Twilight War Germany

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I've been working on this article about Germany for the past few months. Its set in 2001 a few months after the US withdrawal from Europe. Not yet finished but all comments and suggestions are welcome.

Will have to post it by installments due to the world limit.

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Geography

Germany is a European country roughly the same size as the American state of Montana sharing a border with nine other nations; Denmark in the north, Poland and Czechoslovakia in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west, and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west. It extends over 850 kilometres from its northern border with Denmark to the Alps in the south, and approximately 650 kilometres from the Belgian border in the west to the Polish frontier in the east. Most of Northern Germany is part of the Great European Plain that extends across Europe from the Pyrenees Mountains in France to the Ural Mountains in Russia. The terrain of this region is predominantly flat with hills rarely reaching 200 metres in height, and is crossed by northward-flowing rivers such as the Elbe, Ems, Weser and Oder. Close to the Dutch border and along the Frisian North Sea coast the land is marshy and wetlands predominate, while the Baltic coast of Schleswig-Holstein is marked by a number of small, deep fjords with steep banks. Central Germany is part of the Central European Uplands that extends from the Massive Central in France to Czechoslovakia and Poland. The German uplands include the Rheinish Uplands divided by the Rhine and Moselle river valleys, and a number of other upland regions including the Bergishes Land, the Eifel, the Erzgebirge, the Hunsruck, the Rhon, the Rothaargebirge, the Siegerland, the Sauerland, the Taunus Hills, the Teutoburger Wald, the Thuringer Wald, the Vogelsburg, the Westerwald, the Wiehengebirge and the Harz Mountains. The Central German Uplands are moderate in height and rarely exceed 1,100 metres, and the southernmost portions consist of the Bohemian and Bavarian Forests which form a natural boundary between Germany and Czechoslovakia. Between the Central German Uplands and the Alpine Forelands on the Austrian and Swiss borderlands is some of the most highly productive agricultural land in Germany. The plains of the Maine River and the 300 kilometre Upper Rhine River Valley are rich in loess and loam soils and are extensively cultivated, and are flanked by the Black Forest, the Frankewald, the Odenwald and Spessart Hills and the Swabian and Franconian Albs to the south. The Alpine foreland bordering Austria and Switzerland accounts for a good part of Southern Germany, extending 400 kilometres and bounded by the Alps and Lake Constance in the south and the Bavarian Forest to the east. The German Alps which are divided into the Algauer, Bavarian Alps and Salzburg Alps account for only a small section of the Alps and the country’s area but include the Zugspitze which is Germany’s highest peak. Although located at a latitude north of the United States-Canadian border, Germany's climate is moderate and without sustained periods of cold or heat. The north-western and coastal regions have a maritime climate with warm summers and mild cloudy winters. Farther inland the climate shows continental influences marked by hot summers and colder winters. The Alpine regions and to a lesser degree the Central German Uplands have mountain climates characterized by lower temperatures because of higher altitudes and higher rainfall. Like the rest of Western Europe Germany’s climate is strongly influenced by the Gulf Stream and westerly winds from the Icelandic low-pressure system and the Azores high-pressure system in the Atlantic Ocean, which furnish Western Europe with moderate temperatures and rain laden clouds. Less frequent continental weather systems originating to the east in Russia leads to markedly different weather conditions, with high-pressure air masses bringing cold weather. The average annual precipitation is between 600 millimetres and 800 millimetres per annum, and as high as 2,000 millimetres a year in the southern mountains. Germany’s average annual temperature is about 9° C with variations caused by elevation. In Winter the average temperature is 1.6°C in the north and -2°C or lower in the south and east. During the summer the north is cooler than the south with temperatures averaging between 16°C and 18°C, and 19.4°C or slightly higher in the south, although temperatures can greatly exceed 30 °C throughout the country during heat waves.

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The People

The Germans are largely descended from Germanic tribes who inhabited the North German Plain and Scandinavia in antiquity. Conflict between the Germans and the Roman Empire led to the Romans attempting to conquer the lands north and east of the Rhine River. The failure of the Romans to conquer Germany led to development of a major cultural and linguistic division between Southern and Northern Europe, and a major influence in the development of other European nations such as England, France, Italy, Spain and many Eastern European countries. Until the modern era the Germans absorbed Celts, Huns, Scandinavians, Slavs and others who lived within Germany into the emerging German nation. From the 19th Century until the First World War Germany experienced a massive population growth due to rapid industrialisation and improved living standards. Various waves of foreign immigrants were also absorbed into the wider German population. Workers from Eastern European countries such as Poland migrated to German industrial cities until the Nazi era, followed by many ethnic Germans and others from Eastern Europe after the Second World War. From the 1960’s guest workers from Turkey, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Tunisia, Morocco and other European countries were integrated into the population of West Germany, and a large number of foreign troops from NATO and the Soviet Union were also present in both East and West Germany. From the 1990’s people from Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia and various Third World countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia also migrated to West Germany although East Germany was far less exposed to immigration. By the start of the Twilight War the combined population of West and East Germany was 80 million people, which on German Reunification was the largest population in Europe after the Soviet Union. In 2001 the population of Germany is predominantly ethnically German or Austrian. Xenophobia has discouraged many foreign refugees from staying to long within the borders of Germany, but many non-German nationals still reside in Germany. These have been joined by significant refugee populations from Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, and Gypsies are a common site in rural areas of East Germany. There are also thousands of NATO troops and their dependencies still residing in Germany from America, Britain, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands, and thousands of Warsaw Pact troops from various countries who are now prisoners of war. Most POW camps are located in Eastern Germany well away from populated areas as German civilians are hostile towards Soviet troops, with another camp in rural Bavaria housing captured French, Belgian and Italian servicemen. Conditions in the camps are quite severe due to shortages. Some Warsaw Pact units have also changed sides over the course of the war. Many are Polish and can occasionally be found near army bases in East Germany, and the entire Soviet 94th Cavalry Division defected en masse in early 2000.

Pre-war Germany was a heavily urbanised nation and the nuclear attacks in 1997 were devastating for the country. The first wave of nuclear attacks hit the German military bases, followed by oil refineries and major airports. By the end of the year most of Germany’s largest cities were in ruins with Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Frankfurt, Hannover, Karl Marx Stadt, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich and Stuttgart all targeted, along with cities in the heavily populated and industrial Ruhr Conurbation such as Dusseldorf, Bonn, Essen, Dortmund and Cologne. In addition to the nuclear strikes, many other cities and industrial centres were attacked by conventional bombing or fought over by NATO and Warsaw Pact forces during four years of warfare, or were just simply abandoned during the French invasion of the Rhineland. Nuclear attack and years of warfare, misery, starvation and disease has dwindled the population of Germany to about 30 million people by 2001. Living conditions in Twilight War Germany are as bad as the rest of devastated Europe, and in areas affected by radiation from nuclear attack they are somewhat worse. However in areas under government or military control there are some semblances of pre-war civilisation and life is tolerable and relatively safe. Most people live in pre-war housing which has suffered through lack of repair and maintenance because of the war. Most lack regular running water or power supply, although some limited power and water services have been restored in some areas. The majority of people work in agriculture or light industry producing necessary items such as food, alcohol fuel or clothing. A minority are also involved in criminal actives such as smuggling and various black market enterprises. Medical facilities and supplies are also available in government controlled areas and doctors and nurses travel between different communities, although for certain medical procedures doctors will expect to be paid. In areas more heavily damaged by the war life is considerably harder and the availability of pre-war housing is often inadequate, and the government has built large holding camps to shelter and feed the many displaced refugees. Many of these camps are located on the East bank of the Rhine near the devastated Ruhr or near destroyed cities in the East such as Berlin and Leipzig. Most of these camps resemble Third World shanty towns and life can be hard but they are guarded by Border Guards which give the inhabitants some security, and there is food and shelter and limited medical aid. The camps are regularly visited by medical staff that checks sanitation in case of an outbreak of major epidemics such as dysentery, typhoid or yellow fever. In Bavaria and Austria the Swiss Red Cross has also established a few well run camps near the borders with Switzerland. In areas beyond government control life is often harsh and violent, and they remain lawless regions plagued by criminal gangs, bandits or marauders.

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The Government

Before the war Germany was a federal parliamentary democracy with a constitution and an elected government. On November 28, 1996 the governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic declared a unified German Republic reuniting both German states for the first time since 1945. The nuclear attacks in November 1997 destroyed the German parliament in Bonn and many local offices of government in other destroyed cities. Since the nuclear attacks and four years of constant warfare the central German government has exited only in theory beyond some local government in surviving towns and communities, and since the proclamation of martial law in 1997 the German Army has effectively ruled the country. However the German Army has done much to solidify control over its own territory and in the beginning of 2001 established a provisional government in the city of Kiel which survived the war. Although free elections are planned in the future the German government is currently more interested in pacifying the country, feeding the population and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and economy.

