[PART 70]

DAY THIRTEEN: 14 September 1938

At several locations around the world small stay-behind units were still making good on their efforts to attack local occupation forces as well as their lightly guarded supply depots. They had also attacked several Martian concentration camps in Australia, South America, Southern Africa, the Soviet Union and central China. Thousands of people rescued in occupied areas were now attempting to hide as best they could from Martian Bs and “Martian humans” now on the hunt for any people they could find. Small “brush wars” were breaking out in several Martian controlled areas as our stay-behind and Tango forces became better organized. Several areas were reporting successes in hit-and-run raids on small groups of Martians.

One of the cities in Southern Africa

Evacuations from the west coast of Africa at Santo Antonia do Zaire and Ambriy had begun. The area still in the hands of national forces was the only ‘safe’ area along the coast. Hundreds of thousands had fled to the area attempting to board one of hundreds of ships of all sizes which had sailed to the rescue. After picking up survivors the ships were making their way to the small island of St. Helena nearly 1200 miles to the west in the mid-Atlantic. St. Helena is best remembered as the last prison refuge for Napoleon who died there in 1821. Now it would serve as a refuge for thousands fleeing Africa from the bloody Martians. With a population a little over 4000 they had a big job ahead of them.

When the Committee learned of the evacuation several warships including two aircraft carriers were sent to aid in the evacuation. We also shut down our radar station on St. Helena so as to limit any attention the Martians may pay to the island in the future.

Overnight it was reported that several special-forces underwater teams deployed from submarines had set explosive devices on 26 small Martian water craft used to patrol the Red Sea. The Martians had constructed a small docking facility at Port Sudan making it an inviting target for our underwater teams. This close in work sank 25 of the boats. Just before leaving the area the three submarines involved in the operation surfaced and rocketed the facility setting much of it on fire. It would be a while before the Martians would be able to use the small facility again. Humans still held the high ground on the oceans.

THE MARTIANS CALL FOR EARTH’S SURRENDER

Proof that our attacks on Martian Command Centers had greatly disrupted Martian combat activities came when what was thought to be the new Martian A Prime commanding the invasion

(taking over after the first had been killed during the opening attack on the planet) issued a call for Earth’s surrender. The Martian A Prime had recently landed at Giza after our polar and Giza attacks taking direct command of Martian invasion operations. (Our radars were able to spot several Martian machines leaving orbit to land at Giza.) This was proof of a fundamental Martian weakness. If we could somehow remove Martian high level commanders the single minded Martians could be greatly disrupted. We have understood for some time most Martians were not thinkers they were followers. Command and control was in the ‘hands’ of very few top Martians.

Just before the radio message was sent all radio jamming world-wide stopped. The surrender demand came in over several frequencies and was clear as could be. It was issued in English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese and Russian.

There were many national leaders who responded including my friend Winston and not one of them considered surrendering. To say the least many of their replies were quite colorful. The Committee sent one of our own.

For a few precious minutes while the Martians awaited our response the radio waves cleared. Taking advantage of the clear airwaves numerous military units and cities which had been cut off were able to send and receive messages. Once again the Martians had proved themselves to be fallible and thus could be defeated.

THE GROUND WAR PRESSES ON

The Martians had not halted their advances along most fronts even though they continued to slow at several points. More cities were being bypassed as attacking them had proved too costly. Martian Bs, hybrids and ‘Martian humans’ were being deployed around bypassed cities along warring fronts as Martian A forces supplied with all sizes of Walkers and armored vehicles raced to capture vast stretches of land. Martian Flying Machines were still being deployed but mostly with combined forces for front line units and not against cities. With much of our air forces now being redeployed to defend numerous cities it was felt most would be able to hold on as we battled Martians in open ground. For the most part national combat aircraft and Committee Thunder Jets would guard the cities and other populated areas while a majority of the more powerful ground based Phoenix IIs would stay on the hunt for Martian Flying Machines as well as in support of our ground forces.

Committee naval forces shifted much of their resources now focusing on over-site protection of ships involved in rescue operations of which there were many as evacuations increased. The fleets were still supporting coastal combat operations wherever possible but were now additionally tasked with sending out strong combat patrols to aggressively hunt down and destroy any Martian water craft they could locate. This threat had recently been reported in several areas including sizable deployments in the Mediterranean and Red Seas. With general control of the air we were prepared to take and hold full control of many of Earth’s water ways.

Even as Martian troop and equipment losses grew they continued to press forward. Martian front line units simply did not pause to preserve rear forces which had fallen to our attacks. As ever the Martians seemed to be of one mind set – attack and continue to attack as long as they had the ground forces and equipment to keep on the offensive no matter what the cost. Certainly they did not care for their dead and wounded as humans cared for our own. In some locations, notably in South Asia and the Amazon Jungle, stay-behind forces were focusing on killing wounded Martians abandoned by their front line units. As far as they were concerned any dead Martian was one less Martian to deal with.

THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

By this thirteenth day of the Second Martian War most of the continental land masses in the southern hemisphere were under Martian control. Much of Australia was under Martian occupation with the exception of south east Lower-Sydney, a section of the Great Divide Range where a large guerrilla army had formed and a small coastal patch centered around Burketown north on the Gulf of Carpentar. It was at Burketown where Australian Army Groups were finally able to hold the line and halt the bloody Martian advances. The Australian fighters were being supplied by ships of the Australian and Committee Navies and being supported by an almost continues barrage of fire by battleships and destroyers firing along the full line of defense as well as strong air attacks.

During this fighting evacuation women and children were put on ships to sail around the north of Australia under surface and air cover to the northern island of New Zealand. New Zealand’s northern island was still under our control and at this point was nearly completely surrounded by hundreds of combat ships of all kinds. It had become the most heavily defended piece of ground on Earth by naval forces. The Martians had yet to attack the area with ground forces even though air attacks had occurred earlier in the war. It would be from this group of warplanes that a major counter attack on Martian coastal formations would sail.

The Martians had also landed on several South Pacific islands. In these invasions it would be the swamps and jungles which would greatly slow any Martian advances. Tanks, medium and small Walkers simply could not maneuver in these difficult areas causing many of these islands to be bypassed as unimportant.

Gibson Desert, Australia:

Much of South America was now under Martian control except a rather vast section of the center of the continent around the Amazon Basin. Although much of the forest/jungle had been damaged by Martian Heat-Rays, Red Weed and massive thunderstorms the Martians had not yet advanced deeply into its interior. Millions of people had fled populated centers into the Amazon’s protective cover in areas not yet destroyed but it was only a matter of time before the Martians made their move on its vast interior.

All of Madagascar and Africa were under Martian control except a small pocket on the west coast of Africa centered around Santo Antonio do Zaire where evacuations were continuing at a fever pace. It would not be long, despite the massive naval presence off the coast, before this area would fall to the Martians.

With this much southern territory under Martian control it is not surprising to note that despite limited resources Martian air patrols were starting to increase over vast areas of the South Pacific, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. At this point they did not need as many flying machines to support ground combat operations in the southern hemisphere which allowed them greater access to the wide ocean expanses. Even though the enemy had fewer air resources they were still able to make hit and run attacks on our ships and they could launch aircraft from any number of locations. Many small islands could expect attacks from the air at any time.

Despite the fact we still had formidable naval and air forces in the south including our powerful submarine fleets and were still fighting in many areas, effectively speaking we had lost effective control of the southern half of the planet!

THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

With a much larger landmass in the northern hemisphere when compared to the south it was not unexpected that Martian forces would require much greater resources and a greater expenditure of time and effort to conquer the area. Nevertheless, their efforts by this thirteenth day of war had brought great success to their war efforts in this half of our world. At this point they were winning and pushing hard on most fronts with only a few lines of battle halted by some very determined Earth armies. Over all however most of their objectives were being met and one may expect – well on schedule.

In North America Martians had crossed the Gulf of Mexico and landed in southern Florida (now much flooded) pushing north to Jacksonville. On the southern United States border they had fought north with heavy losses to a line from north of Los Angeles to Mt. Whitney east to Amarillo, Texas, Fort Worth, Waco and on to Beaumont. Fort Worth and Houston along with several other cities along the line were now behind Martian front lines and cut off, but had not been captured. Cable and burst messages were still getting through as heavy bombers supported by Phoenix II fighters and Thunder Jets continued to hit Martian forces at nearly every line of Martian advance.

On the northern U.S. border Martian forces had fought along a line from Portland Oregon on the west coast to Billings, Montana to just north of St. Paul, Minnesota and were being held just north of Green Bay. Enemy forces had overrun Detroit but had by-passed Cleveland and Buffalo deciding to surround them and continue fighting south. In Canada, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal had all ended fighting and contact with the Canadian government still operating out of a special train on the move was becoming spotty at best.

Montreal, Canada

In the European theater of war the Martians were in heavy contact with Committee and British forces positioned just north, east and west of central London. In close hand-to-hand combat London defenders had halted Martian advances at least for now. London’s deep defenses had proven to be quite strong and were not folding. Half of Ireland was under Martian control as Irish, Scottish and Committee bombers flying out of Cork pounded Martian front line units on a twenty-four hour basis. Air losses had been heavy but the Martians had greatly slowed their advances both north and south.

On the continent the Martians had fought to a line from the Bay of Biscay on the west, south of Bonn, north of the outskirts of Warsaw to Kharkov and Stalingrad. It would be out of Stalingrad that Stalin unleashed his Siberians, arguably the toughest combat forces he had. At the cities’ northern gates the Martians had been stopped cold by a tremendous combined Siberian armor and artillery barrage which would last for two full days. No living Martian would enter Stalingrad at least not for long.

Much of Portugal and Spain and more than half of Italy now lay behind Martian lines with the eternal city of Rome surrounded on three sides. The Vatican was under evacuation as they explosively sealed the catacombs. Earlier the Pope had sent out an envoy to “speak to the Martians”. The five man group were eviscerated upon contact with the Martians.

In the east all of Mongolia and much of China was occupied except for a section of southern China centered around the exiled government which had fled to Changsha. All of Japan was also Martian controlled except for a tough pocket of resistance centered around the port city of Yohohama. The Japanese government was in the final stages of evacuating their headquarters to Okinawa. Two Japanese task forces had formed off the coast of Yohohama including the carriers Zuikaka and Shokaku to aid in the evacuation. The old Japanese sea plane carrier Wakamiya formed the core of a task force waiting off of Okinawa. The American carrier USS Saratoga and the Japanese heavy cruiser Myoko formed a battle group hitting targets both north and south of Yohohama. For the time being the Martians were being held, but just barely and with great loss of life. It was estimated the area could be held for no longer than 48 hours.

NEW MARTIAN COMMAND CENTERS

It did not take long for the Martians to reestablish new command centers to replace the loss of their polar bases. Their new northern base was established in Greenland, inland from Skaer Fjorden just west of King Frederik VIII Land. Radar intelligence, now greatly limited in the far north, showed an increase of activity in the area but confirmation came only when Icelandic Special Forces made their way to the site. And considering the weather that was no easy task. The new Martian base was once again three sided but much smaller than the old one. It was no more than one mile on each side with a small tower in the center and few defensive Heat-Ray facilities. It appeared to be guarded by no more than two dozen flying machines on patrol and very little in the way of Walkers or ground combat vehicles. There were no visible human pens, at least not yet, and the facility had the look of being only temporary. At least the Martians had learned to constantly have Martian Flying Machines over flying their command centers.

In the south strong forces had been spotted landing on South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. Submarine reconnaissance soon reported this was in fact the new Southern Martian Command Base. As in Greenland this new center was a greatly reduced version of the old southern base, no greater than one mile on each of its three sides. Why they would establish a command center on a relatively small island rather than Tasmania, the tip of South America or southern Africa all of which were firmly under their control we could not understand. One theory put forward at the time was that the command group on Mars was always separated and perhaps this tradition had been continued on Earth. This area is well isolated.

Considering how far away these new centers were from a majority of our available combat forces especially in the south it was going to be difficult but not impossible to attack them in strength. We began to plan these attacks immediately.

Martian primary attacks and occupied territories – 14 September 1938

DAY FOURTEEN: 15 September 1938

In the early hours of this cold September morning a phone call came into our Committee command center in Lower-London on one of the few operational lines from one of the many civilian reporters tasked with covering and describing the greatest war on Earth for his future readers – if any. Before the line went dead he reported on what he was seeing. He was reporting events near London but what he saw could have been seen at any number of places on Earth – the report would have been much the same.

“And this thing I saw! How can I describe it? A monstrous tripod, higher than many houses, striding over the young pine trees, and smashing them aside in it career; a walking engine of glittering metal, striding now across the heather; articulate (jointed) ropes of steel dangling from it, and the clattering tumult of its passage mingling with the riot of the thunder. A flash and it came out vividly, heeling over one way with two feet in the air, to vanish and reappear almost instantly as it seemed, with the next flash, a hundred yards nearer. Can you imagine a milking stool tilted and bowled violently along the ground? That was the impression those instant flashes gave. But instead of a milking stool imagine it a great body of machinery on a tripod stand. It was…”

ZEUS FLASH: TO ALL COMMANDS: MARTIANS NOW COMMAND THE ENGLISH CHANNEL AND NORTH SEA EAST OF ENGLAND. MEDITERRANEAN SEA COMPLETELY SURROWNDED BY MARTIAN GROUND FORCES. WESTERN EUROPE GROUND COMMAND NOW AT DELTA 64.

THE NORTH

As the Martians continued their efforts to take ground and bypass well defended cities Committee and National military forces continued to take advantage of limited Martian air operations. For the most part we controlled the air over much of the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. We also controlled much of the ocean’s surface. We were able to move well enough in the air over most northern land masses, despite the clogged atmosphere, even though much of the area had been overrun by Martians. Using this capability Committee and national air forces began dropping much needed supplies to groups of stay-behind forces now linking up with remnants of cut-off regular combat units in substantial behind the lines guerrilla operations. For the most part communication with these groups would prove spotty and usually by flash message only. As time went on these units became better organized into full combat teams and would prove to be some of the most effective fighting forces in the War.

These rear area operations were most effective in occupied Russia, the United States and north-west Europe. Many of these behind the lines efforts focused on destroying supply depots and rescuing humans from Martian concentration camps of which there were many. Killing any Martian was naturally high on the target list as small well-trained sniper teams were beginning to have some effect. If they could locate Martian As which appeared to be in leadership positions that would be their primary target of opportunity with any Martian A next on the target list. Tango sniper teams would prove to be quite good at this particular work – and they were keeping score!

Due to the success of these unconventional military operations it was not long before the Martians were forced to withdraw units of Martian As normally deployed in front line positions to rear area security and seek-and-destroy missions. Once again the Martians had been forced to change their tactics. These actions showed they were ill prepared to deal with such determined rear area military attacks. It was clear to our leadership we needed to keep up this pressure and the only way to sustain this effort was to maintain a constant supply of food, medical supplies and ammunition to these small units by air. We would soon be dropping additional combat troops as well as much needed supplies to re-enforce these groups as well as into populated areas that had been cut off but were still fighting.

Even with Committee and National Air Forces controlling much of the darkened skies over Europe and Asia several Martian Flying Machines did come up at times to engage our fighters in dog-fights as well as attacking our bombers and cargo aircraft. The Martians were running out of air resources as our air losses were matching theirs. Several wings of Phoenix IIs off of carriers were now exclusively on the hunt for Martian Flying Machines in an effort to clear the skies of enemy fighters.

The Martians were not the only ones having problems keeping combat aircraft in the skies. As they were running out of operational flying machines we were running out of usable replacement engines. The massive amounts of debris still being pumped into the atmosphere, including vast amounts of volcanic glass, was playing hell on our jet engines. Dozens of aircraft were falling out of the sky each day as their engines seized up and failed. Aircraft which were able to make it back to their bases were as often as not needing their engines replaced. There were simply not enough ground crews to keep up with the work even though we had recruited hundreds of civilians who had worked on jet engines for commercial airlines before the war. We were still able to produce enough engines to replace much of our losses and we had stockpiled thousands of them before the war but getting them into the aircraft was becoming a race for time and we had little of that commodity remaining.

Berlin, Germany:

Burst report by German government to Committee Headquarters London: MARTIANS HAVE ENDED ATTEMPTS TO ENTER AND CAPTURE CITY. COMPLETELY CUT OFF. LIGHT AIR ATTACKS CONTINUE WITH BLACK SMOKE AND HEAT RAYS. IN GREAT NEED OF RESUPPLY.

Massed bomber attacks out of air bases across the United States were once again pounding Martian front line forces across a wide front on both northern and southern lines of advance. Literally thousands of heavy bombers supported by several wings of Phoenix IIs, Thunder Jets and other combat aircraft were keeping up the pressure causing many sections along the Martian front to halt. More often than not the bombers did not come under air attack even though ground based Heat-Rays continued to take their toll. Most of the time the casualties among air crews during these attacks were light to moderate. At several areas along the front lines the Martians had been halted but had not yet been turned back.

During the First Martian War very few Martian combat units were able to fight their way to the vast grasslands of North America, Russia and China – they had simply run out of time. This time however, with stronger forces and no bacteria to prematurely end their efforts vast grasslands of Russia and China were now under Martian occupation as well as vast areas of Canada. The most productive food producing areas of the United States had yet to be taken but the enemy was doing its best to alleviate that problem.

OPTIMISTICHEKAYA CAVE UKRAINE

Upon discovering the 89 mile long Optimistichekaya Cave system in Ukraine it was quickly decided to work this massive natural underground system into a usable military command and control center as well as an underground refuge for a large civilian population in time of war. For nearly two weeks of relentless Martian attacks across our planet this facility was unknown to the Martians. On the 14^th day it was discovered. It was the first large natural underground cave system being used to house and protect humans to be discovered and it was soon under determined Martian attack.

The cave had been divided into twenty segments averaging four miles each. At each ‘divide’ massive concrete and steel barriers had been constructed into the cave closing off one section from the others. The system had 40 new man-made entrance points which had been tunneled out and completely camouflaged. When the Martians attacked two of these entrances they had no idea how vast this cave ‘city’ was nor did they suspect how heavily defended it would be.

They had used standard ground Heat-Rays to blast their way into the cave entrances and small Walkers backed by ground troops to attack the interior and were immediately counter-attacked by rockets and machine-gun fire held in the hands of some very determined Ukrainian fighters. The fighting would be nearly constant hand-to-hand in tight quarters for several days along miles of this complex. This underground fight would become one of the bloodiest continuous battles of the war. In the end, despite great loss of life, the Martians were never able to take the entire cave end-to-end.

Although numerous smaller underground cave facilities were eventually discovered and attacked mostly by rear area Martian patrols no other large natural cave was ever found by the Martians. At least to some degree the Committee had succeeded in keeping our promise of hiding large groups of people from the bloody Martians. Millions would be saved in these natural underground caves which when one thinks about it had been provided by the Earth itself!

THE MARTIAN SOUTH

Despite the loss of most southern land masses, Committee and national air and naval operations continued. These forces had to hold out as long as they could. At several points where Martian forces were concentrated air attacks were undertaken most notably in and around Sydney where Committee forces continued to hold on to ¼ of the underground facility, and around Burketown where evacuations of civilians continued. Despite heavy attacks by Martian ground forces the combined Committee and Australian armies could not be dislodged and were holding on supported by naval bombardments and massed bomber attacks being flown out of Auckland, New Zealand and off nearby carriers.

Auckland was now receiving thousands of refugees and military personnel from several occupied nations who had escaped from their overrun countries. It had become a southern military staging area. Plans were underway to land on the southern island of New Zealand for a major counter attack to retake the island using many of these new forces along with established Committee and New Zealand combat units.

At the same time privately owned cargo ships which had been caught in the open ocean were being directed to sail to northern New Zealand if possible. Many of these ships were transporting desperately needed supplies which could be used to support the suddenly increased population. The Fiji and Gilbert Islands were also becoming destinations for many of these ships which had been stranded in the South Pacific at the start of the war. With 10,000 Pacific islands there were plenty of hiding places. Committee warships were on the way to both areas in order to re-direct these ships with military escorts to locations where these supplies were most needed.

