and armoured assault vehicles from the Wasp and the Nassau. Helicopter gunships and AV-8B Harrier attack-fighters – twenty of the latter here – escort the landings while also providing on-hand firepower for them. Losses occur during the landings. Everything has been done to minimise the ability of Union forces ahead of the US Marines hitting the beach. They have struck at airbases, missiles sites (including the formidable Sotka underground protected battery which houses huge anti-ship missiles) and garrisons. AH-1 Cobra gunships in Marine Corps colours zoom around firing their chain-guns and rockets at any sign of the enemy. Still, the 6 RLT came here expecting trouble and has found it. Union Navy personnel fight and fight well. They are outclassed and will be overcome but this is nowhere as easy as projected. Perhaps the intelligence summaries on ‘demoralised’ opponents wasn’t as accurate as thought…?
The Black Sea Fleet’s main base is at Sevastopol. 2/6 MARINES land here with two companies from 1/6 MARINES alongside them and a third at nearby at Balaklava Bay. The airbases at Belbek and Kacha, both to the north of Sevastopol, are taken by the 3/6 MARINES. That latter battalion makes helicopter landings whereas the other two come via sea. The LCAC hovercraft employed in getting the 6 RLT ashore bring in tanks and some artillery; Marine Riflemen coming from the well-decks of those amphibious assault ships use specialist LCM landing craft as well as their AAV-7A1 amtracs to hit the beach. The US Marines swarm over this corner of the Crimea. Marine Recon detachments have arrived ahead of them and have already caused much damage to the enemy. There is also all that destruction inflicted overnight. When US Marines enter the extensive set of naval anchorages in Sevastopol, they see all those burning and smouldering warships which were sitting here as targets for the Tomahawks which came in overnight. Also witnessed is damage done elsewhere in near misses throughout the immediate area: Sevastopol was hit by a lot of firepower and has been burning all night. Those in Balaklava Bay find the belowground submarine base – built into the side of the rocky coastal headland – with both entrances forced closed due to SEALs having used demolition charges to bring down the rocks from above. The aircraft carrier USS America is currently in the Aegean Sea and provides fighter cover at extreme distance. They keep the skies clear of Union fighters yet this is no easy feat. Those F-14s up above aren’t seen by those fighting below to take control from the defenders. They would like to have on-call other aircraft from that carrier but until it completes a passage through the Turkish Straits – while doing so it will be unable to conduct air operations –, only the Harriers from those mini-carriers close by are here for that. Bombs fall away from them when they are called-in. The fighting goes on as the morning does here with the 6 RLT winning. Union forces either die or surrender. It takes longer than expected but the result is what was due: victory. A heavy cost it has been though. The result is that this corner tip of the Crimea has fallen into American hands.
The rest of the 2nd Marine Division is still on ships inbound for the Crimea. The 2 RLT & 25 RLT (the latter being reservists) are to follow soon enough because this mission isn’t just about Sevastopol but the whole peninsula. Simferopol, the Kerch Peninsula and the interior are all objectives to win once entry is secured. To help in this mission, attached to the US II Marine Expeditionary Force are US Army paratroopers too and they reach the Crimea at the same time as the 6 RLT does. 3/325 INF are home-based in Italy and now under Marine Corps operational command. They drop over the naval airfield at Saki. As is the case with the taking of Belbek and Kacha, this assault is undertaken away from Sevastopol directly and with the goal of securing airbases for later use. The America will be in the Black Sea soon enough but there is the aim of having US Air Force jets at Saki while US Navy & Marine Corps aircraft will be flying from the other two sites. Those paratroopers have a torrid time at Saki. The Union defenders they encounter are naval personnel with only some training in ground combat and not too many heavy weapons. Quickly digging in while on the defensive, what a fight they give regardless! The airfield is in 3/325 INF hands but it is left unusable. Mortars cover it all and there are men with shoulder-mounted missiles who take out a pair of Harriers who come up to help. The paratroopers try to push out to overcome their opponents and are gunned down. Huge losses are incurred. Requests are made for US Marines to come up here and – in short – save their behinds. A platoon of M-1A1 Abrams’ tanks from the company supporting the 6 RLT, accompanied by LAV-25 armoured vehicles, rolls north from Sevastopol in the direction of Saki to do just that. Before them though, the destroyer USS Kidd is on her way with her guns and will give those Union defenders a taste of naval gunfire support.
Hitting the beach is done on a bigger scale up in the Kola Peninsula. This northern flank of the Union is attacked just as Crimea in the south is. A much larger assault force is formed and it is multi-national with Coalition forces from four countries involved. Canada provides warships and a submarine too though the contribution from Britain, Norway and the United States is much larger and covers a complete range of military power. An invasion commences of this strategically important region on the Union’s edges to complement the Crimean incursion.
US Marines make another series of opposed landings. The 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (larger than the RLT employed in the Crimea) goes into the Kola where they assault Union Navy facilities at the head of the Murmansk Fjord: going deep down there is unwise for an opening attack as it is an attacker’s nightmare. Landings are made from the water and above. Polyarny, Olenya Bay and Sayda Bay are all on the western side here and they are full of naval anchorages and shipyards. All have already been blasted overnight by missile and air attacks. Now the US Marines are storming ashore and engaging anyone who wants to stand in their way. The Northern Fleet’s main base at Severomorsk is further to the south though, down the winding fjord and over on the eastern side. This in an overall objective of the missions for the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade but, like the city of Murmansk too, somewhere which they will move against once fully established. Polyarny falls easily to the US Marines but where the bases of Skalisty (also known as Gadzhiyevo) and Snezhnogorsk are located behind the water’s edges of those bays off the fjord, the going is much harder. The US Marines have come for a fight though. Skalisty was hit hard by naval air attackers first to silence the expected defenders. The attackers have their tanks, armoured vehicles (the amtracs have machine guns & grenade-launchers) and towed artillery. External fire support is on-hand in the form of air power at distance and warships close by. Alas, when one of those US Navy vessels here, the USS Caron, is using both her five-inch main guns to shell Skalisty on Sadya Bay she is hit by a missile in a devastating strike. This comes from far off and is guided-in by a spotter close-in located up in one of those drab apartment buildings in the ‘closed town’ that US Marines are soon fighting within the confines of. Air power was meant to have taken out missile defences but there is an unseen mobile battery whose crew manage to get off a shot. That missile hits its target. The Caron explodes post-impact when her magazines are compromised by raging fire and hundreds of sailors aboard die. There are greater overall casualties from this blast than among the Marine Riflemen engaged in fighting ashore.
