James G
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Post by James G on Feb 2, 2020 20:19:24 GMT
189 – Matching blow for blow
Four nuclear incidents took place in a short period of just over two and a half hours. There were a trio of them in Atlantic waters, taking place late on the night of August 30th, with the other one occurring in the Pacific when it was the next morning there. The two superpowers used the ultimate weapons of war against each other far from land but this series of exchanges wasn’t limited to below-the-surface use like had so far been witnessed.
The first nuclear strike wiped out a pair of US Navy warships off the Norwegian coast. One of those was the missile-destroyer USS Richard E. Byrd; the other was the battleship USS Wisconsin. Two frigates, a Norwegian one along with another US Navy warship, survived the nuclear attack which eliminated the other pair of ships west of the North Cape. There were more than twenty-one hundred lives lost, all taken in an instant. Nothing remained of the Byrd nor the Wisconsin. There were no wrecks to sink to the depths of the ocean. The nuclear blast, which was initiated just below the water rather than at any significant depth, obliterated each of them along with all who sailed in both. Those two ships had been sailing through the dark at more than thirty knots. The Wisconsin had been on her way to commence a surprise attack on Soviet-held positions in the north of Norway. Her big guns would have been used, all nine of them firing sixteen-inch shells, while her remaining Tomahawk missiles (others had been fired in previous days) would have been shot off too. Those would have gone much further than the shells and into the Soviet Union rather than the occupied parts of Norway here. The Byrd and the other ships were escorting her. They were there to protect against threats from various enemy weapons including missiles, aircraft and submarines. The American frigate was involved in providing protection against the latter threat. USS Vreeland and her helicopter were hunting a suspected submarine at the time. Putting herself between the projected location of that submarine and where the Wisconsin was, the belief had been that the battleship was in a safe location. Alas, that was a mistake. The attacker had got between the two and fired off torpedoes at short range before making a sudden dive to escape blast effects. At that moment, the noise emitted coming from such a manoeuvre had allowed for the SH-2 Seasprite helicopter in the sky to get a fix. Those aboard were just about to drop their own torpedoes when there was a massive nuclear blast. The pitch-black water below them turned a whitish shade of yellow. A mushroom-shaped body of water rose up. Those aboard the helicopter were lucky to have avoided that though each of them got a severe and soon to be fatal doze of flash radiation. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin and one of her escorts was no more.
Yesterday, out in the middle of the North Atlantic, escorts with the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy had employed nuclear depth charges to try to kill a suspected submarine near to their primary charge. Those explosions had only killed marine life yet the US Navy was sure that they had successfully taken out an attacking boat about to make a strike. Whereas then, the Americans had been chasing shadows, today the Kennedy was being stalked by a real submarine. Very effective anti-submarine warfare techniques were being undertaken to keep the Soviet boat from getting in close. There were a few NATO warships forming part of the escort group alongside the Americans and the boat’s captain had wished to take advantage of what he believed would be sloppiness on their part. That assumption was foolish. The Canadians and Spanish had long worked with the Americans at sea in NATO exercises and in the case of the Spanish Navy, even before Spain was part of NATO. There was nothing to exploit. The way into the heart of the group of warships, in the middle where the Kennedy lay, was barred shut. There were orders which had to be followed though. Those called for the destruction of the American carrier regardless of how difficult it would be. The captain followed them. He couldn’t get close to he attacked from distance. Multiple firings of torpedoes followed with some conventionally armed and others laden with a nuclear warhead. At once, the Americans were all over his submarine with the Spanish not far behind them. The Spanish Navy would claim the kill on this submarine though celebrations would be muted. Five torpedoes had been fired with three of them making kills. Two conventional blasts ripped apart a US Navy frigate and one of their supply ships while the third explosion, a nuclear one wiped out the missile-cruiser USS Mississippi. The Kennedy hadn’t been touched though hundreds of American sailors were dead and once more, the US Navy had been attacked with nuclear weapons.
On the other side of the world, the Soviet Navy’s Pacific Fleet went after another American carrier. They took out the USS Enterprise in a nuclear strike. Joining with the USS Midway, which had already attacked the Soviet Union directly on its long and exposed coast with the Vladivostok attack being something which shook the Soviet leadership, the Enterprise was in the Sea of Japan. There were specific orders coming from the Defence Council when it came to these carriers: each was to be eliminated. If the Midway could have been found and hit, she would have been. The Soviets got the Enterprise instead. She wasn’t hit by a submarine but instead by cruise missiles fired by a warship. The Varyag was an old cruiser with old missiles. Several volleys of the latter were fired at the Americans with many of them brought down by defensive missile fire and even last-ditch anti-missile guns. Others crashed into the sea when they malfunctioned. Two got through though, with each of the huge SS-N-3 Shaddock cruise missiles carrying a powerful nuclear warhead bringing about bigger blasts than had so far been seen in this war where nukes were being used. The Enterprise, her air wing and near six thousand crew members were wiped out. Three further ships, one of them a Japanese destroyer, were also lost. In the following hours, the US Navy would sink the Varyag using one of their submarines but by then, the missile-cruiser had done its job. Her loss wouldn’t be equal to that of the Enterprise either: it wasn’t a trade-off which the US Navy would have wanted to make. The Americans had entered the nuclear phase to protect their invaluable carriers from loss yet had just seen one destroyed in a retaliatory nuclear attack after crossing that threshold.
