by Unknown
There wasn’t a lot to the briefing other than describing the aircraft to be used, the armament, the crews, the flight paths, the expected damage, potential collateral damage, and flight time to target and return. After the briefing General Datak asked for questions, LTG Watkins asked if they needed to re-task the aircraft how long would it take to refuel and rearm them.
General Datak stated it would take an hour and a half to completely re-task the aircraft they would also change out the crews and file new flight plans. LTG Watkins nodded and told them he appreciated the information, there were no more questions.
“Ladies and Gentlemen you’ve heard it we’re either all in or it doesn’t happen. We all know the risks and we all know what inaction means. I’ve heard the rumors floating around that I’m in charge and I should go ahead and make the decision on my own. It’s true I could but part of command understands when it’s time to step aside and bring all of the stakeholders into it. This is one of those defining moments in our own history where this is applicable. I am asking you all now by a show of hands those of you who are giving your approval for the bombing it will be recorded by Colonel March. Those opposed keep your hands down. Alright those of you who approve raise your hands.” said LTG Watkins.
Every single person in the room raised their hand there were no dissenters. “Alright we have a go on the mission.” said LTG Watkins. “You have our, my permission to carry on with the mission as soon as weather permitting.”
“Roger that Sir.” said General Datak.
“I ask that you notify me when you plan to launch.” responded LTG Watkins.
“Yes Sir, absolutely.” said General Datak.
The meeting ended with most of the Officers and NCO’s returning to their duty stations. General Datak and his staff as well as the other senior Officers under his command remained in the room seated. They all understood the enormity of what they were undertaking it was just taking a bit for it to settle in.
Chapter Thirty-Two
General Harb was livid his Army wasn’t holding in the North they found the American’s a lot further south than their intelligence led them to believe. They were being engaged by infantry, artillery, mortars and fighter aircraft. Where the hell did they get fighter aircraft he wondered he was furious at this. This was all Tuma’s doing his short sightedness it was coming back to haunt him and the rest of the Caliphate. The reports were that the aircraft were old they looked like something out of a world war two movie they said.
General Harb consulted with what Engineers he had and they told him it was entirely possible that they had fighter aircraft from World War Two that museums were full of them and odds are some would run. They were sure that they had Engineers and mechanics that could work on restoring the others they knew where to get the parts or happened to know where to find them. The General asked what other aircraft could they have gotten to fly, the response didn’t make him feel any better.
Just about any aircraft that was fixed wing that didn’t use any modern avionics or computer systems to fly the plane, so yeah pretty much any Vietnam War Mustangs or even B-52 bombers. That sent a chill up the spine of the General, “My God! What if they had bombers?” He thought to himself. He was fully aware of what a B-52 fully loaded with bombs could do to them. They would be annihilated and the news from the front wasn’t all that good either and that wasn’t without any bombers. They had been pushed back almost forty miles and were getting closer to Lansing every day.
They had almost ten thousand men up on the line near Hamilton and it wasn’t enough all he could hope was that he could overwhelm them by sheer numbers. The Americans had the technology on their side but it didn’t win wars, heart and minds did and with Allah’s help they would be victorious. His afternoon briefing to the Sultan would not go well all he could really do was continue to blame Tuma on the massive technology failures for not thinking outside-of-the-box and looking for better ways to fight the Americans. Although he hadn’t thought of them himself he wasn’t going to go there he had only been the Supreme Commander for a couple of months and had warned Tuma about the Americans time and again, don’t underestimate them he said. His warnings fell on deaf ears and now it might be too late.
The snow storm hit hard and no one had any idea it was coming of course they saw the storm clouds blowing in and the temperatures drop well below freezing. They were still trying to get appropriate field gear to the troops up north again something they hadn’t really planned for or at least they believed they had more time. The storm would give them some breathing room most of the Soldiers from the outlying Garrisons had made it into Dearborn for training and it was well underway. They needed the cold weather winter training and this was about as realistic as it was going to get.
The General hoped that the Americans would hunker down in place and ride out the storm he knew the American military trained during the winter but he really didn’t understand how much and to what extent. In Iraq they fought in bad weather and in the mountains when it was winter the Americans seemed a lot me more flexible when it came to fighting in the rough terrain and bad weather. He didn’t know if that was because of training or that they were forced to do it and they sort had this OJT thing going on.
Regardless his men would be trained the best he could with the time he had he firmly believed Allah was guiding his hand and they would win in the long run. For now it was time to leave and brief the Sultan.
