The Second Battle of Britain - a Soviet Sealion

[amir]

James- great series of viewpoints. Kind of shows how viewpoints “the war” can be very different even one foxhole over.

Nuclear escalation at sea during the 80s was always something easy- the USN routinely exercised with nuclear armed munitions for ASW and their only standoff submarine carried ASW weapon, SUBROC, was nuclear only. Significantly, RAF St. Mawgan maintained forward deployed B57 Nuclear Depth Bombs (NDB) for USN, RAF, and RNLAF on the P-3 and Nimrod platforms, guarded by a USMC company. WSAs were maintained at P-3 deployment sites like Keflavik, Lajes, Macrihanish, and the Nimrod MOB at Kinloss.

Escalation at sea is a slippery slope- you strike the sub with the ndb to protect the carrier/ssbn, leading to a strike on the carrier/ssbn, leading to a strike on the land base supporting the ASW/ASuW ops then we’re off to the races. Ought to be an interesting time- I hope our Gurkhas and helo crews dig in deep- they’re going to need it if they’re lucky.

[James G]

Jan 20, 2020 15:32:59 GMT stevep said:

Jan 20, 2020 8:54:35 GMT James G said:

Oh very much so!

  James G ,

  So the big guns are now out.  And it started at sea but I suspect it won't stay that way for long.

  One thing that occurred to me this morning.  Especially with what was initially thought to be a full scale invasion and the growing fear of nuclear war what is happening to the royals?  I suspect that the queen might well insist on staying in Britain, albeit somewhere secret and hopefully secure.  However I wonder if Charles, Diana and their two young sons might have been sent somewhere safer, such as Canada say?

  Steve

Promises have been made of a controllable situation... we'll see how that goes!
I've read speculation on WW3 evacuation of royals but there is loads of contradictory info out there. A group of Foot Guards & Household Cavalry would form a mobile Royal Duties Force on UK soil to protect a roving monarch / heir. There was the royal yacht too which could shelter in the Western Isles of Scotland. Maybe the Queen would have stayed at Windsor?
Let us say the Queen is in the UK but heirs are aboard. Canada sounds 'safe'. Maybe a few other high-level royals are in Australia / NZ too.

Jan 20, 2020 19:30:17 GMT Dan said:

This is where we find out they were on a fast ship heading for Canada that was hit with a nuclear torpedo fired by accident.

That would be 'fun', maybe Britannia gets one!?
I was honestly thinking royal evac would have been done by air - probably Concorde.

[James G]

Jan 20, 2020 19:49:15 GMT amir said:

James- great series of viewpoints. Kind of shows how viewpoints “the war” can be very different even one foxhole over.

Nuclear escalation at sea during the 80s was always something easy- the USN routinely exercised with nuclear armed munitions for ASW and their only standoff submarine carried ASW weapon, SUBROC, was nuclear only. Significantly, RAF St. Mawgan maintained forward deployed B57 Nuclear Depth Bombs (NDB) for USN, RAF, and RNLAF on the P-3 and Nimrod platforms, guarded by a USMC company. WSAs were maintained at P-3 deployment sites like Keflavik, Lajes, Macrihanish, and the Nimrod MOB at Kinloss.

Escalation at sea is a slippery slope- you strike the sub with the ndb to protect the carrier/ssbn, leading to a strike on the carrier/ssbn, leading to a strike on the land base supporting the ASW/ASuW ops then we’re off to the races. Ought to be an interesting time- I hope our Gurkhas and helo crews dig in deep- they’re going to need it if they’re lucky.

Thank you very much. I had some certain ideas I wanted to play with and ran with them.
Oh there is so much which can be done with at-sea nuclear use.
I wrote the update below before you posted this but, as you'll see, great minds think alike on many of those points you've made here...
... or you are reading my notes!

[James G]

Part Six – Charging towards the Apocalypse


177 – First use

It wasn’t the French nor either the Soviets who made first use of nuclear weapons during World War Three. Instead it was the Americans, in particular the US Navy. This was an authorised use. They had permission to do this though only in certain circumstances. Those circumstances arose. Another one of their aircraft carriers was under attack. One of these modern capital ships had already been thoroughly destroyed during the course of the war – the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea – with two more knocked out of action: another pair had come very close to being either burnt out or sunk too with only luck saving them. Soviet submarines had done much damage and caused immense loss of life in attacking US Navy carriers already. Since the very first shots of the war had been fired, admirals had been demanding that the use of nuclear weapons to defend the carriers be allowed. Permission had finally been granted. Within a few hours of that go-ahead finally coming, long before dawn broke in the Mediterranean on the morning of August 30th, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was engaged by an attacking submarine. Torpedoes were in the water with the carrier’s escort group making a reply by breaking out their most potent defensive weapons. A message was flashed off to the US Sixth Fleet – which would make its way up to the Joint Chiefs and thus the president – as those depth bombs were put to use. The weapons were already ‘live’ and sitting ready to go. SH-3H Sea King helicopters dropped B57s while several warships shot into the sky W44s fitted to the RUR-5 ASROC rocket system. Underwater thermonuclear detonations took place, none more than of twenty kilotons. In total, there were five detonations and they were low yield blasts while still being quite the expression of firepower. Below the waters of the Med. south of Crete, the attacking submarine was eliminated and with that the risk of the Eisenhower being sunk. One of the escorting frigates was hit from a torpedo only moments beforehand but the carrier itself wasn’t touched. She would sail on to join the war raging through the Near East & Middle East where the presence of her air wing was ready needed.

To allow for this to take place, the decision had to made right at the top. The ‘buck stops here’ was the saying and in this case that was with President Reagan. It hadn’t been a decision taken lightly. He hadn’t wanted to see it done beforehand when those repeated requests were made. The hope in him was that the war would stay conventional, as terrible as that was. However, the cost being inflicted upon the United States by not using nuclear weapons was immense. There had been another near-miss with a carrier – the USS Nimitz racing across the North Pacific – where Reagan had been informed of how many lives could have been lost should she have been hit. There were more than just lives at stake though. American carriers were taking the war to the Soviet Union and without them able to do this, the United States was facing the possibility of a real global defeat in this war. Some of his staff were concerned that he had been pushed into making the decision to allow for nuclear weapons use by those admirals after they had put him under great strain. That was denied by the US Navy yet… there was a lot of truth into that. They managed to get Reagan to agree to a set of particular circumstances for nuclear use with the intention of stretching as best they could the terms of use. The losses sustained to the US Navy, not just the carriers, were significant and they were fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. The president wanted them to take the war to the Soviet Union and that they could only do if they were able to keep their carriers operational. The rules on use were for defensive deployment in waters not adjacent to the Soviet Union. There was latitude with that which was there taken advantage of. Reagan did agree to it though when others warned him that this would be an uncontrollable situation despite what those in white were telling him the opposite as in that it wouldn’t get out of hand. Authorisation came not just because of the Nimitz near-miss which saw permission given for a first use such as what the Eisenhower’s group made. The president had come direct from a failed effort to get the Chinese to enter the war on the American side to strike at the Soviets. A briefing of the situation on the ground in Western Europe had followed: there was no good news apart from that assassination of the Soviet’s senior-most operational commander. Furthermore, on top of all of that, and more relevant to what Reagan gave his consent to, there was also what was happening with France and what Mitterrand told him France was going to do in response to the armed intrusion onto its soil. This all came into play at once, allowing for that much sought permission to be finally given.


