Many of the officers were scribbling some notes at this point, as well as looking at the maps shown on the wall behind him. “We are forming Task Force 92, which will comprise two of our Ohio submarines, six Virginia submarines, twelve Ticonderoga cruisers, twenty-two Arleigh destroyers, and the carriers Ford, Stennis, Nimitz, and Roosevelt. The fleet will be escorting an Australian Army division and two US Army divisions, which may or may not set up a ground base in India to establish and protect the creation of a series of airfields for the Air Force to operate from. This task force will leave in seventy-two hours and will move at best possible speed to get in position in case the President gives the order to proceed.”
Admiral Richards raised his hand to ask a question. Lomas nodded toward his protégé. “Sir, if we are forced to engage India in direct combat, will that delay or derail the invasion of Mainland China, and do we know where the landings will most likely take place?”
“Those are excellent questions, Admiral. Yes, if India doesn’t surrender immediately, it may push back some of our timelines for when we had wanted to launch the final ground war in China. However, it won’t impede our preparation of the battlefields. We’re going to launch three seaborne invasions. The first two are diversions and will have a limited scope and mission. The third invasion will be the main attack and will coincide with the Army’s three-pronged attack they will be launching from the north.”
Admiral Lomas signaled for General Roy Cutter, the Marine Ground Commander for Asia, to come forward. They briefly shook hands and said a few hushed words before the Marine signaled for his first slides to be brought up. “I’m going to briefly give you the outline for the seaborne assaults, as many of you will start the preparatory attacks in the coming weeks.”
Cutter turned slightly to verify that his first slide was properly displayed, then refocused his attention to the navy captains and admirals before him. “The first attack will be against Shantou, which is slightly southwest of Taiwan. It’s a short distance for our forces on the island to have to move, but more importantly, it allows our force to threaten the Hong Kong-Guangzhou industrial sector to the south, as well as the critical port city of Xiamen directly opposite Taiwan. A landing of Allied forces in this location is going to force the PLA to commit a large number of their divisions down here in order to prevent us from tearing into their industrial heartland.”
He nodded to the captain who was manning the computer with the PowerPoint presentation on it. “Our next landing will be near Wenzhou, another major Chinese port and industrial center. Our goal is not to capture the city or even to threaten further inland. The objective is to make them believe that is our goal and, again, commit a large concentration of forces to the area.”
The next slide showed Lianyungang, just opposite South Korea. “This is our primary landing zone. We’re going to land the majority of our Marines here and then drive on Jining, some 300 kilometers inland. This force will be the primary blocking force for the Army as they drive on Beijing. We’ll go into more detail on these landings in the near future as we get closer to when they will take place. With that, I’m going to hand it over to General John Bennet, the overall Ground Commander for Allied Forces in Asia.”
General Bennet walked up to the lectern and surveyed the room. This was the first time he’d briefed an all Navy-Marine crowd, and it did feel a bit odd. However, if his plans for defeating China were to come to fruition, he’d need their help, especially with the Marine landings. The Marines needed to be such a perceived threat that the PLA would move most of the forces they would have arrayed against him to the south.
“Captains, Admirals, thank you for allowing us Army guys to talk with you today,” Bennet said, which elicited a few chuckles from the crowd. “As Admiral Lomas alluded to earlier, we’re going to hit the PLA with three prongs. The first is going to be Army Group One, which is currently snowed in in Mongolia. A large part of the Army forces from Europe have been moved to this location. They’re going to perform two functions — one, they will go after the Chinese nuclear assets in west China and capture or destroy them, and two, they will attack Beijing from the interior of China.” As he spoke, he used a laser pointer to highlight a couple of items on a large PowerPoint map.
“Army Group Two is going to attack the Jinzhou-Fuxin Line, which stretches from the coast here to this location here.” As Bennet motioned with the pointer again, they could all see just how large this fortification was. It had essentially become the Chinese version of the French Maginot Line.
“Army Group Three will attack Harbin and thread their way through Tongliao in Inner Mongolia, which will hopefully open up a line of attack around and behind this massive fortification the PLA has built. The hope is that we won’t have to actually punch our way through the Jinzhou-Fuxin Line and get enough forces behind them to force them into surrender. Once we’ve opened this area up, it’s 470 kilometers to Beijing.”
He paused for a moment and nearly laughed when he saw the expressions on the faces before him. He could see that some of the officers were glad they were going to be on a ship and not having to fight the ground side of this war. “Lord willing, President Xi is going to come to his senses and call an end to this war before we have to proceed this far into the plan. If we do have to fight, this land invasion is not going to be quick. We’re estimating the Chinese will fight a lot harder for their actual homeland than they did in the occupied territories. Unless there are no questions, this concludes my portion of the brief.”
One of the captains raised his hand. “Sir, what is the timeline for the Army’s ground fight?” he asked.
“Tentatively, we’re looking at July, but that will largely depend on when the Marines are able to start their seaborne attacks and what happens in India. If the Indians don’t surrender, then we’ve been directed to seize the port city of Chennai on the Bay of Bengal and turn it into a beachhead for potential future combat operations against the Indian government,” replied General Bennet. He didn’t want to get too far into detail about the operations just yet.
Walking to the front of the room, Admiral Lomas addressed the group. “Thank you, General Cutter and General Bennet, for giving us an overview of the coming operations. Gentlemen, ladies, I wanted to give you the big picture of what’s going on so we can discuss how we’re going to make this happen. It’s an enormous task our Commander-in-Chief has given us, and I need your help in figuring out the best means of achieving it. This afternoon and tomorrow, we will break up into smaller groups, and that is exactly what we’re going to do. With that said, let’s break for lunch and then get right to it.”
The next several days, the senior officers discussed the best course of action, and more specifically how they were going to achieve each task. The next six months would change the course of the world, and thus its future.
President Xi would normally never leave China during a time of war, but his meeting with Prime Minister Vihaan Khatri was best held in person. With the demise of President Petrov and the capitulation of the Russian Federation, Xi needed to make sure his remaining allies stayed strong and didn’t jump ship.
The air was cool as President Xi walked toward the location of his little assembly, and the aroma of the gorgeous flowers nearby saturated the Mughal Gardens, which surrounded the grand Indian palace. He heard the noise of a group of people walking behind him and looked back to see Prime Minister Khatri walking toward him, a bright smile on his face. “President Xi, good morning,” he called. “It’s so good to see you in person. I hate using those video teleconference devices.” He finished his approach and the two shook hands.