Article Type: Fiction
Article Date: June 21, 2001
Author's Note - “The World Aflame: The Third World War” is a piece of fiction set in a world where a few minor changes in the way events of the late 1970's and early 1980's played out caused the long feared titanic struggle between the United States and the USSR to become reality.
In reading the following you will recognize a number of familiar faces in new and unique rolls. I have chosen to feature real-life figures in this story because of it's quasi-historical nature, I feel that it greatly enhances the realism of the tale.
None of the following events ever actually happened in the form depicted. But let us remember, but for the grace of god, they could have.
——Adam Yoshida
Introduction by Senator Preston Manning (R-Alberta)
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| Senator (R) Preston Manning |
The events of the last twenty years have been painful for both nations and for people. For me it has meant the end of a nation and my own birth into a new one. For others it has meant the loss of friends and family both in the conflict and in its horrible after-effects.
Twenty-two years ago (where this tale begins) I lived in the Province of Alberta and worked as a simple researcher. Today I am proud to be a United States Senator, even as I lament the loss of my former country I am proud to be an American, and grateful to America for all it has provided me.
What brought the Third World War upon us? Did it have to happen? These are questions that I have often asked myself and will continue to ask myself as long as I live. Neither I, nor other Canadians, know the answer to these questions. All we know is the pain and the loss of what happened to Ottawa and elsewhere. Other new Americans, like those from Britain, Europe, Japan, and the rest of Asia know even better than we do the real cost of our victory.
Today we are all Americans and we must work together and remain vigilant to ensure that what came before will never come again.
That is why I believe that books like this one are important. Looking back we seem to be almost fated to what happened. There was no Sarajevo, no Fort Sumter, no Alamo, to trigger this war. It was a war inevitable, and it is our duty to keep a proud watch to make sure that it never happens again.
God Bless you All,
Senator Preston Manning (R-Alberta)
Prologue
It was, perhaps, the greatest tragedy in all of human history. By the time it was over six-hundred million people had perished and trillions of dollars in damage had been done. Some cities had been simply razed from the face of the Earth, never to return.
Was in inevitable? Quite possibly so, speaking from the White House before she left office earlier this year President Thatcher noted that, "The Iron Curtain was like everything else ever constructed by the Eastern Bloc, outwardly impressive it was, in reality, permeated with holes and imperfections, and bound to collapse eventually."
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| President Thatcher |
Even papers of General Secretary Gorbachev give us some view as to his opinions of what was happening. Contrary to wartime propaganda he was not an evil man, just one forced by circumstance to lead his nation when it was at war with the West. Though we will never be able to speak to the General Secretary himself, the writings he has left us give an invaluable window into the mind of the Soviet leader. In May 1983, he opens his journals by writing, “I do not know who will find this, or what use they will put it to. I simply want the truth to be known somewhere.” Was he just trying to cover his culpability for the war? Possibly, but within that statement and others emerges a picture of Gorbachev as a complex man and a reluctant leader of the USSR.
Some years having passed since the conclusion of general hostilities there has been quite some time to examine the limited documentation that survived in the nations of Western Europe and the Warsaw Pact. Some effort has even been made to examine information from Chinese sources in the hope of creating the most complete and complex history of the greatest and most deadly war that man ever fought. Perhaps the most notable source in compiling what I hope to be the most thorough popular history of the war has been the memoirs published in recent years by many key figures in the war, as well as several conversations I had with President Thatcher.
I am, in particular, grateful for the assistance of Vice President North who provided me with much information on his experiences on the Western Front. Also, too numerous to mention, are the many people who, during the height of the war, went about the dangerous process of maintaining the records which I have made exhaustive use of in writing this.
The scale of this project is, indeed, massive. This book, the first of a projected series of three will cover the events leading up to the war and the war up until the Soviet Union's invasion of the People's Republic of China. The second will cover the war until the great Allied offensives of 1983, the third will cover both the final offensives that carried Allied power to the hear of Russia itself and the horrifying nuclear blows that each side inflicted on each others in those awful final days of the war.
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| Never again! |
It is the most sincere hope of this author that by learning the lessons of the late war we can avoid future wars which might well damage the human race beyond any recovery.
Chapter One: "A Tale of Two Cities"
1979 was the height of the Western "malaise." In Great Britain the so-called "Winter of Discontent" had brought to power a new Conservative government under the "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher. In the United States President Jimmy Carter had increasingly come to be viewed as a useless lame duck, unable to even fend off a rabbit.
