Slow Drift to War Europe 1984

[Farmer12]

10pm 17Jun Hanover
Word had arrived to the headquarters of the 1st panzer division that someone in East German had stolen a bulldozer and that they had punched a hole in the Inner Border. Reports had arrived that a steady trickle of East German civilians were crossing over the border into West Germany through that hole. The Bundesgrenzshutz or West German border police had reported what was happening. They were spread rather thin along the border and they were asking for backup. Headquarter 1st panzer division they told the 2nd brigade, to send detachment to go to the breach in the border. 2nd brigade complied with the order and a short time later a section of Leopard II”s backup by a platoon of infantry mounted in Marder’s were on the way.

By the time the unit arrived it was very late at night and they pulled off the road and found cover under a group of trees not far from the location of the hole in the inner wall. The officer in charge of the task force decided not to get any closer to the hole in the fence until daybreak so that he could have improved visibility. It was shortly after five am the detachment commander went to look over the location of the hole in the inner fence it only took a few minute and he had the locations for the platoon and the section of tanks picked out. But before he setup the defenses he gave him men their instructions including a firm order telling them that they could only fire if fired on and then only if they had a definite target. One that they could see and no firing blind into the woods on the other side of the Inner Border.


He put the two tanks in a hull down position behind some bushes on the ridge in an over watch position with a good view of the area around the hole in the fence. He placed the Marders in a stand of trees on the back side of the ridge. That way if he needed them he could pull them up into hull down position to support the infantry. In the mean while the infantry were scattered along the tree line. The Border Guards were forward of the infantry they would deal with the new arrivals. Then the platoon leader ordered his men to maintain fifty percent security. The rest began to dig in they had no intention being caught out in the open if the Soviets cut loose with artillery.


9 am jun 18th Moscow
Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Fleet Gorshkov was looking over the map a small task force was just south to Wake Island it mission was to probe the outlying areas around Pearl Harbor. But if the current situation got out of hand the small task force would be easily destroyed. He considered ordering the ships back to the area of the bastion to help protect the missile subs from attack. Then he considered another option came to him reinforce the Shortland base. The two destroyers had a tanker with them and they could create havoc in the rear areas of the South Pacific and Oceana. The idea of pulling American fleet units away from where main battle would happen was appealing. He had read enough naval history to know that commercial raiders pulled a significant number of warships from the frontline to the rear area. Neither of the two warships nor the tanker were essential to the Bastion defense.

But the small task force could force the Americans and their allies to shift ships and planes to find these few commercial raiders That idea had a certain appeal to Admiral Gorschkov it should tie up more enemy warships in the rear area than he was sending making it easier to defend the Bastion from the attack of the Americans. Then he ordered the small task force south. He did a few calculations and he decided that the ships should arrive on or about the thirtieth of June.

Also a pair of Nanuchka class corvettes were taking over patrol duties in and around Bougainville and a tanker was travelling with the two ships The tankers job was to refuel the ships on the way out. On the way back she would take the two Tarantula class corvettes that been the patrol ships for the base for the last year back to Vladivostok. All three ships were ordered to remain at the Shortland base until the current crisis was over. He ordered the messages to be prepared but before sending the messages out he wanted to check with Ustinov. Ustinov listened to what Gorshkov wanted to do and since East Germany was going to tie up the attention of the Politburo he approved the plans that Gorschov had came up with.


8am Germany
East German Border Guards Barracks Oebisfelde, the senior officer Paul Halder, was trying to decide what to do about the reports of explosions near the frontier. He knew that something had happened along the border but he was not sure just what had happened. But at the same time he was hesitant to send his men to check out what was happening. The local population was showing signs of unrest. But sending his troops out to secure the hole in the wall would make it harder to keep control of both the border crossing and the town the barracks were in. He had called his superiors for reinforcements but they had no one to send since the local population near headquarters actually was rioting. Then a pair of OT-65’s, the side of the vehicle bore the symbol of the Stasi arrive so the senior officer was not happy to have them here at his barracks.

The Stasi officer in charge was not a pleasant person and he was very tired and angry all at the same time. The officer demanded why he had not sent out a unit to close the hole in the border. The border guard’s officer just looked at the Stassi officer and he pointed out that there was a main border crossing not a mile away and he was not sure he could keep that one under his control and since everyone knew about the official border crossing and not as many knew about the hole in the fence. He was protecting what he considered to be the more important location. Then he offered the Stasi officer the opportunity to take a break and gets some sleep and food for him and his men.
The Stasi officer rejected the offer and he told the Border Guard officer that he was going to do the Border Guards job by securing the border. The Border Guard officer could only watch and hope that whatever punishment came his way was lenient. But he decided that he had to keep the border train crossing and town secure. As the two OT-65’s headed out of the village and then the vehicles turned south and headed for the reported location of the hole in the Inner Border.

 

[Farmer12]

21/20 August D-3 In both New Zealand and Australia the peace movement was out in strength it might be a work day but people did not show up for work and instead went the peace protests the sizes of the protests were impressive. But in Australia a larger percentage of the population were not willing put up with being force to hand over a large percentage of the countries wheat not mention the money that had been demanded. The demand for money was also making a lot harder for the peace movement in New Zealand to build up more traction. The believers and their supporters were out but at the same time neither government were going to change their position for the peace movement. At the same time the consensus of opinion was that no nukes would hit New Zealand. But New Zealand would have to deal with the effects of the nuclear winter that would be the result of all the nuclear strikes made across the world.

10am Moscow Gorbachev was already being contacted by some members of the Politburo who were not pleased about going to war with the NATO alliance. But like one of them had commented if we stood up to Romanov right after he had been elected, they would have been purged. So now the maneuvering was beginning. But Gorbachev was quite sure amongst the people he was seeing were agent provocateurs trying to lure him into some sort of plot that would allow Romanov to accuse him of some sort of criminal activity and send him off to the Gulag. That was a place he wanted to avoid at all costs but at the same time he would not entirely stay out of the current power play. He would just be cautiously involved.


General Secretary Romanov was at a meeting of STAVKA. This would be a briefing on the Northern Front and its plans. The Commander of the Northern Front was ready with his briefing. For the drive on Helsinki we have assigned two Armies. The 18th Army with the 67th, 77th, 43rd, 96th MRD with two artillery divisions the 2nd Guard and 20th. As well as the 34th Army 115th, 116th, and 149th MRD. These two armies with a Spetsnaz brigade will keep the bulk of the Finnish army busy. These two armies will attack along a front from the coast to the border with the Republic of Karelia. The 18th Army will be the carryout the drive on Helsinki while the 34th Army will cover its northern flank. The 18th Army will attack along, fifty kilometers of the front. While the 34th Army will cover to the north extending as much as seventy kilometers.



The Finnish Army has taken up positions roughly along the old Salpa line while the fortifications are from World War Two and we do have extensive information on the bunkers and other fortifications. But despite its age we feel that the line will slow our force down. The first section of the line is a little under seventy kilometers in length. Four infantry brigades are setup on the front lines the brigades are the Karelia Jaeger Brigade, Savo Jaeger, Kymi Jaeger, 17th Infantry. While in reserve is the 2nd Armored and the Hameenmaan Jaeger Brigade as well as the 19th and 34nd infantry brigades. The entire 18th Army will hit line from the coast to the lake just norther of Luumaki. Local defense units will be covering the lake and the islands in the lake. The problem with this section of the line is that it is both heavily wooded and has lakes all over the area. The forces holding this section of the line are the 26th, 28th and 29th infantry brigades with the 3rd Armored brigade the Udenmaan Jaeger brigade and the 24th infantry brigade as reserves as well as attached artillery units

The next section of the line runs Along most of the border of Karelia will be covered by category D divisions. Those division will be organized around two armies the 12th and 16th Army. Each army will have three corps and six divisions. The 12th Army will have the 24th Rifle Corp with the 241st, 242nd and the 245th divisions. The second Corp will be the 25th Rifle Corp with the 244th, 245th, 246th. While the 16th Army has the 26th Rifle Corp with the 247th, 248th ,249th and the 14th Rifle Corp with the 250th,251st,252nd. This section of the line ends about fifteen kilometers South of Highway 866. These two armies had a relatively simple mission of holding the line and engaging in limited attacks. We feel that the combat reliability of these units is marginal at best. Also, while roads do exist, they are not highways that allow rapid movement of forces and with the terrain being heavily wooded We feel a more conservative approach is mandated.

The newly formed 8th Army a formation has an excellent military record, will lead the attack along highway 866. The core of this army will be the 30th Guard Corp with the 63rd and 64th Guards Divisions. The 17th Rifle Corp its divisions will be the 253rd ,254th. The 8th Armies mission is to cover the southern flank of the 6th Combined Arms Army. The 30th Guard Corp will lead the attack. The plan is simple enough as the 8th Army drives deep into Finland they will drop off the Rifle Corp. The 17th Rifle Corp will take up blocking positions from south of Kuusamo thru Paltamo. Then elements of the 30th Guard Corp will drive on to Oulu while dropping off units to protect its flanks. This operation will cover the southern flank of our drive on Norway, while crushing the Finnish Armies Northern Jaeger Brigade. A force made up of four light infantry battalions. The Finnish Army has concentrated its forces to the south of Finland.


Next the newly formed 16th Army has the mission of driving into Sweden, the component Corps will be the 6th Guard Corp with the 63rd and 64th MRD, the 22nd Rifle Corp with two category D divisions the 259th, 264th the 20th Rifle Corp with the 260th and 261st divisions and the 21st Rifle Corp with the 262nd and 263rd.

The 16th Army will follow the initial route of the 8th Army then it will. Then the 20th Rifle Corp the drive on Rovaniemi. It is felt that since the two divisions of the 260th and the 261st have received preference in equipment. The 20th Corp will lead the attack against elements of the Kajanaland Jaeger brigade with a similar TO@E of the previously mentioned brigade. At the same time the Corp will be dropping off units to protect the line of supply from the border through Kemijarvi to the city of Rovaniemi. Then the 21st Corp will take over the drive on Tornio. Then the 30th Guards Corp will attack into Sweden with the intention of diverting the Swedish army to this part of Sweden while the 6th Combined Arms Army attacks further north.


The 16th Army will drive on Boden Sweden where the 15th Division of the Swedish Army is based. This division is essentially a light infantry division and it will of course have difficulties in stopping the advance of the 30th Guards Corp. We expect that the 12th Division of the Swedish army will have to assist in blocking the advance of the 30th Corp. Other forces could be sent north but we expect the 30th Corp to force the bulk of the Swedish army busy blocking their advance. Leaving the 6th Combined Arms Army to drive on both Narvik and Tromso.


The 6th Combined Arms Army with the 45th Guards MRD and the 54th, 116th, 131st as well as the 4TH Guards Airborne Corp with the 103rd and 104th Guards division. Also, two category D divisions forming the 22nd Rifle Corp with the 264th and 265th divisions. The army will move north driving first on Sodankyla where the Sodankyla brigade is headquartered. Then on to the city of Kittila after that Muonio. Then next part of the drive will be to Karesuvanto. It will be there that the army will split into two different drives one on Tromso with the 116th and 131st while the 45th Guards and the 54th will drive on Narvik. At the same time the 22nd Rifle Corp will protect the supply lines of the 6th Combined Arms Army. The 4th Guards Airborne Corp can be used in two separate divisional drops one near Tromso and the other near Narvik or one concentrated Corp sized drop on either city.

The final drive will be by the newly formed 20th Army. 26th Army Corp composed of the111th and 196TH MRD as well as the 61st Naval Infantry brigade and the Northern Fleet Spetsnaz Brigade will support their operations. Also 19th with 262nd and 263rd also the 23rd Rifle Corp with the 266th and 267th Divisions and the 268th Division is to be will operate in concert with the 26th Army Corp. All these units will take part in the campaign the 89th MRD will attack along our border with Norway while the 111th and 196th MRD will cut across Finland attack along Finland’s highway 91 marching on village of Ivalo then north along Highway 4 to where Highway 91 breaks away from Highway 4 and goes north and west. Pushing on to crossroads located at the village of Karasjok. Then north to the village of Lakselv cutting Finnmark from the rest of Norway.

The 26th Corp will link up with the 61st Naval brigade. At the same time the 89th MRD and 19th Rifle Corp will attack along our border with Norway. Their mission is to keep the attention of the NATO forces will the rest of the 20th Army drives in on the NATO forces in Finnmark. The intention is to cut off six brigades of the Norwegian Army as well as the American 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade and the British 3rd Commando Brigade which includes one battalion of marines from the Netherlands. Then as an added comment, “My understanding is that the Netherland Marines want to make up for not being with the 3rd Commando during the Falklands campaign.” The comment brought smiled from the members of STAVKA. My intention is to isolate and destroy those units in the North. While driving on both Tromso and Narvik. With a little luck we will control all of Norway north of Narvik. With that the briefing came to an end.


10 Am Pretoria South Africa the day started off a little bit rocky as American citizens called in about the current situation. But one thing Alan had noticed was that no one seemed to be very eager to head home. Some tourists were asking about how to extend their tourist visas. Not that Alan could blame them, especially the families with children. Go home to face a nuclear apocalypse or stay here and live in a racist white run country. Staying alive seemed like a good idea, but he was not too sure that the White run government would be able to stay in power for long. Then again without world opinion to pull them down, that South Africa could just go out and shoot anyone who looked like trouble. Alan could hear Jake talking to the South African Foreign Minister about the requests to extend the tourist visas. The South Africans were actually being quite helpful and understanding about allowing the Americans staying longer. Alan suspected that more than a few in the Foreign Minister figured the more whites in South Africa the better.


Fulda gap The troops were expanding the entrenchments and helping the engineers with the planned minefields and laying wire. At the same time the while car and busloads of civilians were leaving the area. A company from the German Territorial army was moving into Gersfeld. They were going to fortify the town so that when the commies showed up, they would know they were facing the German schutze and not a bunch of amis. A few old alte Hasen from World War two were giving bits of advice about this and that. Like digging trenches between the houses so the troops could move from building to building in relatively good cover. They pointed out that clearing away trees to removed cover and concealment or putting mines in areas that would provide the Commies protection. Or dropping a few mortars rounds in to get the range of various location. Telling the Territorial Army troops that they should be able to hold off Ivan when they did three to one attack but it was the five to one and ten to one attack, that were the tough ones to beat back, but it could be done if everyone kept his head during the fight and fought like hell.



Chuck had a special job he had built fences when he had lived on the farm, so the Major Richards put him in charge of checking on the wire being laid. Many of the troops had never really laid wire or how to use the post hole driver or how to use the wire cutters attach the wire holders amongst other things. This mission did divert him from his companies training program but making sure the wire was put up right was more important and since the engineer units had so many missions to carry out before the war broke out. But wire was important even a single row of razor wire could move enemy troops in the direction the defenders wanted. But there was a shortage of razor wire, but a lot of barb wire had been brought in from the United States and Canada.

Apparently, several freighters from several flags of convenience nations had been given the job of moving the barbed wire and metal fence posts to Germany. No one had really talked about it but the wire was here to be used to fortify their frontline positions. Chuck was going to take advantage of the supply of barbed wire and fence posts, after a discussion with the combat engineers he set about laying wire across the units front from one end to the other. In some places thicker than other, he was going to make it hard for a units to just climb over a fence. First they had to make their way through barbed wire piles entanglements and then through a double apron fence with a claymore place every so often not thick but locate in location that a unit of infiltrator might use. Once this was done and if they had barbed wire left over then another layer of wire would be laid. But this all depended on both time and quantities of fencing material.

To make work a little easier some local tractors with plows were taken in service and a few of the troops had grown up on the farm. The idea was to plow up the whole area in front of the battalion’s position. Then they would disc the ground. Then they would lay a few mines as well as bits of metal. In any event it would slow down the attack and hopefully channelize the attack. The engineers would lay the real minefield infield beyond the plowed areas. It was hoped that the advancing Warsaw pact troops would hit the real mind field and take some casualties before bringing up the mine clearance equipment or possibly with luck take out some of the mine clearance vehicle. It might work on the other hand it might not. But anything that might slow down an attack was a good thing.


In the major cities of Europe, the peace movement was out in force but you could feel the desperation in their voice. They had failed to stop the drive to war and they knew it. But they continued to protest to chant and to march. The watching police were worried that an increasingly frustrated peace movement would revert to violence. The remnants of the Bader Mienhoff gang were out there in the mobs of protesters as were the revolutionary cells and other assorted groups across Europe. The communist parties in both France and Italy were split between the people who would follow the communist party line and the rest who might be communist but they were loyal to their homeland.

10am Nohra East Germany
The commander of the Newly organized Nohra Front composed of the 8tt Guards Armies and the 1st Guards Army with additional divisions that were from the last mobilization. The 8th Guards mission was to break through the lines. The 1st Guards mission would be to exploit the breakthrough. He had ordered the two army commanders and their chiefs of staff as well as all of the division commanders and their chiefs of staff as well as the regimental commanders and their chiefs of staff assigned to his front to this meeting. He wanted to make sure his officers understood what would be necessary, he had learned during the battles of the Rhev meatgrinder. Absolute ruthlessness would be necessary, the mission was to punch a hole in the frontlines of NATO and push onto Frankfort and then on to Channel. This is what was needed to win the war. He was going to make it absolutely clear that casualties were going to happen and those casualties would be heavy.

He was going make sure that the officers understood the need to be ruthless and the need for victory. He wanted them to understand that sacrifices had to be made for the future of the Soviet Union. That officers willing to make the hard decisions and carry them out would be the ones who would be promoted. While those without the will or desire to succeed would be left behind. He would make sure that they understood that anyone not up to the mission would be relieved of command and face the appropriate punishment. Loss of rank, retirement, imprisonment or the firing squad. Also, they needed to consider what could happen to their families. He needed them to be ready to do what was necessary without hesitation.

 

[Farmer12]

10 am Washington DC Ted Kennedy was in his senate office making arrangements to travel to Moscow in one last effort to gain the peace he so desired. While many around the world applauded his efforts to end the crisis in a peace that would endure. He was being attacked not only from the right but from the middle and even some on the left were attacking him. They pointed out that Kennedy had no authority to negotiate an agreement with the Soviet Union and that the Romanov would just use the meeting for propaganda showing the division of the United States.