Finally, back in the Atlantic and close to American shores again, another one of those convoys bound for Europe carrying military equipment was attacked. This one had come from the Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne. Dozens of ships had set sail carrying a mass of gear for the US Army and National Guard. They’d gone out of New York Bay, through the Verrazzano Narrows and into the ocean. The destination was France where ports were standing ready to unload the cargo carried. It would then be issued to troops flown in and help form the four-division force being sent across the Atlantic. There were other convoys, including the one from Sunny Point attacked yesterday, though the Bayonne-to-Le Havre convoy was of vital importance. It was protected very well with US Navy and NATO assets below, on and above the surface. There was a deception attempted with a lure used to attract any lurking Soviet submarines but no luck was had. Nuclear weapons were authorised for the defence of the convoy though only among the Americans: other governments had not given the permission for their submarines, warships and aircraft to use their own or American-supplied nukes. Two Soviet submarines had been ordered to converge upon the convoy and attack it. One was a hunter/killer attack boat while the other was a cruise missile submarine. The latter fell afoul of the defences not long before it was going to move into attack. The Royal Navy’s HMS Boxer was trying her best to get that boat after detecting it. With a little more time, Boxer would have gotten her quarry. However, flying high above, an incoming P-3 Orion dropped nuclear-armed depth charges into the water after ‘a steer’ was given and warning of what was to come supplied. A direct hit wasn’t achieved but the underwater blasts affects would see that submarine a total loss. She would fill with water and sink to the ocean floor. The other submarine found the convoy turn towards it. They were moving away from the danger to their left, coming towards the waiting threat on their right. Luck appeared to be on the Soviet Navy’s side tonight, the captain thought, while unaware of the fate which had just befallen his comrades in the other boat. Several torpedoes were fired: nuclear and conventional ones. At once, NATO defences sprung into action. They wanted to kill that attacking submarine before it cut the guidance wires to the incoming torpedoes. In doing this, there was particular success. With a direct hit using a nuclear depth charge fired off using a missile from a warship, the Soviet submarine was atomised. By that point though, a couple of her torpedoes had got through. There was one conventional blast which hit an American destroyer and then a nuclear blast which went off just under the water’s surface with several unarmed ships nearby. Four of those carrying war cargo would be lost. The loss of that cargo would hurt: it was tanks, armoured vehicles, self-propelled guns, engineering equipment and so on. However, the rest of the cargo was needed in France. At the top speed of the slowest vessel, the convoy went onwards.
These exchanges saw the Americans come off far worse than the Soviets. The latter had lost several submarines and an important warship. However, the former had seen the elimination of a carrier, a battleship, several warships and vessels carrying war equipment for the ground war in Europe. In taking out the Enterprise, the Soviets had upped the ante too. They’d used nukes above the surface. There had been an unspoken, tacit agreement which the Americans believed was in-place when it came to the employment of nukes underwater. Now they were being used above the water. The controllable situation from their point of view had gone out of control. Yet, the escalation didn’t bring about the prevailing of cool heads. The opposite came. There would be revenge sought. There would be a matching of blows with blows when it came to this. The Soviets still had warships at sea and, after approval came following the attack in the Sea of Japan which saw that loss of an American carrier, the US Navy would seek to hit them with nuclear attacks made above the water too. Someone was needed to stand up and put a stop to all of this yet there was no one in apposition to do so.
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Feb 2, 2020 20:32:34 GMT
How long until the Soviets attack a US carrier in the far east with a nuclear anti-shipping missile. Either deliberately or by accident. Sorry, missed this one out on my multi quote... but it deserves its own reply. Thanks for the idea! You might not be very popular because I've just used the idea to nuke the carrier Enterprise and many people are fond of any vessel with such a name. I am kindly giving you FULL credit for that one! |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Feb 3, 2020 16:37:43 GMT
Britain needs to make clear that nuclear weapons used against it, of any sort will result in nuclear strikes on the USSR. That's the only way to try and deter such attacks although given the delusions in Moscow its unlikely to work.
Whoever used that Airstrip One phase is either a total idiot or a Soviet agent and should be sacked for such an action. Given how clearly the moral issue is its a bloody stupid phase to use.