The big amphibious assault ships involved here – USS Kearsarge, USS Guadalcanal & USS Inchon – all continue to deliver more US Marines ashore. A smaller US Navy amphibious transport is ship over with the Royal Navy who are operating on the American’s right flank. USS Shreveport is alongside HMS Fearless: the British cannot themselves supply enough seaborne lift even with smaller ships here alongside the big Fearless. The 3rd Commando Brigade lands on Kola’s shores. Royal Marines hit the beach themselves and crash into defending base troops around Andreeva Bay (also known as Litsa Bay), Ara Bay & Ura Bay. Vidayaevo and Zaozyorsk are more closed towns and they support the Union Navy’s submarine fleet. Tied alongside, so many of those submarines are burning or have been sunk at their moorings after being attacked in the preceding hours. Union Navy personnel here fight on regardless. They try their best to keep the two battalion-sized units (40 & 42 Commando) of Royal Marines from achieving victory and also take on the British Army light infantry battalion which is employed here too. The 3rd Commando Brigade doesn’t have neither tanks nor attack helicopters. They have landed some towed artillery and light armoured vehicles though to aid them. In addition, HMS Illustrious is offshore with her Harrier FA2 attack-fighters who drop bombs and fire cannons. Several warships are nearby and they have their guns. HMS Cornwall, a very modern frigate, is in the outer reaches of Ura Bay and fires her main gun at targets spotted down in Vidayaevo which no one aboard her can see. Coming down closer would be suicidal due to the terrain along both sides of the small fjord being perfect for attacks to be made on her. There is a Lynx HAS3 helicopter flying from the Cornwall providing observations and also specialist Royal Marines closer-in. They call in that naval gunfire support to finish off snipers and machine gunners who have done well on the defence. Vidayaevo falls to 42 Commando in the end though it has been costly for those Royal Marines. Zaozyorsk is taken much easier in comparison (still with losses inflicted) and the men from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders who take Ara Bay – just two rifle companies employed here – certainly don’t see as much opposition as those in Vidayaevo do.
The Norwegian’s 6th Infantry Division cross their country’s border with the Union. Cold War planners had long projected a Soviet invasion going the other way and the Norwegians had always intended not to fight for the regions of their nation closest to their larger neighbour. Their goal was to hold them (with NATO help) deeper in the interior. However, this morning they have their men going over the frontier themselves and on the attack. There are no marines in Union service – their 61st Naval Infantry Brigade – at the Sputnik garrison due to those men having been sent off to the Urals. However, in nearby Pechenga, soldiers with part of the Union Army’s 131st Motor Rifle Division are stationed. The garrison has been bombed overnight but there is still fighting capability in the survivors. The Norwegians meet them in battle. The 6th Infantry Division goes through their opponents when that happens. They win a quick and stunning victory when overcoming Union forward detachments racing out of Pechenga and then advance down to that town themselves. A second, bigger fight sees them take Pechenga and cross the river after which the town is named. A flank detachment secures Linakhamari on the coast. They find this naval station – for patrol boats and coastal cutters, not home to warships – undefended. It has already been blasted apart but a fight here was expected… and didn’t come. That is a result of American airpower. Out at sea, supporting the Norwegians as well as the amphibious assaults, are two carriers: USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Theodore Roosevelt. They have a lot of jets flying from them with the promise of more when the USS John F. Kennedy arrives in the coming days. Norwegian land-based jets joined by RAF squadrons – Tornado GR1s as well as some aged Buccaneer S2Bs – are in action as well. Union fighters cannot get into action and neither can their tactical strike aircraft. The Coalition has complete control of the air here. The landings made and border crossing forced have yet to secure any airheads of their own though. The Marine Corps are fast to start setting up improvised strips for their Harriers around Polyarny using pre-packaged steel platting. This is done with great haste due to the concern that should the Union Navy’s air arm get an air strike going where they go after the carriers or ships like the Kearsarge where those Harriers are flying from, that will drastically limit their air support. The Union Navy has all of those Backfire missile bombers deep within the interior of the Kola who, if they get past the US Navy’s F-14 interceptors, could do a great deal of damage. Real airbases are sought though, proper ones from where there can be Coalition air power deployed on the ground here on Union territory.
It will be up to further US I Corps operations to secure those. This command has assigned those Royal Marines and US Marines in addition to the Norwegians. Furthermore, waiting inside the north of Norway is the 10th Mountain Division. Joined by a brigade of reservists to make them a three-brigade force, these US Army light troops are waiting on the word to come for them to leapfrog forward. Once they come into action via helicopter lift now the way into Kola has been opened, they will assume the mission of seizing airbases. A small one close to the Norwegian-Union border, at Luostari, is in Norwegian hands but it hasn’t been used by either the Union Air Force or Union Navy for the past year. Abandoned on cost grounds, the ruin of it is of no real use apart from helicopter operations. The 10th Mountain Division will use Luostari as a transit stop for big CH-47 Chinooks and medium-sized UH-60 Blackhawks. Over on the eastern side of the Murmansk Fjord, around Severomorsk are a trio of bigger and useful bases though. Those are located outside: alongside Severomorsk’s piers there are all of those warships caught in port last night and blown to bits. The carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and the battle-cruiser Pyotr Velikiy are among those who will never sail again. As the readiness for the second stage of operations begins, there are meanwhile Tomahawks hitting other airbases further south where the Backfires can be found less they get their licks in first. This whole combined operation by Coalition forces in the Kola is only just getting going.
