On this day 25 years ago (Commentary Thread) [Archive]

chico20854

12-08-2021, 09:22 AM

December 8, 1996

(photo here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cWosrhLivOp6R3Qk1qiGkarFId7uflrv/view?usp=sharing))https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cWosrhLivOp6R3Qk1qiGkarFId7uflrv/view?usp=sharing

The US 1st Infantry Division enters combat against Soviet forces in East Germany.

A New York Times poll taken today shows that 76% of US adults believe that nuclear war will occur within six weeks.

unofficial:

Green Berets of the 10th Special Forces Group infiltrate Poland and the western USSR. The last diplomatic staff from the US Embassy in Warsaw evacuate to Stockholm, Sweden.

Romanian authorities execute the colonels arrested on suspicion of plotting a pro-Soviet coup. Romania declares full mobilization, while across the border the Soviet Southwestern TVD headquarters (in Kishinev, Moldova) issues movement orders to units throughout Ukraine and Moldova.

In Norway, the 175th Naval Infantry Brigade's perimeter has shrunk to the outskirts of Narvik as British, Dutch and American marines and soldiers from Norway, the US and Canada bombard the isolated Soviet command.

Further elements of Strike Fleet Atlantic cross into the Norwegian Sea through the GIUK Gap west of Iceland. Over 200 Tu-22M Backfire bombers, operating from six airfields in the Kola and the Leningrad area, launched a mass missile attack against the George Washington carrier battle group, leaving the carrier in flames and sending two escorts and the supply ship USNS Sirius to the bottom.

Transport aircraft transiting to Europe are re-routed through Bermuda and the Azores onward to the UK, clearing airspace over the North Atlantic for combat operations.

In Asia, 8th US Army reports several incidents along the DMZ. South Korean troops along the DMZ go on alert, while reservists in the US assigned to IX Corps HQ (a skeleton formation located in Japan) are ordered to mobilization stations. USAAGC (US Army Assistance Group China) lifts the restriction on US advisors and technical experts assisting the Chinese People's Liberation Army from traveling within 100 km of the front lines.

A celebration is held to commemorate the delivery of the 100th helicopter from the old Hughes helicopter plant in Long Beach, California, which is manufacturing MD-500s under a tripartite agreement - Chinese workers evacuated from the PRC's main helicopter production plant in Harbin, Manchuria working alongside American workers, installing Taiwanese avionics, with the output split between the PLA and US Army National Guard attack helicopter battalions.

chico20854

12-09-2021, 11:55 AM

December 9, 1996

France, Belgium, Italy and Greece issue joint demand that US troops withdraw from East Germany.

After consultation with King Charles, British troops (initially the 3rd Armored Division and the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards) cross the inter-German border. The Canadian government orders the 4th Mechanized Brigade to join the American and British troops.

unofficial:

Soviet forces surrounding/besieging Berlin launch intense artillery bombardment, concentrating on US and British garrisons and supporting Soviet forces holding out in the Soviet embassy building. Despite the fire support, a force of East German border guards and Kampfgruppe der Arbeiterklasse troops succeed in capturing the building, executing the defenders from the KGB 105th Border Guard Detachment (who had opened the siege of Berlin by shooting passing civilians in the first hours of the war).

At Fort Bragg, NC, the 1st Battalion, 323rd Infantry, 108th Training Division (USAR) graduates its first class of infantry OSUT* trainees. The division will turn out approximately 800 trained privates every Thursday until January 1998, when the supply of draftees dries up.

*One Station Unit Training, combined basic (soldierization) training and advanced individual (occupational skill) training.

JHart

12-09-2021, 05:46 PM

The US 1st Infantry Division crossed the Inter-German Border in support of its allies.

It ain't a World War until the Big Red One shows up...

After consultation with King Charles, British troops (initially the 3rd Armored Division and the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards) cross the inter-German border. The Canadian government orders the 4th Mechanized Brigade to join the American and British troops.

and now it's a party!

chico20854

12-10-2021, 06:34 AM

and now it's a party!

And the party continues...

December 10, 1996

The British 1st and 2nd Armoured Divisions and US 1st Cavalry Division cross the East German frontier; The British 3rd Mech Div & US 8th ID are in combat against Soviet troops. This is the UK's first shots fired in anger in Germany since 1945.

In the North Sea, US Convoy 102 is attacked by a Soviet sub, sinking 3 ships and crippling another; the nuclear guided missile cruiser USS Virginia sinks the sub. (USS Virginia completes 9 more convoys and is damaged twice.)

Unofficially:

A convoy carrying reinforcements for the beleaguered Soviet occupiers of Narvik is destroyed by NATO air and naval forces, dooming the isolated Naval Infantry force.

The Department of the Army in the Pentagon authorizes the establishment of over 200 "Category IV" units - those which a mission need has been identified but peacetime budget and manpower constraints prevent from being formed and sustained. The units range from additional corps headquarters to armored, infantry and Airborne divisions all the way to water purification companies. Formation and equipment of these units will take many months in most cases, and ultimately many never are.

lordroel

12-10-2021, 06:35 AM

Nice, keep it up if you can with the updates.

Ancestor

12-10-2021, 05:15 PM

This is scratching me where I itch. For me, it always starts around Thanksgiving (or, the day after Thanksgiving, depending who you talk to) and just builds perfectly. This though...wow!

Thanks for doing this!

My one request is please don't leave out the NG Division near and dear to my heart, 35ID, the Santa Fe Division. Per the US Army Vehicle Guide, we'd been in federal service since August, convoyed over in November, and entered combat in Northern Germany in "early December." Hoping to see a shout out to Truman's Own soon!

chico20854

12-11-2021, 02:24 PM

Thanks for the positive feedback folks! I'm still pulling together sources, but for today I have:

December 11, 1996

The US 3rd Armored Division and 4th Infantry Division engage Soviet troops in East Germany.

Unofficial:

CENTAG intelligence officers evaluating indications of Czech and Soviet troop mobilization across the border decide that the additional troops are likely to be committed in southern East Germany. To counter the threat, the CENTAG commander authorizes the deployment of two US Army Nationale Guard units, the 35th Infantry Division (KY, NE and KY NGs) and the 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment into East Germany, via the famed Fulda Gap. The 116th had been in Germany since early in the year, part of a demonstration of resolve in light of the Sino-Soviet conflict as well as evaluating National Guard readiness and the performance of female soldiers in combat units. The 35th had recently arrived in Germany, one of the first REFORGER deployments that did not rely on POMCUS prepositioned equipment stockpiles.

In other deployments, the 187th Infantry Brigade reported its deployment to Iceland complete. The US Army Reserve brigade took up positions defending the Keflavik air base, Reykjavik and various communications, logistics and radar sites around the island.

RAF Tornado aircraft from Nos. 25, 45 and 617 Squadrons performed Operation Redburn, striking the Soviet naval aviation bases in the Kola Peninsula and naval targets in Murmansk. The Soviets lose 10 Backfire bombers to the British as well as a pair of MiG-25s that pursued the raiders into neutral Sweden and were shot down by the Swedes.

The worldwide hunt for Warsaw Pact shipping continued, with the capture of the Soviet cargo ship Donetsk Komsomolets 450 miles east of Santos, Brazil by a British frigate racing north, its mission patrolling the Falklands hastily canceled in favor of convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic. The South Atlantic duty would be assumed by a smaller patrol ship, the Admiralty risking that Argentine forces would be too disorganized to take advantage of the situation.

unkated

12-11-2021, 04:18 PM

chico20854

12-12-2021, 10:48 AM

Include the date for the entry at the top. Preferably bolded.

Yes, I know that its the date of your entry, -25 years.

But it doesn't show the date for "today" or "yesterday" and in a week or a month, it would be easier for new folk following the entries vs commentary.

Will you start doing a Timeghost-style week by week presentation podcast? :D

Uncle Ted

I'm happy to do the date. I'll try on the bold, depends on the device I'm using to post from.

Probably no podcast! This is slowing progress on some of my other progress, but once I get through sources that should pick up. I have several irons in the fire. Unfortunately, one (that is not yet even bare bones) is the Battle of Germany, which I wish I had done because it would be really filling this thread up! Oh well!

chico20854

12-12-2021, 11:38 AM

December 12, 1996

The Canadian 4th Mechanised Brigade, British 1st and 2nd Armoured Divisions and US 3rd ACR enter combat against Soviet troops in East Germany.

Cuba issues a declaration, proclaiming itself neutral in the US-Soviet conflict, valuing self-preservation over loyalty to the Soviet Union. To avoid being drawn into the war, Fidel Castro orders the transfer of Cuban forces out of Ethiopia and Mozambique to Angola. (The transfer ends up taking a painfully long time, as the tiny Cuban merchant marine and state airline cannot match the shipping capabilities usually provided by their Soviet benefactors).

South Korean naval forces chase a North Korean mini-sub, forcing it to run aground near the port of Incheon. The crew commits suicide before they can be captured.

unofficial:
The Soviet landing force in Narvik fires off its last artillery rounds. The gunners blow up their guns (including a battery of captured American 105mm howitzers) and report to headquarters, where they serve the rest of the time as infantry, acting as a rapid response force to counter heavy NATO attacks.

The US 21st Air Cavalry Combat Brigade's helicopters make their first appearance over East German skies, firing rockets, guns and missiles in support of the US III Corps and striking Polish reinforcements as they approached the front lines.

The city government of Berlin announces to the population that 45 days supply of food and heating fuel remains in the combined city governments stockpiles.

Convoy 105, heading for Europe through the contested North Atlantic with high priority units and munitions, stops in St. John, New Brunswick. While in port it adds three tankers (loaded with fuel for the front as well as to refuel the escorts) and freighters carrying the 3e Bn, Royal 22e Regiment, the lead battalion of 5e Groupe-Brigade Mecanise.

A Swiss businessman in Baku, Azerbaijan snaps a photo (a copy here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KYlRdbQQE62kcVsBlyA6YrlD3NStXThu/view?usp=sharing)) of Soviet reserve artillery (pre-WW II-era heavy artillery) and secretly passes it on to "a friend" (A MI-6 agent), one of several disturbing pieces of intelligence about military activity in the Transcaucasian Military District.

Ancestor

12-12-2021, 05:22 PM

[QUOTE=chico20854;89473]Thanks for the positive feedback folks! I'm still pulling together sources, but for today I have:

The US 3rd Armored Division and 4th Infantry Division engage Soviet troops in East Germany.

Unofficial:

CENTAG intelligence officers evaluating indications of Czech and Soviet troop mobilization across the border decide that the additional troops are likely to be committed in southern East Germany. To counter the threat, the CENTAG commander authorizes the deployment of two US Army Nationale Guard units, the 35th Infantry Division (KY, NE and KY NGs) and the 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment into East Germany, via the famed Fulda Gap. The 116th had been in Germany since early in the year, part of a demonstration of resolve in light of the Sino-Soviet conflict as well as evaluating National Guard readiness and the performance of female soldiers in combat units. The 35th had recently arrived in Germany, one of the first REFORGER deployments that did not rely on POMCUS prepositioned equipment stockpiles.

Thank you Chico! Santa Fe!

Ancestor

12-12-2021, 05:30 PM

Also, thanks for drilling down on the convoys...one of my grandfathers was an Army paratrooper in WW II, but the one I was closer to was a gunner's mate on a destroyer escort. The latter was a second generation German-American (still spoke German at home) from Kansas who had never seen the ocean. The paratrooper didn't talk much about his experiences, the gunner's mate did. They both saw some pretty bad stuff, I just think they were different personality types that dealt with things in different ways. At any rate, looking forward to hearing about the third naval convoy war and again, thanks for doing this!

Santa Fe!

Ancestor

Ancestor

12-12-2021, 05:33 PM

Targan

12-12-2021, 06:26 PM

The paratrooper didn't talk much about his experiences, the gunner's mate did. They both saw some pretty bad stuff, I just think they were different personality types that dealt with things in different ways.

My grandad was a New Zealand Army infantry captain, he fought in North Africa and on Crete. He never spoke at all to family about his wartime experiences. It's a shame for me, but I wouldn't wanted to cause him to relive any trauma.

chico20854

12-13-2021, 03:14 PM

December 13, 1996

F/A-18s and A-6s from the USS Abraham Lincoln launch airstrikes on the Soviet fleet base in Maputo, Mozambique.

unofficially a lot happens...

The Soviet Politburo receives assurances from Castro that Soviet troops and advisors in Cuba may remain indefinately, since evacuation through the war zone is clearly impractical. In exchange, the Soviets commit that they will not use Cuban facilities to support the war. (The GRU violates this agreement with Operation Primus...)

US Coast Guard aviation assets are placed under naval control. HU-25 patrol aircraft are organized into four squadrons, VOJ-201-204. They are capable of surface search and attack, but have minimal anti-submarine capabilities.

The Chinese 29th Group Army launches attacks on Soviet 36th Army Corps in an attempt to drive the Soviets farther away from Beijing. The Chinese force is infantry-heavy, using human-wave attacks and nighttime infiltration to overwhelm the outnumbered Soviets and compensate for its lack of armored vehicles. The NATO-supported AVG II provides top cover using its squadrons of F-16s and Mirage-2000s.

Soviet Frontal Aviation, augmented by Polish and Czech air forces and PVO fighters from Byelorussia and Ukraine launch a mass air raid on West Germany. They succeed in downing a NATO E-3 AWACS plane, at the cost of 35% of the attacking interceptors.

Unrest in France and the Low Countires. In Paris an unprecedented "Vive la France - For the Republic" march organized by neo-Gaullists and Communist-allied trade unions brings the nation to a halt with millions in the streets to oppose "an Anglo-American-German war that will inevitably result in worldwide nuclear war". Three trains of British Territorials traversing France and an additional train in the Channel tunnel are stopped by striking railroad workers. In Belgium, Socialist trade unions organize anti-NATO strikes. Truckers block access to NATO HQ in Mons and dockworkers refuse to unload ships carrying war materiel in the port of Antwerp. Radical utility workers cut off the power and water to the NATO headquarters later in the day; the action is largely symbolic since the facility has backup systems and operational control has moved into dispersed field headquarters. In the Netherlands, opposition is more violent. Unknown actors open fire on a bus in Nijemegen ferrying reservists to their mobilization stations with AK-47s, killing 29.

The US 209th FA Bde (NY NG) was called into federal service and reported to a mobilization station at Fort Hood, Texas without subordinate battalions assigned.

The Czechoslovakian 4th Tank Division was reported ready for action, with a full contingent of reservists.

The mobilization-only 8th Naval Infantry Regiment, assigned to the Red Banner Northern Fleet, was hurriedly activated in December 1996 following the decimation of the fleet’s naval infantry force in the assault on Narvik. Composed of older reservists in their 30s, led by whichever officers with naval infantry experience that could be found, the regiment was issued skis, a company of PT-57 light tanks and several batteries of mortars. Its mobilization station was east of Murmansk.

The first train leaves Ft. Polk, Louisiana with vehicles and heavy equipment left behind by the 5th ID when it deployed via air in November, receiving equipment from POMCUS stores. The ordnance will be shipped to Europe (through the port of Wilmington, NC) and issued to units there as battle loss replacements.

chico20854

12-14-2021, 08:20 AM

December 14, 1996

nothing official, but, unofficially:

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PzpWxFB0BEGM79lzWKXT6NVWZ4FyiA5r/view?usp=sharing)
2nd Far Eastern Front releases the 14th High-Power Artillery Brigade to 36th Corps to help halt the Chinese 29th Group Army's attack.

Buried microphones along the DMZ in Korea indicate digging activity. South Korean troops intercept a nearly-complete tunnel leading under the DMZ and engage in a subterranean firefight while following it north. Engineers collapse the tunnel with explosives.

In the skies of central Europe, CENTAF begins a dedicated OCA (Offensive Counter Air) campaign - RAF Tornadoes commence highly successful low-level attacks on Pact air bases in Poland and Czechoslovakia, while USAF F-111s and F-117s make nightime PGM strikes on airbases, initially concentrating on runways, taxiways and repair facilities but soon shifting to Hardened Aircraft Shelters.

The advance party of X US Corps HQ (detached from US Army, Alaska) arrives in Trondheim, Norway. It will assume command of US Army forces in Norway, lightening the load of the NATO Northern Norway command.

The Czechoslovakian 51st Engineer Brigade is brought up to full strength and deployed to the Austrian border.

The Soviet 158th Reserve Motor-Rifle Division, in Moldova, is mobilized, receiving levies of local citizens, both untrained teens and discharged Red Army veterans. Bulgaria orders a general mobilization as well.

The US transport ship USNS Antares turns away from port of Antwerp, Belgium, diverting to Emden, Germany with its cargo of vehicles to avoid the Belgian longshoreman's strike.

The Soviet "Yankee-Notch class" submarine K-395 is sunk by American helicopters (the escort force of Convoy 107) northwest of Bermuda. The sub did not know it was being tracked until torpedoes were dropped, by which time it was too late to take evasive action.

A group known as the Dutch Red Army claims responsibility for the Nijemegen bus attack and pledges more attacks on "The Imperialist War Machine".

The German DAX stock market index drops another 25% as French investors and companies undertake a rapid disengagement from the German financial system and as German investors fret about the dwindling supplies of natural gas to fuel the German economy. (The USSR had halted the sale of gas to Germany in October and all of central and western Europe the day prior.)

A secret meeting of leaders of the Hells Angel outlaw biker gang is held at the group's annual Christmas Bash (a relatively tame one, with only 2 deaths and 75 arrests). Presidents of local chapters (many of which were veterans) agree to their so-called Plan Alpha, to rally in Northern California and Southeastern Ohio in event of a breakdown in US law & order.

chico20854

12-15-2021, 11:01 AM

December 15, 1996

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EEy6kqSVKQ76rGNtx5_cLXyPVqNLNAoO/view?usp=sharing)
The US 1st Cavalry Division first enters combat against Soviet troops in East Germany.

unofficial:

The three trains of British Territorial troops stuck in France arrive in Luxembourg after the regimental sergeants major have a detailed discussion with the railroad workers of how exactly the British NCOs would deal with strikers in the event of further delays. The troops halted in the Channel Tunnel embark on ferries in Harwich for Dutch ports.

The 48 Infantry Brigade (Mech), GA NG, declared ready for deployment after completing a rotation at the National Training Center 1 at Fort Irwin, California.

The Idaho Freedom, the third Freedom-class cargo ship built in Portland, Oregon, is delivered. It is the 18th Freedom-class ship built and is routed to Oakland, California to load ammunition for the war in Europe.

The former training aircraft carrier Lexington is pulled from mothballs and drydocked in Philadelphia to return to service as a training carrier. In San Diego, the USS Midway likewise is reactivated.

British authorities activate the Territorial Army's Home Service Force, composed of over 90 companies of troops (ex-servicemen, territorials and regulars, with at least 2 years service), armed with obsolescent L1A1 rifles, Sterling SMGs and Bren LMGs. The companies perform local security duties.

Two British air bases, RAF Fairford and RAF Waddington, are struck by conventionally-armed AS-15 cruise missiles launched by Tu-95s over the Baltic Sea. USAF and RAF interceptors scrambled to intercept the missiles, but were unable to down them all.

The US 75th Field Artillery Brigade fires its guns and MLRS rockets in support of the 1st Cavalry Division's attack.

The British 6th Airmobile Bde launches a heliborne assault to seize vital routes in front of I British Corps' armoured spearhead. Despite RAF muttering about 'another bloody Arnhem' the attack went ahead, and probably due to the disruption of WP forces, it succeeded.

USAF MAJ Amy "Buns" Nakamura, an F-15C pilot of the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron shoots down three Tu-16 Badgers during a Combat Air Patrol over the Norwegian Sea.

The Danish Navy reports the completion of the mine belts blocking the Baltic exits to the North Sea. Neutral shipping can be guided by Danish naval pilots. Sweden warns neutral ships against sailing in its coastal waters, while not specifying whether they are mined or not.

Operation Hop-Scotch: The USAF's Strategic Air Command launches a raid on the Soviet naval facility at Conakey, Guinea. Six B-52Gs of the 448th Bomb Squadron sortie from Griffiss AFB, New York, refuelled by tankers of the 151st Aerial Refuelling Squadron, forward based at Ascension Island. The strike inflicts heavy damage on the shoreside facilities and sinks three Soviet naval vessels in the port.

chico20854

12-15-2021, 11:08 AM

chico20854

12-16-2021, 02:37 PM

December 16, 1996

nothing official today, but unofficially:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 7% following the prior day's conventional cruise missile attack on RAF bases in the UK. Investors are optimistic that the war will remain conventional and that the challenges facing the German war economy (struggling between the callup of a significant portion of the working-age male population, war damage and the cutoff of Soviet natural gas supplies) will present growth opportunities for American companies.

A shipment of M40 106mm recoilless rifles and several hundred rounds of training ammunition are reported missing in transit between the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama and Camp Blanding, Florida.

Soviet troops of the 28th Army and their Vietnamese allies launch an assault on the Chinese-Vietnamese border. While ostensibly a drive on Kunming, the tank-heavy Soviet force is ill-suited for the steep terrain and STAVKA is content with the offensive tying down Chinese troops and presenting the PLA command with war on multiple fronts.

ROK troops in central Korea engage in firefights with unknown assailants, suspected to be North Korean commandos.

The Czechoslovakian 4th Tank Division is deployed to the Czech-East German border, held in reserve to exploit a Pact breakthrough (that never came).

The Soviet 107th MRD is orderd into the field in Latvia and northern Lithuania to counter American green berets and the Baltic nationalists that they had armed, equipped and advised.

