Blue Dawn, 1994

[James G]

31 – To Minsk


Overnight, US V Corps units had pushed from near to Lida in the direction of the capital of the Belorussian Republic. To Minsk advanced some of the best armoured units of the US Army. They made progress in the dark through unfamiliar terrain using GPS guidance (the Pentagon switched it off to non-US Armed Forces use the other day) and against very little opposition. Union Army forces engaged during the day near to the Polish border had been overcome leaving the way ahead open. Starting this morning, the Americans begin advancing into the Minsk Hills. This high ground surrounds Minsk in a semi-circle. Belarus’ highest point can be found among the forested hills. There are gaps through this terrain where road and rail links run yet the width isn’t much: those which the US V Corps approach certainly don’t have the space to spread out as found the evening beforehand with the Lida Gap. There is opposition to the advance today. The First Guards Army, another Union field army deployed into Belarus in the preceding months to ‘enforce order’ here, has been battered by air attacks for almost thirty-six hours before it can get any of its units into action. Those strikes from above were meant to have done much damage to formations such as the 254th Motor Rifle Division. Those Americans on the ground have heard what their colleagues in blue have been saying but discover that the US Air Force was either too optimistic… or is just plain stupid.

T-64 tanks are met today, not the T-72s previously seen. These heavier and more capable weapons are put well to use by the Union Army tankers manning them. Shells and missiles are fired from them and they slam into American tanks and armoured vehicles. The latter come off worse than the former. Only a few American tanks are completely destroyed: others which are hit end up knocked out of action yet, with a repair job, will fight again. That isn’t the case with the infantry carriers and armoured reconnaissance vehicles struck. These T-64s can survive hits from them and return fire to blow them apart. The US Army certainly meets a strong opponent on the battlefield today. With those tanks, the 254th Motor Rifle Division fields reconnaissance, motor rifle, anti-tank and artillery units. This is overall a good division, one which the Americans will wish that Gromov had sent to the Urals like so many other capable ones. It is here in Belarus though. The Minsk Hills are where it fights and there is a slowdown of the hell for leather advance to Minsk brought about by this presence.

The 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment makes initial contact with this fresh Union division and backs away when taking casualties. Apache gunships come into play to allow for them to break contact and so that the heavier units of the US V Corps can come up and do their job: crush this opponent. Both the 1st Armored ‘Old Ironsides’ & 1st Infantry ‘Big Red One’ Divisions see more action than they did yesterday. They spend the morning and the afternoon engaging the 254th Motor Rifle Division. Tank-vs.-tank engagements, infantry fights and the extensive use of fire support form artillery, aircraft & helicopters is all brought into play. The Americans have a lot of advantages. There is all that external support and then they have the numbers on the ground. Victories are won. Union tanks either die where they fight or fall back to escape the barrage of explosives thrown at them. The whole battlefield is a free fire zone for incoming projectiles from above. A couple of unfortunate friendly fire incidents occur and there are also shoot-downs of air support which the US V Corps is bringing into play. Yet… the way ahead is forced. For all the damage those T-64 tanks can do, they cannot stop the advance being made. The Americans smother the 254th Motor Rifle Division with everything they have to hand. The Big Red One makes the first serious breakthrough, finding a gap and forcing their way ahead, before the Old Ironsides can smash their own way through the best efforts that Union tanks and riflemen can do to stop them.

The Minsk Hills see the smouldering wrecks of hundreds of tracked and wheeled vehicles, along with the corpses of a couple of thousand soldiers from opposing armies, but the formidable barrier that they could have been had there been more than one Union Army division here doesn’t come about. The inner slopes, those on the Minsk side, are advanced down by the US V Corps. In a final desperate effort to stop the very edges of the city from being reached, the battered Union Air Force manages to get some aircraft through on attack missions. They lose plenty of fighters in forcing open gaps and then those on attack runs have to still run the gauntlet of American air defences on the ground… plus those in ‘friendly’ hands who’ve been shooting at any and all aircraft all day and now continue to do so. It isn’t worth it. Even when dropping bombs containing nerve gas and managing to get a brigade command post, this doesn’t change anything. Less than ten aircraft get through and they have an enemy below spread out over a huge frontage with no real bunching up to target effectively. The Americans are more exposed to something like this on the other side of the Minsk Hills, to the west where their supply lines are, rather than at the front. The 254th Motor Rifle Division is dead already and the city of Minsk is already lost even if not yet taken.

The butcher’s bill for the Big Red One and the Old Ironsides is counted at over three hundred dead and close to five hundred seriously wounded by the time the last of the fighting through the Minsk Hills is done. Union losses are higher, much higher, but these casualties (the deaths especially) exceed those taken by the overall numbers in the Gulf War. There are further losses among other US V Corps elements and the US Air Force too pushing the total of killed and hurt above the one thousand mark. Such figures have been caused due to the scale of the fighting seen here. Despite the staggering number, the two divisions can continue the fight. The 2nd Cav’ comes forward again to aid the pushes to make contact with anyone else who wants to fight as the daylight hours end. There is yet still no need for the rest of the US V Corps – the 3rd Infantry Division and the Canadian’s 1st Division – to see action and both of them are either just inside Belarus or remaining back in Poland for the time being. Shots are exchanged outside of Minsk. The Americans start encircling the city. There is no direct arm-in-arm linking of those soldiers during the encirclement . Instead, they take control of routes in & out of the city. They meet with Union Army troops and Interior Ministry paramilitaries. Uneven fights are had and nothing can stop this ringing of Minsk taking place before sunset.

Breaking in though, smashing their way into Minsk, isn’t going to be done.

The CIA has a drone flying above Minsk. This is a GNAT-750, an unmanned aircraft that is currently being developed into something bigger in a project named as the RQ-1 Predator. The drone has a video feed link-up via a satellite that is providing real-time footage to a ground station back in Poland where the Seventh United States Army headquarters is. The image isn’t crystal clear and sometimes cuts out. What can be seen of Minsk isn’t the best. One of the spooks at that ground station makes the comment to a colleague that it would be a great idea for them if the drone could mount a missile or two: just think of all the things that could be achieved with a Hellfire attached! Instead of shooting at anyone, the drone operators use the cameras to monitor a mass gathering of people in the heart of Minsk. Victory Square – there is a landmark monument celebrating the defeat of Nazism – throngs with people, young Belorussians especially. The authorities have lost control and there is rioting and other violence being seen. This confirms the news already coming out of Minsk by operatives on the ground there. Minsk is once more in rebellion and, unlike back in June, Moscow isn’t going to be sending tanks in here to crush this revolt from the people. It won’t be American tanks which seize the city: its people will do that. That will negate the need for any form of house-to-house fighting for Minsk, something which no one on the American side wants to do. There will be no hold up to the US V Corps’ continued eastwards advance should these people do what is looking likely and take control of Minsk. It will be a battle which won’t have to be fought.


The US XVIII Corps spends the day rapidly expanding its area of operations through west-central Belarus. The tough, bloody fighting of yesterday where an enemy tank counterattack nearly reached their main airhead is all history. Now the Americans here are spreading out and successfully taking objectives. The 82nd Airborne Division is joined by the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 24th Infantry Division in this; the 101st Airborne Division is still arriving into Baronovichi Airbase (Camp Victory). There is air cover given by both armed helicopters and soon enough US Air Force combat aircraft operating from there. Their assistance is welcome. There are a few enemy units who haven’t got the message that all is lost for them. They are defeated. The main highway running from Brest to Minsk – held at each end by friendlies – is secured for the use as one of the main supply routes for the Coalition’s onwards push even deeper into the Union in the coming days and weeks. Away from there, there are Green Berets to link up with. Special forces teams have secured weapons storages sites and important infrastructure throughout the middle of Belarus. The positions of a couple of units are reached too late but in the main, relief comes for them. Immense quantities of stored equipment and supplies fall into American hands. This should all have equipped reserve units of the Union Army but is now denied to them. Some of it can be made use of though (a few armoured personnel carriers with be nabbed by the 82nd Airborne Division but adorned with many friendly markings) there isn’t really much the Americans can do themselves with T-55 tanks, BM-21 rocket-launchers and 152mm artillery shells. Their allies won’t turn down all that is found though should that be passed on.

The Poles operate all that Soviet-era equipment and their II Corps which is also in Belarus could do with some more ammunition. They are expending a lot of it, way above projections: there is also that strain on the links over the Bug River. Trapped Union Army troops in Brest surrender today but there is no luck for the Polish II Corps when they try to force their way past enemy units that they encounter holding on for dear life around Korbyn. That Brest-Minsk highway, which ultimately runs all the way to Moscow via Smolensk, goes through this small town and the Poles struggle to take it. It has to fall before the Poles can move on. Their mission is to move eastwards (not up the highway north) after securing Korbyn to cross through southern Belarus. It is an important task, one which there had been murmurings among American general officers in Poland and also back at the Pentagon that they didn’t believe the Poles could achieve. As Korbyn continues to be a stumbling block for them throughout the day, the American increase their support for them. There is additional air support send their way with multiple air strikes made to complement what the Polish Air Force is doing around that town. In addition, a battalion-group of tanks and infantry detached from their 24th Infantry Division – Task Force 3-15 Infantry – moves southwards come down the highway, meeting no opposition at all on the way. This takes them right out of their operational area and there is a lot of assurances sought that the US Air Force won’t bomb them! Once close enough to Korbyn, they begin an advance into the enemy’s rear. Union Army soldiers aren’t positioned to fight off such a strike. They are quickly taken apart when this is combined with a renewed Polish attack at the front. Korbyn is secured and southern Belarus finally opened up.

