I KNEW IT. Trotskyism is merely opium for the masses.
But this opium is good for them!
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But this opium is good for them!
Chapter 62
Chapter 62:
Age of Cobalt
Age of Cobalt
Assuming direct control.
General of the Army MacArthur was quite the mythic character in American society. The General earned quite the reputation during his tenure as Field Marshal of the Phillipines when he succesfully fended the isles against the then invincible Imperial Japanese Army. In this capacity he vowed to never give up the nation he and the United States were building, what followed was a remarkable and aggressive campaign that ended with Operation Downfall. Had it not been for Soviet interference MacArthur would been crowned sole conquerer of Japan, instead his moment of triumph was taken away right under his nose by Trotsky and Tukhachevsky. The remainder of his career was highlighted with a burning passion to not only counter, but to actively fight the communist union and its many henchmen. Even as he was a General of the Army he spoke outloud against the Russo-American compromise in Japan (reducing it to a demilitarized and neutral country) and instead advocated for American occupation and nationbuilding in the fallen empire. During the presidential campaign of 1944 he harshly critized Truman's and Halifax's doctrine of merely containing communism, instead he wanted to bring the fight to them. However he was soon seen by many as a warmonger, even being dubbed as an American Ceasar by his adversaries. MacArthur miscalculated the general population's disdain for communism, instead they did not want to enter into another costly and bloody war in Europe and Asia.
The final nail in his coffin was in many ways when he openly spoke to the press about the possibility of using nuclear weapons and a "police" action in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan to restore the post-war order - along with a possible intervention into China and Korea. This he did without consulting the actual administration and the war department and in stark contrast to the many addresses made by the President himself who underlined that there would be no American intervention in the Middle and Far East alike. In short during the cold war era, following the defeat of MacArthur in the election of '44, there would be some sort of conflict between MacArthur and Truman, a conflict between personalities and a conflict between the very principles of civillian oversight over the Armed Forces of America. MacArthur was soon relieved of command sparking a crisis in Washington.
However the Ceasar would get his chance to shine again. By the outbreak of the Third World War he was in many ways judged by his peers as others judged Churchill during the interwar years and the Second World War; ignored and labeled as nothing more than an eccentric and warmongering backbencher, but now in hindsight given a near elevation to a prophet. There was still too much bad blood between Truman and MacArthur, however he was made the head of several commissions to root out communists, socialists and inflitrators in American unions, civil services, the armed forces and even the administration. MacArthur enjoyed immense power and even if his methods were heavy handed, often totally ignoring the rule of law, it was successfull and the growing socialist and communist movements that became more radical and violent by the day, were effectively chastised and forced underground. As 1946 drew to a close MacArthur again used his growing influence (and influence often bought under the threat of his "MacArthurism" and purging those in opposition) to critisize the government and their failed policies to contain and counterattack the Soviets. Truman again reinstated MacArthur in the Pacific and Asia theater, being alarmed by the Pact invasion of India and the reports of unrest in the Chinas along with Soviet plans for an invasion. There MacArthur would have a bold plan to stop the Soviet advance, and perhaps even liberate Asia from the red hordes. It was in a way a mirror of the Second World War. MacArthur was tasked with getting the Asian theater rid of tyranny and Eisenhowever would cross the Atlantic to liberate Europe. They were both set to embark upon a great crusade, each of them having radical, yet diverging ideas how to rid their respective continents off the stain of communism.
Some reshuffling and well deserved rest are in order.
The problems faced by MacArthur were many, but chief among them was the Pact advance in India. The Soviet spearheads had brushed aside the NATO defenses and were reinforced by Polish, French, Iranian, Balkan and even Norwegian contingents. However the Pact troops, along with their NATO adversaries, were exhausted after they massive invasion that had driven them all away from the hilltops and peaks of Kashmir and Afghanistan well past the Indus river. The front stabilized in the harsh winter of '46-'47, a winter that was made even worse by the dreadful and liberal use of atomic bombs in the region. The infrastructure of the country was in ruins, afflicting Pact, NATO troops and the native population alike. The Soviets were given the order to halt, and the battlelines were redrawn. One Front would spearhead directly to the south, another to the east into British Cambodia, and third would strike in the middle of these two axis of advance, denying their NATO adversaries to evacuate or reinforce to either theater. The main goal of the northern front were to strike eastwards, bypassing the main NATO forces and ports, and insteas aim for Cambodia. Cambodia, for the northern front, were the prize. Their main objective was to take control of the Burma road, and from there on deny NATO forces to either retreat to China or to prevent a Republican Chinese intervention in the Indian theater. They needed to, however, pass most unfavorable terrain, as did the middle front that was two take the eastern ports and split the Indian subcontinent in half; they had to climb the dug in mountains of eastern India. The southern Front needed to cross a river, and would from there on have open space perfect for manuever warfare.
MacArthur analyzed the situation and saw the attacks come. His first instinct was to reinforce the lines, dig in along the rivers and the mountains and prevent further Soviet advances. Classified documents showed his attention for a major amphibious landing to the north east of the Soviet positions, from there on they would encircle the Soviet troops already committed in battle against well prepared NATO defenses. These plans were quite conventional, even if the naval bypass were bold. It was on the other hand the other part of his plan that would spark controversy. In an interview with the press MacArthur made it clear he would use nuclear force at his own discretion to stall the Soviet advance. More specifically he would use 12-24 atomic weapons on the Pact side of the front, across the rivers and mountains in the main areas of advance and funneling points. These nuclear weapons would again be coated in cobalt, making it hazardous for any lifeform to enter these entrypoints - for 90 years or more. This measure was quickly shot down by Truman, who did it in part to battle the growing influence of MacArthur, solidify his position as Commander in Chief and from the humanitarian perspective. While Truman had pushed the nuclear buttom beforehand, he would not so easiley do it in a nation that was a key ally in the greater struggle. He would not sacrifice the Indian population, that had suffered so much dearly already by Soviet weapons of mass destruction. Then there was the issue of how the American people would percieve him and his cause if the United States of America made the same crimes in India as their Soviet adversaries did. After several heated discussions, a near order by MacArthur to launch atomic bombs in India and a close second dismissal of MacArthur, the issue were settled. It was the commander in chief, not the commander in field that would authorize and decide upon the use of atomic weapons. The Pact advance in India was close to annihilation under the mushroom clouds (the vast space of the subcontinent with totalized airfields did not allow for proper air defenses), but were instead allowed to rest and prepare for battle rather than perishing in atomic explosions and radiation.
T-34, T-44 and now T-54 - there can't be anything such as too much armor.
Meanwhile Soviet and European engineers were working in high gear to develop further weapon systems that could bring on an edge in battle. One such feat of engineering was the T-54 tank. A further development of the T-44 it would emphasize the universality of the T-44 to an even greater degree, retaining the speed and maneuverability of the T-44 along with the armor and armament of the LT tank series. The T-54 prototype was finished in 1946 and was armed with an improved version of the T-44s 100 mm main gun, with a larger main turret inspired by the LT-3 tank and modernized engines, tracks and transmissions. By January the factory of Nizhny Tagi was ordered to produce the T-54-1, a tank vastly superior to anything the NATO could muster. In comparison the T-54-1 had a frontal armor of 120mm and a turret frontal armor of 205 mm, side hull armor of 80 mm where the Pershing had a frontal upper hull armor of 102 mm, and side armor of 50 mm. The Pershing had already proven to have problems with penetrating the T-44 armor at certain angles, while being penetrated with little effort by the T-44. The T-54 had even higher armor resistance and an improved turret system and improved munitions. In addition the T-54 would come with improved infrared optics, better crossroad capabilities (sorely needed in Africa and India) along with NBC protection that was becoming mandatory in the wastelands of Africa and India. If the T-54s entered mass production and replaced the aging T-34s (the T-54s were not intended to replace the mass productions of the needed and tested T-44s) it would give the Soviet armored weapon a major advantage over their opposing forces.
Yet another project projected to take up tons of resources.
Stalingrad, who would name a city and a battleship after a traitor?
