Slow Drift to War Europe 1984
- Thread starter Farmer12
- Start date
IMHO there is no way the folks in Moscow are not going to believe it was an action by some western intelligence agency. It was too successful (just luck to be sure) and of course, in the world they live in everything is a conspiracy. Even before these folks are caught, and exposed as West German citizens who had a legitimate beef with the East German leadership, the slickest move on the part of the Russians would be to claim this is a West German operation to try and split the Germans and the Americans. You know that in the USA, and Western Europe, there will be significant elements that would buy this with a subsequent clamor to expel Germany from NATO or if/when there is retaliation for support for West Germany to be limited if any.
The fact that the perpetrators will surrender willingly and tell all can limit this but...
(after all the moon landing was staged, there is no environmental pollution in the eastern bloc {pollution caused by capitalism}, and so forth)
The fact that the perpetrators will surrender willingly and tell all can limit this but...
(after all the moon landing was staged, there is no environmental pollution in the eastern bloc {pollution caused by capitalism}, and so forth)
10:35 pm Moscow time
The KGB duty officer Dimitri Kolenko could not believe his ears, the officer on the other end was telling him that someone had killed Honecker and a list of other senior member of the East German Government and Security Forces as well as the head of the KGB Ivan Gregori in East Germany was dead. Not only that but the assassin or assassins had shot them down he had done it from West Berlin. No one had an idea who did it or if it was a planned assassination or just some maniac or maniacs. After he managed to calm the other officer down Kolenko told him to find out all he could and to call back at least once every hour. Even if he did not have any information he was still to call back.
Kolenko knew he had to call the commander of the KGB, Victor Chebrikov and tell him what had happened. But he also knew that since he knew next to nothing about what happened in Berlin Chebrikov might be difficult to deal with. But at the same time he had no choice but to call him.
10:55 PM
Chebrikov had been shocked to hear about the death of Ivan Gregori, the man was a good friend as well as a thoroughly professional officer. Chebrikov was even unhappy about the lack of information but he was more annoyed with KGB in Germany than with Kolenko. It was clear that the both the East Germans and especially the West Germans had not taken appropriate measures to secure the area. The KGB would have to do a thorough investigation about what had gone wrong. But first the West Germans needed to catch the two assassins but since it was obvious that they could not find their own asses he rather doubt they could do it. For a moment he considered demanding that the KGB take over the investigation of the terrorist attack since it involved senior KGB officer. It was an idea one that he would float to the leadership of the Politburo.
Then Chebrikov decided to called General Secretary Chernenko and asked to speak to General Secretary Chernenko but he was told by a nurse on duty that Chernenko was too heavily sedate to comprehend what he was being told much less speak on the phone. Chebrikov considered that bit of news he wondered what would happen if he had reported that the Americans had launched a nuclear strike.
11:15 pm
Chebrikov then decided that since Gorbachev was the man who was currently running the meetings of the Politburo he should call him even though he was at his Dacha in Crimea. But Gorbachev seemed more interested in not looking like he wanted to take control from Chernenko. At the same time considering how Chernenko had come down on him for his effort to get Ogarkov removed it was understandable. His attitude was all part of the maneuvering between the various members of the Politburo over who would be the next First Secretary.
Chebrikov was considering what to next when the phone rang again; it was Kolenko with even more bad news. The West German press was informing the world including the population of East Germany that their leader was dead along with the hated head of his secret police as well to two of his closest allies and the upper leadership of the Stasi. They were also reporting that the head of the KGB in East Germany was dead. The situation was getting out of hand and rapidly, Chebrikov had a bad feeling about what was happening.
Then Chernenko decided to talk to Minister of Defense Dmitry Ustinov the truth was that while he was involved in all the maneuvering he could be relied upon to make sound decision not base on which group was in current up or down. Ustinov had been really upset and what really annoyed him had called him about what happened. The news that Chebrikov had already spoke to Gorbachev made him a bit more snippy about not being rapidly informed about what was going on. He could not order the Politburo to return to Moscow but he decided to return to Moscow. From Moscow he could keep an close eye on the situation in East Berlin.