The French president had sent a reply to that message which had come from Ligachev. This was done back through the embassies of France and the Soviet Union in Algiers. Where the two diplomatic compounds in Algeria’s capital were located, instead of over the fixed telex link connecting Moscow and Paris (a Hot Line link lesser known that more famous other ones), was what the Soviets had used themselves and this was repeated by France. The Soviet offer of a cessation of hostilities with France only was rejected out of hand. There would be no war termination which France would agree to unless it included France’s allies: no separate peace would be arranged. Moreover, France issued demands for the Soviet Union to accede to if it wished for this conflict to end. There would have to be a complete and immediate withdrawal of all Soviet & Warsaw Pact forces back to their own territory. All prisoners would need to be released, military and civilian. Moscow would have to force its own allies throughout the world to end their conflict with NATO, the Coalition and allied countries too. These were just the initial conditions. Mitterrand made it clear that there would be more which France and its allies would want atop of those. None would be unjust, none would be not what was right in the circumstances of what had happened over the past week of unprovoked global warfare initiated by the Soviet Union in a war of aggression unlike no ever one undertaken in human history. In making this clear in a leader-to-leader communication, Mitterrand added that this had already been stated before in other exchanges with Ligachev through different means by other governments. France was only repeating this allied stance and not deviating from its position since the war started nor moving away from its allies. France would accept nothing less than any of this.

The second part of the message – one with ‘to General Secretary Ligachev’ as the heading – contained France’s response what had happened late last night. Mitterrand told his hostile counterpart that France was not going to accept the direct invasion of its soil around the town of Maubeuge. The intimidation in that action to do the Soviet Union’s bidding was not one which would work. This would be answered with a reciprocation unspecified now, yet one which the Soviet Union would soon gravely feel. In addition, any further actions such as those, where the sovereign soil of France was entered by Soviet armies, would be met with the use of thermonuclear weapons deployed at a time and a place of France’s choosing. This was no bluff, the message concluded: France would use all weapons it had at its disposal to defend its soil. Allies such as Britain and the United States were informed of the contents of this second part to the message sent to Ligachev before it went off with others told afterwards. The reactions which came varied. France took this decision this alone. They were fighting with their allies and not going to give in but France had its own sovereignty to defend. There would be no repeat of 1940.


The nuclear explosions deep below the waters of the Med. were generally hidden by the sea. There were the bubbles of expelled air which came up and then some radiation. However, no mushroom clouds were formed nor were there distinctive double-flash signatures of thermonuclear blasts in the sky for satellite sensors to pick up. Ships with the Eisenhower’s escort group all were given a short warning of what was coming and were sealed against NBC effects. This included several vessels of allied countries which had joined those US Navy vessels. Reagan himself, as well as Bush and Weinberger, were soon to be informing key military allies – Britain, Canada, France, Israel and Japan – of what had occurred though word was already coming out of the region from several ships where commanders used encoded messages back to their naval HQs.

There was a good chance that the Soviets wouldn’t have known what happened, at least for a good few hours afterwards. The nuclear attack could have been something secret from those who it was inflicted upon. However, that wasn’t to be. Weinberger hadn’t been to the Pentagon since the war started and there had been the removal of many staff & functions to dispersed locations such as Site R. The Deputy Secretary of Defence was there though. He was at the Hot Line terminal on the link-up which connected the Pentagon with the Kremlin. William Howard Taft IV – great-grandson of President Taft – was physically present to oversee the sending of a message to the Soviet leadership from the National Military Command Centre portion of that massive building on Washington’s edges. The Americans told the Soviets what they had done. In the Med., US Navy warships had used nuclear weapons underwater in a defensive manner against a hostile attack. This had been done with full authorisation and it would be repeated again if felt necessary. The United States wished for this not to escalate to full-scale use of thermonuclear weapons by each party. Taft saw that message go off with the realisation that he was witnessing history in the making… a history which he hoped didn’t include for him to be personally below an incoming thermonuclear reply to the Pentagon directly.

[stevep]

Jan 20, 2020 19:30:17 GMT Dan said:

Jan 20, 2020 15:32:59 GMT stevep said:

  James G ,

  So the big guns are now out.  And it started at sea but I suspect it won't stay that way for long.

  One thing that occurred to me this morning.  Especially with what was initially thought to be a full scale invasion and the growing fear of nuclear war what is happening to the royals?  I suspect that the queen might well insist on staying in Britain, albeit somewhere secret and hopefully secure.  However I wonder if Charles, Diana and their two young sons might have been sent somewhere safer, such as Canada say?

  Steve

This is where we find out they were on a fast ship heading for Canada that was hit with a nuclear torpedo fired by accident.

  Gods that would make Andrew the heir to the throne!   However if they did leave the country I'm pretty certain it would be by air.  Still a danger of being intercepted or even being downed by mechanical damage but markedly more likely to make it safely to N America.

[stevep]

   James G , amir ,

   Frankly I think the Americans have been bloody stupid here.  Yes the USN could claim its fighting with one hand behind its back but then so are the Soviets and as amir mentioned at the top of the page the USN is better off without nuclear use at sea.  Their forces are concentrated around high value targets such as CVs and hence are far more vulnerable to nuclear attacks.  I suspect that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower isn't going to be afloat much longer as its the obvious target for a Soviet counter strike.  The question is will they stop at one strike or

  Its also misleading to say that only the CVs can carry the war to the USSR itself.  There are a number of other launch bases for attack including S Korea and Japan in the east and Britain/Iceland and possibly Norway in the west.

  I'm not sure what Mitterrand  is threatening in terms of retailation for the attack into France.  Possibly a chemical strike by missile on somewhere in the Soviet Union?  Doubt he would use nukes on such an issue yet since the Soviets have actually withdrawn but he might make a single strike.  Although the danger, with the US attack having occurred and the Soviets probably being in denial about actually invading France, is that their thinking the west is building up to a more general use of nukes so they seek to strike 1st.  Which again would be stupid but then that's a fairly good description of Moscow's actions throughout the conflict.

