Operation Red Dawn and the Siege of Europe (World War III Series Book 3)

by Rosone,James

  The Major began to walk quickly toward Lieutenant Allen and the Wolverine he was standing next to with his platoon sergeant. “Lieutenant Allen I presume?” he inquired.

  “Yes Sir. Are you my relief, Sir?” asked Allen in a hopeful tone. He wanted to get his men back into the main fight with their Raptor suits.

  “That I am; I’m the battalion commander of the 3/5 light infantry,” the Major responded. Curiosity took hold and he asked, “So are these the new Raptor suits we’ve been hearing about? How do you like them?”

  Realizing that his small platoon was the only ones wearing the Raptor suits, Paul suddenly felt out of place among the hundreds of regular infantry moving towards them in their standard body armor.

  “They are actually pretty great. Several of my men were shot while securing the area but the suit protected them. We took no injuries at all, which was amazing,” Allen said feeling good about the accomplishment of his platoon.

  “That is remarkable. Not sure when my battalion is going to get them, but I hope soon. So--back to business. Is there anything we should know about before your platoon leaves the area?” asked the Major, trying to get a better picture of what was going on.

  “We captured a few prisoners; I have them over there near that blown-out bunker. They really put up a fight in those bunkers, so we had to level quite a few of them. Right now, our battalion is still moving with the tanks. They are about five miles in that direction. I’d work on getting this position ready to defend against another Chinese assault, in case we have to fall back. I don’t expect that to happen, but my vehicles have been engaging a lot of air targets lately, so I’d be prepared for anything.” Allen did his best to give a good run-down of the situation and what to possibly expect.

  Nodding as he made a couple of notes, the Major spoke on his mic to several of his officers, giving them instructions to relieve Allen’s men and take possession of the prisoners. He also ordered his men to begin clearing the trenches of the dead bodies and to start to prepare a new defensive line. “Thank you Lieutenant for the information and your assessment. My men and I appreciate it. We’ll have this place ready to meet the Chinese if they try and come back around,” he said confidently. Then he turned around and began to walk towards the rest of his men, barking orders.

  “Sergeant, get the platoon back into the vehicles; it’s time for us to go catch up to the rest of our comrades,” Allen said.

  *******

  In the air, the F41s were having a huge impact as they continued to clear the skies of enemy drones and manned fighters. The F38B fighter bombers and Razorbacks continued to hammer the Chinese armor units, despite taking some heavy losses from Chinese surface to air missile (SAM) sites. In spite of the valiant effort by the Air Force, the ground war did not go nearly as well.

  There were several moments where it looked like the Americans were going to break through and drive the Chinese back to the beaches; then additional reinforcements would show up and plug the holes in their lines. The fighting between the infantry and the armed forces was incredibly intense, with thousands of soldiers on both sides dying each hour as the fighting raged on.

  The tank battle between the American and Chinese armored forces continued for nearly two days before the Americans were forced to withdraw when the Chinese reinforcements started a massive counterattack. The Americans had dealt a serious blow to the Chinese (who up to this point had thought that they would be able to drive the Americans out of Alaska by the end of summer), but in the end, they were just outnumbered by the sheer volume of tanks and drones the Chinese were able to throw at them. It did not take long before the Chinese were able to push the Americans back to the Susitna defensive line, right where the Americans had initially begun their summer offensive.

  HULK

  25 September 2041

  London, Kentucky

  Pegasus Spaceport

  Operation Pegasus was proceeding at a rapid rate. With priority manufacturing and materials, construction of the HULK was moving along. The first several modules had been completed, and the front half of the ship was starting to take shape. The men and women who would be piloting the craft were currently in training at the Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers in Florida and Texas. A second group of volunteers was also in training for the second HULK that would be completed approximately twelve months after the first one.

  Dozens of new manufacturing plants were under construction that would support both the construction of the HULK and the habitation modules that would be continually built and sent to the lunar surface. Space X’s new transport craft was nearly fifty percent complete; they were also going to build a second transport, so at least two of them would be in service. That way they could continually bring modules and required materials to the lunar surface for those who would be living there, and return Tritium4 back to Earth, which was critical to the war effort.

  The space port itself was turning into a magnificent structure; it had a landing and launch pad for the HULK and the transport craft that would be moving between the Earth and the Moon, along with several loading and unloading docking stations. Everything was being built to move the ships through a very efficient assembly line like process to minimize the amount of time the crafts would be required to stay on Earth before returning back to the stars. There was also a massive maintenance bay that was under construction. There was a terminal with a beautiful control tower being built as well. In time, people would be able to move to the lunar surface and live there full-time. Right now, the only people who would be allowed to live on the lunar surface would be those working on the mining operation and about 100 scientists of various disciplines who would be studying the effects of humans living in space and terraforming.