Before the war organised crime in Germany was not a major issue compared to other countries. Germany’s fairly unique 20th Century history made it hard for organised criminal organisations to establish roots in the country, due to heavy suppression in the Nazi period and the post-war division of the country which excluded Eastern European criminal syndicates. Some native German and immigrant based crime gangs from the Italian and Turkish community had a small presence in the country, and its suspected that the US-based Mafia’s also had a presence within the US bases in Germany, but they were relatively low key compared with other West European countries. In the 1990’s youth gangs started to appear on the streets of major West German cities due to increased immigration from other parts of Europe and the Third World, and organised criminal organisations from Yugoslavia, China and Eastern Europe established a foot hold in Germany. With the nuclear destruction of many German cities most of these urban based gangs were destroyed in the destruction and anarchy, or were pushed out of the countryside and back into damaged urban areas by the emergence of the Freibroderbund and other right wing organisations. In 2001 a few anarchist or immigrant based gangs hold sway over areas in the ruins of some larger cities, but they are not considered a major threat to most surviving communities and they avoid areas under the control of the Freibroderbund or the German military. Salvaging gangs are however a much larger problem as they will violently contest intrusions of their salvaging territory and are better organised and far better armed, with some gangs including deserters from either NATO or Warsaw Pact armies.

In areas under government control martial law has been curtailed to allow civilians restore services and commercial activity. The population is required to register itself at a local government office for census and property taxation. The majority of people are willing to register as it guarantees legal protection for home ownership or occupancy through monthly taxation or rent on property. At registration the government will also issue papers and ration books that will guarantee government provided free medical aid and a quantity of weekly provisions that will feed and maintain people and their families. The abuse, forgery or black marketing of registration papers and ration books is considered a major offence and those convicted will spend time in a hard labour detail. The government has also begun to reintroduce a legal system. In the aftermath of the nuclear detonations Germany’s law system collapsed and most of the federal and state police forces disappeared or were drafted into the army, although a few police officers stayed in their communities and became the nucleus of lawful militia groups that sprung up to defend against gangs and marauders. Although the government has not reformed the police it has hired former police officers with provable documentation as armed peace officers who assist the courts in gathering evidence and arresting suspects. Appointed judges travel around communities to adjudicate over offenses, with most convictions usually leading to fines, community service or prison sentences. Suspects in serious criminal offences are sent to regional administration centres directed by pre-war trained judges, or in the case of treasonous or high profile offences are sent to the provisional capitol in Kiel. Convicted criminals in areas under military authority are automatically sent to hard labour detachments or are in some cases executed.

Throughout Germany the Army remains the principle authority as they provide security for the government to provide medical aid, water and food supply and they guarantee civilians general freedoms and liberties. The Army also controls power and fuel distribution and hold essential equipment for reconstruction projects. The Army has repaired a number of transmitters allowing radio communications between German forces and some broadcasting, and has also relayed a few cable and telephone lines to give a limited telephone and internet services between some military and government locations. A regular radio broadcast service has been also been established in Kiel transmitting music and government news in German, English, and Russian languages, transmitting on longwave and shortwave frequencies. The Para-military Federal Border Guards remained in existence throughout the war although they were placed under army control during the martial law proclamation in 1997. However the Border Guards still perform many of the same security duties they did before the war, and are assigned to defend areas under government control which allows the central government to function.

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The Economy

Before the Twilight War Germany was one of the world’s great industrial nations and had the largest economy in Europe. Germany’s economy was very diverse with a large financial and service sector and a very prominent manufacturing sector based upon mechanical engineering, automobiles, machinery, electric equipment, steel, shipbuilding and chemicals. German industry was profiled by many well known manufacturing giants such as Volkswagen, Siemens, Bayer, BASF, Daimler-Benz, BMW, ThyssenKrupp and Bosch, but large companies accounted for only a small part of the German economy with smaller and medium sized companies accounting for 80% of employment. The main industrial areas of West Germany were the Ruhr district of North Rhine-Westphalia; the traditional centre of German coal, steel and heavy industry, and several large cities such as Bremen, Hanover, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and smaller cities and towns areas along the Rhine River, but almost all areas of West Germany had some industry. In East Germany the industrial areas were concentrated in the cities of Berlin, Dresden, Halle, Leipzig and Karl Marx-Stadt. East German industry had fallen behind the west in technology and its industrial centres had lost their traditional markets in the west, but East Germany industry was considered among the most advanced in the Soviet Block. Although Germany is relatively poor in raw materials, it does have extensive coal and lignite reserves, a very productive agricultural sector and a large forestry industry. Before the war Germany relied heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs and about 40% of German energy consumption came from imported petroleum, largely for trucks and automobiles. Another 30% came from domestic coal and lignite deposits while most of the rest came from natural gas or nuclear energy with Germany’s 20 nuclear power stations accounting for 10% of demand. Agriculture accounted for only a small section of the economy although it was larger in East Germany. Since the end of the Second World War the number of German farms had declined but production has increased through more efficient production methods. Agriculture in Germany varied by region. In northern Germany cereals and sugar beets are grown, elsewhere farmers produce vegetables or raised livestock producing pork, beef, poultry, milk and cheese. However most Germany cities were surrounded by fruit orchards and vegetable farms and the river valleys in southern and western Germany have vineyards, while beer is widely produced in the southern states such as Bavaria. East German farms were of the Soviet collective type and the government regulating the land and produce, but production was inefficient compared with the west.

Germany’s location at the centre of Europe led to German cities which lay on the intersections of major European east-west and north-south transhipment routes for ship, barge, road and railroads becoming major European transportation and communications hubs. Before the war Germany had one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated transportation systems. The German road network was highly developed and one of the densest in the world. Germany pioneered the building of expressways or autobahn’s during the Second World War, and expressway’s crossed the entire country and even into East Germany who’s major roads dated from before the division of Germany. The German rail network was also highly developed with electric and diesel powered intercity passenger and freight trains and many cities having electrified underground or tram systems. About half of Germany’s rail network was electrified and tracks were of the same gauge in both East and West Germany. Major German seaports such as Hamburg, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Lubeck and Wilhelmshaven also heavily invested in loading technology, equipment and training to compensate for their greater distance from the Atlantic Ocean in comparison with the Dutch and Flemish ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp. The German inland shipping system was also one of the worlds most highly developed because of the large flat plains of northern and western Germany. Duisburg on the Rhine River was the largest inland port in the world, and navigable waterways such as the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers, and canals such as the Kiel, Mittelland, Dortmund-Ems and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal permitted economical river transport between the North Sea and the Black Sea in south-eastern Europe. Germany also had a large system of inland and international passenger and freight air travel with major airports including Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne-Bonn, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and the three airports serving West and East Berlin. Lufthansa the national airline was one of the world’s largest airlines and has an extensive domestic and global route system.

The nuclear attacks on German industrial and urban centres devastated Germany’s manufacturing sector, and the EMP blasts from the nuclear detonations rendered much more inoperable. Germany’s oil refineries were deliberately targeted during the course of the war. The oil refineries in Hamburg and East Germany were knocked out early in the war by Soviet air strikes. Conventional bombing also damaged oil refineries in other parts of Germany, while the three refineries in the Ruhr region were destroyed in the nuclear attacks. Germany’s power stations were also indirectly damaged from air strikes and the EMP blasts of the nuclear detonations. With power plants and oil refineries destroyed or knocked out, surviving factories and services simply shut down and where abandoned, while more were lost in the years of destruction and chaos to looting and anarchy and the French occupation of the Rhineland. However despite the extensive damage and being left idle for years the government has identified three refineries at Ingolstadt, Emsland and Lingen that could be brought back on line. Unfortunately Germany has no domestic source of oil other than a small and largely redundant inland oil field near Brunswick, and the now abandoned Mittelplate oil platform in the German sector of the North Sea. The government does plan to attempt to reopen Mittelplate in the future, but for the present Germany is in talks with the British and Norwegian governments about obtaining oil supplies from still functional offshore oil platforms that both countries are secretly operating in the North Sea. However the government has brought a few coal powered stations in Bavaria and Lower Saxony back on line running at low capacity, which with army engine electricity generators has given limited power services to a few functional hospitals and other facilities. Other power stations are also believed to be salvageable and the government has identified thirty electrical power plants across the country, including a number of small hydroelectric and pump storage stations in the south and Schleswig-Holstein that could be reopened in the near future. The army is currently scouring the country looking for pre-war power plant and oil industry workers to help restore the national power and fuel supply. A great deal of engineering equipment and diagnostic tools has been salvaged from abandoned factories and power plants by government technicians in order to achieve some quick propaganda results and accelerate the restoration project. In addition to conventional fossil and hydroelectric power plants, three nuclear power plants in Bavaria and the north could also be reactivated in the future. Ironically the status of the 1.7 Mw VAK nuclear power station near Kahl-am-Main in Bavaria is unknown to the government despite being among the most salvageable in all of Europe, as it’s under the control of rogue commander of the US 30th Brigade.