Tip O’Neil and Senator Byrd went to his office to talk him out of the decision. But Ted was adamant that he had to do what he could to stop the war from coming. Then Tip looked straight into Teddies eye and he told him, **Reagan and the British Ambassador spoke to both me and Senator Byrd a week ago. He already knew what was going to happen, the British have a well place agent and he informed the British about the movement of Spetsnaz agents into UK. The last weeks negotiations were just a ploy to allow the Soviet Union to move its Spetsnaz troops into place. Your trip will be nothing but another chance for Romanov to split the alliance. Face it war is coming and short of total abject surrender there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. **

Teddy stood there for a moment and then he replied, ** How can you believe what Reagan has said, he wants war and that is a fact. ** Senator Byrd stared straight into Senator Kennedy face and he replied, ** The British don’t want to fight a war so why and that is a fact. Also, they are the source of the information the British Ambassador would not lie about something so important. You have to face reality the Soviet Union is not looking for peace it wants the Western Alliance crushed. Its demands for money and grain tells everyone just how bankrupt they are. If we give in today, they will be back for more in a year or three or five. War is coming and that is a fact. **



Senator Kennedy considered his reply and finally he spoke, **I said I will go to Moscow to try to end this crisis and I will. No one will talk me out my plans.** Tip stood for a minute before deciding to ask one favor out of Kennedy, **Go if you must but don’t tell Romanov about the agent will you do that for me?** Senator Kennedy considered his response finally he decided to agree, **I will not mention the undercover Soviet Agent especially since the whole story in nothing but a work of fiction.**

Back in Tips office the two men considered what to do next, but with Kennedy on a mission to save the world it would leave the Democratic party holding the bag. That mission would make it harder to convince Reagan to make a deal of some sort. After a few minutes of discussion, the two men decided that they hand done all they could do and now all they could do was wait.



Reagan was listening to yet another briefing but this one was about a decision that he barely remembered amongst all the other decision. After a couple of minutes, he remembered the decision two trident submarines to be used to take out the Soviet IRBM’s. Apparently since then the two submarines had went to the UK and now, they were on the way to Aegean Sea the plan was to have the boomers as close as possible to the IRBM base in the west of the Soviet Union. There was an increased risk of destruction of the submarines. The new position would cutdown on the length of time the missiles would be in the air. A minute or two or three could save millions of lives.


Mike Harper had been busy at work setting up stockpiles of food in various locations include the movement of cheese being sent to Homestake Mine in South Dakota the deep mine shafts were being used to stockpile cheese and other dairy products in the upper levels of the mine. Other food was being sent to the salt mines in New York, Kansas Louisiana. Other locations were being considered like a the Salt mines under Detroit and Cleveland but since these location would be hit putting stockpiles of food in those mines were considered to be risky. Coal Mines were be used to in Pennsylvania, West Virginia Kentucky amongst other locations. Then he had received a summons from the National Security Advisor and he figured he wanted a briefing on the placement of food stuff.

Robert McFarlane, as National Security Advisor was tasked with the continuity of governments, most of the cabinet were despite some protests quite willing to spend their time sitting in a bunker somewhere especially if they were assured that their family would be put into a safe location. But getting someone to ride around in passenger plane and wait for World War 3 to breakout was not as popular. In Mike he found someone who had no desire to sit around in a bunker. Mike told McFarlane he was claustrophobic so sitting in a plane where he could look out a window was much more relaxing to him. With that he was told that he was to meet group three of the continuity of Governments aerial mobile government response.

McFarlane knew that two cabinet members would be located in rural regions of the United States. They would move from town to town staying in no place more than a day. The idea was to add another layer of presidential successors. The Vice President and Secretary of Defense in the air, other cabinet members in various bunkers add on two cabinet members on the ground moving from location to location. Malcolm Baldridge who was going to be running around the South going from town to town while the Secretary of the Interior Clark would be pulling a similar routine in northern Nevada, southern Oregon and Idaho. But both of these teams were to be small and highly mobile while it had been felt that running around the country with large support staffs would be a problem. It had been proposed that one member of the cabinet be located on each of the three planes. With one plane in the air at all times, it added another layer of continuity



Mike Harper was going to be one of those Cabinet members and he was given his choice of which flight he would be on. He picked the late-night flight, he had a feeling that being in the air on the first day at night when the first attack began would be a good idea. The Soviet military would hit with nukes and things would go downhill fast. At least that was his theory.



5 pm Moscow General Secretary Romanov listened to the reports from Washington, Senator Kennedy wanted to come to Moscow. But Romanov did not want to waste his time dealing with this Senator. He had ordered Anatoly Dobrynin to take over from Gromyko as the Soviet Union’s new head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So, for a second, he toyed with Dobrynin talking to Kennedy. But finally, he made his decision. Kennedy would be a distraction, so he decided that at the daily press briefing the briefer would announce that unless Kennedy brought a statement signed by President Reagan giving in on all the demands. He would not be welcomed.



6pm Moscow The daily briefing was all window dressing and it almost never had anything of importance happen during the briefing until yesterday. So today the expectation was a return to the normal stale no news briefings. The briefer come out and began the briefing with the announcement that the Peace Mission being led by Senator Kennedy would not be welcome unless he brought an announcement that President Reagan agreed to the terms of the ultimatum. That was news the last chance for peace had just been snuffed out by the new General Secretary of the Soviet Union. When the briefing was over the press hurried out to make the announcement. The news flash would be pretty much like a knife thrust into the heart of the peace movement. It made it clear that the Soviet Union was not interested in peace. The peace movement could protest but the chances of an accommodation with the Soviet Union was now nonexistent.



7pm London Gordievsky slipped into the MI-6 safe house, the news he had was at good and depressing. The would not happen on the first day. But the KGB would send an alert roughly twenty-four hours ahead the attack so that the various sabotage teams time to do final preparations and to move into position. The exact hour of the main attack would not be given just a rough approximation. Good in they now would know a day ahead of schedule about the attack just not exactly what hour. The depressing part that World War Three was on the way and the Soviet Union was not getting cold feet like many analysts had predicted.

9am CST Omaha Andy Striet hugged his wife and children, then he watched them head down the street headed the Kennedy Freeway and then I-90 west in about nine or ten hours they would be in Limon Colorado and the next day they would be in Durango. She promised to call and at least leave a message on the answering machine. He wondered if he would ever see them again, he hoped that he would be able to. But with war on the way who knew who would live and who would die. But he had done all he could to make sure they survived even if he did not.



1 PM EST New York City ABC, CBS and NBC all interrupted their regularly scheduled programs to tell the nation that Kennedy’s mission of peace would not happen. General Secretary Romanov had made that complete clear.



2PM Washington DC The Pentagon sent a message to all American forces that the Soviet Union could launch a surprise attack before the deadline they had declared. All American ships at sea and Aircraft were to take extra care to avoid being surprised at sea. They knew the message was not accurate but any Soviet agents that read the message would report that the Americans were on alert and that they were expecting an attack immediately after the ultimatum came to an end. Deception was a necessary part of war.



2:30pm Washington
The message that the KGB had sent to Gordievsky arrived in Washington. The mood at the Pentagon had improved they would have a twenty-four hour, notice on when the attack would happen.

3pm Senator Kennedy held a press conference where he pleaded with the Soviet Union to allow him to visit so that he could offer a meaningful compromise. Shortly afterward the White House announced that any compromise offered by Kennedy to the Soviet Union had no official backing.

4pm CST Joe Banner smiled to himself, he had managed to buy a radio station with a tower in a hill and he had the ability to increase the strength of that broadcast. The plan was simple at night he would broadcast the news that he gathered during the day by talking to Ham Operators across America and by listening to government broadcasts and other source to let the people know that American was not beaten and that even if she was badly hurt, she would rise again. But he would obey the rules until the nukes flew.

That evening across the world in dozens of cities thousands of people were marching on the street singing give peace a chance, others were watching and jeering them as they walked by. The watching people were calling them traitors and cries of appeasing bastards were amongst the line called out. Somewhere yelling out an old insult to the Kennedy family going back to when old Joe Kennedy had been a total appeaser. The comment that I though my daffodils were yellows until I saw Kennedy that comment caused more than a few fist fights to broke out. A TV announcer made the comment that the light of peace was going out.

 

[Farmer12]

23/22 August D-1 On Patrol off New Zealand The Soviet nuclear attack submarine K-14 was now in position her mission was to disrupt shipping in and around the country of New Zealand. But for now, the submarine was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. The captain planned to make his first appearance sometime on the morning of the attack something he had not been informed of for security reasons. He had been patrolling to the south of Guadalcanal when new orders arrived he and the one other submarine were order to head south to take up position near New Zealand. He orders were to inflict as much damage on the shipping in the area and then withdraw. The K-159 was also in the area with the same mission. The captain of the K-14 was in a good mood only two frigates from the Royal New Zealand Navy were patrolling in the area. He fully expected to wreak havoc on the shipping in the area and then withdraw back to Bougainville to be resupplied. He would not use all of his torpedoes when he returned all the tubes unless he really came a across a juicy target. For now, he was to come up to periscope depth and place radio antennas fifteen minutes before midnight and only fully submerging at fifteen minutes after midnight. When the orders arrived, he would wait the specified length of time, then go on the attack. The delay was to allow the ground forces in Europe and Korea the opportunity of tactical surprise.

Off the coast of Australia, the ANZUS navies were engaged in another round of amphibious exercises. The troops were beginning the catch on to the training and latest operation had went along relatively smoothly.



In Canberra Prime Minister Hawke was being briefed on Australia’s plans if a nuclear attack happened. Unfortunately, the briefer who had helped put the plan together was an agent of the KGB. Radicalized due to Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The truth was that every location for the relocation of government personal had be noted and those cities were already target. Most reports on the extent of a nuclear attack on Australia in which Canberra and Sidney would be hit while Brisbane and Melbourne might be hit but everyone agreed that was highly unlikely. The briefer actually agreed with the briefing paper since in his mind that one the United States was destroyed the Soviet Union would need the resources found in Australia to support his recovery. That meant a relatively intact Australia. The reality of a Yankee class submarine on patrol off the east coast of Australia indicated a much larger attack but since the new organized patrol had not been discovered as of yet no one considered the possibility of a far larger attack.


In South Korea the 1st brigade Australian Army was still being unloaded while the formation of the AMERICAL division was announced. Also personal were listening to the ground in an effort to hear where North Korean miners were digging out the ends of tunnels. Inside the tunnels were long lines of vehicles just waiting to be man and ready. Then as soon as the mouth of the tunnel was open columns of North Korean troops and equipment would flow out of the tunnel mouth hopefully by passing the Front position of the American and Korean troops. Tunnels had been found before and more were expected to be found the hard way, in the next few days.

Vladivostok Senior members of the High Command Far East were gathered, the Army, Air Force and Navy were gathered together. The High Command of Far East command had received orders from STAVKA, the orders were quite clear engaging in an operation that would distract the Americans from Europe. That operation was an attack on Alaska, the instructions were clear do enough to force the Americans to move units north to Alaska and not east to Europe. While not risking to many troops.

One Air landing brigade operating from the airbase located near Provindeniya could attack the St Lawrence Island then once the island was secured a new attack could be made on Nome Alaska with another brigade. It was not expected that this attack would win the war. But it could force the Americans to divert forces from other battlefields. But everyone in the room readily admitted that supporting such and operation would be at best extremely difficult at worst totally impossible. It would be very likely that the brigade that took Nome would not have a way back. While the brigade on St. Lawrence would have a chance to escape. Risking the two air landing brigades would leave The High Command of the Far East without any air landing brigades so two more brigades had been moved to the East. With the 98th Airborne the forces facing the Chinese had not been weakened to any degree.



One problem was that the defending forces in Alaska was a total of nearly three brigades. A regular army Light Infantry brigade the 172nd which had been brought up full strength. Also, a unit of local National Guard troops made up of native troops. While no one knew how well the unit would fight, after all fighting units of native Americas who had in the past face racism in the past would fight for the United States. But, no one doubted that these troops knew the terrain and climate like no one else. The unit was the 207th Infantry Group (Scout). Finally, a light infantry brigade of Army Reservists the 205th Infantry Brigade Separate light. This brigade is from the state of Minnesota. This means the units if familiar with winter weather but not to the level of Alaskan winter weather. Some reports indicated that the 6th Infantry division would be providing a command structure but nothing was definite at this time.

Reinforcing the forces being sent to Alaska was being considered. The Red Banner Pacific Fleet despite having to divert troops and equipment to Bougainville. The mobilization had allowed any gaps in the force structure of the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade to be filled. With two armored battalions and five infantry battalions. The two tank battalions were made up of a mixture of P-76’s and T-62’s. But the navy had no idea how to get those tanks across the Bering Sea. On the other hand, all five of the infantry battalions were trained in helicopter operations and one battalion was actually paratroop qualified. That meant that the bulk of the brigade could be sent to fight in Alaska using helicopters. But that required the seizure of St Lawrence Island and the weather was calm enough to allow the movement of troops by helicopter. The idea of using ships was not considered likely since the American navy would be out in force and looking for an amphibious unit to be pulling this kind of stunt. The consensus was to not send any of the Naval Infantry to attack Alaska.



The next problem was the weather. October was getting late in the year and was closer winter than summer. That would mean that the troops could possibly be sent over under the cover of weather. But the weather could be so bad as to prevent the movement of troops across the Bering Sea. Add on keeping them supplied would be difficult. At the same time the message from STAVKA had made it clear that they wanted a front opened up in Alaska. In finally a report was sent detailing the difficulties in carrying out such a mission. But that Far East High Command was working on a solution.


10am Munich General Wagner was in a good mood all things considered. The 2nd Corp had successfully pulled back to its new positions and the French were settling into their new positions. The 66th HSB had been pulled from the lines and returned to their rear area security mission with the 152nd having replaced it. The same had happened with the 26th Fallschrimjaeger brigade it had been replaced with the 28th Alpine the 2nd was on the way and when it arrived it would replace the 278th that would happen in the next day or so. He had been briefed that the Soviets would not immediately cross the border but would wait at least one or two days. He hoped that what intelligence predicted would happen. A freed up 278th ACR would be of a great deal of use for defending the line.


Brussels Noon General Roger was getting for his pre-ultimatum intelligence briefing, military intelligence had been looking over all the information from SIGINT, satellite photos and even some in human intel. This briefing would run from Hungary north to Denmark. Austria, Yugoslavia were not part of CENTAG nor was Denmark. But physical location necessitated the addition of these three countries and the forces assaulting it into the briefing. The meeting would start after lunch and go until the briefing was over.

 

[Farmer12]

Brussels 1pm
Hungary most of our information is via satellites, HUMINT and some SIGINT. The first force we will talk about will be the elements of a Soviet Corp located Yugoslavian border. The force could be considered either a large Corp or a small army we are not sure of the Command designation. But there are indications that there are at least three divisions possibly four. But we do have unconfirmed reports that one of the divisions is a tank division and that the remaining two or three divisions are Motorized Rifle divisions. We also do know that one of the divisions is the 251st MRD. At last report the 251st was attached to the 41st Combined Arms Army so it could be that Army but as of, yet we do not have any information that confirms that. We believe this forces mission is to attack Slovenia if war breaks out. This force is to drive onto the Italian border and beyond. One fact is this force really does not have the strength to push all the way to the Italian border.



Next, we will look at Budapest, since we still have diplomatic relations with the Hungarians our embassies can give us some information and our usual intelligence resources as well as contact with certain dissident elements on the population have been most helpful. We had reports that elements of the 1st Guards Tank Army have arrived in Budapest but that conflicts with other information that places the 1 Guards Tank Army along the Turkish border. But the listed divisions are part of the 1st Guards Tank Army. Those division are the 52nd tank division which has arrived in Budapest while elements of the 65th tank division are in the process of arriving. Both are known to be part of the 1st Guards Tank Army. We also information that the 40th Corp is in the area of Budapest with its attendant divisions 43rd ,96th and the 213th MRD’s. We also have unconfirmed reports of the 31st Tank Corp being sent to Budapest. There is some debate on whether this is the command element for the two tank division from the 1 Guards Tank Army or a new formation with other units attached to it.



Best estimate for what this force is either to support an attack into Yugoslavia or the attack into Austria and until the units start moving, we will not know just where they are head for. But once those divisions are committed, we make the appropriate adjustments.



Now for the Austrian border along the border there has been less information available since the Hungarians have restricted access to the border. Our source in Budapest have given us what information they can and unfortunately, we don’t have much in the way of cross border at this time. Most of our information is from satellites with some SIGNET information.



The as for the forces on the Austrian- Hungarian border, the south part of the border is covered by the Hungarian Army. The entire army is setup along that border and we have pretty accurate list of their force. The Hungarian Army units have been patrolling along the border. The Austrians have been taking photos of the troops in the patrols. But the fronts covered by each division has given us some idea about what will happen.



This section of the line is under the command of the Hungarian 1st Army. The southernmost unit is the 15th MRD, this units covers only about ten to twelve kilometers of the front. I will mention that the terrain is extremely unfavorable to mechanized forces and the 15th MRD is considered to be, the least combat effective division in the Hungarian Army. The next division is the 4th MRD which covers an even shorter section of the front line and with the 11th Tank division setup right behind the 4th MRD. While the 8th MRD cover the front line to a section of the border to the east of Szentpeterfa Hungary.



Then we have the 2nd Hungarian Army with two divisions, the 7th MRD it covers the line for forty-five kilometers then the 9th MRD covers the line for forty-five kilometers. Then the Soviet Army takes over the line.



From the way the Hungarian Army is setup, it does not take a genius to see that the 1st Army is the primary strike force. The 4th MRD will lead the main attack with the 11th Tank division right behind and we believe the drive will be on Graz Austria. We also think that the 8th MRD will make a more limited drive. Our estimation of the situation is that the 15th MRD will apply pressures on the flank of the main assault then cover the southern flank of the 1st Army. The 4th MRD will carry out the attack with the 11th Tank Army driving initially on to the town of Feldbach then moving onto Gleisdorf. We believe the 1st Hungarian Army will then drive on Graz in southern Austria.



**The 8th MRD will carry out an attack we think driving on Furstenfeld. Two of the 8th division MRD regiments are covering the flanks. The third MRD regiment with the tank regiment behind it will drive on Furstenfled. ** Blowing up the map the briefer ran his point along the area of the front cover by the regiment on the southern flank. **You can see that as the main attack is carried out its essential flanks Austrian position. But from what we have been told is that they will pull back from the frontline in that area as it gets closer to the assault. This attack will likely not have much in the way of resistance until the attacking forces arrive in the area of town of Gussing. But the resistance will be in the form of delaying actions.

The Hungarian 2nd Army will advance but it will not be as aggressive as the 1st Hungarian Army. Since these two divisions are spread so thin, we expect the two divisions to advance rather cautiously.



The Austrian Army backed up by the Italian 4th Alpine Corp will resist the advance of the Hungarian Army. Units of the Territorial army are holding the frontline this units are the 51st, 52nd 53rd 54th 55th territorial regiments. The Austrian army 5th Jaeger brigade as well as the brigades of the 4th Alpine Italian Corp which is an alpine brigade the Cadore, Julia, Orobica and the Tridentina brigades are forming the second line of resistance and will attempt to hold the mountain passes. The Taurinense brigade which was being held back due to the units of this brigade having other assignments but the Commander of the 4th Alpine Corp managed to convince the Italian High Command to release that unit to be used as the Corp reserve. This unit is only now beginning to move to the front how soon it will arrive is uncertain.