[stevep]

Mar 31, 2020 18:54:47 GMT James G said:

Mar 31, 2020 10:35:51 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

  Another couple of good updates.  Even the stealth bombers must expect losses, both from hostile action and from accidents but the pilot was a brave man and probably saved himself a lot of suffering as well as possibly giving the opponents information.

  To be expected that Gromov would lash out against NATO allies and possibly those giving passive support given how enraged he possibly is but, in the short term at least its going to backfire.  Possibly also some attacks on US targets to bring the war home to them although that would be more difficult without using ballistic missiles which might be thought a nuclear attack.  Of course opposition in both the US and the rest of NATO will be increased dramatically when its found out that Gromov was telling the truth and he was innocent of the assassination.

  Well my mind is screaming red herring about that reported parachute in London.  After all in the midst of a missile attack is a very odd time to insert an individual, whether an assassin or for some other purpose but I wonder if your got some scheme in the back of that fertile imagination.  Have to see what develops.

  Steve

Thank you.
The Americans should have shifted away from F-117s after night #1 rather than come back on #2. Fixed targets in the city can easily be hit with cruise missiles. Big mistake to make.
Gromov's view on what will hurt the Coalition differs from those in the West. Striking the US would be very dangerous but that worry might be overridden when the borders of Russia itself are crossed.
No one found any parachutist and if seemed mad. The whole thing does look crazy. We'll have to see though.

  James G,

  Since the US has - in Gromov's mind at least - conspiring with the 'traitors' in Siberia, blamed him for a murder he knows he's innocent of and now both bombing the hell out of Russia - or at least his part of it - and actively encouraging parts of the Union to defect I could see him seeing that as an appropriate action.  He would probably want to give them a taste of their own medicine as well as leave the threat in their mind that later retaliation could be chemical or nuclear.  Or simply give the west a deadline to withdraw or threaten to use nukes against their invading forces, with a warning that any nuclear use against the Union would result in a response against the US and/or its allies.  That's the basis of deterrent after all and Gromov probably feels both himself and his state is definitely threatened with destruction at this point.

  Steve

[stevep]

   James G ,

   Bitter fighting in front of Minsk and it shows changing values since WWII that two US divisions - or more probably their political masters think ~800 casualties after a bitter fight is heavy.  Could have been a lot worse if the Union had got artillery support while the US forces were bunched in the narrows. 

  Looking very bad for the Union at this point especially with the popular rebellion taking the city without the need for urban fighting. 

  Steve

[James G]

Apr 1, 2020 9:17:24 GMT stevep said:

Mar 31, 2020 18:54:47 GMT James G said:

Thank you.
The Americans should have shifted away from F-117s after night #1 rather than come back on #2. Fixed targets in the city can easily be hit with cruise missiles. Big mistake to make.
Gromov's view on what will hurt the Coalition differs from those in the West. Striking the US would be very dangerous but that worry might be overridden when the borders of Russia itself are crossed.
No one found any parachutist and if seemed mad. The whole thing does look crazy. We'll have to see though.

  James G ,

  Since the US has - in Gromov's mind at least - conspiring with the 'traitors' in Siberia, blamed him for a murder he knows he's innocent of and now both bombing the hell out of Russia - or at least his part of it - and actively encouraging parts of the Union to defect I could see him seeing that as an appropriate action.  He would probably want to give them a taste of their own medicine as well as leave the threat in their mind that later retaliation could be chemical or nuclear.  Or simply give the west a deadline to withdraw or threaten to use nukes against their invading forces, with a warning that any nuclear use against the Union would result in a response against the US and/or its allies.  That's the basis of deterrent after all and Gromov probably feels both himself and his state is definitely threatened with destruction at this point.

  Steve

You make a compelling case here. I'm convinced it is likely and needed.
I'll see what I can dream up.

Apr 1, 2020 9:27:29 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

   Bitter fighting in front of Minsk and it shows changing values since WWII that two US divisions - or more probably their political masters think ~800 casualties after a bitter fight is heavy.  Could have been a lot worse if the Union had got artillery support while the US forces were bunched in the narrows. 

  Looking very bad for the Union at this point especially with the popular rebellion taking the city without the need for urban fighting. 

  Steve

Post Vietnam, the US became very casualty adverse - cakewalks in Grenada, Panama and Kuwait added to that. Granted, such numbers would be expected in minutes of an 80s Cold War full-on clash but it still will hit hard. Britain will get a taste of heavy casualties too in the fight they are about to have.
If the Minsk rebellion goes off, and the V Corps can 'bounce' past Minsk, the next stop on the road is... Smolensk: inside Russia.

[James G]

32 – Wide frontage


The Poles are in trouble around the city of Kaliningrad too. Ahead of the invasion of the Union starting, there had been all of those fears expressed that the Polish Army might not be able to do all that was asked of it. For the sake of politics, there is a big role envisioned for them though. Operating on the left flank of the British advance up into the Baltics, taking Kaliningrad Oblast remains the task of the Polish III Corps. They build upon some of the success had yesterday to reach both the Lower Neuman near to Sovetsk and establish themselves along the shores of the Bay of Courland too. However, around where Kaliningrad itself is located, the Poles cannot make headway. They are fighting Union Army troops along with Naval Infantry men. The latter are marines and cause the Poles immense difficulties in combat during the second day’s fighting next to the Baltic Sea. Riflemen as well as tanks serving with the 336th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade make a counterattack against the Poles operating northeast of Kaliningrad. T-55s lead the breakout from the Sambian Peninsula to hit the Poles on the flank and smash them apart. Those in the way are men with the 7th Coastal Defence Brigade: amphibious trained troops which it could be a stretch to call marines themselves. Half of the Polish brigade is lost. The Poles’ own tanks, their lightweight PT-76s, along with OT-62 tracked infantry carriers are knocked out. Infantrymen are killed in their vehicles or when taking up improvised field positions. On-call air support doesn’t show up when it is supposed to and even when it does, it isn’t effective. The Poles have focused their air efforts supporting the 16th Mechanised Division’s failed efforts to take Kaliningrad head-on. They’ve taken losses to aircraft and used up a lot of ammunition. The Americans have been supporting them yet still have other missions to fulfil elsewhere.

Such a victory sees the Naval Infantry move on to try and gain another. The smartest move would be to halt and eliminate Polish survivors which they’ve run through but orders come from on-high to go after the 198th Infantry Brigade next. Those are those American and British troops from West Berlin under Polish III Corps command. It is assumed that they will be smashed apart like the Poles have been. That is not the case. With their backs to the Deyma River, a retreat across there is possible but the 198th Infantry Brigade makes a stand instead of running. They have better tanks than the Naval Infantry does and the M-1A1 Abrams’ begin shooting at great distance towards the leading T-55s. Turrets fly high into the air after several hits though others just burn in less dramatic fashion. A squadron of A-10 Thunderbolts join in. The air-ground liaison here with their supporting air power is spot-on. Those tank-busters hit what T-55s are left as well as shooting up dozens more armoured vehicles behind them. The Naval Infantry lose their artillery support too. They have their own self-propelled howitzers and mortars, ones which did their worst to then Poles, and are also aided by some big towed guns which belong to the Union Navy’s Baltic Fleet as coastal protection weaponry. None of these guns get the opportunity to fire before death from the air comes. The A-10s shoot them up with their cannons and launch Maverick missiles towards such weaponry. That air support is lifted and straight away a counterattack is made. M-113 infantry carriers with US Army infantrymen along with FV-432s carrying British Army soldiers deliver their human cargoes right up to the Naval Infantry’s lines. More accurate tank fire hits surviving enemy armour to make sure that that cannot support the Naval Infantry. For an hour the fight rages, a close combat one which sees hand-to-hand fighting in-places. The M-1A1s come forward into it where they aid first the British and then their fellow Americans in putting an end to the fighting capability of the 336th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade. No longer is this a combat capable unit. Some sub-units slip away from the fight and are soon attacked from the air when this time the US Air Force releases a couple of flights of F-16Cs for this battle to drop bombs fused for low air burst. That ensures that no one is getting away from here to fight again.

The result of this defeat on the flank exposes the position of the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Division significantly. The commanding general, who has command of only the division’s two remaining combat regiments left now after losing the Naval Infantry like this, won’t admit his error to his staff at having that foolish onwards push made. Internally, he knows he has messed up though. Advantage was taken of the Poles but that didn’t mean that the Americans and the British could likewise be so easily defeated. Now, the 198th Infantry Brigade is in a prime position to come in from behind, race across the Sambian Peninsula and enter Kaliningrad from the rear. Emergency orders are issued from his command post. There is a hasty retreat made at the frontlines where excellent defensive positions south of Kaliningrad, ones steeped in the blood of Polish and Union soldiers, are abandoned. The shortening of lines is done to allow for a redeployment of what troops are left. Efforts by the Poles to take advantage are beaten off and the withdrawal is made before the Americans come back again with more air attacks: if they’d struck from the air a few hours before, they would have done a lot more damage than they end up doing. Regardless of the fortunate timing there, the defenders of Kaliningrad are still in a terrible position. More Poles are coming forward, second-grade units with their III Corps, and that Anglo-American force to the east will surely make a countermove either overnight, or at the latest tomorrow morning. Kaliningrad has been fully invested and there no longer is any room for manoeuvre. The general has his seaward flank to worry about too: there is a lot of Coalition naval power out there with the fear that marines are among them.


