by Dale Brown
sile would do a kamikaze crash into the next SAM site it
detected.
The net result: by the time the Megafortress was "feet dry"
over the Chinese coast, more than fifty mobile antiaircraft
weapon sites had been destroyed or put out of commission in
the area, another three hundred vehicles of all shapes and sizes
had been hit-plus over a thousand soldiers and sailors had
been killed or injured.
But the Megafortress wasn't the heavy hitter in this attack.
-52 and coming in from several directions at
Following the EB,
once was a twelve-plane attack formation of Taiwanese F-16
Fighting Falcons. The Republic of China's F- l6s-all but four
of their surviving fleet of sixteen-had lagged several minutes
behind the EB-52, waiting until the long-range Ilyushin-76 ra-
dar plane and the ground-based air defenses had been de-
stroyed before making their move. Spread out over forty miles
in six flights of two, the F-16s dashed in at 300 feet above the
Formosa Strait, the waves acting as their only terrain-masking
feature. But although the air defense sites along the coast had
detected the F- l6s a full six minutes before they attacked, they
could do nothing about it-because the Wolverine missiles
were knocking out the missile-control and target-tracking ra-
dars long before the Chinese defenders could launch a coun-
terattack.
The EB-52's Wolverine cruise'missiles had destroyed the
air defense units and many of the larger vehicles arrayed
around Quemoy Bay preparing to invade Taiwan's Quemoy
Island-the F-16 Fighting Falcons' mission was to destroy or
disrupt the estimated three hundred thousand troops getting
ready to cross the bay and retake Quemoy for mainland China.
Each F-16 carried six 800-pound CBU-59 APAM (Anti-
Personnel, Anti-Materiel) cluster bomb units, which scattered
670 one-pound bomblets over a football field-size area. When
the CBU-59 releases were computer-sequenced, laying the dis-
persal footprints end-to-end, the swath of destruction for each
FATAL TERRAI N 389
F-16 equaled over 350,000 square feet, the size of a suburban
shopping mall. Some of the bomblets, were fuzed to detonate
on impact; others used tiny trip wires that would cause the
bornblet to explode if disturbed or if a vehicle passed nearby.
All unexploded bornblets would self-detonate after a period of
time, anywhere from five minutes to twenty-four hours after
being sown. One baseball-size bornblet could destroy a small
vehicle, damage a large wheeled vehicle--or kill anyone
standing within thirty feet.
Since the majority of Chinese amphibious and infantry
forces ready to invade Quemoy were either traveling in trucks
or bivouacked in tents along Quemoy Bay, awaiting orders to
begin the main assault, they were caught mostly in the open
and fully exposed to the cluster bomb attack. Except for spo-
radic, unguided antiaircraft cannon and small-caliber fire, the
F-16s began their egress from the target area completely un-
opposed. One Taiwanese F-16 Fighting Falcon was hit by can-
non fire and was forced to eject, but not until he flew his
stricken fighter east of Quemoy Island, practically into the
arms of waiting Taiwanese patrols.
"Center up on the steering bug, heading two-eight-three,
five minutes thirty seconds to the next turnpoint," McLanahan
reported to the Megafortress crew. They had crossed the Chi-
nese coastline forty miles south of Xiamen, over Futou Bay;
the new heading would take them south and west of the city
of Zhangzhou and along the southern edges of the Boping and
Wuyi Mountains. "Minimum safe clearance altitude, five
thousand five hundred feet. High terrain twelve o'clock,
twenty miles." They were flying at treetop level using the EB_
52's COLA (COmputer-generated Lowest Altitude), in which
the satellite-based navigation system compared its present and
projected position, along with airspeed and heading, with a
huge database of terrain elevations to compute the lowest pos-
sible altitude the Megafortress could fly without hitting any
terrain or known man-made obstructions, and without using
any radar emissions that might give their location away.
"Bandits, twelve o'clock, no range, no altitude yet," Luger
called out. "Just popped up ... got a range estimate now,
about forty-one miles and closiog fast ... speed five hundred
knots. I think we got a couple Chinese Sukhoi-27s in the area,
guys-and the son of a bitch might have gotten a look at us."
390 DALE BROWN
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BEIJING,
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
THAT SAME TIME
A group of Chinese Communist Party Politburo members had
joined Jiang in congratulating Sun Ji Guoming for his service.
Jiang continued his praise for Sun, saying to all of his col-
leagues, "A stroke of genius, igniting a conflict on the Korean
Peninsula at the same time as your attacks against the Nation-
alists. The Chinese Taipei issue certainly does pale in com-
parison to the prospect of a new Korean War."