Steve
Will those in the UK issue that threat though? Do they have the courage to see the threat through? The UK is currently working with European allies to get the Americans to step back from nuclear attacks... and failing. It is an idiot who has said it.
I doubt they would, especially since we're talking about Thatcherite Tories here  . Plus the best options for this has gone. At the latest it should have been when the Soviets invaded the UK. Alternatively probably if Mitterrand asks for support in the event of him using nukes to deter a Soviet invasion then he should be supported. [Although of course there is a Machiavellian argument to keep quiet in such a case, allowing France to bear the weight of a nuclear exchange with the Soviets then seek to take advantage of it afterwards.]
PS Having just read chapter 189 and seen how much the Soviets have upped the anti the west really have to response with nukes now as their been given no option - other than defacto surrender. One or two such strikes against military targets on Soviet territory with an offer to end nuclear use on both sides and a warning that more will follow if the Soviets use any more nukes.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Feb 3, 2020 16:43:34 GMT
How long until the Soviets attack a US carrier in the far east with a nuclear anti-shipping missile. Either deliberately or by accident. Sorry, missed this one out on my multi quote... but it deserves its own reply. Thanks for the idea! You might not be very popular because I've just used the idea to nuke the carrier Enterprise and many people are fond of any vessel with such a name. I am kindly giving you FULL credit for that one!
Kill Dan, kill, Dan!!  Seriously while a life long Star Trek fan the name is just a name, albeit with a long history in both the British and US navies. |
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ricobirch
Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Post by ricobirch on Feb 3, 2020 19:07:43 GMT
How long until the Soviets attack a US carrier in the far east with a nuclear anti-shipping missile. Either deliberately or by accident. Sorry, missed this one out on my multi quote... but it deserves its own reply. Thanks for the idea! You might not be very popular because I've just used the idea to nuke the carrier Enterprise and many people are fond of any vessel with such a name. I am kindly giving you FULL credit for that one! Dan you are playing a dangerous game. Dilithium powered pitchforks are currently being released from pre positioned stocks. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Feb 3, 2020 20:28:41 GMT
Sorry, missed this one out on my multi quote... but it deserves its own reply. Thanks for the idea! You might not be very popular because I've just used the idea to nuke the carrier Enterprise and many people are fond of any vessel with such a name. I am kindly giving you FULL credit for that one!
Kill Dan, kill, Dan!! Seriously while a life long Star Trek fan the name is just a name, albeit with a long history in both the British and US navies. Dan is a good guy. Always offers help with my stories. My blaming him is rather unfair. I'd forgotten there is HMS Enterprise in service. Doesn't pack quite the same wallop as a carrier though. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Enterprise_(H88) Dan you are playing a dangerous game. Dilithium powered pitchforks are currently being released from pre positioned stocks. Very evil punishment! Blame your author. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Feb 3, 2020 20:31:05 GMT
190 – Never volunteer!
Three British Army personnel went forward unarmed towards enemy lines in western Norfolk. The war-ravaged village of Mundford was behind them. Ahead were dug-in Soviet Airborne Troops positions. This wasn’t suicide… or wasn’t meant to be anyway. They were expected by a party of Soviet officers in the short stretch of no-man’s land north of Mundford. The senior man was a British Army lieutenant-colonel from the 1st Infantry Brigade’s staff. He was joined by a captain from the Intelligence Corps and a sergeant from the Paras. All had volunteered to do this. Yet, there was volunteering and then there was volunteering. For the sergeant, he’d been browbeaten into doing this. The two officers were doing this for career purposes with their superiours urging them on while stressing at the same time that they would have to volunteer. There were rewards for each of them promised yet they would have to survive first. As they got closer to the point agreed for the meeting, the sergeant’s eyes darted around. It was the early hours of the morning and still dark but he could see a lot regardless because of the absence of any flashes of artillery explosions to ruin his night vision. He was looking for unexploded ordnance, booby-traps and even paratroopers hiding ready to pounce. The Para couldn’t see any but that didn’t mean that there weren’t any here. The officers looked straight ahead, following the path which the sergeant led them along. They crossed open exposed ground and were weary too, just not showing it like the NCO who escorted them was. They focused on what they were going to say and plotting out responses to unexpected scenarios which could come up with this meeting. Both of them spoke Russian and would be keeping their ears open no matter what language they spoke with the Soviets they were meeting in – it was expected that English-speakers would be there – for anything going on in the background. If it come to it, if the need arose, they wanted to be ready for anything. They hoped to be anyway.