We will turn our attention to the Soviet Armies that are going to target Vienna where the 38th Combined Arms Army and the 8th Army but these two armies have to break through the southern defense of Vienna there are only two gaps that the armies will be able to advance one is the Brucker Gate and the other is the Odenberger Gate and in each of these opening in the terrain sit a fortress. A fortress that has to be taken and Austrians have spent decades preparing those defenses.

The we have an estimate of the force that form the 38th Combine Arms Army one problem is that the Soviet has made serious efforts to conceal the exact size of the forces. The divisions are spread out and to a degree the regiments are intermingled with regiments from other divisions. A lot of the movements were made when no satellites were above and the Soviet moved the units into forested area of the Sopron Salient. We have some indication of the kind of units but nothing to exact. The Soviet divisions are mostly sitting these forests located inside the salient. The Soviets have also broken up regiments to make it harder to get an exact number and types of divisions. The we are pretty sure that the Soviets 38th Combined Arms Army have concentrated about four to five tank division and between two and three MRD division in this section of the front. Considering the location of the forests on or close to the Austrian Border, the Soviet troops will be able to move almost immediately across the border.

The tentative id of the divisions and their location are as follows the 275Th Tank division is located in these woods closes to Neuseedler See. Patrolling Austrian troops and Austrian OP’s have caught sight of officers and men reconning the border area. Its apparent mission is to cover the flank of the 38th Combined Arms Army. While from this forest just to the west we have the 664th MRD using similar observation techniques and of course some radio intercepts we have secure that information. To the south we suspect that at least one MRD division is located in the forest protecting the rear area of the 38th Combine Army. We have not gleaned enough information about this unit to know for sure its divisional designation but using an MRD division inside a forest make more sense than using a tank division. Also, the divisions personal does not seem to come to close to the border and the people that the Austrians have seen are wearing the uniforms of Hungarian border guard although we have unconfirmed reports of some of those personal speaking in Russian.

We do know that a tank division is setup in this forest located in the western most tip of the Sopron Salient. We also know that another MRD division is setup in and around the city of Sopron. Also we have report of one to We some expectations that the army will drive to the north on the fortress named Wiener Neustadster Pforte. Probably with one MRD division leading the drive on the fortress with one possibly two MRD division following right behind the lead division. One tank division on the left flank. While his right flank, another tank division appears to be covering that flank. The remaining tank divisions will follow the two MRD’s. In case your, wondering why the MRD’s leading the attacks and not defending the flanks it that these two division will have the mission taking the Weiner Neustadster Pforte.

This fortress manned with 1300 troops has roughly thirty Armored bunkers and mounted on each of the armored bunkers is either a Charioteer turret modified to 105 mm cannons, Centurion turrets with A7 cannons even some 7.5 Pzk M6 cannons a derivative of Germany Pak 40’s from World War 2. There is an additional twenty or so support bunkers. Add on the minefields and tank walls not to mention the road that has an open space below it to convert it to a tank ditch. This fortress has to be taken so that the 38th Combined Arms Army can advance on Vienna. The Soviet army must secure this fortress in order to carryon its attack. Think of this fortress as a porcupine carrying a sledgehammer.



We are of the opinion that if the troops garrisoning Wiener Neustadster Pforte hold their ground the Soviets can expect those two MRD division to take heavy casualties.They have to take the fortress so that the fortress cannot threaten their supply lines. Once through the 38th Combined Arms Army will head on to Vienna.

We think we have a good estimate of the force structure of what has tentatively designated the 8th Tank Army. Using his point, the briefer pointed to the map, a tank division is setup in this forest to the southwest of Pamhagen Austria and another tank division is located there to cover the flank of the 8th Tank Army. I there are indication that one of the mobilization only division holding the southernmost, part of the Czech border will be used to help cover the flank of the 8th Tank Army. Just how highly rated this division which has been id as the 391st Rifle division is well uncertain at best. Another Tank division has been setup close to border in between the two flanking divisions. We have identified this division as the 18th Guard Tank division. Someone is likely on his way to Siberia because someone named the division on an unsecured channel. The Army command has a seizure and order the miscreant to report to army headquarters.

Now we do know that the 30th Guards Tank division and two tank division the 23rd and 50th but we had not confirmed that these divisions are still with the 8th army. Now we do know that there are between three and four divisions setup behind the frontlines located in this forest. To tell the truth, I wish we could have some B-52’s to do an Arclight right through that forest. The comments brought laughter from the other officers. Then the briefer returned to the briefing commenting that we believe that at least two of the divisions are Motorized Rifle division as for the remaining one or two division we believe that these divisions are tank divisions. We don’t have much in the way of human intelligence coming in from this part of Hungary. So, we are going by radio intercepts and satellite photography including some infrared

To the rear of the forward division is this forest and located in the forest will have the same mission against the Brucker Pforte. As with Wiener Neustadster Pforte, the MRD divisions will likely have the mission of taking the fortress. After looking over satellite information and radio intercepts, there are some major differences. First the bulk of the 8th Armies force are concentrated a forest that is locate about fifteen to twenty kilometers from the border. So, the attacking force will have to cross a lot of open ground before the force reaches the border. That only after the 8th Tank Army makes contact with the forces defending Brucker Pforte will the Motorized Rifle Divisions will come forward to take over the assault. We are less certain about the numbers of men and bunkers the Austrians have there. They have been rather closed mouthed even to us. But since everything points to the Soviets using two MRD division to take this position. I would expect that the Brucker Pforte is just as strong as Wiener Neustadster Pforte.


The Austrian 9th Panzer grenadier brigade will support the two fortresses. The Austrians have confirmed with the arrival of the reinforced Brunette division they will move the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Brigade south to support the two fortresses to the south. While reinforce Brunette division can provide armor support to the Austrian forces along the Czech border. Ironically the western border of Austria will be more heavily covered with mechanized forces than anyone planned on.

 

[Farmer12]

Now we shall look at the Czech border with Austria, we have mentioned the 391st as possibly supporting the 8th Tank Armies drive on Vienna. Our intelligence with the Soviets units along this section of the front is actually pretty good. The units don’t seem to practice very good radio security and scouting parties from the various divisions have been seen by the Austrians. We also know that the units along this section of the front are providing a pretty thing screen of the Czech border. Combat potential wise and given the terrain some of these units would have to fight through we don’t expect these units to push very deeply into Austria. The satellite photos indicate a mixture of T-34’s with some SU-100’s, 85’s and even a few 76’s where the Russians found them, we don’t have a clue.

We have a pretty good idea of the divisions along the border and information in their Corp command structure. One thing to remember that like the divisions these Corps are newly formed even more recently than the divisions. The Corps leadership is made up of older officers and intelligence had gathered some information on various officers many were promoted from lower grades to fill in positions and the radio intercepts have displayed a less than first rate leadership in most the corps and divisions. With one notable exception. Also there have been a few intercepts indicating that the Corps has been placed under and command of a newly formed army. But we cannot confirm that a new army has been formed.

What we will do is work along the frontier, we know, that the 1st Rifle Corp includes the 391st ,392nd and 393rd covering the front from the Hungarian border to the border with the Southern Monrovian Region. The terrain that these divisions have to cross is hilly farmland with forested regions. The local defense forces will defend their positions with the Portuguese 1st Independent Mixed Brigade. The Portuguese tank units were rearmed with M-48a5’s so they will have the advantage in quality but the units will be out-numbered by the Soviet Tanks. Also, Elements of the Portuguese Air Force are going to provide some aircover FIAT G-91 and Vought Corsairs II have been sent and the Spanish Air Force will provide more air support. One positive about Air Power in this part of Austria will be provided by the Czech Air Forces a mixture of Mig-21’s and Mig-23’s with a lot more of the Mig-21’s than of the Mig-23’s.

2nd Rifle Corp is covering the frontier from unit boundary of the 1st Rifle Corp with it battle front ending by town of Helvin Czechoslovakia. The 395th and the 396th Rifle Divisions are currently holding frontline positions with a reserve division being the 394th. The commander of the 2nd Corp is no slouch the old boys a good officer and he has shown something unusual for the Soviet Army and that is initiative. He pulled on division from the front lines and made himself a mobile reserve

He has converted the 394th into something approaching a combat ready unit. He has received some special reinforcements in the form of thirty T54/5’s that were given over by the Czechs to the Soviet Army. Or that is what they are telling everyone. The truth is that the Corp Commander stole them off of a train headed for the Bavarian Border as replacement tanks for the Czech People’s Army during the fighting. He armed one of tank battalion of the 891st tank regiments with the T-54/55’s. The tanks that had been in the first battalion were shifted over to the second battalion bring it almost up to full strength. He then pulled all the tanks from one of the division Rifle regiments the 1175th and most of the tanks from the 1174th Rifle Regiment. With those tanks he filled out the tank’s battalions of the divisions tank regiment and the rest of the tanks went to the 1173rd Rifle regiment. He then stripped infantrymen and other equipment from the 1175th to bring the tank regiment infantry battalion up to full strength.

Then most of the rest of the men were sent to the 1173rd to bring its strength and whatever gaps that remained in the 1173rd were filled out by the 1174th Rifle Regiment. Then he requisitioned all of local trucks from the local Czech population to motorized the 1173rd Regiment. Now the 394th has a full-strength tank regiment and a full-strength Rifle Regiment.

Then with the remaining few tanks he organized a tank company and two understrength infantry battalions and kept it under 1174th and the 1175th was dissolved. Anyone that could not be used in the 1174th Regiment were transferred to divisional support units. Since then Corp and divisional commander a younger officer with combat experience in Afghanistan was made the divisional commander. They have been running that division through a pretty intensive training regime. What those two plans to do with the 394th I don’t have a clue but I believe that given the effort made to make this a more combat ready force I would expect that it will spearhead a minor attack.

One other comment I will make this Corps leadership is better in general than most of these newly formed Corps and the other two divisions of the Corp appear to be doing more training than the divisions in neighboring Corps. One other comment this Corp appears to have a better radio security but it still leaks a bit.

General Rogers considered what he had been told and he wondered if anyone else on the other side was showing a similar level of initiative. That could be a problem if there were other officers like those two.

The 3rd Rifle Corp covers the frontier from Helvin to Pisecne Czechoslovakia, the three divisions in this Corp have to all the usual issues that the mobilizations division have understrength and suffering from poor leadership and training. Add on this Corps case especially discipline and morale. The radio intercepts from this Corp have bordered on hilarious. This Corp will be luck to find its way to an outhouse much less the battle front. The divisions are the 397th , 398th and 399th division.



The final Corp is the 13th Rifle Corp with the 387th,388th, 389thand 390th divisions. covering the front from Helvin Czechslovakia to the German border and the terrain along much of the border in this area is rugged mountainous terrain which is lousy for the offense but great for the defense. So, we do not expect much in the way of Warsaw Pact offensive operations in this part of the front. So, we expect that the local defense forces will be able to hold the Russian troops back.

Since the Italians began moving troops into their defensive positions along the Danube on the 15th of August. So far, the 3rd Corp with is Centauro division is in place most of the troop movement was by road movement using a limited amount of rail Movement. The 3rd Corp came in via Germany it was a little out of the way but that allowed the Trento which has also used road movement to move into Linz Austria by another route. That means that Centauro and the Trento division have both arrived an are now moving into their defensive positions. While the Littorio division has mostly been moved by rail and almost all of its units have arrived. The only division that has not arrived is the Piedmonte division and it has just begun, its movement by rail.

This divisions tanks, are M-47 and it was decided to send by rail rather than risk a massive number of breakdowns if the Italian Army tried to send the division over the mountains by road movement. But a good chunk of the division mostly wheels transport units are move by road movement so but just when will the division will arrive in the Linz is hard to say. But the Italians are saying in about a week. All things considered most of the Italian forces will be in place no later than seventy-two hours after the ultimatum deadline. The question is how soon the Warsaw Pact will attack after the deadline has been reached.

 

[Farmer12]

Now we turn to the Bavarian Czech border along the southern part of the border, the Czech 5th Army is covering the southern part of the border the 16th and 18th MRD are covering the border from the Austrian border to just south of Zelezna Ruda. Radio intercepts and some Humint source confirm this information these two divisions are mobilization only division with a limited offensive capability. They will be face members of the Bavarian Borders Guards as well as elements of the territorial army and a few rearguard units from the 1ST Gebirgsdivision.

Along this section of the border which runs about five to ten kilometers one division of troops we have tentatively id as the 3rd MRD. We also see indications of at least one additional tank division but just which division it is we are uncertain but we are sure it’s a Category 1 division. One thing I should mention that if Germans had not pulled back from their frontline positions the attack would have been made right at the seam in the line where the 1st Gebirgsdivision and the 10th Panzer meet. That would have required one or the other of the divisions to thin out their positions to cover this section of the line. So that only one division would be handling this attack. The remaining division the 26th MRD is covering the remainder of the front for about fifteen kilometers to the north.

We do have one problem we have is a Russian Army Corp strength force located in and around the city of Strakonice. A force that includes one tank division and one MRD, we believed that this Corp is the 28th Corp with the 31st Tank division and the 30th MRD. Both are first line both divisions were in the process of converting to the newer T-72 from the T-62 but both tanks are still being used in both divisions. The problem is that if they are supporting the attack on Zelezna Ruda they are out of position. It would take the better part of a day for the units to move into position to take advantage of any successes. The 5th Czech Army might have and with the actual fighting going to be on the Danube.

We would have expected the Corp to be much closer to Zelezna Ruda. Sitting just out of artillery range and not back in Strakonice. We have looked at the road network and we do note that there are two major highways that would allow the unit to move south. One route would take the Corp into the southeastern most corner of Bavaria and we don’t see much sense in doing that. The other route would be thru Ceske Budejovice and then down to the Austrian border. So, this Corp could go in any of three direction or maybe sent further north or to the east and south into northern Austrian. We just don’t know. But it does leave a lot of question as to where this Corp will be used.

The 56th Home Defense Brigade are holding the defensive line along the Danube. From the Austrian Border to north While the 1st Gebirgsdivision holds the line to just north of Deggendorf. We expect that the 3rd MRD and the tank division we know is sitting behind it will drive on Deggendorf. There are four bridges across the Danube a railroad bridge and the Maximillian Bridge and the bridges on the Bundesautobahn. But we fully expect that all the bridges will be blown before the Czech troops arrive. But we expect the units of this attack to attempt to force a bridgehead on the west side of the Danube.

The 1st Czech Army is concentrated along a front forty kilometers long with the initial two division are in the front lines the 4th MRD and the 13th Tank Division with two more division a few kilometers to the rear the 4th and 9th Tank Divisions. Further back just out of Artillery range is the 1st Combined Arms Army with the 15th Guards Tank Division, the 18th Guards Motorized Rifle Division and the 48th Motorized Rifle Division.

While the 10th Panzer will hold the line from just north of Deggendorf to Regensburg and then north to the town of Lappersdorf. The question is where the Czech 1st Army is going to attack will it be Regensberg or Straubing or even the bridges near the village of Pfatter. Given the number of Czech and Soviet divisions located in this area means that the WARSAW PACT have a force superior to the Bundeswehr and who knows what will happen. General Rogers frowned for a second and then he spoke up, ** The 2nd Corp will have make do with what units they have. What about the rest of Bavaria**

The briefer nodded his head and then he went on with the briefing? The 15th MRD is covering the first fifty kilometers, the initial advance will face border guards and Territorial army units until contact is made with the French 4th Corp. The 4th Corp will be setup from Lappersdorf to Schonsee. As of now two of the four divisions of the 4th Corp have arrived the 152nd and 2nd. The two divisions replace the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment. The 28th Alpine will be arriving shortly and it will take over from the 26th Fallschirmjaeger. Then the 21st division will take over from the 66th HSB. The 116th ACR is currently on the way to take over the armored support from the 278th ACR. The 278th ACR will move to a defensive position behind the 47th Infantry division.


The 47th Infantry division will cover the front from Schonsee north and west to Floss and then North and a little to the east to the village of Tirschenreuth. Facing the 47th ID is first the 15th MRD but the last section of the line will be facing a category D Russian division it has been tentatively identified as the 386th Rifle division. Doing this frees up the 19th MRD for offensive operation while the 385th Rifle division has been placing to the north of the Cheb gap this frees up the 20th MRD. This means that the Canadians will be facing two Czech MRD divisions the 19th and 20th in reasonably good condition as well as one Czech Tank division the 14th.

I should also point out that the 385th is showing signs of duplicating the efforts of the 394th division on the Austrian border. The Czech commander in the area has encouraged the commander of that division arranging for T-34-85’s produced by the Czechs were transferred to the 385th in sufficient numbers to division up to full strength in tanks. The Czech high command also talked the Russians into sending enough troops to bring the 385th to full strength in manpower. Artillery were stripped from some of the divisions doing rear area security in Czechoslovakia to bring the artillery of the 385th up to full strength. I would also like to note that no additional troops carriers have been assigned to the division. The expectation is that the troops of the division will be riding the divisions tanks into battle.

Luckily the Canadians are handling this section of the line. The 2nd Mechanized Brigade is protecting a front of sixteen kilometers from Tirshenrueth to village of Konnersrueth. The 1st Mechanized brigade which is a formation made up mostly of regulars has the central position. It is believed this is where the schwerplunkt will be. This force will cover the front from Konnersrueth to Hochstadt im Fichtelgebirge. The 3rd mechanized brigade is almost entirely made up of militia and the artillery is an American National Guard. Covering the line from Hochstadt im Fichtelgebirge to Rehau. That is where the Canadian Army links up with the 1st Armored. The 4th Canadian brigade is the reserve force for the Canadian Army. Also, a command structure forming the 1st Canadian division is currently arriving. But the division will not have much in the way of a support structure.

 

[Farmer12]

Now I will turn our attention to the 7th Corp. The 1st Armored division has setup a defensive line running from Rehau thru Hof and then up to a forested ridgeline a distance of about twenty kilometers. Then the divisions have setup it forces along this forested ridgeline for a distance of twenty-five kilometers. The position ends about ten kilometers to the west of Naila German. The 1ST Armored 1st brigade is covering the line from Rehau to the ridgeline. With two armored battalions and two mechanized infantry battalions. Terrain on this part of the divisions position lends itself to Armored combats and that is why the second brigade has the mission of covering this section of the line.


The divisions 3rd brigade is covering the ridgeline position, the more rugged terrain being less tank friendly the brigades two infantry battalions with one armored battalion is better suited for defending this part of the divisions front. It’s near the village of Geroldsgrun that the 1st Armored section of the line come to an end. The 2nd Brigade has three armored battalions and one infantry battalion is the reserve force and it has been broken up into four tank heavy battalions two battalions are assigned as the reserve forces for each of the brigades holding the front-line positions. You know its amazing how the balance of a mechanized battalion changes if you detach three companies of infantry and receive three companies of tanks.


