Operation Righteous Sword - AKA, Europe's Desert Storm

[forcon]

Nov 18, 2020 19:27:02 GMT James G said:

Nov 18, 2020 19:21:24 GMT forcon said:

Another heads up for readers: I will be using the same format for tomorrow's update, but after that I will likely return to the news/media format for the majority of the air campaign while writing more detailed updates for major events, as it makes more sense than detailing the events of every single day. However once we get to the ground war, I will write more detailed updates like today's.

Both work very well for this story.

Thank you. Next update is up now! 

[James G]

I was going to mention about Russian inflatable dummies. They put heating gear and signals broadcasts out of them so they show up on IR and EMCOM as real.
That missile blitz is only part of what Europe can expect. Poland will probably get it the worst.
US planning to keep the war limited is spinning out of control, as I would expect.

[lordroel]

Nov 20, 2020 18:43:51 GMT James G said:

I was going to mention about Russian inflatable dummies. They put heating gear and signals broadcasts out of them so they show up on IR and EMCOM as real.

The modern version what the allies dropped at D-day thus.

[stevep]

Nov 20, 2020 19:20:36 GMT lordroel said:

Nov 20, 2020 18:43:51 GMT James G said:

I was going to mention about Russian inflatable dummies. They put heating gear and signals broadcasts out of them so they show up on IR and EMCOM as real.

The modern version what the allies dropped at D-day thus.

  I think more the modern version of Patton's army group for the attack on the Calais region.  I.e. a lot of armour, artillery etc that helped persuade the Germans that the Normandy landings were just the 1st stage.  I know what you mean as they also used dummy paratrooper drop to confuse the enemy as to the extend of the Normandy landings.

  forcon, - Is that laser weapon on the Donald Cook something being developed OTL?

  Steve

[forcon]

Nov 20, 2020 18:43:51 GMT James G said:

I was going to mention about Russian inflatable dummies. They put heating gear and signals broadcasts out of them so they show up on IR and EMCOM as real.
That missile blitz is only part of what Europe can expect. Poland will probably get it the worst.
US planning to keep the war limited is spinning out of control, as I would expect.

There's a whole lot of decoys in place. Right now, it's sort of a question of who runs out of missiles first. Poland is taking a beating, and Germany and Denmark will be getting hit hard too. The UK, Norway, Holland and Belgium all have additional targets that could be struck. In Poland especially, Russia is ostensibly hitting military targets, but those targets are within major population centres to cause panic and civilian casualties while also remaining at least theoretically legal. 
Yup, escalation first in the Med and the coast of Syria, and now into Kola as well. It won't be long for INDO-PACOM is ordered to start engaging Russian naval forces, especially their subs out in the Pacific and possibly the Indian Ocean too. 

[forcon]

Nov 21, 2020 11:25:32 GMT stevep said:

Nov 20, 2020 19:20:36 GMT lordroel said:

The modern version what the allies dropped at D-day thus.

  I think more the modern version of Patton's army group for the attack on the Calais region.  I.e. a lot of armour, artillery etc that helped persuade the Germans that the Normandy landings were just the 1st stage.  I know what you mean as they also used dummy paratrooper drop to confuse the enemy as to the extend of the Normandy landings.

  forcon , - Is that laser weapon on the Donald Cook something being developed OTL?

  Steve

The laser weapon is real, however it is mounted on the USS Ponce rather than the Donald Cook atm. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/SEQ-3_Laser_Weapon_System

It could, possibly, be useful in an ABM capability too, but everything involving the laser weapon in the story is speculation. 

[forcon]

Nov 20, 2020 19:20:36 GMT lordroel said:

Nov 20, 2020 18:43:51 GMT James G said:

I was going to mention about Russian inflatable dummies. They put heating gear and signals broadcasts out of them so they show up on IR and EMCOM as real.

The modern version what the allies dropped at D-day thus.

Something like that, although a more apt comparison might be the dummies used by the Serbs in Yugoslavia during Operation Allied Force in 1999, although the Russian variants are likely to be far more realistic, with, as James mentions, heating and signals broadcasts. 