Despite the destruction of the war a great deal of Germany’s pre-war industry still exists. The high concentration of manufacturing across Germany left many factories untouched by the war and many have just sat idle for years due to the lack of power and the collapse of the world economy. In areas with limited power supply some clothing and food processing factories have been reopened by the government, while others are producing a limited supply of metals, electronics, chemicals, medical drugs and ammunition. The production of alcohol based fuels such as methanol has now become widespread and the Army has also taken over custody of surviving factories that produced military vehicle or heavy weapons to make badly needed parts. The government in Kiel has issued a number of proclamations stating their intension to restore essential services to German territory under their control. Government agencies are focusing on restoring whatever industrial production, electric power, sanitation, medical facilities and schools they can. The government is aware that industries and trades must be restored before the cadres of trained machinists and craftsmen dies off or the knowledge is forgotten, and power and fuel supplies must be restored to working condition to operate them. Because of the shortages of oil and power Germany’s transport network has largely been shut down. None of Germany’s airports are operational and many were damaged beyond repair, but some are still useable and the Luftwaffe has reopened a few for future use as well as maintaining a small number of air bases across Germany. The rail network was badly disrupted by the war with rail terminals and sections of track destroyed or damaged by nuclear and conventional bombing. All electric and diesel trains have long ceased running, but some old coal powered engines are still operating and rail lines are maintained from Kiel to Bremerhaven and from Kiel eastwards to the Polish border. Engineers are also working on restoring a rail link between Kiel and Bavaria. Much of the pre-war autobahn road network still exists and some sections are maintained to allow for the movement of military convoys. The other main users of the roads are registered independent traders who run their own convoys between various towns and communities, and a small number of civilian owned alcohol fuelled vehicles. In Germany the ownership of non-alcohol fuels is illegal and army patrols have the authority to stop any vehicle in their area and check its fuel, although they rarely check vehicles in a convoy. Trade between different communities is controlled by the Army who patrol the roads to ensure that key transport networks remain safe. The government has also re-established the Deutsche Mark as the unit of currency in Germany, although barter, payment in kind and the use of gold or silver remains a common source of payment. The value of the Deutsche Mark is supported by Germany’s gold reserves which were second only to the United States before the war and were secured by the army in underground bunkers in 1997. The government and the military will now only pay for goods or services in Deutsche Marks to encourage their use, and the Mark is currently trading at 1 Deutsche Mark to 3 US Dollars although the rate can vary in different parts of the country.

In areas beyond military control trading is much more hazardous as the roads are not maintained or patrolled and criminal gangs and marauders are a problem. The canal and river system still exists and flat bottomed barges and river boats are a cheap if slow way to travel around the country. However outside of Northern Germany or in other stable areas in the rest of the country there is no military control over the waterways. The engines of some river boats have been converted to run on alcohol fuel although many rely on towing by work animals. Barges and river boats that regularly use the waterways are mostly controlled by the military or local traders and are well armed with a variety of weapons such as machine guns, grenade launchers or mortars, with sandbags, lumber and metal sheet armour protection. Salvaging is a major and profitable industry in Twilight War Germany, and scavenging over abandoned factories, stores, shopping malls and warehouses can frequently produce a treasure throve of material that can make individuals or gangs rich by Twilight War standards. All manner of goods are traded in the government controlled open city markets or the many black markets across the country, ranging from canned food and cosmetics to clothing and auto parts. Harder to find goods such as alcohol, tobacco, coffee or medical drugs can fetch very high prices. Illegal drugs, petroleum and diesel fuels, ammunition and weapons are also available on the black markets but the authorities will come down hard on any group known to be trading them and black marketers will only deal in well guarded secret locations well away from major cities or military units. The trade of firearms is a major and growing industry in violent times such as the Twilight War. Before the war ownership of weapons in Germany was controlled by strict gun laws which restricted ownership to low calibre hunting rifles and shotguns. Today civilian firearm ownership is legal for those with firearms licences issued by the government, but since the war gun ownership is almost impossible to regulate. Weapons and ammunition of all types are available in the thriving underground black market, and because of the war there is a glut of military weapons, ammunition and equipment available for sale of NATO and Warsaw Pact origin, much of it picked off battlefields or traded by army units of various sources. Many organised salvaging gangs are criminal in nature and are heavily armed, which can make this a hazardous occupation due to competitors fighting over finds or salvage territory.

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History of the War

Pre-German Reunification

In the early 1990’s the unpredictable and confrontational foreign policy of the Soviet Union in the Middle East and the Third World led to increased tensions with the United States, and disquiet among Warsaw Pact member states including East Germany. In 1992 high ranking East German officers opened secret discussions with their West German counterparts about the future of Germany and the possibility of reunification. Although clandestine meetings and some constructive plans continued for a few years, collusion between the West German Bundeswehr and the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) only really began in earnest in 1995. In the summer of 1995 fighting broke out along the Sino-Russian border over disputed territory in the Far East between Soviet and Chinese border troops. As the fighting escalated and regular forces were drawn into the fighting the Soviet Union and China mobilised their armed forces in Asia, leading to Western powers putting their forces on alert and a tightening of security along the inner German border. By the middle of August 1995 the Soviet 1st and 2nd Far Eastern Fronts crossed the Sino-Russian border into Northern China as the Soviet Union declared war on China. As the Soviet Army advanced through Manchuria and other parts of Northern China, the United States and NATO puts their forces on high alert as tensions increase worldwide. By October the Soviet advance in China had stalled due to stronger than expected Chinese resistance and shortages of manpower and equipment. Chinese counteroffensive against the Soviets supported by Western arms supplies also trapped pockets of Soviet forces in China, with Soviet troops having to fight their way out and taking heavy losses. With industrial production diverted to supporting the war in China living conditions began to fall across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, while combat ready forces deployed in Eastern Europe were sent to the Far East. By December the Soviet government declared martial law across the Soviet Far East and Central Asia and ordered a general mobilisation of its forces, and requested that other Warsaw Pact states send their troops to the Far East to support the Soviet effort. East Germany along with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland agreed to send forces to aid the Soviet war effort while Romania refused. As the East German government agreed to send German troops to China, alarmed NVA officers stepped up dialogue with the commanders of the Bundeswehr, and West Germany's Militarischer Abschirmdienst (Military Counterintelligence Service) requested computer files on NVA officers and NCO’s to be made available to assess loyalty during any planned future reunification.

In the spring of 1996 the Soviet Union launched a fresh offensive against China. Despite some initial gains the Soviet offensive soon stalled and casualties increased, leading to a massive mobilisation of Soviet forces. One quarter of the Soviet Army’s Category I divisions deployed in Europe facing NATO were sent to the Far East, while many Category II divisions were also mobilised and sent to the Chinese front. All Soviet Category III divisions were also upgraded and reserve mobilisation only divisions started training for the first time since the end of the Second World War. In April the East German 9th Tank and 11th Motor Rifle Division’s were transferred to China by rail across Siberia as the renewed Soviet offensive in China gathered momentum. However by the end of May the Soviet offensive was in serious trouble and both East German divisions were overrun and destroyed during the breakout from the Shenyang pocket, largely due to poor Soviet communications and leadership. Widespread media coverage of East German and other non-Soviet war casualties and prisoners of war in China was broadcasted around the world, including by West German television networks which was easily picked up in East German homes. In June the Soviets made a second call for troops from their Warsaw Pact Allies, and the East German 9th Tank and 11th Motor Rifle Division’s were reformed in East Germany to replace the divisions destroyed in China. Even within the highly censured Communist Bloc this news was highly unpopular. Following this announcement the NVA and Bundeswehr accelerated reunification plans as a strategy was set in motion between the militaries of both German states which were kept secret from the elected West German government in Bonn and the Communist leadership and its security apparatus in East Germany. By August NATO began to activate the command staff of army corps assigned to CENTAG and NORTHAG in West Germany, and the United States started to build up its forces in Central Europe as USAF squadrons and the 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment are deployed to Germany. Following a third call in September from the Soviet government for more troops to be made ready for deployment to the Far East whether their equipment and training is complete or not, the German’s made ready their plans for reunification which was to begin in October.

The Reunification of Germany

On October 7 1996 the West German Bundesheer crossed the inner-German border as the East German Army remained in its barracks. Other NATO nations were not unaware of West German military preparations with increased military activity noted close to the inner German border in the months before German Reunification. Rumours about the Germans unilaterally planning reunification had been circulated around the intelligence community for some time, but no evidence had ever been uncovered that implicated either German government and their militaries and none believed that the Germans would ever really go ahead with it. The inner German border was opened by selected East German Border Troops in the early hours of the 7th of October and West German forces crossed the frontier. Both the East and West German government and the rest of the world was taken completely by surprise. NVA commanders had carefully coordinated the deliberate placement of many NVA units in barracks or on manoeuvres to stop them from interfering with the reunification process, while pro-nationalist led army units isolated Soviet garrisons and State Security troops until they were reinforced by West German forces. Radar coverage of air corridors over the inner German border was controlled by the pro-nationalist officer corps of the East German Luftstreitkrafte to allow Luftwaffe transport aircraft to land at East German air bases, while data was temporarily concealed from the wider Soviet air defence network. Running on a coordinated timescale assisted by allied East German troops over road, railway and air, over 30,000 West German troops were deployed across East Germany within twelve hours of the inner German border being opened. By the time the East German and Soviet leadership and the commanders of the 15 divisions of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany knew what was happening there was little they could do to stop it. Thousands of West German troops were crossing by the hour backed by heavy armour and aircraft, and by the middle of the day nine West German divisions had crossed into East Germany. Across the Western World most governments and the general populations assumed that the West German government had ordered the Bundeswehr across the inner-German border to liberate East Germany from oppression and the unpopular deaths of German troops in a Soviet war in China. In a state of confusion over who was responsible for sending West German troops into East Germany, the popularity of the move among the German public quickly silenced politicians who had opposed it. With history being made in front of their eyes the West German Chancellor and his government were faced with a potential coup d'état in which they were powerless to oppose. By the evening of the 7 October the Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr informed the German Defence Minister that the officer cadre of the NVA was fully compliant with the Bundeswehr actions, and that both national armed forces intended to implement the reunification of Germany with or without the support of the government. With power and popularity now in the hands of the military the West German government gave their full support to Bundeswehr operations in East Germany in return for the military not interfering with the continuation of civilian government control of Germany.

