Cauldron (Larry Bond novel)
| Author | Larry Bond, Patrick Larkin |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller, War novel |
| Publisher | Vision |
|
Publication date
|
1993 (hardbound), April 1994 (paperback) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 768 pp (paperback edition) |
| ISBN |
Cauldron is a technothriller novel by Larry Bond.
Economic upheaval around the world in the early 1990s becomes an opportunity for France and Germany to consolidate their power in Europe through an alliance called the European Confederation or EurCon. However, it is a continental partnership in name only; France provides the political power with the Germans carrying economic muscle. The instability and the countries' differences with the United States causes the dissolution of NATO in 1996.
The main plot takes place in 1998. Because North African immigrants are flooding Europe looking for work, riots in France and Germany prompts both countries to force a number of former Warsaw Pact nations to accept them in various factories. The first of these is a Eurocopter plant in Hungary. To further ensure subservience to EurCon, military governments take over in several countries. Russian Army forces launch a coup in Moscow as well and put the president under house arrest.
Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia stand up against EurCon, which gradually deploys combat troops to their borders. France also negotiates with Russia to stop natural-gas shipments to Poland. The United States comes in to support Poland by sending an LNG tanker to Gdańsk; French operatives blow it up in the harbor. The US Navy starts sending armed convoys to force a breakthrough of the Baltic Sea and keep the supply lines open.
French oppression in Eastern Europe comes to a head in May 1998 when a people's uprising in Budapest results in the regime's collapse. Seeing the turmoil as a potential harbinger for unrest, France orders military forces to subjugate the Hungarians days later; however, the Hungarian Army slows down the French assault.
The French and Germans invade Poland two months after the attack on Hungary. Because of heavy opposition, the Poles figure out that the EurCon armies plan to envelop Polish forces in a pincer movement and pull them out to safe havens in eastern Poland. Meanwhile, the US convoys in the North Sea are still on track for Poland. EurCon mobilizes their airpower to stop the Americans, who have laid a trap. Much of the EurCon strike force is destroyed, and a last-ditch attempt to destroy the US fleet with ASMP nuclear-tipped missiles is thwarted. The failed nuclear attack forces the US to launch Operation Counterweight - a concerted strike on enemy facilities in France and Germany proper. A B-52 raid levels French resupply facilities in Metz while a surgical strike destroys France's S3 IRBM silos in the Plateau d'Albion. Some EurCon planes in the Poland front are sent home for local defense.
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