Ok... so it's too early, but then 2004 is barely a month away. And so I've been thinking about TW2K:04. Well, here's a snapshot of the draft for the TW2K:04 storyline:

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Introduction

Part of the Soviet plan for the complete subjugation of Europe was the stretching of NATO’s most important member country’s forces – the United States military – around the world. The Gulf War of 1991 had already stretched US forces. Even though the Twilight War started in 1999 – a full eight years since the end of major hostilities in Iraq – the USA still had considerable forces in the region to protect both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from another military adventure by Iraq. This, the USSR factored in its plan. A new war though in the Middle East would not be that favorable to the USSR, considering that Europe and the Middle East were geographically neighbors. What the USSR needed was a farther theatre to further stretch the United States. For this requirement, the Korean Peninsula presented itself.

The succession of Kim Jong Il as North Korea’s Great Leader after the death of his father Kim Il Sung renewed tensions between the two Koreas. The last years of Kim Il Sung marked a period of Korean détente and both Koreas were conducting negotiations for family visits, the opening of railroad links, and the entry of South Korean chaebol investing in North Korea.

All this stopped abruptly with Kim Jong Il’s war rhetoric. The psychotic dictator wanted to overshadow the previous Great Leader (it was rumored that Kim Jong Il had his father poisoned slowly until the latter’s death). What way to become greater than by succeeding where his father failed – the unification of Korea under Pyongyang’s rule? Thus, under Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s military underwent a modernization crash program. And naturally, Kim Jong Il turned toward its patron for the equipment and training – the USSR. But first, a note about China’s role in the coming conflict.

Relations between North Korea and the People’s Republic became cool ever since the new Great Leader’s war rhetoric. China wanted first of all stability in its part of the world, and a second Korean War would destroy its economic gains that Beijing had so nurtured for a long period of time. Hence, China did not participate in the conspiracy between the USSR and North Korea for the invasion of the south. Indeed, China knew nothing, the rift between it and the USSR over their common border serving as the main reason why relations between them was sour. China was seriously eyeing Siberia for its natural resources – which the USSR knew, and was thus deeply concerned. Thus, the USSR left out China in the planning of the invasion of South Korea. The USSR indeed wanted Korea in its sphere of influence, a thorn on China’s plans, in case the People’s Liberation Army was ordered to cross the Manchurian border and into the Siberian frontier. And what better way to dampen China’s ambitions than a unified Korea, under Pyongyang, in turn under the control of Moscow, with a strong and modern military which was merely a few hundred miles away from Beijing. Hence, China’s neutral stance in the Second Korean War.

Kim Jong Il made his first visit as Head of State of North Korea in an armored train to Moscow in 1994. He came back with an assurance from Moscow to modernize his military. Indeed, in just a few months, no less than ten trains each carrying some fifty T-80BV and T-80U tanks crossed the border from the USSR to North Korea. More trains arrived carrying materials to build a tank factory near Pyongyang which would churn out T-95 tanks for North Korea. Soviet advisers and construction workers were sent along, and in just two years, North Korea had one tank division fully equipped with T-80 variants, BMP-3s, Smerch and Uragan rocket artillery vehicles, and self-propelled tube artillery. By 1999, North Korea had four divisions fully modernized, three fighter wings of equipped with Su-35 strike fighters, ten Kilo-class diesel submarines, three Sierra III class nuclear attack submarines, two Sovremenny cruisers, and five Neustrashimiy frigates, as well as a Great Leader Armored Corp Guard composed of some 200 Black Eagle tanks. Most important of all, North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program which it started in the late 80s received a much needed technical boost and by 1999, it was estimated that Kim Jong Il had in his weapons cache at least five 10-megaton nuclear devices mounted on five No Dong III IRBMs.

South Korea, Japan responds

The military modernization of North Korea discomforted – to say the least – Japan and South Korea, as well as the United States. Indeed, all intelligence estimates suggested that North Korea was planning to invade South Korea – with the blessing of Moscow – sometime in the near future.

South Korea reacted by increasing funding in the military as well as lengthening the conscription service of its citizens. It also opened the doors of the military for women who were exempted from conscription as volunteers. Thus, South Korea’s military increased by a full 30 percent of its original size – a full third of which came, surprisingly, from women volunteers who answered the call of military service. By 1995, women filled a full 25 percent of South Korea’s military manpower, many in combat roles as fighter pilots (they were highly skilled pilots of the F-15K), forward artillery observers, tank gunners and drivers, even infantry foot soldiers.