  Small quibble but technically thermonuclear weapons are hydrogen/fusion warheads, which need a fission [i.e. uranium/plutonium] warhead to initiate them.  Therefore I suspect the W44 warheads were fission weapons.  Checking Wiki, see W44_nuclear_depth_charge, it doesn't say but mentions the maximum warhead charge was 10 ktons which does hint at a fission rather than a fusion warhead.

  Steve

[sandyman]

The Americans are really pushing the boat out by letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle. Once the nuclear threshold has been crossed all bets are of the table .

I can understand the Americans wanting to protect the Carriers but they are now inviting the Russians to use nuclear torpedoes or worse anti ship missiles.
It looks like France may cross the rubicon as well I truly hope that they stay their hand as one Nuk becomes two then three one forever onwards.

[James G]

Jan 21, 2020 11:01:26 GMT stevep said:

   James G , amir ,

   Frankly I think the Americans have been bloody stupid here.  Yes the USN could claim its fighting with one hand behind its back but then so are the Soviets and as amir mentioned at the top of the page the USN is better off without nuclear use at sea.  Their forces are concentrated around high value targets such as CVs and hence are far more vulnerable to nuclear attacks.  I suspect that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower isn't going to be afloat much longer as its the obvious target for a Soviet counter strike.  The question is will they stop at one strike or

  Its also misleading to say that only the CVs can carry the war to the USSR itself.  There are a number of other launch bases for attack including S Korea and Japan in the east and Britain/Iceland and possibly Norway in the west.

  I'm not sure what Mitterrand  is threatening in terms of retailation for the attack into France.  Possibly a chemical strike by missile on somewhere in the Soviet Union?  Doubt he would use nukes on such an issue yet since the Soviets have actually withdrawn but he might make a single strike.  Although the danger, with the US attack having occurred and the Soviets probably being in denial about actually invading France, is that their thinking the west is building up to a more general use of nukes so they seek to strike 1st.  Which again would be stupid but then that's a fairly good description of Moscow's actions throughout the conflict.

  Small quibble but technically thermonuclear weapons are hydrogen/fusion warheads, which need a fission [i.e. uranium/plutonium] warhead to initiate them.  Therefore I suspect the W44 warheads were fission weapons.  Checking Wiki, see W44_nuclear_depth_charge, it doesn't say but mentions the maximum warhead charge was 10 ktons which does hint at a fission rather than a fusion warhead.

  Steve

It is certainly not a step taken that is going to end well. Those In uniform talked their political masters into it though.
There will be a response and a controllable situation is unlikely!
I have yet to decide what France is going to do so I left it at that... but I'll think of something.
Fusion and fission are technical things I know exist but I should read up on the difference. I will. Those are small blasts but against a deep submarine, especially several, would do the job.

Jan 21, 2020 18:10:04 GMT sandyman said:

The Americans are really pushing the boat out by letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle. Once the nuclear threshold has been crossed all bets are of the table .

I can understand the Americans wanting to protect the Carriers but they are now inviting the Russians to use nuclear torpedoes or worse anti ship missiles.
It looks like France may cross the rubicon as well I truly hope that they stay their hand as one Nuk becomes two then three one forever onwards.

All bets are off: should have been my chapter title!
Once there is the first use, lots of other uses will happen.

[James G]

178 – Almost out of ammunition


Meanwhile, the Second Battle of Britain was still ongoing. There were Soviet forces remaining on British soil where they were fighting those arrayed against them trying to eject the invaders from Norfolk and Suffolk. Paratroopers, airmobile troops, Spetsnaz commandos and Air Force personnel carried on regardless of the craziness going on elsewhere in the world. In the early hours of this morning, unknown to them, an order was enacted which effectively cut them off and left them to fend for themselves from now on. Marshal Ogarkov’s replacement, the new C-in-C West, made this his second official instruction following his appointment. His first had been the firing of the commanding general of the 1st Tank Division over in Belgium – that man was blamed for the unauthorised border crossing into France and stripped of his rank to make him a private before being sent to a penal unit – but his second was of more importance. There would no longer be any air support sent to directly aid the fight in Britain as well as the ending of supply flights there. Those taking part in Operation Red Eagle were on their own. The resources were reassigned elsewhere, somewhere deemed more important than East Anglia. What was there would stay but they were on their own. The men sent over the North Sea would dig-in and defend what they held. Their job had been done in tying up British and NATO forces: no longer would Soviet-led forces be distracted themselves by keeping throwing away so much to help them.

No one told those fighting in East Anglia that. Their corps commander was informed but the message didn’t trickle down from him and his staff to those on the frontlines. It would be impossible for some of them to not start noticing soon enough what was happening – or what wasn’t happening in terms of incoming flights – with those around the airheads sure to become aware. Still, nothing official would be said. The war continued on regardless of this. British attacks had stalled yesterday but the Soviets had taken a terrible beating to bring them to a halt. There was no counteroffensive capability left and so all that could be done was to dig-in and defend. When the British came at them this morning, those attacks ran into improvised but strong positions. Western Norfolk and northern Suffolk were being battlefield different from how they had been before. There was a distinct lack of manoeuvrability in the fighting by each side. Few Soviet tanks were left and plenty of their armoured vehicles had been knocked out too. British and West German tanks had never been numerous and while the British units had a lot of armoured vehicles, they wouldn’t be able to make good use of them. Trenches were behind anti-vehicle ditches. Mines had been planted too. Soviet infantry and artillery engaged British forces edging their way forward: the latter returned fire. The result was a lot of the countryside being blown to bits. The movement seen in the three previous days now gave way to a grind. Headway was slowly made in several sectors where the fighting took place but it wasn’t much. It was costly for the attackers too. The 2nd Infantry Division, joined by what was left of that West German tank battalion, took many casualties. The TA soldiers trying to push into Norfolk couldn’t overcome the paratroopers with the 76th Guards Airborne Division who would only yield when completely necessary. Where the British had their 1st Infantry Brigade and the national guardsmen of New York’s 27th Infantry Brigade with them, the fighting against other parts of the 76th Guards Division in addition to the 38th Guards Landing–assault Brigade saw similar scenes. Those on the defence were managing to hold on despite everything thrown at them. However, their air support, already thin, near completely disappeared. Soviet aircraft based at captured Norfolk airbases were too busy in the skies engaging enemy fighters to be taking part in ground attack missions. They also weren’t able to get down low to engage attacking enemy aircraft bombing and shooting-up their comrades. Air defence work was left to missile units. They managed to claim some victories and kept things from getting completely out of hand but there were only so many missiles which had been flown in. Those would eventually run out.

