As the first snowflakes began to fall, it became apparent that America was not going to be able to remove the Chinese before the end of the year, when the long winter settled in. They had hoped to bring the Third Army into the fight, but after several months of equipment delays, it was determined they would not be ready to redeploy as an army until closer to the end of the year. By then, the heavy winter snows would have settled in, making any armored advance or assault a lot less likely to succeed.
Meanwhile, the fight in central and northern Alaska between the Russians and US Marines continued to intensify as the Reds began to pour more soldiers into the battle. At first, the Russians thought they had it easy going up against a much smaller Marine force. They quickly found out why the Marines were called “Devil Dogs.” They fought like men possessed.
The Russians were going up against the US 5th Marines; the 5th had been reactivated once the war with the Islamic Republic had started and the President reinstituted the draft. The last time the 5th Marines had been activated was during the Vietnam war back in 1966 (5th Marines were later deactivated in the end of 1969). Now they would be the force defending central and northern Alaska from the Russian invasion. The 5th Marines had grown from their original strength of 19,000 Marines to now 60,000. Three more Marine divisions were currently in training in southern California and South Carolina, and would add their own weight to the fight in the near future.
Sergeant Jake Lancaster was a Marine gunman attached to an infantry battalion on the front lines in Alaska. His job was to provide counter-sniper support and take out any high-ranking Russian officers as they identified them. They had already taken out four Russian snipers in the last three weeks-it was not that the Russian snipers were sloppy at their trade-the Marines just had better equipment to identify where the enemy shot came from, which gave them a very precise frame of reference when searching for the enemy.
One of the Gunnery Sergeants in Alpha platoon had nearly gotten his head shot off while acting as a decoy for his own snipers. The Russian sniper had shot a hole in his battle helmet as he hoisted it above the trench line with a stick… he was understandably a little shaken up. “Sgt. Lancaster, have you found that sniper yet?” he asked through the HUD.
The report from the sniper rifle had given Sgt. Lancaster and his spotter the direction and location of where the shot had come from. It was about 1,600 meters to the left just behind the Russian lines. “Yes Gunny, we have spotted his location. I’m going to be taking the shot shortly; he’s about to reposition and I want to catch him mid-move,” Lancaster replied.
“Roger that. Let us know if you want any suppression fire before you shoot or once you start moving yourself.”
As Sgt. Lancaster looked through his telescopic lens, he saw the enemy sniper slowly backing out of his firing position. He made a few last minute adjustments, and then centered in on the sniper’s head. For a brief fraction of a second, the enemy sniper looked right at Lancaster, just as he pulled the trigger. In an instant, Lancaster’s modified M5 AIR sent a .25mm projectile right into his enemy’s face, exploding it as the sniper’s body went limp. Suddenly, there was movement five meters to the right of the sniper as another soldier moved quickly to find new cover. Lancaster quickly moved his rifle to the new target and fired another single shot, hitting the enemy soldier center mass before he was able to complete his escape to a nearby foxhole.
“Sgt. Lancaster, look to the right twenty-five meters. We have movement in the gun bunker,” said his spotter, who had found them another target.
Lancaster moved slightly to reposition his rifle; he quickly saw two figures manning a heavy machine gun. Suddenly they began to fire in the general vicinity of their location. The bullets began to fly over their heads, hitting nearby tree branches and shredding them into little splinters. He quickly took aim and shot the machine gunner, and then swiftly moved to fire at the assistant gunner. Just as they silenced the machine gun, they began to hear whistling as several mortar rounds began to land nearby. Suddenly, their world went black… a mortar round landed less than five feet from their position, killing them instantly
Too Little, Too Late
It had been nearly ten months since the overwhelming nuclear attack on the Islamic Republic had taken place, and India was still dealing with the nuclear fallout and repercussions of that aggression. Despite the Americans’ best efforts to minimize the fallout, it was unavoidable that India would get hit with a large swath of it because of the jet streams that passed over the Middle East. India had been savaged by nuclear weapons during their several day war with Pakistan in the early 2030s, when both nations had made heavy use of nuclear weapons. The war had quickly escalated from a conventional fight to all out nuclear Armageddon, which resulted in the destruction of Pakistan as a country and a devastated Northern India. Nearly 800 million people on both sides had died in that war.
It was estimated that perhaps as many as ten million people or more may be made sick or have lifelong problems as a consequence of the fallout from this latest American nuclear attack against the IR. President Stein had spoken with the Prime Minister of India on a number of occasions, and had personally apologized for fallout that would have an adverse effect on the people of India. He had even offered to provide medical assistance, should it be needed. The gesture was nice, but it was too little, too late. Public opinion had soured against the Americans, with the vast majority of Indians siding with the Chinese assertion that America was no longer the sole superpower of the world and that the U.S. should not be able to continually make unilateral decisions in their own interests with no thought or consideration for other countries.
Large rallies and protests against the Americans had initially started out as small peaceful rallies, but had quickly grown into tumultuous anti-American rallies with many people shouting their support for China and complete with U.S. flag burning. The mood in the country had changed quickly, faster than the Americans had first thought or realized.
The Chinese had approached the Indian government in the spring of 2041 to discuss a large trade deal between the two countries. India had a large manufacturing base that was churning out products to be sent to Europe and North and South America. What the Chinese offered was far more lucrative than selling consumer goods to the Allies-China wanted India to turn its manufacturing capabilities towards supporting the Axis powers by manufacturing the tools of war China desperately needed. Chinese factories had no problem producing the needed ground equipment, but what they lacked was shipyards. The Indians, to the contrary, had several large shipyards currently not being used. They also had a large supply of relatively cheap labor to offer as well.
It was slow at first, but by the end of the fall of 2041, India had shifted most of their manufacturing capability over to producing the tools for war, along with all of the munitions needed to sustain and support a multi-million-man army. India and China continued to strengthen their political ties while deepening the divide between India and America. India secretly agreed to join the Chinese-led Pan Asian Alliance. They began to conduct a series of military drills and exercises to prepare them for war. Their formal announcement of joining would take place in November, when their navy and army would set sail for North America to join the Chinese-led invasion.