South Korea also modernized its armed forces. By 1996, it had replaced most of its F-5E Freedom Fighters and F-20 Tigersharks with F-16C Block 40. It was also a partner with Japan in developing a common attack helicopter (dubbed the _________ or “Lightning Strike”) as well as the Advanced Fighter Program – essentially an enlarged and improved F-16, of which 24 would enter into service a month before hostilities started. It also modernized its navy, purchasing several more Oliver Hazard Perry class FFGs from the United States, as well as three Spruance class DDGs. Hyundai also entered into a contract with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to produce South Korea’s version of the Kongo class DDGs – the _____________ class – itself an improved Arleigh Burke class DDG. Three would be commissioned when the war started, with one undergoing construction when the shipyard was struck by Tae Po Dong II missiles tipped with high explosive warheads. The army upgraded all existing K1 tanks into K1A1 (upgunned K1s from 105mm to 120mm, as well as improved armor), and by 1995 construction of the first K1A2s (basically K1A1s with the same CITV as that used in the M1A2 and incorporating DU armor) started. When the war started, South Korea had a total of 320 K1A1s and 80 K1A2s. Because of the missile threat from North Korea, Seoul also purchased several additional batteries of the Patriot PAC-3C SAMs as well as two batteries of the all new PAC-4 THADMS.

Japan also reacted. The test flight of several No Dong and Tae Po Dong missiles – one No Dong II missile test fired flew over Japan – practically silenced all opposition to a military build up of Japan’s Self Defense Forces. In May 1995, the Diet passed a law to amend the Japanese Constitution, and by November the new constitution – which had dropped all limits to the Japanese military – was completed, with a referendum vote conducted wherein 80 percent of the Japanese population voted for the new constitution. The day after the referendum, the Japanese military unfurled once again the sun-burst flag and dropped the words “Self-Defense Force” from its titles.

Even before move to amend the constitution was initiated, Japan had embarked on a series of weapons programs. Chief among this was the Advanced Fighter Program launched in the late 80s of which South Korea later became a participant. Although plagued with problems in its early years, because of the threat posed by North Korea, the program was given tacit assistance by the United States in the form of software contributions. By 1997, the new strike fighter – called the F-21 – entered into service with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. When the war started, Japan had 80 F-21s in service.

Another weapons program was the modernization of its own tank fleet. Unlike the South Korean K1 which was essentially a light Abrams, the Japanese Type 90 owed much of its design from the German Leopard 2. In 1998, the latest version of the Type 90 – the Type 94 – entered into service. The Type 94 had the same German 140mm gun and wedge armor as that found in the Leopard 2A5. Only a few were built when the war started – some 80 tanks – and these were the only tanks – other than the few Thunderbolts of the United States Army – that stood a chance against the Black Eagles and T-95s of North Korea.

A very important weapons program was the Joint Advanced Anti-Tank Missile (JAATM) Program between South Korea, Japan and Israel. Indeed, during the war as will be later recounted, the JAATM would be the lifesaver of many South Korean and Japanese units who faced the tanks of North Korea. The JAATM was the world’s first true fire-and-forget guided anti-tank missile that entered into service. The missile had a built-in laser designator (unlike contemporary ATGMs where the laser emitter was with the launcher) and the on-board computer (software courtesy of Israel, hardware courtesy of Japan and South Korea) guided the missile’s fins towards the target. The missile itself was heavy – an additional 7 kilograms above that of the TOW-2A1 – but because it was basically a self-guiding missile and the whole launch system was light – a simple all-weather camera with thermal imaging mode and zoom stuck on a tube. The missile would prove to be a bane to North Korean commanders and its cousin – the US-developed ______________ which had the same software and hardware of the JAATM – would equally wreak havoc at Soviet tank forces in the war in Europe.

Like South Korea, Tokyo purchased additional Patriot batteries from the United States – including the PAC-4 ABM. Additionally, Tokyo purchased three Arrow-II ABM batteries along with some 200 missiles from Israel.

In the summer of 1998, Japan, South Korea – with their new military equipment – and the United States conducted their largest ever “Team Spirit” joint military exercise. Although communications problems occurred as well as other minor issues in terms of operability among the three forces, the exercise was a complete success. Thus, when North Korea invaded South Korea and launched a series of missile strikes at Japan’s cities and bases, Japan and South Korea were in all respects ready.