The supply issue with munitions especially for Soviet forces was going to really become apparent in the coming days. There was a lot of ammunition which had been flown in already but much of that had been used up while other stocks had been lost in-transit. The 15th Airborne Corps had been sent all that it was going to get. There were a lot of bullets and shells yet it was other munitions where the shortages were going to fast come into effect: missiles and rockets. The corps commander could do nothing about that after formally stating his strenuous objection to the abandonment of external support. He would carry on opposing British efforts to retake their soil and his men would fight hand-to-hand if necessary. That was his remark to his assembled command staff. In reality, the VDV officer knew that such a thing was impossible. His paratroopers were tough. They could really fight, even with their bare hands too. How were they supposed to do that though when the British would come at them with aircraft, artillery and every other weapon they would use? Privately, that general told himself that there would come a point in the coming days, once the ammunition ran out, where he was going to have to put an end to all of this. He couldn’t see good men killed for nothing. He realised now that those at Stavka and in Moscow who were responsible for the 15th Corps being sent here and who had then cut off their support wouldn’t care that his men would fight as long as they possibly could for. He wasn’t thinking about them. It was his honour and those of his men which drove him. When the ammunition ran out, it would be over then… but before then the fight went on.


Soviet forces in London had been under the overall command of the 15th Corps but were in truth independent of that supervision considering the distance between Norfolk and the British capital. The 345th Guards Parachute Regiment still had ammunition stocks with them when they surrendered yesterday. Their commander had given in because the British and Canadians fighting for London had thoroughly beaten the 345th Regiment. As part of the surrender agreement, remaining ammunition stocks were handed over along with all military equipment. Prisoners taken by the Soviets were returned too. The British began treating enemy wounded and – generally – didn’t abuse their taken captives. That cessation of the fight after less than three days of being in London had been by the VDV paratroopers. Gunfire and explosions were still being heard today though.

There had been KGB personnel who’d come with them though and the majority of them didn’t willingly give up. Some hid themselves among the liberated zone while others disguised themselves as either paratroopers or civilians: the success rate with these efforts were very low and evasion wouldn’t last very long. There were others who actively fought instead. The demolition team who were responsible for blowing up the Houses of Parliament were killed almost to a man during a last stand with a rifle section of Scots Guards infantry. That was a group of more than a dozen men who had no experience of soldiering going up against who truly knew their business. Individuals or pairs of KGB men fought on too. None held out for very long, even when making use of hostages to try to stop their certain doom. Once again, those KGB were also nearly all killed too when overcome. Not many prisoners were being taken. Standing orders were for the British to do that and they did when faced with surrendering soldiers, yet where those who chose to fight on after the surrender were encountered, and discovered to be KGB, the vast majority were either shot when wounded or ‘killed while trying to escape’. Senior officers weren’t dumb and knew this was happening. They reminded their subordinates to take KGB prisoners because they would be useful but only a trickle came in: only those who threw down their weapons, lay down on the ground spread-eagled and had luck on their side made it.

Half of the victorious liberators of London left overnight with more elements pulling out of the city today. There were some troops who were staying behind, but others were on the move. The 143rd Infantry Brigade – now nothing like its pre-war organisation – went towards the Channel Ports down in Kent. They were heading for the Continent to join the fight there. Many of the men were dead tired and needed a rest while much of their equipment including tanks & armoured vehicles likewise needed some down time. Nonetheless, they were off to France and would be sailing tonight. Joining them would be other, un-blooded British troops from elsewhere too. The need for them had been decided to be pressing and there was no time to wait.


The continuing need to maintain the push in East Anglia despite the difficulties, plus sending almost every available fighting man to the Continent, came from the British Government. The decision was made at the top. Whitelaw had assembled – some physically, other over the teleconference – many ministers for a large meeting soon after the success had in wiping out resistance from enemy paratroopers in London. Throughout the conflict, he had been governing the nation via an unofficial War Cabinet but there had come the time for a wider discussion to be had. Leaders of the main opposition parties (Labour, the Liberals, the SDP and the Ulster Unionists) were invited to hear news of the war along with Conservative ministers beyond those who were usually present for War Cabinet briefings. There was a buoyant mood following London’s liberation though that was tempered quite a bit by the destruction of the Palace of Westminster. The Miracle of Flushing was something to be welcomed though: the politicians understood the propaganda value of that over the military need. It must be said that this had all occurred late yesterday, before the usage earlier today of nuclear weapons by the US Navy. The outcome of what was agreed played out through today though.

Britain’s political leadership became aware of the utter disaster which had befallen forces on the Continent. There was some understanding that things were bad yet few had known the truth of the matter until Whitelaw had Defence Secretary Younger tell them. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was almost no more. Two thirds of it had been lost in battle. What was left was trapped in two pockets with no hope of escape for them nor holding out for long. Those in Limburg could fight for another couple of days but those in the Ruhr were almost finished. There was going to be large-scale surrenders taking place where British soldiers laid down their arms en masse once the ammunition ran out. For as long as there were reasonable means to resist, those trapped would do so, but it wasn’t going to be for very long. The British Army’s pre-war West Germany-based regulars, joined by many attachments which reached them before they were cut off, was soon to be no more. These were the majority of the best-trained and best-equipped forces available. The significance of this wasn’t lost upon the audience. This was something that couldn’t be brushed off as an unfortunate consequence of war. That army would be gravely missed. Britain still had other troops though. There was that force in Iraq and then others elsewhere in the world. The former was stuck where it was due to the logistical undertaking needed to get them as complete units with heavy gear back home making such a thing impossible but the latter were being recalled. Soldiers from Ulster in large number were to be joined by those from various global garrisons: Belize, Brunei, Cyprus, the Falklands, Gibraltar and Hong Kong. Foreign Secretary Howe spoke of agreements made with allies – missing out the details of allied reactions – to ensure that regional countries didn’t make a move to seize British territory and interests meanwhile. Difficult questions were asked about Northern Ireland yet the response came that what was left behind there in the form of the volunteer Ulster Defence Regiment would have to hold the line.

There had been an idea among a couple of the politicians that this force could represent a second army. Of course, it couldn’t replace the BAOR, but there were good troops there. Such a belief was soon knocked out of them. Soldiers there were plenty of. What they were missing was heavy equipment. There were tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and artillery pieces in storage in Britain but this couldn’t just be issued direct to these soldiers to make use of. They weren’t trained to use this nor, importantly, was there the supporting infrastructure for that to occur. What that meant was that these British reinforcements weren’t going to be able to hold their own as a combined force on the battlefields of the Continent. They would be broken up and assigned to assist heavily equipped NATO units. This didn’t go down well. It brought about a lot of strong words. Accusations of incompetence were made on how the war had been fought so far. Whitelaw, the emergency PM, took a lot of flak but so too did Younger. They’d messed up, it was said, and this was going to cost Britain dear. It was put to those so animated that there were a few heavy forces coming out of London – several scoffed in retort at the low numbers – and that British infantry could be able to do a lot when deployed alongside allies over the other side of the English Channel. Back at those making that point was the question of why this reinforcement hadn’t come before? Perhaps, those troops would have been best sent several days ago to join British heavy forces before they were cut off. That, it was argued, could have starved off the disaster which came. An explanation came which pointed out how that wouldn’t have mattered, but those upset made their disbelief clear.

