by James Rosone
Major Lee walked into the tent after talking on a command phone with his own higher ups. “Marines, as you all have heard the Russians and Chinese are launching a pre-emptive attack. Our guys in the north are getting hammered hard by the Russians. The 1st MEF is also getting blasted by the Chinese in the south. We have been ordered to reinforce the Army and the Israelis in the north. I know we are closer to the 1st MEF, but apparently, the Chinese are not hitting them nearly as hard as the Russians are.
“As of right now, the Russians have plowed through our entire defensive line in the north. The 1st ID suffered 30% casualties within the first six hours of combat, and has been forced to fall back. Intelligence says the Russians are advancing with their entire force and a group of about one million IR troops as well. You all know the drill; have your companies ready to move within the next two hours. We roll out in support of an armor unit, so be ready. Dismissed.” As Major Lee finished his speech, his officers quickly got up and began to head towards their units and infantry fighting vehicles.
The 2nd MEF had been heavily reinforced after their brutal mauling during the first 60 days of the war. They now had 60,000 Marines, along with 300 Pershing tanks and 800 M1A4 tanks. It took the battalion three hours to reach the edge of the battlefield, and what they saw reminded them of the first few weeks of the war. Off in the horizon, they could visualize hundreds of artillery rounds and rockets being destroyed by the railgun and laser defensive systems. Despite the valiant defensive efforts, hundreds of missiles and artillery rounds were impacting the American and Israeli positions. The sounds of tank rounds and the rumbling of explosions was nearly constant. It was a cauldron of death that they were driving into.
“Lieutenant Thornton, this is Echo 1. We are passing through the Israeli forces now and moving along the edge of the ridgeline, Jericho 1,” said the lead scout vehicle in Thornton’s company.
“Continue to move forward and be alert. See if you can find a defensive position for the battalion to hunker down in,” Thornton said to his scout leader.
Thornton’s company was the lead element for the battalion of Pershing tanks they were escorting. His infantry battalion had been filtered into an armored brigade that was moving to engage the Russian armored units. Their mission was to provide infantry support to the Pershings and act as scouts to find the enemy and identify ambush positions.
The scouts continued to move along the edge of the ridgeline until they spotted half a dozen Russian tanks and dozens of infantry vehicles moving forward. They were currently engaging a dozen or so Israeli tanks that had just passed through ten minutes earlier. The scout leader found a good position, just shy of the top of the ridge, that would give them a clear field of fire without silhouetting them against the top of the ridgeline and making them easy targets for Russian tanks. The scout leader radioed in the position, and the battalion, led by Thornton’s company, began to move into their new defensive position and set their trap.
Less than an hour after the battalion set up their positions and kill zones, a column of Russian infantry vehicles supported by some additional tanks made their way towards the Israeli positions, which took them right across Thornton’s kill zone. They held their fire until the enemy vehicles had moved to the end of their kill zone.
“Open Fire!” ordered Thornton.
The entire battalion opened fire as soon as Thornton’s company did…the fight was over within five minutes. Multiple enemy infantry vehicles and tanks were destroyed before they could be pulled back. The Russians managed to destroy several Marine tanks, including three Pershings, when a pair of MiG40s arrived on scene above their positions. The Russians called in artillery and rockets to pound the battalion positions and hold them in place while another Russian armored battalion maneuvered around the ridge to get behind the Marines. The Israelis, seeing the tank battle taking place not far from their positions, also joined in and began sniping Russian tanks and IFVs as they tried to maneuver around the Marines.
The Marines anticipated a Russian move like this, and had a pair of Razorbacks on standby in case it did. Minutes later, both Razorbacks arrived on scene and began to engage the Russian tank battalion. In just a few minutes, they had destroyed nine enemy tanks and seven infantry fighting vehicles. Unfortunately, several MiG40s were also in the area and swooped down from their high altitude perch to launch a pair of air-to-air missiles, destroying one of the Razorbacks and badly damaging the second. A half dozen surface-to-air missiles jumped after the low flying MiGs, destroying one while the other managed to get away.
After three attempts by the Russians to capture the Marine positions, the battalion fell back to another position that the scouts had found for them. They immediately did their best to disengage and fall back to their next ambush location and repeat the process. They would duplicate this progression four more times before they were relieved and told to fall back deeper into Israel. Their primary objective was to engage and then disengage the Russians, sapping them of their strength and constantly starting and stopping their offensive. As this played out, various IDF and other American armor units continued to maneuver around the Russian flanks, hitting them repeatedly and whittling their numbers down while rotating fresh Allied units in to the fight.
Blood Bath at Megiddo
Day 128
09 April 2041
Damascus, Syria
General Lodz Headquarters
The Russian offensive was going better than they had anticipated. The arrival of two additional squadrons of MiG40s had made a tremendous difference. They continued to loiter high above the battlefield, and as laser or railgun defensive systems were identified by Spetsnaz units or scouts, the MiGs would engage them with guided munitions, exterminating them. Soon after they were destroyed, attack drones or helicopters would move into the area and attack the Allied armor and infantry positions. It was a somewhat slow process, but it was proving to be very effective.