As the African evacuations continued from Santo Antonio do Zaire refugees who had somehow made it to the coast were reporting massive death tolls they had witnessed due to Martian attacks, many from deadly Black Smoke and Heat-Rays. From destroyed cities and villages survivors spoke of Martian Heat-Rays sweeping avenues and charring thousands of people at a time trying to flee certain death. People were being crushed under their fast moving machines with a few survivors being taken for food as they continued to march. This was well organized murder on a vast scale. Those not taken for food or trapped in concentration camps for later ‘feeds’ were simply massacred on the spot by the hundreds of thousands. Africa was being de-populated at an alarming rate! As with other areas around the planet concentration camps had been set up throughout occupied Africa guarded by Martian Bs and ‘Martian humans’. Several of these camps had been over flown by Psyop forces which had dropped leaflets calling on the ‘Martian humans’ to “turn on your brutal Martian masters and return to humanity by releasing your captures and fighting against the Martian invaders.” In a very few cases the guards did indeed turn on the Martians but much more often they remained loyal to the Martians. Perhaps not unexpectedly, considering their experiences their conversion had been total. They were Martian!

It would be the concentration camp near Walvis Bay, South West Africa where Tango forces and Committee Marines landed on this day in a rescue operation which liberated over 3000 human captives. During this operation, supported by five battleships firing salvo after salvo and heavy air cover, our forces engaged and killed well over 2000 Martians, mostly Bs, many hybrids and at least 100 ‘Martian humans’. Twenty-four ‘Martian humans’ were taken alive and brought out with those who had been rescued. Massive piles of burnt bodies numbered in the thousands. The operation, conducted under terrible weather conditions, was very successful as the Martians did not appear to be prepared for any type of military defense of the camp. In addition the raid ‘bagged’ two Martian As who were also transported. All those rescued were soon on their way by escorted surface ships to St. Helena. The prisoners were on their way by submarine to our Sea Cave Facility B6 at Sierra Leone which had thus far escaped notice by our Martian enemies who controlled the area entire around the facility.

COUNTER ATTACKS

In several areas across the Martian South including Australia, South America, Asia and Africa military units from overrun countries were pulling together what they had to counter-attack enemy forces whenever the opportunity presented itself. Many of these attacks took advantage of our superior forces in the air and at sea. But none of these counter attacks were as strong or as well organized as the four point attack on the southern New Zealand Island quickly formulated and conducted by combined New Zealand, Australian and Committee forces. For the first time in the war we were able to take back lost territory.

American supplied Committee forces counter attack

Sailing out of Wellington, Hawke Bay and Manukau Harbour at Auckland late in the day, hundreds of landing craft and well over 300 combat ships including four full aircraft carrier task forces began landing over 40,000 troops on the southern island of New Zealand at Christchurch, Clarence River, Cloudy Bay and Tasman Bay. At the point of the operation transport ships simply sailed directly onto the beaches establishing a very fast landing force. In addition every available civilian coastal ship of any size (some 600 of them) was pressed into service as part of the invasion forces. Supported by massed air to ground assaults and sustained heavy bomber attacks the light Martian forces were pushed back from the beachheads within six hours with only moderate losses. Enemy counter attacks were soon destroyed. Combined air power matched by intense fire from off shore batteries devastated Martian forces which were simply unprepared to deal with such a massed assault. It was clear they had dismissed any possibility of this type of attack. Within 48 hours all four of these landing bridgeheads were linked up, re-enforced and moving west and south.

As these operations were being conducted a second strong landing force made their way to the Gulf of Carpentary and Burketown to re-enforce that still hotly contested area and begin to push back strong Martian forces which had been held at bay at Burketown by several reformed Committee and Australian armies. Once again strong off shore batteries and strong air forces pounded the Martians forcing them to pull back from their front line positions.

Out of South America scattered radio and Ham reports indicated that several national combat units severely disrupted due to intense fighting had re-formed into Martian hunter teams. Survivors of several mostly destroyed Committee infantry and armor units had also combined with these new teams. These teams had begun operating out of the Amazon jungle attacking Martian units along the Negro and Amazon Rivers. Their only operational plans were to live off the jungle and kill as many Martians as they could find. Taking and holding territory was not an objective. For the rest of the war only spotty reports from those units would be heard. For the most part they had “gone off the radio grid” and were on their own. Some would end up so deep in the jungle it would be years before they could be contacted.

It would be in the Amazon Jungle where our forces would make contact with individual Martian Hunter As using the cover of the jungle as their private human hunting ground for sport. Tango teams would soon be on the hunt for these Martians and these teams, trained in that jungle, would prove to be more than a match for these Martian Hunter As. Their work would cause most Martians to fear the jungle.

At the same time strong Committee forces began landing on the east coast of South America near Cayenne in French Guiana to strengthen local military units and aid in re-organizing local combat units still capable of combat operations. As in other areas these re-enforcements were strongly supported by air and off shore combat forces. Naval guns opened up on enemy positions near the shore with ferocity. And again these landings had been successful in pushing Martian forces back. These were not by any means decisive operations in the grand scheme of things, but they were critical in demonstrating we could still defeat Martians as long as we continued to fight no matter what the cost may be. As usual the costs were high.

RADAR

After two weeks of war our deep tracking radar capabilities had become spotty at best. Most operational combat units still had local radar systems mounted on trucks and were still able to combine them with other units but many of our large powerful out-looking radars we had counted on to keep us informed of Martian orbital capabilities had been knocked out by Martian air attacks. Nevertheless, those few operational stations were indicating there were possibly fewer than thirty Martian craft in orbit around the Earth – all in polar orbits. If this was true it meant most of the Martian combat forces designated to invade the Earth were already deployed with few remaining forces available to re-enforce those units presently engaging Earth forces.

With this information we finally had a reasonable understanding of the total Martian combat capabilities and force structure. As much as we could understand by their continued slowing ground operations the Martians were spread thin about as far as they could be and still engage in offensive operations. They could however, no longer advance on all fronts. They would need to pick their attack avenues with care. We would need to pick ours with great care and hit them as hard as we could at their most vulnerable points even though we would still lose a great deal in the process. This had become a war of attrition.

The Earth still had greater numbers by far despite the loss of hundreds of millions of people but the very destructive weapons of war brought to Earth by the Martians were still able to exact a terrible toll on our people. We had the numbers but they held the more powerful weapons, as well as effective control over more than half the planet including vast areas of land. The full measure of this war had not yet been taken. There was much more to lose even if victory should be ours, and that was by no means a certainty. In point of fact we were still losing on most fronts and that was likely to continue for some time.

In all the confusion one report came in which seemed odd even considering the situation we found ourselves in battling the Martians all across the planet. Over the past several days military and civilian spotters in several areas had reported unidentified flying objects not of Martian origin over flying active front lines. Our limited radars had also tracked several of these rather large craft in Earth orbit. These unidentified craft seemed to be doing nothing more than observing the war. These ‘others’ seemed to be interested in having a front row seat. They had not hindered Martian war efforts nor had they aided the Martians in any way – they were just there! All we could do was track them as best we could with our degraded radars and file sighting reports as they came in. What their true objective was – if any – was still a mystery.

Martian primary attacks and occupied territories – 15 September 1938

EARTH’S LAST ATOMIC BOMB

In Lower-New York City the third and final atomic bomb had been assembled and was now ready to be loaded on a specially modified Phoenix IIA identical to the aircraft which had delivered the atomic weapon to the Martian base at Antarctica. Members of the original Tunguska West team had made their way to our headquarters and the weapon they had developed was now ready to use. Once again a Martian Command Center would be the target. We had bombed the facility on several occasions but only once before on a massive scale. Now for the second time Giza would be bombed with the intention of destroying the entire facility. This time the attack must succeed. Three Phoenix IIAs were designated to carry and escort the weapon to the Bermuda Islands where the aircraft would re-fuel for the flight across the Atlantic. The only real cover they would enjoy was the terrible weather blanketing the ocean and the anti-radar coatings on their craft.

[END PART 70]

Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020

[NEXT WEEK: PART 71: THE GROUND WAR CONTINUES AS A NEW MARTIAN FLEET EMERGES.]

[PART 69]

DAY TWELVE: 13 September 1938

As the Giza attack force stood by waiting for status reports on the polar bombing groups, intelligence reports continued to flood into Committee offices detailing Martian ground operations and limited air attacks around the world.

These reports included information on continuing bad weather conditions most notable on this day across the plains of North America reporting on at least 400 destructive tornados touching down along a weather front from Forth Worth to Memphis. Cyclones continued to pound India from Mangalore to Madras; the entire area now under Martian control. One particularly strong cyclone was beginning to hit the Arabian Peninsula with winds up to 160 miles per hour with devastating rains. The few intelligence reports coming from that region indicated even the Martians were having a good deal of trouble operating under those conditions. Most of Western Europe was being hit by snow storms dumping upwards of 15 to 20 feet in many areas. Across Eastern Europe into Mongolia and China snow was even heavier driven by winds of 60 to 70 miles per hour in many places.

Science stations were also picking up movements on several fault lines along a north/south line near the central Atlantic sea floor as well as several large aftershocks on the other side of the world off the coast of Japan and the Mariana Islands. Several powerful quakes had also hit the west coast of California and Chile.

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

In the south the Martians were consolidating their ground war efforts at several locations. Forces already engaged in areas where the fighting had ended or vastly weakened were re-routed to re-enforce active areas. In Africa their forces in control of the middle of the continent had linked up with their ground units which had invaded southern Africa. They now occupied over 2/3rds of Africa. Martian forces which had landed near Morocco were within 50 miles of Martian units which had landed at Giza and were expected to link up at Tripoli within 12 hours. The Martians now controlled the southern half of India holding a line from Bhavnagar on the west to Calcutta on the east. Ceylon was now in Martian ‘hands’ and our base at Colombo had been evacuated and destroyed in order to keep it out of Martian control.

In South America Martian ground forces had linked up at Lima in Peru and now occupied the entire west coast of South America. La Paz and Sucre are under heavy ground attack and was expected to fall at any moment. In Central America enemy forces have fought north and south linking up at what is left of Panama City. Since the link up in Panama nothing has been heard from our Committee center in Panama City. It is feared lost.

All of the southern island of New Zealand was now under Martian occupation as is 80% of Australia. Heavy fighting continues by re-combined Australian units along a line from Halls Creek to Burketown in the north. We expect to lose most of Australia within 48 hours. Sydney and Brisbane continue to fight off Martian assaults and have not been completely overrun. Reinforcements are being brought into Sydney via the underground port still in Committee hands. The fighters desperately holding on in Brisbane are being supplied by air flown in from carriers off shore. Both cities continue to be supported by naval units off shore operating in very rough seas.

Committee forces prepare to advance in New Zealand

Along a line between the north and south islands of New Zealand, 35 Australian and New Zealand warships including two carrier groups have been formed as a blocking force against expected Martian landings aimed at northern New Zealand. Warships are also pounding Martian positions at Nelson, Hokitika, West of Kingston, Dunedin, Timara and Christchurch. Martian casualties are reported as heavy and they had as yet made no attempt to invade the northern island. Air attacks by Martian Flying Machines have had some effect on the combined fleet but as of this time casualties have been relatively light. The capital at Wellington was attacked by several flying machines dropping Black Smoke and mid-level Heat-Ray attacks which started thousands of fires but most of the damage was quickly contained.

Committee and combined Australia/New Zealand forces land reinforcements at the northern coast of New Zealand

All of Borneo and Indonesia were now under Martian occupation as the Martians continued to push north. The southern islands of the Philippines had also been lost to the Martians, even as submarines landed marine raider units continuing to engage Martian rear units.

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

In the north despite continued low levels of Martian air cover their ground forces continued to advance. The enemy had pushed north across China into the Soviet Union along a line from Vanavara, Olekminsk, Khandyga, Atka, Kamenskoye to Anadyr in the east. In Canada the Martians had fought along the west coast north to Sitka and Juneau; in Central Canada to the Great Slave Lake and along Hudson Bay to Eskimo Point. In the east, Ottawa and Montreal were surrounded and cut off as fighting continues. Toronto had been overrun and fighting had begun in Windsor across the river from Detroit, Michigan. Martian advance elements had crossed into the United States at Cleveland, Buffalo and Bangor. Quebec on the St. Lawrence River was bracing for attack.

In Ireland Irish and Committee forces were fighting along two fronts from Belfast in the north and Dublin in the south. In England Martian forces have stalled on a line from Cardiff to the north and north east of New London where heavy fighting was underway. Scottish units had joined with Welsh infantry in support of Commonwealth and Committee units west of Cardiff but were being slowly pushed back.

On the continent of Western Europe Martian ground forces supported by a few dozen flying machines were moving west from Amsterdam attacking European armies on a line from just north of Paris to Bonn, Germany on to Berlin and east to Vilnius in White Russia. Additional Martian forces were now occupying an area around 1000 miles wide roughly centered on Moscow. As these forces began to move heavy fighting was reported in Kharkov northwest of Stalingrad. Stalin had ordered Martian advances stopped at all costs. It had been 12 hours since Moscow had made contact with London. No wireless traffic was getting through and the cables were not operational.

Across the Mediterranean Sea Martian forces moved north from Africa into Spain, Portugal, Sicily, Italy, Greece and southern Turkey. All of these new fronts counter-attacked by national forces were losing ground. Naples, Seville and Athens had already fallen while Lisbon was reporting heavy fighting in and around the city. Nevertheless, strong national and Committee naval forces were pounding Martian positions along the western coast of Italy around Naples as well as in strong support south and east of Lisbon. A score of ships were lost in the engagement. Generally Martian air cover in the Mediterranean area was limited but when used was still very effective especially when dropping Black Smoke in Sicily and southern Italy.

Committee and national air forces mostly in the northern hemisphere were having good results on not only front line Martian units but several attacks had been successfully made on rear area supply points. These efforts were clearly slowing the enemy advances but had not stopped their attacks on most front lines. Our air forces were taking advantage of limited Martian air activity along as many fronts as possible but with so many areas under strong ground attack our air resources were stretched to the limit. Clearly this war would be won or lost on the ground.

MARTIAN COMMAND BASE ATTACKS

(GIZA)

When word was received that both polar attack groups had passed 80 degrees north and south the Giza attack group took off. A few days earlier as this combined operation was being planned the Mediterranean Sea was mostly under human control. Now as we launched our forces to bomb Giza the area had become a Martian Sea. These air forces would be flying over Martian controlled territory for much of the flight.

From air bases north of Rome and just east of Belgrade heavy Whitehead B4 jet bombers, Phoenix IIs and Thunder Jets took off for the Giza complex. Just forming up would cause difficulties as continuing bad weather made contact in the air and close formation flying a very dangerous business. The western group out of Rome flew a low level path which took them over waters between north Africa and Sicily, both Martian occupied, and on into the Mediterranean. The eastern group flew south over the Aegean Sea intending to meet up with the western group at a point just south of Crete. In total the bomb groups numbered 310 heavy bombers, 118 Phoenix IIs and 150 Thunder Jets. They encountered high winds, a heavy atmosphere and 28 Martian Flying Machines which had flown up from Giza to meet them.

Just after the link-up off Crete the lead Phoenix IIs came into contact with the Martian machines. If possible none of the Thunder Jets were to dogfight with the Martians, rather they had been ordered to bypass the Martians and fly directly to Giza and take out as many of the ground based Heat-Rays as they could before the bombers arrived. They were to leave the dog-fighting to the superior and better armed Phoenix IIs. The Martian flyers seemed to be agreeing with these plans as the Thunder Jets flew on to the target.

Seemingly not wanting to engage the Earth fighters the Martians did their best to Heat-Ray their way past the Phoenix IIs and on into the three levels of Whitehead B4 bombers which had formed into two bombing streams at high, medium and low levels. Gunners onboard the bombers were making that work difficult. Nevertheless, in only a few minutes the Martians had managed to down 22 bombers and six Phoenix IIs. The fighting continued much of the way to the target until the Martians suddenly broke off their attacks on the bomber formations staying with the Phoenix IIs which cost the Martians ten more of their machines.

As the fighting continued off the coast of North Africa the four Committee submarines which had been standing by just off shore surfaced and launched all eight of their unmanned 2000 lb drones. Seven out of eight headed directly towards their pre-programmed target at Giza. One of the drones seemed to have a mind of its own as it headed out to sea almost due north. Even with that problem adding to the attacking Martian machines the bombing mission on Giza was going as planned.

(ARCTIC)

Almost as soon as the Arctic teams lifted off on their northern flight both groups had run into problems. Even though both teams were being led in by specially designed and equipped Phoenix IIA Electronic Guide aircraft, weather conditions and faulty equipment were making it very difficult for the trailing groups to keep an electronic lock on the leaders. Massive electrical discharges were lighting up the entire area. The Thunder Jet pilots were especially having a difficult time in the bad weather. Many of them would lock on to the signal for a while then the signal would drop off entirely. In the end many of them would fly north using last known positions of the led craft and a ‘gut feeling’ where they were. Because of these problems nearly half of the Thunder Jets never arrived at the North Pole. Many of them simply turned back when they could not get their bearings to the pole and at least two dozen never made it back to their bases running out of fuel and becoming lost somewhere over the Arctic ice.

Those craft able to make it all the way in were surprised by two events they would never have suspected. First was the very light coverage by Martian Flying Machines which numbered no greater than 40. Second was the magnificent aurora displays over the polar ice which had lit up the entire area. In general aurora displays were not unusual but these were so extensive and so bright they lit up the polar ice to a much greater extent than ever before. The Martian Command Center we were hoping to destroy under appalling lighting and weather conditions was so well lit up by the display it almost looked like daylight. Nothing was hidden from view. The bomb group could clearly see hundreds of Martian Walkers lined up in neat rows, at least 50 Martian Flying Machines on the ice most likely being repaired and a great many structures of all kinds mostly round. The ground based Martian Heat-Rays opened up on the flight. Due to the difficulty of arriving on target the original plans had to be thrown out the window. None of the Thunder Jets slated to attack the Heat-Rays first had arrived on target. The first group to arrive was the bombers with their Phoenix II escorts which left open the possibility of being shot down by ground based Heat-Rays or by counter attacking Martian Flying Machines. Flight commanders soon ordered half of the Phoenix IIs to attack the Heat-Rays as the bombers circled once around to line up on the target. The remaining Phoenix IIs were ordered to engage the Martian Flying Machines. The toughest job now was keeping the Martians away from the bombers as they formed up for their run at the pole. This would prove costly as 21 bombers were shot down by the Martians who themselves lost eight of their machines even before our forces could line up on the base. Within minutes the Phoenix IIs had destroyed 28 of the Heat-Rays opening up a small path for the bombers. From high and medium level two bomber streams of at least 180 aircraft each lined up to drop their deadly high-explosive payloads. Better than half of the bombs found their way to the base as row after row exploded on the ice field upon which the base had been built. Ten more bombers never made it away after dropping their loads – hit by deadly ground based Heat-Rays. But their effect on the base had been dramatic.

After the first two bomber groups finished their runs, while the air battle over the Arctic ice continued three groups of Thunder Jets finally arrived at the pole. All three groups numbering some 90 jets coming in from two directions made bee lines for the remaining Heat-Rays hitting several on their first runs. By this time better than half of the deadly Heat-Rays had been knocked out. Several had been destroyed by the bombers themselves.

As the final wave of bombers lined up to drop their seismic devices the Martians could count only 12 flying machines still in the fight and they were far too busy dealing with the Phoenix IIs to focus on the bombers. As the bombers were about to drop their loads a third group of Thunder Jets came roaring out of the clouds heading directly for the eastern side of the Martian facility where most of the remaining functional Heat-Rays were located. In what became an unplanned yet simultaneous attack by Thunder Jets and Whitehead B4 bombers most of the 500 seismic devices hit their targets in and around the base. Pulling out the pilots could see the ice breaking up with massive Martian structures dropping through the ice into the Arctic Sea.

With the bomb runs completed and at least 2/3rds of the base breaking up and sinking the flight leader ordered the bombers to turn south and head for home. The Thunder Jets were ordered to escort the bombers as closely as they could. The Phoenix IIs were ordered to continue attacking what remained of the base and sink every remaining structure they could find. As the bombers and Thunder Jets flew south only four Martian Flying Machines were still engaging the Phoenix IIs. All four would soon join their base at the bottom of the Arctic Sea!

Photos taken by one of the last Phoenix IIs to leave the area would show 95% of the facility had been destroyed. The photos did not indicate any of the thousands of humans held hostage had survived the attack. The temporary structures which had held these people had disappeared. This had been a very costly success and no one cheered the victory even though we had been able to destroy a great deal of Martian war making capacity along with one of their primary command facilities. As always the cost for humanity was very high. (Only later did we discover that incredibly 18 people had survived. Their journey of survival as they walked south became the stuff of legend.)

