Chapter 260: West-81 Military Exercise

1981, September 4.

The Baltic Sea breeze lightly blew over the coast, toward the land.

On the endless plain, tanks gathered densely, as far as the eye could see.

At this time the land was already a straw-yellow, and the dark green tanks on it were especially conspicuous, row after row...

The leading tank, its 125mm gun barrel raised high, the V-shaped reinforced splash plate on the front of the hull so clear, three tank crew members stood in front of the hull, ready to go.

Behind them were BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, with more soldiers beside the hull, standing straight, the flags of sickle and hammer fluttering in the sea breeze.

Further back were triple-mounted surface-to-air missile launchers, missiles pointing skyward, looking even more mighty and spectacular; behind these massive attack formations were BTR wheeled armored vehicles, tracked self-propelled guns...

Even if one flew by helicopter in the sky, it would take half an hour to see the whole force, for this was a full several hundred thousand of the most elite Soviet troops!

And this was only a part!

Garrisons from East Germany, Poland, etc., and fighter jets on standby at the rear air force base... the naval infantry carried aboard equipment such as the Kiev-class heavy aircraft carrier on the Baltic Sea...

This exercise mobilized over 500,000 personnel and over 100,000 vehicles! Just the tanks and armored vehicles up front exceeded 4,000!

The dense masses of troops were enough to frighten anyone!

"Ladies and gentlemen, since we've invited you, you may look and film as you wish, except for our missile unit; everything else can be filmed. Later we'll launch a helicopter for you to film from the air."

Exercise commander-in-chief Marshal Ogarkov looked at the pale-faced Western reporter before him, a calm smile on his face.

This exercise was meant to show the West, to let them know that before the Soviet Red Army, all defenses were as flimsy as paper!

In the roar of the helicopter, AFP journalist Grezman boarded the helicopter, looking down at the army like a swarm of locusts, he felt his whole body begin to tremble, this steel torrent, fierce to the point of terror!

He wasn't alone in trembling; not only he, but all of Europe, the entire Western world, were trembling!

Morning, nine o'clock.

"Now I declare, the West-81 Military Exercise officially begins!"

With Marshal Ogarkov's order, the earth suddenly trembled; in the sky behind, countless flames burst forth, thin black smoke rose, as if the apocalypse had descended!

Heavy howitzers, rocket artillery... the old Maozi exploited artillery supremacy to the extreme; according to plan, this firepower was all directed toward the imaginary enemy's border!

In the sky, a roar sounded, large batches of aircraft took off, like crows covering the battlefield; though these aircraft's performance might not match the West's advanced ones, their numerical advantage absolutely left people stunned.

MiG-23 and MiG-25 at high altitude, low altitude were Su-22 and Su-24 ground-attack aircraft.

They kept bombing and firing at the distance...

In the distance, columns of white smoke rose straight to the heavens, smoke pillars reaching toward the sky, as if building a road to the sky—this was...

Tactical missile strike!

Artillery handled targets within tens of kilometers, aircraft within three hundred kilometers, farther out was handled by tactical ballistic missiles!

Enemy bases, underground command centers, missile launch sites, etc., would retreat under this wave of attack! Moreover, this is only a mock attack without warheads; if it were real war, what would be loaded would absolutely be nuclear bombs!

Four hours later.

The roar sounded again; black smoke poured from the rear of tank after tank, the tank army set off!

Over four thousand tanks and armored vehicles moved together, the scene even more shocking, the earth trembled as if an earthquake...

Iron clamor roared, deafening; at this moment, the world truly entered the apocalypse...

"Oh, if that day really came, even with Noah's Ark it probably couldn't save the Western world..." Grezman couldn't help but say.

No force could oppose this mighty steel torrent!

Overhead, the roar sounded; Mi-24 attack helicopters flew by one after another, like a locust plague, firing rockets and missiles across the sky...

NATO Command.

George Robert Jones looked at the video fed back from the scene, his eyes full of gloom.

"Their exercise plan is public; the Soviet Army stationed in East Germany will first strike West German bases, and in the ensuing ground war they plan to breach a ten-kilometer-wide gap in the front line with a thirty percent loss rate, after which the armored formations will quickly follow up."

The highest-ranking officer on site, US Marine Corps veteran General James, introduced things to those unfamiliar with military affairs.

"At the same time, the Guards Airborne Division extensively conducted airborne drills, controlling highways, awaiting follow-on troops to march straight in, straight into the English Channel. After three days of exercise, the Baltic Fleet will also conduct two-phase station drills... One must admit, they really thought this through; it's a clever trick for when ground forces are stalled in their advance."

General James's tone still carried teasing, but... no one present could laugh.

"If the Soviets really did this, how long could we hold out?"

"The Soviets' exercise preparations last eight days; I used to think it was bragging, but now it seems that in those eight days all of Europe would fall under Soviet control! At that point not even Britain could be saved, only waiting for American aid from across the ocean..."

"In eight days' time, the US military will just have finished mustering, crossed the channel, and even the fastest ship would take a month; by then this place will already be plastered with sickle-and-hammer flags!" General James shook his head: "Now my biggest worry is that they'll turn this exercise into real combat."

Pop! Someone's coffee cup slipped from their hand and fell to the ground.

This is the Red Empire's greatest strength: in one week it could flatten all of Europe! Worse than Germany back then!

Especially, the troops were all assembled; what if old Maozi drank an extra bottle of vodka and really went for it?

The Soviet exercise continued; all of Western Europe trembled, for they had no ability to confront them head-on; the only way to deal with the old Maozi army was nuclear bombs—right at the start of war they'd hurl hundreds of nuclear shells at the front!

But the old Maozi also had them; when the time came, they'd also launch theirs, turning it into a nuclear war—a war with no winners!