Dark Earth: A New Jerusalem

Steve

I thought that might get a bit of notice from some readers.

You are quite right on not everything being nuclear - a realisation taking less time than @ - but at the moment, there is still a general desire to eat their cake and have it too.

A snippet on Special Forces:

Sitting around the table were men from all of the services, for each had their own particular elite specialist forces. There was Lieutenant-General Sir Lorington King, better known as ‘King of the Commandos’, the bluff veteran of more than three dozen raids in World War Two alone, and next to him General “Mad Jack” Churchill, who didn’t let his position as commander of the Special Forces Regiment or his advancing years keep him out of the field and that grand old man of British special operations forces, General Sir Robert Laycock. General Stirling and his deputy Brigadier Mayne were present, as befit the meeting’s location. Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, Director of Royal Naval Intelligence and Special Warfare, was a fearsome fellow with much to be fearsome about, quite the same as Air Vice-Marshal Lord Lissie, Head of Royal Air Force Intelligence and Special Operations, the dashing monocled architect of the ingenious extraction of Von Stalhein from Soviet captivity three years ago.

“I want four principles to be absolutely clear. Firstly, if we are to continue have the best special operations forces in the world, then we will need to pay for it. You do not have what amounts to a blank cheque, gentlemen, but you have a very large cheque nonetheless. I only ask that we get absolute value and absolute efficiency for our money. Secondly, our requirements are increasing and we need larger numbers, but we cannot afford to sacrifice quality in this process. How can this be achieved? I would like details and workable proposals. Thirdly, I won’t say you are the only arm of our Armed Forces and Security services that are not subject to scrutiny by Parliamentary committee, but you are the most significant one. That behoves keeping oversight in place through the most appropriate means.”

Prime Minister Stanley Barton paused. This was another meeting that was not officially taking place, given the natural secrecy attached to the special forces. He had insisted not only that it occur, though, but that he had an opportunity to come up here to Hereford to get a better sense of the situation. Britain’s special operations forces were organised into three tiers. At the base were the Commandos from all four services, dominated obviously by the eight active brigades of the Army. The Army Commandos’ major roles were direct action, raiding, infiltration, sabotage, scouting and global light infantry operations and the Royal Marine Commandos were broadly similar, albeit with a particular amphibious focus, whilst the Royal Naval Commandos focused on combat diving, amphibious reconnaissance, underwater demolitions and maritime warfare and the Royal Air Force Commandos on reconnaissance, aerodrome assault, search and rescue, pathfinding, tactical forward air control and special strike operations.

On the middle tier was the Special Forces Regiment and the three specialist groups of the Army - the Long Range Desert Group, Long Range Jungle Group and Long Range Strike Group and the Royal Marines Assault Force. The latter was a child of the Korean War, where the deployed Royal Marine division would deploy several company strength long range penetration groups operating behind enemy lines; their current role was somewhat nebulous, including but not limited to special reconnaissance, riverine warfare and counter insurgency. The last was the meat and bread of the Special Forces Regiment, the direct descendants of the illustrious Chindits of the Burma, Siam and Indochina campaigns. Their primary mission was unconventional operations, counter insurgency, brushfire operations and guerrilla warfare; their commanders and supporters had been quite adamant that theirs was a very different mission than their American namesakes, driven more by their Empire mission in Africa and Asia.

At the pinnacle stood the SAS, the elite of the elite, and the secretive SBS. Selected from the chosen few who made it through the most gruelling selection process in the world, the Special Air Service then trained its men in combat, survival and reconnaissance to a razor sharp readiness and proficiency. For every 100 men that began selection, only 4 made it through to be part of the ultimate force. Their specialities had grown from the wartime beginnings in the Desert War of North Africa and, whilst they were still the premier long range special reconnaissance and behind enemy lines destruction force, they focussed further upon counter-revolutionary warfare, guerrilla warfare, close-quarter battle, special protection, precision raiding and clandestine intelligence gathering. Their counterparts from the Naval Service were just as deadly, but more clandestine and less well known, having carved out their own maritime niche of operations in the shadowy conflicts that had beset the world for the last two decades. Both regiments were the best that Britain could count upon in this epoch of war in peace.

“Finally, chaps, I want to emphasise that you represent what I see as the way forward. We are going to take to Cabinet a proposal to elevate Combined Operations back to its wartime status as a separate unified command responsible directly to the Chiefs of Staff Committee, combining the Army’s Special Forces Command, RAF Special Duties Force and the Naval Special Operations. I would like to see us develop our capabilities from all forces to operate together at maximum efficiency. That will entail a unified command structure. Field Marshal Wingate, I can think of no one more suited to the role than yourself.”

