The Second Battle of Britain - a Soviet Sealion

[James G]

33 – Riyadh


Iraqi forces moved on Riyadh.

Rashid’s army headed towards the Saudi capital from the west. The IV Corps took significant losses during its approach. Saudi and Coalition aircraft attacked them from the air as they followed Highway-40 and then there were the defensive efforts made on the ground as the Iraqis reached the edges of the Najd Plateau. There were light troops here, digging-in up until the very moment that the Iraqis reached their positions, and they fought from cover. Artillery and missiles hit the Iraqis first before machine guns and mortars were used when the distances closed. Soon it came down to an infantry-vs.-infantry fight. Geography was on the side of the Saudi defenders and the Iraqi advance came to a crawl. Extra Saudi forces moved in behind those on the frontlines and it looked like the Iraqis might be stopped. Casualties were heavy, on both sides, but it was possible that getting as far as the edge of the Najd from the desert below, would be the highwater mark of the Iraqi attack.

From Baghdad came firm instructions that Riyadh was to be reached regardless of opposition faced. Aircraft were sent zooming towards the fight – running the gauntlet of Coalition fighters on the way – and there was a rush of reinforcements for the IV Corps. These came from the III Corps, the ‘victors of Kuwait’. Commandos and paratroopers who achieved so much there were transferred to the IV Corps to open up the way to Riyadh. The majority of those sent managed to avoid destruction on the way as the Coalition focused on tanks and aircraft. They were sent into the fighting on the high ground where the Iraqis had gotten themselves stuck. Gaps were soon opened up in the Saudi lines and positions taken to allow for others to move through them. The heroic work undertaken by these fresh reinforcements cost them dearly though with their numbers thinned by the scale of the fighting which they took part in. The job was done though and the IV Corps was able to start moving once again come dawn on June 19th. From above, attacking aircraft tried to stop them but the front had been broken open in multiple places.

Several Iraqi armoured columns, with infantry following them, headed for Riyadh once more. They went through good defensive ground if only there had been someone there to stop them. The Saudis had committed too many of their troops elsewhere though and didn’t have the men to take advantage of the terrain on offer to the defender. The Iraqis kept on going, pouring towards the Saudi capital throughout the morning. By midday, the first of their tanks reached the cities edges.


Riyadh was a smaller city that Baghdad and also a newer one. No great rivers ran through it and there were wide boulevards across the city. Going into Riyadh for the Iraqi Army meant that they wouldn’t have any geographic difficulties. Less than half of the IV Corps which had started on the mission to reach here made it to the city this afternoon in the face of fuel shortages, vehicle breakdowns and enemy action, but the rest of them were enough to take on what opposition was faced. There were Saudi National Guard troops, religious-motivated irregulars forming a militia and also some Egyptians but nothing of substance in terms of heavy forces. The Iraqis spread throughout the city before darkness came.

There were chaotic scenes inside Riyadh. King Fahd had fled along with the extended royalty of the House of Saud. Others who had wealth and the means to leave had fled too including most of the foreign workers from the West… those from poorer nations who formed the majority of the ranks of guest workers in the Kingdom had remained behind. Riyadh locals stayed in their homes as the gunfire went on in the streets. Iraqi units pounded all opposition including making use of firepower from tanks and what artillery that had managed to bring with them without regard to collateral damage. Hundreds of civilian casualties would be caused.

Selective Iraqi units had instructions to reach certain places. They were to take control over palaces, government buildings, telecommunications sites and so on. There were others who were to go to foreign embassies as well. This wasn’t easy to do. They had to find such places and then overcome opposition. It was around such places as these where there was plenty of armed resistance from die-hard Saudi volunteers, men that the Saudis had raised & armed with concerns over what the future might be from doing so brushed off. The Iraqis killed them like they would kill anyone else who went up against them and were unimpressed by the religious fervour of such people. The fighting did see a lot of destruction caused at such places. Rashid wanted them, like he wanted the majority of Riyadh, to be taken intact. War had come to the city though and war has its own desires.

Plenty of destruction was caused elsewhere all across Riyadh too.

