"This is a political war and it calls for discriminate killing. The best weapon... would be a knife... The worst is an airplane "
Russian Private in Venezula
Chapter 17: November 22nd, 1963-January 1st, 1968
Cold War
Venezulan War
Welcome to the Jungle
The Assassination of Russian President Alec Bochka by a Communist sympathizer named Dmitri Nikolai Federanko on November 22nd, 1963 would leave the nation in a intense period of morning, the assassination claimed the life of Bochka and injured the Mayor of Vladivostok, in one shining instant, it seemed the hope for the future, the young face of Russia that sought to bring Moscow into the next generation, was just suddenly gone. he was just. gone. many in Russia were left to wonder wheather the hope of the future by the Bochka Great Society would be fufilled, or if Russia would deteoriate until she succumbed to Communist aggression.
Photograph of Richard M. Nixon, who succeded Lyndon Johnson as Premier in 1964.
Bochka's Vice President, Nikita Khrushchev would succeed Alec Bochka as Russian President later that day, sworn in on the Presidential Plane next to Bochka's widow. Natalia, Khrushchev began continuing upon the platform that Bochka had been building before his assassination, that was the platform of Civil Rights for Cossacks, continued material support for the Republican Venezulan government, and containment of the growing Communist threat, which now reached Russia's backyard. Khrushchev issued a 11 point statement in January of 1964, in which he notably pledged to continue the material and logistical support the Venezulans against the Communist threat, to settle the issue of Civil Rights, to increase defense spending for Russia and her EATU allies, and to lower taxes among other things, President Khrushchev sought to continue the Great Society started by Bochka, after winning a term of his own in 1964, he was able to work and succeed in the historical passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ended wide spread segregration of Cossacks, and guarenteed the Civil Rights of Cossacks, Women, and various other minorities, along with guaranteing the voting rights of the Cossack people, it was landmark legislation in the history of the young Russian republic, a statement that the Russian Republic would be a land for all free people's, and that discrimination would no longer be tolerated, however the process that involved enforcing the act would turn into a violent and bloody one, as the process of Desegregration of Cossacks would at times flame up into a bloody conflict between the Pro-Segregrationists and those trying to enforce the Civil Rights Acts. they were however a landmark pieces of legislation, and ushered in a new era, Khrushchev would also continue many of Bochka's other policies, such as tax cuts, the development of new Federal Departments, and increasing the defense budget. among other things.
Russian President Nikita Khrushchev speaking to a crowd in Moscow, circa 1966
Meanwhile the new German Kaiser, Louis Ferdinand I began following Russia's lead and instituting similar legislation in Germany, Germany was one of the first countries to decriminilize homosexuality a few years earlier, with the support of Kaiser Louis Ferdinand, the Reichstag passed a Civil Rights bill similar to that of the Russian passed bill, protecting the Civil Rights of Women, and various other minorities in the German Empire, the Germans would continue to be a center of liberal change for the coming decades, after the Liberal policys supported by Louis Ferdinand and the Chancellors to serve under him would work to make the German Empire one of the most democratic and prosperous states in Europe, which it had already succeeded at, similar Civil Rights bills were passed in Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia, the Hohenzollern monarchs of all tree taking the lead of there reletives in Berlin.
The German Federation of Nations also continued to grow, as more of Africa was granted independence, meanwhile elsewhere in Europe, Several other states begin considering following the lead of the Germans and Russians, the continued economic growth of North France would slow down a bit, the building of the Paris Wall would stop the large influx of labor into North France, the economy would stall a bit in 1963 and 1964, even dip a little in 1965, however it would pick back up in 1966 and pick up again in 1967, recovering from a slight recession. the Belgian and Dutch economies also slightly degraded around this time period, but met a recovery as well in 1967, picking back up, meanwhile the former "Sick Man of Europe" the Ottoman Empire had become one of the richest and most stable nations in EATU, it was officaly neutral, but friendly to Russia more so then the Communists. the Ottoman Empire's vast network of oil, made it one of the dominant powers of the Eastern World, by 1968, the Ottoman Empire had became a Liberal Federal Republic, with the Sultan as a national icon who was limited in his powers, and the President serving as Head of Government, the Arabs had been given considerable autonomy, and the Federal State flourished, traditional values were still valued, but less restrictions were followed, it became normal for Ottoman men and women to wear normal Western and Russian style clothing, the Ottomans were eating fast food, drinking soda, watching TV and a vibrant modern teen culture soon florished in the former Sick Man of Europe, who ahd been cured of what ailed her. the Ottoman Empire was a world power. to be for sure.