Then Ustinov called Ogarkov and he found that Ogarkov had only just been informed by the Commander of the Red Army in East Germany and he had waited to call since what information he had received had been in his mind not very reliable. Finally he decided to call, the East German Army was not being particularly informative nor were the KGB any help. As for the STASI they had the look of a deer caught on a road looking into a cars headlights. Finally he had called with what he clearly admitted was poor and very limited information. Ustinov told Ogarkov to get some sleep and be at work early tomorrow and he would fly back to Moscow. But he was having a problem getting his flight crew sobered up enough to make the trip. Not that he was really mad about that, after all he had told them to have a good time and they had.
Chebrikov had received new information came from the West Berlin Police, they had the names of two assassins Gunther Myers and Dieter Brohns. While they did not have them in custody, the story was that the two men had slipped through the police lines. The West Berlin police were also saying that the two men were in hiding but they promised that neither man would escape from West Berlin. Chebrikov had ordered his records department to see if they had any information on either man. But so far no one had called back with any information not that he expected them to have any information on this pair of lunatics but one could hope.
After that Chebrikov decided to call Andre Gromyko after all he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and he needed to be informed. Gromyko was appalled about the attack but as for the demand to put the KGB in charge of the investigation that would be a nonstarter with the West Germans as well as the Americans. Chebrikov did not like what he was told but at the same time he knew that Gromyko was right. What Chebrikov did not say to Gromyko was they would be especially opposed if they were involved in the assignation.
Chebrikov was pretty sure that the only way this assassination could have been pulled off was with the involvement of both the West German and American governments. The goal being the reuniting of Germany under one government. But for the moment he would keep such suspicions to himself.
2 pm EST United States
Exercise Neap Tide was going as scheduled, yesterday all the ships were declared operational and this morning the loading had begun on eighteen of them. The other two had been activated just in case something went wrong with the one of the first eighteen ships that were being activated. The 24th mech was on schedule and Lt. Gen. McCook was looking forward to smooth operation and he hated to admit it but the announcement of the assassination of the kraut commie dictator sort of gave the whole exercised a real feeling of reality. In fact the civilian dock workers seemed to have picked up their pace a bit.
At the White House, Ronald Reagan’s press secretary Larry Speakes, made an announcement to the White House press corp decrying the assassination of Honecker and the other East German officials. He stated that while East Germany was a dictatorship, the use of political assassination to affect change was still totally reprehensible. Speakes then went on to say that one day the president hoped the two Germany’s would be peacefully reunited.
9:50pm West Berline
When Gunther and Dieter, now had a plan, they had a good meal and a few beers and they were still going to surrender themselves to the West German police. But they had overheard another patron at the restaurant talking about a TV reporter that had stop them to get their reaction to the news of Honecker’s assassination. They had commented that she was still interviewing people when they had left . So they decided to go and see if they could find her and give her their side of the story.
The KGB duty officer Dimitri Kolenko could not believe his ears, the officer on the other end was telling him that someone had killed Honecker and a list of other senior member of the East German Government and Security Forces as well as the head of the KGB Ivan Gregori in East Germany was dead. Not only that but the assassin or assassins had shot them down he had done it from West Berlin. No one had an idea who did it or if it was a planned assassination or just some maniac or maniacs. After he managed to calm the other officer down Kolenko told him to find out all he could and to call back at least once every hour. Even if he did not have any information he was still to call back.
Kolenko knew he had to call the commander of the KGB, Victor Chebrikov and tell him what had happened. But he also knew that since he knew next to nothing about what happened in Berlin Chebrikov might be difficult to deal with. But at the same time he had no choice but to call him.
10:55 PM
Chebrikov had been shocked to hear about the death of Ivan Gregori, the man was a good friend as well as a thoroughly professional officer. Chebrikov was even unhappy about the lack of information but he was more annoyed with KGB in Germany than with Kolenko. It was clear that the both the East Germans and especially the West Germans had not taken appropriate measures to secure the area. The KGB would have to do a thorough investigation about what had gone wrong. But first the West Germans needed to catch the two assassins but since it was obvious that they could not find their own asses he rather doubt they could do it. For a moment he considered demanding that the KGB take over the investigation of the terrorist attack since it involved senior KGB officer. It was an idea one that he would float to the leadership of the Politburo.
