The Last War? : Chapter 392

[Bernard Woolley]

D+33

*

1335 hours GMT. Warsaw, Poland.
General Andrei Kamov got up from the table to get himself another cup of tea. He poured it from the samovar into his cup and took a drink.

“Ugh!” He exclaimed. “Warrant Officer!”
“Comrade General?”
This tea is stewed! Get us some more!”
“At once, Comrade General.”

He returned to his seat. Kamov and his counterparts, C-in-Cs Southwestern TVD and Northwestern TVD had flown to Warsaw for a meeting with the Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation, Marshal Ivan Belikov. While STAVKA back in Moscow was really controlling all Warsaw Pact forces, Belikov, as a Deputy Defence Minister had to be kept up to date.

“Can't get decent tea these days.” He said with a smile.
“Better than subsisting on coffee!” Belikov replied. “Don't know how the Americans and the rest of NATO manages it. Filthy stuff. It's only the British that still drink tea, I think.”
“Sorry, Comrade Marshal, even the British drink more coffee than tea these days.” Kamov said, chuckling.
“No wonder they don't have an empire any more!” The C-in-C Northwestern TVD joked.

C-in-C Southwestern TVD, who was standing by a map pinned to the wall, cleared his throats.

“If we can get on, Comrades?”
“Of course, Comrade General.” Belikov allowed.

CINSOUTHWEST tapped the sharply with a wooden pointer.

“Now that the NATO counter-attack has come to a halt, due to our strong resistance, we will resume our advance westwards through here...”
“That's southern Czechoslovakia, Comrade.” Kamov interrupted, coughing to stifle a chuckle.

CINCSOUTHWEST turned to the map, saw his error and moved the pointer down.

“We will resume our advance through here and here. Once the NATO Austrian Army Group has been defeated, we will turn north into Bavaria and outflank their Southern Army Group. To carry out the plan, we will, of course, need the Unified Army Corps from the Far East Military District...”
“You're not getting it.” Belikov interrupted, reminding everyone that he was a Deputy Defence Minister. “The Defence Minister has instructed STAVKA that it be sent to reinforce our army in Mongolia. With the revisionists in Beijing rattling their sabres, the High Command of the Far East is being reinforced. We also need to defend against this American Operation LEHMAN. You will need to carry out your plans with the resources already assigned to you.”

For Kamov this was bad news too. He had been expecting reinforcements from some of the Soviet military districts to the east. The Western TVD's reserves were beginning to look a little thin.

“Well...um...well I do still have some independent tank divisions which could serve as alternatives...”
“How do you plan to deal with the Swiss?” Kamov asked, enjoying taunting a clearly flailing CINCSOUTHWEST.
“What?”
“The Swiss are currently using their army to escort aid convoys to Vienna.” CINCWEST pointed out. “Come on! This is your TVD! I shouldn't have to point out that the Swiss are conveniently running the convoys down all the roads you would need to use to mount an offensive!”

CINCSOUTHWEST turned red, then purple. Seething that he had been shown up by a rival commander.

“The Swiss are of no concern!” He thundered. “When I, we are ready to launch our offensive, they better get out of the way, or be crushed!”
“You'd start a war with Switzerland? The last European neutral of any consequence? I'm not sure we need any additional enemies. Especially those with well trained and equipped armies.” Kamov commented sarcastically.

CINCSOUTHWEST began to yell about Switzerland's neutrality being a lie and their army being of no concequence.

“Comrades, Comrades.” Belikov intervened. “Let's save our anger for the enemy. The issue of the Swiss is a political one and one that will be decided by Moscow.” He continued. “I am sure that they will tell you when you can launch your attack.” He said to CINCSOUTHWEST.

While the somewhat heated discussion had been going on the Warrant Officer had slipped in and delivered a fresh samovar of tea and left without anyone noticing. A little while later a Polish Warrant Officer sat down next to him as he ate in the mess.

