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May 17, 2009, 09:48
Offshore
Magadan, Siberia
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Landing and logistical operations at Magadan continued unabated. Every few
hours, eight or more
C-90A aircraft landed, disgorging more and more men, materiel, weapons, and
equipment.
The 7thMarine Division and follow-on units which were now comprising what was
being called the
12thArmy, had pushed well inland along the superhighway and rail system the
Chinese had built for their own massive buildup a year earlier. There were
simply no major Chinese units to stop them. The head of the Chinese snake was
over 1,500 miles away, locked in mortal combat with allied troops around Nome,
Alaska.
They dared not turn their back on those allied forces& and yet, they dared not
allow the Americans in their rear to continue the buildup and advance out of
Magadan. They were caught in a classic pincer, like the North Koreans of the
1950s when General Douglas McArthur had pulled off what had been thought to be
an impossible American landing at Inchon, trapping the North Korean army far
to the south as they advanced on Pusan.
Now the Americans had repeated the feat, using their new super-transport
technology and their advanced rapid-deployment methodologies.
But the Chinese were about to respond.
Flying north over the Sea of Okhotsk, a Chinese air armada equal in size to
that of the American one used to affect the landing, the largest single
Chinese air attack in their history, was now approaching and about to engage
the Americans.
400 SU-35 and SU-37 aircraft, 200 enhanced TU-22M+ bombers, 200 of the new
J-10E fighters, 150
attack aircraft of several varieties and over 200 support aircraft were
involved. By 9:48, over 100 of the leading aircraft in this vast air armada
were approaching the American picket ships and the extents of
American AEW and AWACS coverage at the edge of the American defense of
Magadan.
What ensued was what American fighter pilots called a giant fur ball, a
dogfight of massive proportions between American aircraft on patrol out of
Magadan and from the U.S.S. Shanksville, and the Chinese fighters in the
vanguard of their attack.
The fighting was ferocious as the Chinese, using their own high technology
aircraft and benefiting from several years of combat experience, faced off
against American fighters that, outside of the one squadron of F-22 Raptor
fighters now based at Magadan, held little technological edge over their
Chinese adversaries. In the training arena as well, after the years of combat
the Chinese had experienced, what was once a clear American advantage had now
nearly been negated.
At first, during the initial engagements, the dogfight went to the favor of
the Chinese, with their vastly
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superior numbers coming to bear near the edge of the battle space, out near
the U.S. picket ships and the edge of American AEW and AWACS coverage. That
advantage allowed the as yet unmolested Chinese bomber aircraft to launch
large numbers of LRASD weapons at those picket ships which began to take them
out, one by one. By 10:15 AM, that line of picket destroyers and frigates had
been reduced to a shambles and the Chinese continued to press on.
Now, as the moving dogfight approached closer to Magadan, the Chinese had to
contend with more and more American aircraft and naval vessels in more
defensible formations. And the American aircraft and ships fought ferociously
to defend a contingent of ten C-90A aircraft that were still in the water,
frantically unloading their supplies in an effort to finish and take off
before the attack wave could arrive off of Magadan.
Soon, the Chinese fighter advantage and advance began to wane, particularly as
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the F-22 Raptor aircraft and Aegis vessels took their toll, fighting at a
three or four to one ratio against the best the
Chinese had, the J-10E and SU-37 aircraft.
By 10:45 AM, twenty miles out from Magadan, the Chinese offensive stalled and
a dogfight of rough parity began to play out. Both sides lost more and more
aircraft, the continued Chinese superior numbers now being offset by the
capabilities of the F-22s. Both sides were many hours away from having any
reinforcement aircraft arrive, but both sides had plenty of tanker aircraft in
the air, and so the fight continued as first one side, and then the other,
would make assaults on one another s tanker and command aircraft.
The Chinese attack aircraft tried again and again to break through the
American air barricade to the beaches and to the newly installed American
installations at the airfields and along the major highway. But they were
foiled in the attempt by the few reserve aircraft the Americans held back to
defend inland points against breakthroughs.
In the end, this scenario played to the Chinese advantage in attacking the
C-90A aircraft and allied shipping near Magadan. The C-90s, with the fighting
now so close, were unable to take off and they remained close in to shore,
waiting for the ultimate American victory that would allow them to depart.
But now, the remainder of the TU-22M+ aircraft came into play. As a result of
the Americans having their hands full turning back the attack aircraft and
employing the balance of their fighters against the
Chinese fighters, these bombers were able to approach right up to the
perimeter of the Chinese air advance and launch their LRASD weapons. A
contingent of twenty-five aircraft, which carried the latest programming for
the LRASD, defined the main thrust.
The Chinese knew in advance that the C-90s would be in the water, and that had
accounted for the particular timing of the attack. Coast watchers that they
had deployed all along the Kuril Islands had turned the tables on the
Americans for this battle. As the Americans had used those islands to lull the
Chinese into a false sense of security so the Shanksville battle group could
transit them, the Chinese coast watchers had, over the last five days, held
their peace until the appointed hour to reveal the exact timing and duration
of C-90 flights.
As two groups of twenty Tu-22M+ aircraft approached on each flank of the
American position, the twenty-five aircraft carrying the latest version of the
Killer Whales made a supersonic dash up the middle, low to the water.
The American AEW aircraft vectored all the resource that they had towards the
first two groups of twenty TU-22M+ aircraft. All but ten of those Chinese
aircraft were ultimately shot down, but not before
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eighteen launched LRASD weapons. While those weapons were streaking toward
various American escort ships in the harbor, and as four of them detected and
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