Slow Drift to War Europe 1984
- Thread starter Farmer12
- Start date
4/3 Aug New Beginning Day 6
Sidney The convoy from South Korea arrived to pick up the Australian 1st brigade the plan was to load the ships in two days and have the convoy under way by the 7th of August. The plan was to be in Busan on the 19th of August. There was a consensus of opinion in the Australian government that the convoy would arrive just in time to turn around. But the peace movement was absolutely infuriated, they were protesting just outside the dock. Others were pressuring the labor unions to take a stand against the movement of troops to South Korea.
The labor unions were not interested in undercutting the Labor government who had defended the interests of the labor unions especially from the Anti-nuclear groups who were part of the anti-war movement. They had wanted the uranium mines of Australia closed down. Doing that would put some union members out of work and that was not something the labor unions could support. It was also something that the current government had opposed. So, it was somewhat deaf ears that the labor unions listened to the entreaties and later the threats made by the peace movement. One labor leader commented the unions knew who, were their friends and who were not.
New Delhi
The peace conference went on without much movement on either side. Gromyko was waiting for a message telling him what demands he could negotiate away and which demands he had to stand firm on. He was hoping that the Politburo would make the decisions and send him a message today. But so far, no message had arrived with that information.
Moscow Gorbachev had left the Politburo’s meeting with just a bit of hope several members of the Politburo were in agreement that spending cuts in the military would be needed. The problem was that no one knew exactly just how much of the budget was spent on the military. The decision to hide the actual budget of the military inside the budgets of various departments that did not have anything to do with the defense made it difficult to unravel. No one knew what percentage of the budget was actually spent on the defense budget. Guesses ran from a highly conservative estimate of fifteen percent of the budget to a high of twenty-five percent of the budget on defense. In fact, the hard liners and the soft liners were pretty much lined up on either side with a few in the middle. But it was agreed that the budgets of various departments would be gone over to find out just how much money the Soviet Union was spending on defense.
Romanov left the same meeting in a much better mood than Gorbachev. He had more ammunition to use against Gorbachev. Field Marshall Ogarkov would not like to know that the soft-liners and possible the people in the middle were gathering behind Gorbachev and his idea of cutting the defense budget.
Chebrikov might only be a candidate member of the Politburo he was still head of the KGB and he was not happy about the idea of cutting back on the size of military. He could see two potential dangers from cutting the defense budget. First it would damage the loyalty of the military at a time when its, absolute loyalty would be needed. Especially if they needed the Army troops to deal with any possible outbreaks of civil unrest. If the Soviet Union cut spending on popular programs that could cause unrest. While Chebrikov was confident that the KGB could handle most civil unrest.
But if it got to bad having the Army to back up the KGB was a good idea. But if the Armies morale and loyalty was damaged they might not be willing to help put down that unrest. That brought up a second possibility that the military itself just might carry out or attempt to carry out a coup. That possibility would become even greater if the budget cuts did not succeed in stabilizing the economy of the Soviet Union. He fully intended to bring his concerns to Gorbachev. What good it would do he was not sure but he was going to at least let Gorbachev know his opinion.
Ogarkov was getting an earful from Ustinov. Ustinov told him that the Politburo was looking to get an exact accounting of the current military spending. That could only spell trouble for the military no matter which branch. But some in the Politburo had commented that the Soviet Union should rely on is nuclear missile arsenal and not the Soviet Army to keep the west from attempting to cause any trouble. That could only mean cuts in the Army on a large scale, something that the had to be stopped. Later in the day he spoke to Romanov and he pretty much confirmed what Ustinov had told him. Now it was apparent that the Soviet Union’s military was headed for drastic spending cuts. Something that the military had to prevent the question was how. But Ogarkov made a decision that he would tell some of his more imaginative about the current situation and see what kind of ideas they could come up with.
7 pm New Delhi
Prime Minister Indira Ghandi had arranged for a dinner with both Gromyko and Schultz. She was hoping that it might cause some sort of thaw in the negotiations. Gromyko had in private informed her that he had not received any new orders about the negotiations but he would again check with Moscow. The meal was excellent and with a few drinks, the tensions between the two groups of diplomats was decreased at least a little. After the dinner Indira Ghandi was going to go on walk with the both Gromyko and Schultz. She was going to see if she could find a starting point to peace.
8:30 PM There was only the three of them, Indira Ghandi had made sure that only the three of them would be taking part in this walk. She wanted quiet private session. They walked down the corridors of the residence passing security guards and then out into the garden where there were more security guards. The discussion had been quiet but all things considered it was a positive discussion. Gromyko was positive that an agreement would happen.
The group stopped just within earshot of the bodyguards, there Gromyko told Indira Ghandi that on December 10th she would be in Copenhagen accepting her Nobel Prize for Peace. She smiled replying in appropriate modesty, **That bringing the world back from the brink of World War Three would be reward enough. **
One of the bodyguards was a Sikh who was part of the plot to assassinate her and the very idea that the defiler of the Golden Temple would be given the Nobel Prize for peace was just too much for him. Then despite his orders to the contrary he brought up submachine gun and he began to fire. He fired the first burst into Indira Ghandi’s lower back the bullets went straight through her and into Gromyko abdomen, while one slug hit Indira Ghandi’s spine and ricocheted off of the bone and exited into Schultz’s stomach dropping him. By the time the submachine guns magazine was emptied all three people were on the ground. It was then that the other body guard on duty opened fire killing the assassin. With the first bodyguard dead, he could not connect the other bodyguard with the plot to assassinate Indira Ghandi.
Then more people poured out into the garden as calls for doctors echoed down the halls of the Prime Ministers residence. In just a few minutes a doctor had arrived but by then Gromyko whose descending aorta had been severed had died. Indira Ghandi was very badly and the outlook was not good. As for Schultz he was wounded but the prognosis was he would survive. The first ambulance took Indira Ghandi to a hospital and Schultz was in the second ambulance.
The senior KGB officer at the Prime Ministers residence finally managed to make it back to the embassy. He immediately called KGB headquarters duty officer, informing the man what had happened the duty officer but him on hold. A quick check by the duty officer located Chebrikov at his home and inform him what had happened and that the officer that had called was still on the phone.
A stunned Chebrikov considered what he had been told for a minute or so. The idea that the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union had been assassinated while the peace conference was difficult idea to wrap one’s mind around. But he did recover relatively quickly. He had the officer transferred to him and he told the Duty officer to be ready for a call from him.
He had the officer tell him what had happened and what he had heard. He was informed that Indira Ghandi was seriously wounded and was not expected to live while the American Secretary of State Schultz had been wounded but he had only been hit once. While Ghandi and Gromyko had been hit repeatedly. That struck Chebrikov as odd but for now he was not going to worry about that detail. Once he had all the information that the officer had he ended the call and then he spoke to the duty officer. He asked if anything else was happening and he was assured that nothing else was going on.
He ordered the duty officer to connect him with Chernenko. After a couple of minutes, the wheezy voice of Chernenko came on the line. He asked what had gone wrong, Chebrikov was not surprised by the questions a call on any night was cause to wonder what had gone wrong. Taking a deep breath the told Chernenko what had happened.
** Comrade General Secretary, I have bad news, an assassin open fire on Indira Ghandi, Gromyko and Schultz. Gromyko is dead and Indira Ghandi was seriously injured as was Secretary Schultz. Suddenly the sounds of choking and gasping for air and suddenly he could hear the sound of a thud. Then the indistinct sound of voices and then a strange female voice came over the phone. **We have to call the hospital the General Secretary has collapsed. ** Then the phone went click and Chebrikov sat quietly if Chernenko died then they would really have a problem. A full-blown crisis with a power struggle over who would become the next General Secretary.
Chebrikov knew that Ustinov had been talking to Ogarkov with less than positive comments about Gorbachev. Romanov had also been talking to Ogarkov about what was going on inside the Politburo. The word was that Ogarkov was really upset about the idea of major cuts in the defense budget. At the same time Gorbachev was known to be an enemy of Ogarkov. Ogarkov fully expected to be fired once Gorbachev was General Secretary. Yes, a power struggle in the middle of a crisis with the military firmly opposed to the most probable new General Secretary.
Chebrikov considered his position, he was not an enemy of Gorbachev but neither was he ally and the was something to consider. Gorbachev had never aided Chebrikov, while Romanov had supported him when he was in trouble. That was something to remember and now he had to call the President of the Presidium Kutnetsov and tell him what had happened to Chernenko. Then they could both call the other members of the Politburo telling each of them in turn what had happened. But he knew that top on his list would be Romanov. Kutnetsov could tell Gorbachev.
Then the phone rang and he picked it up, answering he was told that Chernenko’s senior bodyguard on duty was on the phone. Closing his eyes and then opening them again he prepared himself for what was to come. Then he told his secretary to give him the call. The bodyguard was both apologetical and hesitant, like he was not quite sure how to tell Chebrikov why he called. Finally, Chebrikov interrupted him, by asking, **The General Secretary is dead is that it? **
The bodyguard replied, ** Yes sir he died in less than a minute after the attack occurred. The nurses are all upset they are quite sure they will all be arrested for not keeping him alive. ** Chebrikov grunted, jailing Chernenko’s nurses would be low on anyone’s priority list especially since everyone in the Politburo knew he was slowly but surely dying. The hope had been he would stay alive long enough for the crisis to end. Well that was not entirely correct almost everyone one in the Politburo with a few notable exceptions wanted him to live. Then he decided to give the nurses the good news, **Tell the nurses that they need not worry no one will hold it against them. Me on the other hand for giving him some seriously bad news tonight. Well I am going to hear about it. ** The bodyguard simply replied, **Yes sir. ** With that the call was over.
Sidney The convoy from South Korea arrived to pick up the Australian 1st brigade the plan was to load the ships in two days and have the convoy under way by the 7th of August. The plan was to be in Busan on the 19th of August. There was a consensus of opinion in the Australian government that the convoy would arrive just in time to turn around. But the peace movement was absolutely infuriated, they were protesting just outside the dock. Others were pressuring the labor unions to take a stand against the movement of troops to South Korea.
The labor unions were not interested in undercutting the Labor government who had defended the interests of the labor unions especially from the Anti-nuclear groups who were part of the anti-war movement. They had wanted the uranium mines of Australia closed down. Doing that would put some union members out of work and that was not something the labor unions could support. It was also something that the current government had opposed. So, it was somewhat deaf ears that the labor unions listened to the entreaties and later the threats made by the peace movement. One labor leader commented the unions knew who, were their friends and who were not.
New Delhi
The peace conference went on without much movement on either side. Gromyko was waiting for a message telling him what demands he could negotiate away and which demands he had to stand firm on. He was hoping that the Politburo would make the decisions and send him a message today. But so far, no message had arrived with that information.
Moscow Gorbachev had left the Politburo’s meeting with just a bit of hope several members of the Politburo were in agreement that spending cuts in the military would be needed. The problem was that no one knew exactly just how much of the budget was spent on the military. The decision to hide the actual budget of the military inside the budgets of various departments that did not have anything to do with the defense made it difficult to unravel. No one knew what percentage of the budget was actually spent on the defense budget. Guesses ran from a highly conservative estimate of fifteen percent of the budget to a high of twenty-five percent of the budget on defense. In fact, the hard liners and the soft liners were pretty much lined up on either side with a few in the middle. But it was agreed that the budgets of various departments would be gone over to find out just how much money the Soviet Union was spending on defense.
