In the storm

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Im Sturm (English original title: Red Storm Rising ) is a novel by Tom Clancy , which was published on August 7, 1986. The war novel is about a conventional land war in West Germany and a sea ​​war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the mid-1980s.

Position in the work of Tom Clancy

The novel is the sequel to The Hunt for Red October from 1984 , originally published by Naval Institute Press (NIP). After the great success of this first work, written using information from the naval war tabletop Harpoon , Clancy sought out the game's developer, former naval officer Larry Bond. The two men became friends and began to develop a novel about Bond's game project Convoy '84 on the subject of a new Atlantic battle in the context of a conventionally waged Third World War. Most of the collaboration was over the phone, with Bond reenacting various US-Soviet confrontations and Clancy doing the writing.

In January 1985, Clancy and Bond had written an outline and several chapters, Red October was already selling well but was not yet a bestseller. By the time the two already had an agent, and major publishers had their eye on Clancy; Putnam Publishing offered Clancy and Bond an advance of $ 325,000.

After that offer, Clancy told his first publisher, Naval Institute Press, that if they made an offer that was at least 20 percent of Putnam's offer, Clancy would stay, but NIP didn't want a bidding war with the major publishers, so Clancy and Bond joined in Putnam under contract. This $ 325,000 contract was later renegotiated and converted into a "3 books for 3 million" contract.

Due to this change of publisher, there were legal disputes between Clancy and NIP. The formerly good relationship between publisher and author cooled down, as NIP took the view, based on the original Red October contract , that the marketing rights to the character "Jack Ryan" would still be with them and NIP is therefore entitled to a share of the proceeds for the following novels.

reception

Tom Clancy's first two works - Red October and In the Storm - amazed the critics with their suspenseful plot and extensive knowledge of submarines, guided missiles, computers, satellites and every other type of military device. Clancy said of himself that he never had access to confidential information and often only guessed, with intelligence officials later telling him that his suspicions were very close to reality. The main criticism of Im Sturm is that the book is a trivializing representation of the third world war without the use of nuclear weapons. Clancy then replied:

“Nobody wants to fight a nuclear war, least of all the people in the military. The whole point of having conventional forces is to be able to fight and win a war without having to blow the world up. "

“Nobody wants to wage a nuclear war, least of all the people in the military. The whole point of conventional armed forces is to be able to wage and win a war without blowing up the entire world. "

- Tom Clancy

Clancy also sees World War III from the perspective of the various commando operations, such as those of the Spetsnaz , who were tasked with launching the main forces' major offensive by eliminating tactical targets in a raid.

"A war that would affect millions began with desperate night fighting between units of platoon and company strength."

- Tom Clancy : In the storm . Goldmann Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-442-45750-5 , p. 173.

action

After Islamist terrorists blew up the largest oil refinery in the Soviet Union , the country is threatened with an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions. The communist hardliners in Moscow fear an attempt by NATO to weaken the country even further and decide to seize the necessary oil wells in the Middle East . But before that, NATO must be weakened to such an extent that it must forcibly consent to the intervention. As a diversionary maneuver (Russian Maskirowka ), the KGB staged a bomb attack on the Kremlin in which several people - including children - were killed, and presented to the world public an alleged West German agent as an assassin, who, however, is in reality a KGB agent.

Afterwards the Soviet General Secretary announced the mobilization of the Red Army to face the alleged West German threat. In truth, however, the army was prepared for war in Europe long beforehand. The deception works, however: Greece remains neutral, and Turkey behaves in the same way in the face of Soviet superiority . The other NATO countries only believed the German declarations of innocence when a Russian spy was run over in Aachen and secret papers and the results of his interrogation were passed on to the NATO allies: The Soviet Union is planning attacks against NATO facilities in Germany, most of them can be prevented. After the conquest of Iceland and Northern Norway by Soviet paratroopers , the Russian Navy has a free run to attack the NATO convoys in the Atlantic with its backfire bombers . In an attack on a French-American carrier association, the French carrier Foch is sunk, the Americans lose the heavy naval landing ship USS Saipan ; the carriers USS Nimitz and USS Saratoga and the guided missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga are badly damaged. In addition, three more frigates and destroyers are sunk.