The 485th Tactical Missile Wing officially activates its headquarters at Butzweilerhof Air Base in Germany; its GLCM cruise missiles were all evacuated from their peacetime base at Florennes, Belgium.

F-16s of the 119th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 177th Fighter Interceptor Wing shoot down four Long-Range Aviation Tu-22M Backfire bombers that attempted a trans-polar strike on the fighter's home base of Thule, Greenland. To their east, F-16s of the 465th Tactical Fighter Squadron intercepted a flight of Su-24s over the Norwegian Sea, shooting down four of the attackers.

X Corps HQ (FWD) takes command of US Army troops in Norway.

The US carrier Forrestal is severaly damaged by a Soviet combined-arms strike while operating in a "bastion" in Vestfjord off the Norwegian Sea. Damage control teams struggle to contain fires lit by multiple missile strikes. Meanwhile, the Aegis cruiser USS San Jacinto is struck by multiple submarine-launched SS-N-7 Sizzler anti-radar missiles; the damaged cruiser is towed south for repair.

The 252nd MRD is formed in Nikolaev, Ukraine by discharge of nearly completely trained students of the 92nd Guards Training Motor-Rifle Division.

Ancestor

12-16-2021, 05:41 PM

My grandad was a New Zealand Army infantry captain, he fought in North Africa and on Crete. He never spoke at all to family about his wartime experiences. It's a shame for me, but I wouldn't wanted to cause him to relive any trauma.

Thank you for sharing that! I kind of felt the same way about my paratrooper grandad, especially when I was a kid. He really didn't open up much until I joined the Army, and even then it was really small things. He lived far away and I only saw him a few times a year.

I've always wondered about how ANZACs felt about serving so far away from home. What an amazing thing! Don't want to hijack the thread but I'd love to know more about your grandad.

Again, thanks for sharing, I really appreciate it.

Ancestor

12-16-2021, 06:30 PM

I'm somewhat of a sealift nerd, so much more to come!

For a minor fix, check out my Illustrated History of the Third World War (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gM5KjRiSQHuDl2qANJ3NgbltIU-4D3OK/view?usp=sharing) from a few years ago.

Awesome! I will check that out, thank you!

lordroel

12-17-2021, 09:34 AM

chico20854

12-17-2021, 01:05 PM

December 17, 1996

Soviet ground forces fail to link up with Naval infantry and paratroops in Narvik, who are forced to break out overland or be destroyed.

unofficially:

The Department of the Army authorizes the establishment of another 150 Category IV units.

The Czechoslovakian 24th Motor-Rifle Division called up and deployed to the Austrian border, where it started several months training and organizing.

Troops of I British Corps link up with 6th Airmobile Brigade, inserted by helicopter two days prior.

The US 3rd Air Force launches Operation Dreamscape - a co-ordinated multi-squadron SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense) strike, with F-111s of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing hitting SA-5 SAM sites and air defense command centers in Poland. F-22s of the 32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron provided cover and succeeded in shooting down a Sovet A-50 AWACS that attempted to take over fighter control from the damaged and destroyed ground control stations.

NATO forces launch a counter-attack in Norway. Dubbed Operation Reindeer, the offensive had the goal of evicting 6th Army from Norwegian territory. The 37th MRD had disintegrated and the 109th and 111th MRDs were in headlong flight, with the remnants of the 36th Air Assault Brigade struggling to maintain a rear guard. Norwegian, Canadian and British troops launched the initial attacks, using a hammer-and-anvil technique, inserting strong mobile forces behind the Soviet rear guards and smashing them with artillery, close air support and frontal assaults. The steep and restricted terrain slowed the initial attacks just as effectively as it had slowed the Soviet offensive weeks before, but the weakness of Soviet troops allowed steady progress.

The American cargo ship USNS 2nd LT John P. Bobo called at the Sicilian port of Augusta and loaded vehicles and equipment of the 487th Tactical Missile Wing for evacuation.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/11drvCt4oRhSpUHtx2Wol01HozGsbXLXt/view?usp=sharing)
The last holdouts of isolated 8th Guards Army break out of encirclement in the Thuringer Wald, reaching the relative safety of Pact front lines south of Leipzig, slicing through NATO's southern supply lines.

NATO commissions a new air base, at Mosjøen, Norway, 215 miles/350 km south of Narvik, the culmination of two months of concentrated effort by US Navy Seebees, Norwegian civilian construction companies and a small legion of Swedish volunteers (in reality the Swedish 12th Division’s engineer battalion in civilian clothes).

Aircraft from the the air wing of the USS John F. Kenendy (which was damaged by a Soviet mine earlier in the month), operating from Gibraltar, strike Soviet naval facilities in Algeria.

The 134th MRD, a mobilization-only division from the Turkestan MD, is called up for service in Afghanistan.

chico20854

12-18-2021, 09:45 PM

December 18, 1996

The war widens in scope: The Soviet 7th Guards Army advanced into northwestern Iran, and encountered fanatical resistance from the Pasdaran militia. The Soviets countered this by using chemical weapons on a massive scale as they had in China.

unofficial:

The 196th Field Artillery Brigade (TN National Guard) activated at Ft Campbell, KY. The 106th Tac Recon Sqn (AL Air National Guard) is declared fully operational.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_8UaqloisPIr1lbO_RxkKo2Wk_f-SxqX/view?usp=sharing)
The RAF stationed No. 169 Squadron’s Harrier jets at Evenes, Norway, just 19 miles/30 km from the center of Narvik, where they were able to launch sortie after sortie against the surrounded elite Soviet troops, quickly returning to the air base for rearming; the squadron generated 186 sorties in a 12-hour period today.

Fires abord the Forrestal are extinguished by 1800; over 40% of the ships compartments have been damaged. USN and civilian salvage tugs begin the tow to the nearest friendly port, Bodo.

The US destroyer Arthur W. Radford is sunk by torpedo from the Soviet Victor II submarine K-476 20nm off Norway.

The 385th Guards Assault Gun Regiment, a mobilization-only regiment from the Kiev Military District, is hastily called into service to serve in the invasion of Romania, staffed with peasants and factory workers that had served in artillery or tank units over a decade prior, led by officers seconded from its parent 17th GTD.

Convoy 105 attacked south of Iceland by the Victor I submarine K-438. The US-flag Cape Carthage and Swedish-flag Tor Hollandia are sunk. The K-438 is damaged by an escort helicopter but limps off to the north.

chico20854

12-18-2021, 09:54 PM

December 19, 1996

The war widens even further in scope...
photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/10XZ_TBax2EkAguHiAWzpO3EnINtTyeM_/view?usp=sharing)
The US 2nd Infantry Division is engaged against North Korean commando units. During the night the North Korean People’s Army launches a massive artillery barrage on Seoul and the DMZ, accompanied by commando attacks throughout the peninsula and raids by its obsolescent air force.

unofficial:

As a result of the sinking of the Tor Hollandia the prior day, the Swedish government prohibits Swedish-flag vessels from carrying military supplies or participating in convoys, on pain of loss of registration and revocation of captain's licenses. Several shipowners immediately file to reflag their vessels in Panama, while others order their ships to head to the nearest port to unload any offending cargo.

The 479th Field Artillery Brigade (USAR) declared combat ready at Ft Carson, CO.

With supplies dwindling and no hope of relief, the commander of the Soviet units in Narvik ordered his remaining troops to disperse and seek their own way back to Soviet territory, an epic trek of nearly 460 miles/750 km across Lapland (including neutral Swedish and Finnish territory) in the middle of winter. He himself, unwilling to return to the USSR for the inevitable show trial and equally unwilling to be paraded in front of TV cameras as a NATO prisoner, shot himself in his brigade’s basement headquarters. Few of his subordinates were successful in escaping back to Soviet territory; nearly 300 were interned by Swedish border police, several small groups were intercepted by Finnish troops patrolling Lapland, and untold numbers froze to death in the wilderness.

The USS Forrestal is docked at Bodo while specialists from the shipyard in Norfolk are flown in to assess damage.

Teams from the 8th, 9th and 10th Spetsnaz Brigades cross the Romanian frontier in predawn hours. Several engage in firefights with alert Patriotic Guard, Border Guard and Army troops.

Iranian Shia leaders declare Soviet Communism forbidden to Moslems and call on all the faithful to wage Jihad against the USSR. This call is less powerful than it would have been 10 years earlier, before Iranian society had tired of religious rule. Nonetheless, the Pasdaran militia sees a surge of eager young volunteers, while the IPA also sees a smaller increase in recruiting.

chico20854

12-20-2021, 04:33 AM

December 20, 1996
The war widens more...
North Korea launches a massive dawn ground assault across the DMZ.

Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Soviet troops begin invading Romania. Romania formally withdraws from the Warsaw Pact, declares war on the three nations, and applies to NATO.

The Bundeswehr 2nd PanzerGrenadier Division enters Leipzig.

A flood of refugees from northern Iran begins to enter territory in central and southern Iran controlled by the Iran Nowin government.

Unofficial:

The 185th Tactical Fighter Group (Iowa Air National Guard) placed on alert.

The Dutch Red Army fires a RPG rocket at the frigate Evertsen as it approached the Vlissingen naval base. It missed and the attackers were hunted down by a detachment of the Dutch Marines.

In Norway, a NATO truck convoy from Trondheim arrived at the Bardufoss air station, the first since Soviet paratroopers and marines had cut the E6 highway in Narvik in November.

The submarines USS Memphis, USS Montpelier & USS Providence launch conventional TLAM cruise missiles against Soviet air bases in the Kola, destroying several Tu-22Ms and Su-22s.

Experts declare the burned-out carrier Forrestal damaged beyond economical repair; Second fleet orders her decommissioning and salvage of useable parts in place.

The transport USNS Bobo arrives in Gibraltar and discharges its cargo, the vehicles and equipment of the 487th Tactical Missile Wing. Later in the day the unit reports itself ready for action, although its pre-assigned targets are all out of range from Gibraltar.

chico20854

12-21-2021, 06:44 AM

December 21, 1996

Romanian forces rush to the fronts, as do South Koreans and Iranian Pasdaran troops.

Unofficial:

The fighting in Leipzig continues, although Warsaw Pact forces begin falling back. The British 1st Corps, US III Corps and German II Korps make progress along the autobahn to Berlin, which suffers another day of heavy bombardment.

The burned out remains of the tractor truck that had hauled the missing shipment of M40 recoilless rifles was found in a warehouse district on the outskirts of Tampa, Florida. There was no sign of the trailer and its cargo.

The Idaho Freedom's orders to transport ammunition to Europe from Oakland, CA are changed, directed to wait in San Francisco Bay while escorts and ships are assembled for transit to Korea, where the ammunition will be needed as well.

A P-3 of VP-45 locates and sinks the damaged Victor-I class nuclear submarine K-438 as it limped back to home waters. The kill was the result of close coordination between the P-3, SOSUS operators ashore and SURTASS surveillance ships patrolling the North Atlantic.

The US attack submarine USS Providence sinks KGB Grisha II corvette Ametist but is damaged by the surface ship's RBU ASW rockets.

chico20854

12-22-2021, 06:47 AM

December 22, 1996

Despite the Soviet invasion of Iran, low availability of shipping due to war in Europe and Korea results in the decision to delay the deployment of CENTCOM until after first of the year.

Unofficial:

The Iranian Air Force 33rd Tactical Fighter Squadron receives its last F-20 Tigershark from the converted business jet plant in Savannah, Georgia and flies it to Pensacola to begin a month of training on the new aircraft before returning home and the war raging over its homeland.

The nuclear-powered cruiser Long Beach, on a detached forward air defense/communications relay sortie in the Norwegian Sea is located by a squadron of Osa-class Soviet missile boats (hiding among icebergs in the Arctic night) and sunk.

The Soviet destroyer Udaloy sinks the damaged American attack submarine USS Providence and in turn is sunk by the submarine USS Montpelier, which was attempting toescorts the damaged boat.

The air base in Keflavik, Iceland is struck by 10 SS-N-19 Shipwreck cruise missiles (with fuel-air explosive warheads) fired by the Oscar-II cruise missile submarine K-141.

Poor weather over the Norwegian Sea hampers naval flight operations.

Convoy 105 arrives in the German ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven, less two ships sunk on the 18th. (The ships are divided between ports to avoid overloading port facilities and speed discharge). The convoy is carrying trailing elements of the 5th Infantry Division, replacement vehicles, ammunition, spare parts and troops and equipment for corps and army-level support units, mainly US Army Reserve.

Seoul is subjected to particularly heavy artillery bombardment, while ROKAF and USAF fighters break up a North Korean air raid on the city. Air Force commanders come under increasing pressure to reallocate close air support aircraft from supporting troops in contact to seeking out and striking North Korean hardened artillery firing points.

B-52s launch a second raid on Soviet shipping and bases in Conakry, Guinea, striking targets which had survived the earlier raid. Anti-American riots follow the attacks, ironically in which 2 Soviets are killed but no Westerners.

US troops from the 193rd Infantry Brigade seize the Bulgarian-flag Smolyan as it transits the Panama Canal. It is the last Warsaw Pact ship to enter the canal.

chico20854

12-23-2021, 11:51 AM

December 23, 1996

NATO offers full membership to Jugoslavia and Romania, which they accept.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HXgez1g1F8xOJ2j0OfCoSP0_ZYtkVrFy/view?usp=sharing)
A Jugoslav expeditionary force of three divisions and five brigades arrives at the front outside of Timisoara, Romania. The force, composed of units from central Serbia under the command of the 37th Corps, is placed under command of the hard-pressed Romanian 4th Army.

The Siege of Berlin is broken when the Bundeswehr 3rd Panzer Division is the first NATO unit to enter the city. Battle continues to rage in and around the battered city.

Taking advantage of the devastation wrought upon the Polish Air Force (which has been largely swept from the skies), US and British strike aircraft hit the oil fields and refineries near Uscie Solne (east of Krakow) in an attempt to hamper Polish military operations and defense industry operations.

US Green Berets increase their support of Eritrean and Tigrayan rebels as Cuban troops focus on evacuating, leaving a few dozen overburdened Soviet advisors to support the Ethiopian regime.

Unofficial:

AFRICOM and CENTCOM agree to the reassignment of the Horn of Africa from CENTCOM to AFRICOM, reflecting the demands being placed on CENTCOM's few troops in the region as a result of the Soviet invasion of Iran. 5th Special Forces Group B-teams in the Horn of Africa are reassigned to 3rd Special Forces Group, while the 2nd Battalion, 3rd SF Group is redesignated 2nd Battalion, 5th SF Group and deployed by air from Ft Bragg, NC to Oman. This allows the Green Berets embedded with local guerillas and friendly militaries to continue working alongside those allies without a disruptive change of personnel.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E3cjVxspq5UjoQk4bRadm8Uzz8Pw3bqB/view?usp=sharing)
The 185th Tactical Fighter Group (Iowa Air Nationa Guard)'s force of A-16 attack aircraft is declared fully operational. The 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (Texas Air National Guard) is ordered to Loring AFB, ME to bolster the northeastern USA's air defenses after an assessment that Cuba was, in fact, complying with its stated intention of remaining neutral and that therefore it was a reasonable risk to dilute Texas' air defenses.

Peace activists outside RAF Upper Heyford are caught by MI-5 radio-direction finding unit broadcasting takeoff and landing notifications for F-111 strikes from the base. A series of arrests begin.

USAF Europe launhces Operation Speed Bump, which has USAF F-117s strike bridges across the Wisla River in Poland being used to tranport Soviet reinforcements to the front.

The USAF orders the 112th Tactical Fighter Group (Pennsylvania Air National Guard) and its 24 A-7 strike aircraft to prepare to deploy to Jugoslavia as reinforcements.

The war in space heats up, when MAJ Amy "Buns" Nakamura becomes the first female ace of the war after shooting down two Soviet RORSATs with ASAT missiles.

The squadrons that were part of the air wings assigned the USS Forrestal and USS George Washington are disbanded following the loss of their carriers. The remaining aircraft and aircrew, which had been operating from bases near Trondheim in central Norway, are reassigned to other squadrons fighting in the waning clashes in the Norwegian Sea, while surviving headquarters, maintenance and administrative personnel are flown home to the US for reassignment or to rebuild selected squadrons. US Naval Aviation losses in the Norwegian Sea exceed 50 percent overall.

Raellus

12-23-2021, 12:31 PM

The war in space heats up, when MAJ Amy "Buns" Nakamura becomes the first female ace of the war after shooting down two Soviet RORSATs with ASAT missiles.

Is this a nod to Red Storm Rising? IIRC, the ASAT firing F-15 pilot in the book is a woman (I can't remember her name, though).

-

chico20854

12-23-2021, 12:46 PM

Is this a nod to Red Storm Rising? IIRC, the ASAT firing F-15 pilot in the book is a woman (I can't remember her name, though).

-
Yes, it is. One of my unofficial sources is a draft USAF Vehicle Guide that Stilleto69 is working on and has generously shared with me. He has a couple operations in there that seem to have been borrowed from RSR, including the female F-15 ace and the TLAM strikes on airfields in the Kola.

stilleto69

12-24-2021, 01:27 AM

Yes, it is. One of my unofficial sources is a draft USAF Vehicle Guide that Stilleto69 is working on and has generously shared with me. He has a couple operations in there that seem to have been borrowed from RSR, including the female F-15 ace and the TLAM strikes on airfields in the Kola.

You're absolutely correct. Couldn't help it. RSR is one of my all-time favorites, plus who else to borrow from, but the undisputed master of techno-thrillers IMHO.

chico20854

12-24-2021, 10:43 AM

December 24, 1996

British and American forces reach the outskirts of Berlin, and the British 1st Corps relieves the besieged NATO forces there after a week of bitter street fighting, the Second Battle of Berlin.

SACLANT orders the withdrawal of Strike Fleet Atlantic from the Norwegian Sea, marking the end of the Battle of the Norwegian Sea. Scattered Soviet commerce raiders break out and raise havoc in North Atlantic convoy lanes.

The Turkish 1st Army launches an offensive against a thin Bulgarian covering force (composed of border guards backed by a single mobilization only MRD, the rest of 3rd Army forcing its way across the Danube) in Thrace.

Unofficial:

The British government authorizes the arrest of hundreds of anti-war activists and communist sympathizers following the prior days arrest at RAF Upper Heyford. Internment camps are established in rural Scotland, Wales and Northwest England.

North Korean troops continue their fierce attacks, supported by massed artillery and rocket fire. South Korean divisions on the front line hold, although reserves of replacement troops and artillery ammunition are being depleted at a rapid pace.

The last American troops are withdrawn from Italy. Only US Marine guards at the embassy remain.

The Chinese 29th Group Army renews its attack north of Beijing, its ranks replenished with three new divisions raised in Hunan province.

The Soviet 28th Army's attack into southern China is called off after getting bogged down 15 km into Chinese territory. The USSR's Vietnamese allies declined to provide additional troops and were concerned about their transportation system's ability to continue to support the offensive.

For the first time in over 40 years, NORAD does not publicize incoming flying objects coming from the North Pole. Instead, missile-armed American and Canadian interceptors await any southbound traffic.

Ewan

12-24-2021, 11:23 AM

December 24, 1996
For the first time in over 40 years, NORAD does not publicize incoming flying objects coming from the North Pole. Instead, missile-armed American and Canadian interceptors await any southbound traffic.

Really enjoying the day to day narrative and particularly enjoyed this little snippet.

Hope you keep up the excellent work into the new year.

chico20854

12-25-2021, 06:16 AM

December 25, 1996

The Soviet 7th Army captures Tabriz in northwestern Iran, eradicating the last of the city's fanatical Pasdaran defenders (and thousands of civilians) with nerve gas delivered by artillery and aircraft bombs.

Unofficial:

The citizens of the world have a very unsettled holiday. Training at military bases around the world is paused and the fighting is relatively light, giving soldiers time to reflect on their uncertain future and their families and friends back home.

In the war-torn cities of Berlin and Seoul, citizens huddle in shelters, while millions of refugees continue to seek a safe haven. In the many places away from the fighting, families gather, grateful for the ability to be together but nervous about how the growing conflict will be resolved and how it will affect them.

chico20854

12-25-2021, 06:18 AM

Really enjoying the day to day narrative and particularly enjoyed this little snippet.

Hope you keep up the excellent work into the new year.

I'm glad you and others are enjoying this! I plan to try to keep it going.

The Zappster

12-25-2021, 02:21 PM

I for one am very glad to hear it. Its a great resource and just good to read.

chico20854

12-26-2021, 09:16 AM

December 26, 1996

Nothing in official canon for today, but unofficially:

Military operations continue around the world, joining the convoys, combat air patrols, casualty evacuation and patient care, outpost duty and artillery barrages, the war machine that did not stop for the prior day's holiday celebrations.

A relatively safe transit corridor is opened from Berlin to Hanover in West Germany. While subject to sporadic Pact artillery attacks, the German government organizes convoys of relief supplies into the city, accompanied by a fleet of empty busses to evacuate civilians from the city, which is still a battle zone as NATO forces continue their advance.

Soviet bombers launch another round of conventional cruise missile attacks on ports and air bases in the UK, launched from over the Baltic Sea, overlying southern Sweden along the way.

The USSR ignores Swedish protests about the violation of their airspace, pointing to the NATO transit of Swedish airspace in Lapland two weeks prior. The Swedish Air Force adopts a more aggressive posture regarding Soviet activity. To further emphasize Soviet disregard for Swedish sovereignty, the Soviet Mirka-II corvette SKR-90 is sunk by a mine in Swedish waters off Karlskrona.

Convoy 202 sails from San Francisco, bound for Honolulu, Guam (where the convoy will split), Okinawa and Pusan, Korea. It is composed of 37 cargo ships, one rescue/salvage vessel and four escorts, a collection of USNR-manned frigates and destroyers and the Coast Guard cutter Boutwell.

