Escalation

“Commence training operation.” said Macmillan.

“Start the training men.” said Victor.

“Yes, sir.”

“Understood comrade.”

The shiny brand M1 Abrams drove through the fields of Germany. From some few Kilometers away were thirty eight T-72A tanks going straight to them. Both platoons of tanks were equipped with hundreds of supporting infantry. German, British, French, and American troops for one side, while the other side had a mostly Soviet group, though also varying of East German, Polish, Hungarian, and Romanian forces.

It was 7:55 PM CET, November 10th, 1982. It was the eve of Veteran’s Day, along with St. Martin’s Day. The NATO and Warsaw Pact forces closed in on each other. Once they made contact with one another, it wasn’t hostility that filled the group, it was confusion.

“Hello? Do you understand me?” asked Colonel Bill.

“Американцы? Привет? Что, черт возьми, происходит?”

“Sorry, sorry, I don’t understand you!”

“Не думаю, что американец нас понимает.”

“Vhat is happen? Vhy ve stop?” asked the German lieutenant.

“There are Russians. Why are there Russians? What the fuck is happening? Someone call Macmillan!”

“Чтобы сохранить огонь! Чтобы сохранить огонь!-“

CRACK! CRACK CRACK! CRACK!

“OPEN FIRE!” cut off the Colonel.

His M16 went guns blazing. The rest of the soldiers followed suit as well.

“ПОЖАР НА НИХ! УБЕЙ ИХ!”

Both sides opened up on each other. Despite extreme competency for military experience by both sides, the East outnumbered the Western forces by 3:1.

“FALL BACK! FALL BACK!”

The NATO soldiers ran towards the nearby town to fortify their position. The M1 Abrams’ traversed quickly behind them.

“SIR, THIS IS COLONEL BILL, WE’RE UNDER ATTACK BY RUSSIAN FORCES! SEND REINFORCEMENTS! SEND REINFORCEMENTS!”

”WHAT?! WHAT?! OH NO OH CHRIST! I CAN’T BELIEVE WE ACCIDENTALLY STARTED A WAR! LOOK, JUST RETREAT TO THE NEARBY TOWN AND STAY PUT!”

”ROGER!

“Why did they fire at us?!” shouted the Soviet Lieutenant.

“I don’t know! I don’t know!”

The soldiers paused. Listening to the sound of crackling explosions in the night sky.

“Wait, do you guys see that?!” shouted the corporal, pointing at a colorful flair of lights.

“What the—… oh no…” said the Colonel.

“What?! What?!”

“They fired at us… they fired at us, because they thought the fireworks were…” he stopped.

Everyone in the group became wide eyed in realization.

“Gunfire…”

“Sir, everyone is celebrating. Why is everyone celebrating?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“It’s eve of Saint Martin’s. Also it is veteran’s day tomorrow is it not?”

The Colonel stopped, then realized what was going on. Those weren’t explosions or gunfire, those were firecrackers and fireworks!

“Oh shit! We fired at them! We started a war because of fireworks! Someone call the higher ups! Call off the airstrike!”

“You called in an airstrike?!”

“You would too if Russians attacked you!”

“Look! It’s too late!”

On the horizon of the orange and pink sky, an F-15E dived and quickly pulled up, dropping its payload of explosives on the Russians who were shouting and approaching them with swaying arms.
After the attack that killed their fellow comrades, the Russians opened fire at them in retaliation. Soon, the fields of Germany became a battlefield. A building on the right was obliterated by the 125 MM Soviet cannon. The German civilians who were once celebrating were now screaming in terror.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

NATO forces opened fire their anti tank weapons at the Soviet armor. A Russian with an RPG fired at the house some soldiers were in, causing the roof to collapse.

“OH SHIT!” shouted the colonel, jumping out the window. The others followed suit.
The colonel started to run at the firing Russians.

“STOP! STOP EVERYONE STOP! SURRENDER SURRENDER PEACE PEACE!” shouted the colonel to the Soviets.

CRACK! CRACK CRACK! CRACK!

The colonel fell to the floor. The German and American soldier following him opened fire, but were cut down as well.

The small group of Russians met up with the rest of the group and had pushed to through town. But because of constantly being bombarded by American close air support, the group split and spread out so that they were harder targets to attack. A corporal holding his STRELA MANPADS locked onto the low flying F-15 and let loose his missile. The jet that was spraying a rapidly firing auto cannon at them had now been engulfed with an explosion and later crashed into the forest.

Once Eastern forces came to a close distance from the line of houses, gunfire had opened up again.

An American soldier mounted an M60 LMG and started mowing down the now scrambling Eastern infantry.

A BMP who was escorting the T-72s fired its 25 MM shells loaded with high explosive at the machine gunner. The gunfire support ceased as the building had been completely leveled.

