Battlefield Korea

Reinforcements

Lieutenant General Mikhail Chayko could not be happier with his forces after they beat back the most recent NATO counter-attack. After being humiliated by one of his division commanders who somehow managed to let a significantly smaller NATO Force break their way out of Kiev, he needed a big win. He summarily fired that division commander and replaced him with a much younger, more aggressive commander.

After their breakout of Kiev, NATO had been falsely lulled into thinking that they could break through his 4^th Guard’s Tank Division since they had an influx of additional aircraft and troops. General Chayko’s plan was to let the 4^th Guard appear weak, overstretched, and open to a counterattack. Once NATO launched their attack, the 6^th Tank Brigade, which had been largely equipped with the new T-14 Armatas, carried out their own counterattack, demolishing the NATO attack.

The 53^rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade moved a dozen SA-21 batteries towards the frontlines, shooting down 47 NATO aircraft with a loss of only seven SA-21 batteries. His forces could sustain the losses in SAMs. NATO, on the other hand, could not sustain these kinds of losses in advanced aircraft-they took a long time to manufacture and replace, and this conflict, though only about six weeks old, had already chewed through nearly 500 NATO frontline aircraft.

One of the communications officers handed him a secured phone. “General, Headquarters is on the line for you,” he said. Then he walked away, out of ear shot.

“Chayko here,” the general declared.

“General, congratulations are in order. Your forces stopped NATO yet again,” applauded General Boris Egorkin, the head of the Russian Army. He had already chewed General Chayko out for the Kiev debacle earlier, so there was no need to dwell on it now.

Chayko grunted before replying, “It was a close battle, Comrade. We nearly lost. These Americans are tough fighters, and they won’t give up easily. If I am to defeat NATO and push them out of Ukraine, I need those forces from the 6^th Tank Army, or I am not going to be able to hold my own positions for much longer.”

General Chayko sighed. “I’ve lost nearly half of my T-14s since the start of this conflict, and my SAM batteries are starting to get wiped out,” he said into the receiver, hoping that General Egorkin understood the gravity of the situation. His victory was tenuous, and would not last if NATO pressed him hard again.

General Egorkin groaned inwardly. “Chayko is right, of course,” he thought. “I need to release more units to Ukraine if we are going to hold on to the ground we have already captured… and yet…”

“I cannot release any additional units from the 6^th Tank Army,” Egorkin grumbled. “They are tying down the entire Polish Army and the American airborne forces they moved into the Baltic States. We need to keep that threat real and viable or they will release those additional forces to Ukraine, which will place you in even more trouble.”

Knowing that he had just delivered news that his subordinate would not be happy to hear, he sighed audibly before continuing. “I’ve spoken to the President. He has authorized me to release the 2^nd Guard’s Tank Army, the 58^th Army and the 49^th Army. That gives you an additional 98,000 soldiers and 2,100 additional tanks to what you already have. As to the T-14s, the President has personally met with the manufacturers, and they are running round the clock shifts to turn out more tanks. We should produce 48 new units this month, and up to 200 by the start of the new year. By this time next year, we will be producing 300 a month.”

General Egorkin paused for a moment before continuing. “In response to the American president’s military draft, President Petrov has also authorized me to begin raising an auxiliary force of up to two million soldiers. Most of these forces are going to be slated for the infantry and will not be ready until sometime towards spring. Just know that we are working on addressing the troop and equipment shortages.” The general was trying to give his field commander some hope that his requests for help were being heard and addressed.

Chayko then decided to change topics, seeing that there were things that were beyond the control of either of them. “Comrade, have the negotiations started to end hostilities yet? We have met our initial objectives.”

“If the politicians can work out a ceasefire, then we won’t need all of these additional troops,” Chayko thought.

Egorkin paused for a moment. “Yes, Comrade,” he responded. “The negotiations have started… and so has the next phase of Operation Red Storm.”

With that, the call ended.

General Chayko took a deep breath, and then grabbed a swig from the flask of vodka at his desk. “Things are about to get really intense soon,” he thought. “I hope my reinforcements arrive quickly; I am going to need them if NATO does not accept our ceasefire terms.”