Slow Drift to War Europe 1984

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ferdi254

Banned
Farmer, your examples are exactly from situations in which the NATO will not be.

1. Both in 1940 and 1944 the attack taking place was an attack which nobody expected on the defending side. Here you have the NATO gathering exact evidence where which WP units are for two months.
2. In both cases the allies were not able to bring up any good CAS or strategic help, in 1940 the Luftwaffe more or less ruled the sky over the key points. Here you have a least a fully open air war. (BTW, what is the counter the WP has against F 117 and Tomahawks? Right answer: None.
3. Both those offensives were in places in which there were only a couple of roads to bring up support for the defenders (and in the former most of those units were 200 km away from the deciding points). Here especially the Bundeswehr is fighting on ist own turf.
4. In the 1940 case the Wehrmacht had the far superior doctrine and training (which is perfectly reversed here) and in 1944 at least had the Tigers against the Shermans.

If you want to have a 1940 or 1944 case than the WP would have to make an attack somehow across mountains and forests with a not so dense roadwork. Which is perfectly against (!) all what they were trained for Because for such a stunt you would need commanders trained to take initiative. And look how far the Wehrmacht got in 1944 with an 41 divisions against 4 American. Just a bit over 120 km at the farthest place. OK this is above the 50 km mark I set here but given the different circumstances...

Sloreck that also answers a lot of your arguments. One I may be wanking slightly the tank quality but for the training, no I do not. Remember the WP ITTL is moving up CAT C and CAT D troops (in one scene in Red storm rising a US tank company is stopping a full C rated WP tank Division)
The north 50 km of the gap are in reality full of waterways, lakes and small towns, hard to attack. The next 50 km only have one crossing over the Elbe (which is already well within FRG territory) so the NATO does not have to guess that much. And key bridges will be blown up anyway. They can put half the tanks around Lüneburg, half around Braunschweig and the WP will be coming their way. If they put too many to one side, just move them. Nato may face difficulties doing so, WP is impossible to.

For the famous NATO myth of all the Spetsnats troops. One is that this would make only sense if you want to start a war which the Politoffice never(!) wanted. Second, how many would you need to really do some damage, especially considering as this myth was very alive in NATO circles, so there would be heavy security on places and third, Afghanistan has taught us that those were far away from the supersoldiers as they were depicted.

For landlines being out of order: There is one thing that is often overlooked. We are talking West Germany here. In 1945 the innergerman phone was still working! To seriously do some damage to the German cable a) most was underground b) not only for the cold war it was deliberately designed to be triple and quadruple redundant. It would take a prolonged air offensive to make dents into that (One cannot say that the RAF and USAF did not seriously try 1942-45).

WP Units attacking would be under air attack as well and if Farmer builds in huge amounts of terrorists and sympathizers in the FRG helping the WP than it is getting ASB. The RAF (Rote Armee Fraktion) had at best 30 members and inviting the WP was not on their agenda. In 1984, after the losses during the attack, we may be talking 6 or 8 people left.
 
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sloreck

@Farmer12 : I hope that my comments are being seen as something for positive reinforcement, to fill in gaps etc and not in any way coming down on you. It is your TL, and you are doing a very good job of writing something both feasible and well written. If at any point my comments have been seen by you as sniping I apologize. If you wish to say something to me about this please send me a private note.
 

Farmer12

sloreck- I will clarify my response you had nothing to do with my reaction it was the ferdi254 last post. You have given me good input in the past and you comments are in general helpful. I do apologize for the misunderstanding.
 

badfishy40

Banned
Excellent story so far. Waiting for the nukes to fly and planet of the apes lol. Ok maybe not that far....but will settle for some good ole fashioned war.
 

kaymay

Love the story old chap write it how you want it as long as no fairies with pixie dust turn up I’m way more than happy reading each and every update.
 

Farmer12

I thank you all, I was just getting tired of the pointless commentary that went against what I was writing and I appreciate the support. I am trying to keep it believable. The reason that the crisis is going the way it is is because of the gerontocracy that is running the Politburo where no decision is a good decision. With the occasional what the fuck because truth is stranger than fiction. But no pixie dust, but i will try to keep it interesting for you.
 

ferdi254

Banned
Farmer as I said in the beginning I also enjoy your story and it s of course yours so you can have it going any way you want, if you want to have the WP on the Rhine in 6 days, then be it so.
 

