Blue Dawn, 1994

[James G]

May 19, 2020 11:18:42 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

  Ah I was wondering whether there would be a last stand forcing the destruction of the Kremlin or not.  If there was anywhere Russian forces might fight to the bitter end it would be there.

  The surrender of the 6th GTA is going to have repercussions.  Both in terms of another round of purges, especially of any remaining Ukrainians in command positions and in that you might see other units giving up now Moscow has fallen and the ^th GTA has given up.  Others will fight to the bitter end but all other things being as they seem this might have been a big step towards the end of the fighting.

  This partly depends on what the declared US/allied terms for ending the war is.  If their made a clear commitment to withdrawing once Gromov's in their hands for trial - or dead - and a lot of the military believe it I could see him possibly having a sudden 'accident'.  On the other hand the country has been invaded and a hell of a lot of damage and destruction done.  Also those who have fought for Gromov's side in the civil war may be less than comfortable with a surrender that sees Primakov becoming their ruler, with the possibility of payback for their 'treason'.

  Polish tanks which turn up – more T-72s, these with clear ‘I am a friend’ markings 

  This made me chuckle then I had a thought - it happens occasionally.   I don't know what the status of IFF [Identify Friend or Foe] is at this period, let alone nowadays.  However if still practical in the modern era of electronic warfare is there any way it could be extended to ground vehicles?  Might avoid some of those friendly fire incidents although possibly nowadays such systems might be vulnerable to an enemy using them to locate targets.

  Its starting to look almost like a 19thC colonial war, the Russians are so heavily outclassed.  They still have large forces and a substantial technological ability but there is a big enough gap, plus all the chaos that has occurred in the years prior to the assassination has weakened them substantially. 

  Steve

I considered having a last stand at the Kremlin but went the other way.
That 'treason' will certainly set off more purges. Things have been bad already but now it will only get worse. There have been smaller defections/declarations of armed neutrality but this one is the biggest so far. There will be more.
An accident for Gromov is possible but I have no plans so far. The Coalition is allied with Primakov in Novosibirsk so the plan is to have him in the Kremlin... that friend of the US, that reasonable man...

There has been many, many incidents of friendly fire with the Poles hit the hardest but also American and British forces too. I have no idea about electronic IFF for vehicles in any army now nor then. My first guess would be the worry which you have there, though that doesn't seem to be the case with aircraft so I am unsure. In this story it is all about recognition and markings.
Everything is now starting to fall apart for the Union. Their best forces have been crushed. A lot of the rest are still on the battlefield but it is turning into more and more of a walkover now.

[James G]

75 – Obligations


Dug into defensive positions across the Estonian capital of Tallinn are paratroopers in Union service. The 108th Regiment from the 7th Guards Airborne Division – the last regiment of that unit; the rest having being lost in Riga and outside of Vilnius – have established strong positions here where they have the capability to mount a final defence of the last outpost of Union presence in the Baltics. Coalition forces outside of Tallinn, primarily Poles but also some Americans & British too, occupy the rest of Estonia as well as Latvia, Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast. There is no relief coming for the 108th Regiment and no prospect of escape. A final, glorious last stand has for several days now been on the cards. Their outposts have been tested by Polish action and the paratroopers have returned fire to show their resolve to hold on regardless of the situation. However, news arrives this morning that Leningrad looks to have fallen and there is also word that Moscow appears to be being entered too. This doesn’t come from any official source but rather from the regimental intelligence officer monitoring Finnish news media. His commanding colonel has told him to do this in the absence of any other outside news on how the war is progressing: broadcasts from out of Helsinki are picked up whereas there is nothing but silence from Union military networks. Hearing these reports, it is clear that the war is lost. The Coalition is in the process of taking the Union’s largest cities. How long before they complete their invasion and the Americans get their tanks to the Urals? The answer to that is one that the colonel considers. He doesn’t think it will be too long. The war is lost but his men are still here have orders to fight and die for Tallinn.

There has yet to be any major attack launched. The Coalition has the numbers and they have complete control of the skies and also the sea to which the 108th Regiment has its back. There is only a finite supply of ammunition available and not much ground to give in any effort to make a fighting retreat backwards in the face of the expected final attack. The Poles seem happy to keep the 108th Regiment where it is and at their mercy. From observations undertaken, they appear to be in position to make an attack from three sides using plenty of infantry to dig the colonel’s men out of their fortified positions. They may not blast Tallinn to ruin in doing so, trying to avoid killing more civilians that they surely will, but they are positioned to come into the city and wipe out his force regardless. It is only a matter of time before they eventually do. Those orders to make a last stand are now disregarded by the colonel. He’s had enough. He arranges for a small party of his men to go forward towards the frontlines. The officers sent are given detailed instructions in what they are to so. Parley is being sought and it is one that the colonel seeks to get a favourable outcome from. To see his men die here for Tallinn when all is lost elsewhere isn’t something he will do, yet he will keep his honour and those of his men too.

Much later in the day, a helicopter carrying the deputy commander of the Polish First Army arrives within Tallinn. This is no Polish Army officer but his British second-in-command instead. General Michael Rose arrives and meets with the Union Airborne Troops colonel. The two men agree terms for an end to resistance in Tallinn. There is no surrender made of the 108th Regiment but there will be no more occupation of the city leading up to a final battle here either. Come four o’clock in the afternoon, the 108th Regiment begins to leave the city. They march out of Tallinn, heading away to the southwest and where Amari Airbase is. Polish troops move into the city in their absence. The two movements go smoothly. Rose’s deal with the Union colonel allows for the paratroopers to keep their weapons and give up Tallinn without a fight. The 108th Regiment will remain at that airbase with the American/British 198th Infantry Brigade having men nearby in case they renege on the deal struck. The paratroopers are now neutral in this war with their colonel having told Rose than he intends to ultimately turn his regiment over to the Primakov government. Ahead of them, they will stay where they are and no one will have to die for the pointless fight that a Battle of Tallinn would have been. The last of the Baltic capitals is now free. Officials from the Estonian government-in-exile arrive after the Poles go in. They aren’t happy to find out that the 108th Regiment was given free passage out of the city and have been allowed to keep their weapons (it has happened elsewhere on a smaller scale before though) yet they do have their capital back. Tallinn is free.


Into Leningrad, British troops move starting at sunrise today. Heavy forces with the British I Corps defeated the Union Army effort to defend the city’s outskirts yesterday and they are moving on elsewhere. It is TA troops with the 2nd Infantry Division who go into Leningrad instead, entering a city where civil disorder is running rampant. Their mission is to bring that to a conclusion, using force where necessary. Coalition forces operating inside the Union have international obligations which they must legally fulfil on this matter. A decision taken in London has been that British forces will end the chaos through Leningrad.

