Eagle Guardian: The War of 2010

[lordroel]

May 25, 2019 17:46:52 GMT forcon said:

One Hundred and Sixty Seven

NATO forces began their ‘forced entry’ into Belarus. Russian forces in Poland had been overwhelmed, destroyed, or encircled. Now Allied ground forces were initiating the second phase of Operation Noble Sword while I Corps moved into Lithuania and Kaliningrad. The Sword and the Arrow moved took vengeance side-by-side as the Third World War continued, summer slowly turning to autumn amidst the bloodshed.

With American, Polish, and French forces in the lead, V Corps went into Belarus against opposition from what remained of the 1st Guards Tank Army, as well as various Russian and Belarusian units scattered across the country and Belarusian internal security troops and militiamen as well.

The Polish Land Forces remained on V Corps northern flank, battles there being fought by the 11th Armored Cavalry Division with its German-manufactured Leopard-2s. Those Polish tanks smashed aside determined opposition from Belarusian militia units covering the route to Grodno, the first of many major cities that NATO planned to capture in short order. Throughout the day, the Poles fought through various roadside ambushes and skirmishes in Belarusian villages, with opposition being offered at nearly every chance.

Nevertheless, the 11th Division maintained its timetable of reaching Grodno by nightfall, moving to encircle the city rather than drive directly throughout.

To the south, the US 101st Air Assault Division finally went into action. After spending many frustrating weeks sitting on the side lines in the largely untouched western Poland, its members were generally glad to be getting into the fight.

They had heard many stories of Russian war crimes and there was a desire for revenge, one which did not match that of the Poles, but still made the 101st Air Cav a force to be reckoned with.

Acting, as they had trained, as air assault soldiers, the 101st used helicopters – Black Hawks and Chinooks, mainly – to secure the farmland south of Grodno, going up against mainly Belarusian troops but with a smattering of Russian units amongst them. Fighting in the farmland was moderately heavy, with the casualty figures skewed by the shooting down of several helicopters laden with troops. The division performed excellently overall throughout the day, securing transport links for heavier units further behind them.

The 1st Armored Division, next in the row of NATO units, was again thrust into heavy fighting as they faced off against Russian units ahead of them and Belarusian militiamen acting as partisans in their rears.

Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, covered by scout and attack helicopters, fought on through the countryside. General Mattis needed the forces to the south to keep pace with those more successful units in the north to prevent them from being outflanked. Resistance remained stiff until the early afternoon, when Russian units began to give way in a semi-organised manor after numerous air and artillery strikes.

Yet further south, the 1st Cavalry Division pushed forwards, keeping in line with the French Army’s wartime ad hoc division. Resistance was actually weaker than expected for the 1st Cavalry Division, but the small number of artillery attacks that did occur would offset the 1st Cav’s timetables as casualties had to be dealt with and commands reorganised.

Again resistance was composed mainly of Russian forces, though there were Belarusian units present on the roads ahead as well. Many prisoners, mostly Russians rather than Belarusians, were taken as the day wore on and Russian units surrendered at the company level after being outmanoeuvred by the 1st Cavalry Division, whose casualties were significant though not crippling.

The French heavy forces on V Corps southern flank faced a mixture of enemy units. Russian regulars were encountered in small numbers, but the French faced off against far more significant numbers of Belarusian internal security forces and also against some Army units. Unlike the Polish 11th Division, the French Army had decided that it would seize Brest today rather than encircling that city, which would turn out to be a major blunder.
Although the French were able to seize the city in a battle that lasted into the night, this was not without heavy damage being done and major casualties both amongst the French Army and Brest’s civilian population as airstrikes and artillery fire missions were directed upon suspected hot-spots of enemy resistance. The city was defended largely by Belarusian militia forces, reinforced by regular troops and Russian advisors.

Those Russian pockets that remained in Poland, behind V Corps lines, fell victim to heavy airstrikes throughout the day as the Italian Army and the US 3rd Infantry Division sought to reduce them. While no total surrender was reached today, over three thousand men would raise the white flag, and by tomorrow morning, the end would have come for those same Russian units, while NATO forces entering Belarus had made fantastic progress in doing so despite a multitude of losses and the fact that a bloody slog towards Minsk and then to the Russian border itself awaited them.

Many were beginning to wonder what would happen when they got there.

Nice update forcon, but where did you post Chapters 165, 165 and 166.

