The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics brought the Second World War to an end with the detonation
of an atomic bomb over Berlin in 1945.
This propelled the nation to a place of mastery over Europe, unifying the entire continent
under the Soviet Bloc by 1951.
In the decades that followed, Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles were deployed to Cuba,
and Soviet advisors sent to regional conflicts across the world.
The United States, the last major ideological rival to the Soviet Union, found itself increasingly
isolated, with the victory of Communist Parties and the assassination of international leaders,
removing the last allies of the capitalist system.
The Soviet invasion of the United States came with little warning.
Only a day after unidentified low flying drones were spotted across North America, Soviet
aircraft appeared over its cities, and ground forces began mass landings in coastal cities
while a secondary offensive advanced across the Mexican border.
Such was the speed of the invasion that many citizens of the United States did not even
realize their country had been attacked until Soviet soldiers appeared in their homes.
New York was the greatest prize seized by the Soviet Armed Forces.
It had been taken with only meager resistance and mainly from the New York Police Department
rather than any American military forces.
With the greatest symbol of American capitalism secured, the city became the headquarters
of the Soviet Armed Forces Network, and the Soviet Armed Forces themselves.
But while parades of smiling Soviet Soldiers marched to speeches promising the return of
freedom and stability to the country, there were some who had refused to give up the fight.
Another organization had declared itself within the city, and beneath the streets of New York,
a hidden army of American revolutionaries was growing, becoming the Manhattan Resistance.
An impromptu group formed by necessity, the Manhattan Resistance was an eclectic mix of
civilians, former members of the NYPD and as the occupation continued, disillusioned
Soviet soldiers.
At its formation, a few of its members possessed military training and even experience fighting
the Soviets in South and Central America, but for the most part, they were average citizens
with no experience conducting a military campaign.
This held true for the group’s leader, a 32-year-old plumber named Christopher Stone.
Together with Isabella Angelina, an anti-Soviet activist, they retreated to an abandoned pumping
station in the New York sewers, which would become the headquarters of the Manhattan Resistance.
By moving through these sewers, Chris and the resistance were able to bypass Soviet
roadblocks and gain information from a network of friendly informants across the city.
Chief among these was a man named Mr. Jones, who possessed an uncanny knowledge of Soviet
movements and operations.
Within months of the Soviet Occupation, the group was able to effectively mount a guerrilla
resistance, striking at Soviet facilities and personnel, rescuing American prisoners
of war, and raising their flag at key points across New York City before disappearing back
underground.
The Manhattan Resistance grew so successful that Chris was often featured in Soviet propaganda,
labeled the “Freedom Phantom” and a terrorist.
These news reports had the opposite of their intended effect on the New York population,
bringing to the Manhattan resistance further credibility and renown.
The group’s numbers swelled, and they became more daring in their attacks.
Chris’s brother, Troy Stone, would pay the price of their growing infamy, executed after
refusing to denounce his brother on television.
While the Resistance was able to kill General Tatarin, head of the Soviet occupation forces,
the operation to do so was the last component of a long running trap, meant to concentrate
the Manhattan Resistance and destroy them.
The mysterious Mr. Jones, which the resistance had relied upon for intel, was in fact a KGB
agent.
The Resistance headquarters in the sewers was destroyed, and its members scattered.
The entire Manhattan Resistance had been one great ploy, concentrating those individuals
most dangerous to the Soviet occupation and having them operate under the control of the
KGB.
But while scattered across the city, the resistance lived on.
In a direct address to New York City, Chris Stone implored its people to resist, pledging
to fight, and if need be, die, as a free man.
Spurred to action by his words, the newly reinvigorated resistance launched a final
attack on Governor’s Island, site of the Soviet Occupation Headquarters.
In the battle that followed, and thousands of other such uprisings across the city, New
York was freed from its occupation.
But even in victory, the Manhattan Resistance could not rest, the Soviet Union would be
back, and New York, must be ready.