Prior to the start of this current war, she had served as the operations commander at US Army Europe. When the Russians had launched their surprise attack, she had been wounded, along with most of her staff. After spending four months recovering from the wounds incurred during those missile attacks, she had been given command of a newly formed infantry division in the States. Her division had fought well during the Chinese counterattack, and she had landed on General Bennet’s radar. He had promoted her to be one of his three corps commanders, and she had only continued to impress.
Lieutenant General Tony Wilde had also been serving as one of Bennet’s corps commanders, out in the Russian Far East. He had earned a PhD at Harvard, although he had been highly intelligent way before that. As a battalion commander during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and a brigade commander during the infamous Iraq Troop Surge in 2007, he had distinguished himself above his peers and managed to earn a Silver Star.
Rounding out the group was Lieutenant General Jacob LaFine, an Army Ranger who had also earned a Silver Star when he’d led a rescue effort to recover a downed helicopter. He had worked as General Petreaus’ aide during the troop surge, and later worked as an aide to the Secretary of Defense. After a lot of high-level training, he had become the deputy commander of ISAF forces in Afghanistan. General Bennet was grateful to have him on his team.
It wasn’t long before Bennet was sitting in a room with all three of them and their staff officers. As Bennet’s aide brought in a fresh pot of coffee for everyone, they all took turns congratulating him on his new promotion to Supreme Allied Commander of Asia. The aide returned with some sandwiches — this was going to be a working lunch. General Bennet allowed some chitchat to continue until everyone had their food and drink situated, then he tapped his knuckles on the table as if calling a meeting to order.
“All right, it’s time to get down to business,” he declared. “The President and the SecDef have directed our theater to become the new priority theater. That means we will be going to the front of the line when it comes to new troops and equipment coming straight from the factory. The President has tasked us with getting our forces ready to defeat the Chinese and the Eastern Alliance — it’s a tall order, but we command the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen. We will rise to the occasion and defeat our nation’s enemies.”
Everyone in the room nodded in approval.
Bennet went on. “Things are going to move fast over the next couple of months. We’re going to promote a lot of people as we fill our ranks and units. Effective immediately, I’m forming up new Army groups. Each Army will be assigned a specific set of goals that will coincide with our theater objectives.”
He turned to Lieutenant General Tony Wilde first. “Tony, you’re being given your fourth star and will form Army Group One,” he announced matter-of-factly. “Since your current corps is already in the Russian Far East, your new group will be charged with defeating the Indian Army that has set up camp in Irkutsk. Once you have accomplished that mission, I want you to set up your new headquarters there. Then you are to tear into the Chinese rear areas and look to liberate Mongolia. That will place a large force in the Chinese backyard.”
“Yes, Sir,” General Wilde responded.
General Bennet looked down at his notes. “I’m going to swell your ranks to 240,000 soldiers, Tony. I can’t guarantee you that you’ll get all of those troops immediately, but we’ll reinforce you as our offensive progresses. I’m giving you three weeks to prepare and organize your forces to attack, so that means your offensive needs to be underway by June 21st. Is that understood?” he asked.
General Wilde nodded. “You can count on Army Group One to accomplish our mission, Sir,” he answered confidently. “We’ll make that Indian Army wish they had stayed neutral. They’ll regret the day they took up arms against the US of A.”
The other generals were smiling broadly. They liked his style; he liked to get into the weeds and did a lot of the briefings himself or would interrupt his briefers. There was never a dull moment.
General Bennet turned next to Lieutenant General Jacob LaFine. “I’m also promoting you, General LaFine. You’re going to take command of the newly formed Army Group Two. Honestly, you will probably have the hardest task of all — your group will be invading the People’s Republic of China.”
LaFine pursed his lips. Invading China was not going to be an easy challenge. He also was not one to shy away from adversity.
Bennet checked his notes again. “You’ve got, what—90,000 soldiers right now?” he asked.
“That sounds about right, General. I have a few divisions arriving this week, so that will add another 25,000 to my ranks,” LaFine answered.
“OK,” said Bennet. “I’m going to direct most of our new reinforcements to your Army group. Eventually, your forces will number around 350,000 soldiers.” He scratched out a few calculations before he continued. “Because it’s going to take a little longer to get your Army group the numbers, you’re going to need to break out of Korea. I’m going to delay your offensive until July 30th. This will give General Wilde time to get his offensive well underway and time for your ranks and equipment to swell.”
At this point, all of the staff officers in the room were furiously taking notes.
Bennet continued, “I want your Army group to drive the Chinese back to the ruins of Shenyang. This will place a lot of pressure on the Chinese Army to stop you from advancing, which will in turn keep the PLA distracted from our efforts to liberate the Philippines and Taiwan.”
“Yes, Sir. We will get this done,” said General LaFine emphatically.
Bennet turned to General Amy Cooper. “Saved the best for last?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood of the room a little.
General Bennet smiled. “Major General Amy Cooper, I’m promoting you two grades to a four-star general, and you’re going to take over Army Group Three. Right now, your forces have formed up in Vladivostok, Russia; I want your Army group to push into northern China and capture Harbin and Changchun. These two provinces are a major part of the Chinese manufacturing base, and a large portion of their steel factories and other critical war production factories are located in these provinces. Their capture will go a long way toward defeating the Chinese.”
General Cooper beamed with pride. She was excited about this opportunity to lead an army group in combat.
“Your group is probably going to be the slowest to form right now,” said Bennet. “Not because it’s not a priority, but because of the timeline for Army Group One to meet their goals before the winter months and because of the pressure Army Group Two will need to apply in order for your command to succeed in capturing the manufacturing northern half of China.”
“No problem, Sir. When do you want my group to move?” she asked.