It looks like the East German 1st Corp composed of the only East German combat units. The division are the 7th Tank division and the 1st and 4th MRD. We also know that these three divisions are made up of the most fanatical followers of the current East German Government. We can expect this Corp of troops to make an all-out attack on the 1st Armored. We expect that the attack will be defeated but we have concerns that an attack in combination with the Czech attack on the Canadians might be able to turn the flank of the 1st Armored division. So at least one of the reserve battalions from the 2nd Brigade will be kept close to that junction between the 1st brigade of the 1st Armored and the 3rd Brigade of the Canadian Army.

Next, the 40th Mechanized infantry division a California National Guard unit. Its section of the line runs from its boundary with the 1st Armored. The divisions 1st Brigade cover the first part of the line from Geroldsgrun through a hilly forested are to the village of Marktrodach then running across farmland setting up in a tree line and then alone the northern edges of the village of Kronach. Then the 3rd brigade takes over the line from Kronach and keeping to the tree line to the village of Mitwitz. Then the line continues to the North and west to a forested ridge locate here this is where the 3rd Brigades armored battalion is setup with an excellent view to the north. The 2nd brigade of the 40th Mech is setup as the reserve force.



What forces that the WARSAW Pact had placed on this section of the line is at best inexact. We know that several division category D divisions have been moved into the area of East Germany opposite to the 40th Mechanized Division. At the same time, we do not know which divisions have been assigned to this section of the front. At this time, we are not even sure how many divisions are facing the 40th. The best estimate will be from three to five divisions. At this time, we have tentatively identified the Rifle Corp as the 25th Rifle Corp. The divisions assigned to this Corp we have a less definite information. The 381st and the 384th have been id but we know for sure at least one division more division in the area. We also have signs that at least one more division is being moved into the area and radio intercepts indicate that at least on other division will be sent after the division currently being sent has arrived. This is the best information that we have at this time.



Next, we will look at the 1st Infantry divisions frontline positions. The North eastern end of this divisions battle positions. The village of Bieberbach is the northern most tip of the 1st Infantry Division. The line initially runs to the west along a series of villages and the tree line. Then turning at the village of Neiderfulbach to the south and west, then at the village of Untersiemau turning to the west again using various tree lines to the village of Seblach. Then the line sticks to northern edge of the forests. Then on to the village of Walchenford where the line is handed over to the 3rd Infantry Division.



Intelligence indicates that the 16th Combined Arms Army will be carrying out the attack on the 1st ID. There are two to three Motorized Rifle Divisions will carry out, the initial attack with a Tank Division in reserve. As for the 1st ID the 1st and 3rd Brigade will be the units holding the frontlines with the 2nd Brigade as the reserve force.

Then the 3rd Infantry is controlling the Hof Gap where we are expecting a main assault in coordination with the forces attacking 5th Corp around Fulda. From Walchenford the line goes about seven kilometers and then the lines turn north for four kilometers to the village of Aub. Then the line goes to the north and west for sixteen kilometers. Then near the village of Eichenhausen the line goes in a westerly direction for fifteen kilometers to the village Steinacher Forst recht der Saale. The 1st brigade is covering the first twenty kilometers of the front from Walchenford to Kleineibstadt. Then the 2nd Brigade takes over the line from Kleineibstadt to Eichenhausen and the remaining fifteen kilometers from Steinacher Forst recht der Saale. The 3rd brigade is in a central location with the ability to move either to support whatever section of the line was hit.

The 11th Guards Combined Arms Army with the 40th Guards Tank division and the 44th Tank divisions and the 26th and 34th MRD. The reason we have such a good idea of the divisions in this army is that all of the units were assigned to the Army prewar. Also, we have not had any reason to believe that any additional divisions have been attached to the Army.

 

[Farmer12]

Now the we are going into the 5th Corps Area of responsibility. The first units are the 116th Infantry brigade Virginia National Guard with a battalion of armor attached to the brigade. This brigade was placed under the command of 5th Corp. This section of the line is both mountainous and heavily forested. The terrain totally unfavorable to use of armored or mechanized units. While we don’t have any definite details, we believe that one of the category D divisions will be sent against the 116th Infantry.
The 8th ID has the 3rd Brigade covering the southern part of the divisions line. Brigade has six battalions four mechanized and two armored battalions while the 3rd brigade has two mechanized and one armored battalion with the 1st brigade as the reserve force, with two mechanized and one armored battalion set up in three separate reserve forces. These units cover the thirty kilometers of the front but the actual battle line is longer about thirty-five kilometers.


The southernmost battalion has setup in a line formation ridges overlooking the town of Gersfeld. In the town Gersfeld elements of a battalion of German Territorial army troops defending village. This battalion covers the longest section of the line. But this battalion is defending the most defensible terrain. To the north the remaining eight battalion’s setup in positions from Poppenhausen to Hunfeld. These battalions are setup every three kilometers the idea is to let them know that the most direct route to Frankfort is very heavily defended. The with the three battalions from the 1st brigade as well as elements of the 11th ACR will be used as blocking forces. Currently the 6-77th Armor is setup near the village of Weyhers. The 3-8th infantry by the village of Dipperz. The 2-87th infantry is setup in the forested area just north of the village of Traisbach


The 4th ID will cover the line from Hunfeld thru to Friedewalde. The 1st and 2nd brigades are in the frontline with the 3rd brigade as the reserve unit. The 1st brigade runs from the village of Mackenzell to Hunfeld to the village of Gruben and then along the edge of the forest. Then across fields with scattered stands of trees to the village of Leimbach on to the town of Eiterfeld. Then the battleline is set up along a string of villages and through a stand of trees. Then the 2nd Brigade takes over the from the 1st Brigade then the line runs through a second stand of trees to the Schenklengfeld then to the village of Motzfeld. After that a forest ridge and then onto the Freidewalde and then in the forest heading to the village of Ronshausen. The 3rd Brigade is setup as the reserve units for the 4th ID. The 1-12th is setup in around the village of Petersberg. With the 1-77th Armored is setup in and around Hauneck with the 2nd of the 77th Armored setup around the village of Rothenkirchen. Just to let you know the 11th Cavalry is covering to the front of the 5th Corp.

In reserve we have the 3rd Armored division which is setup in a rough line in front of Fulda the intent being that if the Soviets breakthrough the 3rd Armor can setup a defensive line behind the 8th ID. While the 197th Mechanized brigade the 194th Armored and the 4th Brigade of the 4th Infantry are similarly setup in a rough line behind the 4th ID.

The Soviet forces that are most likely to be involved the army located closest to the border is the 8th Guards Combined Arm Army there were four divisions assigned to this army. The 79th Guards Tank Division and three MRD probably the 20th 39th and 57th Guard division. We also do have some indications that at least two additional divisions have been added to the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army but we do not have the particulars on these two division or possibly three divisions we are not sure. All of these division are within twenty kilometers of the frontier. What we do know it that three to four divisions are up front with two what appear to be Tank divisions that will follow up.


What we can be sure of is that two Rifle Corps of troops the 4th Corp with 351st and 352nd divisions and the 5th Corp with the 353rd and 354th division. The reason we do know this is that these Corps and the attached divisions have miserable radio security. These divisions were between twenty to thirty kilometers from the border.


The Operational Maneuver Group is the 1st Guards Tank Army the prewar divisions assigned to the army were the 9th Tank division and the 11th Guard Tank division and the 20th MRD. The army is concentrated in a triangle shaped area with Trusetal the northeast corner, the north west corner Brietungen and the south east corner is Schmalkalden.



But we cannot be sure this is all of the forces that can be committed to the attack but we do not know if these units are assigned to support the attack on the Fulda Gap. The army is the 28th Combined Arms Army. The 6th Guards Tank division is based in and around the city of Eisenach, to the south is the 28th Tank division in and around the town of Ruhla. Then the 73rd Tank division is setup around Tabarz and finally the 50th MRD is setup near the city of Friedrichroda. All the division and support units have direct routes to the area of the Fulda Gap. We have indications that one or two Airborne battalions are also in the area. Just what their mission is. Well hard to say. But bear in mind that these units do not have helicopters as part of the units TO&E so any transport would have to be provided by the helicopter units assigned to the various armies.



Also, we know that there are between five and six category D division a little further back than the 28th Combined Arms Army but this does not mean those units cannot be more through that Army to go on the offensive. The one thing I can tell you is that there were about nine or ten of these divisions in the area but at least two were sent to Czechoslovakia and one or two sent south the reinforce the units attacking the 40th ID. But for now, we will have to wait to see what these units do. The one problem we have with identifying these division is that none of the divisions seem to be using their radios and any communications they do must be by telephone.

 

[Farmer12]

Now we will look at the next section of the line now controlled by the British Army. We do have a bit of concern about the newly organized British 5TH Corp. The elements of the Corp support units are mostly newly organized. The personal of the Corp support units are still learning to work together and the newly organized units are learning to work with the other support units and the divisions and brigades of the Corp.

The 6th divisions brigades, the 51st Highland Brigade with three territorial battalions the 1st /51st, 2/51st, 3/51st. The 52nd Lowland Brigade the battalions are the 1st Royal Scots and the 1st Argyll & Sutherland and two territorials battalions the 1/52nd and the 2/52nd. These two brigades are use to working together and any support unit in them are pretty much up to their missions. The exception is the 2nd Guards brigade with the 1st and 2nd Coldstream Guard and the 1st Grenadier Guards. The battalions are of course highly trained. The problem with this brigade is the newly created support units. Rather than put Guards men into support role missions they used a collection of regulars and territorials to fill out the support units. The recalled Guardsmen are in replacement companies to fill in casualty losses.


The two remaining units is the newly formed 8th RTR and recce units is The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick’s Own) Yeomanry is a Territorial unit that had one squadron organized. The unit is B squadron and is equipped with Ferret Armored Cars and the A squadron is using older Saladin Armored Cars. The artillery units are somewhat understrength and are made up of obsolete 25-pound artillery guns. The guns are old and some of the tubes on the gun are well used.

The 6th has a group of good battalions, I have no problem labeling the Guards units as elite and the two Scot regular battalions are crack. While the Territorial battalions all have a solid core of high quality personal and the rest of the men can be held together by the cores of those battalions. Over all the division has good combat personal but the divisions support units are somewhat lacking in quality. So, we will need to keep an eye on the division.

As for the 43rd Wessex division, has the same problem with its divisional level support personal. Two of the three battalions were already organized, except for 10th Brigade which is recently organized. Also, all of the infantry battalions in the division are made up of Territorial battalions. The two mechanized battalions one is territorial and the other was a regular light infantry battalion. The tank battalion is recently organized as is one of the divisions two recon battalions. The division does not have its own artillery brigade, so as you know we attached an American National Guard Battalion the 45th Artillery brigade.

The 10th brigade made up of a newly formed tank battalion the 9th RTR armed with Chieftains, while the regular battalion the 1st Royal Anglian Regiment equipped with Saracen APR and the territorial battalion, the 3rd Yorkshire Volunteers equipped with FV-432 APC’s both have be converted from light infantry to mechanized in that have just been mechanized. The 43rd Wessex Brigade with 1st Wessex Regiment, 2nd Wessex Regiment, 3rd Devon & Cornwall Vols., 6(V) Light Infantry. The 160th Brigade 3rd (Vol) Royal Welch Fusiliers, 3(V) Royal Regiment of Wales 4th (V) Royal Regiment of Wales. There are two Recon battalions in the division, one is the Royal Wessex Yeomanry which is equipped with Land Rovers and a newly formed Queens Own Dorset Yeomanry equipped with Saladin Armored Cars. As for the other American units that are attached to the 5th Corp. These units are the 107th ACR as well as the 103rd and the 115th Artillery brigades and the XI corps artillery.


The 43rd Wessex is covering the southern part of the 5th Corps line the section of the line is some thirty-five kilometers. The 43rd Wessex Brigade has three of its four battalions on the front line. The brigades line starts just south of the village of Ronhausen moving a little to the east to a valley. Then the line runs along a valley passing the village of Ziebach then along a narrow valley. With the line on west side of the open valley. Near the village of Machtlos the line goes through the forested hills to the village of Nentershausen and then Wienbenhasel. The 3rd Devon &Cornwall Vols is being held as the brigade’s reserve near the village of Iba. Then the 160th Brigade with two battalions on the frontline with one in reserve. The line runs from Wienbenhasel to the town of Sontra. Then along a valley that runs north by the village of Wichmannhausen to Oetmannhausen to the village of Wehretal. Then the 4th (V) Royal Regiment of Wales is being held in reserve near the village of Mitterode.


The 10th Brigade is split up into three battalion sized strike groups. The 1st Royal Anglian Regiment is setup near the village of Cornberg. The 9th RTR is setup as a central reserve in the village of Cornberg. To the north the 3rd Yorkshire Volunteers setup near the village of Gilfershausen.


The 6th Infantry division covers the rest of the front to the north. The 52nd Lowland Brigade takes the line from Wehretal to Germerode to Vockerode. Then the position runs along the ridgeline to west and north. Three of the four battalions are on the frontlines the 1st Royal Scots are the reserve battalion for the brigade. Then the 51st Highland Brigade 1st and 2nd battalion of the 51st Highland Brigade. The 3rd battalion of the 51st regiment is the brigades reserve. The 8th RTR has been broken up into supporting units for the frontline battalions. The 2nd Guards brigade has 1st Coldstream Guard battalion setup in and around the Rodebach. The 2nd Coldstream Guards battalion are setup in and around the village of Dudenrode. The 1st Grenadier Guards are setup near the village of Ermschwerd.


The 5th Corps reserve unit is the 107th ACR two. Given the shortage of tanks assigned to the division two of the 107th ACR’s squadrons are located in defensive positions behind the 6th division while one squadron is setup as the core reserve. One squadron is located near the village of Walburg. The next squadron is located near the village of Laudenbach. While the Corp reserve squadron is located near the village of Kaufungen.


Facing this force is the 29th Combined Arms Army with three divisions the 52nd, 198th and the 245th MRD all the divisions have T-54/5’s. The reason we are so confident that these divisions are part of the 29th is that all were assigned to this Army prewar. We also are pretty sure that at least two or three the Category D division have been assigned to the 29th Combined Arms Army. But we do not have any firm information on the unit ids. There are other units further back but we will talk about those units after we go over the Belgium Army.

The 245th MRD is setup in two concentrations two regiments one motorized rifle regiment and one tank regiment are located near Dippach. Near the village Gerstungen are two Motorized Rifle Regiments. It looks like the 245th will be making a two-pronged assault one attack will be headed toward Ronshausen. The other attack in the direction of the village of Nenterhausen. It looks like a division as setup behind the 245th but we don’t what kind of division but it has some problems with radio discipline but nothing that told us anything. But the lack of radio discipline leads us to believe that the division is a Category D division.

The 52nd MRD also looks like it will carry out a two-prong attack. Two Motorized Rifle regiments setup close to the Ifta. Where this prong is heading we are not sure but we feel it will be the town of Sontra or the village of Waldkappel or the village of Wehretal. The other prong appears to be heading toward Eschwege. A Motorized Rifle regiment is setup in and around the village of Treffult with a tank regiment setup behind the motorized rifle regiment. The tank regiment is located near the village of Nazza.

Futher to the north we have a pair of Category D division what their unit designation are we don’t know. But we know that the divisions are setup between Wahlausen and the Arenshausen. Because of radio intercepts, we know that the Soviet troops have been training in land navigation. The reason we know this is that because of radio messages with people trying to find out where they were or asking for someone to come and find them. We believe that the two divisions are going to move cross country in the mountains toward our lines and attack. Are there any questions sir? There were none, now we will turn to the 1ST Belgium Corp.

 

[Farmer12]

The Belgium Armies 1st Corp have two of the regular division in frontline positions. Initially the newly organized 2nd infantry was holding the front line but when the frontlines were reallocated the 1st Mechanized was put back on the frontline. The total frontline held by the Belgium’s 1st Corp is holding a roughly fifty-kilometer front. With 16th and 1st Divisions each covering half of the frontline. While the in both cases the complete division is on the front line while on brigade from the newly formed 2nd division is located behind each division the 10th Mechanize brigade is setup behind the 16th divisions and the 12th Motorized brigade is setup behind the 1st divisions. Meanwhile the Para commando reinforced by the one of the newly organized Armored battalions with the M-47’s are taking up positions in the Harz Mountains. While the American National Guard units the 31st Armored is being held back as a special Corp reserve. While the 130th and 197th Artillery brigade will provide artillery support.

The 1st Division section of the line runs from Eichenberg to Ebergotzen a distance of about twenty-five Kilometers. The 1th mechanized brigade of the 16th Division position starts in Eichenberg to the village of Hebenshausen to a wood ridge with a good view of the surrounding terrain to the village of Reckershausen along the wooded ridgeline overlooking the open terrain then village of Ludophshausen as a strong point and back to the wooded ridgeline overlooking the village of Lichtenhasen. To the village of Bremke where the 7th Mechanized Brigades sector ends. Then the 17th Armored takes over the line going north and east to another wooded ridgeline and further north and east to another wooded ridgeline then northern along the ridgeline with the village of Wollmarshhausen where a strong point has been set up. Then to another ridgeline more to the west of the other ridgeline with a village of Potzwenden in the middle of the ridge.


Then further north to the along the ridgeline to the village of Ebergotzen where the 16th divisions section of the line begins. The village of Ebergotzen is a strong point. Then along the ridge line to the village of Renshausen and then back to the ridgeline then another strongpoint in the village of Gillersheim then to the village of Lindau the line goes to the village of Katlenburg where the 17th Armored Brigade takes over the line. From Katlendburg to a ridgeline and then to the village of Dorste then to the wooded ridgeline to north. Where the 17th Armored brigades line end with a short gap in the line covered by the tanks of the 17th Armored Brigade.

The Belgium Para Commando regiment is defending the town of Osterode and up to the Dam located here on the map. This section of the line is heavily defended. The fourth battalion which was a cadre unit was filled out with prior service personal and the regiment as a whole is backed up with one of the newly reorganized M-47 Tank battalions with the title of the 3rd Lancers. One company of tanks is attached to each battalion. Three of the four battalions are in defensive positions with one battalion in reserve with its tank company.

Now we can talk about the 1st Belgium Corps reserve units. The other newly organized M-47 tank battalion the 4th Lancer in a reserve position with two to newly form Carabineers companies the troops are mechanized. As you may or may not remember sealift command leased some civilian ROLO ships used to transport cars between the US and Europe and they loaded them up with some lighter vehicles and they also put a fair number of operational M-113 on board. One of the ships docked in Antwerp and we handed over enough M-113’s to transport the units. The original plan had been one company per tank battalion but since the 3rd Lancer was attached to the para commando regiment the second Carabineer Company was attached to the 4th Lancers this amalgamation. This reinforced battalion is setup in an arc in the villages of Willensen, Gittelde and then to the village of Windhausen. The idea is to be in position if the enemy breaks through the line the battalion and its infantry will be in position to deal with the breakthrough if necessary.