“You have it?” The Pole asked.
“I do. Interesting it was too.” The Soviet Warrant Officer said, handing his counterpart a note. “Are we equal yet?”
“Not quite, and remember, we have those photos.”
“She said she was eighteen.” The Soviet Warrant Officer muttered.
“That's not what she told our Milicja. We have her witness statement and forensic too. I'm sure your superiors would be very interested in it should you renege on our deal.”
“Don't worry, I have no intention of backing out while you have that hanging over me.” The Soviet Warrant Officer replied, finishing his meal and standing up.

1345 hours. Custume Barracks, Athlone, Republic of Ireland.
Major Frank Kelly, Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, descended down into the bunker that lay under the barracks. The ‘bunker’, which was more of a fortified basement, dated back to at least the 1950s, if the outdated communications equipment was anything to go by. The Diefenbunker it was not.
As the headquarters of the 4th (Western) Brigade, it might have been assumed that the ‘bunker’ would have had up to date communication equipment. However, it seemed that none of the modern radios, or telephones in use in the rest of the barracks had made it down into what was supposed to be the place the Taoiseach, senior cabinet members and senior civil servants would go in the event of a nuclear exchange. It had been neglected and forgotten soon after it had been built. Now it was being brought back into use.

*

Shortly after Ireland had joined NATO, its Department of Defence had requested that a small military mission be sent to the country to help co-ordinate defence and liaise with the rest of the alliance. Preference had been given for the members of said mission to be from English speaking countries. There were sensitivities about British personnel being posted to Ireland; that was despite there being an RAF detachment at Shannon International Airport (“out of sight, out of mind”, as the Defence Minister had said); which really only left Canada and the United States. Major Kelly was one of the Canadians posted to Ireland, in his case being put in charge of the liaison team at Custume Barracks. He did wonder if he had been chosen for the job because he had Irish ancestry. If that was the case, he thought it dumb, because the Kelly’s had left for what was to become Canada in the 1850s. Major Kelly was as Canadian as Maple Syrup, ice hockey and politeness. He hoped it was because he had worked at CFS Carp.

*

“Right, stick the stuff in here.” Kelly said to the soldiers of the 4th Cavalry Squadron who had been following him.

The cavalrymen were a squadron without any armoured vehicles. Their MOWAG Piranah IIH CRV and MRV had been given to the 1s (Southern) Brigade’s 1st Cavalry Squadron to bring the latter up to its full TOE when it had deployed abroad. Leaving the poor 4th Cavalry Squadron as rather under-equipped light infantry. Brigade H.Q. had put them to work on labouring and guard tasks associated with the ‘bunker’. In this case carrying in new communications equipment to the COMCEN. Out were the old 1950s phones that required operators to manually plug in lines and in were modern satellite communications and up to date secure telephones. Canadian and US Army signals personnel were busy installing the equipment and, with the assistance of their Irish counterparts, finding ways to connect it to the outside world.

“The Whitehall connection is ready, Major.” One of the Americans reported to Kelly.
“Thank you, Sergeant.”

Despite Irish neutrality and apparent sensibilities, the bunker had always been provided with a direct link to Whitehall in London. Now that link was threefold – satellite, microwave and landline. It now needed testing, so Kelly picked up the handset. The link had been set-up so that it would automatically choose whichever method had the best connection. Kelly did not even need to dial.

“PINDAR, Petty Officer Michaels speaking. How can I help?” A voice with a deep Devonian accent said after what seemed like a very long thirty seconds.
“This is Major Kelly at Athlone testing the line. Is your Duty Officer present?”
“I’ll get him for you, Sir.”

A couple of minutes passed before a new voice appeared at the other end.