The meeting ended with other news such as the state of things domestically followed by a briefing on the progress of the war being fought by the RAF and the Royal Navy. There had been major loses inflicted upon the two other armed services, admittedly not as severe as the British Army had faced. Whitelaw ended that meeting by telling those he spoke with that the movement of soldiers to the frontlines over on the Continent would be taking place today, as they did, but what importance the meeting really held was the determination among many to see him replaced. Several of Britain’s politicians wanted rid of the prime minister who they saw as having led the country to a defeat. It was said that only because of the Americans and other allies doing what they had that Britain was still in this war. How much of that was really true and how much was just anger at not hearing desired news was up for debate.

[stevep]

   James G ,

   Well the realities of the war are coming home to the British political leadership but a lot are still in denial. Its redicious to blame Whitelaw for the disaster as he only became PM at the start of the conflict due to Thatcher's assassination.

   I would have thought, with the situation looking so bad and the US having started using nukes that some would have been arguing for keeping those troops back until they can be properly equipped and organised, with a 2ndary thought that if resistance ends on the continent then Britain has the basis for a new army to help in defence against future attacks.

  Given it was a suicide mission anyway it possibly a bit surprising that the Soviets have been keeping the forces in Britain supplied so long.

  I noticed a couple of text issues.

a)  In para 2 you have

It would be impossible for some of them to start noticing soon enough what was happening About the cutting off of supply.  Should that be for then not to start noticing?

b)  In para 5 you have

Prisoners weren’t being taken. Standing orders were for the British to do that and they did when faced with surrendering soldiers, yet where those who chose to fight on after the surrender were encountered, and discovered to be KGB, the vast majority were either shot when wounded or ‘killed while trying to escape’.

  I think you mean that standing orders were for the troops to take prisoners but as it stands its unclear because the initial suggestion is the opposite.  The rest of it does suggest that orders were to accept surrender but they were being ignored.  Must admit given what they and other Soviet forces have done I understand the troops reaction but also the commanders are right in terms of getting info out of them, plus unlawful killing is bad for discipline.  On the other hand I suspect the low level officers sent to Britain won't really know a lot even if they were told anything by their superiors.

  Steve

PS _ Coming back from work a couple of ideas occurred to me.

a)  I think there's going to be some problems in Ulster with the withdrawal of most of the British regulars.  The IRA, all branches, were still primarily committed to a violent conquest so I can see them being a lot more active.  Which is likely to be bad for all the population there but probably especially the Catholic minority as there would be a response from the Protestant militant groups while the security forces are overwhelmingly Protestant - in part because of the IRA's insistence that they be.  You might also see some attempts to get support from Moscow, or even Moscow promising such support. 

b)  Similarly I suspect the Soviets will be encourgaing some groups to make attacks on isolated British possessions, most noticeably the Falklands and Belize.  Whether those will produce anything would be a different matter of course.

[James G]

Jan 22, 2020 9:58:15 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

   Well the realities of the war are coming home to the British political leadership but a lot are still in denial. Its redicious to blame Whitelaw for the disaster as he only became PM at the start of the conflict due to Thatcher's assassination.

   I would have thought, with the situation looking so bad and the US having started using nukes that some would have been arguing for keeping those troops back until they can be properly equipped and organised, with a 2ndary thought that if resistance ends on the continent then Britain has the basis for a new army to help in defence against future attacks.

  Given it was a suicide mission anyway it possibly a bit surprising that the Soviets have been keeping the forces in Britain supplied so long.

  I noticed a couple of text issues.

a)  In para 2 you have

It would be impossible for some of them to start noticing soon enough what was happening About the cutting off of supply.  Should that be for then not to start noticing?

b)  In para 5 you have

Prisoners weren’t being taken. Standing orders were for the British to do that and they did when faced with surrendering soldiers, yet where those who chose to fight on after the surrender were encountered, and discovered to be KGB, the vast majority were either shot when wounded or ‘killed while trying to escape’.

  I think you mean that standing orders were for the troops to take prisoners but as it stands its unclear because the initial suggestion is the opposite.  The rest of it does suggest that orders were to accept surrender but they were being ignored.  Must admit given what they and other Soviet forces have done I understand the troops reaction but also the commanders are right in terms of getting info out of them, plus unlawful killing is bad for discipline.  On the other hand I suspect the low level officers sent to Britain won't really know a lot even if they were told anything by their superiors.

  Steve

PS _ Coming back from work a couple of ideas occurred to me.

a)  I think there's going to be some problems in Ulster with the withdrawal of most of the British regulars.  The IRA, all branches, were still primarily committed to a violent conquest so I can see them being a lot more active.  Which is likely to be bad for all the population there but probably especially the Catholic minority as there would be a response from the Protestant militant groups while the security forces are overwhelmingly Protestant - in part because of the IRA's insistence that they be.  You might also see some attempts to get support from Moscow, or even Moscow promising such support. 

b)  Similarly I suspect the Soviets will be encourgaing some groups to make attacks on isolated British possessions, most noticeably the Falklands and Belize.  Whether those will produce anything would be a different matter of course.

Whitelaw is getting the blame unfairly, as you say, but it is happening. Too many armchair generals thinking they could have done better!
The nuke use has only just started and allies are being told it will only be at sea. They will soon see sense.
The supply to Britain was everything assigned and it took longer than planned. The units were getting replacements for what was lost in transit. But all that is now at an end.

I corrected the typo and misunderstanding. With the second, in my head it made sense at the time but I can see now it didn't.
NATO troops have been committing war crimes throughout the war. Politicians will deny this but it always happen.

I agree on Ulster. There will be violence and Soviet meddling too. But the UK Gov is thinking of Calais in enemy hands. I would expect that 'Loyalist' paramilitaries will be doing their worst at ethnic cleansing while the IRA & others hit back against the authorities and even retreating British Army troops.
There would be that global encouragement but the Americans will have managed to dissuade Argentina and Guatemala.