General Clark and his American military liaison team in Omsk are joined by American forces also coming into Siberia. Gromov’s Union is about to find the President Robb intends to attack him from the eastern side too. It is Primakov’s forces who will do the vast majority of the work here but they will be joined by the Americans in smaller numbers.
Aircraft begin to arrive. There is a composite wing of A-10 Thunderbolts, F-15 Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons and non-combat supporting aircraft. They will stay in Siberia and fly from Roshchino Airbase near to Tyumen. RED HORSE engineers from the US Air Force are quick at work to make it useful for American flight operations and follow the details of a comprehensive survey already done here. Other aircraft which make landings inside Siberia will soon be flying back out again. Omsk is the last stop on the way in for a wide variety of transports and freighters who make ‘pit stops’ on the way throughout the immense stretch of territory from the Urals to the Pacific under Primakov’s control. They deliver soldiers and supplies. Clark would have liked to have seen a large ground force brought in. That is impossible though due to the not so little matter of logistics! Still, a brigade-group of Green Berets from one of the US Army’s reserve units of special forces are joined by light infantry out of Alaska who’ve come here.
The 172nd Infantry Brigade begins to deploy to Omsk. They haven’t come to Siberia to march on Moscow or even make a direct impact in the fighting for the Urals. However, along with those combat aircraft deploying, it is through those mountains where they will fight. American soldiers will see action alongside Union (Primakov-aligned) ones. They will do their bit and try to influence the course of the war. Every soldier Gromov has on the battlefield which is the Urals is one less for elsewhere. That argument could be applied to the 172nd Infantry Brigade too. Yet, the Americans believe that their presence here will have more of an impact beyond their numbers and see Gromov overreact and thus draw away men from elsewhere. Whether that will be the case will soon be discovered. In the meantime, the Americans are here. Omsk is in the rear and only once they are assembled will these soldiers move towards the Urals. Those special forces will be in the fighter quicker too. Primakov has Spetsnaz in his service (not too many though; most units sided with Gromov) and so it is quite conceivable that within a few days, Green Berets and Spetsnaz will be fighting alongside each other as comrades-in-arms in the Urals. If only those Americans arriving here knew what kind of ally they have in Primakov…
From the western side the Union is already being attacked. There are already those forced entries made in the southwest and northwest. The Americans are putting troops in the east too. The attacks from all sides of the Union as Operation Flaming Phoenix commences still have yet to finish. There are those who are about to stab Gromov in the back.
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 24, 2020 20:10:32 GMT
A visualisation of where the Northern Fleet bases are that get 'a visit' by the Royal Marines & US Marines. (I'm looking for an appropriate Crimea map too) Map_of_Northern_Fleet_bases_ENG.svg (79.86 KB) |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Mar 25, 2020 13:22:52 GMT
James G ,
Well that was fairly dramatic and sound pretty successful. Wasn't expecting direct US involvement in the east but it probably makes sense in that elite US forces and air support can probably punch well above their weight compared to the demoralised and poorly equipped Union forces, both those their allied with and those their fighting against. Of course the position of those forces is likely to be distinctly vulnerable when the west realises the truth.
By the stab in the back I assume that's those western republics that are seeking to escape the Union, most especially Ukraine, which is probably an important reason for the Crimean attack.
Steve
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forcon
Lieutenant Commander
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Post by forcon on Mar 25, 2020 16:33:35 GMT
Good work. Might it be an idea to deploy a few additional light infantry battalions separate from the 172nd Bde (maybe guard or reserve or from the 7th Infantry) to the Far East purely as force protection for the Air Force facilities given the situation is likely pretty unstable?
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
Posts: 7,608
Likes: 8,833
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Post by James G on Mar 25, 2020 19:12:54 GMT
James G ,
Well that was fairly dramatic and sound pretty successful. Wasn't expecting direct US involvement in the east but it probably makes sense in that elite US forces and air support can probably punch well above their weight compared to the demoralised and poorly equipped Union forces, both those their allied with and those their fighting against. Of course the position of those forces is likely to be distinctly vulnerable when the west realises the truth.
By the stab in the back I assume that's those western republics that are seeking to escape the Union, most especially Ukraine, which is probably an important reason for the Crimean attack.