The 15th & 49th Infantry Brigades come into the city. They enter from the south and southeast without meeting any organised resistance from any Union military forces nor paramilitaries either. There were uniformed armed personnel who escaped from the battlefields outside of Leningrad in towards it but none of them are encountered. There is gunfire which meet the British reservists though from weapons in the hands of criminals. As they spread throughout the city, shots are taken towards men serving within the two brigades. Fire is returned. There are strict rules-of-engagement that the British are following but being directly fired upon allows them to shoot back. As more of the city is reached with each brigade expanding ground taken, the engagements continue. Killing isn’t what they have been sent into Leningrad to do though. The orders for 2nd Infantry Division units inside here are to address the humanitarian issue brought about by the breakdown of order. There is looting, arson and violence all ongoing which needs to be stopped. Medical attention needs to come to the city’s people. Electricity and water need to come back on. There are Royal Military Police detachments who come into Leningrad though there aren’t enough of them to try and bring about order by themselves. TA infantrymen set about doing this. Battalion-groups have pre-assigned operational areas to take over. Main roads and important sites are secured first with British soldiers clearing out dangerous armed parties where they want to show themselves. Next in come supporting troops with engineers, signallers and medics too. A pair of company-sized medical units are escorted towards the two largest hospitals in the city. 204 (North Irish) General Hospital and 217 (London) General Hospital aren’t Field Ambulance units such as those directly providing medical support to the 2nd Infantry Division but instead doctors, nurses and specialists here to move into the identified civilian hospitals and do what they can there. Such places have seen much chaos and the mission for these NHS workers with a TA commitment for wartime is straight away shown to be as difficult as imagined. They are here though and will do their best. A lot of people inside Leningrad are in need of their help. 10 PARA is tasked to provide security for them because of the bad situation they expect to and do encounter. Soldiers on the streets and medical staff at overwhelmed hospitals are just the beginning of all of this. The obligations to be met in the city are only just beginning and none of them will be easy. There are still fires burning and not everyone with a weapon has yet to show themselves. Order in Leningrad will not be restored in just a single day.

The 2nd Infantry Division has a third brigade assigned, one not sent into Leningrad with the other two. Orders for the 107th Infantry Brigade are to bypass the city and instead go up the Karelian Isthmus. There are many military bases spread all the way north towards Finland. Strong resistance isn’t expected as Union forces were concentrated outside of Leningrad ahead of destruction but the TA units sent on this task come ready to meet any of that should it rear its head. The Queen’s Own Yeomanry bring their Chieftain-12 tanks (they are the TA’s only tank unit) and 655 Squadron from the Army Air Corps has its Lynx AH7 helicopters too. Up through the stretch of land between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga the 107th Brigade moves today, going forward at a rapid pace with no obstructions in their way. Neither the tanks nor the helicopters employ their weapons. TA riflemen trucked forward only fire their own weapons on a select few occasions. They enter Union military sites and find that there are rear-area personnel present yet only a very few want to put up limited resistance. Garrisons at Kamenka and Sertolovo are taken. Gromovo & Levashovo Airbases are captured. The naval anchorage at Vysotsk is overrun. Border guard posts on the Finnish frontier are reached by nightfall and have been abandoned. There are Finnish soldiers met at the border crossings (Finland is neutral but mobilised due to the ongoing war with the Coalition invasion of its neighbour), who stay on their side of the dividing line, with friendly contact made with them. The Karelian Isthmus is taken in a day. Like a house of cards, Union control of more and more of their country is collapsing rapidly with only the barest of resistance now.

[stevep]

   James G ,

   Good that Tallinn was liberated without further bloodshed.  Leningrad is a mess but the fact it has been so bad could make the task of 2nd Inf easier in one way in that many will be desperate for a return of law and order and the associated services that they won't care it comes from a foreign occupying power.

  Suspect the problem will be occurring in many other places that have been occupied and also possibly increasingly in areas still under Gromov's 'control' as there is the danger of that union collapsing into chaos.  In terms of areas under allied occupation how much of the forces deployed are being drawn into rear area duties?  Both in terms of securing supply lines and of maintaining order and services as much as possible in occupied urban areas especially.  Its one of the traditional problems of deep penetration invasions, especially if the invader is actually planning - or for logistical reasons needs - to control the areas their overrun.  Less important in earlier periods when an invader might be just interested in conquest [and looting] and could live off the land.

  Have you decided yet what the US - and assorted allies - will do when the truth comes out?  That would be probably the most vital decision of the 2nd part of the TL.

  Steve

[gillan1220]

I'm surprised that Moscow has fallen and the war has not gone global thermonuclear.

[stevep]

May 20, 2020 13:26:28 GMT gillan1220 said:

I'm surprised that Moscow has fallen and the war has not gone global thermonuclear.

  Well that's the risk of attacking a power with a lot of nukes.  Even if in this case Gromov's union is markedly less well equipped than the former SU.  Given that the US has made clear they intend to remove him, for a crime he knows he's innocent, as well I would have expected a line in the sand having been drawn earlier.  Albeit that I suspect even the US would probably be surprised how successful the conventional campaign has been since its only been 8-9 days since the allies invaded.

[James G]

May 20, 2020 10:32:04 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

   Good that Tallinn was liberated without further bloodshed.  Leningrad is a mess but the fact it has been so bad could make the task of 2nd Inf easier in one way in that many will be desperate for a return of law and order and the associated services that they won't care it comes from a foreign occupying power.

  Suspect the problem will be occurring in many other places that have been occupied and also possibly increasingly in areas still under Gromov's 'control' as there is the danger of that union collapsing into chaos.  In terms of areas under allied occupation how much of the forces deployed are being drawn into rear area duties?  Both in terms of securing supply lines and of maintaining order and services as much as possible in occupied urban areas especially.  Its one of the traditional problems of deep penetration invasions, especially if the invader is actually planning - or for logistical reasons needs - to control the areas their overrun.  Less important in earlier periods when an invader might be just interested in conquest [and looting] and could live off the land.

  Have you decided yet what the US - and assorted allies - will do when the truth comes out?  That would be probably the most vital decision of the 2nd part of the TL.

  Steve

Leningrad will be a drain; Moscow will be the same but bigger.
The Union is coming down hard now. All that rot is going to see it come to an end.
Many Polish forces are on occupation tasks and there are some Americans, Brits and Eastern Euros (Czechs/Hungarians/Slovaks) too. It will not be enough. Issues in the Baltics and the Ukraine have already started with ethnic conflicts beginning and that will expand. Russians won't deal with occupation lightly too: who would?
Coalition forces will need to provide for all those people under occupation as well as themselves. Not fun!
Erm… no. Still deciding. It will be addressed and, I think, will actually be the most important bit in the end.