The worries of that Union Army general over what is at sea in terms of those capable of an amphibious assault along the shoreline of the Kaliningrad Oblast are overblown. There are some marines there but not many. Under overall British operational command is a mixed battalion-group of Royal Marines and US Marines. 45 Commando – two of its own rifle companies, one of Marine Corps Reserve riflemen and joint supporting assets – is aboard four amphibious ships down in Gdansk Bay. One of those is the RFA Sir Galahad (a new-build of a ship of the same name lost in the Falklands War) and another large one is the USS Harlan County, an LST. Two Polish minelayers fitted for an amphibious support role are with them and carrying stores and some more men. Kept out of the way back here, the ships laden with those marines aren’t on the frontlines. That is the job of the destroyers and frigates from several Coalition navies which are taking part in the shelling of the Kaliningrad coastline and also hunting for surviving vessels of the shattered Union Navy. Smoke still rises from Baltiysk where fuel oil burns after the Baltic Fleet’s main base was blasted to ruin when Operation Flaming Phoenix began. Other air attacks have been made though that has all now eased off. There is no naval challenge to the Coalition from out of Kaliningrad anymore. Yet, the warships are still there and have moved to general harassment operations now: blowing up anything of military value in sight of the sea including along the Lithuanian shoreline today.

A week ago, 45 Commando was in Turkey close to the Iraqi border. One company was left behind when the recall order came and those who departed from their mission in the Turkish mountains expected to be sent to the join the huge Royal Marine presence forming in Norway. This battalion is cold weather and mountain warfare trained. That wasn’t to be though. It was to Gdynia instead they went and onto the Sir Galahad and the Lublin-class Polish ships. While not directly told so, the Royal Marines believe that they are here to act as an intimidation while mimicking a larger force. The Americans did the same against the Iraqis back in 1991 and that deception worked well. Only against a very weak opponent could 45 Commando make a forced landing on the Kaliningrad coastline. It has been thought that no one would be stupid enough to send them into action when there are known to be Naval Infantry in number in Kaliningrad. That belief comes to an end this evening. New orders arrive. 45 Commando, joined by those US Marines in their own landing ship, are going to see action tomorrow. The 336th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade has been defeated in battle and other coastal defences have been smashed apart. These marines are going to join the fight raging ashore, coming from the sea to do that. They’re going to Baltiysk.


Many more Britons are already ashore and fighting. The British I Corps began their offensive to liberate the Baltics starting yesterday. Kaunas was taken along with much of the southern portion of Lithuania in a cross-border attack coming out of Poland. Today, the advance continues. Instead of the narrow front attack employed to break into Lithuania, a wide frontage is now brought into use. The British will not be bunched up and will undertake a multi-divisional attack on several axis’ of advance. This is not easy to achieve. Lithuania isn’t exactly flush with roads to make use of for supply lines behind the attacking troops. Bringing everyone forward is hard back over in Poland too due to the lack of transport links there. Kaunas is the key to making all this work though. Seizing control of the airport outside that city and sending through it troops to take control of the bridges over the Neuman River was of great importance. Union missiles exploded above the city yesterday where they dispersed nerve gas causing great loss of life yet those did nothing to harm the bridges. Royal Engineers have thrown a couple more crossings over the Neuman too so as to alleviate pressures on the fixed links. Either side, downstream and upstream of Kaunas, the Neuman proves no barrier to further crossings made as part of the British I Corps spreading out now it intends to liberate more of Lithuania. Those sappers are busy. They’ve nabbed themselves some captured Union Army engineering equipment – old, rugged but useful still quite gear – and there is some help in operating that provided by locals with military service in the Soviet Army long behind them who have the experience of using them. Into Kaunas has come representatives of the Lithuanian government-in-exile. While the British aren’t as suspicious of them as they are of those locals (their help is welcome but there a readiness for a fight if they have hidden loyalties), the bossy politicians who turn up are an annoyance. Yes, this is their country here. But, some of their actions aggravate those who have to listen. There is a call made, maybe a demand if one wanted to look at it that way, that the British get on with liberating Lithuania’s capital Vilnius. Translation issues might be responsible for how that sounds like a demand instead of a request. Those in Kaunas aren’t told that that is already underway though. Furthermore, the British aren’t telling their allies here all that they are up to in Lithuania. It would be foolish. You never know who they might go blabbing too in the exhilaration of liberation!

The 1st Armoured Division moves northeast out of Kaunas. The advance starts in the early hours and follows the course of the road link across eastern Lithuania which the British hope will see them soon enough reach Daugavpils in Latvia. The 20th Armoured Brigade is now in the lead. Fights are had at several points yet there is a good advance made through the day. Opposition comes from scattered Union Army rear-area units and also Interior Ministry paramilitaries who were here fighting Lithuanian rebels. Progress by the end of the day sees the further advance get close to the Latvian border but a halt is called before then. Other brigades with the 1st Armoured Division are catching up and moving on either flank. Until that is done, there will be no onwards push. Opposition has been spotted ahead and that is significant. To Vilnius, elements of the 6th Airborne Division move. The Paras who won control of Kaunas go that way yet other divisional troops cross the Neuman over those temporary bridges as well as in helicopter lifts. They will not reach it by the end of today but will come close enough and prepare themselves for an attack tomorrow. It looks as if the Lithuanian capital will be somewhere fought over unlike the approaches to it. Inside Vilnius are reported to be a regiment of Union Airborne Troops; the rest of their division is spread between Riga and Tallinn. Intelligence reports say that there has been much shooting in the city through yesterday and overnight where Moscow’s paratroopers put down an attempting rising… one encouraged by broadcasts made to Lithuanians telling them to do so. Both the 5th Airborne & 24th Airmobile Brigades are sure to see action when reaching there. Closing up though, despite a few clashes, there is no sign of the enemy in number. The Battle of Vilnius looks likely to be tough but the British do not intend to just walk in there without expecting trouble. To complete the wide frontage that the British I Corps is now creating for its advance is the movement of lead elements of the 3rd Mechanised Division. Downstream of Kaunas, they cross the Neuman with the 11th Mechanised Brigade out front. They go into the west of Lithuania, behind the Kaliningrad Oblast. Lynx AH7 attack helicopters spot and engage enemy units ahead of the troops on the ground. T-72 tanks and BRDM-2 armoured scout cars are hit first before there is a sighting of BM-21 Grad rocket launchers. Anti-aircraft fire takes out one Lynx and damages a second though the British helicopters do get some shots off to hit some of those Grads. Others survive though and there are more tanks and other armour coming south. This is the 107th Motor Rifle Division. Back in early 1992, it was this Union Army division which helped re-conqueror Lithuania. It was one of several which were inside the Baltics and meant to be returning ‘home’ who, on command, struck at the fragile democracies here from within. In recent months, there has been mass desertions of conscripts, even officers, from the 107th Motor Rifle Division due to many personnel hailing from Central Asia. It is understrength and has been bombed from the air since the invasion began. Regardless, towards the British it starts to come. The RAF and the US Air Force both make attacks. 11th Mechanised Brigade scouts do damage as well. Yet, despite all that, a major clash still occurs.

British soldiers find out the hard way what an enemy the Union’s forces can be on the battlefield. The poor state of the 107th Motor Rifle Division means that a defeat is eventually inflicted upon them. Without those circumstances, the casualty count for the 11th Mechanised Brigade would be much higher than it is. That is in the hundreds, especially among the infantrymen with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers who suffer under rocket attack from surviving Grads. Moreover, when in retreat, covered by the cannons from their Warrior infantry carriers, part of that battalion retreats into a minefield. This is one which was laid by air, from American jets and the information on that didn’t come through in time due to a communications screw up. RAF Harrier GR7s come low and with all they have to stop a complete wipe out of those fusiliers when the 107th Motor Rifle Division stages a mass attack using tanks and its own riflemen. As to the British tanks here, they are Challenger-1s. Two battalion-sized regiments are employed and they kills dozens upon dozens of T-72s. Counterattacking on the heels of the Harrier attack, they eliminate the survivors and finally see their own infantry no longer having to suffer. Plenty of British tanks have been knocked out too, many the victims of man-portable missile-launchers in the hands of dismounted teams who crawled through stunning amounts of shelling to get close enough to fire. Those T-72s only took out a few Challenger-1s: most of their shells were ineffective against the British tanks and focused upon the Warriors and deployed infantry. Post battle analysis reveals that the 11th Mechanised Brigade met half of the 107th Motor Rifle Division and defeated them. Where is the rest though? Whenever they show up, they will meet other British troops. The 1st Mechanised Brigade comes forward, taking over the frontal position that their sister unit did. Field ambulances are seen racing away from the battlefield by them to add to what these fresh men already know: troops of the Union can really fight.