However the greatest feet was the Volgograd Battleship/cruiser. While its speed would be somewhat slower than Project 25, it was 42,300 ton warship that would outrun any other fast battleship and battlecruiser, it would be a force to be reckoned armed to the teeth with three triple 305 mm main batteries and even ballistic missiles! Moreover it would be outfitted with state of the art of jammers, electronic devices and sensors. If the Volgograd entered production and service they would even rival the infamous Soviet Republic superheavy, mostly by combining the firepower of conventional battleships with the speed of the battlecruisers along with new electronics and rocket engineering.
The renewed Soviet focus on battleships was in part due to the massive success their battleship had when the Soviet Republics were the vanguard for the fleets that brought down the Royal Navy and shocked naval professional across the globe. A new generationof battleships was to pave the way and bring the fight to the US Navy. This new generation was needed to counter their major advantage in battleships and aircraft carriers. However the Soviets and Americans operated differently, the Soviets could afford to assemble their fleets in consentrated task forces, meanwhile the Americans needed to project their power across the globe, stretching their lines thin. Even if the two aircraft carriers in production were finished the Americans held the upperhand in the area, the Soviets would need to close in on the carriers and neutralize the threat itself. This was not only reflected upon the Project 25 and Volgograd classes, but also that the Soviet carriers had a focus on cruiser type guns. When the Americans amassed most of their fleets into the Pacific and the Far East, the Soviets needed to assemble a fleet of their own and counter it, to create a naval bastion that would enable the Soviet second invasion of Japan and China. However while STAVKA drew plans to invade said nations and reviewed the new inventions, disaster struck.
The pearl of the orient is shattered.
It was four in the morning. The birds were supposed to greet the morning and the rising sun with their chirps. But it was not to be. With reports coming in of a planned American invasion of the Far East and a mighty fleet lurking in the seas, what was left of the Soviet Air Force in the Far East was out patrolling the waters. The majority was already in India, doing their part in the war there. From the south a pair of B-29 Superfortresses snuck behind the Soviet air defenses. They headed straight toward the Soviet eastern pearl and dropped their newest weapon dubbed "X-Ray". It was a cruel name for a cruel bomb, holding 49 kilotons the first atomic bomb to use levitated cores made out of oralloy. The bomb itself was also coated in cobalt, rendering the once prosperous port of Vladivostok "salted". That it the area was so affected by radiation that it would be rendered uninhabitable for generations. The population and units stationed there suffered dearly, only by chance were the Far East Fleet out on manuevers, with only their homeport and spareparts perishing.
Vladivostok was singled out by MacArthur and the Army Air Force for its location. It was the main port in the area, it was the main staging ground for an invasion of both Japan and China, along with the homeport for the Far East Fleet along with ballistic missiles crossing the Pacific falling down unto American cities. Tens of thousands were lost in the blink of an eye, many more wounded. Siberia, the Soviet Far East and even Soviet-China was suddenly cut off from the world and the Soviet Union. The seas outside of the Far East was laid open as several wings and squadrons were pulled back to protect the coastal areas. Further B-29 bombers pairs were intercepted and forced to turn back. MacArthur had directed 11 other B-29s to the Soviet Far East, these strikes were authorized by Truman. For the cost of arieal supremacy in the seas and India, the Soviet Union averted further tragedy. As the Soviets mourned their losses, their rage grew.
Payback time.
The people who lived in northern Canada and north-western US had grown accustomed to the new missile threat. Even masks were handed out as they did in Britain and Europe before the continent fell to the Red Army. The Soviet missiles could hold conventional and unconventional warheads alike, however they could not be used en-masse. Furious by the latest atomic bombing Trotsky and the soviets vowed revenge. Soviet engineers had already worked tirelessly to establish major airfields in Iceland and Greenland, as it coincided the airfields in Greenland were finished by the time of the atomic bombings. Stavka wanted to play it safe and not give away the new airfields to the Americans, but by the time of the atomic bombing of Vladivostok over 700 strategic bombers, of the new Bu-29 copy, Tu-4, and older models alike were sent to the frozen wasteland that is Greenland. Defying harsh weather and no fighter escort into the mainland these wings and squadrons headed toward to the United States and Canada. More specifically they headed toward the ports of Nova Scotia and New England, cities such as Ottowa, Boston and New York. Day and night the Soviet bombers unleashed their fury over the American countryside. Trotsky decreed that "every railroad, every bridge, every hamlet, every city is to be reduced to nothing". A new daily life had come to the north American coast, a life of fear and destruction. The continent that had been largely spared by the two first world wars were now ablaze. Several Soviet bombers were shot down or were downed by other means; sheer fatigue from the pilots, poor weather and too little fuel. But wave after wave of bombers pressed on. Pilots and bombers could be replaced. The Soviet bombing of North America also shook the Canadian and American populations; they were no longer protected by the surrounding oceans.
Another try for Iberia?
Speaking of which, across the ocean another offensive took place. As MacArthur was set on stopping the Soviet advance in India, Eisenhower set his eyes on Iberia. The peninsula was weakened after the first American invasion of Spain, the following atomic bombings along with the Portugese civil war. While Pact forces were bogged down in Africa and India, with its naval and airforces far away and the chaos that happened with the bombing of Vladivostok and major naval invasion took place in Portugal. It was ambitious as it crossed the entire Atlantic, it paid off, however. While the major invasion force were soon beaten back, the Pact forces were battered and they did not manage to reclaim Lisbon. The Americans had a door into Europe. In response the Soviets rushed their cavalry divisions to hold the line. Romanian, Czech and Italian forces were still under training by the Soviet Army, but as soon as they finished up they would be sent to the Iberian front and relive the forces in poor shape there. The Soviet Army itself was occupied elsewhere and needed to resupply and recondition, they could not afford to counter the NATO invasion of Portugal. However the NATO troops were in a dire situation. While the Pact troops did not manage to break Lisbon itself, NATO could not break out. Furthermore they only had the port of Lisbon for resupply, a city and port that came under Pact bombing - NATO had no means to send fighter planes there, and so the city and the troops were harassed. A stalemate of sorts came to be, and it remained to be seen if it could be broken.
It was then Eishenhower's true plan showed its form. As the American High Command had expectd the Soviets were planning on a major invasion named "Operation: Vostok": operation east. Bear in mind the codename for the invasions of Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom were "Zapad" - west. Eisenhower gambled that during this new major offensive the Soviets would need to divert forces away from Europe, leaving it vulnerable. Now that the already weakened Europe was exposed he would launch the invasion of Portugal. That required further troops to be tied down to Iberia, it was then he tasked General Lucian Truscott with assaulting Greenland on the 10th of March. To his surprise the Soviets were still at large in Greenland, and fighters and dive bombers swooped in to support the garrison troops. After days of vicious battles the invaders were cast back at sea. In the west there was a stalemate, NATO could not break out of Lisbon, and the Pact could not break in, along with the fact that NATO could not reclaim Greenland after two attempts.
India is split in three. South, east and Combodia.
"Zapad" the radios rang. This only meant one thing, the offensive had to be begin anew. All across the line hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops attacked the defending forces hoping to take all of India and claim Cambodia. With fresh supplies and eager to make up for the bombing of Vladivostok the thousands of armored and motorized vehicles created sandstorms of their own. The harsh winter had gone by, and the tropical weather of India came in full efect. The Soviets were first held back by the defenders, but soon they found their way over the fords, rivers and mountain passes. The central Front was the first to carve out several pockets and reach the east coast, cutting the sub continent in two. The southern Front pressed ever onwards and claimed all of southern India. The eastern Front moved into Cambodia.
However it was not only in India that the offensives were renewed. In Africa there had also been a halt order in place ever since December. However by January Soviet engineers expanded the infrastructure there and the Caucasian Front, with several divisions of elite mountaineers, was sent to mount the African mountains. The two fronts already in place would resume their former tasks, one was rush toward the westcoast of Africa and the other would advance toward the Portugese colonies, and then swopp westwards isolating South Africa from Congo. As in India the renewed offensive made great progress.
The Indians have been granted independence.
By the 18th of March, mere 12 days into the renewed offensive all of British India and Cambodia fell. Hundreds of thousands had fallen on both sides, many more casualties piled up as the Soviet war machine steamrolled over the continent. In 12 days the new offensive made greater achievements than the several months of the first offensive. The last Commonwealth and American troops laid down their weapons and the government of India and the Princes capitulated to the Soviet Union. The former jewel of the crown were now under full Soviet control, India was conquered and Indochina saved - the Republic of China was now completely surrounded.
