Operation Red Dawn and the Siege of Europe (World War III Series Book 3) Read online

  World War III:

  America Invaded and Europe in Flames

  By

  James Rosone & Miranda Watson

  Copyright Information

  ©2016, James Rosone and Miranda Watson. Except as provided by the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher .

  Table of Contents

  Triumphant Landing

  Walls and Trenches

  Battle at Anchor Point

  Changing Tactics

  British Situation Room

  Red Square

  Tank Pressure Cooker

  Brains of the Operation

  Sky Full of Drones

  Killjoy

  Decisions in the Dark

  Occupation Offer

  Unintended Consequences

  A Problem with Math

  Raptor Rapture

  DARPA

  Smart and Bored

  Trying to See Eight Moves Ahead

  F41 Flight

  HULK

  Interrogator

  Teach and Train

  SecDef Pow-wow

  Peddling a Pan Asian Alliance

  Bait and Switch?

  Russian Reset

  Alaskan Autumn

  Too Little, Too Late

  European Tide Shifts

  Grid Attack

  Fighting Retreat

  Plans of Betrayal

  Thor and the Bodark

  Sinking SUDs

  Mirages

  A Day to Live in Infamy

  West Coast Landing

  Acronym Key

  Triumphant Landing

  1 June 2041

  Kodiak, Alaska

  As General Jing Zhu stepped off of his boat and onto the shore near Kodiak, Alaska, he felt the breeze against his face; the texture of the stones beneath his feet, the metallic smell of the blood poured out from all the dead, and the rumbling sounds of machine gun fire in the distance all made him feel the thrill of being lucky to be alive. The Americans had not succeeded in stopping his men; he was filled with confidence and pride.

  He was ushered into the temporary command center, which was nothing more than the ransacked remains of a blown out town hall. The setting was not quite as glorious as he had hoped, but he would not be deterred. Jing Zhu had waited for this day his whole life. As he entered the room, the others stood, bowing slightly as was their custom.

  “Generals, Admiral,” he began. “For the first time in modern history, a foreign army has invaded America. Today marks the end of America…and the rise of the People’s Republic of China.”

  *******

  Once the ceremony of the moment was over, the work of making the building an acceptable site for the new headquarters began. Numerous communications and computer technicians began to rummage through the ruins, setting up various computer screens, holographic communications systems and what seemed like miles of wiring. Engineers started erecting a roof over the destroyed portions of the building, shoring up the various support beams to ensure the building would be a safe location for the management of the war effort, at least until the series of underground bunkers that were planned could be constructed. General Zhu walked over to Admiral Lang Xing, the overall PLAN naval infantry commander, and asked, “What is the status of our forces at the frontlines?” He was trying to get a feel for the current situation.

  Over the past decade, Lang Xing had meticulously studied the United States Marines’ amphibious program and their training exercises. He had modeled the PLAN naval infantry tactics around the Marines and drilled his forces relentlessly for years, weeding out those who could not hack it, and fine tuning his military force. When the plans for Operation Red Dragon were drawn up, it was clear the Chinese would need a large amphibious capability if they were to secure a beachhead for the PLA and their heavier equipment to get on shore. Admiral Xing had created an amphibious landing force of nearly 180,000 soldiers, the best soldiers of any branch. During the first four months of the war, his troops had gained experience fighting in Taiwan, Guam and the Philippines. Now they were leading the invasion of America.

  “General Zhu, my naval infantry has dislodged the Americans on the beach and cut through their second line of defense three kilometers inland. They are currently engaging the Americans about ten kilometers inland at a much more substantial defensive position. Our light tanks are helping, but we now need the much thicker armor of the PLA’s heavy tanks. We will require additional artillery and air support to break through their defensive works.”

  Pulling up some images on his tablet, Lang Xing continued, “As you can see, they also have heavy artillery that appear to be sliding in and out of hiding locations in the mountains.”

  General Zhu studied the maps, images and video for a few minutes, thinking to himself, “The Americans have been very busy preparing this position for our eventual arrival .”

  Zhu responded aloud, “Admiral, the PLA is landing heavy tanks and artillery as we speak. I want your naval infantry to begin withdrawing as new PLA units move forward over the next twenty-four hours. I want your forces to reorganize and prepare for the next landings at Anchor Point, Homer and Seward and the drive towards Anchorage. The Americans are probably going to be defending these landing zones with many more soldiers. I will need your forces ready for the next landings,” General Zhu directed.

  “Yes, General. My men look forward to leading the way,” the Admiral replied. He smiled to himself, knowing that his naval infantry had thus far performed to perfection.

  ******

  Over the next three days, the PLA landed 190,000 soldiers on the Alaskan shores, and began to phase out the naval infantry so they could be used for the next critical seaborne landing. As additional heavy tanks and artillery were brought aground, the American positions came under increasing pressure from the PLA. They had held the line, despite numerous human wave and armored assaults, but that would only last for so long. American casualties continued to mount, with no means of evacuating them to the mainland.

