[natehale1971]

Twilight 2000: Countdown to Armageddon
by Richard A. Spake ©


2005: The Year in Review



By early July, NATO advanced elements were closing up on the Polish-Soviet frontier in the central region, while continuing the siege of Pact-held Warsaw. The Polish government in exile established its temporary capital in the city of Poznan, and asserted its claim to the pre-1939 Polish borders in the east. In the Far East, Pact forces began major withdrawals all along the front, and the mobile elements of the Chinese Army began a victorious pursuit.

On July 9th, with advanced elements of the 1st German Army on Soviet soil, the Red Army began using tactical nuclear weapons. In the West, they were used sparingly at first, and for the first week were used only against troop concentrations no further than 50 kilometers from the Soviet border. In the Far East, however, they were used on a massive scale. Chinese mechanized columns were vaporized, caught in the open on the roads in imagined pursuit. Strike aircraft delivered warheads on the northern Chinese population and industrial centers still in Chinese hands. The Chinese response was immediate, but Soviet forward troop units were dispersed and well-prepared. Ballistic missile attacks on Soviet population centers were frustrated by an active and efficient ABM system, and the Soviet Air Defense Command massacred the handful of Chinese bombers that attempted low-level penetration raids. Within a week, the Chinese riposte was spent, but Soviet attacks continued. The Chinese communication and transportation system, already stretched to the breaking point, disintegrated. The roads were choked with refugees fleeing from the remaining cities, all of them potential targets. China began the rapid slide into anarchy and civil disorder.

On the western front, the forward elements of both armies on the Soviet-Polish frontier were hit hard by tactical nuclear strikes, as NATO matched the Warsaw Pact warhead-for-warhead. By late August, the first of the Soviet divisions released from the Far East were entering the lines. Although the front lines were fluid everywhere, they began moving gradually west. On September 15th, the siege of Warsaw was lifted, and a week later Czech and Italian troops began a renewed offensive in southern Germany. The southern offensive gained momentum, and NATO forces in Poland increased the rate of their withdrawal, practicing a scorched earth policy as they fell back.

The Soviet and Bulgarian forces in Thrace also began a major offensive against the Turks in September. The one-sided use of tactical nuclear weapons broke the stalemate, and by month's end Bulgarian tank brigades were racing toward Istanbul. Simultaneously, Greek and Albanian troops launched a drive against southern Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslavian Army began to break up. The Yugoslavian expeditionary force in Romania was recalled for home defense, but before it could return, Beograd had fallen to Italian mechanized columns. At the same time, the limited use of tactical nuclear weapons, the increasing numbers of Soviet reserves, and the withdrawal of the Yugoslavians caused the Romanian front to collapse. As War saw Pact columns swept through both countries, isolated military units withdrew into the mountains and began to wage a guerrilla war.

In the west, NATO air units began making deep nuclear strikes against communication hubs in Czechoslovakia and Byelorussia in an attempt to slow the Warsaw Pact advance. The Pact responded with similar strikes against German industrial targets and major port cities. NATO's theater nuclear missiles were launched against an array of industrial targets and port cities in the western Soviet Union. Throughout October the exchanges continued, escalating gradually. Fearful of a general strategic exchange, neither side targeted on the land-based ICBM's of the other, or launched so many warheads at once as to risk convincing the other side that an all-out attack was in progress. Neither side wished to cross the threshold to nuclear oblivion in one bold step, and so they inched across it, never quite knowing they had done it until after the fact.

First, military targets were hit. Then industrial targets clearly vital to the war effort. Then economic targets of military importance. Then transportation and communication, oil fields and refineries. Then major industrial and oil centers in neutral nations, to prevent their possible use by the other side. Numerous warheads were aimed at logistical stockpiles and command control centers of the armies in the field. Almost accidentally, the civilian political command structure was first decimated, then eliminated. The exchange continued, fitfully and irregularly, through November and early December, and then gradually petered out.