The Russians had advanced into Israel, and were fighting for control of Acre on the Mediterranean and Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. Their goal was to capture the critical port facility of Haifa, and then the critical road junction at Nazareth. This would put them in a good position to drive down deeper into Israel and potentially capture Tel Aviv.
The Chinese, by contrast, had not broken through the Allied defensive line in the south at all, though they were tying down a lot of Allied Forces, which otherwise would have been thrown against the Russians. It was for this reason General Lodz was not furious with his Chinese counterparts for not proving to be better fighters. As long as they continued to hold dozens of Israeli and American divisions in place, then they couldn’t be used against his own forces.
“Where do we stand with the battle right now?” asked General Lodz of the senior IR general on his staff.
“We are close to a break through right now. The problem is, we are grinding through your Russian armor units. I believe it is time to throw in my IR troops and save your reserve forces to follow in behind them,” the IR generals replied, eager to get the Muslim army involved again.
“Hmm…go ahead and send in eight divisions from your force to hit Acre. I want that city captured and our forces in Haifa by the end of tomorrow. I also want your forces to secure Megiddo as well. It’s a critical road junction that we need to control. Is that understood?”
“Yes, General. It will be done,” replied the general, immediately turning to issue orders to the officers near him.
In the following days, 160,000 additional IR infantry joined the 260,000 Russians attacking Acre, and broke through the Allied positions. The Allies quickly fell back again, this time close to Hadera to establish their next defensive line. Additional Israeli troops and militia units moved into the area to help the American Army and Marines try and stop the 420,000 troops bearing down on Tel Aviv. The battle around Megiddo and Haifa were turning into a real bloodbath on all sides as more and more troops, tanks, artillery and air support were being poured into the battles.
Casualties once again began to rise with each new offensive; in nearly four days of heavy fighting, the Americans had suffered 13,458 soldiers killed and three times that number wounded. Israel was once again turning into a meat grinder as the number of Americans killed since the start of the war in Israel now exceeded 100,000 KIAs with five times that many wounded.
Redirect
Day 130
11 April 2041
Washington, D.C.
White House Situation Room
The President was starting to get worried. The new Russian offensive in Israel had dislodged the Israeli and American positions in the north of Israel, and now they were bearing down on Tel Aviv. The Americans had suffered another 68,000 casualties between those wounded and killed, the Israelis 92,000. The arrival of additional MiG40s in Israel was proving to be disastrous for the Allies. They were losing laser and railgun defensive systems, opening the Allied armored units up to Russian and IR air attacks.
In spite of the battlefield losses, the US economy was finally starting to produce the tools of war in the quantities needed now that they were focusing on one theater of operations and not spread across all three. The Americans were producing 400 Pershing battle tanks a month, and in those numbers, they would have enough to field the entire Army and Marines with them in eighteen months. The vehicle chassis was also being used in two new armored vehicles, an armored personnel carrier that could transport twelve infantrymen into battle, and a light drone tank and anti-personnel fighting vehicle (APFV), or Wolverine as it was now officially being called. The Wolverine was the newest drone vehicle to enter military service and could fight and function alone or in hunter killer groups, much like the animal it was named after. It had a medium railgun that could take out other enemy tanks and multiple smaller railguns ideal for attacking enemy infantry. The vehicle was still six months away from first delivery, but would be a game changer when it does arrive.
On the domestic front, the Trinity Identity Intelligence program had aided in the apprehension of thousands of Russian, Chinese and IR intelligence operatives and sympathizers. This greatly reduced the level of sabotage, assassinations and terrorist activity within the country. From the start of operations in Mexico, nearly 82,300 civilians had been killed by various terrorist attacks and targeted assassinations within the US.
The program also began to work on tackling other areas of high crime in America. This improved apprehension rates of criminals, reducing crime across the country. It also began to over-populate the American prison system, which ironically provided an opportunity. Non-violent prisoners were immediately moved into work gangs and began building defensive positions on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest, freeing up thousands of military engineers and soldiers for other critical duties.
Despite the war and massive government spending, the seizure of IR, Chinese and Russian assets, properties and businesses was paying for the war. It had also virtually eliminated the national debt. The challenge faced by America now was how to protect the West Coast and win the wars in Europe and the Middle East. The US mainland had one million three hundred thousand soldiers in various units. The military still had another four million civilians to process through basic training, and another five million more that needed to be drafted. Twenty additional military training bases were being opened to increase the training capacity. Wounded soldiers from the various theaters were being reassigned as drill sergeants once they had recovered from their wounds. Then there were the Central and South American multinational armies that needed to be trained and equipped as well.
