History, Politics And Current Affairs

Jan, old bean:

If we can ever manage to get you across the pond here to visit your 'cousins' I would be extremely glad to take you out and show you why you would want those big old guns. And you will really, really enjoy yourself...

Been a long time watcher of this great story, thought it was about time I joined and posted

This story is really gripping and enjoyable, I am looking forward to the next part with bated breath

Thank you very much, always glad to have a new reader. Welcome aboard.

Still got the feeling that someone attacking Cam Rahn Bay might foul up and end up shooting up some Vietnamese asset, though Hanoi certainly has better sense than to make too big a deal out of it.

BTW, how would the victorious NATO and allies redraw various political boundaries once WWIII is over?

I certainly hope that no one is considering a Versailles peace at least on redrawing national boundaries to such an extent, but I can certainly understand dismantling much of the heavy Soviet defense industry, especially for nuclear weapons and their related platforms. Though given how much of the Soviet workforce was involved in one way or another building nuclear attack submarines, heavy air transports and like, that will likely cause massive economic dislocations none the less.

That's a distinct possibility; Vietnamese fighters on CAP are bound to get caught up in the fighting and Vietnamese manned SAM sites on the ground will be shot at if they light up their radars. Their government will be philosophical about it though.



Really depends on how the war ends and what state both sides are in at the end of it. Assuming a clear cut NATO victory one thing that will happen is that the former DDR would be occupied by NATO forces and probably be administered by the FRG before full reunification takes place. Eastern Europe will probably be left alone to develop on its own unless there are any Western interests at stake.
The fate of the USSR is an interesting one, if it loses badly it will fragment as in @, though possibly worse. There may be some form of NATO occupation based in Western Russia and an American one in the Far East before the whole lot is handed over to the UN and a new Russian government, but it is difficult to foresee exactly what will happen.



If China becomes a potential threat, and I'd think they will be eyeing up the Far Eastern territories of the USSR if it looks like NATO will win, then we might want to keep as much of the former Soviet defence industry working as possible. It would not be in the West's interests to have a potentially hostile China occupying what may be mineral rich areas of Russia's Far East.

I find it very hard to believe that any foreign troops will be occupying Soviet territory at the end of this. Any attempt is, IMO, likely to produce a very strong nationalist reaction among the people. I could certainly see the DDR being administered by the FRG, and the WarPact states being evacuated by Soviet troops and becoming truly independent, but no more. IMO the West should be very careful about any attack on the integrity of the USSR itself, even to the extent of not encouraging independence movements in the Baltics, at least until Moscow signals it is willing to let them go.

Jeff

The VPAF probably is in the middle of a MiG-21 to MiG-29 transition (they never were MiG-23 operators), with maybe pair of Su-27/30 regiments, similar to OTL. Until 1985, when the SNAF deployed a MiG-23 regiment to Cam Ranh Bay AB, the VPAF was responsible for air defense of the base (VPAF MiG-21s out of Bien Hoa) One of the Su-27 regiments is based at Phan Rang, while the other is reportedly based at Noi Bai IAP/Phuc Yen AB north of Hanoi. The Phan Rang regiment may be the VPAF's contribution to Cam Ranh's air defense, other than SA-2 or SA-3 (both still in service with the Viets) , unless the Soviets in the 1990s agreed to sell the SA-10 to Hanoi and upgrade the SA-2s and -3s.

It's still a ways off to be thinking about the postwar USSR. It's not even D+8 yet. NATO has to win the war first.

I doubt the Chinese would be even remotely capable of occupying any meaningful part of the RFE, given that they probably could only probably takeover Primoriski Krai at best, even with an Army heavy modernization of the PLA. And there's no good mineral resources worth fighting over in those parts. And given how much it would cost to occupy the parts of the RFE and Siberia which have mineral resources given the vast distances and areas involved, the PRC would find it far more cost effective to just simply pay on the market for it instead additionally of paying for occupation and upkeep, infastructure costs of extraction. Furthermore, using the PLA to takeover Russia would stunt any modernization of the Navy and Air Force, which the CMC would definetely want to do, I imagine.