There were a trio of VDV men waiting beside the road next to a burnt-out farm building. The sergeant saw them first. No weapons were in-sight, nor was anyone else. For lack of any other reasonable method of initial communication, he whistled at them. A similar retort came. Towards them he led the two officers behind him, sure that there were hidden rifle barrels pointing at him which he couldn’t see. There was a lot of cover around here with plenty of places for paratroopers to hide. When looking at the map before coming here, and also speaking to soldiers who’d fought near here, he’d wanted to change the meeting site. That had been refused though. This was agreed place and it wasn’t going to be changed. He marched up to them and, as he’d been told to do, saluted the senior Soviet man – he wore the recognisable insignia of a colonel though had the arrogance of an officer of that rank in the sergeant’s humble opinion – then the second one. The third one was a corporal or a sergeant: the Para gave him a nod. The officers started talking in Russian. The Para could speak German and even a bit of Norwegian: Russian was beyond him. He stepped to the side and noted that the Soviet NCO did so as well. That enemy of his, a foreign soldier who’d dared step foot on British soil, kept his eyes on the sergeant. He returned the man’s stare, not breaking it. This was no staff flunky he was facing down. This was a combat veteran. He was dirty, bandaged and really looked like he could handle himself in a fight. When this was all being arranged yesterday, when the Para sergeant was being dragooned into volunteering, he’d been told that the Soviets would be in the mood to talk. They were beaten, it was said, and would be eager to give in as long as it was in an honourable way. This man didn’t look beaten.
The sergeant had seen beaten men before, recently and in the past through his service with the Parachute Regiment which included the Falklands War and Ulster tours too. Only three weeks ago, he’d been in Southern Iraq with 2 PARA. There’d been Iraqis there who’d taken a stonking defeat first with American aircraft and then the bullets & bayonets of Paras. A serious family emergency – his daughter-in-law had passed away – had seen him given compassionate leave and he’d been back in Britain when this war with the Soviets started. All leave, no matter what the circumstances were for, had been abruptly cancelled with this conflict. The sergeant had first been told he was going with 3 PARA to Denmark (where they never went either) to replace an ill man with that battalion before that was changed and he ended up with the 1st Brigade staff. None of that was his choice: some bureaucratic madness had seen him at the mercy of events. Here he was in Norfolk now, doing something he didn’t want to do. It would have saved many lives if the Soviet Airborne gave in. The sergeant had been told that those ones who had landed right in the heart of Central London, trashing the tourist spots and national landmarks he was informed, had given up in the end. They’d been beaten though, smashed apart. Everything he’d heard said that that wasn’t the case here. The scuttlebutt back at the 1st Brigade HQ was that there was political pressure coming down from the top to have the Soviets give in and those in uniform were being pushed into this. He could only hope he was wrong, that he’d been listening to idiots. Otherwise, coming here with these two seemingly very eager officers trying to talk the Soviets into surrendering was not going to end well. That VDV man continued with his stare. He wouldn’t take his eyes off the sergeant. It was a cold stare, one almost of hatred. It made the sergeant more than uneasy but there was nothing that he could do. The officers were still talking and his job was only to get them here and back rather than having a scrap with a Soviet paratrooper just for the sake of it.
The officers were all having a smoke. Those who had come with the Para sergeant handed them out. Their hosts took them greedily: it appeared that they were having a shortage of cigarettes. That NCO took one from the box his colonel handed to him and then imitated passing it across. The sergeant fell for this. He lent forwards, forgetting his promise to himself to keep his guard up at all times. He didn’t receive the box of cigarettes. The Soviet paratrooper stepped forward and punched him, all in one swift movement. It caught the Para on the chin and sent him backwards. He hadn’t been hit that hard in years! Tears filled his eyes, ones of rage though, and he came back forwards. All three of the Soviets were shouting and his assailant was moving backwards. The sergeant had wanted a scrap a few minutes ago and denied himself that but now he was justified. However, he’d never get his chance to get a wallop in of his own. There were armed soldiers everywhere. They weren’t friendly. They came out of the farm building, from behind a roadside hedge and even up from a drainage ditch which the sergeant had looked in but seen no one. He was knocked down from behind before he knew what was going on. Rolling over onto his back in the road, ready to get back up, the Para found he had a rifle barrel an inch from his nose. He stayed where he was. That NCO who’d punched him stood beside the rifleman. He said something that the sergeant didn’t comprehend: ‘yob tvoyu mat’. This wasn’t anything nice, not at all!
Not understanding, the sergeant told himself that this is why you never volunteer!
It was the KGB at the meeting spot, not Soviet Airborne Troops. In VDV uniform they were pretending to be someone they were not. The charade with the 15th Guards Airborne Corps being willing to listen to terms offered for a surrender came to an end with a fistfight and the appearance of hidden riflemen. Two high-value prisoners – and an unlucky Para – were taken. They were good prizes but that wasn’t what this was ultimately about. Lulling the British into a state where they were getting use to the idea of this fight ending so battlefield advantage could be gained was one Soviet goal. The other was for the senior KGB officers on the ground in Britain to maintain their control over the VDV. There wouldn’t be another arranged meeting like this that the British would agree to, not for some time anyway, meaning that the fight would go on without any chance of those fighting giving up.