He kept thinking about what if the Americans had bombers and if they did would they have the bombs for them. Then he remembered the US Soldiers that were allegedly in and around Dearborn. What if they did have the bombers and they had sent in the Soldiers to find out where the Sultan and the Garrison was. it made sense now he asked his driver to hurry but the storm was bad and there was only a few feet of visibility and it was dark out. He thought if they had the bombers would they be able to fly in this bad of weather? Modern navigation would certainly allow them to do so but they had to had suffered like everyone else right. That meant that if they were to attack they would have to wait for the storm to subside.
He needed to get the Sultan moved out of the area as soon as possible, but first he needed to convince him it was a real threat. If it were true he would have to get his Soldiers in training out of the Garrison and training areas as well but where too he had no idea. It was coming together to fast and he had no plan for now to counter any of it. Well first things first he needed to talk to the Sultan and if he said no it was no, then they would all stay and prey to Allah the Americans had no bombers. If they did and they stayed they would all be dead regardless he had to convince the Sultan.
They arrived at the Sultans residence an hour later generally it was a twenty minute drive on a good day. The roads hadn’t been cleared of all of the abandoned vehicles yet they had been sitting in some places for over a year now. This was another one of those instances where short sightedness came into play. His driver had to be careful not run into one of those cars his visibility was no more than his hand in front of his face. If he ran into one of the vehicles they could end up stranded out here all night and end up freezing to death.
He hurriedly entered the residence bringing his driver in with him which was a breach in protocol. Normally the driver would be left with the car to guard it yet if the driver stayed with the car he would freeze to death, it was better to break a bit of protocol and have a way home then have a dead driver and then he would be struck, he hadn’t driven a car in over twenty years and didn’t see himself learning in the middle of a blizzard.
The Sultan was waiting for him, “What can I do for you General?”
“Your excellency I come with bad news.” said General Harb.
“Oh? What’s that? I’m sure it can’t be that bad.” replied the Sultan.
“Your excellency our forces in the north have bogged down. They were met by the Americans below Houghton Lakes and were driven back forty more miles. The American lines stretch from east to west – coast to
coast. The Americans also have fighter aircraft.”
This caught the Sultans attention, “I’m sorry did you say they have fighter aircraft?”
“Yes your excellency. They are prop driven so my guess is they are P-51D Mustangs. Our Engineers believe it’s possible they could have found some that run and or could have found some to repair.”
“What? Where? How?” asked the Sultan.
“Your excellency we don’t know, the Engineers surmise it’s possible they might have gotten them from museums or private owners, we don’t really know.”
“Why didn’t we do the same thing?” asked the Sultan.
“Your excellency as you recall Tuma’s only drive was to take and capture land. He wanted to kill everyone who wasn’t Muslim and at first he did until you stopped him. He had no time to look for other ways to fight he was successful at what he was doing and wouldn’t listen to anyone.” answered the General.
“Yes, yes I recall Tuma’s stubbornness. Can’t we do it now?”
“Maybe your excellency given time we would need to explore the museums where I’m sure we would find aircraft but what then? Tuma killed most anyone who could have repaired or flown them. Besides even if we could we may not have the time to do it now.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Your excellency I asked our Engineers if it was possible they could have restored any bombers. There reply was that certainly if they could have restored the fighters the bombers wouldn’t be much of a challenge. They cautioned though that they were not aeronautical engineers so what do they know.”
“And if they did restore bombers would they be able to reach us here?”
“I believe so your Excellency as you recall I last reported that there were alleged US Soldiers in Dearborn. I now believe that it’s true they were here and gathering intelligence where are Garrison and training areas were as well as the Headquarters here.”
“Excuse me General are you saying the Americans are going to bomb us?”
“Yes your excellency that’s my belief. I don’t have any hard evidence to prove it to you but I urge you to considering moving your residence and the headquarters as soon as possible.”
“Do you think they will bomb soon?”
“Honestly your excellency I don’t know, if they did it would have to wait until after the storm. These are just precautionary measures I would rather error on the side of safety specifically our own.”
“You said they also might know the location of the Garrison and training area, what do you plan on doing about that?”
“The Garrison has either moved to the training area and they will have to cut their training short and join there brothers in the north.”
“But you said the training was essential to the defeat of the Americans?”
“Yes and I believe it is but I think that if we don’t move them they will become casualties of the conflict essentially destroying the main body of our Army.”
“How could have we missed so much General?”
“We didn’t your excellency these are the events that Tuma overlooked and we are left to deal with. In his urgency to establish the huge land grab and either convert or kill he overlooked so much.”
“We have planes and pilots as I recall don’t we?” asked the Sultan.
“No, this was a lie that Tuma told you so you thought that he had stopped killing all of the infidels. He didn’t believe that any aircraft were serviceable and he didn’t really want to try. He knew he would need pilots and mechanics and people who specialized in the restoration of the planes. This meant he would have to work with the infidels to be able to accomplish this and he couldn’t stomach having to depend on them for his own protection.”