[forcon]

May 25, 2019 17:50:07 GMT lordroel said:

May 25, 2019 17:46:52 GMT forcon said:

One Hundred and Sixty Seven

NATO forces began their ‘forced entry’ into Belarus. Russian forces in Poland had been overwhelmed, destroyed, or encircled. Now Allied ground forces were initiating the second phase of Operation Noble Sword while I Corps moved into Lithuania and Kaliningrad. The Sword and the Arrow moved took vengeance side-by-side as the Third World War continued, summer slowly turning to autumn amidst the bloodshed.

With American, Polish, and French forces in the lead, V Corps went into Belarus against opposition from what remained of the 1st Guards Tank Army, as well as various Russian and Belarusian units scattered across the country and Belarusian internal security troops and militiamen as well.

The Polish Land Forces remained on V Corps northern flank, battles there being fought by the 11th Armored Cavalry Division with its German-manufactured Leopard-2s. Those Polish tanks smashed aside determined opposition from Belarusian militia units covering the route to Grodno, the first of many major cities that NATO planned to capture in short order. Throughout the day, the Poles fought through various roadside ambushes and skirmishes in Belarusian villages, with opposition being offered at nearly every chance.

Nevertheless, the 11th Division maintained its timetable of reaching Grodno by nightfall, moving to encircle the city rather than drive directly throughout.

To the south, the US 101st Air Assault Division finally went into action. After spending many frustrating weeks sitting on the side lines in the largely untouched western Poland, its members were generally glad to be getting into the fight.

They had heard many stories of Russian war crimes and there was a desire for revenge, one which did not match that of the Poles, but still made the 101st Air Cav a force to be reckoned with.

Acting, as they had trained, as air assault soldiers, the 101st used helicopters – Black Hawks and Chinooks, mainly – to secure the farmland south of Grodno, going up against mainly Belarusian troops but with a smattering of Russian units amongst them. Fighting in the farmland was moderately heavy, with the casualty figures skewed by the shooting down of several helicopters laden with troops. The division performed excellently overall throughout the day, securing transport links for heavier units further behind them.

The 1st Armored Division, next in the row of NATO units, was again thrust into heavy fighting as they faced off against Russian units ahead of them and Belarusian militiamen acting as partisans in their rears.

Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, covered by scout and attack helicopters, fought on through the countryside. General Mattis needed the forces to the south to keep pace with those more successful units in the north to prevent them from being outflanked. Resistance remained stiff until the early afternoon, when Russian units began to give way in a semi-organised manor after numerous air and artillery strikes.

Yet further south, the 1st Cavalry Division pushed forwards, keeping in line with the French Army’s wartime ad hoc division. Resistance was actually weaker than expected for the 1st Cavalry Division, but the small number of artillery attacks that did occur would offset the 1st Cav’s timetables as casualties had to be dealt with and commands reorganised.

Again resistance was composed mainly of Russian forces, though there were Belarusian units present on the roads ahead as well. Many prisoners, mostly Russians rather than Belarusians, were taken as the day wore on and Russian units surrendered at the company level after being outmanoeuvred by the 1st Cavalry Division, whose casualties were significant though not crippling.

The French heavy forces on V Corps southern flank faced a mixture of enemy units. Russian regulars were encountered in small numbers, but the French faced off against far more significant numbers of Belarusian internal security forces and also against some Army units. Unlike the Polish 11th Division, the French Army had decided that it would seize Brest today rather than encircling that city, which would turn out to be a major blunder.
Although the French were able to seize the city in a battle that lasted into the night, this was not without heavy damage being done and major casualties both amongst the French Army and Brest’s civilian population as airstrikes and artillery fire missions were directed upon suspected hot-spots of enemy resistance. The city was defended largely by Belarusian militia forces, reinforced by regular troops and Russian advisors.

Those Russian pockets that remained in Poland, behind V Corps lines, fell victim to heavy airstrikes throughout the day as the Italian Army and the US 3rd Infantry Division sought to reduce them. While no total surrender was reached today, over three thousand men would raise the white flag, and by tomorrow morning, the end would have come for those same Russian units, while NATO forces entering Belarus had made fantastic progress in doing so despite a multitude of losses and the fact that a bloody slog towards Minsk and then to the Russian border itself awaited them.

Many were beginning to wonder what would happen when they got there.

Nice update forcon , but where did you post Chapters 165, 165 and 166.

Sorry, I miscounted the updates again. It should read 165, I'll edit that. 