"In your address to the world, Comrade President, may I
also suggest that you offer to mediate a resolution of the con-
flict between North and South Korea, and perhaps go as far
as to refuse to commit any of our troops to assist President
Kim Jong-il if he refuses to participate in negotiations," Sun
suggested. "That might prevent the South from beginning its
own offensive. Of course, if the South or the United States
attacks the North first, we should threaten to use all of our
resources to assist President Kim. The same for the Iranian
conflict, if one should develop-we can offer to convince the
Iranians to halt any aggression, in exchang@ for a greater pres-
ence in that region."
President Jiang was obviously impressed by Sun's ideas. "I
still find it hard to believe," the Paramount Leader said, "that
we have used nuclear weapons against the rebel Nationalists
and even against the United States, and we still apparently face
no threat of retaliation. What has happened to the vaunted
American military machine?"
"The machine is still there, Comrade President, and it is
still powerful," Sun warned. "That American submarine was
probably sitting near Bandar-Abbass for weeks, and no doubt
there are American submarines near most of our coastal mil-
itary bases and ports as well that we have failed to detect-
perhaps even with nuclear attack missiles. And if the Ameri-
cans ever get proof that we planted the nuclear explosive on
the Independence, we may indeed find ourselves at war with
the United States. But as long as Martindale and his generals
do not have a clear target, they cannot strike without being
labeled as 'warmongers,' which is a hated name in America.
We must not act rashly, but we must continue to keep the
FATAL TERRAIN 391
American president unbal
anced and uncertain."
"Excellent advice, comrade Sun," Jiang said warmly. At
that moment, an aide came up to Sun, bowed to the president,
and handed Sun a message. "You have been a trusted and
most valuable adviser to me. Your hard work and loyalty have
been favorably noted by the Party."
"Thank you, Comrade President," Sun said. He glanced at
the note, then went on, "It is my honor as well as my duty to
carry out the wishes of the-" And then he froze in complete
surprise and muttered, "What in blazes?"
"What is it, comrade Sun?"
"The Quemoy invasion forces at Xiamen Bay are under air at-
tack!" Admiral Sun Ji Guorning exclaimed. "Air defense sites,
missile emplacements, amphibious assault staging areas ... it is
a massive attack force! But where? Where did it come from?"
"What about casualties?" President Jiang asked breath-
lessly. "Did we stop them? Did we sustain any losses?"
Sun Ji Guoming read the message carefully, his eyes wid-
ening and his jaw slackening further and further as he read.
Finally, he responded in a quivering voice, "The air defense
sites ... they were hit by precision weapons, some kind of
armor-piercing weapon that homed in on our antiaircraft ra-
dars. Then more aircraft, believed to be Nationalist F-16
fighter-bombers, flew over and dropped cluster munitions on
the infantry staging areas. Casualties are ... believed to be
high."
"High? How high? How many casualties?"
"There is no report, sir," Sun explained. "This is obviously
a preliminary report-"
"What do you mean, Admiral?" Jiang exploded. "There
have been high casualties, but you do not know how many?
Where did this attack come from? I thought you told me the
rebel Nationalist air force had been destroyed!"
"It has been destroyed, sir," Sun said, his mind swirling in
confusion. "I am sure of it! We hit every major rebel air base
with a nuclear missile, and we have attacked every known
alternate rebel air base with gravity weapons. The attack must
have come from another base in the region, perhaps South
Korea or Japan, perhaps even the Philippines."
"But all of those countries pledged not to support the rebels
or the United States in any offensive military missions," De-
392 DALE BROWN
fense Minister Chi Haotian intedected. "They promised that
the United States would not be permitted to stage attacks
against us from their soil."
"Then the attackers must have come from Formosa," Sun
said. "I do not know how they managed to sneak past our
radar planes and elude our air defenses, but they cannot de-
stroy all our air forces. My Tupolev-16 heavy bombers are
s tanding by-I shall order another heavy bombing attack
a gainst the rebels, this time attacking their civilian airfields and
alternate bases-any field capable of staging F- 16 fighter-
bomber attacks against us."
"It is so ordered," President Jiang said. "You must execute
this mission immediately. We must retaliate against the Na-
tionalists right away."