Western economies had ground to a halt amid increasing inflation and falling industrial production, and the measure enacted to bring inflation under control, namely high interest rates, were proving to be perhaps worse than the ill they were designed to cure. Oil prices had once again shot through the roof, increased dissatisfaction among consumers, and a boom for the Japanese.
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| Fighter jet launches missle. Spare parts were a problem. |
Despite a few promising programs Western militaries were increasingly beleaguered, called on to perform more tasks than they had resources to complete. The American Armed Forces were suffering from recruiting shortfalls as many concluded that a return of the Active Forces Draft was the only solution that would allow the military to maintain an acceptable level of manpower. Readiness in both the Navy and the Air Force declined as available stocks of spare parts and fuel ran low and men were forced to embark on extended deployments.
In the United Kingdom military preparedness was allowed to slide as Her Majesty's Government enacted austerity measures to bring the budget under control. Germany and France also suffered from shortfalls in necessary military spending. Minor NATO members were in even worse shape. Canada's forty-five hundred strong contingents on the Continent was still reliant upon its Second World War era Centurion Main Battle Tanks, the purchase of replacements having been previously delayed after a government decision not to acquire "offensive" weapons which in the minds of Prime Minister Trudeau’s advisors included Main Battle Tanks, heavy artillery and fighter-bombers.
Perhaps most alarming was the state of nuclear readiness at the time. The United States had seen ICBM and SLBM construction slow to a standstill amid hostility from the Congress towards any new spending on the development of nuclear weapons. Two promising new missiles, the MX and the Trident II were under development, but their deployment was still years in the future.
In Britain a commitment had been made to purchase the Trident II to replace the aging 'R'-Class Polaris Missiles Submarines, but that decision was strongly opposed by a Labour Party that had increasingly become stridently leftist and was now opposed to Britain having any nuclear weapons. The French nuclear force had continued development but France was, in terms of her willingness to adhere to the North Atlantic Treaty, a question mark as always.
In contrast to this the USSR had embarked on a nearly unprecedented period of military expansion. In every conceivable category the Soviet Union had made large leaps in military technology and was in many places on the verge of having a clear advantage over the West.
The crash program of naval modernization embarked upon after the embarrassment of the Cuban Missile Crisis had finally given the Soviet Navy its first Aircraft Carriers, with larger American-style Carriers to be ready later in the decade. Also of great concern was the large force of nuclear-submarines, both torpedo and missile firing that the Soviets had acquired. Combined with the large force of long-range Backfire bombers the Soviet Navy was now believed to have the capacity to attack and destroy American Aircraft Carries, which were judged by the leadership to be the primary threat to the Soviet Union itself.
Though Soviet aviation technology remained, in general, a generation behind that of the West the numbers of the Soviet Air Force were proving to be an increasing worry to NATO commanders. As of 1979, to keep parity in the skies, NATO aircraft would have to maintain at least a 2:1 kill ratio over Warsaw Pact pilots.
While it was unquestioned that the F-15 was superior to the MiG-25, many wondered if overworked American pilots could kill two Soviet aircraft for every loss of their own. Even if they were not able to challenge Allied Air Superiority, the presence of even a residual force of Soviet aircraft would greatly impede the ground support missions that would be critical to any Allied victory in Germany.
On the ground across their Eastern European Empire the Soviets maintained an army whose strength was well in excess of a million men. Now armed mostly with T-72 tanks and with advanced ground attack helicopters it would be that force that would spearhead any attempt to drive the NATO alliance into the sea.
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| Soviet T-72 Tank |
Together this imbalance of forces worked to create a dangerous situation in Western Europe. As the situation lay in 1979 the Soviet Union possessed a window in which it could fight NATO conventionally and probably win. Now, of course, an invasion of Western Europe carried with it the frightful risk of nuclear escalation.
Now, the leadership of the Red Army were not particularly adverse to fighting a tactical and theatre nuclear war (it was standard doctrine to do so), however the Politburo was, in general, not terribly enthused by the idea of worldwide nuclear holocaust. Especially since, as Mao had pointed out, after an all-out nuclear war the Chinese would probably still have the most people left alive.
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| Carter perceived as weak by adversaries |
So, for the moment, despite Western military weakness there still existed a level of deterrence. If, however, the Americans were to ever convince the USSR that they were not willing to “trade Paris for Chicago” then it was possible that the situation might become dangerous indeed.
Ed. Note: Be sure to check-out Adam's original series here at COMBATSIM.COM:
