"So, Was Tom Clancy Right That the Soviets Could’ve..." Topic

… Invaded Iceland?.

"Tom Clancy's 1986 novel Red Storm Rising depicts a conventional war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. It's one of Clancy's best books and, interesting for a story about a Third World War, doesn't involve a nuclear apocalypse.

It does describe a ground war in Germany, naval and air battles in the North Atlantic and — central to the plot — an invasion of Iceland by a regiment of Soviet troops. Clancy, who died in 2013, was known for his realism and extreme attention to technical detail.

In Red Storm Rising, the Soviet troops overwhelm a U.S. Marine company in the Nordic island country after sneaking to shore inside the MV Yulius Fuchik, a civilian barge carrier loaded with hovercraft. Before the amphibious assault, Soviet missile target and destroy NATO's F-15 fighters based at Naval Air Station Keflavik…"
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Amicalement
Armand

What's to stop them?

Not many troops there to oppose them, but as mentioned, there was an airbase.

Of course, keeping it would be the real trick.

Surely 10 minutes of Bjork's singing would have been enough to turn back a soviet invasion…

The Prince is correct again. But most unsuspecting forces will get their clock clocked, see Normandy.

I don't know what commercial airline traffic to Iceland was like, but I imagine you could load a commercial airliner or two full of plain clothes soldiers with light weapons and rocket launchers in checked baggage. You could also send "tourist" groups and couples in in advance to do recon before the invasion, who would be armed and equipped by the invasion force.

More likely than the invasion of Montana in Red Dawn. I think you can get a lot done with strategic and tactical surprise. I think they would have a hard time deploying enough assets to take strategic advantage of Iceland

I still prefer Hackett's book. Or Ralph Peters' Red Army.

79th….that is how I would imagine a overt Chinese take over of Taiwan would begin. The Chinese would use infiltration, 5th columnist and a cargo ship filled with Chinese soldiers to seize the island.

Virginia…..Red Army is actually my favorite of the Cold War thrillers. I really enjoyed that one.

The hard part would be keeping it. I expect that any ships attempting to resupply would be sunk and after playing a few scenarios with a USSR surface fleet against a carrier battlegroup I doubt they could prevent a landing. They would end up diverting a bunch of marines from Europe and completely ruining the SOSUS net.

In the early 90's, 1st Brigade, 29th Infantry Division(Light) picked up the mission to defend Iceland. I was the Support Battalion S-3 at the time. We were going to be reinforced with some other Infantry, Artillery and Support assets from the Division and flown in. We were the only National Guard divisional brigade with a defined mission at the time.

"GuyG13"

Yes I remember when I saw that in a deployment locations for Army units and thought "why send them there?'

Send a N.G. unit from MN, ND, WI or MI. Its to dam'n cold for them up there.

I remember being an evaluater for E Troop, 4th Cav. out of the 105th INF Brig WI N.G. at Ft McCoy WI back in Nov of 85.

There war time deployment area was Alaska.

They lived in the cold part of the U.S. and were used to the cold.

But the 29th ID?

Just saying.

I was stationed in the Marine barracks in Iceland in 1971 and there was about 300 of us. We actually had defense drills and training days as we directed navy personel as potential reserves for just such an event.
Regards
Russ Dunaway

"11th ACR"

I think it was because we were a Light Brigade, located pretty close to some major Air Heads. We were also resourced a little better than some of the Guard Divisional brigades and tended to have a better readiness posture.

"GuyG13"

Yes, I remember when they did that reorganization of the N.G. units, and 29th Infantry Division(Light)was one of the first to be set up that way.

They would end up […] completely ruining the SOSUS net.

Which is probably the best result, from the Soviet POV.

Then they could send all the subs out to blast convoys with as close to impunity as you can get. The US wouldn't have many subs south of the UK, just to deconflict the convoy escorts.