(ANTARCTICA)

The decoy Phoenix IIs separated from the bomb group over the Weddell Sea just off the coast of Antarctica. From thus point on the five radar absorbing Phoenix IIAs were on their own flying due south to the pole across Gould Bay. From there the bomb group now flying very close to the shifting ice flows flew past Berkner Island which was itself almost completely ice covered. There was very little exposed rock. It was the team’s first back-up geographic ground observation point to be used for navigation if for whatever reason their onboard instruments had failed. They were right on course.

In the lead were three Phoenix IIAs flying a diamond formation with two other aircraft following behind including the atomic bomb armed aircraft. It was cold and clear with not a Martian in sight. As the flight made their way towards Neptune and Forrestal Mountain ranges they picked up a burst radio report from the decoy team indicating that they had been jumped by 12 Martian Flying Machines at the eastern edge of the Weddell Sea. A dogfight was on going. The decoy mission had apparently worked. The bomb team continued south with absolute radio silence. So far so good.

The flight was soon flying “map of the Earth” between the Neptune and Forrestal Mountain ranges when one of the lead aircraft began having control problems. It was not long before the pilot indicated he would not be able to make it to the South Pole. As he pulled away to head north be began to trail smoke. No radio contact was made as the four remaining craft continued on course. No further contact with that aircraft was ever made and it probably crashed somewhere on the Antarctic ice fields.

It was not long before the flight passed Mt. Hawkes, another of their geographic ground points. Still no sighting of any Martian craft and the area they were flying over was still very clear. It was now a straight shot to the target at the pole on the Antarctic Plateau estimated to be situated at an altitude of 9300 feet above sea level much of that was thousands of feet of ancient ice. They would slowly make that climb keeping one eye on the sky and another on the ice sheet below.

(GIZA)

The bomber crews could see the unmanned bombs flying below them as they lined up on their bomb run. They could also see squadrons of Thunder Jets coming in behind the bombs for their attack on the ground based Heat-Rays. As Tesla had promised each one of the ‘successful’ 2000 lb flying bombs landed on target with one actually hitting The Great Pyramid at about mid level. It would now sport a rather nice hole on its northern facing side but not for long. This would not be the last attack on the pyramids as each one had their tops adorned with Martian Heat-Rays and these deadly machines needed to be destroyed.

The remaining 288 bombers lined up in three streams as they crossed the IP for their run at the Giza Plateau. Although the wind storms which had plagued the area for days continued to hit the plateau the Martian base could clearly be seen by the pilots.

As the bomb bay doors opened and the final line up began the Martians played their trump card. Flying in a line of at least 30 each from both the east and west Martian Flying Machines came at the bomber streams like a pack of hungry wolves with their Heat-Rays pulsing as fast as they could. The bomber crews did not know what hit them as they flew into the line of Martian machines.

The Martians had engaged the Phoenix IIs off the North African coast to keep them busy as Martians prepared to do whatever it took to take out our bombers. The Martians had not taken our bait – it was we who had fallen into their well timed trap!

In less than 60 seconds like a giant vice closing in from two sides the Martians shot down over 160 bombers nearly completely disrupting the attack. In the confusion all around them only 20 bombers made it to the heavily defended target inflicting very little damage. Several more bombers were lost to ground based Heat-Rays. As the bomber formations broke up and the surviving aircraft headed north the Phoenix IIs and Thunder Jets engaged as many of the enemy aircraft as possible doing their best to protect the surviving bombers. In the end only 34 of the original 310 bombers would return to their bases. 42 Phoenix IIs and 74 Thunder Jets were also lost. The mission to destroy the enemies’ command base at Giza had been a complete failure.

Despite this major loss we all knew there was no choice but to plan our next all out attack on Giza as soon as possible.

(ANTARCTICA)

As the flight crossed the Trans Antarctic Mountain Range dropping towards the Antarctic Plateau the weather suddenly turned treacherous. A cold fast moving fog seemed to cover the entire area as far as the pilots could see. The fog looked natural – whatever that meant at the time – but we could not rule out a possible Martian induced protective fog. There was nothing to look at and no indications of either man or Martian activity. This was truly a whiteout condition.

Above the men could see the Aurora Austrialus; below only ice with no geographic features on which to focus. Only their flight instruments told them they were on course for the pole. With these conditions they could not risk flying so close to the surface as there were known mountain ranges thousands of feet high and most of the area had never been mapped at least by the hand of man. They had no choice but to gain altitude and hope their specially built radar absorbing craft were not spotted by any Martian patrols. As it turned out it was not the Martians that they needed to be concerned with.

In formation with two craft in the lead and two following including the Phoenix IIA with the bomb, the flight was no more than 30 minutes from their target when another of the lead planes began to pull back from its lead position. Closing on the two trailing aircraft the pilot of the plane losing speed flew alongside the two trailing planes indicating he had some type of problem and needed to pull back. He would begin to trail the group. That left one plane as lead, the bomb group following with the fourth craft trailing.

Seconds later the seemingly impossible happened. The pilot of the trailing aircraft suddenly banked behind the atomic bomb craft and began firing at it with rockets! For whatever reason H-George Davis, the pilot of the atomic bomb carrying Phoenix IIA, had sensed something was wrong when the trailing plane moved directly behind his craft. Just before he was fired on he pulled his craft up and to the left in a tight roll as the rockets flew past his right wing. Within seconds his protective wing man was in a life and death dogfight with one of their own – a renegade.

The renegade pilot was attempting to stay with Davis firing his machine-guns as Davis continued his roll. His wing man trailed behind firing his guns at the renegade. None of the pilots could understand why one of their own was trying to shoot down the atomic bomb plane. All they knew was they had to knock it out of the sky before the renegade took out Davis. The flight leader radioed Davis to break south and attempt to head towards the target as he and the wing man fought the renegade. Turning hard and pushing his craft for all it had Davis headed south. Within seconds rockets fired by the flight leader found one of the engines of the renegade Phoenix IIA as he attempted to follow Davis in his roll reversal and exploded ending his attack on the hybrid pilot. The renegade pilot had said nothing to explain why he had attacked.

After the fight the group formed up into a line formation with the commander’s Phoenix IIA leading the way with Davis in the middle and his wing man flying rear cover. One thing was now very clear. The Martians could not possibly have missed the fact they were on their way south. The renegade pilot had sent a high pitch radio signal just before he attacked Davis. With that signal he may as well sent an open invitation to the Martians. Within minutes the Martians would be accepting the invite.

Once again the flight was flying as close to the ground as they dare. They were however not on course heading directly for the South Pole. The flight leader had indicated he wanted the group to follow him close to the ground but away from the pole. Flying directly at the pole was what the Martians were probably prepared for. Without radio calls the team prepared to swing starboard expecting to miss their target by an estimated 50 miles. After passing by the entire flight would once again turn towards the pole and bomb their target from their new attack direction.

Before the turn however the Phoenix IIA piloted by the mission commander had one more trick up his sleeve. He went to 4000 feet alone for a little deception work. In his bomb bay were thousands of metal strips he would use as a decoy for the Martian radars to pick up. Tesla’s team had put together this “bomb package” which also included two small radios which were activated when dropped. Both radios would broadcast emergency reports of a downed aircraft. It was hoped the Martians would focus on the “bomb package” and not on the bomb group. After the drop he returned to the group and they headed towards their new attack turning point. They would not see the ten Martian Flying Machines which had been sent up from the polar base to intercept their original course. What they did see after the turn was the Martian South Pole Command Base directly in front of them. It looked almost exactly the same as the images which had been taken of the Arctic base only twice as large.

The base had three sides and the flight crews estimated it was at least ten miles on each side. Much more detailed than the northern center this base had at least 200 ground-based Heat-Rays on the sides in three rows each (not all of them were operational at the base), twin central towers and row after row of Walkers as well as a good deal of other equipment. It also sported two large deep space radio dishes in two of the corners. There were at least 100 very large round structures within the base which could house thousands of Martians. What looked like large supply containers were stacked along one side of the base. There was also no doubt this base held thousands of captive people in large circular pens much like the ones discovered at the North Pole. The Martians had planned to stay a very long time if this base was any indication.

Almost as soon as the pilots saw their target they spotted several flying machines rise up from the base and turn in their direction. Both sides now had visual contact with their enemy.

South Pole bomb group:

Burst report by atomic bomber to Committee Headquarters: NEARING TARGET. NO TIME TO GAIN ALTITUDE. WILL DETONATE ON CONTACT. LONG LIVE HUMANITY. DAVIS.

Davis knew he would not have enough time to gain proper altitude with Martian Flying Machines coming up fast to meet him as did the other pilots. The flight leader radioed his wing man to the front as they prepared to shoot their way past the Martians. Within seconds both were leading Davis in firing their Heat-Rays, rockets and machineguns. They were firing absolutely every weapon they had. Seconds later the wing man’s Phoenix IIA exploded sending shrapnel into Davis’s aircraft. With one engine out, Davis fired all of his rockets and engaged his Heat-Ray as he and his flight leader flew past the Martians who were turning hard to finish off the team. It would be too little too late as Davis nosed his Phoenix IIA down towards the high Antarctic ice field and detonated the atomic bomb still housed in his bomb bay 1000 feet over the central tower of the Martian base. In a fraction of a second the two Phoenix IIAs vanished along with two dozen Martian Flying Machines and a majority of the Martian South Pole Command Center.

Most of H-George Davis’s burst radio message was received by our New Zealand command group as well as two Committee submarines which had been positioned at points just north of the Antarctic to receive just such a message. Confirmation the attack had succeeded occurred when shock waves from the bomb were recorded at several southern locations.

The costs had been high but Earth forces had succeeded in destroying two of the three primary Martian command centers. These attacks did not end the Martian war but they did give the Martians pause. They would need to change their strategy if their invasion of Earth was to succeed. In a later ceremony Davis and his fellow pilot were honored with Committee Medals of Honor. At the same ceremony the new Prime Director officially removed the “H” from Davis’s name.

APOLLO FLASH: TO ALL COMMANDS: MARTIAN COMMAND CENTERS AT NORTH AND SOUTH POLES DESTROYED. GIZA REMAINS OPERATIONAL. ENEMY MARITINE OPERATIONS LIMITED. ENEMY AIR CAPABILITIES NOW SEVERLY LIMITED. SEEK AND DESTROY ANY AND ALL ENEMY AIR RESOURCES WITH STRENGTH. ENEMY GROUND OPERATIONS REMAIN STRONG BUT ARE SLOWING.

[END PART 69]

Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020

[NEXT WEEK: PART 70: A CALL FOR EARTH TO SURRENDER, WAR CONTINUES; INVASION MAPS 4 & 5.]

[PART 68]

DAY TEN: 11 September 1938

By the tenth day the Martians ended their attacks on geologic targets. All efforts from this point on were directed at humans and any facilities they had built especially communications networks and our cities. Nevertheless, the damage already inflicted on the planet was substantial as earthquakes, massive rains with flooding, torrential winds, high energy lightening and massive volcanic eruptions continued to impact much of Earth. What they had set in motion even though things seemed to be leveling off a bit was to last for years.

Much of our wireless traffic was still being blocked by Martian interference. By radio, only burst messages were getting through, and only about half of them were being received. Our efforts depended on keeping the lines of communication open in order to coordinate as much of our defenses as humanly possible. By accident or design we had lost several primary cable links as well as many connecting lines. Both central Pacific and Atlantic cables were no longer operational. Land based cables seemed to be holding up very well as we were still able to coordinate much of our military efforts. Our submarine forces were still able to send and receive messages but near Martian controlled coast lines the Martians had placed devices in the water which were interfering with our underwater communications. That was unexpected but not a major problem at least for now.

There was at least one very good piece of news coming into the Committee from numerous sources. As far as we were able to learn not one of our natural tunnel facilities reworked to house and hide hundreds of thousands of people – none – had been discovered by the fast moving Martian forces! Naturally it was not known if our luck would hold but we would take what we could get. Messages by secure cable were sent to all of our natural facilities reminding them to keep radio silent and stay in their facilities for the very reason that Martian rear forces were all over the place and if they located any of these protective tunnels Martian front line forces would be expected to return to these facilities and destroy all they could. This was not to say the people in these tunnels were defenseless – they were not. Many had military or police training and were very well armed but mostly with hand held weapons up to and including machine guns and small rocket launchers. Nevertheless, doing battle with Martians in these tunnels would be extremely costly in lives lost. The best prospect for survival was to stay ‘buried’ in place and wait things out while continuing to be vigilant and monitor radio broadcasts.

It was confirmed on this day that humans, possibly thousands of them brought from Mars were presently fighting alongside Martian hybrids and Bs in Central America, Southern Africa and China. Orders were confirmed to capture as many as possible by Committee forces but not at the cost of lives. National military forces were forwarded this new information but none of them indicated that capture was an option. Understandably the lives of ‘Earth men’ came first. This day also saw the first substantiated claims of rear area Martian forces using abandoned motor vehicles and trains to transport troops and equipment. Most of these reports indicated the vehicles were being driven by hybrids and Martian Bs. With this new information in hand Committee and national forces were ordered to destroy as many of these vehicles as they could when they retreated. Anything the Martians could use was to be destroyed including rail lines. In several areas where humans were deployed with the Martians, language teams using loudspeakers began propaganda broadcasts directed towards the humans.

SEOUL

The Korean Mars Traps were working and damned well at that. The only problem was there were not nearly enough of them. As the Martians hit the defense layers on the outskirts of Seoul they encountered the traps and took no effort to avoid them. If they had suspected these were traps reports indicated the Martians simply moved right into these tunnels which were collapsed on them and without pause – as before – continued to move over their own dead. This was becoming the norm for Martian ground forces. What was not normal was the Martians fielding no flying machines during the first heavy ground assault on Seoul. This was the first attack on a major city conducted without Martian air cover. This was seen as certain proof the Martians were defiantly losing more of their air forces than they had planned. At the same time Korean fighters were hitting Martian ground forces with artillery and tank fire backed by dozens of bombers flying in defense of Seoul from air bases south of the city around Osan. So heavily bombed were some areas around the city it resembled the surface of the moon even though it was covered by snow. The Martians were at the gates of the Korean capital but they had yet to enter the city.

Inside Seoul, Korea

Secure cable report from COM 6 to Pusan relay to Titan at Auckland: MARTIANS ATTACKING SEOUL WITHOUT AIR COVER. HEAVY FIGHTING NORTH AND EAST. TRAPS ACTIVATED. HOLDING. HEAVY, MEDIUM, LIGHT WALKERS DEPLOYED WITH HEAT RAYS SUPPORTED BY BLACK SMOKE.

Martian tactics seemed to make another change on this day. Taking well defended cities or heavily defended mountain areas, even when successful was taking a great toll on their ground forces as well as their limited supporting air forces. Martian ground forces were beginning to slow their relentless advances on several fronts even though most were still moving forward. The combination of slower advances and seeming reluctance to ‘take’ cities and simply cut them off spoke volumes as to their need to husband their limited resources. This so-called “pause in the war” would give many of our forces an opportunity to re-group and re-enforce. In some places, notably west of Moscow, the United States borders and China, Martian forces were actually stopped. The question was why and what were we to expect when the other shoe dropped? It was not long before we had our answer.

THE BLACK SMOKE KILLING FIELDS

Almost as one, reports came into Committee Headquarters faster than we could read them – that was not new. What was new were reports which were almost identical. Sources world-wide were indicating Martian air operations pulling away from supporting ground attacks in the middle of their efforts in effect giving up on the air war. It seemed the skies had been mostly cleared of all Martian Flying Machines even in areas where desperate battles were continuing. We could see no reason for the Martians to pull their air forces out of the battle completely even though they were still losing at least some of their war craft.

Losing no time commanders immediately increased their air support and bombing missions on Martian front lines as well as some known supply points taking advantage of the “open skies”. No matter why the Martians had suspended their air war we would continue ours. It must be said this temporary air advantage did allow our ground forces the opportunity to halt and in some cases push back some Martian forces but no one thought this advantage would last for long – it didn’t.

Around six hours into the ‘pause’ radars both north and south began picking up several waves of Martian Flying Machines were spotted sweeping out of the ice towards every major land mass on Earth. Some of these machines headed for cities but most were tracked flying towards areas where large masses of people had fled. Fear had driven millions from their homes across vast areas of Earth, as waves of human refugees ran for their lives before the Martians. In an operation lasting all evening and long into the night Martians flew missions dropping thousands upon thousands of Black Smoke bombs on fleeing civilians caught in the open. We now realized the murderous attack on India had only been a test. It was estimated these Black Smoke bomb runs on this day alone killed at least ten million mostly in the central plains of China, India, central USSR, vast open areas of East Asia, Central America, central Africa and the eastern United States. After dropping their deadly bombs these machines simply hit as many areas as they could with murderous Heat-Rays. These attacks were clearly intended to kill as many people as possible with the least amount of Martian forces engaged. They had also targeted great herds of wild animals in several areas. These attacks did not go unchallenged.

These murderous attacks would cost the Martians another 218 flying machines and would constitute their final massed air assault of the early part of the war. This was thought to have been a last ditch effort to inflict massive casualties on humanity while the Martians still possessed the air resources to pull it off. At this point no Martian attack on any front could be supported by more than a few dozen machines. It seemed we had crippled their air capabilities. Devastating to human lives as these attacks had been they appeared to have cost the Martians the air war over planet Earth.

The species which had flown powered aircraft for the first time less than 40 years earlier had reclaimed the greatly damaged skies over Earth. Even with that said our remaining air combat forces were nowhere near strong enough to win a ground war. The final victory for the battle of Earth was still very much an open question. Nevertheless, one thing was very clear: at the moment humanity was still losing! The Martians had conquered hundreds of thousands of square miles of territory and killed millions in a frighteningly short period of time.

DAY ELEVEN: 12 September 1938

Heavy Earth bombers continued to attack ground supply points and massed ground troops in Martian held areas protected by Jet fighters. Medium losses in bombers were due to Martian ground based Heat-Rays but several supply depots and staging areas were destroyed. North and west of London a major line of Martian walking machines had formed and moving to contact the outskirts of London. As our forces attacked the center of the Martian line of advance Martian scout walkers were already engaged in combat with British, Commonwealth and Committee forces in and around the north New London area.

MURROW REPORTS

Having once again braved the streets to report on the Battle of Upper-London reporter Edward R. Murrow had made his way back to the underground headquarters of the International Press Office (IPO) to write and then broadcast his report on the efforts to battle the Martians which had come from many directions to attack a city they had known so well in 1901. Our efforts to engage and neutralize Martian radio interference were beginning to show some promise but not well enough. Murrow had to record his report and send it to America by cable.

New London evacuates

As the Martians pressed their attacks the British Parliament, now holding their sessions in reinforced offices in Lower-London, refused to leave their capital city, continuing to coordinate all activities to defend New London and other British held areas. Throughout England the Martians would battle the determined efforts by these forces brought to bear on the enemy.

From an embattled New London Wells reported, “The houses caved in as they dissolved at its touch, and darted out flames; the trees changed to fire with a roar. So you understand the roaring wave of fear that swept through the greatest city in the world just as Monday was dawning – the stream of flight rising swiftly to a torrent, lashing in a foaming tumult round the railway stations. Did they dream they might exterminate us?”

Earlier in the day we lost contact with ‘Neptune’ on board CS Indian Ocean thought at the time to be stationed south of Ceylon near Addu Atoll. After no word was received during the next twelve hours command of the Indian Ocean submarine fleet was transferred to the ‘Prince’ on board the CS Star Fish which had been standing by at our Sea Cave facility B7 in Colombo, Ceylon. The new ‘Neptune’ immediately sailed out of B7 to a point off the coast of Ceylon and submerged. We never discovered what happened to the CS Indian Ocean as no sightings of wreckage were ever reported – the command submarine and all of her crew simply vanished into the fog of war.

In several areas of Europe, Asia, North and South America small special operations teams began operating in rear areas controlled by Martians. For the most part their targets were small operation centers and Martian supply depots.

ATOMIC BOMB BLAST AT LOS ALAMOS

“The Bomb will never go off, and I speak as an expert in explosives.”