The last organised resistance came to an end by nightfall. There were those Egyptian paratroopers, men who hadn’t made a suicidal last stand, who staged a successful withdrawal away from the city to the southwest. They went up in the mountain, out of the dry valley in which Riyadh said, and made the Iraqis pay for chasing them. If the Egyptians had some armour with them they really could have made a difference but Egyptian tanks were still aboard ships in the Red Sea.


With the Saudi capital in his hands, and King Fahd having fled, Rashid was buoyant.

He spoke to his people (and the watching world) on Iraqi television. The House of Saud was now finished like the House of Sabah! The end of the oppression for the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula under the other kingdoms was soon coming too! The broadcast was unlike others seen before by such a man who didn’t fit the mould of the usual Middle East power-mad dictator. Who could blame Rashid for showing such confidence though after what his armies had just achieved? In the face of such opposition from friends of the Saudis, he had taken their capital. His statement finished by further comments unexpected from him. He spoke of the former role that the head of the House of Saud had as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. No longer could King Fahd claim to be the protector of the mosques in Mecca and Medina. Rashid pointed to the presence of non-believers – armed foreign soldiers – in Saudi Arabia brought there by King Fahd. Their presence was an insult! He called upon the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula to rise up and overthrow their oppressors who’d aligned themselves with such modern-day colonists.

Outsiders would afterwards say that Rashid didn’t really believe this religious rhetoric himself and was just trying to win the war. What he said was broadcast far and wide though. King Fahd was told about it. He was near to Jeddah, where he’d fled to ahead of what he was sure to have been determined Iraqi efforts to locate him. He was going to fight on to keep his throne, his country and also his God-given role as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques too. He spoke with allies and told them that Riyadh would be retaken and the Iraqis beaten back. There would be punishment for Iraqi actions as well. Overnight, under his express orders, Saudi Arabia once more fired ballistic missiles towards Baghdad. The fight would go on.

[James G]

34 – Talk


Iraq had just short of three hundred American military captives in its custody. Most of these were paratroopers with that battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division wiped out near to Dhahran though there had been US Air Force ground personnel taken as POWs there too. Furthermore, aircrews from US Air Force and US Navy jets downed over Iraqi-held territory were also being held. The Americans weren’t being kept with other prisoners taken from the armies of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab Monarchies. Those who’d been serving with the armed forces of the United States were held separately from those Arab POWs. While it couldn’t be said that the Americans were being treated well, they weren’t being mistreated to any serious degree. Many of them had had their lives saved after being wounded in combat. They were fed and given water while being moved far away from where they were captured. The Iraqis took these prisoners on a long journey all the way up to Kuwait. There was a captured military site there and the Americans were held here.

Iraqi military intelligence teams wanted to talk to them.

Rashid had taken a personal interest in the fate of these captives. He knew who headed up the interrogation teams and made such that the colonel in-charge did what was needed. The Americans were to be asked questions to gleam information which would aid the war Iraq was waging. Those answers were to be forthcoming whether the Americans wanted to give them up or not. However, Iraq’s leader told his man on the ground that there was no need to go over the top. He expected that only a few captives knew any real secrets. Those were to be extracted as quickly as possible and without the use of torture. Interrogations upon other captives from Iraq’s neighbours were not subject to those restrictions but these Americans were. Rashid intended to eventually hand them back. He wanted them to leave Iraq alive and without serious injury that clearly pointed to torture. They could talk all they wanted about mental stresses put on them and where they were denied food & water at times etc., but Rashid didn’t want their fingernails pulled out or their genitals mutilated.

The information that the POWs gave up – which they did under a lot of duress – wasn’t much. Iraqi interrogators pressed the prisoners for much but these captives didn’t know much. The aircrews provided the most information but what did a US Army private know about the ‘big picture’ with regard to military deployments? While the colonel stuck to his orders, some of his men broke theirs. The female POWs in Iraqi custody suffered. Two of them ended up dead from what happened to them. The colonel, a military intelligence veteran who’d seen worse things happen in his career but was aware what Rashid wanted to see done with these prisoners in future, covered this up. One of the dead female US Air Force ground personnel died after falling down some stairs and the other one took her own life. He gathered up his people and told them to stop this or they would pay a hefty price. What the colonel really wanted was the removal of the remaining women. He had a distaste for the idea of women in combat and wasn’t aware that his same feelings would be mirrored, and spoken openly, by politicians in Washington when news reached there that there were female POWs in Iraqi custody but also that others had been killed at Dhahran too.