Farmer12

1pm New York At the UN speed was building up toward a vote the Non-aligned Nations lead by India was organizing a vote against the Soviet Union. While Castro also a member of the non-aligned movement was complaining that the Americans were not getting their share of the blame. Castro’s representatives at the UN pointed to the convoys forming in the ports of the United States east coast commenting that the Soviet Union would be more likely to become involved in the conference. That line of reasoning had some support from the ambassadors of the non-aligned nations.

But India pointed out that it did not want to give the Soviet Union any excuse to not go to the conference. The Indian ambassador pointed out that the Soviet Union was also moving large numbers of troops into Europe. He suggested that a second motion be put before the both the General Assembly to ask the two powers to cease the movement of troop into Europe. Castro was less than pleased when he found out what was being done. The idea was to blur the issue and make it easier for the Soviet Union to avoid responding to the demands to come to a conference that would bring the current crisis to an end.

The Ambassador Kirkpatrick response to the motion was short and to the point, **The United States would stop sending troops only after an agreement with the Soviet Union ending the crisis is signed. ** But the Non-aligned nations wanted to put the motions before both the General Assembly and Security Council. Then, France made it clear that it would cast its veto on this motion pointing out the Soviet Union was close to the potential battlefield and the United States was on the other side of the Atlantic. Everyone knew that by France kill the motion the United States would not have the onus of having to veto the motion itself. To criticism by some of the members of the Non-aligned nations especially Cuba. The French ambassador commented that some of the nations of the Non-aligned movement were non-aligned in name only. He then made a few pointed comments about Cuba taking so much aid from the Soviet Union that it was little more than a satellite of the Soviet Union.

San Francisco Democratic Convention While at the Democratic convention there was mixture of hope and fear. The hope was that Mondale would be Reagan. But the fear was more pervasive, the fear that war in Europe would breakout and that it would turn into a nuclear war. The other fear was that Reagan would successfully negotiate an end to the crisis and assure his reelection. Outside the Moscone Center where the Democratic Convention was being held were large crowds of demonstrators calling for the Democratic party to unilaterally destroy the nuclear arsenal of the United States. They claimed that then the Soviet Union would have no excuse to maintain it nuclear arsenal. That bit of logic was being ridiculed by Republicans. While some democrats were cringing at the naivety of the protestors as the nation’s voters were watching.

2pm Pentagon
The Royal Navy was having its day before the Secretary of Defense Weinberger, the briefing was short and to the point. The briefers did emphasize that there were risks but they pointed out that by crippling the Soviet IRBM’s in Europe just might convince the Soviet Union to backdown should the frontline fighting descended into using tactical nuclear weapons. It would be an intermediary step between tactical nuclear warfare and a full strike.

It was obvious that Cap Weinberger was not enthused about the plan since the idea of trying to engage in a limited nuclear war to prevent an all-out strike. He did not believe that fighting a limited nuclear war was possible. On the hand if it worked a lot fewer people would die from nuclear strikes. Finally, he did admit that something was better than nothing and at least they had a plan. Then Lehman pointed out that the two trident submarines were currently assigned as reserve units to the second strike. Mostly because they were brand new boomers with brand new crews. But what Lehman emphasized was that with their greater accuracy of the Trident submarines attacking the S-4 missile would be easier. While the SS-20 launch sites were totally soft, so the better accuracy would allow a better chance to take out the SS-20 launch sites.

In the end, Cap agreed to put a request to the President that he get briefed by the Royal Navy planners with a few US naval planners attached to the briefing to let the president how doable the mission was to carry out.

3 PM NDHQ
The message telling the Americans that the two battalions had been accept and the battalions would be attached to new 3rd brigade being form at Valcartier. The 209th Field Artillery Brigade was based in New York and were currently training at Fort Drum. Its subunits were the 5/5th FA (155) and the 7/9th FA (8in).

Upon receiving word that the brigade would indeed be attached to the newly organized 3rd brigade the brigade commander called the up to Valcartier to speak with the brigade commander. Lt. Col. Caron was at the headquarters he apologized that the Colonel was out watching units running through their drills. The National Guard commander Col. Ed Schaumberg was could understand that, but he did want to have a chance to talk with Colonel Delacroix sometime today. Lt. Col. Caron assured him that the Colonel would be calling him back today.