Then Chebrikov decided to called General Secretary Chernenko and asked to speak to General Secretary Chernenko but he was told by a nurse on duty that Chernenko was too heavily sedate to comprehend what he was being told much less speak on the phone. Chebrikov considered that bit of news he wondered what would happen if he had reported that the Americans had launched a nuclear strike.
11:15 pm
Chebrikov then decided that since Gorbachev was the man who was currently running the meetings of the Politburo he should call him even though he was at his Dacha in Crimea. But Gorbachev seemed more interested in not looking like he wanted to take control from Chernenko. At the same time considering how Chernenko had come down on him for his effort to get Ogarkov removed it was understandable. His attitude was all part of the maneuvering between the various members of the Politburo over who would be the next First Secretary.
Chebrikov was considering what to next when the phone rang again; it was Kolenko with even more bad news. The West German press was informing the world including the population of East Germany that their leader was dead along with the hated head of his secret police as well to two of his closest allies and the upper leadership of the Stasi. They were also reporting that the head of the KGB in East Germany was dead. The situation was getting out of hand and rapidly, Chebrikov had a bad feeling about what was happening.
Then Chernenko decided to talk to Minister of Defense Dmitry Ustinov the truth was that while he was involved in all the maneuvering he could be relied upon to make sound decision not base on which group was in current up or down. Ustinov had been really upset and what really annoyed him had called him about what happened. The news that Chebrikov had already spoke to Gorbachev made him a bit more snippy about not being rapidly informed about what was going on. He could not order the Politburo to return to Moscow but he decided to return to Moscow. From Moscow he could keep an close eye on the situation in East Berlin.
Then Ustinov called Ogarkov and he found that Ogarkov had only just been informed by the Commander of the Red Army in East Germany and he had waited to call since what information he had received had been in his mind not very reliable. Finally he decided to call, the East German Army was not being particularly informative nor were the KGB any help. As for the STASI they had the look of a deer caught on a road looking into a cars headlights. Finally he had called with what he clearly admitted was poor and very limited information. Ustinov told Ogarkov to get some sleep and be at work early tomorrow and he would fly back to Moscow. But he was having a problem getting his flight crew sobered up enough to make the trip. Not that he was really mad about that, after all he had told them to have a good time and they had.
Chebrikov had received new information came from the West Berlin Police, they had the names of two assassins Gunther Myers and Dieter Brohns. While they did not have them in custody, the story was that the two men had slipped through the police lines. The West Berlin police were also saying that the two men were in hiding but they promised that neither man would escape from West Berlin. Chebrikov had ordered his records department to see if they had any information on either man. But so far no one had called back with any information not that he expected them to have any information on this pair of lunatics but one could hope.
After that Chebrikov decided to call Andre Gromyko after all he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and he needed to be informed. Gromyko was appalled about the attack but as for the demand to put the KGB in charge of the investigation that would be a nonstarter with the West Germans as well as the Americans. Chebrikov did not like what he was told but at the same time he knew that Gromyko was right. What Chebrikov did not say to Gromyko was they would be especially opposed if they were involved in the assignation.
Chebrikov was pretty sure that the only way this assassination could have been pulled off was with the involvement of both the West German and American governments. The goal being the reuniting of Germany under one government. But for the moment he would keep such suspicions to himself.
2 pm EST United States
Exercise Neap Tide was going as scheduled, yesterday all the ships were declared operational and this morning the loading had begun on eighteen of them. The other two had been activated just in case something went wrong with the one of the first eighteen ships that were being activated. The 24th mech was on schedule and Lt. Gen. McCook was looking forward to smooth operation and he hated to admit it but the announcement of the assassination of the kraut commie dictator sort of gave the whole exercised a real feeling of reality. In fact the civilian dock workers seemed to have picked up their pace a bit.
At the White House, Ronald Reagan’s press secretary Larry Speakes, made an announcement to the White House press corp decrying the assassination of Honecker and the other East German officials. He stated that while East Germany was a dictatorship, the use of political assassination to affect change was still totally reprehensible. Speakes then went on to say that one day the president hoped the two Germany’s would be peacefully reunited.