In Germany the situation is tense. Soviet tanks are standing in front of Hamburg and airborne units have taken the Kiel Canal . However, the advance of the Soviet Army did not go as planned: The Soviet side suffered heavy losses from the violently defending NATO units, and the NATO fighter-bombers (which, as a result of a daring operation at the beginning of the conflict, during which it succeeded, with the help of the fictitious F-19 stealth aircraft, shooting down several of the Soviet airborne radar control stations that control Europe over the air) severely delay the advance. After the Soviet Commander-in-Chief West was killed by an air raid during a visit to the front, the Commander-in-Chief Southwest and his deputy Alexejew take command in Germany. At Alfeld you succeed in breaking through the NATO lines by crossing the leash. Than six submarines of the Los Angeles-class submarine ( USS Chicago , USS Boston , USS Providence , USS Pittsburgh , USS Key West and USS Groton ) the airports of the Backfire in northern Russia with cruise missiles bombard and Soviet ways that convoys in the Atlantic The tide is turning to sink, significantly limit attacks by Soviet submarines and not be able to stop a strong convoy. When crossing the Weser , the NATO troops succeeded in cutting off Soviet units from their supply line with reinforcements - landed in France and sent to Germany. American marines can also recapture Iceland almost at the same time . But then the Politburo demands from Alexejew (meanwhile the new Commander in Chief West) the use of tactical nuclear weapons in order to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion. Thereupon he allied himself with the energy minister Sergetov, who had already expressed particularly fierce resistance to the war in advance, and the KGB chief Kosow. Alexejew captured the Kremlin with reinforcement troops transported through Moscow and arrested the politburo members who had prepared the war. Intelligence chief Kosow is shot dead by a soldier whose daughter died in the bomb attack staged by Kosow. Sergetov becomes the new general secretary of the CPSU , while two supporters in the Politburo take on important ministerial posts and secure the takeover of power. Alexejew and the NATO Commander for Europe ( SACEUR ) then conclude a ceasefire in Potsdam .

Operation Dreamland

With great attention to detail, Clancy describes in Chapter 17 "The Dreamland Frisbees" a first attack by the USAF on the heavily defended air defense shield of the GDR. Operation “Dreamland” aims to take out Soviet AWACS aircraft of the Beriev A-50 / Il-76 Mainstay type and, in phase 2, to destroy important supply routes for the 2nd season of the Warsaw Pact . It is based on the FOFA concept (Follow-on-Forces Attack on the Warsaw Pact's supply forces). The Mainstays coordinate the movements of around 300 Warsaw Pact fighter jets. Colonel Douglas Ellington as pilot and his combat observer Major Don Eisly fly in one of the fictional Lockheed F-19A Ghostrider (also called " Frisbee " in pilot jargon), a secret stealth bomber, in low flight at a speed of 1,157 km / h their first target on East German Territory on: the Mainstay, which circles over Magdeburg . The other aircraft of the F19A squadron head for the positions of the other four mainstays. Meanwhile, the first phase of the air battle for Germany is underway above the low-flying aircraft. However, so far there has been no hostility. Hundreds of warplanes from both sides cross the airspace of the respective conflicting party and carry out a series of mock battles, each trying to provoke the other into an exchange of fire. The closer Ellington and Eisly get to their primary target, mainstay, the stronger their own radar signals become, which no longer go unnoticed. A MiG-25 interceptor is already looking for the American stealth bomber on instructions from AWACS, but cannot locate it. Before they are detected by the mainstay's fire control and search radar, pilot Ellington releases two AIM-9M Sidewinder air combat missiles while climbing at a speed of 1,600 km / h and thus destroys the target. On an E-3A Sentry circling over Strasbourg , the commanding brigadier general and commander of Operation Dreamland found that all five of the enemy’s early warning aircraft had been shot down within just two minutes. This begins phase 2 of the operation. 100 low-flying aircraft of the type F111A Aardvark and Tornado GR.1 armed with smart bombs break out of the association of tactical NATO warplanes and follow the second wave of “Frisbee” to attack various ground targets deep in the territory of the GDR. After a formation of ground attack aircraft , all-weather interceptors of the type F-15 Eagle and F-4 Phantom take off to shoot down the Warsaw Pact fighters, which have become “driverless” after the destruction of the Mainstays, their “flying command posts”. A third group of NATO machines combats the radar stations on the ground, which have to be put into operation as a replacement after the mainstays fail. Now the attack on the Elbe bridge at Hohenwarthe begins . With his night television camera, Ellington recognizes that a column of T-80 tanks is just passing the four-lane bridge. A SAM battery is located on a nearby hill , which is set in alarm condition. The hard target is illuminated by means of a pave tack target location laser. A laser-controlled paveway bomb GBU-15 containing 430 kilograms of high-explosive is dropped and hits the apex on the north arch of the bridge exactly. Three more follow and bring the structure to collapse. At the same time, tornadoes from the Bundeswehr Air Force attacked the Mahlwinkel air base with cluster bombs and destroyed an entire squadron of Sukhoi fighter jets. In the subsequent defensive fire from the SAM battery, a high-voltage line is hit. Only three aardvarks survive the gun battle, but the objective of the operation is achieved. Another wave of F-15s opens a corridor for the following fighters, which destroy a large part of the ROT air fleet, which no longer has its AWACS control system and also has no time for a tactical re-formation. In conclusion, Operation “Dreamland” took about half an hour and resulted in the loss of two F-19s and eleven fighter-bombers. For this purpose, around 200 all-weather RED fighters were shot down, another 100 were unintentionally hit by the company's own SAM missiles and a heavy blow was inflicted on the enemy's air defense. With this victory, NATO gains air superiority, at least at night. In doing so, they robbed the 1st Squadron of the RED Ground Forces of their air support and leveled the balance of power back to 1: 1.