An officer was sent to let the Colonel know that the commander of the Artillery brigade that had just been assigned to the 3rd brigade would like to speak to him as soon as was convenient. Col. Delacroix soon returned to brigade headquarter to call the commander of the 209th Field Artillery Brigade. Lt. Col. Caron assured Col. Delacroix that Col Schaumberg was good officer and his units had trained with Canadian Militia units including some of the battalions currently assigned the brigade. The phone call was a constructive discussion. Both men were making every effort to lay the ground work for a good working relationship between the two brigades.
 

ferdi254

Banned
Farmer I was in the German Army in the 80´s. We knew one thing perfectly. If a war would start we would either be able to stop the WP quite early (a fully prepared NATO would have been able to do that latest from 85 on) and then the WP would use tactical nukes... or we woud be caught by surprise and then the NATO would use tactical nukes. And of course in both instances the other side would reply in kind, so we and the whole of Germany would be dead anyway. I am not sure how you can make it more messy (at least for Europe) than that. The one consoling factor was all the time for those who had read about soviet military doctrine that they were only ging to start such a thing if they fought they´d be attacked anyway.

One thing here though, there were two reasons why the SS20 was such a big concern to the NATO. The European nations feared that the USA would not have Washington getting nuked to protect Hamburg and the SS20 was just the perfect weapon for the WP to try a limited nuclear war and(!) the SS20 was completely mobile. It did not have any fixed launch sites, just drive the vehicle wherever you want and let it fire so it was considered as more or less impossible to take them out in a preventive strike. Of course the WP had launch sites which were measured to increase the target reliability but those were way too many.

And if the war goes nuclear there is no way not to have it fullout and then I am more pessimistic that the protect and survive series in this forum.
 

Farmer12

Read what the senior Soviet Military and Political leaderships made it clear that they did not believe that you could used nukes and not have it go all out nuclear. Also considered what condition western Europe needed to be in to help an economically bankrupted Soviet Union. Also consider what the state of preparation of the NATO in this scenario.
 

Farmer12

18/17 Jul M-23 Auckland The Leadership of the Labor party were having a meeting; the moderates were making it really clear that they were not happy to have lost ground in an election that they should have won. Lange attempts to disparage their complaints did not help, the post-election polling made it clear that Lange had alienated the middle of the road voter. The arrival of the three nuclear warships was causing more trouble within the party. It was not like anyone was happy about the arrival of the ships. But the moderates were taking the long view. With the odds that the crisis would be coming to an end due to Indira Ghandi so it was necessary for now to keep a low profile.

The Left were stating that the new government should let the Americans know that those ships were not welcome. That the ships should leave immediately and that the Labor party should make it clear that is they came to power that New Zealand should leave the ANZUS alliance. As for the more moderate members of the Party while they had no love for Reagan either. They pointed out that the Soviet Union’s decision to put more ship, planes, submarines and troops into Bougainville had caused many of the people of New Zealand to vote against the Labor Party. They also pointed out that Australian just might abandon New Zealand and ally with France.

Lange and the left replied that the party had taken a principled stand on the current crisis but that the New Zealand party had played on the fears of the people of New Zealand. They also told the moderates that they knew that the moderates had already engaged in talks with the New Zealand Party. They stated that any alliance with the New Zealand Party to form a government would be a betrayal of the ideals of the Labor Party.

The moderate reaction was quite spectacular, they replied, **If you had not botched the election we would not be faced with the necessity of making a deal with the New Zealand Party. If we don’t deal with the New Zealand Party the Nationalists will. We want to increase the funds spent on the Social Welfare and we cannot do that if we are the ones out of power. Jones will make a deal with us but he will not make a deal unless we agree to back the ANZUS treaty organization to the hilt. They also are telling us that if we don’t they will topple the government with one moment of hesitation. We do not want Muldoon remaining in power any longer than we have to. Remember that Muldoon has already made some deals with Jones what is to prevent the two of them getting together to form a government. Yes, I know that Jones had said Muldoon must go but the two of them worked together in the election so what is to prevent them from working together in a new government. Or worse yet a deal had already been made and if the Labor Party refused to deal with the New Zealand Party they would make a deal with Muldoon. Where he might or might not be Prime Minister. **


But the extreme left wing of the Labor party would have none of that. They were not going to allow the Labor Party make a deal with Jones. Since that would mean keeping the alliance with the United States it was the dream of the hard left of the Party that breaking away from the ANZUS alliance was a goal. The meeting soon broke down as both sides left the meeting in very angry moods. Lange and his supporters were not going to accept making an alliance with Jones. They were going to stand on principal and refuse to make a deal with the New Zealand Party.