Meanwhile in Pop Culture, a German Rock n Roll band by the name of the Käfer's was making waves all across the Eastern World.
Israeli Tanks during the One Week's War, circa 1967
The Collapse of Japan ended the Second Sino-Japanese War which had been running since 1939, with the threat of the Japanese gone, the KMT, supported by the British, were able to defeat the last vestiges of the warlords in China. the 1964 campaigns would overwhelm the remaining Chinese warlords, fully reuniting China for the first time in 50 years, the Russian agreement to cede Manchuria back to China also happend in 1964, the KMT government in Peking began exricising control over all of China, the Fascist government of the KMT would mourn however, Generalissmo Chiang Kai-Shek passed away on December 21st, 1963, two days later, staged Presidential elections were held, in which Kai-Shek's designated succsessor, Mao Zedong (a former Communist, who defected from the Communist Party when the CCP collapsed in the early 1920's. Zedong joined the KMT in 1925, eventually rising up through the ranks to be Kai-Shek's second in command) was elected as President of China, and Generalissmo of the Chinese Republican Army, Zedong began enacting policy's to improve the flaling Chinese economy, with help from the British, who upon decree of Chief Oswald Mosley, ceded there concessions from the Boxer War back to China as a "gift" to there Chinese allies. Zedong also began a process of integrating the former rebellious warlord provinces back into China.
Meanwhile in Africa, tensions between the African states and Israel began to escalate, ever since the Ethiopian-Israeli War of 1948, the relations of the African people and Israel had been strained, tensions began to escalate even further in 1967, as border incidents in the Sudan and Ethiopia allevate the already tense tensions between Israel and the African states, tensions allevated throughout the year, leading up to a potential war, on June 15th, Egypt, albeit a British Dominion, was largely independent of London, signed a defensive alliance with Ethiopia, soon on invitation, Upper Voltan and Malian troops were invited to exricise in Ethiopia, the Israelis, seeing the writing on the wall, decided to strike before the African Alliance could, on July 4th, the decision was made to go to war.
What followed would become known as the One Week's War (July 4th-July 11th, 1967), The Israeli Defense Force launched a pre-emptive strike on Ethiopia later that day, as planes began bombing Addis Abba and other major Ethiopian cites, Israel also launched bombings in Southern Sudan, despite the attack on one of it's Dominions, the British government in London decided not to declare war, seeing it was Egypt's stupid war, the Egyptians would have to fight it. the African alliance was duly unprepared for the war, the African alliance was a very loose alliance of nations who generally wern't completely fond of each other, with only one thing uniting them, there hatred of Israel, the alliance was disorganized and disunited as the only goal on there mind was the destruction of Israel, the surprise attack by the Israeli Defense Force caught the African armies off guard, the Israeli's offensive was quick, and brutal, and left the retreating African armies reeling, the offensive turned out to be swift, and Desisive, in One Week's time Israel had occupied parts of Southern Sudan and Southern Ethiopia, a ceasefire was signed on July 11th, 1967, ending the One Week's War between Israel, and the African Coalition of Ethiopia, Egypt, Mali and the Upper Volta, a final peace treaty was hammered out later in the year, through Israel continued it's occupation of the North Plateau in Southern Sudan, the Alamine Strip and part of Southern Ethiopia.
Helicopters overseeing a movement of Russian troops, circa 1968
the Venezulan War had been a growing issue for the Russian government the last several years, the Russian government had given high amounts of material support, along with military advisors to help the Venezulans against the Communist rebels in the South of the country, however increasing instability in the Venezulan government and increasing pressure due to the mounting victories by the Communists and the Venezulan government's increasing instablity began to take pressure against President Khrushchev to take further action in the Venezulan Civil War, On 2 August 1964, the RSS Petrenko, on an intelligence mission along North Venezula's coast, was reported to have allegedly fired upon and damaged several torpedo boats that had been stalking it in the Caribbean Seas, A second attack was reported two days later on the RSS Vladivostok in the same area. The circumstances of the attack were shady at best. some wondered the legitamacy of the attacks on the Russian Navy, The second attack led to retaliatory air strikes against the South Venezulans, prompted the Russian Congress to pass the Caribbean Seas Resolution on August 7th, and gave the President power to conduct military operations in South America without declaring war.The Russian Government denied at the time that is was a full scale war declaration, the Caribbean Resolution allowed the president unilateral power to launch a full scale war if the president deemed necessary.