The slight, grizzled figure seated opposite Barton shook his head. “I’m too old, Prime Minister.”

“Not so far gone that you can’t perform this last service, I think. Two years, three tops, to get the new system running properly, and then you can hand over to new blood. We need a steady and experienced hand to get things running shipshape; your men are to be the point of the sword of the British Empire and that sword is going to war. It is your duty and you are needed.”

“You express the matter most vigorously, Prime Minister, as ever.” began Sir Richard Pendragon. “We do have a need for experience to coordinate our programmes for expansion and the needs of the military situation in the Far East, which will draw upon all three services. As outlined in the briefing paper, we will be deploying a Combined Operations headquarters to coordinate the anticipated RN squadron, RAF composite wing and ground forces, in addition to the other major elements - the joint Commonwealth Special Forces Brigade and an expanded new Gurkha field force.”

Barton nodded approvingly. The integration of Commonwealth special forces into a single unified command structure had been a tantalising prospect raised in 1956, but set aside due to the exigencies of national control. Now, with a new major war, the forces of Britain and the Commonwealth Dominions would once again be operating under a single command. If it were to prove successful, then there would be greater scope for more ambitious plans…

“Well, Prime Minister, if you do want some concrete proposals, there are some issues of armament that can be addressed immediately; my apologies to the Navy and Air Force chaps, but this is limited to our land based forces.”

“Put together a report, General Stirling, by all means.”

“I can do better. I’ve got our chief armourer, Captain Quirinus Quatermain, waiting outside.”

“Bring him in then.” Barton brightened at the prospect of discussing weaponry, as ever.

A tall, thin officer entered the conference roomafter Stirling pressed his buzzer and saluted smartly.

“At ease, Captain. How’s your great-grandfather?”

“Enjoying the Serengeti, sir.”

“He’s earned it. Now, let’s hear about what you chaps need.”

“There are a number of requirements for specialist weapons, sir. We are well supplied with our standard assault rifle for most roles, but there is a clear need for a new submachine gun/carbine for close quarter battle and similar operations. The Uzi is a fine enough weapon, but has its limitations in range and accuracy and will be two decades old in a few years.There is a very promising gun under development by Heckler and Koch in Germany that fulfils certain of our requirements.”

“Which of them doesn’t it fulfil?”

“The calibre, sir. Jerry is quite attached to his 9mm Luger, as really is most of the Continent. Our preference is for a round with higher velocity and stopping power. The good old .455 Webley doesn’t quite get the job done, nor does the American .45. The boffins at Enfield and Browning are working on a number of options for rounds with better ballistics than the Webley and more stopping power than the European 9mm options.”

“Interesting. This would also play into our requirement for a modern combat pistol.”

“True enough, Prime Minister, although we have been happy enough with the Browning in that regard.”

“If we go in for a penny, we might as well go in for a pound.”Barton knew that all of the armed service had a requirement for a new pistol and this was shared by several of the Commonwealth militaries and police forces. The potential number of orders would easily run to over one and a half millions, even taking into account the role of the new Uzi as a personal defence gun for tank crew, carrier drivers and the Royal Mining and Tunneling Corps. All well and good.

“What else?”

“Precision firepower, sir. Our sniper rifles are still based on the old SMLE and are in need of a replacement. Our preference is for something that can outshoot the Soviet Dragunov in all major respects, based on our encounters with it on the North West Frontier.”

“That would have a lot of useful crossover to the rest of the forces, so it can definitely be catered for.”

“Very good. Armstrong-Whitworth have a very promising developmental rifle that fits many of our purposes. Apart from that, we would only have general procurement items - more light machine guns, multiple grenade launchers, anti tank rifles and so forth.”

“You’ll get all of that and anything more besides. General, work out what you need and in what amount. We will give you the tools; you’ll do the job.”

Steve,

I was trying to hold off on pinpointing his presence, but may need to throw in a line at the end of the first paragraph teasing it slightly.

Steve,

The short answer is “grudgingly”.



The long version is that the majority of the WG’s Office is concentrated in Britain. It has a grudging tolerance for monotheistic “people of the book”, but gets a real bee in its bonnet over Eastern mysticism; it doesn’t quite have the power or role to do too much damage in that respect.

In practice, they are steered away from some groups, such as the Sikhs and Hindus (of which there are scant few enough in Britain of 1964 in any case) in return for being let loose on others. Considering some of the cults and what not out there, it has some predictable results.