[James G]

One Hundred and Sixty–Six

With NATO ground forces making significant progress as they moved forward into Kaliningrad, Lithuania and Belarus, plus continued to fight deep inside the heart of Latvia too, supporting air forces increased their operational areas to aid those advances. They went beyond what was deemed the ‘Forward Edge of the Battle Area’ (FEBA) and into Russia proper. Tactical air strikes were made into border regions that took on a different character to the intermittent strategic bombings already underway elsewhere across the Russian Federation.

In the skies above the Pskov and Smolensk Oblasts, bordering the Baltic States and Belarus, NATO aircraft were active. Supply lines for Russian forces desperately fighting a losing battle ran through here. There was crucial rear-area infrastructure to support the ongoing war now in-place throughout these areas. The road and rail links, plus also air facilities, were supporting the fight where forward units were trying to stop NATO getting further forward. Cruise missiles fired from some distance had already hit selected targets but in the first days of September, there were now aircraft present dropping bombs. On the FEBA, they’d focused on hitting troops and armoured vehicles while being engaged by still-dense air defences. Further back, the defences were weaker and the targets not the same either.

These air strikes unintentionally killed Russian civilians alongside the targeted military personnel.

NATO bombing brought about civil unrest. Russia had gone to war to stop such a thing happening but as the war ‘came home’ to the country, this started to occur. In large towns throughout those two oblasts (Russia was federally organised into regions known as oblasts alongside its many semi-independent republics), protests occurred. These were of an anti-war nature and were against the regime in the Kremlin. It had been believed by Putin and his cohorts that the Russian people, as patriotic as anyone else, would rally against NATO. While they weren’t out in the streets supporting the West, they weren’t giving the support for the state that had been anticipated. The FSB moved against protest organisers and Militsiya fired shots into the air to break up the worst of the trouble. Bombs continued to fall though and the people would come out once more calling for an end to the war in which their families, friends and neighbours died because of.

The trouble was the largest in Pskov, Ostrov, Velikiye Luki, Nevel and Smolensk. These towns were hit hard by the NATO air attacks alongside the surrounding rural areas too. Activities to bring it to a close were deemed successful when reports were made up to the Security Council of Russia and it was believed that they wouldn’t reoccur.

Time would tell whether that was true.


The Americans conducted the majority of the air strikes though they weren’t alone. Aircraft with fellow NATO nations but also some of those with Coalition partners joined in with these attacks made too.

The US Air Force was using its F-15E Strike Eagle fleet. Flights of two and four aircraft each time made selected strikes against a whole range of targets all of which were deemed to have a military value. The aircraft carried self-defence weapons as well as their bombs and had to use them on occasion to deal with the few fighters encountered as well as SAM defences. Losses did occur yet they were minimal… unless you were the aircrew involved and then that term took on a different meaning. Regardless, laser-guided bombs slammed into Russian soil. Bridges, supply dumps, communications sites, power facilities and airfields were hit. Russian camouflage measures were used and the maskirovka efforts paid off in a few places. It wasn’t enough to the minimize the destructive nature of what the F-15Es were achieving with their air strikes.

RAF Tornado GR4s joined in. No. 13 Squadron had spent much of the war remaining at home in UK bases flying targeted strikes into the Baltic States behind the lines but had now forward deployed into Poland for the Russia mission. They dropped Paveway bombs on similar targets to the Americans. The French were alongside them with Mirage-2000D aircraft too using guided weapons to make careful strikes where real damage would be done overall. The air forces of other NATO countries were hard-pressed to do this as well but one of the Coalition nations joined in with F-15s and F-16s also on bomb runs. These were from the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Based in peacetime in the United States rather than at home, the RSAF had F-15SGs along with F-16Cs & Ds stationed alongside USAF training units in Idaho and Arizona respectively. They’d come to Europe when the Americans transferred over that immense air fleet when the war got going and with the Singaporeans taking part in the fighting above Poland. Now they moved forward, again alongside the Americans, in hitting Russian targets. The aircraft weren’t many in number but they were very capable of undertaking this task. Bombs from them too crashed into Russia proper.

Russian ground-based air defences were arrayed forward and already under significant attack. What they had at home was spread out and based around strategic areas. The air attacks over the Pskov and Smolensk Oblasts really hurt them. There were interceptors still flying in Russian skies though, primarily MiG-31s. These big, powerful aircraft attempted to defeat the air attacks. NATO came in low though and had a lot of external support with AWACS coverage as well as distant jamming. The Foxhounds did not have an easy time of it especially since those aircraft they went up against defended themselves. Flankers and Fulcrums, which would have done much better, were either smoking holes in the ground already or flying elsewhere.