The 2nd Divisions brigades are setup in two positions, the 12th Motorized Brigade is setup in and around the village of Westerhof. While the 10th Mechanized brigade is setup in and around the village of Sieboldshausen. The Army National Guard 31st Armored brigade is setup in three battalion sized reaction forces. The 1-131st Armored battalion is setup in and around the village of Moringen. The 2-152nd Armored battalion is setup in and around the village of Dransfeld. While the 1-279th Infantry setup near the village of Hardegsen. Now we will look at the Soviet forces.

The setup is like this the forces facing the Belgium 1st Corp are well a little confusing. The West Germany border Guards have seen patrols from troops from four category D divisions the 357th,358th,359th and the 360th divisions apparently the Corp in charge is the 7th Rifle Corp. The troops, tanks and artillery are all close to the border. The 357th MR division is setup along the line from Bornhagen here on the map to Hohes Kruez. The 358th covers the line from Hohes Kruez to Teistungen. The 359th from Teistungen to Zwinge. The 360th from Zwinge to Ellrich.

Behind this Corp are what looks to be at least two possibly three divisions of Motorized Rifle troops. The units are concentrated in the area of Breitenworbis and Bischofferode one of the problems we are having in getting a good reading on the troops in that area is that the troops stick to the forests. While we have some idea of the forces, we are not sure of the exact strength. Due to the open nature of the terrain we know that two Tank divisions are in the area of Werther and Nordhausen with a Corp command in the area.

In the area of Strausfurt and Sommerda, we know that the 5th Guards Tank army is the army. The army has assigned to it, three tank divisions and one understrength MRD. The reason we know it’s the 5th Guards Tank Army is that a division that has been undergoing training in the Soviet Union the 84th MRD division. We knew that prewar the 84th was assigned to the 5th Guards Tank Army. Now during the initial mobilization, we sort of lost track of various divisions and the armies they were assigned to. But about a week ago the 84th MRD was moved from its training area and sent to Germany. The movement of a division even an understrength division will be watched. So, we watched the division to see where it ended up. The division ended up in the area of Strausfurt and Sommerda.


Previously we had watched the units in the area and we had identified three Tank divisions were in the area. But the problem was we did not know which divisions they were the Soviet had removed all identifying marking from their vehicles and troop. So now we have the 84th MRD and we had also had another bit of luck a radio intercept which made no unit identification but implied that the division in question had been part of the Army in the past. The 84th MRD is understrength it only has about half strength in tanks and the unit is short of APC’s and trucks. That allowed us to put two and two together. We now believe that the 8th Guard Tank division and the 39th and 193rd Tank division are the other divisions and the army is the 5th Guard Tank Army.

At Bad Tennstadt we noticed something a little unusual. We have a collection of tents located inside a barb wired compound. The tents are standard soviet tents that hold twenty men to a tent and the numbers of tent in the compound total three hundred tents and an outside the compound is another group of thirty-nine tent setup on one side of the compound. The men inside the compound are wearing Soviet military uniforms while the troops outside were dressed in KGB uniforms. We think that this is a penal camp for penal troops to be used as needed. We also saw couple of warehouses not far away and those warehouses are under heavy guard. We figure that the weapons for the penal troops are being stockpiled in those warehouses. We estimate between three and four thousand men are inside the compound and another four to five hundred KGB guards on the outside of the compound.

We also see a similar setup in another location the compound and guards on the outside and a heavily defend group of warehouses. This time the location is near town of Sondershausen only the size of the force is different with an estimate number of men inside the compound of five to six thousand troops and at least another five to seven hundred more men on the outside of the compound. So, it looks like we will be seeing some attacks by Soviet Penal troops. We are looking at possible actions that could negate the effectiveness of the penal troops.

Next it looks like there are about four category D divisions, setup in an arc the divisions are setup one division per location. Pointing at the map, Muhlhausen, Unstruttal, Bleicherode and Sonderhausen. None of the units appeared to be engaged in any special operations. One thing we know is that the most of the tanks are T-34/85 with what appears to be some JSU tanks and at least some of the SU-85’S and 100’s. The units appear to be at near full strength when it comes to armor but all of the tanks are obsolete.


Next, we will be looking at the Harz Mountains it looks like two of the Category D divisions have been assigned to the mountains and we know that the divisions are the 370th and the 371st. As usual we have encountered patrolling units from the two division and some of the patrolling units have unit patches. As usual there does not seem to be a lot of unit security.

After looking over the setup of the Soviet forces and the terrain leads us to believe that the four class D divisions will drive forward and push any recon units back to the main line of resistance. Then there will be two concentrated divisional sized attacks. We also believe both attacks will be two pronged. With at least one diversional attack. The southern attack will be two coordinated regiment sized attacks on two sections of the frontline. The southernmost attack will be through this gap here and centered on the village of Friedland. One MR regiment will leaded the attack and I would expect that the divisions tank regiment would be right behind the lead regiment.

The second attack on this section of the line would be made by a MR regiment followed by another MR regiment. We believe this will be more of a secondary attack somewhere between the villages of Bremke and Wollmarshausen. The reason we believe this will be a secondary assault is the terrain which is not favorable to tank operations but if the attack moves forward then it would force reinforcement to be allocated to prevent a breakthrough.

Now the other attacks will be more to the north along the northern edge of the 1st Belgium Corp. We have three potential areas of attack, the first is Ebergotzen, the second would be Katlenberg Lindau, the third potential area of attack would be down this open area between Osterode and Dorste. But the third line of attack has to go through so much defensive terrain that is unlike to be an avenue of attack. The more probable line of attacks would be against Ebergotzen and Katlenberg Lindau.

The attack on Ebergotzen will probably be a MR regiment followed by a second MR regiment we feel that the terrain the Soviets will have to attack through would favor Motorized Infantry. The second attack with a MR regiment leading the way and the division tank regiment will be a part of this attack. The reason is that the terrain in that area favors a tank attack. The assault will first be again Katlenberg Lindau and then on to Northeim.

We believe that the plan is to breakthrough both Friedland to the south and Northeim to the north. Then the two prongs will meet in Gottingen with the plan of creating a cauldron with elements of the 1st and 16th Division. Which would be to pretty destroy the 1st Belgium Corp. Something that would seriously damage the moral of the Belgium. That is something to be considered. Before we go to the next section of the briefing there is a group of what we believe are penal troops those penal troops will be used as a diversion but where just where we do not have an idea.

Also, the two class D division that are setup in the Hartz mountains will be driving any recon and outposts back to the mainline of resistance. We believe that the troops in the mountains are to keep the Belgium Para Commandos and the British troops busy. Now we will turn to the British 1st Corp.

 

[Farmer12]

Next, we will be looking at the Harz Mountains it looks like two of the Category D divisions have been assigned to the mountains and we know that the divisions are the 370th and the 371st. As usual we have encountered patrolling units from the two division and some of the patrolling units have unit patches. As usual there does not seem to be a lot of unit security. We also know that an MRD division that had been previously been assigned to the north of the Harz Mountain has been moved into a position in the Harz Mountains. It also looks like a tank division has sent from the reserves to replaced the MRD division but we do not know the identity of either of those two divisions. what the exact command structure of the force is we don’t know. But it looks like these units are assigned to sweep the Mountains of NATO forces.
Now we go to the BOAR, the newly formed 5th divisions front has been modified in the last few weeks. The 54th brigade is setup in the Harz Mountains and the units is spread rather thin. The British are relying on the rugged terrains to aid in the defense. The brigade is covering about twenty-two kilometers of the front. The brigade connects with the Belgium troops to the south the first part of the line is setup behind the Sosestausee reservoir then crosses through the mountains to the Okerstausee reservoir setup with the reservoir to their front to the edge of village of Oker. All three of the infantry battalions are on the line while the Armored battalion with attached infantry units is the support force.

The 42nd Brigade will take the next position, covering the next twenty kilometers of the front. From the village of Oker to village of Immenrode then along the tree line going to the village of Weddingen. Then again along the tree line to Klein Dohren then again along the tree line to the village of Liebenburg. Where the 42nd Brigades ends.

Recon units from the 42nd Brigade and the 1st Guards Mechanized recon units. These units, the Duke of Lancaster Own Yeomanry and the both a squadron from the Life Guards and the A squadron of the 15/19 Hussars. from the 1 Guards Mechanized brigade is the reserve brigade for the 5th division. Sitting almost immediately behind the 42nd brigade is the 1st battalion of the Scotts Guards is setup in the forests around Astfeld to cover approaches to Oskar. The 5th RTR is setup by the village of Othfresen. It is expected that the heaviest attacks on the 5th Division will happen against the 42nd Brigade. But both Recon Squadrons are out in front of the

The next division in line was the 1st Tank Division, it takes over the line near Neuenkirchen and the line goes through some stands of trees to the Werlaburgdorf and then on to Borbum then to Dorstadt then to Wolffenbuttel and then to next stand of trees. The line turns east to next tree strip. The length of the front covered by the 1st Tank division is twenty-nine kilometers. The 12th Armored Brigade covers fourteen kilometers of the line from Neuenkirchen to Kissenbruch. While the 22nd Armored brigade takes over the rest of the line from Kissenbruch to one kilometer to the north of the village of Salzdahlum. The 7th Armored brigade broken up into three battalion sized reaction forces. The 3rd Queens regiment located in the village of Flothe. The Royal Hussars are located on the northern end of this stand of trees centrally locate to support all parts of the line. The 2nd RTR is located in the village of Thiede. By the way the both battalions are operating Challengers. Also, one of the 1st Corps recon regiment the 9th/12th Royal Lancer is covering the divisions front.

Then the 4th Armored division takes over the line. The position taken is on the outskirts of Brunswick going north to Volkmarode on to Hondelage on to the villages of Grassel, Wedelheine, Isselbuttel then on to the outskirts of Gifhorn where the Netherlands 1st Corp. The 11th Armored brigade took over from the 22nd Armored brigade and cover the line for fifteen kilometers to just south of the village of Bevenrode. The 33rd Armored brigade cover the rest of the line from Bevenrode to Abbesbutel which is by the Mittelland Canal. The rest of the line is behind the Mittelland Canal then behind the Elbe Sietenkanal to the village of Wabuttel then to Issenbuttel Tankumsom.

Then the reserve brigade of the 4th Armored Division. The 20th Armored brigade is broken up into three battalion sized reaction forces. The 1st Royal Regiment of Wales is positioned inside the town of Brunswick. The Blues and Royals are setup in the village of Miene. The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guard are near the town of Gifhorn. The 16th /18th Royal Hussars is the recon unit in front of the 4th Armored Division.

The 3rd Tank division, is broke up into three brigade sized forces, the 4th Armored brigade is in position in and around Salzgitter. The 6th Airmobile brigade is in position Peine and the 19th Brigade is setup near Lieferde. The 2nd Infantry division is of course spread out over the whole area.



The Soviet forces along this area of the line is doing something a little strange. None of the first line divisions are setup on the front line. The only units on the front lines are Category D divisions. One Rifle Corp the 9th is setup on the southern half of the British line. We have tentatively identified two divisions the 361st and the 363rd we know another division is setup behind the front lines as a reserve force. The northern half of the line is covered by the 10th Rifle Corp and we have identified all the divisions in the Corp the 364th ,365th ,366th. What is strange is all three divisions are setup on the front line with no reserve divisions.

We also know that the 2nd Guard Army is widely spread out one MRD is located in and around the town of Haberstadt with a second MRD setup near the town of Ochersleben. To the north of that is a tank division since we know this is the 2nd Guard Army we believe this division is the 16th Guard Tank Division. There is a final MRD is setup near the town of Haldensleben. We also know that an independent assault landing brigade is in the area. We have tracked a large number of helicopter flights. So, we do believe that the Soviets are planning some sort of attack or attacks in the British rear area.


We also have in the region a soviet artillery division the 34th Artillery division close to Magdeburg and we also know that a pair of tank divisions the 90TH and the 20th Division are also setup in and around Magdeburg. We lucked out and one of our agents kept his head down during all the troubles. He sent us some information on the units in Magdeburg.



What bothers the intel boys is that the setup does not make a lot of sense. We suspect that they have a plan but we don’t know exactly what they are up to. We will probably find out what they are up to the hard way. But given the fact that the Mitteland Canal is slices across the northern say third of BOAR front and the city of Brunswick fills up the center. That leaves the southern part of the line as the most probable line of attack and the reinforcements are setup in such a way as to deal with that sort of attack



You have the 5th RTR and the 1 Scotts Guards backing up the 42nd brigades with the 7th brigade 3rd Queens Regiment in Clothe. With the Royal Hussars in these trees and the 2nd RTR in Theide. With the 4th brigade setup in the area of Salzgitter with the 1st Irish Guards mech infantry for tank units the Royal Irish Hussars and the 17th /21st Lancers. That means any attack made in that area will meet heavy resistances.

 

[Farmer12]

Now we will go 1st Netherland Corp area of the frontline. With the shortening of the line the Dutch have been able to thicken their defenses. While at the same time the 5th Mechanized division a mobilization only division is replacing the 4th Mechanized Division on the frontline. The reason is simple enough, the 4th Mechanized division is almost totally equipped with Leopard 1 tanks with only one tank battalion equipped with Centurions.


That is why the 5th Mechanized Division will take over the defense of the southern portion of the Netherland frontline. The division is setup behind the Elbe Seiten canal starting as Issenbuttel. The frontline is setup behind the Elbe Seiten Canal runs from Issenbuttel to where the L289 crosses the Elbe Seiten Canal will defended by the 52nd Mechanized Infantry. From the bridge to a position two kilometers to south and east of where Highway L286 crosses the canal. The 53rd Mechanized Infantry takes over the defense with the 51st Armored brigade as the division’s reserve brigade. This brigade is broken up into three separate battalion counterattacks. 12th Tank battalion is located in a forested area just south of the village of Wesendorf. While the 16th Mechanized Infantry battalion is setup in the forests to the west of Wagonhoff and the 54th Tank battalion is setup in the woods to the north of town of Gifhorn.


As you may or may not know the 1st and 5th Mechanized division the armored brigades are equipped with Leopards 1 and the Mechanized Brigades are equipped with Centurions.

The 1st Mechanized Division covers the northern part of the 1st Netherlands Corp battle front. The 11th Mechanized Brigade is setup from the 53rd Northern boundary to about one kilometer to the north of the Village of Alt Isenhagen where the 12th Mechanized Brigade takes over the position from Alt Isenhagen to just north of where this road K62 has a bridge crossing the Elbe Sieten Canal. The 13th Armored brigade is setup in three separate battalion sized strike groups. The 49th Tank Battalion setup in the trees around the village Dedelstorf. While the 11th Tank battalion is located in the forest around Sprakensehl. With the 17th Mechanized battalion is setup in the forest area that covers the northern part of the 1st Divisions position.

4th Mechanized division is setup in three brigade sized forces. The 43rd Mechanized Brigade is setup in and around the village of Muden. While the 41st Armored Brigade is setup near the village of Grob Oesingen. While the 42nd Mechanized brigade which has the only battalion of Centurions in the Division is setup near the village of Steinhorst. While the 2nd Infantry division is helping the local territorial army carry out rear area security missions.

We will include the 1st Corp of the Bundeswehr in this section of the briefing with the Netherland 1st Corp because of the situation along this section of the front. The Bundeswehr’s abandonment of the salient has adjust the situation and we will treat the Soviet units on the south side of the Elbe as a single element with different options on attacking the NATO forces.



The 1st Corp of the Bundeswehr has placed the 1st Panzer Division has been placed in command this section of the frontline. The 1st Panzer from near the village of Klein Bollensen to Altenmendingen. The 2nd Panzer Brigade is in charge of defending the section of the line from Klein Bollensen to Emmondorf. While the 1st Panzer Grenadier brigade controls the line from Emmonsdorf to Altenmendingen. With the 3rd Panzer Brigade has setup three battalion sized forces in counter attack positions. 33rd Panzer battalion is setup in and around the town of Suderburg. The 32nd Panzer Grenadier battalion is located in and near the village of Schwienau. The 335th Panzer battalion is located near the village of Natendorf.



The 11th Panzer Grenadier Division takes over the line and controls the line from Emmondorf to the Elbe River. The 31st Panzer Grenadier Brigade is in charge of the line from Emmondorf to the village of Wendisch Evern. Then from Wendisch Evern to the Elbe River the 32nd Panzer Grenadier Brigade with the 33rd Panzer Brigade are the reserve brigade. The 333rd Panzer battalion is setup in and around the village of Barnstedt. With the 331st Panzer Grenadier battalion is setup near the village of Reppenstedt. With the 334th Panzer battalion setup near the village of Wittorf.


Now we will look at the Corp reserves. The 27th Fallschirmjaeger Brigade is setup near the village of Amelinghausen. While the 3rd Panzer Division is broken up into three separate brigade sized reaction forces. The 8th Panzer brigade is setup near the village of Wroidel covering the 1st Panzer division section. While the 7th Panzer Grenadier Brigade is setup near the village of Betzendorf. The 9th Panzer Lehr Brigade is near the village of Radbruch. It does not seem that positioning of the elite Panzer Lehr Brigade here but none the less as the showcase Panzer brigade it can be considered an elite formation.

The Corps final division is the 7th Panzer Division has been setup in an arc roughly covering both the 1st Netherland Corp and the 1 Bundeswehr Corp. The German Command staff made the decision with consultation with NATO forces has been turn into a division sized reaction force. The 19th Panzer Grenadier is located near the town of Bergen here, while the 20th Panzer Brigade is setup near the village of Wietzendorf and the 21st Panzer Brigade is located near the village of Munster. The plan is to use the division as a divisional sized counter attack force to counter attack any major breakthrough the frontlines.



The Soviet forces facing the 1st Netherland Corp are relatively small in size. There are four Category D divisions. All four divisions and the Corps that control the divisions have been identified. The Corp identification is the 11th Corp and the divisions are the 361st and 362nd. This Corp will attack the 5th Mechanized Division. We know that there are a pair of Motorized Rifle Divisions setup behind the Rifle Corps. Given the size of the attacking forces and the fact that the terrain immediately behind the Dutch units is rugged terrain. Causes us to believe that the mission of the Soviet Unions units facing the 1st Netherland Corp are supposed to keep the Dutch busy while the main attacks are elsewhere.


There is a formation of Soviet units in an arc from Holzhausen to Osterwohle then on to Cheine. In this area we know that there are at least three MRD division possibly four. We expect that the divisions will cut across the empty salient and moving on the Bundeswehrs 1st Corp. But we also know that an artillery division that was once in this area has been moved to the south to the area around the village of Klotze. While the Air Assault Brigade has also moved to the south to an airport near Stendal and it is engaged in a series of mock attacks. This weakens the attack being carried out against this section of the frontline. This causes us to believe that the Soviets may not be planning a serious attack against the Bundeswehrs 1st Corp. But it may be a feint designed for us to move units to the south.

