Hello, my readers! Back again with another chapter!
Hope you guys have been enjoying this story so far. Please let me know anything you would like to see. Any types of military action, any particular battles, or chapters featured on any particular character.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 9- Japan Liberated!
(October 10, 2008)
The stars are obscured by the cloud cover that hovers at 10,000 feet over the city of Nagasaki. It's quiet, despite the many Slytherin forces in the city.
It's been over a month since the fall of Tokyo. The four home islands are now almost completely under Allied control Honshu has been completely captured, with the last stronghold on the island, Hiroshima, falling to the Free Forces on September 30. The island of Hokkaido had been invaded on September 12, and was declared liberated on September 21. The island of Shikoku was invaded on September 25, and declared liberated the following day, as all defenders on the island had been transferred to Kyushu and western Honshu. Last of all, Kyushu had been invaded on September 28. The initial landing had been the most costly landing of Operation Rising Sun. The defenders had been much more heavily dug in, and a second bombardment by the battleships was needed to soften up the defenders enough that the landing forces could take the beach.
Kyushu had been heavily defended. But, about a week earlier, all surviving forces on Kyushu had retreated to Nagasaki. It was agreed among the Free Forces' command structure that Slytherin forces intended to make their last stand in Nagasaki.
Eighteen Army divisions had descended on Nagasaki, preparing to assault the city. But, the defenses protecting the city were extensive. The Slytherin forces had particularly strong air defenses. They had many SAM launchers and anti-aircraft guns in and around the city. And in the center of the city, in the midst of civilian centers, were very powerful air-search radars that could detect incoming aircraft at several times the distance covered by the targeting radars guiding the SAMs and AA guns, also giving the Slytherin forces time to scramble their fighters well ahead of time. Anti-missile guns defended the radars from anti-radar missiles.
The first two attempts at an air attack against Nagasaki had taken heavy losses. The first attempt at a strike had resulted in the loss of 36 of the 54 aircraft. And the second had seen similar losses, with 60 of 84 aircraft shot down. Both fighters and ground-based anti-aircraft defenses had contributed to the losses.
The Air Force had cancelled further attacks. They knew that the air-search radars in the center of the city were a major part of the problem. If they could not whittle down the defenses and troop numbers with air attacks, taking Nagasaki would be a costly endeavour.
But Harry and other leaders had devised a plan. It would be highly risky. But it stood a good chance of working.
By this time, it was about 1 in the morning of October 10. In a civilian neighborhood, multiple doors suddenly open, and from out of them come men dressed in nighttime camouflage. They're members of Spetznaz Team 2, smuggled into the city one at a time over days, and hidden in the homes of members of the Japanese resistance movement. They're a combination of Russian, Chinese, South Korean, German, and Polish men.
These men together move to a rendezvous point in the neighborhood. Then, in a move that some of them really don't want to do, they descend into the sewers and begin making their way towards their targets: the buildings that contained the air-search radars.
It had been decided that targeting them with air strikes or cruise missile strikes would cause too many civilian casualties. So, a Spetznaz team, already trained in industrial sabotage, was selected to destroy the radars with as few civilian casualties as possible.
In the sewers below the city, the leader of the team, a Russian Colonel by the name of Marko Kamarov monitors his tracking device. Resistance members had pinpointed the buildings which contained the radars and left behind GPS trackers to make sure that the team could find them. Colonel Kamarov had been issued a device that could track their position in the city while in the sewers, while still receiving signals from the GPS trackers.
"Hold tight, men. I know this is less than ideal, but we've been in worse," Kamarov whispers to his men. Several groans answer him, but otherwise his men remain silent.
The trip to where the two radars are located is about 30 minutes, though in two different directions. The team splits into squads of twenty men each halfway there, each heading to one of the target buildings.
As Kamarov nears the target, he gets on a very special radio he was issued that is completely untraceable and unjammable. Twisting a dial to get on the right frequency, he says quietly, "Colonel Kamarov to Command."
A moment later, Harry's voice comes over. "Hear you loud and clear, Colonel. What's your status?"
"The team has split to pursue both targets. Estimate 5 minutes to target," Colonel Kamarov says.
"Understood, Colonel. Good luck," Harry responds before cutting off the transmission.
Kamarov returns his radio to his pack and continues ahead.
A few minutes later, he raises his fist, and the men behind him come to a halt.
