about the details.” He dropped the thick document onto the table.
Alex sat up in his chair, reached for the brown canvas case, and stared at the document: Operation Middleton. The irony of the code name, the name of the British officer who had accepted Louis Riel’s surrender in 1885, registered immediately.
Alex ran his fingers through the table of contents: “Concept of Operations”; “Allocation to Tasks”; “Logistics”; “Command and Signals”; “Annexes.” There were also lists of code words and nicknames; descriptions of the ORBAT – the order of battle; target lists; and maps. Complete enough, at least on the surface. He started with the “Concept of Operations,” the heart of the document.
OPERATION MIDDLETON
Aim: To capture southern Manitoba and install a provisional First People’s government by no later than 30 September.
Phase I: Battle Group Riel, seven combat teams, three Special Forces sections, four combat engineer sections, and a headquarters and communications section capture Winnipeg’s inner city and establish control over the downtown core bordering on Portage Avenue, Memorial Boulevard, the River Assiniboine at the Osborne Bridge to the Forks, north to Alexander Avenue and the Disraeli Freeway south to Ellis Avenue and Balmoral. Battle Group Riel will hold the area until relieved by Battle Group Winnipegosis advancing from northern Manitoba. Most important target is the legislative buildings, to be fortified in two lines: outer perimeter on the grounds to the River Assiniboine, and inner strong point within the building.
In Phase II, Battle Group Métis assembles combat teams in outlying areas north and west of the city and moves on the airport to capture Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg, destroy Canadian Forces aircraft, damage runways, and secure terminals. Security patrols would control the airport and deploy Blow Pipe anti-aircraft teams to defend against any air attacks or airborne attempts to reinforce the Canadian Forces in the area.
The whole “Western Territory” operation in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta is under the command of Colonel Stevenson, first from HQ at the old CPR station in Winnipeg, then after the assault from a hangar on the military base at the airport.
Rules of Engagement: All troops, police, or other armed force not identified as NPA units to be engaged with deadly force within assigned areas. Civilians held as captives to be treated according to the Laws of Armed Conflict on pain of severe penalty to commanders. Other civilians to be escorted to the perimeter and released unharmed.
Alex looked up from the paper. “Every combat unit in Western Canada will come down on us like a ton of bricks. Have any of your people any idea how complicated this mission is? Have they any basic training at all? Being a soldier requires more than being able to mouth the words.” He stopped, caught between his anxiety and his respect for Stevenson.
Stevenson wasn’t at all upset. “Yeah, that’s possible. Actually, with a bit of luck most of the army won’t be in Western Canada. But if the army wants to tie up units fighting for buildings in the city or the airport, well, so much the better for the grand strategy. Your guys don’t have to conduct open-field military operations, Alex, just irregular urban warfare.
“Of course it’s a challenge, holding this mostly amateur native army crowd together,” he continued, “and they’re not much else. But that’s your job. We always had it easy in the regular army, you know that. We commanded volunteers who wanted to be the best, who often set the standards for officers to live up to. If you couldn’t get an ‘outstanding’ rating leading those guys, you were a real screw-up.
“Most armies aren’t like that. They’re like this ragtag outfit. If their officers don’t lead from in front, and check everything, nobody steps up to do it. What’s worse, your subordinates are keen but they’ll get you killed if you don’t watch out. And if they do, your operation will fall apart. Think of it as defensive leading. It’s not easy, Alex. You have to be out in front but keep your bloody head down. And I don’t just mean when bullets are flying. For this operation, with these guys, you have to change your expectations, but not your style. These guys will follow you as best they can, but who knows really how they’re going to react once we turn the heat on. But that’s why I asked for you to command them, Alex.”
Alex nodded and returned to the document to skim through the plan again. Then he stood for a long while over the map. He’d always had a gift for being able to embed maps in his mind, to see the patterns on paper in 3D and as if moving through them in real time. “We come down here, there’s that tall building and we …”
Stevenson interrupted his concentration. “Okay, Alex, come meet my staff. After that, I want you to begin your recce of the area and the targets. Tonight you meet your sector commanders and we’ll begin the detailed review and rehearsal of the operations. That battle drill sequence – recce, planning, orders, and deployments – will increase in intensity and extend down the chain of command until we get a warning order from higher. I’m not sure on the timing, it’s pretty tight, but we’re at three days notice to move so we have a bit of time to shake things out.” The colonel opened the door and called in the staff.
* * *
Alex was partly relieved by the briefings, which were mostly clear and concise. Obviously this small staff had been trained somewhere and by professionals. When they were done, Stevenson offered Alex a couple of guides to show him around the city, but he refused them.
“I can manage, thanks. A group of Indians in old clothes walking about with maps taking notes might attract attention. I’ll just take a cut out of the centre of the map for reference and see you back here early this evening. Can I meet with my own people, say around eighteen hundred?”
A few people at the table looked at Stevenson in surprise, but the colonel understood and appreciated Alex’s independent style. “Sure. Matt here will be your chief of staff and you can begin your own battle procedure right now. Okay, folks, that’s it for now. Planning meeting as usual at seventeen hundred. Alex, you can see your people after that.”
Wednesday, September 1, 1400 hours
Winnipeg: Main Street
Alex picked up his map and a notepad and made his way out the rear entrance of the Aboriginal Centre. He scouted around the east side to Maple Street; it was immediately obvious that the entire site was easy to defend. Early settlers had seen its potential and built Fort Douglas nearby in 1812 as the headquarters of the Red River Settlement. Both the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company built defended locations near Point Douglas, taking advantage of the natural protection provided on three sides by sharp turns in the Red River. The grounds now housed various native facilities and exhibitions, but Alex looked first at the high buildings and the railway embankment around which he’d formulate his defensive plan for the north flank of the downtown position.
He began to construct his plan, asking himself, then answering, a series of related, complex questions he had been taught in staff college and in real operations. Where is the key terrain, the ground that must be held if the mission is to succeed? Where are the approaches to the key terrain that must therefore be defended? Where are the killing zones into which attackers could be funnelled? Where is the “dead ground,” the possible avenues of attack we won’t be able to see – behind buildings, for instance – from the natural defensive firing positions? Where are the best sites for which weapons and how many people will be needed in each location? What’s the logical allocation of scarce weapons and people to tasks? How can the scattered sites best support each other?
Alex looked first at the east-west railway line where it crossed Main Street. That, he told himself, would be the northern boundary of his defensive position. With a few snipers and anti-tank
