the South Americans captured the enemy around Oklahoma City had hurt the Americans, but it had been wrong nevertheless. Chinese and Brazilian arms had won a great operational battle. Instead, they might have struck a strategic deathblow by driving north harder and deeper and trapping an even greater number of enemies, perhaps shattering the entire Midwestern American Front.
The key to this continental campaign was speed. They needed to drive fast and deep so the Americans never had a chance to recover their poise. The grueling summer battles had been a mistake. Liang would have sent a massive and potent tank Army Group straight up the middle of the prairies. Drive deep and deeper still, spreading out behind the American lines and destroying all communication and higher command. Instead, there had been vast battles of attrition, a slow grind through New Mexico and Texas.
Marshal Liang put his hands behind his back. His right shoulder protested as a half-healed muscle strained at the pull. In less than three hours, the Denver assault would begin. It would fix American attention on the front door, right where he wanted it. With the massed wave assaults, the Americans would no doubt believe the Chinese meant to grind the Denver-defending soldiers to death. He would catch them by surprise, therefore, with his end-run air assault.
The key to taking Denver was the high-altitude I-70 corridor, the thin ribbon of road and rail through which most of the Americans’ supplies would have to thread. If he could destroy I-70 as a supply route, Denver would die on the vine.
His gaze moved again to the MC ABMs. Each vehicle possessed a twelve-man crew. It was a linked system, three rail cars pulled by a massive tractor. One of the trailers held gigantic batteries and chemical fuel storage tanks. Another was a magnetic-propulsion turbine. The last was the laser focusing system. It could project a beam of near strategic strength.
That meant several things. They could shoot down American satellites from the middle of their country, if the enemy was foolish enough to loft any. Even better, he would soon have a nearly impenetrable anti-air and anti-missile umbrella. In a week, several more MC ABMs would arrive.
He would have to compose a poem to Marshal Wu for the man’s thoughtfulness of giving him these strategic assets. Because of them, he would badly surprise the Americans and he might even surprise Chairman Hong.
I leave nothing to chance.
That was his secret. He thought deeper than his fellow marshals did and much deeper than the Americans. Part of the secret was that he had gathered a brain trust of brilliant officers. Outthinking the enemy and beating him with an economy of force made the best use of what he possessed. It would give China the victory despite the un-strategic folly of attempting two variant goals at one time.
Liang’s soft smile hardened. He had the greatest concentration of Chinese power in North America. That meant he had the greatest concentration of military force ever deployed against an opponent.
Now I’m splitting my power at the orders of that worm in Beijing.
Fortunately, he knew his enemy. The Americans were near the breaking point. The loss of Denver’s soldiers and the loss of the cities here might well shatter what was left of enemy morale.
It was good to know he was going to win spectacularly. First, fix American attention on the front door. Then when the back door attack came, it would surprise them even more and destroy what little confidence they had left.
CASTLE ROCK, COLORADO
Private Jake Higgins of the Eleventh CDM Battalion hugged the bottom of his foxhole. The whole world seemed to be on fire. It shook and huge deadly explosions made speech impossible. Several times already, he’d peeked out of the foxhole in a homeowner’s front lawn. Each time more of Castle Rock was flattened, more of its structures turned into rubble or reduced to skeletal remains of reinforced girders and smashed concrete.
The Chinese had unleashed a massed artillery barrage on them. His father had loved telling him war statistics. In WWII, artillery had caused fifty percent of the casualties in urban areas. It had been even higher in deserts.
I can see why.
Jake endured as the explosive shells hammered the city and their position. Unfortunately, he’d arrived just in time for the great Chinese offensive.
The Eleventh CDM Battalion was full of untested wannabes. In Jake’s opinion, it was a crime to place them out here at the very front. Army HQ should have first given