Even before the POWs were fully secure, there was the crash of artillery. Howitzers and mortars in the area opened fire. Paratroopers had been creeping forward towards the British lines with sappers among them bringing satchel charges and wire-cutters. Those covered in mud who emerged from the ground assaulted the 1st Infantry Brigade’s lines under the cover of that artillery barrage. Mundford was targeted by much of that covering fire. It was gassed again too. Five days ago, it had been fought over in first big battle on British soil with nerve gas used there then. This second artillery strike was not as successful as the first though there were British casualties still. Support elements of British combat troops nearby were caught in this attack. Elsewhere, there was hand-to-hand fighting in many places where Soviet paratroopers got up close to the British before the game was given away. Others were spotted early though. Machine guns opened up on them and the British had their own artillery to bring into play. 1st Brigade units weren’t as unprepared as the Soviets hoped they would be. Moreover, the attackers with the 237th Guards Parachute Regiment, who had several battle honours including Mundford (the first time), was understrength now in their sixth day of war in Norfolk. It was a battalion in all but name. Their supporting heavy guns soon fell silent when the ammunition ran out. A platoon of T-62 tanks had been edging forward to support them. Those tanks were running late with their commander unwilling to expose them from out of cover until the fighting started. He defied his orders on that yet that made no difference. British Chieftain tanks knocked them out and then began aiding the infantry. This third fight for Mundford was soon turning into a British victory like the second one yesterday had been too.
There were a couple of other attacks along other sections of the frontlines in Norfolk. None were as big as this one. Successes and failures were met. This was overall one big spoiling attack. The 15th Corps’ commander, a man who was now fully under the direct supervision of the KGB, aimed to destroy the British ability to achieve what they were preparing to do. While there had been that meeting which they had pressed for, they had also been readying to come forward on the offensive if that failed. It had – not in the manner which they expected – and so the major assault would now begin. It would be slow going but forward the British (aided by some Americans, even a few West Germans with their tanks) would move deeper into Norfolk through the day.
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Dan
Warrant Officer
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Post by Dan on Feb 3, 2020 21:27:50 GMT
When this arc ends, there will only be one sergeant remaining. The KGB/VDV sergeant will probably be repatriated.
But only after receiving and damn good shoeing from the soon to be ex-sergeant who'll probably get reduced for assaulting a prisoner.
Then get repromoted shortly after as the Army always has a shortage of good NCOs.
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amir
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Post by amir on Feb 3, 2020 23:03:13 GMT
The KGB just committed perfidy, and used the 15th Corps as the cover to do so. This won’t end well for the VDV troopers...
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Feb 4, 2020 11:23:13 GMT
Kill Dan, kill, Dan!! Seriously while a life long Star Trek fan the name is just a name, albeit with a long history in both the British and US navies. Dan is a good guy. Always offers help with my stories. My blaming him is rather unfair. I'd forgotten there is HMS Enterprise in service. Doesn't pack quite the same wallop as a carrier though.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Enterprise_(H88) Dan you are playing a dangerous game. Dilithium powered pitchforks are currently being released from pre positioned stocks. Very evil punishment! Blame your author.
That's because its ability to launch 512 nuclear missiles is kept a closely guarded secret. On damn, I shouldn't have said that. Now I've got to kill you all.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Feb 4, 2020 11:30:21 GMT
The KGB just committed perfidy, and used the 15th Corps as the cover to do so. This won’t end well for the VDV troopers...
The problem is that the KGB have achieved their aim of preventing a surrender and having control of the Soviet forces their likely to escape in the end, especially since the three British prisoners just taken are likely to end up dead simply to make sure that there are no witnesses to identify the guilty.
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amir
Chief petty officer
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Post by amir on Feb 4, 2020 12:04:46 GMT
Exploited, then dead. Which in the case of the Para shouldn’t be long. The staff officer and the int corps officer will probably have an overall less pleasant experience before they are killed. They’ll be interrogated on basis of rank alone first, then for specialist knowledge. By this point that may be less about gaining tactical intelligence than it may be for the KGB survivors to identify any possible escape paths for themselves. But, it will most likely all end the same for the British negotiating team.
The British will know things went wrong when the spoiling attacks open. They will probably not find the remains of their team until after, but will know the team didn’t return and will put two and two together on timing. They will likely not really care about who perpetrated the crime, just that the crime happened. Accepting surrenders or ensuring proper treatment of enemy wounded is historically less rigorously enforced after an act of perfidy by the surrendering party (Japan in WW2). This is going to maketgefight for Norfolk that much nastier.