But Vostok's true intention was not to set off the renewed Indian offensive. Vostok was the codename to open up another front. Thousands of Soviet men fell in on the shores of their targets that had been bombarded from sea and air. Yet another, quite desperate, offensive was mounted. The war had reached new shores, but that is a story for another day.
The Soviet Army and Navy assaulting the shores.
(...)
No, it’s not true!
That mission
He could never complete.
No way I say, no!
Even for the dead
It would be too terrible to hear
Even the dead and voiceless
Have one last single joy
We have fallen for the Motherland
But it’s finally saved.
Our eyes have faded
Out is the flame of our hearts
And up there, at roll calls
They are not calling us.
We’re like bumps or stones
Even darker and dumber.
Our memory eternal –
Who is jealous to it?
Our ashes are rightfully
Owned by black earth
Our eternal glory
Is of little delight.
We shall not wear our
Battle awards
This is all for you, the living,
We have just one last joy
That we didn’t fight in vain
For our Motherland
Let our voice be inaudible
You’ve got to know it now.
And you had to, my brothers,
Stand fast like a wall
For the curse of the dead
Is a terrible wrath
We are forever given
This bitter right
And it is forever ours
This bitter right
In the summer of forty-two
I was buried without a grave
Everything what came later
Was taken by the death
All, what has been for many
So clear and common
But then may it all be
In accord with our belief
(...)
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If it continue like this there might be nothing and noone left to create nukes. I think we can count ourself lucky that we don't know the true effect such large scale of nukes.
There might be a campaign in the Pacific and Asia. Afterall both sides have done a massive force buildup in the region. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I'll also go on a short trip to Berlin, so there will be no update this weekend. The next week there will be an update about the new invasion and there might be the last interlude. You'll see that it will tie in with the updates and fill in the gaps.
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It reminds me a little of @George_VI 's Commonwealth Kaiserreich AAR, that ended up with multiple nukes before the - something around 30 all told iirc.
I often of that myself when the nukes drops. Hopefully it won't escalate to that level here, especially when you consider that two nations are willing and able to use nuclear force.
Chapter 63
Chapter 63:
Vostok!
Vostok!
Soviet commandos on viking.
A single submarine broke broke the surface, as fast it emerged it submerged, unnoticed. Three small rubberboats paddled its way to the shorelines. Three commando squads hid their boats and moved forward to their target, avoiding the moonlight and staying in the cover of darkness. The march took several hours with the commandos being armed to the teeth, however with no means to survive on their own for more than 24 hours. Their mission was meant to be a one way trip. The men were handpicked, from the paratrooper services, shock troops, naval brigades and the intelligence services. Their objective was a radar station being the hub in the entire early warning and localization services along the shoreline. The station itself had been mapped out first by the intelligence services who had planted agents in the area during the cold war, and later aerial reconnaissance vis-à-vis the many bombing raids.
By noon they reached the radarstation, however they could expose themself. Not right away. Night fell upon the island. They had to take out the station otherwise the entire offensive, the entire mainthrust of "Vostok" risked being detected and the beacparties cast back to the seas. Armed only with submachine guns and a few light mortars and light machine guns they opened up and assaulted the station. The few American troops on guard duty (replacements for the former British garrison) were taken by surprise. Both sides put a good fight, however NATO high command had never expected an attack so far into Commonwealth lands, especially not by a small raider group. The radar station was taken after an hour or so firefight, with great Soviet casualties. Meanwhile hundreds of their own bombers pierced the skies blasting a way deep inland, taking attention away from the shores. American made and operated Mustangs and a few remaining Spitfires and Spitefuls soon intercepted them, downing many, however their crosshairs were set on the bombers and not the true threat; the commando raiders. The station were firmly under their control, the gateway to the shores were open. For now. A few hours later the horizon were lit up by naval bombardment. The invasion had begun.
Soviet infantrist wading in high tides. Commonwealth troops in a local village in a hasty withdrawal. Also Soviet destroyers with rocket launchers bombarding the shores, with a tank used to clear out the beach with fire.
Such raids took place all over the various fronts. In Japan, China, British Malaya and Indonesia. However the focal raid were the one previously described, it was the raid that would facilitate the invasion, the others were mere distractions. Andrey Vlasov was elected to be the vanguard of the invasion, both for his role in leading the "true" revolutionary army against Stalin, freeing Rokossovsky and Tukhachevsky, but also restoring Trotsky to power. For his brave acts that led to the third Russian revolution he had always been in Trotsky's good side and his inner circle, however it was his expertise in naval invasions and the harsh terrain of the land he were invading that proved critical.
It was a risky operation, months prior when the whole operation were getting its final details revised Trotsky entrusted Vlasov "this is my Rubicon, this is where my fate, all of our fates, will be decided. But unlike Ceasar I have an ocean to cross and not a small river. This will be our final struggle, its outcome will preside over the liberation or the oppression of humankind". There was no simple task that was put on Vlasov's shoulders. The very expedition he was intended to lead reached a level of ambition unparalleled in history, it would even dwarf the previous invasion of Great Britain itself. The US Navy still reigned supreme as it had shown during the Battle of Sea of Japan when it forced back the Far Eat Fleet. Vlasov himself did not truly believe he would ever be ordered to carry out the task. Their destination were too far away from any of their single or twin engined fighters to reach, the supply lines would be critically overextended and exposed, epecially to the powerful US Navy. If they reached the shores at all, they faced a very real risk of being cut off from both naval and air supplies and forced to surrender. But then in the early hours of the 8th of March, on the 30th anniversary of the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution (as it was known in the USSR) Vlasov recieved the word "Vostok". Operation East was underway along with major offensives in India and Africa that was meant as a diversion for the main focal point of Vostok.
Vlasov ordered his ships out, it was a major undertaking and had religion been allowed he would surely have prayed to whatever god that the fleet would not be intercepted. Days prior the Red Fleet had engaged a small US detachment, however it soon turned tails as the battleship USS West Virginia suffered damage, still one of the main invasion forces were under attack by a US amphibious landing. The American offensive was twarthed, but had they known of their plans? Nevertheless the orders were carried out, but only two our of three armies could leave their ports as one of the had substained heavy casualties during the failed American invasion. Vlasov himself was close to the invasion force and looked through his binoculars to examine the progress. Ships of all types from small improvised fishing boats carrying heavy rocket launchers to destroyers and to the majestic superheavy battleships pummeled the beaches and shores before the initial regiments could land. And so they did. They took the beaches, but were met with limited resistance. Only a few scattered police and garrison forces were in the area, but none had expected an invasion at this location, especially not at this time of the year. The beaches were secured and American and Commonwealth commands managed to send a few squadrons worth of fighters and dive bombers toward the invaders. However they could not stop the Soviets who were loading a total of seven divisions into the landing zone, and soon taking the surrounding forests and villages. The beach were taken, but the island were not.
The Soviet offensive into St. Johns.
The invasion of Newfoundland was so crazy, so unconventional and so unexpected that NATO high command first dismissed it as one of the many raiding parties that had taken place all over the globe. Afterall there was solid intelligence reports that a major eastward offensive would take place, likely in Japan or Malaya and Indonesia. This was reflected by their decision to send the majority of the US Navy to the Pacific. The Soviets could surely never cross the Atlantic and make a landfall in northern America. Such a plan was only too drastic and too unlikely to ever work out.
Unfortunately for NATO a total of seven rifle divisions had just made landfall in Newfoundland. The long trek from Greenland and Iceland took some 18 days in total, always under the risk of being intercepted by the mighty US Navy. Pressed on by Vlasov they attacked right toward their east after a days rest. The first Soviet recon elements suffered high casualties, however knowing that if they could not capture the port of St. Johns they would be out of supplies and risked being starved out. The Americans had ever since the fall of London occupied Newfoundland and Labrador, and since the fall of Iceland they had built fortifications in and near St. Johns. These fortfifications would now get a run for its money. The Americans put up a tough fight and stopped all of the intitial recon advances and later the main thrusts. However when the Americans later went on to make a counter reconnaissance offensive of their own, they were quickly encircled by the hardened Soviet riflemen - afterall the American garrison were just third rate garrison brigades, the majority of the American manuever brigades in the area had been defeated in the frozen waters outside of Greenland. This was followed up by a major pincer attack toward the port, both of the attacks were stopped. However the northern pincer made the most progress and following the doctrine of deep operations the northern axis of advance would become the focal point of the offensive where the reserve battalions rushed in to take the port. On the seventh of April the port as finally taken, no American or Commonwealth relief forces were in sight, a second front had just opened.
