THE SIBERIAN WAR-THE FLAMES OF GLORY
By Red Star
AYAN, KHABAROVSK PROVINCE, EAST SIBERIA, 9:00
"Agent TK has given us the location of every tank company on Sukhalin," said Captain Yevgeni Yalushin, "The 108th Armored Company is stationed outside Okha, with a small wing of fighters on a new airstrip that they've been assigned to guard, The 109th is sitting in reserve near Slavo, and the 110th is in Poronaysk. Our objective is to clear Sukhalin of a good part of these tank forces for the invasion." The Captain's crew of eight listened intently in the hanger where the new Tu-190 was stationed. Teams were busy loading the weapons racks with ASM's and AAM's. Electricians checked the bomber's roof-wing, looking for bugs in the Russian's latest weapon.
Half an hour later, the Bomber took off from the airstrip and went south.
OKHA, SUKHALIN
The Commanding Captain of the 108th tank company sneered at the headlines of his copy of the American paper New York Times. "Russian forces preparing to overwhelm Japanese troops, U.S. Intelligence says." He knew that though the Japanese had suffered recent setbacks, as long as the Japanese Army held Sukhalin, a strategic place in the Sea of Okhotsk, Japan could conquer Siberia. Suddenly a lieutenant burst into his tent. "Sir, Radar's just picked a plane!"
The Captain was at the radar station within two minutes. The chief officer guided him to a screen and pointed out the object. The sneer reappeared on his lips. "One plane? Surely that is no problem. Order all our air defense units to open fire!"
Colonel Yalushin saw the radar station with the plane's night vision system. He smiled as he pictured arrogant Japanese faces inside the station. Those faces would soon be very pale…with fright.
He signaled his WSO.
"Activate the Blinder system!"
The wing on the bomber's roof suddenly burst out a massive radio-wave. The waves smashed into the radar's sensors, confusing the Japanese systems.
"Son of a…what's going on?!" cried the lieutenant. The Captain whipped around to see the Radar screen. The screen was covered by static and disproportionate colors. "What's wrong with it?" "Something's interfering with our radar waves, sir!"
"Fix it!"
"We're trying, sir!"
Suddenly there was a flash of light out the window. The Captain looked out in horror.
"Our tanks!"
The Tu-190 had succeeded. Three-fourths of the 108th was destroyed. The Bomber headed south to wreak more havoc.
That night, the Bomber destroyed most of the tank regiment. The Bomber also destroyed five radar stations out of eight. 3,000 men lost their lives at the hands of this terrible weapon.
SIBERIAN MAINLAND
3,000 Katyushas sent their loads into the sky all at once, accompanied by the roar of 20,000 artillery guns. Japanese troops were shaken out of their beds and took their positions across the front lines. 400 Japanese F-15 fighters rose into the sky to meet the 390 attacking Russian Su-S-37s and MiG-33s. The newer fighters out maneuvered the older models and sent 15 of them down in flames within the first 5 minutes.
Dawn broke over what the Russians called the Southern Siberian Front, the Japanese had the area occupied by Nohitomo's 2nd Army. But it offered little comfort to Lieutenant Tai and recently promoted Captain Tenchi Masaki, who watched as, like some terrible monster emerging from the fog, a wave of Russian Black Eagle tanks rolled toward them under the chopping sound of 23 Mil-28s. The two young men were in a Mitsubishi tank. Japanese infantry went forward with bazookas to try and slow the Russian armored advance. The sound of rockets flying erupted across the forest in which they were fighting. Suddenly, shouts roared from the Russian lines, "Urrah! Urrah! Urrah!"
This was the Russian word for Hurrah! Russian foot soldiers appeared and opened fire on the Japanese bazooka positions. The tanks rolled over the corpses and fired at on the Japanese lines. Mil-28s fired anti-tank missiles into the company that Tenchi commanded. Tenchi turned to the waiting Tai and said in a shaking voice, "Fall back,"
SUKHALIN, SAME TIME
The roar of heavy jet engines filled the air and the sky was equally flooded with An-124 and Il-76 transport planes. Japanese anti-aircraft fire, considerably exhausted because of the previous night's raid, was sporadic and dodged easily. Escorting them were a division of Su-37s, another new model in the Russian Imperial Air Force. The bay doors opened and thousands of men tumbled out of the planes. From below, the Japanese watched as circles of white appeared in the sky and the Russian 23rd Airborne Division drifted to the ground. As soon as they landed in Okha, the Russians rushed into the airport. The Japanese troops resisted but submachine gun fire mowed them down. The Marines were spread out over Sukhalin, and could offer little resistance. The Russians landed a tank regiment within two hours and were heading south in half an hour.
RUSSIAN MAINLAND
The 2nd Army was facing the Russian 4th Guards Tank Army and the 11th Army, that much General Nohitomo knew. Two Rifle Divisions were blasting their way through the Jewish Autonomous Province and Partisan activity, probably acting on cue from STAVKA itself, had flared up behind the lines. Nohitomo had only an hour before heard that the commander of the approaching 6th Army had been cut down in a hail of sniper fire. There was confusion in the occupied areas as what could only be Spetsnaz units sabotaged bridges and roads. Communication units were thrown into chaos as camps came under attack. Some vanished from the airwaves altogether.
