Several of the members at the table nodded in agreement. It was sound advice, even if it was hard to accept with everyone’s emotions running so high.
A moment passed as the Secretary of State’s words soaked in. Then the President turned to his SecDef and asked, “When do we start to win some battles in Europe?”
All eyes turned to Secretary Castle, who smiled a devilish grin and began to explain the new strategy.
Surprise Attack
General Cotton was fuming.
“What were the Chinese thinking, giving that madman that kind of nuclear weapons’ capability?” he thought.
When he heard the US was going to respond with nuclear weapons, he was stunned. Then he saw the images coming from San Francisco, and he no longer cared about how many Chinese or North Koreans were just vaporized by American nukes.
“Just after the incident (as the Russians are calling it), they assured me that Russia had no intentions of turning the war nuclear. They also insisted that they had no foreknowledge of this event. Well, it doesn’t matter if they knew in advance-as long as they don’t use nuclear weapons themselves, we can win this fight in Europe,” thought the SACEUR confidently, pumped up with national pride and a desire to put America back on top.
The arrival of Three Corps brought 49,000 fresh soldiers to bolster the NATO army group. The addition of the 1st Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 1st Armored Division and the 4th Infantry Division brought with them battle-hardened combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, along with a very combat-experienced NCO cadre-something the NATO forces desperately needed. The European units that were making up the bulk of the fighting thus far, lacked any serious combat experience and their training had done little to prepare them for the onslaught they had faced against Russia.
General Cotton looked down at the field report that had been given to him several hours earlier and decided that they were now ready to start a new offensive. The Navy had rushed nearly 1,600 main battle tanks to Europe, along with 3,500 infantry fighting vehicles. Together with the British, German, French, Dutch, and Polish forces, that brought his tank numbers up to nearly 4,000 main battle tanks and over 20,000 assorted infantry fighting vehicles. His troop numbers had swelled to 180,000, with fresh Reserve and National Guard units being airlifted to Europe daily from the States. He still had another 65,000 soldiers of V Corps that were reforming in Germany, and they would be ready by the end of November.
In was now mid-October, and the war was nearly seven weeks old. If the Russians thought NATO was going to roll over and play dead, they had another thing coming. Cotton smiled mischievously at the plan he and Secretary Castle had come up with.
“We are going to catch the Russians by surprise with this next move,” he thought, “but the key to making it work will be getting the politicians to go along.”
The Russians had staged the 6th Tank Army in Belarus, tying down the entire Polish army from being able to commit to NATO in Ukraine. While the Russians had not invaded the Baltic States, the presence of several divisions forced him to keep the bulk of the 82nd Airborne spread across the three countries to keep the Russians in check. While Belarus was not looking to become further involved in this conflict, the fact that they were allowing the Russian 6th Tank Army to set up camp in their country was keeping 90,000 troops that General Cotton needed in Ukraine tied down so that they could defend Poland and the Baltic States. It was a brilliant move by the Russians, and General Cotton had had enough of it.
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” Cotton thought to himself.
As SACEUR, he brought this problem to the SecDef. He needed to get permission from the President to deal with the threat and try to end the Russian war quickly. His plan called for the Ukrainian forces in the south to hold their positions, with assistance from the Romanians; this would protect his southern flank. The 108,000 NATO soldiers near Rivne, Ukraine would conduct a feint and appear as if they were going to smash directly into the Russian lines. This would force the Russians to move additional divisions forward in order to block the allied forces’ advance. Then, the US Three Corps (along with the Polish 11th Armored Cavalry Division and the 12th Mechanized Division) would launch a surprise attack on the Russian Tank Army in Belarus from Białystok, Poland in the north and a southern push from Ratne, Ukraine.
Once they had captured the Russian army group, they would advance on Minsk and then look to threaten Moscow directly. This would force the Russian army group in Ukraine to have to fall back and defend the capital. Then NATO could liberate Ukraine and bring an end to the war no one thought would happen. It was an audacious plan, and it just might work.
Punched in the Face
Major General Paul Austin of the 4th Infantry Division was looking out the window at the countryside whipping past his vehicle as his division raced through Lithuania on their way to Vilnius, the capital city. It was still dark, but he could make out some buildings and petrol stations just off the deserted E67 highway as they drove along. He had nearly 2,000 vehicles in his column, snaking across twelve miles of the highway. The decision had been made the day before to change the invasion of Belarus slightly and have his division race north into Lithuania so that they could make a more direct move on Minsk. His 11,000-man division was going to try and capture Belarus’ capital, and then seal off any possible retreat of the Russian 6th Tank Army.
Following General Austin’s division into Belarus would be service members from the Lithuanian army; they would be responsible for the occupation and garrison duty once the primary objectives had been achieved. They spoke the language, unlike the Americans, and shared more of a common history and culture since both countries were former Soviet republics.
Austin’s division had been on the road now for nearly five hours, but they still had close to 40 kilometers to travel before they reached the outskirts of the city and then made their way to the jump off point. They were going to cross the border at Medininkai on the E26 Highway, which would lead directly to Minsk, 155 kilometers away. He looked down at his watch.
“The rest of Three Corps and the Polish army should be crossing into Belarus right about now, starting the new offensive,” he thought.
At 0700 hours, his division began to roll through the tiny border town of Medininkai (population 528), when they spotted the first sign of enemy activity. A small contingent of armored vehicles and soldiers was gathered along the road. They must have been very nervous at the sight of hundreds of American military vehicles amassing not far from their position because MG Austin could see enemy soldiers scrambling to get in their vehicles and race away from the border. They knew they were clearly outmatched-his division had 62 M1A2 Abrams battle tanks, 96 Bradley fighting vehicles, and 126 Stryker vehicles. They also had an artillery brigade for direct fire support. His forces were ready to pounce; now they just had to wait until it was time.
As they approached the border, he deployed his scouts and forward observers to start getting eyes on possible enemy units they may encounter. Soon he had scouts as deep as 40 kilometers inside Belarus. Shortly, the action would pick up and he would lead his division in a mad race to capture the capital city of Minsk.