Battlefield Korea

Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War

In the early 2000s, the Chinese began to help the North Koreans develop a series of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) silos near the base of Paektu, a mountain that stands at 9,003 feet in height along the Chinese/North Korean border. Technically, Paektu is still considered an active volcano, although there haven’t been any eruptions since 1904. A large crater lake called “Heaven Lake” is situated in the caldera atop the mountain and had been a tourist destination for several generations, until the North Koreans began to develop a series of underground missile silos.

The Chinese continued to believe a strong and belligerent North Korea could keep the Americans distracted for many years while they focused on their Greater China strategy. While the North Koreans continued to develop their own ballistic missiles, they kept the Western intelligence eyes focused on their more active launch sites and centers. To help keep the focus off of them as long as possible, the Chinese also provided the North with ten Dongfeng 5B (DF-5B) ICBM missiles under a secret deal in 2015.

It was tricky moving these missiles into their silos without being discovered, but they had found a way. The Chinese had taken the missiles apart and moved them in pieces to the mountain, then reassembled them and lowered them into the silos. Ultimately though, it took a significant amount of luck, along with a concerted effort by the North Koreans to distract the Americans, for those missiles to be reassembled and placed into the silos undetected.

The DF-5B had an operational range of 12,000 to 15,000 kilometers, placing nearly all the Continental United States within its range. This variant of the missile given to the Koreans was also MIRV capable, meaning each missile could carry six independently targetable warheads or decoys. The one flaw to the missiles was the amount of time required to get them ready to launch; from the time the order would be given, it would take between 30–40 minutes to fuel them and have them ready to take off.

Despite providing the Koreans with the DF-5B, the Chinese were unwilling to provide them with nuclear warheads. They insisted that those had to come from the Koreans themselves, because they did not want the warheads to be traced back to them. The North did not initially have 60 nukes to fill all the MIRVs, so they took three of the missiles and loaded them with just a single 1 Megaton warhead. The remaining MIRVs were loaded with three 25 kiloton warheads and three decoys each.

The soldiers manning the entrance to the missile complex looked nervous because of all the heightened security. They had seen many missile drills in the past, but this drill seemed different. Lieutenant General Ghim Choi, the Commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, was there to personally tour the site. The guards were instructed to seal the entrance after he arrived and to not let anyone in afterwards. They were also told to prepare to repel any potential attack. Rumors had been rampant that war was really going to happen, and soon.

Following an emergency meeting with Supreme Leader Pak Lee and the rest of his senior military advisors, Lieutenant General Ghim Choi had been given a clear set of new orders. He was to change their ICBM targets to a set of selected US military bases as opposed to only targeting US cities. A few of the cities would remain as targets, but the Supreme Leader wanted to take out some of the bases that the U.S. had specifically slated to support the war effort in Asia. General Ghim had also been told to ensure the mobile launchers would target the US fleet and bases in South Korea.

Before Ghim left the meeting with the Supreme Leader, Pak Lee had issued some very specific final instructions. “If the Americans attempt to decapitate the government, you are to ready the missiles. If you are unable to maintain contact with me, and no one else in the government can respond or assume control, then you are directed to launch all of the missiles at the pre-determined targets.”

When the meeting ended, Ghim had quickly boarded a helicopter that would take him to an obscure base, where he transferred to a jeep and was driven to their secretive missile command base on the Paektu Mountain.

As the general cleared security and entered the missile complex, he headed straight for the command center to meet with the facility commander and inform him of their new orders and change in missile targets. He walked quickly down the narrow tunnel, lined with very yellow florescent lights that blinked in an irritating fashion.

As Ghim stood in the elevator that would take him several hundred feet below the surface to the launch control center, he couldn’t help but think to himself, “I might never see the sun again, or feel the warmth of its rays against my face.”

He almost felt a sense of fear at this revelation, but he knew he had a duty to protect his country.

As the elevator dinged his arrival at the bottom floor, the facility commander met General Ghim at the elevator entrance; he was a colonel, and not someone Ghim personally liked, but he was a smart and capable man, nonetheless.

The colonel greeted him. “General, it is a pleasure to see you. We were not expecting you. Is something wrong?” he inquired, hoping he was not being relieved.