The moderates were just as unhappy about the situation but they were making what they believed was the best possibly decision given the circumstances. The refusal of the hard left to believe that the Soviet Union was a real threat at any other time a compromise could have be found. If a nuclear war happened everyone knew that the New Zealand was not going to get hit. But the collapse of world trade would affect, New Zealand in very negative ways. Being cut off from the rest of the world was likely to happen. Not to mention the threat of nuclear winter. No one had any idea what would happen during a nuclear winter and to tell the truth no one wanted to find out.

Moscow 2 pm Gromyko with Gorbachev beside him arrived at the meeting with the rest of the soft liners in the Politburo. Most were committed to bringing the crisis to a rapid end. Others were not so committed to the end of the crisis. While they did not like the crisis, they had concerns about how the people of the Soviet Union would respond to the crisis ending. They were worried that the people would considered the failure to bring Honecker’s killers to justice would be a failure on the part of the Communist Party. They were afraid that economic stresses that had been place on the Soviet Union because of the full mobilization would come back to haunt them. Also, they were not too interest in any sort of power struggle that stripped Chernenko of his position as General Secretary.


Gorbachev assured them that he had no desire to force Chernenko out of power and that while it was true that the crisis had damaged the Soviet economy it was by no means a death blow. As for Honenckers’s killers he pointed out that telling the people of the Soviet Union that to get the two men would have prevented the crisis from coming to an end and possible start World War three would be a good enough answer.

That gained the approval of the men gathered in the room, then one of them asked a simple question, **What about all the corruption inside the communist party? ** Gromyko gave Gorbachev a hard look and Gorbachev simply smiled and he replied ** We have a crisis to bring to an end before we worry about corruption. But it will be looked into you have may word. **

That response did not make the person who asked the question any happier. Especially since he was involved the corruption, he just stayed in the background and he was never very greedy. Now he had something to think about. Then he resolved to question Gorbachev more when Gromyko was not around. Gorbachev just might be much more explicit about what he was going to do. The man decided that he would go and speak to Chebrikov and let him know what was going on. That is if someone else had not already told him what was going on. That would not surprise him in the least, but for the moment the momentum was on the side of Gorbachev. But for now, the man would play both sides against the middle and see what happened.

Stavka Field Marshall Ogarkov was looking over the plans of attack for the various fronts and he was coming to some decisions. One decision he was going to push was to limit the offensive operations of planned for the Northern front. While Finland’s neutrality would be violated. Sweden’s neutrality would not be. The situation looked increasing like operation in Northern Finland and Norway would begin just as summer was coming to an end. Also there would be limitations as to how far south the Soviet Army would initially drive no further into Norway than Tromso. With the Soviet Navy engage in a bastion defense this would drive NATO air units out of their northern airfield. Later on if it was thought necessary the Soviet Army could drive further south. Possibly as far south as Narvik. But on no circumstances was Sweden’s neutrality be broken.



The reasoning for that was that an attack on Denmark’s would have Sweden literally sitting on the flank of attack Soviet and Warsaw Pact units. It would make any movement toward Denmark like walking through a shooting gallery. Carrying out this decision might even allow units to be switched to the Central front. But that remained to be seen.

As for the Balkans, that had even more problems. The biggest one was Romania, Ceausescu was as usual playing games. There were reports that he was in talks with the French and was making everyone nervous. If Romania switched sides that would cut the supply lines from the Soviet Union. Then the only way supplies could be moved south would be by sea that is until Romania was reconquered. But on the plus side Serbia was making it clear that it would not betray the WARSAW pact. But at the same time, they could not allow supplies to be shipped south through their territory. As for Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia they seemed to be more committed to remaining neutral. Although there were reports that some of their leaders were talking about allying with NATO to gain their freedom from Yugoslavia. But they were in the minority the rest of the leadership were more interested in not getting nuked.