[James G]

179 – Retreat behind the Rhine


Replacing the dead Marshal Ogarkov was General Postnikov. This four-star general officer had been serving as the Deputy Commander of the Ground Forces – the Soviet Army’s number two – but the appointment to lead the Western-TVD wasn’t a demotion for him. Postnikov took what was a career sideways step. He wasn’t being thrown in at the deep end unprepared when replacing Ogarkov. In the lead-up to the war and once it started, Postnikov had been the main point of contact between Ogarkov and Stavka. He was thus fully briefed on the situation. In addition, before Operation Elbe got started a week ago, Postnikov had been told that should Ogarkov need to be replaced – through death or being removed from command – he would take over. Ogarkov’s second-in-command had reported the effects of that American air strike and so Postnikov had arrived. He didn’t go to Germany (East nor West) but to Poland instead. The Western-TVD had its peacetime headquarters in the Polish city of Legnica and from there, Postnikov determined to do his duty in continuing the fight against NATO in Western Europe. He wasn’t going to be running and hiding through the German countryside. That hadn’t done Ogarkov any good, had it? A battery of the very newest strategic-level SAM systems – S-300Vs, codenamed by NATO SA-12B Giant – were deployed to defend Legnica alongside the other air defence platforms. Those others had failed to stop a bombing attack by a F-117 here but Postnikov had faith in the S-300V.

Firing that tank division commander in Belgium and then cutting off external support to those remaining on the ground in Britain had been his first acts upon taking command. Postnikov had done those while on the aircraft in the skies above Poland. Once in his command post, he moved to the more important task he was appointed to do: win the war in Western Europe. Ogarkov had done very well in almost achieving that. There remained a final push to be made though where all of the objectives set by Stavka for victory to be achieved had to be done. Postnikov was a different type of general than Ogarkov. He was less influential and someone who didn’t carry with him as much baggage in terms of past political intrigue. The ‘revolution in military affairs’ so championed by his deceased predecessor was understood by Postnikov and he realised the value of much of what that meant. However, he wasn’t as fully committed to the new ways of warfare which Ogarkov had pushed for. Postnikov was an old school officer. He believed in firepower, lots of it concentrated together. There was time for cleverness, for bold moves and for matching technology with technology but firepower was what he held above everything else. It had been said quietly among some Stavka members before he left that Postnikov was jealous of all that Ogarkov had achieved on the battlefield. That wasn’t true. It was instead a case of the new man wanting to ‘correct’ what he saw as errors undertaken by his predecessor. Those supposed errors had taken Soviet-led forces almost all the way to victory. Now Postnikov aimed to command them all the way to that.

The GRU had a spy high up in NATO, right in among their topmost military command structure. Postnikov didn’t know the spy’s name nor nationality but this man was the most important asset that the GRU had in-place. That traitor – Postnikov had no time for spies, even those who worked for Soviet interests – had sent word of what NATO was doing today with its plan to make that retreat behind the Rhine in the centre of West Germany. This knowledge was to be taken advantage of at Postnikov’s prodding.


NATO had decided that American, French and West German troops on the eastern side of the Rhine were to fall back over to the west. This didn’t include those in the very south, upstream through the Black Forest closer to Switzerland, but everyone else from near Koblenz down to Karlsruhe was to make that withdrawal. A lot of well-defended ground was to be abandoned. NATO forces would concentrate in the Rhineland. By doing so, they would protect their rear from that flank attack coming out of the Ardennes as well as freeing up significant reserves to send elsewhere. It was half of the French troops which would be leaving the battlefield in West Germany to depart for defensive positions in Northern France. Their II Corps would depart but the combined I & III Corps (merging into just the I Corps and already in the Rhineland through the Moselle Valley) would stay along with the US V & VII Corps. The frontlines would be shorter and behind a natural defensive line. The Rhine had already been crossed to the north leading to that threat to the rear, but the water barrier would still be used facing the Soviets head on: crossing points could be quickly pounced upon as they were easily identifiable. Under CENTAG orders, the retreat had started in the early hours. By daylight, it was in full swing. Those taking that step back came under attack while doing so with NATO quickly coming to understand that their movement had been pre-warned to the enemy ahead of time. Only a fool would think that the Soviets got lucky in what they did.

Missiles and shells slammed into the retreating forces. Aircraft and attack helicopters filled the skies. Columns of armour came forward and lanced deep even when they were sure to be defeated. Infantry attacks were made against NATO troops on the cusp of trying to break contact. All across the West German state of Hessen, where the day was supposed to be one of defenders making their way out of here, those defenders came under attack. The mass of civilians around them were caught up in this too. The area to be abandoned included cities such as Frankfurt, Mannheim and Wiesbaden along with other urban areas such as Darmstadt and Heidelberg too. There were those who lived here were joined by internal refugees from across the country. They’d seen warfare already and more of it came their way today. Those civilians witnessed the troops around them start to move away. There was nothing officially said though many civilians were told what was happening individually by soldiers who had much sympathy for their plight. The civilians weren’t stupid either to not understand what they were seeing. Therefore, West Germans rushed to leave Hessen just like NATO soldiers did too.

Soviet actions caused more problems than the civilians did. That didn’t mean that the unruly rush of people weren’t a significant issue but what Postnikov had done on his first day in command was far worse. Ogarkov had left him with the best, better able troops under Western-TVD command deployed elsewhere. Those facing CENTAG were the weakest after being brought to a halt by the strong defence NATO had mounted in the centre of West Germany. Neither the Eighth Guards Army, the East German III Corps nor the Eighth Tank Army would have been able to force their opponents into making such a withdrawal like this on their own. They’d been beaten up too much. Now they were on the move though. Postnikov had the Second Western Front’s commander use every heavy gun and every aircraft available to cover a forward advance. Those tanks and riflemen were pushed into combat where they went up against strong defensive forces on good terrain. However, NATO was pulling out. A certain defeat was turned into a good advance. Gas was used by each side with the Americans having more chemical weapons available on the frontlines now than before and the French joining in too. The Soviets used their own nerve gas though, plenty of it. There was a mixture of many types and an emptying of remaining stocks among the field armies here where through one day they used more in one place than any time previously. NATO combat casualties due to gas were few and far between among combat troops but it restricted their movement. It also caused immense losses in the rear as well as among civilians too.

North of Frankfurt, that ground retaken in a successful counterattack yesterday was abandoned by US V Corps. It was the same with long defended territory northwest and east of the lower reaches of the Main Valley. The Rhine where it made a turn between Mainz and Wiesbaden was where the Americans retreated towards. On their right flank, the mixed American & West German US VII Corps fell back from good defensive ground east of Darmstadt and towards the Rhine with crossings made from near Mainz all the way down to Mannheim. Then there was the French II Corps (also with West Germans but whom were being transferred to the VII Corps) who withdrew over the Rhine from out of the north-western corner of Baden-Württemberg. These men had been fighting to keep closed the gateway to France but going off to defend and open front door elsewhere. Those falling back took with them as much weaponry and equipment as possible. There was a lot which was left behind though with not all of that being able to be destroyed in time. Few demolitions were taking place too of infrastructure in abandoned areas. If the retreat hadn’t been opposed, there would have been a lot of that but the most pressing need was to get away from the threat of strategic encirclement. NATO pulled out its wounded yet left behind – as had been done before in days past across Bavaria – many POWs. There were some massacres of captives which took place where guards decided to shoot them rather than see such men re-armed and fighting against them again. This was something certainly unauthorised and when they heard about it, senior commanders believed that the instances were few and far between: the occurrences weren’t.