The skies of the western edges of Russia were contested though with NATO still able to operate effectively. They were also able to mount more attacks of a strategic nature, moving northwards with the Americans sending some of their F-15Es even further into the heart of the Rodina. St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast (that historic name had long been retained) were hit by these air attacks as they expanded in operating area. More laser-guided bombs crashed into military and civilian dual-use facilities. Back in the United States, at Pentagon press briefings, black-and-white video footage was shown to the media of these.

This is Russia and we’re blowing it to bits while they can’t stop us.

[hussar01]

After the Russians loose the war, the biggest geostrategic losser will be China. Due to what Russian fascism did, the US will be armed and alert to goverment fascism and China will be in the cross hairs. By not helping Russia, China wasted any oppurtunity to challenge the US and win. The Us has just finished a war with its tech proven unbeatable. And national securty and such issue will be fresh. The rise of China has been aborted.

[dunois]

May 26, 2019 19:55:47 GMT hussar01 said:

After the Russians loose the war, the biggest geostrategic losser will be China. Due to what Russian fascism did, the US will be armed and alert to goverment fascism and China will be in the cross hairs. By not helping Russia, China wasted any oppurtunity to challenge the US and win. The Us has just finished a war with its tech proven unbeatable. And national securty and such issue will be fresh. The rise of China has been aborted.

This could go both ways to be honest.

On one hand, the West's cohesion is strenghtened and it won't look kindly on Russia's dealings with the Kremlin. Plus if the West opts of rebuild and reintegrate Russia after Deputinising it, it will gain a powerful ally.

On the other hand, China is making big money from the war and gained access to Russian technology. The West will also shoulder the burden of rebuilding and occupying some countries.

[hussar01]

At this point celebrating access to Russian tech is like celebrating access to Japan's tech at the end of WW2. Not really usefull. And considering what the US just learned about its own tech in this war and the iteration in its technology that it will result will be huge. The F-22 program and F-35 maj just replace all legacy systems such as the F-15 and F-16.

[forcon]

The US has suffered apalling casualties so far and the war isn't even over yet. There have been major naval and air losses which could tilt the balance in any conflict in the South China Sea or over Taiwan. On top that, the US may have lost Japan as a staging area for that hypotethetical conflict as post-war America may withdraw its forces from Japan. Most of those air force squadrons in Japan are flying from South Korea or occupied Sakhalin now. Plus, China has obtained the blueprints for numerous Russian weapons systems (T-90, Su-30 & S-400) which while they have been beaten have proven to be very effective and inflicted major losses on the US Army & Air Force. China has also taken up much of the manafacturing slack as European industry focuses on the war effort, with those exports from the EU now being produced by largely by China, with that being helped by the fact that the entire North Atlantic is almost totally off limits to civilian cargo shipping.

China could really be the big winner here, but that relies on the US being more war-weary and thw Americans could still offset things with increased military and economic production post-war.

[forcon]

One Hundred and Sixty Seven

NATO wasn’t only focused on fighting in Eastern Europe. Allied forces, spearheaded by amphibious and airborne forces belonging to Italy, France, and Spain, had landed in Libya while the Egyptian Army carried out what had quickly been coined Operation Compass Two.

The objective of this operation was the toppling of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime, which had made the terrible mistake of siding with President Putin and his war against NATO.

Operation Black Thunder was revenge for the Libyan Army’s taking of hostages from NATO embassies. Those people had been rescued in a daring American raid known as Operation Midnight Talon (there was going to be a movie about that one day!), but hostages had died in the fighting as had some of their rescuers.

The United States Army was largely absent from Operation Black Thunder, however, being fully committed in Europe and Asia. The toppling of Gaddafi was to be led by France and supported by other NATO nations which had bases on the Mediterranean Sea.

The French Army rapidly moved to expand its beachhead at Sirte. Paratroopers had gone in there and they had been followed quickly by additional forces. Those included the 9th Marine Brigade, along with the remainder of the 11th Airborne Brigade. More troops would be behind them.

It would take an estimated seventy-two hours to bring France’s second wartime divisional command into Libya, and then the advance could begin in earnest. Until then, the French were playing it safe, safer than expected. A drive on Tripoli was to be mounted soon enough, with that being launched along the coast by the French-led NATO Rapid Deployment Corps.