Ghim sized up the colonel before responding, “No, nothing is wrong. The Supreme Leader has instructed me to be here in case the Americans launch an attack against us. We were warned by the Chinese and the Russians that the Americans are planning to launch a pre-emptive spoiler attack before we invade the South. The Leader fears the Americans may try a decapitation strike to wipe out the government.” He paused for a moment as a couple of missile technicians briefly walked past them before continuing to bring the facility commander up to speed. “If the Americans do try to wipe out the government, and I cannot regain communication with the Leader or whoever takes over, I have been ordered by the Supreme Leader to launch our missiles against the Americans. I also have new targets for the missiles, and I will need you to input them immediately,” he ordered.

The base commander looked surprised for a moment, but then his features hardened as the reality of what this meant for him and his country hit him; he would do his duty at all costs. “Yes, of course,” he responded, “we will get the new targets inputted immediately.”

The colonel signaled for some of his other officers to come to him. He took the new targeting list from General Ghim and went over them with his officers.

As he looked at the new targets, he slowly walked closer to the general. In a hushed voice so no one else could hear, he asked “Have the Chinese given us permission to use our nuclear missiles?”

General Ghim looked dismissive of the colonel’s question. “We do not need Chinese permission to use our nuclear weapons. If the Americans wipe out our government, then we will respond by attacking them with the one weapon we have that will equalize our nation with our adversaries and give us a chance to win.”

He then proceeded to pull a piece of paper out of the briefcase that was still handcuffed to his left hand. He retrieved the paper from a folder marked Top Secret, and handed it to the colonel. “These are the new targets for the ICBMs. The missiles need to be reprogrammed immediately.”

The colonel took the document from him and examined the targets. One of the missiles with a MIRV was now to be targeted at the American naval facility at San Diego; a second MIRV missile was now supposed to be targeted at New York City as opposed to Chicago.

“That makes sense,” he thought. “New York has one of the largest ports on the East Coast; it’s a critical port location for the war in Europe.”

A third MIRV missile was to be targeted against the American naval facilities in Hawaii. The remaining seven ICBMs were supposed to target military bases in Alaska, Washington State, Utah, Nevada, Texas, and the West Coast port of Oakland, California.

The colonel was satisfied with the new targets; not that he had much say in the matter, but he was happy to see that these targets were of high military value and would have a large impact on a war with the Americans.

“I will get the new targets inputted now. Do you want me to start fueling the missiles?” he asked. Although the fueling of the missiles took between thirty and forty minutes, if they were not launched within six hours, they would have to be emptied. Each time they went through that process, it created its own dangers, and there was always the possibility of something going wrong or of a mechanical failure.

“No, we will wait until it becomes clear that we need to launch before we fuel the missiles. Continue to have everyone on alert and ready to launch, should it become necessary,” Ghim replied. As long as they did not lose communication with the other missile sites or their command center in Pyongyang, they would wait.

General Bennett looked at the wall clock and saw that it was 0255 in the morning. In five minutes, the Second Korean War would officially kick off with the US and its allies launching a pre-emptive attack on the DPRK. They had chosen to start the war at 0300 in the morning, the darkest possible time of night, and a time when most people would either be asleep or wishing that they were if they were on guard duty.

As John sat in the command bunker, observing the multiple ten-foot by ten-foot computer screen projectors monitoring the disposition of the US and ROK Forces, he saw the aircraft and Tomahawk cruise missiles make the slow and steady march towards the border, then cross it. With that act, the war had officially started. Nearly 600 aircraft were now in the air heading towards their attack points. The B-2s had just crossed into North Korean air space headed towards their designated targets; so far, they appeared to have gone completely undetected. In another minute, the B-52s would begin to launch their ground attack cruise missiles, specifically targeting the enemy radar and air defense systems. This would quickly be followed up by the B-1s, who would begin their bombing runs against the thousands of artillery positions along the border.

On a separate screen, the naval situation began to show a series of attacks underway. Blue aircraft and missile icons were shown on the screen, advancing quickly towards their targets. A confrontation with a North Korean and a Chinese submarine had taken place less than an hour earlier, nearly compromising their pre-emptive strike. Both submarines had been sunk, but not before the Chinese sub was able to send an emergency message and several crew members escaped from the submarine before it finally slipped beneath the waves.

One of his senior officers and a diplomat from the Embassy were talking with the Chinese about the exchange, trying to explain to them what had happened. General Bennett was hoping to keep the Chinese out of any potential conflict. It was unfortunately looking like they were going to enter the war, no matter what the US did to try and keep them out.

One of the naval officers who had been manning a monitor in the room suddenly announced, “We’ve received a FLASH update from the fleet, Sir. They have begun engaging the North Korean Navy; so far, they have destroyed nine submarines with their opening attack. The ships are now engaging their assigned land targets and getting the landing zones prepped for the Marines.”

