by Ira Tabankin
A minor bump in the road, President Brownie didn’t dwell on, was the drastic food rationing. Adults were limited to 1600 calories a day, children 2000 and anyone over the age of 55, 1200 calories. Everyone in the LSA was going hungry, most went to bed hungry. The government confiscated any food from anyone who had stored more than two days. The government cross-checked who went shopping and anyone not buying their daily calories was suspected of being a prepper. Preppers’ homes were turned upside down looking for hidden supplies. Many preppers fought the police; hidden guns came out in running gun fights of prepper and police. The police won every contest due to their higher numbers and more guns.
Chapter 25
General Voldodin commenced the attack into Texas at 0300. He sent one platoon up the middle; it was mostly a gesture to show the American military what they expected to see. The American Army didn’t realize the tanks being sent up the road were old and outdated, the modern tanks drove towards the American’s flanks. The Russians used their small drones to carry small jamming pods to jam the American's radar. Some of the drones also carried flares to confuse any IR guided anti-air missiles.
Major Johns commanding the American force saw the tanks Voldodin wanted him to see, they were coming right down the road where Major Johns projected them to be. “Get ready, they’re coming right where we projected them to be. They’ll be in the range in 20 minutes.”
“Major, Captain Miller, sir, the imager isn’t showing enough tanks, something’s wrong. They’re doing exactly as you thought. They’re coming right down the middle of the road. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Captain don’t worry about it. Just be happy I’m smarter than they expected. We’re going to pound their asses.”
“Major, sir, something is wrong, there’s not enough of them.”
“Captain, get off the radio, I’m in charge. Just follow your orders.”
“Yes sir.”
Captain Miller hangs up the field telephone; he looks at his first Lieutenant, “LT, take your platoon to our right flank, take all of the anti-tank missiles your men can carry. Dig in quickly and get ready, I’ll bet my last dollar the Russians know we’re here. They are going to hit us from the flanks. The Major doesn’t agree. I want us to be ready.”
“Captain, if the Major finds out…”
“LT don’t worry about the Major; he’s my problem, yours is to set up an ambush the Russians aren’t expecting.”
“Yes sir.”
General Voldodin smiles watching the video from his drones; the Americans are seeing what they expect to see. “Tell the commander of the middle column to slow down, I want him to be no closer than 2000 meters when our flanking attacks hit their lines.”
The Russian tanks are almost on the Americans; they crest the last small hill; the American lines are directly in front of them, “FIRE," hundreds of tanks and APCs open fire. The Russian SABOT round strikes the American Abrams tanks in their weakest area, their rear end. Every American tank hit is knocked out of the battle. Their turbine engines destroyed; they can’t move; they have limited battery power to move the turrets to return fire. The sound rounds fired at the Americans are canniest anti-personal rounds. These are shells that explode in front of the American lines sending hundreds of cubes of steel into the American infantry lines. Russian artillery and mortar rounds land among the Americans killing hundreds of them. The only saving grace for the Americans was Captain Miller’s group had enough time to set up. They stopped the Russian advance on the right flank. The Russians responded by pouring additional artillery rounds on the Captain’s position that missed. The Captain ordered his men to fire two rounds each and shift to their backup position, fire two rounds each and shift again. As long as their missiles held, they were taking a toll on the Russians.
Major Johns watches his forces die in front of him. Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles explode all around him. His mortar platoons are destroyed by Russian counterbattery fire. His troops are cut down by the Russian artillery and mortar rounds, every Russian round seems to know just where the Americans are. The only effective force left is Captain Miller, who went against orders and repositioned his men on the right flank. Major Johns is happy the Captain disobeyed his orders as Russian tank after tank falls to the Captains anti-tank missiles. His thoughts are broken by, “Major; they’ve broken through our lines on the left flank.”
“Order everyone to retreat. Tell Captain Miller to buy us a few minutes and then follow us.”
“Yes sir.”
An hour later Major Johns reviews his existing force, twenty-six Abrams tanks, and twelve Bradly fighting vehicles. He has less than 100 infantry left. Minutes later Captain Miller and his men arrive. “Captain Miller.”
“Sir.”
“Captain, thank you for disobeying my orders, you were correct. You were correct; it was going to be too easy. How did you know to defend the flank?”
“Major, there weren’t enough tanks in the group moving towards our center the others had to be someplace. I figured they used a silent drone of some type to see our positions; the Russian commander then changed his order of battle to attack us in our weakest locations. I positioned my platoon with all of the anti-tank missiles they could carry. We gave them a black eye, but they whooped our butts. Sir.”
“Captain, keep telling me what you think, I promise to listen better-next time. Getting one’s ass kicked makes one a better listener.”
“Major are we going to counter attack?”
“Captain, we lack the means, I think we’ll let the mines slow them down a little while we call for reinforcements.”
“Yes sir.”
Twenty minutes later six A10s hit the Russian armor, this time the Russians are ready with surface to air missiles, five of the six A10s re brought down by the missiles; however they destroyed twenty-five tanks before they fell to the missiles. The A10 leader calls for assistance,
“We lost five; the Russians have MANPADS, a new type we haven’t encountered before. Our flares don’t decoy them.”