Admiral William Daniel Leahy to Director C

We had our test even though it was not the way we would have wished. The Tunguska West team knew they had precious little time to complete work on the second “gadget.” They had the fuel-set detonator and they had all of the sections and individual pieces necessary to complete the work. What they did not have was enough time to test all of the components before building the thing. The war was coming closer to the test site and if battle reports could be believed they could expect an attack at any time. They had to work fast – too fast.

Project supervisor Dr. John Sadler sent an urgent wire to Lower-New York City for instructions. He was informed the Committee was sending a special ground team to extract the gadget and they needed to hold out for at least twelve hours. The extraction team would need to make their way to the test site by ground because they did not have enough secure air assets to send and for that matter they did not have complete air superiority to guarantee they could arrive safely by air transport.

Dr. Sadler knew that the team could not arrive in time so it would be up to him to make the decision. With this knowledge he quickly called in his team to explain the situation. He told them that under no circumstances was he going to allow the Martians to capture the weapon. He ordered the team members to evacuate the complex and leave the device and the detonator with him. However, because this was against Committee orders Project Chief Engineer Robert McFarland told Dr. Sadler he would have to stay as well and disobey the order to leave. The bomb area was a “no lone zone” and no one was authorized to be alone with the bomb and the detonator. There was no time to argue so Sadler reluctantly agreed as he reached out to shake his friend’s hand.

With the rest of the team heading southeast as fast as they could Sadler and McFarland finished the assembly work and stood by for the expected attack. They held the cable line open so they could report as much as they could before the Martians came on. They wanted headquarters to get the word that they had completed the assembly. After that McFarland picked up the phone and made direct voice contact with Lower-New York City. He knew the Martians were probably listening, but it no longer mattered. There was nothing the Martians could do now that the bomb was ready so they just waited. They did not have to wait for long.

Nearly three hours after Tunguska West was deserted by most of the West team Sadler and McFarland could hear the unmistakable hum of the Martian Flying Machines. Six of the big steel monsters had broken through the northern defense lines and were heading directly at West. The open radar screen showed they were headed right at them. They must have somehow discovered the importance of this out of the way desert location, most likely by intercepting radio transmitters. But for them it was too late. The detonator was now in place. The bomb was ready to fire. Sadler got back on the phone which had been kept open for a direct report to Lower-New York City, which was also being picked up by Lower-London. He reported that the six machines were making their run at West and that he intended to detonate the weapon when they got close enough. TV cameras set up in the desert would show the result.

Tunguska West explodes

The next sound heard on the other end of the line was a sharp high-pitched squeal. The Committee had their atomic bomb test as it evaporated the test facility known as Tunguska West, along with Sadler, McFarland and six brand new Martian Flying Machines in one shot. We knew then the bomb we had spent so many years developing had actually worked. That meant the one heading south would probably work as well. The Martians now understood we mere humans had a weapon of tremendous energy even though it was nowhere near as powerful as their super bomb, but what they did not know was just how few of these weapons we had. Needless to say, they were about to find out! They may not respect humans, but they had no choice but to respect our new atomic bomb. News of the successful ‘test’ was flashed to the carrier CS Horizon as it continued to sail south ready to receive our only other assembled atomic weapon and deliver it to the team which was assigned to ‘deliver’ the weapon to the Martians in the high Antarctic ice. In three hours the weapon would be on board. Four hours after that the team assigned to bomb the target would be on their way.

The ‘test’ at Tunguska West had also destroyed the unassembled parts of three other bombs. At this point the only complete yet unassembled bomb was secured in a deep level Tesla laboratory in Lower-New York City. It was now in the process of being assembled as fast as possible.

THE GROUND WAR CONTINUES

As war raged the Committee continued to coordinate with national governments to press the fight against the Martians. Despite a continuing effort by Martian forces to isolate large pockets of humanity our overlapping communication facilities were still keeping our efforts linked. The weight of the Martian attacks had weakened our capabilities but had not destroyed them.

At about the same time we were ‘testing’ our bomb at Tunguska West the Martians deployed 25 flying machines to drop Red-Weed on captured areas in northern cold zones in Canada and China in some of the remotest places on the planet. Seismic devices were also dropped on several cable lines knocking out many of them as we began to use several back-up systems. There was a very large group of targets of opportunity for the enemy to focus on.

Earlier Ham Radio operators had sent thousands of spot reports on Martian movements costing many of them their lives as the Martians locked their weapons in on their equipment. Now they were being asked to relay as fast as they could even more vital military information around the world. These ‘civilians,’ many very young or very old, performed magnificently under very trying conditions. However, even this method would soon prove difficult as the Martians continued to jam any and all types of wireless communication. It would take some time however, before they got even close to taking out our valiant Ham operators who were getting better at working around the Martian jamming while all the time hiding their radios and themselves.

ZEUS FLASH: TO ALL COMMANDS: MARTIAN LANDINGS AT AMSTERDAM, HAMBURG, GDANSK, RIGA ARE RE-ENFORCED AND ADVANCING SOUTH AND SOUTH WEST. LANDINGS AT SEVILLE AND VALENCIA ONGOING.

Deadly ground assaults continued around the world as the Martians continued to create human slave labor and Martian feeding camps while depositing supplies at strong points along the path of their machines. Hybrids and Grays as well as hundreds of humans brought from Mars were guarding the humans and supplies in their rear areas. Martians were just beginning to spray crops and general vegetation with a Red Fungus never before seen which wiped out much of the local food supplies and general vegetation as they continue ground operations leaving a desiccated wasteland in their wake. Our anti-Red Weed chemicals were having only limited effect on this new threat. We would later discover that in large enough concentrations this fungus could be deadly to humans and animals alike. Before we could counter this new threat we needed to acquire a sample. This was exactly what one team of Canadian Eskimo fighters would set out to accomplish in North Central Canada.

On this day United States and Committee bombers begin a massive 24 hour bombing attack with a mixture of high explosives, nerve gas and jellied gasoline on Martian ground forces along a line from Bismarck to Duluth. Our bombers were escorted to their targets by Phoenix IIs and Thunder Jets. And even while these aircraft meet limited Martian Flying Machines ground based Heat-Ray attacks took a deadly toll on our bombers shooting down 275 of them. The atmosphere of Earth still under attack from volcanic and massive fire debris adding to the Martian attacks from the ground made it still a very deadly place in which to operate.

As we charted Martian advances across China it was clear one of our three Prime Mineral Locations (PML3) code named ‘Harry’ was now in Martian territory. Fighting around the deep underground facility had been brutal with no word on whether it had been sealed off from the Martians before the area was overtaken. If the facility was taken undamaged the Martians now possessed a large new supply of processed uranium. Orders went out to destroy the opening to the facility at all costs.

With Martians pressing hard but moving slowly against the Americans defending their southern border Apollo ordered our ‘Vaults for Mankind’ facility at San Antonio, Texas, code named ‘Blue’ explosively sealed in the wake of local Martian attacks. The facility was built to hold mostly fine art and related items. If captured and destroyed it could have been a great loss. It would now be safe from Martian grasp – at least for a while.

New landings on this day were made between Dublin and Belfast in Ireland, Sicily south of Athens, Crete, Cyprus, and southern Turkey. In the Southern Hemisphere there were no new landings reported. However the Martians continued to push north on all fronts including India, southern Africa, all of Madagascar, South America, Australia, and well across Indonesia. The only good news reported was an indication that Martian ground operations world-wide appeared to be slowing. A lack of air cover was one of the problems they now clearly faced. Nevertheless, despite their air losses humanity was still losing ground – only at a slower pace.

Destroyed city in China

From several occupied areas reports were coming into headquarters mostly by cable that despite large areas having been overrun by Martian ground forces stay-behind units were having some effect on the war effort, most notably in central Canada, northern China and southern Africa. Although reports were spotty and rarely complete we understood these guerrilla units had in fact attacked and destroyed Martian supply depots, repair facilities and in one case in China a slave labor camp west of Peking had been retaken by guerrilla units supported by Chinese regulars cut off from their units. Several thousand prisoners had been released. During this attack several humans born on Mars and fighting with the Martians were captured. They also reported the Martian B commander of the camp had been captured and hung from a lamp post. Isolated outposts were holding on as best they could.

In Russia stay-behind units which could be contacted had been given new orders. They were to re-group and in as large of numbers as possible hit rear units in direct support of forward Martian lines rather than attacking rear area occupation forces.

In Manchuria near Chilin several Calvary units of irregular troops had formed and were conducting hit and run raids on Martian supply depots as well as raids on several ground radar and Heat-Ray outposts. Their efforts had so far been quite successful causing several front line Martian units to be re-deployed to counter attack.

This was also the first time in the war Committee psychological operations units were able to deploy leaflets by air on enemy units. The “target audiences” were humans brought from Mars who were actively fighting for the Martians. The leaflets reminded these individuals of their Earth heritage and “invited” them to “come back into the fold of humanity.” They were to be given amnesty for any fighting they had done for their “Martian masters” and would be fully protected from harm – at least from any human harm. It would be a while before any real result could be known from these efforts. These units were however still engaged in radio deception operations which had caused numerous attacks on false targets by the Martians. Radio jamming had also been somewhat effective on both sides of the war.

LONDON

The people of London were meeting the enemy as magnificently as they had in 1901. As he had done during the First Martian War the Second Martian War again found a much older Herbert Wells reporting from the front lines of the New London effort side-by-side with Earth’s military forces in a life and death struggle with the Martians. Wells had left his secure and not uncomfortable offices below ground to gain a firsthand look at events on the surface. Radio reports were one thing, but firsthand knowledge was always the key to fully understanding events. And so it was that Wells and his ever present squad of security officers made their way to the front. Finding a communications line he plugged into one of the outlets of the secure underground telephone lines and began to report back to the Martian War Room deep under the battling outskirts of the city of New London. His report heard, beginning in mid sentence, seemed almost familiar as it beckoned us back to 1901.

“…it was this howling and firing of the guns at Ripley and St. George’s Hill that we had heard at Upper Halliford. The Ripley gunners, unseasoned artillery volunteers who ought never to have been placed in such a position, fired one wild, premature, ineffectual volley, and bolted on horse and foot through the deserted village, while the Martian, without using his Heat-Ray, walked serenely over their guns, stepped gingerly among them, passed in front of them, and so came unexpectedly upon the guns in Painshill Park, which he destroyed.

“The St. George’s Hill men, however, were better led or of a better mettle. Hidden by a pine wood as they were, they seem to have been quite unsuspected by the Martian nearest to them. They laid their guns as deliberately as if they had been on parade, and fired at about a thousand yards’ range.

“The shells flashed all round him, and he was seen to advance a few paces, stagger, and go down. Everybody yelled together, and the guns were reloaded in frantic haste. The overthrown Martian set up a prolonged ululation, and immediately a second glittering giant, answering him, appeared over the trees to the south. It would seem that a leg of the tripod had been smashed by one of the shells. The whole of the second volley flew wide of the Martian on the ground, and, simultaneously, both his companions brought their Heat-Rays to bear on the battery. The ammunition blew up, the pine trees all about the guns flashed into fire and only one or two of the men who were already running over the crest of the hill escaped.

“After this it would seem that the three took counsel together and halted, and the scouts who were watching them report that they remained absolutely stationary for the next half hour. The Martian who had been overthrown crawled tediously out of his hood, a small brown figure, oddly suggestive from that distance of a speck of blight, and apparently engaged in the repair of his support. About nine he had finished, for his cowl was then seen above the trees again.

“It was a few minutes past nine that night when these three sentinels were joined by four other Martians, each carrying a thick black tube. A similar tube was handed to each of the three, and the seven proceeded to distribute themselves at equal distances along a curved line between St. George’s Hill, Weybridge, and the village of Send, southwest of Ripley.”

Later that day the small team made their way to a second location near a small waterway where the Martians were once again engaging Earth forces led by the British Army. Once again only part of the report made it through to the Committee.

“…but the Martian machine took no more notice for the moment of the people running this way and that than a man would of the confusion of ants in a nest against which his foot has kicked. When, half suffocated, I raised my head above water, the Martian’s hood pointed at the batteries that were still firing across the river, and as it advanced it swung loose what must have been the generator of the Heat-Ray.

“In another moment it was on the bank, and in a stride wading halfway across. The knees of its foremost legs bent at the farther bank, and in another moment it had raised itself to its full height again, close to the village of Shepperton. Forthwith the six guns which, unknown to anyone on the right bank, had been hidden behind the outskirts of that village, fired simultaneously. The sudden near concussion, the last close upon the first, made my heart jump. The monster was already raising the case generating the Heat-Ray as the first shell burst six yards above the hood.

“I gave a cry of astonishment. I saw and thought nothing of the other four Martian monsters; my attention was riveted upon the nearer incident. Simultaneously two other shells burst in the air near the body as the hood twisted round in time to receive, but not in time to dodge, the fourth shell.

“The shell burst clean in the face of the Thing. The hood bulged, flashed, was whirled off in a dozen tattered fragments of red flesh and glittering metal.

“Hit!’ shouted I, with something between a scream and a cheer.

“I heard answering shouts from the people in the water about me. I could have leaped out of the water with that momentary exultation.

“The decapitated colossus reeled like a drunken giant; but it did not fall over. It recovered its balance by a miracle and, no longer heeding its steps and with the camera that fired the Heat-Ray now rigidly upheld, it reeled swiftly upon Shepperton. The living intelligence, the Martian within the hood, was slain and splashed to the four winds of heaven, and the Thing was now but a mere intricate device of metal whirling to destruction. It drove along in a straight line, incapable of guidance. It struck the tower of Shepperton Church, smashing it down as the impact of a battering ram might have done, swerved aside, blundered on and collapsed with tremendous force into the river out of my sight.

“A violent explosion shook the air, and a spout of water, steam, mud, and shattered metal shot far up into the sky. As the camera of the Heat-Ray hit the water, the latter had immediately flashed into steam. In another moment a huge wave, like a muddy tidal bore but almost scalding hot, came sweeping round the bend upstream. I saw people struggling shoreward, and heard their screaming and shouting faintly above the seething and roar of the Martian’s collapse.

“For a moment I heeded nothing of the heat, forgot the patent need of self-preservation. I splashed through the tumultuous water, pushing aside a man in black to do so, until I could see round the bend. Half a dozen deserted boats pitched aimlessly upon the confusion of the waves. The fallen Martian came into sight downstream, lying across the river, and for the most part submerged.

“Thick clouds of steam were pouring off the wreckage, and through the tumultuously whirling wisps I could see, intermittently and vaguely, the gigantic limbs churning the water and flinging a splash and spray of mud and froth into the air. The tentacles swayed and struck like living arms, and, save for the helpless purposelessness of these movements, it was as if some wounded thing were struggling for its life amid the waves. Enormous quantities of a ruddy-brown fluid were spurting up in noisy jets out of the machine.”

Just before the small headquarters’ team was able to make their way back to the relative security of Lower-London Wells would be able to file one last report from a still working phone line.

“…and beyond, over the blue hills that rise southward of the river, the glittering Martians went to and fro, calmly and methodically spreading their poison cloud over this patch of country and then over that, laying it again with their steam jets when it had served its purpose, and taking possession of the conquered country. They do not seem to have aimed at extermination so much as at complete demoralization and the destruction of any opposition. They exploded any stores of powder they came upon, cut every telegraph, and wrecked the railways here and there. They were hamstringing mankind.

“They seemed in no hurry to extend the field of their operations, and did not come beyond the central part of east London all that day. It is possible that a very considerable number of people in New London stuck to their houses through Monday morning. Certain it is that many died at home suffocated by the Black Smoke.”

OPERATION MARS PRIME

(ATTACKS ON MARTIAN COMMAND BASES)

All command groups involved in the attacks on Martian Command Centers flashed their readiness to begin the operation. The most critical coordinated attack of the war was about to take off. They would be timed to hit each of their targets at the same time. It was time to strike at the very heart of the enemies’ operational centers.

ARCTIC COMMAND BASE MISSION

The Arctic portion of the daring three pronged attack was simple and direct. Strong air forces would take-off from five American air bases, two American carriers and two Japanese carriers in a direct assault on the Martian base at the North Pole. The first team launched from American bases outside of Boston, Providence and New York City manned by American, Canadian and Committee pilots consisted of 95 Phoenix IIs and 118 Thunder Jets escorting 259 Whitehead B4 heavy bombers grouped for the flight north over Grand Falls, Newfoundland. There they were met by 25 Phoenix IIs and 24 Thunder Jets from the carriers USS Ranger and USS Wasp. All of the aircraft carried extra fuel tanks (except the Phoenix IIs which did not need them) allowing them to fly all the way to the pole and back. If they could not make it home due to fuel or other problems two crude back-up landing strips had been designated at Baker Lake just north west of Hudson Bay. If the pilot made it to the Baker Lake area a team of Canadian Eskimo rescue forces would attempt a pick-up. Because this northern attack group had the longest flight they took off first.

The second group launched 385 Whitehead B4 heavy bombers supported by 55 Phoenix IIs and 85 Thunder Jets from bases in Anchorage and Whitehorse rendezvous over Point Barrow in Alaskan Territory. There they linked up with 25 Phoenix IIs and 20 Thunder Jets launched from Japanese carriers Zuikaka and Shokaku. Both teams would be lead by Phoenix IIA pioneer aircraft designed and equipped to navigate to pin-point targets. They would send out a tight energy beam to their rear to be followed by attacking waves of aircraft.

The combined total of well over 1000 combat aircraft made this the largest bombing mission of the war and one of the most critical as well as one of the most hazardous. Martian Flying Machines even though they were now limited in numbers were expected to fight these groups all the way in. And even when our bombers were on target they were expecting to encounter at least 60 land-based Heat-Rays in defense of the Martian base. These Heat-Rays would be the first targets of every Thunder Jet in the group and secondary targets of every Phoenix II but only after they were hopefully able to gain temporary air superiority over the pole.

The Thunder Jets would go in first in two waves of at least 100 fighters each to attack the Heat-Rays. Their run would be followed by the Phoenix IIs. Directly behind the Phoenix IIs three wings of heavy bombers in groups of over 200 each would begin their bomb runs. The first two groups were loaded with conventional high explosive bombs. The last group was loaded with Tesla’s version of seismic devices – some 1000 of them in total to finish the job of breaking up the ice. The objective was to literally sink every Martian structure at the base which unfortunately included the human holding cages in the center of the facility. Nothing was to be left on the surface. If the bombing did not completely destroy the facility the fighters were to continue strafing runs as long as their fuel would allow. This was to be a maximum effort.

Beyond having to fight their way in and beating back any Martian attack these pilots would be flying into an Arctic night made even more treacherous by tremendously bad weather they would encounter all the way in and if they survived all the way back home. It would be a two edged sword as we would need terrible weather as cover for most of the mission.

ANTARCTIC COMMAND BASE MISSION

When H-George Davis volunteered to pilot the modified Phoenix IIA to carry the bomb naturally there was grave concern. Not for his piloting or navigated skills of course as these were not an issue since he was one of the best available. The problem was whether people would support or trust a hybrid to pilot the only aircraft on Earth armed with the only assembled and ready Atomic Bomb? With this in mind the Committee decided that a fully human pilot would be sent along with Davis. It was only one more cover-up/lie and since they had complete trust in H-George the members knew the job would be done with or without the support of a “full human”. Besides, it was felt by some of the Committee at the highest level that only a hybrid could get close enough to the Martian base to set it off. They seemed to know where ‘they’ were even if the Martians could not actually be seen. Very close contact with the base was necessary. A close call would not get the job done. Needless to say, the Committee had a backup plan in case anything went wrong, but the crew of the Phoenix IIA was not in on that particular secret.

The light aircraft carrier CS Horizon got the job of delivering the bomber and two backups to the launch point off the coast of Antarctica. The carrier was one of the fastest in the fleet with one of the most experienced crews. At least that had been the original plan to launch as close to the coast of Antarctica as possible but time was running out. As soon as the bomb was safely on board the Horizon crew began preparing the modified Phoenix IIA to carry the bomb. The job would take a little over three hours to load, check, test and re-test the weapon. During that time the CS Horizon sailed at flank speed due south towards the icy continent of Antarctica. Air cover was triple layered with Phoenix IIs and Thunder Jets keeping a very close eye open for enemy air attacks.