[lordroel]

Nov 22, 2020 19:50:35 GMT forcon said:

Nov 20, 2020 19:20:36 GMT lordroel said:

The modern version what the allies dropped at D-day thus.

Something like that, although a more apt comparison might be the dummies used by the Serbs in Yugoslavia during Operation Allied Force in 1999, although the Russian variants are likely to be far more realistic, with, as James mentions, heating and signals broadcasts. 

Those will not be cheap dummies then.

[forcon]

Nov 22, 2020 19:51:28 GMT lordroel said:

Nov 22, 2020 19:50:35 GMT forcon said:

Something like that, although a more apt comparison might be the dummies used by the Serbs in Yugoslavia during Operation Allied Force in 1999, although the Russian variants are likely to be far more realistic, with, as James mentions, heating and signals broadcasts. 

Those will not be cheap dummies then.

Not cheap, but I'd say they're certainly cheaper than the missiles and bombs being fired at them. 

[forcon]

Part IX.

September 22 – October 6

The air campaign

NATO airpower continued to target various Russian military installations across the Area of Operations (AO) throughout the last week of September and into October. The objective here was to sufficiently degrade Russian ground forces and eliminate the Russian Air Force in its entirety to allow for offensive operations on the ground to take place further along in the month. The end of September saw the campaign switch between various targets. Essentially, there were two sets of groups of targets; the military command structure, and Russia’s economic and production institutions within the Russian mainland, and a the tactical targets; airfields, troop concentrations, logistics nodes, and communications and air defence sites allowing Russia’s ongoing occupation of the Baltic Region. European NATO air forces were more comfortable and more capable of targeting the latter. Europe was lacking in strategic, long-range bombers of its own and thus had to rely primarily on American B-2s and B-1s to deliver certain amounts of firepower to more distant targets.

Thus, European air forces took over the large-scale destruction of targets in the Baltic States, while the US Air Force, supported by the Navy and Marine Corps, focused primarily on the St. Petersburg and Pskov areas, where numerous military command centres along with now-empty barracks were located. Russian surface-to-air missiles remained active despite efforts to eliminate them one-by-one. Such operations were often undertaken at great risk to the attacking aircraft, and met mixed results. A particularly effective tactic for eliminating S-400 and S-300 missile sites was to overwhelm them with standoff JSOWs or Tomahawk cruise missiles launched in large numbers. However, the Russians would defend their strategic SAM sites with shorter-ranged SA-15s and SA-19s, a fearsome combination. Meanwhile, in the Baltic States, there were hundreds of individual targets that needed to be destroyed. European Typhoons, F/A-18s, F-16s and Tornados destroyed dozens of brigade-level command centres, but this too came at a cost.

On October 1, the Russian Air Force launched a major offensive operation, a fighter-sweep conducted by MiG-31s and Su-35s from airfields in the relatively-sheltered Kola Peninsula. The Russian fighters were coordinated by one of the few surviving A-50 AWACS aircraft in the region. They were able to penetrate the USAF combat air patrol by flying at extreme low altitude before suddenly climbing upwards to engage the NATO high-value air assets over Poland. The attack was devastatingly successful; an E-3 crewed by a multinational NATO crew, an American E-8, and three KC-135s were shot down in a brief flurry of destruction over the Polish skies. Dozens of NATO airmen perished before the F-22s arrived on the scene and shot down several of the Russian jets as they made their escape. Though the operation caused a great many casualties, there were other tankers and AWACS planes on station to continue supporting operations.

