“General Hamza, how quickly do you believe we will be able to overwhelm the American and Israeli laser defense systems?”
“Nothing is certain or guaranteed when fighting the Israelis and especially the Americans. Our initial assault calls for a massive overwhelming of their systems. We will be using the newest version of the Russian 9A53 Tornado multiple rocket launch vehicles to send an assortment of no less than 20,000 120/220/330mm rockets at targets all across Israel, with the vast majority being targeted against their airfields and air defense systems. 90 % of these rockets will be launched over a six-hour period. This will provide our aircraft six hours to engage the American and Israeli Air Forces and destroy them.”
“Following the first two waves of fighters, our bombers will launch an additional 300 cruise missiles, specifically targeting the Israeli power generation plants and major transmission nodes. This will disable electricity all across the country, further hindering their ability to coordinate their defenses. The third and fourth wave of aircraft will be our fighter bombers, who are assigned to attacking and destroying the Israeli missile and air defense capabilities as they are identified. We will have twelve airborne early warning and control aircraft aloft to assist in directing the air battle.”
“The Navy will send all of their missile boats against the American fleet heading towards the Horn of Africa. Between the ten attack submarines and sixty missile boats, they will attack the fleet with over 400 anti-ship missiles. We are also launching 100 ballistic missiles from our OTR-21 Tochka vehicles at the carrier battlegroup. Five of the missiles are armed with a five kiloton nuclear warhead. It’s just enough power to destroy the fleet and minimize fallout to the area. It is possible the Americans will respond with nuclear weapons in retaliation. However, despite this concern, the opportunity to destroy two of their seven operational carriers is worth the risk.” General Hamza nodded towards General Muhammed to take over.
“Once the missiles have launched, we have 1,200 various artillery pieces that will begin to fire into the prepared Israeli defensive positions. The artillery will be able to fire a continuous barrage for several hours, providing covering fire for our armored forces as they advance to engage and destroy the IDF and Americans. I assure you, this will not be a repeat of the Six Day War or the War of 1973. This time, Israel will be destroyed.” General Hamza spoke with a confident swagger of a man who had thought about this moment for a long time.
“Then, Generals, let’s proceed with the attack. General Hamza, the attack will commence on your order once you have returned to your field headquarters. The rest of us shall continue to remain in the bunkers; we need the leadership to leave for their separate bunkers in case the Israelis or Americans get a lucky shot off and destroy this position.”
With that, the military members left to quickly return to their units and begin to issue the orders that would start World War III and the annihilation of the Jewish State.
Day Zero
Major General (MG) Garry Gardner was promoted to Lieutenant General (LTG) and given command of Third Corps, which consisted of three divisions. One was armored, one was a mechanized infantry division, and the third division consisted of light infantry modeled around the Brigade Combat Team’s concept that the Army was rebuilding.
LTG Garry Gardner had seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan during the late 2010s, been in peacekeeping operations in the Ukraine, and recently had led the 3rd ID in Mexico. He was a career soldier and had spent his military career in various combat arms units, steadily rising in rank. Once he had been selected for Brigadier General (BG), he had been offered the opportunity to obtain a doctorate degree at any university he wanted. Garry elected to pursue his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, where he obtained a Doctorate in Global Logistics Management and obtained a Master in Russian Studies at the same time.
Third Corps had been given the order to rapidly deploy to Israel and prepare for combat operations four weeks ago. Most of the soldiers had been arriving by commercial and military aircraft since they were given the order. Their equipment had just arrived eight days earlier and was being moved to numerous marshalling points as the soldiers and vehicles were being fully equipped for the combat operations that were expected to take place within the next 36 hours. The 1st Armored Division, commanded by MG George Twitty, was at 95 % strength and ready for action. The rest of the division was expected to be ready within the next 12 hours.
The 3rd Infantry Division, commanded by MG Brian Kennedy, was at 97 % strength and had deployed to marshalling points near Jerusalem with the IDF. The 1st Infantry Division, which was led by MG Paul Brown, had arrived two weeks ago and was at 89 % strength. Their equipment had arrived ahead of the battalions as personnel were still in transit to Israel. Most of the division had been in Mexico when they had been directed to proceed with all speed to Israel and join Third Corps.
Since a portion of the 1st ID was still in transit, the majority of the division was encamped in several locations near Tel Aviv, not far from the airport. It was expected that the remainder of the force would arrive over the next 12 hours. The military had commandeered over 400 commercial passenger aircraft from United Airlines, Delta, American Airways and Air Canada to move nearly 50,000 soldiers over a four-week period.
100 FedEx, DHL and UPS cargo aircraft were also being used to transport enormous amounts of munitions, MREs and other equipment that would be needed to sustain 60 days of continuous combat operations. This would normally be accomplished by the Army Material Command; however, with the short notice of this operation, what would normally be moved over a three-month period needed to be moved in 30 days. To ensure US Forces were coordinating with the IDF, LTG Gardner had located his HQ element near the IDF HQ and ensured he had more than enough Liaison Officers (LNO) and linguists in both HQ elements.
Major General Lance Peeler was the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) commander. His forces were moving with the USS Gerald Ford Supercarrier and the rest of the US 6th Fleet, which had left Naples five days earlier. Their mission was to be in striking distance of the Egyptian Coast and conduct an amphibious assault to secure the Suez Canal Zone (SCZ) and destroy the IR forces in the Sinai.
By securing the Suez and the Sinai, the MEF would control the crossing and would reduce the number of borders from which the IR forces could attack Israel. It would also effectively destroy approximately 80,000 IR forces in the Sinai. MG Peeler’s 20,000 Marines had been part of the initial assault against Mexico and was ready to get back into the fight, especially because of all of the damage and carnage the IR terrorist groups had inflicted across the US. It was time for some payback. They also had the support of 3,500 Marines and a Marine Air Wing at the Eilat Naval Air Station and Naval Base.
Vice Admiral Lisa Todd was the commander of the US 6th Fleet based in Naples, Italy. She was the first female commander of a US Fleet. The 6th Fleet consisted of the Supercarriers USS William Clinton and the USS Gerald Ford, which were to escort the 2nd MEF to the Suez Canal Zone and assist the Marines in capturing it and destroying the IR forces in the Sinai. The fleet was also tasked with destroying all IR airfields within a 300-mile radius of the battlegroup.