The forces that has been concentrated against the 1st Panzer Division has been moved to the south we have been able to give those forces a good looking over. One tank division the 117th Guards Tank Division and one MRD division the 60th along with command elements we believe this is the 21st Tank Corp. The Corp has moved to a group of forests near village of Bismark to village of Hohenwulsh. While the three Category three division are located near the tip of the salient have been kept in their setup positions. We believe their mission will be to clear the salient from the tip.

 

[Farmer12]

As, for the units located to the north of the Elbe but were supposed to attack the salient. The bulk of the first attack group has remained in position. The force is composed of two tank divisions but we do not have any confirmation which division. But the artillery division which we did identify as the 149th Guards Artillery division and this unit has been moved closer to the front. I will go into greater detail once I come to the area that this unit is involved in. As for the two tank divisions their mission is not clear we do see that river crossing equipment is in the area as to whether the division are going to cross the river and support the attack on the Bundeswehrs 1st Corp or move toward the west and support the attack against the 3rd Corp. The next unit we will talk about is the 5th Independent Guards Corp with the 16th Artillery division which have been moved to the area of the US Armies 3rd Corp Front.

Next, we will look at the section of the line defended by the 3rd Corp US Army as well as all units to the north of the Elbe. With the decision to setup the line of defense behind the Lubeck Elbe Canal does cause some problems for our forces. The southernmost section of the line is located very close to the inner border. We can expect the frontline units to be hit with very heavy artillery. We believe that this would be the best approach. We also expect that the major attack to breach the line will be in this section of the line. Also, there is not enough space to allow the 3rd Cavalry to operate.

The 2nd Armored Division is to defend this section of the line from Elbe River to the village of Grambek. The 3rd brigade which is the mechanized brigade of the 2nd Armored division is given the mission of holding the section of the line closest to the inner border. From the Elbe river to the village of Buchen. The 1st Armored Brigade is defending the section of the line from Buchen to the village of Grambek. All units are setup behind the Elbe Lubeck Canal. The 2nd Armored brigade of the 2nd Armored division is setup in reserve positions. The 1st/41st Inf. Is setup in the trees close to the village of Kollow. The 3rd /66th Armored battalion is setup in the forest to the north west of the village of Schwarzenbek. With the final armored battalion is setup behind the 2nd Armored 2ND Brigade the 3rd /67th Armored battalion is setup in the forest near the village of Fuhlenhagen.

The 5th Infantry division is covering the remaining section of the 3rd Corps Battlefront. From Grambek to the village of St. Jurgen. The 5th Infantry division 2nd Brigade is set up from Grambek to just south of the village of Hollenbek. While the 256th Infantry brigade setups up from the end of the 2nd brigade to the village of St Jurgen. The 3rd/52nd battalion is setup in the tree to the west of village of Walksfelde. The 4th/70th Armored is setup in the trees to the north of the village of Labenz. The 5th /70th Armored is setup in the trees near the village of Trenthorst.


The remaining forces the 6th Calvary brigade will operate all along the line of the 3rd Corps Battle frontage. While the 1st Calvary Division is the 3rd Corp reserve. The 1st Brigade of the 1 Cavalry Division is setup in this large section of Forest to the north of the Village of Dassendorf. While the 155th Armored Brigade is setup around the villages of Tremsbuttel. While the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry is setup further to the north behind the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division near the village of Rolhstorf. While the 3rd Cavalry regiment is setup even further back near the village of Sulfeld.

The 6th Panzergrenadier Divisions covers the remainder of the line. The 16th Panzer Grenadier Brigade from St Jurgen and then to the northern edge of the city of Lubeck the entire line is either behind a canal or a much broader waterway on the west side of the city. While the 17th Panzer Grenadier Brigade takes over the line is also using the waterway in front of it positions as a defensive moat. The line ends on the Baltic coast at the village of Dorfteich. That ends the north part of the line. The 182nd Panzer Grenadier battalion is located in the trees north of the village of Badendorf. 183rd Panzer Battalion is located by the village of Arfrade. With the 184th Panzer Battalion is locate by the Ratekau the briefing on Denmark will be tomorrow and now we will look at the Soviet frontline force to the north of the Elbe.


The Soviet forces that will attack the 3rd Corp and the Bundeswehrs 6th Panzergrenadier Division are as follows. The units facing the 2nd Armored are three tank divisions we are certain of that and between three and four Category Divisions. While the two Artillery divisions the 149th Guards Artillery division and the 16th Artillery divisions, have been moved behind the initial attack force. Having two Artillery divisions will greatly increase the 2nd Armored problems with holding their current positions. While the 6th Independent Guards Corp is now apparently being used as an Operational Maneuver Group.


The Polish Army is facing the 5th Infantry Division as well as the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division. The sheer number of troops facing the 5th Infantry is rather daunting. Each brigade is facing what appears to be a Corp of troops with in one case two mechanized infantry division backed up with a Tank division. This Corp is facing the 5th ID’s 2nd Brigade. While the 256th Brigade is face by a Corp composed of three mechanized divisions two forward and one behind. Each of the attacking Corps is backed up by a Corp. Each Corp is composed of two Tank divisions and one Mechanized Division. The remaining three to five division being of the lowest quality divisions in the Polish Army are facing the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division. The units are apparently a defensive force since the Satellite evidence points to the complete lack of amphibious equipment of any kind and a definite lack of helicopters assigned to these division. Leads us to believe that there will be major attacks on the 6th Panzer Grenadiers. But it is possible some of the troops from these second line divisions could attack into Lubeck but all the bridges in the city are going to be blown as soon as the war breaks out. The 6th Panzer Grenadiers will only hold the outskirts of the city. But the main battle will be with the 3rd Corp and only if the Poles breakthrough the line will the German 6th Panzer Grenadiers begin see a real fight.

 

[Farmer12]

We will do a brief overview of the Soviet Armies strategic reserve and the forces around Berlin. General Rogers asked a question do you have the information on our expectations on Soviet actions relating to both, the island of Bornholm and Denmark. The briefer responded that he could get the information in just a few minutes and go over what they had. General Rogers nodded his head commenting that despite the arbitrary boundary placing Denmark and its island of Bornholm as part of AFNORTH it is to close the CentCom. The officers in the briefing sat considering what they had heard so far. While General Rogers was considering his options.

Then a light colonel came into the room he was an airborne officer with rows of ribbons showing he had been in Vietnam both in a line unit and as an advisor. Lt. Col. Robert Muller was a black officer from Franklin Tennessee he had a slight southern accent. His last name was frequently the cause of confusion with the Germans he met. He always explained that when his family was freed the family that had owned his family were the Mullers and his family had taken the name. For what reason he did not know but that was his family name.

The primary briefer handed over this section of the briefing to Lt. Col. Muller. Muller went straight in to the briefing. The first location to be attacked will be Bornholm. We cannot believe that the Soviets will want to open up Denmark to attack so taking Bornholm is a must before attacking Denmark. We are just no sure how soon the attack on Bornholm will be made. Part of the problem with predicting the attack is how quickly the attack will happen.

But by the positioning of the WARSAW PACT forces the 7th Landing Division and the 336th Naval Landing brigade with their amphibious vehicles are in the area of Rostock East Germany. We also see indications that MRD division is located close to Stralsund and we believe that this division is set up to be reinforcements for the units invading Denmark. This leaves them closer to Denmark than Bornholm and we believe these units will not take part in the attack on Bornholm. While the 1St Airborne Corp with the 7th Guards and 76th Guards Airborne divisions are still in Lithuania. These units are engaged in Corp sized airborne operations. This leads us to believe that this force is not to be sent against Bornholm, but against Denmark.

This leaves the 7th Air landing Divisions which is essentially a brigade sized Airborne unit and the 38th Airborne Assault Brigades. We do have a large number of informants from many sources especially the Roman Catholic church. Information have told us that the two units will be involved in the attack. The fact that the 7th Air Landing Division since it is still at its Polish bases, makes sense that this division will be part of the attack on Bornholm. The 38th Brigade like all Airborne Assault brigades it has a regiment of Helicopters to transport the troops of that brigade to Bornholm. What further clinches this belief is that the 38th Air landing Assault Brigade is now based in and around the Polish city of Kolobrzeg. From here the island of Bornholm is in easy range of the brigade’s helicopters.

We are not sure which units will garrison the island a regiment the 1392nd Rifle Regiment from the 422nd Rifle Division is located in the same area and we feel that this force will garrison Bornholm. Also, we have received reports that an additional Airborne Regiment is reportedly moving into the area the unit is identified as the 1085th Airborne brigade. The problem is that the only 1085th listed in the Soviet Order of Battle is an independent infantry battalion. The information we have received is somewhat confusing but essentially two battalions of airborne troops with a limited command structure and no support units. The agents in Kolobrzeg refer to the 1085th A and the 1085th B. I believe that the what we are seeing an attempt of disinformation to confuse us. We manage to find out about the unit, we figure we are only facing a battalion when in fact a brigade.

The sudden appearance of the additional troops is due to possible reappraisal of the chances of success of a possible attack on Bornholm. The forces defending Bornholm is a force of three infantry battalions and an artillery battalion plus one tank company made up of M-41dk’s. The original force was originally more of a two to one force level. The additional brigade of troops bringing, the balance more to the advantage of the attacker.

Now looking at Denmark, we believe the previous mentioned forces the 1st Airborne Corp with the 6th, 7th ,79th will be a part of the initial attack. But looking at the number of transport planes in the area no more than two divisions can be transported at one time. Two airborne divisions will be part of the airborne assault. While the 7th Sea landing Division which is essentially an amphibious landing brigade and the 336th Naval landing brigade will carry out the amphibious landing. The surviving amphibious craft then can go back to Rostock and pickup troops from the 2nd MRD to reinforce the landing operation. We believe that one airborne division and both the 7th Air landing division and possibly the 38th Air Assault Brigade would be in reserve we. But believe that there is sufficient gear to rearm the two units and replace their casualties so that these two units could take part in an attack on Denmark.

Facing this force on the island of Zeeland is the 82nd Airborne and the one O worst as well as the 30th Armored brigade, 39th Infantry brigade as well as two brigades of Danish troops with two battalions of reservists. Also, a pair of Guards battalions in Copenhagen which may or may not be released to help with the defense of the island of Zeeland. There are also assorted support units. We believe this force is capable of defending the island of Zeeland. But we also believe that is the situation demands it we could be drained forces to help defend West Germany or the Jutland peninsula. Especially with the number of Polish and Soviet units facing 3rd Corp. Lt. Col. Muller wondered if he would hear about his jab at the 101st but he did not care he was an 82nd Airborne man.

Another officer stood up to take over the briefing on the Jutland Peninsula. We know that the island of Zeeland well protected even if the choking chickens are part of the force defending the island of Zeeland. This comment brought a few snickers it was obvious this man was a 101st man.

The forces involved in the defense of the Jutland Peninsula are as follows the Danish Army Jutland Division with its three brigades has been move south to the Kiel defensive line. While the remaining forces an antitank battalion the Jutland Dragoons and three motorized infantry battalions the 1st ,2nd ,3rd Schleswig Regiment as well as one artillery battalion the North Jutland Artillery these forces have been turned into three quick reaction groups with tanks, motorized infantry and artillery. These three forces will react to any attempts by the WARSAW PACT forces attacking the rear areas there are also local defense battalion one infantry and one artillery battalion in each of the three military regions. One of the quick reaction groups is assigned to each of the military regions.

The additional NATO forces that have been sent to defend Denmark. We have the US Guard units are the 28th Infantry division as well as the 58th and 73rd Infantry brigades note that the two infantry brigades are both leg infantry units like the 28th ID but each brigade has an armored battalion and an artillery battalion attached to each brigade. While the French have sent the 6th light Armored Division as well as a brigade of French Foreign Legion. The British Armies 1st Brigade and the ACE mobile forces are also defending along the Kiel Canal. Given the terrain in this area the canal makes the best defensive line we have.

We have a force of nine brigade equivalent holding the frontline with four reaction forces. This force is barely enough to hold the line and still have a reserve force. Most of the units are primarily infantry units with a limited number of mechanized and armored forces. Each brigade holds a front line of roughly twelve kilometers. The first sixty kilometers are covered by American force the 28th divisions and the two independent brigades. The brigades in the lines go this way the 2nd, 55th, 56th,58th and 73rd infantry brigades. The French Foreign Legion covers the next section of the line, with the 1st brigade British Army and the ACE force also of brigade strength. Finally. the Jutland division holds the remaining section of the line.

The reserve force are as follows the Commander of the 28th ID organized a brigade sized force using the division armored battalion, Calvary squadron and the one mechanized battalion. Respectively the 1/103rd Armor, the 1/104th Calvary and the 1/109th Mechanized infantry. The next reserve force is made up of the French 6th Light Armored division finally the Danish 1 Jutland Mechanized infantry as well as an ad hoc force made up of the Danish the 5th Jutland Dragoons essentially a reconnaissance battalion and a motorized infantry battalion the 1st Funen Life.

Its is admitted that the current number troops and equipment may not be sufficient to hold this line. But this is the first best defensive line we have. Also, we do expect that some of the forces retreating from the WARSAW Pact forces will retreat passed this line. Thus, reinforcing the line. That completes the briefing on the Denmark.

 

[Farmer12]

Now we will finish with a briefing with briefing on the forces around Berlin and then the strategic reserve of the Soviet Force and our strategic reserve. Berlin the 5th independent Tank brigade and the 6th Independent Motorized Rifle brigade with three Rifle divisions the 351st ,352nd and the 353rd are encircling West Berlin. But we have the feeling that this force is to keep the West Berlin Garrison in place and not to attack. At this time, we believe that the West Berlin garrison will be kept under siege for during the war.

As for the Soviets Strategic Reserve, the 3rd Combined Arms Army composed of the 7th 10th 12th and the 47th Guards Tank Divisions. This Army is the primary reserve force for the Soviet forces attacking in the German Northern Plains. Which is why it was setup in and around Brandenburg Germany. 20th Guards Combined Arms Army composed of the 25th Tank Division, the 6th Guards Tank Division and the 15th and the 35th MRD. This Army is setup in and around Leipzig Germany. This is the reserve force for the Warsaw Pact forces attacking in the south of Germany.

As for the Airborne forces in the Strategic Reserve, the 109th Guards Airborne Division force are setup in and around the Berlin Schoenfeld Airport. The 37th Independent Assault Landing Brigade and what appears to be at least one of the new Airborne Brigades has been training with that 37th Helicopter regiment. We believe at least two of the new Airborne Brigades are in the area of Leipzig and we also know that at least one of the newly organized independent Helicopter regiment with a mixture of Hind D’s and Mi- 8 helicopters is training with these two units this force is located near the city of Halle in East Germany. We also believe that two more of the Airborne Brigade are in the area of Jena East Germany and another of the newly organized helicopter regiments in this same area. That appears to be all of the independent airborne brigades.

We have had a bit of luck with the Category D divisions as message was sent breaking down the components of the various Corps and the divisions attached. Some believe this was done on purpose to blur what was going on. The category D divisions have been setup in Corp strength formations. The 51st Rifle Corp with the three divisions the 370th, 371st and the 372nd are setup in the forest to the south of the city of Weimar. The 52nd Rifle Corp with the 373rd,374th and the 375th. This Corp is located in the area of Bernburg East Germany. 54th Rifle Corp with the 376th,377th and the 378th divisions is locate in the vicinity of town of Mockern. The 55th Rifle Corp with the 379th, 380th and the 383rd division locate in and around the town of Tangermunde. With the final Rifle Corp the 58th with the 388th and 389th divisions located in the forest to the north the town of Havelburg.

Finally, the KGB has sent a number of Penal battalions with each battalion having attending KGB Security company. We have evidence that at least another twenty thousand penal troops have been setup in a variety of security camps. Where these penal battalions will be attacking where as of yet, we are uncertain.

Now we will take a brief overview of our own Strategic reserves. The Bundeswehr’s 3RD Corp with the 4th and 10th Panzer divisions and the 1st Panzer Grenadier division as well as the 25th Fallshirmjaeger brigade. Then there is the 1st French Army, with the 1st Corp- 1st and 7th Armored division as well as the 12th and 14th Light Armored Force. The 2nd Corp the 3rd and 5th Armored division and the 15th Infantry division. Finally, the 3rd Corp with the 2nd and 10th Armored division and the 8Th Infantry division. Also, the newly formed 25th Paratroop division and the 28th Mountain Division

We have the most substantial members of the Strategic reserve. The 24th Infantry division of the Regular army. Then we have two National Guard Armored the 49TH and 50TH Armored Division. We also have the 106th and 163rd Armored Calvary regiment. We also have the 200th Armored brigade reinforced and four mechanized infantry brigade the 30th 32ND, 157th and the 218th. That covers our forces.

General Rogers considered what had been told and he looked over his notes for a minute or so and then he commented. We can be pretty sure that the WARSAW Pact forces will not attack tomorrow or the next day but they could attack any time after that. Let’s face it the Soviets have given up Strategic surprise so they will be attempting to gain some sort of tactical surprise. But I have decided that the 49th Armored division be sent to Bavaria as a strategic reserve for NATO forces in that district. Also, I want to send the French 28th Mountain division to reinforce the French 4th Corp. No other units will be moved from the strategic reserve. As for Denmark what forces do, we have on the Island of Funen. There was a shuffling of papers and then the response was well sir its Danish local defense forces. General Rogers walked up to the map and then he turned around and ordered, **The 35th Infantry brigade is to be moved to the island to provide a proper defensive force. Also, the 30th Armored can be moved to the Jutland Peninsula to reinforce the defenses there. With the 82nd and 101st as well as the Danish forces on Zealand are sufficient to defend the Island.

 

[Farmer12]

1PM London The Prime Minister listened to the briefing, all British Army forces in West Germany were now in place. Wombat Recoilless Rifles were being shipped to increase the number of Recoilless Rifle that were with the frontline battalions already armed with Wombats. All the units had double the number of Recoilless Rifles per battalion. Also, any Milan systems that are being produced by British Aerospace Dynamics are also being sent. Apparently the last two weeks of Milan Missile Systems and Missiles as the last three weeks of refurbished Wombat Recoilless Rifles had not as of yet been sent.


Margaret Thatcher was more than a little annoyed that this had happened. Apparently, there had been an emphasis on shipping rations to the frontline units. Or more to the point the new ah hoc rations civilian canned food stuffs had been hurriedly boxed and shipped to supplement the standard military rations. The decision had been made when someone in the Royal Logistics Command had run the numbers and realized that the standard reserve stock of military rations had been seriously reduced and if something was not done the Army could run out of combat rations due to the sheer numbers of troops that had been mobilized. Also no one had expected the crisis to go on as long as it had. Feeling a little mollified about the reason for the delay. After all an army could not fight without food.