The US Congress passes a supplemental budget, authorizing over $1 Trillion of additional spending as may be needed to support the war effort. It also contains several classified sections that authorize paramilitary operations by the CIA, a FEMA stockpiling program and development and deployment of several aircraft and missile systems.

chico20854

12-27-2021, 01:24 PM

December 27, 1996

another day of nothing in the canon, but unofficially:

Warsaw Pact forces begin a general withdrawal to eastern East Germany, intent on holding the line Stralsund-Neubrandenburg-East Berlin-Dresden. The shorter line free up three divisions to serve as a TVD reserve.

In Norway, NATO troops declare western Finnmark secure as the US 111th Air Defense Artillery Brigade enters action approaching the Norwegian-Soviet border.

Following the withdrawal from the Norwegian Sea, Strike Fleet Atlantic disbands temporarily, its constituent carrier battle groups heading to various ports in the US and UK for repair and replenishment. Despite stringent efforts, the carrier's magazines are nearly completely depleted, their escorts low on fuel and ammunition and all battered by the combination of harsh winter weather and three weeks of furious combat. SACLANT establishes a patrol line of cruisers along the GIUK Gap and redoubles efforts to provide adequate escorts for convoys as the first reports of random sinkings by Soviet raiders begin to trickle in.

The Commander of the Red Banner Northern Fleet receives a status briefing of the results of the Battle of the Norwegian Sea. Most importantly, the NATO maritime offensive against the Kola was halted, with heavy losses to the NATO fleet that make a second attack in the next few months unlikely. The Soviet SSBN fleet remained safely intact in port. Soviet losses were heavy, with over 80 percent of large ship tonnage sunk (including the entire carrier force built at such great expense), bomber losses over 50 percent and the loss of the best of the Naval Infantry force.

The submarine USS Philadelphia is ambushed and sunk by a Victor-I class attack submarine in the English Channel as the American sub attempted a transit in the narrow passage not aggressively patrolled or mined by the French Navy.

The Turks break through last of the Bulgarian Krali Marko line fortifications and advance into the so-called "Triangle of Death"; the undermanned dug-in Second-World-War German and Soviet tanks were easily taken out by Turkish ATGMs and the forces allocated to the "Traingle of Death" were being hurredly recalled from the Romanian frontier over 250km to the north.

Pasdaran resistance in northwestern Iran wavers as some formations disintegrate when faced with the possibility of Soviet chemical weapons and the massive firepower Transcaucasian Front brings to bear.

chico20854

12-28-2021, 01:14 PM

December 28, 1996

another day with nothing official, but unofficially:

There is a major sortie of US Pacific Fleet carriers from their homeports in Pearl Harbor, San Diego and Puget Sound. The deployments are under EMCOM (emissions control, with all radiating electronics turned off) and in the pre-dawn hours.

Soviet, Polish and Czech units make tactical withdrawals to align with the new defense line. The evacuation of civilians from Berlinn continues as the battle lines shift to the eastern side of the city and Soviet artillery bombardments intensify.

Game wardens patrolling the woods outside of Bodenmais (in Bavaria near the Czech border) report a group of armed men in the distance. A hunt by BGS Border Guards and territorial troops fails to locate the men.

The US 197th Field Artillery Brigade (New Hampshire National Guard) is declared operational in Norway.

The Pact offensive in Romania stalls as Bulgarian troops are withdrawn from the southern front (leaving it static, with three Bulgarian bridgeheads on the north bank of the Danube), allowing Romanian reinforcements to be shifted to the northeastern and northwester fronts. The Pact advance is also slowed by inadequate numbers of Soviet troops and the poor training and materiel condition of the Hungarian force.

A 757 carrying infantry replacements fresh from Ft Benning, Georgia disappears over the mid-Atlantic; postwar research reveals that it was shot down by a SAM fired by a Soviet commerce raider.

NASA announces a revamp of its launch schedule; all scientific missions are cancelled and future missions will be to support the war effort.

chico20854

12-29-2021, 07:54 AM

December 29, 1996

Tehran falls to Soviet troops after paratroopers seize the airport and Pasdaran forces flee. Pasdaran leaders call for their fighters to continue fighting the Soviets and encourages those separated from their units to rally to defend the holy city of Qom.

Unofficial:

NATO defense ministers (including the Jugoslav and Romanian ministers flown out at low level but not the French, Belgian, Greek and Italians) begin a meeting at the heavily guarded NATO command bunker in Northwood, England to discuss war aims andexecution. They receive status updates from SACEUR and SACLANT as well as many of the coordinating bodies (on shipping and air transport, defense production, civil relief and allocation of vital materials).

The Polish 12th Armored Division (rebuilding after being destroyed in China) is declared "limited operational" and deployed along the German-Polish border west of its garrison in Szczecin.

German and American troops reach the outskirts of Dresden, advancing against disorganized Pact opposition. The Pact effort in Germany is hampered by NATO air attacks on its lines of communication, which are further disrupted by attacks by East German units that found themselves isolated behind enemy lines by the East German coup.

NATO air forces launch an offensive air sweep over Poland in an attempt to lure surviving Soviet and Polish fighters into dogfights and surface to air missile batteries to reveal their locations so they can be attacked by accompanying Wild Weasels.

Additional trains of tanks and other military vehicles, the prewar complement of the 1st Infantry Division, arrive at the Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal, an Army-operated port in New Jersey. The 1st ID fell in on vehicles from POMCUS storage in Europe, leaving a complete complement behind in Kansas. Those were now being sent to Europe as shipping space permitted as replacements for vehicles lost in combat.

The Panamanian flagged bulk carrier Empire Pilot, carrying a cargo of Brazilian corn to neutral Finland, is sunk by a Soviet submarine 500 km west of Gibraltar. Canadian fishing vessels report unidentified warships east of Newfoundland.

Soviet and Vietnamese troops return to their start lines along the Chinese border, ending their incursion at the cost of 1200 Soviet and 800 Vietnamese soldiers' lives. The effort tied down a dozen Chinese divisions, three of which are released for transit to the fighting to the north.

chico20854

12-30-2021, 09:11 AM

December 30, 1996

Nothing official for today, but unofficially:

The Battle of Dresden. NATO forces surround the city, exploiting the boundary between Soviet and Czech troops to the south of town. As American forces rush forward, the Polish 6th Air Assault Division is landed by helicopter behind the American tanks, amidst the 2nd Armored Division's artillery and rear area. The rear area troops fight valiantly against the elite Poles, but the assault has to be broken off. The American armored and mechanized battalions turn around, and in a confused nighttime melee drive off the paratroops. The decimation of the Polish unit buys time for the withdrawal of Pact troops from the city.

Elsewhere in East Germany, Allied forces continue fierce house to house fighting in East Berlin, while along the Baltic coast the remnants of the East German Navy attempt to interdict Pact evacuation and resupply efforts.

Norwegian and American troops reach the Soviet border southeast of Kirkenes, the retreating 6th Army still withdrawing over the frozen tundra to the east of town.

Convoy 109 departs Jacksonville, Florida. It will travel up the east coast before crossing the Atlantic.

The transport ship USNS Pollux, returning unescorted from Europe at its top speed of 32 knots, reports being pursued by a Soviet raider, which could not keep up with the speedy transport. A B-52 sortie from Loring AFB's 42nd Bomb Wing locates the Krivak II-class frigate Bessmennyy nearby and sinks it with 3 Harpoon missiles.

US Navy SEEBEEs arrive at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Airport in the Indian Ocean to begin upgrading the facility to support the planned deployment of a P-3 patrol squadron.

The Akula II-class SSN K-453 is delivered in Severomorsk and rushed into Northern Fleet service. (The boat was incomplete, but the shipyard management knew that they would receive a bonus if it was delivered before year-end; the naval crew was responsible for bringing the boat up to operational standard).

Japan's foreign ministry announces the establishment of 1000 nautical mile Maritime Security Zone around its home islands. The Self Defense Forces (Air and Maritime) will actively patrol this zone and intercept hostile forces.

Targan

12-30-2021, 06:56 PM

December 30, 1996

US Navy SEEBEEs arrive at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Airport in the Indian Ocean to begin upgrading the facility to support the planned deployment of a P-3 patrol squadron.

This bit is of interest to me. The Cocos Keeling Islands are administered by my state jurisdiction (delegated authority from the federal government). The islands have a very contentious internal political history (a single white family ruled there like kings for 150 years, over a population of imported Malay workers).

There was a small military presence on the islands during WWI and a much bigger presence during WWII, including military airfields and bomber squadrons.

But the interesting part in terms of this T2K timeline is that under normal circumstances the stationing of US forces on the islands around that time would probably have been hugely contentious, but for three important factors:

1) The rapidly escalating WWIII.
2) The Liberal-National Coalition had won federal government in March of that year.
3) The Liberal-National Coalition retained government in Western Australia just 16 days before, but with an increased majority.

The new federal government was led by Liberal Party Prime Minister John Howard, who was and is hugely pro-US (the Australian Liberal Party historically has always been so to some degree). With the Liberal Party also now having an absolute majority in the Western Australian Parliament, any political opposition to the decision to station US forces on the Cocos Keeling Islands would have been totally ignored.

chico20854

12-31-2021, 10:23 AM

This bit is of interest to me. The Cocos Keeling Islands are administered by my state jurisdiction (delegated authority from the federal government). The islands have a very contentious internal political history (a single white family ruled there like kings for 150 years, over a population of imported Malay workers).

There was a small military presence on the islands during WWI and a much bigger presence during WWII, including military airfields and bomber squadrons.

But the interesting part in terms of this T2K timeline is that under normal circumstances the stationing of US forces on the islands around that time would probably have been hugely contentious, but for three important factors:

1) The rapidly escalating WWIII.
2) The Liberal-National Coalition had won federal government in March of that year.
3) The Liberal-National Coalition retained government in Western Australia just 16 days before, but with an increased majority.

The new federal government was led by Liberal Party Prime Minister John Howard, who was and is hugely pro-US (the Australian Liberal Party historically has always been so to some degree). With the Liberal Party also now having an absolute majority in the Western Australian Parliament, any political opposition to the decision to station US forces on the Cocos Keeling Islands would have been totally ignored.

I'm glad I caught your itnerest! I try to put things in that will be interesting to everyone!

I read up a little on the Cocos Keeling Islands, and saw that the RAAF regularly launched P-3 patrols from there as well as a think tank proposal about 10 years ago to construct a major Diego Garcia-type facility with hardened aircraft shelters and a pair of two-mile runways. Much more than what I imagined the SEEBEEs would do, which was more oriented towards the housing, administrative and logistical upgrades needed to equip the existing airport with the minimal facilities needed to support the aircraft and their associated personnel.

I try not to delve too deeply into the political realm other than outcomes, and honestly I hadn't put a lot of thought into the domestic political implications. One additional thought I would throw out there would be - does the public (and even members of the political and military leadership) know that this is even occurring? The islands are isolated and have a small population. With wartime emergency measures, the civilian population could be evacuated or the communications links turned off. As time goes on these things become more difficult to conceal, but there were lots of secret agreements and plans that had been put in place in the Cold War, and maybe this was one of them?

I recently acquired a copy of "Cold War Warriors: Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion Operations 1968-1991 (https://www.amazon.com/Cold-War-Warriors-Australian-Operations-ebook/dp/B092W7BSP6)" and hope to find time to read through it and put in some things about RAAF P-3 operations, as well as anything it may have about plans for cooperation with the US.

chico20854

12-31-2021, 11:04 AM

December 31, 1996

Nothing official for the last day of 1996, but unofficially:

As the year of 1996 closes out, the world has taken an ominous turn. The Sino-Soviet War w,hich while massive, was limited to East Asia, has become a worldwide conflagration, with war all along the borders of the Soviet empire, from Kirkenes on the Norwegian Border, through Berlin, Romania and Tehran to Manchuria, with ships and aircraft on and over the high seas around the world in flames. Optimists hope that the war will reach a negotiated settlement soon, grateful that fears that nuclear war would erupted immediately had not come to pass, while pessimists see every day of the ongoing war as just a momentary pause before the inevitable holocaust.

British, American and German troops drive Soviet and Polish troops out of the city limits of Berlin, but fierce house-to-house combat continues in the eastern suburbs.

The Soviet anti-satellite complex in Zelenchukskaya (known to the West as Dushanbe) attempts its first operational mission, partially blinding a KH-17 photo reconaissance satellite with coordinated strikes from multiple lasers.

The US War Production Coordination Board compiles its list of major end items produced in the US for the year. It includes:

AH-64 attack helicopter 144
AV-8B aircraft 72
A-6F aircraft 72
F-16C/D aircraft 325
F-15E aircraft 144
F-14D aircraft 96
KC-10 conversion aircraft 24
P-7 aircraft 24
SH-2G helicopter 48
SH-60B/F helicopter 60
UH-60 helicopter 145
AH-1G helicopter 180
OH-58D helicopter conversion 145
CH-47D helicopter 48
CH-53E helicopter 24
OH-6D helicopter 125
M-2A2 Bradley IFV 792
M-1A2 tank 1,080
LAV-75 AFV 480
LAV-25 APC 606
M-109A6 howitzer 540
AAVP-7 APC 600
AMRAAM missile 3,600
Sidewinder missile 8,400
Harpoon missile 660
Patriot missile 840
HARM missile 6,500
Hellfire missile 6,720
Maverick missile 14,400
Phoenix missile 420
Standard ER missile 480
Standard MR missile 845
Stinger missile 11,500
Tomahawk cruise missile 540
TOW II missile 30,000
Peacekeeper missile 48
MLRS rocket 36,000
4.2" mortar rounds 600,000
155mm FASCAM rounds 85,000
8" HE rounds 60,000
2.75" rockets 540,000
Volcano mine canisters 48,000
AT-4 LAWs 180,000
transport ships 25
naval combatant ships 10

Olefin

12-31-2021, 09:34 PM

cawest

12-31-2021, 09:54 PM

chico20854

01-01-2022, 07:28 PM

January 1, 1997

The meeting of NATO defense ministers concludes, issuing a statement that NATO heads of state have declared support for a Polish government in exile. The London-based government had operated in exile since September 1939 (when it had been run out of Poland by the Nazis) and still retained some items that supported its legitimacy - the presidential banner, the presidential and state seals, the presidential sashes, and the original text of the 1935 Constitution.

The British 1st Airborne Brigade is formed at Aldershot, England.

Unofficial:

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aGmKUyFSe3oqJTJ7UMjYhcbG_83uZ7Og/view?usp=sharing)
The US Navy orders the reactivation of Forrest Sherman and Decatur-class destroyers, held in mothballs for over 10 years (including DD-933, the USS Barry, which was a museum ship at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC). The reactivation places a further burden on shipyards already overloaded with ships damaged in the fighting in the Norwegian Sea, but the 17 ships would partially replace the losses of the last month.

The declaration by NATO heads of state also includes a call for the neutralization of the Soviet threat in the high north and authorization for NATO forces to sieze Murmansk.

The last Belgian forces are repatriated from Norway, where they had fought as part of the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (Land). Tensions between Belgium and NATO rise as disputes arise about the disposition of property, personnel and equipment in Belgium and Germany. (An example of the tit-for-tat is the Belgian refusal to allow NATO to remove office equipment from the headquarters in Mons in retaliation for the German Ministry of Transport to authorise the transportation of ammunition stocks from ammunition dumps in Germany, ammunition that happens to be increasingly needed at the front and which was partially funded by NATO).

Turkish forces break out of the mountainous terrain along the Black Sea cost, capturing the town of Grudovo (Sredets), in position to threaten the road and rail lines to the vital port of Burgas.

NATO sealift planners conclude a major effort to adjust their fleet resources, eliminating the sizeable Greek merchant fleet and other nations that have left NATO and adding in the smaller Jugoslav, East German and Romanian merchant fleets, as well as the couple dozen Pact ships seized in port or on the high seas since the outbreak of war. The Romanian fleet is the most problematic, with nearly 40 percent in the Black Sea, mostly stuck in port lest they be sunk by the superior Soviet Black Sea Fleet while racing for the Bosporus.

The US submarine Bluefish slips through the Bosporus submerged underneath a supporting Turkish navy transport, en route to start a campaign against Soviet shipping in the Black Sea.

chico20854

01-01-2022, 07:46 PM

You need to add 144 M88A2 tank retrievers - used to work at BAE in York and we could ramp the line up to 12 per month quickly with a max of 18 per month on the single production line if we went to two shifts - and we were capable of making brand new hulls instead of just upgrading old M88 hulls

If you are looking at V2.2 you would have M8 AGS Bufords being made at BAE in York PA - that line was built to make 12 per month at low rate and we could have ramped it up to as many as 36 per month if we went to two shifts

As for the Bradley's - they would have been most likely making new hulls as well as upgrading old vehicles at York PA and doing refurbs at our facility in Lemont Furnace - that plant opened in 1993 and probably would have been where damaged Bradleys would have been sent to get them repaired and back in the fight

I worked for BAE on the Bradley, M88 and M109 line from 2008 to 2014 - talked to guys who worked there in the 90's

Thanks! I hadn't seen a number on the M88 line in the 1980s documents I was working off of. For the Bradley, I kept the Santa Clara plant going (it was shut down as a result of the merger of FMC and BMY in the post-Cold War defense industry consolidation), so York is concentrating on M109 and M88, plus the M8 for the v2.2 timeline. I also have a plant in Johnstown subcontracted to help with M109 hull work.

I didn't know about the Lemont Furnace facility. I'll also have a lot of repairs done at the Army facilities, Mainz in Germany (plus the POMCUS sites, once emptied, the crews and faciltities there could do some repair work), Red River, Anniston and the others in CONUS.

One thing helping the US production is the massive orders for ordnance placed by the Chinese in late 1995. That pays for the activation of the second shifts at the existing munitions plants as well as the outfitting of additional mobilization plants. I have the Atlanta, Leeds, Missouri and Framingham GM plants, Bridgeport CT ammo line, DeKalb tractor plant, Indiana Army Ammunition plant, Madison TN truck plant and a few others (plus shipyards) all coming on line to meet Chinese demand. Unfortunately for the Chinese, when the US enters the war much of the output from these plants gets fed into the maw of the US military.

chico20854

01-01-2022, 08:05 PM

as the OH-58 are moved to D's. or they are pulled out of Fort Rucker. The role of scout and trainer could fall to something like a Robinson 44. it is in production in 1993. Also, Cessna could start modifing T-37 to the A-37 Dragon fly. Also by now Davis-Monthan would have Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Group sending out its first craft now that this is not a short war.

For the OH-58Ds, I had envisioned continuing conversions of OH-58C models. When you look back at the budget & planning documents from the 80s, the goal was stated as 477 -D models converted from -A and -C models, rather than the TH-57 trainers from Rucker. The gap in scout helicopter numbers is partially filled by fielding MD-500s from the reopened production line in Long Beach to National Guard division cavalry squadrons.

I'll certainly look into the Robinson 44! Later in 1997 as things get even more desperate I even have the CH-54 flying crane go back into production, as a small company had bought the rights and design, remaining components and the complete tooling IRL and had manufactured new aircraft for the first time in decades.

I don't have a lot of additional A-37s coming out, since the USAF had been shifting the last of those aircraft out of the reserve components in the 90s. They aren't that useful in a high-threat air defense environment, and I figure there were a good quantity of them in AMARC to replace losses from the few units that still used them.

I had Davis-Monthan in high gear for all of 1996, although primarily to support sales to allies. With Iran resuming friendly relations with the US in the years prior to the war, their air force could make ready use of the F-5s and F-4s at AMARC. The Chinese are desperate for aircraft following the devastation of their air force, so the skies of the US in 1996 are full of PLAAF pilots flying older F-4s, A-7s and A-4s pulled out of AMARC. I even have the 115th Tactical Fighter Group activated as an active-duty USAF F-4E unit to augment continental air defense with airframes pulled from Davis-Monthan.

chico20854

01-01-2022, 08:29 PM

January 2, 1997

Scattered workers uprisings occur across Poland as a result of the Polish government in exile gaining NATO recognition. ZOMO riot control units quickly mobilize to suppress the rioting following strong words from the Soviet ambassador.

unofficially:

Convoy 202 arrives in Honolulu/Pearl Harbor, detaching two cargo ships and gaining two others as well as the USN tanker Ponchatoula and an additional escort, the frigate USS Reasoner.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AxVgeS7z37cPOt2x2CXQ3xChnYrjQics/view?usp=sharing)
The German hard rock band the Spyders announces its "Winds of Change Tour" to celebrate the liberation of East Germany and raise money for relief for East German civilians; many of the band's most ardent fans are unable to attend the concerts as they had been called up for service in the Bundeswehr.

The last Soviet troops are driven out of Norway east of Kirkenes.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hH17pU46SZkO_ln9uW5Wyt8-TSGK9asK/view?usp=sharing)
South Korean lines northeast of Seoul buckle and, in a handful of sectors, break. The North Korean 1st Shock Army commits its elite 820th Armored Corps to exploit the breakthrough.

Pasdaran troops continue their resistance, gradually withdrawing as the Soviet advance slows. Transcaucasian Front's supply lines are getting longer and the Front's immediate stockpiles of fuel and munitions, especially chemical weapons, has been depleted and the Front commander, Colonel General Suryakin, was forced to beg STAVKA for the trucks and supplies he needed, in competition with Front commanders from around the USSR, all needing the same resources.