The corps headquarters is a mobile column south of Kaunas. General Mackenzie is brought the reports of the casualty numbers from that fight that the 11th Mechanised Brigade had. He knows that when they reach London, there will be quite the blow up. To think otherwise, to believe that the politicians there will react with calm because it has been explained to them that this is war and many casualties are expected, would be foolish for Mackenzie to suppose. There’s nothing he can do about that though. The fight goes on here. The 1st Mechanised Brigade will advance forward looking for the rest of that Union Army division and everything will be done to ensure that the next fight isn’t so costly. The 12th Mechanised Brigade (their parent division’s third manoeuvre element) will be with them soon enough. Attention in the command post later today is on reports of enemy units on the Lithuanian-Latvian border. Mackenzie knows that there are SAS units on the ground along the Daugava and air attacks have been made, but it looks like the Twenty–Eighth Army is crossing where the river is in the way of them or coming down from elsewhere in Latvia where there is no water barrier. It’s a three-division force in total with one of those being a unit from Leningrad rather than being home-based in Belarus like the rest before deployment here. That opponent is much stronger than anything met before since entry was first made into the Baltics. Thankfully, this isn’t all unexpected. That is why Mackenzie has his wide frontage with the British I Corps. The Twenty–Eighth Army isn’t going to concentrate as one due to Coalition air attacks and commando actions, and also because his opposite number will be looking to overwhelm Mackenzie’s troops over a wide area. Of course, if enemy intentions have been read wrong, the British I Corps will be in a lot of trouble. First clashes with these arriving Union forces look certain to happen tomorrow. Mackenzie will find out whether everything done in preparation for the fight coming has worked…

…of if the British Army is going to suffer the biggest defeat on the battlefield since Malay and Singapore in 1942.

[stevep]

   James G ,

  Well that last bit is ominous.  Hopefully it turns out badly for the Union rather than the UK. 

  When you initially mentioned the error with the Naval Infantry at Kaliningrad due to orders from on high I initially thought you meant Moscow rather than the local army commander in Kaliningrad.  Although the latter makes more sense as Gromov no doubt has more important things on his mind and probably will never hear more than rumours of a small victory before the final defeat.

  Progress being made and glad that the British forces are largely employed in liberating the Baltics as that's likely to be less bloody overall than pushing deep into the Union, although I expect that at least some will end up there.

  Steve

[James G]

Apr 2, 2020 8:59:57 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

  Well that last bit is ominous.  Hopefully it turns out badly for the Union rather than the UK. 

  When you initially mentioned the error with the Naval Infantry at Kaliningrad due to orders from on high I initially thought you meant Moscow rather than the local army commander in Kaliningrad.  Although the latter makes more sense as Gromov no doubt has more important things on his mind and probably will never hear more than rumours of a small victory before the final defeat.

  Progress being made and glad that the British forces are largely employed in liberating the Baltics as that's likely to be less bloody overall than pushing deep into the Union, although I expect that at least some will end up there.

  Steve

The plan is to break the 28th Army up and fight it in bits, all while given plentiful air cover. We'll have to see how that works out.
The Kaliningrad error is by the local commander. Gromov and STAVKA are too far away and out of contact. If they could make contact, they would say 'fight until relieved' knowing no relief is on the way, due to the delaying factor this imposes.
The Baltics are British assigned - the Poles coming through Kaliningrad are meant to help them - but there are significant Union forces here. What's beyond Estonia? A big city whose name begins with an L.

[James G]

33 – The enemy of my enemy is my friend


At Ivano-Frankivsk Airbase in the Western Ukraine twenty-nine traitors are shot dead. The six officers are blindfolded with hands tied and given a traditional firing squad. Those near two dozen conscripts are instead machine gunned in two groups with less formalities. All of the bodies are rolled into an improvised mass grave: a blast crater from an American bomb. An earthmover pushes some soil in atop of the bodies but this barely covers them. Those killed were men who rose up in revolt to fight for an independent Ukraine. Union Air Force personnel they were and thus they are judged as traitors to the Union of Sovereign States. Another forty plus bodies of more of those traitors who were killed before surrendering are in a further mass grave while the corpses of thirty men who remained loyal with the victors in the fight for Ivano-Frankivsk, losing their lives in the process, are given a proper burial. The revolt here was bloody but over quick. A hundred have died overall, adding to the casualties coming from American air attacks on the airbase to bring to a stop air operations from here. Once the last of the killing is done with, full efforts are thrown at completing the stalled evacuation. The MiG-29 fighters are already gone but there is a lot more to pull out of here. Personnel, equipment and supplies are on the move and they are all heading east. Ivano-Frankivsk is being abandoned in the face of Coalition armies entering the Ukraine but it will not be in the hands of Ukrainian nationalists when the foreign invaders arrive.

There is shooting at Starokostyantyniv Airbase too. This is likewise located in the western Ukraine and a frontline facility for the Union Air Force trying to fight off the invasion. Further to the east than Ivano-Frankivsk and not in immediate danger of falling to advancing American tanks, an evacuation isn’t yet taking place. However, trucks arrive with soldiers commanded by an officer bearing what appear to be legitimate orders. He meets with the base commander and that man’s staff where they are told that an evacuation is to take place. Preparations are about to begin when those soldiers burst into the meeting. Their officers gives the word and there is a massacre. Union Air Force personnel – some of them Ukrainians though the majority Russians or Belorussians – are gunned down and then afterwards any showing signs of life are bayonetted. Throughout Starokostyantyniv, there is complete control taken of the facility with only a few more violent instances. Those who refuse to swear an oath to the independent Ukraine which is demanded of them are disarmed and held prisoner rather than being shot. One of the new arrivals on base, an apparent major in Union Air Force uniform, is escorted to the base radio room and sends out a message. It is one made in Ukrainian, a language he learnt as a child from his immigrant parents, but he himself is a CIA paramilitary officer born in the United States who has only been here in the Ukraine for a few days. The signal is picked up by those waiting for it. Two hours later, aircraft begin arriving at Starokostyantyniv. MC-130 Combat Talons first and then later ‘standard’ C-130 Hercules’ bring in US Army Rangers. No one shoots at their aircraft nor them when they take over here: the airbase’s personnel are either actively co-operating with the Americans via those Ukrainian nationalists or have been stood down from their duties. The Rangers take control of prisoners and also what else that this facility has to offer. There are more MiG-29s here along with Sukhoi-24M strike-bombers. None of these aircraft, nor any of the extensive ammunition stores on-site, are going to be evacuated to fight from elsewhere in Union service.

There are many other incidents through today, more than yesterday, where the activities of Ukrainian nationalists either see success or failure occur. There remains a lot of uncoordinated action alongside the better organised activities. Loyalist forces and those in revolt fight each other while the Coalition continues to push deeper into the Ukraine. Many of those Ukrainian actions should be delayed until the frontlines come closer to them yet they strike too soon and where they might meet success today, soon enough they will be facing the wrath of Moscow. Where some of the ‘liberations’ are made close enough to those invading from out of Poland and other Eastern European countries, and Coalition forces soon roll in, Ukrainian nationalists as well as uninvolved civilians alike watch as their country comes under military occupation. There is not always goodwill shown. American air attacks have caused a lot of destruction and killed many civilians. ‘Collateral damage’ is a cold sounding explanation when given to families who have had loved ones lost. The presence of the Americans infuriates some when they have been raised to regard them as enemies and served their period of military conscription when in Soviet service waiting for the day to come when the United States would strike. They thought that that would be in Central Europe – when American imperialists attacked across the Iron Curtain into the peace-loving nations of the Warsaw Pact etc. –, not here into their homeland. Fellow Ukrainians out in active support of such an invasion are regarded with disgust by their neighbours who aren’t keen on Moscow’s rule but neither are they happy seeing this invasion. When Polish and Eastern European troops arrive, there are fears that the governments of those countries have territorial designs here in the Western Ukraine: so much of this region has been under their control during the 20th Century. No one is on a land-grab here but try convincing those who live here of that.

Over in the Eastern Ukraine, near to Russia, there are no significant bodies of Union Army regular forces. Gromov stripped the Ukrainian Military District bare to send soldiers to the Urals first and then up to Belarus later on. The call was made yesterday for reservists to turn out. Despite the best efforts of the cabal of politicians in Dnipropetrovsk to interfere with that, they don’t have as much success. Ethnic Russians who live in this part of their country, yet also Ukrainians too, aren’t willing to turn traitor. Those who do should have spent their time trying to seal military storage bases rather than take over government buildings like they have. Inside Dnipropetrovsk, where the nationalists have successfully taken control, the Union responds. Gromov expends effort here which, in pure military terms, could be better spent elsewhere yet he has decided that for political purposes, he knows it has to be done. An ad hoc battalion of paratroopers from the Ryazan headquarters complex where Gromov is flies down to Dnipropetrovsk and conducts a heli-borne assault into the middle of the city. Union Airborne Troops make short work of Ukrainian nationalist volunteers. Some of the latter have military experience, even postings in the Union Army, but the majority of those armed and in Dnipropetrovsk fighting for an independent Ukraine do not. Dnipropetrovsk is retaken. As to the politicians who started this while aligned with the Americans? They’re already gone: they left those fighting for them behind. Few captives are taken by the paratroopers in Dnipropetrovsk but among the ones that they do nab, they identify an American with them. He’s another one of the many CIA Special Activities Division field officers on the ground in the Ukraine. Overnight and through today ahead of Gromov sending men to start putting down the rebellion as best as possible, he’s been sending warnings out that things aren’t going to plan in the Ukraine… while unsure if his superiors are willing to listen. Now a captive, he’s handed over to the GRU after being left out on a limb to face an unpleasant future.