There were Soviet observers who were present at the POW camp for American prisoners. Rashid allowed them to watch and listen but not interfere. The GRU officers made note of who came to the facility. There was the first bunch of captives who arrived en masse and then the trickle afterwards. There were some of these people they too wanted to talk with. Their motives weren’t the same as those of the Iraqis who wanted to know up to date things. Instead, the GRU had other interests in certain POWs who were suspected of knowing different things. Messages went back home seeking Moscow to open up access from the Iraqis. Rashid refused when approached. The GRU wasn’t giving up though.

Iraq’s war was costing them a lot. They were under attack at home and with their forces in the field. Tremendous amounts of ammunition had been used up and there had been significant equipment losses. There was only one weapons supplier that Iraq had and that was the Soviet Union. A stack of urgent requests had been made by Rashid for ammunition and equipment. It was put to Iraq’s leader that he could speed up the deliveries of what he wanted by being helpful with Soviet access to captured Americans now and in the future. With his hand held to the fire like this at such a time, he gave in.

The GRU would be allowed to talk to those who they wanted to have a talk with.

[stevep]

   Well that's going to make matters worse as I can't see the GRU caring about the levels of restraint Rashid is trying to apply. Also if [or should I say when] it gets out that US [and probably later other western prisoners] are being handed over to Soviet sources to extract info from them there will be hell to pay.

[James G]

Aug 12, 2019 14:45:26 GMT stevep said:

   Well that's going to make matters worse as I can't see the GRU caring about the levels of restraint Rashid is trying to apply. Also if [or should I say when] it gets out that US [and probably later other western prisoners] are being handed over to Soviet sources to extract info from them there will be hell to pay.

It will get out. The revelation will be another marker on the road to (general) war.

[James G]

35 – Do something


The American military build-up in the Middle East continued. The dollar hose was at work where the desert was sprayed with money to create new infrastructure as well as improve what was currently there to support the ability of the United States to take part in the ongoing conflict here. The Second Gulf War was already in full swing though and the Americans were playing catch up. Iraq leading the agenda and they were in no mood to give the United States the time it needed. The majority of American military power on hand was currently naval. Three carrier groups were now in the region – one in the Red Sea and two outside of the Gulf in the Arabian Sea – along with an oversized battleship-led surface action group up in the Persian Gulf. They had all been involved in the fighting. There had been surface action against Iraqi warships alongside air attacks. Several warships and submarines had fired cruise missiles too with Tomahawk strikes taking place. The US Navy was able to do this because they didn’t need much supporting infrastructure – they could survive on none at all if needed – beyond what they had at Bahrain and down in Diego Garcia. Naval power wasn’t going to stop Iraqi advances though nor win this war by liberating Kuwait and occupied portions of Saudi Arabia.

With the eastern coastline of Saudi Arabia in Iraqi hands, American land-based air power and their troops were deploying into the small countries which formed the Gulf Arab Monarchies: Bahrain (less so there due to Iraqi attacks), Qatar, the UAE and Oman. It was a combined Saudi and GCC effort on the ground near to Hofuf which had stopped the Iraqis from moving onwards to roll into the Gulf Arab Monarchies. Yes, American air power had been involved, but the fighting on the ground had stopped the onwards march of Rashid’s armies. With the military bases and civilian facilities being used for deployment all safe from Iraqi tanks rolling into them (like they had done in Saudi Arabia), the Americans kept pouring in. The US Army with their XVIII Airborne Corps, the US Air Force’s Twelfth Air Force and the US Marines’ I MAF came by air and sea. This was a huge undertaking. The Americans were throwing all that they could at this logistics effort to transport their forces halfway across the globe. Records were being broken in deployment times for personnel and equipment…