9:50pm West Berline
When Gunther and Dieter, now had a plan, they had a good meal and a few beers and they were still going to surrender themselves to the West German police. But they had overheard another patron at the restaurant talking about a TV reporter that had stop them to get their reaction to the news of Honecker’s assassination. They had commented that she was still interviewing people when they had left . So they decided to go and see if they could find her and give her their side of the story.
10 pm West Berlin
Marta had been stuck with the talking to the man on the street, about their reaction to Honecker’s death. It came as no surprise that most of them were happy to hear he was dead. Then it came across the transistor radio that the name of the man the police were looking for was a Gunther Myers and a Dieter Bohn. She had called her boss what her boss had told her the police had no idea where the two assassins She had almost decided to return to the TV station and telling her boss that the man in the street were mostly a bunch of morons. But she needed this job since it was her life’s dream to become a big time reporter. So she carried on, then she turned to a pair of men who had walked up during her last little interview.
Marta decided to give the interview a boost, looking directly at Gunther “Sir have you heard about Honecker’s assassination?” Gunther smiled and replied, **Ooh I am quite aware of it. Marta was happy most of the people she had been talking to had found out from her about the assassinations and they had been a waste of time to talk to. The ones who knew previously about the assassinations had the best responses.
Marline decided to start with the distance of the shots fired from the targets. “Sir the sniper must be an excellent marksman to have hit targets so away. Gunther pondered that question before he responded, **Well it was less than three hundred meters so it was not all that far shoot. Add on the fact that the people were all up on a podium either sitting or standing so they were above the crowd in front. That means they were easy to see and they were too surprised to immediately run when they heard the first shots. What made it worse for them was that a lot of them were sitting down and they had to get up. Add on the fact that most of them were on the old side and they had nowhere to easily run to.**
Dieter decided to make a comment, **Whoever built that Podium did a first rate job and with a high railing around the podium. That meant they had a hard time getting away.** Dieter paused for a second before going, **Those Stasi bastards killed and tortured a lot of good Germans including my Mother. It felt good to see those scum running and then dying like rats in a trap.** Dieter had real smiled on his face, the look of a contented man. Gunther ** It was not all that difficult, after all the M98 is a good rifle and with a scope it is quite deadly at that range. The real difficulty was the rapid fire that I engage in, you see Dieter here and I were imitating the British mad minute. ** But he smiled and he turned to the other man and commented, **But it turned into a two minute mad minute.**
Marline suddenly went cold and she asked, “Your Gunther Myers and your Dieter Bohn?” The man smiled and replied in the affirmative and he pulled out his photo id to prove it. He showed it to Marline and to the camera. Marline had to ask the obvious question, “Why did you do it?” Then Dieter explained,**All we want to do is keep our farm and the communist would not let us do keep it. Then we were threatened with arrest and my father and mother decided life would be better for us on the other side of the Inner Border. When we fled across the inner border my mother was shot by one of the borders guard she died later on.
Then Dieter told Marline that Gunther had a similar story, it was a sad looking Gunther who told his story of promising his sister that he would get her across the border safely and how an East German Border Guard took her life. On that day I swore revenge on the people who ran the East German. Now today God has granted me my revenge. ** Then Dieter gave credit to Gunther for the idea in the first place while Gunther credited Dieter for coming up with a plan that had helped kill even more of those commie bastards. Marline could not believe the two men could sound so rational after engaging in such an act of madness.
Then Gunther spoke again commenting that, **One day West and East Germans would be united and the Russians would be driven out.** Then Gunther commented **Maybe we should get over to the Police station. Dieter agreed and they both headed to the police substation. Marline then sent her bike rider to the TV station with the tape of the interview and a message about where they were headed. She had her first scoop hopefully first of many. Then she set off after Gunther Meyers he was just too good of a story to just let him walk away.
At the TV station all they had to do was compare faces on the tape with the faces the police had released. As soon as the tape was ready they went with it. Listening to the man speak was really frightening, he was so calm and cool while he explained what he had done. That voice and face was sent out to the world, the people in the TV station did not even think twice about one comment he had made, that hopefully soon one Germany would be united again and the Russians were driven out. The reaction depended on who was listening.