The invasion of Labrador, along with its planned advance toward Montréal and Ottowa.
The second invasion was in Labrador, the second of Vlasov's armies. No resistance to speak of was encountered. The few remaining garrison troops was pulled southward to protect Quebec City and its port from a possible invasion from Newfoundland. Still NATO believed it was some sort of twisted diversionary attack, they could not really fathom that the Soviets could so easily land troops right into their home continent, moreover they expected the Soviet offensive would break down due to the sheer supply restraints they would fae in the region. The five rifle divisions landing in Labrador was subsequently ordered to take control of the remainder of the Dominion. Having no air support to speak of the Soviets were slowed down by American and Canadian interdiction strikes. Along with the harsh weather, the snow and cold climate had not withered away as spring came close.
The situation around one month after the start of Vostok.
On the 12th of April all of Newfoundland was under Soviet control along with most of Labrador. The island of Newfoundland were quickly overrun along with its ports, resulting in a fresh stream of supplies (when it was not intercepted by US submarines and cruisers), however it had its issues. The American and Canadian forces had destroyed the airfields in the region, along with the stockpiles of munitions, medicines and most importantly fuel. The seven division sof the army that made a landfall in Newfoundland was forced to take up defensive positions. Meanwhile the Baltic Fleet and the White Sea Fleet was ordered to take control over the Newfoundland Sea, and most importantly the narrow strait between the the island and the mainland itself.
Labrador was still not fully pacified. Retreating US and Canadian troops used scorched earth tactics making life a living hell for the Soviets who were trying to advance down an area already unsuitable for major troop movements. The few villages they encountered were also armed with British style homeguards troops, alltough they were poorly equipped and disciplined they were enough to casue major problems for the advancing forces. The offensive was further bogged down by the cold spring and lack of infrastructure. While all of Newfoundland was now under firm Soviet control, Labrador was not. This frustrated Vlasov, if the Americans and Canadians could mount a counterattack or a full scale defense of Montreal and Ottawa the entire invasion risked being a failure.
Soviet Tu-4s over America along with WW3 bomb shelters.
The sirens rang, women comforted their sulking children others were apathetic, simply staring into the walls or ceiling with no will to live on left in their eyes. When the first missiles fell down across Canada and USA there had been widespread panick. They had all been issued gas masks, however it was believed there would no use for them as it were no use for them in the great European cities such as London the previous war. But this was nothing like the previous war. The missiles were a good hint of the new unconventional nature of this war. John looked down on his child sitting on his lap, he had just tightened her mask and proof checked it for any leaks. His own leg was missing, he had lost it during the hasty evacuation in Scotland, he hoped he would never again experience anything like that. Now there was rumors of a Soviet invasion in the former Dominion of Newfoundland. That could surely not be the case, it was impossible. The sirens and the evacuation had become some sort of new daily routine ever since February when the first bombers arrived. Ever since they had laid entire villages and towns barren and left a wasteland behind them. The very sound of the Soviet bombers were enough to send chills down their spines, and whilst at first the roaring sound of American Mustangs sent cheers through the city as its populace cheered them on, their enthusiasm quickly faded away. It had become a routine to sit in these moist filled shelters, just hoping it to end. John then heard the Soviet machines coming in, they would drop their bombs and cause hell for some minutes and then leave again. John could then return to the surface and his daily life. But this explosion was nothing like he had ever witnessed before. He was deafened in an instant and soon everything turned dark. In one flash it was all over.
There's no end to this madness
Ottawa was the next target for the mushroom clouds. Ever since the destruction of Vladivostok the Soviets demanded retribution. One Tu-4 was sent toward Ottawa dropping its payload over the city. The bomber itself was shot down by American interceptors, however its crew did their best effort to drop 41,2 kiloton bomb over the Canadian capital. Hours before the Soviet Union demanded that Canada was to demobilize and surrender to the USSR. Naturally the Canadian government refused to comply to their demand. The result was the destruction of the Ottawan center along with the Canadian government and the supply routes in the area. Still the Canadians refused to bow despite the Soviet nuclear bombing of their capital.
Another Tu-4 was heading toward New York, carrying another RDS-3 atomic bomb. Its course were true and the crew prepared to drop a bomb over the greatest city of America, and in many ways the very symbol of capitalist decadency. This would only be the first of many payback loads by the Soviets toward the Americans who had bombed several Soviet and Spanish major cities with this new atomic weapon. However by chance they strayed off course, this meant that they were caught by American radar defenses and soon they were tailed by interceptors. Taking fire and several of the crew shot apart the pilot headed toward the city despite all odds. Major Wallis, a captain of one of the fighters trying to down the Tu-4, said he could see the Empire State. Unbeknownst to him if it were allowed to reach New York, the bomber who were barely managing to keep itself floating would push a button that would lead to hundred of thousands of casualties. They fired upon the already burning engine, it then exploded clipping the left right off. The bomber then followed suit and downed to the left. It crashed down in Brooklyn. The rescue crew then found the shocking truth, the bomber did not carry ordinary bombs but another nuclear bomb.
Ottawa was taken out and New York was to close to suffering similar fate. While the latter was spared it sent a tremendous shock through the American continent. The two oceans separating them from the Soviet Union were no longer enough to keep them safe, this was indeed a true full scale attack and not just some diversion.
The ocean gods truly do not favor NATO.
The nuclear attacks was a true wakeup call for NATO highcommand. Vostok was not an eastern offensive it was in fact a much more ambitious offensive, it was nothing short of the invasion of North America. The White Sea Fleet and a small Italian task force was spotted heading toward the shallow waters between Newfoundland and continental Canada. This was the time to strike! An impressive task force of both American and Canadian warships assembled to take on the Soviet Fleet. Led by both battleships and carriers they would twarth the Soviet offensive, deny entry into the Newfoundland Sea and starve out the Soviet invaders. The Battle of the Newfoundland Sea had begun. However it did not end as they intended to. The total US-Canadian fleet was over 107 ships strong. The plan was to surround the island of Newfoundland and trap the White Sea Fleet inside the shallow water. Instead the Soviets and Italians had already entered the area. Spearheaded by the modern Moskva battlecruiser and an equally modern Italian battlecruiser they punched their way through the clogged up American-Canadian fleet with a hail of torpedos from their many lighter cruisers and destroyers. The Americans and Canadians put up a fight and lost several heavy cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers. However they were willing to set in their battleships and carriers to deal with the battlecruisers, it was then the battleships of Engels and Lenin neared the area with escorts from the south. The American Admiral had the choice of taking his weakened force (several of his battleships had endured major damage during the raid by the light Soviet vessels) toward the blocked in shallow waters, with Soviet naval batteries along the shores, to try to thrust his way through, but risking being outflanked by the Soviet battleships and the powerful Soviet Black Sea Fleet who had also entered the area of operations - the Black Sea Fleet had two of the monstrous superheavy Battleships. He chose to retreat and instead consolidate his forces and repair. This proved to be a fatal mistake.
The people of North America now know the hardway the terrors they unleashed upon Europe during World War Two.
Soon thereafter the Soviet heavy and strategic bombers made some of the greatest bombing runs in history. They were to lay all of the major areas in Nova Scotia in ruins, but most importantly its radar installations. New commando units were ordered to deploy and take them out, however the Canadians and Americans had increased the guards on these vital installations. The Soviet raids were foiled, instead their bombers would carry out major operations head on these valuable assests. Several of the Soviet bombers were intercepted as a result, especially as they came in concentrated attacks and largely ignored the nearby airfields. The Soviet bomber offensive suffered heavy casualties, however the radio installations were rendered incapable of any operations whatsoever. With the Newfoundland Sea cleared of hostile warships and the air raids taking out the Anglo-American warning systems in Nova Scotia the board was set up and the dices were cast.