In East Germany resistance to reunification was strongest among the State Security forces known as the Stasi, who attempted to disrupt nationalist operations across the country. However Stasi personnel were quickly isolated, overwhelmed or arrested by both nationalist NVA and West German forces. When news reached the rest of the NVA about what was happening very few East German troops were willing to engage West German soldiers despite being ordered to do so by the government and some loyalist NVA commanders. News that the Stasi were being rounded up and that Soviet forces were being locked down in their bases was popularly supported by most NVA troops and junior officers who quickly made contact with West German forces and awaited further orders. Known communist sympathisers and members of the East German government and security forces were quickly arrested in order to prevent a counter coup by pro-regime forces that could rely on Soviet backing. The Soviet Union and her Warsaw Pact allies were expected to fiercely resist German reunification, and the troops of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany soon began to fight their way out of their bases and engage German troops. Warsaw Pact forces massing on the East German border in Poland and Czechoslovakia were faced off by strong West German forces manning border crossings. With the ongoing war with China the Soviets were unsure about how strongly NATO would react if they attacked Germany. Their delay in attacking allowed German forces further time to tighten their control of East Germany. The Chief of Staff of the German military informed the government of the Soviet Union through various diplomatic channels that Soviet forces in Germany would be allowed to withdraw peacefully into Poland under German military protection, but all of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany refused to comply and began to fight both sides of the German Army. The 4th Panzergrenadier Division was the first German unit to engage Soviet forces, and was followed by the 5th, 7th and 10th Panzer and the 1st, 2nd and 11th Panzergrenadier divisions. The 10th Panzer Division was heavily involved in combat with Soviet forces between Dresden and Leipzig, while the 5th Panzer Division overran the Soviet 47th Motor Rifle Division. In Czechoslovakia and Poland five Soviet divisions are moved to the German border as the Luftwaffe launches a series of strikes against Soviet forces in East Germany. Soviet Frontal Aviation squadrons launch retaliatory attacks on Luftwaffe bases in West Germany as Denmark and Norway mobilise their forces, and the Netherlands moves two divisions to the Dutch-German border. By October 16 the 2nd Panzergrenadier Division enters the East German city of Magdeburg as NVA forces join the attacks on Soviet forces spearheaded by the 1st and 4th Motor Rifle Divisions. The Luftwaffe begins to launch long-range interdiction strikes against Soviet forces in Poland, with one group attacking the Gliwice-Katowice complex in Silesia and is decimated by anti-aircraft weapons and the Polish Air Force. By late October NATO fully activates the US III, V and VII Corps and the British I Corps along with the combat squadrons of the Second and Fourth Allied Tactical Air Forces. The Dutch I Corps and the French III Corps are also put on high alert as the US Army deploys the 4th Mechanised Division to Germany, and Britain sends the 2nd Armoured Division and reinforces the British Army Artillery Division and RAF Germany with reserves from the UK. When the expected Warsaw Pact counter attack on Germany begins they will be engaged by both East and West German forces.

At the start of November Warsaw Pact land forces counterattack Germany. Five Soviet, two Czech and four Polish divisions enter East Germany in support of the beleaguered Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, while Soviet air strikes intensify against targets in West Germany. The 1st Panzer Division takes heavy losses during the Pact onslaught as the 1st and 4th Motor Rifle Divisions engage elements of the 2nd Polish Army in the Karl Marx Stadt area, mauling the Polish 1st Motor Rifle Division and the Czech 9th Tank Division that was covering the Polish retreat. As the German Army battles Warsaw Pact forces the 11th Motor Rifle Division is damaged from air strikes and the German Navy loses its first casualty of the war; the fast attack craft Bussard in the Baltic Sea to Soviet air attack. Soviet tactical air power restricts the Luftwaffe's ability to support land forces resisting the assault on Germany, although Soviet air raids against West Germany are stopped in their tracks by the intervention of USAF and RAF fighters who destroy a number of Soviet air strikes against West German military and industrial targets. As Soviet forces invade Northern Norway from the Kola Peninsula they also advance along the German Baltic coast and attack and isolate the East German Volksmarine naval bases at Rostock and Peenemunde. NATO responds to the Soviet attack on Norway by deploying the ACE Mobile rapid reaction force, a force largely consisting of US, British and Dutch marines and some Danish infantry, backed by powerful US, British and Danish air and naval forces from Allied Forces Northern Europe and Allied Forces Baltic Approaches commands. Germany offers to send warships and Marineflieger Tornado strike bombers to aid the Norwegians, but is advised against it by NATO commanders who fear that it will provoke a Soviet attack on other NATO members territory and widen the scope of the war. In Europe the US Army activated the US VIII Corps as the 1st Cavalry, 2nd Armored and 35th Mechanised divisions and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment are deployed to Germany. At sea the Soviet Navy sends out the bulk of the Red Banner Northern Fleet into the North Atlantic to break through the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap to harass NATO shipping and influence the campaign in Norway, while a number of ineffective missile boat actions occur in the Baltic Sea with the Germans taking some casualties. As the former East German 9th Tank Division is fully mobilised after being decimated in China and is sent into combat against Soviet forces, the East and West German governments announce the Reunification of Germany on November 28 and the establishment of a new Federal German Republic. The issue of the Reunification of Germany and intervention against the Warsaw Pact splits the members of NATO. The United States, Great Britain, Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Turkey support NATO intervention, but France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain oppose it. By the beginning of December France withdrew all of its forces from West Germany, and with Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain left NATO and declares its neutrality. Italy, Greece and Portugal also declared their neutrality in the German conflict.

As the Soviet Union invaded Iran in the Middle East at the beginning of December the US, Great Britain and Canada fully commit their forces to supporting Germany, with the US 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment crossing the inner German border. Over the course of the next week nine US divisions cross into East Germany and are soon followed by three British divisions, a Canadian division and another US division. NATO’s heavy divisions rapidly advance through Eastern Germany with US and British airmobile forces seizing vital bridges and road junctions and harassing deploying Pact forces. In the North Atlantic NATO naval forces begin to inflict heavy losses on the Soviet Navy and naval bomber forces, with US Navy battle carrier groups fully committed to eliminating the Soviet threat to NATO supply convoys, and US and British ASW assets deployed to hunt Soviet submarines across the North Atlantic and northern shores of Europe. NATO strike bombers also badly damage the main Polish Navy base at Szczecin, followed by further air strikes on Gdansk and the Soviet Baltic Fleet base of Kaliningrad in Russia as part of a campaign to eliminate Soviet naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Most of the Bundesmarine submarine force has also been deployed to the Baltic Sea by December were they inflict a number of losses on Soviet and Polish light warships and naval convoys. On land the I British Corps leads the advance on Berlin with the British 1st and 2nd Armoured Divisions smashing the Soviet 12th Guards Tank and 35th Motor Rifle Divisions that lay in their path. By the middle of December the 2nd Panzergrenadier Division captures Leipzig, while US forces spearheaded by the 1st Panzergrenadier Division drive towards Dresden and heavily damage the Polish 6th Air Assault Division and the Czech 15th Motor Rifle Division. NATO interdiction air strikes against Warsaw Pact targets in Poland and Czechoslovakia are also highly affective, with Luftwaffe and RAF strike bombers proving highly adept at penetrating Warsaw Pact air defences. By Christmas Eve the I British Corps has reached the outskirts of Berlin and the British 6th Airmobile Brigade enters the city relieving the beleaguered NATO troops in Berlin. A few days later the 3rd Panzer Division becomes the first German Army unit to enter the former German capital since 1945. As NATO battles the Soviet Army around Berlin the German destroyer Lutjens becomes the first major Bundesmarine casualty of the war after being sunk by an anti-ship missile strike off the Danish island of Falster on December 23, with the submarine U-14 sunk the following day off the Latvian coast. As the year ends NATO is rapidly clearing Warsaw Pact units from Germany and driving Soviet forces back into the north of Norway. Air superiority has played a major part in NATO’s success with USAF fighters rapidly establishing supremacy over Warsaw Pact opponents aided by superior airborne early warning aircraft. NATO fighter-bomber forces have also heavily hit Pact ground forces and have conducted a very effective campaign of strikes against Warsaw Pact air fields, anti-aircraft batteries and radar networks. Among the Warsaw Pact member states, Romania declared war on the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Hungary after being invaded by Pact forces for refusing to send forces to aid the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia sends three divisions and some brigades to aid the Romanians, and both Romania and Yugoslavia are offered full NATO membership as the Turkish First Army attacks Bulgaria from Thrace. As more USAF squadrons pour into Europe and the US 5th Mechanised Division is deployed to Germany by New Years Eve the cost to German forces has been heavy. Thousands of German troops and civilians have been killed or injured in the fighting and the Luftwaffe has lost a quarter of its operational strength, while the German Navy has also lost 30 warships, including three submarines and a missile destroyer.