Marta had been stuck with the talking to the man on the street, about their reaction to Honecker’s death. It came as no surprise that most of them were happy to hear he was dead. Then it came across the transistor radio that the name of the man the police were looking for was a Gunther Myers and a Dieter Bohn. She had called her boss what her boss had told her the police had no idea where the two assassins She had almost decided to return to the TV station and telling her boss that the man in the street were mostly a bunch of morons. But she needed this job since it was her life’s dream to become a big time reporter. So she carried on, then she turned to a pair of men who had walked up during her last little interview.
Marta decided to give the interview a boost, looking directly at Gunther “Sir have you heard about Honecker’s assassination?” Gunther smiled and replied, **Ooh I am quite aware of it. Marta was happy most of the people she had been talking to had found out from her about the assassinations and they had been a waste of time to talk to. The ones who knew previously about the assassinations had the best responses.
Marline decided to start with the distance of the shots fired from the targets. “Sir the sniper must be an excellent marksman to have hit targets so away. Gunther pondered that question before he responded, **Well it was less than three hundred meters so it was not all that far shoot. Add on the fact that the people were all up on a podium either sitting or standing so they were above the crowd in front. That means they were easy to see and they were too surprised to immediately run when they heard the first shots. What made it worse for them was that a lot of them were sitting down and they had to get up. Add on the fact that most of them were on the old side and they had nowhere to easily run to.**
Dieter decided to make a comment, **Whoever built that Podium did a first rate job and with a high railing around the podium. That meant they had a hard time getting away.** Dieter paused for a second before going, **Those Stasi bastards killed and tortured a lot of good Germans including my Mother. It felt good to see those scum running and then dying like rats in a trap.** Dieter had real smiled on his face, the look of a contented man. Gunther ** It was not all that difficult, after all the M98 is a good rifle and with a scope it is quite deadly at that range. The real difficulty was the rapid fire that I engage in, you see Dieter here and I were imitating the British mad minute. ** But he smiled and he turned to the other man and commented, **But it turned into a two minute mad minute.**
Marline suddenly went cold and she asked, “Your Gunther Myers and your Dieter Bohn?” The man smiled and replied in the affirmative and he pulled out his photo id to prove it. He showed it to Marline and to the camera. Marline had to ask the obvious question, “Why did you do it?” Then Dieter explained,**All we want to do is keep our farm and the communist would not let us do keep it. Then we were threatened with arrest and my father and mother decided life would be better for us on the other side of the Inner Border. When we fled across the inner border my mother was shot by one of the borders guard she died later on.
Then Dieter told Marline that Gunther had a similar story, it was a sad looking Gunther who told his story of promising his sister that he would get her across the border safely and how an East German Border Guard took her life. On that day I swore revenge on the people who ran the East German. Now today God has granted me my revenge. ** Then Dieter gave credit to Gunther for the idea in the first place while Gunther credited Dieter for coming up with a plan that had helped kill even more of those commie bastards. Marline could not believe the two men could sound so rational after engaging in such an act of madness.
Then Gunther spoke again commenting that, **One day West and East Germans would be united and the Russians would be driven out.** Then Gunther commented **Maybe we should get over to the Police station. Dieter agreed and they both headed to the police substation. Marline then sent her bike rider to the TV station with the tape of the interview and a message about where they were headed. She had her first scoop hopefully first of many. Then she set off after Gunther Meyers he was just too good of a story to just let him walk away.
At the TV station all they had to do was compare faces on the tape with the faces the police had released. As soon as the tape was ready they went with it. Listening to the man speak was really frightening, he was so calm and cool while he explained what he had done. That voice and face was sent out to the world, the people in the TV station did not even think twice about one comment he had made, that hopefully soon one Germany would be united again and the Russians were driven out. The reaction depended on who was listening.
While I have not read the entire TL, I am quite surprised that you're going with something along the lines of the Assassination of Ferdinand to help kick off the conflict; and I assume that the Able Archer incident did not happen?
I don't blame you given that a TL that uses that to kickstart WWIII already exists; though I see you used the Armies of NATO Central Front book for OOB references. IIRC that book is very expensive to get ahold of, so I can imagine you either used some way through library sites or had a copy already (you lucky dog).