Just before the group to bomb the southern Martian base took off the CS Horizon received word the northern group were on their way to the pole. They had sent their best wishes. Now it was their turn to fly. The Horizon turned into the wind and launched five modified Phoenix IIAs of which only one would carry a bomb. The other four were loaded with Tesla Heat-Rays, air-to-air rockets and radar jamming devices. Flying in a diamond five formation it was going to be a long flight mostly at low levels close to the ice covered ground. And even though it was spring in the Southern Hemisphere and daylight conditions vast amounts of airborne debris made for a foggy dust covered sky not much better than dusk on Mars.

Flying high cover for this mission were 28 Phoenix IIs flying along the same flight path as the low flying atomic bomb run team. However, this group would fly only as far south as the SPDL before turning west towards Palmer Peninsula for a hit-and-run attack on a small Martian base located along side the Antarctic mountain range. Their primary mission was to decoy any Martian Flying Machines away from the bomb group and towards the peninsula by attacking the Martian outpost and flying high enough to be seen. After that mission they would fly north to attack Martian ground targets at Tierra del Fuego continuing their decoy mission.

For the rest of the flight south the bomb group was on its own. One ground point the pilots who had been extensively briefed on the area expected to easily see was the Weddell Sea. When they flew over the Weddell Sea before heading into Antarctica they were expecting to be flying over an open ocean – they were not. The Weddell Sea was now a solid mass of ice.

GIZA COMMAND BASE MISSION

Because they were much closer to their target than the polar attack groups the team assigned to hit the Martian Control Center at Giza would be the last to set out on their bomb run. The team had assembled two groups of heavy bombers backed by Phoenix IIs and Thunder Jets from air bases outside of Rome, Italy and north of Belgrade.

They would however, not be the first to attack the center. Waiting off-shore were four Committee submarines in the Mediterranean Sea. Each of these subs had two Unmanned Gyro Stabilized Biplanes (USGB) mounted on their decks. The submarines were scheduled to launch all eight 2000 lb flying bombs at Giza just before the bombers flew over their positions. Tesla’s team had ‘programmed’ these unmanned flying bombs the same way he had done for his 1899 test boats but with a good deal more sophistication than he had available in those early years. (He had taken much from back engineered Martian technology and was about to send some of it back to the Martians.) Tesla was certain he could hit the center of the Martian complex within 100 feet with these devices. If I were the enemy I would not have bet against him.

For now all these men could do was stand by for the launch order. When given 310 Whitehead B4 bombers, 118 Phoenix IIs and 150 Thunder Jets would be on their way to the Giza Plateau with orders to “wipe it off the map!” The ancient pyramids and the rest of the structures at Giza would need to be sacrificed along with a great many other areas if we were to defeat the Martian horde.

Martian primary attacks and occupied territories – 12 September 1938

[END PART 68]

Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020

[NEXT WEEK: PART 69: ATTACKING MARTIAN COMMAND CENTERS, THE POLES AND GIZA.]

[PART 67]

DAY NINE: 10 September 1938

TASK FORCE BRAVO

In the early morning hours of 10 September our submarines off the coast of Southern Africa were ready to engage the Martian Patrol Boats in the first purely naval action of the war. At Cape Town and Port Elizabeth the Martians had established small but active port facilities which included our lost Sea Cave Facility Blue 10. They would not be in charge for long. The ten submarines of Task Force Bravo had left Mossal Bay and deployed five each boats at both Martian port facilities. At 03:00 local the submarines attacked. Coming in from two directions at both ports the submarines fired several torpedoes at Martian boats docked as well as the small number which were operating in the area close to where the subs had come in. Continuing to sail towards the bases the submarines surfaced bringing rockets to bear along with deck guns, machine-gun fire and Tesla Heat-Rays on the port and small Martian craft. The attack would last fifteen minutes and was a complete success. For the most part the submarines were underwater and heading back out to sea before the Martians had a chance to return much accurate fire. Most of the enemies’ return fire came from Heat-Rays which had little or no effect on our submerged boats. With little experience available on Mars for ocean operations it would seem the enemy, not surprisingly, was not prepared for battle on the seas. The Martians did not seem to understand how best to deploy their floating resources to any great degree.

In total we would lose only one submarine to enemy airborne attack, while the Martians lost 53 Patrol Boats during the engagement. Most of the firing at our submarines from counterattacking Martian Flying Machines was also ineffective as they could not penetrate the oceans to any great depth. It was the one great flaw in their Heat-Ray capabilities. No matter what the Martians had done so far we still controlled the seas. It was also reported that our submarines had been able to completely destroy the entrance to Blue 10. The Martians would not be able to use it any longer. It would take a good deal of time to clean out before it could be used again.

On this day due to Martian advances ‘Apollo’ ordered the explosive sealing of our mining facilities at Port Radium N.W. Territories and Athabasca Basin, N. Saskatchewan in Canada. The explosives caused entrance tunnels to collapse as well as allowing massive concrete slabs to slide into place blocking the entrances. (We learned that little trick from our Egyptian friends.) There was to be no mistake in these operations. By no means were the Martians to be allowed to enter these critical uranium mining facilities. It was not long before we realized the Martians had known about these facilities for a long time. They would soon be setting up their own mining operations. This was clear evidence they knew exactly how critical these facilities were to both sides of the war. They had brought small tunneling machines to both of these facilities and began work as soon as they overran the mine areas. They needed the uranium very badly. It was the fuel for all of their Heat-Rays! It was felt the Martian supply of uranium must have been critically short if they felt the need to set up mining operations on Earth so quickly. We would soon bomb all of the supporting facilities on the surface of both mines and we would return several times in the next few days.

THE BOMBING OF MOSCOW

As Russian fighters continued their desperate defense of Moscow Stalin gave his ‘permission’ for Committee bombers to aid in the defense of the embattled city. I had spoken to the Russian dictator by cable and as arrogant as ever Stalin informed me that the mighty Soviet Army was “holding off the Martian hordes at several points but if the Committee wanted to bomb them he would not disapprove of the action.”

Bombing a Martian position just outside of Moscow

Our intelligence reports, photo reconnaissance as well as several Ham Radio messages made it clear the Martians had massed a very large ground force just east of Moscow and a bombing attack on that force would be of great value. It was noted that Moscow had little or no air cover at the time and they were being taken apart piece by piece from the air even as thousands of anti-aircraft guns massed their fires on the attacking machines.

Preparing for the attack we staged our bombers at 26 airstrips in and around Warsaw, Poland. In total 522 bombers mostly heavy Whitehead B4s supported by 110 Phoenix IIs and 214 Thunder Jets were set to hit the Martians in force on the eastern edge of Moscow. It was felt that this opportunity should not be passed up as the Martians had been hit hard over Greenland and were not expected to defend the airspace around Moscow in strength. Reports coming in from Moscow as well as sparse radar reports showed Martian air cover was very low. Stalin had indicated no more than 18 Martian Flying Machines were hitting Moscow at the time, mostly from medium altitude.

The aircraft took off at day break to take advantage of any good lighting conditions that may be afforded. Nevertheless, most of the flight was made in dark gray skies obscured by much debris still being pumped into the atmosphere by volcanic eruptions and huge fires ongoing world-wide. Rendezvousing over Vitebsk and Kaluga Russia both bomber streams were required to fight off attacks by a dozen or more Martian machines. With strong fighter cover the Martians were only able to down ten bombers and four Phoenix IIs with a loss of three of their machines before breaking off and heading north. Once again the Martians seemed to be holding off on their air attacks.

Coming in from northwest and southwest the bombers were led in by Phoenix IIs flying led and top cover. Thunder Jets lined up on both sides of the bombers also covered the rear of the bomber formations lined up on the bombing run. At that point all hell broke loose.

Dropping out of orbit no fewer than 30 Martian Flying Machines came through the dense high clouds flying straight into the bomber formations firing their deadly Heat-Rays. None of the Martian machines paid any attention to the Phoenix IIs flying past them at high speed. As the Phoenix IIs pulled hard to engage the Martians the Martians hit the bomber stream head on. Within seconds at least twenty bombers had been hit and were on fire. The Martians had lined up on the bombers on the northwest stream attacking each one in line. Seconds later, like a swarm of bees the supporting Thunder Jets banked in firing their machine guns and rockets at the Martians as the bombers continued to fly towards the target area directly ahead on the eastern edge of the city and just beyond. The attack had not broken up the run. The bombers were going to drop their loads on areas engaged in close in fighting. Russians and Martians would be on the receiving end of the raid.

Despite determined Martian efforts most of the bombers got through dropping their deadly loads on the leading edges of the Martian Walker formations. The concentrated Martian formations were hit dead on by both bomber streams with devastating effect. This would be one of the most concentrated and most effective bombing missions of the war. Reports from Russian ground forces indicated the effort had in fact halted the Martian advance even though hundreds of hard pressed Russian troops had been caught and killed in the attack. As the bombers turned for home 50 Phoenix IIs continued the air battle over Moscow causing all of the remaining Martian Flying Machines to break off their air attacks and head north. The Martians had lost six more machines.

As the Martians broke on the east and their remaining ground forces on that front began to move north and south around the city a message came in from a lone Ham Radio operator. “Thank you my friends.” ‘Vodka Drinker’ was still in the fight.

Soviet troops counter attack Martians

By no means did this successful bombing effort stop the overall effort by the Martians to take Moscow, but they would need to come at the fortified city from a new direction. In the meantime, they deployed their considerable ground forces around the city cutting it off from the outside world. The battle continued even as a majority of their ground forces moved on to the next objective. Moscow was still standing and taking what they could from the Martians. By night the Soviet artillery was firing mustard gas on the western front mixed in with high explosives. The wind was in their favor and the cut off Soviet fighters would continue the fight. The Martians would continue to feel the full weight of Soviet firepower.

THE MARTIANS CONTINUE TO ADVANCE

Civilization was still on the run as millions stampeded to areas falsely thought to be safe. As the forests and grasslands continued to burn, cities and towns in too many locations around the world to keep track of continued to fall to the blood thirsty Martians. Martian ground forces supported by light air cover were moving fast in the Southern Hemisphere. No army on Earth could move that fast and with so much destructive power at their disposal.

In southern Africa the Martians had pushed north on a line from Mocameds on the west coast to Salisbury and Quelimane on the east. Pretoria was now a rubble-strewn blackened coffin.

From our COM 11 center in New Deli word came that landings were made at Manja, Madagascar and it was not long before the area was fully under Martian control. Landings were also made for the first time in India at Trivandrum, Mysore, Madras and Mangalore. Hundreds of thousands of Indians fled north as Indian army and air forces engaged the Martians at all points. Individual units fought with ferocity attempting to hold back wave after wave of Martian ground and Walker forces to no avail. Time-after-time Indian forces were routed and had to retreat. As always the price in human lives had been high.

Coastal city completely destroyed by Martians with no survivors

Off the coast of Trivandrum the Indian Navy pounded Martian landing forces before losing fourteen warships to Martian Heat-Ray counter attacks. In central India, far away from any fighting Martian Flying Machines flew over and dropped thousands of Black Smoke bombs on fleeing civilians. Literally millions lost their lives on the Indian plains during the next few days well before any Martian set ‘foot’ in central India. The murderous Martians had located a “soft target.” It would not be the last.

In central Africa a 1000 mile wide area from Cameroun to Ethiopia was now Martian controlled territory. From this extensive area Martian forces moved north and south. Out of their landings in Morocco the Martians were fighting south and north east flanking the Atlas Mountains. Casablanca, Ifni, Oran and Algiers were all in Martian ‘hands’. Losses had been very heavy.

In Australia heavy Martian ground forces continued to push north now in control of half of the country holding and advancing on a line from Meekatharra, Lake Amadeus east to Charleville and Brisbane now in close battle. Word out of our Sea Cave Facility B8 on the Brisbane coast indicated the Martians had not yet discovered the well concealed facility. They were ordered to go radio silent and monitor activity to be reported by secure cable only. Two submarines in place at B8 were making plans to sail out under cover of darkness to engage Martian forces now attacking Brisbane. Front line enemy forces out of northern Australia moving on to New Guinea were fighting in the jungle against local tribes along with re-enforced Aussie troops. New Guinea had gone radio silent with nothing more coming out since the invasion began. My thoughts went to the old head hunter chief who had visited our Committee offices so many years ago. I hoped he and his tribe would find good hunting. Both critical mining facilities at Rum Jungle, Northern Territories and Mary Kathleen, Queensland had been explosively sealed by Committee security teams.

Both were now in Martian occupied territory and it was expected Martian teams would soon be at work attempting to enter the mines. Inside both they would discover more than a few explosive surprises left behind by the Aussies. There were not enough local resources to bomb these facilities.

Out of South America came reports of Martian advances north on a line from Santa Fe east and west to both coasts. Santiago, Rosaria, Montevideo and Buenos Aires had all seen heavy fighting and great destruction. Black Smoke had been extensively used in these areas. Even though the Martians appeared to be ill-prepared to fight in a jungle environment they nevertheless pressed the fight in the demanding terrain. Their remaining populations and few structures were now cut off by advancing Martian forces. The Martians were not wasting any time on these areas staying only long enough to destroy any and all vital infrastructures they could find. Communications with these areas was spotty at best. One of the last reports out of Buenos Aires indicated that Martian Bs and hybrids had been left behind and were actively capturing or killing as many people as possible. Large internment camps had been set-up in both Buenos Aires and Santiago – feeding command As was now ongoing at these camps.

Martian walking machines continued to push north from the tip of South America setting fires to any jungle area they come across. Despite valiant efforts one by one the cities of South America fell leaving behind scattered national and Committee forces now developed into guerrilla warfare fighting out of reinforced bastions of humanity which had been bypassed by the Martians. At many of these fighting points the Martians left Grays and hybrids to finish up the work.

Martian forces were also moving out from their landings at Campinas on the east coast and Cali on the northwest coast of South America. Vast areas were soon overrun. One of the last messages out of Cali indicated the Martians had fielded new transport carriers carrying small tunneling machines. They had also unloaded several small Patrol Boats at Cali. Spotter reports were able to confirm the sightings of Patrol Boats at Campinas as well as Montevideo Harbor. Transport crawlers were moving the Patrol Boats at Campinas to the coast at Rio de Janeiro. Rio was blacked out. Nothing was coming through.

In the northern hemisphere the Martians were moving out of the now fully occupied MLZ south through Guatemala and Honduras moving well despite the local mountains.

Headquarters U.S. Central Command, Fort Worth, Texas

Burst report followed by cable report from Commander U.S. forces to New Washington Center: HEAVY MARTIAN GROUND FORCES SUPPORTED BY MEDIUM AIR FORCES HAVE LAUNCHED SIMUITANEOUS ATTACKS ACROSS NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN BORDERS. ENEMY ENGAGED SOUTH AT SAN DIEGO, TUSCON, EL PASO, CORPUS CHRISTI, NORTH AT TACOMA, SPOKANE, MINOT, DULUTH, GREEN BAY. DEEP PENETRATION BY HEAVY WALKERS TO REAR AREAS WITHOUT AIR OR GROUND SUPPORT. HEAVY FIGHTING ON ALL FRONTS. ENEMY ATTEMPTING TO DEVELOP REAR GUARD ACTION. ALL LINES PRESENTLY HOLDING.

North out of the MLZ Martian assault waves came into contact with several infantry and armor armies of the United States near San Diego, Tucson, El Paso, and Corpus Christi. The Americans fielded well over 400,000 men supported by 4500 tanks, ten thousand pieces of artillery and over 1800 combat aircraft. U.S. Air Forces began their counter attack from the air with 495 Phoenix IIs, 825 Thunder Jets and 560 heavy Whitehead B4 jet bombers. Sea Cave Facility B1 at San Diego was still operational and supplying vital intelligence data to American forces.

On the northern border with Canada Martian forces came across at Tacoma, Spokane, Minot, Duluth and Green Bay. On that battle line they were met by four American Armies numbering 420,000 men supported by 3250 tanks, 8500 artillery pieces and 390 Phoenix IIs, 495 Thunder Jets and 600 Whitehead B4 jet bombers. American forces at Green Bay were also supported by two re-grouped Canadian infantry divisions numbering around 29,000 men. From this point on the Americans would launch continuous bomb runs at the Martian lines until they literally ran out of aircraft! At the start of the battle in the north the Americans fired over 180,000 rounds of artillery at the advancing Martians backed by massive air attacks. The Martians must have known this would be a titanic battle as they led both American attacks with 2500 large Walkers, well over 5000 medium Walkers and at least the same number of small Walkers across both borders. They also fielded no fewer than 6000 armored transport vehicles for the attack. For these attacks close in air support would prove to be critical.

Martian air cover at the south numbered at least 150 flying machines with another 170 supporting the northern attack. It was clear the Martians were beginning to feel the weight of our aerial attacks on their flying machines. Both battle fronts were soon reporting at least 500 large Martian Walkers on both fronts had not engaged American front line units and had flown very low but very fast through and beyond the front lines to positions behind the main American forces and were attacking from a secondary rear position. This tactic had not been reported before. Both American groups were now fighting on two fronts as reserve units quickly entered the fight! Massed bomber wings of 500 or more aircraft began pounding these machines supported by Thunder Jets along several points.

Greenland was now completely occupied by the Martians.

In Asia the Martians now controlled a huge rectangular area bordered on the north on a line from Ayan on the coast of the Sea of Okhotosk west to the Chuna River in the USSR and south on a line from Pyongyang in northern Korea on the east to Anhsi, China on the west. In a small cave just outside Taiyuan top members of the Chinese government met hoping to cobble together an effort to counter attack the swarming Martians. What remained of Tokyo, as well as Seoul and Peking were under heavy attack. The Korean government in Seoul remained in place as the city took great losses in lives and a heavy toll on the Martian invaders.

In England the Martians had fought their way south to Birmingham and south west into Wales. A massive hail storm had formed along the same line and was now moving south east. The great industrial cities of Manchester and Liverpool were burning furiously as strong Martian forces cut off these cities before continuing south towards New London. We had no radio contact with either city for hours. Scottish regiments, joined with British divisions, formed a strong defensive line which was slowly being pushed south. Casualties were heavy as armor and artillery units pounded the mostly medium sized Walkers in combination with ground attacks by fighter bombers of the Royal Air Force. Flanking the British ‘Orange Line’ were two Committee heavy Infantry divisions supported by 65 of our own Walkers. On the eastern end our Walkers were fighting point-to-point with their Martian counterparts. They were hard pressed but were holding the line.

Heat Ray attack on an old section of London

On the mainland of Europe enemy ground forces had landed in Sweden moving east into Finland linking up with their forces which had earlier landed at Petrozavodsk. Finland was now effectively in Martian hands. At the same time advanced elements of that group had crossed over the North and Baltic Sea landing at Amsterdam, Hamburg, Gdansk and Riga. The area had been bombarded continuously for six hours before the landings were made. These areas were now radio silent with no word out since the landings. Word was also received that the Martians had captured intact our massive Grain Storage Facility code named ‘Mercury’ at Bergen, Norway. No further information was coming through from that area.

THE ‘GADGET’ FLYS SOUTH

With Martians advancing so fast on all fronts ‘Poseidon’ flash radioed the Committee submarine CS Tunguska a new order for the delivery of the atomic bomb (the Gadget). The Tunguska was still heading south presently just off the coast of Natal, Brazil. Wanting to waste no time the submarine was ordered to change course and head for the St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks area in mid-Atlantic. The area had seen very little Martian activity and could be easily located by the submarine. There the boat would rendezvous with the American medium carrier USS Independence. The bomb would be loaded on a Whitehead B4 jet bomber and under heavy escort from the carrier (including most of the Phoenix IIs and Thunder Jets on board) to the CS Horizon steaming towards the northern coast of South Georgia Island. As it flew south two full carrier task force groups would launch aircraft on both flanks of its flight path to South Georgia. On the Horizon the bomb would be loaded on a specially constructed Phoenix IIA for its final destination – the South Pole.

Apollo had sent word to Poseidon to be prepared to hit their objective in 72 hours. At the same time as the southern attack Apollo would be prepared to launch an all out attack on the Martian North Pole Command Center. Three east coast American air bases and two west coast American air bases along with two carriers in both the north Atlantic (USS Ranger and USS Wasp) and North Pacific (Zuikaka and Shokaku from Japan) would launch the attack over the North Polar ice. These twin attacks would be made in coordination with an all out bombing attack at the Central Martian Command Center at Giza. It was time to hit their command and control centers as hard as we could all at the same time. The only question was, did we have enough time to pull it off?