The United States reacts

The USA did not sit idly as North Korea modernized its military. The USA – along with South Korea and Japan – undertook a series of diplomatic talks with North Korea to avert what apparently was looking like an impending conflict. North Korea of course welcomed the talks but these talks – no less than thirty eight from 1995 to 1999 – failed, with North Korea pointing at the modernization of South Korea and Japan as the real reason why it had to modernize in turn its armed forces. On the subject of nuclear weapons, North Korea consistently denied it had a nuclear weapons program – a lie – and pointed out that its missile program was for its own space program.

Of course, even with these talks, the USA prepared militarily. It had increased the number of men in South Korea by bringing in an additional infantry division – the new 12th Mountain Division – as well as deploying an armor brigade equipped with the new M1A2E1 Thunderbolt. The USA also added a second carrier battlegroup in the region based in Subic Naval Base in the Philippines.

In 1997, the USA sent to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines the 315th Fighter Wing which was equipped with the F-22, and to Okinawa the 316th Strike Fighter Wing equipped with the new F/A-22. In Guam, the US secretly deployed four B-2A Spirit stealth bombers there for permanent basing, along with the 18 B-52H bombers already in Guam, a year later in 1998, the USA secretly deployed twelve F-117 stealth fighters in Okinawa.

Although both South Korea and Japan bought additional Patriot missile batteries, the USA deployed along with its additional units three more PAC-3C and two PAC-4 missile batteries to South Korea, with one battery each of PAC-3C and PAC-4 in Okinawa. It also stationed permanently at Inchon, Busan, and Tokyo two each Ticonderoga AEGIS class CGs in the Theater Anti-Ballistic Missile role, each cruiser having 24 Standard IV-ER Block 50 anti-ballistic missiles. It also deployed an additional Marine Expeditionary Unit to Okinawa, plus three US Army Combat Engineering Battalions equipped with the M3 Wolverine CEV, a variant of the M1 Abrams.

But most telling was the shifting of the US forces at CONUS. Several Army units from the Eastern CONUS were transferred to the west for possible deployment to Japan and South Korea if a war would start there. It also deployed the new 84th Airborne Division to Clark AFB and the 21st Light Infantry Division at Australia.

Even with the expansion program, the US military was still spread out thin. It had 300,000 troops guarding Europe, 50,500 in the Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Israel, an MEU in Liberia (as a peacekeeping force), 20,000 in Subic and Clark in the Philippines, 10,000 in Australia, and the now increased 50,000 in East Asia (South Korea and Japan). North Korea had the fourth largest army in the world – around 2.1 million troops – and if this crossed into South Korea, the US would surely commit nearly a quarter of a million troops to that region moving more troops from CONUS and even Europe, as well as calling up the National Guard.

Then in the cold month of February 1999, all hell broke loose.


The Second Korean War

It started in the early morning of 14 February 1999. Dubbed the “Valentine Massacre,” hundreds of North Korean special forces infiltrated into South Korea and Japan, hitting bases across both countries. Though many operations failed, some succeeded – one of the more successful attacks was at the port of Busan where a small team of North Koreans in a dinghy rowed beside the USS Blue Ridge – command ship of the US Pacific Fleet – and detonated the explosives they had, quickly sinking the Blue Ridge and killing DepCinCPAC (CinCPAC was in Pearl Harbor when hostilities started, bed ridden because of a nasty flu). In Japan, a North Korean death squad infiltrated the Prime Minister’s residence and killed the Prime Minister as well as his family, after which they killed themselves by rushing towards the police who had by then surrounded the compound, detonating explosives they were wearing on their backs.

While these raids were happening, North Korea fired missile after ballistic missile at Seoul, Tokyo and other cities and bases in Japan and South Korea. The PAC-4 systems were able to intercept many of these missiles, but some reached their targets – especially those targeted at the cities. Fortunately, none had nuclear nor biological or chemical warheads, which everyone thought would be part of any opening offensive by North Korea, but nonetheless they did kill many civilians. One missile in particular struck a high-rise apartment building in downtown Seoul, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding many more.