Romanov left the same meeting in a much better mood than Gorbachev. He had more ammunition to use against Gorbachev. Field Marshall Ogarkov would not like to know that the soft-liners and possible the people in the middle were gathering behind Gorbachev and his idea of cutting the defense budget.
Chebrikov might only be a candidate member of the Politburo he was still head of the KGB and he was not happy about the idea of cutting back on the size of military. He could see two potential dangers from cutting the defense budget. First it would damage the loyalty of the military at a time when its, absolute loyalty would be needed. Especially if they needed the Army troops to deal with any possible outbreaks of civil unrest. If the Soviet Union cut spending on popular programs that could cause unrest. While Chebrikov was confident that the KGB could handle most civil unrest.
But if it got to bad having the Army to back up the KGB was a good idea. But if the Armies morale and loyalty was damaged they might not be willing to help put down that unrest. That brought up a second possibility that the military itself just might carry out or attempt to carry out a coup. That possibility would become even greater if the budget cuts did not succeed in stabilizing the economy of the Soviet Union. He fully intended to bring his concerns to Gorbachev. What good it would do he was not sure but he was going to at least let Gorbachev know his opinion.
Ogarkov was getting an earful from Ustinov. Ustinov told him that the Politburo was looking to get an exact accounting of the current military spending. That could only spell trouble for the military no matter which branch. But some in the Politburo had commented that the Soviet Union should rely on is nuclear missile arsenal and not the Soviet Army to keep the west from attempting to cause any trouble. That could only mean cuts in the Army on a large scale, something that the had to be stopped. Later in the day he spoke to Romanov and he pretty much confirmed what Ustinov had told him. Now it was apparent that the Soviet Union’s military was headed for drastic spending cuts. Something that the military had to prevent the question was how. But Ogarkov made a decision that he would tell some of his more imaginative about the current situation and see what kind of ideas they could come up with.
7 pm New Delhi
Prime Minister Indira Ghandi had arranged for a dinner with both Gromyko and Schultz. She was hoping that it might cause some sort of thaw in the negotiations. Gromyko had in private informed her that he had not received any new orders about the negotiations but he would again check with Moscow. The meal was excellent and with a few drinks, the tensions between the two groups of diplomats was decreased at least a little. After the dinner Indira Ghandi was going to go on walk with the both Gromyko and Schultz. She was going to see if she could find a starting point to peace.
8:30 PM There was only the three of them, Indira Ghandi had made sure that only the three of them would be taking part in this walk. She wanted quiet private session. They walked down the corridors of the residence passing security guards and then out into the garden where there were more security guards. The discussion had been quiet but all things considered it was a positive discussion. Gromyko was positive that an agreement would happen.
The group stopped just within earshot of the bodyguards, there Gromyko told Indira Ghandi that on December 10th she would be in Copenhagen accepting her Nobel Prize for Peace. She smiled replying in appropriate modesty, **That bringing the world back from the brink of World War Three would be reward enough. **
One of the bodyguards was a Sikh who was part of the plot to assassinate her and the very idea that the defiler of the Golden Temple would be given the Nobel Prize for peace was just too much for him. Then despite his orders to the contrary he brought up submachine gun and he began to fire. He fired the first burst into Indira Ghandi’s lower back the bullets went straight through her and into Gromyko abdomen, while one slug hit Indira Ghandi’s spine and ricocheted off of the bone and exited into Schultz’s stomach dropping him. By the time the submachine guns magazine was emptied all three people were on the ground. It was then that the other body guard on duty opened fire killing the assassin. With the first bodyguard dead, he could not connect the other bodyguard with the plot to assassinate Indira Ghandi.
Then more people poured out into the garden as calls for doctors echoed down the halls of the Prime Ministers residence. In just a few minutes a doctor had arrived but by then Gromyko whose descending aorta had been severed had died. Indira Ghandi was very badly and the outlook was not good. As for Schultz he was wounded but the prognosis was he would survive. The first ambulance took Indira Ghandi to a hospital and Schultz was in the second ambulance.
The senior KGB officer at the Prime Ministers residence finally managed to make it back to the embassy. He immediately called KGB headquarters duty officer, informing the man what had happened the duty officer but him on hold. A quick check by the duty officer located Chebrikov at his home and inform him what had happened and that the officer that had called was still on the phone.
A stunned Chebrikov considered what he had been told for a minute or so. The idea that the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union had been assassinated while the peace conference was difficult idea to wrap one’s mind around. But he did recover relatively quickly. He had the officer transferred to him and he told the Duty officer to be ready for a call from him.
He had the officer tell him what had happened and what he had heard. He was informed that Indira Ghandi was seriously wounded and was not expected to live while the American Secretary of State Schultz had been wounded but he had only been hit once. While Ghandi and Gromyko had been hit repeatedly. That struck Chebrikov as odd but for now he was not going to worry about that detail. Once he had all the information that the officer had he ended the call and then he spoke to the duty officer. He asked if anything else was happening and he was assured that nothing else was going on.
He ordered the duty officer to connect him with Chernenko. After a couple of minutes, the wheezy voice of Chernenko came on the line. He asked what had gone wrong, Chebrikov was not surprised by the questions a call on any night was cause to wonder what had gone wrong. Taking a deep breath the told Chernenko what had happened.
** Comrade General Secretary, I have bad news, an assassin open fire on Indira Ghandi, Gromyko and Schultz. Gromyko is dead and Indira Ghandi was seriously injured as was Secretary Schultz. Suddenly the sounds of choking and gasping for air and suddenly he could hear the sound of a thud. Then the indistinct sound of voices and then a strange female voice came over the phone. **We have to call the hospital the General Secretary has collapsed. ** Then the phone went click and Chebrikov sat quietly if Chernenko died then they would really have a problem. A full-blown crisis with a power struggle over who would become the next General Secretary.
Chebrikov knew that Ustinov had been talking to Ogarkov with less than positive comments about Gorbachev. Romanov had also been talking to Ogarkov about what was going on inside the Politburo. The word was that Ogarkov was really upset about the idea of major cuts in the defense budget. At the same time Gorbachev was known to be an enemy of Ogarkov. Ogarkov fully expected to be fired once Gorbachev was General Secretary. Yes, a power struggle in the middle of a crisis with the military firmly opposed to the most probable new General Secretary.
Chebrikov considered his position, he was not an enemy of Gorbachev but neither was he ally and the was something to consider. Gorbachev had never aided Chebrikov, while Romanov had supported him when he was in trouble. That was something to remember and now he had to call the President of the Presidium Kutnetsov and tell him what had happened to Chernenko. Then they could both call the other members of the Politburo telling each of them in turn what had happened. But he knew that top on his list would be Romanov. Kutnetsov could tell Gorbachev.
Then the phone rang and he picked it up, answering he was told that Chernenko’s senior bodyguard on duty was on the phone. Closing his eyes and then opening them again he prepared himself for what was to come. Then he told his secretary to give him the call. The bodyguard was both apologetical and hesitant, like he was not quite sure how to tell Chebrikov why he called. Finally, Chebrikov interrupted him, by asking, **The General Secretary is dead is that it? **
The bodyguard replied, ** Yes sir he died in less than a minute after the attack occurred. The nurses are all upset they are quite sure they will all be arrested for not keeping him alive. ** Chebrikov grunted, jailing Chernenko’s nurses would be low on anyone’s priority list especially since everyone in the Politburo knew he was slowly but surely dying. The hope had been he would stay alive long enough for the crisis to end. Well that was not entirely correct almost everyone one in the Politburo with a few notable exceptions wanted him to live. Then he decided to give the nurses the good news, **Tell the nurses that they need not worry no one will hold it against them. Me on the other hand for giving him some seriously bad news tonight. Well I am going to hear about it. ** The bodyguard simply replied, **Yes sir. ** With that the call was over.
Holy smokes Farmer......
Well done! It appears as if the brown fecal matter is about to impact the rotary air impeller.
First, the Russian economy is tanking, the harvest is bad and there will be no good way to feed the masses, the Politburo is staring at WWIII and now they have the death of not one, but two members of a divided Politburo including the chairman to deal with, AND there is no clear line of succession? Did I miss anything here?
What could possibly go wrong?
Call me Kreskin, but I don't think the last line of this story will be...."and they all lived happily ever after".
Please keep up the fine work. Thanks and happy holidays to all!
Well done! It appears as if the brown fecal matter is about to impact the rotary air impeller.
First, the Russian economy is tanking, the harvest is bad and there will be no good way to feed the masses, the Politburo is staring at WWIII and now they have the death of not one, but two members of a divided Politburo including the chairman to deal with, AND there is no clear line of succession? Did I miss anything here?
What could possibly go wrong?
Call me Kreskin, but I don't think the last line of this story will be...."and they all lived happily ever after".
Please keep up the fine work. Thanks and happy holidays to all!
I hate to say it, but Schulz being wounded may have actually been not the worst thing in the world. If he had escaped without a scratch, it would have look very suspicious to anyone wanting to put one and one together and coming up with five.
SlideRuleJockey- No you did not miss a thing, as for your second posting when the forensic people get down looking over the crime scene and figure that Schultz was not in the line of fire and that the bullet ricocheted of a bone, things could get interesting.
justatron- true but a leader has to be chosen and he has to make a few decisions. With final preparation underway its going to be a busy three or four weeks.
justatron- true but a leader has to be chosen and he has to make a few decisions. With final preparation underway its going to be a busy three or four weeks.
It all depends on how one chooses to read the evidence. The rational way is that the guard sprayed and prayed and the bullets went where they would, and that Indira was the primary target. The Sikh angle given what has been going on in India is pretty straightforward. OTOH claiming it was really a CIA plot would be convenient for some in the Politburo struggle, and as we all know all the bad stuff that happens is due to CIA plots. (Stalin got rid of the Trotskyites and wreckers...)
Then Chebrikov called Kutnetsov, as he waited Kutnetsov to pick up the phone, he reflected on what had happened today and who he would back in the upcoming power struggle. Kutnetsov was shocked and surprise at the news of the attack, he was much less surprised at Chernenko’s death. Commenting, that it had been only a matter of time before he had died. But now was the worst possible timing. ** Chebrikov then told Kutnetsov, **We need to let the rest of the Politburo know what has happen. We could split up the members of the Politburo, I’ll phone some of them and you the rest. **
Kutnetsov considered the suggestion, the list of people that Chebrikov wanted to call would be very informative. Kutnetsov was not sure who he was going to support, back the wrong person and he would be out. For the moment he would make show of being neutral. Sitting back in his desk he asked Chebrikov who he would call. Ustinov was fourth on the list and the second from the bottom was Romanov. Kutnetsov had a good idea who Chebrikov would be calling first and second despite their placement on the list. He was not disappointed, it looked like the KGB could be backing Romanov in the upcoming power struggle and if the military backed him to then he would be almost unstoppable.
