"Sir, that's… an expansion like nothing we've done before…" Ivanov protested.
"Have you found him yet?" I asked, my tone pointed. Ivanov grit his teeth and shook his head.
I looked at the officers around me, I'd just unveiled the plan, massive expansion of Soviet military power, now near limitless due to many restrictions falling to the wayside.
"Sir, we couldn't feasibly repair a fleet that size, we'd have to reopen almost every shipyard in the republic to have a hope of making it happen…" Gena said.
"Then we'll make it happen… there are plenty of engineering and sapper brigades…" I replied dryly.
"What about you Thomas? Is the expansion satisfactory?"
The lone Airforce general glanced at his compatriots, squaring his shoulders before speaking. "I'm not sure sir, it's… a lot to expand to all at once…"
"Is it enough?" I asked again.
"Sir… I only command about eleven thousand personnel, a bit over two hundred planes and a hundred helicopters… The plan calls for almost seven hundred new airframes… fighters, bombers, strategic bombers, AWACS, helicopters… that's too much." He protested.
"Sir, I think it's more that this expansion is too sudden… too large for a all in one go…" Joeseph tried to mitigate as I looked at everyone crowded in my office. My eyes fell on Ponatoski. She closed her eyes for a moment and relaxed.
"The Polish army will serve commander." She said after a moment..
"Kommandant, the Volksarmee will answer." Muller added, both of them seemed worried, but steady. Their replies drew stares from everyone else. I looked at everyone else, seeing them not meeting my gaze as they slowly gave their ascent.
"Good. Gena, Thomas… I'll speak with both of you later about the specific expansions of your commands, the rest of you will take over command of an army… we'll sort out the strength on as needed basis, minimum of four divisions each, no upper limit… we'll start with our limited ones… Muller, Ponatoski!"
"Jawohl herr Marshal!"
"Sir!"
"There are eight divisions on the table, how do you want to split them?" The two looked at each other for a split second.
"Evenly sir…"
"Easy enough… three motor rifle divisions and a second tank division? Does that work for both of you?" They nodded, and I turned to Zefirov and Kyriev.
"It'll be copies of your existing division, how many? Two, three? Four?"
"Whatever meets your requirements Marshal…" Kireyev replied bluntly.
"If I'm going to remain cut off in Oklahoma… the less I receive will ease air supply…"
"You won't remain cut off for much longer…"
"One will suffice…" he replied.
"Two it is…" I grumbled, turning to Zerfirov.
He sighed… "three, it would give any amphibious operation depth."
I nodded, writing down the numbers. "Alright… I have an allotment for the rest of you… motor rifle divisions first… Erik, 9th, 10th, 11th…"
"George, 12th, 13th, 14th… Joeseph, 15th and 16th… Luka, 17th… were also going to turn the 4th into a proper motor rifle division."
"Marka, 18th and 19th… Grekov, 20th, 21st, and 22nd. Rustem, 23rd, 24th, and 25th. Roman, 26th and 27th… well number the pact's motor rifle division in a second…"
"Muller and Ponatoski, I budgeted three tank divisions, which one of you is getting two?" I asked the two.
"Ponatoski." Muller insisted. I glanced between the two…
"3rd tank division to Muller, 4th and 5th to Ponatoski… Luka you take profit next… you'll take the 6th, 7th, and 8th."
"9th will go to Erik, 10th to George. Joesph, you'll take 11th and 12th tank divisions."
"Marka, 13th. Gerkov, 14th. Roman, 15th. Rustem, 16th and 17th tank division…" alright, that was the main armies dealt with… I'll buff up the support and artillery regiments later, for now, I'll focus on the foward firepower creators.
I turned to Gena. "So… was the expansion plan not to satisfaction?"
"Sir, the Hawaiians will see our having 3 fleet carriers as completely unacceptable, it'll likely be another bloodbath in the pacific, and last time we lost a third of our surface fleet…" he protested.
"I'm prepared to replace a carrier to ensure complete Soviet dominance in the Pacific. Actually, once the ships are summoned start freedom of navigation exercises within two hundred nautical miles of Honolulu." Gena closed his eyes, muttering softly to himself.
"Yes Sir."
"Thomas?" I asked.
"I'm not concerned with the plan itself, just my staff's ability to handle it sir." He replied. I looked over the disgruntled faces.
"I'll summon the fleet tonight here in Los Angeles… I'll hop over to Edward's in the morning and summon the planes. Tomorrow evening we'll summon the new divisions in the training area at NTC… probably the only area big enough to house that many troops… start getting your headquarters together, there will be a lot of work tomorrow and tonight."