Sorry about calling him Vladimir have no idea how it slipped by i am normally quite careful about that sort of thing. As for a strategic reserve it is are nuclear armed missiles not used for the initial first or second strike. The missiles are held in reserve to be used as targets of opportunity appear or to take out target that have been missed in previous strikes or to carry out major strikes against countries or areas of countries that Soviet Union feels needs to be attack or attack again. Or the missile can be held to be used for a political settlement at the end of the war. Soviet strategic doctrine as written states that they expected to carryout additional missile strikes over a period of several months. So having missiles held in reserve to such usage would make sense. I also commented that Submarines would be carrying the strategic reserve of missiles. The delta class three's would best suited for that mission since the missile those submarines carry are the R-29r series and its variants. This missile has the range necessary to operate close to the ice so reducing the chance of attack by hostile NATO attack subs. Also the versatility of warhead configurations to allow between one and three warheads on each missile. This would allow the soviet commanders the flexibility to use the appropriate force at the appropriate time. This is what I meant by a strategic reserve.
Slow Drift to War Europe 1984
- Thread starter Farmer12
- Start date
April 6th Mike Harper walked into the Holiday Inn he was headed to a meeting room where Senator Dole was going to be giving a speech on why Ronald Reagan should be reelected. In the past Mike had voted for candidates for president from either party. Mike had long time ties to Senator Dole so that was why when Dole was the Republican Vice Presidential candidate he had had not voted for the last Democratic President Carter. A lot of wheat farmers had and they had been screwed over by Jimmy with the wheat embargo. It had gutted the price of wheat and left the wheat farmers losing their farms. It was not that Mike liked the Russians invading Afghanistan it was that he thought that Carter could have thought of a better way to go after the Russians while not screw the American wheat farmers over at the same time. Add on his total failure to handle the Iranians during the Embassy Crisis left Mike looking for anyone else so he had voted for Reagan.
Mike had also given a fair amount of cash to Dole in nineteen-eighty. Now Dole was looking for money for Reagan in eighty-four and probably he would be back looking for more money when he ran for senate in eighty-six. Mike did not mind being touched by Dole over Reagan. Reagan may not of liked the Russians but he did not mind selling them wheat and in Kansas that made a popular man with the wheat farmers and with Mike.
When the Senator Dole and looking a little sad he shook Mike’s hand and he told Mike, **I was sorry to hear about your wife, I know nothing I can say will help the grief that you feel.** Mike nodded and he thanked the senator for his kind words. Then Senator Dole commented, **I miss you testifying on the Hill, you tell’em like it is when it comes to the Family farm and those farmers need all the friends they can get. But I understand that your loss would give your different priorities for the now, but I would like to see you back on the hill testifying again someday.**
Mike took a seat at a table and he listened to Dole’s speech on Reagan on how he was a friend of the Farmer, strong on defense as well as extolling the economy of the United States. Another friend of his was at the table, Dan Barnes was a lobbyist for the Farmers Coop at the state legislature and on occasion he worked with the Farmers Coop lobbyists in Washington he had come over to Topeka for Doles little speech to show the flag for the states farmer’s coops. Mike and Dan talk a bit about upcoming farm legislation in Washington nothing special was happening but Mike was starting to watch what was going on when it came to legislation both in Kansas and in Washington. The meal was okay nothing great but good enough for a fund raising meal since object was to raise money and not spend it on food. Mike coughed up couple of hundred dollars over what he had paid for the ticket to come to the fund raiser.
As the two men left the fund raising event Dan brought up the subject of Mike going to Washington to testify about some proposed government regulations. Mike was a little doubtful but Dan pointed out that the democrat that ran the House Agricultural committee liked Mike and it would do him some good to get away from home. Dan talked Mike into having a coffee and after a while Mike decided to go and testify after what did it hurt to go and testify. He was supposed to testify before the House Agricultural committee sometime in mid to late June. Dan would give Mike the exact dates in a week or so.
7th April Saturday Across the United States Regular Army andNational Guard officers were meeting, they were going over the plans for Exercise Slam dunk. This would be biggest test of Americas ability to mobilized the roundout brigades and battalions of the National Guard. The success or failure of this mobilization would have a worldwide impact. There was no doubt that Americas Allies who were invited to watch the mobilization plan in action but what was more important was that the United States House and Senate were keeping an eye on the whole exercise. Appropriations were on the line and the word was simple screw up your part of this exercise and forget about ever being promoted again.
Add on the test of the United State Sealift command and this would be an exercise that would be studied for years if not decades. With the Brits holding Exercise Lionheart in September. Complete with the mobilization of sixty thousand troops and then shipping them to West Germany. Then to be followed by the REFORGER exercise Spear Point.
Soviet Union would be watching this exercise just as much as the NATO had watched their exercise back in March when during a four division exercise in which two of the division had carried out a full combat assault across a section of the Elbe that they controlled. That exercise had showcased the Red Armies river crossing abilities. The message to NATO was that the Red Army could do the same thing along the part of the Elbe that bordered West Germany. With these exercises the United States and Great Britain would be showcasing their ability to reinforce NATO.
Mike had also given a fair amount of cash to Dole in nineteen-eighty. Now Dole was looking for money for Reagan in eighty-four and probably he would be back looking for more money when he ran for senate in eighty-six. Mike did not mind being touched by Dole over Reagan. Reagan may not of liked the Russians but he did not mind selling them wheat and in Kansas that made a popular man with the wheat farmers and with Mike.
When the Senator Dole and looking a little sad he shook Mike’s hand and he told Mike, **I was sorry to hear about your wife, I know nothing I can say will help the grief that you feel.** Mike nodded and he thanked the senator for his kind words. Then Senator Dole commented, **I miss you testifying on the Hill, you tell’em like it is when it comes to the Family farm and those farmers need all the friends they can get. But I understand that your loss would give your different priorities for the now, but I would like to see you back on the hill testifying again someday.**
Mike took a seat at a table and he listened to Dole’s speech on Reagan on how he was a friend of the Farmer, strong on defense as well as extolling the economy of the United States. Another friend of his was at the table, Dan Barnes was a lobbyist for the Farmers Coop at the state legislature and on occasion he worked with the Farmers Coop lobbyists in Washington he had come over to Topeka for Doles little speech to show the flag for the states farmer’s coops. Mike and Dan talk a bit about upcoming farm legislation in Washington nothing special was happening but Mike was starting to watch what was going on when it came to legislation both in Kansas and in Washington. The meal was okay nothing great but good enough for a fund raising meal since object was to raise money and not spend it on food. Mike coughed up couple of hundred dollars over what he had paid for the ticket to come to the fund raiser.
As the two men left the fund raising event Dan brought up the subject of Mike going to Washington to testify about some proposed government regulations. Mike was a little doubtful but Dan pointed out that the democrat that ran the House Agricultural committee liked Mike and it would do him some good to get away from home. Dan talked Mike into having a coffee and after a while Mike decided to go and testify after what did it hurt to go and testify. He was supposed to testify before the House Agricultural committee sometime in mid to late June. Dan would give Mike the exact dates in a week or so.