Nova Scotia will fall as old Scotland.
Along the isthmus conncecting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick the last army under Vlasov landed. The field army was supposed to land around the same time as the field armies that landed in Newfoundland and Labrador, however the failed US offensive into Greenland along with the US fleet patrolling the Newfoundland Sea the invasion of Nova Scotia was postponed - until now. On the 20th of April a total of seven rifle divisions, one mechanized corps, one motorized rifle division and one heavy tank brigade (outfitted with the heave LT tanks) landed. The mechanized corps and the mot. rifle division was ordered east to take the airfield in the area along with Halifax. The rifle divisions and the heavy tank brigade was ordered west into New Brunswick and mostly hold the roads leading into Nova Scotia, cutting the Canadian and American forces there off from the mainland.
A total of one Canadian division and two rapidly organized American National Guard Divisions protected Halifax, while they did not manage to protect the local airfield they stopped the Soviet armored and mechanied forces in the outskirts of Halifax. However the capture of the main airfield in Nova Scotia along with clearing the seas outside of Nova Scotia meant one thing. The Soviet Air Force joined the fray. Experienced pilots and deadly jet fighters were shipped over to Nova Scotia and quickly took to the skies along with piston fighters, dive bombers, fighter bombers, heavy fighters and tactical bombers. The Battle of Canada now got a new dimension, and while the Americans had air superiority, the new addition of Soviet close air support and the psychological terror of jet fighters soon led to the the defenses of Halifax breaking down. The three divisions that held Nova Scotia was wiped out. Meanwhile the rifle divisions and the heavy tank brigade pushed out to the west, creating a foothold in New Brunswick and a buffer zone. Once the mechanized and motorized forces linked up with them they could resume their offensive.
Scenes from the Battle of Montreal. Note the LT-2 tank with the inscription of "Revenge for the hero brothers".
While the two other field armies were slowly moving through Labrador and moving into New Brunswick, Vlasov decided that these two offensives were not satisfying. Simply put he feared that if those offensives did not pick up the pace the Americans and Canadians could regroup and counter them. So he ordered his first field army that took Newfoundland to carry out their invasion south of Quebec City and head on along the rivers of St. Lawrence and St. Maurice, toward Montreal. This was, naturally, made able by the retreat of the US Navy from the Newfoundland Sea and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Whilst both US and Canadian forces trid to counterattack the Soviets, they never quite managed to engage the Soviets head on - when they did it often ended in decisive Soviet victories. By the 6th of June after vicious battles for Montreal the Red Army controlled the city, the nearby airfield (who was naturally reinforced by several fighter and dive bomber squadrons) and controlled both banks of St. Maurice. They threatened both Ottawa and Quebec City head on, however they were encircled. This had the added benefit that it pulled US and Canadian troops away from Labrador and New Brunswick. All the divisions in Montreal had to do was to wait for their other forces linking up.
The battles of New Brunswick, all that is between America and the Soviet Union.
On the 20th of May as Quebec was under invasion, Vlasov ordered his troops in New Brunswick to fan out. Several American brigades met them, despite being some eight infantry manuever brigades and five armored brigades, they were mostly hastly made up of reservists. Several of them never even got a chance to go into "boot camp" before they were given a rifle and ordered to battle. Their tanks were aging light tanks more fit for warfare during the early years of WW2 and truly no match for the top modern T-44s and LT heavy tanks. The Shermans and Pershins were bogged down in the quagmire that was Asia and Africa.
Improvised American field hospital.
How, one can ask, could the Americans and Canadians be taken by surprised? And in such an epic scale. Afterall the 2nd Baltic Front had occupied both Greenland and Iceland for some time. Perhaps it was hubris. The US Navy was believed to be superior in every way, it had already forced the White Sea and Baltic Sea Fleets to turn away from the seas west of Greenland. Perhaps they did not believe that an invasion was possible at all to the west, such an idea was indeed very bold.
This can be further reinforced by the very fact that the Soviet Army was believed to be depleted. They barely managed to gain ground in the quagmires that was Africa and India. Moreover everything pointed toward an imminent invasion of the Republic of China and Japan, which forced most of the US Navy toward the Pacific. This did not help that the US learned of a new major offensive that was to be named "Vostok" - East. The large concentration of Soviet troops in Africa, India and the Far East pulled several divisions toward these theaters. Moreover Eisenhower ordered the liberation of Portugal which required a total of 22 US infantry brigades, 9 armored brigades and 15 Canadian brigades. The majority of Canadian manuever units! One may conclude that the US were too occupied fighting the Soviets in other theaters that they forgot that their very neighbour was under a direct threat. In addition they believed the Soviet forces were depleted, but in fact both American and Commonwealth troops were on the retreat as the Soviets renewed their offensives in India and Africa, mostly to pull American attention away from Canada and toward these tropical areas. As a matter of fact the Soviets only needed to solidify their supply lines and get resupplied, in India and Africa it was NATO who was depleted. This was only further complicated by leaked Soviet intel for an offensive into Southeast Asia and the Far East - with actual force buildup and an operation called Vostok. In that regard it may be considered the perfection of the Soviet doctrine of Maskirovka; Russian military deception. Then there was the case of the Meican Civil War, more on that later. Whatever the case were Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland was now under invasion and occupation.
The situation during the 6th of June.
The date was the 6th of June 1947. Almost three months had passed since the order of "Vostok" had been issued, the Battle of Canada had raged on for over two months. All of Newfoundland and Labrador had fallen along with Nova Scotia. Only parts of New Brunswick still resisted, mainly due to fierce American resistance and the Soviets evening out the front before either pushing into New England to the south or to the west to relieve their comrades who were stationed in Montreal, mere miles away from Ottawa and Quebec City. If the latter fell then the last major Canadian port would fall, and with it Quebec.
However the Soviets were in a vulnerable situation. They only had a few ports and their supply routes were critically overextended. If the US Navy ended their slumber they could pose a serious threat to the Soviet invasion. Moreover the Soviet lines themself was scattered, an American offensive with the full might of the US Army and the American industry could seriously threaten Vlasov and his 2nd Baltic Front. However STAVKA had anticipated this, the VDV with all of its 10 paratrooper divisions was stationed in Nova Scotia and was just waiting for the greenlight. Meanwhile the cavalry was coming.. This was merely the beginning.
Brothers, maybe you didn’t
Lose the Don battlefield only
And were dying in battles
Fighting behind Moscow
And in steppes behind Volga
Dug your trenches in haste
And in battles you marched
To the limits of Europe
For us it would suffice
To know for sure
There was that last inch
On the road of war -
That very last inch:
If it is abandoned,
There’s nowhere to put
The foot that had stepped behind
And you drove the enemy
Back to the West
May it be so, my brethren
And Smolensk’s now ours
And you’re crushing the enemy
On the other front,
And maybe it’s the border
Your are nearing now?
May it be…
Let the holy oath’s
Words be fulfilled :
For Berlin, if you remember
Was named near Moscow
Brothers, who now trample
The stronghold of enemy land
If the dead and the fallen
Could only cry!
If only victory salvoes could
Resurrect us for an instant,
Us, deaf and numb,
Us, who rest in eternity
O, my faithful comrades,
Only then at this war
Your limitless happiness
You would realise!
In this happiness there is
Our inalienable part,
Our, severed by the death,
Faith and hatred and passion
(...)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where is the US Navy? No idea, I know for a fact they have a major presence in the Pacific, so thats why I spin the story in the direction that they are mostly in the Pacific. However we did have one engagement in the Newfoundland Sea, I don't know how I managed to win that one really, but it opened up new oppurtunites for me to invade additional targets in Canada. The Black Sea, White Sea and Baltic Sea fleets are now in the Atlantic, this means that basically every capital ship of the Soviet Navy is there. It might aswell be wiped out very soon. The whole invasion of North America is a major gamble that will either cripple the Soviet military or the American military.
For the nukes I finally got to nuke New York, however as the nuke was on its way the air superiority went down to 74,5% when 75% is required! So I take it as the bomber got shot down.
So this is the invasion of America, hopefully we have managed to pull enough US and Canadian troops to all over the world, let it be GB, north Africa, sub-saharan Africa or India that they have few divisions left in their homeland, and not that much to go on in terms of equipment and manpower.