Gorbachev would put up a good fight but with two of the three legs of power in the Soviet Union allied the third leg the party would not be strong enough to win. But Kutnetsov decided that he would sit back and act neutral for now once it became clear that the military and the KGB were backing Romanov then he would move. He knew that Victor Grishin had been maneuvering for the position of President of the Presidium. Kutnetsov decided that he being the lessor threat to Romanov keeping him in his present position would be the best idea. He would not move immediately, he wanted to see what direction the power would flow.
With Chernenko dead Kutnetsov told Chebrikov to tell the people he spoke to that the Politburo would meet tomorrow at seven am. Then once the meeting was over and only then would the announcement of the terrorist attack and the subsequent death of Chernenko be announced. With that done the two men began to make their phone calls. Both men knew that as soon as the calls were done the maneuvering would begin.
Throughout the rest of the world there was shock and horror at the attack. This was an attack on the survival of the world. Europe where hope had been so high that peace was on the way morale collapsed.
In the United States the reaction of the Reagan administration was first shock and then Reagan himself came out and spoke. Calling for calm he announced that his administration would not cease in its search for a peaceful end to the crisis. He took no questions and returned to his office.
In the Senate Ted Kennedy announced that the United States as a gesture to the Soviet Union should immediately cease the movement of troops to both Europe and Asia. That only when Reagan and the war mongers around him embraced peace would the crisis come to an end. Tip O’Neil came out and told the waiting press that he was praying for peace and that he was hopeful that despite this setback the quest for peace would not be extinguished. There was a sort of shock that came down across the world like a dark shroud had been place over the planet. In the White House they were playing a waiting game, they needed to see how the Soviet Union would react to this attack. But for now, the White House would have to wait.
5/4 Aug Interregnum Sidney 1st brigade’s equipment was still being loaded and the news of the terrorist attack in New Delhi rattled the nerves of the people. The Australian government publicly displayed a positive attitude. The representatives stated that desire for peace was still the primary motivation for the western alliance. Privately they waited for the Soviet Union’s response to the terrorist attacks. What worried them was that the Soviet Union had remained quiet and nothing had been announced to the people of the Soviet Union.
8 AM New Delhi
The announcement of the death of Indira Ghandi and the fact that the attacker had been a Sikh was announced. It was also stated that the terrorist had died during the attack. An infuriated Hindu population began attacking and killing members of the Sikh religion while the Indian Government made it clear that the attack was made by a single and their words a deranged member of the Sikh community. The government made it clear that it would punish the rioting members of the Hindu community for attack and killing members of the Sikh community. The government of India also made it clear that the Sikh community as a whole had not supported the terrorist and should not be blamed for the acts of a lone fanatic.
7AM Moscow
The Politburo had gathered both full member and Candidate members. But the candidate members would have no say in the upcoming decision on who would be the next First Secretary but some of the candidate members like Chebrikov could make or break a person’s candidacy.
The discussion was broken up into four parts, the briefing on the assassinations in New Delhi. Second was the discussion of Chernenko’s death but it was more a briefing on the medical reasons for his death, third was the funeral arrangements both men and finally a discussion on the press statement would be agreed to. The briefing on the assassination of Gromyko and Indira Ghandi as well as the wounding of Secretary of State Schultz. The first question was how it had happened. The answer left the Politburo mystified, to leave a member of a religious cult on the security team of the Indira Ghandi after she had ordered the crushing of a dissident group belonging to the that group was sheer madness. The fact that the assassin was dead meant it would be harder to find out just who else was involved in the plot. One of the hard liners pointed out that for all they, knew the Americans had been behind the assassination.
That comment did not go down well with the soft liners, they pointed out that comments like that would only inflame the situation. The hardliners responded that the Soviet Union had its back against the wall and the soft-liners needed to face that reality. Kutnetsov stepped into the argument commenting that they needed to get on with the meeting. Both Gorbachev and Romanov agreeing with Kutnetsov, they put their voices behind Kutnetsov. That calmed the Politburo at least for the moment.
The briefing on Chernenko’s death was more of a formality it merely confirmed that he had died from his illness and not from any sort of neglect or at someone’s hands. It was agreed that the medical staff had done it’s best so no fault was assigned to them. This was the quiet part of the briefing. His death was not unexpected just extremely inconvenient. Most of the Politburo would have been happy to have him limp along until the crisis was over. Then he could have died and no one would have minded, but now there would be a power struggle at the most inconvenient time.
Some commented that Chebrikov, should have considered the possibility that the announcement that Gromyko could have caused an adverse reaction. But Kutnetsov commented that someone would have had to tell Chernenko what had happened. If someone else had told him they would be the one that would be blamed. That ended any discussion of Chebrikov’s part in Chernenko’s death.
The burial of the two men it was agreed that they were to be buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. But there was the formality of asking the families permission to bury the men.
The final part of the meeting was just how to announce the deaths of both Gromyko and Chernenko. The most difficult part was the death of Gromyko announcing that he had been assassinated. With the assassination of Honecker causing this crisis, another assassination could aggravate the situation. Some of the hardliners wanted to emphasize the suspicious nature of the assassination. That there were others involved in the assassination plot, but the soft liners and the people who were as of yet undecided about who would replace Chernenko. They were firm in opposing that approach. Gorbachev was staunchly on their side. Romanov watched and considered what had been said then he agreed with the Soft liners ending that debate
But, there was no way around the situation so finally is was decided that a straight forward statement announcing Gromyko’s death. Then the death of Chernenko would be announced. The statement did make it clear that the death of Chernenko as the direct result of shock over the sudden death of Gromyko. But no one was blamed.
The discussion over who would become the next General Secretary was not discussed with two main rivals for power no one had the necessary votes to be elected. The current crisis had also hardened the positions of both sides. The people in the middle were not sure which man to back and they would need some convincing. Being on the winning side was important, back the loser and sooner or later you would be out of power. With all the planned portions of the meeting completed. Kutnetsov announced the meeting was over and the prepared statement was sent to the various news organs of the Soviet Union to announce what had happened.
Moscow’s twelve noon radio announcement of Gromyko’s death it was straight forward and to the point and the intelligence personal in various countries who listened to that part of the broadcast were happy to hear that no accusations were being made. But the calm ended just as soon as it was announced that Chernenko had died from the result of a heart attack. Across the world phone calls were being made and senior government officials were awakened and told the bad news. It did not take much imagination to put two and two together.
For once the intelligence boys had decided to not wake Reagan up immediately upon hearing the news of Chernenko’s death. They had been decided to check with the other NATO intelligence agencies to see what they thought. Everyone was in agreement the death of Chernenko could not have come at a worse time. This meant that a power struggle would ensue. How long the power struggle would last no one knew. At the same time the intelligence reports were vague on who would be in the running. The names of Gorbachev and Romanov were being circulated with a possibility of a dark horse candidate a man named Griskin.
The problem was that not much was known about any of the people in the running. Gorbachev was the best known of the lot he had been on several trips overseas. He was considered to be a moderate and a reformer. But rumors had it he had stumbled a couple of time during the recent crisis. If that was true then he would have some problems uniting the Politburo behind him. Of Romanov even less was known, he had never been outside of the Soviet Union. He had been quite visible with the KAL flight 007 where he and Field Marshall Ogarkov had engaged in a series of threats to destroy the western alliance by use of nuclear weapons. This led everyone to believe he was a hardliner and that if he was elevated to the position of General Secretary the Soviet Union would take a hardline stance against the NATO alliance. Grishin was viewed as a sort of also ran, but there were indications that his primary motivations were to make sure that Gorbachev did not succeed in becoming the next General Secretary.
The British with a highly placed agent inside the KGB he had provided the most information about the current power struggle but even his information was dated. One thing was certain there was no clear front runner in this election at least for now. But according to the gossip Romanov and Ogarkov were allies. While Gorbachev was a known enemy of Ogarkov. It was also known that when Chebrikov the head of the KGB was in trouble over his failure to maintain control of the people taking part in the marches that turned into the riots that cause the destruction of the US Moscow Embassy and the attacks on the West Germany and United Kingdoms embassy. It had been Romanov that came to his defense. The rumors were that while Chebrikov only a candidate member of the Politburo his command of the KGB would be a factor in any election to choose the next General Secretary. But it was not clear that Chebrikov was firmly on anyone’s side in the upcoming election.
Kutnetsov considered the suggestion, the list of people that Chebrikov wanted to call would be very informative. Kutnetsov was not sure who he was going to support, back the wrong person and he would be out. For the moment he would make show of being neutral. Sitting back in his desk he asked Chebrikov who he would call. Ustinov was fourth on the list and the second from the bottom was Romanov. Kutnetsov had a good idea who Chebrikov would be calling first and second despite their placement on the list. He was not disappointed, it looked like the KGB could be backing Romanov in the upcoming power struggle and if the military backed him to then he would be almost unstoppable.
Gorbachev would put up a good fight but with two of the three legs of power in the Soviet Union allied the third leg the party would not be strong enough to win. But Kutnetsov decided that he would sit back and act neutral for now once it became clear that the military and the KGB were backing Romanov then he would move. He knew that Victor Grishin had been maneuvering for the position of President of the Presidium. Kutnetsov decided that he being the lessor threat to Romanov keeping him in his present position would be the best idea. He would not move immediately, he wanted to see what direction the power would flow.
With Chernenko dead Kutnetsov told Chebrikov to tell the people he spoke to that the Politburo would meet tomorrow at seven am. Then once the meeting was over and only then would the announcement of the terrorist attack and the subsequent death of Chernenko be announced. With that done the two men began to make their phone calls. Both men knew that as soon as the calls were done the maneuvering would begin.
Throughout the rest of the world there was shock and horror at the attack. This was an attack on the survival of the world. Europe where hope had been so high that peace was on the way morale collapsed.
In the United States the reaction of the Reagan administration was first shock and then Reagan himself came out and spoke. Calling for calm he announced that his administration would not cease in its search for a peaceful end to the crisis. He took no questions and returned to his office.
In the Senate Ted Kennedy announced that the United States as a gesture to the Soviet Union should immediately cease the movement of troops to both Europe and Asia. That only when Reagan and the war mongers around him embraced peace would the crisis come to an end. Tip O’Neil came out and told the waiting press that he was praying for peace and that he was hopeful that despite this setback the quest for peace would not be extinguished. There was a sort of shock that came down across the world like a dark shroud had been place over the planet. In the White House they were playing a waiting game, they needed to see how the Soviet Union would react to this attack. But for now, the White House would have to wait.
5/4 Aug Interregnum Sidney 1st brigade’s equipment was still being loaded and the news of the terrorist attack in New Delhi rattled the nerves of the people. The Australian government publicly displayed a positive attitude. The representatives stated that desire for peace was still the primary motivation for the western alliance. Privately they waited for the Soviet Union’s response to the terrorist attacks. What worried them was that the Soviet Union had remained quiet and nothing had been announced to the people of the Soviet Union.