“Major Kelly? I’m John Forbes, Duty Officer. How can I help?”
“Hello, ah, Mr Forbes?” Kelly wondered.
“Yes, sorry, Major, should have said, I’m Civil Service, not military.”
“I see. Anyway, I’m checking the comms link between here and you. I’ll be phoning you a few times to make sure its all working. Do you have the ability to connect me to other departments?”
“I can connect you to any part of the MoD Main Building, any Whitehall department, or even to Edinburgh, Cardiff, or Belfast if you need it. Pretty sure I could get you through to Ottawa if you ask. Just say the word.”
“Good to know. I’ll let you go, Mr Forbes. Have a lot to get done here, but will probably speak again later today.”

Outgoing pleasantries exchanged, Kelly returned the phone handset to its cradle.

“I’m going upstairs for a bit, Sergeant. Be back in a little while.”
“Okay, Major.”

For a barracks that was the headquarters of a brigade, Custume Barracks was remarkably quiet. To bring 1 (Southern) Brigade and other units deployed abroad up to strength, 4 (Western) Brigade had been required to detach many of its personnel. It's reserve counterpart, 5th (Western) Reserve Brigade, had taken up some of the slack. But, like most of the Army Reserve it was understrength. For example, its infantry battalions were really just large infantry companies. [1] Unlike its fellow NATO members, the Irish Government had not seriously considered conscription to fill the gap. The potential political problems outweighed what advantages it would bring.

Kelly was just about to turn and head back underground when he heard the sound of jet engines. He looked up and spotted what he recognised as a Tornado F.3 with a Hawk T.2 in loose formation off each wing of the larger aircraft. It was good to know that there was at least some decent air cover.

*

“She flies lovely, Simon. I'm enjoying the extra speed over the PC-9.” Lieutenant Ted Rogers commented from the front cockpit of one of the two Hawks.
“The Hawk's a beaut all right, and I've flown the Hornet. She may be small, but she's got quite the punch and can surprise a lot of fighters.” Flight Lieutenant Darkshade replied from the rear seat.

The training of Irish Air Corps pilots had gotten to the stage where they were flying Hawks from the front seat. Shortly they would be let loose on the aircraft on their own. The RAF had also officially loaned the four Hawks based at Shannon Airport to the IAC. To reflect this the aircraft had gained Irish tricolour roundels on the top and underside of the starboard wings and on the rear of the fuselage on the starboard side. Two of the aircraft retained subdued, pale red kangaroos under the forward cockpit, to reflect that two RAAF pilots were still part of the detachment.

“Next thing you're going to need to master is working with the Tonka. It'll act like a mini-AWACS, its navigator directing us to targets before they are within visual range. Which is important, given the ASRAAM has a twenty-five klick range. We can get ourselves set up properly before we shoot at anything. Also, if we're engaging hostile aircraft, we'll keep close to the Tonka, so that the enemy may not see us.”
“Sneaky.” Rogers commented.
“No such thing as sneaky in air-to-air combat, mate.” Darkshade declared. “Just winning.”

At this point the navigator of the Tornado F.3 radioed that two low-flying aircraft had been detected closing in on the prohibited airspace that surrounded Custume Barracks. The two Hawks were ordered to close and visually identify them.

“Time to put everything you've learned so far into action, Ted.” Darkshade commented.
“Okay, let's hope I don't have to shoot down whoever these silly b*ggers are!”

The Tornado navigator directed the two Hawks so that they were above and behind both of the two 'zombies'. Rogers looked down and saw two light-grey turboprop aircraft zipping along below his Hawk.

“Fecking PC-9s from the Flying Training School!” He exclaimed. “What are those stupid b*stards doing here?”
“Providing targets for you and your mate!” Darkshade replied.
“A fecking exercise? You might have told me!”
“That would have ruined the fun! Now, these two aircraft are hostiles. Take 'em out. Just don't actually do it. We don't want a repeat of that RAF incident with the Phantom and Jaguar!”

Rogers went through the stages necessary to arm the Hawk's weapons, without actually doing so. He rolled the aircraft to the right and dove. He lined up the left-hand PC-9 in the HUD and pressed the pickle button. As the weapons were not armed, no missile was launched, but the Hawk's camera did record the 'kill'.