She was assured that tomorrow, a convoy of trucks carrying the new Milan and the refurbished Wombats as well as more missiles for the Milan’s and ammunitions for the Wombats. He also commented that a C-130 carrying forty-two tons of LAW missile had arrived in the UK and a group of trucks, had been collected to carry those missiles to West Germany. Otherwise the Convoy would have left today but it had been decided that for security reasons the convoy would be delayed until this shipment of LAWs rockets was loaded onto trucks. This convoy was to be escorted by the The Royal Yeomanry, territorial army units with armored cars. This unit would escort this convoy to the respective Corp areas and then return to the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister sat for second considering what she was told and then she pointed out that the War could start at anytime. “Despite what our agent told us it does not mean that the Soviets could attack before telling him. For some reason that we do not know of.’’



The Minister of Defense pointed out that the Soviets were notoriously rigid in following their plans so he did not expect any problem to come from this and the convoy should be able to be back in the Great Britain before the war starts. The Prime Minister accepted the comment and the meeting went on to the next item on the agenda. The was, Operation Pearl, the Joint Spanish Armada/Royal Navy carrier task force was discussed the reality that the Task Force would arrive in the area of Conraky Guiana at least a day or two before the war would begin. So rather than take the chance that the Task Force would be discovered. The Task Force was actually moving away from Conraky with plan of heading back at high speed and carrying out a Carrier strike on the Soviet Navy warships in Conracky.

Then the discussion went to the movement of the Royal Navy and US Navy Ballistic Missile submarines to the Aegean Sea. The plan was going as scheduled. The best information was that the Soviets had no idea what was going on.

Then the conversation turned to the planned arrests. The Spetsnaz would be hit before the attack would take place. The Embassy and consulates as would be hit the second the fighting started with raids on all the Embassy and Consulates employees and their families that were still inside the United Kingdom would be arrested. Then as the work day started the various agents in place as well as any sleepers and the various illegals would be arrested. The Spetsnaz units would be hit by SAS as well as troops from the Airborne units. Margaret Thatcher nodded her head and then she spoke, “I want to emphasize that absolute security needs to be maintained. No loose talk, no trying to impress someone. I want a clean sweep of these traitors.

I especially want to make sure that those members of the Conservative Party that are in the pay of the KGB are all arrested and receive their punishment for treason. The Labor and Lib Dem will be to busy trying pointing out those people and I want to be able to emphasize that they have all be captured and will face trial. I want to be able to point out to the People of the United Kingdom that all the traitors whatever their party will be punished as well as the other assorted traitors we will capture in our sweep.

Washington DC
Mike Harper looked up from a list of supplies being shipped to various locations in the country. Quantities of cheese and butter to be placed in a variety of abandoned mines, caves and other assorted located. The stock piles of food and also medical supplies mostly over the counter kind of medical supplies but given the shortages in medical supplies it was the best he could do. Also, some construction material most gathered from civilians source. He also made a decision to attempt to reinforce the larger stockpiles with more troops with their families. Now he had to convince the Army to reinforce these locations. That would be a meeting tomorrow. Moving the troops to the various locations at this time was much easier. With the bulk of the American military now being over seas there was bit of slack in the transportation network.

The Army would be screaming that they did not have the resources to be able to carry out his request. But Mike had information, a lot of Engineering units as well as several battalions of Artillery were still in the states. His plan was simple, he would suggest the units be reinforced with past service troops so that the equivalent of an infantry company of troops to each battalion. The Engineering units and Artillery units would take less casualties thus allowing the additional forces to be organized. He was going to sweeten the deal by appointing military officers to command these forces. Tomorrow he would see just how good of a salesman he truly was.

 

[Farmer12]

0600 24/23 Aug Henderson Airfield The commander of Marine Air Group 41 had just arrived the night before and he was watching a flight of Phantom II’s were just taking off they were taking the place of a flight of Mirages that had been on patrol. The Phantoms were from VMFA- 321, these planes had been on Guadalcanal for almost a month and the rest of the MAG41 was on the way. He had arrived yesterday with the last of support personnel for the Group. Then VMFA-112 would be arriving in the next day or two. Half the support personal for the squadron would arrive today. The plane would fly in tomorrow and the last of the squadrons support personal would arrive the day after that. The 41st would be operating out of Henderson B. The Seabee had put together the field together in a little over two weeks. There had been some problems with the ground the landing field had been located on. But those problems had been dealt with.

Normally the 41st Air Group would have been with the 4th Marine Division. But the mission of the 4th MarDiv was to attack Nicaragua. Since Nicaraguan did not have much of an Air Force so it had been decided that the 41st Air Group would be sent to fight in the skies over the Solomon’s. The logic was simply taking out the Soviet in the Solomon’s and once that was done the Marines could be sent else where to fight. Probably South Korea but time would tell, but it could be the Philippines. But the first things first. But one thing was for sure the Marine were going to kick commie ass in the Solomon’s, just like they had kicked Jap ass in World War II.


10 Am Vladivostok The senior army commander was reading, STAVKA. It was short and to the point you have over twelve hundred helicopters as well as a large number of transport planes capable of moving Airborne troops across the Barents Sea. As for ground forces you have the 98th Airborne as well as the 11th and 13th Independent Assault Landing Brigade was well as the Naval Landing force of two armored and five infantry battalions. You have more than sufficient forces to carry out an attack on Alaska on short notice. We want an attack to divert the Americans attention from the main battle zone using troops that would other wise be unused. This attack could also force the Americans and the Canadians to send troops to defend Alaska. Excuses will not be accepted. The Army commander grunted as he considered what he was reading.

He had hoped to discourage Stavka and the Politburo from engaging in an unwise military offensive against Alaska. Picking up the phone he told his aide to gather the senior members of the High Command in the East. The meeting would be this afternoon at 3 PM.

4AM Fulda Gap The 1st /37th infantry battalion was on one hundred percent alert, while the Russians were not supposed to attack until tomorrow the 2nd brigade commander Col. Ashford had made it clear that every battalion was to be ready for battle each and every morning from now on. He wanted the troops in position and ready to fight. That meant everyone in the brigade had damn well better be up and in position to do their mission. Lt. Col. Rodney was at his command center waiting for the allotted time to pass. In just a couple of hours his mistress would be finally leaving the area. She worked for the local government and she had volunteered to stay for as long as possible. But she was leaving today and he planned to stop by her apartment in the village for one last fling before she left. Life would be lonely after she left.

3PM Vladivostok The senior commanders of the Soviet Army, Navy and Air Force with a variety of subordinates were not happy about the message that had been sent from Moscow. The truth was that when the order had first arrived, they had thought that be sending a report about the difficulties in carrying out the Invasion of Alaska would dissuade the Politburo. The response from Stavka had made it quite apparent that some sort of an attack would have to made on Alaska. Now they got down to the work of planning the attack.
The 10AM Moscow The Politburo was having a meeting, the fact that the Western Alliance had not cracked in any way was a little disheartening. Now while the members of the Politburo who had not voted for Romanov were now of the opinion that Romanov has sold the rest of the Politburo a bill of goods. Promising victory but the truth was now that war was invulnerable. But for now, no one made any comments. It was just too early to openly oppose Romanov.

Romanov readily told the Politburo, that while it was disappointing that the West refused to accept the reality of the situation. It was not totally unexpected. He then stated that there would be no turning back the die had been cast and to backdown now would be disastrous. To fail to follow through with their demands would be economically disastrous. The rest of the Politburo nodded their heads in their minds they had made an acceptable gamble and it had not worked. There was not much to discuss and not much to be briefed on.

Field Marshall Ogarkov was going to give a quick briefing on the current military situation. He made it quite clear that the attack would not happen until day three. He commented that the enemy would be expecting the Soviet Army to cross the border tomorrow morning. But nothing would happen the troops would feel a little let down but they would be saying tomorrow. When nothing happened the next day, the troops would be even more let down and they just might begin to wonder if anything would happen. But on the third day the troops would cross the border and hopefully some small bit of operational surprise would happen.

Then the conversation shifted to the Barents Sea where a sudden decision to make a limited assault on Alaska to possibly divert troops from other fronts. Field Marshall Ogarkov considered the idea to be bad. It had been inspired by members of the Politburo, who in moment of a vodka hazed thought had an epiphany. Personally, he would have liked to keep the troops closer to the China border just in case war broke out but that was not to be. So, the order had been given and it would be obeyed.

10am Dover
The convoy of trucks carrying weapons and ammunitions arrived in Dover. Now the trucks were being loaded on to ferries to be taken across the Channel to Calais and from Calais to the West Germany. It was looking like the convoy would not arrive until late tonight and the trucks returning the next day.

11AM Fulda Gap The company was going over a briefing on the threat from Soviet heliborne assaults. Flash cards displaying a variety of Soviet helicopters were shown to the troops. As the reaction force B company would be the unit that would be expected to react to any heliborne assaults. Chuck had to admit he was impressed by the Hind D’s. The word was that they were armored like a tank and a real bitch to shootdown. He had watched the news reports showing the Hind D in action in Afghanistan as well as the intelligence reports on the Hind D. It could go into a hot LZ drop off the troops and then rip the shit out of anyone attacking the LZ.

10 AM Washington DC The Mike Harper walked into the White House with his aides following him. In the meeting room was a group of men and women sat waiting they handled the Continuity of Government program. Mike stated that troops should be allocated in adequate numbers to protect some of the larger food stockpiles and of course the gold and silver reserves. One of the members of the continuity of government commented that while he understood the necessity of protecting the food reserves, he did not feel that the Gold and Silver reserves would need guarding since who would take gold or silver in the middle of a collapse of civilization.

Mike replied that there might come a time when to people of the United States might not want to accept paper currency to pay for food and other supplies. Should that happen representatives of the Government might have to come up with alternate methods of payment. Unless the members of the Continuity of Government believed that coercion and confiscation would do the job. That comment brought a period of silence from the people in the room.

Then a representative of the Department of Treasury commented, “The dollar has not been on the gold standard since the 1933 and complete severed the relationship in 1971. Finally, I believe the American people will accept the paper dollar out of the confidence they will have over our currency. There is no need for the United States to step back into the middle ages. “

The man representing the State Department who had spent years in various, third world countries just shook his head in disbelief. Then he commented, “Paper money will rapidly lose its value in a Post Nuclear America. We could print money but it most likely lead to hyperinflation. I could just see million-dollar notes that might get you a loaf of bread if you lucky. Also, with the major cities taken out and the economy in a tailspin and the people will likely engage in barter to one degree or another. Now do not think I would encourage use of gold or silver as a unit of exchange. But to just ignore the possibility that the people might not want to take paper money and demand other kinds of compensation is dangerous.

That seemed to bring a degree of consensus of agreement amongst the group even the military officers were nodding their heads in agreement. Then the senior Army officer in the room spoke up, “We agree with the necessity of the food stockpiles and even the moving of precious metals to other safer location. But to divert engineering units or even artillery units to protecting these precious metal and food stockpiles is in our mind questionable. We may have a need for more troops overseas especially the artillery. As for the engineering units will be needed in the post reconstruction period and locating these units in some case geographically isolated locations. Will inhibit our ability to respond quickly any problems that may turn up. “

Mike considered the Generals comments and then he responded, “The one kind of equipment that the military has in abundant quantity is artillery field pieces. Also, the artillery units are less likely to take heavy casualties and with the large number of recalled trained artillerymen. We have an overabundance of trained personal. Which leads me to point out that what I am looking for is trained military personal to protect to stockpiles and by the way I have been gathering over the counter medicines, bandages, Disinfectants and other assorted medical supplies. Also, Iodine both in pill and also in liquid form. We have a lot more liquid iodine than in the pill form. But we are looking into ways of make potassium Iodine pills from the liquid iodine we are gathering in a post-strike situation. We had wanted to by more potassium iodine pills but there are only so many produced in a year. At the same time the companies that produce Potassium iodine pills have not been engaged in increasing production.


By the way we are also purchasing large quantities of canned foods of all types. You may be seeing a shortage of SPAM, Campbell and Progresso soup of all kinds. Hell, we are literally pulling tons of canned fruits and vegetables out of the chain of supply. We even hit stockpiles of C- Rations in the civilian market as well as stockpiles of C-Rations in the depots. So right up to the day the missiles launch we will be moving supplies to the various stockpiles.

This means the units involved in defending a critically important source of supplies not only for the civilians but for the military as well. We are also going to allow the units to bring their immediate family with them for the duration of the crisis.

Now as for the engineering units locating some units in locations well away from the area that are going to be hit by major strikes. This mean units will not have to deal with post-strike radiation to any serious degree. That means while the unit is not close to any major targets the units will be in condition to carry out post-strike reconstruction. Even if the situation requires the unit to move some distance from the stockpiles.

The head of the Post War continuity of government smiled, “Secretary Harper you have been really going all out in your efforts to gather these stockpiles together. I have to speak to the President about your efforts. The idea of increasing the number of troops protecting the stockpiles is commendable. I did not realize to the extent you have gone to add all the supplies you can to the stockpiles. I feel that the President will want the supplies well protected and I expect that the Army will respond to the plan. It is fifteen minutes till 11AM it will be 6pm in Moscow. That mean the time allotted by Moscow to agree to the Soviet terms will be over. That means war will follow possibly as soon as tonight but more likely tomorrow morning. By the way as secretary of the department of Agriculture, your, supposed to be on a plane this afternoon. Hopefully fighting will not break out between now and then.”

Mike smiled and he replied, “I doubt that the WARSAW PACT forces will cross the border much before 4am West German time. Which is 10pm Washington time. Since my plane leaves at 4pm, I should be in the air and well away from the eastern United States by that time.” The head of the continuity of government nodded his head. “Now we have other matters to attend to, Gentlemen, Ladies have a good day. “

4PM Andrews AFB Right at 4pm Mike Harper and a plane load of bureaucrats headed into the sky. With a few hours the plane would be landing in Denver. Everyone would get a short rest and then back into the sky for the 11 to 7 shift.

6PM Cavour Ed Blake and his family were gathered around the table, to day was the day that the ultimatum had passed on. Maybe tomorrow John would be in battle. But what was really upsetting Martha was George has received a draft notice telling him to report to the draft board Tuesday of next week. She could soon have two sons fighting in the war and she was not one bit happy about it. She remembered the telegram her parents had received telling them that their son had died in Korea. She was reliving that memory and she sat at the table looking across the table looking at George and wondering if she would she would do if she received a telegram about one or the other or worse yet for both. She was expecting the worst out of this war.

Rear Admiral Streit was sitting watching the reports as they flowed in so far the Russians had not been very aggressive. Then a series of messages had arrived for a variety of the personal on board the plane. The commander of Looking Glass for the moral of the troops and to make sure that they were keeping their minds on their work. Had setup a message board for the families that were on the move. All they had to do was call the number and leave a message and he would have that message sent on the to the personal on the plane. Andrew smiled, his wife had arrived at the family ranch. Well one concern was off of his mind.

 

[Farmer12]

24/25 AUG D+1 10AM New Delhi The Indian Foreign Minister was waiting for the American Ambassador to arrive. The Soviet Ambassador was waiting with him. The Soviet Ambassador, was there to lay a few ground rules to reduce the chance of an escalation to a full-scale nuclear war. The Ambassador was coming despite the fact he had only been just approached today. It was obvious to the Indian Foreign Minister that the American Ambassador had orders to pursue any backdoor diplomacy opportunities that came up.

When the American Ambassador arrived, he and the Soviet Ambassador acknowledged each other but that was it. The Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs, did the initial talking then after both sides had sat down the Soviet Ambassador spoke, “I am not here to offer a way out of the current crisis. I am hear to inform the United States and her allies of certain action that would cause the Soviet Union to carry out a full-scale escalation in the use of Nuclear weapons.

First the use of EMP weapons upon the civilian rear areas of the Soviet Union. To do so would invite a full-scale response. We of course would expect a similar response from the United States if such an attack was carried out on them.

Second Ballistic Missile submarines currently on the patrol are not to be attack. To do so would be in the eyes of the Soviet Union as the first step by the United States to carry out a full-scale strike on the Soviet Union. We would of course expect the American to have a similar attitude on such submarines.

Now the United State should respond as quickly as possible to our suggestions. You can contact your leaders in Washington or where ever they had fled to and they can send you their decision. You can phone the Minister here of your countries decision and he can inform myself and I will contact the Politburo with your leader’s response. Have a good day. With that the Soviet ambassador left and the American Ambassador looked at the Indian Foreign Minister commenting that, “I was hoping that the Politburo had gotten cold feet and wanted a way out and not this.”

The India Foreign Minister nodded his head, commenting, “I had a bad feeling about this but I decided that it was better to setup the meeting and hope for the best.” The American Ambassador nodded his head and he stood up, “I need to get back to my embassy and send a message to the state department about this. As soon as the American Ambassador left the Foreign Minister of India called the Prime Minister.

As the new Prime Minister of India Rajiv Ghandi, had been hoping that the Ambassador had been making an offer that would allow both sides a way out of the crisis. But now he knew the Soviet Union was serious in its plan to go to war.

As he rode back to the American Embassy, he looked at his watch and he made a few calculations. It would be after midnight in Washington not quite one AM. The people who made the decisions probably would not be able to make a decision much before 5 to 6 Pm New Delhi time. Figure an hour or so before the message got back to him 6 or 7 PM. Then a quick phone call to the Foreign Minister at best it would be 8pm before the Soviet Ambassador to India would know America’s response.

When he arrived at the Embassy, he rapidly put a message together and sent it to Washington. After that the Senior Members of the staff gathered to talk. The Military Attaché, commented that it looked like the Soviets were not planning to go this morning nor were they likely to go tomorrow morning. The rest of the Embassy staff considered that bit of information. They all he pretty much had resigned themselves to war. The phone call from the Indian foreign Minister had raised hopes and now they had been dashed again. 4Am Fulda Gap Captain Peterson was awake and waiting for the nightmare to begin. He had stayed in the Army because he liked the Army, not that he had liked fighting. Now for the tenth time he was wondering what the hell he was doing here. He could have done his ROTC required time of duty and returned home with his Farm Business Degree and then found a job for himself working for possibly COOP elevator or some such job. But no, he had stayed in and now he was waiting for the Soviet Union to lay down an artillery barrage.

He decided that that line of thought was getting him nowhere. He turned his mind over to thinking about anything he might of forget. He still missed the companies Mortar Platoon but he did have a section of TOW and a platoon of tanks along with his infantry platoons. The Tank crews were buttoned up in their tanks and the infantry were in their foxholes close but not too close to their tracks. It was going to be a long couple of hours. By six it would be a little to late for the offensive to start. Then the food would come troops would line up and eat and then it would be a day of training. He was not going to give the men any time to sit and contemplate what was heading their way. It would not help them nor improve their moral.

