Outnumbered, but not outgunned, the Imperial Russian army and the British Expeditionary Force devised a plan to halt the inexorable advance of the Indian Army's unjustified invasion. The Indians had over a million troops into the Russian Empire, but no tanks, no artillery, no air cover. The smaller Russo-British force had artillery and bombers in abundance, and their scheme became this: to trap the Indians, and pour the equivalent of 526.935 metric tonnes of high explosives onto them... per minute. Huge amounts of artillery guns, rocket launchers and aircraft were participants. There were in total, 196 artillery guns, 70 long-range rocket launchers, each holding 12 missile tubes, 261 aircraft, 350 tanks and 271, 200 infantry on the Russo-British side, facing 600, 000 Indians.

The following extract is taken from the overview of the now declassified, top-secret plan known as 'Operation Tyburn'.

---

OVERVIEW

Operation Tyburn, so named for the English village famous for its gallows, is the name for the plan of the Russian and British forces to defeat the Indian Army invading Tajikistan. Tyburn relies on the assumption that the Indian Army, in order to capture the province, will move to take the province’s capital, the city of Dushanbe. The basic premise of Tyburn, is that the Russo-British forces will convince the Indian scouts and commanders that the entire army is in Dushanbe, when in fact, it is positioned and hidden in the mountains surrounding the city. Once the Indian Army moves into Dushanbe, the Russo-British artillery will open fire simultaneously on the city, whilst troops move to close off escape routes via the valleys. Once this is achieved, and the Indian army attempts to push through the troops, the Russo-British Air forces will take off and attack, creating further confusion for the enemy commanders.

Tyburn is centred around deception, and psychological warfare. First, the Indian scouts and commanders must be lured into a sense of surety concerning the placements of Russian and British forces. The Indian Army must then be surprised by the encirclement of artillery and troops, lowering morale. The dive-bombers of the Russian Air Force are fitted with ‘Jericho Trumpets’, propellers that makes a loud roaring sound when they dive, spreading fear, and lowering morale further. The use of long-range artillery as a key part of the encirclement, is also vital to this psychological warfare. As the Indians have no field artillery to reply with, the long-range bombardment of their troops, as well as causing casualties, will lower morale still further. Tyburn is designed to work in both day-time and night-time.

---

One more extract is given, this time from the plans given to the Russian division known as 'Task Force 6'

---

Task Force 6 will take up position in the City of Dushanbe. They MUST be visible to Indian scouts and commanders. The more scouts reporting an enemy presence in Dushanbe, the better. They MUST be visible from the roads marked ’M41’ or ‘A384’ to enemy scouts. The Task Force will also observe other Task Forces, and inform them if they are visible from the city by radio. It is imperative no unit from another Task Force be seen by the Indian Army before they reach Dushanbe.

Task Force 6’s main objective is to convince the Indian scouts and commanders that the entire army is garrisoned in Dushanbe. This will be achieved by a deception operation on a large scale throughout the city. The units will build fake, plywood tanks and artillery modelled after Russian and British designs, and place them in positions about the city visible from a distance. They will be painted in Russian and British colours, and some units of the battalion will pretend to be ‘manning’ these tanks and guns, being in plain view.

Cardboard cutouts of soldier silhouettes should also be placed near windows of buildings. The battalion will also turn on many lights or lamps in the city buildings when the evening arrives, with the cutouts positioned to be seen as dark silhouettes from a distance. This is to ensure any scouts that come by night will see them. If many lights are turned on, it will give them the impression that the city is heavily garrisoned. The Battalion must also choose a large building visible from a distance, such as a town hall, to be a false headquarters, where large Russian and British flags must be draped, as well as having units in the building, and being surrounded by wooden tanks and guns.

To add to the illusion, the Russian Anti-Aircraft guns will be positioned in very visible locations about the city, with their crews manning them. The Anti-Aircraft crew must shoot at any scout planes or ground scouts getting too close to the city. This will distract the scouts, and therefore they will be led to believe the city is seriously defended. It will also distract them for looking at a wooden tank or artillery gun for too long at close range, even though the tanks and guns will be constructed and painted realistically. The Anti-Aircraft guns must utilise spotlights, first to catch any scouts or armies moving to the city by night, and secondly to reassure the scouts that the city is active.

When the Indian Army, or a large part of it approaches Dushanbe, Task Force 6 has orders to retreat out of the city, disabling and leaving the Anti-Aircraft autocannon. Removing the AA guns could spoil the illusion, and they must be rendered inoperable, and all ammunition taken, so the Indian Army cannot use them.

In terms of the city, Task Force 6 must make sure that no resource is left for the Indian’s use. All food must be either taken as supplies, or destroyed. Any trucks, cars or any other transports must either be commandeered to transport troops or supplies, or they must be destroyed or disabled. No ammunition, fuel, supplies or transports of any sort are to be allowed to fall into Indian hands. All they must be left with in the city are broken AA guns and fake defences.

Task Force 6 will retreat North to join with Task Force 2. As soon as Task Force 6 is evacuated from the city, they will wait until the Indian Army, or the majority of it is inside the city. No doubt the Indian commanders will realise the city defence was false very quickly once in the city. Once most, or all of the Army has moved into Dushanbe, or thereabouts, Task Force 6 will inform Task Force 1 they have successfully evacuated the city, at which point Task Force 1 will signal for the bombardment to begin. In the event the Indians force Task Force 6 to retreat with Task Force 2, they will regroup at Chorbag with Task Force 2, and attempt to prevent any further Indian advance. They will also inform other Task Forces of any such developments.

---

This is something I did as part of an RP on another forum. I spent nearly three days writing up about 15 pages worth of plans, which composed 'Operation Tyburn', and further 13 pages of 'Operation Carpenter', two plans to pull every trick in the book to crush two Indian armies of 600, 000 men each. To commemorate the two sleepless ngihts and three days of headaches and cunning plotting, I rendered the final phase of the plan, as I wanted it: The city of Dushanbe, burning in the aftermath of an attack by enough guns and planes that would make the Indians think Hell itself had opened up.