7th April Saturday Across the United States Regular Army andNational Guard officers were meeting, they were going over the plans for Exercise Slam dunk. This would be biggest test of Americas ability to mobilized the roundout brigades and battalions of the National Guard. The success or failure of this mobilization would have a worldwide impact. There was no doubt that Americas Allies who were invited to watch the mobilization plan in action but what was more important was that the United States House and Senate were keeping an eye on the whole exercise. Appropriations were on the line and the word was simple screw up your part of this exercise and forget about ever being promoted again.
Add on the test of the United State Sealift command and this would be an exercise that would be studied for years if not decades. With the Brits holding Exercise Lionheart in September. Complete with the mobilization of sixty thousand troops and then shipping them to West Germany. Then to be followed by the REFORGER exercise Spear Point.
Soviet Union would be watching this exercise just as much as the NATO had watched their exercise back in March when during a four division exercise in which two of the division had carried out a full combat assault across a section of the Elbe that they controlled. That exercise had showcased the Red Armies river crossing abilities. The message to NATO was that the Red Army could do the same thing along the part of the Elbe that bordered West Germany. With these exercises the United States and Great Britain would be showcasing their ability to reinforce NATO.
9/10th April
Captain Bronte had made his approached to Ed Bell, with his reputation as a submarine commander it made sense to run the idea through him and then the people running the ASW program about his plan. Bell liked it and so did the ASW boys so did Adm. Leach but one thing was decided on was that the La Jolla could drop by for a training mission but a port visit would set off to many fireworks the Anti-nuke crowd which was still mad about losing the debate over the ANZUS alliance. The Australian government did not feel like rubbing the Anti-nuke crowds noses in what would be perceived as a blatant insult. The short patrol around Bougainville would be cancelled and a week of intensive ASW training would be carried out.
But the date of arrival would be put back until the later part of June one or about the 29th of June. The change happened because the submarine that was designated to replace the La Jolla in the Indian Ocean arrival date had been pushed. Apparently some of the repairs being done on the replacement sub were taking longer than expected. But COMSUBPAC wanted the training to happen so the La Jolla return home would be delayed. The families would not be happy about it but that was life in the navy.
Huron South Dakota
Ed a storm was coming the question was would it be rain or snow one never knew this time of year. But whichever it would be it was supposed to hit the next day and it looked more and more likely that planting would be late. But at the same time it one day closer to John coming home on leave. Like any good farmer he took the good with the bad but there was one good thing that was coming out of this storm would be the water absorbed by the ground would come in useful during the summer. As looked up into the sky he decided to go to town and have lunch at Bales Livestock Auction.
He could see who was there and hear what was going on. As he headed to Town then news was on and the announcer was talking about the democratic race for president. While he had voted for Carter in seventy-six, after all he had been a farmer even if it was peanuts. But as far as Ed was concerned, he had shown him and the rest of the world that he was a damn poor president. He had screwed up the price of wheat with his Russian wheat embargo and let the Iranians push America around. So when Reagan ran against him he had voted Republican, it looked like he was going to voting Republican again. Reagan might not like the Russians but he understood that America’s wheat farmers needed their business.
South Africa Alan was listening to the radio as the news announcer commented on the announcement that the Frunze a Soviet battlecruiser would be visiting Luanda Angola during the month of May. That announcement had caused quite a bit of conversation during the morning meeting some of the people there mostly the military and the intelligence people but some of the diplomats on their side, they were unhappy about the ships visit. They were concerned about the ships arrival encouraging the MPLA, SWAPO and the Cubans to try something. For Alan the lack of concern over the plight of the black South Africans displayed by some of the embassy staff was astounding, but he could tell that others of the embassy staff at the meeting were concerned about the treatment of the black South Africans. In the end nothing much happened, everyone agreed that the sending a US warship as a show of support to visit South Africa was quite impossible. But to him the fact that the idea had even been considered was quite astounding.
But with the work day over he was waiting for a girl he knew Erika Dekker she was the niece of one of an official of what was the South African equivalent of the department of Agriculture. She was visiting the big city from her family farm; she was pretty typical of the rural Afrikaner population with some rather racist views of the blacks. But she was also very pretty and she was very curious about America. So with Alan being the first American she had ever met they had struck up a relationship. Now while there were a couple of times that Alan had to bite his tongue hard, but since she was the only person he knew outside of the embassy she was his escape from his work. Second she was the best looking girl to ever show any interest in him and that also made up for a lot of things. But that did Alan admit to himself did beg the question if Erika was working for the South African National Intelligence Service as some sort of honey trap. But he figured until proven otherwise Erika would be considered innocent of the charge.
Omaha
Rr. Adm. Striet was listening to the briefing it was actually pretty boring but that was a good thing since interesting meant something had gone wrong in the world. He had talked to one another flight commander assigned to Looking Glass who had been around during the Kal 007 crisis. It had been a little scary, for a while but in the end the crisis had died down. But who knew when another crisis would arise and that was what Looking Glass was there for.
Pentagon
Several naval officers were gathered in a room inside the Pentagon, they were looking at information that had been collected from both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. SOSUS system which detected Soviet submarines was pretty good at its job but it was far from perfect. But you could get a pretty fair idea about how many Soviet subs were out on patrol especially the Boomers. The problem was that while they knew that which subs had sail from Murmansk and Vladivostok. They also had a pretty good idea about the locations of the Patrol Boxes. So they kept an eye on the boxes in part by patrolling and in part with the SOSUS system.
The problem was that while the Boomers were apparently out on Patrol they were not patrolling the same Patrol boxes they usually did. Or was it a bad month for keeping track of the Soviet Boomers. For the moment rather than panic they decided on it was a bad month for tracking Soviet Boomers. A couple more months of this and they just get a better idea about what was going on sooner or later they would get a handle on the situation.
Captain Bronte had made his approached to Ed Bell, with his reputation as a submarine commander it made sense to run the idea through him and then the people running the ASW program about his plan. Bell liked it and so did the ASW boys so did Adm. Leach but one thing was decided on was that the La Jolla could drop by for a training mission but a port visit would set off to many fireworks the Anti-nuke crowd which was still mad about losing the debate over the ANZUS alliance. The Australian government did not feel like rubbing the Anti-nuke crowds noses in what would be perceived as a blatant insult. The short patrol around Bougainville would be cancelled and a week of intensive ASW training would be carried out.
But the date of arrival would be put back until the later part of June one or about the 29th of June. The change happened because the submarine that was designated to replace the La Jolla in the Indian Ocean arrival date had been pushed. Apparently some of the repairs being done on the replacement sub were taking longer than expected. But COMSUBPAC wanted the training to happen so the La Jolla return home would be delayed. The families would not be happy about it but that was life in the navy.
Huron South Dakota
Ed a storm was coming the question was would it be rain or snow one never knew this time of year. But whichever it would be it was supposed to hit the next day and it looked more and more likely that planting would be late. But at the same time it one day closer to John coming home on leave. Like any good farmer he took the good with the bad but there was one good thing that was coming out of this storm would be the water absorbed by the ground would come in useful during the summer. As looked up into the sky he decided to go to town and have lunch at Bales Livestock Auction.