The New Year began with NATO forces taking Berlin with the British Army at the centre of the fighting. The collapse of the Soviet positions in Berlin is soon followed by Soviet troops being driven out of Norway by crack US and British marine forces, and the Dutch Government orders the Netherlands I Leger Korps into Germany. The German Army also begins a series of structural reorganisations to better suit its operational requirements, by creating new commands and consolidating smaller forces under divisional structures. As the US 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment is sent to Germany, the US Army activates the US I, IV, XI, XV and XXIII Corps in America and prepares to deploy them to Europe as Britain activates the British II Corps. Soviet submarine attacks in the Atlantic Ocean also begin to take a toll on NATO shipping effecting equipment and ammunition supplies to Europe. In south-eastern Europe the success of the Turkish Army against Bulgaria leads to unrest in Greece as Pro-Greek forces crush a Turkish nationalist attempt to take over the island of Cyprus, leading to a Turkish invasion of Cyprus and Greece leaving NATO and declaring war on Turkey. With the ongoing war in China and escalating tensions in Korea and the Middle East, the resources of the United States are becoming increasingly stretched. By the middle of January Warsaw Pact forces are in full retreat from Germany and are heavily pressed by NATO air power. The Polish 3rd and 16th Motor Rifle Divisions are mauled by German forces as they attempt to evacuate across the Oder River. With elements of the British Army already on the Oder River as early as January 7, NATO governments express support for a Free Polish government in exile. As the fighting in Central Europe dies down by late January NATO begins to prepare its forces to cross into Poland. Former East German units are now fully absorbed into the new German Army, with the number ‘2’ prefixed to their original East German divisional number. In this period NATO builds up its strength in Europe with the US 38th and 43rd Infantry divisions deployed to Germany along with the British 4th Armoured Division, the 1st Airborne Brigade, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the Queens’ Royal Irish Hussars, while Denmark fully committed the Danish Jutland Division and the Slesvig Regimental Combat Team. As more USAF combat units arrive in Europe and forward deploy from their bases in the UK to Germany and the Netherlands, Soviet Frontal Aviation attacks against German infrastructure intensifies with German cities such as Hamburg heavily damaged, and a number of oil refineries destroyed. Scattered Warsaw Pact offensives against NATO, including a Czech assault on Southern Germany which sees the Czech 1st Tank Division briefly occupying the city of Regensburg were ultimately unsuccessful. As spring approached continued Soviet hardline action convinces NATO commanders that a peaceful settlement with the Soviet Union is unattainable and that the war must continue.

Advent Crown

The beginning of April saw the renewal of operations against the Warsaw Pact as NATO launched Operation Advent Crown. While the Warsaw Pact was rebuilding its forces in Poland NATO advanced across the Oder River simultaneously with an amphibious assault on the Russian Kola Peninsula to secure the Norwegian frontier. As NATO airpower once again dominates the sky and bears heavily on Pact land forces with Luftwaffe and RAF strikes against air fields in Poland, NATO launches a three pronged attack into Poland. The German Army is a prominent part of the NATO assault; the First German Army drives through central Poland with the I British Corps in support, the Second German Army strikes along the Baltic Coast and the Third German Army crosses into Poland near Gorlitz and advances up the Oder River. Everywhere along the front Warsaw Pact forces are staggered under the onslaught. The Soviet 3rd Guards Motor Rifle Division is encircled and virtually destroyed northwest of Wroclaw by elements of the Third German Army. The Second German Army’s advance along the Baltic coast of Poland is assisted by the German Navy, with fast missile attack craft harrying Soviet and Polish naval operations and Soviet supply convoys from the Baltic States and Leningrad. NATO special forces are also inserted along the Polish coast with Bundesheer Fernspahkompanie troops performing reconnaissance missions far behind Warsaw Pact lines, and naval Verwendungsgruppe 3402 and British SBS sabotaging a number of depots, command bases and coastal anti-ship and anti-aircraft batteries in Poland well in advance of the main NATO force. Larger German warships also assisted in providing air defence against heavy Soviet air attacks, while the guns of the old Hamburg Class Destroyer Hessen were used against Pact forces near Gdansk. Warsaw Pact resistance is strongest in Central Poland, but by the third week in April the British Army breaks through Polish defences on the Oder and drives into the interior of Poland, and the US 28th Infantry Division is sent to Germany to support the NATO offensive.

By May a number of Polish cities had fallen or are besieged by NATO forces. Local Polish militia and police put up a determined resistance but are hopelessly outmatched and soon overrun. The Third German Army takes Wroclaw and decimates the Polish 3rd Motor Rifle Division as the British Army captures Kalisz and Lodz and the US Army reaching Olesno. Panzergruppe Oberdorf; a mixed group of German and US Army formations moves against the city of Czestochowa as the Soviet 4th Guards Tank and 43rd Guards Motor Rifle Divisions are encircled and nearly destroyed in Silesia. The Czech 15th Motor Rifle Division surrenders to the US 1st Mechanised Division after being pounded by airstrikes and cut off by NATO airmobile units as the Third German Army advances on Katowice. NATO commits seven divisions to operations in Silesia which overwhelms Pact forces in the region. The Soviet 35th Guards Motor Rifle Division is virtually destroyed trying to retake Wroclaw, and the Polish 12th Tank and 2nd Motor Rifle Divisions take heavy casualties in Gliwice and Opole. By the beginning of June with the Soviet and Polish armies in full retreat the Third German Army advances into Silesia and captures Opole, while Pact forces in Bytom, Chorzow, Gliwice and Katowice are heavily damaged by NATO airstrikes. As NATO prepares to besiege the Polish capital of Warsaw the Soviet Air Force transfers elite fighter squadrons from the Baltic Military District to air bases in Byelorussia and Eastern Poland to confront NATO airpower over Poland. The city of Czestochowa proved to be a significant obstacle to NATO’s schedule to capture Warsaw by the end of June as the NATO assault on the city is stiffly resisted by the Polish Army who commits three divisions to its defence against the US 5th Mechanised Division, the 21st Panzergrenadier Division, the 27th Fallschirmjager Brigade and the US 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Soviet Spetznatz and airborne forces are also inserted behind NATO supply lines in Poland and Germany to disrupt operations. The US Army 10th Special Forces Group and the British 22nd SAS Regiment are used to track them, with paratroopers from the British 1st Airborne Brigade destroying a large Soviet group on the German Baltic coast west of Rostock. In support of ongoing NATO operations the US 44th, 50th Armored and 36th and 40th Mechanised divisions, the 107th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the British 49th and 51st (Highland) Infantry Brigades are deployed to Germany. NATO naval forces have also eliminated the threat from Soviet naval commerce raiders and hunted most Soviet submarines operating in the North Atlantic. By the middle of June Czestochowa had fallen and NATO forces now surround Warsaw, with the US 4th Marine Brigade and the British 1st Royal Marine Brigade withdrawn from Norway and sent to Germany to reinforce the advance through Poland.

As the siege of Warsaw continues into July the Polish government moves its capital to Poznan as NATO pushes the front in Poland to Wroclaw, Czestochowa, Gdansk and Warsaw. As the British Army crosses the eastern stretches of the Vistula River, the 3rd Panzer and 2nd Panzergrenadier Divisions reach the Neman River in Belorussia. However NATO success in Central Europe is tempered by reversals in the Norwegian front and the Mediterranean, while Soviet Arctic mechanised units cross the Bering Straight into Alaska. The socialist governments of Greece and Italy also join the Warsaw Pact and declare war on NATO. Italy opens a second front against NATO in the south in the beginning of July with Italian airmobile and mountain units capturing a number of Alpine passes in Austria and overwhelming light Austrian forces in the region. By the middle of July the Italian V Corp crossed into Southern Germany and meets up with elements of the Czech Army and advances towards Munich. As the German Army battles the Czechs and Italians on the outskirts of Munich, the Czech 2nd and 14th Motor Rifle Divisions briefly capture Nuremberg before NATO forces are redeployed to the south. Yugoslavia launches a counteroffensive against north-eastern Italy which ultimately fails, but temporarily diverts Italian attention away from operations in Southern Germany and Austria. The 5th and 10th Panzer Divisions are sent to Bavaria, followed by the US 1st Armored and 43rd Infantry Divisions, the British 1st and 2nd Armoured Divisions and the Dutch 4th Mechanised Division. The 10th Panzer Division is involved in heavy fighting with the Italian Ariete Armoured Division in the vicinity of Augsburg as the Czechs and Italians are driven out of Bavaria taking heavy damage from NATO air strikes. In Asia the Soviets cross the nuclear threshold and use tactical nuclear weapons against Chinese forces in Harbin changing the nature of the war. In Poland as NATO approaches Russian territory the Soviets use tactical nuclear weapons against the 7th Panzer Division in Bialystok, which severely damages the German unit and throws NATO into disarray. The entire NATO front in Poland is shocked by the use of nuclear weapons against them and started to slowly withdraw, lifting the siege of Warsaw under heavy Soviet pressure. As the US 46th Infantry Division and British 24th Infantry Brigade are deployed to Poland to shore up NATO forces, the US 5th Mechanised Division detonated a small nuclear weapon in Czestochowa, severely damaging the city and slowing down the Soviet advance in Poland. By August the Third German Army is in full retreat from Silesia but badly mauls the Czech 13th Tank Division in the process. In Northern Poland NATO forces withdraw more slowly and the US 6th Light Infantry Division is transferred from Norway to reinforce them, but Soviet pressure badly damages the British 6th Airmobile Brigade and the US 107th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