Steve
Slip-ups but the withdrawal of so many forces away to the Urals ahead of it leaves open crucial areas. When Russia comes out of this, it will not be a naval power any more! The Urals deployment is more about politics, piling on the pressure. Things will be 'fun' in the long run for those deployed there when all is exposed! The Ukraine and Crimea are linked. Georgia is another stab in the back. Good work. Might it be an idea to deploy a few additional light infantry battalions separate from the 172nd Bde (maybe guard or reserve or from the 7th Infantry) to the Far East purely as force protection for the Air Force facilities given the situation is likely pretty unstable? Thanks. They are sending USAF security police. Troops might be a better idea but this whole area in the rear has been under Primakov's control for five months and so is seen as 'secure'. Gromov's Spetsnaz are expected to be too busy elsewhere. Of course, China is just sitting there on the flank while only a few Russian forces are left along one hell of a long border! |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 25, 2020 19:14:35 GMT
23 – Stab in the back
Outside of the Union, yet with strong ties established during Lebed’s leadership, is Georgia. Eduard Shevardnadze leads the country as Chairman of the Parliament rather than holding the post of president: violent civil conflict a few years ago after which he took power has seen that latter position shelved. Despite the official description, Shevardnadze is president in all but name. Shevardnadze is a product of Soviet Georgia. He made his name here before going to Moscow in the mid-Eighties and serving under Gorbachev. After independent Georgia’s first leader was deposed at the beginning of 1992, the country’s political establishment turned to Shevardnadze. He’s been in power since then. Meanwhile, three separate parts of Georgia are in rebel hands where frozen conflicts have been the fact of life for the past few years. Open civil war has been avoided and a lot of that was due to Shevardnadze’s relationship with the Union. Lebed had gained economic ties and help in combatting Chechen rebels (who’d used Georgia as somewhere to escape to but who ended up being handed over to Moscow) while in return, Union troops left in Georgia from the Soviet era finally departed and there was a subduing by threat of force of Russian-ethnic rebels who understood that the Union wouldn’t only not support them but work with Shevardnadze directly. Lebed and Shevardnadze had those good relations before the former’s unexpected death though there had been no question as far as Tbilisi was concerned of Georgia re-joining the Union: maybe Moscow had different ideas there, maybe…
The Union’s civil war at once has a negative effect upon Georgia. Economic and trade ties are hit hard. The security situation in the Caucasus spirals fast out of control. Gromov demands Shevardnadze do all he can to assist in that while giving Georgia nothing in return. While the Chechens rise up once more against the Union, the knock-on effect is felt in Georgia of not just that reignited conflict but the civil war plaguing the Union. Weapons and troublemakers arrive in the two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia; the Adjara ‘issue’ was resolved in Tbilisi’s favour by Union troops when they left last year. Abkhazians and Ossetians both don’t consider themselves Russians per se but the ethnic ties are there. Violence begins starting in April and gets steadier worse in the months up until the end of July. Rebel militia engage Georgian security forces on the edges of the illegally separate regions and also attack Georgian civilians within. The ethnic cleansing which was halted back in 1992 restarts. Shevardnadze has refused to sit on his hands and allow this to happen. He has struck back against the rebels. From Moscow, Gromov has criticised this but not made a move to do anything about it: he has his own hands full. Shevardnadze cannot beat the rebels in Abkhazia and South Ossetia though. It is outside support from across in the Union which keeps them going. This is all under-the-table but it is happening. It is he who approaches Primakov in the middle of July; not the other way around as many will later suspect. Shevardnadze secretly allies himself with Primakov when the Union and the Americans are at each’s throat. An alliance is struck between the two of them and that involves Primakov having ‘no concern’ over what Georgia will do with regards to those rebels inside Georgia now and in the future. In return, Shevardnadze will strike against the Union when the Coalition makes it move against Gromov.
That move has been made and so Georgia now joins in.
The South Ossetians are a bigger threat than the Abkhazians. Shevardnadze masks those rebels to the west on the Black Sea coast and attacks those out in middle. Over the Caucasus Mountains from out of North Ossetia, which is part of the Union’s Russian Republic, there has been that unofficial support for the rebels in South Ossetia. It is there into North Ossetia – Union territory – where the Georgian attack is at it’s most dramatic. Shevardnadze has troops advance on South Ossetia yet a major effort is made over the border to crush this resistance to the rule of Tbilisi from those inside Georgia for good. A bold move it is, reckless many will say, but Shevardnadze believes it will pay off. He attacks Union territory to reunify Georgia.
Air attacks commence where the Georgians hit the Union Army garrison at Vladikavkaz and the Mozdok Airbase used by the Union Air Force. Gromov has stripped forces away from the Caucasus Military District (covering the area from Volgograd to the Iranian border in the Azeri Republic) but there are Union forces still at both locations. Half of the 19th Motor Rifle Division is in Vladikavkaz while there are tactical strike aircraft & bombers at Mozdok. Losses are inflicted upon them. However, several Georgian aircraft are shot down by missiles and there is also plentiful missing of targets. Shevardnadze seeks to destroy Union forces in North Ossetia but these air strikes have done no such thing. A commando team of Georgian special forces hits the Roki Tunnel, planting and then setting off demolition charges on the northern side of this road link which goes under the mountains. Their tactical commander is a cautious man, a worrier: he uses more explosives than necessary to shut the northern end for good. Huge blasts rock the entrance to the passage under the mountains… but also kill many of the commando team. Their leader had under his command some men who don’t follow his instructions correctly and end up blowing not just the tunnel entrance up but themselves too. There is another commando team up in the mountains. While the Roki Tunnel is the link on the Trans-Caucasus Highway connecting Vladikavkaz with the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, there is a second major transport route linking the Union with Shevardnadze’s country. The historic Georgian Military Road is blocked by explosive charges bringing down rockfalls. Any Union countermove to attack Georgia and enter South Ossetia by the flank will not be made unless they clear those blockages.
Now, with all that done in the early hours, South Ossetia is attacked directly come first light. The 2nd & 11th Brigades with their infantry forces, backed up by tanks and artillery, plus armed helicopters, enter this breakaway region. Tskhinvali is the first objective but Shevardnadze wants all of South Ossetia pacified of forms of resistance. Georgia is now being reunified and it will be a brutal affair. Georgia will do some ethnic cleansing of its own.
Shevardnadze’s stab in the back against Gromov is minute in comparison to what is seen in the Ukraine. The cabal in Dnipropetrovsk of political powerbrokers have connections across their republic. These include military officers who wear the uniform of the Union yet hold secret allegiance to the Ukraine. Unfortunately, so many of those are deployed elsewhere where the Coalition begins Operation Flaming Phoenix. The Ukrainian Military District (formed from the Soviet-era Carpathian, Kiev & Odessa MDs) contained a force of five field armies – plus extra units – before the civil war started. Most of those armies and significant numbers of further forces are outside of the Ukraine now. While those which remain are Union forces, the proportion of Ukrainian officers in key positions is large. They answer the call from Dnipropetrovsk to sabotage Gromov’s defence of the Union when it comes.