He could see who was there and hear what was going on. As he headed to Town then news was on and the announcer was talking about the democratic race for president. While he had voted for Carter in seventy-six, after all he had been a farmer even if it was peanuts. But as far as Ed was concerned, he had shown him and the rest of the world that he was a damn poor president. He had screwed up the price of wheat with his Russian wheat embargo and let the Iranians push America around. So when Reagan ran against him he had voted Republican, it looked like he was going to voting Republican again. Reagan might not like the Russians but he understood that America’s wheat farmers needed their business.
South Africa Alan was listening to the radio as the news announcer commented on the announcement that the Frunze a Soviet battlecruiser would be visiting Luanda Angola during the month of May. That announcement had caused quite a bit of conversation during the morning meeting some of the people there mostly the military and the intelligence people but some of the diplomats on their side, they were unhappy about the ships visit. They were concerned about the ships arrival encouraging the MPLA, SWAPO and the Cubans to try something. For Alan the lack of concern over the plight of the black South Africans displayed by some of the embassy staff was astounding, but he could tell that others of the embassy staff at the meeting were concerned about the treatment of the black South Africans. In the end nothing much happened, everyone agreed that the sending a US warship as a show of support to visit South Africa was quite impossible. But to him the fact that the idea had even been considered was quite astounding.
But with the work day over he was waiting for a girl he knew Erika Dekker she was the niece of one of an official of what was the South African equivalent of the department of Agriculture. She was visiting the big city from her family farm; she was pretty typical of the rural Afrikaner population with some rather racist views of the blacks. But she was also very pretty and she was very curious about America. So with Alan being the first American she had ever met they had struck up a relationship. Now while there were a couple of times that Alan had to bite his tongue hard, but since she was the only person he knew outside of the embassy she was his escape from his work. Second she was the best looking girl to ever show any interest in him and that also made up for a lot of things. But that did Alan admit to himself did beg the question if Erika was working for the South African National Intelligence Service as some sort of honey trap. But he figured until proven otherwise Erika would be considered innocent of the charge.
Omaha
Rr. Adm. Striet was listening to the briefing it was actually pretty boring but that was a good thing since interesting meant something had gone wrong in the world. He had talked to one another flight commander assigned to Looking Glass who had been around during the Kal 007 crisis. It had been a little scary, for a while but in the end the crisis had died down. But who knew when another crisis would arise and that was what Looking Glass was there for.
Pentagon
Several naval officers were gathered in a room inside the Pentagon, they were looking at information that had been collected from both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. SOSUS system which detected Soviet submarines was pretty good at its job but it was far from perfect. But you could get a pretty fair idea about how many Soviet subs were out on patrol especially the Boomers. The problem was that while they knew that which subs had sail from Murmansk and Vladivostok. They also had a pretty good idea about the locations of the Patrol Boxes. So they kept an eye on the boxes in part by patrolling and in part with the SOSUS system.
The problem was that while the Boomers were apparently out on Patrol they were not patrolling the same Patrol boxes they usually did. Or was it a bad month for keeping track of the Soviet Boomers. For the moment rather than panic they decided on it was a bad month for tracking Soviet Boomers. A couple more months of this and they just get a better idea about what was going on sooner or later they would get a handle on the situation.
That last part with the boomers has me wondering, how far can they launch from Hudson Bay? They're avoiding the SOSUS line entirely by going under the ice cap, if I recall correctly...(?)
FickleCrossroad when I read your idea about putting a soviet boomer into the Hudson bay I thought it was an interesting idea. It would allow to use SBLM'S to be use to strike much deeper into the center of the North American. So I checked the depth of Hudson bay it averages about of 100 meters deep. Of course some areas would be much deeper than others. I know the Yankee class launches from forty to fifty meters deep and I figure the Delta class launches from the same depth. So depending on the area its doable.
Then I looked at a map of the possible routes and I found out that two ways into Hudson Bay one route ran though a series of straits and sounds that were mostly ice covered to get to Hudson Bay the final one being Fury and Hecla Bay it runs from two to twenty kilometers across. So I would say that route would be at best difficult to move a submarine through.
The second route it through the Hudson straight the depth runs just shy of one thousand meters deep. But you have to run through the Nares Straits to the Labrador Sea then into the Hudson strait. I looked over the depth of the Nares straight its between two and four hundred meters, the rest of the trip the water is deep enough it just depends on if the Canadian have any sort of patrols operating in area or is the SOSUS system has any hydrophones in the area would increase the level of difficulty.
So sending the boomer in could be done and there is deep enough water to operate in for a limited time. If I were the soviet union I would only do it after the had carried out their first strike. But the launch would have to be done during the ice free period. From what i under stand it would be maybe July definitely August but October would be back to maybe.
Then I looked at a map of the possible routes and I found out that two ways into Hudson Bay one route ran though a series of straits and sounds that were mostly ice covered to get to Hudson Bay the final one being Fury and Hecla Bay it runs from two to twenty kilometers across. So I would say that route would be at best difficult to move a submarine through.
The second route it through the Hudson straight the depth runs just shy of one thousand meters deep. But you have to run through the Nares Straits to the Labrador Sea then into the Hudson strait. I looked over the depth of the Nares straight its between two and four hundred meters, the rest of the trip the water is deep enough it just depends on if the Canadian have any sort of patrols operating in area or is the SOSUS system has any hydrophones in the area would increase the level of difficulty.
So sending the boomer in could be done and there is deep enough water to operate in for a limited time. If I were the soviet union I would only do it after the had carried out their first strike. But the launch would have to be done during the ice free period. From what i under stand it would be maybe July definitely August but October would be back to maybe.
Last edited:
April 19th Soviet Politburo
Chernenko was ill again as usual, so once again Gorbachev was filling in for Chernenko. He also knew he was in a nest of vipers of which several were opposed to his ever taking control of the Soviet Union. When Andropov died he had made it clear that Gorbachev was his designated successor. But the hardliners had made sure that he was not the new party General Secretary and he knew that they were plotting to make sure he never did. But he had one advantage over the hardliners. They were divided between Romanov and Grishin.
But it was Romanov that worried him more since he and Marshall of the Soviet Union Ogarkov were allies. Ogarkov was unpopular with some of the members of the Politburo, his desire to increase spending to modernize the Russian Military the face what he called the new reality of war. That was money that Gorbachev and Chernenko as well as others on the Politburo would rather spend on the civilian goods. Orgarkov wanted to bring the Soviet Army out of the 1940’s era tank armies to the more modern precision weapons and computerization. That caused him opposition from many of the Generals of the Soviet Army. But so far no one had found a good enough excuse to convince Chernenko to fire Ogarkov. So Gorbachev was watching and waiting for a good excuse push Chernenko to fire Ogarkov. Gorbachev had hoped to get Ogarkov when he had weakened the authority of the Main Political Administration over the Red Army, the department mission was to keep the Soviet military under the thumb of the party.
