Team Yankee: Operation Tunguska

I'm a big fan of Google Earth. It's a brilliant tool, which I use both professionally and for my own things like planning out vacations (marking hotels, airports, sights to see, and so on). And it can also be very good for making maps for fiction. As an example, here's a scenario I've had fun thinking out - Team Yankee: Operation Tunguska.

To be upfront at the start, this is not a remotely realistic scenario, and isn't intended to be. It's just a whimsical excuse to play Team Yankee battles in the US mid-west, around cities and locations that I know.

So with that admission made, here is the scenario...

Operation Tunguska

In July of 1985 the Soviet Union launched Operation Tunguska, the largest military action since the Second World War. Massed waves of air attacks sunk the USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Enterprise, USS Long Beach and many other American ships. Soviet submarines took station off the coast of Oregon and throughout the northern Pacific, lurking ready to threaten any US naval response. At the same time an amphibious task-force launched an invasion on a scale comparable to D-Day, with four major landings cutting off and capturing Seattle and Vancouver.

With a beachhead established, the Soviet force began an advance east, roughly following the route of the I-90 and I-94 interstate highways. Their first objective was to seize the US nuclear silos in Montana and North Dakota. While the US would still have air and submarine launched nukes, Soviet planners assumed that the loss of a large portion of their land-based weapons would create a large enough missile gap that the US would not dare initiate a nuclear war.

With the advantage of surprise and the low population of the north-western states, the Soviets advanced swiftly. National Guard units, local law enforcement, and private citizens put up brave stands, but they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. By early August the Soviets had reached Minneapolis. Within days they had the city surrounded, and were at the Wisconsin border. The Premier and Central Committee began toasting to their great victory.

But their celebrations were premature. By this point the US military had begun to respond in numbers. Soviet planning had assumed the nuclear advantage would lead to a US surrender. This did not happen. Instead President Reagan declared a line in the sand - the Illinois Nuclear Ultimatum;

"If any Soviet or Soviet-allied force crosses into Illinois, then the United States would consider that the final straw. We would have no choice but to respond. With the full force and might of our entire strategic arsenal."
 - Ronald Reagan, August 15, 1985

While the US had been caught off-guard, by mid-August they were mobilizing and getting ready to begin going on the offensive. The Wisconsin National Guard had set up initial defense lines along the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers. These were rapidly being reinforced by regular army units, primarily from III Corps. The 82nd Airborne was deployed to Milwaukee, ready for whatever plan was ordered. The Soviet leadership either believed Reagan was bluffing or were willing to accept a nuclear confrontation; their forces kept pushing east.

They did not go unchallenged. While Soviet forces crossed the Mississippi and won the Battle of the Dells, they took heavy loses in doing so. As of September 1985 the front runs through central Wisconsin. US forces are massing north of Chicago, while the Soviets are assembling south of the Twin Cities.