Sunday 19 December 2010

OTS Part 6



Operation Tidespring Part 6




Somewhere on the northern Coast of East Falkland, Foul Bay, 18th April 1983, 01:22 local (5:22 GMT)


The Royal Navy did not possess a Special Operations Submarine like the Americans had with their Ranger Class, but the Vanguard Class was still suited for the insertion of Special Forces, and the SBS and SAS regularly trained with them. The force inserted tonight consisted Special Air Service troops, with the SBS having 'other operations areas', i.e. most of the men knew that they were most likely working on West Falkland where the Navy would most likely reduce them to a glorified Royal Observer Corps. The Special Air Service Brigade[1] on the other hand was here for to do what the original 22 SAS had been founded back in the 1930s, intelligence gathering and when the day came, blowing things up to assist the booties as they came ashore. However this was clearly different from the exercises or the various non-existent missions into Asia, Northern Africa and America south of the Rio Grande, for the elderly Major General Stirling himself had come to Hereford to see them off.


Only three patrols were scheduled to be inserted into East Falkland over the next few days and even so the operations areas overlapped, but that didn't bother the SAS soldiers. This was what the Brigade was made for and a far cry from rescuing yet another group of scientists from the clutches of a random rebel group in what had once been French North Africa[2] or the People's Republic of China or in some other random and forgotten corner of the world.


44 Patrol had been assigned this particular beach, mostly because they had trained on it two years ago and the current commander of the Patrol had been the patrol Sniper during that time, so he knew the area better than anyone within the Patrol. The Submarine hadn't entered the bay and instead the British Soldiers were forced to use the dingies for the last three miles, but at least they had been issued with the new variant with the muffled engine that allowed them to take them farther inshore before having to switch to paddles.


Three Quarters of a mile from shore they switched off the engine and paddled the remainder of the distance to the shore and shortly before touching ground the forward most man jumped out and covered the rest of them with his rifle[3]. They dragged the boat ashore and folded it up and buried it behind a rock so that they might find it again in an emergency. Next they gathered up their Equipment and moved inland, trying to get as much distance between them and the boat as possible lest it be found. The Argentine command on the Island was utterly unaware that Special Forces had landed as it was expected they would be inserted by Helicopter once the Fleet arrived, so for the moment only irregular and casual helicopter patrols were flown by them. And why should it be otherwise? Most of the population was concentrated in a few easily manageable spots and the obvious targets for enemy Special Forces were within military camps.


Intelligence gathering was after all something done by aerial and space-based reconnaissance assets and not forces on the ground, six-thousand miles from the nearest British base.



British Airways Flight BA-944, off the African Coastline, 18th April 1983, 11:56 GMT



The huge de Havilland dH.211[5] was hugging the African Coastline. It was almost empty, many people who had booked flights and vacations to escape the dreary Spring Weather in China for the beaches of Africa had cancelled, the war that had broken out had already done a number on the tourism trade that a lot of coastal cities and towns depended on, especially in central and southern Africa. However British Airways flew and had as a precautionary measure adapted the routes so that they hugged the African coastline as much as possible in spite of the increased fuel expenditure. If one were to draw a straight line parallel to the Equator, the plane was by now south of the Equator and the crew couldn't help but wish for a Fighter Escort even though as a former Fighter Pilot who had flown the Swift during her swansong in British Service and later early-model Lightnings he knew that his was unrealistic.


Suddenly the Civillian Emergency Frequency came to life.


Civillian Aircraft, this is Red-1-1, Air Patrol from the British Carrier King George VI. You are close to restricted Airspace, please identify yourself.”


Ah...Red-1-1, this is British Airways Flight BA-944 bound for Nairobi. We sure are glad to see you blokes.”


Roger that, 944. Please remain on course while we confirm your identity.”


With that a Fleet Air Arm Rapier arrived and banked close to the 340. The Pilot knew that a second one was most likely hovering at his stern.



When the Navy pilot was satisfied that it was indeed a British Airways passenger bus and not one of the feared Argie 707s that they used for maritime reconnaissance or even worse one of the elderly B-60s that made up the strike option of the Argentine Air Force and that had the Brazilian Air Force on constant pains over how they would be taken out if the big one started.[6]



The Co-Pilot glanced over. “I guess this means the Fleet is down here at last.”


Took them long enough.” grumbled the pilot as he glanced at the Rapiers wiggling their wings and then disappearing into the distance at a rapid speed.


For the next two hours the flight was a perfect milk run, the weather was uncharacteristically good for the time of the year and Windhoek was the best-equipped and built airport south of the Equator excluding Capetown and Johannesburg. Soon they began to make a turn towards the coast and made contact with the Airport control tower.


As they flew a wide circle to get into the approach vector, the Co-Pilot spotted something on the ocean.


What the hell is that?”


The pilot banked slightly to the other side and looked, but what he saw made his face go white. He immediately slammed the throttle of both engines full forward and switched to the emergency frequency.


“This is BA-944, we are under Missile attack, I repeat...”


He couldn't say any more because then the missile detonated in front of his number one engine and fragments ripped into engine, tanks and fuselage.


The frequency was monitored both by the Airport and by Force Z where it was routinely covered, and within minutes six helicopters were in the air and raced towards the suspected crash site, a task made easier by the plan being such that Force Z approached the Falklands from the east, at the same time reinforcing the shivering and probably scared stiff twenty Marines on South Georgia. Between the cut-off emergency message and the wreckage it was clear that the plane and the forty-seven passengers and crew had been killed by a missile, but the surface plot hadn't shown anything at all. What had happened?