May 20, 2020 13:26:28 GMT gillan1220 said:

I'm surprised that Moscow has fallen and the war has not gone global thermonuclear.

The Union forces were in the wrong place, fought well but badly led and the overall situation for them sees the odds stacked against them terribly.
The Union has nukes but Gromov here isn't your traditional OTL/fictional Russian/Soviet strongman leader. He's the wrong leader for anything like this.

May 20, 2020 13:57:30 GMT stevep said:

  Well that's the risk of attacking a power with a lot of nukes.  Even if in this case Gromov's union is markedly less well equipped than the former SU.  Given that the US has made clear they intend to remove him, for a crime he knows he's innocent, as well I would have expected a line in the sand having been drawn earlier.  Albeit that I suspect even the US would probably be surprised how successful the conventional campaign has been since its only been 8-9 days since the allies invaded.

The line in the sand was drawn and then ignored by its drafter.
There certainly was no plan to reach so far so quick. With Moscow, the number of US troops sent in there is far too many for the purpose. The Coalition is being surprised again and again how easy it all is.

[James G]

76 – Banzai charge


The 10th Mountain Division is in the way of the unexpected and quite sudden attack coming out of Kandalaksha by Union troops there. A surprise assault by what is left of the 111th Motor Rifle Division – several days of air strikes have done a lot of damage – comes towards them with no warning. Forward positions are struck at by infantrymen supported by some artillery and a little armour. The division’s 2nd Mountain Brigade holds off the attack before the 1st Mountain Brigade and then afterwards the reservists with the 205th Infantry Brigade come forward. The whole division sees action, fighting off what will later be (inaccurately) compared to a banzai charge by enemy forces who have no business doing what they were doing. Surprise is achieved at the opening of the attack, but once the Americans bring their firepower into play, the outcome of the fight is beyond doubt. US I Corps headquarters has the Royal Marines with their 3rd Commando Brigade ready to move in an assist yet the British aren’t needed. The 10th Mountain Division is able to recover. The Union attack stalls, the spread-out remnants of the 111th Motor Rifle Division are blasted to ruin and then a counterattack finishes them off for good. There is a significant casualty count with the dead and wounded all over the unexpected battlefield with American forces being a minority of those but not something easily dismissed. The 10th Mountain Division takes more casualties here than in the other fights they have had since being in Northwestern Russia. However, they hold off a last gasp Union offensive in their victory. When the 205th Infantry Brigade moves down into Kandalaksha later in the day, they overrun all of the defensive positions that the 111th Motor Rifle Division abandoned when its men came forward out into the open like they did. These could have been held for some time. Air strikes and shelling have done a lot here but not enough to eliminate that Union force when dug-in. Only once it came out into the open, tearing forward like they did, have the defenders of Kandalaksha finally been broken. No one senior of the American side can understand why such a foolish thing has been done here.

The suicidal attack is made at the behest of Gromov and STAVKA with instructions sent to the Sixth Army to see it done regardless of the situation on the ground. Make it work, the Sixth Army is told. Orders came yesterday after replacements within the Union Army’s command chain following the ‘failed coup’ against Gromov. Defeatists have been replaced and optimists promoted: the lunatics have truly taken over the asylum. The deaths of so many at Kandalaksha today are a result of this, so too is the elimination of the last Union force of any real strength in Northwest Russia standing in the way of the Coalition forces who have taken over Kola. The idiots now in-charge had this attack made because they believe that it will work: the Coalition will be knocked back on its heels in the face of a major defeat. It hasn’t worked and that defeat hasn’t happening. The Sixth Army’s commander shoots himself afterwards, fearing a worse fate after he reports the failure on the battlefield. Such a thing is rather unnecessary. He was certain to be removed from command but nothing more than that was going to happen. His deputy will take over in the meantime though there is nothing really left of the Sixth Army after this fiasco. Rear-area troops stretch southwards away from Kandalaksha far down into Karelia. They are armed but they aren’t an army. The way ahead is open entirely for the US I Corps to push onwards as far as they like, all the way to meet up with the British down around Leningrad… in theory.


For that to occur, for a link-up to be made, would require a logistical effort which the Coalition is unwilling to commit to. Since the beginning of where Operation Flaming Phoenix operations have seen entry made into Northwestern Russia, supplying the forces deployed here has been a significant drain on logistics. Mission creep has been a big factor in what has been going on. Union inability to halt progress made on the battlefield by Coalition forces has seen a rapid expansion of operations beyond the initial parameters. Kandalaksha is now as far as the US I Corps will go southwards. With movements starting ahead of the attack by the 111th Motor Rifle Division, US Marines with the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade today move westwards to Alakurtti. They are near to the Finnish border and overrun a near abandoned military airbase & a-joining garrison. Taking Alakurtti is only about expanding the pressure on the defenders of Kandalaksha though, begun ahead of their elimination. The commander of those US Marines has ideas about going south eventually yet that will not be happening.

Supply lines into Kola come by air, land and sea. Many air facilities are in Coalition hands and they have ports also under their control. Coming over from the very northern reaches of Norway is a road link as well. However, Kola isn’t exactly an easy place for supplies to reach due to its isolated location on the edges of the Arctic. Those lines are under much strain. Just to supply the Coalition forces who made initial entry took a lot. The deeper they go, the more resources are expended. Even the taking of those recent new airheads hasn’t helped overall. The Coalition has huge armies inside Western Russia and spread throughout the Baltics, Belarus and the Ukraine. The new issue with Georgia has cropped up. Ahead of the last opposition at the base of the Kola Peninsula being finished off, when they were expected to just stay where being pounded, political masters in Coalition capitals have made the decision that this will be the high-water mark of operations in Northwestern Russia.

There is a US Air Force jet sitting on the ground at Ivalo Airport across in Finland. The C-141 Starlifter made a crash landing there yesterday after entering Finnish skies during an inflight emergency. All six crew members walked away from the hard touchdown and the government in Helsinki has quietly informed Washington that they will not be held in interment and instead released. The aircraft is impounded though, along with its cargo of ammunition… a cargo which everyone is happy didn’t start cooking off during the small fire aboard which brought the aircraft down. Finnish neutrality, along with that of Sweden too, meant that the C-141 was following a flightpath looping around the top of Finland on its way to its projected destination of Olenya Airbase. Many other aircraft are making these flights to captured sites in the Kola carrying cargo in. These include civilian air-freighters in FedEx, DHL & UPS colours too (Boeing-747Fs and MD-11s) which have been taken over by the US Armed Forces for the duration of the conflict. A couple of aircraft have been lost with outcomes not always in the same manner as the issue with the jet at Ivalo but instead fatal crashes and disappearances over the water. They, and the many others, are all ones which the Coalition would like to see now flying to destinations elsewhere. That goes too with the supplies sent to here as well along with other support in the form of reconnaissance assets.