But so far Romanov had managed to protect Ogarkov, but sooner or later the reform minded Ogarkov would make a mistake and he would get him. Then Romanov would be so weakened that he would be at best a marginal threat to him. But Gorbachev knew that Ogarkov would put himself into his crosshairs again. Since Ogarkov was constantly pressing for more money to modernize the Soviet military in general and the Army in particular. Sooner or later Chernenko would tire of his constant requests for money and he would be removed. Or he would get fed up with Romanov’s constant maneuvering for power then Romanov would be the one removed. So Gorbachev decided he would emphasize Ogarkov rocking of the boat every time he got the chance. But at the same time he did not want make it to obvious that he was gunning for Ogarkov. Chernenko could decide that Gorbachev was the greater threat and remove him instead.
Berlin East Germany
General Secretary of the East German Communist Party Erich Honecker and his Security Chief Mielke were disturbed about the lack of loyalty being displayed to the German Democratic Republic by the population of the Republic. There had been a series of disturbances not severe enough to be called a riots but not so small as to not be worth noticing. The informants were noting an increase in the level of antipathy the Soviet Union. Honecker and Mielke were convinced that the Anti-Nuclear protesters in West Germany were encouraging the disturbances in East Germany.
The truth was that despite strict rules against listening to or watch West German Radio or Television broadcasts the edicts were readily ignored by the population. The people of East Germany could see how the people of West Germany lived and they wanted to same lifestyle and freedom. Honecker and Mielke felt that some show of power be made and made in such a way as to impress on to people on both sides of the border that the German Democratic Republic was not only here to stay but they would be the state to survive. Just what kind of event, they were not sure but they wanted it to be remembered.
Chernenko was ill again as usual, so once again Gorbachev was filling in for Chernenko. He also knew he was in a nest of vipers of which several were opposed to his ever taking control of the Soviet Union. When Andropov died he had made it clear that Gorbachev was his designated successor. But the hardliners had made sure that he was not the new party General Secretary and he knew that they were plotting to make sure he never did. But he had one advantage over the hardliners. They were divided between Romanov and Grishin.
But it was Romanov that worried him more since he and Marshall of the Soviet Union Ogarkov were allies. Ogarkov was unpopular with some of the members of the Politburo, his desire to increase spending to modernize the Russian Military the face what he called the new reality of war. That was money that Gorbachev and Chernenko as well as others on the Politburo would rather spend on the civilian goods. Orgarkov wanted to bring the Soviet Army out of the 1940’s era tank armies to the more modern precision weapons and computerization. That caused him opposition from many of the Generals of the Soviet Army. But so far no one had found a good enough excuse to convince Chernenko to fire Ogarkov. So Gorbachev was watching and waiting for a good excuse push Chernenko to fire Ogarkov. Gorbachev had hoped to get Ogarkov when he had weakened the authority of the Main Political Administration over the Red Army, the department mission was to keep the Soviet military under the thumb of the party.
But so far Romanov had managed to protect Ogarkov, but sooner or later the reform minded Ogarkov would make a mistake and he would get him. Then Romanov would be so weakened that he would be at best a marginal threat to him. But Gorbachev knew that Ogarkov would put himself into his crosshairs again. Since Ogarkov was constantly pressing for more money to modernize the Soviet military in general and the Army in particular. Sooner or later Chernenko would tire of his constant requests for money and he would be removed. Or he would get fed up with Romanov’s constant maneuvering for power then Romanov would be the one removed. So Gorbachev decided he would emphasize Ogarkov rocking of the boat every time he got the chance. But at the same time he did not want make it to obvious that he was gunning for Ogarkov. Chernenko could decide that Gorbachev was the greater threat and remove him instead.
Berlin East Germany
General Secretary of the East German Communist Party Erich Honecker and his Security Chief Mielke were disturbed about the lack of loyalty being displayed to the German Democratic Republic by the population of the Republic. There had been a series of disturbances not severe enough to be called a riots but not so small as to not be worth noticing. The informants were noting an increase in the level of antipathy the Soviet Union. Honecker and Mielke were convinced that the Anti-Nuclear protesters in West Germany were encouraging the disturbances in East Germany.
The truth was that despite strict rules against listening to or watch West German Radio or Television broadcasts the edicts were readily ignored by the population. The people of East Germany could see how the people of West Germany lived and they wanted to same lifestyle and freedom. Honecker and Mielke felt that some show of power be made and made in such a way as to impress on to people on both sides of the border that the German Democratic Republic was not only here to stay but they would be the state to survive. Just what kind of event, they were not sure but they wanted it to be remembered.
April 23/4
Nat Bronte, he had to admit this was an interesting meeting, the pictures of President Havani’s friends were interesting to say the least. The description of his method of ruling had been talked about. Havanni in some ways was an impressive leader, he did not really on a strong professional military to keep him in power. But to keep him in power he relied instead on the use of money and gifts to various village and local leaders as well as visiting villages and hold parties with free food, drink and music for the villagers. This was the way he maintain his power.
But he also had a large local militia that were pretty loyal as well as a small but very loyal personal bodyguard, so he has some muscle to back him up. Cuba had sent over some combat veterans from the fighting in Africa to give his militia a little professional training. So the view was that the militia with Cubans and a the Russian troops on the Shortland Islands could put up a pretty fair fight. Add on that the local population knew, that if the Australians did come they would reopen the Panguna mine and that will mean that the locals would fight to the bitter end. But some people did get out of line and they generally died.
Huron South Dakota
Ed Blake was happy enough he was in the field with his digger breaking up the ground for planting, it was late but wheat planting season had begun and in a couple of days he would be planting wheat. His middle son Henry would be working the field with a digger, Ed was letting him take one of the farms two pickups to school. That way he would not have to ride the school bus home. The pickup was not new but it would get Henry home so that he could be in the field no later than four and he could dig until it was dark. Then off in the distance he could see a big B-52 doing some low level flying, it was maybe a football field length in height above the ground. You saw them every now and then practicing flying low. He had heard they were training to make sure they could avoid the Soviet Union’s Air Defenses.
It was not fast as it moved it almost seemed like it was plodding along. Ed sort of watched it while keeping an eye on what he was doing. The tractor moved along and all he had to do was take a quick look around to correct the direction. Ed smiled in a way the B-52 was like him and his tractor not all that fast but both got the job done.
General Talbot was enjoying himself he had been a bomber pilot since the fifties, he had been around for the Cuban Missile Crisis and he had flown bomber missions over Vietnam. So he always liked to fly and this kind of mission was fun for him. The low level part of it added on another level of difficulty and it was sort of fun to look at the country side from a hundred or so yards from the ground. Of looking around he could see several tractors out working the field. He loved to fly and since he had made General he had done far too little of it so life for the moment was good.
Rear Admiral Striet was listening to his daughter Annette, she wanted to go to the school dance, he was not objecting to that idea but now the discussion was just how late she could stay out. He and his wife Lori were set on 10pm and she was sure they were destroying her life since she wanted to stay out to midnight. But since she was only fourteen he was dead set against that. She was growing up but at the same time and she was sure she knew everything about everything. He knew better but Annette did she was not believe one word of it.