…but it was still taking much time. By the end of June, at least half of the deployed forces would be able to take part in major combat operations with the rest ready by the middle of next month. It was infrastructure which was the issue rather than any transport delays. Airbases, supply links and the support network all needed to be established. The defeat suffered at Dharan was still fresh in everyone’s minds because those who’d been lost there had been out on a limb with no supporting set-up to give them a chance. To allow the Americans to do what they were capable of, rather than lash out with only pin-prick attacks – the US Navy would contest that what they were doing was ‘pin pricks’ –, they needed to build themselves up. As the planes and ships kept arriving, plans were being made to fight the war beyond this initial entry of forces. CENTCOM moved its headquarters again. General Crist transferred his command set-up out of Bahrain and to Al Ain in the UAE. The Emiratis were proving most helpful with everything that the Americans needed and Al Ain was out of Scud missile range: Bahrain had bene hit repeatedly. Once in the UAE, those working at CENTCOM set about figuring out how they were going to achieve their assigned mission and win this war. They wouldn’t be alone – the Coalition continued to grow – but it would be a de facto American-led conflict against Iraq even if officially the Saudis were in charge due to political considerations.


Operation Bold Assurance had become Desert Eagle. There had been a little bit of drama back in Washington where an initial name change had been rejected when a new designation was proposed. The first new name wasn’t ‘inspiring enough’, it had been said. There had been disagreement over whether this should matter because codenames were meant to be codenames… though Bold Assurance had already had political interference in choosing that first. The Pentagon had rejected the suggested name Operation Match Box. This was due to how the war was being sold to the American public. There had been a strong public reaction to the Iraqi defeat of American soldiers in Saudi Arabia and Washington wanted to keep that going. In terms of public perception, the Pentagon decided, and the White House agreed, that Desert Eagle would help there.

Liberating Saudi Arabia and then Kuwait too was the stated aim of Desert Eagle.

CENTCOM wanted to include significant air attacks into Iraq itself as part of this but there were political restrictions there… ones which Crist wanted to get around in the end. Time would tell on that matter, it depended upon what the Soviets did, but before then, Iraqi forces on occupied soil were fair game.

From Washington, there was a growing pressure to ‘do something’ ahead of July and the timetabled period where it was foreseen to begin large operations. The Iraqis had won themselves a victory by taking Riyadh. Overall, the Coalition victory at Hofuf was more significant but that was in military terms. Seizing the Saudi capital, and having King Fahd flee, was earth shattering. The political ramifications were widespread, beyond the Arabian Peninsula. The United States wanted to retake the headlines and hit back against Iraq where they could be seen to be giving Iraq a defeat to match that success of theirs. Pressure was put on CENTCOM to provide that and do it very soon.

[stevep]

  Well that last bit is a good recipe for a disaster.  Or at least a painful and embarrassing set back.

  One thing I haven't thought of before is the date.  We're running into high summer.  How much are the activities of the western forces especially - but possibly also local units - going to be impacted by the temperatures and demands for supplies as a result?

[James G]

Aug 13, 2019 10:53:51 GMT stevep said:

  Well that last bit is a good recipe for a disaster.  Or at least a painful and embarrassing set back.

  One thing I haven't thought of before is the date.  We're running into high summer.  How much are the activities of the western forces especially - but possibly also local units - going to be impacted by the temperatures and demands for supplies as a result?

Especially as the battlefield is about to change like it is in not a fun way.

I hadn't even considered that! I've worked something in with regards to water supplies for troops but I need more of a think on this.

[James G]

36 – Counteroffensive


The Iraqi Army’s IV Corps had taken Riyadh in what many would regard as a masterstroke. There had been a gap that the Iraqis had taken advantage of: a gap in the lines but a gap in Saudi thinking about Iraqi capabilities too. That gap in physical terms was only small though. It relied on one road across the desert – Highway-40 – which provided a link back to where the Iraqi Army would consider to be an area they securely held. Fighting their way into the Saudi capital, the IV Corps had then overcome defenders in difficult terrain to reach Riyadh. This further stretched their physical link back to where their comrades were down in the desert below. From the skies above, with the Coalition had control over, the link was pounded. The masterstroke no longer looked as clever as it had been. Those Iraqis who had made it to Riyadh were at increasing risk of being trapped there deep in the heart of the Saudi nation.

The Saudis were aiming to make sure that those invading forces were soon to be doomed.

