I noticed and I am nervously waiting to see whether Finland will be bombed to pieces in a way that will make sense at least little or if it will be senseless wholesale slaughter like DrakonFin's P&S spin-off Land of the Sad Songs.
Three Men, One Island - A Cuban Missile Crisis timeline
- Thread starter BurkeanLibCon
- Start date
Chapter 11 – Crawl Out Through the Fallout
Important Timezones:
- 19:00 D.C. time & Havana time (previous day)
- 00:00 London time
- 01:00 Berlin time & Bonn time
- 03:00 Moscow time
- 05:30 Delhi time
- 08:00 Beijing time
PARISH NOTICE: I made some slight alterations to Chapter 10.
Caroline opened her eyes. Was she dead? Had it all been a dream? A few times bashing her head against the wall tells her it's all real, and that her son in Germany really is dead. She pulls the knife from the drawer, to see his face one last time in paradise. Fatalities in Philadelphia: 1.
The South Dakota farmer was always the independent sort, he couldn't help but look out at the world from his window - even when ordered not by his radio not to. He sees the mangled wreck of a Bear's left wing in one of his distant fields. The sun is just starting to set. At least it's fucking over now.
Phil and Susie take one look up at the sky as the sirens sound, then down at the New York streets from their window, then at each other. There was always a thing between them, now they have all the time in the world - which is about twenty minutes.
The air policeman can't quite believe his eyes, a Russian bomber is landing on his airstrip. He shuts his eyes, praying they make it quick. By the time he opens them again, the crew are trying to get his attention. Hands raised, white rag in the pilot's hand, they approach slowly. The plane will have to be moved at some point.
In New Jersey, the scientist can't take his eyes off his hands. No matter what he tells himself he can't shake the dreading feeling that this is all his fault. He wondered if Fritz Haber felt the same way about his invention.
In Idaho, the engineer walks slowly up to the crater. The rest of the crew have moved safely to their shelters. How do you dispose of an unexploded nuclear bomb? Probably not by kicking it.
Deep underground in Nebraska, SAC C-in-C General Power collects himself. He prays the blast was far enough that his air supply is safe, he'll find out soon enough. He finds himself shedding a tear, not for the enemy - they brought this on themselves, but for the families of his own aircrews who will never come back from Russia.
What future generations will call "A-Day" had killed over half a billion people in under 36 hours. Whether in North America, Europe, or China, the sight, sound and smell of burning cities and human skin keeps all of the human senses alert. Most will never be able to forget them.
Whilst they did know it at the time, the Americans had gotten off comparatively light. The immediate death toll for A-Day was 11,000,000. Whilst by far the greatest catastrophe in American history, it is a far smaller proportion of their population to lose when compared with that suffered by the rest of their allies, never mind their enemies. A combination of good geography, well-trained and numerous defences and the fact they had arguably launched first means they "only" lose the following locations:
Population Centres
· Washington D.C.
· Anchorage, Alaska
· Bremerton, Washington
· Chicago, Illinois
· Colorado Springs, Colorado
· Fairbanks, Alaska
· Jacksonville, Florida
· Minneapolis, Minnesota
· New York City, New York
· Omaha, Nebraska
· Portland, Oregon
· Seattle, Washington
· Syracuse, New York
Military Targets
· Andrews AFB, Maryland
· Beale AFB, California
· Clear Missile Early Warning Station, Alaska
· Eielson AFB, Alaska
· Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming
· Kinchloe AFB, Michigan
· Malmstrom AFB, Montana
· Mather AFB, California
· Minot AFB, North Dakota
In Cuba, of the original landing force of over 120,000, two-thirds are now dead. The remaining troop ships still out at sea have a choice, continue to Cuba and await reinforcement and supply, or return home and pray that there is an undamaged port that they can reach. Most choose the latter.
For the servicemen in the European theatre, they don't even have that option. Almost half a million American forces were in Europe before A-Day. Now it is less than 11,000, most of whom are in the United Kingdom.