Nat Bronte, he had to admit this was an interesting meeting, the pictures of President Havani’s friends were interesting to say the least. The description of his method of ruling had been talked about. Havanni in some ways was an impressive leader, he did not really on a strong professional military to keep him in power. But to keep him in power he relied instead on the use of money and gifts to various village and local leaders as well as visiting villages and hold parties with free food, drink and music for the villagers. This was the way he maintain his power.
But he also had a large local militia that were pretty loyal as well as a small but very loyal personal bodyguard, so he has some muscle to back him up. Cuba had sent over some combat veterans from the fighting in Africa to give his militia a little professional training. So the view was that the militia with Cubans and a the Russian troops on the Shortland Islands could put up a pretty fair fight. Add on that the local population knew, that if the Australians did come they would reopen the Panguna mine and that will mean that the locals would fight to the bitter end. But some people did get out of line and they generally died.
Huron South Dakota
Ed Blake was happy enough he was in the field with his digger breaking up the ground for planting, it was late but wheat planting season had begun and in a couple of days he would be planting wheat. His middle son Henry would be working the field with a digger, Ed was letting him take one of the farms two pickups to school. That way he would not have to ride the school bus home. The pickup was not new but it would get Henry home so that he could be in the field no later than four and he could dig until it was dark. Then off in the distance he could see a big B-52 doing some low level flying, it was maybe a football field length in height above the ground. You saw them every now and then practicing flying low. He had heard they were training to make sure they could avoid the Soviet Union’s Air Defenses.
It was not fast as it moved it almost seemed like it was plodding along. Ed sort of watched it while keeping an eye on what he was doing. The tractor moved along and all he had to do was take a quick look around to correct the direction. Ed smiled in a way the B-52 was like him and his tractor not all that fast but both got the job done.
General Talbot was enjoying himself he had been a bomber pilot since the fifties, he had been around for the Cuban Missile Crisis and he had flown bomber missions over Vietnam. So he always liked to fly and this kind of mission was fun for him. The low level part of it added on another level of difficulty and it was sort of fun to look at the country side from a hundred or so yards from the ground. Of looking around he could see several tractors out working the field. He loved to fly and since he had made General he had done far too little of it so life for the moment was good.
Rear Admiral Striet was listening to his daughter Annette, she wanted to go to the school dance, he was not objecting to that idea but now the discussion was just how late she could stay out. He and his wife Lori were set on 10pm and she was sure they were destroying her life since she wanted to stay out to midnight. But since she was only fourteen he was dead set against that. She was growing up but at the same time and she was sure she knew everything about everything. He knew better but Annette did she was not believe one word of it.
May 3rd
Alan was the most junior political officer in the embassy assigned to the department whose mission was to keep up with current affairs in South Africa. So one of his jobs was to read the local Newspapers and magazine at least the ones that were writing in English and report on what he was reading. Most of the time it was pretty boring except he had to admit the reporting on the occasional outbreak of fighting up in Angola or Namibia made for some interesting reading. Not that he was a war monger or anything like that but he could get a sense of what the reporter really felt about the fighting. It made it easier for him to figure out who amongst the reporters would or would not be approachable about what was really going on in South Africa.
Although she did not realize it, Erika was also a good source of indirect information. Through her he met a lot of South Africans and the boys liked to hang around Ericka. He had found out that by appearing to be at least a little sympathetic to their point of view. He would tell them he understood that they were defending their way of life. While he could see their point view they had been brought up in this world and to turn their back on it and all they knew. Well it would be like him turning his back on his heartfelt beliefs. He also knew the system had to change. But if carrying out his job meant being somewhat tolerant of the Afrikaner belief system to find out useful information on what was going on he could at least a little tolerant.
But his willingness at least to appear willing to try and see the other guy’s point of view at least to a degree made it a lot easier to talk to them. Sometimes they would open up and they talked to him, as a whole they provided Allan with a steady stream of varied information. They talked about fears of the future of South Africa while also talking about the day to day problems of life in South Africa. A lot of the young men had previous military service or were still in the military so they sometimes talked about their experiences some of it dated, especially when it came to Angola. But he also received a steady stream of information on the fighting in Namibia as well as commentary on what people in the Boer community as well as the English speaking community were saying about the other group and about what was currently going on in South Africa.
But Alan very careful not to appear to be too curious interested. But if they wanted to talked, he would listened but he rarely probed too deeply. One of Alan’s bosses Jake Wilcox had told considering his record of protesting against Apartheid. He had expected Alan to be one of the holier than thou types with no butter melting in his mouth kind of guy. But his ability to make contacts inside the Boer community was impressive. Alan had replied, **That he had bitten his tongue so many times talking to the Boers that it was nearly bit all the way through.**
His boss laughed and replied, **Just wait until you go to some place like Uganda. I was part of the embassy when they closed it in seventy-three, that was an experience that I never want to repeat. That is probably why I am not as hard on the South Africans. You see I know things have to change. But I am a supporter of a gradual change over time. But I can tell you that bastards like Idi make it a lot easier for the hardliners in the Boer population to argue against black rule.** Alan could see where the man was coming from, to the white population of South Africa the fear of a madman like Idi Amin taking power in South Africa would scare the hell out of them. Hell Alan would not have wanted to deal with him either. He also could not imagine being part of embassy dealing with a brutal mass murdering cannibalistic maniacal bastard like Idi Amin. Idi Amin gave new meaning about having someone over for lunch.
Alan was the most junior political officer in the embassy assigned to the department whose mission was to keep up with current affairs in South Africa. So one of his jobs was to read the local Newspapers and magazine at least the ones that were writing in English and report on what he was reading. Most of the time it was pretty boring except he had to admit the reporting on the occasional outbreak of fighting up in Angola or Namibia made for some interesting reading. Not that he was a war monger or anything like that but he could get a sense of what the reporter really felt about the fighting. It made it easier for him to figure out who amongst the reporters would or would not be approachable about what was really going on in South Africa.
Although she did not realize it, Erika was also a good source of indirect information. Through her he met a lot of South Africans and the boys liked to hang around Ericka. He had found out that by appearing to be at least a little sympathetic to their point of view. He would tell them he understood that they were defending their way of life. While he could see their point view they had been brought up in this world and to turn their back on it and all they knew. Well it would be like him turning his back on his heartfelt beliefs. He also knew the system had to change. But if carrying out his job meant being somewhat tolerant of the Afrikaner belief system to find out useful information on what was going on he could at least a little tolerant.
But his willingness at least to appear willing to try and see the other guy’s point of view at least to a degree made it a lot easier to talk to them. Sometimes they would open up and they talked to him, as a whole they provided Allan with a steady stream of varied information. They talked about fears of the future of South Africa while also talking about the day to day problems of life in South Africa. A lot of the young men had previous military service or were still in the military so they sometimes talked about their experiences some of it dated, especially when it came to Angola. But he also received a steady stream of information on the fighting in Namibia as well as commentary on what people in the Boer community as well as the English speaking community were saying about the other group and about what was currently going on in South Africa.