“Do you have their coordinates?”
“Yes, I’m sending you their GPS location, over.”
“RTB,” (Return To Base)
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General Voldodin tells his people, “We need to change direction, those planes must have called in our position; they’ll have additional bombers after us soon, turn everyone 45 degrees, and spread out so they can’t take out more than one tank per pass
The Russians spread out as four F16s arrive over them dropping cluster munitions. These kill a number of troops and blow the tracks off of five tanks that can be repaired. Unknown to the Russians the US Army III corps from Fort Hood is in transit to intercept them with hundreds of updated Abrams M1A3 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, plus ten thousand troops. Another five thousand troops have been sent to provide the Pantex plant with additional security. Anti-air missiles are being rushed to the site. Combat engineers are building a no-mans land around the factory. They’ll be turning a circle around the plant into a killing zone.
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The United Nations fleet is composed of one Russian aircraft carrier that had been lucky enough to been sea when the Russian harbors were attacked. Russia’s last four destroyers and ten international frigates and destroyers. There are also two ex-French nuclear submarines, now commandeered by Russian captain first rank, escorting the battle fleet. Their target is the Kings Row Submarine base in Georgia, America’s second Trident nuclear submarine base. The United Nations’ fleet is steaming without using their radars; they’re operating without using any electronic sensors to try to hide their position. A US AWACS radar early warning plane has spotted the United Nations’ fleet, unfortunately for the United States navy, the UN fleet took an indirect course to Georgia. The US navy is out of position to intercept them. The United Nations’ commander hopes this mission will be as successful as the attack on the Bangor base. If the United Nations attack succeeds, the United States won’t have a Tr
ident submarine base to equip and rearm their fleet of ballistic missile submarines.
Admiral Zander checks the status board and curses up a storm; none of his ships can intercept the United Nations’ ships in time. The Admiral calls the Commanding General of the Air Force to see if they can send some Harpoon armed B52 bombers after the United Nations’ fleet.
“General Andews can you get a squadron of Harpoon armed B52s in the air quickly? They may be our only way to stop or slow down the United Nations fleet heading to our Kings Row base in Georgia.”
“Admiral, we can have six, maybe twelve Harpoon armed B52s in the air and off the coast of Georgia in three hours.”
“Any way to speed that up?”
“We armed the B52s with land attack weapons; they have to be unloaded and reloaded with Harpoons. Then they have to fly to the fleet. I’ll push the colonel in charge of the base, but you should plan for three hours. Admiral, our gaming has shown that most of the Harpoons will be shot down. We might even lose a few of the B52s, do you still want them?”
“General, I don’t think we have a choice.”
“OK, I’ll issue the orders.”
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After President Brownie address the people of the LSA, food and fuel riots break out throughout the LSA. 20% in the LSA own large SUVs which laugh at 10 gallons of fuel limit, the 15% that own hybrids laugh at the owners of SUVs which causes neighbor versus neighbor fighting. The homes that stocked food which the national police track via backtracking online sales, are raided in the middle of the night. Armed SWAT teams break into the homes at 3:00 AM; The adults and children are dragged out of their beds, and they’re handcuffed and forced to watch while their home is torn apart looking for hidden supplies. Any found supplies are taken in the name of the people of the LSA. Families are arrested for hording in a time of a national emergency.
Many in the LSA worry about repercussions by the United States Military against the LSA since President Reid allowed the LSA to be used as a staging base for the invasion against the USA. Those who remember history know when the United States goes to war, they have a tendency to leave nothing usable behind. Thousands of families in the LSA start packing up their belongings hoping to move to the USA. They’re worried their children will be harmed in the revenge attacks against assets in the LSA. Every neighborhood sees lines of cars loaded down leaving in the middle of the night. Dawn finds lines of cars and trucks at the border crossings that stretch for ten miles. The USA border agents call in everyone who’s off duty. Captains call asking for instructions. They’re told that as long the names aren’t on the “no entry” list they should be passed through into the United States. The border and immigration agents check passports and names, any not on the list are quickly passed through into the United States, much to the relief of the families who are shocked how quickly and easy they are passed through the border.
“President Brownie, we have a problem, many thousands of our people are flooding out of the LSA. The United States is opening the border to allow these families in.”
“What’s the estimated number of people leaving?”
“Tens of thousands, with the number growing hourly.”
“They’re afraid the United States will attack us for allowing the Russians to stage their forces on LSA land. I think the time has come to ask the Russian Ambassador to visit us. I’m going to withdraw our permission for them to use us as a staging base.”
“Mr. President, don’t you think the Russians will turn on us?”
“They’re far away; the United States is next door. I’ve seen the pictures of WW 2 Germany and Japan; I don’t want the LSA to look like them. I don’t want to be President of a devastated country, one that lacks the funds to rebuild. If we kick the Russians out now, we might be able to slow down the drain of our people. Please draft the paper for my signature.”
“What about the families that left last night? Should we allow them back without any penalty?”
“Of course we should let them return. They were just trying to protect their families. See if you can get me President Brownstone on the phone.”