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Russia’s Missile Blitz & Spetsnaz operations in Europe

Throughout the end of September, Russia continued to mount offensive air and missile strikes against cities in various NATO countries. These air attacks involved the usage of Bear, Backfire, and occasionally, Blackjack (there were only sixteen of these in Russia’s arsenal) bombers and stand-off cruise missiles. Russian submarines also launched several missile strikes, although as NATO naval forces mounted an intensive and enormous anti-submarine hunt across the North Atlantic, these became less prevalent. The targets struck were mostly airfields, although several port cities in Holland and Belgium also came under direct attack. RAF bases at Brize Norton, Fairford, Lakenheath, Marham, Coningsby, and Lossiemouth were amongst the targets hit in the United Kingdom, along with the civilian airports at Heathrow, Gatwick, and Glasgow-Prestwick, which were all currently under military control. German military airfields as well as civilian airports and targets in Denmark were also frequently struck. To counter this, NATO airpower was concentrated against Russian bomber bases around Kola. The USS Florida, a former Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine modified to carry a large load of Tomahawk cruise missiles, likewise participated. The submarine struck Russian bomber bases on the Kola Peninsula on September 24 and again on September 27, while US Marine Corps strike fighters – F/A-18s and F-35s – again overflew Finnish airspace to launch JSOWs and GBU-12s at runways, fuel and ammo depots, and command & control facilities. The Finnish government, while in principal holding a status of armed neutrality, did not launch fighters of its own to intercept the American airstrikes. This left Helsinki in an unenviable position; Moscow wanted Finland to stop the use of its airspace for offensive NATO operations, but Finland was, naturally, unwilling to use force against the Alliance. Helsinki instead opted to offer a mere, muted diplomatic protest aimed at NATO.

Russian Special Forces also launched attacks in Western Europe. A Spetsnaz team had been infiltrated into the UK during the month of August. They had boarded a freighter ship from Turkey to Norway and left the ship by motor-powered inflatable craft while it passed through the English Channel, disembarking on a deserted beach on the south coast. There, the Spetsnaz team had been directed to a trio of safe-houses across the UK where their weapons and orders were stashed. At daybreak on the third day of hostilities, the Spetsnaz teams had struck three targets; the Ministry of Defence in London came under sniper fire with the intention of disrupting planning operations. The team here was quickly forced to retreat when a helicopter flown by the Metropolitan Police located them, and numerous Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs) arrived on the scene. A shootout occurred here as armed police surrounded the construction site where the sniper team was holed up, which left twelve police officers and three civilians dead, along with three Spetsnaz men. The other three Russian soldiers were quickly tracked by the arriving men of the Grenadier Guards and the SAS, and were eventually killed after being surrounded in a train station. Another Spetsnaz team attempted to strike the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) building in Cheltenham. Unbeknownst to the Spetsnaz, they were being followed by armed, plain-clothes soldiers of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, supported by a team of the SAS on stand-by. As the Spetsnaz approached the building, the undercover soldiers performed a ‘pit’ manoeuvre to stop their car. A shootout followed, leaving four of the six Spetsnaz dead as well as two British soldiers. Another two Spetsnaz men were captured, both of whom were wounded. A third Spetsnaz team hit the American base at Menwith Hill. This team was more successful, and was able to sneak through the USAF security team, killing several of the reservists as with knives as they went. They quickly breached the main building and shot dead twenty-five American airmen before escaping with only a single man dead. The five Russian soldiers quickly went to ground in the countryside, leaving the SAS to track them down and eliminate them.

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Fighting in the Med and southern Russia

The elimination of the Black Sea Fleet in the eastern Mediterranean saw the continuance of three days of American airstrikes against Russian targets in Syria before the Sixth Fleet, led by the USS George H.W. Bush, moved eastwards to attack Russian forces in the Caucuses. Though the strikes against Syrian airfields and naval bases were successful, the Americans couldn’t totally eliminate Russian forces in Syria without risking drawing Iran into the war by killing their own troops. Navy F/A-18s and Tomahawk cruise missiles were nevertheless used with great effect on the Russian air and naval bases, with four Super Hornets shot down over the course of the air campaign. The carrier strike group in the Mediterranean then moved eastwards towards the Bosporus. On September 26, US Navy ships stopped to rearm and refuel, and on the 27th, they launched the first wave of Tomahawks at Russian airfields in the occupied Crimean Peninsula. The former Ukrainian territory then came under air attack by US Navy and Greek aircraft. The strikes primarily targeted the naval base at Sevastopol and the airfields at Saki and Kirovskoye. Though the all-out destruction of the targets couldn’t be guaranteed, the airfields were at least temporarily put out of action while the runways were repaired. The Russian Air Force, however, did put up a strong defence of the peninsula, which saw another two Super Hornets as well as five Greek F-4 Phantoms shot down. The following day, more Tomahawks were fired at the naval base at Novorossiysk and the airfield at Krymsk. This marked the beginning of the escalation of the war into southern Russia.