“Fox Two!” Rogers announced over the radio.

He pulled the nose up and pushed the throttle to full military power. The Hawk climbed away. Below, the two PC-9s had broken formation and had turned away from the prohibited airspace, heading back to Casement.

“Nice work, Ted.” Darkshade complemented Rogers. “Now, let's see if you can rejoin the Tonka.”

1401 hours GMT. CFS Alert, Nunavut, Canada.
The commander of the Spetsnaz detachment looked up as he heard the sound of jet engines. He just had enough time to see a couple of smallish dark grey fighter aircraft diving on his position before they opened fire. Their firepower was more impressive than the Hornets that had already strafed the Soviet troops. They made two further passes, keeping the Spetsnaz in cover while the CC-130 made a low pass over CFS Alert, dropping supplies to the embattled garrison. Some of the supply crates overshot and went over the cliff, but most landed within the perimeter the Canadian defenders held.

The defenders rushed to unload the crates, which contained a mix of ammunition, medical supplies, food and water. The Canadian soldiers suddenly had enough ammunition and other supplies to hold out for an extended period. Amongst the supplies they had found a single 60mm mortar and a limited supply of bombs, plus a few M72 LAW. These were very quickly put to use.

The lieutenant commanding the security platoon suddenly no longer felt alone. The two Hunters and the CC-130 had departed, but the single Hornet was still circling above. Higher still he could make out what was either a CP-140 Aurora or CP-140A Arcturus.

*

The Spetsnaz captain had never felt alone. The enemy fighters had inflicted further casualties on his force and now he was coming under sporadic mortar fire. He gathered the surviving members of the force together.

“Comrades, we have a decision to make. Our way home has been destroyed, the enemy has just been resupplied and has air support. We are running short of ammunition and medical supplies. The enemy do not need to move from their positions to continue to inflict casualties on us.
“We have two choices. We can surrender now, with the satisfaction that we have disrupted the enemy's activities at this base and have caused a great deal of trouble for him. Or, we can fight on until either we are all killed, we run out of ammunition, or both. What say you?”

The other Spetsnaz looked uncomfortable. Surrendering went against the grain, but, on the other hand, none of them particularly wanted to die in this godforsaken part of the world. On by one they nodded their assent. It was over.

1431 hours GMT. Sydney, New South Wales.
If supporting Vehicle Check Points had been dull, this new job that the Local Defence Company that Private Sutherland was part of had been given was worse. He hated digging, something he thought should be the exclusive job of the 'Conchie' labour units. But, apparently there were not enough of them to go around at the moment, as many were being converted into Civil Defence units.

*

In the panic after the Canberra Attack, the ADF had been instructed through its various depots and look for anything that it could possibly deploy to defend the country's cities. One of the most obvious first signs of that order were some Bofors L/60 40mm LAA guns appearing in various places. Whether they were actually operational was a moot point. Some of the recently replaced RBS-70 had also reappeared on some rooftops.

It had come as something of a surprise when the RAN had said it could help with Ground Based Air Defence. It had discovered that it had four spare Mk13 missile launchers, removed from the three Perth class DDG and the ex-USS Goldsborough, which had been purchased in 1993 as a source of spares. There were also suitable air search and fire control radars in storage. The RAN was of the opinion that it could bodge together a SAM using the Mk13s, radars, diesel generators and some shipping containers. After all, had the Poms not just shown they could deploy a shore-based version of Containerised Sea Wolf?
Three of the systems were to be deployed along the east coast, at Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, while the fourth system would go to the west coast, protecting Perth. The RAN had managed to make sure that the launchers from Perth and Brisbane went to their namesake cities. While the one from Goldsborough went to Sydney and the one from Hobart went to Melbourne. The navy had also dug into its stock of missiles and found some Standard SM-1 that were not yet life expired; the 'FrankenSAM' would be able to employ SM-2, but priority for those missiles was given to warships. Besides, the navy was not fully convinced there was a risk of a repeat of Canberra.