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Three hours and fourteen minutes after Admiral Zander called the Air Force twelve B52 bombers, each armed with twelve Harpoon anti-shipping missiles is met by two Navy F/A 18G electronic attack planes. The Electronic warfare planes are there to jam any Russian anti-air missiles from attacking the B52s.
“Lightening lead to B52 lead.”
“Hello, there little boy, this is Crash, US Air Force flight of twelve B52s configured for anti-shipping attack.”
“Crash? I’m not even going to ask. Our targets are 100 miles to the Northeast. What altitude do you want to attack from?”
“Lightening, we like to launch as low as possible, our radar reflection is the size of the Pentagon. We like to stay below their radar threshold.”
“Roger, how low is low?”
“75 feet, we’ll start decreasing altitude.”
“We’ll follow you; one of us will be in front and one behind. We’ll start the music when we reach 75 feet.”
“Got it, we’re going to launch at 90 miles, we’re carrying the extended range versions. Time to launch is 5 minutes from my mark, 3, 2, 1, mark.”
“5 minutes. Music on in 3.”
“Roger.”
In five minutes, 144 extended range Harpoon anti-shipping missiles are launched at the United Nations’ fleet. The B52s turn is heading back to their base. The F/A 18Gs escort the missiles to the fleet. They’re hoping they’re creating a bubble of RF jamming around the 144 missiles so the United Nations’ fleet can’t spot them on their radar with enough time to fire anti-missile missiles or their point defense.
The 144 missiles were given a GPS location; they are flying to that location without using their internal radar. When the missiles reach the GPS location, the Navy planes passes additional target information to the missiles that start to separate to attack their assigned targets. When the missiles are 5 miles away the United Nations fleet’s radar burns through the jamming from the F/A 18Gs. “General Quarters, man your battle stations, the fleet is coming under missile attack” sounds through the fleet. Point defense guns and short range missiles search for the incoming missiles. The navy electronic jamming doesn’t allow the fleet’s point defense to lock on the incoming missiles using radar, some have IR backup, others use the mark one eyeball to search for the incoming missiles. The fleet has been able to knock down fifteen of the incoming missiles, the navy planes know they can’t get too close to the fleet, so they turn around leaving the missiles to make it to their targets by themselves. The sky around the fleet is filled with missiles and gunfire. Harpoon after Harpoon is knocked out of the sky. At two miles the missiles perform a pop up, they rise almost straight up to attack the fleet in a diving attack. Of the 144 missiles launched at the United Nations fleet, twenty-two make it, hitting their targets. Five were targeted against the Russian carrier which is dead in the water burning from bow to stern, when the fires reach the carrier’s fuel and armaments, the carrier blows up. Three cruisers are heavily damaged; three frigates are sunk; one destroyer has been hit by three missiles, and it’s dead in the water, burning out of control. The United Nations’ Admiral was killed when the carrier blew apart, his second in command orders the fleet to turn around and save what could be saved. He assumes the missile attack was the opening round with a wave of fighters or bombers already headed towards his fleet. He lost his major air defense when he lost the carrier and the specialized air defense destroyer. He knows the Americans have at least two aircraft battle groups somewhere in the Atlantic. His small fleet can’t compete with one battle group let alone two.
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President Puten and the Acting Secretary-General of the United Nations discuss how to turn the events in America around. The only mission that’s had total success has been the one to Bangor base in Washington. The attack on the Pantex plant is still moving forward. However, Pres
ident Puten has no illusions it’s going to succeed. His forces have already lost 50% of their forces in exchange for fifteen miles. He knows his forces haven’t met the United States III Corps yet. He knows it’s going to take a miracle for this attack to succeed. He has one other trick up his sleeve; his forces have grabbed twenty commercial buses which have been filled with hundreds of Mexican children. He’s going to push the children ahead of his armor forcing the American’s to hold their fire until it’s too late. His other plan is to distract the Americans, he has an idea to strike one blow against them, and then they will be forced to come to the table and sign the disarmament treaty.
He orders the United Nations’ forces to cross the border from Maryland driving into Virginia heading towards Washington, DC. They’re hoping to be able to catch President Brownstone’s government by surprise. The attackers hope to capture and ransom President Brownstone in exchange for signing the treaty, and turning over all of their nuclear weapons to the United Nations.
As the United Nations’ troops enter Virginia, they are met by massed gunfire. IEDs explode along I-95 south destroying and injuring many in the United Nations’ convoy. Their white paint and bright blue UN logos on the vehicles’ sides make them easy targets. American learned the lessons from Iraq well. The American military improved on the IED design, making them more reliable and easy to make in quantity. Mixed in with the IEDs are Molotov Cocktails and incendiary devices causing more causalities to the United Nations’ troops. The Virginia militia received ammunition and training from a National Guard unit that had recently returned from the “sandbox.” The militia is dug in along I-95. Police have closed the interstate highway so civilians don’t get caught in the battle. The police started diverting traffic as soon as they got word the United Nations’ forces were on the move. The militia’s goal is to slow down and bleed the United Nations’ forces so regular US military will have time to set up a defense of Washington.