"We're here. Sergeant Mohr, find us the way out of here," Kamarov orders. Sergeant Mohr, a 25 year old German, nods and walks ahead. He doesn't have to go far before he sees the exit.
"Here," he calls quietly as he shoots up a cable and hauls himself up. The rest of the team follows him.
When the team emerges from the sewers, they find themselves just a hundred yards down the street from the target building. Quietly, but swiftly, the team makes their way down the street towards the building.
When they reach the building, they fan out on either side of the door. Kamarov looks towards Lao Cheng, a Chinese wizard who had been assigned to the team.
"Lieutenant Cheng. Can you open these?" Kamarov asks. Cheng nods as he approaches and draws his wand.
"Alohomora," Cheng whispers. And with a slight clunk, the lock opens.
Cheng chuckles. "You'd think they would've thought someone might try that and taken precautions," he says amidst his chuckles. A few more members of the squad chuckle too.
"Quiet. We can't let them know we're here," Kamarov says. All the men quiet down.
Carefully, Cheng and Kamarov open the doors, and slips into the building. They make their way over to the elevator, and open the doors.
Once inside the elevator, Kamarov pulls out a torch and cuts a hole in the top of the elevator. Cheng gives Kamarov a boost, and the Colonel climbs up on top of the elevator car.
Kamarov reaches down and helps Cheng up. Together they help as many men as can onto the top of the car.
Once the top is full of men, Kamarov looks at two Russian soldiers, Sergeant Ivankov and Lieutenant Petchkin, and says, "You two help the rest of the men up." Kamarov and the others then fire off extension cables and begin the ascent up the elevator shaft.
Below them, Ivankov and Petchkin help the rest of the men onto the top of the car. They then fire off their own extension cable and begin the ascent themselves.
Kamarov and his group go all the way to the top of the elevator shaft. Cheng uses a spell to force the doors open, and Kamarov and the other 9 men clamber out of the shaft onto the floor.
Kamarov motions the men forward, and they head towards the staircase that will lead them to the roof. But, as Kamarov starts to come around a corner, he doubles back and hides behind the corner. The rest of the men stop abruptly behind him.
Kamarov leans around the corner, and sees the guard that made him double back, and three more guards.
He turns around and says in a very low voice, "Okay. Four guards. All armed. I'll go out and take the first one. Cheng, Mohr, and Rommel, you handle the other three." The named men nod and draw their pistols.
Kamarov draws his combat knife. He slowly steps around the corner, and creeps up behind the closest guard. He tip-toes up behind the man, then lunges. He wraps his arm around the guy's head, then uses his knife to slit the man's throat.
He doesn't die quietly. The man lets out a gurgle as he dies. This draws the attention of the other three guards. They whip around, weapons raised, and have just enough time to see Cheng, Mohr, and Rommel, all with pistols raised, before the three Spetznaz pull the trigger, and the three guards collapse.
"Move it," Kamarov orders, and the 10 Spetznaz storm towards the staircase.
Down below, the rest of the Spetznaz reach their target. A lower floor that holds the control room for the radar.
They force the elevator door open and clamber out of the elevator shaft. This time, guards are immediately waiting for them.
Taken off guard, the guards wait too long to reach for their weapons. The Spetznaz raise their assault rifles and fire, cutting down the guards before they can react. The 10 men race towards the control room, knowing their presence is no longer secret.
It doesn't take them long to find the control room. Two more guards are standing outside the door. A pair of pistol shots take them out before they realize they're in danger.
One of the Spetznaz is holding a small battering ram, and uses it to smash down the door. The Spetznaz storm into the control room. Four controllers and four guards are in the room.
The men in the room are caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Spteznaz. Three of the controllers and two of the guards are killed before they can even react. The remaining three manage to pull out their guns and return fire. But the Spetznaz are too quick. Two are hit, but the remaining three men in the room are quickly killed.
The two Spetznaz who were hit sit down, and two more work to bandage their wounds, which are not too serious.
The other six Spetznaz hurry to complete the objective. They remove small explosive charges from their packs and set them against the various consoles and computers strategically, to ensure destruction of all the equipment, while minimizing the damage outside the room and building.
Up on the top of the building, Kamarov and his squad have secured the roof. There were just two more guards, and were taken out quickly and quietly. Now, like their comrades below, they set small explosive charges against the radar antennas.
Once the charges are set, Kamarov and his men on the roof step way back, while the team below retreat to the door to the elevator. And they wait. The plan calls for the Spetznaz in both buildings to set off their charges at the same time.