Significant Saudi and GCC forces remained in the area around Hofuf where they had won their important victory. They hadn’t chased the II Corps when the Iraqis had made their withdrawal from there because the battle had taken a lot out of them. Reinforcements arrived afterwards though, building up the strength of the Coalition ground forces in-place. The Emiratis and the Omanis each added more men to join with more Saudi reservists showing up. In talks with CENTCOM’s commander, Prince Sultan, the Saudi defence minister who was Crist’s Coalition superior, told the American that he intended to advance from Hofuf. Where was he aiming to take that advance to? Daman and Dharan on the coast. Crist urged restraint. Build up your forces a bit more first, he said, and allow us to bring in even more air power. Crist spoke of the arrival in Egypt of a squadron of US Air Force heavy bombers – B-52s released to assist CENTCOM – and how they could be used if the Saudi-led attack was held off for a few more days. He spoke too of the soon-to-be-available US Marines (he was a Marine general officer himself) which would be ready to go over on the attack by the end of the month. No, Prince Sultan wasn’t going to do that. He had forces ready to attack from Hofuf through the desert as well as informing Crist too that other elements of the Saudi Army and the National Guard, along with some Egyptians, were going on the attack towards Riyadh through the Najd as well. It was a general attack, a major counteroffensive to take advantage of the Iraqi’s wrong positioning and to see the Saudi capital liberated.

In a private communication to the Pentagon, Crist told the Joint Chiefs that Prince Sultan was very confident but he had his doubts that anything like this would achieve anything. He was wrong… but he was right too.


The Iraqis had fought themselves out. They’d come too far with, ultimately, too little.

There had been plenty of tanks, infantry carriers, artillery and infantry but not enough of a support network… with what there was facing that continuous attack from the air where there was no cover to be found in the desert. Rashid had spread his army out too far as well. Four different corps had been used for Operation Lion 4 with one of those a lighter force (III Corps) currently in Kuwait & down the Saudi coastline on guard missions. The trio of others, all heavy forces, were spread from their positions far to the north of Riyadh & near to King Khalid Military City (I Corps), in Riyadh (IV Corps) and having recently withdrawn in the face of a defeat near Hofuf (II Corps). There were no reserves on hand in the form of a reaction force to come to the aid of any of those geographically separated corps. Rashid did have entering Saudi Arabia another corps – the V Corps; the VI Corps was on the Iranian border – but the roads coming south were a free-fire zone for air attacks. What they did have was many tired and worn down troops far from home out in the desert. Supply problems didn’t just run to ammunition and fuel – the latter rather ironic as they occupied a sea of oil! – but to food and water too. The issue with drinking water was a big deal and only getting worse as tankers on the roads carrying water were hit like anything else. Rashid’s army might die of thirst before Saudi and Coalition bullets could kill them!

When the counteroffensive started, the Iraqis were unprepared for it. The I Corps was supposed to secure the northern flank and negate any counterattack against Iraq itself; they did nothing to stop Saudi forces moving away from them and heading south towards Riyadh as a follow-up force. Those Iraqis in Riyadh found the Saudis and Egyptians already nearby closing-up on them from several directions. There was no mad dash into the capital but they started surrounding it. The IV Corps soon saw its narrow supply line, and way out too, cut. The thinking had been that the Saudis, if they dared try to retake their city, would come directly at it rather than take such a methodical approach like that. Prince Sultan made his main effort in the eastern desert. He went chasing after the Iraqis back up Highway-15 which they had first come down before withdrawing back up.

By the end of the first day, Saudi and GCC troops had reached Abqaiq. They were halfway to Dhahran. This was a town built to support the country’s oil infrastructure with a major processing plant that neither side had done any damage to beforehand. Here the IV Corps had their main position and it was one which they intended to defend, oil infrastructure or not. The Saudis moved ahead of their allies first with their tanks clashing with Iraqi tanks. Infantry then got involved as Prince Sultan sent in his allies to help with that. This fight took place in the late morning of June 23rd. The Battle of Abqaiq suddenly took an unexpected turn now. A weapon at first unseen was used.

There were shouts in Arabic from many of those fighting here under Prince Sultan’s command. As their fellow soldiers started to suffer the effects of that unseen weapon, there were shouts of a word which when translated into English was ‘Gas’.

