by James Rosone
The arrival of Three Corps brought 49,000 fresh soldiers to bolster the NATO army group. The addition of the 1st Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 1st Armored Division and the 4th Infantry Division brought with them battle-hardened combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, along with a very combat-experienced NCO cadre--something the NATO forces desperately needed. The European units that were making up the bulk of the fighting thus far, lacked any serious combat experience and their training had done little to prepare them for the onslaught they had faced against Russia.
General Cotton looked down at the field report that had been given to him several hours earlier and decided that they were now ready to start a new offensive. The Navy had rushed nearly 1,600 main battle tanks to Europe, along with 3,500 infantry fighting vehicles. Together with the British, German, French, Dutch, and Polish forces, that brought his tank numbers up to nearly 4,000 main battle tanks and over 20,000 assorted infantry fighting vehicles. His troop numbers had swelled to 180,000, with fresh Reserve and National Guard units being airlifted to Europe daily from the States. He still had another 65,000 soldiers of V Corps that were reforming in Germany, and they would be ready by the end of November.
In was now mid-October, and the war was nearly seven weeks old. If the Russians thought NATO was going to roll over and play dead, they had another thing coming. Cotton smiled mischievously at the plan he and Secretary Castle had come up with.
“We are going to catch the Russians by surprise with this next move,” he thought, “but the key to making it work will be getting the politicians to go along.”
The Russians had staged the 6th Tank Army in Belarus, tying down the entire Polish army from being able to commit to NATO in Ukraine. While the Russians had not invaded the Baltic States, the presence of several divisions forced him to keep the bulk of the 82nd Airborne spread across the three countries to keep the Russians in check. While Belarus was not looking to become further involved in this conflict, the fact that they were allowing the Russian 6th Tank Army to set up camp in their country was keeping 90,000 troops that General Cotton needed in Ukraine tied down so that they could defend Poland and the Baltic States. It was a brilliant move by the Russians, and General Cotton had had enough of it.
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” Cotton thought to himself.
As SACEUR, he brought this problem to the SecDef. He needed to get permission from the President to deal with the threat and try to end the Russian war quickly. His plan called for the Ukrainian forces in the south to hold their positions, with assistance from the Romanians; this would protect his southern flank. The 108,000 NATO soldiers near Rivne, Ukraine would conduct a feint and appear as if they were going to smash directly into the Russian lines. This would force the Russians to move additional divisions forward in order to block the allied forces’ advance. Then, the US Three Corps (along with the Polish 11th Armored Cavalry Division and the 12th Mechanized Division) would launch a surprise attack on the Russian Tank Army in Belarus from Białystok, Poland in the north and a southern push from Ratne, Ukraine.
Once they had captured the Russian army group, they would advance on Minsk and then look to threaten Moscow directly. This would force the Russian army group in Ukraine to have to fall back and defend the capital. Then NATO could liberate Ukraine and bring an end to the war no one thought would happen. It was an audacious plan, and it just might work.
Punched in the Face
Highway E67, Lithuania
Major General Paul Austin of the 4th Infantry Division was looking out the window at the countryside whipping past his vehicle as his division raced through Lithuania on their way to Vilnius, the capital city. It was still dark, but he could make out some buildings and petrol stations just off the deserted E67 highway as they drove along. He had nearly 2,000 vehicles in his column, snaking across twelve miles of the highway. The decision had been made the day before to change the invasion of Belarus slightly and have his division race north into Lithuania so that they could make a more direct move on Minsk. His 11,000-man division was going to try and capture Belarus’ capital, and then seal off any possible retreat of the Russian 6th Tank Army.
Following General Austin’s division into Belarus would be service members from the Lithuanian army; they would be responsible for the occupation and garrison duty once the primary objectives had been achieved. They spoke the language, unlike the Americans, and shared more of a common history and culture since both countries were former Soviet republics.
Austin’s division had been on the road now for nearly five hours, but they still had close to 40 kilometers to travel before they reached the outskirts of the city and then made their way to the jump off point. They were going to cross the border at Medininkai on the E26 Highway, which would lead directly to Minsk, 155 kilometers away. He looked down at his watch.
“The rest of Three Corps and the Polish army should be crossing into Belarus right about now, starting the new offensive,” he thought.
At 0700 hours, his division began to roll through the tiny border town of Medininkai (population 528), when they spotted the first sign of enemy activity. A small contingent of armored vehicles and soldiers was gathered along the road. They must have been very nervous at the sight of hundreds of American military vehicles amassing not far from their position because MG Austin could see enemy soldiers scrambling to get in their vehicles and race away from the border. They knew they were clearly outmatched--his division had 62 M1A2 Abrams battle tanks, 96 Bradley fighting vehicles, and 126 Stryker vehicles. They also had an artillery brigade for direct fire support. His forces were ready to pounce; now they just had to wait until it was time.
As they approached the border, he deployed his scouts and forward observers to start getting eyes on possible enemy units they may encounter. Soon he had scouts as deep as 40 kilometers inside Belarus. Shortly, the action would pick up and he would lead his division in a mad race to capture the capital city of Minsk.