Back in the Western Ukraine, the invasion continues. The US III Corps makes the most progress. They are driving on Kiev and tearing through near-undefended enemy territory on the way. In the few places where they do meet opposition, their answer to that is the liberal use of firepower. The blast to ruin all those scattered Union Army and Interior Troops detachments which they meet and thus cause a lot of that collateral damage which the locals witness. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment goes over the Sluch River without having to do that though when Ukrainian nationalists hold open the way for them. More than half way to Kiev they are with only a few hours of the day gone. By nightfall, the 3rd Cav’ is leading the way to Korosten and Zhytomyr. Those are two big communications centres west of Kiev. Behind this forward armoured reconnaissance are the now two divisions which the US III Corps has brought into the field. The 1st Cavalry Division has joined the 2nd Armored Division going through the Ukraine behind the 3rd Cav’. Two separate main supply routes are in use behind these US Army divisions and will be used by more American forces coming east soon enough too: there is no reliance upon just the one here. The two division spread gives the Americans the room to manoeuvre should they run into serious opposition ahead of Kiev too. Even further ahead than the forwardmost M-1A1 Abrams’ and M-3 Bradley’s with the 3rd Cav’ are US Air Force strike packages. Starokostyantyniv will soon be a forward operating base for them yet their current bases are among the many crowded sites through Poland. Some of the last Phantoms in US Air Force service see action today in the Ukraine ahead of the 3rd Cav’. F-4Gs outfitted for the Wild Weasel mission, actively seeking out enemy mobile air defence platforms, are in Poland with both a specialist training unit based at Nellis AFB in Nevada as well as an Idaho Air National Guard squadron. Those national guardsmen in their Wild Weasel-rolled Phantoms locate their targets closer to Kiev. HARM anti-radar and Maverick air-to-ground missiles are fired at ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft gun vehicles as well as Kub (NATO: SA-6 Gainful) SAM launchers. These are Union Army systems, on the move across the Ukrainian countryside. They’re out of their barracks crewed by reservists who also man tanks and infantry carriers. Kiev is somewhere that the US III Corps now knows they will have to fight to approach. They are ready to do that.

Likewise free of serious opposition ahead of them after some difficult opening battles, the Polish I Corps is moving deep into the Western Ukraine. Lvov is behind them and ahead are only scattered enemy units of no significant substance. These Poles are doing better than comrades of theirs fighting in Belarus and Kaliningrad. Ammunition expenditure isn’t too high and they have enough fuel to go pretty far. The capture of enemy supplies from overrun storage sites helps. All across the Western Ukraine – just like elsewhere in the Union – there are warehouses and magazines full of military gear from demobilised elements of the Soviet Army which weren’t kept on in recent years by the Union Army. In recent months, many of them have already been used to aid the war effort in the Urals yet there remains a lot of gear inside of them. The Polish Army will send its thanks to Moscow later on. South of them, moving through the passes in the Carpathian Mountains out of Ruthenia is the Eastern European Corps with men from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and also some Americans. The Czechs took over the lead late yesterday. Their 5th Mechanised Brigade completes the finishing off of what is left of the 161st Motor Rifle Division this morning. It isn’t easy going for the Czechs but they do what they are here to do. Only one regiment of that division had survived until today and is now no more. Hungarian troops are next up out ahead. By nightfall, their 80th Mechanised Infantry Brigade reaches that abandoned airbase at Ivano-Frankivsk (the mass graves are found) among other objectives set for them. In the nearby town, the Hungarians there get plenty of ugly looks from the locals. These here who wish for an independent Ukraine tell themselves that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but they don’t like the look of their so-called liberators though.

[James G]

34 – Trading space for time


Summer it may be but the weather conditions in the western Kola are pretty terrible. It is wet, windy and cold. There is no snow, thankfully, but fast-flowing rivers and marshland still make movement across this terrain difficult. Between the Norwegian border and Murmansk, this area is a battlefield. The Norwegian Army is still moving westwards while there are American and British marine units striking inland from the coast to support them. The lone surviving regiment from the shattered 131st Motor Rifle Division would have been better off fighting closer to Murmansk. They’ve been sent out into the barren Arctic expanses instead: all to apparently savage the honour of their destroyed parent division. The Union Army’s 253rd Regiment has only a company of light tanks – PT-76s – to support its many infantry vehicles laden with riflemen. There is supporting armour mounting anti-tank missiles and some towed artillery but so much more of that, along with the vast majority of anti-air assets, were lost in that humiliating defeat inflicted yesterday when the attacking Norwegians caught just most of the division outside of its barracks close to the border. The other 131st Motor Rifle Division units had already been bombed by the Americans before they saw battle and were in the midst of a combat deployment when the Norwegians hit them… yet their destruction was mortifying. From all the way down in Petrozavodsk, the acting commander of the Sixth Army (his superior dead in after a Tomahawk strike), gives the order for the 253rd Regiment to charge headlong into battle rather than dig in along the shores of the Murmansk Fjord. Drive the Norwegians back into their own country, push the Americans & British back into the sea and restore the reputation of the Union Army the orders run. The fool in Petrozavodsk will be shot tomorrow for dereliction of duty – quite the understatement – but before then, his orders send the 253rd Regiment to their doom.

They’re slaughtered. Caught out in the open, Coalition air power does most of the work. Those light tanks and the very few SAM-launchers spotted are hit first from air strikes coming in from the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The US Navy flies away and allows for the Norwegians to make the follow-up. They bring in two squadrons of F-16s, one after another, on bomb runs. Behind them fly a squadron of RAF Tornados. The British air attack sees those low-level strike-bombers dropping BL-755. The cluster bombs are anti-armour fused. Sub-munitions strike the tops of all of those MT-LB armoured personnel carriers. From many the riflemen have already jumped clear following the Americans and the Norwegians stalling the attack, but there are many fantastic explosions from hit vehicles. Sheltering riflemen too close to these blasts are killed or wounded in shocking numbers. Marine Corps Harriers come in next. They’re flying from Polyarny and the steel-plated strip assembled outside that captured shipyard town. The regimental commander, still alive when almost all of his staff are casualties, makes the error of thinking they are the friendly air cover he’s been told is coming. The order is given for the missilemen who failed to hit any other aircraft despite attempts to do so to now stand down. Those AV-8Bs blast the 253rd Regiment with rockets first to silence them regardless. Then in come high-explosive and Rockeye cluster bombs. Harrier pilots fly away wondering why no one shot at them but glad there was no anti-air fire: last night, when active over on the other side of the Murmansk Fjord hitting enemy airbases there, they took a couple of losses to missiles.

The 253rd Regiment is finished.

The Norwegians reach them first. Infantrymen in Bv-206 over-snow infantry carriers get there ahead of the Leopard-1 tanks. They’re ready for a fight. Instead they find men throwing their hands up in surrender while others scream for medical help. The regimental commander is among the wounded and will die before any help can read him. Norwegian medics do come forward yet their work is hampered by the presence of unexploded munitions all about and the need to keep charge of security by the infantrymen: so many of these Union soldiers want their help and many will not wait. Helicopters arrive later on and a few MEDEVAC flights are made. There are only a couple of helicopters tasked for this and they take the most gravely wounded POWs first to the captured airbase at Luostari then onto Kirkenes Airport inside Norway. The Americans have a hospital ship in the Porsangerfjorden, the massive USNS Comfort, in theatre to take US Marines casualties, and a trio of Union soldiers will be sent onwards to there. They are the lucky ones: hundreds of others get no such care. They die either on the battlefield on in transit back to the rear. Dealing with that humanitarian issue doesn’t stop the Norwegians from going onwards. The Royal Marines moving in behind them and the US Marines on their flank aren’t needed after all that air power has done its worst. Stragglers lagging behind the main body of the 253rd Regiment stretching back towards Murmansk are encountered and overcome. The route which the Norwegian 6th Division follows is perfect for harassment operations to impede them. They continue to approach each spotted possible ambush site waiting for a strike against them yet find not one ambush laid. The waters of the Murmasnk Fjord come into sight. There is shelling soon enough when the Norwegians, now joined by US Marines from the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade on their left flank, reach there. From across on the other side, where Murmansk is along with towns such as Severomorsk and Kola are located, heavy guns have been broken out of storage. There is one of those big weapons sites – with equipment meant to be enough for a full division – in Murmansk that has been attacked from the air yet artillery has been retrieved. The shelling is impressive but not that effective. The gunners soon come under attack themselves after exposing their position. For all their efforts, they aren’t going to stop the Coalition from getting ready to do what it will come tomorrow following the victories won today.