At 0300 – 15 minutes after the first raids began – the entire horizon of North Korean side of the DMZ lit up with rocket and artillery fire which landed at the South Korean side of the DMZ, killing hundreds of South Korean and American troops at the border. The intensity of the artillery barrage was described by then 1st Lt. Frank Meyers, of the US Army:

“It was all quiet that morning of Valentine’s day. There I was, with my platoon buddies and senior NCO Staff Sgt. Miles Rodriguez and my South Korean liason officer – Pvt. Jie en-Song. Pvt. Jones saw some strange movement at the North Korean side of the demz through his night vision goggles and called my attention. I got the thermal periscope and scanned the area in front of us. I didn’t see anything at first and then, over there, at 10 o’clock, what seemed to be North Koreans trying to cut open a fence.

“Then I noticed the first flashes in the horizon beyond, a few seconds later the sound of distant thunder. I shouted at my troops to run back inside the bunker and get ready for artillery coming in. True enough, within seconds, the earth shook and deafening explosions erupted around us as rockets and shells hit our position.

“The barrage seemed to last forever. There we were, huddling the ground in fetal positions. Never in my entire life had I been subjected to such punishing noise and shaking. It had seemed the end of the world had come, and I instinctively put my hand in my pocket and brought out my rosary and prayed.

“The rain of steel went on and on until I heard one of my troops say ‘They’re coming sir!’ I couldn’t believe him at first. North Korean infantry, coming, while their artillery was still firing? Then I heard the artillery shift to our rear. I told the whole platoon to unsafe their weapons and man their positions.

“Hardly did my first troops went out when we were subjected to a hail of rapid fire from the North Koreans. Pvt. Townsend was immediately killed – struck by a 7.62mm round in the face. Pvt. Jie was killed next – an RPG round struck right in front of him, tearing him apart.

“It was only that time that I noticed that our position had changed dramatically. The ground had been pulverized by the artillery barrage, and some of the positions we had prepared, repaired and improved for the last 50 years had been blasted to smithereens.

“I got hold of my rifle and started firing at the mass of North Korean troops in front of me. Several were fell, but they returned my fire with even greater intensity. Bullets kicked the earth in front of my face and I sought cover. Men all around me fired all their worth, many being hit and killed by the enemy. I tossed several grenades and heard them explode along with the gratifying screams of the enemy being wounded or better yet killed. They hammered our position with mortars and RPGs. Then I saw several grenades roll to my left. I jumped away when they exploded. A fragment hit my buttocks, and I screamed in pain. I tried to crawl to safety, calling for a medic when one North Korean soldier managed to breach our positions. He took aim at me but Cpl. Jackson managed to kill him before the enemy got me. Cpl. Jackson then dragged me out of that hell hole. It seemed like we were the only ones left alive. My wound was really hurting badly and I think I fainted due to the loss of blood.

“I regained my consciousness, my eyes staring at the ceiling of an APC, the rough ride apparently waking me up.

“‘You’re lucky we got you guys out,’ said the medic attending me. ‘We were just passing by, responding to a call of a sergeant sick from food poisoning – I think it was the new MREs. Then it all started and our CO here told us to head towards the front regardless of all the shelling, to find people we could evacuate. That’s how we found you and some of your troops.’

“I looked around and the LAV was fully packed with wounded men, some conscious, others not.

“‘Where’s Jackson?’ I asked.

“‘Who?’

“‘Corporal Jackson?’

“‘Oh him. He’s dead. Got a shot at the back while he was loading you inside this wagon. We left him behind. There ain’t any room for the dead here.’” - Taken from “One Cold February Morning” by Capt. Frank Meyers, US Army, New York, United States of America, 2015.

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So... TW2K:03 was about the war in Europe and the USA. How about make TW2K:04 in Korea and the Mideast?

Ohhh Droool!!!

You guys have your marching orders for T2K: 2004 Campaign. There are a ton of subjects to model inside this scenario - and don't limit your thoughts to ground-munching AFV kits - helicopter gunships, strike fighters and bombers, naval vessels, figures, civil (well angry civil) vehicles, spacecraft (where I might go), fire trucks, dioramas - it's all fair game here!!!

Gunnie

Excellent. I will be a member of this one as well. This time I will try to be a little more creative in my entry.

HastyP

DAMN!

I was enthralled GIB!!!! What a story!