Meanwhile, the Spanish and Italian militaries liberated Benghazi after mopping up the final pockets of Libyan resistance within that coastal city. Regime forces had already withdrawn in bulk yesterday and the airport had been captured, but some small units remained cut off within Benghazi itself until today. A somewhat surprising success was met for the Libyans when a regime artillery unit managed to launch a short bombardment against Benghazi’s airport, with those guns swiftly being supressed by Allied warplanes, but not before inflicting some casualties amongst the Italian Army.

Rebel forces fighting in opposition to Gadaffi had no particular love for NATO, but there was a common enemy to be defeated in Tripoli and at least for now there were relatively few clashes between NATO troops and rebel elements. Across Libya, Gadaffi’s forces were facing attacks from all sides as Egyptian forces hit them from the east and NATO troops from the south.

The Allied air campaign had been extremely effective so far. Libya’s air force was wiped out, and the few jets that remained found themselves fighting with American F/A-18s or Egyptian MiG-21s and F-16s whose pilots were far superior in training.

Almost no air-to-air losses were sustained by the Allies, except for a single Egyptian F-4 and an unlucky French Air Force Mirage-2000. Ground-to-air missiles were of more concern, but many of those had been destroyed by intensive defence suppression missions and those few that remained were on the run or in hiding to avoid destruction themselves.

Even lumbering B-52s were allowed to operate over Libya given the lack of air defences available.

Those colossal warplanes were loaded up with unguided cluster bombs used to destroy larger enemy formations wherever they were detected, while a strike using B-52s was also launched upon the hapless city of Tripoli in a show of force against the regime, targeted at military facilities but also killing dozens of civilians as well in a series of unfortunate accidents.

Operation Compass Two, meanwhile, was proceeding apace, as Egyptian forces charged through the desert, covered by US Navy airpower from the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan. America-made M1 Abrams tanks were used here along with older M-60s and Russian-built T-62s. The latter vehicles were outgunned by Libyan T-90s but the Egyptian crews were infinitely better trained, and with total air supremacy, there was nothing Gadaffi’s forces could do to stop them.

Bombs rained across the desert while Egyptian tanks slaughtered their opponents at long range and then dismounted infantrymen cleared out the remnants of Libyan opposition in the vast desert. The Egyptians had thrown six divisions and two separate brigades over the border, most of them armoured and mechanized infantry units with totally overwhelming firepower superiority.

The end was fast approaching for Colonel Gadaffi.

[lordbyron]

BTW, I'm surprised that there haven't been riots in New York directed against Brighton Beach (a heavily Russian neighborhood) by African-Americans and other ethnicities (the African-American population would be pissed over the death of "their" president, Obama, while the Poles and other Eastern Europeans in NYC would be angry over the attacks/invasion of their countries), though I suspect the NYPD/NY National Guard elements not overseas are keeping order there, James G and forcon ...

Good update...

[James G]

May 27, 2019 22:33:44 GMT lordbyron said:

BTW, I'm surprised that there haven't been riots in New York directed against Brighton Beach (a heavily Russian neighborhood) by African-Americans and other ethnicities (the African-American population would be pissed over the death of "their" president, Obama, while the Poles and other Eastern Europeans in NYC would be angry over the attacks/invasion of their countries), though I suspect the NYPD/NY National Guard elements not overseas are keeping order there, James G and forcon ...

Good update...

It is very possible that has happened. Of course, caught up that violence would be Russians opposed to Putin and even non-Russians thought to be Russians by the baying mob.
IIRC Dan put forth that notion of a similar thing in Britain with Eastern Europeans being attacked by the local knuckleheads when their homelands are allied to Britain and being defended by NATO.

Much of the ARNG is now shipping out after the regulars and reserves already went, plus all of those recent discharges not in the reserves (I'm not sure exactly how that works) but the idea is that the US has a massive manpower pool after the wars in the Middle East and can recall many former soldiers. There would be many national guard units dragged into helping maintain civil order though, all over the place, yet many more would be stuck on static guard duty too. 

[forcon]

There is additionally the possibility that Guard units will be held back in the United States to pick up the pieces if a nuclear war happens. Though NATO (the US in particular) is becoming more confident that Putin will not go nuclear, Allied ground forces are on Russian soil and pushing towards the Rodina herself. The Pentagon will not just want, but absolutely need, significant military forces to hold the US together as a functioning nationstate in the event of a nuclear war.