Rashid used chemical weapons at Abqaiq.

[stevep]

Aug 13, 2019 18:46:01 GMT James G said:

Aug 13, 2019 10:53:51 GMT stevep said:

  Well that last bit is a good recipe for a disaster.  Or at least a painful and embarrassing set back.

  One thing I haven't thought of before is the date.  We're running into high summer.  How much are the activities of the western forces especially - but possibly also local units - going to be impacted by the temperatures and demands for supplies as a result?

Especially as the battlefield is about to change like it is in not a fun way.

I hadn't even considered that! I've worked something in with regards to water supplies for troops but I need more of a think on this.

  James

  It only occurred to me last night when I noticed you were talking about June and July.  IIRC with the initial war to liberate Kuwait the allied forces were determined to get the fighting over with before the summer came and the resultant temperature extremes.  As such worth noting that Operation Desert Storm itself, including the air stage was 17th January 1991 – 28th February 1991.

  Steve

[forcon]

If the Iraqis could take out the major desalinisation plants in Eastern Saudi, thousands would die of dehydration - such a thing in itself would be a disaster on a huge scale. Here, it would force the Allied logistical effort to switch from focusing on tanks and sepleted uranium rounds to water, and water alone, just to keep Saudi Arabia functioning as a nation. It might be something that the Iraqis avoid though, as they must have done OTL, especially here with much of the area under occupation anyway.

Good work James. Just catching up with the last few updates after a few days off!

[stevep]

   James

   Damn I somehow missed that last update. That's likely to be a game changer and a bloody stupid move by Iraq. With the allies already in control of the air their a lot more vulnerable to chemical weapons than their opponents are, especially since the bulk of their forces are now stuck defending areas, although the Saudis may [repeat may] be unwilling to see chemical weapons used against their own people in occupied areas.  Its going to heighten the issue of attacks on Iraq as well with some calling for it and others even more determined to avoid the risk of hitting Soviet units in Iraq.

  Its also going to make things even more of an issue with the climate and temperature if forces equipped with then have to considered using ABC suits even part of the time.  Not only is it going to make operations more difficult and slower but with the temperatures the demands on the crews will be even higher.

  Steve

[ricobirch]

It isn't a James G timeline until someone breaks out the WMDs.

[James G]

Aug 14, 2019 14:47:22 GMT stevep said:

Aug 13, 2019 18:46:01 GMT James G said:

Especially as the battlefield is about to change like it is in not a fun way.

I hadn't even considered that! I've worked something in with regards to water supplies for troops but I need more of a think on this.

  James

  It only occurred to me last night when I noticed you were talking about June and July.  IIRC with the initial war to liberate Kuwait the allied forces were determined to get the fighting over with before the summer came and the resultant temperature extremes.  As such worth noting that Operation Desert Storm itself, including the air stage was 17th January 1991 – 28th February 1991.

  Steve

I messed up with my timing.
However, we could look it as me being 'really clever' and having a war at this time of year to make sure it wasn't a curbstomp conflict for the West.
I think we'll go with the second option!

Aug 14, 2019 21:12:12 GMT forcon said:

If the Iraqis could take out the major desalinisation plants in Eastern Saudi, thousands would die of dehydration - such a thing in itself would be a disaster on a huge scale. Here, it would force the Allied logistical effort to switch from focusing on tanks and sepleted uranium rounds to water, and water alone, just to keep Saudi Arabia functioning as a nation. It might be something that the Iraqis avoid though, as they must have done OTL, especially here with much of the area under occupation anyway.

Good work James. Just catching up with the last few updates after a few days off!

Rashid has yet to do anything that bad. His army will need the fresh water.
It's one heck of an idea for further esculation though!
However, if things went bad for Iraq, really bad, then such places could be destroyed like all of that oil infrastructure that the Iraqis too hold.

Aug 15, 2019 15:02:17 GMT stevep said:

   James

   Damn I somehow missed that last update. That's likely to be a game changer and a bloody stupid move by Iraq. With the allies already in control of the air their a lot more vulnerable to chemical weapons than their opponents are, especially since the bulk of their forces are now stuck defending areas, although the Saudis may [repeat may] be unwilling to see chemical weapons used against their own people in occupied areas.  Its going to heighten the issue of attacks on Iraq as well with some calling for it and others even more determined to avoid the risk of hitting Soviet units in Iraq.