8 AM New Delhi
The announcement of the death of Indira Ghandi and the fact that the attacker had been a Sikh was announced. It was also stated that the terrorist had died during the attack. An infuriated Hindu population began attacking and killing members of the Sikh religion while the Indian Government made it clear that the attack was made by a single and their words a deranged member of the Sikh community. The government made it clear that it would punish the rioting members of the Hindu community for attack and killing members of the Sikh community. The government of India also made it clear that the Sikh community as a whole had not supported the terrorist and should not be blamed for the acts of a lone fanatic.
7AM Moscow
The Politburo had gathered both full member and Candidate members. But the candidate members would have no say in the upcoming decision on who would be the next First Secretary but some of the candidate members like Chebrikov could make or break a person’s candidacy.
The discussion was broken up into four parts, the briefing on the assassinations in New Delhi. Second was the discussion of Chernenko’s death but it was more a briefing on the medical reasons for his death, third was the funeral arrangements both men and finally a discussion on the press statement would be agreed to. The briefing on the assassination of Gromyko and Indira Ghandi as well as the wounding of Secretary of State Schultz. The first question was how it had happened. The answer left the Politburo mystified, to leave a member of a religious cult on the security team of the Indira Ghandi after she had ordered the crushing of a dissident group belonging to the that group was sheer madness. The fact that the assassin was dead meant it would be harder to find out just who else was involved in the plot. One of the hard liners pointed out that for all they, knew the Americans had been behind the assassination.
That comment did not go down well with the soft liners, they pointed out that comments like that would only inflame the situation. The hardliners responded that the Soviet Union had its back against the wall and the soft-liners needed to face that reality. Kutnetsov stepped into the argument commenting that they needed to get on with the meeting. Both Gorbachev and Romanov agreeing with Kutnetsov, they put their voices behind Kutnetsov. That calmed the Politburo at least for the moment.
The briefing on Chernenko’s death was more of a formality it merely confirmed that he had died from his illness and not from any sort of neglect or at someone’s hands. It was agreed that the medical staff had done it’s best so no fault was assigned to them. This was the quiet part of the briefing. His death was not unexpected just extremely inconvenient. Most of the Politburo would have been happy to have him limp along until the crisis was over. Then he could have died and no one would have minded, but now there would be a power struggle at the most inconvenient time.
Some commented that Chebrikov, should have considered the possibility that the announcement that Gromyko could have caused an adverse reaction. But Kutnetsov commented that someone would have had to tell Chernenko what had happened. If someone else had told him they would be the one that would be blamed. That ended any discussion of Chebrikov’s part in Chernenko’s death.
The burial of the two men it was agreed that they were to be buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. But there was the formality of asking the families permission to bury the men.
The final part of the meeting was just how to announce the deaths of both Gromyko and Chernenko. The most difficult part was the death of Gromyko announcing that he had been assassinated. With the assassination of Honecker causing this crisis, another assassination could aggravate the situation. Some of the hardliners wanted to emphasize the suspicious nature of the assassination. That there were others involved in the assassination plot, but the soft liners and the people who were as of yet undecided about who would replace Chernenko. They were firm in opposing that approach. Gorbachev was staunchly on their side. Romanov watched and considered what had been said then he agreed with the Soft liners ending that debate
But, there was no way around the situation so finally is was decided that a straight forward statement announcing Gromyko’s death. Then the death of Chernenko would be announced. The statement did make it clear that the death of Chernenko as the direct result of shock over the sudden death of Gromyko. But no one was blamed.
The discussion over who would become the next General Secretary was not discussed with two main rivals for power no one had the necessary votes to be elected. The current crisis had also hardened the positions of both sides. The people in the middle were not sure which man to back and they would need some convincing. Being on the winning side was important, back the loser and sooner or later you would be out of power. With all the planned portions of the meeting completed. Kutnetsov announced the meeting was over and the prepared statement was sent to the various news organs of the Soviet Union to announce what had happened.
Moscow’s twelve noon radio announcement of Gromyko’s death it was straight forward and to the point and the intelligence personal in various countries who listened to that part of the broadcast were happy to hear that no accusations were being made. But the calm ended just as soon as it was announced that Chernenko had died from the result of a heart attack. Across the world phone calls were being made and senior government officials were awakened and told the bad news. It did not take much imagination to put two and two together.
For once the intelligence boys had decided to not wake Reagan up immediately upon hearing the news of Chernenko’s death. They had been decided to check with the other NATO intelligence agencies to see what they thought. Everyone was in agreement the death of Chernenko could not have come at a worse time. This meant that a power struggle would ensue. How long the power struggle would last no one knew. At the same time the intelligence reports were vague on who would be in the running. The names of Gorbachev and Romanov were being circulated with a possibility of a dark horse candidate a man named Griskin.
The problem was that not much was known about any of the people in the running. Gorbachev was the best known of the lot he had been on several trips overseas. He was considered to be a moderate and a reformer. But rumors had it he had stumbled a couple of time during the recent crisis. If that was true then he would have some problems uniting the Politburo behind him. Of Romanov even less was known, he had never been outside of the Soviet Union. He had been quite visible with the KAL flight 007 where he and Field Marshall Ogarkov had engaged in a series of threats to destroy the western alliance by use of nuclear weapons. This led everyone to believe he was a hardliner and that if he was elevated to the position of General Secretary the Soviet Union would take a hardline stance against the NATO alliance. Grishin was viewed as a sort of also ran, but there were indications that his primary motivations were to make sure that Gorbachev did not succeed in becoming the next General Secretary.
The British with a highly placed agent inside the KGB he had provided the most information about the current power struggle but even his information was dated. One thing was certain there was no clear front runner in this election at least for now. But according to the gossip Romanov and Ogarkov were allies. While Gorbachev was a known enemy of Ogarkov. It was also known that when Chebrikov the head of the KGB was in trouble over his failure to maintain control of the people taking part in the marches that turned into the riots that cause the destruction of the US Moscow Embassy and the attacks on the West Germany and United Kingdoms embassy. It had been Romanov that came to his defense. The rumors were that while Chebrikov only a candidate member of the Politburo his command of the KGB would be a factor in any election to choose the next General Secretary. But it was not clear that Chebrikov was firmly on anyone’s side in the upcoming election.
9am Washington
When Reagan got up he shower and got ready for the day and he was even in a pretty good mood right until he saw the expression of Bill Casey. That was when he realized that something had gone wrong. The report that Chernenko was dead and the fact that the Soviet Union now needed to pick a new leader. Now, the whole peace process was going to be delayed. When the briefing was over Reagan decided he needed to consult with Nixon and Kissinger. With the Secretary of State seriously wounded he had a vacuum at the State department.
Reagan sat back as the phone calls went out, both Nixon and Kissinger were at home when the calls arrived. Kissinger had already received phone calls from a variety of reporters wanting his reaction to the assassinations in New Delhi. The three men had a long discussion over the phone. It was agreed that until it was known who was to replace Chernenko it would be hard to decide how bring an end to the current crisis. Kissinger also commented lacking access to the latest intelligence he could only guess at what to do. Reagan decided to send a briefing team to bring both men up to date with the latest intelligence. Both men were happy to agree to receiving their briefing. They were back in the game again even if it was offering advice and not actually making the decisions.
4pm Thessaloniki Greece
The arrival of the ships carrying the 35th mechanized infantry division equipment were docking and soon the dockworkers would begin unloading the equipment and supplies. In Bulgarian State Television announced that a division made up of criminals specially drafted into the American army. Also, the news made it clear that the division was well known for criminal activity up to and including bank robberies.
4pm Moscow Gromyko’s family graciously declined the burial the Kremlin Wall Acropolis, they requested that he be buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in a quiet ceremony. Kutnetsov who had come to let the family know what the Politburo was giving Gromyko a great honor in offering to bury him at the Kremlin Wall Acropolis. He was quick to agree to the request of the family he had no concerns that anyone would deny Gromyko his request. Especially since it was almost as honored as the being buried at the Kremlin Wall Acropolis.
6pm Moscow Ogarkov and a group of junior officers were gathered together, the death of Chernenko had focused their attention on who would be the next leader of the Soviet Union. Ogarkov was definitely opposed to Gorbachev. Not only would he begone in a very short time, the Soviet Army would be gutted. One angry colonel comment, **We have sacrificed for the Soviet Union and we have made every effort to make forced strong enough to win this war. What is our reward the ranks of the officer Corp being decimated by our political masters that is if Gorbachev is elected First Secretary? There were cries of agreement from everyone in the room. The Soviet Army was definitely not in the mood to have another decimation of the officer Corp like Khrushchev had carried out.
Ogarkov was a little worried about the reaction by the officers, the outrage was genuine and if there was a KGB informant in the room that comment and the reaction could end the careers of every officer in the room. Ogarkov decided to calm things down a bit, **We must take care to not go off half-cocked. We must consider our options, I believe that we need to put a plan together that would allow the Soviet Union avoid having to make some very hard decisions a short campaign that would gain the resources to allow the Soviet Union the avoid having to do massive cuts in the defense budget of the Soviet Union. **
3pm New York NY
The peace movement was out protesting; Senator Kennedy was making an appearance telling the movement that they needed to keep on fighting Reagan. He told the gathering of anti-war activists that they were the final line of resistance against Ronald Reagans drive to war.
10am 5/4 Aug Moscow Interregnum Day 1
The members of the Politburo was busy maneuvering for power. The transfer of power from Khrushchev to Brezhnev had been fairly smooth, from Brezhnev to Andropov was very smooth. Andropov replacement had been delayed because of the opposition of many members of the Politburo to Gorbachev’s replacement of Andropov. The death of Chernenko as well as missteps by Gorbachev had made a smooth transfer of power impossible. Romanov had gained support amongst the hardliners and while some in the middle were concerned about his close relations to the military. But at the same time, he was the one alternative to Gorbachev. Griskin was not taken seriously are a potential General Secretary.
For Gorbachev the loss of Gromyko was a real problem. While they were not total allies they did agree on many things. Gromyko’s endorsement would have secured his path to the General Secretary but now Romanov had an opening. Romanov had made allies with the military and the word he was receiving was that that the Minister of Defense Ustinov was also moving against him. His comments about do some careful cutbacks in defense spending were coming back to haunt him. A few months down the road, with the crisis ended. The defense cut he would have proposed would have allowed him to have ridden the storm a lot better. Then there was the KGB, Chebrikov, he had missed a chance to gain the man’s trust when he failed to move to his side after the June riots. Romanov had move to support the man without hesitation and now the KGB was likely to lean to Romanov. He had enemies that meant he needed to gather support of the Politburo behind him. It was time to make deal to get the support of Politburo.
10am Legnica Poland. Hq for the High Command of Western Direction
The commander of the High Command of Western Direction, was in a bit of quandary over what to do. Right now many of the division and other units assigned to his command were still located close to the railroads for ease of supplying the troops. But he wanted to move the troops closer to the inner border but it would make his ability to supply the troop more difficult. It also could be view as provocative, with the last First Secretary he would have been comfortable with moving the units. The first could be dealt with but the second could be career ending.
But no one was exactly sure who would end up as the leader of the Soviet. Word had it that Gorbachev who was one of possible choices for General Secretary had made comments about cutting military spending and reducing the size of the military. The bit of information had not gone down well with the career professional soldiers of the Soviet Army. Khrushchev’s forced retirement of thousands of officers was still well remembered and resented. It had not been hard for the Army to back his removal from power when the time came. He would not be happy with the troops being moved.