Communications links are cut in places with false orders sent out elsewhere. Many Ukrainian-based Union military forces are not going to take part in the fighting against the invading Americans and their allies. They will not be attacked too, unless they make moves against those invading the Union: Dnipropetrovsk has already made those secret arrangements with the Americans to ensure this. Passive action like this takes place alongside direct action. Two assassinations take place. In Kiev, moments ahead of the Coalition attack, the republic’s president is murdered in his home. He is slain by those he thinks will protect him. They throw him from a second story window after shooting him a dozen or so times. This man is a Gromov ally and an enemy to those who wish to take charge of the Ukraine when it is an independent nation soon enough. Also killed is the commander of the Ukrainian Military District: General Radetsky considers himself Ukrainian but also loyal to Gromov’s rule. Those who order his murder are allowing for no split loyalties at a time like this. His command post is attacked by soldiers with all there, including him, either killed in the attack or shot after surrendering. One of those CIA paramilitaries from their Special Activities Division who has entered Union territory ahead of everyone else is present for this though only as an observer. If it had gone wrong, an air strike is waiting but the Ukrainians know what they are doing. Not bombing the command post means that it is taken over after the shooting is done by those answerable to Dnipropetrovsk. Corrupted orders – with General Radetsky’s name on them – can be sent out from here with the facility left intact.
Those opening acts of the Ukrainian rebellion are followed as the day goes on. Coalition armies are entering the Ukraine from out of Poland as well as Hungary and Slovakia. There is a major American effort being made to charge across the northwest of the republic and reach Kiev. There are intentions for those involved in that to go further, into Russia, but those in Dnipropetrovsk are focused on what that means for their country. They have small numbers of ‘loyal’ troops across the Ukraine and they can fake orders to others but the clear realisation is that the Americans can do for them what they cannot: take the republic’s capital. The US III Corps will have the way ahead opened for them as best as possible. This will occur elsewhere in the Ukraine but the main disruption effort will be concentrated in making that drive successful. Whatever the Ukrainian rebels can do to aid them getting there, including actively engaging Union forces seeking to stop them, will be done. It might not be much yet it will be tried. Of course, once the Americans have that city, they’ll turn it over to the Ukrainians who helped them get there. This is one of many elements of the quid pro quo agreements struck before the invasion begins between those who wish for an independent Ukraine and those who wish to bring down Gromov’s Union.
The Crimea belongs to the Ukraine. Those in Dnipropetrovsk wish to see it remain part of their nation when they are free from Moscow. It is somewhere full of those against them, both in uniform and not. There are Union forces there who have not been infiltrated with Ukrainian patriots. Dnipropetrovsk doesn’t like others in uniform there who do consider themselves Ukrainian patriots: the internal security troops brought down in recent months to subjugate those locals with an ethnic Russian background aren’t considered the right sort. Then there are the locals too who regard themselves as Russians and not Ukrainians. All these enemies are what the cabal in Dnipropetrovsk would like to see gotten rid of by the US Marines who have arrived there. Ahead of the first American attacks taking place, information is supplied to them concerning where the most-capable forces in the Crimea could be found. Some of that contains ‘mistakes’… deliberate errors that are provided in the intelligence packages delivered with the hope that the Americans blow apart all opposition to Dnipropetrovsk. There is a wish to see the Crimea swept clean. Some physical help is given to that fighting as well. Communications are cut off to the Crimea. This is not just with radio and buried cabling links but also physical access to the outside world. There are three land routes into the Crimea from the ‘mainland’ Ukraine. The biggest and most important one is that through the Perekop Isthmus. Riflemen supported by light armour, all wearing Union uniforms, seize control over it and establish a blockade: they kill those Interior Troops previously sent from Kiev to man a checkpoint. Two more smaller crossings are away to the east. Soldiers take over here too. All told, cutting off the Crimea is done by less than two hundred men. Should they meet resistance to open them, those here will be overcome by a determined force. Their presence has to be discovered first though and Union forces would have to be ordered to move against them when every effort is being made to stop that. What Dnipropetrovsk would like would be for those US Marines down around Sevastopol to be helicoptered up here. That isn’t going to happen. The Americans are not about to do something so foolish. Green Berets are nearby, staying back and observing those manning roadblocks without being spotted, yet there will be no open move made yet. It is all too risky for American lives.
The limits on numbers of soldiers whose loyalty those in Dnipropetrovsk can ensure they have are an important factor when the rebellion begins. They haven’t done as much as they would have liked and focus on what they see as priorities: killing hated enemies, opening the road to Kiev for American tanks and having the US Marines go after the Crimea. Something else done is seizing what nuclear weapons they can. False orders and direct action are used. Weapons are spirited away from those who had custody of them. An independent Ukraine once this is over will be a nuclear power.
Gromov departs from the Chekhov bunker and travels to Ryazan this morning. He leaves Moscow behind and goes southeast in a helicopter. That Hotline message came into Chekhov and Gromov fears exposed there with the Americans knowing where he is. Several of his aides and senior comrades worry over his flight to Ryazan and would prefer that he go by road as they fear another ‘accident’ such as what took the life of Lebed back in February. He brushes their concerns aside and flies without incident to the command centre at the Union Airborne Troops HQ in Ryazan. It is below ground though not necessarily a bunker. Very modern, the Ryazan site was created by Lebed for his favourite arm of the nation’s military. Gromov will base himself here for the time being though is prepared to move on. Upon his arrival, towards Ryazan move Union defences too… alerting those watching from afar that something is up here. So much for Gromov aiming to be hidden away!
When at Ryazan, Gromov hears of the betrayals from Shevardnadze and those of the Ukrainians. He is told too of now confirmation that not only have the Americans attacked out of Eastern Europe but that they have entered from the northwest (Kola) & southwest (the Crimea). He wants to strike out. Gromov’s immediate wish is to hit everyone moving against him and crush them all. That is impossible though. The Union is already in a poor state due to the many months of civil war and now it is being invaded in this manner. Communications issues are everywhere. Contact with field commanders is patchy. He cannot do all that he wishes to do and has to focus on priorities.
Gromov establishes STAVKA: a wartime high command. This body will run the war that the Union will fight. There will be no rolling over and accepting the external submission that the Americans intend to see done. Orders go out for resistance everywhere and to be counterattacks to be made. The aim of Gromov is to make sure that this is properly co-ordinated. Fighting off internal rage which is calling for him to lash out against Georgia and continue to pay full attention to the Urals, what matters at the moment is the Western Front. STAVKA activates that army group command and here the majority of attention will be directed. Maps are brought before Gromov and his senior generals. They look at what information is available though also have to rely upon informed guesses. Coalition objectives are identified. They agree that the Americans and their allies will be aiming to move to three primary objectives: Riga, Minsk and Kiev… maybe beyond the Belorussian capital in the centre up to allow for pushes to be made to the Daugava-Dnieper Line. This makes sense to Gromov. The Americans will want to push ‘Russia’ back over its borders.