The battle for Alfeld

Clancy succeeded in another very realistic representation in the scenario of a land battle for Alfeld . This is the subject of Chapter 28 “Breakthroughs”. Soviet spearheads try to take the bridges strategically important for the further advance, with heavy losses as it were . The ROT armed forces are opposed to NATO formations consisting of tank and armored infantry units of the Bundeswehr and, in addition to Belgian and US American, predominantly British troops, such as the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment equipped with Challenger tanks. The Soviet Army General Alexejew, with continued pressure on the Allied defenders on the banks of the Leine, orders one of his regiments to carry out an encircling attack in order to encircle the enemy. The main thrust should take place at Alfeld. A German field artillery battery can locate the division command post ROT due to the telecommunications traffic and destroy it with a concentrated fire. In the meantime, total chaos reigns on the streets of Alfeld, which are clogged by uncontrolled civil escape movements. With the exception of a tank unit to cover the flanks, NATO is pulling all formations from the eastern bank of the Leine and has American armored infantry units deployed in the western hills. The first Soviet attack on Alfeld, which was completely devastated by artillery fire, remains stuck with bloody losses. Half of all combat and armored personnel carriers are destroyed by ROT. The MOT riflemen with anti-tank missiles only inadequately succeed in destroying NATO combat vehicles, as the steering wires often tear off in the rubble. BLUE destroys one of the three line bridges by rocket fire and thus prevents the enemy from crossing the water quickly. The river bank of the Leine is too steep so that amphibious tanks have no way of crossing over. Now pioneers, under the fire protection of SAM and flak batteries, are to strike a crossing with assault boats and pontoon bridges. After a tough tank battle between T-80 and Chieftain , a ROT company managed to cross the river. Alexejew reports the breakthrough and requests air support and combat helicopters from the 8th Guards Army in order to hold the bridgehead at bridge 439. They manage to get a full battalion of mechanized infantry across the river and to repel several counter attacks on the bridgehead. The Battle of Alfeld, which was originally planned as a limited attack, is developing into a focal point on the front lines and tying up large amounts of resources. On the other hand, the artillery of three NATO brigades is focused on this point. Due to the great confusion and the failure of friend-foe recognition, the SAM batteries have received the order to fire at all objects in flight over the "open fire-free zone" of Alfeld. The 20th Panzer Division ROT reports that they have thrown the American-held hills north of the city. Little by little, several divisions were able to cross the line and the Battle of Alfeld turned into a tactical victory for the Soviet Army. Hamelin is designated as the next target in order to cut off NATO's northern army groups.

Locations

The world in a storm

The theaters of war shown represent the entire picture and some of them refer to other locations that are only mentioned.