The National Security Council recommended a three-stage escalation plan for the the bombing of "South Venezula". On March 2nd, 1965, following an attack on a Russian Marine barracks at the small Venezulan city of Hidalgo, Operation Platypus commenced. The bombing campaign initiated by the Russian Air Force, which ultimately lasted for three years, was intended to force the Communists to cease its support for the guerilla army in the North known as the United National Front for the Liberation of Venezula (UNFLV), or the Snakes as they were commonly known, by threatening to destroy South Venezula's air defenses and industrial infrastructure. As well, it was aimed at bolstering the morale of the North Venezulans. Between March 1965 and November 1968, "Platypus" deluged the South with a millions of tons of missiles, rockets and bombs. Bombing was not restricted to South Venezula however. Other aerial campaigns, such as Operation Scorpion, targeted different parts of the UNLFV and VPA infrastructure. These included the Oscar Figuera trail, which ran through Columbia and the North. The objective of stopping South Venezulans and the UNLFV would end up not being achieved by the campaign. As one Russian private noted "this is a political war and it calls for discriminate killing. The best weapon... would be a knife... The worst is an airplane."
A Russian Unit marching through a swamp in Venezula, circa 1967
After several attacks upon them, it was decided that Russian Air Force bases needed more protection. The Venezulan military seemed incapable of providing the security. On March 8th, 1965, 3,500 Russian Marines were dispatched to Venezula. This marked the beginning of the Russian Ground War. Public opinion overwhelmingly supported the deployment at this point, The Marines' assignment was defensive. The initial deployment of 3,500 in March was increased to nearly 200,000 by December of 1965. The Russian military had long been schooled in offensive warfare. Regardless of political policies, Russian commanders were heavily unsuited to the defensive mission called for by the Federal Government in Moscow, In December, Russian and UANV (United Army of Northern Venezula) forces suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Milky Way Hill, Previously communist forces had utilized hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, however at Milky Way Hill they had defeated a strong Russo-Venezulan force in conventional warfare. Tellingly, North Venezulan forces were again defeated in June, at Esperanto.
Morale plummeted as 1965 and 1966. General Dimitri Chernenko., commander of Russian South American-Caribbean taskforce, that the situation was critical. Responding by saying, "I am convinced that our troops with their energy, mobility, and firepower can successfully take the fight to the UNLFV " Chernenko was advocating an aggressive departure from Russia's defensive posture and the sidelining of the North Venezulans. The Russian commitment would become open-ended. at this point, A 3 Point Plan by General Chernenko was approved by Khrushchev and marked a profound departure from the previous Presidential administration's insistence that the government of Venezula was responsible for defeating the guerrillas on it's own with only material support and training from Moscow. victory was predicted by the end of 1967 by General Chernenko, Khrushchev however did not, however, communicate this change in strategy to the media. Instead he emphasized continuity. The change in policy depended on matching the Communists in a contest of attrition and morale. The opponents were locked in a cycle of escalation of warfare. The idea that the government of Venezulan government could manage its own internal affairs was shelved.
The Russians and there allies mounted complex operations, such as operations Rat House, Longhorn, Saint Peter, and Dimitri. However, the communist insurgents remained extremely elusive and demonstrated well knowledged tactical flexibility in there warfare. Meanwhile, the previously unstable political situation in the Republic of Venezula began to stabilize with the coming to political power of Prime Minister Marshal Hugo Emil Chavez and figurehead Chief of State, General Antonio Vonozio, in mid 1965 at the head of a military junta. This ended a series of coups that had happened more than once a year.
The Khrushchev administration employed a "policy of minimum candor" in its dealings with the Russian media. Russian military information officers sought to manage media coverage by emphasizing news stories that portrayed progress in the Venezulan War. Over time, this policy would damage the public trust in official pronouncements issued by the media and goverment. As the media's coverage of the war and that of the Kremlin diverged, a so-called credibility gap developed. meanwhile on the frontlines, the New Year saw a temporary cease in the fighting, however as 1968 came around, the fighting would be more intense then ever.