Pakistan and India waged their own nuclear war. Facing defeat, Pakistan launched a pre-emptive strike on India's economy and nuclear strike force. Although industrial centers were hit hard, enough of India's nuclear arsenal survived to launch a devastating retaliatory strike. The Indian-Pakistani war soon wound
down, as each country's economy no longer could feed its civilians, let alone supply military units.



January 2005

January 2005. D


February 2005

February 2005. D


March 2005

March 2005. D


April 2005

April 2005. D

3 April 2005. Peace talks break down between NATO and Warsaw Pact leaders when Soviet forces launch a major offensive to retake Warsaw.


May 2005

May 2005. D



June 2005

June 2005. D

June 2005. NATO Offense drives into Poland. The 8th Army Offense towards the Yalu River. The 1st Marine Division drives north and captures the airfield complex at Yazd but is heavily engaged by Soviet Mechanized forces from the Turkestan Military District and Afghanistan.


July 2005

July 2005. D

9 July 2005. The German First Army enters soviet territory, prompting the Soviet Red Army to use tactical nukes. Their first targets being Bialyostok, Poland and Harbin, Peoples Republic of China. NATO follows suit. The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army for all intents and purposes is annihilated by nukes.

19 July 2005. NATO Alliance forces withdraw from Czestochowa, and the US 5 Infantry (mechanized) division detonates a 10kT nuclear demolition charge that severely damages the industrial section of the city.

20 July – 12 August 2004. The United States federal government starts to implement the preliminary steps towards the evacuation of the major cities of Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. The US Government moves European gold stores in the Federal Reserve in New York City out to Long Island due to fear of nuclear attacks. The use of nuclear weapons in Europe and China causes widespread panic in many major American cities that are feared to be targets for Soviet nuclear warheads. The Soviet counteroffensive in Europe is launched with the Battle of Brest where the 1s German Army comes under attack by the 3rd Guards Tank and 8th Guards Tank Divisions.


August 2005

August 2004. The East German 1st Motorized Rifle Division covers the withdrawal of Panzergruppe Oberdorf from Poland, taking heavy casualties. The 5th US Infantry (Mechanized) Division retires from Czestochowa into East Germany under German orders. German Troops start to withdraw from Silesia. British Army of Danube is able to halt the Italian drive through southern Germany. The 40th US Infantry Division suffers heavy causalities from tactical nuclear strikes in Poland, and is withdrawn into Germany to reform.

August 2005. The Soviet 14th, 41st and 114th Motorized Rifle Divisions land in the Alexander Archipelago and capture Juneau, Alaska. 62nd and 120th Motorized Rifle Divisions land on the coast of British Columbia. The Soviet 1s Army is sent to Iran. Some British units are withdrawn from Norway for reassignment to Iran. British 24t Infantry Brigade is sent to Poland to help NATO forces. Soviet 42n Guards Tank Division spearheads the Ploesti campaign in Romania, destroying the Romanian forces routed by nuclear exchanges. The Norwegian front stabilizes, and the Canadian 1s Infantry Brigade is withdrawn to Canada.


September 2005

September 2005. D

1 September 2004. The 1st US Marine Division successfully fights its way out of encirclement at Yazd and rejoins the main body of US I Amphibious Corps north of Bandar Abbas.

7 September 2004. The 25th Infantry (light) Division links up with elements of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army 31st Army.

12 September 2004. Czestochowa, Poland is retaken by Warsaw Pact troops.

15 September 2004. The Siege of Warsaw is lifted by the Warsaw Pact when the Soviet 7t Guards Tank Army breaks through. The British 1st Corps begins a fierce withdrawal action but is too heavily outnumbered.

18 September 2005. NATO tactical missiles strike Byelorussia and the Ukraine, hitting Kiev, Lvov and Odessa, severely weakening the Soviet attempts to build up the western front. The Soviet 87th Tank Division is destroyed in Kiev.

22 September 2005. The Czech and Italian forces begin a renewed offensive in southern Germany. NATO forces withdraw from Poland. Six Trident II tactical nuclear missile airburst strikes are made over Warsaw to slow Warsaw Pact forces and to cripple the road and communications networks are fied form a British submarine. Two other missiles hit military targets to the South East.