Romanov was the other possibility and it was well known that he was firmly against the reduction of military spending and reducing the size of the military. Despite his last name being the same as the dynasty the revolution had overthrown he was rapidly picking up support from the military. He would understand the necessity of the movement of the troops.
The Commander of the Western Strategic Direction had a bit of nervousness inside him. He had made decisions his whole life but always following the dictates of his superiors. He decided he needed to speak to Field Marshall Ogarkov he needed some guidance while at the same time giving him some cover just in case what he did came back to haunt him.
Moscow Ogarkov was a little surprised at the call by the commander of the Strategic Western Direction. He was looking for guidance on whether he should be begin, to move troops closer to the front line. Ogarkov thought that man should be making that decision on his own. But he decided to show a bit of leadership by assuring him that he was making the proper military decision. He also stated that he would back up the man before the political leaderships of the Soviet Union if they questioned his decision. The call ended with the Commander of the Strategic Western Direction feeling better while Ogarkov was now wondering if the right man was in command of the primary combat zone in any war. But for now he had to keep the man in his job, to relieve him right now was impossible.
After a moment’s hesitation Ogarkov decided to give a little direction, **I want to emphasize that we win on the Central Front and that everything else is secondary in importance. The attacks failure of the attacks on Austria and Denmark will not win or lose the war. We lose on the Central Front we will lose the war. That is why I sent the extra units from both the Northern Front and the Southwest front. Do you understand. ** Commander of the Strategic Western Direction replied in the affirmative. He told Ogarkov, ** That the Czech army would be reassigned to concentrate on West Germany while WARSAW PACT forces from Hungary would have the mission of knocking Austria out of the war. While he would still give priority to the attack on the island of Bornholm due to its strategic location on first day. But any attack on the Denmark proper would depend on what was happening on the Central Front.
Once the call was over the Commander of the Western Strategic Direction wondered if he had made a mistake in calling Ogarkov. He could tell that Ogarkov sounded annoyed. But it was too late now but he did decided to make no more phone calls and to turn his attention to crushing NATO forces in West Germany.
7am Boston The first train load of equipment from the Canadian 3rd brigade arrived in Boston. The cargo this trip would outside the tanks and equipment for the two brigades most of the armor on this mission was being sent over to be replacement tank for battle losses. The entire production of M-1 tanks for the last two months and any M-1’s that had not been sent over before. Whatever space left over would be filled with M-6o tanks of all variants. Replacement M-113’s where, also on board, as well as first shipment of the new anti-tank truck was also on board as well as large number of civilian trucks to fill gap of available transport for the US army.
New York The briefers the president sent to brief both Kissinger and Nixon had been to both men. After that there was another conference call but that call was to invite the two men to the White House to have discussion with the President and his advisors on foreign relations. Air Force one would pickup the two men Monday morning and they would fly down to Andrews AFB. Then they would take a helicopter ride to the White House. They were invited to spend the night before being flown home on Tuesday.
When Reagan got up he shower and got ready for the day and he was even in a pretty good mood right until he saw the expression of Bill Casey. That was when he realized that something had gone wrong. The report that Chernenko was dead and the fact that the Soviet Union now needed to pick a new leader. Now, the whole peace process was going to be delayed. When the briefing was over Reagan decided he needed to consult with Nixon and Kissinger. With the Secretary of State seriously wounded he had a vacuum at the State department.
Reagan sat back as the phone calls went out, both Nixon and Kissinger were at home when the calls arrived. Kissinger had already received phone calls from a variety of reporters wanting his reaction to the assassinations in New Delhi. The three men had a long discussion over the phone. It was agreed that until it was known who was to replace Chernenko it would be hard to decide how bring an end to the current crisis. Kissinger also commented lacking access to the latest intelligence he could only guess at what to do. Reagan decided to send a briefing team to bring both men up to date with the latest intelligence. Both men were happy to agree to receiving their briefing. They were back in the game again even if it was offering advice and not actually making the decisions.
4pm Thessaloniki Greece
The arrival of the ships carrying the 35th mechanized infantry division equipment were docking and soon the dockworkers would begin unloading the equipment and supplies. In Bulgarian State Television announced that a division made up of criminals specially drafted into the American army. Also, the news made it clear that the division was well known for criminal activity up to and including bank robberies.
4pm Moscow Gromyko’s family graciously declined the burial the Kremlin Wall Acropolis, they requested that he be buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in a quiet ceremony. Kutnetsov who had come to let the family know what the Politburo was giving Gromyko a great honor in offering to bury him at the Kremlin Wall Acropolis. He was quick to agree to the request of the family he had no concerns that anyone would deny Gromyko his request. Especially since it was almost as honored as the being buried at the Kremlin Wall Acropolis.
6pm Moscow Ogarkov and a group of junior officers were gathered together, the death of Chernenko had focused their attention on who would be the next leader of the Soviet Union. Ogarkov was definitely opposed to Gorbachev. Not only would he begone in a very short time, the Soviet Army would be gutted. One angry colonel comment, **We have sacrificed for the Soviet Union and we have made every effort to make forced strong enough to win this war. What is our reward the ranks of the officer Corp being decimated by our political masters that is if Gorbachev is elected First Secretary? There were cries of agreement from everyone in the room. The Soviet Army was definitely not in the mood to have another decimation of the officer Corp like Khrushchev had carried out.
Ogarkov was a little worried about the reaction by the officers, the outrage was genuine and if there was a KGB informant in the room that comment and the reaction could end the careers of every officer in the room. Ogarkov decided to calm things down a bit, **We must take care to not go off half-cocked. We must consider our options, I believe that we need to put a plan together that would allow the Soviet Union avoid having to make some very hard decisions a short campaign that would gain the resources to allow the Soviet Union the avoid having to do massive cuts in the defense budget of the Soviet Union. **
3pm New York NY
The peace movement was out protesting; Senator Kennedy was making an appearance telling the movement that they needed to keep on fighting Reagan. He told the gathering of anti-war activists that they were the final line of resistance against Ronald Reagans drive to war.
10am 5/4 Aug Moscow Interregnum Day 1
The members of the Politburo was busy maneuvering for power. The transfer of power from Khrushchev to Brezhnev had been fairly smooth, from Brezhnev to Andropov was very smooth. Andropov replacement had been delayed because of the opposition of many members of the Politburo to Gorbachev’s replacement of Andropov. The death of Chernenko as well as missteps by Gorbachev had made a smooth transfer of power impossible. Romanov had gained support amongst the hardliners and while some in the middle were concerned about his close relations to the military. But at the same time, he was the one alternative to Gorbachev. Griskin was not taken seriously are a potential General Secretary.
For Gorbachev the loss of Gromyko was a real problem. While they were not total allies they did agree on many things. Gromyko’s endorsement would have secured his path to the General Secretary but now Romanov had an opening. Romanov had made allies with the military and the word he was receiving was that that the Minister of Defense Ustinov was also moving against him. His comments about do some careful cutbacks in defense spending were coming back to haunt him. A few months down the road, with the crisis ended. The defense cut he would have proposed would have allowed him to have ridden the storm a lot better. Then there was the KGB, Chebrikov, he had missed a chance to gain the man’s trust when he failed to move to his side after the June riots. Romanov had move to support the man without hesitation and now the KGB was likely to lean to Romanov. He had enemies that meant he needed to gather support of the Politburo behind him. It was time to make deal to get the support of Politburo.
10am Legnica Poland. Hq for the High Command of Western Direction
The commander of the High Command of Western Direction, was in a bit of quandary over what to do. Right now many of the division and other units assigned to his command were still located close to the railroads for ease of supplying the troops. But he wanted to move the troops closer to the inner border but it would make his ability to supply the troop more difficult. It also could be view as provocative, with the last First Secretary he would have been comfortable with moving the units. The first could be dealt with but the second could be career ending.
But no one was exactly sure who would end up as the leader of the Soviet. Word had it that Gorbachev who was one of possible choices for General Secretary had made comments about cutting military spending and reducing the size of the military. The bit of information had not gone down well with the career professional soldiers of the Soviet Army. Khrushchev’s forced retirement of thousands of officers was still well remembered and resented. It had not been hard for the Army to back his removal from power when the time came. He would not be happy with the troops being moved.
Romanov was the other possibility and it was well known that he was firmly against the reduction of military spending and reducing the size of the military. Despite his last name being the same as the dynasty the revolution had overthrown he was rapidly picking up support from the military. He would understand the necessity of the movement of the troops.
The Commander of the Western Strategic Direction had a bit of nervousness inside him. He had made decisions his whole life but always following the dictates of his superiors. He decided he needed to speak to Field Marshall Ogarkov he needed some guidance while at the same time giving him some cover just in case what he did came back to haunt him.
Moscow Ogarkov was a little surprised at the call by the commander of the Strategic Western Direction. He was looking for guidance on whether he should be begin, to move troops closer to the front line. Ogarkov thought that man should be making that decision on his own. But he decided to show a bit of leadership by assuring him that he was making the proper military decision. He also stated that he would back up the man before the political leaderships of the Soviet Union if they questioned his decision. The call ended with the Commander of the Strategic Western Direction feeling better while Ogarkov was now wondering if the right man was in command of the primary combat zone in any war. But for now he had to keep the man in his job, to relieve him right now was impossible.
After a moment’s hesitation Ogarkov decided to give a little direction, **I want to emphasize that we win on the Central Front and that everything else is secondary in importance. The attacks failure of the attacks on Austria and Denmark will not win or lose the war. We lose on the Central Front we will lose the war. That is why I sent the extra units from both the Northern Front and the Southwest front. Do you understand. ** Commander of the Strategic Western Direction replied in the affirmative. He told Ogarkov, ** That the Czech army would be reassigned to concentrate on West Germany while WARSAW PACT forces from Hungary would have the mission of knocking Austria out of the war. While he would still give priority to the attack on the island of Bornholm due to its strategic location on first day. But any attack on the Denmark proper would depend on what was happening on the Central Front.
Once the call was over the Commander of the Western Strategic Direction wondered if he had made a mistake in calling Ogarkov. He could tell that Ogarkov sounded annoyed. But it was too late now but he did decided to make no more phone calls and to turn his attention to crushing NATO forces in West Germany.
7am Boston The first train load of equipment from the Canadian 3rd brigade arrived in Boston. The cargo this trip would outside the tanks and equipment for the two brigades most of the armor on this mission was being sent over to be replacement tank for battle losses. The entire production of M-1 tanks for the last two months and any M-1’s that had not been sent over before. Whatever space left over would be filled with M-6o tanks of all variants. Replacement M-113’s where, also on board, as well as first shipment of the new anti-tank truck was also on board as well as large number of civilian trucks to fill gap of available transport for the US army.
New York The briefers the president sent to brief both Kissinger and Nixon had been to both men. After that there was another conference call but that call was to invite the two men to the White House to have discussion with the President and his advisors on foreign relations. Air Force one would pickup the two men Monday morning and they would fly down to Andrews AFB. Then they would take a helicopter ride to the White House. They were invited to spend the night before being flown home on Tuesday.