The 10th Infantry Division has yet to see action. That US Army division completes the US I Corps which the Norwegians and those marines from the US & UK all report to. Held waiting in Norway, word now comes that they will make an attack starting tomorrow. There is a big collection of helicopters assembled for them to use on the assault and transport aircraft will be used as well to fly in follow up forces not directly involved in the opening landings planned for them. The mission is to cross the Murmansk Fjord and land on the other side at the trio of airbases there. Each of them belongs to the Union Navy and have been attacked already get none have been bombed to ruin. Taking Severomorsk-1, -2 & -3 (the Union Navy hasn’t given them any more original names than the Soviet Navy did) will put the 10th Infantry Division in the rear of defending forces in Murmansk and Severomorsk. The war in the Kola will be won by success won there. Special forces teams move ahead today and make insertions. Defences are observed but not engaged. There are a few close calls when it comes to observation but the enemy is stretched thin. Union Navy personnel are guarding these bases, not real soldiers. It will not be easy but victory is anticipated.


Comfort can take up to one thousand casualties. There are close to sixty patients onboard when that handful of Union Army soldiers arrive and, in theory, if it had been done, every single wounded man from the annihilated 253rd Regiment could have been brought aboard. She isn’t present off Norway though to do that. Her mission assignment was to receive casualties from the expected heavy losses envisioned when US Marines hit the beach around Gadzhiyevo, Snezhnogorsk and Polyarny. Few came in the end. There were US Navy sailors from the destroyer USS Caron brought aboard too. No one wants to see a flood of injured arriving – and that might be the case if the 10th Infantry Division meets serious trouble – yet it does seem a waste of capability. Where the Comfort would be of better use would be in the Black Sea off Crimea. The mission orders were for her to be here though. She stays in the Porsangerfjorden, this stretch of water sheltered from the open ocean. There are other vessels in here too. One ship present to which helicopters arrive upon the landing deck of is the USS La Salle. A former amphibious assault ship, she has been envisioned for the command role yet the La Salle is not in the Porsangerfjorden undertaking that duty. Instead, deliveries by helicopter arrive of nuclear weapons. These are Union Navy weapons which have been seized from captured submarine wrecks and warehouses taken in Northern Fleet bases over in the Kola. The Americans and British are both transferring torpedoes and depth bombs to the ship. The Norwegians are aware but the whole matter is only known about at the highest level of their government. The total number of weapons seized reaches fifty during today with as many as four weapons at a time in a few cases flown to the La Salle. Utmost care is taken with them on the way to the ship and when aboard. What a floating timebomb this vessel has become! On the Comfort, a couple of miles away, no one there knows just what a cargo is being stored among their neighbour. If the hospital ship’s captain did, he’d likely want to run the risk of going out into the open ocean.

Out there, in the Barents Sea and the top of the Norwegian Sea, those waters are considered dangerous. They are an active war zone, in particular in the skies. The Union Navy’s surface fleet is sunk or in distant Arkhangelsk while the submarine threat is extremely limited. Aircraft is what the Union Navy has left, those in service with their land-based Naval Aviation. Flying from airbases a long way from Murmansk, ones which have been under attack by repeated Tomahawk hits, a Backfire strike gets going today. A couple of dozen Tu-22M missile-bombers get airborne. They are carrying anti-ship cruise missiles and aiming to sink American carriers as well as any supporting Coalition ships spotted. Out ahead of them, two Tu-95RT Bear naval reconnaissance aircraft are in the air. Their flight path has taken them from Fedotovo Airbase (near Vologda inside Western Russia), over the Pechora Sea, above Novaya Zemlya and to observe the Barents Sea from afar. There is no perfect targeting of the Americans and in light of that, no strike should really be launched. One is though and those Backfires fly. The missile-bombers take a roundabout course themselves though nothing as dramatic as those reconnaissance aircraft. They are intending to surprise the Americans and massacre their carrier force. Once the Backfires are in-flight, orders come for the Tu-95RTs to close-up with the Americans, risking all to fix a location on those carriers.

Both reconnaissance aircraft are shot down. The fall to the sky when hit by Phoenix missiles fired from F-14 Tomcats a long, long way off. They are downed at the same time as other Tomcats start shooting at the Backfires. The US Navy isn’t about to be ambushed by a Union air strike and is instead conducting its own. Intercepts of radio messages were detected and locations tracked (the messages themselves were encoded too well to read but they had enough information to work from) alongside the physical eyes on the ground of Navy SEALs down near to Kirovsk & Olenya Airbases. Aircraft lift-offs were broadcast and Tomcats have filled the skies along with E-2 Hawkeye aircraft to act in the AWACS role. A lot more Phoenix missiles cross the sky with distant shots made at huge targets. The Backfire attack is broken up over land, long before they can get out over the sea. Unused missiles are discarded and afterburners lit when the aircraft scatter. A couple of mid-air crashes occur in the panic to evade incoming missiles. Two-thirds of the Backfires will eventually be lost all for zero return. The disaster comes on the back of so many other shocking military defeats inflicted upon the Union in recent days and that will lessen the pain felt somewhat. It shouldn’t though. The complete inability for these aircraft to even get out over the water, to make an effort at least to fire on the carriers that the Americans have brought into what should be the Union’s home waters, cannot be understated for how significant it is. The Union Navy is finished as a defensive force here now like in the other theatres of war it should be taking part in.

Come nightfall, those SEALs will witness surviving aircraft leaving Kirovsk and Olenya again. They don’t go north nor are attempting a second strike. A few head for Talagi Airbase near Arkhangelsk but most fly towards Fedotovo. They’ve been pulled out of the Kola on higher orders. While reservists who are manning the defences along the shores of the Murmansk Fjord aren’t aware, the Kola is being abandoned. The Union is pulling out what it can, ceding this ground in an effort to trade space for time.

[stevep]

Apr 2, 2020 15:29:55 GMT James G said:

Apr 2, 2020 8:59:57 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

  Well that last bit is ominous.  Hopefully it turns out badly for the Union rather than the UK. 

  When you initially mentioned the error with the Naval Infantry at Kaliningrad due to orders from on high I initially thought you meant Moscow rather than the local army commander in Kaliningrad.  Although the latter makes more sense as Gromov no doubt has more important things on his mind and probably will never hear more than rumours of a small victory before the final defeat.

  Progress being made and glad that the British forces are largely employed in liberating the Baltics as that's likely to be less bloody overall than pushing deep into the Union, although I expect that at least some will end up there.

  Steve

The plan is to break the 28th Army up and fight it in bits, all while given plentiful air cover. We'll have to see how that works out.
The Kaliningrad error is by the local commander. Gromov and STAVKA are too far away and out of contact. If they could make contact, they would say 'fight until relieved' knowing no relief is on the way, due to the delaying factor this imposes.
The Baltics are British assigned - the Poles coming through Kaliningrad are meant to help them - but there are significant Union forces here. What's beyond Estonia? A big city whose name begins with an L.

  James G,

  Damn it you would mention that last bit.   Although since Gromov took that by force and by then things might be falling apart - at least for the moment - it might be less bloody. 

  I take it this time around the name wasn't changed back in 1991?

  Steve

[stevep]

   James G ,

  A couple of good chapters.  Not sure but isn't that deciet and then shooting at Starokostyantyniv technically a war crime, which would put that CIA officer in an awkward position of he fell into enemy hands.  Not that this would probably stop any American or other western military personnel captured in this conflict being in for a rough time.

  In two minds about whether the assorted uprisings should have waited.  They could have avoided attracting attention but then any suspect characters, which could be any Ukrainians of officer rank by this stage could fear getting purged if they don't act now.  Also with incomplete information they might simply have underestimated remaining Union strength and delay before allied forces reach them.

  Things look to be going very well up north - which sounds bloody strange to say for a Brit!   However concerned about all those nukes being moved.  A good idea to get them out of Russia but given the sheer number of both weapons and obsolete hulls there its going to take a long time.  Also it only takes one accident or worse a successful Union attack and there's going to be potentially a real crisis and political problems with the Norwegians.  Worst of all if due to them being loaded too close and insufficient protection in Soviet/Union designs against popcorning and you could have a serious criticality problem.  Don't know if it was your intent but mentioning the USS La Salle and then following on with that Backfire strike you were giving me a nervous twitch!.

  Steve

[forcon]

Good updates here. So Allied ground forces will soon cross into Russia proper. I expect resistance to solidify there. I suppose St Petersburg will be tough nut to crack presumably by I British Corps?

[James G]

Apr 3, 2020 9:54:50 GMT stevep said:

Apr 2, 2020 15:29:55 GMT James G said:

The plan is to break the 28th Army up and fight it in bits, all while given plentiful air cover. We'll have to see how that works out.
The Kaliningrad error is by the local commander. Gromov and STAVKA are too far away and out of contact. If they could make contact, they would say 'fight until relieved' knowing no relief is on the way, due to the delaying factor this imposes.
The Baltics are British assigned - the Poles coming through Kaliningrad are meant to help them - but there are significant Union forces here. What's beyond Estonia? A big city whose name begins with an L.

  James G ,

  Damn it you would mention that last bit.   Although since Gromov took that by force and by then things might be falling apart - at least for the moment - it might be less bloody. 