By September the Czech and Italians armies renew their offensive against NATO and advance into Bavaria. However they are quickly repulsed by NATO forces in Southern Germany and driven back into Austria and Czechoslovakia, with the Czech 18th Motor Rifle Division badly mauled by Dutch forces. With the Italians V Corps firmly holding the Alpine passes in Austria despite the best attempts of the Austrian Army’s to dislodge them, NATO decides to intervene and sends German mountain troops against them, with elements of the British 1st Airborne Brigade deployed throughout the mountainous Tyrol region and the Bavarian Alps in small mobile units harassing the Italian forces. The success of the British paratroopers and German mountain troops forces the Italian V Corps to request reinforcement from Italian Alpine units in Italy to clear NATO forces from the mountains. The Italian Alpine troops eventually withdraw after being fought to a standstill in the Alps, while paratroopers from the British 1st Airborne Brigade are dropped behind Czech and Italian lines and perform long ranged penetration raids against Pact forces in Austria and Southern Germany. As NATO units enter Austrian territory the Soviet Army invaded from Hungary and Czechoslovakia, rapidly occupying the Austrian capital of Vienna and the eastern regions of Austria. The beleaguered Austrian Army is relieved by NATO airpower and powerful American and German mechanised forces advancing from the West. Under pressure from NATO in the Alps the Italian V Corps withdraws to Northern Italy as NATO forces push the Soviets out of Vienna by October as the surviving Austrian military is absorbed into the Bundeswehr. With tactical nuclear weapons now being used freely by both sides the German Bundeswehr has been hard pressed by a year of nearly constant warfare. The German Army has lost over fifty thousand dead and wounded, the Luftwaffe has lot half of its operational combat aircraft, and the navy has lost 70 warships, including 13 submarines, two destroyers and six frigates. In Poland the Soviets use tactical nuclear weapons against NATO forces in the Warsaw area, badly damaging the US 2nd Armored Division. As the Soviet Army retakes Czestochowa and begins to enter Warsaw, the British I Corps begins a fierce withdrawal action but is heavily outnumbered and the Royal Hussars Regiment is badly damaged. In Silesia the 6th Panzergrenadier Division is hard hit by Soviet air strikes and the 29th Panzer Division takes heavy casualties, while further Soviet nuclear strikes in Northern Poland badly damage the US 40th Mechanised Division and the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Retaliatory nuclear strikes by NATO destroy Warsaw and other targets in Poland, Byelorussia and the Ukraine, crippling the Soviet road and communication networks. As the Soviet offensive in Poland stalls further NATO tactical nuclear strikes severely damage the Soviet 3rd Guards Motor Rifle Division, the Polish 2nd Tank Division and the Czech 20th and 32nd Motor Rifle Divisions. With the world on the edge of nuclear destruction the Warsaw Pact recaptures Silesia as NATO troops withdraw from Northern Poland.

The Nuclear War

The use of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe continued throughout October and November. In addition to the nuclear attack on Warsaw, NATO destroys many targets in Silesia such as Bytom, Gliwice and Katowice and also the Czech city of Ostrava in revenge for a series of Soviet strikes on military targets across Germany and the Dutch port of Rotterdam. From September Germany had been subjected to low yield nuclear attacks against selected military targets. Symbolically the first wave of targets in the middle of September were the US Army Pershing II missile launching sites at Mutlangen, Neckarsulm and Neu Ulm, which destroyed the sites but not the launchers which had been dispersed to other parts of Germany. In late September a second more damaging wave hit the NATO command bunker complex at Linnich, and the American signals intelligence base at Bad Aibling which monitored Soviet military communications as part of a network of similar bases across the world for the intelligence services of the United States, Great Britain and their Western allies. The US Army installations at Ansbach were also targeted along with the USAF bases at Geilsenkirchen, Ramstein, Sembach and Spangdahlem, the British air bases at Gutersloh, Bruggen, Laarbruch and Wildenrath, and the British Rheindahlen military complex which served as the headquarters of NORTHAG in retaliation for the NATO strikes in Poland and Czechoslovakia, which severely disrupted NATO communications and air operations. By mid-November the German Army command centre at Koblenz and the German naval base of Wilhelmshaven, the USAF air base at Rhein-Main and US Army installation at Wiesbaden in the Frankfurt area where also targeted leading to significant civilian casualties. Shortly after the Thanksgiving Day Massacre which led to the nuclear destruction of much of the world, major German cities were targeted in two waves of strikes from intermediate range SS-20 nuclear missiles launched from Western Russia and Soviet ballistic missile submarines in the Arctic Circle. The first wave of missiles hit Berlin, Bonn, Bremen, Cologne, Dresden, Karl Marx Stadt, Leipzig, Munich, Stuttgart and Vienna in Austria, followed by a second missile wave in early December against Dortmund, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hannover, Mannheim and Zwickau. The nuclear attacks on Germany led to millions of deaths and the destruction of the economy and infrastructure of the country. As the German Government collapsed and the nation was engulfed by panic, rioting and anarchy, the surviving police lost control and the German Army declared martial law by the end of December. NATO and Warsaw Pact supply lines and communications throughout Europe were also devastated which led to a general cessation in offensive operations across Europe. By the end of December the surviving Danish and Dutch governments withdraw most of their troops from NATO operations in Central Europe to help with internal security duties in Denmark and the Netherlands, while the British 49th and 51st Infantry Brigades are also withdrawn to the UK. As NATO forces complete their final withdrawal from Northern Poland in December the British 3rd Armoured Division takes heavy losses covering the NATO retreat into Germany.

The nuclear attack on Germany severely hampered German forces ability to continue operations. In addition to the direct loss of personnel and equipment and the physical loss of command centres, bases and storehouses, the national power grid and oil refining capacity was also destroyed as were many armament factories and fuel depots. The national rail and air transport network also collapsed, as did freight and passenger services from German seaports, which seriously affected the movement of forces around the country and imports of oil, raw materials, foodstuffs and military supplies from NATO allies or former trade partners. The EMP blasts also affected surviving facilities and the electronic and communications equipment of German forces that were close to the nuclear detonations. Surviving staff of the Germany Army Command who had evacuated Falckenstein Barracks in Koblenz before the nuclear attack on it, quickly reformed in the city of Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein. From Kiel the commanders of the Bundeswehr supported by surviving members of the civilian government proclaimed martial law across Germany, which directly put the nation and surviving assets under military control, quelling some civil disorder in areas under the control of German military units. Martial Law also extended to areas of Germany under allied NATO control with NATO units assuming the same powers as the German forces, but also being under the control of German forces while in Germany. In areas under military command the army took control of available resources and supplies to support ongoing military operations and feed and support civilian populations. However many parts of Germany had no law as there was no resident military forces, and rapidly descended into anarchy or came under the influence of unlawful groups that emerged after the nuclear detonations. The national road system was also clogged with desperate civilians and refugees fleeing the destroyed cities to safer areas under military control and the borders with France and Switzerland, with roads clogged by millions of cars and trucks which hampered the mobility of the Army and its ability to reinforce or adequately secure many areas. By the end of 1997 the German Army could still field three operational armies, twenty divisions and numerous independent brigades and regiments. But many surviving units were chronically short of manpower, vehicles, fuel, stores and ordinance, and a year of combat and in some cases direct nuclear attack had taken its toll on the operational effectiveness of many units. The other German services were in even worse shape. The German navy had no more than 30 warships of all types capable of putting to sea, and had lost its main naval base and much of the nation’s critical shipbuilding capacity. The Luftwaffe had lost over two thirds of its operational aircraft since German Reunification as well as many air bases and by the end of the year could field no more than 100 combat aircraft, of which many were heavily worn or lacking in spare parts.