“What an exciting time to be a soldier,” he thought privately.
*******
“Viking-Five, this is Hammer-Three. We have three T-80 tanks and six BTRs at grid Golf Kilo 743 597. Do we have permission to engage over?” asked Sergeant First Class Tim Hanse.
His forward observer platoon had crossed the Belarus border nearly two hours ago, slowly moving along various dirt roads towards possible enemy positions. They had been shown several potential enemy positions via satellite reconnaissance and were tasked with getting eyes on them. His platoon had split up into squads to cover more ground as they tried to find targets for the guns.
His squad had found about a company-sized element located at Palyany, roughly thirty or so kilometers from the border, just where the satellite photos had said they would be. Now it was up to the folks at division to determine if they wanted to blow them up now or let them live a little longer.
The radio chirped briefly before it responded to their question, “Hammer-Three, this is Viking-Five. We copy. Proceed with fire mission over.”
SFC Hanse smiled that they had been given permission to engage. He looked at the coordinates one of the soldiers had given him, and briefly nodded. “Viking-Five, this is Hammer-Three. Requesting three rounds, HE at grid Golf Kilo 743 597. Fire for effect. How copy?”
A second later, they responded back and read the fire mission back to him. He acknowledged, and they stood by, waiting for the rounds to impact, ready to adjust fire as needed.
A couple of minutes later, the radio crackled to life again. “Shot out.”
After another pause, the radio came to life again. “Splash,” said the voice, indicating the rounds were about to impact.
“Copy that,” Hanse responded, and they waited for the sound of the incoming rounds.
Suddenly, a sound like a freight train raced over their heads as the artillery rounds began to fly in and saturate the area they had called in. One of the tanks took a direct hit, so did two of the BTRs. Sev
eral others had been damaged. Most of the troops near the tanks dropped to the ground. The survivors of the initial blasts immediately ran to their vehicles, knowing all too well that they needed to move to a new location.
SFC Hanse called in a second fire mission--this time destroying nearly all the remaining vehicles and flattening this small village in the process. As the buildings and vehicles lay in ruins, dark oily black smoke began rising into the air. Sergeant Hanse’s scout group got in their two HUMVEEs and began to drive to their next location, continuing to scout for their artillery brigade.
Reinforcements
Moscow, Russia
The National Defense Management Center
General Boris Egorkin was reading through the reports coming in from Ukraine and Belarus.
“It would appear that NATO was launching an all-out ground offensive against their forces in Ukraine, and have now opted instead to invade the peace-loving people of Belarus,” he thought.
The 6th Tank Army commander was reporting contact with Polish and American ground forces. As he looked at the map, he could clearly see what SACEUR was trying to do. He was hoping to cut off the 6th Army and capture Minsk. This would force him to have to withdraw his forces from Ukraine to defend Moscow.
Before President Petrov arrived, he sent a quick message to his commander in Belarus. “Have your forces fall back to the outskirts of Minsk,” he directed.
“We are not going to allow ourselves to get surrounded and cut off, no matter what,” he determined.
While he was mulling over possible military responses, the President walked in and sat at the head of the conference table. “What is going on in Belarus?” he asked. “How does this change our plans?”
General Egorkin responded first. “Mr. President, General Cotton (the Supreme Allied Commander Europe) has devised a plan to try and force us out of Ukraine by threatening Moscow.”
Petrov raised an eyebrow at that response. The Minister of Defense, Alexei Semenov, replied, “I believe comrade Egorkin is getting a bit ahead of himself with that statement. The Americans have launched a multi-pronged attack across Ukraine and now into Belarus. The 6th Tank Army had been tying down too many NATO forces while it was deployed to Belarus. They are now moving to encircle the army group and then capture Minsk and remove that threat.”
Egorkin was not one to back down when he knew he was right, and jumped right back into the conversation. “Comrades, if NATO secures Minsk, where do you think they will move next? The obvious answer is Moscow. If they look to threaten Moscow, then I will have to pull most of my forces out of Ukraine to defend the capital. That is what they are going to do. The question is--how do we stop them from doing that?” he asked.
Petrov leaned back in his chair for a second, thinking what to do next. “Since that fool in North Korea used nuclear weapons against US and South Korean Forces, using them here in Europe is completely out of the question,” he realized. “The American President has proved to everyone that he is not afraid to retaliate with them either. No, we will have to find another way.”
“What forces can we draw from so that we would not take away from General Egorkin’s forces?” asked Petrov, hoping they may be able to try something different.
General Alexei Semenov thought for a minute while the others at the table looked at him, waiting for his response. “We have the 16th Spetsnaz brigade, which we have not deployed yet…we can rush them to Belarus. We can also move the 76th Guard’s Air Assault Division from Pskov, and the 106th Guard’s Airborne Division from Tula. Those two divisions and the brigade would give us an additional 26,000 soldiers that can rapidly deploy to Minsk. We can have them there within 72-hours. Shoot, the Spetsnaz brigade can get in position within twenty-four hours, once we give them the go.”
Petrov raised a hand to interject a comment. “That addresses the short-term need of getting forces into Belarus, but how are we going to address the bigger problem of stopping NATO from capturing the country and then threatening Moscow? Unless we heavily reinforce the 6th Tank Army, they are going to be in trouble.”