[James G]

Part Eight


One Hundred and Sixty–Eight

Norwegian diplomatic efforts remained ongoing to keep its NATO allies committed to completing the liberation of every inch of their country. There remained moves from abroad to transfer combat units elsewhere now that the Russians had been beaten yet from Oslo, Prime Minister Stoltenberg carried on using up much political capital to not see them leave. The Russian Sixth Army had been destroyed and the war had moved onwards into the Kola Peninsula. However, there were still occupying armed foreigners in Northern Norway. Throughout the Finnmark region, there were isolated garrisons which could be found where there were air & naval links as well as through several towns along major roads. This concentration around transportation links had been done to secure the rear far from the frontlines. Those Russians who’d been defeated in a combined NATO effort around Bardufoss–Tromsø–Skibotn, where the frontlines had been, had relied upon those in the rear such as these to keep them in the fight. That fight was over but not for those spread across Finnmark. They remained where they were, surrounded by Norwegian civilians. Norway wanted to liberate its territory, free its people and wipe out the last of that occupation.

They still had the support form their allies to do this.

Alongside the Germans who moved with them in support, the Norwegians moved up towards Alta first. The Brigade Nord had fought that valiant battle there last month before making its ‘great escape’ afterwards all the way back to Narvik. Now they returned as part of the Norwegian 6th Division and also did the German Fallschirmjager. Russian soldiers around Alta hadn’t received any orders in a week. They were cut off and all alone. They could have surrendered: entrees were made to them to get them to give in with promises made of good treatment. The Norwegians weren’t feeling generous in doing this. Their aim was to save the trapped people of Alta from a battle for their town. Unfortunately, without new orders, the senior Russian officer in Alta, obeyed his standing ones. Those were to repel any attack to take the airport, the harbour and Alta’s road connections. Every man who could hold one was issued a rifle. There were no longer any clerks, cooks, drivers, engineers and so on here: just riflemen. The Germans worked around the Russian’s flank and blocked their rear to stop a retreat before the Norwegians moved in. It took a day. Alta afterwards returned to Norwegian hands. It was a ruin and there were civilian casualties everywhere. They celebrated down in Oslo as another town was liberated yet there were starting to be some tough questions asked there among members of the government at such an approach. Couldn’t something else have been done rather than a full combined arms assault as was seen there?

Once Alta had been taken, there was an immediate move onwards to Lakselv too. The Germans marched off first, getting underway fast. Winter came early in Norway and with that the snow. Every day waiting around was a day wasted. Before they could get to the other town to make an assault there, the 26th Fallschirmjager Brigade was halted. They reported to the Norwegians and it was them who gave the word for this. Why, the German brigade commander asked, are we stopping?

Politics came the answer.

Down in Oslo, the recriminations from what had occurred at Alta had come. Lakselv was a smaller town than Alta but wartime had seen many more civilians concentrated there. Intelligence efforts pointed to those people being right in the firing line of a fight for Lakselv. The Germans were to stop and wait for larger forces to come up with the hope that when faced with an overwhelming force, and aware of that, the Russians in the town would surrender rather than fight off what they might think was just a raiding force. The idea had value from a military sense though it really was a political fudge. It was said that Stoltenberg and his government had gotten a case of the ‘wobbly knees’. Criticism of the delay in making the attack was still occurring when there came a party of Russians which walked out of Lakselv. There were four officers and a trio of NCOs who marched up to the Norwegians under a white flag. They were surrendering. Lakselv – plus the airstrip at Banak nearby – wasn’t going to have to be fought over. Some would claim that the show of force strategy had worked while others stated that it was all about the condition of that garrison. Regardless as to who was right and who was wrong, those civilians gathered in Lakselv weren’t going to be caught right in the middle of a battle.


The Norwegians had convinced the Americans, the British & the Dutch to stay in-country too where they would also carry on the fight as well. The US II Marine Expeditionary Force – which controlled the 2nd Marine Division alongside the Anglo-Dutch 3rd Royal Marines Commando Brigade – could have had a very important role fighting over in the Kola or possibility sent to somewhere like Arkhangelsk (the Pentagon planners had been looking over their maps and making notations) but it remained in Norway. Russia’s marines had been defeated around Tromsø but that victory had been costly to achieve. Thankfully, there was nothing like the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade elsewhere left in Norway as an opponent across Finnmark. The scattered coastal garrisons which the II MEF was sent against now did have some Naval Infantry present with a couple of dispersed companies but mainly it was supporting soldiers that the Russians had left.