As he waits, Kamarov radioes the squd in the other building. "Bravo Squad, come in."
"This is Bravo Squad. Roof and control room secure and charges are set. Standing by," replies a Korean Captain, Kim Duk Chang, who is in charge of Bravo Squad.
"Copy, Captain Chang. Proceed as planned," Kamarov says before cutting off the transmission.
The two squads wait until 2:00 AM. Then, in both buildings, the teams press the buttons on the detonators, and the charges detonate. In an instant, both buildings control rooms and antennas are destroyed.
In an EC-130 far to the east of Nagasaki, controllers monitoring radar waves coming from the city notice the biggest signals drop off their monitors. "The Spetznaz did it! Send the message!" one of the controllers yells.
The message is relayed to the cockpit. The pilot immediately radioes an E-3 Sentry on station over Hiroshima and says, "Our controllers report a loss in signal from the biggest systems! The main radars are down! The Spetznaz did it!"
"Copy that," one of the Sentry controllers replies. He passes on the message to another controller, who quickly radioes her charges and says, "Strike Force Alpha. You are cleared to advance to target. Good luck."
50 miles east of Nagasaki, a formation of 15 F-117 Nighthawks turns towards the city and throttles up. This is the first time stealth fighters have been used in combat in the war. The stealth aircraft fleet of the Air Force is comprised of F-117s, F-22s, Su-47s, and B-2s, and is still a relatively small fleet. Up until now, the entire fleet has remained in Australia, since there are still so few of them. But, when it became clear how well Nagasaki was defended, 18 of the Air Force's Nighthawks were flown to Japan to help in this operation. 15 were selected to fly on this mission.
The 15 Nighthawks are each loaded with a pair of 2,000 pound JDAM GPS guided bombs. And now, as they approach the city, they separate, each headed for their assigned targets. Their job is to take out SAM batteries around the city. For that purpose, the JDAMs they're carrying are blast-fragmenting varieties, designed to maximize blast radius.
At the spot where the Nighthawks had been hanging out, 50 miles east of Nagasaki, a squadron of F/A-18E Super Hornets sent by the Navy are circling at low altitude, waiting for any fighters that may try and go after the Nighthawks. The Super Hornet has one of the lowest radar signatures of any non-stealth fighter, and at low altitude, will be virtually undetectable at this distance.
The Nighthawks streak in towards Nagasaki at 400 miles per hour. The lead Nighthawk pilot, an American Colonel named Ken Dwelle, radioes his aircraft, "All pilots, you're cleared to attack. Retreat to the rendezvous point once your weapons are expended."
The Nighthawks fly straight for their targets. The Slytherin defenders are starting to realize something is wrong, because they're no longer getting responses from the main radar facilities. But their targeting radars are showing nothing. The crews of many SAM batteries are completely unaware that death is descending on them.
The Nighthawks line up on their targets. The SAM batteries' locations had been pinpointed by reconnaissance satellites days earlier, and their locations had been fed into the bombs before take off. Now, the Nighthawks close to two miles from their targets, and each pilot presses the pickle button. The bay doors on each Nighthawk open, and fifteen JDAMs drop. The Nighthawks immediately move on to their next targets.
One by one, the JDAMs reach their targets. Fifteen SAM batteries, each including multiple launchers, are destroyed within seconds of each other. Within a minute, fifteen more are destroyed as each Nighthawk releases its second bomb. Still undetected, the Nighthawks turn away and retreat to the rendezvous point 20 miles northeast of the city before returning to base.
The Slytherin defenders are in chaos. Their main search radars have been destroyed by saboteurs, and much of their air defense batteries have been destroyed with no warning.
As the Nighthawks retreat, Colonel Dwelle radios a message to the Sentry over Hiroshima, confirming their targets have been hit. Upon receiving the message, a Sentry controller radios out, "All forces, begin ingress."
200 miles north of Nagasaki, an Air Force strike force comprised of 40 A-10 Warthogs, 24 F-16s, and 16 Su-24s, escorted by 24 MiG-29s, turns towards Nagasaki and increased speed.
In less than an hour, the strike force is over Nagasaki. By now, 32 Slytherin fighters have arrived over the city. The MiG-29s engage them, shooting down 20 at long range, then engaging the survivors at close range with heat-seeking missiles. Only one Fulcrum is lost in the dogfight.