The Commander of Frontal Aviaition sought guidance from STAVKA about the need for future pilots and the allocation of aircraft and their crew. Southwestern TVD's handful of fighter regiments had been able to suppress the Romanian and Jugoslav air forces, but were insufficient to provide air support to the bogged-down Red Army troops in Romania. Prewar plans provided that trainer aircraft assigned to pilot training colleges throughout the southwestern USSR be transferred to the Balkans, where it was expected that air defenses would be less formidable than on the Central Front. Doing so, however, meant that new pilot training would be halted. STAVKA replied than the need for pilots was intense and that the Army would have to advance using the blood of its infantry, grateful that Frontal Aviation and the PVO were keeping NATO airpower at bay. Anyone who complained was to be transferred to the German front, where NATO fighters were gradually establishing complete control of the skies over the front lines.

Olefin

01-02-2022, 02:56 PM

Thanks! I hadn't seen a number on the M88 line in the 1980s documents I was working off of. For the Bradley, I kept the Santa Clara plant going (it was shut down as a result of the merger of FMC and BMY in the post-Cold War defense industry consolidation), so York is concentrating on M109 and M88, plus the M8 for the v2.2 timeline. I also have a plant in Johnstown subcontracted to help with M109 hull work.

I didn't know about the Lemont Furnace facility. I'll also have a lot of repairs done at the Army facilities, Mainz in Germany (plus the POMCUS sites, once emptied, the crews and faciltities there could do some repair work), Red River, Anniston and the others in CONUS.

One thing helping the US production is the massive orders for ordnance placed by the Chinese in late 1995. That pays for the activation of the second shifts at the existing munitions plants as well as the outfitting of additional mobilization plants. I have the Atlanta, Leeds, Missouri and Framingham GM plants, Bridgeport CT ammo line, DeKalb tractor plant, Indiana Army Ammunition plant, Madison TN truck plant and a few others (plus shipyards) all coming on line to meet Chinese demand. Unfortunately for the Chinese, when the US enters the war much of the output from these plants gets fed into the maw of the US military.

Lemont Furnace did refurb work on M109 and Bradleys - versus rebuilds at York for both - that facility wasnt there when they wrote Allegheny Uprising - so would be a nice addition where the players are sent to get parts stored there for M-109 and Bradleys and find a vehicle there that they could bring back to working status using parts stored there

chico20854

01-03-2022, 04:52 PM

January 3, 1997

The US 2nd Infantry Division's 1st and 2nd Brigades (both mechanized) engage North Korean mechanized forces, composed largely of the 820th Mechanized Corps, northeast of Seoul.

unofficial:

The North Korean command commits the 815th Mechanized Corps as a follow-on force. USAF surveillance aircraft note the movement of vehicles, and G Battery, 37th Field Artillery, 2nd ID's MLRS battery, plasters the area with submunitions, slowing the North Korean reinforcements. The US commander then lands 2nd ID's 3rd (light) Brigade in rough terrain to the North Korean flank, where they unleash a hail of Viper/Tank Breaker missiles into the attacking armored troops.

Convoy 109 departs New York, bound for Newfoundland before starting the North Atlantic crossing.

The Turkish 1st Army receives reinforcements, largely taken from 2nd Army on the Mediterranean coast. Bulgarian resistance is stiffening as more troops are shifted from the Romanian front. The Bulgarian Communist Party sends an urgent request to the USSR for military assistance as the impovershed country's economy slows following the callup of so many men of prime working age and the nation's stockpiles are rapidly being depleted.

Fighting continues in the eastern oukstirks of Berlin, with NATO gains measured by hundreds of meters. Along the Baltic coast progress is more rapid, as Polish troops fall back to their border and the ports of Stralsund and Sassnitz fall, shutting down Pact supply/evacuation points.

Following a disappointing rotation at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California by the 1st Brigade, 49th Armored Division, the Department of the Army decides to pull the entire division from the deployment timeline and re-equip it with M1-series vehicles rather than the M60A4s it fielded. In a separate but related action, the brigade commander, two battalion commanders and seventeen other officers are relieved and the entire division is ordered to begin an intensive re-training regime in addition to the retraining and reorganizing needed for the transition to new Tables of Organization and Equipment with the new tanks.

cawest

01-03-2022, 08:15 PM

chico20854

01-04-2022, 10:22 AM

is there a reason that 1st Brigade, 49th Armored Division did poorly at NTC and then was updated from M60A4s to M1s. i would think that the newer tanks would be used on a unit going to Germany or other combat zones.

I was trying to lay the groundwork for why a relatively high-readiness armored division would be spending the year sitting in Chicago waiting for transportation while the 50th AD (which historically had chronic issues maintaining troop strength and was considered a low priority unit) was sent to Europe in May. Certainly using Chicago as a port of embarcation causes problems with shipping, since only smaller ships fit through the St Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes, but in that case why not send the division to one of a dozen plus ports on the Gulf or East Coasts? Heck, 40th ID deploys through California ports and transits the Panama Canal.

As to the poor performance, you can look at the ample evidence from Desert Storm re: the readiness of National Guard heavy brigades. I'm positing that many of those issues were worked on in the 1991-96 period, since 1st Cav and 5th ID are sent into action in December with their roundout brigades, but my experience in a National Guard heavy division in the mid-90s showed that there were serious readiness issues. Soldiers were overweight, out of shape, too old and likely medically unable to deploy, basic soldier skills were not practiced, discipline was lax (I recall one occaision when our female company commander stood outsides the barracks, which was rocking and rolling, and said "I want this party to end since we have a convoy at 0500, but I don't dare go in there"), officers marginally qualified (at the time only 15% of captains in the state had a bachelor's degree), and so on - you could have described my unit as a drinking club that wore camouflage. I'm not saying my experience was universal - my next guard unit was equal in professionalism and discipline to an active-duty one - but I'm (for purposes of the timeline) going to lean to the 49th being more of the former than the latter.

Why would such a train wreck of a unit be slotted for an equipment upgrade? Maybe early results from combat in Europe showed the inferiority of the M60A4, and the Army figured that if 49 AD was going to require months of retraining (as National Guard roundout brigades needed in 1990-1) that some of that time could be used to field eqipment that 1) was less likely to get soldiers killed and 2) was familiar to active-duty troops and recent trainess which were coming in to the division to replace those that had been shown by NTC to be unable to perform their jobs.

As the war continues around the world, the new M1s and Bradleys that are supposed to go to 49 AD end up getting sent overseas as loss replacements, leaving the division sitting waiting for equipment, and when it does arrive, that's when the shipping delays come into play. It isn't pretty but it does provide some rationale for why the division never deploys overseas!

Louied

01-04-2022, 11:14 AM

pmulcahy11b

01-04-2022, 11:44 AM

Chico, you have been dealing a lot with the sea war. This is a much-neglected area of the Twilight War, in canon, supplements, and to tell the truth, by us on this board. It is a welcome addition.

chico20854

01-04-2022, 01:34 PM

January 4, 1997

nothing official for today, but unofficially:

After refuelling and restocking, Convoy 202 (including the Idaho Freedom) sails from Honolulu, destination Guam. The convoy includes 38 cargo ships, a rescue vessel and five escorts and its passage is cleared by P-3 aircraft and long-range sonar surveillance from a supporting SURTASS ship.

NATO troops in Norway consolidate their gains, rounding up the last Soviet stragglers, clearing lines of communications, establishing support facilities and replenishing stocks from truck convoys. Naval units begin clearing harbor of Kirkenes of mines and debris, including a sunken Soviet landing craft.

The East German 18th Marine Regiment, isolated in Sasnitz since the beginning of the war, joins the NATO forces driving along the Baltic Coast. The US 11th Aviation Brigade launches a nighttime deep-penetration raid across the front line, disabling a pair of pontoon bridges over the Niesse river north of Gorlitz and wreaking havoc on the masses of Pact vehicles awaiting passage into Poland as Soviet forces evacuate East Germany.

The 1st and 2nd Brigades, 2nd ID are locked in fierce combat against North Korean armored forces, which outnumber the American force by nearly 5 to one. The superior American tanks with lavish artillery and air support inflict heavy losses on the North Koreans, but are forced to give ground by the sheet quantity of enemy armor as their ammunition supply runs low as congestion, awful weather, refugees and enemy commando action delay their resupply convoys.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vk74kTy4z2YEqWAILS3uRbM40TvrJ81U/view?usp=sharing)
The American containership Sea-Land Mariner, carrying containerized supplies for American troops, is struck by a Soviet SSM in the North Sea and set afire. Dutch emergency vessels respond and after 14 hours extinguish the fire.

AFRICOM secures two C-141 flights to Morocco to transport military equipment and supplies that will be distributed to anti-Soviet guerilla groups throughout the continent.

Scattered skirmishes erupt on the Turko-Soviet border, as Soviet KGB Border Guards and Turkish gendarmes trade shots. Neither nation has the resources to escalate the fighting.

The Soviet Ministry of Fisheries issues an order for its deep draft trawlers and support vessels in the southen Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans to rendevous at pre-designated points (well away from established shipping lanes) and await further orders, relayed from the Navy. Given the situation off the Soviet coasts, fishing craft are not to attempt the return voyage.

chico20854

01-05-2022, 04:36 PM

January 5, 1997

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ChpprLmboBI-k52KWIZXA-e17dgaFVMt/view?usp=sharing)
The US 25th ID(L) begins its deployment by air to Korea from its home station in Hawaii. Troops move on a fleet of US and Korean Air widebody jets, while the division's vehicles are carried aboard C-5, C-17 and C-141 airlifters.

unofficially:

The Freedom-class cargo ship Rhode Island Freedom is delivered in Portland, OR.

The Politburo decides to try to convince the Dutch and Danish publics of the high cost of their support of the war (and scare them out of continued support for the war) by demonstrative strikes on their nations. A Spetsnaz team scuttles a chemical tanker (loaded with poisonous benzene) in the mouth of Rotterdam harbor, booby traps it and lights it on fire, at the same time that a Soviet air raid bombs the refinery and chemical plant in the city and mines the harbor, followed by a Scaleboard strike with persistent chemical munitions on the port and the main rail junction. One of the Su-24s, dodging Dutch F-16s, accidentally releases its munitions onto the historic center of the city. A similar strike targets Aarhus in Denmark. Thousands are killed in both countries, overwhelmingly civilians.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GB28V6V--Ojx5oOx7OmmAifwS-J9lWXb/view?usp=sharing)
AFNON and X Corps launch an attack into the USSR, acting on the authorization by NATO heads of state a few days prior. (This is the first time American troops have fought Red Army troops on Soviet soil since 1919). Border guards offer stiff resistance, but the main opposition comes from the remnants of 6th Army, which is still reeling after the long retreat across northern Norway. The strongest resistance comes from paratroopers brought in to shore up the border defenses.

The attack submarine USS Bluefish sinks the Soviet frigate Deyatelny in the Black Sea, the first of several Pact ships it will attack as it patrols the generally hostile Black Sea.

Turkish troops cut the road and rail routes to the Bulgarian port of Burgas; the garrison and population there is sustained by stores on hand and what can be brought in the city's port.

Soviet commerce raiders sortie from havens in the Seychelles, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea.

pmulcahy11b

01-06-2022, 09:16 AM

is there a reason that 1st Brigade, 49th Armored Division did poorly at NTC and then was updated from M60A4s to M1s. i would think that the newer tanks would be used on a unit going to Germany or other combat zones.

I've been to AT with 1st Bde, 49th AD, several times in the early-mid 1980s. And except for a couple of high-speed battalions and companies, 1st Bde was a cluster f**k every time. I don't know what training (if any) they did on their weekends. I don't know if they ever did any MUTA 5s or 6s. I don't know if any of their personnel ever did additional training. I don't know what their ratios of veterans -- nonveterans were. I don't know if anyone ever had them do alternate training (from proper paperwork to how to relube an M113 roadwheel in the field). But if 1st Bde was an example, the 49th AD was a mess, except for a few gems (Like my battalion, if I may say so myself -- I learned more from my time in 1/325 that I did my whole first enlistment in the Regular Army).

chico20854

01-06-2022, 03:39 PM

January 6, 1997

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/11-LhHF5xCPhGuG8C7-W2ctlRqZZEy7WL/view?usp=sharing)
Responding to the prior day's attacks on Rotterdam, the Dutch government orders the Netherlands I Leger Korps into Germany to fight Warsaw Pact forces.

Unofficially:

The Dutch and Danish populations are outraged about the previous day's attacks and demand retribution against the USSR.

In Korea, the US 2nd ID's lines begin to strain as 1st Shock Army commits its third and final armored corps (the 806th) to the breakthrough. Some relief comes as VII ROK Corps releases the 20th Mechanized Infantry Division to reinforce the beleaugered Americans.

Pact forces begin pell-mell retreat from Berlin towards the Oder-Niesse line; poor weather prevents Allied airpower from devastating their columns. To the north, German troops reach the Polish border west of Szczecin and clash with outposts of the Polish 12th Armored Division. The Czech expeditionary force withdraws to home territory.

On the Kola Peninsula, X Corps troops are astride the Kola Highway west of Zapolyarny, threatening the road junction that leads to Nikel.

The Soviet Tango-class sub Novosibirsk Komsomolets sinks the Filipino bulk carrier Southern Princess carrying grain to Antwerp.

chico20854

01-06-2022, 04:11 PM

Chico, I think your doing a great job trying to explain how a Div slated to join III Corp would get stuck Stateside. I was thinking along the lines of it being in the midst of conversion to M1/BFV when the was kicked off in December, basically having the whole Div having to retrain.

I can post them later but some interesting things I have found to bolster your points (even though you know since you were there)

1) found a doc concerning observing 50 ARD in 1992 BCTP training/warfighter exercise…..” Observing the 50th Armor during BCTP is a sobering experience. I doubt this “crowd” could ever go to war in an effective posture”

2) from what I am finding the AC Corp commanders wanted priority for the separate ARNG Bdes to reinforce as they felt they were more useful initially to supplement the AC divisions (Roundup?)

3) it appears one of the ALB Future papers call for a Heavy Corps having, as separate maneuver formations…an Avn Bde, an AR Bde, an ACR, and a IN Bde (Rear Battle). Sep MXB would go to XVIII Corp and I/IX Corp for Korean contingency.1

4) again it appears from Congressional testimony that the AC did not have any faith that the RO Bdes would be ready when a war started, one statement was that they had no plans to send them over in REFORGER. It looks like 194 ARB & 197 MXB would have been used to RO 5 MXD & 1 CD (at least before 89 when 4 MXD lost their Bde)

Chico, keep up the good work and did you see my response to the UK JTP plans?
I can list all the US centric ones later tonight.

Thanks for the comments! Yes, I saw your response; that would be great!

I did see some of those documents on the model corps structure, and it sure looks different from the cobbled-together divisions and corps that GDW laid out! And GDW certainly didn't know (or decided to ignore) the readiness problems.

I'll probably use the same rationale for 42nd ID as well. I'm also going with the idea that the Army establishes two more NTCs, at Yakima Firing Range in Washington and Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona as well as setting up a second JRTC (at Ft Chaffee or Ft Polk, whichever your t2k world has the other one at) with the idea that most reserve component brigades will get at least a 3-week rotation through before deploying. Seeing if it's possible to fit those resources with the deployment schedule GDW laid out is on my to-do list... I recall the 1990s "what to do with the National Guard" discussions where there was considerably more enthusiasm for independent brigades to augment the AC than there was for the continuation of entire divisions.

I'm also going on the idea that some reserve component units had their act together. The 116th ACR is listed as deploying to Germany early in 1996(!) and as I noted 256 Bde and 155 AB deploy with their AC divisions. The 35th ID also is an early deployer.

Chico, you have been dealing a lot with the sea war. This is a much-neglected area of the Twilight War, in canon, supplements, and to tell the truth, by us on this board. It is a welcome addition.

Thanks! I'm glad you guys are enjoying this. I have a lot of my stuff on the naval war that I've been putting together over the years. I would balance it out with more from the air and ground side but I don't have as much to draw on... my Battle of Germany doc is really just a bare outline, with less detail than I've already put in here. Once Advent Crown kicks off in April I have my history of that campaign to draw on through the summer. I'm still spending a couple hours a day scraping various sources and beefing up the master timeline document, trying to balance going over a lot of sources for what I need to post today/this week/this month with trying to go through a source comprehensively so that I know it's all in there.

stilleto69

01-06-2022, 11:33 PM

Great work as always Chico. I've been using your idea of new JRTCs at Yakima PG, Ft. Chaffee and Ft. Polk. I figured what a better way to try get as many units ready for the meat-grinder in Europe.

Louied

01-07-2022, 01:59 PM

Chico,

I will post the list of U.S. oriented JTPs here this weekend.

Shrike,

I forgot if you are on Tanknet too but we were discussing updating the NATO ORBAT. The idea was to take a country section and each person update what is in version 8.5, then we would post it and Pat Callahan (who is still on) would incorporate it into the master document. I was going to do BAOR and take a stab at the U.S. one. I just haven’t had time. Are you interested?

chico20854

01-07-2022, 04:01 PM

January 7, 1997

The Dutch 4th Mechanized Division enters Germany.

Unofficial:

The 278th ACR loads the last of its vehicles on ships assigned to Convoy 110 in Savannah, Georgia for transit to Germany.

Nine MC-141s of the 76th Military Airlift Squadron arrive at Clark, AFB, Phillipines.

The first contingent of East German POWs captured the prior year in China arrive in Hickam AFB, Hawaii for a week of leave before continuing their journey home.

British forces reach Frankfurt-an-Oder on the Polish border. They enter the city, but are unable to seize the bridges over the Oder.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/121J4ubucm293Na8awAVyBbfjsHkvgrk1/view?usp=sharing)
182nd Tactical Fighter Squadron begins combat air patrols over Turkey from the airbase at Batman. Its F-16Cs are initially tasked with air defense of Southeastern Turkey but soon will receive orders to interdict Soviet supply lines in northwestern Iran.

A F-16A of the 482nd Tactical Fighter Wing's 89th Tactical Fighter Squadron (AFRES) intercepts a Soviet Be-12 anti-submarine patrol aircraft over the Black Sea and downs the lumbering flying boat.

A Soviet raider sinks a Cypriot-flagged ore carrier leaving Durban, South Africa with a cargo of chrome ore.

chico20854

01-07-2022, 04:01 PM

Chico,

I will post the list of U.S. oriented JTPs here this weekend.

Thanks!!!!

Homer

01-07-2022, 07:37 PM

chico20854

01-08-2022, 06:50 AM

January 8, 1997

Feeling emboldened by Turkish success in Bulgaria, Cypriots of Turkish descent hold a rally in Nicosia. Some fly the Turkish flag, despite the reunification of the island in 1994. Greek youth heckle and jeer the rally, and the situation escalates into scuffles and broken glass.

Unofficially:

US Pacific Command launches Operation Steel Bandit - US Navy and USAF units, with support from allies, launch raid on Soviet naval station at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. The air strikes from the carriers Ranger and Abraham Lincoln and Clark AFB in the Philippines are nearly disastrous, but US Army Rangers from the 6th Ranger Battalion and allies land at the airfield and destroy vital facilities and tangling with responding troops from the 50th GMRD. Overall the costly raid is successful in halting the Soviets' use of the former US base for missions over the South China Sea and ferry bombing missions across China to Siberia.

The 163rd ACR (MT and TX NG) completes loading its troops, vehicles and heavy equipment on ships in Tacoma, Washington for transit to Korea. The group of ships is designated Convoy 205 and heads out that evening, escorted by a force of the destroyer Towers, frigate Lang and Coast Guard cutter Jarvis.

Remaining Pact troops are driven out of East German territory. German troops, a combination of the Schleswig-Holstein Territorial Command and East German 5 Armee, cross the Polish border west of Szczecin, intent on securing a solid front line along the Oder-Niesse line and giving the Polish Government in Exile a slice of Polish territory to bolster its legitimacy.

The Soviet destroyer Buliny, damaged early in the war in the Norwegian Sea but repaired and replenished, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, slips across GIUK gap by hiding in iceberg fields in the Arctic night.

The attack submarine USS Bluefish takes up station off Burgas, Bulgaria to interdict the city. It sinks the Soviet troop transport Shota Rustaveli but is spotted by a Bulgarian Mi-14 helicopter, beginning a three-day ordeal to escape a Pact ASW task force vectored onto it.

chico20854

01-08-2022, 06:58 AM

Great work on the timeline! It really fills in the gaps.

One thing I always felt was missing in canon was the echelon above division US forces, especially in Europe. Part of the buildup and transition to war would have been the mobilization of reserve units and facilities. The Army maintained a general officer reserve command under 7th Army which had over 1000 drilling reservists plus additional IRR or individual augmentees who would fill support, engineering, and medical positions in Europe based regular and reserve units on mobilization. In addition, the USAF and Army maintained contingency medical facilities in the UK and Germany to be filled by reservists. All these would be additive to the existing depot and logistics structure- vehicle rebuild, fuel pipelines, even a dairy plant and bakery.

While cannon alludes to these units either falling victim to tactical strikes or being gradually folded into divisional structures as replacements, some of it has to have survived post TDM to enable the buildup for the offensives in 1998 and 2000.

Welcome to the forum!

I hope to shed some light on these organizations as well as the vast WHNS (Wartime Host Nation Support) organization within the German territorial army structure. Part of my challenge with this is finding the information, since my orbats focus on the combat arms units, but I will dig through some back issues of Army Logistician and see what I can find! I have an easier time with the corps-level brigades, MP, Field Artillery and to a certain extent Engineer. As I keep developing my resources I will put more of these in.

Homer

01-08-2022, 02:52 PM

Thanks! It’s already a great piece of work.

21st TAACOM was a beast at its height. While some it’s units were tied to static facilities, others could and did deploy off Kaserne during alerts. There were also the Corps Support Commands.