And it is also an error. Riga-Minsk-Kiev is certainly not the limit of the advance that General McCaffrey’s armies have had imposed upon them. There is a square which is red where they are going.
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 25, 2020 22:12:49 GMT
Poles in Kaliningrad and British advancing into Lithuania in tomorrow's update.
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hussar01
Chief petty officer
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Post by hussar01 on Mar 25, 2020 22:34:10 GMT
A nice and big Red Square and a nice big shopping mall, Gum, where they can do some shopping! A helicopter assault on Red Square to attack the Kremlin? A bomb on Lenis's tomb? Gotta make sure the bastard does not rise up!
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James G
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Post by James G on Mar 25, 2020 22:36:15 GMT
A nice and big Red Square and a nice big shopping mall, Gum, where they can do some shopping! A helicopter assault on Red Square to attack the Kremlin? A bomb on Lenis's tomb? Gotta make sure the bastard does not rise up! That's where they are going. They've gotta get there first and, while off to a flying start, it won't be easy! |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Mar 26, 2020 12:31:59 GMT
Well its looking very bad for Gromov at the moment and as you say he and his chief supporters are still making wrong assumptions about Us intentions. However a lot will no doubt go wrong for all sides, let alone when the US realises its made its biggest mistake by being tricked into attacking the wrong target. Assuming Gromov is still about and in charge of some elements of Union forces that's going to be a very ticklish relationship to put it mildly.
How does the US feel about Ukraine and also presumably Kazakhstan becoming independent nuclear powers? Not sure if any of the other break away states have nuclear weapons they might want to keep but their the big two. Given the instability in Russia and the wider Union and the nature of the 'independent' movements in those states I suspect their going to be very determined to keep those nukes.
Steve
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 26, 2020 17:19:19 GMT
Well its looking very bad for Gromov at the moment and as you say he and his chief supporters are still making wrong assumptions about Us intentions. However a lot will no doubt go wrong for all sides, let alone when the US realises its made its biggest mistake by being tricked into attacking the wrong target. Assuming Gromov is still about and in charge of some elements of Union forces that's going to be a very ticklish relationship to put it mildly.
How does the US feel about Ukraine and also presumably Kazakhstan becoming independent nuclear powers? Not sure if any of the other break away states have nuclear weapons they might want to keep but their the big two. Given the instability in Russia and the wider Union and the nature of the 'independent' movements in those states I suspect their going to be very determined to keep those nukes.
Steve
These are the first hours and the mistake comes a lot from the belief that the attack is smaller than it is. Long talk in the West about the independence of the Baltics and outrage over 'Bloody June' in Belarus makes Gromov think this. That will all rapidly change. Then of course, the big revelation will come and everything will be thrown up in the air! The nuclear-armed new states will not be going down well but it is something the West cannot control. The Ukraine and Kazakhstan will certainly want to keep those nukes. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Mar 26, 2020 17:22:01 GMT
24 – Gassed
Polish troops fighting within the Kaliningrad Oblast are the first Coalition forces entering the Union to be gassed. The 2nd Mechanised Division is being shelled with conventional high explosives as passage is forced across the Pregoyla River when chemical alarms sound. The Poles have detection systems from the Soviet-era and these aren’t the best. They give warning though that the Union Army is now using gas. The particular weapon being employed is the nerve agent Soman: also known as GD. Soldiers are in full chemical warfare gear – bulky NBC suits – and overpressure systems are already switched on within vehicles. There has been the use of chemicals during the Union’s civil war and so when coming into the Union, the Coalition anticipated that soon enough they would be gassed. It’s taken a few hours and done on what many would regard as ‘real’ Russian territory (the thinking that it might have been within the Baltic republics or down in the Crimea), but that move has now been made. There are casualties caused by the gas. All the precautions taken do not manage to keep everyone safe. Like their detection systems, the NBC suits aren’t the best either. Not everyone is wearing them properly too. Moreover, in the midst of the conventional fighting where bullets are racing and shells exploding, suits are torn open and vehicles damaged by combat. The gas will find a way to kill where it can. The Poles soon have more than a hundred chemical casualties. This will slow them down but not stop them. They are forcing their way over the Pregoyla and continue.
Many, many more casualties are taken among local civilians. These are ethnic Russians who call this region beside the Baltic home. Once this was East Prussia, part of Germany, but those Germans have long gone after being forced out in the aftermath of World War Two. In Znamensk and within the bigger Chernyakhovsk, there are all those civilians who have absolutely no protection to this gas. No warning alarms sound for them and there are no full-body protective suits to wear. Families are sheltered in their homes or outside fleeing from war when Soman does its terrible work. There will be a couple of thousand killed and they will suffer a horrible death too. The Poles push on. They cross the river and fight Union troops on the other side. They find that men from the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Division are suffering from the effects of the nerve gas too. Warning came to these Union troops ahead of the use but that was short. They have near identical protective equipment to that that the Poles have and were taking preventative measures. Still, they have double the casualties that the Poles have… all coming from gas used by their own side. Only one regiment from that Union Army division is fighting here and the Poles have already chased them back this far from the border. Much of that regiment was already caught unawares when attacked starting at dawn. The Union troops are in a poor state and cannot hold what could have been a good defensive position. American aircraft come in to aid the Poles again. Earlier in the morning, when supporting the 2nd Mechanised Division, a friendly fire incident had occurred with A-10 Thunderbolts attacking BMP-1 infantry carriers from above. The two sides are each fielding such a vehicle (a few differences aside) and it was a terrible mistake. This time when the A-10s show up, there is better care taken. Using Maverick anti-armour missiles and Hydra rockets, serious pain is inflicted upon the Union troops by those weapons. That is nothing compared to what the cannons that those aircraft mount achieve when they are brought into play. The A-10 has a GAU-8 Avenger seven-barrelled rotary cannon which fires armour-piercing shells. One of the A-10s is hit by a shoulder-mounted missile and has to break off its attack (it will make it home though; the A-10 is well-armoured) but the others continue to pour fire into those they shoot up. They whizz around the sky, flying low and making use of cover. It is all over very quickly in the end yet for those on the receiving end, it seems to go on forever. The hell from above is lifted and the Poles start pushing on again. They tear through what resistance is left and silence that. Once done, no attack is mounted eastwards as might be expected towards Chernyakhovsk. There are some more 1st Guards Motor Rifle Division troops around there but nothing more than a battalion of riflemen and none of them are near the only thing of military value in the immediate area: the airbase outside is located to the southwest and already in Polish hands. Where the Poles advance towards are the shores of the Courland Lagoon to the north. They are racing that way and in the process are cutting off the majority of the rest of that Union Army division which is being engaged in the area around the city of Kaliningrad besides the coast.