Late in the day both north and south radars were reporting a new build-up of enemy forces at both poles. The Martians appeared to be sending in new machines and new ground troops to their command areas. Giza was also re-enforced by de-orbiting Martian machines. As far as our radars could tell us the Martians now had fewer than 100 craft in orbit around the Earth. It was thought this indicated the Martians had lost a greater portion of their ground and air forces than they had anticipated. They seemed to be sending in their reserve forces.

By no means were we winning this war as we continued to suffer heavy losses of men and equipment as we were being pushed back at most points on the ground. However, we had forced the Martians to surrounded and cut off cities without capturing them and we still had command of the seas. We had also fought them to a standstill in the skies over Earth even though our air losses had been substantial. We could still hit them hard and they knew it. Only on the ground were they still vastly superior and still advancing but even then we had not given up an inch of ground without inflicting heavy casualties on their forces. They must have known even with their superior weapons of war their capabilities had their limits. They must have wondered if they had deployed sufficient forces to take our planet. Whatever they thought by this ninth day of the war it must have been clear that Earth was going to continue to fight like hell and there would be no surrender.

Our intelligence group at the Committee openly debated if the Martians were capable of sending a second fleet of spacecraft to support their invasion forces. With our Mars Watch capabilities effectively destroyed we had no way of ascertaining the answer to that question until they entered Earth orbit. We knew they would eventually be sending large craft to colonize the Earth but increasing their military presence was another matter.

Martian primary attacks and occupied territories – 11 September 1938

[END PART 67]

Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020

[Next week: Part 68: New London calling, the bomb at Los Alamos and Operation Mars Prime.]

[PART 66]

DAY EIGHT: 9 September 1938

MOSCOW

It was just past midnight local time when the first wave of Martian Walkers struck the outskirts of Moscow from the east behind heavy snow and gale force winds as they continued to use weather as a weapon of war. Unlike most cities much of Moscow had been built above ground but nearly all of these structures were heavily reinforced concrete and steel encased buildings and each and every one was built as a fighting position. Most were best described as re-enforced bunkers and they looked like it. If Moscow’s defenses were to be described one would have to say the city had the most extensive trenches, the most extensive fire and tar pits and the most Martian Walker Traps than anywhere else on Earth. The Soviets also made certain that Moscow and many of their most important cities were well mined and well defended with tanks, massed artillery and anti-aircraft towers. Taking Moscow was going to be a very bloody affair – on both sides.

This is not to say the Soviet capital did not have an extensive underground – it did. But underground Moscow was at most no more than a tenth as extensive as New York City, New London or even Paris. Much of these underground facilities were built for communist government officials and their families and staff. For the most part the battle for Moscow would be fought on the surface streets of the city in close combat and it would be fought without any aid from other nations or the Committee. Stalin and millions of dead Soviets would see to that. For the most part win or lose it would be their fight. First “the man of steel” had a ‘problem’ to deal with. Just before the battle began Stalin ordered the execution of nearly 20,000 hybrids. He would be taking no chances with, as he would state, “those kind.”

Soviet troops attack Martians outside of Moscow – “Stalin had unleashed his Siberians”

To everyone’s surprise the lead Martian elements to strike the outskirts of Moscow had the distinctive look of turtles. The Martians had deployed low lying tanks moving on treads. Each of these vehicles were firing pulsed Heat-Rays and belching out Black Smoke. As this first ground assault made its way forward to what looked like open ground a signal from the team responsible for this area’s defense ignited the four mile long, 50 yard wide gasoline and tar pits into a massive wall of flame. Well over 200 of the enemies ‘tanks’ found themselves rolling over wooden supports which had instantly become a raging infernal. It was not long before much of these temporary support structures collapsed taking many of the Martian tanks with them. The Martians did not even pause for a moment. Forty large Martian Walkers floated over the trenches through the flames and began placing well aimed Heat-Ray pulses on the structures just ahead of them as flames continued to consume the luckless Martians below. The Martians were now inside of Moscow firing point blank at the tanks and artillery which were themselves firing with every gun at their disposal. The Soviets did not have any Tesla Heat-Rays nut they did have solid rockets. As they came to the edge of the city Stalin ordered his artillery to begin firing mustard gas at the advancing Martians. It had no effect on any of the Walkers but the follow on Martian B forces were about to pay a frightful price for their attack – and so were the people of Moscow. As they closed in dozens of troops used grappling hooks to pull themselves up the Walkers. It was nothing but suicide but they were able to bring down several of these deadly machines with planted explosives before these heroes were eviscerated by Heat-Rays.

House-to-house fighting in Moscow

In the dirty sky above Moscow the citizens could see a great number of prop-driven Soviet fighters engaged in a death struggle with 40 Martian Flying Machines. The Soviets had sent up 410 fighters to swarm the enemy even as the skies over Moscow became clogged with thousands of anti-aircraft rounds. More than a few Soviet aircraft were shot out of the sky by their own gunners. By morning there would be 18 fewer Martian Flying Machines raining terror over Moscow. There would also be no Soviet fighters to combat the remaining twenty-two still attacking their capital. The entire force had been annihilated.

NORTH TO THE ARCTIC

At dawn a group of six Phoenix IIAs with advanced radar took off from Fairbanks, Alaska on a reconnaissance mission towards the Northern Martian Command Center generally suspected to be located at the North Pole. In point of fact we pretty much knew it was there based on years of information, radar tracking as well as Peary’s and other reconnaissance north but we needed to confirm this ‘fact’ and we needed to photograph the area. In order to attack this center we had to discover how extensive it was, how it was laid out and how much equipment and combat forces the Martians had deployed at the pole. The compliment of aircraft, two each from the Committee, Canada and the United States, would fly in two teams. The Canadian flyers would link up with a specially equipped Committee photo reconnaissance model and fly cover to the pole as would the two American flyers who also linked up with a Committee Phoenix IIA. The reconnaissance Phoenix IIAs would avoid air combat if possible as the escort Phoenix IIAs, battled any Martians which happened their way. Considering the reconnaissance target and the distance to that target this seemed likely.

We were able to give these aircraft at least one advantage over all other Phoenix IIs. They had recently been spray painted with the same black radar absorbing coating covering the Command Aircraft CP Magic which was presently flying a tight circle over the mid-Atlantic. The Martians had yet to spot that aircraft and we hoped they would not spot our reconnaissance flights. Bad weather along most of the flight path was also expected to be of great help in hiding this reconnaissance mission.

The second part of the plan involved the return leg of the mission from the pole after the flight had taken infrared night optics photos. As the flight was returning south it would be met by a squadron of 15 Phoenix IIs and 121 Thunder Jets prepared to fight off any pursuing Martian fighters. If they were still operational the four escorting Phoenix IIAs would join the fight with the rest of the fighters against any Martian machines as the two photo reconnaissance Phoenix IIAs continued south with their critical photos heading for Fairbanks.

In an effort to distract the Martians two separate groups of ‘decoy’ Phoenix IIs were sent north from the opposite side of the pole. Thirty-eight Phoenix IIs out of east coast American and Canadian Air Force bases joined with aircraft launched from carriers on duty in the North Atlantic sent to attack Martian Flying Machines over the Davis Strait between Greenland and Baffin Island. At the same time a wing of twenty-four Phoenix IIs originating from bases in Germany, Finland and France landed and re-fueled at Hammerfest, Norway (soon to be under Martian control) to continue on to attack any Martian machines flying around the Greenland Sea area heading as far north as 80 degrees hoping to draw as many Martian aircraft as possible to that side of the pole. If the plan worked it was just possible the Martians would be too busy fighting off an attack heading towards their ‘suspected’ base from that direction to notice the small flight of fast moving and low flying Phoenix IIAs coming at the pole from the opposite direction. To say the least it was a very risky plan at long odds even though this was to be a fast hit-and-run mission to bring them out not a long term slugfest. The added advantage was that our forces would be bringing the fight to the enemy and any flyers they shot down would be a plus.

It would be a dark winter night all the way in and all the way out – just as the Martians liked it! Nevertheless, our weather people believed that due to expected wind patterns and rather scattered reports the skies over the pole would be relatively clear of atmospheric debris – relatively.

Our lead Phoenix IIs on the ‘decoy mission’ were soon picking up radar and ‘radio noise’ coming from the direction of the pole well before they came into range of any Martian machines. It was clear there was much going on at the North Pole. It was possible that our flight had also picked up the carrier signal we suspected was being sent to Martian craft still in Earth orbit from their polar base. This was valuable information.

It did not take long for our North Polar Defense Line radars to confirm the Martians had spotted our fighters winging their way north along both sides of Greenland. They had taken the bait perhaps a bit too much and were coming south with at least 144 machines. (Our radars were still not completely reliable.) With those numbers our fighters were going to be out numbered better than three to one. One slight advantage we did have was the continuing terrible weather in the area around Greenland which would make it difficult for both sides to engage in air combat. Nevertheless, with this new radar information the Canadians sent up another twenty-two Phoenix IIs and twenty-nine Thunder Jets while the British sent out ten additional Phoenix IIs they badly needed in their fight with the Martians over central England. The lead decoy aircraft were ordered to slow their approach to draw additional time for contact and engage the enemy as far south and as far away from the pole as possible.

Orders were sent to the fighters to engage the Martians only as long as necessary but to continue to draw them south to keep them busy while the reconnaissance group was heading towards the pole. When we had verification their flight to the pole was over and they were headed back south our fighters were to break off as best they could and return to their bases. The good news was that as far as we could tell the NPDL had not detected any large flights of Martian machines anywhere near the Reconnaissance Phoenix IIAs. So far our luck was holding. We could use a little right about then.

SYDNEY

On the second day of intense fighting in the skies above Upper-Sydney once again the weather became a factor as unusual rain coming down in heavy black sheets hampering the effectiveness of Martian Heat-Rays. The weather also had a dampening effect on our Heat-Rays and high energy spotlights. However, this weather did nothing to lessen the quality of Australian artillery and tank fire ‘packets’ centered to concentrate their firepower on the large Walkers continuing to sweep in from the west. Despite this juggernaut the Martians had yet to make their way into Lower-Sydney which was now 100% sealed off. Despite the desperate battle going on just above them our Committee Command Center continued coordinating every scrap of information they could in defense of the city as well as other points of combat in and around the southern area of our planet. Re-enforcement of units on the surface were sent by tunnels which were temporarily opened in the north and south of the city. These reinforcements included the ten rebuilt Martian Walkers we had deployed to Sydney.

The only major surprise out of Sydney on this day came when dozens of hybrids in Lower-Sydney took up arms and attacked government and Committee facilities in an effort to aid the Martians attacking on the surface. They came far too close to ‘taking out’ members of the command staff who had to defend themselves with side arms along with security and Tango forces. At least 180 hybrids in groups of five to twenty formed into fighting units, but despite the surprise attacks and the loss of dozens of lives these hybrid traitors did not last long. Most were soon cut down by rifle fire held mostly in the hands of enraged civilians. Without any leadership input all captured hybrids were executed on the spot. In at least one incident four badly wounded hybrids were hacked to death by machetes. Our Aborigine friends were also ‘displeased’ with the treasonous hybrids. This would not be the last time hybrids in our cities would turn on their neighbors. In many areas they became nothing less than a fifth column for the Martians – and most would pay a fearsome price for such treason. Firing squads were becoming very active.

TITAN FLASH: TO ALL COMMANDS: MARTIANS NOW SWEEPING ACROSS UPPER-SYDNEY – SITUATION CRITICAL – LOWER-SYDNEY UNDER ATTACK BY SQUADS OF HYBRIDS – CHECK 6 – ZULU – GOD SAVE THE KING.

From New Zealand, as requested by Titan, a full wing of Whitehead B4 heavy jet bombers out of Auckland came in from the east to hit Martian ground forces pushing hard on Sydney from the south. The bombers led in by 22 fighters were able to drop their loads on target as several warships pounded the same formations from off shore positions. Artillery inside Sydney added their weight to the effort which slowed the advance of medium sized Walkers being supported by Hear-Ray firing armored vehicles. After the bomb run the bombers were jumped by several Martian machines who had broken away from our fighters sending the bombers back towards New Zealand but not before our New Zealanders lost ten aircraft. The Martians did not chase the bombers opting to continue their air attacks on Upper-Sydney now better than half controlled by Martian ground forces.

Late in the day advanced Martian ground forces (special assault troops) backed by small Walkers broke into Lower-Sydney at the extreme north end of the city. The small Walkers had hit the security doors with Heat-Rays until the metal melted. When they entered the first tunnel the floors dropped out sending several of the small Walkers crashing into fire pit Walker Traps. The Martians continued moving over the traps until it was full with machines and bodies once again walking over their own dead and wounded. With this report Titan gave orders to explosively seal the Vaults for Mankind tunnels in Sydney (code named Silver) in order to prevent their falling into Martian ‘hands’. Southern CAIG Command Center ‘Star Light’ sent out a final report by secure cable on UFO activity that had been spotted over Sydney just before the air attack before evacuating their facility also sealing off their records area with explosives. (This final report indicated unidentified craft not of Martian origin had been spotted over the city. These craft had not engaged Martian or Earth craft. They had simply flown by to observe the fight.) Titan had ordered them to remove their backup set of Most-Secret files to a submarine stationed at the underground Sydney port along with all of the Mars War Room back-up files. Titan then ordered Tango units to break out of Sydney and allow Martian forces to by-pass so they would be set in place to organize stay behind forces to attack the Martian’s rear formations. Tango members were not happy to leave the embattled city but reluctantly followed Titan’s orders. Under cover of darkness they would fight their way out to the south to begin gorilla operations.

Titan also requested that ‘Whiskey Drinker’ and his staff evacuate Sydney and board one of the two submarines that had been standing by. He reluctantly agreed. Shaking hands he told Titan “We will see you in Auckland.” Titan had decided to stay in Sydney to coordinate the fight as long as he could. If Sydney fell, command would immediately transfer to ‘Whisky Drinker’ who would reestablish his southern command in Auckland as the new Titan.

Underground fire & tar pits and Martian Traps were now fully manned and fighting several lines of Martians. In areas where they were needed Sydney’s fire suppression systems worked well until power was lost. Backups worked a while longer. Within hours the forces of Sydney would be in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle with Martian forces in Lower-Sydney backed by small Walkers as much of Upper-Sydney lay in ruin. Several tunnels and main passageways had collapsed under intense Heat-Ray attacks. The main Martian force had now by-passed Sydney, continuing north up the coast with smaller forces headed inland. Sydney had proven to be too tough a nut to fully crack.

From the underground docks not yet in Martian ‘hands’ numerous boats of every description were making their way out of Sydney to the east. Attempting to give these vessels as much cover as possible the flotilla of warships were firing every gun they had at the Martians who were trying to sink as many of these small craft as they could. Once again this was not war this was simply murder on the part of the Martians. It would cost the Martians three more flying machines taken out by rockets. By the end of the day Sydney had downed another 13 Martian Flying Machines.

One third of Lower-Sydney, including the underground docks was still under human control. Titan had ordered several tunnels at multiple levels dynamited in an effort to stop the Martians from taking the rest of Lower-Sydney. Everyone who could shoulder a weapon was on the line determined to inflict a heavy price on the Martians for every inch of Lower-Sydney. The Committee member formally known as ‘Titan’ was now manning a machinegun! By nightfall this area, to which thousands had fled, was still fighting the Martians to a standstill. Evacuations from the dock to New Zealand would continue all night despite heavy waves hitting the coast from two storm fronts east of Australia. As the main electrical power plants had been destroyed back-up generators and battery power were mostly up and operational. In areas not under human control small teams of Australian forces continued to do battle with Martian Bs and hybrids.

Australian troops go over the top advancing on the Martians

NEW ADVANCES

Out of the CLZ Martian forces had pushed west and were now occupying the coast near Rio Muni. To the east they had fought their way across the White Nile and were poised on the border of Ethiopia which was itself now fully Martian territory. New reports of humans being gathered up were coming in from numerous areas. Ham Radio reports indicated the Martians were feeding! From Ethiopia came the first confirmed report of humans from Mars fighting for the Martians. A single human, fighting alongside Martian Bs was captured by Ethiopian Special Forces troops. His interrogation was said to be very ‘brisk’ before he was executed by firing squad. The captive ‘stated’ there were thousands of humans brought from Mars to fight. When this information was forwarded to Committee command centers orders were issued to all commands to take as many of these so-called ‘Martian humans’ alive if at all possible. The information they held was priceless. The point was also well made that the Martians had made an error in bringing humans back to Earth and if we could save at least some of them we would. They were after all hopefully still ‘human’.

Egypt was now fully under Martian control as a five pronged Martian attack east across the occupied Red Sea invaded the Arabian Peninsula at Tabuk, Medina, Mecca, Al Qunfidhah and Sana. Close air support for Martian ground forces was being launched from newly won air fields in Egypt. Heavy fighting was reported across the windswept desert sands as combined Egyptian and Arabian Tank Divisions lined up against the Martians in the middle of the country. Our Committee Secret Service Communication Center (COM 9) under the rubble of a bombed out Riyadh was now being used by the Arabian government as a Command/Control center coordinating the defense of their country. The only data coming out was by secure cable. All other communication links had been severed.

Moscow now under attack from three sides was expected to be completely cut off in less than a day. Petrozavoilsk had already been taken and Martian forces were now fighting in the outskirts of Leningrad which had been surrounded by a link-up of Martian forces attacking from the north, west and east. Radio and cable reports coming out of the area indicated bloody hand-to-hand fighting and great losses from Heat-Rays and Black Smoke. Medium sized Walkers and small ‘turtle’ tanks were doing much of the work there. Leningrad was able to report by radio their massive Martian Trap pits were slowing the Martians down. Casualties were in the hundreds of thousands.

In northern Asia the Martians were pushing south through northern Korea and had fought as far south as the Imjim River moving slowly towards Seoul. Fighter/bombers hitting the leading edges of the Martian advance were being supported by massed artillery and tank fire from across the river. Once again large Martian Walkers were sent south floating over the river valley. Seoul was soon coming under Heat-Ray attacks. The expanded and reinforced army assigned to protect the city was ready to “bleed ever drop of Martian blood they find.” The massive protective rings of Seoul were about to be tested. The “land of the morning calm” was giving the Martians as good as they were getting. The Koreans immediately began a series of raids behind the front lines.

Japan’s northern main island was well under Martian control by this time as the enemies’ ground forces crossed over to land at Aomori to continue their attacks south towards Tokyo. The enemy used small patrol boats during the landings at Aomori coming in under heavy fire by Japanese Defense Forces on land and in the air.

By this day the enemy had moved east from their landing areas in Canada towards Ottawa and Montreal. These cities had combined their defensive combat units and combat aircraft with local regular infantry and armor divisions stationed nearby in a massive counter attack supported by their remaining jets and heavy bombers against a ten mile line of Martian Walkers. This counter attack had proved costly on both sides which slowed the advance but did not stop it. To be sure the Canadians had stunned the Martians but it was not enough. Both cities were now reported to be in direct contact with advanced Martian ground forces. Heavy losses were reported as many civilians were heading across the border to the United States. It was a cold area best used by the Martians so they had sprayed Red Weed along every avenue of approach. The real fight for Canada would begin when stay behind forces organized and attacked the secondary Martian forces. The Martians had yet to face Canadian Special Winter Forces made up mostly of hearty Eskimo infantry. Their job was to attack enemy supply points and rear area forces across the snow covered plains of Canada. They were eager to get to work.

Canadian air forces launch their last anti-Martian rocket at two inbound

Martian Flying Machines destroying one and damaging a second

Surviving Canadian military units were ordered south to linkup with the Americans to continue the fight. The Canadian government seated in Ottawa was now conducting its activities out of a ten car train parked in a well-stocked and reinforced tunnel somewhere in central Ontario. Contact would be by secure cable only. Two jets were standing by in covered hangers for emergency communications if the cable went dark.

UNITED STATES SOUTHERN BORDER

The overall Martian military organization acted as one. For the enemy it was nature itself. For mankind it was a trait some had yet to learn even as the entire planet was in grave danger.