There is a press conference held at the Pentagon sometime after the final fighting outside of Kandalaksha. The main focus of that concerns the capture of Moscow though Northwestern Russia is brought up too. Secretary of Defence Nunn mentions the ‘banzai charge’ made, meaning that in context of what it is similar to, not an exact description of what has occurred: it is taken out of context by the media and becomes something it is not. When Nunn makes mention of the last Union resistance in this area of Russia being overcome, he doesn’t say the ultimate outcome of that disastrous attempt to turn the tide of the conflict on STAVKA’s behalf is the end of Coalition operations here though. Why tell Gromov that? No official announcement is made that there will be no longer be any further offensive operations conducted in Northwestern Russia after today yet that is the case.

[James G]

77 – Inter-service dispute


Coalition forces in the Ukraine remain under the overall control of the Fifth United States Army. They converge today upon the southeastern corner of this country, moving into the Donbas. Apart from inside the isolated eastern side of Dnipropetrovsk, the last Union resistance in the Ukraine is concentrated here. The mission is to eliminate that for good. Above them, the skies are empty of enemy opposition. Coalition aircraft, primarily American jets though on occasion ones from their Eastern European allies, attack targets at will. SAMs and anti-aircraft artillery present the only counter to this yet there is no viable anti-air network to conduct a proper defence of Union forces below. There are American special forces everywhere with teams of Green Berets active on reconnaissance and strike missions. Tanks and mechanised infantry pour into the Donbas. They come down from the northwest, across from the west and up the southwest. Nowhere are they stopped.

The Polish I Corps now includes those US Army units which came down from Kiev who join with the Poles who have come over the Dnieper River. Americans with the 5th Infantry Division and the 194th Armored Brigade do as the 1st & 10th Mechanised Divisions do in driving deep. Pavlograd falls to the Poles; the Americans take Sloviansk. These are urban centres where road connections converge and around which there is the present of militia units formed from Russian-speaking Ukrainians who remain loyal to a dying regime. Further militia units are found elsewhere across the countryside yet those aren’t as concentrated as they are in places such as Pavlograd and Sloviansk. Workers from industrial facilities now out of work due to American air activity have been armed and are organised as gunmen to repel a foreign invasion. They are under orders from nationalist politicians working with Union military commanders here in the Donbas who are without regular troop formations to command. Sending these men up against the Coalition forces with the Polish I Corps is effectively murder. They stand no chance. American and Polish forces tear through them, bringing firepower to bear that the militia units are helpless in the face of. A good few thousand of them are killed in countless small engagements all over the place. Their weapons aren’t always swept up by those who defeat them too with assault rifles and rocket-launchers ending up in many different hands.

Lead units of the Eastern European Corps come up from the Azov Littoral. Czech and Slovak troops are here alongside the few Americans assigned to the corps. They push towards Donetsk with the furthest penetration being made as far as Dokuchaievsk. Czech troops with their 5th Mechanised Brigade who reach here engage gunmen making a final stand and then move in. They find several mass graves where the bodies of Ukrainian nationalists killed in the past week have been dumped. There are some of them still left though and revenge is taken upon ethnic Russians following the liberation of the small city by Coalition forces. The Czechs find that they cannot disarm everyone with a weapon and have a difficult time here in trying to stop revenge killings from happening. They end up being taken under fire by Ukrainians themselves. Thankfully it is only light arms that those rebels have in their hands and the Czechs respond sufficiently to make sure that no one else afterwards has any idea that it is sensible to attack them, but it is certainly not what they came here to do. The Ukrainians are meant to be their allies! The Eastern European Corps, spread all across the south of the Ukraine, is stretched thin in making this drive up towards Donetsk and come first light tomorrow, the Czechs will be pulling out of Dokuchaievsk. The corps’ tasks are to get there next with Luhansk being a later objective. When they do depart, it is clear that those here who will be left behind will go back to killing each other again. Reports on the situation inside Dokuchaievsk join further ones already at higher headquarters, upwards past the Fifth US Army HQ all the way to McCaffrey’s EURCOM, concerning similar events taking place throughout the Donbas. Coalition forces aren’t welcome here and the Ukrainians in Kiev certainly have no control over their people on the ground.


The II Marine Expeditionary Force is fighting just over the border inside Russia. US Marines crossed over from the Ukraine yesterday aiming to go past Taganrog and Rostov, shooting up all identified opposition outside of those cities and then make a left turn to go northwards. They were meant to follow the course of Highway-4 (the Don Highway) and get behind the Donbas to cut it off. What they weren’t supposed to do was to get bogged down in a fight close to Rostov but that they are. Through today, Union forces defending what they believe to be a Coalition invasion of the Caucasus, one going south over the Don near to Rostov, continue to keep the II MEF tied up here rather than allowing the US Marines do what they want to.

Forty–Ninth Army elements are fighting on the northern banks of the Don River. They aren’t retreating back over it, something that would suit the II MEF just fine. Neither has the Forty–Ninth Army been destroyed as it was supposed to be by overnight air attacks to eliminate its fighting potential. An attempt at a riverside last stand by them would be something that the II MEF could deal with if that had been the case. However, much of the 9th & 19th Motor Rifle Divisions remain active in the field in spite of air activity. They are capable of keeping the US Marines from pushing onwards. Such a situation is unacceptable, it should never have happened. It is causing uproar all the way to the very highest levels. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Walter Boomer, is on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and back in Washington he has taken the issue direct to the Chairman General McPeak. The II MEF was promised a level of air support which it has not received. The US Marines have their own aviation assets active supporting the II MEF but neither the US Navy nor the US Air Force is providing the amount of coverage which they are meant to. Naval Aviators are flying in Georgian skies while the US Air Force has redirected much of coverage they are meant to provide towards the Donbas instead. With far less ground attack missions against Union Army forces ahead of the II MEF than promised, enemy forces around the lower reaches of the Don are still fighting. McPeak has told Boomer that there is still air support there for the II MEF yet those other ongoing conflicts, especially the Georgia situation, are important too. The US Marines will just have to fight with what they have. The inter-service dispute is taken even higher, all the way to Secretary of Defence Nunn. He doesn’t resolve it to the liking of Boomer though.