Chancellor Wörner had given his agreement to these withdrawals. He hadn’t wanted to. He saw that there was no other choice in this though. More of his country was falling to the Soviets with no end in sight. Fellow NATO leaders could only offer words of condolence for what West Germany was going through. They meanwhile had to consent to those in uniform who told them that to not retreat like this would see the war lost. Once it would be completed, by the end of the day unless the Soviets would stop it rather than just cause mass disruption, ‘free’ Germany was going to consist of a very small area. There was a sliver of territory in the very north on the Danish border to join with the Rhineland south of the Moselle Valley. The southwestern reaches of Baden-Württemberg were being held too. That was it: the Soviets and East Germans had the rest. In Saarbrücken, Wörner had his government located. He wondered how long it would be before he was forced to relocate into France. NATO generals were saying that the new Rhine position could be held… but that wasn’t the only ongoing fight. There was what was going on in Belgium and also along the approaches to the Moselle. Wörner feared the worst from each of them.

The Soviet’s Twenty–Eighth Army had late yesterday advanced out of the Ardennes (going the ‘wrong’ way as they moved east) to enter the Rhineland leading to a near French collapse in the Eifel sector. The surviving French fell back to the Moselle today. This put several NATO airbases on the wrong sides of the frontlines. The US Air Force facilities at Bitburg and Spangdahlem as well as the Luftwaffe-operated Büchel had all been pulled out from by those who’d made so much use of them less they be there when Soviet tanks arrived as they later would. Defending the ground north of the river was impossible for the shattered French to be able to do. Demolitions took place and there were special forces scattering across territory withdrawn from. The Twenty–Eighth Army was bombed from above and ambushed on the ground as it moved forward. Still, this retreat within territory west of the Rhine was just as significant as it was east of that river. The invaders were now taking a lot of ground here which wasn’t fought over just like they had elsewhere. Thankfully, there was not much they were able to do to significantly oppose this NATO retreat and the battered French were able to pull back in reasonably good order. The French said that they could hold the Moselle like their American fellow soldiers in CENTAG along the Rhine said they could defend there. Unbeknown to them, far off in distant Legnica, Postnikov would agree with that. His attention was elsewhere though… in the day’s fighting through Belgian Flanders.

[Dan]

Chekov's gun, (the mole), has been brought out. It will be interesting to see what happens if/when they are uncovered.

[amir]

James- congrats on another great update.  I’ve got a great name for your traitor- US Army Warrant Officer James Hall is assigned to US Army intelligence in Europe at the time, having become a warrant officer to increase his access to classified information which he passed to the Russians.  The Conrad spy ring is also active, passing GDP plans and other other information to the Hungarians.

[stevep]

Jan 22, 2020 20:24:42 GMT James G said:

179 – Retreat behind the Rhine


Replacing the dead Marshal Ogarkov was General Postnikov. This four-star general officer had been serving as the Deputy Commander of the Ground Forces – the Soviet Army’s number two – but the appointment to lead the Western-TVD wasn’t a demotion for him. Postnikov took what was a career sideways step. He wasn’t being thrown in at the deep end unprepared when replacing Ogarkov. In the lead-up to the war and once it started, Postnikov had been the main point of contact between Ogarkov and Stavka. He was thus fully briefed on the situation. In addition, before Operation Elbe got started a week ago, Postnikov had been told that should Ogarkov need to be replaced – through death or being removed from command – he would take over. Ogarkov’s second-in-command had reported the effects of that American air strike and so Postnikov had arrived. He didn’t go to Germany (East nor West) but to Poland instead. The Western-TVD had its peacetime headquarters in the Polish city of Legnica and from there, Postnikov determined to do his duty in continuing the fight against NATO in Western Europe. He wasn’t going to be running and hiding through the German countryside. That hadn’t done Ogarkov any good, had it? A battery of the very newest strategic-level SAM systems – S-300Vs, codenamed by NATO SA-12B Giant – were deployed to defend Legnica alongside the other air defence platforms. Those others had failed to stop a bombing attack by a F-117 here but Postnikov had faith in the S-300V.

Firing that tank division commander in Belgium and then cutting off external support to those remaining on the ground in Britain had been his first acts upon taking command. Postnikov had done those while on the aircraft in the skies above Poland. Once in his command post, he moved to the more important task he was appointed to do: win the war in Western Europe. Ogarkov had done very well in almost achieving that. There remained a final push to be made though where all of the objectives set by Stavka for victory to be achieved had to be done. Postnikov was a different type of general than Ogarkov. He was less influential and someone who didn’t carry with him as much baggage in terms of past political intrigue. The ‘revolution in military affairs’ so championed by his deceased predecessor was understood by Postnikov and he realised the value of much of what that meant. However, he wasn’t as fully committed to the new ways of warfare which Ogarkov had pushed for. Postnikov was an old school officer. He believed in firepower, lots of it concentrated together. There was time for cleverness, for bold moves and for matching technology with technology but firepower was what he held above everything else. It had been said quietly among some Stavka members before he left that Postnikov was jealous of all that Ogarkov had achieved on the battlefield. That wasn’t true. It was instead a case of the new man wanting to ‘correct’ what he saw as errors undertaken by his predecessor. Those supposed errors had taken Soviet-led forces almost all the way to victory. Now Postnikov aimed to command them all the way to that.

The GRU had a spy high up in NATO, right in among their topmost military command structure. Postnikov didn’t know the spy’s name nor nationality but this man was the most important asset that the GRU had in-place. That traitor – Postnikov had no time for spies, even those who worked for Soviet interests – had sent word of what NATO was doing today with its plan to make that retreat behind the Rhine in the centre of West Germany. This knowledge was to be taken advantage of at Postnikov’s prodding.