The war at sea continues almost unaffected by the exchange. Convoys continue to navigate the Atlantic, Soviet submarines attack them and the attacking submarines are then destroyed, sometimes with nuclear weapons. The noticeable difference this time is that lost ships are not replaced. No new convoys leave America for Europe, and the ones already in Europe realise they have little means of getting home.
At home, the situation is very bad. Across the Continental United States, a refugee crisis of unparalleled proportions is developing. Tens of millions of Americans are now internally displaced, overwhelmingly from the north and west of the country. Over the next few weeks and months, those who realise that their home city or town isn't destroyed will return there, but almost 23,000,000 will remain as homeless refugees. How they will be clothed, fed and housed is a challenge all of its very own, and there are real fears of a famine unless they can be catered for.
Among the surviors, a new killer slips quietly in amongst them. For most, it will come within several hours. The nausea and vomiting are chalked up to the shock. The hair falling out in thick clumps alerts the sufferer that something is really wrong. By the time they want to scream they have wasted away so much, they don't have the energy to do so. They scream as much as they wish in their heads. To the outside world, it looks like death comes for them excruciatingly painfully, in dark rooms, between soiled sheets. Over the next two weeks, another 3,000,000 Americans will perish this way. As the winter came early in 1962, no aid could be spared for the rest of the world besides their immediate neighbour, Canada. Despite the generous spirit of the American people, they can't save the world this time, not yet. They have the winter to pull through themselves.
To the north, the situation in Canada is near-apocalyptic. Given the geography and population structure of Canada, most of their population is clustered into a few large cities in the south of the country's territory. The results on A-Day were as follows:
Population Centres
· Calgary, Alberta
· Edmonton, Alberta
· Montreal, Quebec
· North Bay, Ontario
· Ottawa, Ontario
· Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
· Toronto, Ontario
· Winnipeg, Manitoba
· Vancouver, British Columbia
Military Targets
· RCAF Cold Lake, Alberta
· RCAF Comox, British Columbia
· RCAF Cranberry Portage, Manitoba
· RCAF Dawson Creek, British Columbia
· RCAF Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Just as the U.S. capital is forced to move, Canada's too will move. For now, the government in the Diefenbunker has to worry about how to get food to surviving settlements. If they can't, there will be famine. 10,000,000 Canadians are already dead, well over half of the pre-war population. For them, the situation is far worse than that of their southern neighbours. At the moment, they will have to sit out the next two weeks and wait for the fallout to clear.
- 19:00 D.C. time & Havana time (previous day)
- 00:00 London time
- 01:00 Berlin time & Bonn time
- 03:00 Moscow time
- 05:30 Delhi time
- 08:00 Beijing time
PARISH NOTICE: I made some slight alterations to Chapter 10.
Chapter 11 – Crawl Out Through the Fallout
4 – 18 November 1962
“And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”
– Revalation 6:3-4
Caroline opened her eyes. Was she dead? Had it all been a dream? A few times bashing her head against the wall tells her it's all real, and that her son in Germany really is dead. She pulls the knife from the drawer, to see his face one last time in paradise. Fatalities in Philadelphia: 1.
The South Dakota farmer was always the independent sort, he couldn't help but look out at the world from his window - even when ordered not by his radio not to. He sees the mangled wreck of a Bear's left wing in one of his distant fields. The sun is just starting to set. At least it's fucking over now.
Phil and Susie take one look up at the sky as the sirens sound, then down at the New York streets from their window, then at each other. There was always a thing between them, now they have all the time in the world - which is about twenty minutes.
The air policeman can't quite believe his eyes, a Russian bomber is landing on his airstrip. He shuts his eyes, praying they make it quick. By the time he opens them again, the crew are trying to get his attention. Hands raised, white rag in the pilot's hand, they approach slowly. The plane will have to be moved at some point.
In New Jersey, the scientist can't take his eyes off his hands. No matter what he tells himself he can't shake the dreading feeling that this is all his fault. He wondered if Fritz Haber felt the same way about his invention.