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James G
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Post by James G on Feb 4, 2020 20:43:47 GMT
When this arc ends, there will only be one sergeant remaining. The KGB/VDV sergeant will probably be repatriated. But only after receiving and damn good shoeing from the soon to be ex-sergeant who'll probably get reduced for assaulting a prisoner. Then get repromoted shortly after as the Army always has a shortage of good NCOs. Very possible... unless the two sergeants are glowing in the dark while everything around them is ash... just saying! The KGB just committed perfidy, and used the 15th Corps as the cover to do so. This won’t end well for the VDV troopers... Add that to many war crimes which the KGB has done. Taking of and killing civilian hostages. Murder of innocent civilians based upon suspicion of politics. Torture and killing of high-value captives. The KGB team who went into Britain have done a lot of bad things.
The problem is that the KGB have achieved their aim of preventing a surrender and having control of the Soviet forces their likely to escape in the end, especially since the three British prisoners just taken are likely to end up dead simply to make sure that there are no witnesses to identify the guilty.
That is why they done it. The surrender in London will not be repeated. Their orders make that clear. However, they could say 'f*** off, you've left us here to rot'... but they have families back home. Exploited, then dead. Which in the case of the Para shouldn’t be long. The staff officer and the int corps officer will probably have an overall less pleasant experience before they are killed. They’ll be interrogated on basis of rank alone first, then for specialist knowledge. By this point that may be less about gaining tactical intelligence than it may be for the KGB survivors to identify any possible escape paths for themselves. But, it will most likely all end the same for the British negotiating team. The British will know things went wrong when the spoiling attacks open. They will probably not find the remains of their team until after, but will know the team didn’t return and will put two and two together on timing. They will likely not really care about who perpetrated the crime, just that the crime happened. Accepting surrenders or ensuring proper treatment of enemy wounded is historically less rigorously enforced after an act of perfidy by the surrendering party (Japan in WW2). This is going to maketgefight for Norfolk that much nastier. There could have been someone watching with field glasses from height - church steeple maybe? - who saw this. Though maybe not. The spoiling attack generally failed too. Those prisoners will not know much. They might be shot or might survive (maybe the sergeant, maybe). Captivity will not be fun, especially as it is the KGB having free run. Yep, the British reaction will be strong. They will not be eager to talk again until they really have the upper hand. |
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James G
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Post by James G on Feb 4, 2020 20:45:02 GMT
191 – Clearing western Norfolk
British forces were clearing western Norfolk.
C Company from the 2nd Battalion, the Yorkshire Volunteers had the title ‘The Leeds Rifles’ in their name. They were TA soldiers from that West Yorkshire city, serving some distance away from home and on a battlefield which no one had ever thought would be one. The Leeds Rifles were in King’s Lynn, on the western side of Norfolk. The 2nd Infantry Division’s 15th Infantry Brigade were moving north and east from the fishing town and deep into the countryside as they fought with retreating Soviet paratroopers. The part-time soldiers here were behind where the frontlines currently were. The task was to sweep the area to make sure that there were none of the enemy left behind who’d been cut off or intentionally left behind to harass the rear of the 15th Brigade. Away from the centre of the town and seaport on the River Ouse, The Leeds Rifles went up Wootton Road through the northeastern part of King’s Lynn. South Wootton and then North Wootton were small villages outside the town’s boundaries but this road was still in King’s Lynn. This was the suburbs and thus full of houses. Searching each house was out of the question. There weren’t enough men nor enough time to do something so manpower intensive and time-consuming. What the soldiers did was move through the smaller roads off the main road and went looking for trouble. They were out in the open, looking for signs of the enemy before the enemy took a shot at them. It was something, when explained like that, that didn’t make the soldiers happy. They didn’t want their first contact with the enemy to be one of their own shot at. Care was taken, a lot of it. Platoons and rifle sections moved about from cover to cover, watching over each other. Eyes were at windows and doors. Straight lines weren’t followed as they pushed through the area. No one marched down the middle of the road but instead the soldiers crossed through back gardens and small alleyways linking the roads. Fire support teams, men carrying man-portable heavy weapons, were close by and ready to move in. The Leeds Rifles were at this all morning and through much of the afternoon too. They saw no Soviet paratroopers, not any live ones anyway. A couple of their dead had been left behind though. The British soldiers had thought that the Soviet Airborne would have at least taken away their own dead to be buried. They hadn’t. Those killed by air attacks and when other 15th Brigade units had moved fast through here were forgotten by their comrades. The positions of bodies were marked and searches made in the immediate vicinity for weapons. In doing so, men with The Leeds Rifles saw that there were many houses, ones back from Wootton Road, which had been looted. It didn’t look to them like the Soviets had done much of that themselves. King’s Lynn had fallen several days after the Soviets had first landed in East Anglia and had been officially evacuated. Not everyone had left though. Some of those who had stayed behind had been in their neighbour’s homes looking for things to steal and causing damage while they did so. The soldiers who saw this had heard all of the propaganda that was about concerning national unity and all that: they saw here that things weren’t always as they were portrayed to be. A couple of civilians were found dead too. The ones shot looked like the work of the withdrawn paratroopers but there were those stabbed or bludgeoned to death. Who’d done that? Had there been collaboration here with other locals taking their revenge afterwards? It was possible. This was unsettling for the soldiers who’d come here expecting a fight but this was all rather odd. After being freed from occupation, unexpected scenes like these hadn’t been expected in King’s Lynn. Later ramifications might not be pretty.