From Tromsø, NATO sent their own marines against both Hammerfest and Honningsvåg. These coastal towns had their own airstrips and harbours with both near to the North Cape. Aircraft had already bombed the Russians there and warships had shelled them when NATO’s navies went towards the Barents Sea yet afterwards those present had dug-in well. They’d been bypassed and posed no real conceivable threat. However, the II MEF was tasked to retake each place and destroy the defending forces.

The Royal Marines and the Korps Mariniers assaulted Hammerfest. Only part of the 3rd Brigade was involved and even then, NATO forces had a significant numerical advantage here. They took their time though. There was no need to hurry here as far as the British and Dutch were concerned: the Russians weren’t going anywhere. They were worn down through the use of firepower and then a series of strong raids to break open their other defensive positions. Russian return fire was wild and inaccurate. Their Naval Infantry did well but other so-called riflemen were no good at shooting straight as well as holding their lines when faced with veteran soldiers. Hammerfest’s defences crumbled. The 3rd Brigade wasn’t looking for a final bloody fight and had planned to hold back a massive assault but gaps opened up in the enemy lines. A couple of companies of 45 Commando found those holes and pushed inwards before turning to hit Russians who were still fighting from behind. Hammerfest’s defenders didn’t fall back into the centre of the town, surrounded by civilians, but instead either surrendered or died on the frontlines. Pushed through those holes created, the Dutch marched into Hammerfest proper. That near uncontested move saw the last resistance crumble at the sight of this sure defeat with bigger surrenders occurring, including the Naval Infantry troops. Hammerfest had fallen.

The defenders of Honningsvåg didn’t collapse as easily. The US Marines had a real fight on their hands there when after using their supporting firepower to rush a capture of the town, the defenders fled inland. Honningsvåg was in the southeastern corner of the island of Magerøya and getting inland from there should have been something cut off due to the geography of the island. However, many Russians fled when the Americans took their eye off the ball. There was nowhere for them to go though once they’d run from Honningsvåg. The North Cape itself was on the far side of the island but in the main Magerøya was empty. Let them go, the regimental landing team commander said: no, came his superior’s instructions, hunt them down and eliminate them as a threat less they return. US Marines fought skirmish after skirmish across this island at the top of the world where they battled those Russians who’d already run away. Cover from Harriers and SeaCobras came as well as their own landed artillery and naval gunfire support. Many Russians threw up their hands, having enough of this, but there were still some who fought on. They’d lost and this was hopeless. There was no point! Still, certain soldiers fired their rifles against the Americans who hunted them down. Shots were exchanged again and again until, finally, there were no more foolish ones who wanted to carry on the fight and die like all that those who already had. The Americans ended up with a lot of prisoners from those who saw the error of their ways yet there were the bodies of the dead to deal with: theirs and their opponents. It was all for nothing, many of the US Marines, men and officers, would say afterwards, nothing at all.

[forcon]

One Hundred and Sixty Nine

While the Russian Navy had effectively been destroyed as a fighting force, a few submarines had survived the utter annihilation faced by the remainder of the once powerful Russian fleet. Those vessels which had survived until now were generally diesel-electric powered submarines, somewhat quieter than submarines powered instead by nuclear reactors. NATO had hunted the Russian fleet across the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea, and the Pacific.

Dozens of Russian warships and submarines had been sent to the bottom of the ocean, often taking their whole crews down with them. NATO losses had been very heavy indeed, but the United States Navy could still field a functional fighting force, albeit one much smaller than the pre-war fleet. There would be major concerns from Taiwan and Japan following the war about the US Navy’s continued ability to deter the PLA. Nevertheless, the US Navy was not only still in this fight, but it was also taking the fight to Russia. Aircraft carriers allowed Navy aircraft to strike the Kola Peninsula and the Russian Far East day in and day out.

In the Mediterranean, there was one Russian submarine which had managed to evade the NATO destroyers and frigates trawling for their stealthy underwater foe.
Kaluga had been transferred from the Pacific Fleet to the Black Sea Squadron back in July, prior to the outbreak of World War Three. Designed to fight in enclosed waters such as the Mediterranean Sea, she was in her element here.
Where US and French Maritime Patrol Aircraft and anti-submarine warfare ships had successfully sunk many more Russian submarines here in the Mediterranean, Kaluga had avoided such a fate more by hiding than by fighting. She had, on the fifth day of the war, torpedoed and sunk a French destroyer before disappearing beneath the waves once again.