Union troops with the Forty–Ninth Army are those out of the Caucasus Mountains. They have come up from Chechnya, Dagestan and North Ossetia where for many years they have been involved in counter-insurgency operations as well as helping to enforce widespread martial law at times. The two combat divisions are well-equipped for conventional warfare though with tanks and other heavy equipment fielded. Many of the soldiers have combat experience ahead of this fight with the US Marines. They are holding their own, not going down in defeat. Battered by all that the Americans can throw at them, and with their backs to the river, they resist II MEF efforts to finish them off. Forty–Ninth Army troops counterattack where they can and keep the fight close to their enemy. The Americans are forced to be extremely careful where they use their fire support so as to not strike friendly forces. Unlike in so many other fights since Operation Flaming Phoenix began, the Union Army is managing to hold its own against Coalition forces. They are fighting the way that the Coalition feared they would be able to do so. In doing so, there is quite the butcher’s bill. The edges of Rostov are a battlefield and along with much of the surrounding area. Civilian casualties are significant and so too are those of fighting men. Marine Aviators bring their aircraft and helicopters into the fight and artillery continues to fire throughout the day too. The 9th Motor Rifle Division takes a battering more than its sister division. Still though, they fight against the bulk of the 2nd Marine Division. As to the 19th Motor Rifle Division, they are on the eastern flank of where the main fighting is, engaging the 2nd Marine Division’s 6th Regiment as well as the US Army paratroopers assigned to the II MEF.

The Forty–Ninth Army holds on. The circumstances are right for them to do so and here the Union stops the Americans from going forward. The cost though is quite something.

[stevep]

   James G ,

   I almost find myself glad that the Russians can actually put up a decent fight somewhere, albeit its going to mean more civilian casualties.  Its got so one sided.

  Also going to be other places like Dokuchaievsk where scores national or otherwise, are going to be settled and the allies, committed to driving onward don't have the forces to both do that and maintain order behind them.  Along with of course outright criminality like in Leningrad.  I suspect questions will be asked in assorted western locations about this issue but there is no simple answer.

  Steve

[James G]

May 22, 2020 10:42:17 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

   I almost find myself glad that the Russians can actually put up a decent fight somewhere, albeit its going to mean more civilian casualties.  Its got so one sided.

  Also going to be other places like Dokuchaievsk where scores national or otherwise, are going to be settled and the allies, committed to driving onward don't have the forces to both do that and maintain order behind them.  Along with of course outright criminality like in Leningrad.  I suspect questions will be asked in assorted western locations about this issue but there is no simple answer.

  Steve

Rostov is a different matter than elsewhere. The lower air support, Union defence of a good position and American overextension all plays into this. There is more difficulty in the update below with the whole Southern region.
The Coalition is still banking on Primakov takes over and it is all okay. With the Ukraine, the 'friendly' rebels will sort it all out too. That is the belief they are operating under with regard to how things will play out!

[James G]

78 – Looking like an absolute disaster


US Navy aircraft from the carrier USS America aren’t flying missions in support of the US Marines near to Rostov because they are tied up with the situation in Georgia. Union forces continue to advance through this Coalition country. The progress of the Fourth Army has been slowed dramatically despite the elimination of the strongest Georgian resistance and much of that is down to American air power. However, they are still moving forwards. Tbilisi is in their hands and the Fourth Army remains advancing upon the Black Sea. Attack missions from the America are launched repeatedly to try to bring that to a halt. A-6 Intruders and F/A-18 Hornets drop their high-explosive payloads. F-14 Tomcats and EA-6 Prowlers undertake fighter and electronic warfare missions. E-2 Hawkeye aircraft monitor the skies in their AWACS role while S-3 Viking aircraft primarily designed for anti-submarine tasks aid KA-6s in airborne tanking missions. Union air activity in reply is minimal. They do have some aircraft left but do not pose any serious challenge to the America’s aircraft nor the few remaining Georgians left fighting on the ground. No attempt has been made to launch an attack upon the carrier directly though caution is still employed with the carrier is always on the move and well-protected. The Georgia mission has been going on for several days now. Air loses have come through enemy action – SAM hits – and accidents too. The ongoing flight operations, night and day without pause, are tiring for everyone involved from the aviators down to the sailors aboard the carrier and her escorts too. There is no end in sight for them. Ammunition expenditure is far higher than projected. The America came into the Black Sea to support the US Marines who’d first landed ahead of them in the Crimea before moving onwards. That was more than a week ago with strike missions first flown over the Crimea and into the southern reaches of the Ukraine before the Union managed to get troops moving out of Azerbaijan into the Georgians (criminally-)undefended eastern flank. The US Navy has dozens of ships in the Black Sea as well as this carrier. There are the amphibious assault and landing-support ships as well as the many warships here. In addition, non-combat supply vessels came through the Turkish Straits ahead of and since the opening of hostilities too. The largest of these is the USS Seattle. She is a fast combat support ship loaded with a wealth of weaponry, fuel and other supplies. Transfers of munitions have come across from here to arm the aircraft from the America. When the carrier sailed towards Georgia, the Seattle stayed behind for a day to go to Sevastopol to collection more ammunition flown in by airlift was more ammunition to be delivered onto the America when the Seattle later caught up.

The ammunition ship USS Butte enters the Black Sea today too, laden with more munitions for the jets flying from the America against targets inside Georgia. Accompanied by the frigate USS Joseph Hewes riding shotgun, the Butte sails at full power eastwards to link up with the America to deliver even more ammunition. Some of that has been picked up by the Butte when it made a stop on the way at Souda Bay in Crete. The neutrality of Greece and NATO as an organisation notwithstanding, bombs flown into Crete have been transferred onto this ship and will soon enough falling atop the Union Army. The Butte and the Joseph Hewes enter the Black Sea out ahead of a convoy of further US Navy ships waiting to follow them: Turkey is deciding when and what can come through and that will include the carrier USS George Washington and her escorts. The Washington, newer and larger than the America, set sail from Norfolk back in Virginia right on the very eve of war… when Gromov was being informed by the GRU that half of the US Navy’s carriers were still in port and America wasn’t going to war in such a situation. She’s come across the North Atlantic, through the Med. and up the Aegean Sea following the commencement of Operation Flaming Phoenix. Her air wing includes US Navy Reserve units yet that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t pack quite the punch. Supply ships accompany her as well, laden with more munitions to join those already inside the Washington’s internal arsenals. Once in the Black Sea, even over on the far side some distance away from the Georgian coastline, the carrier will be launching air missions over that country to continue to bomb the Union’s advancing Fourth Army.