  I take it this time around the name wasn't changed back in 1991?

  Steve

I kept it the same. Looking it up in detail, they had a referendum on the name change ahead of the POD but I'm thinking that under Gorbachev/Ryzhkov, that decision was reversed. Maybe Lebed wanted to change it but the history - defying the Nazis - saw that put on the backburner. Mayor Sobchak, the guy who groomed Putin into public office, likely didn't survive the chaos of 1992 and certainly not Feb 1994 when Leningrad tried to defy Moscow. Gromov has troops there now but faced with what is coming their way, should the British get there, Leningrad will fall... not sure how that will go though, maybe with a lot of violence maybe not.

Apr 3, 2020 10:25:58 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

  A couple of good chapters.  Not sure but isn't that deciet and then shooting at Starokostyantyniv technically a war crime, which would put that CIA officer in an awkward position of he fell into enemy hands.  Not that this would probably stop any American or other western military personnel captured in this conflict being in for a rough time.

  In two minds about whether the assorted uprisings should have waited.  They could have avoided attracting attention but then any suspect characters, which could be any Ukrainians of officer rank by this stage could fear getting purged if they don't act now.  Also with incomplete information they might simply have underestimated remaining Union strength and delay before allied forces reach them.

  Things look to be going very well up north - which sounds bloody strange to say for a Brit!   However concerned about all those nukes being moved.  A good idea to get them out of Russia but given the sheer number of both weapons and obsolete hulls there its going to take a long time.  Also it only takes one accident or worse a successful Union attack and there's going to be potentially a real crisis and political problems with the Norwegians.  Worst of all if due to them being loaded too close and insufficient protection in Soviet/Union designs against popcorning and you could have a serious criticality problem.  Don't know if it was your intent but mentioning the USS La Salle and then following on with that Backfire strike you were giving me a nervous twitch!.

  Steve

Thank you.
Oh that CIA guy was for the shooting if caught, the same as the one captured in the east of the country. The CIA's SAD guys, those who have the stars on the wall at Langley when they end up dead, are supposedly told that is their fate if caught. Even if either put on a correct uniform, knowing the captives they have, they'd probably still be tortured and killed regardless by Union special services. Its a dangerous game.
So much of the Ukrainian rebellion is uncoordinated. It is helping and hindering the advance. There are Ukrainians in military service across the Union, even with Primakov's forces over the Urals, all away from home as their country goes up in rebellion. The situation will help the Coalition in the end but a lot of innocents will lose their lives in the mess of it all.
Yeah, that situation with the nukes is crazy. There will be loads of nukes too and also damaged reactors. Bad place to go investigating! Thinking on it today, I had the ones taken in the Crimea - see the update below - moved to a secure on-land site. The idea with that ship I had for those in the North is a recipe for potential disaster if things go sideways. It was only a coincidence but I can see now what you mean.

Apr 3, 2020 11:35:25 GMT forcon said:

Good updates here. So Allied ground forces will soon cross into Russia proper. I expect resistance to solidify there. I suppose St Petersburg will be tough nut to crack presumably by I British Corps?

Thank you. Kaliningrad and the Kola are Russian while many would consider the Crimea to be too. However, 'proper' Russia would likely be the western half of the country. The US V Corps is tearing towards Smolensk aiming to be the first. Tanks are being pulled out of the Urals with haste and crossing Western Russia aiming to stop them before they get to Moscow!
The British are going to be meeting Union forces coming down from Estonia and Latvia. They've interdicted their movement with SF attacks on bridges and mass air strikes but there will still have to be a ground fight. Win that, cross the Daugava and the British I Corps can move on two axis'. #1 to Riga and then Tallinn. #2 to Pskov and onto Leningrad.

[James G]

35 – Cossacks


That hospital ship would certainly have been useful for the use of US Marines fighting in the Crimea. During their second day on this island-like peninsula, the 2nd Marine Division takes many casualties. Some men are evacuated to the amphibious ships off-shore and there are a couple of field hospitals established on the ground, but to have a vessel like the USNS Comfort on-hand would make quite the difference. The Pentagon had wanted to – and succeeded – in completely surprising the Union by making an attack into the Crimea though and it wouldn’t have worked had such a vessel sailed through the Turkish Straits. A lot of deception was used to get the amphibious ships through (the mini-carriers USS Wasp and USS Nassau): trying that with the Comfort would have given the game away. At the moment, while there are many dead and injured, it can still be argued that what medical facilities are on-hand can manage. That might not be the case if the scale of resistance met today continues in the coming days though. As to captured nuclear weapons, there were ones seized here from both the Union Navy and the Union Air Force too but they aren’t taken out to one of the ships in the Black Sea. Small, tactical warheads are instead being moved down to Balaklava Bay. That underground submarine base is reopened by the SEALs who closed its entrances and they first storm it to eliminate opposition inside before torpedoes, missile warheads and aerial bombs are brought inside. This is done under the supervision of the US II Marine Expeditionary Force with the commander not wishing to have such weapons out in the open.

The US II MEF has operational control over the US Army paratroopers which also landed in the Crimea. Marine Corps tanks had to go and pull their chestnuts out of the fire late yesterday when the 3/325 INF from out of Italy struggled to hold what it took. Saki Airbase was eventually secured when those enemy units outside of there were run through by a platoon of M-1 Abrams’ and shelled by the guns of a destroyer too. The US Air Force has its RED HORSE engineers at Saki now while they begin to transform the facility into somewhere that fast jets can fly from. The paratroopers spread themselves further. They take over the town of Saki as well as establishing inland outposts deeper inside the Crimea. The Union Army is now the concern with the worry that they will send their tanks to retake Saki. This fear is misplaced though. The counterattack made by those few troops that they have in the Crimea is directed towards the US Marines who have control of Sevastopol. It is Cossacks which are on the move and begin to engage those invading the Crimea. The 205th Motor Rifle Brigade is a formation less than two years old and raised under Lebed’s leadership for service in Chechnya. Its personnel are Don and Kuban Cossacks whose national identity was one used by Lebed to his advantage. He himself, while a Russian, was born in the Don region and exploited sentiments of many ethnicities within Russia against ‘outsiders’ – those from other parts of the Union, especially Central Asians and Chechens – to his advantage. Cossacks from across the North Caucasus region had volunteered to fight and were organised into this strong brigade first to fight in Chechnya when Lebed put down the rebellion there. After his death and the start of the civil war, his successor (well… one of them) Gromov deployed the Cossacks to the Crimea to deal with the troubles here. The brigade of Naval Infantry and the Union Army’s division soon pulled out, off to join the fight in the Urals, but the Cossacks have stayed. They have been cracking heads here and those heads have been those of ethnic Russians in rebellion against the Ukraine who want to be part of Russia. The present situation with these Cossacks fighting for Russia against Russians which Moscow wants to keep within the Ukraine is one of the starkest examples of complicated ethnic conflicts across the civil war inflicted Union. American attacks against the 205th Motor Rifle Brigade starting the other night and continuing since have been them hit from the air while they form-up ready to go into battle. Simferopol is the capital of the Crimea with this inland city being smaller than Sevastopol. Here is where those Cossacks have their main strength though – the Union Navy was in control of the Sevastopol area – and down from the Simferopol area they move.

Contact is made with 2nd Marine Division elements on the way. Forward detachments clash and the Americans pull back at first. They put these outposts in the way to give warning of what is coming and to take pot-shots at the Cossacks, not to make a stand but to slow them down and bunch them up. US Marines fire off TOW missiles from HMMWVs and then retreat covered by artillery fire. The 2nd Marine Division has a lot of artillery. Naval gunfire support from warships can only reach so far inland and air cover can be interrupted. The Marine Corps relies on its own heavy guns. Several battalions of M-198s have been brought ashore, air-lifted in ahead of rifle units. As the Cossacks are slowed down, the guns shift their fire. They use high explosive shells in the majority of cases yet also fire ‘smoke’ at times… that being White Phosphorus (WP). The WP is employed to give cover to some of those forward scouts who get into trouble. Those caught in it can expect some horrible injuries because WP burns its unfortunate victims. There are further special shells fired too. The Marine Corps have Copperhead laser-guided shells. With targets marked, these act like guided missiles on a ballistic trajectory. Where Cossack units under fire are seen to be digging-in, those Copperheads fall. The artillery is joined by air attacks. AV-8B Harriers are still flying from the mini-carriers off-shore yet many of them have moved ashore too. They are using the Union Navy airbase at Kacha for themselves now. Harriers from there are joined by F/A-18 Hornets flying out of Belbek Airbase. There aren’t many of the latter on the ground because setting up flight operations for them at the Union Air Force facility grabbed by US Marines in helicopters during the opening assault is no easy process, but some are flying. Fighter missions are flown by the Hornets as they provide top cover for not just the Harriers on the attack but, by extension, the whole US III MEF presence through much of this morning. Bombs and rockets strike the Cossacks. Flying from a land base and with the fighting only being a short distant off, those Kacha-assigned Harriers put a real hurting on their targets. The aircraft eventually fly away and the artillery fire lifts somewhat. The enemy is observed from both near and afar. Surely the 205th Motor Rifle Brigade should be finished…?