11am Moscow As, head of the KGB, Victor Chebrikov’s job was to keep an eye on the military and in particular the military men who spent a lot of time around politicians. There had been some rumors that certain members of the Politburo had been talking to some of the senior generals about replacing Romanov rather than fight a war. The only way to do that would be to over throw Romanov and since Chebrikov was Romanov’s man it would mean that he would soon be on the way out or dead. Neither option was appealing to him. He had some of his agents who were in the STAVKA keeping a careful eye out for potential traitors. But he was not overly worried about a coup. All of the frontline army units were in Germany or waiting to invade Finland. The only units in the Moscow area was the 27th Guards Motorized Rifle brigade as well as two rifle division 424th and the 425th both of which were undertrained troops.

There was also the 95th MVD division made up of internal security troops of which at least two brigade of Tartars in the city. Both brigades were well equipped but not to well-trained but the lack of training was more than made up by the sheer savagery of the Tartars.

The KGB troops were in two brigades both were well trained but lightly armed units but fully capable of standing up to Army troops personally he was sure that no one could successfully carry out a coup.

As for the Army Field Marshall Ogorkov was also Romanov’s man and he would not be where he was if it had not been for Romanov. He knew that if someone attempted a coup he would be out. Ogorkov had commented that some of the members of STAVKA were not enthused about fighting a war in Europe. But a coup was extremely unlikely. The problem was simple, those officers did not want to run the country themselves mostly because they recognized that they did not have the skills to run the country. The other reason was if they did carry out a Coup the people who would have the skills to run the country. Were the very ones who were planning the gutting, the military in a last-ditch effort to save the Soviet Union. Also, not appealing, no it was necessary to gamble on this campaign. One last throw of the dice to pull victory out of the mouths of defeat.

10Am Brussel The day briefing on what was happening on the Soviet side of the border was just starting. One bit of information was that two squadrons of SU-25 Frogfoots had been pulled from Afghanistan and mover to Northern Germany. The Frogfoots had the reputation of being the Soviet Air Forces answer the American Air Forces A-10. While two squadrons of planes were not a lot this did show that the Soviet Army were making a maximum effort in Germany.
At the same time a message from the NSA was that three trains loaded with equipment, men and the one hundred and twenty Hind D’s were now on the way to Europe. The trains would not arrive in Germany in less than a week but that meant that two regiments of experienced combat personal were on the way to Germany.

Also, radio intelligence indicated that, an Artillery division was being moved from its reserve position closer to the front. As of yet it was not clear what part of the line the division was being moved closer to but betting money was the BOAR area of the frontline.

One other matter it seems that something is up in the Fulda Gap areas. The expected attacking units are all in place but now we are seeing some sort of troop movements. But the units being moved mostly don’t make a lot of sense for a priority target. One of the new Rifle division is moving forward 771st. The Infantry by foot, the artillery is being moved by confiscated civilian transport and the armor is moving forward separately. Most T-34/85’s but some assault guns, we had some German world war two veterans take a look at the assault guns. They figure that the assault guns are SU-100’s. Interestingly enough the tanks are not transporting the infantry to the front line. By the way Germans were very impressed with the satellite photos.

Also, a train arrived from the Soviet Union carrying forty-two assault guns with the train were a few passenger cars. It looks like the tank crews and some infantry may be two companies worth and a few support personal. It looks like that these assault guns are SU-152’s. Where the Soviets found that many of them, we do not know. Once the train was unloaded the tanks were loaded on tank transports and moved to the front. The personal were loaded on to trucks and followed the tanks toward the frontline. Next at least three to five thousand personal located at a holding center along with attendant guards were moving closer to the front. The prisoners are moving on foot with the guards. Interestingly enough this force was headed also for the Fulda Gap area. We can expect that somewhere on the Fulda Front there will be a human wave attack.

Finally, it looks like one of those new airborne brigades is getting ready, for some sort of rear area attack. It appears that this unit in particular is training for some sort of blocking action in rugged terrain. This is it to be expected but we do know that officers from this brigade were in attendance at a meeting with the senior staff of the 771st division as well as some KGB officers we believe are from the Penal Battalions and it was also mentioned that representatives from the 13th Guards Tank Brigade were in attendance at the meeting. Just what the Soviets are up to we do not know. The briefing went on to other matters.

11am 1200 kilometers Off the West Coast of Africa
The commander of the Joint NATO Carrier Strikeforce was nervous, he hated the waiting the longer the task force waited to attack the Soviet Squadron at Conakry the more chance of the task force being discovered. But all he could do is wait until he was told to attack. He then turned his attention back to the satellite photos. The Soviet Squadron was anchored inside Conakry’s breakwater then about ten kilometers to the north and east was the airport where two TU-95 Bear bombers were sitting. The satellite photos showed the eight Mig-17’s and a Mig-15 trainer with a few helicopter and transport planes. The attack would be in two parts one part would be the ships in the harbor the second part would be the aircraft at the airport. The Admiral then sat down and began to go over the attack one more time.

8am White House President Reagan had been awakened early, Nancy had not been too happy about him being woke up so early in the morning but she had accepted what was happening. The NSC was gathered around the table. Kissinger stood up and apologized about having setup a meeting so early in the day. The Soviet Ambassador to India contacted the Indian Foreign Minister to setup a meeting with the American Ambassador to India. Kissinger gave a short briefing about what had happened at the meeting and the demands.
Agreeing to not make any EMP attacks was even more to the advantage of the United States than it would be to the USSR. As for not attacking the Ballistic Missile submarine that was a real bone of contention. To agree to not attack Ballistic Missile Submarine meant that the Soviet missile boats that were patrolling off the coast of the United States were not to be assaulted. That would leave almost no time for the Americans to react if the Soviet Union did attack. The military were almost united in their opinion that the missile boats needed to be attacked immediately.

The civilians on the NSC were not so sure, the head of the CIA William Casey made the opposing position quite clear, “We do not want to fight a nuclear war, the Soviets tell us that if we attack their missile boats they will considered it as the first move in an American First Strike. The military seems to be ignoring that fact. Kissinger nodded his head commenting, “We do not want to fight a nuclear war and to attack the missile boats guarantee such a reaction. Now the question is do we want to go to a full-scale nuclear war immediately or do we attempt to secure a non-nuclear victory on the battlefield. “ No one had a good response to that statement. The discussion went back and forth for a few minutes but in the end it was agreed to accept both of the Soviet Unions ideas.

9PM Hotel near the Denver Airport
Mike Harper was in the dining room where breakfast was being served, the Federal Government had contract that a cooking staff be available every eight hours and be able to serve two hundred people. As soon as breakfast was eaten the buses were loaded and then it was off to airport. By eleven pm the plane was in the air and heading over the mountains.

 

[Farmer12]

24 AUG D+2 8pm New Delhi The American Ambassador to India called the Indian Foreign Minister and he informed the Minister that the Americans would agree to the Soviet suggestions involving EMP and the missile boats with one proviso that all missile boats had to remain at least nine hundred nautical miles off both the Soviet Union and the United States coast. The Indian Foreign Minister told the American Ambassador that he would call the Soviet Ambassador with your response. The Soviet Ambassador to India took the message and he sent the American reaction with the American Proviso regarding the location of the missile boats.
The new Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Dobrynin, received the message from the Soviet Ambassador to India. After reading the message he called Romanov to tell him about the American response and then he suggested that the reply should go before the Politburo at the beginning of the Meeting tomorrow morning.

Romanov considered the American response and he told Dobrynin to send a reply immediately back to our ambassador. Tell him that the Politburo accepts the American proposal. Dobrynin was definitely surprised he had not expected Romanov to go ahead and approve this request with first consulting both Stavka and the Politburo. This was a serious breach of etiquette to make this major of a decision without first consulting at least the Politburo.

When Dobrynin pointed this out, Romanov agreed but he point out that the Politburo would agree to the American demands and since the agreement is not a public one, we do not lose any face in agreeing to the demand. While at the same time our missile boats will be protected. My making the decision will save time given the fact that in less than thirty-six hours we will be at war. If the firing starts before the agreement is made our Navaga class submarine will be attacked and suffer severe damage.

Dobrynin grunted in agreement, the Americans antisubmarine forces were known to be very capable. He told Romanov, “I will send the message stating our agreement to their request. “With that the phone call ended. Within two hours the Soviet Agreement to the American condition was relayed back to President Reagan.

At the same time Romanov spoke to Field Marshal Ogarkov and Admiral of the Fleet Gorshkov about the repositioning of the Navaga class submarines to one thousand nautical miles off of the coast of the United States. While Gorshkov had mixed feeling about the decision. On one hand the Navaga class submarines would not be actively hunted and taken out by the Americans. One the other hand the American ability to react to an attack by those same missile boats would be enhanced. Field Marshall Ogarkov had no problem with the decision, he pointed out that the further out the missile boats were the harder it would be to track them. With that the orders were sent and the submarines within the hour would begin to slowly moving further out to sea.

9pm 24 Aug Eastern South Pacific to seven hundred nautical hours to the west of the South American coastline.
The Frunze was moving very slowly with the ship barely making any headway. The plan was simple when the order was received the Frunze would pick up speed back up to twenty knots and head for the west coast of South America. Once on the shipping lanes sinking any allied shipping they could find. He had already detached the two Victor to take up position off of Panama Canal. The two submarines would inflict losses on the allied shipping. The final orders were to use all the torpedoes they carried in those attacks. Then they were their way to Angola where they could be resupplied with torpedoes. It would take the Americans at least a week or two before they could send a task force to respond. By that time the Kirov could move on to the south Atlantic to devastate the allied shipping in the South Atlantic.


200 Nautical miles to the west of the coast of Chile. Admiral Johnson was extremely happy he had an all nuclear squadron of ships which gave the squadron an unparalleled freedom of movement. He believed that the Kirov was headed for the west coast of South America. That way the Kirov could avoid being tracked by the pacific version of the SOSUS system. He could take his squadron north or south and given that going north. Going north he felt was the best option. He had a feeling that the Kirov would show up along the coast attacking shipping as the ship headed south disrupting the shipping lanes and humiliating the American Navy. Then around the horn and off to attacking the NATO shipping in the South Atlantic causing even more havoc and possibly forcing NATO to shift a carrier task force.

He knew he was facing the Soviet Union’s biggest baddest warship and he had no intention of pulling an Admiral Craddock. But he had a squadron of front-line warships while individually weaker than the Frunze as a group they would be roughly superior to the Frunze. He planned on at least crippling the Frunze enough to force her into a neutral harbor.

10am 25Aug Captain Sergey Boyarov was commander of Task Force Boyarov. He had a mission of creating havoc in Polynesia. It was hoped that his two destroyers and one tanker would tie up several first line warship protecting the Western Alliances supply lines. He was no Captain Blackbeard but he would do his best. He had even went, so far as to have two platoons of Soviet Naval Infantry assigned to his ships. He planned on landing on different islands and destroying any long-distance radios cutting the island off from outside contact. He hoped that as islands lost contact with the world the Americans would have to move units into Polynesia to deal with his squadron. Captain Boyarov liked the plan.

8am 25/26Aug 100 Nautical miles to the north of Arawa, Peoples Republic Bougainville
Since the arrival of the Portsmouth back to its patrol area, not much had happened except that Nate as the new Captain was working hard to get his crew to accept his methods of command. He expected his officers, non-commissioned officers and even his enlisted sailors to show some signs of initiative. He firmly believed that the one big advantage of the American military was the initiative of its personal. But it seemed like the previous Captain had spent a lot of his time stamping out any sign of initiative from the crew. This made Nate nervous, the lack of initiative meant that someone might be afraid make Nate aware of a problem or even a potential problem.

10AM Canberra Australia
The planners for the attack on Bougainville were gathered for a final briefing on the planned assault on Bougainville. The plan was simple, the plan was to attack the Soviet Shortland Naval Base. Take the base and then conquer the rest Bougainville. But the first step was to take out the Soviet Air Force and then a collection of warships and Amphibious ships would head for Shortland Island. Those ships would defeat the handful of corvettes that were still defending Bougainville. The plan were for the attack on Shortland Island roughly two weeks after the start of the war.

10am Subic Bay Philippines
Vice Admiral Meyer sat looking over the list of forces at his disposal. The surface Action Group with the New Jersey at core and the Carrier Battle Group formed up around the Carl Vincent were actually not in the South China Sea but to the east of the Phillipine’s. He had four nuke boats operating in the South China Sea. He had assigned two Sturgeon Class submarines the Tautog and the Aspro as well as the Plunger and Hado both Permit class submarines. His only LA class submarine, the City of Corpus Christi was attached to his Carrier Battle Group. The idea was that Subic Bay and Clarks AFB would roll with the initial attacks by the Soviet Forces operating out of the old American base in Cam Ronh Bay.

Admiral Meyer was going to allow the Soviets to initially have control of the South China Sea. But he was going to regain control in short order especially given what the Soviet had in the same waters. Operating out of the Soviets airbase near Cam Rahn Bay have twenty-four Mig-23 Floggers as well as eighteen Badger bombers. There was also an assortment of recon and transport planes. He planned a battle designed to bleed the Soviet air units in Southeast Asia dry. Then the Surface Action Group with the Carrier Battle Group backing it up would sweep through the South China Sea finishing off whatever was left of the Soviet Navies surface forces.

As for naval forces, the Russians had a surface action group with the flagship being the Kresta III Marshal Voroshilov backup by the Kresta II cruiser Vladivostok, a pair of Kanin Class destroyers the Gordyy and the Upornyy a pair of Kresta class frigates Razumnyy and the Razyashchiy. There were another five submarines those subs were a mixed bag, the K-43 a Charlie 1 class submarine, a November class submarine K-14 a Echo II class the K-23, Kilo class submarine the Chita and finally the Foxtrot B-427. But there was at least two question marks one was a Juliet Class submarine that had been reportedly heading for the South China Sea but no one so far had seen it and then there were reports of a Golf Class submarine reportedly in the Gulf of Thailand. The list of support ships was fairly short two minelayers and four minesweepers as well as a pair of replentishment ships the resupply and tanker variants and one submarine tender the Viktor Kotelnikov. As for the Vietnamese Navy was pretty weak a lot of coastal defense ship and a few frigates.

Admiral Muller was of the opinion that he had the Soviet Forces well in hand but if the Soviets got lucky then things could change rapidly.

Korea was looking like a meatgrinder and no one knew just who would win foresure. But it was rumored that the Japanese were seriously considering sending troops into South Korea if the South Koreans asked for help. The American and Soviet Pacific fleets were both lined up for a battle royal in the Northern Pacific.

9am Vladivostok Commander of Soviet Forces in the Far East sent a response back to STAVKA. The message was short and to the point. Unless STAVKA would agree to a delay of the start of the war there was no way that designated units could be moved to the Provideniya before fighting started. There was no way that the Helicopters could be ferried in time to carryout out an offensive. At the same time there was no time to setup a stockpile of supplies to support such on operation. It was simply not realistic to attempt to do so at this time.

To begin to build up a stockpile of supplies it would take at least two freighter to carry the allotted cargo of food, munition, POL and other supplies. It would take at least two days to load the ships and up to six day to get to Provideniya and at least four days to unload the ships. As for the helicopter we would have to setup a series of refueling points along the way to Provideniya to move the necessary helicopters to the attack area. The only thing was somewhat easy was the movement of the Ground personal and their equipment since there was a more than adequate supply of transport planes.

I do not expect the neither the Politburo nor STAVKA would continuance such a delay nor would I ask them to.

3am Moscow
The War warning alert is sent out across the world to all locations sabotage attacks were to break out no earlier than twenty hours from the receival of the alert on 26th August.

For the WARSAW PACT most of the forces were in position and were only waiting for their orders to move. Once exception in the north of East Germany where two Artillery division move closer to the frontline. The British Army will find out what it is like to be under an artillery barrage of the Soviet Army.

10am Meiningen East Germany
To the south a final meeting was being held, the leadership of the 771st Rifle Division, the 90th Independent Assault Gun division, the 1051st Airborne brigade ass well as the 5th 6th and 8th Penal Battalion. Officers from the Helicopter units from the 1st Guards Army were also in attendance a regiment of Hoplite helicopters a total of sixty helicopters. The regiment has the ability to move the half of the 1051st Airborne Brigade. There is also a detachment of twenty Hip Helicopter to provide the needed gunships for the upcoming operation. The officers from the 6th Guards Independent Motorized Brigade. At this time the brigade was being moved from Berlin.

For a battle plan pulled together on short notice the officers handling this operation were happy to say that almost all units were in place. The only unit that was not emplace would be offloaded from the trains bringing it would be unloaded to day and the men and equipment were be on the way to the front. It was not as difficult as people might have thought. The railroad station was in the town of Meiningen East Germany. Not more than ten kilometers from the Inner border. The officers and men of the 28th would be short of sleep when they started the attack. But that was not the High Commands problem.

10am London
Oleg Gordievsky, had arrived earlier in the day at the embassy and he had been briefed on the messages received. There was only one that counted the message stating that war would break out tomorrow. He could immediately defect and tell the British but that would not be necessary. He was going out to talk to a member of the House of Commons. This agent was a member of the Tory Party, he was no fellow traveler he was simply put a man with a gambling addiction and in return for information he would be paid a steady amount of cash for his information. Today the man had the latest briefing on British internal security. Specifically, the Territorial Army units that were being held in the United Kingdom to maintain order.

Gordievsky was going to a restaurant noted for its full English breakfast to meet the man for breakfast. The whole meeting would be open and out where everyone could see what was happening. Hiding in plain sight, for everyone to see. The meeting was successful and the man walked off happy in the knowledge that the envelope stuffed with pound notes would get Bookie off of his back for at least a few days.


On his way back to the Embassy he checked his watch and made sure that the Pub was open. It was really too early for him but he had to drop off the message telling the Embassy that war would break out in less than twenty-four hours. Ordering a drink and taking a quick look around he could see his contact waiting for him. Once he finished his drink, he headed out the door and went to the drop off. Leaving the information, he headed back to the Embassy.

The contact pickup the message and immediately was picked up by another agent and they were off to the headquarters. The agent was immediately ushered up to the head of MI-6. The message was immediately handed over and the message read. The head of MI-6 immediately called the Prime Minister’s office and he was immediately transferred to her. Prime Minister Thatcher listened to what the message said and then she ordered the immediate gathering of her Defense Council. At the same time, she ordered the Head of MI-6 to immediately inform Britain’s allied intelligence services. With that the word began to spread through the Western Alliance.

Now all they could do is wait. Until 6Am , 26 August 1984. Where upon World War Three would start.

10am Brussel General Rogers give his order for operation Crystal Ball to be carried out. The first strike would be 5:45Am. Fifteen minutes before the Soviet forces would attack NATO forces in Europe would carry out an initial strike on selected troop concentrations, along German the Inner border. There would be some attempts by the NATO navies to carry out similar strikes on Soviet Forces in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Baltic and the North Atlantic.

10pm Pentagon
An alert was sent to all American forces stating that with each passing day the likelihood of the WARSAW PACT assault will happen. Emphasize to all troops, that we expect the WARSAW PACT to attack in the next two days.