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The Battle of the Atlantic

In the North Atlantic, NATO destroyers and frigates mounted a prolonged hunt for Russian submarines, sinking a combined total of nine vessels over the course of the first two weeks of the war. Those losses did come at a cost, however, with a Royal Navy frigate sunk, a Canadian vessel lost, two American destroyers sunk, a Spanish frigate sunk, and a French destroyer damaged. Additionally, eleven merchant ships from various NATO nations were sunk by prowling Russian SSNs and SSKs.Of more pressing concern to NATO commanders was the movement of the 43rd Missile Ship Division southwards through the Norwegian Sea. Six American and British submarines were dispatched ahead of the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to intercept the Russian task force. During a series of running ASW engagements that took place, the attack submarine USS California was sunk by an anti-submarine torpedo. However, NATO SSNs were able to sink three Russian destroyers and frigates, and four corvettes, though they were unable to engage the two prime targets; the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and the battlecruiser Pyetr Veliky.

Finally, the opportunity to stop the Russian Navy came, on September 27. The Russian vessels, located by satellite, were now within range of the Abraham Lincoln’s F/A-18s. The carrier group launched an ‘Alpha Strike’ consisting of virtually its entire air wing minus a small detachment to provide a constant combat air patrol. The airstrike was supported by B-52s flying from England and armed with Harpoon missiles of their own. The combined strike sank the destroyers Admiral Levchenko and Vice Admiral Kulakov, and damaging the Admiral Kuznetsov severely. Shortly thereafter, the cruiser USS Normandy and the destroyers Ponce and Michael Murphy attained a strong firing solution on the Russian ships that remained, and fired a barrage of Harpoons. Before the American missiles could impact, however, the Pyetr Veliky launched anti-ship missiles of her own, joined in doing so by the frigates Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Kasatonov. The American Harpoons hit first, sinking the Admiral Kasatonov and the destroyer Severomorsk and mortally damaging Pyetr Veliky. A flight of Su-33s from the damaged Admiral Kuznetsov (then ten Flankers had been airborne before their carrier was damaged) then moved to engage the American CSG, but they were all shot down by AEGIS air defence systems and F/A-18s for the loss of a pair of Super Hornets. Later in the day, a second strike by the F/A-18s from the Abraham Lincoln sank the Kuztensov. The following day, September 28, the British submarine HMS Audacious sank the Pyetr Veliky, somewhat controversially, as she attempted to limp back to port.

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Political & international developments

Efforts to reach a ceasefire by various neutral nations failed to achieve anything on the floor of the UN. Similarly, backchannel efforts also made little headway. The Biden Administration was absolutely determined to see Russian forces unconditionally withdrawn from the occupied Baltic States, while Moscow wanted, at the very least, to retain control over the various Russian-majority regions of the Baltic States. No peace proposal put forward could accomplish both goals in a satisfactory manner. India, China, Brazil, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, and other nations all made proposals to mitigate a ceasefire and a new round of negotiations, with a prevailing fear across Europe, North America, and indeed Russia, that a nuclear war was effectively inevitable. This belief caused outbreaks of rioting and looting across the world as governments fought to control people’s desperation to attain items as seemingly mundane is baked beans and toilet paper. The wave of panic-buying and looting, while short-lived, led to the rationing of certain items particularly in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister, after forming a government of national unity with Kier Starmer's Labour Party, imposed new rules rationing petrol under the Emergency Powers Act. Blackouts were also imposed at night in areas surrounding important military facilities, although this was a purely psychological measure; Russian bomber pilots rarely ever physically saw their targets, instead firing missiles at them from hundreds, even thousands, or kilometres away.