The Aftermath

The war in Central Europe continued, although now at a much slower pace as both sides were exhausted and shocked by the carnage of the nuclear exchanges. By January the front lines stabilised and fighting died away as the opposing armies attempted to rebuild their units and logistics. With Germany and most of the rest of Europe in chaos desperate refugees flooded the border regions with France. In January 1998, the government of the newly formed Franco-Belgian Union ordered the French and Belgian armies to occupy all territory south and west of the Rhine River in Germany and the Netherlands to secure the frontier against refugees and armed groups. With most of the German Army deployed east of the Rhine River and in poor shape to contest the occupation of the Rhineland against the fresh and fully equipped divisions of the French II Corps, light German forces put up sporadic rearguard actions before evacuating across the Rhine or are overwhelmed and eliminated by French armour. The Luftwaffe conducted some air defence sorties over the Rhineland in a desperate attempt to blunt the French advance but is quickly overpowered by the French Air Force, which also strikes against Luftwaffe bases in Bavaria. The Dutch government orders all remaining Dutch forces in Germany back to the Netherlands to resist the French invasion, with the Dutch 4th Mechanised Division returning to Holland by February. By March the French had successfully occupied all German territory south and west of the Rhine, and have enforced the ‘Dead Zone’ across territory 5-10 kilometres east of the Rhine. As the last NATO units cross back into Germany from Poland elements of US 2nd Marine Division are recalled from Norway and reformed in Northern Germany, and many shattered units are withdrawn from the frontline for rest and refit to less damaged areas of Germany. However conflict does continue with the Soviet 122nd Guards Motor Rifle Division crossing the German border and occupying the village of Forst near Cottbus, and the Czech 1st and 22nd Air Assault Brigades conducting a number of deep penetration raids on NATO forces in southern Germany. Sporadic conflict also occurs across the skies of Central Europe with NATO and Soviet aircraft conducting air strikes on Germany and Poland, with the USAF detonating a small tactical nuclear warhead on the eastern industrial district of Krakow in Poland.

Renewed fighting in Central Europe erupted again at the end of June with a new Warsaw Pact offensive against Germany from Poland and Czechoslovakia. NATO commanders were expecting the Soviets to renew the war and had brought many divisions back to operational strength by the summer. NATO forces were also reinforced by the British 5th Mechanised Division and 19th Infantry Brigade which were shipped from the UK in early June. As Warsaw Pact divisions crossed into Germany the British 22nd SAS Regiment staged several raids on Soviet Army headquarters in Central Europe which severely disrupted operations along the front. The Pact offensive is led by the Soviet 7th Guards Tank Army which is stopped in the vicinity of Dresden by the British 4th Armoured Division, while the Polish 20th Tank Division and the Soviet 122nd Guards Motor Rifle Division are badly mauled by NATO forces. The Czech 1st Tank Division is also stopped outside the town of Hanau and chased back across the Czech border by the German Army. The Soviet 35th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the Czech 9th Tank and 14th Motor Rifle Divisions were also heavily damaged, and the Czech 16th Tank Division is destroyed and disbanded. With the Pact offensive against Germany badly stalling, NATO launches a counter-offensive from the Karl Marx Stadt area into Czechoslovakia. NATO forces headed by the British led Army Group Cromwell drives into Czechoslovakia, spearheaded by the British 1st Armoured Division and the US 38th Infantry Division. Czech border guard units are rapidly overwhelmed, with the Czech 3rd Border Guards Brigade virtually destroyed and the Czech 26th Motor Rifle Division heavily damaged. The British 1st Armoured Division flanks the main Warsaw Pact defensive line at Karl Marx Stadt and moves against the Czech capital of Prague but takes heavy casualties in the advance into Czechoslovakia. The British I Corps with US Army mechanised support also fought a major battle with Soviet forces near the city of Fulda, and severely routed them forcing a general withdrawal of Warsaw Pact forces from Southern Germany. Retreating Warsaw Pact units instigate a policy of laying waste to the land for the first time to deny resources to NATO, with vengeful NATO units mauling the retreating Czech 19th Motor Rifle Division. By September NATO forces had taken Prague with elements of the British 5th Mechanised Division being the first to enter the city as the British 1st Airborne Brigade secures Prague Airport, while the British 2nd Armoured Division besieged Brno threatening Pact supply lines into Austria. But the advance into Czechoslovakia stalled due to overstretched logistical lines and shortages, and stiffening in Czech resistance which leads to a cessation of fighting and a stabilising of the front lines. In October the US 70th Light Infantry Division is sent to Germany, which are the last reinforcements that NATO will receive from the Continental United States for the duration of the war. The end of 1998 marks the last period of the nuclear strikes of the war, with surviving urban and industrial areas of the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and Italy targeted to eliminate vestiges of industrial capacity, which impacts the rest of the course of the war in Europe.

By the beginning 1999 neither NATO nor the Warsaw Pact is capable of mounting offensive actions in Central Europe due to shortages and exhaustion. The armies and surviving governments are more concerned with pacifying and supplying the areas under their control, and trying to restart electricity supply and industry. With spare parts and fuel in short supply the surviving air forces were grounded. Occasional flights for precision strike, transport and reconnaissance occur but aircraft are now only used sparingly. Naval forces are also docked due to lack of fuel, used only occasionally for escorting high priority troop movements or oil shipments. By the spring the British Army withdraws its forces from Czechoslovakia and moves them to Central Germany as the British 1st Airborne and 1st Special Service Brigades are withdrawn to Southern England to help secure the country. Throughout 1999 the main focus of the armies of NATO and the Warsaw Pact is controlling marauder activity, which threatens to destabilise many areas and undo some of the work done to rebuild local communities. Desertion and rebellion among military units is also becoming a problem in Central Europe, with some heavily armed units overthrowing or disobeying their chain of commands and establishing local fiefdoms or bandit groups across Europe. This however is more of a problem among the Warsaw Pact forces as NATO units by and large retain their military discipline. In the United States after the “Rump Congress” reconvened in Omaha Nebraska in April following the destruction of Washington DC in November 1997. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to recognise the election of a new president, citing numerous procedural irregularities and a general dissatisfaction in how the surviving civilian government had handled the war, disaster relief and food and fuel distribution, the Mexican invasion of the South-West and the Soviet invasion of Alaska. In July the Joint Chiefs ordered the Alternative National Military Command Centre moved from Fort Riche, Maryland, to Colorado Springs, Colorado. This effectively created a second government under military control. Despite the two rival governments coming into almost immediate conflict most of the United States military sided with the new military government in Colorado Springs. Germany along with most other NATO and Western governments also only recognised the military government. In late 1999 the Soviet Army launches a small offensive from Northern Poland into Germany which advanced into north-eastern Germany occupying some communities along the German Baltic coast, and briefly isolated the city of Rostock from the rest of Germany. The Third German Army soon pushed the Soviet forces back into Poland by Christmas, but the offshore island of Rugen was captured and has remained under Soviet or more precisely East German NVA occupation ever since, largely ignored by German and NATO forces that surround it on the mainland.

Following the recent Soviet offensive into Northern Germany, the German Army Command raised seven new light Jaeger infantry divisions in 2000 from a number of independent Territorial Army brigades used for home defence, who were augmented by surplus Luftwaffe, Navy and Border Guard personnel transferred to land forces to replace war casualties and boost numbers. The Army also formed three mountain divisions: one from the two independent German Army mountain infantry brigades, and two from Austrian forces now under German command in Austria and Southern Germany. In the spring of 2000 NATO launched an offensive into Northern Poland to eliminate the threat of further invasion. The objective of the German Third Army assisted by the US XI Corps and the British II Corps is to clear hostile Soviet and Pact forces from the Polish Baltic coast as far as the mouth of the Vistula River in Gdansk Bay. The US 2nd Marine Division launched a successful amphibious assault against the Polish Baltic coast and across the estuary of the Vistula, although a German Navy amphibious landing ship is sunk during the operation. However the rest of the Third German Army and US XI Corps are less successful. The German advance is stalled by Polish counterattack and the risk of being encircled by the Soviet Army, while much of the US 5th Mechanised Division is destroyed by superior numbers from the Soviet 4th Guards and 22nd Army near Kalisz and disperses to escape capture. The rest of the US XI Corps is heavily handled by Soviet divisions sent from Byelorussia to stop its advance, leading to the US 8th Mechanised Division detaching from the US XI Corps and moving towards Latvia. As NATO forces retreat back towards Germany the Third German Army is attacked by Polish tank force and the British II Corps battles Soviet forces to cover the withdrawal, and the British 6th Airmobile Brigade and the US 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment are badly damaged. However the Warsaw Pact counter-offensive soon ran out of steam due to the over stretched supply lines and high casualties, and also because of insurrections within Poland. By September parts of Poland are under the control of various marauders groups and powerful self styled warlords such as Baron Czarny in the ruins of Warsaw, the Margrave of Silesia, and the Militia of the Free City of Krakow. More worryingly for Soviet commanders is the high rate of desertion among Soviet units based in Central Europe, and the number of Soviet and Warsaw Pact units that have turned to marauding. In September the Soviet 95th Cavalry Division defected en masse to NATO, following the earlier example of the Soviet 10th Guards Tank Division and a number of former Polish border guard brigades.