NATO had decided that American, French and West German troops on the eastern side of the Rhine were to fall back over to the west. This didn’t include those in the very south, upstream through the Black Forest closer to Switzerland, but everyone else from near Koblenz down to Karlsruhe was to make that withdrawal. A lot of well-defended ground was to be abandoned. NATO forces would concentrate in the Rhineland. By doing so, they would protect their rear from that flank attack coming out of the Ardennes as well as freeing up significant reserves to send elsewhere. It was half of the French troops which would be leaving the battlefield in West Germany to depart for defensive positions in Northern France. Their II Corps would depart but the combined I & III Corps (merging into the bigger latter command and already in the Rhineland through the Moselle Valley) would stay along with the US V & VII Corps. The frontlines would be shorter and behind a natural defensive line. The Rhine had already been crossed to the north leading to that threat to the rear, but the water barrier would still be used facing the Soviets head on: crossing points could be quickly pounced upon as they were easily identifiable. Under CENTAG orders, the retreat had started in the early hours. By daylight, it was in full swing. Those taking that step back came under attack while doing so with NATO quickly coming to understand that their movement had been pre-warned to the enemy ahead of time. Only a fool would think that the Soviets got lucky in what they did.

Missiles and shells slammed into the retreating forces. Aircraft and attack helicopters filled the skies. Columns of armour came forward and lanced deep even when they were sure to be defeated. Infantry attacks were made against NATO troops on the cusp of trying to break contact. All across the West German state of Hessen, where the day was supposed to be one of defenders making they way out of here, those defenders came under attack. The mass of civilians around them were caught up in this too. The area to be abandoned included cities such as Frankfurt, Mannheim and Wiesbaden along with other urban areas such as Darmstadt and Heidelberg too. There were those who lived here were joined by internal refugees from across the country. They’d seen warfare already and more of it came their way today. Those civilians witnessed the troops around them start to move away. There was nothing officially said though many civilians were told what was happening individually by soldiers who had much sympathy for their plight. The civilians weren’t stupid either to not understand what they were seeing. Therefore, West Germans rushed to leave Hessen just like NATO soldiers did too.

Soviet actions caused more problems than the civilians did. That didn’t mean that the unruly rush of people weren’t a significant issue but what Postnikov had done on his first day in command was far worse. Ogarkov had left him with the best, better able troops under Western-TVD command deployed elsewhere. Those facing CENTAG were the weakest after being brought to a halt by the strong defence NATO had mounted in the centre of West Germany. Neither the Eighth Guards Army, the East German III Corps nor the Eighth Tank Army would have been able to force their opponents into making such a withdrawal like this on their own. They’d been beaten up too much. Now they were on the move though. Postnikov had the Second Western Front’s commander use every heavy gun and every aircraft available to cover a forward advance. Those tanks and riflemen were pushed into combat where they went up against strong defensive forces on good terrain. However, NATO was pulling out. A certain defeat was turned into a good advance. Gas was used by each side with the Americans having more chemical weapons available on the frontlines now than before and the French joining in too. The Soviets used their own nerve gas though, plenty of it. There was a mixture of many types and an emptying of remaining stocks among the field armies here where through one day they used more in one place than any time previously. NATO combat casualties due to gas were few and far between among combat troops but it restricted their movement. It also caused immense losses in the rear as well as among civilians too.

North of Frankfurt, that ground retaken in a successful counterattack yesterday was abandoned by US V Corps. It was the same with long defended territory northwest and east of the lower reaches of the Main Valley. The Rhine where it made a turn between Mainz and Wiesbaden was where the Americans retreated towards. On their right flank, the mixed American & West German US VII Corps fell back from good defensive ground east of Darmstadt and towards the Rhine with crossings made from near Mainz all the way down to Mannheim. Then there was the French II Corps (also with West Germans but whom were being transferred to the VII Corps) who withdrew over the Rhine from out of the north-western corner of Baden-Württemberg. These men had been fighting to keep closed the gateway to France but going off to defend and open front door elsewhere. Those falling back took with them as much weaponry and equipment as possible. There was a lot which was left behind though with not all of that being able to be destroyed in time. Few demolitions were taking place too of infrastructure in abandoned areas. If the retreat hadn’t been opposed, there would have been a lot of that but the most pressing need was to get away from the threat of strategic encirclement. NATO pulled out its wounded yet left behind – as had been done before in days past across Bavaria – many POWs. There were some massacres of captives which took place where guards decided to shoot them rather than see such men re-armed and fighting against them again. This was something certainly unauthorised and when they heard about it, senior commanders believed that the instances were few and far between: the occurrences weren’t.


Chancellor Wörner had given his agreement to these withdrawals. He hadn’t wanted to. He saw that there was no other choice in this though. More of his country was falling to the Soviets with no end in sight. Fellow NATO leaders could only offer words of condolence for what West Germany was going through. They meanwhile had to consent to those in uniform who told them that to not retreat like this would see the war lost. Once it would be completed, by the end of the day unless the Soviets would stop it rather than just cause mass disruption, ‘free’ Germany was going to consist of a very small area. There was a sliver of territory in the very north on the Danish border to join with the Rhineland south of the Moselle Valley. The southwestern reaches of Baden-Württemberg were being held too. That was it: the Soviets and East Germans had the rest. In Saarbrücken, Wörner had his government located. He wondered how long it would be before he was forced to relocate into France. NATO generals were saying that the new Rhine position could be held… but that wasn’t the only ongoing fight. There was what was going on in Belgium and also along the approaches to the Moselle. Wörner feared the worst from each of them.

The Soviet’s Twenty–Eighth Army had late yesterday advanced out of the Ardennes (going the ‘wrong’ way as they moved east) to enter the Rhineland leading to a near French collapse in the Eifel sector. The surviving French fell back to the Moselle today. This put several NATO airbases on the wrong sides of the frontlines. The US Air Force facilities at Bitburg and Spangdahlem as well as the Luftwaffe-operated Büchel had all been pulled out from by those who’d made so much use of them less they be there when Soviet tanks arrived as they later would. Defending the ground north of the river was impossible for the shattered French to be able to do. Demolitions took place and there were special forces scattering across territory withdrawn from. The Twenty–Eighth Army was bombed from above and ambushed on the ground as it moved forward. Still, this retreat within territory west of the Rhine was just as significant as it was east of that river. The invaders were now taking a lot of ground here which wasn’t fought over just like they had elsewhere. Thankfully, there was not much they were able to do to significantly oppose this NATO retreat and the battered French were able to pull back in reasonably good order. The French said that they could hold the Moselle like their American fellow soldiers in CENTAG along the Rhine said they could defend there. Unbeknown to them, far off in distant Legnica, Postnikov would agree with that. His attention was elsewhere though… in the day’s fighting through Belgian Flanders.

  James G,

  Damn that makes things more expensive but hopefully most of the troops get away.  However as you say there's also the very dangerous situation in Belgium.  Plus of course the nuclear genie is now loose.

  Postnikov as a more conservative general may be an advantage to the allies if they can get defensive positions that they can hold - providing the Soviets don't escalate to widespread tactical nuke use to break them which would seem likely I fear - then the Soviets could lose a lot of strength trying to break them.

  Hopefully the allies will identify the traitor(s) but possibly leaking false information would be the best approach in the near term.

  Steve