A (Ayrshire Yeomanry) Squadron was part of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry, a TA unit also under 15th Brigade command. The Scottish cavalrymen had Fox armoured cars but also several Land Rovers requisitioned from civilian use. Those latter vehicles had been fitted with armour platting in a few places – someone had been watching the A Team, hadn’t they? – and put into military service. Two of the Land Rovers entered the grounds of the Sandringham Estate with TA soldiers dismounting from them carrying rifles. The men moved through the trees and took into view the country house which belonged to royalty. There was no sign of any of the Soviets. A radio call, brief and coded, was made to the squadron commander who moved up the first few of the wheeled Foxes. There was dead silence around with only the armoured car’s engines being heard. Was anyone about? Had Sandringham been abandoned and not destroyed in a petty act of fury by the enemy? That question was soon answered. Those men assigned as scouts missed the camouflaged and dug-in paratroopers. One Fox exploded when hit with an RPG round. Another took a wallop and was thrown backwards and onto its side when hit with a shell from a recoilless rifle. The scouts reported in the enemy positions where they believed the fire had come from though other Fox crews had already seen them. They returned fire with their cannons and started moving forwards, dodging expected follow-up fire. There was the use of that SPG-9 again, with a missed shot, but no more RPGs fired. The scouts saw men running, unburdened by rocket tubes. One of the Scotsmen shot off his rifle with care and knocked one of the runners down. He had another go at getting the second paratrooper, but that man was fast and lucky. As to the recoilless rifle position, it was taken under fire by several assailants and silenced. There was no more gunfire afterwards. Aircraft could be heard up above but high and friendly. The Ayrshire Yeomanry rearranged themselves, ready to fight again. The scouts looked for another ambush, sorrowful that they had missed the first. As to the big country house in the middle of the Sandringham Estate, everyone was waiting for demolition charges to start going off or maybe the first signs of fire. Two Foxes got in behind it and another civilian Land Rover in TA service joined them with men getting out and closing upon the rear of the extensive building. The Ayrshire Yeomanry had additional men with them, more than their peacetime establishment. There were unassigned British Army reservists and also retired TA men as well who’d volunteered to come with the squadron when it had mobilised in Southern Scotland. Those men would have later been called out for other units but where in Norfolk now with the 15th Brigade. Dismounted from their transport – one given a fine camouflage of green and brown by one of the part-time soldiers who worked in a motor garage in Kilmarnock wet-spraying vehicles –, the small party of armed men went into Sandringham House. Several winced at they crossed the threshold, waiting for an explosion. None came. No one blew the building up nor opened fire on them again after the initial ambush outside. The Ayrshire Yeomanry would report to brigade HQ that their special mission to secure this location was a success. They received congratulations but new orders too: push on because there was more to do.
B Company from the 1st Battalion, the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment was a regular British Army unit. These soldiers had fought at RAF Mildenhall down in Suffolk a few days ago, clearing out cut-off Soviets who’d made a last stand at that American-operated airbase. They and their parent battalion not been on the frontlines afterwards when the fighting had moved to the edge of the Thetford Forest yet they had witnessed it burn from a distance. Now, today, they were back on the frontlines. The forest, still burning, was behind them and so too was the village of Mundford where there had been that attempted big ambush this morning. B Company had fought along with other 1st Infantry Brigade units in opposing the rush of Soviet paratroopers forward and now was chasing them north. Swaffham and the crossroads around that larger village was further ahead. In the meantime, there were localities along the road to be fought over with Hilborough being one of them. That was only a few houses. Each of those buildings were no longer habitable. They and the farming fields around them, along with every patch of cover which could be used by the Soviets, was being blasted with artillery and there had been incoming air strikes too. B Company wasn’t directly involved yet. They were being held back along with a large body of troops, armoured vehicles and tanks too. Those soldiers with a view watched the Norfolk countryside being blown to bits by all of this. It wasn’t nice to witness. Who wanted to watch their nation being smashed apart like this? These men were from the South-West, far away from here, but it was still England. They waited upon orders to move forward. The commanding major had been told that there would still be enemy paratroopers dug-in who would survive the barrage thrown at them. The VDV no longer had any useable armour – the few tanks were gone; the many armoured vehicles left without fuel and bombed when attempts were made to use them as pillboxes with their cannons & machine guns – but their men were still here. Plenty of them would still be there after all of the explosions stopped. Battalion orders had the company positioned to move in the centre of the attack alongside Chieftains from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and Scorpions from the 13th/18th Royal Hussars. There were a lot of nerves. The men were silent in places, loud and boastful in others to hide fears. Junior officers, sergeants and NCOs were among them and all with their own thoughts on what was about to happen. B Company waited. They then waited some more. Finally, the crash of the guns stopped: the last air strikes had already taken place. British armour started moving. B Company got the same order: attack! Over the top they went, into the fight. The enemy met them with rifle fire, nothing heavier, and the first fatalities came. B Company started getting their own shots in before the isolated clashes became company-wide. A bloody, full-on fight now took place. B Company would win but only after a hard fight against fierce opposition.
