Chapter 2

[Reader's Note: Chapter 3 goes into a detailed description of how and why World War III and the campaign for the Pacific Northwest began. If you find Tom Clancy novels tedious and boring, read the synopsis below and skip on to Chapter 4. I will not be offended. For military buffs like me who want to know in more detail how the Chinese and American armies came to face each other near Sedro-Wooley, Washington, skip the synopsis (Chapter 2), and start at Chapter 3.]

Synopsis

While most of the world celebrated the coming New Year on December 31, 2012, the Chinese armed forces attacked north and east into post-Soviet Russia. Western intelligence agencies and the Russian KGB never noticed over the past few months as the massive Chinese armies crept north between satellite passes and positioned themselves along the northern border between Russia, China and Mongolia, the Chinese nation's secret ally.

The U. S. President countered by sending a carrier task force to the Yellow Sea to caution and deter the Chinese aggression. Chinese fighters and bombers, in far more strength than any Westerner imagined, attacked and sank all ships of the task force, killing 12,000 American sailors. The United States reacted with white hot anger at the dastardly attack of the Chinese. The new Congress was sworn into office the following morning. In an act of bipartisanship not seen in decades, the Congress declared war on the People's Republic of China the same afternoon. The President ordered our other Pacific carrier group to rendezvous with the rest of the Seventh Fleet off the eastern coast of Japan. The ships were positioned to support our Japanese allies in case the Chinese decided to go after Japan or Taiwan after they finished with the Russians.

While the world focused on China, Russia and the U. S. on January 4th, the Indian Army shocked the world by dropping a Para Commando regiment on Pakistan's nuclear weapons stockpile. The Indian army swarmed across the Pakistani border as soon as the nuclear bombs were secured.

The next shoe dropped three days later as the carrier met the Seventh Fleet ships about a hundred miles east of Hyuga, a port on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. The ships should have been out of range of Chinese fighters, but ... the Japanese showed their true allegiance. Chinese fighters shuttled forward to Japanese airbases and then took out after the American combat air patrol [CAP]. Chinese bombers followed after the CAP went down. Five hours later, oil slicks and random flotsam was all that remained of this second USN carrier group. 13,500 more Americans were dead.

Americans reacted with righteous anger to the betrayal by their Japanese ally of six decades. The president called for Congress to bring the nation to war footing. All National Guard units were nationalized and ordered to undergo war training to prepare for the coming contest. The draft was re-established. The U. S. would need a truly massive army if the country was to take on the Chinese, the Japanese and possibly the Indians.

Chinese forces rushed across Siberian Russia nearly unopposed. One group of armies headed east for Vladivostok, the Aleutians and the Bering Straits. More armies poured west towards European Russia. The Indians pushed through Pakistan and on into Iran and Afghanistan. The Asian forces seemed unstoppable.

Chinese troops and air forces used the small Aleutian islands as stepping stones, hopping from one island to the next through the spring, advancing towards their next prize – Alaska. The massive state was weakly garrisoned by about 10,000 soldiers and airmen. They were no match for the air, paratroop and amphibious assault on Anchorage and Valdez in the beginning of June. 200,000 Chinese soldiers brushed away the out-numbered Americans and occupied the remainder of Alaska. The U. S. and Canadian military chiefs expected the Chinese to pause when they got to the Alaskan border. They didn't. The Chinese forces plunged into the Yukon and Canadian Rockies.

Once again the North American high command misjudged the Chinese intentions. They expected them to head for the western plains on the east side of the Rockies. Li Chang, the Chinese commander, out-maneuvered the Americans again. They penetrated down through the Rockies, heading for Vancouver, Seattle and points south on the Pacific coast.

U. S. and Canadian forces, commanded by the U. S. I Corps, assembled around the small Canadian city of Chilliwack, digging in along a line between two lines of mountains. The defense line was about forty miles east of Vancouver. The position covered the most likely approaches to the key port city. The defense line was strong except for one thing. It was split in two by the Fraser River

The I Corps commanded two U. S. divisions, two Canadian brigade groups (BG) and a separate U. S. brigade combat team (BCT). They faced the Chinese 16th Army, consisting of three divisions and two brigades. Li Chang, the Chinese front commander, had a corps of three divisions of paratroopers available too.

The Chinese and Canadian brigades were roughly half the size of a division. The U. S. brigade combat team was roughly one third the size of a division. The Chinese enjoyed a two to one advantage in combat power. The Chinese Air Force, far larger than pre-war U. S. estimates, dominated the skies. This dominance prevented the U. S. Navy from entering the theater of war. They were docked down in San Francisco and San Diego, out of effective range of the Chinese bomber fleet.