As the Fulcrums establish a CAP over the city, the F-16s lead the strike. They destroy the remaining air defenses, as well as the ships in the harbor.
Right behind them, the Su-24s split up. Eight head for the airport that had been built two years earlier in Nagasaki. There are 40 aircraft still on the ground. Two of the Fitters strafe two about to take off, and then the eight strike fighters proceed to bomb out the runways, leaving the aircraft intact, in hopes that the army could capture them.
The eight remaining Su-24s head for the government complexes in the city center. Two Fitters are shot down by handheld SAMs, but the remaining six successfully destroy the complexes, taking out the Slytherin leadership in the city, and a major store of weapons.
As the F-16s and Su-24s retreat, the A-10s began their attacks. Armed with 500 lb. bombs, Hydra 70 rockets, and AGM-65 Mavericks, as well as their 30mm cannons, they split up into pairs, and began fanning out to attack the Slytherin divisions protecting Nagasaki, focusing particularly on tanks.
Slytherin troops, like troops in Iraq in 1991 and Bosnia in 1995 who had been on the receiving end of what the Warthog could do, cried, and even screamed, in fear as the deadly strike fighters streaked down at them, firing their cannons or their other weapons.
In the course of 15 minutes, the A-10s destroy 200 tanks, and devastate five different divisions. One is shot down by a handheld SAM, but the remaining 39 escape.
At sunrise, the 18 Army divisions surrounding Nagasaki begin their attack. Still recovering from the heavy air strike, the Slytherin defenders find themselves pushed back into the city by the attacking Free Forces.
The commander of the Slytherin forces, a British general, realizes the hopelessness of the situation. It's not even noon when he sends message to Bill, expressing his desire to surrender. Bill orders his divisions to halt their attack, and the remaining 150,000 Slytherin troops surrender to the Free Forces.
(Tokyo, Noon on October 10)
Harry is sitting in the new Free Forces Japanese HQ, going over intelligence reports on defenses in South Korea and Taiwan, the next targets in the Free Forces' Asian campaign.
"General Potter." Harry looks up at a French intelligence Colonel that has just entered.
"Yes, Colonel?" Harry asks.
"We just received a message from General Bill Weasley. Slytherin forces in Nagasaki are surrendering," the Colonel answers.
Harry grins. "Thank you, Colonel. You may return to your station," he says. The Colonel nods, salutes, and does an about face before walking out.
Harry grins broadly as he picks up his phone. After dialing a number, he waits for a moment, before he hears, "High General Weasley speaking."
"Hey, Ron. How's the 'Spite?" Harry asks, shortening the name Warspite as a joke.
"Hey, dont make fun of my flagship!" Ron says. The two friends laugh.
"But to answer your question, she's performing like a champ. Anyway. What were you calling for?" Ron asks.
"Just got word from your older brother. Nagasaki has surrendered. Japan is completely ours," Harry says.
"Yes! At last!" Ron cheers.
"Yeah. Now we can move on to Korea and Taiwan," Harry says.
"Yeah! Well, I gotta go. Captain Cole is requesting me to come to the bridge. But, thanks for that news!" Ron says before hanging up.
Harry smiles as he sets down his phone. Phase one is done.
Japan is liberated.
I'll end there. I hope it wasn't too fast paced.
A couple of clarifying terms. An EC-130 is an electronic warfare variant of the classic C-130. The Su-47 was a prototype stealth fighter built by Russia that has never entered production. In this reality, the Free Forces decided to carry out production of the Su-47.
Also, to address the fact the Special Ops team was a Spetznaz team. In the Free Forces, there are multiple special ops teams, and all but one are named for special ops teams of major superpowers. The Army has the Rangers, the Delta Force, the Echo Force, and the Spetznaz. The Air Force has the SAS. And the Navy has the SEALs.
Each Army force is trained in specific operations. The Rangers are specialized in jungle/forest combat. The Delta Force is specialized in infiltration, assassination, armed reconnaissance deep in enemy territory, and rescue/target extraction. The Spetznaz is specialized in sabotage and operations in very cold climates. And the Echo Force is kind of meant for general operations, but is mainly used in urban warfare. The SAS is specialized in paratrooper operations and airfield capture/sabotage. And the SEALs are separated into multiple teams, each of which has a specific type of mission they're trained for. You'll see all of the different SEAL teams later on.
Well, until next time, please, please review, and stay tuned.