*

The Local Defence Company that Sutherland was part of had been brought in because there was a lot of construction work needed. RAN technicians and ARES engineers from 5th Combat Engineer Regiment had supervised the work. Surveying all the pits that needed to be dug, cable trenches that had to be cut, containers that had to be positioned, and supervising all the sandbags that had to be filled. The engineers had also operated some of the plant machinery, but the infantrymen did most of the 'donkey work'.

Once the construction work was finished and the 'FrankenSAM' battery operational, Sutherland's platoon was assigned to guard it. Something he quite understood. There was no way that the 'Fish-heads' could be trusted to look after themselves on land, even if they had been issued more modern F88 rifles.

“Hey, Diggers, you off to fight the Kaiser with those things?” A sailor shouted at Sutherland and one of his 'Oppos' as they patrolled.
“Bet I shoot better with it than you would with your pop-gun, mate! Go back to messing about with your missiles!” Sutherland shot back.

The sailor laughed, responded with an obscene gesture and stepped back into the shipping container that had been converted into an Ops Room. One of Sutherland's jobs had been to help pile earth on either side of the container, followed by double layer of sandbags.

“That told him, mate!” The other 'Digger' said, a wide grin on his face.
“Yeah, fish-heads would probably shoot their toes off in a gun-fight. The Smelly might be old, but I can still shoot better with her than any of those wankers can.”

1503 hours GMT. Wellington, New Zealand.
The Prime Minister had not appreciated being bundled aboard what he considered a rickety, old, UH-1H Iroquois when the evacuation order had come in. It was another reason to curse his predecessor, whose name was not to be uttered in polite society. Why could they have not bought more new helicopters? So, he was pleased to be flown back aboard a much more modern AgustaWestland A109LUH.

The A109LUH touched down outside the 'Beehive', the landing zone having been cleared by the police and Home Guard. A second helicopter carrying police officers from the Special Tactics Group had landed first, the officers forming a ring around the LZ. Protection Officers kept a close perimeter around the PM's party as it was escorted to the 'Beehive Bunker', as the National Crisis Management Centre was known.

*

“So, it was definitely an innocent merchant ship we just sank, then?” The PM asked once he had taken his seat in the NCMC.
“She was who she claimed to be, Prime Minister.” The image of the Minister of Defence replied. “I'm not sure I would classify her as innocent, given she failed to answer any of our attempts to communicate and ignored instructions.”

The Minister of Defence was still at one of the new 'Relocation Sites', in this case the Palmerston North campus of Massey University.

“Serves the b*gger right!” The Deputy Prime Minister agreed from the newly established Alternative NCMC in Auckland. “She didn't follow the rules and paid the price.”
“That's as maybe.” The PM said. “But it doesn't change the fact that we have sunk a merchant vessel going about her business. Where was she registered?”
“Liberia, Prime Minister.” The Secretary of the Cabinet reported.
“Well, at least she wasn't Chinese!” The PM replied. “Do we know why she failed to respond?”
“Not yet, Prime Minister.” The Minister of Defence said. “We've rescued several members of her crew, including her Second Officer. They are being brought ashore for medical treatment and as soon as they are fit, we'll start asking them some very pointed questions.”
“Prime Minister, I think it may be counter-intuitive, but we should publicise this incident.” The Minister for Foreign Affairs opined.

The PM's eyebrows raised.

“Oh?”
“It would make a second incident far less likely if its well known that we will do what we have said we will.”
“I take the point. It's a good idea, lets do it.”

The PM looked through the papers that had been brought down from the Cabinet Room. The precautionary evacuation had interrupted a meeting.