But he was not taking what he was being told for granted since they had intelligence reports that the Italian were talking to the Slovenes and Croats. No one was exactly certain what they were talking about but it was enough to cause concerns. But at the same time the Soviet Union had also been talking to the Croats and Slovenes and the people they talked to were far more interested in not taking sides if the war broke out. While the news from Yugoslavia sounded good but no one could be certain that it would remain neutral. That meant he still had to keep troops on the Croatian and Slovene borders with Hungary.

The Serbian sections of the frontier did not have to be watched, that meant that the 32nd Corp could be pulled from the Serbian section of the Yugoslavian border. Those two division would keep Sofia and the surrounding area under their control. At the same time the 28th and 92ND Guards were going to be moved further west. The would allow the two divisions to move north into Rumania or down to the Turkish border. At the same time there had been a quiet decision to move divisions closer to the Romanian border. He also wanted to move additional divisions to the Odessa, that way if it did become necessary those division could move across the border to topple Ceausescus.


The other problem was NATO’s reaction to the complete mobilization of the Soviet Army by organizing additional divisions for combat on the Central Front. Everyone knew that he who won on the central front would win everywhere. So STAVKA had to find additional divisions for the Central Front and that meant pulling divisions from the other two fronts as pulling any more troops in from Military Districts bordering China would only invite the Chinese to attack the Soviet Union. The Chinese had been stirring up opposition to the Soviet Union. He would have to take a hard look at the forces already allocated to the other fronts in an effort to pull more divisions for combat on the Central Front. The Central Front would be the front of decision and any fool knew that. So he planned to have as many of the best divisions in East Germany as he could possibly shift there.
 

Farmer12

12noon Rotterdam
The fast convoy left port on its way back to Boston for the next load of equipment for Europe.

1pm Paris President Mitterrand was holding a meeting with his military advisors. All the commentary from the press about the low degrees of combat readiness of the new divisions. The fact that Thatcher had commented that the British Territorial units were superior to the French reserve units. That comment had ended up on French Television. That had made him decide to have a meeting on the combat readiness of the new divisions. But the military was actually prepared. The initial bad press and commentary had been ignored but the comments of Foreign press and Margaret Thatcher comments from the day before had to be responded to.

The military was actually ready for the meeting, they would admit that initially the units had been on bit on the ragged side. But they assured the President that extra effort had gone into training the troops. The shortages of equipment were still being made up. At the same time shortages in personal were being addressed. All the units were pretty much as full strength. The exceptions were the Airborne and Mountain troops, there were a shortage of trained personal for the support units. Or more to the point trained Paratroops and Mountain troops for the support units. But that was a real bottleneck for those two divisions.

It was agreed that the French Army invite members of the press to see the new divisions in training. The first visits by the press had been in the early days of the new unit’s formation and that had been a mistake. The newly formed units there had been a considerable about of confusion in the units during the early days. The lack of equipment had been quite apparent. But the latest reports sent in by the officers organizing the division. Some of the short fall in equipment had been made up but there were still gaps. But it was better than it had been. There would still be shortages of equipment but the manpower was there and the troops would have a much more positive attitude about the current situation. But it was also agreed that before the press was allowed to see the units, officers from the high command would look the unit over first just to make sure as to how well the unit was shaping up.

Windsor Palace
The Palace announced that a series of presentation of colours to the newly reformed tank regiments. The Army representative announced that men who had served in the respective regiments in the past were being asked to appear at the upcoming presentations of the colors. The next announcement was that the newly formed battalions of Saladin Armored Cars were to be formed as Yeomenry regiments. Which Yeomenry regiments had as yet to be chosen.

10am Washington DC President Reagan was looking over the list of potential Secretary of Agriculture, they were a list of corporate executives. All were from one or another of the major agrobusiness corporations. He wanted someone exciting and different. The people choosing the next SEC AG were acting business as usual. They seemed to have forgot there was an ongoing crisis. Reagan wanted someone to stir the pot and he had told them that but had they listened, no. He sat back in his chair as he considered his problem, the odds were that the crisis would end and the high prices that the Farmers were getting just might dry up.


He was looking for an exciting choice. This list was made up of the kind of man he was not looking for. He considered his options, going back to the men he had given the job of picking the next Sec AG was a nonstarter. They had not listened the last time so why would they listen to him now. Doles was pushing one name in particular and then it hit Reagan. That colonel who had run a consulting firm for Farmers Union Elevators amongst other farm groups. Kansas the Kansas National Guard, he wished that he could remember the man’s name.