I originally looked at one through an inter-library loan and I wanted it so bad but the cost held me back. So I spent better part of five months watching the book come up on Amazon waiting for the books price to come down at the time three and four hundred dollars US was the norm. Finally i saw one at just over 200$ and I decided that was as cheap as it was going to get and i bought it. Its in what they called used condition. Two week later they one for just under a hundred but I wonder what the condition of that book was.
Midnight Moscow time Jun 16
Chebrikov was still awake when another call arrived from Kolenko with more news the assassins had been on TV he had held a press conference before turning himself into the German police. Cherenkov could not believe what was happening, his paranoia was at full throttle, the West German Police could not be so incompetent as to allow as they had phrased it the most hunted men on the planet to stop off at a restaurant eat and drink. Then to add insult to injury they held a press conference before turning himself in. Not only that but the men claimed to have planned the attack, with no one else involved. Someone else had to know what was going on, to unbelievable to be believed otherwise. Chebrikov was positive that the American CIA and possibly the West German Federal Intelligence Service or BND as it was also known as were also involved.
5pm Jun 15Washington
The announcement that the assassins had turned themselves in caused a lot of people to calm down the fear had been that if it took a long time to run down the assassin then the Russians might get aggressive. The American News organization were incline to believe that with the capture of the two assassins the crisis was essentially over. The bulk of the news shows concentrated on the Presidential election.
8pm Jun 15 Central standard time
Adm. Striet had spent the day watching CNN and the other channels listening to what was going on over in Germany. It was not much and a few comments about an interview of the two Assassins but so far he had not seen any video of the interview. Press seemed to believe that the crisis was over but as far as SAC was concerned there was a low degree crisis until SAC decided otherwise. So today would be the first time he had been in charge of Looking Glass while there was an ongoing crisis. In a lot of ways it was worse than being on a boomer in the sense that he was getting to much information and quite a bit of it was contradictory but nonetheless very frightening. The briefing was not much better since no one knew what was going on over in Germany. No alert had been declared but it still promised to be a long night.
6 am Chibrikov woke up early and he went straight to the KGB headquarters, he had not gotten much in the way of sleep. The reports that had come in over the night had been about unrest throughout much of East Germany. But today would tell him where it was just a few malcontents or something much graver. When he arrived at headquarters, his officers had set up a live feed from the Berlin to Moscow no video but you could hear the people talking and his interpreters were standing by to give him a running translation.
But by 10am it was clear that there would be more trouble, the Stasi without their senior officers had severely botched their attempts to put down the initial limited rioting in East Germany. Then a report about an announcement over German TV that rioters had started Stasi headquarters in Berlin on a fire. That almost gave Chibrikov a heart attack until he received a much more accurate report stating that a building not far from Stasi headquarters had been set on fire. It was better but the idea that the rioters could get close enough to Stasi Headquarters to burn a building in a location that could be mistaken for the Stasi headquarters was still not good.
11am
Then as the day went on more and more protests were started, the truth was that the East German population was fed up with a system that was not providing them with the same standard of living that the West Germans had. A standard of living, they could see every time they turned on the TV and turned the channel to a West German station. They were also fed up with having to fear the ever present informants, who were everywhere and constantly informing on everyone. Now they were having their revenge and Chibrikov knew that strong actions needed to be taken. What was especially chilling was the chants of Ein Deutschland Ein Volk, one Germany one people. He knew that it would be better to fight World War III than let happen. The German had invaded Russian twice in this century alone and that did not count other wars over the centuries. So he firmly believed that a united Germany would repeat that behavior and that two invasions in one century was enough.
Calling Chernenko was doing no good since he was still asleep. At the same time his calling the other various other members of the Politburo had done little. Gorbachev was of the opinion that the protests would burn out. While Romanov thought that calling a meeting of the politburo should be called but he had not authority to do so. But he did say he was coming back to Moscow. While Griskin was more interested in what Gorbachev was thinking than anything else.