An anti-tank soldier ran out a building aimed at a Russian tank. Once he got a clear shot at the thing, he fired the M47 Dragon that was propped on his back at the T-72 gunning down the buildings full of fellow NATO forces.

The T-72 was struck in the area housing ammunition racks, and thus popped off into an explosion of bright colors as every single round detonated.

Soon, the sky had become its own war-zone as well. An armada of AH-64D Longbows eventually had emerged from the horizon, while on the other end, a group of helicopters consisting of Mi-24 Hinds also flew in. The aircraft set fired on each other as well as the enemy ground units.

Tanks had now steamed into the battle, other armored vehicles as well.
Above all that, fighter jets battled out each other high in the sky.
F-15s and MIG-23s circled the battlefield as howitzer shells from nearby artillery units completely bombarded the German countryside. After the dust cleared, everything was completely dark and dusty, craters flooded the once beautiful fields.

Ballistic missiles were let loose at 03:00 hours two days later. Though these missiles weren’t armed with nuclear warheads.
Both sides have been cautiously avoiding the use of nuclear warheads during the new European war.

Not wanting nuclear annihilation, America had stated of their non involvement with the conflict. They had stated to be sending volunteer forces/ military advisors under the command of other European forces to kick out the communist threat. Alongside the USA, Britain revealed its indirect involvement as well. The rest of NATO was now outraged by this abandonment, and quickly made an authorization to create a new factional alliance and completely leave out the United States and Great Britain for declining their call to arms.

Reagan, along with Thatcher had lost a significant amount of credibility for their actions, although Reagan had guaranteed that if the Soviets were to continue to escalate the war in Europe, he’d take immediate actions against them. Though, this couldn’t keep NATO from losing all jurisdiction and competence, as well as the United Nations for not stepping in. But, at least the world would (for now) stay clear of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction). And therefore, an invasion of North America would be a violation statement. So, in other words, absolutely no one expected the Soviets to completely disregard these statements and declarations, that was, until November 18th, 1983.

”I… I hear something like machines. Very loud machines. It sounded like.. I sounded like a huge explosion. And there’s this huge freaking boat just floating a few miles away. I can see it with my binoculars… it- it seems to be unloading something.”

“Understood. We’ll sound out some officers to investigate.”

“Any idea what that boat may be doing?” asked Grahm.

“No idea.”

“Nothing seems wrong, it’s just sitting there. Unloading something. We’ll have to call helicopters in.”

“Yeah. Okay, let’s pull out then. We’ll just have to wait for someone else to come.”

”Hey, we’re gonna need some kind of aircraft. We aren’t getting any kind of development with that unknown ship. Over.”

”Roger. Sending chopper.

The driver twisted the keys and started the car. But, he could barely hear the faint sound of helicopters buzzing.

“How’d they already come?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

Then, suddenly, from the docks, emerged a Soviet attack helicopter. It fired its front primary cannon at the car, missing. The car swerved back to get the hell out of there, the officer sitting beside the driver frantically buzzing on the radio.

”I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A JOKE, AMERICA IS UNDER ATTACK. I REPEAT, AMERICA IS UNDER ATTACK! SEATTLE IS BEING RAIDED BY HOSTILE SOVIET HELICOPTER. SEND BACKUP-“

A BTR emerged from the water, crashing into many storage crates, firing high explosive auto cannon shells that just missed the car as it fled.

”I REPEAT! SEATTLE IS BEING INVADED BY SOVIET FORCES. SEND IN BACKUP!”

The car hastily retreated from the Seattle dry docks, where the Soviet invasion force now started to begin unpacking their equipment. ZSU’s lined up on the parking lot, firing at the circling helicopters. 20 minutes later, MIG fighter jets boomed over the city. Civilians screamed as they flooded out the buildings and onto the streets. Police cars drove through the abandoned metropolis. T-64’s airdropped by planes leveled the buildings, coaxial machine gunners fired at the cops. The pistols and M16s the police were armed with couldn’t work anything against the Soviet armor. Seattle had become under siege as American forces arrived to relieve the police forces bravely fighting off the Russian attackers.

American troop presence strengthened two months later. Armored reinforcements made advancements beyond the Northwest became stale, and with so many men fighting on the front lines, Nuclear War was suicide. The war already had progress. So no one was to end it. Protests not surprisingly sprung out across the world. These protests soon escalated to riots. The world was under civil unrest. And around the planet, authorities gunned down these rioters. It was war. War was happening. They had no patience for complainers. This anger became distrust, the distrust became anger, and this anger became lust. The lust for revenge. Revenge with blood. Hundreds of uprising broke out simultaneously all over Earth. The world entered its darkest period in history.