[chico20854]

July 12, 1998

Nothing official for today. Unofficially,

The inhabitants of the refugee camp at Duluth's Jay Cook State Park, Minnesota, having gained control of a grain elevator containing nearly 3.5 million bushels of grain are dismayed when the "leadership council" of the camp declares that it is assuming essentially dictatorial control of the camp and city, using the combination of the weapons captured from the town militia and the ability to grant or withhold food as their means of control.

As conditions grow increasingly desperate in the San Diego Marine perimeter, the two remaining naval combatants offshore, the light frigate USS Joyce and the Coast Guard cutter Chase, which have nearly expended their entire onboard ammunition supplies providing support, use the last of their aviation fuel supplies to fly a series of evacuation flights, bringing out the wounded, even those that would be considered lightly wounded and still fit for action. The flights bring out approximately 150 men. By sundown, the Marines have been pushed into a single building, the Recruit Training Regiment headquarters building, Lejeune Hall.

Fighting swirls throughout Los Angeles as 63 (my XVI) Corps' front line is reduced to a series of independent isolated positions unable to control territory beyond range of their guns. Patrols come under attack from an array of Mexican units, allied gangs and various bandit groups, all intent on looting the wealth of America's biggest city. In Texas, the city of Austin is similarly engulfed in widespread citywide fighting, with no front line as it becomes increasingly difficult to discriminate between attacking American (and allied) forces and fighting for plunder. North of the city, the Mexicans approach Fort Hood, which is defended by the 95th Training Division.

US Air Force security troops, reinforced with local armed civilians, attempt to dislodge the Mexican Torres Motorized Cavalry Brigade from its positions outside Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The attempt fails when the Mexicans deploy mobile reserves to reinforce the threatened sector; the American troops lack fire support heavier than 81mm mortars and Mk-19 grenade launchers.

Two new Soviet divisions arrive at the front in Germany - the 122nd (my 66th Guards Training) Motor-Rifle (assigned to 41st Army) and the 106th (my 232nd) Motor-Rifle (assigned to 16th Army). Despite this, Soviet forces remain short on infantry.

21st Army, on the former East German-Czechoslovakian border, reinforces the efforts of its Czech allies to the west, launching an attack with the Category A 102nd Guards (my 254th) Motor-Rifle Division against the American XV Corps. The attack hits the outer defensive line of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), the Soviet tanks forced to halt their advance and provide fire support to engineers called forward to clear lanes through the defensive minefields; the T-80s too valuable to be used as improvised mine-clearing vehicles.

The Panamanian bulk carrier Seaway Ace, sailing to France with a cargo of Argentinian grain, is sunk by a torpedo from the Soviet Victor III-class nuclear attack submarine 60 Let Shefstva VLKSM.

Italian recovery crews are nearly finished in their efforts to restore operation of the Sonico hydropower plant north of Verona.

In Jugoslavia, the JSA’s engineering cadre (long-service prewar engineer officers and professional NCOs) of Group Vrbas have been able to locate sufficient equipment from the confused masses of abandoned vehicles and organize enough troops to repair a damaged bridge over the Sava at Bosanska Gradiška. The Group's infantry, who crossed over by raft in prior days, drive off the small garrison of the Italian-allied Croatian Nationalist Army