General Bennet could see the naval front was progressing as predicted. He turned and looked at the display tracking the known Chinese naval and air units. So far, they had not moved towards his forces and appeared to be staying in observation mode, which suited him just fine.

Focusing next on the air map, he could see the missiles from the B-52s were starting to hit their targets along the demilitarized zone (DMZ). They were disabling the enemy’s radar and communications systems for the next wave of bombers, ground attack aircraft, and helicopters to start their attack runs soon. The electronic jamming aircraft were now blanketing the entire country in electronic interference in hopes of jumbling up the North Koreans ability to communicate and properly operate their radar systems.

The B-1s would start their bomb runs shortly. With any luck, they would take out the brunt of the enemy artillery and rocket forces that posed such a significant threat to Seoul. Another screen tracking the flights of B-2s showed the bombers were now hitting their targets throughout the country. Pyongyang was being hit especially hard. They were going after the command and control function of the military and the civilian government.

As he watched the screens, General Bennet couldn’t help but think, “These images of the capital from the B-2 runs are both scary and spectacular.”

Tracer rounds could be seen crisscrossing the night sky, intermixed with aerial explosions from the heavier caliber air defense artillery guns. It was clear the enemy had no idea where the bombers were because there was no discernable pattern to the tracer fire; they were firing blind, hoping for that one magical hit.

There was also a squadron of F-117 Nighthawks that had taken out of cold storage at the beginning of the war with Russia; they were circling above North Korea, ready to pounce on targets of opportunity as they were found. The F-117s were placed on standby in case any of the satellite surveillance groups or Special Forces on the ground identified a mobile launcher being moved or set up. If they did, they would call in a surgical strike by one of the stealth fighters, hopefully before they were able to get their missiles off. In addition to the Nighthawks, the Air Force also had several pairs of F-16s circling off the coastlines of Korea, ready to dart in quickly to take out any additional mobile launchers that the Nighthawks couldn’t get.

“What I wouldn’t give for a couple of wings of F-35s,” moaned Bennet to himself. “Lousy Russian theater needs them all-yeah, right.” The war in Russia had sapped nearly all the reserve forces that would have normally been surged to his theater of operations, and he was not happy about it.

While the air war ramped up, reports were starting to filter in of some sporadic enemy artillery fire hitting US and ROK Forces along the DMZ.

“Sir, a handful of rounds have been fired in the direction of Seoul,” said one of the analysts. “However, the artillery guns were quickly silenced when the B-1s began their bombing run.”

“The high-explosive bombs intermixed with cluster munitions and napalm are having the desired effect,” thought Bennet with a smile. “It looks like the few rounds that did fly towards the metropolis were intercepted by the C-RAM system. It’s still too early in the fight though to know if the B-1s and B-52s have silenced enough of the enemy artillery from pulverizing the city, or if that carnage is still to come.”

One thing that had concerned the military planners was the series of underground tunnel systems the North had built; many of them led directly under the DMZ, with forces ready to blow open a hole behind the American lines. Fortunately, satellite technology had increased immensely, and they had identified what they hoped were all the tunnels. Engineers had drilled some holes a hundred or so meters above the tunnels placing specialized sonic bombs in them. Once the war started, they detonated them, collapsing the tunnels.

By 0310 hours in the morning, nearly everyone in Seoul (and the rest of South Korea) had suddenly been jolted out of their blissful sleep by a loud government announcement to “seek shelter immediately.” All South Korean TV and radio programs began to broadcast the government’s emergency alert message, asking for everyone to head to the various bomb shelters. If they were unable to find one, then they were asked to stay indoors and move away from any windows.

As hundreds of thousands of people began to sleepily crawl out of their beds to see if this was yet another drill, many could see the flashes of bombs going off in the distance from their various high-rise buildings. Many people began to record the events unfolding live with their phones, broadcasting them across Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, and other social media platforms. The world was getting a firsthand account of the war as it unfolded less than 30 miles away.

The rumble of explosions was slowly building throughout the city. The bombing runs being carried out by the B-1s and B-52s were absolutely deafening and terrifying. Thousands of 500 lbs. and 2,000 lbs. bombs were being dropped on the North Korean positions, intermixed with the thousands of artillery guns and multiple launch rocket systems being fired into the North. It was a cacophony of death being rained down on the enemy, and it was being live streamed to the world.