General Semenov responded, “I recommend we move the 90th Guard’s Tank Division from Chebarkul in central Russia, along with the reserve forces we’ve been mobilizing since the start of the war. We should also have the Air Force start to hit NATO ground forces with a lot more cruise missiles. We need to bombard them constantly from the air, so we can keep the pressure on them.”
Semenov took a breath and then continued, “The Chinese are going to attack the Americans within the next 24 hours. When that happens, the Americans will not be able to support and sustain NATO and their forces deployed on the Korean Peninsula. They just do not have the sealift capability or the personnel.”
“That is partially true,” Petrov corrected. “The Americans are conscripting a massive army, and they will be able to deploy hundreds of thousands of soldiers by February 2018. The Chinese have to take the Americans out of the war quickly, and that is not something I am confident they can do.”
Missile Swarm
20,000 feet above Tangshan, China
Major Chen’s squadron of H-6 bombers (which were essentially Russian Badger bombers) were now entering their maximum range for their anti-ship cruise missiles as they flew over the city of Tangshan. Off in the distance, the pilots of his squadron could still see the orange glow at the edge of the horizon from the destruction of Shenyang. It boiled his blood to know that such a great and beautiful city had been so violently taken from them. His squadron, along with the rest of the H-6 bomber squadrons, would now exact China’s revenge on the Americans who had killed so many of his countrymen.
Their bombers were each carrying two YJ-12 "Eagle Strike 12" anti-ship cruise missiles. The YJ-12 had a maximum range of 400 kilometers, and carried a 551 lbs. high-explosive semi-armor-piercing warhead. The missiles could also travel at speeds of Mach 3.2 if launched from high altitude, making them very hard to hit. The Chinese Air Force had learned from the Russians the swift effectiveness of a missile swarm, and they planned on hitting the Americans with them as often as possible.
Twenty-eight hours had passed since the Americans had destroyed the city of Shenyang, and they were still determining how many people had been killed when the city was destroyed. Initial estimates had placed the casualties somewhere between four and five million. The people of China were shocked and then terrified when news broke of the city being bombed by a nuclear weapon. Then, as the images of the devastation--the dead bodies littered everywhere, and others with horrific wounds--began to circulate on social media, anger began to boil over. People took to the streets, demanding the government retaliate.
As Major Chen’s bomber droned on, they moved ever closer to the American battlegroup, which was in the process of steaming away from the Yellow Sea back towards Japan. When they had moved to within 300 kilometers of them, they started to detect the powerful American search radars. Several of the advanced reconnaissance aircraft turned on their own potent search radars, and immediately began to feed the targeting data back to their squadron. Chen’s weapons officer immediately programed the missiles and let him know they were ready for launch.
A voice came over the radio to the squadron. “Everyone, prepare to fire your missiles.”
It was a very tense 60 seconds, until the voice from the radio commanded them, “Fire all missiles and return to base!”
Chen’s weapons officer followed the order, letting loose the cruise missiles on board. Seconds later, Chen felt the aircraft lift slightly as the weight of those missiles was suddenly released from his wings. He saw the flashes as the rocket motors started and the YJ-12s began to move towards their cruising speed.
He nodded in satisfaction; all his missiles had been successfully launched without incident or failure. Then Chen turned the aircraft and began to head back to their base, presumably to rearm for another mission.
Ambushed
Yellow Sea
Commander Paul Jensen was on his
last deployment with the Navy before he planned on retiring. This was his third deployment as the Captain of the USS Howard, and while he loved the Navy (and would probably be selected for Captain O-6) his wife and family were done with the long deployments and moving every three or four years. His kids were going to start high school soon, and his wife had told him in no uncertain terms that it was important for them to be able to settle down and stay in one place for a while. He knew she was right, and it would be best for the kids if he retired, but he loved the Navy; to be in command of a warship on the high seas was the most rewarding professional experience of his life. Still, he loved his family, so Jensen had determined that when he returned from this deployment, he was going to see if he could perhaps find a desk job that would allow him to spend four or more years on shore duty, until his kids could finish high school.
When the war in Europe broke out, Commander Jensen had seen this as an opportunity to serve his country one more time before retirement. When the 6th Fleet had been sunk by the Russians during the opening hours of the war, he felt simultaneously glad that he had not been assigned to the Atlantic fleet, and also angry that so many of his colleagues had been killed and he would not get a chance to avenge their deaths. However, just as he thought his ship might end up sitting out the war, tensions escalated quickly on the Korean Peninsula. It looked like Jensen and his ship, the USS Howard, would get their chance to fight after all.
Just as Commander Jensen was gearing up for battle, orders came down from General Bennett and the 7th Fleet Commander to change course. He received a FLASH message, which read, “All ships withdraw from the Yellow Sea immediately, and proceed to the Sea of Japan. Abort amphibious assault missions and move forwards with alternate battle plan B-11. Possible retaliation by the Chinese forces for attack at Shenyang eminent. Move at the maximum speed that can be maintained while continuing to sail in formation.”
