15/14 Aug. Day -9
10am Moscow
Romanov was in a happy mood the Americans had agreed to the negotiations and that meant the deception plan was working. The Americans were told that the meeting would start on Wednesday. The meeting would go until Sunday and then the Ultimatum would be sent. Now he had to be at a briefing for Stavka. The Northern Front was doing the briefing for today.
NATO HQ Brussels Tomorrow the last combat component of the Marine would be arriving in Istanbul. The mostly made up of the tank and other assorted vehicles support units of the 3rd Mardiv would arrive as well as the air component. Then in less than a week’s time those units would be ready for operation.
Rome The Spanish division with the Portuguese brigade. The reinforced division was going to eastern Austria. At the same time Italian Army’s mountain troops were beginning to move to the defensive line in the region of Styria Austria. In the meantime, the Italian Army armored divisions would be waiting to attack. The 5th Corp was still holding it position. But the question of what the 3rd Corp would do would be discussed. Rome had not been seriously considering the idea of sending the Centauro Division north so soon. But it was ready to move if necessary.
Last night a series of phone calls had went out, one of the calls had been to the commander of the 3rd Corp to report to the Ministry of Defense. What was up none of the Army commanders knew. The officers were gathered together and driven to the Prime Ministers office. The Prime Minister Bettino Craxi was not in a good mood, war was coming and he knew it. A senior member of the British Intelligence service had personally briefed him on what was happening. The Soviet Union was going to pretend to negotiate while engaging in the final preparations for war.
Craxi had concealed that bit of information but he had begun preparation for war under the guise of better safe than sorry. The Communists were attacking his moves, stating that neutrality was the best policy. While the government had been downgrading any problems with the loyalty of the Communist party. There were indications that at least some of the Communist party leadership were considering carrying out strikes if Italy went to war. Then there was Yugoslavia
But the Italians had it on good authority that Bosnia, Slovenia and Croatia all wanted to remain neutral in the upcoming war. Kosovo and Macedonia were less sure about what to do once war had broken out. Serbia was having a fit over the current situation only the province Vojvodina was also loyal. The Serbs were not talking about what they planned to do. But so far, they had not to the best of anyone’s intelligence services had heard what they planned to do. But one thing was certain that there had been a shuffle of Soviet Army units were gathering along the border of Yugoslavia. But on the good side it looked like for now Yugoslavia would remain united and would stay out of the war. That at least channeled the forces of the Warsaw Pact along narrow frontlines.
He asked the military its opinion about the situation. Then he listened to the commander of the 3rd Corp point out that the Austrians did not have enough troops to defend the Austrian border. He also commented that in his view the Spanish Army division was placed too far to the east it could get cut off if it was not careful. He also commented that with the massive numbers of troops along the Czech/Bavarian Border he stated that while he was not opposed to committing the division to Northern Austrian. But he was more in favor of setting up a defensive line behind the Danube. He commented that he had spoken to the Germans and they were in favor of the Italians sending troops but they wanted the troops to setup as an extension of the German line. He pointed at the map and commented that setting up the 3rd Corp that way would have the Danube at the Corps back.
He went silent as he allowed the politicians to look at the map and consider that bit of information. Finally, Craxi spoke up, **What do you recommend?” The Army Chief of Staff replied, “We can set up behind the Danube the only bridges in that section of Austria is near the city of Linz. There are no other bridges across the Danube. But the 3rd Corp is not sufficient to defend the whole river line much less the part of the line that would go into the mountains. The Austrian could put two Jaeger Brigades and one Jaeger Battalion essentially light infantry units with some armor and as well as a quantity of Territorial army units.
Craxi considered what he had been told and he knew that the commander of the 3rd Corp was sitting in the room. He decided to ask him what he thought he needed. “General Conti what kind of force do you think you need to succeed in this mission should we decided to accept the request? Conti considered the question for a minute, one of his more imaginative staff officers had taken a look at that section of Austria. He told Conti that it would be made to setup north of the Danube since the only bridges across the Danube were in the city of Linz and the surrounding area. He had also stated that right now he had one division and he would need at least two divisions would be needed to cover that section of the line. “I think that first we must setup on the south side of the Danube to prevent our forces being caught with the Danube at our back and the WARSAW PACT forces at our front. But my division alone would not be able to hold the Danube line so at least one more division probably two would be needed to provide the forces to even begin to hold the line I would prefer the Trieste and Trento Divisions both are mostly made up of regular army units. I specifically prefer the Trieste division since it would return the Cremona brigade to my command.” General Conti was still annoyed that he had lost the Cremona brigade the only other fighting force of the 3rd Corp outside of the Centauro division.
The Army Chief of Staff smiled to himself Conti had probably never considered having fight a battle anywhere but Italy. But he immediately asked for more troops. Prime Minister Craxi, considered what he had just been told. But he did note that neither the Savona Division nor the Piedmonte Division were not one of the divisions requested and he was uncertain as to why. “Why not the Savona Division?” General Conti considered his response carefully, he did not want to be to negative about the Savona Division. “Well Mr. Prime Minister Craxi, Two of the three brigades are mostly made up of reservists. The Lazio brigade has some regular units but most of the units are reservist in origin. While the Piemonte brigade has a cadre of regulars and does have a Leopard Battalion. But most of the troops are reservists. The Sassari Brigade has mixture of regular units and reservists. As for the Artillery component its made up of 155mm Howitzers but manned by reservists.
As for the Piedmonte Division is mostly made up of reservists. The Paglia Brigade is made up of obsolete equipment and its tanks were M-47’s of the divisions are made up of obsolete tanks. The Lazio brigade is similarly armed. The only brigade with a good mixture of regulars to reservist is the Sassari brigade and its tanks were Leopard I’s. That is why these divisions would be my last choices for the 3rd Corp.
Craxi looked at the Army Chief of Staff and he asked, “What units should be sent to reinforce the 3rd Corp. The Army Chief of Staff considered the situation and he agreed with what General Conti that at least two additional divisions would be necessary form the kind of line needed along the Danube. That did not include the necessary reserve division and the only troops the Austrians could provide would be two Jaeger Brigades and one Jaeger Battalion. To hold that line, we will need to send 3rd Corp and two of the newly organized divisions. We will send the Trento and the Savona. We will keep the Trieste and the Piedmont in reserve.” Craxi considered what he was told and he took a deep breath. “We will do what the Chief of Staff suggests. What about the Spanish division?” The Chief of Staff replied, “I will talk to the Chief of Staff’s of both Spain and Portugal about repositioning the Iberian division.