“How could I have been so blind General, how?”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself your excellency Tuma pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. He was very convincing as a Commander he had a lot of charisma and his followers would have done almost anything for him.”
“No, General I should have been more in tune with what was going on around me. I should have insisted on seeing proof of his claims, I was too trusting.”
“Your excellency it’s all in the past we need to focus on the here and now.”
“Yes of course you’re correct General. Your recommendation is to vacate the headquarters and the mosque, the Garrison and the training areas?”
“Yes your excellency I would also suggest we do it as soon as possible while we have the cover of the storm.”
“Where will we go General?” the Sultan was lost in thought.
“The Garrison and training area will be evacuated. We don’t have any choice now but to deploy those Soldiers north. I’ve taken the liberty of setting up a secondary command center in Ann Arbor we can go there.”
“Make it so General, how soon do we have to leave?” the Sultan was still lost in thought not clearly thinking, if he had been he would have asked about the secondary command center.
“With your permission excellency I will give the order for the evacuation of the Garrison and training area.” said General Harb.
“Yes General please go ahead.”
“I think we should leave here within the next thirty hours. It should give us time to get everything out that you and I need from headquarters.”
“Alright General that sounds like a plan. Make it happen. Is there anything I can do to help?” The Sultan was full of anxiety he wasn’t sure what he should be doing.
“No your excellency not for the overall operation, my suggestion to you is to have your staff prepare the belongings you wish to take with you, ensure your wives and their belongings are ready to be moved too.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Four B-29’s had taken off from Travis Air Force Base as 0500 heading due east they were fully loaded with armament. Two of the B-29’s were designated to bomb the headquarters and mosque in Dearborn. The other two B-29’s were designated to bomb the Garrison in Dearborn they had no clue about any training area. The US Commanders had no idea that the HQ and Army Garrison had been abandoned they never knew about the training area which for now would go untouched.
It was a twelve hour round trip flight the weather was clear all the way to the drop, once they executed the drop they turn around and go home never seeing the destruction from the bombs below them, such was the life of an Air Force pilot.
Six hours into the flight the two B-29’s were over the Headquarters building and mosque the bombardiers stated over the planes intercom “We have bombs away.” The crew watched the bombs hit the targets as the plane turned and headed for home. The crew had never seen the kind of damage a B-29 could inflict none of them had ever seen carpet bombing and how indiscriminate it could kill. There were two B-29’s dropping their payloads so the damage to the headquarters and mosque was absolute. The bombs had done a great deal of collateral damage to the surrounding neighborhoods which were leveled and what hadn’t been hit by the bombs was now on fire.
The other two B-29’s dropped their payloads on the Garrison the bombardiers were right on with their releases, over each of the planes intercom “We have bombs away.” Like the other crew they watched the devastation they had released on the Garrison and surrounding areas below them as the plane turned to go home. Like the other crew they had never seen what carpet bombing did to an area and the devastation it caused. It was something none of the crews would ever forget many had certainly bombed objectives in Iraq or Afghanistan this was different. During the wars overseas they used precision munitions and there was seldom collateral damage, nothing like this.
On the ground the explosions could be felt and heard up to ten to fifteen miles away. When the Sultan, General Harb and their respective entourage left they didn’t notify the civilians in the neighborhoods they never even discussed it. The people that lived around the mosque had lived there prior to the event; they had lived there for many years. These were the most devout Muslim’s who lived in the area they
were sacrificed for the greater good, that’s how the Sultan would see it and everyone that died in the bombings would be rewarded in heaven.
Within hours of the bombings the Sultan and General were notified and they thanked Allah for giving them notice that it was going to happen. Then the reports of the damage to the headquarters building, mosque and neighborhoods started to roll in. The number of dead that were killed because of the bombings was in the hundreds the Sultan was overwhelmed by grief. The Sultan never felt anything for the thousands of men, women and children they had killed in the name of Allah but for the one of the true faith as he called it, he felt sorrow and responsible for their deaths.
General Harb didn’t feel anything either way he had dealt with the Americans and their bombs being dropped in Iraq by drones and jets. Granted the magnitude of the death these planes caused was on a much grander scale, oddly enough they hadn’t hit the training center, maybe they got word that they had evacuated it but if that were the case then why bomb the Garrison.
It didn’t matter now anyway his troops were in place and it twelve hours they would go on the offensive against the American lines. He had almost 100,000 men under arms they may not have the technology; he would have to overwhelm the US military by numbers and violence. They believed they had found weaknesses in the lines and they were prepared to exploit them. Tomorrow was going to be a new day; tomorrow the Americans would regret the bombings.