Chapter 19 Whose on First
6/5 Aug Interregnum The Australian/ New Zealand amphibious force was finally loaded on board the ships. The plan was to carry out its first major practice amphibious assault on Monday. The hope was that having this exercise would knock off some of the rough edges of both countries amphibious forces. To tell the truth no one really believe a war would happen that is with the peace talks still happening. But the assassination of Ghandi and Gromyko really focused everyone’s attention. The whole operation was now being taken much more seriously.
Moscow There was no meeting held, but the members of the Politburo were informed on what Gromyko’s family desired. No one complained, especially since it would be a much smaller and much easier to hold funeral. As for the maneuvering for power that had not abated, in fact it went on along with the planning of both funerals. Gromyko would be buried on Tuesday and Chernenko would be Friday. That would give the planners of Chernenko’s funeral a chance to show off the Soviet Union’s military and possibly give pause to the Western alliance to the idea of fighting the Soviet Union. After all everyone knew a little intimidation went a long way.
London Elements of the new formed 5th division began to moving to West German. The other divisions would be soon following the 5th.
9am Washington DC At the White House a helicopter arrived and two men stepped out of the helicopter to be met by President Reagan. The watching press was shocked, one man was Henry Kissinger and to them that made sense. The second man was the disgraced ex-president Richard Nixon to many of the press that made no sense at all. With President Reagan leading the way the three men entered the White House where they were going to talk about what to do and when to do. None of the men were very confident that they could avoid a war but at least on last major effort was going to be attempted.
Reagan commented that he hoped the latest First Secretary would last longer than the previous three First Secretaries who had been in power during his administration. The short period that each one had been in power during his presidency he had never been able to make any progress in Foreign Relations with the Soviet Union. The big problem was that until a new First Secretary was chose not much could be done. At the same time the word went out that Reagan had brought in both Kissinger and Nixon to advise him on the current situation with the Soviet Union. The news was discussed on all the Sunday morning news programs as the press and pundits went back and forth about what was going on. Nixon being part of the group advising Reagan had considerable opposition but in the end it was agreed on that bringing in the two men who had brought about détente into the current situation was a good idea. Kissinger an expert on the Soviet Union. While Nixon had disgraced himself over Watergate he was still an expert on Foreign Affairs. To have him advising Reagan was even for the democrats a good thing, no matter how much he was disliked for his crimes.
At the same time in Boston another trainload of the Canadian Mobile Forces 3rd brigade arrived. Other trains brought in Artillery brigades and transport units, medical units and other assorted support units as well as the 163Rd cavalry brigade. It was hoped that this convoy would make it to Europe before war broke out. This convoy would outside of artillery would be in the last combat units that was available.
6/5 Aug Interregnum The Australian/ New Zealand amphibious force was finally loaded on board the ships. The plan was to carry out its first major practice amphibious assault on Monday. The hope was that having this exercise would knock off some of the rough edges of both countries amphibious forces. To tell the truth no one really believe a war would happen that is with the peace talks still happening. But the assassination of Ghandi and Gromyko really focused everyone’s attention. The whole operation was now being taken much more seriously.
Moscow There was no meeting held, but the members of the Politburo were informed on what Gromyko’s family desired. No one complained, especially since it would be a much smaller and much easier to hold funeral. As for the maneuvering for power that had not abated, in fact it went on along with the planning of both funerals. Gromyko would be buried on Tuesday and Chernenko would be Friday. That would give the planners of Chernenko’s funeral a chance to show off the Soviet Union’s military and possibly give pause to the Western alliance to the idea of fighting the Soviet Union. After all everyone knew a little intimidation went a long way.
London Elements of the new formed 5th division began to moving to West German. The other divisions would be soon following the 5th.
9am Washington DC At the White House a helicopter arrived and two men stepped out of the helicopter to be met by President Reagan. The watching press was shocked, one man was Henry Kissinger and to them that made sense. The second man was the disgraced ex-president Richard Nixon to many of the press that made no sense at all. With President Reagan leading the way the three men entered the White House where they were going to talk about what to do and when to do. None of the men were very confident that they could avoid a war but at least on last major effort was going to be attempted.
Reagan commented that he hoped the latest First Secretary would last longer than the previous three First Secretaries who had been in power during his administration. The short period that each one had been in power during his presidency he had never been able to make any progress in Foreign Relations with the Soviet Union. The big problem was that until a new First Secretary was chose not much could be done. At the same time the word went out that Reagan had brought in both Kissinger and Nixon to advise him on the current situation with the Soviet Union. The news was discussed on all the Sunday morning news programs as the press and pundits went back and forth about what was going on. Nixon being part of the group advising Reagan had considerable opposition but in the end it was agreed on that bringing in the two men who had brought about détente into the current situation was a good idea. Kissinger an expert on the Soviet Union. While Nixon had disgraced himself over Watergate he was still an expert on Foreign Affairs. To have him advising Reagan was even for the democrats a good thing, no matter how much he was disliked for his crimes.
At the same time in Boston another trainload of the Canadian Mobile Forces 3rd brigade arrived. Other trains brought in Artillery brigades and transport units, medical units and other assorted support units as well as the 163Rd cavalry brigade. It was hoped that this convoy would make it to Europe before war broke out. This convoy would outside of artillery would be in the last combat units that was available.
7/6 Aug Sidney Interregnum The equipment of the 1st brigade left port the expected date of arrival at the port of Busan would be the 18 of August. The antiwar protestors were loaded on to boats ran in front of the ships in an attempted to stop the ships from leave port it failed. But a boat was overturned and at least three other boats had been board and the crew and passengers taken ashore. In the end the attempt failed.
Moscow The Politburo gathered for its first meeting to decide who would be the next First Secretary. Andropov’s chosen successor was Gorbachev and he had been passed over the last time. Now Romanov was making an all out push for power. The military was fully behind him and rumors had the KGB favoring him. Now the question was whether Gorbechev could convince the majority of the Politburo to support him despite the opposition of the Hardliners
Romanov had a different problem, some of his allies made many of the members of the Politburo nervous. Some felt he was too closely tied to the military and the KGB. That he could only win by intimidation, but then he would always have to watch his back. His plan was to try to convince the Politburo that his plan made sense. That plan was to give the Western Alliance one last chance to come to an agreement. If that agreement could not made, an ultimatum would be made in an attempt cause divide the Western allies.
Hopefully it would cause the weak kneed amongst the Western Alliance to backout of the crisis. As well make some of the neutrals to support the Soviet Union. The hope was that the Slavs of Yugoslavia would come to the support of the Soviet Union. His argument would be simple we do not have the time to waste in long negotiations. Gorbachev approach would take to long to accomplish, with no guarantee of success. What was worse his plans to cut the expenditures on the Soviet Military would leave the Soviet Union weakened and much more vulnerable. But he knew todays discussion would decide nothing. But the decision would have to be made by the beginning of next week if not sooner.
The rest of the world watched and wait to see who, would be the next Leader of the Soviet Union. But there was nothing that they could do to influence that choice. That meant a lot of people were hoping who ever took power wanted to bring the crisis to a peaceful end.
8/ 7Aug Interregnum 11AM Moscow Gromyko’s funeral at the Novodevichy Cemetery was a somber affair. With family and friends gathers with a relatively limited number of functionaries and the Entire Politburo in attendance. Soviet televisions broadcast was gone over with a fine eye all were looking to see if there were any signs over who would be the next leader of the Soviet Union. But the Politburo was expressionless, they had respected Gromyko and were not going to allow anything to take away from the solemnity of the situation.
11am Brussels NATO headquarters General Rogers sat looking at a map of the Bavarian Czech border. The meeting he was having was with the commander of the Bundeswehr 2nd Corp had two division the 10TH Panzer Division and the 1st Gebirgsdivision the 25th Fallschirmjaeger brigade and a Territorial Army brigade the 56th Local Defense brigade one of only two brigades in the Territorial Army that was equipped with Leopard I’s and with extra equipment as well as the US National Guard brigade the 278th ACR all defending the border. With the 4th Panzer Division was in reserve. They were facing 1st Combined Arms Army with five divisions the 15th Guard tank division, the 31st Tank division the 18th and 30th Guard MRD with the 48th MRD and two Czech motorized rifle divisions the 19th and 20th with 3 category D division the 16th, 18th and 26th MRD. Two Soviet divisions were attached to the 28th Corp the 31st Tank and 30th Guard Division they were the Operation Manuever Group for this force and he could just see them breaking through anywhere along that part of the line.
The Generalleutnant Hermann Wagner had seen combat in World War two as a member of the Hitler Youth. He had fought during the final few months of the war. His father had died fighting on the Eastern Front he had been a StuG Commander. Before he died, he had earned an Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class as well as the German Cross in Gold. His family while not aristocratic had been well to do and they had owned a fair amount of land. When the Soviet Union captured the eastern section of Germany the land had been confiscated. What was worse in his mind was that the Poles had been given the land his family had held for over two hundred years. The General proudly wore his medals he had the Iron Cross second class and the Iron Cross First Class. Wagner had been very aggressive during the fighting against Russians, but he was looking forward to fighting the Commies again he had always felt that he had never got the level of vengeance he had been looking for. In his office was a photo of his father with all the medals and assorted awards he had earned prominently displayed.
Then General look at the Northern border of Bavaria. It was even worse to the North. While the 3rd Infantry was protecting the Gap covering about forty kilometers. The 1st Infantry and the 3rd Armored with the 2nd ACR had to protect a line at total of over one hundred and sixty kilometers. With only the 1st and 4th Canadian Mechanized brigades in reserve. Well it was time to bite the bullet and take some Guard units into the frontline. Given the number of Soviet and even a few German division within an easy day’s move. The commies could hit the line like a sledge hammer and bust it wide open. He did not like it but he had not choice.
The section of the line covered by the 7th Corp would be reinforced with the 40th Mechanized Infantry division. The division had done well in its training maneuvers, so its reward was to be the first National Guard division to be put on the frontlines. The commander of 7th Corp who had been screaming for help should be happy. But he did not mention that idea to General Wagner, he was the one looking for help. Also, the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Mechanize Infantry Brigades would be arriving in the next few days. The 2nd Brigade would reinforce 7th Corp while the 3rd brigade would be assigned to Bundeswehr’s 2nd Corp to give the German Force in Bavaria an additional reserve force. General Rogers commented that the 3 Canadian Mechanized Brigade would be assigned to the 2nd Corp. General Wagner accepted the offered unit. But he pointed out that the front line was still to thin. What to was the question, it was then that his aide reminded him that he had a meeting with the 47th Infantry Division Commander.
Then a light went off in his head. True the 47th Infantry division had not gone any in theater training it had been in training in the United States longer then the units that had been previously been sent to Europe. The 47th was going to go to Bavaria. The question was where to put the division. Then he decided to talk to the divisions commander first before deciding where to send the division. He then invited General Wagner to stay while he talked to commanding General of the 47th Infantry. General Wagner decided to stay and listen. He needed more troops and right now he would take just about anything.