September 2005. The Czech and Italian forces drive into Bavaria. The 1s Armored Division is withdrawn from the Polish front to join the XV US Corps in southern Germany. NATO forces retreat from Warsaw, the 2nd Armored Division suffers heavy casualties from the tactical nuclear strikes. The 44th Armored Division returns to German. The 8th US Infantry division is withdrawn and rushed to southern Germany to battle Czech and Italian forces. The 3rd US Armored Cavalry Regiment suffers as a rearguard regiment. The 107th Armored Cavalry Regiment is surrounded by elements of the Soviet 3rd Guards Shock Army and abandons all vehicles, managing to make it out back to Germany. The 116t Armored Cavalry Regiment takes heavy causalities from rearguard actions. 4t Marine Division suffers heavy causalities from tactical nuclear strikes and retreats from the frontlines in Korea. The survivors formed around the 23rd US Marine Regiment while excess command and support returned to the US to form a new Division.


October 2005

October 2005. D

14 October 2005. Rotterdam, Holland is hit by a nuclear warhead. The Netherlands 304th Reserve infantry brigade is badly damaged in the blast, but is able to regroup.

October 2005. The 50th US Armored Division and 5th US Infantry (Mechanized) Division are shifted north under the command of the XI US Corps. While US and allied forces halt the Soviet drive further south, the 82nd fights a number of skillful holding actions against Soviet and allied forces from the north. The 4th US Marine Amphibious Brigade is moved south to the Baltic Sea and disbanded, reverting to the 2nd US Marine Division along with the 6th US Marine Regiment.

October 2005. Bytom, Poland is struck by a 2 megaton NATO tactical nuke.

October 2005. The Dutch 105t Recon Battalion returns to Holland for rest and refit. The tactical nuclear exchanges continue to gradually escalate.


November 2005

November 2005. D

7 November 2005. Ostrava, Czechoslavakia is destroyed by a 200kt NATO nuclear bomb.

24 November 2005 (Thanksgiving Day Massacre): A limited nuclear exchange occurs between the world superpowers, the much maligned Space Defense Initiative was able to force the hands of nuclear armed superpowers to keep the use of strategic nuclear weapons limited when they quickly learned that the odds against their ballistic missiles getting through the ballistic missile defense network. What had originally been a bluff, proves itself as a major defender of the American heartland. The first nuclear attack is carried out against the continental United States occurs with the first strike that is made against Washington, D.C. on Thanksgiving Day in an attempt to decapitate the American leadership. The nuclear attack will become known as the Thanksgiving Day Massacre by the Western Media. Thanks to the constant reports made by the American Media trying to keep the American citizens updated on the evacuation plans of the Civil Defense Corps and FEMA, provides the Soviet Union with a great deal of valuable intelligence on the American war plans. The Soviets use this information to use both conventional and nuclear weapons to hopefully pressure the Americans to either sue for peace or pressure them to accept a cease fire.


December 2005

December 2005. D



24 December 2005.

25 December 2005. The year Santa missed Christmas.

10 October 2003. Danilov is placed under house arrest by KGB officials loyal to Soviet Defense Minister Nikolai Ivanovich Tukhachevsky.

10 October – 17 October 2003. After a short weeklong period of apparent chaos within the Kremlin, Nikolai Tukhachevsky is able to succeed Konstantin Danilov as the Premiere of the Soviet Union and Secretary General of the Communist Party. One of Tukhachevky’s first acts as the Soviet Premiere is the purge of many of the Danilovians whom where in positions of authority in the Soviet armed forces, and prominent Soviet government officials. Instead of the purge killing the Danilovians, they are assigned to military operations on the Far Eastern Front against the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army.

12 October 2003. After years of behind the scenes backroom dealing among hardliners who felt that Danilov had sold out Stalinist Ideals, Nikolai Ivanovich Tukhachevsky finally seizes control of the Soviet Government.