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Once the Atlantic is breached ... I imagine the whole rotten capitalist structure will now be rolled up
Direct quote: "They're doing whaaAAAAAATTTT!?"
And then the world exploded.
The population is going to freak, especially when nukes start falling.
It is, but compared to NATO? Who knows....
Some brave communist needs to suicide bomb the Panama Canal RIGHT NOW!
If the nuke had reached New York, I think the American people would seriously begin demonstrating for surrender. Once Canada falls, they almost certainly will.
And the commies have landed in canada! Now you can deal with the canadians and americans on their own soil!
The beginning of the end, surely?
Also, Africa and India seems to be this timeline's Rzhev!
Also, Africa and India seems to be this timeline's Rzhev!
I hope you are right! Perhaps all that is needed is to kick down the door, and the whole rotten structure will collapse
We'll see what happen next. If we get to nuke USA then I suppose they're on their last leg. Fortunately for us the bulk of their forces are in Lisbon, Hong Kong and Macau, Africa and wiped out in India. If they're still holed up across the world we have a chance, I just fear what happen if the total might of America return. As such nukes may be needed to break their will at home.
As for the Panama, it might be dealt with, per nuke or invasion
For glory! It is about time the war have moved away from periphical fronts to the true heart of the enemy.
ooohhhh
so when is zapad to alaska?
Perhaps operation south?
Vladivostok is in ruins narrative wise, to get to Alaska we then need intact ports in Japan. The US NAVY is still at large in that area, if they leave then we might create a second front in US-Canada. If not then the majority of US BBs and CVs are away from the east coast, which also work for us.I sure hope so! If the Front under Vlasov is wiped out there it will be a major blow to us, likewise if our Navy is sent to rock bottom we're exposed to a counter invasion. If we succeed then US is bound to fall, it will be a large and decisive battle eitherway.
And yes that meatgrinder came to mind when it came to India and Africa. Top that with nuclear radiation and other WMDs in India, and you got a true hellhole. At the very least India is conquered.
Okay so remember before when we were talking about the issue of this war and surrender? Basically, both sides are pretty banged up and wiped out, and either one could be very close to unconditional surrender. Unfortunately, neither side knows how the other is doing exactly, only how badly they themselves are doing. So the only way they can actually get a victory is to be as hyper aggressive as possible, and hope it bluffs the other side into collapse. Or they can try for peace where Russia gets everything they've taken for the most part, and the US keeps the Americas free of commies. Or, they can gamble, lose themselves, at which point they have to unconditionally surrender and one side or the other wins completely.
Basically, America needs to dislodge the communists NOW and shove them back somewhere else to get the Russians to negotiate. The Russians just need to cling on in America until NATO collapses at this point.
Basically, America needs to dislodge the communists NOW and shove them back somewhere else to get the Russians to negotiate. The Russians just need to cling on in America until NATO collapses at this point.
I agree, as far as I see it until the invasion of North America it was all really about wearing down the opponent and perhaps get some status quo peace deal. Right now? If the USSR manage to make the US surrender then the war is basically won, however their supply lines are very much stretched thin as it is, to supply entire field armies across the atlantic ocean where the US Navy can show up any time should be a logistical nightmare. If the Soviets mass their troops in northern America and they get cut off the brunt of the Soviet forces will be cut off, however US forces will also be worn down. Perhaps a complete Soviet defeat in North America will result in a total American victory, but it is the rest of Europe to consider: will the US be able to pull off an invasion of a united Europe despite the fall of the Red Army?
As far as I see it this campaign will detirmine the fate of the war. If the USSR break the US then the war is pretty much won, however if the US break the Red Army then I think it will be some sort of status quo or peacedeal (e.g. Europe remain communist, the Americas remain liberal-democratic, Africa is decolonized, Asia is split between spheres of influences (both Asia and Africa becoming the main battleground in the new cold war) and perhaps even more interesting, with the fall of the Red Army in America the dominance of the Soviet Union in the communist world may be diminished. Either to a more equal partnership an cooperation between the communist nations or that another nation dominate the communist world.
We'll have to wait and see! Hopefully it ends before the end of 1948 (my own deadline for the gameplay).
Mexican Communist Revolution
Communist Revolutions:
Anarchism or Synarchism
Anarchism or Synarchism
The Second Mexican Revolution(s) had a grave impact upon Mexico.
A commentator in New York times stated in confusion that Mexico is "the land of fantasticism, a country full of contradictions and paradoxes (...) like an epic tale of heroes and villains, tragedies and greatness the Mexican people are haunted by revolution and civil war". Pravda simply stated "the great struggle between the peasants and workers on one side, and the oligarchs and the clergy on the other remain in Mexico. The forces of revolution and reaction are engaged in a permament conflict". Both descriptions were in many ways true. As examined earlier the First Mexican Revolution were in many ways not settle by the onset of the Second World War. Once hostilities once again broke out between the major powers the inherently unanswered social, economic and political questions of Mexico remained unanswered and contested. In 1946 the deeply pillarized society once again erupted into open conflict - hastened forward by the two major power blocs.
Like the first revolution there was many conflicting and paradoxal alliances, factions and rivalries that surfaced. The Second Mexican Revolution can be separated into two distinct phases. The first phase was an open rebellion by the Mexican Opposition who declared the Mexican Federal Republic (opposition) to be in effect. Like the second phase this resulted in several unholy alliances. On the side of the United Mexican States (loyalists) an alliance between the PCM (Communist Party of Mexico) along with the Red Shirts (the left-wing paramilitary groups in the country), the governmental party of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) and the left-wing faction of the PAN ( National Action Party) along with liberal-democrats formed an alliance out of necessity.
On the side of the Opposition there was an even stranger mix between authoritarian generals opposed to centralist rule (backed by private armies), synarchists (along with their own paramilitary group, the Gold Shirts), right winged catholics (represented by the Legion of Christ and the right wing of PAN) along with conservative democrats and market liberals.
Suffice to say this mix between various ideologies and organizations created a volatile mix that was bound to explode. Not long after the first wave ended the revolution truly ate its children and another phase erupted. More on that later.
The two presidents of Mexico and the institutionalized revolution. Camacho and Cárdenas.
When examining the revolution one is often quick to denounce either the USA or USSR to be the instigators of the outbreak of hostilities and the events that led to two tragic civil wars. And in many ways they are correct; had it not been for the US Black Chamber Operations and hosting oppositional and violent elements in their nation would not have spiraled into chaos and decay. Had it not been for the Soviet funding and training of left winged paramilitary groups there would be little threat for a communist revolution in Mexico, antagonizing moderate and radical parties alike on the Mexican right, but also their big brother.
There was several unanswered social and political questions in Mexican society ever since the revolution that dominated the country in the 1910s and 1920s. Chief among them was the role of the Church and the redistribution of wealth in the nation. Once Lázaro Cárdenas transitioned the PNR into the PRI and eliminated the threat from Calles, synarchists and communists alike he was regarded as the father of the new Mexican democracy. The revolution was institutionalized, with the extremes on both sides of the spectrum along with other subversive elements being defeated. A moderate and liberal democracy prevailed. This was not to be.
His successor Manuel Ávila Camacho was quick to overturn several of the social and economic reforms of Cárdenas, mostly to streamline the economy and counter the economic downturn, but also to appease their big brother. The Americans became increasingly paranoid to secure their own economic position in the Americas, especially when it came to their own oil supplies, and was wary of any and all radical and revolutionary movements. Paraguay had fallen to communism and they were anxious that there would be a domino effect of some sort all across Latin America. In short this prompted Camacho to again open up the Mexican oil fields for foreign companies along with an end to the various land reforms by his predecessors and a large scale privatization of the many communal farms. While this may have been needed to jumpstart the Mexican economy after a period of quasi-socialist reforms, this greatly antagonized socialists and communists, social catholics and members of the PRI alike. While the government gained the support of the United States and retained the support of landlords and other strongmen, they greatly angered the impoverished peasants and other pillars of society behind the revolution.