As commander of the 47th division, Major General Sorenson had spent his entire career in the 47th Infantry now there was a good chance he was going to lead the division into battle. But he had a feeling that this meeting would be a make or break session. The commander of the 50th Armored had failed to impress General Rogers and he had been sent home and a regular army officer had been put in charge of the 50th. So he had a plan he was going to concentrate on the readiness of the division and all the training he had put the division through. Walking into the room General Sorenson he saw the German General sitting in the room. That put him on his guard when you see something that should not be there well that meant something was up. He found out that the officer was Generalleutnant Wagner and not much else.
General Rogers like Sorenson the man had replace the previous commander who had not measured up. Sorenson taken command and he had hit the ground running. The man had even organized a new battalion for the division. It was new light anti-tank battalions with a mixture of Tow, Recoilless rifle and twin fifties armed pickups. He had also taken the lead in getting his division transportation brought up to strength by gathering large numbers of civilian trucks for the division. He had managed to get the state of Minnesota to buy a large number of trucks to fill out his transport units. As for training the division had spent a lot of time in the field. He had managed to get the division armed with M-60A1’S.
General Sorenson had assured General Rogers that unlike some Guard units, all the civilian vehicles in his units were painted in the appropriate camouflage pattern. He also assured that he had work his men hard getting them ready for combat. General Rogers smiled and he asked about the movement of the division. General Sorenson replied, “Well with the first wave of troops is the 1/194th Cavalry, the 47th light anti-tank battalion the divisions 1st brigade 1/35th Inf, 2/235th inf, 1/136th and the 2/123 FA it has towed 105’s. This wave has complete arrived and we have started the second wave is the 682nd Engineer the 34th brigade 1/133rd inf 2/133rd inf (M), 1/168th inf and the 1/151st FA towed 105’s. the third wave is the 1/94th Armored the 66th Brigade 1/123rd inf, 2/130th Inf, 3/130th inf and the 1-194th towed 105’s. The final wave will be the 474th AVN Battalion the 1/175th FA with towed 155mm and self-propelled 8”. Also, any of the support units that have not already been sent will go on this final wave.
General Rogers looked over to Generalleutnant Wagner and he nodded his head, the 47th Division was going to Bavaria. General Roger stood up and he lead General Sorenson over to the map of Bavaria. General Sorenson, Generalleutnant Wagner is Commander of the Bundeswehr’s 2nd Corp and the Corp is located in Bavaria. He will tell you what part of the line you will be defending.
General Wagner looked General Sorenson and he spoke with an accented English, “ You defend this part of the line from Furth Im Wald to Mahring. Your first wave will take over the Southern section of the line and when the second wave arrives it will take over the Northern section of the line. I will immediately pull the 56th Local Defense Brigade from the line and send it to the south to cover this part of the line. Now all I need is a unit to take over the mission of the 25th Fallshirmjaeger brigade. General Roger considered the request and then he replied, “As of now I don’t have spare light infantry brigade but once the new French divisions arrived, I will see what I can do. General Wagner nodded his head he had done better than he had expected. But he doubted that his staff would agree. They would not enthused about American National Guard division. With the meeting at an end Generalleutnant Wagner decided to go and look over his new division.
Moscow The Politburo gathered for its first meeting to decide who would be the next First Secretary. Andropov’s chosen successor was Gorbachev and he had been passed over the last time. Now Romanov was making an all out push for power. The military was fully behind him and rumors had the KGB favoring him. Now the question was whether Gorbechev could convince the majority of the Politburo to support him despite the opposition of the Hardliners
Romanov had a different problem, some of his allies made many of the members of the Politburo nervous. Some felt he was too closely tied to the military and the KGB. That he could only win by intimidation, but then he would always have to watch his back. His plan was to try to convince the Politburo that his plan made sense. That plan was to give the Western Alliance one last chance to come to an agreement. If that agreement could not made, an ultimatum would be made in an attempt cause divide the Western allies.
Hopefully it would cause the weak kneed amongst the Western Alliance to backout of the crisis. As well make some of the neutrals to support the Soviet Union. The hope was that the Slavs of Yugoslavia would come to the support of the Soviet Union. His argument would be simple we do not have the time to waste in long negotiations. Gorbachev approach would take to long to accomplish, with no guarantee of success. What was worse his plans to cut the expenditures on the Soviet Military would leave the Soviet Union weakened and much more vulnerable. But he knew todays discussion would decide nothing. But the decision would have to be made by the beginning of next week if not sooner.
The rest of the world watched and wait to see who, would be the next Leader of the Soviet Union. But there was nothing that they could do to influence that choice. That meant a lot of people were hoping who ever took power wanted to bring the crisis to a peaceful end.
8/ 7Aug Interregnum 11AM Moscow Gromyko’s funeral at the Novodevichy Cemetery was a somber affair. With family and friends gathers with a relatively limited number of functionaries and the Entire Politburo in attendance. Soviet televisions broadcast was gone over with a fine eye all were looking to see if there were any signs over who would be the next leader of the Soviet Union. But the Politburo was expressionless, they had respected Gromyko and were not going to allow anything to take away from the solemnity of the situation.
11am Brussels NATO headquarters General Rogers sat looking at a map of the Bavarian Czech border. The meeting he was having was with the commander of the Bundeswehr 2nd Corp had two division the 10TH Panzer Division and the 1st Gebirgsdivision the 25th Fallschirmjaeger brigade and a Territorial Army brigade the 56th Local Defense brigade one of only two brigades in the Territorial Army that was equipped with Leopard I’s and with extra equipment as well as the US National Guard brigade the 278th ACR all defending the border. With the 4th Panzer Division was in reserve. They were facing 1st Combined Arms Army with five divisions the 15th Guard tank division, the 31st Tank division the 18th and 30th Guard MRD with the 48th MRD and two Czech motorized rifle divisions the 19th and 20th with 3 category D division the 16th, 18th and 26th MRD. Two Soviet divisions were attached to the 28th Corp the 31st Tank and 30th Guard Division they were the Operation Manuever Group for this force and he could just see them breaking through anywhere along that part of the line.
The Generalleutnant Hermann Wagner had seen combat in World War two as a member of the Hitler Youth. He had fought during the final few months of the war. His father had died fighting on the Eastern Front he had been a StuG Commander. Before he died, he had earned an Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class as well as the German Cross in Gold. His family while not aristocratic had been well to do and they had owned a fair amount of land. When the Soviet Union captured the eastern section of Germany the land had been confiscated. What was worse in his mind was that the Poles had been given the land his family had held for over two hundred years. The General proudly wore his medals he had the Iron Cross second class and the Iron Cross First Class. Wagner had been very aggressive during the fighting against Russians, but he was looking forward to fighting the Commies again he had always felt that he had never got the level of vengeance he had been looking for. In his office was a photo of his father with all the medals and assorted awards he had earned prominently displayed.
Then General look at the Northern border of Bavaria. It was even worse to the North. While the 3rd Infantry was protecting the Gap covering about forty kilometers. The 1st Infantry and the 3rd Armored with the 2nd ACR had to protect a line at total of over one hundred and sixty kilometers. With only the 1st and 4th Canadian Mechanized brigades in reserve. Well it was time to bite the bullet and take some Guard units into the frontline. Given the number of Soviet and even a few German division within an easy day’s move. The commies could hit the line like a sledge hammer and bust it wide open. He did not like it but he had not choice.
The section of the line covered by the 7th Corp would be reinforced with the 40th Mechanized Infantry division. The division had done well in its training maneuvers, so its reward was to be the first National Guard division to be put on the frontlines. The commander of 7th Corp who had been screaming for help should be happy. But he did not mention that idea to General Wagner, he was the one looking for help. Also, the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Mechanize Infantry Brigades would be arriving in the next few days. The 2nd Brigade would reinforce 7th Corp while the 3rd brigade would be assigned to Bundeswehr’s 2nd Corp to give the German Force in Bavaria an additional reserve force. General Rogers commented that the 3 Canadian Mechanized Brigade would be assigned to the 2nd Corp. General Wagner accepted the offered unit. But he pointed out that the front line was still to thin. What to was the question, it was then that his aide reminded him that he had a meeting with the 47th Infantry Division Commander.
Then a light went off in his head. True the 47th Infantry division had not gone any in theater training it had been in training in the United States longer then the units that had been previously been sent to Europe. The 47th was going to go to Bavaria. The question was where to put the division. Then he decided to talk to the divisions commander first before deciding where to send the division. He then invited General Wagner to stay while he talked to commanding General of the 47th Infantry. General Wagner decided to stay and listen. He needed more troops and right now he would take just about anything.
As commander of the 47th division, Major General Sorenson had spent his entire career in the 47th Infantry now there was a good chance he was going to lead the division into battle. But he had a feeling that this meeting would be a make or break session. The commander of the 50th Armored had failed to impress General Rogers and he had been sent home and a regular army officer had been put in charge of the 50th. So he had a plan he was going to concentrate on the readiness of the division and all the training he had put the division through. Walking into the room General Sorenson he saw the German General sitting in the room. That put him on his guard when you see something that should not be there well that meant something was up. He found out that the officer was Generalleutnant Wagner and not much else.
General Rogers like Sorenson the man had replace the previous commander who had not measured up. Sorenson taken command and he had hit the ground running. The man had even organized a new battalion for the division. It was new light anti-tank battalions with a mixture of Tow, Recoilless rifle and twin fifties armed pickups. He had also taken the lead in getting his division transportation brought up to strength by gathering large numbers of civilian trucks for the division. He had managed to get the state of Minnesota to buy a large number of trucks to fill out his transport units. As for training the division had spent a lot of time in the field. He had managed to get the division armed with M-60A1’S.
General Sorenson had assured General Rogers that unlike some Guard units, all the civilian vehicles in his units were painted in the appropriate camouflage pattern. He also assured that he had work his men hard getting them ready for combat. General Rogers smiled and he asked about the movement of the division. General Sorenson replied, “Well with the first wave of troops is the 1/194th Cavalry, the 47th light anti-tank battalion the divisions 1st brigade 1/35th Inf, 2/235th inf, 1/136th and the 2/123 FA it has towed 105’s. This wave has complete arrived and we have started the second wave is the 682nd Engineer the 34th brigade 1/133rd inf 2/133rd inf (M), 1/168th inf and the 1/151st FA towed 105’s. the third wave is the 1/94th Armored the 66th Brigade 1/123rd inf, 2/130th Inf, 3/130th inf and the 1-194th towed 105’s. The final wave will be the 474th AVN Battalion the 1/175th FA with towed 155mm and self-propelled 8”. Also, any of the support units that have not already been sent will go on this final wave.
General Rogers looked over to Generalleutnant Wagner and he nodded his head, the 47th Division was going to Bavaria. General Roger stood up and he lead General Sorenson over to the map of Bavaria. General Sorenson, Generalleutnant Wagner is Commander of the Bundeswehr’s 2nd Corp and the Corp is located in Bavaria. He will tell you what part of the line you will be defending.