  President Stein already had his eyes set on Mars; once the war on Earth had been won then he would focus the country’s efforts on not just establishing a permanent colony on the lunar surface, but also on Mars. There were also designs for several deep space reconnaissance ships as well. These explorer ships would be sent to find other habitable planets and moons that could support life, and send the data back to earth. There were separate initiatives underway to explore some of the asteroid belts in the solar system to determine if they might contain any valuable minerals as well. It was highly suspected that these asteroids could be mined and reduce the need for mining activities on Earth. This could only have been made possible through the development of the EmDrive system and the improved Ion engine. The Angelic power system (which was essentially cold fusion) was also the core enabler for these technologies. For the first time in history, man was finally in the position to expand beyond earth.

  ******

  Dr. Weisz was just finishing her tour of the White House; she had to admit that she found herself in awe when she was actually able to step into the Oval Office. So much history had happened here. It was something she had never dreamed she would ever be able to do in her lifetime. She certainly had never expected to meet directly with the President of the United States. However much she disagreed with him, she could not turn down the opportunity to talk to him face-to-face.

  The young female tour guide (who reminded Dr. Weisz of her students) brought her to some of the back rooms that were a bit more non-descript. “This is where you will wait for the President. Is there anything that I can get for you? A coffee perhaps?”

  “Well, I certainly won’t turn down coffee,” Rosanna replied.

  She looked around the room nervously, trying to go over her game plan in her head. The seconds seemed like hours, but really it was only a few minutes before President Stein walked into the room, larger than life, and shook her hand.

  “Mr. President,” she said, “It is a great honor to meet you.”

  “I am likewise honored to meet you, Dr. Weisz,” replied the President. She certainly hadn’t been expecting that response. A look of credulity was not very well-concealed on her face. The President smiled in response. “You see, I’ve listened to your speeches. W
hile I fundamentally disagree with you on a few factual points, it is very clear that you do love this country, and you are a patriotic American. That is someone I can respect, even when we don’t think all of the same things.”

  “Mr. President, I am humbled that you would ask to meet with me in person. However, this nice tour and your kind words aren’t going to change my opinions of the world and the horrible things that have happened.”

  “Nor would I expect them to, Dr. Weisz. What I hope it does convey is that I am taking you seriously,” responded the President. Then he turned to open a folder in front of him.

  “You have a PhD in humanities, correct?”

  “Yes, Mr. President.”

  “And you also teach a number of history classes, as I understand it.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “So tell me, what is your understanding of why President Truman chose to use atomic weapons in World War II?”

  She felt like a student defending her thesis again. “Well, the answer to that question is complex. There were a number of issues at play. Some feel that nuclear weapons were used as a show of force to deter the Soviet Union, who were becoming increasingly threatening. Others feel that the public mood in the United States had shifted away from supporting the war, so Truman was looking for a way to end the war quickly…there are various factors.”

  The President nodded. “Those answers are not entirely inaccurate, and may have contributed to the decision, but I would like to submit a piece of history to you.” He handed her an old type-written document on yellowing paper.

  She wasn’t sure what she was looking at. The President explained, “This is the estimate from General MacArthur of how many casualties there would be in a continued ground war against Japan.”

  Then she could see various military groups identified and the number of men anticipated lost on the right. The total at the bottom was over one million possible lives lost.

  The President continued. “What you don’t see here is that the anticipated loss of life for the Japanese was over seven million. I do not take the use of nuclear bombs lightly; however, at the end of the day, there were about 200,000 deaths compared to about eight million casualties.”

  Those words sunk in…there was a moment of solemn silence. “Sir, I can appreciate that. However, the response from the IR’s attack on our cities was so asymmetrical--surely you must feel some sympathy for the human toll of this tragedy…” Dr. Weisz was hoping for even just an inkling of acknowledgement of her point of view.

  “I do. It keeps me up at night, many nights. Honestly, I keep playing it over, wishing the circumstances were different, but when I do, I ultimately come to the same conclusion. You see, there is another picture that keeps haunting me.” He pulled another photograph out of his folder; it was a horrific scene of mass carnage on the battlefield. Bodies were literally in heaps on top of each other. “What you are looking at here is a scene from the battle in Israel. These images were never made public in interest of human decency, but the Islamic Republic sent wave after wave of soldiers to attack us. Many of them were not well trained, and some were not well armed. Caliph Abbas simply has no regard for human life whatsoever. He had his political objective, and he did not care how many pawns were sacrificed on the altar of his success. I know so many died in nuclear explosions, but at the end of the day, I feel that I prevented further carnage, not just of our people, but of theirs.”

  Dr. Weisz was deep in thought. She wasn’t exactly sure what to make of all of this. There was a silent pause while the President gave her a moment to ponder it all.

  “Do you know Leon Trotsky, Dr. Weisz?”

  “I am familiar with some of his works, yes.”

  “He made a statement that I still find very true. He said, ‘You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.’ I know that these few minutes we’ve had together may not have changed your mind about what has happened, but I hope you will see that there was more to my decision than just revenge.”

  “I certainly have a lot to think about, Sir.”