“We were about to hear a proposal from the Chief of Defence Force before we were rudely interrupted. Air Marshal?”
“It was a fairly minor proposal and one suggested by the Chief of Army, Prime Minister.” The Chief of Defence Force said from RNZAF Ohakea. “Thing is, outside New Zealand nobody knows what a Land Force Group is, or how strong it is. 3rd Land Force Group in Kuwait is now basically a brigade, so why don't we call it and any similarly sized formation we deploy abroad a brigade? It would become 3 (New Zealand) Brigade and another other brigade would take its identity from the Land Force Group it was formed from. In the meantime we would reform 3rd Land Force Group at home for training and home defence duties.”
“I must admit I didn't know what a Land Force Group was until I took a look at this document.” The PM replied. “I wonder why we called them that? You happy with this Minister of Defence?”
“I am, Prime Minister. I've agreed to it in principle. By the way, I suspect they were called Land Force Groups because that sounds less aggressive and militaristic than brigade.”
“Sounds about right.” The PM agreed. “Right, let's do it.
“Anything else defence related before we move on?”
“There are bound to be more calls for us to redeploy ships and aircraft after the Pacific Wanderer incident, Prime Minister.” The Minister of Defence replied. “We need to get the message out there that, if nothing else, the incident demonstrates that we have enough resources in home waters. Bringing anything home would be a mistake in my opinion.”
“I'm minded to agree.” The PM said. “Remind me, what do we have at home to protect us from maritime threats?”

The Secretary of the Cabinet handed the PM a list.

'RNZN
Frigates
HMNZS Achilles (F148) (Devonport Naval Base)
HMNZS Wellington (F69) (Devonport Naval Base)
HMNZS Canterbury (F421) (Lyttelton)

Offshore Patrol Vessels
HMNZS Pukaki (P424) (Devonport Naval Base)
HMNZS Rotoiti (P625) (Lyttelton)

Inshore Patrol Vessels
HMNZS Moa (P3568) (Devonport Naval Base)
HMNZS Kiwi (P3569) (Lyttelton)
HMNZS Wakakura (P3555) (Devonport Naval Base)
HMNZS Hinau (P3556) (Lyttelton)

1st RNZN Minesweeping Flotilla
Twenty Minesweeping vessels and four dan-layers (various ports)

RNZAF
No. 5 Squadron: 6x P-3K2 (RNZAF Auckland)
No. 5 Squadron: 2x SH-2G(NZ), 2x Wasp HAS.1 (shipborne flights)
No. 14 Squadron: 17x MB.339CB, 4x Hawk, 1x F/A-18B Hornet (RNZAF Ohakea)'

“That seems pretty comprehensive, thank you.” The PM said after reading it.
“Would I like more, Prime Minister?” The CDF said. “Of course. No military commander in history has ever felt they have enough resources. Do I think we need to recall any assets? Also no. We're stretched, but we can manage with what we have.”
“I wish we had more to give you, Air Marshal.” The PM replied. “But, it's time to move on. I see we have some issues to discuss with the implementation of conscription...”

1631 hours GMT. Southwest of Seevetal, West Germany.
The Major who commanded 243rd (Leek) Battery, 61st (Staffordshire) Heavy Regiment, RA (V), checked his watch. Four minutes to go. His six M110A2 howitzers were loaded and ready to fire. He tapped his foot, impatient to start. Two minutes to go. The artillery of two whole army corps were about to open fire. The results should be quite impressive. One minute to go.

'KRUMP.'

The Major looked towards the sound of what he recognised as an AS-90 firing. Somebody's watch was fast. Time.

“Open fire!” He yelled.

*

Other than one, or two other units that had 'jumped the gun', every artillery unit in 2 (Br) and III (US) Corps opened fire nearly simultaneously. As predicted, the result was indeed quite impressive, a thunder like rumble being accompanied by the ground shaking. It was even more impressive for the advancing Soviet forces who found themselves coming under an accurate storm of High Explosives, a variety of anti-tank and other bomblets, while anti-tank mines were laid in their path. Simultaneously, effective counter-battery fire neutralised the majority of the Soviet's own artillery.