  Its also going to make things even more of an issue with the climate and temperature if forces equipped with then have to considered using ABC suits even part of the time.  Not only is it going to make operations more difficult and slower but with the temperatures the demands on the crews will be even higher.

  Steve

Rashid will see it as a smart move as the use of gas is seen by him as a gamechanger on the battlefield.
Yet, I take your point. Should the West strike back with their own, the Iraqis have opened the door to that and this is a bad move in the long run.
No one is bombing Iraq yet because of the Soviets being there and the earlier accident but the mood is growing - and will after this - to do that.
I've added in something in the latest update about NBC gear and the conditions. I'll further that soon enough when the Americans themselves go into action in the chem warfare gear. I have thought about it for the bigger coming war but I still need to research fighting conditions with such constraints.

[James G]

Aug 15, 2019 18:36:20 GMT ricobirch said:

It isn't a James G timeline until someone breaks out the WMDs.

Lions and Bears had no WMDs... though someone did steal some.
I'm posting that TL on this site if you haven't seen it.

This story will have eth significant use of such weapons. We saw their use in the UK in the introduction and there will be the full use in all forms.
Several cities will get glassed, there will be nukes at sea, gas on the battlefields etc etc.

[James G]

37 – Gas


Iraqi artillery shells filled with the nerve agent GA – better known as Tabun – were used on the battlefield at Abqaiq because Rashid had confirmed intelligence reports that there were no Americans present at that fight. There had been the intention to use the same chemical weapons several days beforehand at Hofuf, yet Iraq’s leader had been informed that there were US Army soldiers at that location. In fact, the Americans had none at each fight. Regardless, because he had been warned by Moscow that using such weapons against the Americans would likely bring ‘an overreaction’ from Washington, which by that they meant the likely use of nuclear weapons in retaliation, Abqaiq was chosen as the debut location for gas in this conflict over Hofuf. A special artillery unit fired the Tabun. The shells were heavily guarded and the procedures for the use of this weapon well practised. The Iraqi Army had used Tabun before, during the war against Iran, and knew what it was doing when it came to their effective use. The shells were fired on-target and against exposed infantry. Reconnaissance had said that the Saudis and Qataris in the way of the gas were perfectly sited for such an attack. This was correct too. When struck, there was a delay before those in the way realised what was happening. There was little they could have done to protect themselves anyway but the delay ensured that the fatalities were even worse than they could have been with early warning. Then there were those who survived, those that the gas didn’t kill. Tabun was lethal yet there were some of those targeted soldiers who were fighting Iraq who lived. They were in a terrible state. The stories which would go through the Saudi and GCC armies afterwards about these survivors caused more fear than anything could achieve with anything else. No one wanted to face gas like those unlucky survivors of Abqaiq had.

The chemical weapons programme of Iraq was still relatively new. It was only a few years old whereas the (currently stalled) efforts to attain a nuclear capability was much older. As to nerve gases, Iraq had West Germany to thank for their availability. Private companies from that country had supplied – while their government looked the other way – Iraq with all that it needed to begin a chemical weapons programme. Progress had been fast. Starting in 1981, by ’87 Iraq had over a hundred tons of usable nerve gas. Initial work had started with Tabun: the first step for any nation when manufacturing such weapons. There were better and more effective gases, but by beginning with this particular gas, Iraq gained the experience to begin work on those others such as Sarin and XV. Tabun was an effective weapon especially when used against those with little or no protection to its effects. Like it all nerve gases, it had a terror effect just like a military one. This was seen on the battlefield in Saudi Arabia just like it had been when used against Iran too.