The UKdo’s were pretty interesting. I wonder if they’d have gone forward with their supported organizations into the DDR or Poland? Or would they have formed support structure for the Heer as it expanded and absorbed the NVA?

I read your piece on 1998. It’d be interesting to see the wallmeisters in action. From what I know they were very skilled at their job, we’ll supplied, and familiar with the terrain in their areas of operation.

chico20854

01-09-2022, 01:26 PM

January 9, 1997

Nothing official today, but unofficially:

The first units from the US 25th ID(L) enter combat in Korea, reinforcing the battered 3rd Brigade, 2nd ID as they strive to contain the North Korean advance.

Open rebellion breaks out in scattered Polish Army units, mostly in individual battalions or regiments within a division, in response to the Pact defeat in East Germany and emergence of a Free Polish government.

The Dutch Red Army attempts to ambush a truck convoy leaving the Stegerveld ammunition dump; the convoy guards suppress the attackers and the convoy moves on.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UGWf9fmT5C0FBkXPN1I-NwKJZm7zCm_7/view?usp=sharing)
Unrest in Nicosia, Cyprus continues. Greek and Turkish youth engage in street battles while nationalist leaders call for calm.

The 126th MRD enters Romanian territory, assigned to the 5th Guards Army, and is almost immediately in action.

The 482nd TFW (AFRES) launches an offensive fighter sweep over Turkish troops in Bulgaria, drawing out Bulgarian Air Force fighters and allowing American ELINT aircraft orbiting over Anatolia to identify the electronic emissions of Bulgarian air defense units. One F-16, two MiG-21s and a MiG-29 are shot down.

The Ranger and Abraham Lincoln carrier battle groups steam east at high speed, while the Boat Troop of NZSAS made a more leisurely exit from the Cam Ranh region aboard the late Admiral Selevinski’s barge, enjoying the liquor and company aboard.

Homer

01-09-2022, 03:39 PM

Targan

01-09-2022, 05:01 PM

January 9, 1997... while the Boat Troop of NZSAS made a more leisurely exit from the Cam Ranh region aboard the late Admiral Selevinski’s barge, enjoying the liquor and company aboard.

If it was going to be anybody doing this is would be the Kiwis and the Aussies :D

chico20854

01-10-2022, 04:29 PM

January 10, 1997

Nothing official today, but unofficially:

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qNTEdybHNcLUaoTNia0WSOqhJOnDaAWT/view?usp=sharing)
The 202nd Tactical Fighter Squadron (SC Air National Guard) is reported ready for action following its conversion from F-4Es (which had been transferred to the Luftwaffe's JBG-36 in November to replace their losses) to F-20A Tigersharks.

An explosion rocks the ATACMS missile assembly plant in Horizon, TX. Thanks to the construction of the facility only one building is destroyed, killing 8 workers.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vkekrin9p3QobjAW3jQ45z2Ebb9wcexZ/view?usp=sharing)
In the North Pacific, 3rd Fleet launches Operation Steel Force - a raid on the Soviet naval complex Petropavlovsk-Kamchaktiy by the carriers Nimitz and Constellation. The raid is less costly than the recent raid on Cam Ranh Bay, but succeeds mostly in knocking back the city's air defenses and mining the channel leading out of the sheltered bay, with little direct damage to Soviet naval forces.

There is chaos in the Polish Army as rebel units call on their compatriots to join them. Polish Generals order all units locked down as they attempt to regain control, furiously trying to avoid having Soviet units put down the uprisings.

There is a third night of violence in Cyprus. Rioting expands to the city of Larnaca on the south side of the island.

USAF and Turkish Air Force units launch raids on the Bulgarian air defense network, enlarging the hole that had been created the Turkish advance into southeastern Bulgaria.

The Soviet Naval Infantry's 810th Brigade loads onto amphibious shipping in Sevastopol as high-priority reinforcements for battered Bulgarian troops facing the advancing Turks.

The 116th MRD, a mobilization-only division from the Leningrad MD, is called into service.

In the central Pacific, the commander of the 7th Fleet orders the USS Ranger's air wing to transfer as many surviving aircraft and aircrew as possible to Abraham Lincoln's in order to bring it as close to full strength. Advanced munitions are to be offloaded to replenishment ships accompanying Ranger and the carrier is ordered to return to the west coast for reconstitution while Abraham Lincoln is to sail north to support the embattled allied forces in Korea.

chico20854

01-10-2022, 04:39 PM

The piece on the Cam Ranh raid is really good. Great writing and really expands the naval war outside the European theatre and Gulf of California!

The ELINT piece is pretty neat. One thing that always struck me in cannon was the fact that effective intel organizations existed beyond TDM. Even though main NSA was probably destroyed during the strike on Meade and Medina was probably lost to the Mexican invasion, the US (or MILGOV) should still have some SIGINT capability. Fort Gordon and the NSA facility there sit within the “Iron Triangle”, and Buckley in Aurora should be firmly under control. Ergo, reset, the last submarine series, satellite down, and other modules may be driven by at least partly by SIGINT.

NIMA may have survived in St Louis, but the Brookmont HQ is likely gone, either fallout from the strikes in the DMV or overwhelmed in civil disorder. Given the attrition of overhead platforms to ASAT and loss of Vandenberg and Canaveral, they may still be able to meet MILGOVs needs. Dissemination would be the problem.

Dissemination (and comms in general) is the biggest problem! After Soviet EMP attacks and the general breakdown of order, even hardened facilities/assets are at risk of civil disorder and the demands of continuing to operate for three years without pre-war levels of support - electricity, food, fuel for backup generators, spare parts, motivation for staff (although rage against the Soviets is a strong one!). In a way, yes, canon is amazing with the level of intel activity that is still ongoing, although they concentrate on the HUMINT side rather than ELINT.

I'm also sort of struck by the important locations that are mentioned as intact in canon - Ft. Benning, Ellsworth AFB, most of the military industry. I guess part is that the anti-C2, anti-petroleum strikes with limited counterforce was sufficient to cripple both nations without leading to an all-out exchange. As we like to remark in the DC Working Group, we want this to remain Twilight:2000 and not Gamma World!

chico20854

01-10-2022, 04:42 PM

If it was going to be anybody doing this is would be the Kiwis and the Aussies :D

We are all aware (and fully supportive) of folks having a good time! :tank:

Homer

01-10-2022, 08:17 PM

I’ve always chalked a large part of the damage in canon up to two things: first, adventuring after even a counterforce exchange would suck (fallout over the Midwest, the old NW, and mid Atlantic) and would really just be a struggle for calories; second, much of the knowledge we have today was unavailable or even protected in the 80s (the Greenbriar gets no mention and NSA was still “no such agency”). With that in mind, most of the plot devices never fazed me (seminoles overrunning SE Florida, the drought, and naval attrition notwithstanding).

Really cool to see you putting meat in the bones of canon. Keep it up!

Homer

01-10-2022, 08:35 PM

Interesting you mentioned the 25th ID. A friend of mine was assigned to the “25th Dimension” during a simulation exercise in Korea. He stated the sobering moment came when the division was “ineffective” roughly 5 days after commitment against a heavy model NK force using just conventional weapons, no NBC.

cawest

01-10-2022, 08:59 PM

Ursus Maior

01-11-2022, 03:28 AM

Sidewinders against submarines? Or do I get that wrong and you mean sidewinders for self-defense and other stuff for ASW/ASuW?

cawest

01-11-2022, 07:54 AM

Sidewinders against submarines? Or do I get that wrong and you mean sidewinders for self-defense and other stuff for ASW/ASuW?

sidewinders (and cannon) would be used for fleet defense and to cut down any bombers, helos, or "other" light aircraft that might be away from the "main" battle areas.

chico20854

01-11-2022, 04:59 PM

i could see that the USS Ranger's air wing now gets F-8s, Harriers, A4, A7, Vikings. i don't seem them bring out Demons, but A-1's with sidewinder for CAP. these craft would make this a good sub and raider hunter.

The next aircraft to come out of storage (less those sold to Iran and China in 1996) are A-7Es and F-4Ss, which were retired from USN service in the early 90s, along with A-4s of various models, which had remained in limited service (and were in USMC reserve squadrons). There were still older sailors, aircrew and reservists that were familiar with them. I have a plan for the older AV-8C Harriers, don't worry! :) The S-3 Viking remain in front line service, there are too many Soviet subs about to send them ashore!

By the summer, half of Strike Fleet Atlantic fighter and light attack squadrons are flying F-4s and A-7s. The A-12 never gets produced in sufficient numbers to do anything other than maintain Enterprise's all weather attack squadrons at about proper strength.

chico20854

01-11-2022, 05:00 PM

January 11, 1997

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ivTG6tVxFA2qUfgCrhwuurqkNpjj2o-N/view?usp=sharing)
NATO minelaying of the GIUK gap begins.

unofficially:

The French government files a formal protest and a request to a German court to force compliance with commercial charter contract on the German-flagged cargo ship Ariana, which France claims has an obligation to continue to transport Ariane rockets to the launch facility in French Guiana. The ship is instead en-route to the US to load military equipment. (The French government fails to note that it is intent on lofting a electronic intelligence satellite with the rocket, hence the demand for quick action.)

Texas Rangers report that they have recovered a Soviet AT-4 missile transport tube near location of prior day's explosion at the ATAMS missile assembly plant outside El Paso.

The tug boat Janet Pommet is hijacked by unknown agents and sunk in San Diego harbor channel, partially blocking it.

RAF Mildenhall is hit by Soviet cruise missiles once again launched over the Baltic Sea and overflying southern Sweden; The Commanding Generals, USAF Europe and 3rd Air Force and some of their staff are killed. A C-23 light transport and two EC-135H Command & Control aircraft are destroyed.

NATO launches Operation Thundercloud - coordinated pre-dawn landings by the British 6th Airmobile Brigade, East German 40th Air Assault Brigade and the West German 26th Luftlande Brigade to seize bridgeheads over the Oder and Niesse Rivers, opposite Frankfurt-on-Oder, Gubin and Gorlitz, taking advantage of the disarray within the Polish Army.

Canadian and British fishing boats, B-52s from the 42nd Bomb Wing and USCG C-130s are initially involved in the minelaying effort in the North Atlantic, intending to cut off the resupply routes that SACLANT suspects are being used to support Soviet commerce raiders.

A bus full of Turkish Cyptiot construction workers in Limassol, Cyprus is stopped and the passengers dragged off and beaten by a Greek mob. The subsequent rioting expands across the island.

The advance party of the 278rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is flown to Amsterdam-Schipol airport to arrange for reception of the rest of the regiment.

A shipowner reports loss of communications with the MV Diamond Cherry, carrying grain from Port Elizabeth, South Africa to Rimini, Italy.

chico20854

01-11-2022, 05:03 PM

Interesting you mentioned the 25th ID. A friend of mine was assigned to the “25th Dimension” during an simulation exercise in Korea. He stated the sobering moment came when the division was “ineffective” roughly 5 days after commitment against a heavy model NK force using just conventional weapons, no NBC.

I was reading through some declassified British studies from the early 70s, and they discussed that the only practical way to delay the collapse of defense and start of tactical nuclear war on the Central Front in Germany was to set the initial defense line another 100km to the west, hoping that obstacles and roads flooded with West German refugees would delay advancing Soviet forces. That would buy an extra day or two, bringing the total length of the conventional phase of the war to...

2-4 days.

Homer

01-11-2022, 05:58 PM

In v1 canon, INF wasn’t written in. Do you see the GLCM force dispersing from Molesworth and Greenham after the strike on Mildenhall? Or would they stay I the GAMA? I’d assume the hardened 3d Air Force Command Post was hit unless it was a fluke and they caught them on the ramp by SILK PURSE. Or maybe they got really lucky and hit the Galaxy Club at lunch…

Ewan

01-12-2022, 11:36 AM

January 11, 1997

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ivTG6tVxFA2qUfgCrhwuurqkNpjj2o-N/view?usp=sharing)
NATO launches Operation Thundercloud - coordinated pre-dawn landings by the British 6th Airmobile Brigade, East German 40th Air Assault Brigade and the West German 26th Luftlande Brigade to seize bridgeheads over the Oder and Niesse Rivers, opposite Frankfurt-on-Oder, Gubin and Gorlitz, taking advantage of the disarray within the Polish Army.

The 6th Airmobile Brigade is certainly seeing a lot of action (see also 15th December 1996) :gewehr:

chico20854

01-12-2022, 04:03 PM

January 12, 1997

The 43rd Infantry Division HQ is formed at Ft Devens, MA, taking command of 187th & 205th Infantry Brigades and the 218th Infantry Brigade (Mech) (all USAR).

Unofficial:

At the Pentagon, the Army staff announces a major change in plans as a result of the increased goegrahic size of Germany and ongoing conflict in Iran and Korea - instead of corps having command of a number of independent Reserve Component brigades, those brigades will instead be formed into divisions, using ARCOMs (Army Reserve Commands) and STARCs (State National Guard headquarters) as kernels of the divisional headquarters. Additional ARCOMs will be converted to corps headquarters.

The Freedom ship North Carolina Freedom is delivered in New Orleans, where it begins loading ammunition and replacement vehicles shipped from the Mississippi valley and the Red River Army Depot.

The Coast Guard interviews the crew of tug boat Janet Pommet, who indicate that the hijackers spoke a Slavic language and slipped away in a raft heading to Mexican waters.

Lt. Gen. Denise Alcort , XO of USAF Europe, assumes command while Lt. Gen. Carol Allby assumes command of 3rd Air Force.

Pacific Fleet launches Operation Iron Claw - At dusk, major air raids take off, targetting North Korean naval facilities in the Sea of Japan from the carriers Vinson, Constellation & Abraham Lincoln.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rHL8pi0kInUeLqKtb0P61p9G1XTibFlC/view?usp=sharing)
The bridgeheads established by the prior day's airborne landings in Poland are subject to furious counterattack as both sides rush reinforcements and fire support to the areas, intent on establishing them (for NATO) and wiping them out (for the Pact).

The Polish Communist Party orders disloyal officers to be expelled from the Party and shot; enlisted personnel who rose up are to be demoted to private and sent to the front as motor-riflemen.

On the Kola Peninsula, US troops from the US 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry link up with Norwegian troops of the Vestoppland Infanteri Regiment, part of 6th Division’s 6th Brigade, along the railroad line west of Luostari, completing the encirclement of Nikel and its garrison.

Community leaders in Cyprus issue additional calls for calm; thousands turn out in rallies for unity. After dark fires return to the cities.

The 112th Tactical Fighter Wing (Pennsylvania Air National Guard) begins flying sorties in support of Jugoslav and Romanian troops in northwestern Romania from its deployment location in Tuzla, Jugoslavia.

The 113th Field Artillery Brigade (NC National Guard) completes unloading of its equipment in Bremerhaven and is released to 7th Army for deployment.

The officers of 1st Squadron, 278th ACR's advanced party are relieved of duty following the previous night's "night on the town" in search of whores, beer and the offerings of Amsterdam's famous coffee shops before going into combat.

A Soviet raider sinks the Liberian-flag general cargo carrier Navios Trader off West Africa.

The French government orders the immediate return of the naval transport Bougainville from supporting the nuclear test center in French Polynesia. The ship will be used to transport Ariane rockets to French Guiana.

chico20854

01-12-2022, 04:07 PM

In v1 canon, INF wasn’t written in. Do you see the GLCM force dispersing from Molesworth and Greenham after the strike on Mildenhall? Or would they stay I the GAMA?

I had the GLCM (and Pershing II!) force dispersing back in October, when the balloon went up in Germany, even though at the time it was "strictly an internal German matter" (that also involved implementing REFORGER and a general mobiliation). The two biggest GLCM issues were the wings stationed in Belgium and Italy, which relocated to western Germany and Gibraltar, respectively.

chico20854

01-12-2022, 04:10 PM

The 6th Airmobile Brigade is certainly seeing a lot of action (see also 15th December 1996) :gewehr:

You probably not see them again for a few months, as they get some well-needed R&R. They are in better shape than the remnants of the British and American Berlin Brigades, however.

The Polish 6th Airborne is in pretty rough shape as well. And I don't have details worked out yet, but the Pact and German forces have been in three months of continuous action.

Matt Wiser

01-12-2022, 10:21 PM

A note on carrier air wings: The A-6s would still be available: some from AMARC, and if Grumman had brains-and they usually did-they may have been building some for the Chinese. If the latter is the case, then those Intruders not delivered are going to the Navy or Marines, and the aircraft remain in production at Calverton (Long Island).

What's being produced at the Fairchild-Republic plants (the Farmingdale, Long Island one used to build F-105s and was involved with A-10 production, while the one at Hagerstown, MD also built A-10s)?

Olefin

01-13-2022, 07:50 AM

chico20854

01-13-2022, 08:07 AM

Aircraft production was ended in Hagerstown, Maryland in 1984. The plants were still there but the question would be how long to set up the tooling again (which was in storage) and get back in production?

I have the plant reopening in 1993 for production of A-10Bs (what we know as the A-10 NAWS) for the South Korean 20th Fighter Wing, followed by an order for 100 from the USAF, those going to the 81st TFW in England (and then to Germany, where their additional avionics are very handy in the German winter weather!). When that order is done the still warm production line starts turning out aircraft for the Chinese.

Olefin

01-13-2022, 08:58 AM

I have the plant reopening in 1993 for production of A-10Bs (what we know as the A-10 NAWS) for the South Korean 20th Fighter Wing, followed by an order for 100 from the USAF, those going to the 81st TFW in England (and then to Germany, where their additional avionics are very handy in the German winter weather!). When that order is done the still warm production line starts turning out aircraft for the Chinese.

Keep in mind the distance when you get to the TDM of Camp David to the Fairchild Republic plant in Hagerstown - only about 15 miles away - i.e. the EMP from the strike there most likely will severely affect operations even if the power somehow stays on

chico20854

01-13-2022, 03:12 PM

Military aircraft production

I have US miltiary aircraft final assembly at the following locations:

AH-1 - Amarillo, TX
AH-64 - Mesa, AZ
A-6 - Calverton, NY (conversion of existing airframes in Greenville, MS)
A-7F - Dallas, TX (conversions)
A-10 - Hagerstown, MD
A-12 - Tulsa, OK
AV-8 - St. Louis, MO
B-2 - Palmdale, CA
Boeing Skyfox - Mojave, CA
C-17 - Long Beach, CA
C-21 - Tuscon, AZ and Wichita, KS
C-130 - Marietta, GA
CH-47 - Ridley Park, PA (D conversions in Olathe, KS)
CH-53 - Stratford, CT
CH-54 - Central Point, OR
E-2 - St Augustine, FL
EA-6 - Calverton, NY
F-14 - Calverton, NY
F-15 - St Louis, MO
F-16 - Ft Worth, TX
F/A-18 - St Louis, MO and Hawthorne, CA
F-20 - Savannah, GA and Wichita, KS
F-22 - Marietta, GA
HH-65 - Grand Prairie, TX
HU-25 - Little Rock, AR
KC-767 - Everett, WA
OH-6 - Long Beach, CA
OH-58 - Arlington, TX
P-7 - Burbank. CA
SH-2 - Bloomfield, CT
SH/UH-60 - Stratford, CT
T-45 - St Louis, MO
V-22 - Arlington, TX and Ridley Park, PA

The main aircraft plants I don't have producing anything for the military at the moment are the Boeing Renton and Boeing Field plants and the general aviation plants of Piper and Cessna. And I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of avionics plants, engine plants and component plants, except to note that all US aircraft production (and much of Airbus' production in Europe) relied on forgings from two facilities in North Grafton, Mass (https://www.asme.org/wwwasmeorg/media/resourcefiles/aboutasme/who%20we%20are/engineering%20history/landmarks/89-wyman-gordon-50000-ton-hydraulic-forging-press.pdf) and in Cleveland, Ohio (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/iron-giant/308886/).

Let me know if there's something I missed!

chico20854

01-13-2022, 04:07 PM

January 13, 1997

The 45th Infantry Division headquarters is formed at Ft Chaffee, AR, taking under command the 39th (AR), 45th (OK) and 53rd (FL NG) Infantry Brigades.

The Soviets decide to revive their flagging offensive in Iran, committing the 4th and 45th Armies. The 45th Army attacks from east of the Caspian Sea, overrunning the thin screen of Pasdaran troops still guarding the border with Turkmenistan. 4th Army advances down the coast road along the western Caspian coast, relieving elements of the 7th Guards Army from garrisoning Tehran.

Unofficially:

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mhA53G20VwW_1d4Ns14bPXVSwzhzof6g/view?usp=sharing)
The Battle of the Sea of Japan starts when the Soviet Kilo-class submarine B-470 spots the USS Vinson (lingering in the area after the prior days' raids on North Korean naval facilities, performing close air support strikes along the DMZ) and reports its location. Escorting helicopters, aircraft and ships sink the submarine before the Soviet air raids begin. Over the next two hours four waves of attackers approach (one of North Korean MiG-17s, one of Su-24s, one of Tu-16 Badger bombers and the last of supersonic Tu-22M Backfire bombers). The carriers' Combat Air Patrols deplete their missiles against the first several waves of attackers (which manage to disable a number of the escorting Aegis cruisers and destroyers), and the fighters are in the process of landing when the Backfire's missiles arrive, shielded by a wall of electronic interference that diminishes the range and effectiveness of the American's electronics. At the end of the day, the Constellation has been damaged and the Vinson and five escorts are sunk.

German attacks in northwest Poland intensify; The garrison of Szczecin (Soviet 21st Motor-Rifle Division, the Polish 12th Armored Division, 12th Border Guard Brigade, Szczecin Territorial Defense Brigade and an ad-hoc brigade formed from naval personnel) is hard pressed and local officials order evacuation of civilians from the city.