Some efforts had been made to track the movements of the Sixth Fleet out there in the Mediterranean as it began air operations against Libya, but the captain of the Kaluga was not about to risk his vessel trying to repeat the impressive feat of a nuclear-powered Oscar-II submarine in sinking an American aircraft carrier out there in the North Atlantic.

Such a thing required a much more heavily-armed submarine than his little but tenacious Kilo.

In spite of this, Kaluga’s skipper was desperate to achieve something in this war. By now he figured that Russia was destined to lose, but that did not mean that he would not do his duty to the Rodina, and on a more personal level, the captain wanted to make a name for himself and for his boat. It was not so much a desire for fame, but rather the need to be able to say that he and his boys had done something worthwhile in the great war of 2010.

Kaluga slowly fell into position behind the NATO strike force that was currently pounding Libyan forces as the ground invasion of that country took place. There were Spanish and Italian Harrier jump jets flying from those countries’ light carriers, along with an assortment of destroyers and frigates providing escort from the United States Navy, the French Navy, the Egyptian Navy, and, naturally, the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Navies.

No matter what their eventual fate was to be, the captain told his crew, today they would make history.

They would have stories told of their bravery in infiltrating the NATO fleet and sinking their warships, stories which their children and grandchildren would one day hear. For some, seeking glory, this was comfort, while for others the thought of drowning within the suffocating confines of the submarine was a harrowing thought that made them want to run. Many wished they had joined the Army instead; at least in a land battle one can surrender, something that is impossible aboard a warship like Kaluga.

Silent and unseen by the anti-submarine warfare escorts, Kaluga unleashed her torpedoes, aimed at the Spanish Navy’s flagship, and the largest vessel that the Russian submarine had been able to locate, the Principe de Austrias.

Four torpedoes streaked towards the Spanish aircraft carrier. Evasive manoeuvres were initiated immediately and decoys rapidly deployed into the water. Three torpedoes struck home, the fourth having failed to find its target due to a mechanical issue. All three of those Russian weapons detonated with huge explosions, causing fires to surge through the heart of the Principe de Austrias. Ammunition and fuel stocks quickly cooked off below decks, causing a fourth explosion, initiated in the hull of the ship, to occur and blast through her flight deck. The Spanish Navy lost its aircraft carrier in less than twenty minutes, along with 791 or her 830-strong crew.

Diving deep below the water, Kaluga’s crew rapidly reloaded her tubes with more torpedoes. As an intensive anti-submarine hunt was launched to locate the vessel, Kaluga fired another spread of torpedoes, sinking the frigate USS Reuben James, moments before a Mark 54 torpedo from a patrolling Seahawk helicopter finally homed in on Kaluga and sent her to the bottom.

[James G]

In the coming week, many Spanish families will be getting notices of the deaths of their loved ones. There won't be details but most would know that the dead relative was aboard that ship. Combined with other Spanish losses elsewhere, this will have a long-term effect.
Of course, the same will be repeated throughout Coalition nations too.

[oldbleep]

As an intensive anti-submarine hunt was launched to locate the vessel, Kaluga fired another spread of torpedoes, sinking the frigate USS Reuben James, moments before an ASROC from a patrolling Seahawk helicopter finally homed in on Kaluga and sent her to the bottom.

Another tip of the hat to Red Storm Rising with the Reuben James ?

Can I just point out ASROC is not launched by helicopters,

The RUR-5 ASROC (for "Anti-Submarine ROCket") is an all-weather, all sea-conditions anti-submarine missile system.
Developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it was deployed in the 1960s, updated in the 1990s, and eventually installed on over 200 USN surface ships, specifically cruisers, destroyers, and frigates.

There is also a vertically launched version,
The RUM-139 VL-ASROC is an anti-submarine missile in the ASROC family, currently built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Navy.
The first VLS ASROC missile was an RUR-5 ASROC with an upgraded solid-fuel booster section and a digital guidance system.
It carries a lightweight Mark 46 homing torpedo that is dropped from the rocket at a precalculated point on its trajectory,
and then parachuted into the sea.
Beginning in 1996, the missile was replaced by the newer RUM-139A and subsequently the RUM-139B.
The torpedo has remained the Mark 46, though at one time an improved torpedo called the Mark 50 was proposed and then cancelled.
Since October 2004 the RUM-139C is now in production with the Mark 54 torpedo.

I look forward to the next update and see which way the war will go.