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.

The Chinese forces spent two days forming up in front of the North American corps' defense line. They launched a few probing attacks. The full Chinese plan began on October 11, 2013. They dropped their three divisions of paratroopers into the area around Vancouver's port and central city. American armored cavalry managed to race ahead of the paratroopers and secure the airport, but they were overwhelmed before American troops from Bellingham, Washington could come ahead to support them. Chinese reinforcements poured in by air and eventually by sea.

Li Chang's opening move unbalanced the North American defense. The Canadian government insisted their own troops be disengaged from the front and sent to retake Vancouver. The American reinforcements from Bellingham had to disengage from the Vancouver area, cross the Fraser River and relieve the Canadians, so they could return to Vancouver.

Li Chang's main blow fell while the I Corps was rearranging their forces. A Chinese special operations battalion was dropped by helicopter in the rear of the Chilliwack Line. The Chinese bombers carpet bombed a path through the southern end of the line. Chinese armor blitzed through the stunned American troops. Gallant and intense fighting by the 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, including Josh Warner's 1/185th Armor Battalion, slowed the Chinese onslaught for sixteen hours to allow the Americans to evacuate Chilliwack before they were surrounded and captured.

The Ist Corps fell back to a line from Sumas, a small U. S. town at the northwest edge of the Cascade foothills, through Canadian town of Abbotsford and north to the last two North American held bridges over the Fraser River at Mission, B. C. The Chinese bombers intensified their attacks on the remaining bridges, bringing them down hours later. 11,000 Canadians and Americans were trapped on the north side of the Fraser River.

Li Chang's next blow fell quickly. Three divisions broke through the makeshift American line at Sumas, a small town just south of the U. S./Canadian border. Chinese armor dashed along the border for the Salish Sea, trying to cut off the entire I Corps forces in Canada. The American corps commander, Lt. General Roger T. Coleman, trained as a paratrooper, was comfortable with enemy forces in his rear. He did not panic. He made the most fateful decision of the Battle of the Borders, to counterpunch. He launched the 81st Heavy BCT and a second armored cavalry BCT to attack through the tail of the Chinese armor before the Chinese infantry could consolidate the ring encircling the Americans and Canadians. The 1st Corps forces streamed south to safety in the U. S., less the 11,000 unfortunate soldiers trapped on the north side of the Fraser River, around the town of Mission.

The I Corps fell back along the I-5 corridor through Bellingham and continued south. General Coleman determined the best place to fight the Chinese was the Skagit River line. A division of Marines would join him there. The Chinese forces followed south along the I-5 corridor.

Much to Coleman's surprise, the Chinese sent no forces down the valley between Deming and Sedro-Woolley. The valley runs north-south, six to twelve miles west of and paralleling the I-5 corridor. The Americans settled in behind the Skagit River, with the 1st Marine Division solidify the center of their line.

Li Chang's forces drove straight down I-5 and tried to bash their way across the Skagit River through the Marine's defenses. General Coleman studied the Chinese dispositions as the battle developed. His forces continued to hold Sedro-Wooley. He planned to surrender the town when the Chinese pressured him, but they didn't. His intelligence reported that a weak brigade of infantry was covering the flank of the Chinese 16th Army from attack from Sedro-Wooley.

General Coleman pondered the possibility for a day before making a decision. The Chinese 16th Army was tied down astride the Skagit River. He would counterpunch again, sending his 41st Heavy (Armored) Division through Skagit-Wooley to crush the Chinese flank guard brigade. This would put his forces on I-5, in control of the Chinese lines of supply. He could roll up the Chinese forces, surround them and end the Pacific Northwest campaign in a matter of days. Orders went out and forces took their places. The 41st Division's attack would launch at 0700 hours, November 7, 2013.

[Chapter 3 is a detailed description repeating Chapter 2 synopsis of the action leading up to the attack from Sedro-Wooley. Skip forward to Chapter 4 to pick up with Josh Warner, Tyler Serna and Molly Lawrence hiding from the Chinese troops in Mrs. Gill's house in the center of Sedro-Wooley.]