In Idaho, the engineer walks slowly up to the crater. The rest of the crew have moved safely to their shelters. How do you dispose of an unexploded nuclear bomb? Probably not by kicking it.
Deep underground in Nebraska, SAC C-in-C General Power collects himself. He prays the blast was far enough that his air supply is safe, he'll find out soon enough. He finds himself shedding a tear, not for the enemy - they brought this on themselves, but for the families of his own aircrews who will never come back from Russia.
What future generations will call "A-Day" had killed over half a billion people in under 36 hours. Whether in North America, Europe, or China, the sight, sound and smell of burning cities and human skin keeps all of the human senses alert. Most will never be able to forget them.
Whilst they did know it at the time, the Americans had gotten off comparatively light. The immediate death toll for A-Day was 11,000,000. Whilst by far the greatest catastrophe in American history, it is a far smaller proportion of their population to lose when compared with that suffered by the rest of their allies, never mind their enemies. A combination of good geography, well-trained and numerous defences and the fact they had arguably launched first means they "only" lose the following locations:
Population Centres
· Washington D.C.
· Anchorage, Alaska
· Bremerton, Washington
· Chicago, Illinois
· Colorado Springs, Colorado
· Fairbanks, Alaska
· Jacksonville, Florida
· Minneapolis, Minnesota
· New York City, New York
· Omaha, Nebraska
· Portland, Oregon
· Seattle, Washington
· Syracuse, New York
Military Targets
· Andrews AFB, Maryland
· Beale AFB, California
· Clear Missile Early Warning Station, Alaska
· Eielson AFB, Alaska
· Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming
· Kinchloe AFB, Michigan
· Malmstrom AFB, Montana
· Mather AFB, California
· Minot AFB, North Dakota
In Cuba, of the original landing force of over 120,000, two-thirds are now dead. The remaining troop ships still out at sea have a choice, continue to Cuba and await reinforcement and supply, or return home and pray that there is an undamaged port that they can reach. Most choose the latter.
For the servicemen in the European theatre, they don't even have that option. Almost half a million American forces were in Europe before A-Day. Now it is less than 11,000, most of whom are in the United Kingdom.
The war at sea continues almost unaffected by the exchange. Convoys continue to navigate the Atlantic, Soviet submarines attack them and the attacking submarines are then destroyed, sometimes with nuclear weapons. The noticeable difference this time is that lost ships are not replaced. No new convoys leave America for Europe, and the ones already in Europe realise they have little means of getting home.
At home, the situation is very bad. Across the Continental United States, a refugee crisis of unparalleled proportions is developing. Tens of millions of Americans are now internally displaced, overwhelmingly from the north and west of the country. Over the next few weeks and months, those who realise that their home city or town isn't destroyed will return there, but almost 23,000,000 will remain as homeless refugees. How they will be clothed, fed and housed is a challenge all of its very own, and there are real fears of a famine unless they can be catered for.
Among the surviors, a new killer slips quietly in amongst them. For most, it will come within several hours. The nausea and vomiting are chalked up to the shock. The hair falling out in thick clumps alerts the sufferer that something is really wrong. By the time they want to scream they have wasted away so much, they don't have the energy to do so. They scream as much as they wish in their heads. To the outside world, it looks like death comes for them excruciatingly painfully, in dark rooms, between soiled sheets. Over the next two weeks, another 3,000,000 Americans will perish this way. As the winter came early in 1962, no aid could be spared for the rest of the world besides their immediate neighbour, Canada. Despite the generous spirit of the American people, they can't save the world this time, not yet. They have the winter to pull through themselves.