TA riflemen with Y Company, 6th Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers entered the village of Narborough. The part-time soldiers from Newcastle were far out ahead, deep inside western Norfolk and a long way from their attacking start-lines from where they had begun their advance a good few hours before. On foot and crossing the countryside under an unbroken sky with the sun above them, the Fusiliers had followed the course of the stream grandly named as the River Nar. Y Company was tired after the several mile’s march yet they had enough energy, and more importantly motivation, for the fight which they found when they got here. It was an unexpected one. A gaggle of enemy paratroopers, drunk and disorderly, was found. They’d been inside a pub and came out shooting. They fired wide and carelessly wasted ammunition when encountering a Y Company platoon. Only one of the Fusiliers had been hit – caught with a belly shot which would cause a lot of pain but from which he would survive – before those drunkards ran. They scattered in every direction with some even dropping their rifles…but not their stolen bottles of booze. One man tripped, fell flat on his face and started crying when he realised he’d split all of that alcohol into the road. The Fusiliers shot most of the runners, even in the back, but did catch others to take them prisoner. Wet trouser fronts and stomach contents being expelled were the unfortunate outcomes of taking these men prisoner. A radio report to the company commander from the platoon leader said that he didn’t need assistance from the rest of Y Company (who were outside the village) and he was going into that pub. The lieutenant found more Soviets inside. There were three men: two passed out with a third sitting on the bar humming a tune known only to himself. The pub, the Royal Oak, had been trashed. Its bar area had been used as an open toilet too. On the walls, there was writing in coloured pen – all in Cyrillic script which the lieutenant couldn’t read – and also crude drawings of naked women and soldiers with them: to see it all in full glory, to get a better understanding, you needed to look at the ‘artwork’ sideways too. Those men inside were pulled out into the streets, the now-dribbling singer included but only after he’d given the Fusiliers quite the struggle when the British soldiers took away his drink. There were now five POWs in Y Company custody. They and the six dead men were all from the Soviet Airborne Troops. They were meant to be elite paratroopers: highly disciplined and fearsome fighters! Instead, the Fusiliers had found drunkards. One of those unconscious due to too much drink was discovered to be a sergeant. There was no officer nor any of the KGB here. The company commander came into the village to see this for himself. Everything he’d heard about the VDV was disproved in an instant. Let off the leash and with no one watching over them, these men had misbehaved and forgotten their duties. Of course, this was only one detachment. Still… it was quite something. Y Company had come here to get behind other enemy units which were expected to fight rather than drink themselves stupid. The major re-arranged his men after the prisoners were secured and that pub searched for any more of them. The nearby main road was now covered by his Fusiliers. The A47 ran down to Swaffham but also provided an access route towards RAF Marham. Y Company waited on the rest of their battalion to move up, along with brigade assets, to establish a stronger blocking position here in the Soviet’s rear. None of them, officers nor men, had any idea of the role that that pub and this village had played in events right up to the landing almost a week ago of Soviet soldiers here in Britain. It’s proud landlord’s fears about its fate had unfortunately come true.
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
Posts: 7,608
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Post by James G on Feb 4, 2020 20:47:03 GMT
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. Plus the best options for this has gone. At the latest it should have been when the Soviets invaded the UK. Alternatively probably if Mitterrand asks for support in the event of him using nukes to deter a Soviet invasion then he should be supported. [Although of course there is a Machiavellian argument to keep quiet in such a case, allowing France to bear the weight of a nuclear exchange with the Soviets then seek to take advantage of it afterwards.]
Seriously while a life long Star Trek fan the name is just a name, albeit with a long history in both the British and US navies.