BooksBarbecue
Back War with Russia Save as PDF
Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Foreword
  4. Preface
  5. Prologue
  6. PART ONE
  7. Kharkiv, Ukraine
  8. The President’s weekly defense and foreign policy meeting, The Kremlin, Moscow
  9. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC), Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Belgium
  10. Briefing Room, Boryspill Air Force Base, Ukraine
  11. The Kremlin, Moscow
  12. Washington, D.C.
  13. Residence of DSACEUR La Belle Alliance, Erbisoeul, Belgium
  14. North Atlantic Council Conference Room, NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  15. Banks of River Daugava, Riga, Latvia
  16. Ādaži Training Camp, Latvia
  17. Riga, Latvia
  18. National Defense Control Center, Moscow
  19. Ādaži Training Camp, Latvia
  20. NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  21. National Armed Forces Joint HQ, Riga, Latvia
  22. Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Mons, Belgium
  23. Central European Time 1600 hours, Eastern Standard Time, The White House, Washington, D.C.
  24. Lielvārde Air Base, Latvia
  25. Lielvārde Air Base, Latvia
  26. Camp David, Catoctin Mountains, Maryland
  27. British Embassy, 5, J.Alunana Street, Riga, Latvia
  28. The Russell Arms, Butler’s Cross, Buckinghamshire
  29. HMS Queen Elizabeth Middle Slip Jetty, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth
  30. National Defense Control Center, Moscow
  31. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC) SHAPE headquarters, Mons, Belgium
  32. Somewhere in the forest, Gauja National Park, Latvia
  33. 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London
  34. HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Baltic Sea
  35. Control Room, Kilo Class submarine Krasnokamensk, Baltic Sea
  36. PART TWO
  37. Prime Minister’s Office, House of Commons, London
  38. The Presidential Dacha Barvikha, Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast
  39. The White House, Washington, D.C.
  40. NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium
  41. Gauja National Park Forest, Latvia
  42. PART THREE
  43. “The Tank,” Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
  44. North Atlantic Council NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  45. Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Cheltenham, England
  46. GCHQ, Cheltenham, England
  47. Forest south of Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad, Russia
  48. Headquarters, Kaliningrad Special Region, Kaliningrad
  49. The President’s Office, The Kremlin, Moscow
  50. Forest south of Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad, Russia
  51. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC) SHAPE headquarters, Mons, Belgium
  52. Command Bunker, Iskander Missile Battery Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad
  53. Over Wroclaw, Poland
  54. Forest north of Pravdinsk Iskander Battery, Kaliningrad
  55. 25,000 feet above Kaliningrad
  56. Close to the Pravdinsk Iskander Battery, Kaliningrad
  57. Epilogue
  58. Glossary
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. Notes

“But I tell you, Dave,” went on Kydd, reverting to his usual colorful language, “it’s a fucking unbelievable state of affairs here. When I look back at the Gulf War, it was a hell of a stretch, but we still managed to put together a properly constituted fighting division. Now, thanks to all these defense cuts, we’re having to cannibalize every vehicle in the Army just to get one fighting armored brigade ready for war. Frankly, it’s fucking pathetic and, as you know only too well, Dave, you can do the square root of fuck all with a single brigade. OK, we’ve got a divisional HQ . . . Just. But we’re going to have to go cap in hand to the French to reinforce us with a second brigade if we’re going to put even a weak division into the field. We’re working round the clock to get the brigade to Poland in the next ten days to start training.”

“That bad?” McKinlay asked, shocked in spite of the reports he had read of tanks and other armored vehicles sitting in sheds minus engines, tracks and other key parts, but still counted as being “on strength.”

“Yup, that bad, Dave. The only thing we’ve got going for us is that we’ve still got 20th Armored Brigade based in Germany. So at least we don’t have to ship everything across the Channel. Nevertheless, the cuts and emphasis on Daesh and the Middle East have meant that they’ve been last in line for what little money has been available. It’s going to be a guinea a minute getting them properly operational again.”

“But you reckon you can?”

“Just you watch. My size tens are going to start connecting with shiny MOD arses in the next few seconds.”

“I’d pay good money to see that!” McKinlay chuckled at the thought of the foul-mouthed Kydd kicking ministers and civil servants alike. Then he grew serious again. “We haven’t talked eyes on the ground. We’re going to need our people in and soonest. NATO Special Operations Forces here in SHAPE are coordinating Allied support to the Forest Brothers in all three Baltics, but we need someone in Kaliningrad. Any thoughts on UK Special Forces?”