Dole had been pushing the man for a lessor appointive posting not the Secretary of Agriculture and he was committed to someone else for Sec Ag. Then he remembered that the Democratic head of the House Agriculture committee knew the man. Not only that he could be trusted to keep his mouth shut as long as some pork was thrown his way. In some ways Reagan cringe about the pork but it was the grease of pork that made the government work. He called his secretary and he had her call the Democratic head of the House Agricultural committee.


The head of the House Agricultural committee was just getting up to go to a meeting of the Democratic House Leadership. They would be strategizing a plan to clip Reagans wings. But when his secretary informed him that the president was calling him he immediately sat down and took the phone call. Reagan maybe the leader of the Republican party but he was the president and the two men got along, but almost everyone did get along with Reagan he was that kind of man. After the greeting and a few pleasantries, Reagan went straight to the point, **When we were talking a few weeks ago you introduced me to that ex-officer who was an agro-business consultant? **

The head of the agricultural committee was very surprised about the question, but after a moment’s hesitation he replied, **Mike Harper he’s from Kansas. Don’t tell me he was one of the people selected as the next Secretary of Agricultural. ** Reagan paused for a second before he replied, **No, he was not but you should see the list every one of them a corporate executive. I want some excitement and I have a hunch that he could be the right man for the job. **
The head of the House Agricultural committee had indeed seen the list, it was list of men who could have been possible choices for a democratic administration. But he had to admit that Mike Harper was an interesting choice. Then he replied, **I have to agree, he is no radical that is for sure all he wants is for the farmer to receive a bigger piece of the pie. Not only that in the middle of this crisis having a veteran take over the job of Secretary of Agriculture. But it would have a lot of people caught totally off guard. But for a democratic senator voting against Harper would be damned hard after all he is an ardent supporter of the family farm and a veteran to boot. As well as being pretty much unpolitical. I have to admit you may have a slam dunk mister president. But I would keep it quiet until you have had a chance to sound him out and listen to what he has to say. No reason to upset anyone until you know it will be him. **

Reagan agreed and then he commented, **Well I would appreciate you keeping this quiet for the now. I doubt that the Republicans in either the house or Senate would appreciate me going around their backs to talk to you. ** The other man laughed and he replied, **Well I can keep a secret and hell it might not cost you anything. I might just enjoy listening to screams from various special interest groups. Most of whom support me but would be pissed at Harper getting the job of Secretary of Agriculture. By the way he was going to get activated maybe you can have him assigned to Washington on special duty. That way no one will know what hit them until it’s too late. **

Reagan appreciated the suggestion and then he told the man, **Just let me know if you have any special projects that you would like. ** The man replied, **Thank you Mr. President, it’s is always good to work a with someone who understands the way things work. ** Head of the House Agriculture Committee, headed for the meeting. Tip noted his late arrival but he said nothing the man would not be late without a good reason.

Right after that the President called Cap Weinberger, the president went straight to the point. **We need a secretary of agriculture and the list I was handed did not have the man I was looking for so I am doing a little recruiting on my own. ** Cap was wondering what the hell was going on as the president told him, **You probably have a retired Lieutenant Colonel by the name of Mike Harper recalled to active duty for the Kansas National Guard. Well he was also had an agricultural consulting firm. I want to talk to him about becoming the Secretary of Agriculture without informing half the world knowing what’s up. So, find a reason to get him to the Pentagon, that way I can talk to him and not listen but a bunch of bitching until after I know whether he is the man for the job. **

Cap did not argue, who the president want as Secretary of Agriculture was no skin off of his nose. He immediately had someone look into the situation and within an hour he had his answer. A quick phone call to the president that special orders would be cut for the Lt. Col Harper to report to the Pentagon ASAP. Also, a copy of his military record was sent to the White House. Then Cap considered another thought having someone around who was well informed about matters involving agriculture might be of use especially if a nuclear war broke out. He also might have ideas of possible stockpiles of food that local military units could access.
 

Farmer12

At the same time a meeting was being held the leadership of Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corp were having a meeting with the CNO. The CNO had direct access to both the Secretary of Defense and the President, with him on their side they had a path to a meeting with the president. The sighting of the convoy carrying crated aircraft as well as the other equipment and the other reinforcements that had been sent were making the three services worried. The Army was so focused on Europe and to a lessor degree on South Korea that Central American and Cuba hardly raised an eye brow. As for the Air Force the fighter jocks that lead the Air Force were having wet dreams about taking on commie fighters in toe to toe in Europe. But the threat the supply lines to and from Honduras and the shipping lanes running along the coast not to mention the shipping that came and went through the Panama Canal had the other three services attentions.