With the Soviet’s clearly unable to launch any further major offensives against Germany, the British 24th Infantry Brigade is withdrawn from NATO service to England to help in the pacification of the UK. The US Central Command also concluded that the German Army is strong enough to defend Germany against any future Soviet invasion, and issued Operations Order Omega, a general order for all American forces in Europe to evacuate back to the United States by ship from the port of Bremerhaven. On November 15 2000 the US Navy Task Force 34 sailed for Norfolk, Virginia, and well over 40,000 America personnel and dependencies in Europe sailed with it. The staff and assets of the US Seventh Army and I and VII Corps, and 12 divisions (one brigade of the 1st Cavalry, the 1st, 2nd and 44th Armored, the 1st, 3rd, 35th, 36th, 40th Mechanised, 6th, 38th and 43rd Infantry Divisions), and the 2nd and 278th Armored Cavalry Regiments decided to return home to America. However a small number of US forces decided to remain in Germany and more arrived in Bremerhaven too late to make the trip or were stranded in Poland when the evacuation orders were issued. American units who departed with Task Force 34 also left behind many armoured vehicles and artillery systems, which were transferred to the German Army control after arrival in Bremerhaven. US forces remaining in Germany are now subordinate to the German Army, although they still retain their own chain of command. Following the American evacuation the British Army moved the British 2nd Armoured and 5th Mechanised Divisions to Bremerhaven and then shipped them to the UK. Unlike the Americans the British took their vehicles and heavy weapons with them on appropriated North Sea Ferries, and a sizeable part of the British Army still remains in Germany. As the winter thawed at the beginning of 2001 the German Third Army began to drive hostile forces out of Eastern Germany, which largely consisted of some straggler units from the Soviet and Czech armies and gangs of marauders, including the troublesome former Soviet 30th Guards Motor Rifle Division which had plagued the borderland region with Poland and Czechoslovakia for some time. By spring the German Army had consolidated its control over Germany excluding the French occupied Rhineland and Rugen Island off the Baltic coast. At the start of 2001 the German Army Command also re-established a civilian central government in Kiel which is now the acting provisional capital of Germany, with pacified areas of the country reverting to limited civil control to free up military forces and resources. The German Army also restructured its forces to better suit its operational needs, with some divisions transferring personnel and equipment to other more damaged divisions, and vehicles left behind by the departing Americans distributed across the three armies and eight corps. In 2001 the German Army remains a powerful force of over 30 operational divisions, although none are at anywhere near pre-war personnel or equipment levels and fuel, supplies, ammunition and ordinance remain in short supply. The Luftwaffe has fared a lot worse from the war with only 40 operational combat aircraft and about a dozen support aircraft and helicopters left in service, while the navy has only 27 ships and a few aircraft left and some of the ships are not operational.

[TrailerParkJawa]

I really enjoyed this. Had some time off yesterday and spent some of it reading through your work. I enjoyed the section about how things are in 2001 the most.

I did find myself wondering if I would support the West Germans. I can't personally support them crossing the border first. But Im not sure I can't just abandon them and say "hey bud you picked a fight your on your own".

[RN7]

British section updated with ORBAT.

[Cdnwolf]

Trying to work out a board game style map based on the information you gave. Great work.

[Panther Al]

Outstanding stuff.


I am really interested in hearing more about Austria and how the US Forces in the area are working out since that is the zone I played in the most back in the day.

[RN7]

Departing with Task Force 34 from Bremerhaven were the following major units minus their equipment.

US Seventh Army
I Corps
VII Corps
1st Armored Division (16x M1A2, 12x M1A1, 8x M1)
1st Cavalry Division (20x M1A2, 18x M1A1, 10x M1)
2nd Armored Division (1x M1A2, 3x M1A1, 11x M1)
44th Armored Division (4x M1A1, 2x M1, 12x M60A3)
1st Mechanised Division (4x M1A2, 16x M1A1, 10x M1)
3rd Mechanised Division (10x M1A1)
6th Infantry Division (6x M8)
35th Mechanised Division (9x M1A1, 14x M1)
36th Mechanised Division (10x M1, 21x M60A3, 4x M8)
38th Infantry Division (6x M60A3)
40th Mechanised Division (2x M1, 4x M60A3)
43rd Infantry Division (10x M60A3)
2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2x M1A2, 6x M8)
278th Armored Cavalry Regiment

According to Going Home they left behind their equipment which is 241 tanks (43x M1A2, 72x M1A1, 57x M1, 53x M60A3, 16x M8)

GDW doesn't break down the equipment levels in most units besides tanks and helicopters. I would also estimate an average of about 30 IFV/APC per division. 1st Arm, 1st CAV, 2nd Arm, 1st Mech, 3rd Mech, 35th Mech, 36th Mech and 40th Mech Divisions are M2/M3 equipped while 44th Arm, 38th Inf and 43rd Inf are M113/M115 equipped and 6th Light Infantry uses light vehicles. Most divisional artillery is self-propelled (MLRS/M109) with a few towed 155mm artillery units in the M113/M115 equiped divisions, while the 6th Light Infantry uses LARS and towed 105mm guns, plus add a small number of M3 and M115 in the armored cavalry regiments as a well as a few helicopters per divisions. Also plenty of HMMWV and trucks and some combat engineer equipment.

By my estimates per division (30x APC, 5-10x artillery and at least 30 light vehicles) departing US forces left behind..

241 tanks (43x M1A2, 72x M1A1, 57x M1, 53x M60A3, 16x M8), 330 IFV/APC (40 M3, 20x M115, 190x M2, 70x M113), 110 Artillery (10 MLRS, 60x M109, 40x 155/105mm) plus a few LARS and ADA, 400 Light Vehicles (maybe more) and about 30 helicopters.

I've distributed some US units around the German divisions but they would only amount to a division and a half of what was left behind.

[Tombot]

I. You are a VERY sick man RN7!
That is a load of over 80 pages. Stuff to read and to work with for this whole winter... Thanks, this is great stuff. I love to read it.

Btw: wasnt the Dead Zone about 50km instead of 5-10km east of the rhine ? If your right, i have to do new maps....(Oh NOOOO!)

II.

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

Trying to work out a board game style map based on the information you gave. Great work.

Another one of those sick ideas... aaaww i would die for a game like that. My wet dream would be (beside a board game) a PC-game with an editor to build all these fantastic scenarios. Endless replay-value.
Like the "Total War"-Series ("Rome"), where you could fight it out with a specific leader OR play on the highest level (small skirmish tactics AND large scale-strategy; pick your own preference).

[natehale1971]

the only thing i really have problems with your write up (and those of others) when dealing with the two German states in the V1 timeline... so many feel that the DNVA would be disbanded, or troops would get the kind of treatment they got in Real Life when unification happened. The East German Army was, in relation to its equipment and training, one of the strongest armies in the Warsaw Pact. It was outfitted with a large number of modern weapons systems... and thus was just to much of an advantage to keep it and use it to fight the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. They would know their tactics, codes and proceedures to damn well... and that kind of an advantage you just don't give up so easily or quickly.

Especially since the original timeline showed that the Bundeswehr was having a really nasty time dealing with the Soviets and Pact allies, and thus the DNVA would be just to valuable to keep than to 'throw' them away... that's just a waste that I can't see someone fighting for their very existant would do.

Because it would just be too pragmatic to keep the DNVA as a whole, and any 'culling' would be done as the war progressed when evidence that said East German personnel was operating for the Soviets.

The DNVA units would be kept as they were with the same nomenclature, weapons, equipment, ranks, ect. at the start. And the phasing in of uniformed weapons, uniforms, equipment, ect would happen during the rotations from the front. DNVA units that were severely mauled would be disbanded and it's personnel would be transfered to other DNVA units to bring them back-up to strength.

Now i can easily see 'exchange' officers, NCOs... in positions as obseveers and adivsors in a manner similar to how NATO forces would have other nations personnel working with them to coordinate their operations. But these personnel would have an additonal role to look for anyone who'd be operating on the behalf of the Soviets and Pact forces.

I never really liked how GDW said that the DNVA units were forced to change their names and add a "2" to disginguish them form the West German units. Because that would be a major hit on their morale (because being seen as 'second best' just never is something that feels good)... hell, if you're gonna do that, might as well just redesignate them with unit names and numbers that follow the existing Bundeswehr units.

Those are some of reasons why in my campaigns that the DDR was offically still an independent state up until the French invaded the Rhineland... an act that caused the BRD and DDR to unify to create the DBR (Deutsche Bundesrepublik or German Federal Republic). I loved doing it this way since the French were trying so desperately to stop from happening, and their own actions actually caused what they were trying to stop.

When i get a chance I'll be posting the OOB that i came up with for the DNVA and Bundeswehr, that inculded the various branches that were not covered anywhere else... and a couple new groups that were created due to the continuation of the Cold War (such as the straegic rocketry forces & Airborne Landing Forces in the DNVA and the creation of civilian law enforcement agency - the Federal Police - in West Germany).

Land Forces (Landstreitkräfte), Airborne Landing Forces (Luftlandungstreikräfte), Air Force (Luftstreitkräfte), Air Defense (Luftverteidigung), People's Navy (Volksmarine, inculdes Naval Aviation & Naval Infantry assets), Strategic Rocketry Forces (Strategische Raketenstreitkräft), Home Guard Force (Hauptschütz), Border Troops of the GDR (Grenztruppen der DDR), Combat Groups of the Working Class (Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse), Construction Units (Baueinheiten), Peoples Police (Volkspolizei), Peoples Readiness Police (<>), Felix Dzerzhinsky Watch Regiment (Ministry for State Security, Stasi).

If you want, i can send you the OOB for the real world DNVA that I've got if you'd like to see it.