The 16th Mechanised Division is likewise hit by gas, about an hour after the other forward attacking division with the Polish III Corps. Less Soman is used and it is not as concentrated to kill as many soldiers – from either side – nor civilians: there are lot more innocents in Kaliningrad who could have been chemical casualties if things had been different. What is different is that overnight air strikes destroyed much of the capability of the Union forces in this area to employ gas. Two more combat regiments of the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Division, as well as plentiful divisional assets, are in the western portion of this region around Kaliningrad proper. Their presence has long been seen as a threat to Poland with an attack speculated as being one that they would spearhead towards Gdansk. The Poles are attacking first though and they have all of that supporting firepower used. American and Polish strikes when Operation Flaming Phoenix commences hits heavy guns and tactical rocket launch systems around Kaliningrad. Storage sites for munitions are bombed too. They may not have much gas left but the Union troops here have enough conventional weapons on-hand. Their tanks and armoured vehicles are supported by remaining artillery pieces and also armed helicopters. Those Mil-24 Hinds do their worst when they manage to avoid Polish III Corps anti-air assets and also Coalition aircraft looking to make a kill. Union anti-tank guns in the rear help stop the Polish direct advance upon Kaliningrad as well. The smouldering remains of T-72s and BMP-1s litter the ground between the border and Kaliningrad: telling them apart, which belonged to who, is not so easy after they’ve bene burnt out. In a direct attack, the city isn’t going to fall and the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Division will not be overcome, at least not quickly anyway. However, there is that flank attack. When the 2nd Mechanised Division opened the way ahead, two separate brigades assigned to the corps command went through behind them yet turned west. On the inside of this are Polish amphibious armoured infantry with their 7th Coastal Defence Brigade: calling them marines would be a misnomer. The second unit is the ‘Berlin Brigade’. Designated as the 198th Infantry Brigade by the US Army as a temporary measure, it has both American and British troops from out of West Berlin. They find a gap between Kaliningrad and Znamensk at the smaller town of Gvardeysk. This gap is important by the presence of a bridge over the Pregoyla. Union forces are going across it in both directions though these are rear area troops. Those in Gvardeysk look skywards when aircraft are spotted or heard and worry over whether bombs will fall. None do. The bridge isn’t attacked from above but seized from the ground. M-1A1 Abrams tanks followed by M-113 and FV432 armoured personnel carriers appear. Troops from the British Army and the US Army take Gvardeysk with the bridge swept clean of trucks and light vehicles. Anyone with an AK-74 who wants to fight is a fool to do so faced with this attack. The British infantry here – 1st Battalion, the Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters Regiment – have a squadron of Royal Engineers with them. Those sappers find several trucks with bridging equipment in them… ones that the Americans have yet to shoot up. The Pregoyla is quickly seeing a second crossing at Gvardeysk assembled courtesy of some damn find bridging equipment captured almost at the water’s edge. This allows for pressure to be relieved on the fixed crossing and more of the 198th Brigade to get across. The Pregoyla is soon behind the Americans and British. They head north and reach the shores of the Courland Lagoon in early afternoon with no one gassing them on the way. The Poles on their right from the 2nd Mechanised Division have already completed the encirclement of Kaliningrad but now there is a second Coalition unit which has done the same. All Union forces caught inside the trap through the city and across the militarised Sambian Peninsula are doomed.
The rest of the Eleventh Guards Army to which that division in the Kaliningrad Oblast belongs to is spread across Lithuania. There is another division on the Polish border with two more elsewhere in this Union republic. Only the one near the international frontier is positioned in any sort of combat manner: the two others are split up on ‘security duties’ across this illegally occupied nation which has been for two years now under Union control after a brief independence following Soviet collapse. It is the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division down in the south. Until early 1991, they had been in the then-Czechoslovakia as part of the frontline Soviet Army’s Central Group of Forces where the expectation was that one day they would be part of the first wave of attackers ‘liberating’ West Germany. Here in Lithuania now, there has been planning done recently for them to invade Poland but more staff work has focused on possible deployment schedules for heading to the Urals to join the fight there. Opening Coalition air attacks overnight see the divisional headquarters and its artillery & rocket units bombed. The RAF is responsible with British-crewed Jaguar GR1s & Tornado GR1s making significant air strikes when nothing like that is expected. The damage done is extensive. Communications links are targeted too though the RAF don’t manage to do what they aim to there and knock them out. On the defensive, divisional anti-air assets make the claim of five kills yet in reality they bring down only one while damaging another but not enough to stop it crash landing at a Polish airbase. Two aircrew who bail out of their crippled Tornado are captured by 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division soldiers, roughed up a bit when taken and then handed over to the GRU for interrogation. Unless they end up soon being rescued, their fate will be unpleasant. Kaunas and its small airport are right on the edge of the division’s operational sector. The dawn landings there by British Paras see engagements made behind the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division where bridges over the Neuman River are lost. Then the British hit them from the front.