In the US, protests against the Draft continued as well as general anti-war protests fuelled more by abject terror at the prospect of a nuclear exchange than moral anti-war principals. Major US cities were wracked by waves of rioting that left several people dead. Nonetheless, as the Selective Service Administration began selecting 500,000 young men for service, most of them obeyed their orders. The Pentagon had narrowed down the parameters it wanted for its new inductees – primarily physical fitness and mental stability. Once a large number of people with these traits were selected, a random lottery was held further narrow down the numbers. At Fort Benning and Fort Knox, the first draftees began entering basic training. US Army retirees brought back into service to take over many staff and administrative postings so that personnel in those positions could be sent to combat units.

[James G]

More, more, more. Give us more of this wonder.
Some excellent stuff here. Getting fighters into the rear and hitting those vital NATO aircraft was a fine move. Menwith Hill was great too!
Ah, Starmer is in power in the UK. I'd recall now that you didn't mention the UK PM before. I like the panic buying too: beans and bog roll.

[lordroel]

Nov 23, 2020 18:30:13 GMT James G said:

More, more, more. Give us more of this wonder.

Never knew you could become so exciting about World War III James G ,

[forcon]

Nov 23, 2020 18:30:13 GMT James G said:

More, more, more. Give us more of this wonder.
Some excellent stuff here. Getting fighters into the rear and hitting those vital NATO aircraft was a fine move. Menwith Hill was great too!
Ah, Starmer is in power in the UK. I'd recall now that you didn't mention the UK PM before. I like the panic buying too: beans and bog roll.

Thank you! More will be coming this week; I was looking for a way for the Russians to get an offensive move in and it looked like it would work. 

I think I worded that poorly; the Prime Minister is a Conservative, possibly Johnson, but I'm not convinced he'll still be hanging on post-Covid. Starmer's Labour Party is part of the wartime national unity government. 

[forcon]

Heads up; I'm probably going back to the newspaper format for the next update, which will cover the end of the air campaign and the preparation for a ground offensive.

[forcon]

Part X. October 7 – October 25

Republicans call for Biden to ‘Win the war by Christmas’
The Guardian, October 7

Several Republican senators echoed Senator Lindsey Graham’s call for President Biden to achieve victory by Christmas. With the NATO air campaign against Russian forces in the Baltic States now over two weeks old, the war is only showing signs of escalating rather than slowing down. President Biden has come under fire from both Democrats and Republicans on his handling of the war despite the initial surge in popularity that followed his speech announcing the initiation of combat operations. Representatives Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on the other hand, have fiercely condemned the introduction of the draft as half a million young men have begun their training cycles at bases throughout the United States.

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Stealth aircraft losses ‘catastrophic’, according to retired general
War on the Rocks, October 9

According to retired US Air Force General Thomas Jones, the shooting down of a USAF B-2 stealth bomber represents a ‘catastrophic’ failure of stealth aircraft in wartime. Though they have proven effective in defence suppression operations over the frontier, at least eleven stealth aircraft have been shot down by Russian air defences in the past two weeks of warfare…

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NATO invasion forces being held back by courageous defensive effort
RIA Novosti, October 9

Russian soldiers, sailors and airmen are fighting a courageous defensive effort which is decisively holding back the NATO invasion forces poised to strike in Poland. In particular, Germany has deployed a large force the scheduled NATO attack on the Baltic States, under Russian protection since February.

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Former MP charged with treason
BBC News, October 12

According to the Metropolitan Police, former Labour Party defector turned Respect Party leader George Gallahan* was arrested and charged with treason last night after being interviewed by counter-terror police officers following the apparent discovery of a series of text messages between himself and a ‘foreign operator’. Mr Gallahan has been responsible for several large-scale anti-war protests in the past two weeks, many of which have led to violence.