Finding the troops for the Georgia Rescue Mission has been no easy feat. McCaffrey didn’t want to have to provide them, hoping that any force dispatched to that little country would either be transferred up from the Middle East where Saddam’s armies remain inactive or sent directly from the mainland United States. Georgia is within the area of responsibility for the European Command though and Nunn & the Joint Chiefs decreed that EURCOM provide them. The 39th & 187th Infantry Brigades are sent from Poland to Georgia. The former is an Arkansas Army National Guard formation, a well-trained unit brought to Eastern Europe to join with the US VII National Guard Corps as a non-divisional detachment. As to the latter, the 187th Infantry Brigade is an Army Reserve unit held under McCaffrey’s headquarters command as a ‘fire brigade’ force to deal with emergencies. Both of them are light formations with dismounted infantry. They do have some heavy gear including artillery and there are vehicles included within the pair of brigade’s equipment set, but they still remain light units. Getting them to Georgia was not easy but it has been done. An airlift has seen them flown into Georgia with landings made at the airports near to Batumi and Kutaisi. The flights of the many transports involved saw those cross through Ukrainian skies (almost all of the country is free of Union control) and also above Moldova and Romania too: each of them maintaining that their airspace can be used by Coalition aircraft not on offensive air missions but otherwise their skies are open. Ahead of the combat troops arriving as they now have, supporting troops were flown in first. Georgia can provide nothing for the American forces arriving here. They have no ability to give any aid to the fight that the incoming 39th & 187th Infantry Brigades are soon to have.

The Pentagon has decided to call this Operation Dragon Dawn and the rush deployment into Georgia really is a big deal in terms of the support it requires. How many American soldiers can speak Georgian? How many Georgians can speak English? The answer to each of those questions are seriously troubling low figures. This matter of basic communication between allies on the ground is just one of many difficulties that those involved in the Georgia Rescue Mission face. They are here at the end of a long supply line with everything having to come in by air. Ammunition, fuel, food, medical supplies…and so on. It all needs to be flown into Georgia for them and the supporting troops with them forming the supply, communications, engineering and medical assistance they need to allow them to help save Georgia. The Pentagon and the State Department are still engaged in talks with Ankara over the matter of Turkey being more willing to help in this endeavour. Turkish neutrality is what Ankara says it is, not what the United States might want it to be. If the worse happens and the Fourth Army cannot be stopped from overrunning Georgia, there is the possibility that Turkey might allow American forces to retreat into their country but that is only a ‘maybe’. As to helping supply the forces sent this far, Turkey will not agree to it. They aren’t allowing for airheads in their country to be used nor can they spare any non-combat equipment and supplies when the Pentagon enquired about Turkish war-stocks. For decades, America has helped to equip the Turkish Armed Forces with everything from tanks and fighter jets down to the very basics but Ankara is refusing to see any of that ‘lent’ now either. They are still trying in Washington to change minds in Turkey on matters such as these but the Turks are refusing to play ball. The air link thus has to stay open with everything those sent to Georgia need to allow them to fight when they do having to be brought in from far away. In addition to all of these issues, the airports at Batumi and Kutaisi were hit by enemy action at the start of the Union counteroffensive against Georgia. Scud missiles with both conventional and chemical warheads hit them to cause much damage. Union forces with their Fourth Army and also the Caucasus Military District have run out of missiles and aren’t able to get air strikes through to hit them again. Yet, neither is a first-class facility though to run the big airlift through that the Americans are undertaking. Tbilisi’s airport and military airbases in the eastern portion of Georgia would have been preferred but, sparking Operation Dragon Dawn, they are in the now-occupied portion of the country. From out of there continues to come the Fourth Army in spite of everything dropped on it from above.


On the right, the 295th Motor Rifle Division today reaches the crossroads town of Gori. Shevardnadze’s government fled to here when Tbilisi fell but they had already run again and are now at Kutaisi. Georgian troops in and around Gori are those who overran South Ossetia when the war began. They have had to abandon their gains there and the defensive positions in the mountains that they held to now fight here. On the defensive, they are run through. The 295th Motor Rifle Division moves onwards while under attack by American jets in the sky and crushes all Georgian opposition. Most of their tanks and at least half of their armoured vehicles have been lost but they are still able to come forwards with what they have. Union riflemen move into Georgian trenches outside Gori and then fight more enemy inside the town’s blasted buildings. The Battle of Gori is won with a high casualty rate for all involved. To the south, the 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division is also coming forward on the left side of the Fourth Army advance. They carry on brushing aside far lighter and more scattered Georgian opposition while on the move. The Armenian border has already been sealed off in case Georgian forces might try to escape that way and they are now near to the Turkish frontier too… while the Americans are still talking to the Turks about the matter of that border. Akhaltisikhe is taken by lead units of the 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division even when the US Navy puts A-6s in the skies above them dropping bombs upon their heads. Up ahead, between here and the coast, there are few Georgians in the way. Furthermore, rebels across the Adjara region put firmly in their place back when Lebed was friendly with Shevardnadze are waiting to take advantage of the current situation. The 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division is able to carry on advancing towards Batumi.

Batumi is fifty miles or so off and where there are all of those Americans still forming up ahead and not yet ready to see action. Union armour and riflemen are able to keep on moving towards them, not being stopped by air power. Operation Dragon Dawn is looking like an absolute disaster.

[stevep]

   James G ,

  Interesting that Turkey is being so stubborn on this as its going to sour relations with the US for a long time to come.  Especially with their eastern border now in turmoil.  Especially since they allowed the America and various supporting ships through. 

  I think under international law US troops could cross into Turkey if defeated - as long as they could reach it - but they would have to be interned.  Which would be better than having them killed or captured by the Union forces.

  Sounds like the 49thA is also running pretty light now if most of its tanks and much of its other heavy equipment have been disabled already so the brigades might have a chance to hold if they can establish a decent defensive position and the Union forces are largely out of artillery ammo.  Likely to be bloody however.

  The USS America has done an amazing job so far but sheer exhaustion is likely to mean a drop off in efficiency and more losses through errors even if they can be resupplied with munitions and new a/c.

  I was wondering if, with the mention of the USS Butte that the Union forces might be aware of it and have some attempt to stop/sink it but that may be beyond their strike capacity, although their probably got intel sources informing them what warships are passing through the straits.

  Shevardnadze's position is even more perilous as the US might be feeling very apologetic toward Gromov very soon which would put Georgia on the wrong side.

  Steve

[James G]

May 23, 2020 10:18:27 GMT stevep said:

   James G ,

  Interesting that Turkey is being so stubborn on this as its going to sour relations with the US for a long time to come.  Especially with their eastern border now in turmoil.  Especially since they allowed the America and various supporting ships through. 