In short this resulted in an outburst of violence prior to the presidential election of '46, and in a bloodless autocoup the PRI reinstated Cárdenas as the President who was forced between a rock and a hard place. Left wing extremists and nationalists alike demanded that he opposed the "Yanqui imperalism". Seeing no other option, Cárdenas re-nationalized the contested oil fields, this naturally angered the Americans who was in desperate need of a secure source for oil that would keep the war effort going. The Americans demanded recompensation, but the Mexicans refused. Several elements of the American administration and military advoated for an outright intervention to end the Mexican threat once and for all (the hawks were firm believers that it was another Soviet sponsoered coup in the making), however a more subtle method was elected. The head of the so called black chamber operations was tasked with composing a plan to not only overthrow the current government, but also creating a functioning democracy along with a capitalist system.
The Mexican Opposition rebel.
Several influential policy makers, leaders and officers were invited to USA and funded by them. The Cárdenas government suffered a major humilation at home as the press uncovered that the notorious Red Shirts, a left wing paramilitary group, resurfaced and was supported by the Soviet Union, the International and the International Brigades. Fearful of another coup Cárdenas let the Red Shirts be, mostly as he the PCM and the left wing of the PRI was instrumental in restoring him to power. This not only frightened the right wing and conservative elements in Mexican society, but it also led to several governors, generals and businessman to openly resist central authority, de-facto establishing their own private armies (often funded by the USA and OSS). In addition to the mayhem that was created by the establishment of private paramilitary groupings, clericals and anti-clericals alike resumed the unresolved struggle between atheism and catholicism. Both sides expected PRI to favor them, the anti-clericals to restore the so called Calles Law while the clericals sought to re-establish the Catholic Church as the State Church. Cárdenas managed to stay afloat empowering neither side, but gaining the support of the moderate members of the PAN and the PCM by promising social reforms.
These reforms had to wait, from their northern neighbour the Mexican Opposition rose into open rebellion. Right winged Catholics formed under the paramilitary group Legion of Christ, intent to restoring Christendom to Mexico, Synarchists resumed their own Gold Shirt movement to oppose the Red Shirts that was taking form, meanwhile the followers of the now deceased Calles teamed up with the rebellious generals and governors to defeat the central government and rid the nation of the church once and for all. All the while the founder of PAN, Manuel Gómez Morin was given the ungrateful task of ruling this splintered faction with the right wing of PAN and the liberal-conservative party of PLC. By leading PAN and PLC Morin gave a democratic and moderate face to the rebellion, hoping to capitalize on it, to garner support both from the United States along with the ordinary Mexican man and woman who was opposed to the increasing influence of the Soviet Union through their proxies of the PCM an the Red Shirts - to save democracy and rule of law, despite partnering up with openly anti-democratic elements.
The Second Mexican Revolution had begun, the nation was in a state of civil war between the Opposition and the Loyalists. Both declared themselves as the true heirs to the revolution, while the opposing forces was part of the reaction and enemies of the state.
The Red Shirts parading, a wounded soldadera, members of the International Brigades, and Legionnaires of Christ in battle.
Confident in the capabilities and capacity of the Opposition the US government and military stayed out of the conflict, mostly focusing on the war raging on across the Atlantic and Pacific. It was believed that the majority of the Mexican army would switch sides or simply desert, this was not to be. The private armies of the local warlords and the Legion of Christ became the main body of the Opposition, meanwhile the Army remained mostly loyal to the central government, moreover the PAN and their new leader the devout catholic Primate of Mexico Luis María Martinez managed to capitalize on the opposition to the fascist like ideology of the Synarchists and the undemocratic practises of the warlords along with the anti-clerical goals of the followers of Calles. Martinez and the loyalist elements of the PAN created their own paramilitary group dubbed the Knights of Columbus, this was not only useful for Cárdenas to gain a catholic group opposed to the Legion of Christ (drawing away potential followers), but also to gain an opposing force to the synarchist Gold Shirts, but most importantly the Red Shirts which had now organized itself as the "Mexican Red Army of the Workers and Peasants".
Albeit the Knights being a useful tool for Cárdenas it was this Red Army that proved to be instrumental to the very survival of this regime. Cárdenas had no other choice but to appeal to the Soviet Union and Trotsky to ever hope surviving the combined power of the Opposition and their benevolent big brother, they needed a patron of their own. Trotsky harbored a great deal of respect and sympathy for Mexico and their revolution, mostly due to the fact that he was allowed to remain in exile and plot his eventual return there. Where the Mexicans could have expelled him as the other so called socialist governments in Stalin's USSR or Norway they chose to protect him an even offered treatment once he suffered a heart attack. However Trotsky had his conditions, while he was gaining strength from his bed as he prepared for the coming congress in Cologne (determining nothing less than the status of the current war and the future of the communist movement) he presented his demands. The Soviet Union would provide aid to the loyalist government, and the International Brigades would send volunteers and advisors to the loyalists, however it was only the Mexican Red Army that could be provided said aid, moreover the left wing paramilitary group had to be integrated into the Mexican Armed Forces and become a branch of its own (much like the SA and later SS during Hitler's Germany). Furthermore he required that the Mexican Red Army would be given free reign to "safeguard the revolution" both during and after the civil war, in effect to purge society and the armed of anyone they considered reactionary. This naturally caused great friction between Cárdenas and the PCM along with the Red Army on one side and Cárdenas and PAN and the Knights of Columbus on the other side. However in the end he accepted the demands, and the International Brigades streamed into Mexico along with aging Soviet equipment and weaponary, such as T-26 and T-34-76 tanks along with rocket artillery. The forces of the Opposition had no armor to speak of and only a handful of artillery batteries. In addition Trotsky sent several of his most experienced organizers and staffers, many of whom helped him create the Soviet Red Army from nothing during the First Russian Civil War to organize and create the Mexican Red Army. This drastically tipped the balance to the favor of Cárdenas, despite several Falangists and veterans from the Spanish Civil War pledging their support to the Opposition.
Truman quickly realized that the war was turning away from the Opposition to the Loyalists, he was pressured to intervene, but instead he chose to enforce a no flight zone over Mexico, along with half hearted bombing raids over the Mexican capital and the loyalist supply lines. It proved to be too little too late, and after four months of grueling battles and short of 200.000 military and paramilitary casualties the war ended in victory for the Loyalists. But as the war ended the peace had to be won, the Loyalists was as diverse and fractured, if not more, than the Opposition. There was outright atheists pitted against social-catholics. Communists against democrats. The Red Army against the Mexican Army and the Knights of Columbus.
Artwork decipting the Second Mexican Revolution.
In the midst of the civil war Cárdenas and the PRI decided to keep the election cycle to run as usual. However with the Red Army "safeguarding the revolution" the election ran in a climate of not only civil war, but outright red terror. Anyway despite questionable acitivites from both the Red Army/PCM and the PAN/Knight of Columbus the election results ticked in. To summarize PRI and Cárdenas recived the plurality of the votes, however they needed the support of either PCM or PAN to create an effective majority government. Cárdenas looked to the right and elected PAN and Martinez to be his partner in the coaltion government. PCM and their leader Dionisio Encina gave their blessing to the new government, provided they ended the social injustice (real or percieved) created by the former government and that the Red Army remained an integral part of the Mexican Armed Forces. Cárdenas accepted and was once again in the position of being stuck between a rock and a hard place, hopefully this time around he could bring around a stable democracy so he could retire in peace at last.
This was not to be, the Red Army was opposed to the leniency of Encina. Having become quite the force itself they declare themself to be a political party of their own, the Mexican Party of Workers and Farmers (POCM). The POCM was in turn led by the charismatic Hernán Laborde who contrasted with PCM and Encina which was officially democratic-socialist and Marxist and stressed the importance of Mexico remaining independent from Moscow as it remained independent from Washinton. Laborde on the other hand was not only a devout Trotskyist/Leninist and the theory of the permament revolution and liberation of Latin America (something that was bound to put Mexico in direct conflict with all of the Americas), but a close friend of Trotsky. While the POCM had no representation in the Mexican parliament and government, they held great influence owing to the fact that the Red Army was another branch of the Mexican Armed forces, and in many ways an elite force owing to the equipment and weaponary donate by their Soviet patrons.