General Wagner looked General Sorenson and he spoke with an accented English, “ You defend this part of the line from Furth Im Wald to Mahring. Your first wave will take over the Southern section of the line and when the second wave arrives it will take over the Northern section of the line. I will immediately pull the 56th Local Defense Brigade from the line and send it to the south to cover this part of the line. Now all I need is a unit to take over the mission of the 25th Fallshirmjaeger brigade. General Roger considered the request and then he replied, “As of now I don’t have spare light infantry brigade but once the new French divisions arrived, I will see what I can do. General Wagner nodded his head he had done better than he had expected. But he doubted that his staff would agree. They would not enthused about American National Guard division. With the meeting at an end Generalleutnant Wagner decided to go and look over his new division.
I had friends who were in this division, some were veterans from Vietnam including officers. Also by spending more time in the United States they had time to find out who was up to their jobs and who were not. That way replacements could be more readily assigned and other promoted to fill in other gaps. I thought the additional time they had in the states would help in that area. A lot of the other units that were sent over to Germany before they had much time to training. Now they are training in Germany and they are still shaking out the less effective officers.
9am Boston The RO/RO ships left Boston Harbor taking some of the last combat units that the United States and Canada had available for combat in Europe. As the ships left port a group of desperate anti-war activists attempted to put the yacht they were on in the path of one of the RO/RO ships a Coast Guard cutter promptly boarded the yacht and arrest the passengers and crew. The peace movement was feeling increasingly desperate it looked like war was now increasingly likely. What truly frightened the Anti-war movement was that the population while afraid of nuclear war. That same population was increasingly willing to chance a war. They had been threatened time and again by the Soviet Union and believed that a war would happen sooner than later so why not now.
8pm Belgrade Yugoslavia
The Presidential Council was split on what to do, the Serbs were in favor of supporting the Soviet Union. The President of Yugoslavia was hesitant to force the Croats, Slovenians and Bosnian’s into a war they did not support. What was worse the Serbian intelligence services knew for a fact that the three republics were already talking to the NATO. The information was that if the Serbian’s made the decision to back the Soviet Union in this war they would go over to NATO. What was worse if Yugoslavia mobilized even in an effort to protect the Neutrality of Yugoslavia it could take the country over the edge into Civil War. With the reserves mobilized Croatia, Slovenia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovinian would be more loyal to the local government than the central government. That would give these republics their own national armies.
As a result, the Political leadership of Serbs were less than enthusiastic about the idea. But the Croats were arguing that mobilizing the military was necessary and they had the support of three other members including of the Presidential Council that included Kosovo. While the other four were less sure about the idea and the problem for the Serbian leadership was that the military was pushing for the mobilization.
At the same time the Soviet Union was divided on what the Serbs should do. One faction wanted Yugoslavia to mobilize so that they could reinforce the southern flank of the WARSAW pact. The arrival of a full Corp of US army troops and the redeployment of several division to the Central Front had seriously disrupted the balance of power in that sector. The addition of the Yugoslavian military could be used to tie up the Italian army in the Balkans and therefore they would not be able to intervene in Austria nor send troops north into West Germany.
But another faction was just as opposed to the mobilization, they took the view if the mobilization happened a civil war would break out and the Croat and Slovenians could provide a route for NATO force to invade Hungary and punch a hole in the frontlines dividing the WARSAW PACT forces. Not to mention allowing NATO Air Forces a wider avenue of attack into eastern Europe. They just did not see and upside to involving Yugoslavia in this war.
Tomorrow would be the day of decision. The question was what Montenegro would do, while they were still loyal to Serbia. But they were afraid that NATO did strike and if the military was not mobilized Macedonia would be on the front line without the full power of the Yugoslavia defending them. At the same time Montenegro was opposed to support the Soviet Union in the possible war that was coming. They had no desire to be a part of that war. That meant that Yugoslavia could end up with a fully mobilized military while remaining neutral in the war or at least initially neutral. What was really worrying was that the Yugoslavia end up in a civil war if either the Soviet Union or NATO decided to invade. The Serbian leadership were still talking to Montenegro to change their minds but as of yet the Montenegrins were not willing to do what the Serbians wanted.
To the north Austria was now engaged in serious negotiation with NATO over the movement of the Italian army into Austria the second the Soviet Union move troops into Austria. The problem was that if Yugoslavia went to war on the side of the Soviet Union then Italy could be threatened. But the Italian had assurances that if that happened both Croatia and Slovenia would side with NATO. But it still made for an uncertain situation. To help with that problem the Spanish army was sending a mixed force of troops from variety of units to form a division. The problem was that the Spanish Army was in a state of reorganization, units were being disbanded and as of yet more modern tanks had not be purchased.
The Spanish army was to be committed into an area where the lack of modern equipment would not be so critical. At the same time three brigades of Mountain troops were being moved to Turkey plan at the same time all four tercio’s of the Spanish Legion were on their way to Greece. Portugal was also committing a brigade 1ST Independent Composite Brigade to help defend Italy. While the Portuguese Army still in the process of modernization although it did have one bit of positive news the tank unit of this brigade was made up of modernized M-48A5 tanks handed over to them by the United States. Right now, the NATO southern flank was looking pretty good and if Yugoslavia remained neutral the Soviet Union would have limit areas of attack. But with one big question mark and that was Austria. Alone it could not hold eastern Austria and whether enough of its military would be left to defend eastern Austria was questionable. Some pointed out that this terrain was very mountainous but other commented it the Austrian Army was destroyed before it fell back into the Alps what would prevent the WARSAW PACT from punching a massive hole in the NATO's defensive line.
In Scandinavia the Finish army was fully mobilized and in positions, but the number of troops in the north of Finland were not enough to seriously delay the Soviet Army. While the bulk of the Finland’s army was concentrated to protect population centers of Finland from Soviet attack. While in Sweden more troops were being allocated to the north of Sweden to block some the land routes for the Soviet Union as they headed for Norway.
2pm Washington
With Secretary of Schultz still recovering from his wound, Kissinger was announced at the sort of acting Secretary of State. That announcement was greeted with sounds of relief from the Democratic Party while the Republican Party was happy to have a real expert on the Soviet Union handling the current crisis. Reagan with Kissinger and Nixon standing at his side announced that the United States wanted to carry on the negotiation to bring the crisis to an end.
Kissinger confirmed that he would go to Moscow to speak whoever became the next General Secretary of the Soviet Union. The press had to admit that it looked like Reagan was attempting to carry on the negotiations. The polling that would come afterward showed Ronald Reagan pull much further ahead of Mondale.
8pm Belgrade Yugoslavia
The Presidential Council was split on what to do, the Serbs were in favor of supporting the Soviet Union. The President of Yugoslavia was hesitant to force the Croats, Slovenians and Bosnian’s into a war they did not support. What was worse the Serbian intelligence services knew for a fact that the three republics were already talking to the NATO. The information was that if the Serbian’s made the decision to back the Soviet Union in this war they would go over to NATO. What was worse if Yugoslavia mobilized even in an effort to protect the Neutrality of Yugoslavia it could take the country over the edge into Civil War. With the reserves mobilized Croatia, Slovenia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovinian would be more loyal to the local government than the central government. That would give these republics their own national armies.
As a result, the Political leadership of Serbs were less than enthusiastic about the idea. But the Croats were arguing that mobilizing the military was necessary and they had the support of three other members including of the Presidential Council that included Kosovo. While the other four were less sure about the idea and the problem for the Serbian leadership was that the military was pushing for the mobilization.
At the same time the Soviet Union was divided on what the Serbs should do. One faction wanted Yugoslavia to mobilize so that they could reinforce the southern flank of the WARSAW pact. The arrival of a full Corp of US army troops and the redeployment of several division to the Central Front had seriously disrupted the balance of power in that sector. The addition of the Yugoslavian military could be used to tie up the Italian army in the Balkans and therefore they would not be able to intervene in Austria nor send troops north into West Germany.
But another faction was just as opposed to the mobilization, they took the view if the mobilization happened a civil war would break out and the Croat and Slovenians could provide a route for NATO force to invade Hungary and punch a hole in the frontlines dividing the WARSAW PACT forces. Not to mention allowing NATO Air Forces a wider avenue of attack into eastern Europe. They just did not see and upside to involving Yugoslavia in this war.
Tomorrow would be the day of decision. The question was what Montenegro would do, while they were still loyal to Serbia. But they were afraid that NATO did strike and if the military was not mobilized Macedonia would be on the front line without the full power of the Yugoslavia defending them. At the same time Montenegro was opposed to support the Soviet Union in the possible war that was coming. They had no desire to be a part of that war. That meant that Yugoslavia could end up with a fully mobilized military while remaining neutral in the war or at least initially neutral. What was really worrying was that the Yugoslavia end up in a civil war if either the Soviet Union or NATO decided to invade. The Serbian leadership were still talking to Montenegro to change their minds but as of yet the Montenegrins were not willing to do what the Serbians wanted.
To the north Austria was now engaged in serious negotiation with NATO over the movement of the Italian army into Austria the second the Soviet Union move troops into Austria. The problem was that if Yugoslavia went to war on the side of the Soviet Union then Italy could be threatened. But the Italian had assurances that if that happened both Croatia and Slovenia would side with NATO. But it still made for an uncertain situation. To help with that problem the Spanish army was sending a mixed force of troops from variety of units to form a division. The problem was that the Spanish Army was in a state of reorganization, units were being disbanded and as of yet more modern tanks had not be purchased.
The Spanish army was to be committed into an area where the lack of modern equipment would not be so critical. At the same time three brigades of Mountain troops were being moved to Turkey plan at the same time all four tercio’s of the Spanish Legion were on their way to Greece. Portugal was also committing a brigade 1ST Independent Composite Brigade to help defend Italy. While the Portuguese Army still in the process of modernization although it did have one bit of positive news the tank unit of this brigade was made up of modernized M-48A5 tanks handed over to them by the United States. Right now, the NATO southern flank was looking pretty good and if Yugoslavia remained neutral the Soviet Union would have limit areas of attack. But with one big question mark and that was Austria. Alone it could not hold eastern Austria and whether enough of its military would be left to defend eastern Austria was questionable. Some pointed out that this terrain was very mountainous but other commented it the Austrian Army was destroyed before it fell back into the Alps what would prevent the WARSAW PACT from punching a massive hole in the NATO's defensive line.
In Scandinavia the Finish army was fully mobilized and in positions, but the number of troops in the north of Finland were not enough to seriously delay the Soviet Army. While the bulk of the Finland’s army was concentrated to protect population centers of Finland from Soviet attack. While in Sweden more troops were being allocated to the north of Sweden to block some the land routes for the Soviet Union as they headed for Norway.
2pm Washington
With Secretary of Schultz still recovering from his wound, Kissinger was announced at the sort of acting Secretary of State. That announcement was greeted with sounds of relief from the Democratic Party while the Republican Party was happy to have a real expert on the Soviet Union handling the current crisis. Reagan with Kissinger and Nixon standing at his side announced that the United States wanted to carry on the negotiation to bring the crisis to an end.
Kissinger confirmed that he would go to Moscow to speak whoever became the next General Secretary of the Soviet Union. The press had to admit that it looked like Reagan was attempting to carry on the negotiations. The polling that would come afterward showed Ronald Reagan pull much further ahead of Mondale.