United States forces braced for an attack from Martians occupying Mexican territory in the MLZ were shocked when the attack finally came. American special agents had infiltrated the MLZ reporting the Mexicans had formed several armed groups thought to be preparing to defend the area against Martian attack. Reports were sent on to the Committee in New York City and London as well as New Washington Center. These reports however proved to be inaccurate. As difficult as it was to believe or even understand the Mexicans were indeed formed to do battle but their target was not the invading Martians – they were preparing to attack north against the Americans! When they came across the border the Americans, still expecting an attack from the Martians, simply could not believe their eyes. However, it did not take long for the ‘Yanks’ to understand what was happening and begin defending themselves against the invading Mexicans. (The Americans had attempted to contact the Mexican forces by wireless and when they received no answer sent in a five man team to directly contact the Mexicans. When this small envoy flying a white flag was fired upon the Americans returned fire.) It is well to understand that the Americans were enraged to see humans, for whatever reason, attacking them even as the planet was under brutal attack from an invading army from Mars. It is perhaps understandable at least at some level to note that no mercy was given – none.

US/MLZ Border near San Antonio, Texas

Secure cable report from Commander US forces Texas to New Washington Center: MEXICAN FORCES, REPEAT MEXICAN FORCES, NOT MARTIAN FORCES ARE ATTACKING IN FORCE NORTH ACROSS THE MLZ BORDER NEAR SECTOR TANGO 18 BRAVO. NOW ENGAGING ‘ENEMY FORCES’ WITH HEAVY ARMS. REPEAT MEXICAN FORCES ARE ATTACKING NORTH ACROSS THE US/MLZ BORDER IN STRENGTH. HAVE FULLY ENGAGED.

For the most part the well armed massed human wave attack from the Mexican Lawless Zone across the U.S. border was wiped out by United States Army and Committee forces in a few hours. United States Marines were soon called in to reinforce and engage the invading Mexicans along the east Texas border area. Heavy artillery backed by Thunder Jets and fighter/bombers did much of the work as Phoenix IIs flew high cover on the lookout for Martians. During the initial stages of the fighting it was expected the Mexicans would be backed by Martians having struck some type of private deal with the enemy. But no Martians were spotted during the Mexican attack even though it was felt they must have been well aware of this battle due to their known positions south of the border in the MLZ.

It was not known at the time if the Mexicans were working with the Martians or just attempting to take advantage of the situation. That question was never fully answered. No matter what the reason of affiliation it can be reported of the over 18,000 Mexicans who attacked the defending United States and Committee forces that day fewer than 400 would survive. American and Committee losses added up to over 1200 killed and some 2400 wounded. It was later reported (and confirmed by the Committee) that over 1200 Mexicans were taken alive during the fighting, all of whom were summarily executed by firing squads. (No one responsible for that American action against the Mexicans would ever stand trial.) The 400 who survived were to be counted among the wounded hours later as secondary units swept the area for survivors.

In the rubble of the Second Martian War as the people of the world asked for an accountability of recent events this MLZ military action against the people of Earth would be remembered more than any other as the single greatest treasonous act committed upon humanity by any group during the entire war. This unprovoked attack would be the final betrayal recalled during hearings by the Committee after the war leading directly to the break-up and dismantling of Mexico as a nation. It would become occupied territory for decades; finally broken up into eight new individual nations all of which would be allowed to speak Spanish but only as a second language. All of these areas would be converted into English speaking nations and their histories would begin at their formation and not before. The ‘general’ who had ordered the attack was captured weeks after the end of hostilities and was put to death after his trial. Several other MLZ leaders were also put on trial, found “guilty of planetary crimes against humanity” and put to death. When Churchill heard of this betrayal he said, ‘They must be taught a lesson that they and the world will never forget.”

Most of the surviving 280 (120 died of their wounds) were given 20 year sentences at hard labor mostly at work clearing the debris of war and on the three layer electrified wall built between the MLZ and the United States. The Americans were determined to never again allow an invasion across their southern border by man or Martian.

HEADING SOUTH

The Phoenix IIAs had made it all the way to the North Pole and apparently had not been spotted by Martian radars or Martian Flying Machines as they went in. The Martians had been taken by surprise (a rare thing indeed) so much so that no Martian Flying Machine was even overflying the area when the Phoenix IIAs arrived. Both teams were able to photograph the extensive area held by the Martians which commanded nearly five miles on each side of a triangle. What these images showed was extraordinary. The Martians had dozens of flying machines lined up next to what appeared to be temporary buildings (all round for some reason), a large radar dish on each corner of the triangle area and a 100 foot tower in the center of the area. The tower was thought to be the electronic homing beacon built to bring in their orbital craft to that exact spot.

The images also showed areas set aside for other equipment and row after row of all sizes of Walkers along with dozens of Heat-Ray surface-to-air units. Most disturbing were several relatively open air enclosures which were filled with approximately 20,000 people huddled under small circular cloth covered tent-like structures. This was thought to be the feeding area. No matter what we would have wanted to do there was no way our military forces could launch any type of rescue mission on such an area with any chance of success. It was clear that these people were already as good as lost. Rescue would not be an option. The command center had to be destroyed.

TITAN FLASH: TO ALL COMMANDS: SYDNEY NO LONGER VIABLE – MARTIANS NOW CONTROL ALL OF UPPER CITY AND 75% OF LOWER CITY – HEAVY CAUSALTIES – FIGHTING CONTINUES – WILL HOLD OUT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE – COMMAND NOW TRANSFERRED – GOOD LUCK TO ALL – CONTINUE THE FIGHT – GOD SAVE THE KING.

As the reconnaissance mission was heading south from the pole a signal was sent informing command that the Phoenix IIAs were heading home “Red Light On”. It was time to break off contact with the Martians in air combat now centered over much of southern Greenland. Despite the mission being dubbed a ‘decoy’ it did in fact turn out to be a real heavy dog-fight as more and more of our fighters were drawn into the battle. Our forces were soon trying to pull back to the south but the Martians were having none of it. They were ready to fight – perhaps more than we were as each side began pouring more and more fighters into the air battle. This was developing into one of the great air battles of the war. For the next two hours in the dead of night wave after wave of Earth and Martian fighters did battle to control the skies over the darkened ice of Greenland. At the height of the massed dogfight the Martians had deployed at least 400 Martian Flying Machines many of which must have been over our northern command cities the day before. Earth forces numbered no fewer than 158 Phoenix IIs and 640 Thunder Jets as well as 125 prop-driven fighters sent in from over 45 land bases and carriers. Coordinating all of this action was ‘Uranus’ on board our Airborne Magic Command Post ‘CP Magic’. By now Magic was joined by ten Phoenix IIAs as cover from any surprise Martian attacks.

Near the end of the battle a group of unmanned drone aircraft (Unmanned Gyro Stabilized Biplanes USGB), developed by Whitehead, Tesla and Lester Barlow (Barlow developed what he called his ‘aerial’ torpedoes in 1919) were closing in, sent from Committee air bases near Boston. Our fighters were told to be on the lookout as the drones were on the way. As they neared the dogfight area almost as a group dozens of our fighters flew directly at the drones expecting to be followed by several Martian machines – they were. The Earth fighters flying past the “square box” formation of 125 unmanned aircraft dove to near sea level. In the bad light they were able to see the Martians engage the new air threat. As they began their attacks all 125 drones exploded; set off by radio signals sent by the control fighter several thousand feet behind the formation. The explosions rocked the area as each craft holding 2000 lbs of high explosives went off. Nineteen Martian Flying Machines were soon heading towards a fast death in the waters of the icy Atlantic. For the most part this event explosively ended the air battle. The Martians headed ‘home’.

On the other side of the pole the reconnaissance team continued flying south. Contact with the intercepting escort Phoenix IIs and Thunder Jets had just been made and the mission appeared to have gone off as planned. Nevertheless, they began to feel uneasy for despite the fact there had been dozens of Martian Flyers parked on the runways at the pole and several spotted in the general area of their flight path none of them seemed interested in fighting the Phoenix IIAs, or even following our aircraft south. Something was thought to be very wrong. And it was.

Without warning one of the Phoenix IIA reconnaissance planes suddenly exploded in mid-air! There were no Martian Flying Machines anywhere in sight and no craft had come out of orbit to attack. The aircraft had simply been destroyed without being attacked from the air or the ground. It was instantly clear that some type of explosive device had been placed on the aircraft and there could be others.

The flight commander immediately ordered the group to fly over nearby Banks Island. As the island came into view a second Phoenix IIA which had been flying escort for the destroyed photo recon Phoenix IIA also exploded. With that the bail-out order was given as all four remaining pilots punched out of their aircraft sending their craft south on auto-pilot. Before the men were on the ground a third explosion was heard. All three of the Phoenix IIAs sent up in the American group had been destroyed. There was no way to know what happened to the Canadian aircraft as they continued to fly pilotless out of sight to the south.

Despite the loss of all six reconnaissance aircraft the team did in fact have one full set of photographs with them. This information was flash radioed to Committee forces in Alaska by the Commander of the escort flight who sent out the SOS and location of the surviving recon pilots. ‘Poseidon’ relayed the message and a Committee submarine standing by with Tango forces on board near Banks Island was soon on the way to pick up the surviving reconnaissance team members along with their hard earned cargo of images. These were ‘faxed’ by secure VLW submarine radio after the team was picked up.

Poseidon relayed the information by burst transmission about the planted explosions along with a verbal description of what the team had seen at the pole. Two hybrids who planted the explosives were later found at the air base. They had hung themselves.

By now the battle over the ice of Greenland was trailing off. In total Earth forces had shot down 114 Martian Flying Machines with at least 25 others reported heading north trailing smoke. Our losses included 112 Phoenix IIs, 381 Thunder Jets and all but two of the 125 prop-driven fighters. Most of our losses could not be easily replaced, but none of the Martian losses were retrievable. We were however able to rescue 43 of our downed pilots who had managed to survive a crash landing or bailed out for later recovery. We were most grateful for that. To my growing surprise the Martians did not yet own the skies of Earth. We might actually have a chance of winning!

It was quickly decided not to send a reconnaissance mission to the South Pole. As the radar traffic logged in around the general southern pole area was about identical to the traffic in the north we expected their base at the South Pole should pretty much reflect the one we had just imaged at the North Pole. Plans were now being completed to attack both bases at the same time by two completely different methods. We had to hit these polar command centers hard coordinating with a massive attack being planned for Giza.

That evening word came down that the area which held our Salt Mine Grain Facility – code named ‘Wind’ at Sifto Mine in Goderich, Ontario, Canada had been overrun by Martians. There was no direct information on the condition of the facility at Wind. Radio contact had been lost.

By this point it was becoming very difficult to receive wireless including burst radio and Ham Radio reports. The Martian orbiting and local ground jamming devices were doing a superb job. Adding to these problems several cable links had been discovered and destroyed but we had constructed so many back-ups messages were still getting through – at least many of them. Keeping track of the situation in Ontario the Americans launched dozens of photo reconnaissance missions covering large stretches of the front lines in North America.

[END PART 66]

Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020

[NEXT WEEK: PART 67: MARTIAN GROUND ATTACKS, THE GADGET FLIES; INVASION MAPS 2 & 3.]

[PART 65]

DAY SEVEN: 8 September 1938

On this day it snowed in Cairo. At the heart of the snow was a black greasy ash. It had the sweat smell of rotting death. There were no clear skies reported over Earth on that day. In higher latitudes digging out after one of the daily snowstorms was becoming the norm. It was a situation the Martians found difficult to operate in as there was very little snow falling on Mars despite the continuous cold temperatures. Snow drifts on Mars are practically non-existent.

All around the world along with reports of air combat and Martian ground movements came word of strange and violent weather. Our planet’s atmosphere was clearly under great stress as snow and hail began falling in areas which had never before seen such events. Hurricane force winds were pushing along great mountain ranges while cold desert winds pushed dust and sand thousands of miles along equatorial regions. Tremendously powerful storms in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans generating cyclonic winds upwards of 200 miles per hour and greater were driving destructive waves across much of these open areas, many now moving towards populated coastal areas. Torrential sheets of muddy rain were hitting the vast plains of North and South America as well as the great plains of Russia and China.

In some areas the great fires had been exhausted by those torrential rains where other areas were being greatly expanded by huge wind storms. As strange dark reddish sunsets marked much of our wounded world, those who could still see dust covered sunsets reported high altitude lightening appearing to cross horizontally for hundreds of miles at energy levels not thought possible. Lightning strikes in many northern areas were hitting at energies and numbers never before experienced as great amounts of energy injected into the atmosphere by massive volcanic events was being discharged back into the Earth. Some reports spoke of loud claps of thunder going off for days at a time like some continuous roar of distress. At New Madrid in the American State of Illinois an ancient fault in the Earth broke with a force of 9.1 on the Thomas Scale ringing church bells 1000 miles away in Boston. One writer would later recall it was as if “the very Earth was screaming in pain.” It would be difficult to disagree with that observation by anyone who was lucky enough to live through these unprecedented events. Many lower lying areas around the world were now being flooded by the massive melting of glacial ices and torrential rains. Most deltas such as the Mississippi and Mekong were already under water as was 50% of the American state of Florida.

THE GREAT AIR ATTACKS ON THE COMMAND CITIES

Despite the tremendous activity in the atmosphere this day saw Martians returning to aerial attacks on selected large population centers undercover of very bad weather. This time however the Martians would not only attack in mass a limited number of cities they would do so from mid and low altitudes expecting to lose more than a few of their flying machines but also expecting to do a great deal of damage to their selected targets. On this seventh day of the war the Martians concentrated these attacks on New London, New York City, Sydney and New Washington Center in order to soften up the defenses of our prime cities. We had advanced warning of their attacks from intercepted and de-coded Martian radio traffic. It was clear they understood our strategic command centers were located in these cities. They were in fact attacking the Committee itself and they damn well knew where to find us!

It goes without saying the Martians had decided to attack the most heavily defended points on Planet Earth. Each of these cities were built with great strength and ringed with layer after layer of weapons designed to defend against any type of attack the Martians would bring to them either on the ground or from the air. As an example in New London we had deployed nearly 4000 anti-aircraft guns, 445 solid rocket firing platforms, 153 ground and building level Tesla Heat-Rays, over 25,000 barrage balloons, over 800 high beam spotlights to blind the Martians and thousands of high intensity radio speakers (for use against ground forces), thousands of metallic balloons for release to confuse the enemies electronic equipment backed up by radio and radar jammers and one full Army Group numbering 179,000 combat troops with 2000 tanks and 6000 artillery pieces. These forces also held 52 of our own small Walkers taken directly from Martian plans and all of them had small Heat-Rays. (They were deployed underground.)

Solid rocket firing platform

New London was also ringed by thousands of minefields, Black Smoke burn platforms, fire trenches and over 9000 Martian Walker Traps. In the air we could still launch 82 Phoenix IIs and 287 jet fighters (a very small defensive air force to be sure), not to mention the six submarines under the Thames River ready to engage the enemy. And that was just what we had deployed on the surface! New York City, Sydney and New Washington Center all had similar forces prepared to defend their ground. (There was no attack submarine at New Washington Center with one command submarine, CS Tiger Fish, prepared to evacuate leadership standing by submerged beneath the Potomac River.) For the most part, considering the strength of our enemy it was pretty much an even fight. At least we had hopes it was.

As soon as we understood where the Martians planned to attack, New York City deployed eight rocket capable submarines in a circle around the city (two were left off shore as reserves and to insure a communication link to outside forces). Sydney formed their submarines in an arch just off shore again deploying eight of the ten. At New London we ‘parked’ six of our submarines in a line under the Thames River cutting across the city. They would be prepared to “pop up” and fire before going back underwater. They were also prepared to sail into Lower-London to evacuate the command group if the need should arise. I was determined to not let that happen.

As the Martians continued to press their ground attacks around the world, mostly supported by limited air cover eight hundred Martian Flying Machines came out of the north flying south towards New York City, New London and New Washington Center. Out of the South Pole flew 300 flyers heading for Sydney. We estimated that was just about as many Martian flyers as they could put in the air at the time. The great air battle for our command cities had begun. The fifth of September had seen the greatest use of Martian air power during the war on a wide range of targets around the world. This day would see the most concentrated air power of the war played out on only four populated targets.

Committee and national forces engage Martian Flying Machines over Western Europe

The first fighters to engage the enemy were launched from six carriers stationed in the North Atlantic. Of the 142 jets sent up to engage the enemy only 22 returned to their ships. Six Martian Flying Machines had been destroyed. Once again costs had been high but once again our forces did not pause in giving battle to the bloody Martians.

NEW LONDON

I was in our Lower-London Command Center when the first wave arrived over the capital. By our radar count (not fully reliable by this time due to loss of some facilities and general atmospheric conditions) around 280 enemy flyers were on the way to pound this city into the ground. My orders were clear to our air forces. Any available combat aircraft along Martian flight paths were ordered to attack in strength but to engage in hit-and-run tactics only. Phoenix IIs were ordered to stay with the Martian formations all the way to London. This order naturally left several areas with little or no air coverage but considering the number of Martian Flying Machines assigned to these attacks there was not much more expected from the enemy in the air at other nearby locations. Confirmation came when battle reports around the world spoke of Martian ground attacks operating with little or no air cover. This was an opportunity we took full advantage of as commands around the world sent in wave after wave of high altitude bombers to attack the leading edges of Martian fronts. At several points these bomber attacks actually halted the Martians for upwards of half a day! Martian air resources were beginning to thin out a bit. They had clearly underestimated our strength and capabilities in the air. I felt then as I do now they had also underestimated our determination to fight them at all costs.

These fighter efforts brought down only eight of the inbound Martian flyers with three returning to their arctic base damaged. Our pilots were having a very difficult time trying to locate the enemies’ aircraft in this miserable weather. Their onboard radars were not working all that well either. All combat aircraft assigned to New London were then ordered up to attack the inbound Martians and destroy as many as they could before they could reach London. However, they were not to engage the enemy over the city. New London itself would fight the Martians. There would be far too many munitions going into the air to allow safe over-flight by our jets. After doing what they could the jets were ordered to fly off to reserve holding areas in order to be available if and when the Martians attacked on the ground. We would need them at a later time, although some fighters disobeyed orders and stayed to help fight off the Martians. Phoenix IIs flying high cover would remain in the fight but only at higher altitudes.

Before dawn, not that we could see it, the Martians made their first run at New London from medium altitude. This group came in firing their Heat-Rays while simultaneously dropping seismic devices and Black Smoke canisters. It did not take long for black greasy smoke to begin moving across large areas of Upper-London. Once again burn paths and anti smoke incineration teams went after the smoke to very good effect. The seismic devices did much better this time as hundreds of already damaged buildings fell to these devices. With this second seismic attack on the city we did experience a few tunnel collapses but nothing larger than 100 feet in any one area and only one major collapse south of the Thames which did reach into the top street level in Lower-London. Repair teams were soon building holding walls around both ends of the collapse to seal it off. This was to ensure that surface Black Smoke attacks could not filter into Lower-London. By their attack pattern it was clear the Martians had pretty much been able to map out the city. Their hybrid spies had done a good job. Although the Heat-Ray attacks were directed on the surface it was clear their true targets must have been situated in Lower-London.

One group of enemy flyers concentrated their attacks on our surface defense systems including our Heat-Ray towers, high intensity speakers, powerful spotlights and rocket platforms while the second group pounded the surface directly above our command areas, power control areas and Committee offices. They had hit the surface areas above our Command Center, Communications Center, Radar Control Center, SAGED computer facility, Tango Operations Group, 1 and 2, CAIG Headquarters, the Cabinet Security Service facility and at least 52 entrance way facilities. (These hits must have been in preparation for ground attacks.) They had even hit ‘Tea Drinker’s’ area but missed hitting his command train directly under the reinforced railroad tunnel he and his command staff were in. My backup, ‘Tea Drinker’, ordered his command train to move with caution to a secondary location. And while the surface of these areas would have the appearance of blackened melted deserts – devoid of any life or structure – by the end of the day our layer-upon-layer construction over our most critical underground facilities all held. To take these areas the Martians would need to knock on the door and come in! We would be giving them a very ‘warm welcome’ when they did.

Before the attacks began every single barrage balloon was launched and every radio and radar jammer was activated. To be honest the balloons did not seem to have much effect on low flying Martians but we did see a marked difficulty in controlling their flying machines anytime they came within close range of our radio/radar jammers. Some of Tesla’s magic was having an effect.