  • North German lowlands , more precisely Lower Saxony , especially the area from Alfeld to the Weser , mentioning the front as far as Hamburg and Hanover .
  • Iceland , during the conquest by Soviet paratroopers and the occupation until the reconquest by American troops
  • Barents Sea , especially during Operation Doolittle 's submarine mission
  • North Atlantic, with the attack on the American-French carrier association and on the convoys with backfire , later also by submarines
  • Scotland , as the base of American interceptors
  • Moscow
  • the eastern United States

people

The narrative style of the novel jumps back and forth between several storylines that tell the experiences of different people on both sides:

  • Bob Toland: NSA marine reserve and intelligence officer who survived the attack on the Nimitz and then helps coordinate NATO air and naval forces in the Atlantic.
  • Ed Morris: Commander of the anti-submarine frigate USS Pharris , which is badly damaged by a torpedo under his command, and then the guided missile frigate USS Reuben James .
  • Dan McCafferty: Commander of the USS Chicago submarine , friend of Ed Morris and Bob Toland.
  • Jerry "The Hammer" O'Malley: American helicopter pilot with combat experience who serves under Morris on the Reuben James .
  • Michael Edwards: US Air Force meteorologist in Iceland, escapes the Soviet troops with three marines and makes a decisive contribution to the reconquest of Iceland with his observations, which he transmits to a NATO intelligence service by radio.
  • Vigdis: Twenty-year-old pregnant Icelander who is saved by Edwards and his squad after they were raped by Russian paratroopers and her parents were murdered by the Russians.
  • Terry Mackall: Tank soldier in Germany.
  • Douglas "Duke" Ellington: Pilot of an F-19A Ghostrider - stealth fighter in Germany.
  • Amy "Buns" Nakamura: American pilot who first three Soviet bombers shoots, then two spy satellites by the ASAT destroyed rocket and the first female ace is.
  • Eugene Robinson: Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR ).
  • William Calloway and Patrick Flynn: Associated Press (Flynn) and Reuters (Calloway) correspondents reporting first from Russia and then from the allied shipping associations.
  • Pawel Leonidowitsch "Pascha" Alexejew: Soviet general in Germany with doubts about victory, who later rose to become Commander in Chief West.
  • Mikhail Eduardowitsch "Mischa" Sergetov: Soviet energy minister, tries to prevent the use of nuclear weapons and becomes general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU after a coup.
  • Ivan Mikhailovich “Vanya” Sergetov: His son, Alexeev's adjutant.
  • Pyotr “Petya” Bromkovsky: Member of the Politburo and veteran of the Second World War.
  • Boris Kosow: Head of the KGB who has to hand over power to his deputy for health reasons.

Trivia

  • The American computer game company MicroProse released a submarine game in 1989 under the name Red Storm Rising .
  • The original title of the book, Red Storm Rising , was also used to subtitle the scenario simulating a conflict in Central Europe from the flight simulation F-15, also published by MicroProse .
  • The stealth fighter F-19A Ghostrider mentioned in the book does not exist; in fact, in writing the book, Clancy was subject to a widespread error caused by the publication of an airplane model kit with this designation in 1984 . F-19 was actually a camouflage name for the F-117 , but it hardly looked like the model.
  • Im Sturm was only published in the German translation in 1994, around four years after the end of the Cold War , under whose impression the book was obviously written.

literature

  • Tom Clancy: In the storm . Goldmann, 2003, ISBN 3-442-45750-5 .
  • In the storm . Random House Audio. Audiobook read by Frank Arnold . (Audio; 27:43 hours)

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d e Patrick Anderson: King of the 'Techno-Thriller'. In: The New York Times Magazine. May 1, 1988; Retrieved September 5, 2019 (American English).
  2. ^ Lieutenant Colonel LeRoy B. Outlaw: Red Storm Rising - A primer for a future conventional war in Central Europe . In: United States Army War College . Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. May 27, 1988. 35 pages. (English; PDF; 1.8 MB)
  3. ↑ Tom Clancy: In the Storm . Goldmann, 2003, ISBN 3-442-45750-5 , pp. 174-182.
  4. ↑ engl. Dreamland, named after a secret USAF testing site in the Nevada desert ,
  5. ↑ at a height of about 60 meters
  6. ↑ Royal Air Force fighter-bomber version
  7. ↑ 1170 meter long bridge structure on the A2 motorway
  8. ↑ Electro-optical targeting device from Ford Aerospace, which works with a combined laser and infrared technology. Pave Tack was installed in many F-111 fighter aircraft in the 1980s.
  9. ↑ Tom Clancy: In the Storm. Goldmann, 2003, ISBN 3-442-45750-5 , pp. 409-432.