Battlefield Korea

Reinforcements

General Boris Egorkin was reading through the reports coming in from Ukraine and Belarus.

“It would appear that NATO was launching an all-out ground offensive against their forces in Ukraine, and have now opted instead to invade the peace-loving people of Belarus,” he thought.

The 6^th Tank Army commander was reporting contact with Polish and American ground forces. As he looked at the map, he could clearly see what SACEUR was trying to do. He was hoping to cut off the 6^th Army and capture Minsk. This would force him to have to withdraw his forces from Ukraine to defend Moscow.

Before President Petrov arrived, he sent a quick message to his commander in Belarus. “Have your forces fall back to the outskirts of Minsk,” he directed.

“We are not going to allow ourselves to get surrounded and cut off, no matter what,” he determined.

While he was mulling over possible military responses, the President walked in and sat at the head of the conference table. “What is going on in Belarus?” he asked. “How does this change our plans?”

General Egorkin responded first. “Mr. President, General Cotton (the Supreme Allied Commander Europe) has devised a plan to try and force us out of Ukraine by threatening Moscow.”

Petrov raised an eyebrow at that response. The Minister of Defense, Alexei Semenov, replied, “I believe comrade Egorkin is getting a bit ahead of himself with that statement. The Americans have launched a multi-pronged attack across Ukraine and now into Belarus. The 6^th Tank Army had been tying down too many NATO forces while it was deployed to Belarus. They are now moving to encircle the army group and then capture Minsk and remove that threat.”

Egorkin was not one to back down when he knew he was right, and jumped right back into the conversation. “Comrades, if NATO secures Minsk, where do you think they will move next? The obvious answer is Moscow. If they look to threaten Moscow, then I will have to pull most of my forces out of Ukraine to defend the capital. That is what they are going to do. The question is-how do we stop them from doing that?” he asked.

Petrov leaned back in his chair for a second, thinking what to do next. “Since that fool in North Korea used nuclear weapons against US and South Korean Forces, using them here in Europe is completely out of the question,” he realized. “The American President has proved to everyone that he is not afraid to retaliate with them either. No, we will have to find another way.”

“What forces can we draw from so that we would not take away from General Egorkin’s forces?” asked Petrov, hoping they may be able to try something different.

General Alexei Semenov thought for a minute while the others at the table looked at him, waiting for his response. “We have the 16^th Spetsnaz brigade, which we have not deployed yet… we can rush them to Belarus. We can also move the 76^th Guard’s Air Assault Division from Pskov, and the 106^th Guard’s Airborne Division from Tula. Those two divisions and the brigade would give us an additional 26,000 soldiers that can rapidly deploy to Minsk. We can have them there within 72-hours. Shoot, the Spetsnaz brigade can get in position within twenty-four hours, once we give them the go.”

Petrov raised a hand to interject a comment. “That addresses the short-term need of getting forces into Belarus, but how are we going to address the bigger problem of stopping NATO from capturing the country and then threatening Moscow? Unless we heavily reinforce the 6^th Tank Army, they are going to be in trouble.”

General Semenov responded, “I recommend we move the 90^th Guard’s Tank Division from Chebarkul in central Russia, along with the reserve forces we’ve been mobilizing since the start of the war. We should also have the Air Force start to hit NATO ground forces with a lot more cruise missiles. We need to bombard them constantly from the air, so we can keep the pressure on them.”

Semenov took a breath and then continued, “The Chinese are going to attack the Americans within the next 24 hours. When that happens, the Americans will not be able to support and sustain NATO and their forces deployed on the Korean Peninsula. They just do not have the sealift capability or the personnel.”

“That is partially true,” Petrov corrected. “The Americans are conscripting a massive army, and they will be able to deploy hundreds of thousands of soldiers by February 2018. The Chinese have to take the Americans out of the war quickly, and that is not something I am confident they can do.”