It is not. The Cossacks begin the advance. They’d scattered well and taken shelter fast when first coming under attack. Surviving tanks and infantry carriers move forward and there are also a lot of (very brave) dismounted riflemen. They head towards the main body of where the US Marines are on the road linking Sevastopol and Simferopol. They’ve come here to win, not walk away without a fight.

The 6 RLT takes the brunt of the Cossack attack. This regimental landing team is built around the 6th Marine Regiment and includes tanks and artillery among them. M-1s fire upon what T-72 tanks emerge to come forward – trying to get them before incoming AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters can launch TOWs at them – and also support the many Marine Riflemen who are facing fire from every other weapon that the 205th Motor Rifle Brigade can bring to bear. On the right flank of where the 6 RLT is, there is fighting in the high-ground of the Crimean Mountains. The other side of them falls steeply down to the coast where the Crimea’s famous resorts are located – Yalta and the more exclusive Foros – but the inland side is gentle and perfect for the operations of artillery observers as well as the many LAV-25s that the 2nd Marine Division has brought here. A return to the accurate shelling comes from men with eyes on the Cossacks and meanwhile the eight-wheeled scout vehicles are rolling. They move through cover, firing on Cossack flank guards, and seek to get behind the enemy. Moving fast on the battlefield where the enemy has armour is why the Marine Corps operates these vehicles. They use their 25mm chain guns and mounted TOW launchers to protect themselves. A few are unfortunately knocked out because they aren’t that well protected but the others push on. They get behind the Cossacks and start shooting up the rear where they can. Meanwhile, at the front, some of the fighting moves almost hand-to-hand. Marine Riflemen avoid that and rely on their M-16s as well as the plentiful supply of man-portable weapons they have to hand when fighting close to these Cossacks. There continues to be shelling, tank fire and even the Cobras come in with cannons & rockets. Yet, it is the exchange of fighting on the ground close-in between fighting men of both sides which defines this engagement. None of these US Marines here, even the old-timers, ever fought against the Japanese in World War Two but the talk among those in this fight is that these Cossacks have the same fighting qualities. Its an overstatement. They are motivated and can fight but will not do so until the death. The Cossacks begin to retreat.

The 6 RLT gives chase, following the survivors all the way back to and then into Simferopol. The Crimea’s capital is entered in the afternoon and, after a few firefights in there, it falls into American hands. The remaining Cossacks could really have made the US Marines bleed for the city but their heart is no longer in it. There are plentiful surrenders once in Simferopol of men serving in rear-area 205th Motor Rifle Brigade elements of those who fell back here. Few saw action at the frontlines and those who give up do so because they don’t want to join all the others in that trail of blood and bodies which stretch into Simferopol from outside. Cobras and Harriers are flying over the city but their attacks are called off… some serious collateral damage would otherwise have been done. Prisoners are gathered up and disarmed from here along with those from the battlefield outside. US Marines several times are forced to raise their M-16s, even use them on a few occasions, during this. It is not surrendered Cossacks who they have to threaten and shoot. Instead, locals here try to get their hands of weapons discarded by those Cossacks for their own ends. Those who are killed give the US Marines no choice. There are filthy looks given by many to the Americans here in response and the situation isn’t good. Only a small portion of the 6 RLT came into the city but more move in through the day. The Americans bring in their tanks as well as those LAV-25s which done such sterling work in making sure that only a few Cossacks got back here. The unsaid message which the US Marines hope the locals will understand is simple: don’t mess with us. Killing civilians is not what they are here to do, far from it, but they want to show those giving them those cold hard stares that they will if necessary.


Casualties from the fight which the 6 RLT had fill field hospitals on-shore with some flown out to ships off-shore. Cossacks join US Marines receiving treatment from medics with a lot on their hands. The number of casualties is high. Four hundred dead and wounded US Marines along with three times as many Cossacks. American fire power was responsible for much of the enemy casualties. The 205th Motor Rifle Brigade died fighting but they made sure that they took plenty of the enemy with them before the end. Orders from on-high afterwards keep the 6 RLT in and around Simferopol. There is no further advance today. The 2nd Marine Division is still landing more artillery. The 10th Marine Regiment has three of its own battalions of heavy guns plus one from the Marine Reserve Forces to bring in overall. Further M-198s are slung beneath giant CH-53E Super Sea Stallions or transported across the water via LCU landing craft along with ammunition for those guns. The gun and gunners landing in the Crimea alongside engineers, rear-area US Marines and aviation support teams. Also coming into today is the 2 RLT, a further regiment of Marine Riflemen. More helicopters and landing craft (including LCAC hovercraft) bring them ashore. A second flotilla of amphibious ships came through the Turkish Straits overnight and today they are filling the Crimea with more US Marines: there remains reservists with the 25 RLT who are waiting to come here also though they will be flown in via airlift. All around Sevastopol before and after the fight with the Cossacks the 2 RLT lands. They form up and start moving out. Expanding the lodge-head forced on the Crimea will be for them to do but that will be tomorrow. Just because these Cossacks, the largest and best-equipped opponent on the Crimea have been defeated, more fighting is still expected.

While the fighting on the ground is taking place, there are clashes in the skies. Of the many Crimean airbases in Union hands before Operation Flaming Phoenix saw US Marines arrive, only Baherove away to the east is one where the Union can now operate aircraft from. Gvardeyskoye and Oktyabrskoye, both north of Simferopol, aren’t yet in American hands (they’d be gobbled up tonight) but after air strikes and Tomahawk hits, they are abandoned. The transport aircraft base up at Dzhankoy in the north is also somewhere from where there is an evacuation though it is not yet – Union Air Force concerns aside – somewhere that the 2nd Marine Division is about to move on. As to Baherove, it is near to Kerch and a good distance away from where the Americans are. Attacks have taken place there yet those have not managed to do as hoped and stop flight operations. A trio of MiG-29 Fulcrums race towards Simferopol. They are on a fighter mission rather than with a ground attack tasking. In an air engagement, when meeting the Hornets airborne, the Fulcrums win. Losing one of their own, they get three of those Marine Corps strike-fighters as missiles criss-cross the sky. Back to Baherove the Fulcrums go. They’ve achieved nothing of significance though. There are more Hornets for the Americans to bring into the skies afterwards and no ground attack either over the 6 RLT or to the airbases in American hands is made. Not that they needed any excuse, but this engagement makes sure that as soon as possible, Baherove will be hit hard. An immediate reaction can’t come during daylight hours but does during the night. This is made by aircraft flying from the USS America. Today, that carrier has completed a passage through the Turkish Straits. It is one watched by at least a million Turkish civilians, all who come out to see despite a government curfew. While completing that passage, it could not conduct air missions with its air wing. However, once into the Black Sea, and there is wind over the flight deck, its aircraft start flying. Previously back in the Aegean Sea, there was a limit on what air cover could be given over Crimean skies. That is no longer the case. Covered by F-14 Tomcats and with E-2 Hawkeyes on AWACS duties, US Navy Hornets begin striking at Baherove. Air engagements occur when the Union Air Force manages to get some of their fighters in the sky and they don’t go like that ambush earlier in the day did. MiGs crash into the ground and the sea while bombs fall across their airbase. Un-blooded the aircrews from the America will not be though. SAMs rise from dispersed sites in the face of all efforts to silence them and bring down two Hornets. The Kerch area is a defended one. The US Navy will be back in the early hours and their next strikes will be against transport installations in the Kerch Strait. Across there, the Union Army is sure to be soon wanting to bring troops onto the Crimea from the North Caucasus.

The downtime for America was always going to be difficult. It had to happen though. While back in action this evening and into the night, and with the capability to do much more now than it could before due to the shortening of flight times (less fuel, more ammunition), its aircraft missed what could have been a perfect engagement for them during the afternoon. From out of Odessa, a big fat juicy target sailed: the Union Navy’s cruiser Ochakov. When the majority of the Black Sea Fleet was caught in port at Sevastopol, this ship ends up being the biggest one left in service. The US Navy is attempting to make the Black Sea an American lake and the Ochakov is sent out to change that. Mission orders for the cruiser are to link up with a flotilla of small vessels which are sheltering in Lake Donuzlav on the Crimea – a Black Sea Fleet anchorage in the northwest of the peninsula – and take the battle to the US Navy. Anti-air and anti-submarine coverage from the Ochakov is meant to protect the smaller ships while they launch anti-ship missiles. This plan goes awry fast. Before that link-up is made, and in the face of her submarine defences, the cruiser is torpedoed. She capsizes with the subsequent loss of hundreds of sailors all sent to their doom with her. Emerging unscathed, undetected even, the USS Flying Fish claims the kill. Tomahawk strikes deep into the Ukraine against radar and communication sites have now been joined by the sinking of a well-armed major warship. The Black Sea really is becoming an American lake. And those missile-armed smaller warships? US Navy surface ships soon start attacking them before they can get out to sea proper.

So dies the last of the Black Sea Fleet.

[forcon]

Really good stuff, just one potentially wrong nitpick: did the USMC ever operate M109s? I thought they always used the M777 and made up for the lack of arty with organic CAS capabilities. I could be wrong, or were you describing M109s from an Army unit operating under II MEF command?