But Alan very careful not to appear to be too curious interested. But if they wanted to talked, he would listened but he rarely probed too deeply. One of Alan’s bosses Jake Wilcox had told considering his record of protesting against Apartheid. He had expected Alan to be one of the holier than thou types with no butter melting in his mouth kind of guy. But his ability to make contacts inside the Boer community was impressive. Alan had replied, **That he had bitten his tongue so many times talking to the Boers that it was nearly bit all the way through.**
His boss laughed and replied, **Just wait until you go to some place like Uganda. I was part of the embassy when they closed it in seventy-three, that was an experience that I never want to repeat. That is probably why I am not as hard on the South Africans. You see I know things have to change. But I am a supporter of a gradual change over time. But I can tell you that bastards like Idi make it a lot easier for the hardliners in the Boer population to argue against black rule.** Alan could see where the man was coming from, to the white population of South Africa the fear of a madman like Idi Amin taking power in South Africa would scare the hell out of them. Hell Alan would not have wanted to deal with him either. He also could not imagine being part of embassy dealing with a brutal mass murdering cannibalistic maniacal bastard like Idi Amin. Idi Amin gave new meaning about having someone over for lunch.
May 5
Prime Minister Muldoon was taking a bit of a risk with this display of New Zealand’s military power during the month of May weather while not as bad as later on in the it was still cold. But with Australia showing off its brand new carrier to its population. So Muldoon decided to showing off New Zealand’s naval contribution to the ANZUS alliance. When the Russians opened their base on the Shortland Island the ANZUS alliance decided it needed to come up with a plan. It took a couple of years to come up with a plan and a few more to implement it. New Zealand’s part the plan was simple enough provide one squadron of frigates for ASW and a couple of landing ships aid in any landing operations against the Shortland Islands.
In the end the navy decided that in order to deal with the Russian subs, New Zealand would need to have at least three anti-submarine frigates operational at all times. That meant they needed roughly five frigates, to maintain that number of ships operational at all times. The problem at the time was that the navy had only four frigates and the two Rothesay class frigates were in need of a major refit or else they needed to be replaced. The brits had offer a pair of Lysander class frigates to replace the Rothesay class frigates at a good price but that would still leave them in the same boat of having four frigates.
Some officers and bureaucrats in the navy wanted to go for the two Lysander’s while others wanted to refit the two Rothesay class frigates. Then one officer pointed out that to keep three frigates operational at all times. You needed at least four frigates to do that or five would be better. He then pointed out that if you refitted the two Rothesay Frigates and buy and refit just one Lysander class frigate you could man you could almost man the entire frigate force for just forty more sailors than you would if you had purchased the two Lysander’s. Or you could take the fifth frigate and keep just half of the crew needed for it to be fully operational or less if necessary. Then whenever a ship came in for repair you could shift over the needed number of crew to bring that ship up to full strength and you would still have four operational frigates most of the time and at worst three on occasion and possibly as many as five operation for short periods of time.
He also pointed out that while the undermanned ship would not be fully operational she could still engage in training and be able to carry out secondary some missions. That plan rapidly gained acceptance for two reasons the number of Soviet subs operating out of their Shortland base had increased and with the increased problems in manning the ships of the Navy this was considered a pretty good solution to that problem since to keep the other ships man they could raid that fifth frigate for crew is necessary. But if a war broke out they would have a larger number of frigates to draw from.
But other half of the requirement was some sort of an amphibious force to support an amphibious operation against Peoples Republic of Bougainville and the Soviets naval base in the Shortland Islands. Then the discussion shifted to what the size and composition of this landing force would be the navy wanted two ships based on the Royal Navies Round Table class landing ship but the Army wanted an additional couple of landing craft similar to the Australians Balikpapan class landing craft. But when the Australian who were consulted about that idea commented that what New Zealand should build two Landing ships since the Australians were going to the great expense of building a brand new carrier. So the Australians attitude was that New Zealand could do its part by building two landing ships.
The problem was twofold first was finding the money to pay for the two ships and the crew to man them. Getting the money was easier than expected, the Americans agreed to subsidize the construction of the two ships. Some with military aide provided by the United States to help cover part of the cost other operations and allow the New Zealanders to shift money over to the building program and then they provided a low interest loan to cover what was left of the cost of the two Landing ships. That is if the two ships were built in the state Washington in a certain congressional district, by a certain shipyard and that employed unionized workers. The subsidy would covered almost third of the cost of the two ships and two powerful democratic senators would make sure that the money made it through congress and the Carter Administration agreed to the deal just to keep the two senators happy.
Then other problem of manning all of the ships and the rest of the military so the discussion turned to the possibility of dropping of the Rothesay class frigates and it was under serious consideration when a group of junketing American politicians came a visiting. During the conversation the subject of the man power shortage came up and one of the American congressmen commented that the US military subsidized the college education for people who enlisted in the military. So while the New Zealand government already did cover say another twenty-five percent would make joining the military very attractive.
Muldoon liked the idea but he knew that such a plan would have considerable opposition. But Muldoon commented that some people would oppose because it came from the Americans and others because of the cost and still more because it would look like New Zealand was bribing it’s youth to serve in the military. The congressman considered the arguments against the plan then he replied. **Well as for the first argument tell them, your just following another idea from America, it’s a good idea lets steal it.** Muldoon had done just that.
The proposition did cause a lot of opposition from the Labor party and to a degree inside his own party. Some of his party members were not enthused about paying for people education with defense spending. The Labor Party was horrified that the Muldoon Government would bribe the youth of New Zealand to serve in the military with promises of paying for more of their college education. Another argument was that it favored young men as opposed to women since more young men were needed to serve in the military. As well as the accusation that New Zealand was just copying the United States and not coming up with its own solution.
In the end the Soviet buildup on the Shortland Island made a majority of the members of the New Zealand House of Representatives agreed to fund the program even some of the Labor party came over to the idea. The argument was that military needed to be at full strength, to deal with the evolving threat on Bougainville and the Shortland Islands. Especially since the United State might not have the available forces to carry out such an attack. So it was up to both Australia and New Zealand to have the needed capabilities.
There were also some questions in the New Zealand press and by the Labor party on the deal that had been made with the Americans to build the two amphibious ships. The idea that New Zealand’s tax dollars were somehow involved in an American pork barrel program was not popular with some people with others it was a chance to strike a blow against the ANZUS alliance and give the US a black eye. There were some demands that the whole deal be investigated but as one news commentator pointed out. It was US tax dollars being spent to help pay for a pair of New Zealand warships. It may smell but to him the odor was more like a rose than a rotting corpse. In the end the average New Zealand decided to sit back and enjoy the ride at what was at least partly at America’s expense.
Muldoon felt good about the current situation of the Navy which was at its most powerful in over a decade and the purchase of Saladin light tanks for the army had improved its capacity to fight and the additional ten A-4 Skyhawk’s that had been purchased from Australia had further increased the strength of the Air Force. The Australian navy had handed the planes over last year because the pilots and support personnel had been sent to Great Britain to train on their new Harriers. The last of those A-4’s had been upgraded to A-4k so now the New Zealand Armed forces were at their most powerful in a decade or more. Add on the newly acquired amphibious capability and he could feel he had done all he could.