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Chicago Riot kills four
NBC News, October 13

Rioting over the weekend has led to at least four deaths as the National Guard was called in to support the Chicago Police Department in quelling a series of anti-draft and anti-war riots that were sparked by clashes with counter-demonstrators in Chicago.

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Skirmishes demonstrate Russian artillery capabilities and NATO countermeasures
War on the Rocks, October 16

Russian artillery strikes using multiple rocket launcher systems, or MLRS, left several dozen US and NATO soldiers dead yesterday morning after a staging area was hit by indirect fire in a barrage that lasted for over an hour. The attack, while devastating in its tactical success, also highlighted the excellent ability of NATO units to disperse in the field even when under fire.

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Russian ‘Active Measures’ fuelling anti-war dissent
FOX News, October 17

An FBI report leaked today suggests that Russia’s intelligence services are playing an active role in organising and funding several large anti-war demonstrations both in Europe and the US. With rioting in Chicago having gone on into its second week, it appears that Moscow is having at least some effect. Efforts by the Chicago Police Department, supported by the Illinois State Police, have had little effect on quelling the looting and rioting, which escalated after supposedly peaceful protestors attacked members…

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THIS IS AN AIR RAID WARNING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. TAKE COVER IN YOUR HOMES. TURN OFF ALL SOURCES OF LIGHT. REMAIN INDOORS UNTIL YOU RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS TO DO OTHERWISE.
BBC News, October 18

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Gun-battle outside Pentagon leaves twenty-six dead
Associated Press, October 19

A shootout that occurred this morning outside the Pentagon left almost thirty people dead. While officials have yet to comment on the occurrence, it is apparent that a group of armed men were intercepted outside the US Military headquarters, and that a shooting occurred as a result. Further details will follow as they become apparent.

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Russian submarine sinks cargo ship off of New Orleans
NBC News, October 20

The burning wreckage of the SS Callaghan was videoed by bystanders as they vessel sank below the waves following several hours of rescue operations that were able to save the lives of over half the vessel’s crew.

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Pentagon claims ‘defeat’ of Russian submarine threat in Gulf of Mexico
October 22, CNN

The Pentagon reported that three submarines have been sunk in the Gulf of Mexico since the outbreak of hostilities. US Navy warships have been mounting intensive hunts for Russian vessels for the past few weeks, and although an earlier claim of victory was proven to be false by the sinking of the SS Callaghan two days ago, efforts by US forces have no doubt drastically mitigated the threat posed by Russian submarines. However, the Department of Homeland Security is strongly advising that the area be avoided by civilian shipping unless strictly necessary.

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Chinese peace proposal unanimously rejected
October 22, ABC News

A proposal to mediate negotiations between NATO and Russian delegates in talks to bring an end to the bloody war that is ravaging much of Europe was reportedly rejected both by Moscow and President Biden. Although a statement has not yet been issued, a proposal apparently leaked from the Russian Foreign Ministry shows that the terms include an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Baltic States followed by UN-supervised referenda regarding the sovereignty of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

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NATO commanders expect ground war to be extremely bloody
October 23, Reuters

With losses mounting from the NATO air campaign and the artillery skirmishes occurring in Eastern Europe, NATO commanders are reportedly expecting to face an extremely tough and bloody slog to dislodge Russian forces from their positions. With Russian forces well-dug in along the Suwalki Gap, where Poland borders occupied Lithuania, it is thought that Allied ground forces will have to fight their war through enemy lines over the course of several days.

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Lithuanians thwart marine invasion
Russia Today, October 24

The Defence Ministry today reported that intelligence provided by Lithuanian citizens, who wish to remain under Russian protection, had tipped it off to the presence of an amphibious force in the Baltic Sea that was evidently planning to invade Russia to allow NATO invasion forces to attack the Baltic region easily. Thanks to these brave Russian Patriots, who know where their duty truly lays, the Air Force was able to attack the invasion fleet and sink three American battleships, while the Army has sent troops to defend the coastline. **






*We all know who I’m talking about here.
** How do you spell ‘Maskirovka’ in English?