To further compound the training and equipment problem, the Middle East was once again turning into a black hole for equipment and troops. Every time things appeared to stabilize, a new offensive would start and the losses would pile up. Europe had been fought to a standstill, with horrific losses on all sides until the blizzards forced a halt to the killing. Fortunately, the war had not turned nuclear, but how long could that possibly last?
********
As the President entered the Situation Room and walked to the head of the table, he couldn’t help but notice the grim faces on his military and civilian advisors. He could tell the state of affairs abroad must be dire.
“Gentlemen, I assume by looking at you that things must be pretty bad,” the President said, trying to appear optimistic.
Mike Williams, the National Security Advisor, broke the silence. “They certainly could be better, Mr. President. General Gardner has established a new defensive line, and they appear to have stopped the Russian advance. They took some serious casualties but so did the Russians and the IR.”
“It’s those blasted MiG40s; they are chewing our fighters and laser defense systems up,” General Branson grunted, clearly irritated.
General Adrian Rice, the Air Force Chief of Staff, jumped into the conversation, saying, “We have a new radar being deployed right now that will change the situation. We are equipping the JF35s, F22s and our fighter drones with them now, along with our air-to-air missiles, and the laser and railgun radar systems. It is going to take a few months to get this new piece fielded to every unit and aircraft. However, once it is completed, the MiG40 will show up on radar screens like a commercial airliner would. We will retake the skies.”
The President always liked General Rice; he was always optimistic and no matter how bad the situation seemed to get, he found a way to solve problems. He was also the first Air Force General to rise through the ranks from the scientific track. He was not a fighter pilot (though he did have his commercial pilot’s license); rather, he was an Air Force researcher who specialized in drone fighter design and low earth orbit space craft.
“Excellent, General Rice. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that we have a viable working solution to countering the MiG40. Soon the Russians will be able to mass produce these aircraft, and if we do not figure out how to challenge them, we are really going to be in trouble.” Before turning away from General Rice, the President asked one other question. “Have we found a way to solve our satellite communications problem yet? This constant shooting down of our satellites and drones is becoming a problem.”
“We are still working on that. Right now, we are looking at miniature satellites that are the size of a baseball. The challenge we have is that although they are small, they can still be destroyed by a ground-based laser. We are currently designing them to look like the space debris that is already in earth’s orbit, and we have been launching them in mass, using the space debris as a means to hide them,” General Rice explained as he used his tablet to bring up an image of what he was talking about.
Mike Williams, the National Security Advisor, let out a soft whistle. “That is an ingenious approach--rather amazing if you ask me. How soon could something like this be in place?”
“We believe shortly, maybe a month. We have our 3D printers working on them right now. We want to launch them from one of our high altitude spy planes so that the delivery vehicle will not have far to travel before dispersing them. We hope we can get enough of the satellites dispersed before the Russians or Chinese figure out what we are doing and start to engage the area. To help provide cover for the operation, we are going to launch a couple of missiles at some larger space debris in the area to make the Chinese and Russians think that perhaps we are just trying to clear the debris so we can place a satellite in that area,” Rice elaborated.
“I like it General. Please continue, and keep us apprised. If we can get satellite communications and real-time surveillance operational again, this will greatly aid the war effort,” the President said with excitement.
Sensing a pause coming soon, General Branson brought up one more point. “Mr. President, before we break--I would like to bring up the issue of Japan. As of right now, Japan is not going to come to our aid. With that said, I would like to move additional cargo aircraft to Japan immediately and evacuate as much of our critical equipment and personnel to Alaska and British
Columbia as soon as possible. There are also three roll-on, roll-off cargo ships in port, not far from our naval station. They are there to move Toyota and Nissan cars from Japan to the US. I would like to recommend that we commandeer these ships and use them to transport a large majority of the heavy armor and equipment that we brought from Korea to the West Coast. We would, of course, compensate the ship owners, but for a short period of time, we would need to take possession of the ships.”
“I understand the logic in moving the personnel and equipment, but why do you want to commandeer a ship that you know will cause a political uproar in Japan?” asked the President.
‘Right now we do not have enough of these ships on the West Coast, and frankly, if we do not move those tanks and other vehicle soon, they are likely to get stuck in Japan. The Chinese fleet has not sailed yet. Once it does, we will not be able to move that equipment, and chances are the Japanese will look to intern our forces and equipment for the duration of the war,” Branson explained.
“Jim, what are your thoughts?” asked the President, wanting to get his Secretary of State’s opinion.
“Right now, Mr. President, it’s a bit tricky. The Japanese are in a hard spot. They are not ready to stand up to the Chinese, even with our help. I believe if we act on this, we should let them know so that they do not throw up a lot of roadblocks. They can make a public stink about it to save face, but they will let us do it.” Jim replied. He knew that the President wanted to avoid a problem with the Japanese, but felt that this could be a workable solution as long as they left them an “out.”
“Jim, get with the Japanese and make sure this plan will work. General Branson, move forward with your plan,” the President directed.