The idea of having to fight convoys of civilian ships through attacks from Cuban and Soviet Submarines as well as the Cuban Air Force and attacks from torpedo and missile boats was not giving the Navy or the Coat Guard any comfort and the Marine Corp was increasingly worried about what would happen to the Marines assigned to defend Guantanamo. Early on they had agreed with the Army about the importance of putting the Marines in both Norway and South Korea. Now they were talking about keeping the 6th brigade in the United States as a backup force.

Three of the services were now heading for a confrontation with the Army, the Air Force and many members of the civilian pentagon bureaucracy were fixated on Europe but Cuba needed to be neutralized and just looking at the map explained it. The Yucatan Channel and the Windward Passage as well as the Straits of Florida all had Cuba and it airbases and naval bases bordering these water ways.

The CNO went down the list of Cuban and Red Naval units. The Red Navy, two victors a Kilo and five tangos with a Sverdlov class light cruiser the Admiral Lazarov. Then you have the Cuban Navy, three foxtrots and three Koni class frigates, eight or nine Turya class torpedo boats and between fifteen and twenty OSA I and II’s. The Cuban Air Force has roughly sixty to seventy Mig-21’s as well as another forty or so Mig-23’s. We know that at least forty possibly as many as sixty crates used to transport Soviet Migs were loaded on board that freighter. What kind of Migs are inside the crates we don’t know.

This means we could be facing as few as one hundred and fifty Migs to as many as one hundred and seventy Migs of all varieties. The only good thing I can tell you is that no bombers of any kind have been bases in Cuba and only a few long-range bombers and reconnaissance planes come and go. But we need to take this threat seriously and I propose to bring the matter to the attention of Cap and ask for a face to face with the President over what is happening in the Caribbean.
The CNO’s proposal was accepted by everyone in the room. The naval representative from 2nd Fleet command at Norfolk spoke up. While the Navy had one operational carrier off the east coast of the United State and that was the John F Kennedy. She was supposed to have been put into refit but the current crisis had put the refit on hold. She was operational but with serious reservations. Then the officer told the room that the Commander of 2nd Fleet as for the Hornet she is getting closer to being ready for duty. But it will leave a hole in our training since she will not be available for training if war breaks out. But if she does not get sunk and returns to duty fairly quickly it will not disrupt our training program to seriously.

3 PM New York New York The various motions were being readied for a vote, the language in all of the motions had been agreed to. Now it was time to have the votes now all that needed to be done was to scheduled. The Secretary General was in favor of holding the votes. He had managed to schedule the vote in the General Assembly for the next day. Then the next day he had the vote in the Security Council on Thursday. What was interesting was that the Soviet Union had not fought the idea of as vote happening in either the General Assembly or the Security Council. The Soviet ambassador to the UN had admitted that Gromyko had told him to not upset the members of the non-aligned by preventing the vote from happening.


That led the Secretary General to believe that Gromyko was allowing pressure to build on the Politburo. At least he hoped that was what he hoped was going on. The world needed the crisis to end the defeat of the Labor party in New Zealand had poured cold water on many members of the non-aligned world and the peace movement in general. It had been hoped by many people both outside of and inside nations belonging to the western alliance. That a vote for Lange with his staunch stand against Ronald Reagan would send a message to that same Ronald Reagan. But the defeat of Lange had strengthened the western alliance. Now word had arrived that Lange was likely to loses his position as head of the Labor Party. That gave Reagan good reason to smile.

4pm Ottawa NDHQ The American artillery brigade that was attached to the newly organized 3rd brigade had a colonel whose time in grade was longer than the Canadian commander of the Brigade. Despite the men being in two different armies it was decided that Col. Delacroix should be brevetted to the rank of Brigadier General for the duration of the crisis. That would allow for a clear chain of Command within the brigade. Lt. Col. Caron was also brevetted to the rank of Colonel.
 

Farmer12

From Sept 1 thru the end of September, i will not be posting in part because i am going on vacation. But i also will be doing research and some writing. This way i can go into the war with a good first week or so.
 
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