"Yes, sir," Sun said, relieved that the president and Polit-
buro members weren't turning this bad news against him. "I
also ask permission to use the entire fleet of Tupolev-26 su-
personic bombers to spearhead the attack. If some of the re-
bels' F-16 fighters survived our air raids, we must use the
high-speed bombers to penetrate their fighter screen and attack
the targets. "
Jiang Zemin hesitated. He did not approve of Sun using the
newly acquired Russian-made supersonic bombers-at one
and a half billion yuan each, the six Tupolev-26 supersonic
bombers and the other weaponry, spare parts, test equipment,
and support items necessary to maintain the high-tech ma-
chines, purchased from Russia amid great international fear
and outrage, represented one of China's biggest single defense
outlays. But Jiang also did not want to appear too reluctant in
front of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo members to
do all that was necessary to defend the country and subdue all
its enemies. If he asked the Politburo for permission to use the
Tu-26s, he would probably be refused-but now, with an ap-
arent disaster confronting them, each Politburo member was
p
wondering why Jiang was taking s6 long to give Sun Ji Guom-
ing the weapons he needed to win. "Permission granted,"
Jiang said finally.
"Thank you, Comrade President," Sun said. "The rebels
will be put back in their place, I guarantee it. This was the
Nationalists' 'Battle of the Bulge'-it does not represent a
change in fortunes for them." Sun turned and strode purposely
out of the chamber, feeling the concerned and dubious stares
FATAL TERRAIN 393
of Jiang Zemin and the CCP Politburo on the back of his neck.
President Jiang was immediately joined by General Chin Po
Zihong, the chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army,
who looked at the retreating form of Admiral Sun Ji Guorning
with obvious distaste. Jiang motioned for Chin, his foreign
minister Qian, and his defense minister Chi to join him in a
private office. "I want a full report on this attack, Comrade
General," President Jiang ordered. "This is unthinkable and
totally unacceptable
"Yes, Comrade President," Chin said. "The admiral has
clearly lost control of the situation. He thinks that the Amer-
icans will simply retreat like scared rabbits. This situation
proves how wrong he is."
"But his plan seemed to have been working so well."
"How so, Comrade President?" General Chin retorted an-
grily. "Your original orders were for the People's Liberation
Army to return Zhonggua to its rightful position in the world,
with all of the lands taken from us returned and our country
unified once again. Despite all our losses, civilian and military,
and despite the loss of face we have suffered by using nuclear
weapons, have we actually taken any territory away from our
enemies anywhere? Our thirteenth province, Formosa, has
been blasted into a charred rock. We spent billions of yuan
mobilizing our invasion forces, but Sun has not even landed
one battalion on either Quemoy or Matsu-he sends his little
probes' out, but he has not mustered the courage to lead the
People's Liberation Army on a true mission, only these long-
range aerial bombardments. Now, with hundreds of thousands
of our best troops exposed and vulnerable, the rebel Nation-
alists and their capitalist masters have struck hard against us.
We may not have the forces available to accomplish an in-
vasion now. No one is to blame except Sun Ji Guoming."
President Jiang was clearly horrified by Chin's argument.
"What can we do?" he asked.
"The American-led attack on our forces near Xiamen could
have come from one place only-Andersen Air Force Base on
the American-occupied island of Guam," Chin said. "Our in-
; telligence clearly showed that several of the stealth-rriodified
B-52 bombers were secretly sent there-no doubt more of
them, and other long-range bombers as well, had been dis-
patched since Sun's indiscriminate bombardment of For-
mosa." He paused, drawing Jiang's full attention to him; then:
394 DALE BROWN
"We must destroy Andersen Air Force Base. We must destroy
the American bomber base that threatens us."
"Destroy an American air base?" Jiang repeated in a hor-
rified voice. "A direct attack against one of America's most
important bases in the Pacific theater? We cannot!"
"We must, Comrade President," General Chin said ur-
gently. "Otherwise we will be open to attack at any time by
American bombers. We must strike quickly and decisively."
Jiang hesitated, clearly fearful of even thinkit@g of making such
a decision. "This is not an act of aggression, Comrade Presi-
dent," Chin went on. "This is retaliation for their attack
against our ground forces. We have the right to defend our-
selves against American stealth bomber attacks."
"But destroying this base will not stop the American long-
range bombers," Ministerof Defense Chi Haotian, who had
joined the discussion after Sun had departed in such a hurry,
interjected. "We now know that the Americans were able to
fly stealth bomber attacks into Iran from their North American
bases."
"With Andersen Air Force Base shut down, the Americans
will have to use far more resources to attack us," Chin argued.
"We are far stronger than Iran-where one stealth bomber
nearly decimated the Iranian military, it would take many more
even to begin to affect the People's Liberation Army. This will
only serve to bring all the parties involved to the bargaining
table sooner. "
"I wish I could believe this to be true, General," Jiang said.
"I want to believe that we can accomplish peace by using
force.
"We have already started on this path, Comrade President,"
Chin said in a flat, matter-of-fact tone. "Admiral Sun made a
compelling argument, and the decision was made to support
his unorthodox plan. He was successful in convincing Amer-