Chequers Residence, United Kingdom, British Empire, 18th April 1983, 23:56 GMT



Well, it's obvious that the Nimrod was lost to the same cause.” the PM said to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff.


Air Marshal of the Empire Colingwood nodded. “That much was obvious, Sir. At least for most of us in the Air Force, but without proof...”


True enough. The thing in this case is that the press got a hold of it before we could slap a D-Notice on it, and now the Yellows are screaming for Argentine Blood. 'An eye for an eye' is what it boils down to, but not even they phrase it like that.”


What will this whole incident change for Force Z?”


The PM shook his head. “Nothing so far. The Argies of course denied their involvement and all but accused us of doing it ourselves to 'cheat the populace of our oppressive Colonial system'. It's not that I expected them to act differently.”


Colingwood noted the usage of the derisive shorthand.


Well Prime Minister, what is inevitable is that we will have to conduct some sort of investigation immediately, even though we know that none of our aircraft or ships fired that missile.”


You asked them to report their Magazine status I presume?”


Colingwood was again reminded that the PM had once been Minister of Defence that that it had been under his tutelage that the Armed Forces had emerged from the disastrous Wilsonian Atomic Age, so he could be counted upon to have some idea of how the services functioned.


Yes, Prime Minister. No missiles are missing, and even so we had neither plane nor ship, not even a rowboat anywhere near, and ironically it was an Angolan Frigate that actually found the wreckage, and they proclaimed that it was a civilian Aircraft first.”


That was good news, for the Republic of Angola was staunchly neutral, in fact they were often described as the Switzerland of Africa due to this, and they could be counted upon to report the truth, not that the state run Argentine Media, in the hands of the Ministry of Information would report anything that was even slightly against the view they had of themselves and the world.


One thing we have to remember, if something like this happens again, we won't have much of a chance to keep this war from escalating even further. I mean one airliner we can put down to an accident or misidentification, but if that happens again the people will demand a response that the Americans wouldn't look kindly upon.” the PM said, and he shuddered when he thought where that spiral might end up.


In any case, Marshal, we will do the following. In case Wideawake can take them, can we move more Air assets there?”


Yes Prime Minister. The Dambusters[7] and half a Tanker Squadron are standing by, as they have since this whole mess started, so if need be we can stage either out of Brazil or Ascension Island in a pinch when we need to hit mainland Argentina from the Air. Force Z will be in place to start hitting the Argentine garrison within another couple of days, Kaveney is taking it slow. Ironically that was why the fleet was near where 944 was shot down in the first place. All we need now is await the next two batches of Satellite pictures and for the Carriers to be in position.”



Various Global Newspapers, 19th-20th April 1983



The Times Editorial


The reaction to the loss of BA-944 clearly demonstrates the willingness of the Argentine Junta to escalate the conflict that has broken out over the Falklands and that has the potential to lead to a self-feeding cycle of further escalation. Even if the Argentines are not responsible for the destruction of the aircraft, a diplomatic solution is now even more impossible than it was two weeks ago.


The Sun, Southern UK Edition


Argies shoot down Airliner – 50 dead – Where is the RAF?


Le Monde


Who ever is finally responsible for the presence of British Airways 944 in contested airspace and the actual shoot down, the loss of civilian life on this scale has pushed both the British public and the Argentine Government farther from the Negotation table than ever before. The League of Nations Security Council assembles today and it is expected that any sort of reaction to the crash will not be to Washington's liking, even though they will most certainly vote against it.


The People's Daily World, Washington and East Coast edition


Aggressive action by the Imperialist powers was to be expected, but the British have failed in their attempt to blame the alleged loss of what was in reality a disguised military cargo plane on the Argentine Defence Forces, and can now be expected to try ever harder to take Las Malvinas away from the Argentine People.



United Daily News, Guangzhou Capital City Edition


It pays to look at the history of this almost constant crisis between the British Empire and Argentina. The Argentine Claims to the Falklands are tenuous at best and even so the issue has been used numerous times to smooth over political pressure and other troubles, such as the succession of the current leader of the Argentine Junta. While the current conflict clearly goes beyond placating the masses at home, it is self-evident that anything the Argentine Government publicly says is meant for home consumption more than anything else.



Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Editorial on the Front Page


The escalating conflict in the South Atlantic clearly shows that the days of the détente that spread through most of the 1970s are clearly over. When in the past Washington could be relied upon to reign in the various schemes and plans of the Argentine leadership (especially during the last Falklands Crisis) the current silence from Washington signals if not active support then at least tacit consent with the war even though this is a clear breach of the Status Quo.









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Comments, Questions, rotten tomatoes?




I think now at last most of the pieces are in place and all that remains is to get this show on the road.


[1] So called because there are three SAS Regiments. 22 SAS, 23 SAS and 1 ISAS. All of them combined less than half a full Infantry Regiment of WW2 Vintage.


[2] The transformation of the British Empire was smooth (if not quick) as much as the breakup of the French one was messy, especially in North Africa. Ironically there was no Indochina War, for reasons I will keep to myself here and will eventually reveal in the main story.


[3] This is the closest picture to what I imagine the TTL para variant. Add the usual Special forces gadgets in your mind, please.


[4] Commander in Chief, Fighter Command, by tradition an Air Vice Marshal Job.


[5] OTL Bac 211


[6] I caved. I said earlier on that the Argentines didn't have any real need for long-range strike, but then I figured that with Brazil Allied they would and that the B-45 would make a good Special goodie handed out to the most reliable 'allies' during the 50s.


[7] The Dambusters raid happened as per OTL, and I think I don't reveal too much when I say that No.617 Squadron also delivered the first Blue Danube Nuclear Bomb.

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