To the north, the situation in Canada is near-apocalyptic. Given the geography and population structure of Canada, most of their population is clustered into a few large cities in the south of the country's territory. The results on A-Day were as follows:
Population Centres
· Calgary, Alberta
· Edmonton, Alberta
· Montreal, Quebec
· North Bay, Ontario
· Ottawa, Ontario
· Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
· Toronto, Ontario
· Winnipeg, Manitoba
· Vancouver, British Columbia
Military Targets
· RCAF Cold Lake, Alberta
· RCAF Comox, British Columbia
· RCAF Cranberry Portage, Manitoba
· RCAF Dawson Creek, British Columbia
· RCAF Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Just as the U.S. capital is forced to move, Canada's too will move. For now, the government in the Diefenbunker has to worry about how to get food to surviving settlements. If they can't, there will be famine. 10,000,000 Canadians are already dead, well over half of the pre-war population. For them, the situation is far worse than that of their southern neighbours. At the moment, they will have to sit out the next two weeks and wait for the fallout to clear.
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Where is the new capital, now that DC is gone?
Philadelphia? (was the capital before, when the nation was founded, and this historical context could be leveraged to help restore national morale; would be the biggest still-existing city on the east coast; however, DC/NYC fallout might pose a problem)
Los Angeles? (biggest city to still exist, major port on the west coast)
Houston? (major port/energy hub)
Detroit? (would replace Chicago as the biggest city on the Great Lakes; also, well-known as the hub of the car industry)
Kansas City? (major rail hub, in the Midwestern “breadbasket of America”, and also happens to be where I live)
Some other city? I’d love to see your ideas.
Philadelphia? (was the capital before, when the nation was founded, and this historical context could be leveraged to help restore national morale; would be the biggest still-existing city on the east coast; however, DC/NYC fallout might pose a problem)
Los Angeles? (biggest city to still exist, major port on the west coast)
Houston? (major port/energy hub)
Detroit? (would replace Chicago as the biggest city on the Great Lakes; also, well-known as the hub of the car industry)
Kansas City? (major rail hub, in the Midwestern “breadbasket of America”, and also happens to be where I live)
Some other city? I’d love to see your ideas.
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Well, where might they put it eventually, once we’re somewhat further out from the war?
That's in a few updates time when I've done the overview of the rest of the world.
The Man shouldn't feel that bad
I mean if it wasn't him than someone else would had done what he did eventually.
Though to experience what wasn't even a thing a generation before must be crazy.
I just caught up on all the chapters. The way you wrote the buildup to the exchange was so tense that it legitimately prompted me to take anxiety medication. Love the story Burk
And so, America is bent but not broken, at the cost of being highly likely to develop the single biggest case of survivor's guilt in human history.
And so, America is bent but not broken, at the cost of being highly likely to develop the single biggest case of survivor's guilt in human history.
With Quebec City not targeted, there's no doubt of an independent Quebec. Hope they don't obstruct navigation on the St Lawrence too much. Are the Soos locks and Welland Canal functioning?
Was North Bay a major city in this era? Seems an odd target.
Was North Bay a major city in this era? Seems an odd target.
It’s home to a military base - which is what I figured. The base has been there since 1951 - so would have been around during the CMC.
CFB North Bay - Wikipedia
With Central Europe literally annihilated and the rest of the continent in ruins (I think that Spain, which is not part of NATO but sheltered by American bases, is also receiving blows), the Western model is no longer attractive for Africa and Asia. We would have a rise of the Third World/non-aligned countries.
Yikes, sorry pal.
America in the short term will justify its actions fairly easily: "The Reds started it, we merely retaliated. They all work together anyhow." Remember, domino and hegemon theory were the guiding principles of American foreign relations at this point. In the longer term, questions about whether they did right or wrong will inevitably emerge, but only after the recovery period.
I don't know about Quebec politics, could you explain why an independent Quebec is more likely?
There isn't much of a world order right now, largely because the Americans have retreated to put their own house back together. By the time that will be done, they are still the world's most powerful nation by leaps and bounds.
While I agree most of the escalation was some excellent tension building, I still feel that Castro targeting US population centers on the CONUS rather than just glassing the beacheads was a major idiot ball. What was he thinking?
Then again, I could be seriously underestimating the Canadian federal government's ability to exert power over the rest of the country. Basically I figure that if Canada loses its ability to command the instruments of federal power in the province, Quebec City is in position to take them over and likely won't want to give them back at the end.
