End of Deseret: 1916

With the defeat of Gen. Roosevelt in late 1914, the only major native resistance to the Red Regime was Deseret. Deseret's stunning victories against the Confederate States and Imperial Mexico now lay far back in its past, with regiments having fallen back from the Gulf of California in the South and most of Western Idaho lost to Socialist forces. Still, Salt Lake City remained one of the most dangerous foes that the Worker's armies would face. Utah regiments were almost entirely veterans, and had now become some of the world's foremost alpine combatants. Almost every soldier had fought in either the drive to the Sea, or the defense of Mormon settlements in Colorado or Idaho. Their commanders were experienced, if not by formal training at one of the old American military colleges, by having fought several different campaigns. They were also gifted with a fanatical religious motivation, with every Deseret soldier not only a defender of his home, but also a defender of the faith. Many Mormons saw the coming war in explicitly apocalyptic terms.

All these advantages were however undone by several distinct disadvantages, readily apparent to the Deseret High Command in Salt Lake. Firstly, Deseret was tired. Eight years of war, even with the armistice of 1913-1914, had ruined the Mormon population. The Mormon fighting population had shrunk drastically, something even the high Mormon birthrate was simply incapable of making up. New women's auxiliary units and the acceptance of every younger fighters did not make up the loss of thousands of men throughout the American West. Mormon leaders knew that any war of attrition was unlikely to end in their favor. Further, the Deseret Army was fatally under equipped. With the defeat of the British and Mormon attempts to control the Great Northern Railway, and the retreat from the Gulf of California, the Mormon state was entirely surrounded by Socialist forces. Although the British had managed to help Deseret set up some small factories for the production of heavier weapons, Deseret units were almost entirely without any artillery or weapons heavier than a standard rifle. Mormon industrialists had managed to set up successful small arms factories, something that would prove critical in the Years of Resistance, but this led them to be fatally outmatched time and time again by well equipped Worker's Armies, equipped by the vast armament industries of the Midwest, the East, California. Finally, even with the religious motivation, Deseret was fraying internally. Eight years of war was simply too long for societies to remain fully committed to any conflict, particularly when the last four years had been an unceasing array of retreats and entrenchments. Mormon captured labor, drawn from throughout the West to replace Mormom workers lost Mormons in agricultural and industrial work, saw the Mormons as an alien force, unchristian and dangerous. Deseret ruled over extensive non-Mormon populations, particularly in Idaho, Arizona, and Colorado, who were inimically opposed to Mormon political power and welcomed Socialist expansion. The Eyes of Zion were kept busy in the waning days of Deseret, their black cloaks an ever present reminder of the eye of the state on those who would stray from the path of righteousness.

Deseret commanders expected the main socialist attack to come from over the Wasatch Range, the small mountain barrier between Socialist held Nebraska and Salt Lake City, with the Socialists hoping for a death blow by taking out Deseret command. Thus, Deseret command had built an extensive series of fortifications all accross the range, dynamiting every major road and railway, and collapsing several passes entirely. The Socialist regime had kept track of these fortifications, and thus moved to an entirely different plan. Under the command of General "Big Bill" Hardy, the Worker's Mountain Army moved across from Colorado and over into Utah in the Early Summer of 1916. Caught by surprise, Mormon militias rushed to attack Socialist forces but were decisively defeated at the battle of Modo. Mormon reinforcements quickly arrived and continued a harrying actions on Socialist forces as they sped across Eastern Utah. More Mormon forces could not be brought up from the south due to movements of the Worker's SouthWest Army from New Mexico into Mormon held territory along the Colorado. Mormon forces scored decisive defeats due to poor planning on the Socialist forces part, marching directly over the incredibly hot Painted Desert without adequate supplies. However, this did pin down Mormon forces in the area, and did not distract the majority of the WSW Arm from it's main goal of supporting Mexican Revolutionaries. Navajo war bands, encouraged by the Socialist government, also attacked Mormon small holdings in the Southwest, scoring several victories and reclaiming land lost to white settlers. Mormon forces rushed southwards from Salt Lake City, abandoning the Wasatch fortifications to meet the WMon Army along the heartland of Mormonism. However, the sheer size of the Socialist forces continually wore down the Mormon forces giving them a string of defeats as the Red forces marched North. They were helped by forces from the Worker's NorthWest Army who prevented Mormon forces in Southern Idaho from helping defend Salt Lake City. Scattered raids and counter raids continued in Nevada, where small Mormon homesteaders fought non-Mormon forces, although without any decisive effects on other fields.

By July, the situation for Deseret looked grim. Socialist forces advanced onto Salt lake City, and the last ditch efforts to stop them at Lehi failed. British forces in the North, unwilling to jeopardize the uneasy peace they had reached with Socialist forces after the frightening days of the Ontario Campaign, did not mobilize against the Revolutionary Regime to save Deseret as many had expected. With the full might of the Socialists directed at Deseret, there was no escape. red forces entered and burned Salt Lake City on 28.7.1916, destroying the Temple, and ending eight years of Mormon freedom. Strong guerrilla resistance against Socialist forces would continue well into the 1920s, but for all intents and purposes the war within the USA was finished. Peace talks at Oslo would continue for several months between the new Socialist USA, Britain, The Worker's Republic of Mexico and Imperial Mexico, but all major fighting was finished.