In any case the presidency of Cárdenas continued, and the three social minded parties, the PCM, PRI and PAN set out to create several reforms that pleased both the communists in the PCM and POCM along with PAN and PRI. Chief among those reforms were rural schooling, a freee on the rents, a set of expansive financial policies such as a major expansion of the Mexican railroad and infrastructure network, along with the creation of an agricultural credit bank and a Confederation of Mexican Workers, which proved to be a set of union that was in effect under the control of PCM and the POCM. However despite these reforms the split between the PRI-PAN government and the PCM-POCM opposition became more evident as each week passed by.
One of the many worker militias.
While the many demands of both the PCM and POCM were met in regard to agrarian and social reforms, the PRI and Cárdenas opposed their demands that the PRI should become a full fledged socialist party and transform Mexico into a socialist republic in addition to making it a fully atheistic state, religion was to be purged from Mexican society and Cárdenas would be the Protector of the Campesinos. Cárdenas bluntly refused these demands, fearing another civil war. If he caved in to the demands of the communists he feared that the POCM would then simply put forward their other radical ideas (granted that was even too radical for the PCM) such as turning all of Central America into a Soviet Union of their own with Mexico being turned to a Soviet Republic. Then he feared the reaction from the right wing of his own party and the Primate of Mexico. Naturally they could not accept such an attack on the very fabric of the Mexican nation.
Dissatisfiedd the POCM took matters in their own hands. With their Red Army they created several workers's and farmers's militias, allegedly in the name of protecting them against landlords and capitalists and other reactionary elements, however in practice it created yet another potent force that was directly under the control of the POCM who was quickly becoming a state within the state. In addition to this in the name of safeguarding the revolution they started to openly attack several churches, monestaries and organizations that was opposed to a communist revolution, bringing them much notoriety but also wealth.
This frigthened the PRI and the PAN who then turned to other reforms of their own. Right wing catholics and synarchists was pardoned on the condition that they would join the Knights of Columbus, moreover several synarchist communes was set up to counter the rising influence of the Red Army and the Worker and Farmers Communes and their militias. The Knights of Columbus and these synarchist communes would again be funded and armed by not only the United States, but also major players in Latin America such as Brazil and Argentina who was equally, if not more, fearful of the domino effect. However this did not come without a cost, the Knights of Columbus became an increasingly vocal voice and a force to be reckoned with. However Cárdenas would rather bet on the Primate than the Marxists and Trotskyists. With Martinez the PRI-PAN government adopted the official ideology of "Social-Catholism" and even granted women full suffrage and equal rights to men - such as the right to work and minimum wage. This had for decades been a hotly contested issue in Mexican politics, as despite the socialists and communists advocating women's rights, they were skeptical of providing this as it would likely empower the Church and conservative parties. Martinez and Cárdenas then scored two birds in one stone, a more conservative electorate along with the fact that they were the ones to truly liberate women so to speak. Emboldened by their newfound popularity and the influence of synarchists and the Legion of Christ the PRI-PAN government began to revise the constitution of 1917, in line with their doctrine of social-catholicism they declared that the Calles Law was no more and that the Catholic Church was again the State Church and religion. This was too much for both the PCM and POCM.
Painting of the coup, and the new Mexican Flag.
The Red Army was reinforced by the International Brigades along with the local worker and farmer militias and blocked off Mexico City. There they demanded "in the name of the people and the revolution" that the PCM and POCM should form the rightful and democratic government. Cárdenas did not manage to dance his way out of this situation and conceded, he was quick to escape to Puerto Rico. Under gun point the Mexican communists took control of the nation and with a newfound majority in parliament they renamed the nation to officially become the Socialist Republic of Mexico. Religion was banned alltogether and any and all priest, monk or clergy in general were arrested and all church property confiscated.
The POCM remained the most radical member of the communist coalition and the wild card, while the Socialist Republic might have escaped their injustice and crime against all believers of religion and non-believers in socialism they soon proclaimed their intention to create a Soviet-Bolivarian Union. They were quick to announce their support for International Proletarianism, which meant supporting the Paris Pact in their war and to liberate the workers of the world, this was something the PCM was skeptical of as they realized they could not face off against the United States alone. The POCM later announced that the revolutionary class war was not only limited to Mexico (which they promised would get a true Social Revolution to rid off the contradictions of capitalism by abolishing production for exchange) but to the world as a whole. Mexico would join the Paris Pact in their international struggle, citing Trotsky they were in a permament revolution. Furthermore they claimed to be the true heirs to Simón Bolivar, to finally rid Latin America of their European oppressors and unify all of the nations into one Soviet-Bolivian Union. The PCM toned this down and instead wanted to remain "just Socialist".
However the radicalism of POCM alienated much of the Mexican people, and angered foreign powers. While Paraguay welcomed this new alliance and union by declaring war on Brazil and in effect joining the Paris War in the Third World War, the other powers was shocked by the POCM's open intentions to conquer the Antilles and Latin America. Moreover large segments of the Mexican people itself did not want a costly war, and was angered by the Red Terror, communist coup and religious oppression that took place.
Martinez along with PRI-PAN, the Knights of Columbus and the synarchist communes rose up against PCM-POCM government, they claimed to safeguard the Mexican nation and the revolution, the communists denounced them as a reactionary force and compared their uprising to the Cristero War. Had it not been for the Red Army's control over much of the Mexican Armed Forces and the worker and farmers militias there is good reason to believe that the majority of the Mexican population would have welcomed the uprising by the Primate of Mexico. Instead Mexico found itself in another civil war, the Second Mexican Revolution had just begun. Trotsky who had just suffered yet another heart attack, returned to the shock of all in Cologne and he simply said "of course we will support the Mexicans in their struggle against American imperialists". This came at a critical point, the Soviet Armed Forces re-delegated an entire Front from the now conquered India. The civil war in Mexico also prompted Trotsky to radio Vlasov the order of "Vostok!" as the United States was quick to include Martinez's Mexico into NATO and intervened in the conflict. While Mexico was embroiled in another civil war and the United States kept their eyes to the south, Vlasov came in from the north.
The two Mexicos and her three leaders.
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So I intended this to first be in the last interlude, but I made it instead a seperate chapter. It was an important event for the decision making for the invasion of Canada. The United States was quick to include the Mexican Republic into NATO and joined their war. From March on until the landfall in Newfoundland the United States was in addition to Africa and Portugal tied up in Mexico trying to restore a democratic government there.
If you're confused about PCM and PCOM: PCM is the established communist party, it is more intellectual orientated and respected the democracy. They believe the revolution was met and would rather work with PRI/PAN and achieve socialism though peaceful means. PRI and PAN are the left wing remnants of their predecessors. PCOM is more grass root based and is quite dogmatic. They believe in only true socialism through violent means, the permament revolution and thus the need to wage wars of revolution so that they aren't undermined by foreign or domestic reactionaries.
Edit: Strictly in game the PCM are the only commie party. Their leader is Encina. Laborde and the Mexican Soviet Republic are taken from Man the Guns, so are Martinez.
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What a mess. Don't they know that at this point, the border gore is supposed to be clearing up, not getting worse? Someone, hand them the red paint...
A mess indeed! The borders will be clearing up, one way or the other.
The Mexican Revolution is quite important, for the greater communist World as we'll examine later on, and also for the decision to invade Canada. Yes it was cool to do it on the 30th anniversary of the February Revolution, but now the US are stuck in Lisbon, they are engaged in a war of attrition in Africa and build up in Asia (Hong Kong, Malaya etc). Now there's suddenly a real threat to their soft underbelly.
Their most populous and biggest state risk being invaded, and with them their biggest oil fields and main naval bases/wharfs. Even these United States can't be everywhere at once (they're even in Brazil to contain Paraguay, those brave fools) which led to the North being largely exposed.
24 Soviet divisions are on their way to Mexico, by the end of the Vostok Chapter they passed through the Suez. If they can win in Mexico it will be fantastic, then we can pour in other
And we'll show the world the nastyness of Yankee Imperialism (not that we are imperialist and topple non commie governments).
I think at this point the US is probably doomed, unless it can halt the invasion in Canada. It can't use nukes in the amercias without compelte abandoning thier allies and reason, so mexico and canda have to be secured through force. If the US gets invaded, I think its the end for them. If it gets nuked, same thing. But I would advise against the russians doing that if they want any postwar relations with them.