  The Americans had known for several months that the Chinese would try to capture Kodiak Island, and had built a series of heavy defensive networks about ten kilometers inland from the shore along the various ridges and low lining mountain ranges. Most of these defensive positions were independent of each other, but they were all built to provide each site with both direct and indirect fire support to help defend each other. With heavy railguns, artillery and mortars, the Americans could rain down indirect fire all across the approaches to their positions, making it incredibly difficult to attack without taking substantial casualties. Aside from the various trench positions, the engineers had built numerous reinforced bunker positions to allow the defenders to ride out enemy bombardments and quickly man their fighting positions when needed. Tunnels had been dug beneath most of the strongholds, allowing the defensive commanders to shift soldiers from one defensive firebase to another without the enemy knowing what was happening.

  Major General Justin Daily and his 58,000 soldiers needed to hold Kodiak Island for as long as possible. As long as they remained on the island, the Chinese could not use it as a base of operations for their aircraft or supplies. American 155mm artillery pieces could hit nearly every position on the island. The PLAN and PLAAF had yet to identify all of their positions despite the relentless bombing and artillery barrages they hit the Americans with. As artillery scouts would identify a supply transp
ort heading to the beach to offload their cargo, they would call in a couple of well-placed artillery rounds to destroy it and then quickly pull the artillery guns back under cover.

  Walls and Trenches

  4 June 2041

  Kodiak, Alaska

  Private First Class (PFC) Lenny Peters had joined the Army right after the war had been declared against the Islamic Republic. He had an older brother who had joined the Navy several years earlier and was one of the sailors who had died during the IRs surprise attack against the 5th Fleet in the Red Sea. Lenny had been working for the American First Corporation and had a good paying job; his parents were distraught over his decision to leave his position to join the Army. However, he felt he needed to do something to avenge the loss of his brother and get some payback.

  After completing basic combat training, Lenny had been assigned to the 2nd battalion, 3rd brigade, 12th Infantry Division as part of an 81mm mortar team. They arrived on Kodiak Island in March of 2041, and immediately began construction of their defensive positions with the Army Corps of Engineers. Despite it being winter, the island had been spared from the extreme weather that much of Alaska had experienced; as of yet, Kodiak Island had not had a heavy blanketing of snow. This enabled a lot of work to still be done on the island. Lenny’s platoon had been assigned to build a series of five-foot-deep trenches, bunkers, machine gun nests and mortar pits. As the winter turned to spring, they began to clear trees and identify pre-targeted positions for their mortar tubes. The plan was for them to fire several rounds from their first position and then rotate to their next position. This way they would not attract counter-battery fire, and if they did, they would be long gone from that position and firing from another one. Their sergeant had them build five mortar pits, thinking that should be enough. However, during the first three days of the invasion, three of the five had been destroyed. When they were not conducting fire missions, their sergeant had them rebuilding the demolished mortar pits. They were conducting dozens of fire missions a day, sending hundreds of mortars at the Chinese.

  Over the past two days, the Chinese counter-battery fire was starting to become more effective, and they had lost nearly half of the soldiers in their platoon. They had also seen a difference in the forces they were facing. The first day it was clear they were fighting Chinese naval infantry; those soldiers were equipped with exoskeleton combat suits and fought more as individual teams rather than large clusters. During the second day of the fighting, they began to be swarmed by human wave attacks, overrun by just the extreme number of fighters. They reported their observations to higher headquarters. Their sergeant came back and told them, “The naval infantry is probably gearing up to invade the next set of islands, or maybe the mainland.”

  The fighting was gnarly and bloody, raging nearly non-stop since the Chinese had invaded. Slowly and steadily, the PLA had captured one firebase after another, despite the valiant efforts of the division to repulse them. The PLA’s heavy use of artillery and human wave assaults were starting to take their toll. The American lines continued to shrink.

  Battle at Anchor Point

  4 June 2041

  Anchor Point, Alaska

  Staff Sergeant (SSG) Paul Allen was a twenty-one-year-old young man from Wisconsin. He had joined the Army after graduating high school during the American military build-up. His main objectives in volunteering were to get the $25,000 signing bonus and GI Bill to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering once his four-year commitment was done. SSG Allen had been transferred to the 32nd Infantry Division, XI Army Group, Second Army, Alaska after recovering from the wounds he received while fighting as part of the 1st Infantry Division in the battle over Jerusalem. He had managed to survive several bullet wounds to the chest, and after going through several surgeries and physical rehabilitation, he was ready to continue his service to his country. His wounds had afforded him a promotion to Staff Sergeant, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart medal. Now his experience was being put to good use in helping form the NCO leadership of the new 32nd Infantry Division. Close to half of the NCOs and officers had been previously wounded in the Middle East or Europe--rather than returning to their old units, they were becoming part of the nucleus of the new infantry divisions being formed in the US.