Still Muldoon was not a totally happy man the threat from Bougainville and the Soviets Shortland naval base were a constant concern of his. President Havani was propped up by the money paid by Soviet Union. Then add on the reports of the shipment of large numbers of small arms to Bougainville by the Russians was something he could readily believe. Despite the fact that many in Labor and the Press were much less sure of the accusation. Grenada showed just how many weapons had been shipped to that island nation. So he could readily believe that a similar amount of weapons or more had been shipped to Bougainville. But for the time being New Zealand had done all it could and would do for the defense of New Zealand and its ANZUS allies.
Muldoon decided to just sit back and watch the show; the two landing ships had unloaded the landing craft they carried and now they began their approach on to the beach. The announcer told the watching citizens that one of the frigates and landing ships were all fully manned by a limited mobilization of sailors from the reserve. Then a remote operated aircraft appear and it headed toward the Wellington and the Phalanx cannons on board it shredded the plane to the cheers of the audience. Then the announcer told the audience that the two Landing Ships were armed with the latest in Air Defense with the brand new Phalanx weapons system. Something that only this year had the American Navy decided to armed their Amphibious ships with.
The knowledge that New Zealand was ahead of the curve and that the Americans were following the lead of New Zealand pleased the crowd of New Zealanders to no end. Muldoon knew a few other facts, like the Phalanx system had been sold to New Zealand at a greatly reduced price. The reason was simple enough, the American congress was dragging its heels about putting the Phalanx on all the support ships of the US Navy. Then when it was appropriation time in the United States Congress the proposal to arm the US Navies amphibious ships with Phalanx was again brought before congress. All the while the Navy and the Secretary of Defense were pointing to New Zealand commented that they had armed their amphibious ships with Phalanx so why can’t we. Add on a few interviews with members of the press and the Phalanx were now going to be mounted on the Amphibious ships of the United States navy.
The four frigates continued to maneuver with their guns firing blanks and the two Landing ships headed for the shore with six landing craft in the lead. The fifth frigate was currently patrolling the straits of Malacca. Then eighteen A-4k Skyhawk’s appearing. The jets roared at full throttle over the crowd of New Zealander's who had come to see their armed forces in action. To the watching people it was an impressive display of power for New Zealand. Someone else was impressed and he was Soviet Unions senior Military Attache and he was going to make sure that his superiors heard about what he was seeing today.
Prime Minister Muldoon was taking a bit of a risk with this display of New Zealand’s military power during the month of May weather while not as bad as later on in the it was still cold. But with Australia showing off its brand new carrier to its population. So Muldoon decided to showing off New Zealand’s naval contribution to the ANZUS alliance. When the Russians opened their base on the Shortland Island the ANZUS alliance decided it needed to come up with a plan. It took a couple of years to come up with a plan and a few more to implement it. New Zealand’s part the plan was simple enough provide one squadron of frigates for ASW and a couple of landing ships aid in any landing operations against the Shortland Islands.
In the end the navy decided that in order to deal with the Russian subs, New Zealand would need to have at least three anti-submarine frigates operational at all times. That meant they needed roughly five frigates, to maintain that number of ships operational at all times. The problem at the time was that the navy had only four frigates and the two Rothesay class frigates were in need of a major refit or else they needed to be replaced. The brits had offer a pair of Lysander class frigates to replace the Rothesay class frigates at a good price but that would still leave them in the same boat of having four frigates.
Some officers and bureaucrats in the navy wanted to go for the two Lysander’s while others wanted to refit the two Rothesay class frigates. Then one officer pointed out that to keep three frigates operational at all times. You needed at least four frigates to do that or five would be better. He then pointed out that if you refitted the two Rothesay Frigates and buy and refit just one Lysander class frigate you could man you could almost man the entire frigate force for just forty more sailors than you would if you had purchased the two Lysander’s. Or you could take the fifth frigate and keep just half of the crew needed for it to be fully operational or less if necessary. Then whenever a ship came in for repair you could shift over the needed number of crew to bring that ship up to full strength and you would still have four operational frigates most of the time and at worst three on occasion and possibly as many as five operation for short periods of time.
He also pointed out that while the undermanned ship would not be fully operational she could still engage in training and be able to carry out secondary some missions. That plan rapidly gained acceptance for two reasons the number of Soviet subs operating out of their Shortland base had increased and with the increased problems in manning the ships of the Navy this was considered a pretty good solution to that problem since to keep the other ships man they could raid that fifth frigate for crew is necessary. But if a war broke out they would have a larger number of frigates to draw from.
But other half of the requirement was some sort of an amphibious force to support an amphibious operation against Peoples Republic of Bougainville and the Soviets naval base in the Shortland Islands. Then the discussion shifted to what the size and composition of this landing force would be the navy wanted two ships based on the Royal Navies Round Table class landing ship but the Army wanted an additional couple of landing craft similar to the Australians Balikpapan class landing craft. But when the Australian who were consulted about that idea commented that what New Zealand should build two Landing ships since the Australians were going to the great expense of building a brand new carrier. So the Australians attitude was that New Zealand could do its part by building two landing ships.
The problem was twofold first was finding the money to pay for the two ships and the crew to man them. Getting the money was easier than expected, the Americans agreed to subsidize the construction of the two ships. Some with military aide provided by the United States to help cover part of the cost other operations and allow the New Zealanders to shift money over to the building program and then they provided a low interest loan to cover what was left of the cost of the two Landing ships. That is if the two ships were built in the state Washington in a certain congressional district, by a certain shipyard and that employed unionized workers. The subsidy would covered almost third of the cost of the two ships and two powerful democratic senators would make sure that the money made it through congress and the Carter Administration agreed to the deal just to keep the two senators happy.
Then other problem of manning all of the ships and the rest of the military so the discussion turned to the possibility of dropping of the Rothesay class frigates and it was under serious consideration when a group of junketing American politicians came a visiting. During the conversation the subject of the man power shortage came up and one of the American congressmen commented that the US military subsidized the college education for people who enlisted in the military. So while the New Zealand government already did cover say another twenty-five percent would make joining the military very attractive.
Muldoon liked the idea but he knew that such a plan would have considerable opposition. But Muldoon commented that some people would oppose because it came from the Americans and others because of the cost and still more because it would look like New Zealand was bribing it’s youth to serve in the military. The congressman considered the arguments against the plan then he replied. **Well as for the first argument tell them, your just following another idea from America, it’s a good idea lets steal it.** Muldoon had done just that.
The proposition did cause a lot of opposition from the Labor party and to a degree inside his own party. Some of his party members were not enthused about paying for people education with defense spending. The Labor Party was horrified that the Muldoon Government would bribe the youth of New Zealand to serve in the military with promises of paying for more of their college education. Another argument was that it favored young men as opposed to women since more young men were needed to serve in the military. As well as the accusation that New Zealand was just copying the United States and not coming up with its own solution.
