“He had better get things back quickly. We have a schedule to keep. I know that the Allies will put up resistance, but we are expending everything to get through to the English Channel. Tell that commander to get the job done or I will get someone in there who can,” Borodin demanded as he slammed down the phone.
Flinging the covers to his bed back, he got up and rushed to his shower. The water came out as a trickle instead of a steady stream. Cursing under his breath, he splashed some of the water on his face and toweled it off. He then went to his room and began putting on his suit. He noticed that it was getting colder. Finally, the lights flickered back on. Looking out the window he saw that the rest of the city was dark. As he pulled his suit coat on, he walked to his door and called for the guard. “What is going on with the electricity? They know I have given strict orders that electricity must be maintained. Have you heard anything?” he asked.
The guard shook his head. “Nothing, really, Mister President. I heard they were calling, but no answer as yet. They had some trouble with the generator, but they got it running. Is there something else I can do for you?” he asked.
Borodin waved him off. “Let’s go down to the briefing room. We can find some answers there,” he said.
The two men walked down the corridor and into an elevator. They went down three floors to another heavily paneled hallway. Turning left, the men walked to the end of the hall and entered another guarded doorway. Inside was a table where men were seated, talking on phones to their counterparts in the Defense Ministry. Video monitors filled the far wall and several younger officers rushed back and forth doing various tasks for the men at the table. Everyone stopped and stood when Borodin entered the room.
“Alright, I am here. What is going on?” Borodin asked brusquely.
General Aledrovy walked back to one of the large screen monitors. He pointed to a line that bowed across Poland. The line of advance has been pushed back about five miles and is firming up. The reserve tanks have come forward to hold the line. But now we are getting some reports of activity near the former border. I doubt it is serious, but we have called for the Second Army to send an additional division from the Ukraine to bolster the lines and continue the advance. They are on the way now,” he reported.
“What about those casualty figures? Have we gotten any more information?” Borodin asked.
Aledrovy looked almost stricken. “The casualties are rising. Our initial estimates were nowhere close to accurate. Our troops are still being lost behind the lines. There are reports of what sounds like a swarm of bees just before the attacks. Then pistol shots and men begin dropping. It looks like they are targeting tank crews specifically. The latest figure, including those lost to direct enemy action is over twenty thousand,” he said. But something else has happened,” he said as he nodded to the Air Force general across from the President.
“Sir, we are getting reports from across the country that there are explosions at a number of sites. Fourteen of our hydroelectric dams have been struck. A number of the oil refineries from the Urals back to the Baltic were hit. There are massive fires. Another thirty seven of our electric generating plants are also inoperative due to explosions. The large electrical distribution yard outside Moscow has been hit and is inoperative. Several natural gas yards have been destroyed. There were also hits on a number of key bridges across the country. Right now, there is practically no electricity flowing anywhere in Russia. It appears this is due to a low level cruise missile attack. As you know, Comrade President, there is very little chance of such an attack being detected. The missiles could have come from anywhere, including launch from submarines. We stepped up anti-submarine patrols and have placed more aircraft in the air. We also stepped up manned stations along the coasts so that any future attacks will be detected,” the general reported.
“This is unacceptable. We have entered the winter. Our people are going to get cold. Divert what we need to get the electricity back on,” Borodin ordered.
“That will be a problem, Comrade President,” said the Energy Minister. “It will take months to achieve this. The only thing we can do for now is bring in portable units that can supply at least some power. But there are not enough to even help the major cities, much less the countryside. Most of the major manufacturers have their own units, but they won’t last forever. The only thing we can do is supplement with coal and oil fired units that have been shut down.”
“That won’t work when our refineries are destroyed and our bridges are down,” cried another minister. “Remember we are at war! Our armies have first priority for our resources.”
The arguments spread like a wildfire. No one had expected such a devastating blow this early on. This was supposed to be a rapid thrust to the Channel, then spreading out for all of Europe. Until today, everything had worked perfectly. Finally, Borodin held up his hand to quell the bickering. “You were supposed to have things ready to prevent such things as this from happening. Nothing should have reached Russian soil. Now I see that your efforts have fallen short. I must question your leadership on other matters as well.” His words slapped everyone in the room. Suddenly they realized how vulnerable their positions were.
Borodin continued, “We must do what we can for our people, but the main goal is to continue our thrust into Europe. Draw forces from the east to supplement our troops. Issue some of our small coal burning units to people in the rural areas and get some electricity to the cities. The people will just have to suffer through this. We have done this in the past, and the people can do it again,” he said. Glancing back at the screen, he asked, “What are the red areas on the map in the Atlantic?”
Admiral Metzik stood. “They are submarines that have been lost so far. Most were tracking American ships coming out of port. Several of our commanders report they have sunk American subs as well. We do not have firm numbers yet,” he said.
Borodin looked slightly stricken. There were well over thirty spots on the display. “How can this be? According to your intelligence, most of their submarines were still in port,” he said.
Metzik nodded slightly. “This is true. Our people on the ground have reported that the mining of the ports has worked well. Several of their ships were struck and few ships can get to sea, however, it appears there were still a fairly large number of submarines and ships that are at sea. They may have left port just before operations began.” He pulled up an image of USS Gettysburg broken in two and sitting in the channel of the St. John’s River. “Here is an example of what our mines have done,” the admiral said with glee.
Borodin smiled. “At least something has worked well. Are we still blockading the air traffic?”
“Yes, Comrade President. No aircraft have challenged us and no aircraft have crossed this line,” he said. He didn’t tell the President that there were other ways to get across the Atlantic.
Borodin sat back in his seat. It would be foolish to think the Allies would not put up some resistance. Everything they had done had worked well to this point. He resigned himself to let the people at home suffer for a while. The main goal was to win this war.
The Joint Chiefs stared at the three dimensional display with unbelieving eyes. There in the room was what looked like a model of the battlefield in Poland. They could see the differences in the terrain, the trees and brush, and the individual tanks and soldiers as they moved along the battlefield. The display was the size of a basketball court. What was even more amazing was when aircraft appeared on the scene. They could clearly be seen above the ground as they attacked the troops on the ground. Even the explosions could be seen flying into the miniaturized air.