Then Ogarkov called had decided to see what the KGB knew about what was going on in East Germany. He was receiving reports from his field commanders and some of the East German Army senior officers. They were all panicking and he had no idea what to think so he wanted to hear from another source. Chibrikov replied that the situation was bad and getting worse. That the civilian leadership in East Germany was divided into several factions and they were fighting amongst each other. Ogarkov commented that he was having his staff start going over the plans to intervene in Germany. They were checking them over for any obvious flaws a well as putting a group of plans to be shown to the Politburo if it became necessary. At the same time he would talk to Ustinov and see what he wanted him to do. Chibrikov had to admit that while he was not a fan of Ogarkov but it was obvious that the man at least knew when to stand up and lead.
At the same time East German Government was desperate for manpower to put down the rioting. But to turn to the Soviet Union was as of yet unpalatable, they did not want to admit they had fail. So the police reserves from the countryside were called into the cities. But a decision to draw on the manpower of the Border Guards was delayed. The commander of the Border Guards protested his forces were undermanned as it was to pull more men from the borders and they would lose control of the border. It was decided that the Border Guards would be left in place but if the situation did not get any better those men would be pulled for riot control.
Chebrikov listened as more bad news arrive a desperate East German government had pulled it Stasi and police units from the rural areas of East Germany and move them to the cities. Now some signs of unrest were showing up in the smaller villages and towns of East Germany. The country people were not as violent as the city dwellers but they definitely were in control of the situation. At the same time the East German Army reported that large numbers of their young troops were showing signs of being disaffected. The idea that the East German government could not rely on the East German Army to back them in this crisis just made Chebrikov.
12 NOON
Chebrikov was now beginning to think that only a full scale intervention by Red Army would be the only way stabilized the situation. He had made another round of called with pretty much the same response as before except that Gorbachev was now less sure that the East German Riots would die down. But he was still quite adamant that he had no authority to order the Politburo to assemble. But he was working to get enough people on board with the idea. Chibrikov was pretty sure that Gorbachev afraid of Chernenko thinking he was making a play for power in the middle of a crisis. His attempt to get Ogarkov was coming back to haunt the Soviet Union.
Chebrikov was still awake when another call arrived from Kolenko with more news the assassins had been on TV he had held a press conference before turning himself into the German police. Cherenkov could not believe what was happening, his paranoia was at full throttle, the West German Police could not be so incompetent as to allow as they had phrased it the most hunted men on the planet to stop off at a restaurant eat and drink. Then to add insult to injury they held a press conference before turning himself in. Not only that but the men claimed to have planned the attack, with no one else involved. Someone else had to know what was going on, to unbelievable to be believed otherwise. Chebrikov was positive that the American CIA and possibly the West German Federal Intelligence Service or BND as it was also known as were also involved.
5pm Jun 15Washington
The announcement that the assassins had turned themselves in caused a lot of people to calm down the fear had been that if it took a long time to run down the assassin then the Russians might get aggressive. The American News organization were incline to believe that with the capture of the two assassins the crisis was essentially over. The bulk of the news shows concentrated on the Presidential election.
8pm Jun 15 Central standard time
Adm. Striet had spent the day watching CNN and the other channels listening to what was going on over in Germany. It was not much and a few comments about an interview of the two Assassins but so far he had not seen any video of the interview. Press seemed to believe that the crisis was over but as far as SAC was concerned there was a low degree crisis until SAC decided otherwise. So today would be the first time he had been in charge of Looking Glass while there was an ongoing crisis. In a lot of ways it was worse than being on a boomer in the sense that he was getting to much information and quite a bit of it was contradictory but nonetheless very frightening. The briefing was not much better since no one knew what was going on over in Germany. No alert had been declared but it still promised to be a long night.
6 am Chibrikov woke up early and he went straight to the KGB headquarters, he had not gotten much in the way of sleep. The reports that had come in over the night had been about unrest throughout much of East Germany. But today would tell him where it was just a few malcontents or something much graver. When he arrived at headquarters, his officers had set up a live feed from the Berlin to Moscow no video but you could hear the people talking and his interpreters were standing by to give him a running translation.