In the end the Soviet buildup on the Shortland Island made a majority of the members of the New Zealand House of Representatives agreed to fund the program even some of the Labor party came over to the idea. The argument was that military needed to be at full strength, to deal with the evolving threat on Bougainville and the Shortland Islands. Especially since the United State might not have the available forces to carry out such an attack. So it was up to both Australia and New Zealand to have the needed capabilities.
There were also some questions in the New Zealand press and by the Labor party on the deal that had been made with the Americans to build the two amphibious ships. The idea that New Zealand’s tax dollars were somehow involved in an American pork barrel program was not popular with some people with others it was a chance to strike a blow against the ANZUS alliance and give the US a black eye. There were some demands that the whole deal be investigated but as one news commentator pointed out. It was US tax dollars being spent to help pay for a pair of New Zealand warships. It may smell but to him the odor was more like a rose than a rotting corpse. In the end the average New Zealand decided to sit back and enjoy the ride at what was at least partly at America’s expense.
Muldoon felt good about the current situation of the Navy which was at its most powerful in over a decade and the purchase of Saladin light tanks for the army had improved its capacity to fight and the additional ten A-4 Skyhawk’s that had been purchased from Australia had further increased the strength of the Air Force. The Australian navy had handed the planes over last year because the pilots and support personnel had been sent to Great Britain to train on their new Harriers. The last of those A-4’s had been upgraded to A-4k so now the New Zealand Armed forces were at their most powerful in a decade or more. Add on the newly acquired amphibious capability and he could feel he had done all he could.
Still Muldoon was not a totally happy man the threat from Bougainville and the Soviets Shortland naval base were a constant concern of his. President Havani was propped up by the money paid by Soviet Union. Then add on the reports of the shipment of large numbers of small arms to Bougainville by the Russians was something he could readily believe. Despite the fact that many in Labor and the Press were much less sure of the accusation. Grenada showed just how many weapons had been shipped to that island nation. So he could readily believe that a similar amount of weapons or more had been shipped to Bougainville. But for the time being New Zealand had done all it could and would do for the defense of New Zealand and its ANZUS allies.
Muldoon decided to just sit back and watch the show; the two landing ships had unloaded the landing craft they carried and now they began their approach on to the beach. The announcer told the watching citizens that one of the frigates and landing ships were all fully manned by a limited mobilization of sailors from the reserve. Then a remote operated aircraft appear and it headed toward the Wellington and the Phalanx cannons on board it shredded the plane to the cheers of the audience. Then the announcer told the audience that the two Landing Ships were armed with the latest in Air Defense with the brand new Phalanx weapons system. Something that only this year had the American Navy decided to armed their Amphibious ships with.
The knowledge that New Zealand was ahead of the curve and that the Americans were following the lead of New Zealand pleased the crowd of New Zealanders to no end. Muldoon knew a few other facts, like the Phalanx system had been sold to New Zealand at a greatly reduced price. The reason was simple enough, the American congress was dragging its heels about putting the Phalanx on all the support ships of the US Navy. Then when it was appropriation time in the United States Congress the proposal to arm the US Navies amphibious ships with Phalanx was again brought before congress. All the while the Navy and the Secretary of Defense were pointing to New Zealand commented that they had armed their amphibious ships with Phalanx so why can’t we. Add on a few interviews with members of the press and the Phalanx were now going to be mounted on the Amphibious ships of the United States navy.
The four frigates continued to maneuver with their guns firing blanks and the two Landing ships headed for the shore with six landing craft in the lead. The fifth frigate was currently patrolling the straits of Malacca. Then eighteen A-4k Skyhawk’s appearing. The jets roared at full throttle over the crowd of New Zealander's who had come to see their armed forces in action. To the watching people it was an impressive display of power for New Zealand. Someone else was impressed and he was Soviet Unions senior Military Attache and he was going to make sure that his superiors heard about what he was seeing today.
Last edited:
May 8th /9th Moscow
Dmitry Ustinov, had a group of very angry general officers in the room, they were screaming about Field Marshall of the Soviet Union’s Ogarkov’s article in the Krasnya Zevzda. His proposals were to reduce the overall size of the Soviet army and take the saving and invest it into high technology. So that in his view the Soviet Union’s military would be able toe to toe to the NATO’s forces. Most of these generals violently disagreed with Ogarkov and they were making their objections known.
But Ustinov agreed more with Ogarkov than he did these generals but he would listen sympathetically to their complaints. Especially since he know that both Gorbachev and Grishin were looking to get Ogarkov removal with him gone Romanov would not have any hope of being elect. But what really worried Ustinov would be that whoever replaced General Ogarkov would be less interested in modernizing the Soviet Military in general and the Red Army in particular. Ogarkov was right about the need for new and modern weapons systems. Something that Ustinov did support however he was not interested in rocky some many boats at one time.
So Ustinov would speak to Chernenko not so much as to defend Ogarkov but the raise Chernenko’s level of paranoia about both Gorbachev and Griskin. Now while Griskin was a friend that did not mean that friends had not in the past toppled their friends in their quest for power. As for Gorbachev he was the current favorite to take over from Chernenko and it would be no surprise if he wanted to replace Chernenko sooner than later. The simple truth was that while Chernenko might be sick and dying. He was not planning to give up his power until he was a dead man. So raising concerns that the other two men were conspiring make sure that Romanov would have no chance of succeeding into the position of General Secretary. He would argue that three men vying for his position than two, with two should one dropout. Then the other just might make a move to remove. Chernenko. Ustinov smiled to himself paranoia was a wonderful thing when it was used properly.
Dmitry Ustinov, had a group of very angry general officers in the room, they were screaming about Field Marshall of the Soviet Union’s Ogarkov’s article in the Krasnya Zevzda. His proposals were to reduce the overall size of the Soviet army and take the saving and invest it into high technology. So that in his view the Soviet Union’s military would be able toe to toe to the NATO’s forces. Most of these generals violently disagreed with Ogarkov and they were making their objections known.
But Ustinov agreed more with Ogarkov than he did these generals but he would listen sympathetically to their complaints. Especially since he know that both Gorbachev and Grishin were looking to get Ogarkov removal with him gone Romanov would not have any hope of being elect. But what really worried Ustinov would be that whoever replaced General Ogarkov would be less interested in modernizing the Soviet Military in general and the Red Army in particular. Ogarkov was right about the need for new and modern weapons systems. Something that Ustinov did support however he was not interested in rocky some many boats at one time.
So Ustinov would speak to Chernenko not so much as to defend Ogarkov but the raise Chernenko’s level of paranoia about both Gorbachev and Griskin. Now while Griskin was a friend that did not mean that friends had not in the past toppled their friends in their quest for power. As for Gorbachev he was the current favorite to take over from Chernenko and it would be no surprise if he wanted to replace Chernenko sooner than later. The simple truth was that while Chernenko might be sick and dying. He was not planning to give up his power until he was a dead man. So raising concerns that the other two men were conspiring make sure that Romanov would have no chance of succeeding into the position of General Secretary. He would argue that three men vying for his position than two, with two should one dropout. Then the other just might make a move to remove. Chernenko. Ustinov smiled to himself paranoia was a wonderful thing when it was used properly.