DEA agents in Ciudad Juarez conduct an illegal (from the Mexican perspective!) raid on safehouse, resulting in firefight that kills three agents and four suspects. A fifth suspect is taken alive - a starshina in the Soviet Army.

Army contracting officers place an order for CH-54 helicopters from the small Oregon company that bought the design and production rights; the first buy of CH-54s since 1972. The helicopters will sustain the Alaska National Guard aviation company assigned to the 172nd Infantry Brigade and equip additional units.

Contracts are also placed for additional initial training of military helicopter pilots (US and allied) with civilian flight schools across the South; the contract reqires the training to take place on the Robinson R44 light helicopter. This move lowers the burden on the US Army Aviation school at Fort Rucker, whose airspace and facilties were continually overcrowded.

The Freedom ship Wyoming Freedom is delivered in Galveston, TX.

Convoy 202, including the Idaho Freedom, arrives in Guam undamaged.

The Soviet sub Novosibirsk Komsomolets attacks the tanker Astoria Bay leaving the Mediterranean; the submarine successfully evades P-3s sent to locate it from Rota, Spain.

A second day of rallies for unity in Cyprus is disrupted by Greek youth. Rumors swirl that the Greeks are actually agents of the Greek National Intelligence Service. The rallies turn into anti-Greek riots, with 17 killed.

cawest

01-13-2022, 05:56 PM

the RQ-5 went into production in 95 for A Company, 15th Military Intelligence Battalion was fully fielded before FY 96 (sep 95?). i could see then being armed earlier. some MQ-1 were testing at Fort Huachuca in late 94

Matt Wiser

01-13-2022, 10:18 PM

chico20854

01-14-2022, 05:40 PM

January 14, 1997

nothing official today, but unofficially its a busy day!

Soviet aviation commander Marshall Kuzmenko meets with the Defense Council and Admiral Tulaev, commander of the the Soviet Navy, to discuss curtailing future bomber support to the Navy following the costly raids over the Sea of Japan the prior day, in which over half of the attacking aircraft did not return. He proposes that the USSR's remaining bombers re-orient towards 1) retention of intercontinental and regional nuclear strike capabilities, 2) a continuation of the strategic bombing campaign against China, 3) supporting Pact operations in the Balkans (and trying to knock isolated Turkey out of the war) and Iran and 4) supporting the war in the west; pointedly not including tangling with the US Navy. If American fleets once again approach the Soviet coast in the north, they will be met with bombers. His plan receives a cool reception, yet none can offer a meaningful alternative and consequently, over the next several weeks, Naval Aviation is stripped of many of its bombers.

A US National Security Council interagency discussion concludes that the Horizon, Texas ATACMS plant attack, San Diego tug sinking and Ciudad Juarez firefight are evidence that Soviet spetsnaz teams have crossed the Mexican border.

Convoy 202.1 departs Guam with three escorts, 26 cargo ships and the USNS Ponchatoula, headed for Pusan, Korea. Convoy 202.2 departs with 13 cargo ships, two escorts and a rescue ship, bound for Subic Bay, Phillipines.

German troops enter the outskirts of Szczecin.

SACEUR orders his J-4 (Logistics officer) to prepare a summary of the Alliance's supply levels on the Central Front.

On the Kola Peninsula, the 7th Guards Airborne breaks out of its encirclement, penetrating thin American lines and evacuating 5,000 troops.

The Soviet destroyer Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, get its first kill, the Italian-flagged Jolly Smeraldo carrying vehicles of the 13th Corps Support Command.

The rioting in Cyprus continues. Nicosia burns and dozens are killed.

The Soviet 810th Naval Infantry Brigade arrives in the encircled port of Burgas, Bulgaria and moves to the front facing Turkish troops.

The first four (of 16 scheduled) widebody airliner flights carrying troops of 278 ACR depart Charleston, SC for Amsterdam-Schipol.

chico20854

01-14-2022, 06:02 PM

Existing A-6 airframes could be rewinged at two other locations to bring them up to SWIP standard (which, IRL, was the Navy's plan after the A-12 was canceled): NADEP Alameda and NADEP Norfolk. They also did rewing work at Grumman's plant in St. Augustine, FL.

For the A-6, I have the following inventory numbers:

According to official Navy inventory numbers, there were 342 A-6s in the inventory in March 1988. I'm using an attrition rate of 1.5% per year, the rate the Navy used in the 80s for budget planning purposes for tactical aircraft. Consequently, 12 aircraft are purchased each year as attrition replacements from 1989-1995.

I have the Navy taking a dual-track approach with the delays in the A-12 program, converting 52 A-6s to A-6F annually until 1994, when the entire fleet has been converted. In 1996, with war on the horizon, the Navy receives 72 new production aircraft (72 being the maximum economic production rate, basically the rate that 2 shifts can turn out from existing equipment and suppliers without expanding the production base).

That gives an on-hand inventory of 487 aircraft (none are sold to the Chinese; the determination is made at some point that they are too sophisticated for the crews to make full use of). 308 are assigned to air wings (10 aircraft each on Coral Sea and Midway, 16 on each of the other carriers except Enterprise, which has the first A-12 squadron). The other 179 are in readiness squadrons, at Pax River and other test/evaluation sites or are in maintenance.

Overall losses in the Battle of the Norwegian Sea approached 50 percent, so of the 80 A-6s in the CVW's about 40 were lost. About that many were lost in the first two months of the war in the Pacific, eating up the entire output of the Calverton plant for the year. There isn't enough time for a second production line to be made operational (assuming that the suppliers could keep the flow of components coming) before the TDM.

I hope this helps! (I also have similar analysis for the remainder of the Navy/Marine Corps air fleet if you're interested, I'll be happy to share the spreadsheet!)

Matt Wiser

01-14-2022, 10:15 PM

There would be some new production out of Calverton up to the TDM.

I'm also assuming the F-14A to D program goes ahead along with new production Ds. (some of that work was done at NADEP Norfolk)

chico20854

01-15-2022, 08:57 PM

January 15, 1997

The British 6th Infantry Division enters China and comes under Chinese command. It is initially assigned counter-insurgency duties in southern China.

unofficially:

The last Polish units are released from lockdown to contain NATO bridgeheads, although some commanders have new "minders" in their headquarters. The first pontoon bridge across the Oder is set up, leading into the Gorlitz bridgehead.

The 130th Tactical Airlift Wing (West Virginia Air National Guard) is brought into Federal service and ordered to deploy to Sacheon, ROK.

The 343rd Tactical Fighter Wing's alert orders, at Eielson AFB, AK, to prepare for deployment to Korea are rescinded; the 343rd is instead ordered to maintain it’s A-10 tank killers as part of a strategic reserve or for possible deployment to Norway in addition to Korea.

Detachment 2, 99th Strategic Reconnissance Squadron deploys 2 U-2s to Howard AFB, Panama to support SOUTHCOM.

The 202nd Tactical Fighter Squadron (SC ANG) is ordered to Gander, Newfoundland with its F-20As to augment continental air defense.

Interrogation of the Soviet spetsnaz soldier captured in Ciudad Juarez reveals that at least four other Spetsnaz teams arrived in Mexico in December.

The 48th Infantry Brigade, Georgia NG, completes its rotation at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, CA and is declared combat ready, while the 3rd Brigade, 26th ID(L) completes Rotation 97-2 at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Ft. Polk, LA and is declared combat ready.

President Tanner signs National Security Directive 97-3, authorizing the detention/internment of Warsaw Pact nationals and setting up a process for detainees/internees to appeal their status with the FBI.

Headquarters, 5th Air Force is ordered to relocate to Kadena AB, Okinawa, to be closer to the Korean Theater of Operations.

Major air battle rages over the East China Sea, as Frontal Aviation's 114th Bomber Regiment (with Su-24 Fencers operating out of China), headed to attack Taiwan, is intercepted by F-15s of the 67th TFS. 12 Su-24s are downed and 13 others damaged, the air raid called off, at the cost of two F-15s, whose crews are rescued by helos from the 31st Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Suadron. The Soviets' diversionary attack against Hokkaido is launched late, leading to another fierce air battle simultaneously over the Sea of Japan as Soviet fighters tangle with elements of the 13th & 14th Tactical Fighter Squadrons. The 39th ARRS rescues 6 downed Soviet aircrew, including the first Soviet female MiG-29 and Su-27 pilots captured in the Pacific.

The 25th US Infantry Division enters combat in Korea, coming to the aid of the embattled 2nd Infantry Division.

Convoy 202.1 meets the eastbound Convoy 402 and its escort force composed of Japanese destroyers and frigates. The American escorts turn around, picking up Convoy 402 while the Japanese guide Convoy 202.1 the rest of the way into Pusan.

The Headquarters, 928th Tactical Airlift Wing (Illinois Air National Guard) is disbanded, its subordinate units assigned to the 440th TAW at Bremen IAP, Germany. The move brings the 440th up to full strength and streamlines command and control of airlifters supporting USAF and NATO operations in northern Germany.

In Cyprus, there are battles on the outskirts of Larnaca as gangs of Turkish youth attempt to enter the city, intent on trouble.

The American attack submarine USS Bluefish takes up station outside the Kerch Strait, the exit to the Sea of Azov.

Convoy 110 attacked by a Soviet submarine 150 miles off the Icelandic coast. Two ships (the Cape Edmont and the Baltic Breeze), carrying half the vehicles of the 278th ACR, are sunk.

The first Lufthansa flight carrying 250 released East German POWs arrives in Frankfurt; the returnees are to be evaluated and reassigned to East German units as loss replacements.

chico20854

01-15-2022, 09:26 PM

January 16, 1997

Unrest across the island of Cyprus continues as bands of Greek and Turkish Cypriots travel from their homes to isolated communities of the other group. Police commanders, their forces riven by ethnic unrest, seek military intervention.

Unofficially:

German troops reach the center of Szczecin after Soviet armored vehicles are evacuated by ferry. The remainder of the city's garrison withdraws at night in small boats.

A Czech special operations team (that had slipped across the border on December 28) ambushes the commander of the German IV Territorial Command and kill him, leaving his command temporarily leaderless.

On the Kola Peninsula, the Soviet 6th Army’s last resistance collapses and General Dzhidzhilava, who slipped away from his command in a helicopter, is arrested.

The US National Security Council requests that border states activate their State Defense Forces to protect vital war production and mobilization/ deployment sites. The FBI issues a counter-intelligence warning to law enforcement nationwide on the Spetsnaz threat.

The US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) orders the disbandment of ROTC Cadet Command, the collegiate officer training program. College seniors enrolled in the program had been commissioned in October and were beginning to reach units in the field as new second lieutenants. Juniors were transfered to Officer Candidate Schools established at various sites around the country, to be commissioned after completion of a six-week course. Sophomores were reclassed as infantry corporals or sergeants and fed into the replacement system, while freshmen were sent to basic training as privates first class. Junior cadre (Officers below Lieutenant Colonel, NCOs below Master Sergeant) were also fed into the replacement system, while senior cadre remained on their assigned college campuses, tasked to interview students (senior undergraduates and graduate students) to identify candidates for direct commissioning.

The 31st ARRS rescues four Soviet aircrew downed over the East China Sea, including the first Soviet female Su-24 pilot and navigator captured.

In the Pacific, Convoy 202.1 is attacked by the Soviet submarines B-220 and Komsomolets Tadzhikistan, lurking in shallow waters at slow speed. Three cargo ships and the frigate Noshiro are sunk before the B-220 is located and sunk, the Komsomolets Tadzhikistan slinking away to fight another day.

Over the Norwegian Sea, four F-16s of the 465 TFS intercept a flight of 12 Tu-22 Blinders attempting to launch a cruise missile strike on Keflavik and in 4 minutes managed to down all 12 aircraft, with the loss of only a single F-16.

F-16As of the 89th TFS (AFRES) strike a Soviet supply convoy headed for Varna, Bulgaria.

The submarine USS Bluefish is damaged by mine when it wanders into a minefield protecting Soviet transit lane and begins slow withdrawal from area.

A C-141 aircraft of the 702nd Military Airlift Squadron crashes shortly after takeoff from McGuire AFB, New Jersey. Investigators quickly determine that the crash was caused by fatigue, although it is unclear whether the fatigue was in the structure of the 31-year old aircraft or in the exhausted aircrew or maintentance crews, who had been working nonstop for months with inadequate rest.

Homer

01-15-2022, 09:37 PM

cawest

01-15-2022, 10:20 PM

i knew about the A-37 but just found this about the T-38

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196733/northrop-at-38b-talon/

pmulcahy11b

01-15-2022, 11:34 PM

The correct assignment of ROTC Cadets in wartime emergency is actually as follows:

Seniors are directly commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants, into the Regular Army or the Reserve Forces with an open-ended contract. (It's essentially a pre-emptive stop-loss contract.) Juniors are sent directly to Officer Basic Course (not Officer Candidate School, after which you'd go to Officer Basic Course); what they branched (Junior ROTC Cadets are normally told which branch they will be serving in the Army in the middle of the year) is immaterial. Though TRADOC would look at their previous training, in the end the new 2LTs would go where they were needed. Sophomores (who are not under contract to the government yet) who are at the top third of the class would be offered OCS; the second third would be offered enlistments at the starting rank of sergeant (E-5); the bottom third of the class and the entirety of the Freshmen Class who had completed at least one semester of ROTC would be offered enlistments at Corporal or Specialist (E-4; whether they are Corporals or Specialists depends on the needs of the receiving units). The rest may enlist normally or are cut loose; if they enlist, they enter as Privates First Class (E-3).

Of course, it's the US Army, so everything has to be made unnecessarily complicated, even during a wartime emergency.

chico20854

01-17-2022, 04:16 PM

chico20854

01-17-2022, 04:21 PM

January 17, 1997

Czech and Soviet troops launch an attack against the German covering force in Bavaria, attempting to divert forces from Polish border.

Cypriot Army units leave their barracks and attempt to restore order.

Unofficial:

The Freedom ship New Jersey Freedom is delivered in Galveston, TX while its sister the Delaware Freedom is delivered from Pascagoula, MS.

At Ft. Stewart, GA the 118th Field Artillery Brigade (Georgia National Guard) is certified unready for deployment by evaluators.

The US submarine USS Tunny arrives in port in San Diego to load a Dry Deck Shelter, a specialized structure to transport Seal Delivery Vehicles.

Convoy 202.1 arrives in Pusan, losing an additional ship (the Taiwanese-flag Wan Hai 203) to a mine in the shipping channel. The Idaho Freedom has completed its first voyage and moves to a berth to unload its cargo of munitions.

In the Northwestern USSR, the 69th Naval Infantry Brigade is formed from personnel of the Litsa naval base complex

The frigate USS McDonnell (FF-1043) is sunk by missile launched by an Echo II SSGN.

A month after being struck by Soviet anti-radar missiles, the Aegis cruiser USS San Jacinto, stabilized in Scapa Flow, begins a tow back to shipyard in US.

British garrisons in Cyprus close their gates to all visitors and offer refuge to their local employees and their families.

The 32nd GMRD, a Category C division from the Moscow Military District, is ordered to mobilize, while the 96th MRD in the Volga Military District is upgraded to Category B, receiving an influx of equipment and men although not slated for imminent deployment.

chico20854

01-17-2022, 04:37 PM

Great work, and lots of research. Really enjoying this.

Did you move JRTC to Polk in your history? OTL the move out of Chaffee was a combo of a cost cutting measure, aggressive congressional efforts on the part of Louisiana to offset the closure of England AFB (23rd TFW, A-10A) and preserve Louisiana’s remaining military bases (NAS NOLA, NSA NOLA, Barksdale, Beauregard, LAAP, and Polk), and space made available by the deactivation of 5th ID. With England AFB presumably staying open (no “peace dividend”) and 5th ID filling the cantonment, training areas, and ranges on Fort Polk and Peason Ridge there may not have been the impetus to relocate.

One thing that may have happened with a continuing Soviet threat and military spending under the Strategic Homeport Program is the commissioning of NS Lake Charles in the early 90s. In reality, this project was abandoned in 1991. Unlike the bases in NOLA, NS Lake Charles may have been able to ride out the strikes in 1997, even though Lake Charles itself would burn from the Westlake strike.

Barksdale (2d BW, B-52G) wasn’t targeted and was a survivable distance from the strike on Shreveport and Beauregard is expressly mentioned in cannon as surviving. Holding these ports on the Red River of the South may help MILGOV secure a water linkage from LA to enclaves in AR, TN, OH, and OK post 1997.

I'm glad people are enjoying this!

I actually had JRTC's running at both posts, with Polk being the primary prewar JRTC and Chaffee a war-emergency expansion, staffed by a National Guard Regional Training Institute as cadre. This was mirrored by the addition of two additional NTCs, at Yakima Training Center in Washington and Yuma Training Grounds in Arizona. These expansions allow nearly every reserve component brigade to get a rotation at one of the training centers before deploying, a lesson I imagine the Army may have learned from the Desert Shield mobilizations of roundout brigades.

Louisiana is going to be interesting! Between the strikes, Ft Polk, Barksdale and other military bases, the strategic waterway of the Mississippi, the hurriccane that swept through in 1998, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites and petroleum industry there's a lot going on!

cawest

01-17-2022, 04:37 PM

Thanks for the clarification! That's what I get for quickly going through a summary that's a couple years old itself...

what about JROTC in high schools. each school would have a NCO and officers but larger schools would have many of both. also each school would have one services. (Army, Navy, Air Forces. don't know about the rest)

chico20854

01-17-2022, 04:41 PM

i knew about the A-37 but just found this about the T-38

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196733/northrop-at-38b-talon/

Thanks, I didn't know about that either! I'll have to write them in upcoming updates.

The British planned on their Hawk trainers serving as backup emergency interceptors (armed with Sidewinders), and the USN is soon (in the timeline) going to be fielding scout-bombing squadrons for raider hunting in lower-threat areas flying T-2 Buckeyes, T-45s and TA-4s.

Homer

01-17-2022, 06:03 PM

Why do I see more and more mine strikes in NATO and allied ports?

All the Pact trawlers and merchant ships could likely have left them once hostilities looked imminent. That’ll require a major clearance effort in multiple theaters.

On other notes, there are unstruck wells, gas works, small refineries and pipelines in OK, NE Texas, Louisiana (Krotz Springs is pretty big) and Southern Arkansas (El Dorado). Nowhere near enough to make a dent in prewar demand, but enough (once EMP effects and any war or looting damage is fixed) to supply fuel to MILGOV forces in OK and the ARKLATEX, in addition to providing natural gas for cooking, power plants, etc. Depending on how rosy you want things to look…

cawest

01-17-2022, 09:44 PM

Thanks, I didn't know about that either! I'll have to write them in upcoming updates.

The British planned on their Hawk trainers serving as backup emergency interceptors (armed with Sidewinders), and the USN is soon (in the timeline) going to be fielding scout-bombing squadrons for raider hunting in lower-threat areas flying T-2 Buckeyes, T-45s and TA-4s.

the Cessna O-2 or Cessna 336 or 337. maybe put a wooden flight deck on a cargo ship for them to use.

HAS

Armament
Guns: SUU-11/A Minigun Pod
Hardpoints: Four MAU-3A bomb racks
Rockets: LAU-59/A Rocket Launcher, MA-2/A Rocket Launcher
Bombs: SUU-14/A Bomblet Dispenser

just found this about a learjet.... just think if it held weapons. https://www.saab.com/products/aerial-target-services

pmulcahy11b

01-18-2022, 09:21 AM

Thanks for the clarification! That's what I get for quickly going through a summary that's a couple years old itself...

I used to be an ROTC cadet at the University of Texas at San Antonio. No I did not receive a commission. That's a story in of itself...

Homer

01-18-2022, 11:58 AM

the Cessna O-2 or Cessna 336 or 337. maybe put a wooden flight deck on a cargo ship for them to use.

The Rhodesian Air Force used armed 337s with an overwing mounted 7.62mm MG arrangement, rockets, and bombs/dispensers pretty successfully. I believe they were able to forward base them near operational areas for quick turnarounds.

Another option for an ad hoc light attack aircraft that’s around in large numbers are crop dusters. They’ve got a lot of lift capacity, are mechanically fairly simple, and can land on rough fields.

chico20854

01-18-2022, 04:51 PM

I used to be an ROTC cadet at the University of Texas at San Antonio. No I did not receive a commission. That's a story in of itself...

Former ROTC cadet at Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh. Ditto!

chico20854

01-18-2022, 05:15 PM

January 18, 1997

Nothing in the canon for today...

The FBI announces the establishment of sixteen regional internment centers for Warsaw Pact nationals.

The first units of the California and Texas State Defense Forces report for duty. The Hawaii State Guard is hastily formed from retired Hawaii National Guard officers and NCOs, prison guards, police officers and veterans, to patrol beaches and vital infrastructure on Oahu. Initially armed with rifles and shotguns taken from police armories (and suitable weapons taken from evidence rooms!), they were issued M14 rifles from federal stockpiles flown in from the mainland later in the month.

The last flight carrying the 25 ID(L) lands at Kimpo AB, Korea.

German territorials rush to border in Bavaria, trying to contain Pact offensive. Their deployment is slowed by fierce snowstorms, which also hamper the Pact advance, while shielding the attackers from Allied airpower.

The 72nd Naval Infantry Brigade is formed from personnel of the Severomorsk naval base outside Murmansk.

The Soviet destroyer Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, sinks the Liberian-flagged containership Aramac with 130mm gunfire.

25 rioters are killed by Cyptiot Army troops, 18 Turks and 7 Greeks.