Rashid had decided to use gas as the Second Gulf War moved to this new stage because it was the ‘right’ weapon to employ following ongoing unfortunate events. While his armies were out conquering Saudi Arabia, King Fahd remained defiant. There had been more of those launches of ballistic missiles against the Iraqi capital that the Saudis had received from China. During the war with Iran, both Iraq and Iran had fired Scud missiles at each other’s cities – getting the same weapon from different sources – but the DF-3 was a very different weapon. The destruction caused in Baghdad was significant with hundreds killed. Rashid was only upping the ante as far as he was concerned. The Soviets expressed their concerns about Iraqi targeting – don’t hit those Americans with gas! – but gave no objection. The Tabun was thus used. It didn’t just spread confusion and fear throughout the enemy. It was an effective killing weapon too. The Saudi & GCC counteroffensive to go through Abqaiq and onwards to Dammam and Dhahran came to a halt there in the eastern desert of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, there was an immediate reaction elsewhere. Across the Najd, the Saudi & Egyptian forces moving to close-in upon occupied Riyadh suddenly slowed down and started to disperse themselves rather than be all bunched up. They were fearful of a gas attack too. Iraqi intelligence had information on the chemical protection that the armies of its enemies had. There was some there but not enough to make a difference. Iraq’s own soldiers were wearing their chemical warfare suits – which only made the ongoing drinking water issue worse as the soldiers were now always thirsty inside their stuffy outerwear – and they had specialist equipment for early detection of gases, decontamination gear and the expertise of using gas before. There was an advantage on the chemical battlefield that Iraq had.

Rashid intended to use gas again.


The chemical weapons strike in the Saudi desert was afterwards said to have scuppered the latest peace effort to bring the Second Gulf War to an end. This was one undertaken by the Jordanians after previous efforts by other nations and international organisations had failed. It was almost certain that the Jordanians were going to get nowhere either. Rashid and Fahd both had their diplomats meeting with the envoys of King Hussein as he tried to bring the inter-Arab fighting to a close but each of them were doing what many would regard as only widening the conflict. When the news came that such a weapon as nerve gas had been employed by Iraq, neither the Saudis nor their allies in the Gulf Arab Monarchies would no longer talk about the idea of peace.

Things had already gone too far though and, as said, the gas was just an excuse.

Iraqi actions in the regions which they had forcibly taken under their control were something that their neighbours were becoming aware of. Rashid had recently spoken of the disestablishment of the states with which Iraq was at war with in terms of their leaders. In doing so, this had seemingly been out of character. The general who had taken over Iraq after Saddam’s death had been for some time trying to establish favourable relations with these countries. There was the issue of all of that debt which Rashid wanted to be forgiven or if not then significantly reduced yet he had met with the emirs and kings while treating them with respect… but then he had arranged for the assassination of Kuwait’s leader before invading Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Inside Kuwait, there were shocking acts being reported. Members of the House of Sabah who hadn’t managed to escape had been executed. Important non-royal Kuwaitis had been killed too in brutal manners alongside anyone who tried to raise the hand of resistance. The ‘rape of Kuwait’ was ongoing as the wealth of that nation was stripped away with the Iraqis carrying out anything they could. Rashid had then announced he was going to annex the small country. Inside Saudi Arabia, similar events were taking place where there was organised theft at official Iraqi sanction and the slaying of important captives with no regard – or specific regard: it depended upon how you looked at it – of their status. In backchannel dealings through the Jordanians, there had been talk of Iraq pulling out of those occupied territories following a solving of the dispute between Rashid and his neighbours. That was only a façade as far as his enemies could see with these things taking place and his calls for the end of the regimes throughout the Arabian Peninsula.

At the same time, the Iraqis saw the Saudis and the Gulf Arab Monarchies bringing the United States and other Western countries into this war. The Americans, the British and the French weren’t involved in this war just to see armies sent back over the borders from which they came. Rashid watched and listened to what was being said abroad. Those countries were out to destroy his regime because he was allied – in their opinion – to the Soviets and doing their bidding. Moreover, they also wanted their say in what was done with all of that black gold under the desert. Where he had the killings done of those organising resistance and the taking of war booty through occupied territory, he considered that all legitimate acts. It was his opponents, not he, who had gone too far. The use of nerve gas on the battlefield was just a response to the ballistic missile attacks on his capital. He would carry on doing what he was doing with the war continuing until it was won. Winning meant destroying his enemies: their armies and their regimes. Once that was done, then he would strike a deal with the West because at the moment, and, he believed, for the future, he controlled all that oil under the desert. There would be time to talk through intermediaries only then.