Mid-way through the air battle over London the Martians began to pay special attention to radio areas – that would cost them. We knew of course the Martians honed in on any type of radio transmission and had expected these facilities to come under attack which is why we matched many of them with Tesla’s radar controlled Heat-Rays and rocket platforms as well as many of our anti-aircraft batteries which themselves were mated with our high beam spotlights to blind the enemy. In total the low flying Martians were able to destroy 82 of our Heat-Rays and several radar stations but it cost the Martians 69 of their flying machines. After these attacks we would be forced to reposition the remaining Heat-Rays and spotlights, but that force had kept the Martians from doing greater damage than they could have done if they were not there as our defense forces had taken the measure of the Martians with their own technology.

Martian Heat-Ray attack

By the end of the day the Martians headed back towards the high ice leaving at least one-third of New London burning but very little damage had been inflicted on Lower-London. We had lost another 106 jet fighters and 18 Phoenix IIs. For the time being we had saved hundreds of thousands of lives and on this day had beaten back the Martians in the air at least to a draw at one location. However, we also knew their ground forces which landed in Ireland were still sweeping south. It would not be long before those Martian Walkers lined up to attack New London in force. This time we were ready.

NEW YORK CITY

Within minutes of New London coming under air attack the first wave of what would total 310 Martian Flying Machines began to hit in and around Upper-New York City with pulsed Heat-Rays. United States and Committee fighters from both ground and carrier locations slammed into the Martians from three directions well away from the city and battled them all the way in. Now their air crews would engage the enemy at every level in the air as massive thunder storms once again pounded the city. Their Heat-Rays would do a good deal of damage but the storms they had caused became an enemy to them perhaps more powerful than man could ever be. Time and time again as the Martians fought off our determined fighters, they continued to hit targets on the ground with their deadly Heat-Rays and time-after-time in places the torrent of rain put out the fires almost as fast as the Martians could set them. The Martians could hit and destroy buildings and even small areas but for massive destructive power they needed their melted steel and concrete to spread the flames. Seemingly the “Sky gods” over New York City were fighting back!

Within a few minutes the Martians began dropping their seismic devices; dozens of them turning away from their Heat-Ray operations for a time. It was then our own ground and tower based radar controlled Heat-Rays opened up on the Martians who had finally come into range. It was clear we were giving as good as we were getting but only at point black range as the weather situation had done much to cut down on the effectiveness of our Heat-Rays as well. This would soon become a point-to-point slug fest between the Martians and the men on these weapons. By the end of the day 49 of our Heat-Rays and crews were destroyed but they were able to take down 39 of the enemies’ aircraft. The Heat-Ray at the top of the Empire State Building and ten floors below it no longer existed. Before they evaporated it was noted this one team had taken the measure of no less than three enemy craft destroying two and leaving one flying off trailing heavy black smoke. The fact that a majority of the building was still standing amazed me when I read the reports coming out of Lower-New York City.

The people of New York City could report one small victory when they cabled our headquarters in New London that at least one Martian Flying Machine had been luckless enough to fly over Liberty Island. This long held Martian Trap ‘removed itself from the map’ along with one Martian Flying Machine.

Street fighting against the Martians

For two hours the air battle and air to ground attacks continued even as the seismic devices went off. As with London this second seismic attack brought down hundreds of buildings most of which had been damaged by earlier attacks. Due to the storms the Martian Heat-Ray attacks had not done nearly the amount of damage one would have expected considering the number of flyers which had attacked the city. Nevertheless, at least fifteen openings into Lower-New York City were hit and damage to these points was considerable. It was clear Lower-New York City had also been mapped out by the Martians and as with London, the surface areas above Committee Command and Control Centers were hit very hard leaving not one structure left standing above these critical points. Destruction in these areas had been complete. Those surfaces were now covered with glowing black glass! (This combination of melted building materials mixed with melted rock and soil would later be called ‘Martianite.) In several areas images of people sired into nearby walls, streets and large rocks were scattered about like ghosts. All that remained were the shadows. In some areas one could count hundreds of these reminders of people who had once called these areas home.

One difference was noted when no Black Smoke canisters were dropped on the city. It was thought that the weather may have played a part in that decision.

NEW WASHINGTON CENTER

When the Americans rebuilt their capital after the First Martian War government officials (re: Teddy) quickly decided to rebuild most major federal buildings on their original sites but only as structural facades. None of the buildings including the Supreme Court, the Houses of Congress, and much of the White House and many more were in fact not real inhabited structures. All of the working offices of government were built deep underground. They had been interconnected by a vast network of reinforced tunnels which included roads and rail lines. President Roosevelt had insisted that at the very least the President’s Oval Office would be built above ground to “demonstrate a connection to the people”. (There was of course another much larger office for the President well protected underground.) All other working and living areas of the White House were underground reachable by several stairways and elevators including one very large one which could accommodate at least two cars at the same time.

When compared to other above ground cities around the world New Washington Center had the fewest actual real above ground government buildings than anywhere else. It was indeed a false city of the people. Many of these false buildings however took advantage of this fact and did have anti-aircraft units, rocket platforms and Heat-Ray weapons hidden inside. Locally New Washington Center was known as the ‘Hollow City’. Hollow or not when the Martians flew by they were greeted with a tremendous welcome of defensive weapons not to be outdone anywhere. The Americans were determined to defend their ‘Capital’ even if most of its surface construction was a false one. As with most governmental faces there was much to be found under its wide surface streets and false fronts.

Rocket fired at incoming Martian craft from rocket platform

The attack on New Washington Center came from the east flying out of a huge bank of black clouds which had hidden the Martian force nearly to the edge of the city. The intensity of the energy discharges of these storms was playing hell with our radars. The storm would hit the city at almost the same time as the Martians. The fact the Martians used the storm as cover indicated they knew they needed it. It also meant our air attacks were having an effect they had perhaps not expected. Every available fighter the Americans could field in the area was in on the fight.

APOLLO FLASH: TO ALL COMMANDS: MARTIANS NOW USING STORM FRONTS AS COVER – EARTH AIR ATTACKS APPEAR TO BE EFFECTIVE – CONTINUE AIR OPS IN MASS AS MUCH AS FEASIBLE – CONTINUE TO WEAR THEM DOWN.

Coming in from medium altitude the Martians sent in six waves all of which dropped hundreds of Black Smoke canisters and dozens of seismic devices, while their Heat-Rays were used to clear a path in the air for their flying machines. It was noted this was the first time in the air war they had used their deadly rays as cover rather than attack.

On the ground defense forces were firing volley after volley of solid rocket and anti-aircraft fire at the passing Martians but most of our Tesla Heat-Rays focused on burning pathways through the thick black smoke being laid down by the enemy. The Martians had not yet flown low enough for effective use of our Heat-Rays or high intensity lights against their aircraft. The Americans however were taking out a few of their flyers with intensive ground fire.

In the air both Phoenix IIs and Thunder Jets were engaging enemy aircraft in what can only be described as an all out effort to attack and destroy as many of the 200 Martian Flying Machines as they could. This was a massed dog fight at low, medium and high altitudes which was keeping most, but not all, of the Martians busy and thus many were unable to focus on attacking the city. After only fifteen minutes a second wave of fighters was able to join the battle over New Washington Center but these were not Martian machines these were American fighters coming off the USS Lexington, USS Concord and the USS Philadelphia numbering 53 first line Phoenix II fighters. They too had come in out of the Atlantic storm front now beginning to hit the city with sleet and torrential rains. This time however, the Martians, paying close attention to the aircraft already engaged, did not see them coming as the Americans flew directly at the massed fighters at two levels downing an incredible ten Martian Flying Machines in the first two minutes engaging the enemy with new air-to-air missiles, pin point Heat-Rays and machine-gun fire. One pilot yelled over the radio that “the Martians are dropping like flies. Keep going. Hit the squid bastards as hard as you can.”

Seeing the new air action anti-aircraft batteries stopped firing at higher altitudes to lessen the odds of hitting one of our own aircraft. However, they did continue firing on numbers of low flying Martians several of which were still making Heat-Ray and seismic runs on the city. Fighting for only fifteen minutes longer with only moderate damage to the city the Martians broke off the fight and headed north. For the first time in the war the Martians had actually been forced to disengage and retreat from an air battle! In total they lost 43 of their flying machines with several more limping away trailing black smoke. Our forces lost 19 Phoenix IIs and 39 Thunder Jets. As the Martians headed north every available Phoenix II in the area went up to meet them causing the loss of six more of our aircraft but costing the Martians eight more of their machines. (Most of these had been damaged during the attack on Washington and were picked off as the Americans and Canadians attacked the stream of Martian Flying Machines heading towards the Arctic ice fields.) It had been costly but the Americans had finally won a hard fought air battle! More over they had prevented the city from being widely damaged along with what would have been a great loss of life. It would however be a short lived victory as the Martians would soon return.

SYDNEY

By the time 300 Martian Flying Machines were in position to attack Sydney from the air, Martian ground forces had fought their way north and were stationed just outside our Southern Command Center. This would be the first time such a massive enemy air force had attacked a fortified city while at the same time attacking with strong ground forces. This would be a determined well supplied and well armed attack.

When word came that such a large number of Martian Flying Machines were headed for Sydney flash orders were sent out by ‘Titan’ calling in every available fighter within a 100 mile radius to converge on the city. Expecting to receive this titanic blow ‘Whisky Drinker’ pulled his armored Command Rail Car into Lower-Sydney. He had been stationed just outside the city in an area now in the ‘hands’ of the Martians. Titan had sent out an earlier VLF message to Triton onboard the submarine CS Pacific requesting additional missile firing submarines to come to the aid of Sydney. Fifteen submarines were soon on their way to take positions off shore. Titan had also sent an urgent flash message to the commander of the southern Pacific fleet for battleships and aircraft carrier support. Titan was informed four battleships had already been sent steaming his way for several days in anticipation of an attack on Sydney based upon earlier radar landing data and the attack on Melbourne. Six aircraft carriers were also steaming his way and their jets and Phoenix IIs would be available for action over the city in less than eight hours.

Responding to requests Brisbane, located just north of the city, sent in fifteen Phoenix IIs which represented nearly half of their compliment of advanced fighters. The government of New Zealand out of Auckland sent in four cruisers and a medium size aircraft carrier the RNZ Nelson. They were also prepared to send in a bomber wing of 48 aircraft if an appropriate target could be designated by Titan. Just as the first Martian flew over Sydney the sky became clear for the first time in days.

In series the Martians came at Sydney on the ground from three directions with large Walkers leading the way. These were followed by medium sized Walkers who were themselves followed by Martian B combat forces riding for the first time in what must be called armored troop carriers, but these were on tracks not wheels. All of these elements came straight in firing Heat-Rays as forward cover and releasing thick greasy Black Smoke. Low flying Martians covering the assault swept in front of the Walkers pumping Heat-Rays into the ground which set off several but not all of our mines. Some were deeply buried and could not be detonated in this manner. At the edge of the first mine fields the large Walkers stopped and as one rose into the air and began pouring fire into the mine fields and beyond. Behind this wall of fire the armored Martians simply drove into the field. Dozens of these armored vehicles sacrificed themselves exploding into the air as they came into contact with the mines. As far as equipment and ‘manpower’ were concerned this was a very expensive way to attack a heavily defended mine field. It was clear the Martians could not have cared less. Despite their losses the murderous hordes of Martians continued to advance. The Martians clearly understood the value of Sydney.

The Martians were detonating lanes in the field which would allow the smaller Walkers, follow up armor and Martian B infantry to move towards the city. As the fields erupted with explosives the large Walkers once again pulled their legs up and coasted over the field. This time however the Aussies were ready. Using Melbourne as an example the Australians deployed tanks, artillery and Heat-Rays into large teams (combat packages) behind the mine fields ready to pour fire on the large Walkers as they passed over the mines. The moving wall of 57 large Walkers was met with a massive volley of fire from the 450 Aussie guns. The fire was so thick at times the air appeared to turn gray as Walker after Walker took hit after hit. Even then it would take several direct hits to even stop a Walker let alone destroy one. These were very well armored machines. To be sure they were the kings of the battlefield but they were by no means invincible. It was estimated Aussie gunners fired at least 20,000 rounds at the advancing Heat-Ray firing enemy. In the “Battle for the Mine Fields” the Martians would eventually lose 39 large Walkers before they were able to fire point blank on the Australian gun crews. When the Australians were finally forced to retreat the enemy was still moving forward but at a decidedly slower pace having left an additional 4500 Martian Bs, several dozen armored vehicles and at least 27 smaller Walkers on the field. There was no time to celebrate – the Martians had fought their way inside Upper-Sydney!

Committee battleship firing on Martian positions

Attacking from the north and south of the city the Martians entered the western edge of Sydney. Destroyers and cruisers, which had steamed full ahead to the aid of Sydney, began firing from their off shore positions on the Martians. As the battleships arrived off the coast they immediately began firing directly over the city on to Martian forces moving in a deep line from the west. The Martians would lose 26 flyers over Sydney and many more Walkers on this day. The battle for Sydney had begun and would continue for days as bombing and strafing runs from both Australian and New Zealand air forces pressed hard as the ground fighters continued to press hard on the Martians.

TITAN FLASH: TO ALL COMMANDS: MARTIANS NOW FIELDING SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TRACKED ARMORED VEHICLES FOR TROOP TRANSPORT – HAVE HEAT-RAYS – TRACKS VULNERABLE.

THE MARTIANS CONTINUE TO ADVANCE

With essential close in air support Martian ground forces continued to press forward on all fronts. They had made their way south from their Scottish landing zones all the way to Edinburgh where Scottish regiments met them with heavy tank and artillery fire holding a line backed by mostly prop-driven fighters for a few hours until a wave of medium and large Walkers simply walked over their own dead to push the determined Scots back to a line formed ten miles south of Edinburgh. There they linked up with a re-enforced British army group posed to slam into the Martians. It was at this line that thousands of lightly armed Scots, mostly civilians, would wait for the machines to pass over their positions before coming up to engage the first wave of Martian B foot soldiers in bloody hand-to-hand combat. 1200 Scots under their colors flying and with the pipes calling threw themselves at the heavily armed Martians. This two hour “Battle for the Pastures” would go down in Scottish history. When it was all over no more than fifty Scots were able to walk off the field. The Martians however had lost at least 2500 of their own. By the end of the day the Scottish flag still held the ground even though they were now completely cut off from other Earth forces. They had not given up a single yard of the ‘Pasture’. After the war the proudest boast heard from a Scot was “I fought at the Pastures.”

Aftermath of the “Battle for the Pastures”

By this time most of Sweden was now Martian occupied territory as the Martians pressed west into Norway but not before the Swedish Navy pounded Martian ground forces with gunfire off of Sundsvall. The redoubtable Swedes would continue the fight with guerrilla warfare aided by Tango Special Forces troops who had landed by submarine along their west coast. Their task was to organize local stay-behind units and with these units attack and destroy any supporting Martian rear forces. In other words, kill as many Martian Bs as they could find. The Bs were the weak link in the Martian chain even though they were still tough fighters.

From their landings in Russia the Martians had pushed in every direction towards Kotlas, Perm, Yaroslavl, Ryazan, and soon on to the outskirts of Moscow. Stalin would not be just waiting. From Moscow he sent out ten divisions of armor and infantry to attack the first line of Martian machines. Many of these forces did not make it back to the city but they took many Martians with them and did slow the Martian advance. Few cable reports were coming out of Russia from any area. Without up to date information it would be difficult to send Committee forces into the area to help any Russian efforts. Cable lines however were still operational. Several urgent messages were sent requesting updates from ‘Vodka Drinker’.

Along a line from Kamloops in the west to Hearst in the east the Martians held a wide plain of Canada preparing to move south into the United States. The ruins of Moose Jaw, Regina and Winnipeg were now Martian controlled areas. Specially trained cold weather troops, mostly tough well equipped Eskimos, had been held back in order to spearhead stay behind operations. Now was the time to attack. They would search out and destroy supply depots and “any stray Martians we can find”.

From Cairo the Martians had swept into Libya west and south into northern Sudan. The north end of the Nile was now held by the Martians. They patrolled the river with small patrol craft armed with mounted Heat-Rays.

In the south of Africa the enemy was moving north on a line from Walvis Bay on the west coast to Mbabane on the east, cutting through Mafeking driving deep into their secondary lines of defense. Our facility at Johannesburg had gone radio silent. Nothing more was coming through even on secure cable. We should have been able to keep in contact with our Underground Military Base MB5 code named ‘Epsilon’ at Johannesburg. We would continue to monitor their frequencies. So far nothing was stopping Martian advances in southern Africa as they continued to push north. There was very little in the way of combat forces in the area to stop them or even slow them down. The Martians were picking their spots attacking one area and leaving others untouched. They seemed to have a clear idea of where our communications and power facilities were to be found. They had mapped out exactly when and where they needed to attack for the greatest effect. They were not wasting any efforts in this war as they passed up areas less developed than others.

On the tip of South America the Martian front had spread from Concepcion on the west coast across to Bahia Blanca on the east. South of this line came the first reports of humans being taken for food. Disturbing reports were now coming in from Africa and Asia as well that the Martians had begun gathering people up and herding them into enclosures. We knew they would be using these people to feed on and there was little to be done. Stay-behind forces were ordered to do what they could. Waves of terrified people running for their lives from the deadly Black Smoke and frightful Heat-Rays became the norm in front of every line of Martian advance. Heavy snow was reported.

New landings were reported in Brazil just north of Rio de Janeiro, south of Cali Columbia, south of Casablanca Morocco and Derby Australia. Not unexpectedly due to ongoing air battles in other areas air cover by the Martians over these new landings was reported as light. They were all met with air and ground attacks by local forces within two hours of each of these landings. Casualties inflicted upon our first units to attack these new landing zones were once again very heavy. It was not long before regular combat units would take over the task of battling these newly landed enemy forces.

By this time we were receiving some very disturbing reports on the organization of Martian ground forces. Difficult as it was to believe it was possible that humans, breed on Mars, had come as part of the invasion army and were now fighting alongside the Martians (Martian humans). We would soon have proof they were being used as decoys as well as guards for the Martians in their camps. When these reports were verified radio instructions were sent out to stay-behind-forces to attempt to capture any full humans fighting for the Martians. We needed to interrogate some of these people. What they could tell us about Martians would be invaluable.

South east of Cali Columbia

Ham Radio report WP6AZ (unconfirmed): Several large Martian airships have landed and are sending out their Walkers and thousands of combat troops. Some of the troops appear to be human but I can’t be sure. Many small Walkers are moving with them. Whiskey Papa 6 Alpha Zulu – out.

Taking note on how the Martians were fighting it was clear our forces had gotten their attention. More and more the Martians were turning their efforts away from attacking the Earth. Their major focus on this seventh day of combat was now directed towards the humans who were making it decidedly difficult for them to obtain their many objectives. Whatever the Martians may have learned from combat with humans so far in the war it must have been clear to them that Earth forces were not about to surrender in any area no matter the cost and Martian losses to their flying machines as well as ground forces were going to be considerable. My thoughts were they probably understood human determination to fight at all costs since they seemed to have the same determination. They should have known this since the massive self-destruction during the Great Earth War which they had closely watched.

By preliminary count our forces world-wide had brought down at least 817 of their powerful front line combat flying machines. We estimated they still had around 900 more in the fight (some 53%). Even with these losses the enemy still fielded thousands of Walkers and supporting equipment and a great many ground combat forces and at no point in contact with Martian forces was the enemy being pushed back. It was clear we were wearing them down and they were slowing their advances at many locations but we were not winning at any point on Earth – at least not yet! Our costs in lives and equipment was still very high.

This day also brought news that some of the medium Walkers (perhaps all) were capable of floating across rivers and lakes. They could not float over great distances such as large lakes or oceans, but they did have even more formidable capabilities than the last time we had seen them in combat back in ’01. The Martians had spent the time between war improving their war fighting machines.

Martian primary attacks and occupied territories – 8 September 1938

Mars Radio Traps MRT-9 AND MRT-10 in Kotlas and Sunton Russia had both gone off and had taken one each Martian Flying Machine with them. By this late date I was surprised these traps were still effective. The single minded Martians did not yet seem to understand these traps. Here was proof once again the Martians were not super beings just damned well armed with a far superior technology than man.

How they could have developed that high level of technology we still could not figure out. Even if they had not developed their weapons themselves it was very clear they certainly knew how to use them. But if they had not developed them how did they acquire such destructive devices and from who? These were questions for a later time – if we were indeed lucky enough to have that privilege.

[END PART 65]

Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020

[NEXT WEEK: PART 66: ARCTIC NORTH AND THE UNITED STATES BORDER ATTACKS.]