The 1st Armoured Division enters Lithuania. It has three full-sized brigades on-hand with two used side-by-side and the third tucked in behind. A battering ram approach is used to crush border guards and forward 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division positions. The British have plentiful air support including armed helicopters. Their tanks and other armoured vehicles come over the border. Infantry are deployed only when really needed as the focus is on getting as deep as possible with haste. Outside Marijampolė, the 7th Armoured Brigade, the famous Desert Rats, run into the first serious resistance where they have to slow down. Their Scimitar and Scorpion light armoured vehicles acting as forward recce meet strong defensive fire with several vehicles knocked out. Incoming Lynx AH7 helicopters fire TOW missiles but are engaged with sustained anti-air fire and are lucky in not being brought down. The Desert Rats have with them two regiments (battalion-sized units despite the name) of tanks. Challenger-1s and the newer Challenger-2s exchange fire with Union T-72 tanks. These fights take place in woodland but also out in the open too. The frontlines aren’t recognisable in any form. There are roving missile teams along with the T-72s where groups of soldiers are running around with launchers and reloads. The employment of British artillery firing air-burst shells eliminates much of this latter danger though what would be preferred is the use of MLRS rockets: ‘grid square removers’ as the Americans call them. Such launchers are busy supporting the 4th Armoured Brigade though (they’re in a pickle too) and so the Desert Rats have to do without them. They do have some more RAF support though when a flight of Harrier GR7s avoids being spotted coming in to get their licks in hard. The air attack is followed by a bigger push by British tanks. They win control of the battlefield and push on the town with infantry units following behind them. The infantry are needed here to take on Union soldiers on foot who’ve established a blocking point at Marijampolė which cannot be masked. They are in buildings with heavy weapons. Civilians, Lithuanians who the British are here to liberate, are all around them. This sees the inability to make use of artillery, air power and also the now available MLRS support in any meaningful way. A close-quarters fight it becomes through parts of the town. The Desert Rats’ commander wants to push on, heading to Kaunas, but he cannot leave this town with so many enemy troops here in the rear. Marijampolė is on what will be one of the main supply routes for not just his parent division but the whole of the British I Corps. It must be taken. British infantry work their way through their opponents. They do all that they can to avoid harming civilians but, unfortunately, so many of them are caught up in it. Union soldiers are seen pushing civilians – women and children especially – into the line of fire to avoid their own defeat. This does happen yet in fewer cases than it is reported it does. When hearing of it being done, other British infantry units are less inclined to take surrenders from Union soldiers. Some ugly incidents occur in the heat of battle. On the radio, the divisional commander is patient at first with his subordinate but gets less willing to accept the delay as the morning goes on. Midday arrives and Marijampolė is still a major fight. Nothing can be done apart from to clear the enemy out methodically of here though… unless someone is willing to flatten the place in mass air strikes. It is three in the afternoon before enough has been done to declare Marijampolė won. A few of the enemy remain but they are finished overall. Now, only now, can the Desert Rats head for Kaunas. They will find out that they beaten here by the 4th Armoured Brigade though.
Operating on the Desert Rats’ right, the Black Rats get stuck early on outside the town of Alytus. Tanks and motorised riflemen from the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division are encountered. On-call fire support assists the 4th Armoured Brigade in breaking them as the fight moves to the Neuman downstream of Kaunas but not into Alytus itself. The RAF shows up with Tornados operating in daylight and there is a divert here to intervene from US Air Force F-16s who had to abort a strike mission over in Belarus. Bombs, rockets and shells rain down upon Union troops caught exposed who have minimal and generally ineffective air defences (they only manage to take down one of those F-16s out of a total of fourteen attacking Coalition jets). Black Rats soldiers stay clear in the main, only using fire from some of their Challenger-2s at great distance to snipe at enemy units trapped under the barrage. Finally, that all lifts and the Black Rats move forward. The brigade is on the eastern banks of the Neuman soon and they start heading north going downstream. Travelling off-road, not following the highway like the Desert Rats do to their left, the 4th Armoured Brigade approaches the edges of Kaunas by late morning. A pair of Scimitars are spotted, wearing the markings of the Life Guards. Those have been air-lifted in to support the 5th Airborne Brigade’s Paras. Friendly fire is avoided and a link-up made. Into Kaunas the Black Rats arrive after a major advance deep into enemy territory where they have suffered only minimal casualties in this. The Paras make a point of saying that while they welcome this relief, they have already secured Kaunas and its extensive communications links. They’ve won control of the keys to southern Lithuania and are holding the way open for the Black Rats, the 1st Armoured Division and the rest of the British I Corps. Civilians are out on the streets and there is celebration at the liberation of their city. Things get a bit crazy in some places. There is work to do though. The Black Rats link up with the Paras outer defensive lines where they are fighting Union soldiers to the north and south both. It is to the south where more of the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division is, being pushed this way by the 7th Armoured Brigade. At the same time though, there are other Eleventh Guards Army units elsewhere in Lithuania who cannot be ignored. The Desert Rats arrive too – ‘you’re too damn late!’ they are told in jest – and then soon afterwards there are the explosions above Kaunas. A pair of FROG long-range rockets arrive and detonate over the heads of those civilians and the soldiers here.
Gas! Gas! Gas! This city of almost a quarter of a million people, now in Coalition hands, is attacked with nerve gas by Union forces which have just lost it.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Mar 26, 2020 18:45:54 GMT
James G , Some tough fighting here but generally successful. That use of chemical weapons, especially against civilian targets is going to cause a lot of resentment in the anti-Gromov forces, especially since with the modern communications of the time its going to get a lot of publicity. Steve
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hussar01
Chief petty officer
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Post by hussar01 on Mar 26, 2020 21:07:04 GMT
That is a major war crime. How will the Coalition Respond? With a WMD attack on Russian forces? MOAB on top of a few Russian Brigades? My guess is quite a few surrendering Russian soldiers will not live long afterward. And in Hollywood, Russians will be the new Serbs as the eastern European baddies.
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