  I think under international law US troops could cross into Turkey if defeated - as long as they could reach it - but they would have to be interned.  Which would be better than having them killed or captured by the Union forces.

  Sounds like the 49thA is also running pretty light now if most of its tanks and much of its other heavy equipment have been disabled already so the brigades might have a chance to hold if they can establish a decent defensive position and the Union forces are largely out of artillery ammo.  Likely to be bloody however.

  The USS America has done an amazing job so far but sheer exhaustion is likely to mean a drop off in efficiency and more losses through errors even if they can be resupplied with munitions and new a/c.

  I was wondering if, with the mention of the USS Butte that the Union forces might be aware of it and have some attempt to stop/sink it but that may be beyond their strike capacity, although their probably got intel sources informing them what warships are passing through the straits.

  Shevardnadze's position is even more perilous as the US might be feeling very apologetic toward Gromov very soon which would put Georgia on the wrong side.

  Steve

Turkey has always been that way: an ally on their terms, when it suits them. Look at OTL 1991 and 2003. Helpful to America but not getting involved. They see no good coming out of this war.
An internment is possible but the border is being closed off by the Union advance. Tanks and vehicles from above are being blasted so if US forces can dig in, they can hold. It won't be what they come here to do though and they will have to be fast!
When the George Washington is in the Black Sea, the America will need a partial stand-down. They weren't meant to do as many air ops have they have, not by a long shot.
Union capability in the Black Sea is gone. Fleet caught in port, aircraft sitting on the ground in Crimea bases too. August 1st 1994 was a bad day for the Black Sea: they got Pearl Harbor'ed X10.
At the moment, Shev is a 'valued ally' in need. I'm sure, he could switch sides with ease if need be. 'We have always been at war with the Union' will be technically true!

[James G]

79 – Cherryade


After seizing Moscow late yesterday, many of those American forces who took the city spend today transferring back out. Their war isn’t over and they are needed to continue with it elsewhere. Others do stay though and they are joined by more coming in. Security tasks within the now-occupied capital of the Union are important and so too are moving some of the heavier forces which came in back out again to deal with remnants of Gromov’s Group of Tank Armies who are still fighting. The US XVIII Airborne Corps takes command of Moscow operations, assuming control over troops from other corps with the Seventh United States Army who are staying in here: the largest being the 1st Infantry Division across the Ramenki District in the southwest. Entering Moscow for the first time now are the paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division to link-up with the 24th & 35th Infantry Divisions and the 101st Airborne Division too. Rather than be air-dropped or air-lifted, the paratroopers are trucked-in. This isn’t how the initial plans had been for their arrival but the speed which Moscow fell, in the manner that it did, sees them make an entry like this. The 82nd Airborne Division takes over engaging cut-off, isolated hold-outs who wish to carry on a doomed effort to stop the occupation of Moscow from those other US Army units moving out. However, because that is small-scale, the majority of the duties which the 82nd Airborne Division assume are to put a physical presence on the streets. They take up positions at key points and are out in the open. This includes them taking over in Red Square and around the Kremlin too, relieving the departing 1st Armored Division.

Those paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division are present today when President Primakov arrives in Moscow to enter the Kremlin.

Primakov has travelled overnight from Novosibirsk. Most of the journey has been made by air aboard an aircraft which has had quite the flight. The Ilyushin-80 Maxdome (a converted Il-86 airliner outfitted as a ‘doomsday plane’) flew with Primakov aboard over the edges of the Arctic escorted first by Sukoi-27 Flankers out of Siberia and then US Navy F-14 Tomcats from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower next. The Eisenhower’s F-14s provided protection for the Maxdome when it went southwards above hostile territory through unoccupied parts of Karelia on the edges of Finnish airspace. The US Air Force later took over, using their F-15 Eagles as escorts, for the Maxdome when it was above the Baltics and Belarus inbound to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. Two refuelling stops were made on the way, each time at captured Union airbases in Coalition hands. The Americans escorting the Union’s legitimate president to safety see him to his own capital will surely be something for the history books. From Vnukovo into the Kremlin, Primakov makes this journey using a convoy of Union Army wheeled vehicles manned by soldiers loyal to him. These BTR-70s and riflemen haven’t come from Siberia but instead are from a unit which surrendered in Belarus to the Americans early on in the war when their commander pledged his loyalty to the regime in Novosibirsk. Once again, while it is Union military forces loyal to his rule transporting Primakov, the Americans are present as well. They have their as helicopters and their own armoured vehicles escort his convoy into the Kremlin.

Primakov is back to where he fled from in fear of his life back in February at the beginning of the civil war. He’s only here because the Americans allow him too though.


Outside of Moscow, combat continues today between Coalition forces and those of the Union still loyal to Gromov. He’s lost his capital and his bitter enemy is back there, but there remain soldiers fighting on behalf of Gromov while he is at Mulino. Polish troops who’ve previously fought in Belarus under Seventh US Army command join with the Canadians and a limited number of Americans engaging Union forces north of Moscow. The US V Corps – to which the 1st Canadian Division and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment are assigned – is waiting on the 1st & 3rd Infantry Divisions to come out of Moscow to join them. Yet, the Polish II Corps employ their 8th & 12th Mechanised Divisions ahead of that reinforcement, taking the fight to Fifth Guards Tank Army. Those Americans leaving Moscow are making use of the city’s transport links to go after the Union opposition from behind ahead of their entry into this fight. The Poles are into the fight ahead of them to link up with the V Corps though. Near Kololyov the 30th Guards Motor Rifle Division is engaged and around Pushkino the opposition is the 11th Guards Tank Division. Both of those Union formations are already under heavy air attack and being ripped into by the Canadians and the 2nd Cav’ but the Poles make quite the impact. They are further east than any other Polish Army forces have made it into the Union and haven’t have the best of times back in Belarus. Here in Western Russia though, fighting alongside their allies, they show that they are capable veterans of war. With the 30th Guards Motor Rifle Division eliminated first, the fight moves onto Pushkino where from all sides the Coalition units here smash apart the last of the fifth Guards Tank Army before the day’s end.