Not that I expect the Quebecois to be so heartless as to let the rest of Canada starve. Just they'll want a less (perceived by them as) unequal position after the dust settles, if the damage was bad enough to let them take it.
EDIT: Then again, the organized Quebec separatist movement was in its early stages in 1962. So it's fate in this chaos is rather up in the air.
I don't know THAT much either, but there's long been a simmering independence movement. With Canada as a whole being in no position to control the country the provinces will be on their own for a while. Quebec is in relatively good position since it has one of the very few major cities in Canada that didn't get nuked, said city being both a cultural center and a good seaport. I expect much of the province will be taking more orders from Quebec City than the Diefenbunker given how apocalyptic Ontario is, and not being eager to rejoin.
Then again, I could be seriously underestimating the Canadian federal government's ability to exert power over the rest of the country. Basically I figure that if Canada loses its ability to command the instruments of federal power in the province, Quebec City is in position to take them over and likely won't want to give them back at the end.
Not that I expect the Quebecois to be so heartless as to let the rest of Canada starve. Just they'll want a less (perceived by them as) unequal position after the dust settles, if the damage was bad enough to let them take it.
EDIT: Then again, the organized Quebec separatist movement was in its early stages in 1962. So it's fate in this chaos is rather up in the air.
''Small improvised addition, is not canon if the author BurkeanLibCon decides''
The liner ''President de Cazalet'' boarding French refugees at Port Vendres in the Pyrénées-Orientales department bound for Algeria on December 2, 1962. It is ironically one of the ships carrying the first Europeans leaving the violence of Algeria heading towards independence in May 1962.
Although following the Evian Accords, Algeria became independent in July 1962, very large military forces and an important French administration were still present on its soil during the Third World War. Sensing that Paris would certainly be targeted at the start of it, De Gaulle formed an emergency military government sheltered in an installation far from the main potential targets if the civilian government was decapitated. The destruction of Paris leading to the death of De Gaulle who did not want to abandon the capital to its fate will unfortunately confirm the prudence of this decision.
With the north-eastern quarter of France ravaged by nuclear attacks, the few survivors were repatriated to the Mediterranean coast. Extreme measures are taking place to ensure the survival of France, and among them, the cancellation of the Evian agreements to ensure a land of exile for millions of French people!
The paratroopers and infantry regiments in Algeria arrested the leaders of the first Algerian government including President Ahmed Ben Bella and neutralized the guerrilla units of the Algerian FLN who had appeared in the open after the declaration of independence and who were weakened after the quasi-civil war of the summer of 1962 with the other Algerian political parties.
Knowing that in the long term the demographics would be unfavorable to Europeans, the new French national emergency government demands that the Oran region and the oil zones of the Sahara be detached from the democratic and popular Algerian Republic. With the annihilation of the communist bloc which supports it and the general chaos in the world which prevents any material support apart from messages of sympathy from a few Arab capitals, Algiers must obey before a French army which has absolutely nothing left to lose.
While 450,000 French civilians and tens of thousands of Muslim soldiers and their families loyal to France had left Algeria before the atomic strikes, more than four million French and West European people during the two years following Europe's suicide settled in what was once again called French Algeria, which cohabited very difficultly with the Republic of Algeria.
These refugees will be helped by the experience of the kibbutzim in Israel. Tel Aviv, in recognition among other things of French aid during the Suez crisis in 1956 sending specialists helping the French administration to develop a territory seeing its population increase tenfold.
The liner ''President de Cazalet'' boarding French refugees at Port Vendres in the Pyrénées-Orientales department bound for Algeria on December 2, 1962. It is ironically one of the ships carrying the first Europeans leaving the violence of Algeria heading towards independence in May 1962.