While the MLRS and some of the tube artillery equipped units ceased fire and took the opportunity to relocate, other tube artillery kept up the barrage. With the enemy pursuing them brought to a halt, the surviving artillery of I (NL) Corps and I (GE) Korps were able to stop and join in. As the artillery of four army corps now lifted and switched to other targets, attack helicopters moved in, taking a heavy toll on the surviving armour. Meanwhile, NATO fast jets struck rear areas with Battlefield Air Interdiction mission. Even NATO Special Forces and stay-behind units joined in. [2]

The I (NL) Corps and I (GE) Korps were now able to break contact from the pursuing Soviet forces, passing through the stop-line formed by 2 (Br) and III (US) Corps. The Dutch and West German troops passed into NORTHAG reserve, where they would be given time to rest and re-organise. COMNORTHAG was temped to launch a counter-attack, but resisted the urge. He did not want his army group to get its fingers burned again.

*

“Looks like we're not going to get any visitors, then.” Lieutenant Colonel Thompson commented, lowering his binoculars.

The horizon was black with the smoke of fires fuelled by burning diesel and rubber. Shells were still bursting in the Hell that had been created. Thompson clambered down from his command tank.

“I'm not complaining, Colonel.” Major Bill Duncan, O.C of C Squadron, The Fife & Forfar Yeomanry, replied. “I'm all for the Drop-Shorts doing all the work for once.”
“You won't hear an argument from me, Bill.” Thompson said. “Looks like now is a good time to let the lads brew up and get any urgent maintenance done. I'm going to head back to Battle-Group H.Q. Hopefully, brigade is going to give us a chance to get a bit of a rest.”

*

“So, we're an aggregate of just over two to three kilometres further east.” General Horne remarked, as he studied the latest situation maps.
“We are in a strong defensive position now, Sir.” Generaal-majoor Bertholee argued. “Plus the American 50th Armoured Division and 45th Field Artillery Brigade should arrive in the early hours of the morning.” [3]

Horne nodded in agreement.

“We've certainly dealt them a bloody nose, but taken one ourselves. On the other hand, we're in a good position to defend against any further Soviet attacks.” He said. “Now, lets take a look that intelligence regarding Soviet reinforcements...”

***

[1] An order of battle of the Irish Army can be found here.

[2] Between them 2 (Br) and III (US) Corps would have the following number of artillery regiments/battalions equivalents:

MLRS: 12
M110A2: 1
155mm SPH: 22

I (NE) Corps and I (GE) Korps would add the following, though some would be understrength:

MLRS: 9
M110A2: 2
155mm SPH: 28
155mm towed: 6

[3] 50th AD and 45th FAB would add the following number of artillery battalions:

MLRS: 2
155mm SPH: 5

[Bernard Woolley]

Accompanying Pictures

[Lordroel]

Another good update Bernard, 3 in less then 2 weeks, keep it up, but in a way you do not get a burnout from witting so many updates in a short time.

[Bernard Woolley]

Thanks very much. I appreciate the concern too. Though, I doubt I'll be able to keep up that level of output!

[jemhouston]

Thanks very much. I appreciate the concern too. Though, I doubt I'll be able to keep up that level of output!

Vitamins, exercise, and rest.


It will be interesting to find out why ship didn't answer.

[Jotun]

I love the idea of the Mk13 launchers being used as fixed ground based air defence. The mention of the system brought back warm memories of my time on FGS Lütjens.

I am trying to fathom what a combined use of artillery of four corps with modern target acquisition and accuracy can possibly achieve. I speedread the OOBs of the four involved corps, and came up with around seventy or so battalions and regiments. No, I can not imagine it.

I am finetuning my latest contribution. Might be a few days yet.

Tanks for the chapter!