But by 10am it was clear that there would be more trouble, the Stasi without their senior officers had severely botched their attempts to put down the initial limited rioting in East Germany. Then a report about an announcement over German TV that rioters had started Stasi headquarters in Berlin on a fire. That almost gave Chibrikov a heart attack until he received a much more accurate report stating that a building not far from Stasi headquarters had been set on fire. It was better but the idea that the rioters could get close enough to Stasi Headquarters to burn a building in a location that could be mistaken for the Stasi headquarters was still not good.
11am
Then as the day went on more and more protests were started, the truth was that the East German population was fed up with a system that was not providing them with the same standard of living that the West Germans had. A standard of living, they could see every time they turned on the TV and turned the channel to a West German station. They were also fed up with having to fear the ever present informants, who were everywhere and constantly informing on everyone. Now they were having their revenge and Chibrikov knew that strong actions needed to be taken. What was especially chilling was the chants of Ein Deutschland Ein Volk, one Germany one people. He knew that it would be better to fight World War III than let happen. The German had invaded Russian twice in this century alone and that did not count other wars over the centuries. So he firmly believed that a united Germany would repeat that behavior and that two invasions in one century was enough.
Calling Chernenko was doing no good since he was still asleep. At the same time his calling the other various other members of the Politburo had done little. Gorbachev was of the opinion that the protests would burn out. While Romanov thought that calling a meeting of the politburo should be called but he had not authority to do so. But he did say he was coming back to Moscow. While Griskin was more interested in what Gorbachev was thinking than anything else.
Then Ogarkov called had decided to see what the KGB knew about what was going on in East Germany. He was receiving reports from his field commanders and some of the East German Army senior officers. They were all panicking and he had no idea what to think so he wanted to hear from another source. Chibrikov replied that the situation was bad and getting worse. That the civilian leadership in East Germany was divided into several factions and they were fighting amongst each other. Ogarkov commented that he was having his staff start going over the plans to intervene in Germany. They were checking them over for any obvious flaws a well as putting a group of plans to be shown to the Politburo if it became necessary. At the same time he would talk to Ustinov and see what he wanted him to do. Chibrikov had to admit that while he was not a fan of Ogarkov but it was obvious that the man at least knew when to stand up and lead.
At the same time East German Government was desperate for manpower to put down the rioting. But to turn to the Soviet Union was as of yet unpalatable, they did not want to admit they had fail. So the police reserves from the countryside were called into the cities. But a decision to draw on the manpower of the Border Guards was delayed. The commander of the Border Guards protested his forces were undermanned as it was to pull more men from the borders and they would lose control of the border. It was decided that the Border Guards would be left in place but if the situation did not get any better those men would be pulled for riot control.
Chebrikov listened as more bad news arrive a desperate East German government had pulled it Stasi and police units from the rural areas of East Germany and move them to the cities. Now some signs of unrest were showing up in the smaller villages and towns of East Germany. The country people were not as violent as the city dwellers but they definitely were in control of the situation. At the same time the East German Army reported that large numbers of their young troops were showing signs of being disaffected. The idea that the East German government could not rely on the East German Army to back them in this crisis just made Chebrikov.
12 NOON
Chebrikov was now beginning to think that only a full scale intervention by Red Army would be the only way stabilized the situation. He had made another round of called with pretty much the same response as before except that Gorbachev was now less sure that the East German Riots would die down. But he was still quite adamant that he had no authority to order the Politburo to assemble. But he was working to get enough people on board with the idea. Chibrikov was pretty sure that Gorbachev afraid of Chernenko thinking he was making a play for power in the middle of a crisis. His attempt to get Ogarkov was coming back to haunt the Soviet Union.
Oh my...I can see GSFG troops being called in to suppress demonstrations, and Russian troops with no riot training confronting Germans. Given how much the average Russian likes Germans, and how Germans who are anything but the purest of "socialist brothers" are fascists. If it takes longer than 12 hours after these confrontations before troops are using automatic weapons and more on crowds I'd be surprised. Of course what will be the reaction of the "disaffected" young German troops when they see Soviet crowd control consisting of automatic weapon fire on unarmed civilians...
Well see, Whether the East German Army is really disaffected and how soon the East German Politburo decides to find out. Also the Red Army has to have someone to tell them what to do and then it will take time to get them moving. So the longer the reaction time the harder it is to put the revolt down.