  Paul missed his friends from his old unit and tried to stay in touch with some of them as best he could. They had been together during the initial invasion of Mexico, and then through the war in Israel. He knew they were fighting the Russians now, and he was glad to see that several of them were still alive after the last major battle. A couple of them had not been so lucky…this saddened him greatly. He had lost so many good friends during these past eight months. It was a lot to take in for a twenty-one-year-old man. On top of the loss of his comrades in arms, SSG Allen was dealing with tragedy on the home front. Both of his parents had been killed in Baltimore while visiting his sister and her husband for Christmas. No one could have predicted that the IR would detonate a nuclear bomb in the city. Paul still had two brothers, both living in Madison, Wisconsin, where they were from, but the weight of the grief SSG Allen carried was beginning to wear like a heavy anchor around his soul.

  Since arriving in Alaska six weeks ago, Paul had been assigned as the platoon sergeant until their new Sergeant First Class completed his advanced NCO career development course. The Army was trying to run as many of their NCOs through these advanced courses as they could when the soldiers were not actively in combat (they were doing their best to rebuild and expand their NCO cadre after so many losses and the massive expansion of the military). Paul’s company had been assigned to Anchor Point, less than a few miles from Homer, Alaska. They had the unenviable task of defending the several mile-long beach front from the Chinese. It was anticipated that the Reds would land their troops all along the peninsula to secure it for their eventual assault on Anchorage and the rest of Alaska. It was up to the men of the 32nd Infantry Division to stop them.

  An engineering battalion had assisted them in developing a series of integrated trenches, machine gun nests and bunkers to ride out the eventual Chinese bombardments. They knew the Chinese naval infantry would be using their new exoskeleton combat suits, so to slow them down they had designed a number of obstacles and mazes of concertina wire that would force them to have to navigate into carefully designed kill boxes. Thousands of landmines, claymore anti-personnel mines and other explosives had been woven all across the beaches and the first several hundred meters inland. They had also set up numerous anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns and missile systems in their defensive network. The 9th Armored Division deployed a battalion of Pershing main battle tanks, and the engineers dug a number of tank berms for them to hunker down in. A tank would usually fire a couple of shots from one berm, and then quickly move to the next one, rotating between locations to avoid shooting from the same position too many times and being easily identified.

  When the construction of this well-laid trap was complete, SSG Allen had looked at their work, stretching back to see the entire landscape. He smiled confidently, thinking to himself, “When the Chinese do eventually land their forces on Anchor Point, they will be in for a surprise .”

  General Black had positioned nearly 60,000 soldiers on the Peninsula, along with 400 tanks. It was important to bog the Chinese down on the beaches for as long possible and to bleed them dry. The Reds could only bring a limited number of soldiers with them for the invasion. Preventing them from establishing a strong foothold was key to keeping them out of Alaska. That was why General Black had spent so many resources on turning Kodiak Island and Anchor Point into the fortresses they had become. It would take time for the Chinese to ferry troops from the mainland to Alaska, and the longer they could keep the Chinese from establishing a forward base of operations, airports and seaports, the better the chances were of eventually repulsing their invasion before the weather turned back to the Americans’ favor with the arrival of winter.

  Despite the best-laid plans, the past three
days had been horrific for the soldiers of the 12th Infantry Division. The Chinese fleet had parked their ships offshore, and were launching volley after volley at the American coastline. Though most of the attacks were taking place on the Aleutian Peninsula and Kodiak Island, Anchor Point and Homer were starting to be bombarded on a regular basis. Since the Americans still did not have visual contact with the Chinese landing craft, most of the soldiers continued to ride out the bombardments in their various bunkers, turrets and machine gun bunkers, reading books, praying, writing letters to home or simply sleeping, waiting for the inevitable.

  On the second day of the invasion, several Chinese ground attack aircraft and drones started to bombard the trench networks, only to be shot down quickly by the various air defense systems. The battle for the skies above Anchorage continued to rage as hundreds of drones and manned fighter aircraft continued to fight for dominance. This limited the volume of air strikes that could hit Anchor Point and Homer, but did little to dissuade the Chinese navy from using their naval guns.

  It was not until the fifth day of the arrival of the Chinese invasion fleet that the soldiers of the 32nd Division started to see the first sign of a potential landing force. Several Chinese destroyers moved into the bay of Anchorage and sailed to within a mile of the shore to start providing more direct fire against some of the heavier fixed American defenses. The Reds started sending out a few smaller vessels ahead of the group as bait; as the Americans would fire on the ships, the Chinese were quickly identifying the camouflaged gun emplacements and counter-attacking those targets.

  As the destroyers moved into position and began to open fire, several 155mm artillery guns that had been leveled to act as shore battery guns opened fire, engaging the destroyers. A handful of 20mm railguns also joined the fray, adding their own firepower to the short engagement. From a distance it looked like a laser show as the tracer rounds, missiles and explosions shook both the land and ships. The ships being shot at were quickly becoming riddled with holes and began to sink quickly as the railguns cut right through their armor igniting ammunition stores and fuel. In less than ten minutes, three of the five Chinese destroyers had been sunk in the shallow waters, while the other two destroyers limped back to deeper waters and the rest of the fleet. When the Chinese invasion fleet did make their move on Anchor Point, they were going to have to fight through a well-established fortress at the head of the bay of Anchorage.