Although following the Evian Accords, Algeria became independent in July 1962, very large military forces and an important French administration were still present on its soil during the Third World War. Sensing that Paris would certainly be targeted at the start of it, De Gaulle formed an emergency military government sheltered in an installation far from the main potential targets if the civilian government was decapitated. The destruction of Paris leading to the death of De Gaulle who did not want to abandon the capital to its fate will unfortunately confirm the prudence of this decision.
With the north-eastern quarter of France ravaged by nuclear attacks, the few survivors were repatriated to the Mediterranean coast. Extreme measures are taking place to ensure the survival of France, and among them, the cancellation of the Evian agreements to ensure a land of exile for millions of French people!
The paratroopers and infantry regiments in Algeria arrested the leaders of the first Algerian government including President Ahmed Ben Bella and neutralized the guerrilla units of the Algerian FLN who had appeared in the open after the declaration of independence and who were weakened after the quasi-civil war of the summer of 1962 with the other Algerian political parties.
Knowing that in the long term the demographics would be unfavorable to Europeans, the new French national emergency government demands that the Oran region and the oil zones of the Sahara be detached from the democratic and popular Algerian Republic. With the annihilation of the communist bloc which supports it and the general chaos in the world which prevents any material support apart from messages of sympathy from a few Arab capitals, Algiers must obey before a French army which has absolutely nothing left to lose.
While 450,000 French civilians and tens of thousands of Muslim soldiers and their families loyal to France had left Algeria before the atomic strikes, more than four million French and West European people during the two years following Europe's suicide settled in what was once again called French Algeria, which cohabited very difficultly with the Republic of Algeria.
These refugees will be helped by the experience of the kibbutzim in Israel. Tel Aviv, in recognition among other things of French aid during the Suez crisis in 1956 sending specialists helping the French administration to develop a territory seeing its population increase tenfold.
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Interesting little piece, but the state France is in post-strikes gives them greater priorities than Algeria. Spoilers, France won't reconquer Algeria.''Small improvised addition, is not canon if the author BurkeanLibCon decides''
The liner ''President de Cazalet'' boarding French refugees at Port Vendres in the Pyrénées-Orientales department bound for Algeria on December 2, 1962. It is ironically one of the ships carrying the first Europeans leaving the violence of Algeria heading towards independence in May 1962.
Although following the Evian Accords, Algeria became independent in July 1962, very large military forces and an important French administration were still present on its soil during the Third World War. Sensing that Paris would certainly be targeted at the start of it, De Gaulle formed an emergency military government sheltered in an installation far from the main potential targets if the civilian government was decapitated. The destruction of Paris leading to the death of De Gaulle who did not want to abandon the capital to its fate will unfortunately confirm the prudence of this decision.
With the north-eastern quarter of France ravaged by nuclear attacks, the few survivors were repatriated to the Mediterranean coast. Extreme measures are taking place to ensure the survival of France, and among them, the cancellation of the Evian agreements to ensure a land of exile for millions of French people!
The paratroopers and infantry regiments in Algeria arrested the leaders of the first Algerian government including President Ahmed Ben Bella and neutralized the guerrilla units of the Algerian FLN who had appeared in the open after the declaration of independence and who were weakened after the quasi-civil war of the summer of 1962 with the other Algerian political parties.
Knowing that in the long term the demographics would be unfavorable to Europeans, the new French national emergency government demands that the Oran region and the oil zones of the Sahara be detached from the democratic and popular Algerian Republic. With the annihilation of the communist bloc which supports it and the general chaos in the world which prevents any material support apart from messages of sympathy from a few Arab capitals, Algiers must obey before a French army which has absolutely nothing left to lose.
While 450,000 French civilians and tens of thousands of Muslim soldiers and their families loyal to France had left Algeria before the atomic strikes, more than four million French and West European people during the two years following Europe's suicide settled in what was once again called French Algeria, which cohabited very difficultly with the Republic of Algeria.
These refugees will be helped by the experience of the kibbutzim in Israel. Tel Aviv, in recognition among other things of French aid during the Suez crisis in 1956 sending specialists helping the French administration to develop a territory seeing its population increase tenfold.