Captain Yi Jang was still in a state of bewilderment. It was a little after 0300 in the morning, and his garrison’s whole world was being rocked by multiple explosions. As another missile or bomb hit nearby, bits of dirt sprinkled down on the men who had made it into the bunker. He scanned the room; it looked like roughly half of his soldiers had made it to the bunker that connected them to their tunnel complex.

As he moved to the command center, one of the officers there rushed up to him. “Sir, the Americans are coming,” he announced.

Captain Yi handed the young officer a message from their higher command, ordering them to engage the American ships. The officer rushed off to put some plans into motion.

The smell of cordite and dirt hung in the air. Another explosion rocked the command center, sending reverberations through their chests. The soldiers nearby were all looking at him, and seemed to be asking for guidance and assurance. He could see the looks of fear and excitement on their faces at the realization that war was upon them. Yi knew he had a duty to his men and his country and was determined to do his job.

“Man your positions!” he yelled. “Prepare the missiles for launch!”

A couple of years prior, the Chinese had helped the KPA (Korean People’s Army) build a series of ship defense systems on the island. Ch’o-do Island was small, but it had several hills where a series of reinforced bunkers had been built to house the missiles and protect them from this very type of attack. Inside the underground shelters, they had created several launching points for their anti-ship missiles.

Yi smiled at the idea that he and his men could actually make an impact in this war. The Chinese had provided them with their newest ground-launched, anti-ship missiles, the C-802. NATO called them CSS-N-8 “Saccade,” and they were nasty missiles, capable of reaching speeds of 1,112 kilometers per hour within seconds, and would skim across the surface of the water at no more than 10 meters. It’s 165 kg time-delayed semi-armor-piercing high-explosive warhead could cause all sorts of problems for a ship, particularly if it punctured the ship at the waterline. Captain Yi looked forward to using them.

As his men moved from their bunkers to the series of tunnels that would take them to their missile sites, a young lieutenant waved for him to look at his monitor. The young officer’s screen showed nearly four dozen surface contacts, less than fifty kilometers from their position, and well within range of their missiles.

As his missile crews began to report in, Captain Yi realized that only three of the launching points were operational; the others had been destroyed during the bombardment. Thinking for a minute, Yi Jang determined, “Once we launch our first three missiles, we will probably only have enough time to get maybe one more volley off before the Americans find out where the missiles are coming from and destroy the launching stations. We had better make those missiles count.”

He looked more closely at the ships on the monitor. “Can we determine what type of ships we are seeing?” he asked.

The lieutenant brought up the camera feed and zoomed in as best he could. “It looks like this ship here is a troop transport of some sort. We could launch our missiles at that ship,” he suggested.

Captain Yi simply nodded. It looked like a good target. They programed the targeting data into the missiles and prepared them to fire. Once the missiles had fired, the rail launcher would pull back inside the bunker and the crews would work feverously to reload another missile onto the rail and get it ready to launch again. Even under the best conditions, it had still taken them three minutes to reload the rail launcher during training exercises.

Once the data had been programed into the missiles, they were immediately fired off. As the missiles leapt from their launchers, they quickly got up to speed, skimming the surface of the water as they streaked towards their targets. It would take less than a minute for the missiles to intercept the ships.

As the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer sailed to within thirty kilometers of Ch’o-do Island, the Captain of the USS Howard began to get nervous. They were screening for the Marine transport ships, which were still moving to get in range of their amphibious assault crafts, and his ship had already fired off half of their Tomahawk and Harpoon cruise missiles in the first fifteen minutes of the war. The KPA artillery had tried to zero in on their positions a few times, but it was hard to hit a ship that could accelerate to 30+ knots and zig and zag.

While the captain was sipping on his coffee, the mundane noise of the CIC was suddenly broken. “Vampires, vampires, vampires!” yelled a petty officer who was manning one of the radar stations.

Three missiles originating from Ch’o-do island suddenly materialized and began to accelerate quickly towards their flotilla. One of the weapons officers ordered the ships missile defense systems to engage the incoming threats. The ship began to fire off their SM-2 missile interceptors in quick succession.

Then, suddenly, several dozen more land based missiles appeared from the Namp'o City area, not far from Pyongyang. The USS Howard’s integrated defense systems went into overdrive, spitting out SM-2s as fast as it could.

In minutes, the sky was filled with missile interceptors as the destroyer escorts and the four Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers did their best to defend the fleet from the incoming threats. The battle was now in the hands of the Aegis Combat System and the extensive training of the crews that were manning it.