Soviet ASW aircraft locate the damaged American submarine Bluefish and maintain active pursuit for eight hours.

The last flight carrying troops of the 278 ACR arrives in the Netherlands.

Iranian National Security Force paramilitary troops arrest suspected Tudeh rebels attempting to hide in a southbound flow of refugees.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DMVZ-1bexcnO4xZSEW9G4zR9LiSNxgoC/view?usp=sharing)
The US Navy, alarmed at the continuing losses of merchantmen around the world, orders the establishment of light carrier forces to hunt down Soviet raiders, freeing more formidable units for front-line duty. The Essex-class fleet carriers Oriskany, Hancock and Bennington join their sister Lexington reactivating in shipyards. The Navy also takes custody of the light carrier Cabot, which it had decommissioned in 1955 and lent to Spain, which had returned it in 1989 and spent the intervening years in various ports in the Gulf Coast. All these reactivations would take months (at least) to complete, so as an interim measure several containerships were requisitioned and began conversion to sea control ships.

The aircraft to fly from these ships were to come from three sources. 44 AV-8C Harriers remained in storage in Arizona, alongside several dozen SH-3 helicopters and a smaller contingent of SH-2s. (Contracts were signed to quickly convert some of the SH-3s to EH-3I Airborne Early Warning aircraft, the American designation for the British Sea King AEW.5). T-2C armed trainers and various models of A-4 light attack aircraft were diverted from the Navy's shoreside training establishment, and T-45 trainers came from training units and from the production line in St. Louis, Missouri. Five Carrier Air Group headquarters, three Marine Scout-Bombing Squadrons and 30 Navy attack and helicopter squadrons were authorized to command this aerial armada.

chico20854

01-19-2022, 04:47 PM

January 19, 1997

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MErwDe629Lp0mDe19EecGqnSRLTpQqDY/view?usp=sharing)
The British 24th Infantry Brigade is moved to Newcastle but bad weather cancels its orders to deploy to Norway.

With completion of the 25th Infantry Division (Light)'s deployment, Military Airlift Command shifts its Pacific airlift effort to deploying the 7th Infantry Division (Light) from California to Korea.

unofficially:

Border Patrol agents on routine patrol in the Yuma Sector in Arizona are engaged by group of men armed with automatic weapons. Two agents are killed and another wounded.

The 1st Brigade, 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania National Guard) completes Rotation 97-3 at NTC-2 at the Yakima Training Center and is declared combat ready.

SACEUR receives the requested supply status report from his J-4. German Army stockpiles have been largely expended, UK has one week of supplies remaining, US has three weeks and Canada four days. Dutch and Danish stockpiles are in better condition, but future operations depend on industrial production in Europe and resupply over the North Atlantic.

The Soviet Kilo-class sub B-227 shoots down a civilian Puma helo with a SA-14 in the North Sea. The helicopter was carrying workers to offshore oil production platforms.

The Turkish government lodges a complaint with the Cypriot government about the disproportionate use of force against Turkish Cypriots. Dozens more are killed in Cyprus as rioters have armed themselves and local militias formed.

In the Black Sea, a Soviet surface ASW task force, led by the destroyer Svedushiy, locates the damaged USS Bluefish and sinks her.

The remnants of Convoy 110 arrive at Den Helder, Netherlands containing half the vehicles and heavy equipment of the 278th ACR (Tennessee National Guard).

Louied

01-19-2022, 10:00 PM

Thanks!!!!
Chico

US/UK Compendium of Joint Logistics Plans
Plan No Brief Title Present Plan Date

801 Outload of RAF Welford 31 Jul 1990

802 Staging of II MEF 2 Aug 1990

803 Aeromedical Airfields (Tactical)

804 The Activation of the US Army Marine Reserve Fleet 28 Nov 1980

805 The Transit of the Air Wing of II MEF 5 Apr 1989

807 Outloading of RSA Caerwant 26 Oct 1988

808 US Navy Advanced Logistic Support Base-Clyde 8 Dec 1989

809 Outloading of NATO AD Broughton Moor 27 Mar 1990

810 Outloading of NATO AD Glen Douglas 22 Sep 1989

811 Outloading of RSA Burtonwood 3 Nov 1986

812 Strategic Recovery Fields 21 Jul 1989

813 Resupply Airfields 29 Jul 1989

814 Support of two Squadrons of US Navy P-3 Aircraft at Machrihanish
7 Feb 1991

815 USAF Wing Support Mildenhall 8 Mar 1990

816 USAF Wing Support Alconbury 4 Apr 1989

817 USAF Wing Support Lakenheath 23 Jun 1988

818 USAF Wing Support Bentwaters 31 Aug 1990

819 USAF Wing Support Upper Heyford 21 Feb 1989

821 USN COD/VOD Operations through selected Forward Airfields
21 Feb 1989

822 Contingency Plan for operation of a USN Carrier Air Wing from Airfields in the UK 8 Dec 1989

825 SOCEUR 31 Dec 1985

826 Movement Control Liason Organization 20 Apr 1983

827 USAF Wing Support Fairford 31 Oct 1988

828 USAF 2nd Echelon Medical Sites

831 Support of US Army Complexes

833 Seaport Clearance 5 Mar 1991

834 Transhipment 14 Dec 1990

835 Interim Medical Support 11 Jan 1990

836 USAF Support RAF Chicksands 27 Jul 1990

837 US Army Hospitals 13 Oct 1989

838 Auxiliary Hospital Support 31 Jan 1989

839 USAF Hospitals 28 Aug 1989

840 US/UK LOC Command & Control 3 Jan 1989

841 FMFEUR (USMC) Wartime Expansion 25 Sep 1989

842 USN & USMC Aircraft Repair

845 Support for 28 Infantry Division (no date, Revised SOR Awaited)

847 Menwith Hill (Comms Site) 17 Jul 1989

848 RAF Greenham Common 2 Feb 1989

849 1st PERS Comd Elements (Individual Rft)

850 Repair and Recovery of USN ships 20 Nov 1990

851 Support for US Wartime Construction Bns

853 Outload of RAF Chilwell

854 Resupply of Mk 48 Torpedoes

855 Support to 200 Theatre Area Material Management Support Centre

856 EUCOM Joint Intelligence Centre

857 Flight Detachment

858 Regional Wartime Construction Management

chico20854

01-20-2022, 04:15 PM

Chico

US/UK Compendium of Joint Logistics Plans
Plan No Brief Title Present Plan Date

801 Outload of RAF Welford 31 Jul 1990

802 Staging of II MEF 2 Aug 1990

803 Aeromedical Airfields (Tactical)

804 The Activation of the US Army Marine Reserve Fleet 28 Nov 1980

805 The Transit of the Air Wing of II MEF 5 Apr 1989

807 Outloading of RSA Caerwant 26 Oct 1988

808 US Navy Advanced Logistic Support Base-Clyde 8 Dec 1989

809 Outloading of NATO AD Broughton Moor 27 Mar 1990

810 Outloading of NATO AD Glen Douglas 22 Sep 1989

811 Outloading of RSA Burtonwood 3 Nov 1986

812 Strategic Recovery Fields 21 Jul 1989

813 Resupply Airfields 29 Jul 1989

814 Support of two Squadrons of US Navy P-3 Aircraft at Machrihanish
7 Feb 1991

815 USAF Wing Support Mildenhall 8 Mar 1990

816 USAF Wing Support Alconbury 4 Apr 1989

817 USAF Wing Support Lakenheath 23 Jun 1988

818 USAF Wing Support Bentwaters 31 Aug 1990

819 USAF Wing Support Upper Heyford 21 Feb 1989

821 USN COD/VOD Operations through selected Forward Airfields
21 Feb 1989

822 Contingency Plan for operation of a USN Carrier Air Wing from Airfields in the UK 8 Dec 1989

825 SOCEUR 31 Dec 1985

826 Movement Control Liason Organization 20 Apr 1983

827 USAF Wing Support Fairford 31 Oct 1988

828 USAF 2nd Echelon Medical Sites

831 Support of US Army Complexes

833 Seaport Clearance 5 Mar 1991

834 Transhipment 14 Dec 1990

835 Interim Medical Support 11 Jan 1990

836 USAF Support RAF Chicksands 27 Jul 1990

837 US Army Hospitals 13 Oct 1989

838 Auxiliary Hospital Support 31 Jan 1989

839 USAF Hospitals 28 Aug 1989

840 US/UK LOC Command & Control 3 Jan 1989

841 FMFEUR (USMC) Wartime Expansion 25 Sep 1989

842 USN & USMC Aircraft Repair

845 Support for 28 Infantry Division (no date, Revised SOR Awaited)

847 Menwith Hill (Comms Site) 17 Jul 1989

848 RAF Greenham Common 2 Feb 1989

849 1st PERS Comd Elements (Individual Rft)

850 Repair and Recovery of USN ships 20 Nov 1990

851 Support for US Wartime Construction Bns

853 Outload of RAF Chilwell

854 Resupply of Mk 48 Torpedoes

855 Support to 200 Theatre Area Material Management Support Centre

856 EUCOM Joint Intelligence Centre

857 Flight Detachment

858 Regional Wartime Construction Management

Wow, thank you!!!

For 814, I had figured on one squadron, but more than happy to put two there!

chico20854

01-20-2022, 04:32 PM

January 20, 1997

Nothing official today, but unofficially:

In a low-key ceremony in Washington, US President John Tanner is sworn in for his second term. His inaugural address speaks to the need to "resolutely strive for victory while seeking an immediate end to this terrible conflict."

SACEUR requests guidance from the Atlantic Council (composed of NATO heads of state) on the further direction of the war.

SACLANT (Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic) orders an all-out effort to verify the identity of shipping in the Atlantic. Fewer than 150 merchantmen are under escort by NATO navies, leaving over 1500 ships at sea (allied and neutral) carrying cargo and presenting an opportunity for Soviet raiders to hide among them. The mining effort in the GIUK Gap, nearly complete, is halted and the assets redirected to obtaining a visual sighting, bearing and speed of as many ships as possible. Training sorties and voyages are curtailed or redirected towards surveillence missions.

A massive manhunt begins in southern Arizona for the assailants in the prior day's firefight.

The 41st Infantry Brigade (Oregon NG) completes Rotation 97-4 at the Joint Readiness Training Center-2 (JRTC-2) at Fort Chaffee, AR and declared combat ready.

The 118th Field Artillery Brigade (Georgia National Guard) begins to arrive at Avon Park Air Force Range, FL for additional training and integration of replacements from the training base.

The Pact offensive in Bavaria stalls, hampered by poor weather, NATO attacks on its supply lines through the difficult terrain, and increasing German resistance.

The 115th MRD is deployed to Finnish border west of Leningrad to deter any Finnish designs on Karelia.

The Cypriot coast guard intercepts an unidentified small boat off the island's north coast, loaded with unmarked military-grade weapons and ammunition.

The Romanian army launches an offensive in northeastern Romania, taking advantage of harsh winter conditions in the Carpathians.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rUXAyGZ_uRgrYw6Gpj8eIXYmHE3pqaA7/view?usp=sharing)
The crude oil tanker Ocean Prosperity, bound for the US Gulf of Mexico, is sunk by a Soviet surface raider 300 nm south of Lagos, Nigeria.

chico20854

01-21-2022, 07:08 AM

January 21, 1997

The first module of the US space station Freedom is launched into space aboard space shuttle Endeavor.

Unofficially:

The Freedom-class cargo ship Georgia Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, TX.

The 264th Engineer Group (Combat) (Wisconsin National Guard) is declared operational and begins movement from its mobilization station of Ft. McCoy to Oakland, CA for deployment to Korea.

The State of Maryland stands up its 121st Engineer Regiment, Maryland State Defense Force in Towson (outside of Baltimore). The unit is staffed mainly by people with experience in the construction industry and has access to heavy equipment owned by the state Department of Transportation and other state and local agencies.

The Dutch 1st Division (Mechanized) is deployed to Bavaria to bolster NATO defenses there as Czech troops consolidate control of the city of Regensburg. The front line in Bavaria stabilizes along the Danube.

American Green Berets of the 10th SFG lead their protoges of the Lithuanian Free Army on their first attack on Soviet supply lines, derailing a train carrying ammunition to the front.

The Cypriot government accuses Turkey of attempting to secretly supply Turkish Cypriot militias.

Romanian troops recapture the town of Suceava and continue across the plains towards the town of Botoșani.

The 97th GMRD is brought up to 150 percent strength in the Kiev MD with an influx of reservists, 18-year old draftees and recent graduates of training divisions, beginning a two-month long process of identifying the most capable soldiers, training them for service in Romania, and transferring the rest to the unit's shadow division, the 232nd Rear Area Protection Division.

chico20854

01-22-2022, 07:28 AM

January 22, 1997

Nothing official today...

A patrol from the 76th Infantry Brigade, 38th ID (Indiana NG), having just completed Rotation 97-2 at NTC-3 at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, intercepts the armed men that had engaged the Border Patrol agents 3 days prior. A firefight ensues, and when the smoke clears a six-man Spetsnaz team and a squad of infantry from the 2nd Battalion, 293rd Infantry lay dead in the desert.

Responding to requests from several state governors, the US Army TRADOC approves a partial exemption from the order to disband ROTC units for those programs that operate a cadet Corps (such as the Citadel, VMI, Norwich University, etc.) so that governors may incorporate the corps into their state defense force planning.

The last of the paratroopers are withdrawn from the bridgeheads over the Oder-Niesse Rivers in Poland, replaced by mechanized troops of the British 1st Armoured Division, German 7th Panzer Division and US 35th Infantry Division. The bridgeheads are subject to constant artillery attacks, but NATO Combat Air Patrols and surface to air missile batteries defeat most Pact air attacks.

The unified German government requests NATO assistance in providing relief to the population of devastated East Germany. The former nation suffered extensive damage to its roads, towns, electrical generation equipment and much more in the campaign from October through early January. Military assistance is requested in transporting food and fuel, in clearing unexploded ordnance, rubble and obstacles and repairing roads and other infrastructure. Many NATO support and service units are fully engaged in their normal missions, but the US 7th Army commits several engineer units and USAF Red Horse civil engineering squadrons are released as well.

Other than the Combat Air Patrols, the air over the front line in Germany is relatively quiet. The NATO air forces have suffered, especially the Luftwaffe and East German LSK, have suffered from enemy action, bad weather and wear and tear. Many remaining aircraft are out of service for deferred maintenance, and others are awaiting arrival of spare parts from depots in the US and UK. Stocks of precision guided munitions and modern air to air missiles have been depleted as well. RAF pilots jokingly refer to the period as "The Second Phony War".

The Soviet destroyer Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, sinks the Maltese-flagged containership Sea Princess with a pair of SS-N-22 missiles.

The first battalions of the 7th Infantry Division (Light) enter combat in Korea. The front there has settled into a terrible equilibrium with continual fierce artillery barrages and nighttime infiltration attacks.**

An isolated Greek-Cypriot village is attacked by unidentified gunmen and its inhabitants massacred; 48 adults and 27 children.

1st Ukrainian Front gathers forces to halt the Romanian drive; the 40th Air Assault Brigade is landed by helicopter on the southern flank of the Romanian drive, while a scratch force of motor-rifle troops from the 86 GMRD protects the guns of the 751st and 758th Anti-Tank Regiments as they dig in on the outskirts of the communicators hub of*Botoșani.

cawest

01-22-2022, 05:00 PM

chico20854

01-23-2022, 07:32 AM

January 23, 1997

Another day with nothing official, so unofficially:

A 767 airliner taking off from McChord AFB, Washington carrying troops to Korea is shot down by a SA-14 MANPADS missile fired by a Spetsnaz team that had crossed the border from Vancouver, Canada.

In the Netherlands, the decision is made to deploy the Dutch 1 Leger Corps in Bavaria, avoiding the delicate question of having Dutch troops in what 6 months prior had been Warsaw Pact territory.

The German army organizes salvage parties to comb conquered East German territory. The intent is to secure as many Pact-standard vehicles, ammunition and parts as possible to sustain the former East German Army, whose divisions have been cut off from resupply from the Pact. Orders are placed with third-party manufacturers, but they are few, of limited capacity and already fully engaged producing for their home markets and other Allied combatant nations that use Pact calibers.

Also in the Netherlands, the last ship carrying cargo for the US 278th ACR has been unloaded. A commander's conference follows, where it is noted that over half the regiment's vehicles were lost in transit. Second Squadron has its complete complement, as do the engineer, MP, MI and air defense troops and Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron. This remnant of the regiment will be released to 7th Army for assignment, while the regiment's supply officer will work with 7th Army to locate replacement vehicles for the rest of the unit.

The Soviet submarine K-495 locates the San Jacinto being towed by the US Navy salvage tug USNS Mohawk at 6 knots across the North Atlantic and sends two torpedos into the cruiser's side. The tug is forced to cut the tow cable to avoid being pulled under; the Soviet commander does not use a precious torpedo on the tug.

A B-52G of the 42nd Bomb Wing, Loring AFB, Maine, is called in to strike the Soviet frigate Gromkiy, located east of Bermuda by a US Coast Guard HU-25 patrol plane. The frigate is sunk with three Harpoon missiles.

Rival accusations are traded about the prior day's massacre in Cyprus; The Greeks blame Turks while the Turks claim it was a Greek provocation.

The advancing Romanian force hits the Soviet defensive line. The Soviet heavy anti-tank guns slice through the obsolescent Romanian tanks like a hot knife through butter. Within hours the Romanian troops are in retreat. The Soviet paratroopers launch an active pursuit, and by midnight Suceava has been recaptured.

pmulcahy11b

01-23-2022, 10:25 AM

they might need some more of these. have to wonder what other armored construction (improvised and factory built) might show up. what would a huge crawler crane look like? might be a heck of a sniper, FO, or even IR SAM site. i just had an image of a wrecking ball and a T-72 having a close encounter.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:D7_armoured_bulldozer_on_flatbed.jpg

I have done a number of these in [URL="http://www.pmulcahy.com/tracked_engineer_vehicles/israeli_tev.htm"[/URL] though they are D-8-based and Israeli-peculiar.

Ahhh...more research. It will be in the update after the one I'm currently working on...if I remember...

pmulcahy11b

01-23-2022, 10:32 AM

i just had an image of a wrecking ball and a T-72 having a close encounter.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:D7_armoured_bulldozer_on_flatbed.jpg

I can't imagine a wrecking ball doing any penetrating hits on a T-72, but it would knock off ERA panels, external sensors, externally-mounted weapons; might even crush or derail roadwheels or bend the gun barrel. And anything loose inside would go flying; not enough to do fragmentation, but the effect of a fire extinguisher bottle falling on a leg or ankle should not be discounted. And of course, the repeated BONG! BONG! might be enough to make the crew bail out, in a very disorientated condition...

cawest

01-23-2022, 11:12 AM

I can't imagine a wrecking ball doing any penetrating hits on a T-72, but it would knock off ERA panels, external sensors, externally-mounted weapons; might even crush or derail roadwheels or bend the gun barrel. And anything loose inside would go flying; not enough to do fragmentation, but the effect of a fire extinguisher bottle falling on a leg or ankle should not be discounted. And of course, the repeated BONG! BONG! might be enough to make the crew bail out, in a very disorientated condition...

one ton of mass moving fast (falling or swinging) enough will knock off the turret, Russian tanks don't have a bussel(sp). in WW2 a 152/155/5.5 in hoz would knock off Tiger turrets just by the force of the hits. (KV2 i know did this). they would not pen the armor. i also could see that it would knock off the tracks. and aspirin is not going to help with that headache. it would be a new take on city fighting. :)

Olefin

01-23-2022, 02:02 PM

Dont see why the San Jacinto would be getting towed back to the US - the Brits have repair facilities and having her towed back home when the Atlantic is full of Soviet subs is a death sentence. Would make more sense to have her sitting in a British repair yard

Louied

01-23-2022, 02:33 PM

Olefin

01-23-2022, 03:01 PM

There is even a Joint Logistics Plan for that......

850 Repair and Recovery of USN ships 20 Nov 1990

I agree with you there - the San Jacinto should have never left Scapa Flow - there is literally no reason to tow it back to the US for repairs given that plan - and its relatively early in the war - i.e. its not like they are all out of parts already

Homer

01-23-2022, 03:12 PM

The cannon re-equipping of the 278th was always a bit confusing. I appreciate that it gave an early model of the hodge-podge nature of the the military as a whole after two and a half years of “broken-backed” warfare and allowed for the introduction of a variety of esoteric vehicles.

That said, the Army had a variety of light cavalry and motorized infantry organization models using the hmmwv or jeep, up to the OTL ACR(L). With production of TOW, small arms, hmmwv, and potentially M198 howitzers presumably ramped up for the war in China, material may be available in quantity. This equipment is easily transported, supports existing doctrine, and uses existing logistics stockpiles. Plus, the combat mos manning numbers in the light ACR/CAV TOE are less than or equal to those of a heavy ACR or CAV unit. Any excess support personnel in HHTs and RSS can be released back as replacements. With a heavy squadron (+), all the separates (MICO, ADA btty, Sapper CO, and MP plt), and two reequipped light squadrons the regiment can still perform most reconnaissance and security missions. The biggest handicap would be the loss of the RAS, assuming that the helo’s were cocooned and shipped and not sent by strategic airlift.