  Interrogator

  1 October 2041

  Fort McCoy, Wisconsin

  US Army Prisoner of War Internment Camp III

  During World War II, Ft. McCoy had been used as a Germany POW camp, in addition to a basic training facility. Now history was repeating itself, and the old National Guard base was reactivated to be an active duty military training facility alongside the POW camp, just as it had been in the 1940s. Ft. McCoy was located in the middle of Wisconsin, in a relatively low-populated area of the state, which made it ideal for a POW camp. The base was also training 12,000 new army recruits at any given time, graduating 1,000 new soldiers a week from their twelve-week basic combat training course.

  Ft. McCoy did not house all of America’s POWs, but it did house the prisoners identified as having some sort of intelligence value. Prisoners not being deemed as having intelligence value had been turned over to other POW camps that worked with DHS to provide tens of thousands of prisoners to be used on various work gangs and projects all across the US. The prisoners farmed their own food and carried out a variety of other physical labor services as both a means of keeping them occupied while also helping to rebuild the various areas inside America that had been damaged or destroyed in the war.

  Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4) Josh Schafer was the senior military interrogator at Ft. McCoy. He was also the XO for an interrogation detachment from the 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, 109th Military Intelligence Battalion. They had thirty-six military interrogators, nine DoD civilian interrogators, and forty-five contract interrogators to handle the 25,000 Islamic Republic, Russian and Chinese POWs currently being held at Ft. McCoy.

  CW4 Schafer had just received a new high-value prisoner from Alaska, a Russian Colonel who had been an armored brigade commander before he was captured by US Special Forces. The men that brought him in kept laughing about how he had been captured while he was relieving himself in the woods, not far from his Command vehicle. The SF unit in question had been shadowing the brigade headquarters, and was in the process of preparing to ambush it when they spotted the commander walking in the woods alone. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, they grabbed him and then proceeded to ambush the headquarters unit.

  The Russian Colonel had quickly been transferred to a rearguard unit, who had him transferred to Ft. McCoy once he accidentally made mention of the new Russian main battle tank and how it would crush America. Now it was incumbent on CW4 Schafer, to find out as much information as he could about this mystery tank. After spending a couple of hours looking over all of the intelligence and information available on the good Colonel, Schafer felt he was ready to meet him and begin to assess his new prisoner.

  Schafer had been an interrogator for sixteen years; he had a BS in psychology and an MA in International Studies. During his career so far, he had fought in the Mexican invasion, and had interrogated numerous Islamic terrorists for the war effort. He had originally been assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division in Israel, but he had been wounded and sent back to the US to recover. Upon recovering from his shrapnel injuries, he was reassigned to the 109th MI battalion and sent to Ft. McCoy. This was his third month at Ft. McCoy, and already he had conducted over 150 interrogations and obtained an incredible amount of intelligence, particularly about the IR military leadership structure and who was loyal to the Caliph versus their country of origin. He was adept at sifting out the radicals versus the pragmatic military leaders. This information was critical in determining who the US and IDF could work with during the occupation, and who was going to present a long-term problem for them. By assessing who could safely be trusted as team players during the occupation of the IR, the U.S. was going to have much greater chance of keeping the peace.

  Now it was about finding out what the next steps the Chinese and Russians were up to. CW4 Schafer pushed his chair back away from his desk and computer, grabbed his notepad and tablet, and signal
ed to his analyst and interpreter that it was time for them to walk to their interrogation booth and get things prepared for the interrogation. Their prisoner was going to be brought to them in about thirty-minutes, giving them plenty of time to get things ready. As they walked out of the Interrogation Control Element (ICE)--the building the interrogators and analyst operated out of when not working with the prisoners--they made their way across the street to the interrogation building. The structure that housed the interrogation booths was connected to the actual POW camp, making easy access to move the detainees in for questioning. Inside were thirty state-of-the-art interrogation booths, which were in use nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

  Each booth had a separate viewing room connected to it with a one-way mirror (this allowed for rule-keeping monitors to see the interrogation as it was happening). The rooms also had a number of high-tech pieces of equipment that greatly improved the interrogation process. There was a thermal camera, which helped to monitor the prisoner’s body temperature and spikes in perspiration that occur when a person is nervous or lying. In addition to the thermal imaging, there were also half a dozen mini-cameras observing the prisoner; these cameras were looking for any ticks or tells the detainee might have. With the aid of computer software, micro-expressions could be judged to catch eyelid quivering when nervous, slight movements of the lips that might indicate lying, and the dilation of pupils to indicate genuine surprise. CW4 Schafer said a little “thank you” in his head to President Stein as they walked into the room; it was due to his emphasis on improved equipment that he was able to enjoy all of the technology he had at his disposal.

  As Schafer and his analyst got their equipment and room set up, their interpreter began to look over the various questions and points of discussion they were going to discuss with the prisoner. This way, he could ask questions for clarification before the interrogation started if he needed to. The thirty-minutes went by quickly, and before long, a knock could be heard at the door, letting them know their prisoner had arrived. The Colonel was wearing the traditional yellow jumpsuit that all prisoners wore; his name and rank were sewn on to the front and back of his jumpsuit, so he could be quickly identified.