I have a whole year for some ideas on this one! If I remember right there is an invasion of Alaska as a part of this as well?? Could there still be internal strife within CONUS?? Or perhaps even more off the wall, an uneasy alliance between the Americans who defended themselves from the roving gangs from the cities and the gangs themselves?? It opens up some interesting vignettes!!

Sorry, thinking out loud!

2004 is shaping up to be a BIG year for special projects!

Is this a campaign build? Or is it just a vehicle build? Please let me know as I am diffenetly interested in this one.
Recon

Jaster: TW2K:04 is envisioned to be primarily focused on Korea and the MidEast. Actually, Korea was the "prequel" - it started before the war in Europe started (the invasion of Alaska took place shortly after the war started in Europe) and it dragged on until perhaps the second week of the war in Europe, while the MidEast conflict starts after the nuclear exchange, say in early 2000 or very late 1999. HOWEVER, one can still build subjects for Europe, Alaska, CONUS, and other theater outside Korea (which includes Japan) and the MidEast, and have its storyline either in the TW2K:03 story or under the TW2K:04 story, both being under the supplement called "The Forgotten Dispatches." :-)

Recon: It's a campaign, open to all genres - aircraft, ships, armor - you name it, it's included (well, except for star destroyers, planet eaters, and Mechs hehehe). You can build either modified, kitbashed vehicles (as exemplified by the entries in the recently concluded TW2K:03 campaign) or build one simply as OOTB (like my Typhoon last TW2K:03).

ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! I HAVE THE BASIC STORYLINE FRAME OF THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT! THOSE INTERESTED EMAIL ME AND I WILL REPLY ASAP WITH A MS WORD ATTACHMENT! WARNING - IT'S 9 PAGES LONG IN TIMES NEW ROMAN, FONT SIZE 12, LETTER-SIZED PAPER WITH 1-INCH MARGINS ON ALL SIDES! HEHEHEHE! MAKE YOUR SUBJECT FOR YOUR EMAIL AS "TW2K:04 MIDDLE EAST."

It's too damn long (9 pages of text in Microsoft Word) that posting it here would be simply ridiculous. :-)

Here we go again

Animals right here we go again.

I'm working on a couple project for this I. A LAV 25 that might be modified and one Top Secert Project Code named the Wartpigglet. Can anyone guess what it is?

I am all for this. Consider me in. Where do I sign up. I'll show you where to pin my medal. Just put me in the line for my uniform!

I think you just pushed Tom Clancy out of the way! GREAT!! I'll try this one!

Do we all consider this good to go? If so - I intend on submitting it into the Campaign Approval Process for proper setup...

Gunnie

you mean its not official yet?

well, my entry is already well underway, so I think you know where I stand

Yes it is - but we haven't been using the Campaign System over on the Campaign Page. I'm trying it out with the OAID Campaign and the "Incoming" Campaign. So far, I like being able to create and monitor threads created by the participants over at that Campaign Page more than surfing through the Latest Posts Page.

So far, it appears that most of the campaign participants are getting used to it too...

Gunnie

I am just now reading about this and I didnt even finish GIBeregovoy's opening post because I got so excitied. If there is an actual Second Korean War, hopefully I will be stationed over there to kick some serious butt. Anyways I would like to point out something about the concept behind the campaign that I thought of while reading GIBeregovoy's post.

My dad was a Cobra pilot during 1981-82 over in South Korea and there is a lot of stories he would tell me about it. One of them was the exercises that they would practice in case of an invasion from the North. Basically the plan was that if anything rolled into the DMZ, all the bridges would be blown, and any type of aircraft would systematically destroy the vehicles coming. But what Im getting at is that not only would out forces do that, but if the North did invade, the United States WOULD, I repeat would go nuclear. Pynonyang would be a smoldering crater. It was part, and more than likely still is, of the full battle plan. We would have flooded all of the known tunnels that lead from North to South and any large tank formations, if they could not be taken out by anti-tank weapons in time, would be nuked as well. In those years, F-4s flying out of Koon Son(spellcheck?) had a nuclear mission priority(as did all F-4s in any theatre of ops) to blow certain targets to hell.

Just wanted to add that as a highlight of what a Second Korean War would have actually been like 20 years ago.

Whiskey: Sorry for this very very very late reply as I was busy with some things. First, thanks very much for the input. :-) I'll have that in mind with making the storyline for TW2K:04. Second, please PM me your active email address so I can send you the current in-progress TW2K:04 storyline (PDF if not Word attachment).