Darien read the reports and communications that were flying in. The neighboring 3rd Army was being attacked by the 1st Shock Army and 33rd Tank Division. The Russians were storming the 3rd's defenses and rolling over every armored regiment that dared cross their path. Darien knew that the 2nd Army's air cover was half spent by the air battles that took place overhead between aging American-made fighters and Russian "Flankers" and "Fulcrums" that were fresh out of the factories in the Russian west. Missiles and bullets flew everywhere in the sky and fighters with the Rising Sun emblazoned on their wings crashed to the ground. The front on the ground wasn't doing any better, as the Russians crashed through the Japanese lines with sometimes 80 tanks against 45. The Commander in Chief of Combined Forces, General Fugi Tohito, was splitting up the 6th Army in order to deploy it's divisions along the front lines. The 1st Army on the Vladivostok Front also had half of it's armored divisions stripped away to help the deteriorating front northward.
What else could go wrong? He thought to himself.
SEA OF JAPAN, JAPANESE 3RD AND 2ND FLEET AREA, NEAR VLADIVOSTOK
Commodore Victor Kolsov saw them through the periscope. He counted 32 ships, including 2 carriers. His flotilla could easily take out the ships with the advanced Cyclone and Sa-45 torpedoes. He summoned his communications officer. "To all units:" he began,
"All units will spread out at least half a kilometer from each other to prevent detection from the Japanese fleet. At my mark, all units will fire Cyclone torpedoes at ships of your choosing. Our objective is to cripple that fleet so that we may link up with the Pacific Fleet in winning control of the seas. Prepare yourselves now!"
The officer encoded the message and sent it out to the other members of the flotilla. The subs began taking their positions 15 minutes later.
Kolsov seized the radiophone and held it ready as his tracking officer watched the monitors. Polar Thunder was equipped with a special system that enabled Kolsov to track the members of his flotilla. Stalingrad…Ivan the Terrible…all found their places. It was time.
"This is Polar Thunder to all units: Open fire!"
The carrier Hiroshima trembled as two torpedoes slammed into her hull. Salty water roared into her rooms, carrying men through the ship's interiors and hurling them into walls, or choking the life out of them. More torpedoes punched holes in the other ships. Soon, the sky was blackened by smoke and flames rose from the once mighty hulks of steel. 18 ships were sinking fast, and things would get worse as a sailor sighted Su-33s soaring from the west, and behind them came the Russian Imperial Pacific Fleet. The jets sent a hail of anti-ship missiles into 5 cruisers and cruise missiles appeared out of the launch tubes of the Russian fleet. Torpedoes were launched from the decks of the Konev.
The Japanese had no hope.
KHABAROVSK PROVINCE, 2ND ARMY'S TRANSITIONAL HEADQUARTERS, TWO DAYS AFTER…
Darien heaved the file cabinet into a corner of the tent that had been put up. The Russian Army had crushed two of the 2nd Army's armored divisions and had advanced to within half a mile from General Nohitomo's headquarters. The Army's ability to fight was crippled and reserves were being activated in Japan, but it would take a while for the troops to arrive. The Russians had inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese fleet and the carriers needed an escort before they would dare try to land in Russia. Darien slipped a small photograph out of his military jacket and looked at it. It was from a date with Serena.
He missed her…
The Russians had seized about forty thousand miles back from the Japanese with their massive attack. The Japanese had only one aircraft carrier left and their submarine fleet had dropped to a total of 15, opposing the Russian's 42 in the Pacific alone. Sukhalin had been seized and Lakov moved an air division to the island, with an entire tank corps and rifle division to back it up.
DANEOGRAD (FORMERLY IZMIR, TURKEY), MEDITERRANEAN SEA.
RUSSIAN IMPERIAL MEDITERRANEAN FLEET HEADQUARTERS.
Vice-Admiral Ivan Talinov, Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, had all his commanders gathered in his war room. Orders had come from STAVKA to create two carrier Task Forces that would link up with the Pacific Fleet. Talinov appointed one of his Commodores to the job.
"But sir, why me? The regular commander of a Task Force is a Rear Admiral, two constitute practically a Fleet, which needs a Vice-Admiral for leadership," said the new commander of the 3rd and 4th Task Forces.
"I know that," grumbled the CINCMED, "the Emperor says he has a commander in the Pacific who can do the job right and on time, so don't look at me; the Emperor is the Supreme Commander in Chief, he knows what he's doing."
CNN NEWS REPORT
"Good evening, I'm Christian Amonpour. Today, U.S. President Jesse Ventura joined with the Kings and Emperors of Europe in condemning the Japanese invasion of Siberia. The leaders met in Berlin to discuss possible joint defensive maneuvers. President Ventura also publicly stated that the F.B.I. has been granted additional powers to reinforce America's arms embargo on Japan."
President Ventura: "The United States of America will never sell arms to an aggressive nation. In the past, we have faced the nightmare of having weapons that were manufactured in Pittsburgh turned on innocent people abroad. This will not happen again.
The U.S. will also join with our French, German, and British friends in defending our interests in the Pacific from any form of aggression."
"The President's daughter, a former classmate of the Emperor Dane I, hosted a benefit concert to help the Russian war effort."
"This just in, a fleet of Russian ships has left various ports on the Russian's Mediterranean territory. These include about 56 cruisers, 24 destroyers, 2 aircraft carriers, perhaps 43 submarines, and about 32 miniature carriers."
"For more on the war between Russia and Japan, go to CNN. com, or travel to either the Russian or Japanese war briefing pages at Mother Russia. com or Rising Sun. com."
AUTHORS NOTE: I do not own any real characters mentioned here. Especially not Jesse Ventura or his daughter, whose name I will omit out of respect of the First Lady's wish for privacy.
MY GOVERNOR CAN KICK YOUR GOVERNOR'S BUTT!!!!!