Away to the south of Moscow, the last of the Seventh Tank Army is finished off today by US III Corps units. Led by the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the 4th Infantry & 49th Armored Divisions strike eastwards across the Moscow River downstream of the city with which it shares the same name. No longer are the Americans conducting a mobile defence. Now they are on the attack. Outside of the town of Yegoryevsk, the last resistance is encountered. What is left of the 37th Guards Tank Division after yesterday’s fighting and overnight air attacks falls back towards here along with the 6th Guards Tank Division as that latter unit is being blown apart today. The wrecks of hundreds of tanks and hundreds more armoured vehicles litter the countryside west of Yegoryevsk… along with thousands of corpses too. Back into the town Union forces fall with senior surviving officers aiming to have their men fight as riflemen in an urban battle. Aircraft and helicopters fill the skies, attacking everywhere and trying to stop a retreat which the Americans don’t understand for what it is but don’t like the look of regardless. What T-72s left on the battlefield attract the most attention though, especially from the US Air Force flying close air support missions with A-10 Thunderbolts. US Army aviators in their AH-64 Apaches are told to focus upon infantry over tanks like their colleagues in blue are also instructed to, but they don’t follow these orders as they should. A tank is an easier, more satisfying target to hit than fleeing infantrymen are. A couple of thousand riflemen reach the town and have the cover of human shields all around them. Their divisional commanders are dead – those A-10s went after armoured vehicles when they run out of tanks to shoot up – and there is not going to be any real purpose that these men in Yegoryevsk serve in the long run. Still, the inability to knock them out of the war when they were out in the open is of great irritation. Meanwhile, the Seventh Tank Army in the south, like the Fifth Guards Tank Army in the north, is no more.


The proper term is fratricide. Others such as friendly fire or blue-on-blue have been used by the US Armed Forces to describe the accidental clash of military units fighting on the same side, in particular with their own. Then there is the additional term red-on-red to describe when the enemy does it to themselves. This has been observed during Operation Flaming Phoenix, the American-led Coalition invasion of the Union, with clashes taking place between enemy units done by mistake. It happens often. Communications mix-ups, misidentification visually and also general stupidity at times have seen Union forces engage each other. In addition, with regards to on still ongoing civil war clashes between pro-Gromov and pro-Primakov units, official Coalition policy isn’t to describe those as such a thing as neither fratricide nor red-on-red because one side is an opponent and the other an ally and nor it isn’t accidental either. This is just one side against the other, what happens in war.

In the past nine days since the war started, a newer term has come into use where Union forces end up fighting each other while they are supposed to be on the same side and it isn’t accidental. What is being called ‘cherryade’ is where Union forces previously loyal to Moscow all of a sudden change sides and are now fighting for Novosibirsk against those who they were allied to. Coalition forces have seen this occur on multiple occasions and each time tried to stay out of it. Union forces fighting each other remain dangerous as the shifting loyalties that commanders might have don’t always go all the way down to the individual tanker or rifleman. Once things become clearer, with loyalties better defined, then, if need be, Coalition forces will intervene. Spread far behind the frontlines which have now reached deep into Western Russia, there are many previously pro-Gromov Union military units which have switched sides during the fighting and are now pro-Primakov after clashing with former allies. A prime example of these being the motor rifle battalion which today escort their new master into the Kremlin: they engaged in a cherryade fight with another similar unit while undertaking their defection from one side of the union’s civil war to another.

The biggest cherryade fight so far witnessed occurs today to the east of Moscow with elements of the Sixth Guards Tank Army. Part of the Group of Tank Armies meant to save Moscow from being captured, this force formed the centrepiece of the trio of multi-division field armies (corps-sized units in comparison to Coalition forces inside the Union) which redeployed from the Urals Front. Three motor rifle divisions and one of tanks form the combat component of the Sixth Guards Tank Army with that heavier infantry concentration supposed to make Moscow a bigger battlefield than it eventually was. Their commander surrendered yesterday evening. A Ukrainian like the overwhelming majority of his men, he isn’t switching sides from Gromov to Primakov in a defection but instead ending the participation of the Sixth Guards Tank Army in this war with the goal of being sent back to the Ukraine. He is one man in command of more than fifty thousand uniformed soldiers though. Not all of them want to surrender.

Near to Vladimir on Highway-7 (AKA the Volga Highway linking Moscow to Gorki and beyond), fighting breaks out between Sixth Guards Tank Army units. Cherryade occurs after the commanders of the 93rd Guards Motor Rifle Division and the 55th Artillery Brigade, both Ukrainians too, refuse to accept the surrender made by their army commander and are staying loyal to Gromov. They are at the trailing end of the mass of Union forces stretching back along the Volga Highway. Orders come from STAVKA at Mulino to fall back eastwards following their affirming of loyalty to the ‘legitimate’ regime. Ahead of starting to retreat, those remaining loyal to Gromov open fire upon parts of the 72nd Guards Motor Rifle Division who are also on the Volga Highway and a little bit further west. It is a deliberate attack made by pro-Gromov forces against the 72nd Guards Motor Rifle Division due to the mistaken belief that they are turning traitor to fight for Primakov instead. If there had been some jaw-jaw there would be no war-war here. Those under attack fight back, something that they don’t have orders to do from the Sixth Guards Tank Army yet do regardless. This isn’t about picking sides for them but self-defence. Tanks are firing on other tanks (all T-64s with friendly fire taking place), riflemen are shooting at the other and artillery opens up on other big guns. Hundreds die in a mass of confusion about what is really going on here. Those who are supposed to be falling back towards Gorki – covering Mulino where Gromov and STAVKA are too – are involved in another cherryade fight and thus staying where they are.

The Americans are in the midst of taking the surrender of Sixth Guards Tank Army units closer to Moscow. The 17th Guards Tank & 48th Motor Rifle Divisions, as well as many support units including another artillery brigade, are in the area around Elektrostal and Noginsk where they were brought to that halt yesterday. The army commander is there meeting with his opposite number who heads the US III Corps. The Americans have their 1st Cavalry & 2nd Armored Divisions present along with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Orders are for the III Corps to take the surrender of the whole of Sixth Guards Tank Army, moving east as they do so. To Gorki they will be going eventually, although that will be alongside a larger American force including the rest of the III Corps. The news of the sudden and serious fighting around Vladimir comes as a surprise. Overseeing this mass surrender and making sure that there are Americans forces here in case of further cherryade incidents means that they cannot all go suddenly charging up the Volga Highway… not all of them anyway. The 11th Cav’ (temporarily reassigned from the US XVIII Corps) can though. They start moving east late in the day. Air intervention is already being readied to join in once the sides are clearer around Vladimir, but in the meantime, whatever outcome here is achieved looks very favourable.

[James G]

'Cherryade' is a thing I have invented because I can find no historical name for it.
One side turning on their comrades in arms, both being from the same country, in the middle of a battle is something which I am sure has happened in history and has a proper name. Yet, I used this term because of the 'red mess' cherryade will make and I think someone would say it and it would stick.