I wonder what the chain of events is that sees the 278th requipped with nonstandard material prior to the nuclear strikes?

cawest

01-23-2022, 03:55 PM

Davesdewas

01-24-2022, 04:38 AM

I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...

hellodear.in (https://hellodear.in/)

tea tv (https://teatv.ltd/dl/)

pmulcahy11b

01-24-2022, 11:55 AM

one ton of mass moving fast (falling or swinging) enough will knock off the turret, Russian tanks don't have a bussel(sp). in WW2 a 152/155/5.5 in hoz would knock off Tiger turrets just by the force of the hits. (KV2 i know did this). they would not pen the armor. i also could see that it would knock off the tracks. and aspirin is not going to help with that headache. it would be a new take on city fighting. :)

That reminds of a story from Vietnam...a Cobra spotted a PT-76 moving across a field, but all his rockets were gone except for an HE pod. He fired anyway, thinking he could slow them down...when friendlies got to the strangely-immobilized PT later, they found that there were no penetrating hits, but the crew was dead nonetheless, and they all had blood coming out their noses and ears...the HE rounds didn't penetrate the PT, but the concussion from the HE rounds had killed them.

There should be a rule for that...

The Zappster

01-24-2022, 12:44 PM

As a quick and dirty rule so as not to slow down play, I have had every point of armour absorbs 1 dice of concussion damage. I use this for solid structures people are hiding behind too. I'm not sure what I would do if the vehicle was noted as being blast proof like modern armoured vehicles, it's not come up yet.

The Zappster

01-24-2022, 12:47 PM

I should note that I use the 2.2 rules

chico20854

01-24-2022, 04:48 PM

I agree with you there - the San Jacinto should have never left Scapa Flow - there is literally no reason to tow it back to the US for repairs given that plan - and its relatively early in the war - i.e. its not like they are all out of parts already

Thanks!

I envisioned that the damage from the Norwegian Sea and convoy battles was so extensive (as would be fitting a struggle that saw 80% of the Northern Fleet sunk) that the British repair facilities would be overwhelmed. I did have Scapa Flow as a forward repair base, with several USN and RFA depot ships, tugs and repair ships (and probably a floating drydock) stationed there, with the twofold mission of repairing minor damage to get ships back in the fight as quickly as possible and stabilizing heavily damaged ships so that they had enough structural integrity to survive transit to a full-capacity repair yard.

I agree that its risky to tow the ship through sub-infested waters, I'll attribute the decision to desperation to get a semi-premier asset back into service rather than have it languish at a British repair yard waiting for a berth.

And, frankly, I was trying to provide something a little more interesting than "the San Jacinto was sunk while on patrol!" :D:D

chico20854

01-24-2022, 04:53 PM

chico20854

01-24-2022, 05:06 PM

January 24, 1997

Another day with nothing in canon!

The attack submarine USS Tunny, with SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One aboard and the one of team's SDVs in the DDS on deck, departs San Diego.

The Lithuanian Free Army ambushes a truck convoy containing MVD troops searching for their base camp.

The US 8th Marine Regiment, aboard amphibious shipping, enters the Mediterranean Sea to commence a series of raids on enemy facilities.

A Turkish village in Cyprus is burned by a Greek militia; 68 civilians are killed.

The 89th TFS (part of the 482nd TFW, AFRES) intercepts a Tu-16 strike force over Black Sea. Unfortunately, three F-16As are lost to escorting PVO Su-27s. Three Naval Aviation bombers are downed and the strike on the Turkish naval base at Bartin is largely ineffective.

In Romania, the front line has been restored to where it was a week before. The Romanians have lost 2000 men (600 KIA, 800 wounded and 600 captured), while the Soviets lost a similar number.

The first Soviet raider (the Riga-class frigate SKR-71) links up with a flotilla of Soviet fish factory ships, trawlers and support vessels in the South Atlantic. The frigate is able to obtain food, fuel, and small amounts of 100mm ammunition before transiting east into the Indian Ocean.

Convoy 210 departs San Francisco Bay, repeating the route San Francisco-Honolulu-Guam where it will split into sub-convoys to Subic Bay-Singapore-Diego Garcia and Okinawa-Pusan, which has been followed by other convoys.

swaghauler

01-24-2022, 05:48 PM

Former ROTC cadet at Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh. Ditto!
YOU'RE A YINZER??

I did ROTC too. First at Allegheny College right behind the Admiral (Lee) and later in the unified program that included Allegheny, Ganon, Mercyhurst, and Edinboro Universities. All our "drills" were held at Edinboro. I still declined a commission though, I LOVED being on a gun crew and wouldn't give it up, even after they disbanded the 4th/92nd FA. That's how I ended up on active duty with the 10th Mountain during RESTORE HOPE.

swaghauler

01-24-2022, 06:19 PM

That reminds of a story from Vietnam...a Cobra spotted a PT-76 moving across a field, but all his rockets were gone except for an HE pod. He fired anyway, thinking he could slow them down...when friendlies got to the strangely-immobilized PT later, they found that there were no penetrating hits, but the crew was dead nonetheless, and they all had blood coming out their noses and ears...the HE rounds didn't penetrate the PT, but the concussion from the HE rounds had killed them.

There should be a rule for that...

Try this...

I place the LCG Penetration numbers in V2.2 in the DAMAGE column. This Damage is treated just like Small Arms Damage and is the number of DICE of Damage that the LCG can do to people or structures. When striking objects like the components in tanks or other large or tough items, the Damage is treated as "points" not "dice," so IF you shot the side of a generator, you would not need to roll 80 D6s (see below)!

I then give the various rounds the normal Small Arms PEN numbers like 1/2 (APDS), 1/4 (APDSDU), 1(HEAT), 2 (HEDP/HESH), 3 (HE), 4 (HE-Frag/Illum/WP). The armor is multiplied by the PEN and that amount is subtracted from the Damage with the excess going through. When you hit a vehicle with an EXPLOSIVE ROUND, the armor CAN stop a large amount of the physical damage BUT the occupants will take 1 POINT of Concussion Damage per Die of HE/HEAT Damage the armor stops. These points are distributed equally to all locations with excess points being assigned to Heat, Chest, Abdomen, Arms, and Legs in that order. Spaced armor/Blast-Ablative armor halves the Concussion Damage and Chobbam armor/Mine-Resistant armor quarters it.

Any Damage that penetrates is distributed on a Vehicle Location Hit Chart (this is just a random chart with 20 lines on it with components listed on each line. Large components like autocannon can take up multiple lines). This is just a listing of major components and crew on that facing of the vehicle. You roll a 1D20 on this chart to see what is hit and I then have the players roll ANOTHER 1D20. This represents the percentage of damage to that item. If you roll a 7, the item was hit for 35% of its capacity. I give every item what is essentially like a Durability Rating which represents 10% of its Durability. So IF you hit the radio (5 Durability) and roll a 10 on that D20, the radio is 50% damaged and you subtract 50 points from the Damage remaining and roll then for another item to take a hit IF any Damage Dice remain. If a crew is hit each point on the D20 equals ONE DIE of Damage received. So a roll of 12 would equal 12D6 Damage. IF All the penetrating damage is absorbed by a single component, that is the only thing which is hit. For example, a 125mm DU round penetrates the turret of an M60A3 with 30 Damage and hits the main gun (150 durability). The player doesn't even need to roll the Percentage of Damage die because it is just 10%. No additional items are damaged either. If you're wondering, yes this is 2300AD's ship damaging system mixed with v1 & v2.2 damage rules.

cawest

01-24-2022, 07:46 PM

Homer

01-24-2022, 09:53 PM

I agree, looking at the situation at this point in the war, it doesn't make a lot of sense. The month of combat in East Germany wasn't sufficient to deplete the European war reserve stock of vehicles, and there are six division sets worth of equipment coming over from Europe (the complement of the divisions that fell in on POMCUS sets), without any change in TOE other than, as you pointed out, the aircraft.

Yep- the light cav TOE jumped out because the material is easy to train on (19Ds train on the HMMWV, .50 cal and Mk19 at OSUT and a monkey can use a TOW once it’s collimated), probably in production, and easy to move. But, re-equipping out of the full heavy ACR set (less RAS) that was left in CONUS by 3d ACR and shipped forward or dipping into some of the kit being shipped forward from the heavy division garrisons may make sense. Unless combat losses were higher than forecast, or subs/raiders got some of them. Maybe there is a plan to rapidly NET and re-equip some of the guard units coming over, even though cannon doesn’t support this (36th ID still runs M113s and M60s in the US combat vehicle guide- OBE perhaps?).

I could see a second refit of the 278th after combat attrition of the light vehicles in Poland. As history has shown, the 1025/1026/966/988 have limited survivability against most threats. Maybe the re-equipment with V series, peacekeepers, etc came after regeneration following losses early in the 97 campaign? Plus, I can’t see the USAF giving up airfield security and EOD vehicles as they are trying to protect airbases from SOF, UW, and UXO threats. There weren’t that many of them either.

chico20854

01-25-2022, 05:03 PM

January 25, 1997

nothing in the canon for today, but unofficially:

NATO heads of state hold a secret meeting to determine war goals. Consensus is reached to present the USSR with an option to end the conflict worldwide, with a return to prewar borders in Poland, Korea, Iran and the Balkans; a unified Germany will remain and the USSR can retain the areas of Manchuria north of the Sungari River.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Arizona Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

A Seattle city police officer pulls over a van for running a red light and is shot dead by the driver. A massive police response results in a barricade situation.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XSUBnC_3oVxgUhQMolriwGkjvS4tPdo7/view?usp=sharing)
The first MiG-29 sortie at a Red Flag air combat exercise at Nellis AFB, Nevada, is flown by LSK (East German Air Force) Major Jan Hoche in an aggressor role. The Red Flag exercises were decisive in giving NATO pilots an edge over their Soviet and Pact opponents, since the realistic training replicated the vital first combat missions that had historically cost so many pilots their lives. Having a top of the line MiG flown by a Soviet-trained pilot increased the value of these exercises even more.

There was an intense Soviet-Polish artillery barrage on bridgehead opposite Frankfurt-on-Oder; otherwise the Central Front was quiet as both sides licked their wounds and tried to replenish their depleted stockpiles.

Headquarters, 7th US Army orders the release of war reserve vehicles to re-equip the 278th ACR. 2nd Squadron, 278th ACR assumes responsibility for a sector north of Regensburg facing Czech troops.

A Nimrod patrol aircraft operating from RAF St Mawgan (42 Sqn RAF) sinks the Soviet Victor II submarine K-495; Maritime patrol aircraft had been searching for the sub since it sank the San Jacinto two days prior.

The Turkish government makes a unilateral decision to intervene in Cyprus; 39th Infantry Division begins loading onto amphibious shipping in Antalya on the Mediterranean coast.

Soviet long-range aviation turns its attention to the Balkans, launching a massive nightime air raid on the Romanian "23 August" tank plant in Bucharest. The strike uses conventional "dumb" bombs and inflicts light damage, for the loss of two Tu-16s.

The US 6th Fleet commits the attack submarine USS Spadefish to patrol the Black Sea following the loss of the Bluefish.

chico20854

01-25-2022, 05:06 PM

YOU'RE A YINZER??

I did ROTC too. First at Allegheny College right behind the Admiral (Lee) and later in the unified program that included Allegheny, Ganon, Mercyhurst, and Edinboro Universities. All our "drills" were held at Edinboro. I still declined a commission though, I LOVED being on a gun crew and wouldn't give it up, even after they disbanded the 4th/92nd FA. That's how I ended up on active duty with the 10th Mountain during RESTORE HOPE.

I'm not a Yinzer, just went to school up there. After four years I'd had enough, but a year or two at Ft. Sill was enough to convince me Pittsburgh wasn't so bad so I went back for another couple years of school. Haven't been up there in 12+ years though...

The Carnegie Mellon ROTC battalion got consolidated into the Pitt one when I was there. Post-Cold War drawdown spelled the end of that unit and my comissioning; that's ok I had more fun being enlisted!

chico20854

01-25-2022, 05:17 PM

i now you have a lot on your plate. but the attached might be use full. the first is civi trucks and cars for combat. the second is popeye that was almost made for the IDF (maybe a second supply point). the penguin can be mounted on a UH 60, and the old sea apache. I could see the 1st proposal being green lighted with 2nd being worked on or in test phase by this point in the war.

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/dacia-duster_td/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye_(missile)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_(missile)

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mcdonnell_sea_apache.php

Thanks!

The USAF bought the Popeye starting in 1989 as the AGM-142 Have Nap; I'll have to write it into the timeline coming up. Likewise, I think the US Navy deployed Penguin from SH-60s; I have a photo of one being fired in my Illustrated History of the Third World War (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gM5KjRiSQHuDl2qANJ3NgbltIU-4D3OK/view?usp=sharing), page 84!

On Sea Apache, I think the limiting factor is going to be plant capacity... the MDD helo plant is running full speed producing for the Army, which still has several active-duty divisions with Cobras rather than Apaches, and once combat starts all production is trying to keep up with combat losses, and the US really didn't maintain war reserve aircraft stocks beyond the retired aircraft at AMARC and miscellaneous "hacks" in various units.

chico20854

01-25-2022, 05:20 PM

Yep- the light cav TOE jumped out because the material is easy to train on (19Ds train on the HMMWV, .50 cal and Mk19 at OSUT and a monkey can use a TOW once it’s collimated), probably in production, and easy to move. But, re-equipping out of the full heavy ACR set (less RAS) that was left in CONUS by 3d ACR and shipped forward or dipping into some of the kit being shipped forward from the heavy division garrisons may make sense. Unless combat losses were higher than forecast, or subs/raiders got some of them. Maybe there is a plan to rapidly NET and re-equip some of the guard units coming over, even though cannon doesn’t support this (36th ID still runs M113s and M60s in the US combat vehicle guide- OBE perhaps?).

I could see a second refit of the 278th after combat attrition of the light vehicles in Poland. As history has shown, the 1025/1026/966/988 have limited survivability against most threats. Maybe the re-equipment with V series, peacekeepers, etc came after regeneration following losses early in the 97 campaign? Plus, I can’t see the USAF giving up airfield security and EOD vehicles as they are trying to protect airbases from SOF, UW, and UXO threats. There weren’t that many of them either.

Thanks! I like your idea and think I'll use it, re-equipping with the V-series and Peacekeepers after losing vehicles in Poland.

Don't worry, the light cavalry regiment will make a non-canon appearance in CENTCOM! Coming to a conflict near you!

Homer

01-25-2022, 07:26 PM

Thanks! I like your idea and think I'll use it, re-equipping with the V-series and Peacekeepers after losing vehicles in Poland.

Don't worry, the light cavalry regiment will make a non-canon appearance in CENTCOM! Coming to a conflict near you!

Glad you can use it! I like the piece about war stocks being released. The 278th will still have an “interesting” war as an ACR without a RAS. The AHs and OHs play a large part in the cav being able to move fast and hit hard.

I pity the ACR(L) in combat against a medium or heavy force, especially in an offensive role. Low rate of fire against armored vehicles or field fortifications (and no stabilization), low vehicle survivability, can’t breach mounted, and can only dismount scouts by removing crew from scout trucks. It’s a little better on the defense. High PK and range of of TOW, ability to rapidly lay two scatterable minefields (air and ground volcano), can create lots of obstacles, and establish a deep security zone. Great for an austere theater though.

IRL, the ACR(L) was supposed to be HMMWV/M8 based according to MTOE, with 966s as substitutes for the M8. Apparently there were studies (pre-Stryker) of equipping the regiment with LAV-III and M8s. Budget killed the M8 and the LAV-III morphed into the Stryker to be “C-130 transportable”.

I’m always awed by the amount of information GDW put in the various guidebooks. Just getting the details of reforger, mobilization, and reconstitution put together in a believable manner across a multi theater campaign took a lot of doing pre-internet. They did a pretty good job with projected tech and projects (the Stingray and RDF light tank were contending for Sheridan replacements long before the M8).

cawest

01-25-2022, 07:55 PM

Thanks!

The USAF bought the Popeye starting in 1989 as the AGM-142 Have Nap; I'll have to write it into the timeline coming up. Likewise, I think the US Navy deployed Penguin from SH-60s; I have a photo of one being fired in my Illustrated History of the Third World War (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gM5KjRiSQHuDl2qANJ3NgbltIU-4D3OK/view?usp=sharing), page 84!

On Sea Apache, I think the limiting factor is going to be plant capacity... the MDD helo plant is running full speed producing for the Army, which still has several active-duty divisions with Cobras rather than Apaches, and once combat starts all production is trying to keep up with combat losses, and the US really didn't maintain war reserve aircraft stocks beyond the retired aircraft at AMARC and miscellaneous "hacks" in various units.

how about putting the helos on the deck of cargo ships when they are going between the US and warzones. they could act something to help with airdefense, Sidearms (ARM), and the harpoons and a blast warhead version of the Hellfire. subs do not like helos.

Matt Wiser

01-25-2022, 11:12 PM

Sending an SSN into the Black Sea isn't a good idea. Only one way in or out...

lordroel

01-26-2022, 10:04 AM

Sending an SSN into the Black Sea isn't a good idea. Only one way in or out...

You mean sunk ore mange to get out safely.

chico20854

01-26-2022, 04:18 PM

January 26, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day!

The San Diego harbor channel is fully reopened after removal of the wreck of the tug Janet Pommet, sunk by a Spetsnaz team on January 11.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GBPUrx6jcOlP8-qRvPRyvlYAD7TiOPL6/view?usp=sharing)
The Seattle barricade situation concludes with a massive explosion as a Soviet Spetsnaz team tries to break out of police encirclement; three police officers, a firefighter and five Soviets are killed. One Soviet escapes.

The Commonwealth Defense Attache, UK Lieutenant General Sir Robert Owens, is dispatched to New Delhi on "a special mission."

The artillery bombardment of the Oder bridgeheads continues. NATO commanders divert engineer battalions from restoring battle damage behind the lines to adding bridges across the river and constructing deep shelters for the troops.

Marshall Papkov, the Western TVD commander, is recalled to Moscow.

The 264th Engineer Group (Combat) (Wisconsin NG) begins loading vehicles and heavy equipment aboard the freighters Arabian Breeze and Cape Horn in Oakland, CA.

Soviet bombers return to the skies over Bucharest, inflicting more damage on the tank plant.

The Turkish 1st Battalion, 2nd Commando Brigade lands at Nicosia airport and immediately is engaged against Cyptiot police, customs and Army units.

The Turkish submarine Sakarya sinks the Soviet transport Volzhsky-10 bringing supplies into the beseiged city of Burgas, Bulgaria.

Turkish Army orders additional forces into Bulgaria to resume the northward advance while maintaining the isolation of Burgas.

A small USAF team consisting of contracting officers, communications specialists, weather observers and a small security detachment arrives at Point Salines Airport, Grenada to establish it as a minor transit stop for aircraft headed to Africa and the Middle East.

chico20854

01-26-2022, 04:33 PM

how about putting the helos on the deck of cargo ships when they are going between the US and warzones. they could act something to help with airdefense, Sidearms (ARM), and the harpoons and a blast warhead version of the Hellfire. subs do not like helos.

That's practical only to a limited extent. Normally helos transported by sea are shrink-wrapped (see this photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BN5gdDUOoqveQbVHV-m1kP3o2chG8YVH/view?usp=sharing)) to protect them from the corrosion from the sea spray. The pilots and ground crew normally deploy by air and link up with their aircraft at the pier. Army helicopter pilots are not normally trained on shipboard landing procedures, which in the North Atlantic winter could be quite dicey. (The Canadian Navy developed a system to winch helicopters down onto the landing pad of frigates and destroyers!) The cargo ships are not normally set up to support flight operations (they would ideally need additonal lighting, firefighting, maintenance shops, fuel and oxygen supplies, an ordnance magazine, additional accomodations, fresh water and generators) and leaving room for flight operations and maintenance reduces the ship's carrying capacity. Of course there are workarounds, but most helicopters being deployed by sea will not be able to be flown along the way.

chico20854

01-26-2022, 04:34 PM

Sending an SSN into the Black Sea isn't a good idea. Only one way in or out...

But, fortunately one controlled by an ally! At least until later in the year...

chico20854

01-27-2022, 04:23 PM

January 27, 1997

Another busy day, except according to canon! Nothing official, but unofficially:

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/16oziPNJRUfHyZZQrKUf_Qtceg888dsgp/view?usp=sharing)
Turkish amphibious ships land in northern Cyprus and disgorge the 39th Infantry Division. Local Turkish militias secure the landing site. Nicosia airport is secured and the remainder of 2nd Commando Brigade arrives on an airlift that includes requisitioned Turkish Airways airliners.

The last remaining Spetsnaz team member from the Seattle holdup hijacks a car in Bellingham, WA.

The USAF, on behalf of the Navy and Marine Corps as well as itself, orders an increase of JDAM kit production from 130 a day to 250 a day. McDonnell Douglas begins assembly of a second production line at its St Charles, Missouri plant to meet the demand.

The US Navy purchases three large, fast container ships from a South Korean company for conversion to escort carriers.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iixHTbpf5hIMbkfagvwwwJeVcnKL1AXT/view?usp=sharing)
The Marine Corps activates scout-bombing squadrons VMSB-341, 342 and 343 to fly AV-8C Harriers from the escort carriers.

The Freedom ship Utah Freedom is delivered in Galveston, TX; the Maryland Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

The 479th Field Artillery Brigade (US Army Reserve) arrives at the port of Pohang, South Korea.

Special Forces troops of the 10th SF Group attack the air defense radar site at Liepaya, Latvia.

Colonel General Dmitri Slepnev, who started the war as commander of 2nd Guards Tank Army before assuming command of Second Western Front, is promoted to Marshall and named commander of the Western TVD (Theater of Military Operations).

An American ELINT satellite makes a startling discovery - emissions identified as coming from a Soviet nuclear-powered battle cruiser of the Kirov class. The Northern Fleet's ships (the Kirov, Frunze and Dzerzhinskiy) were all believed sunk in the Battle of the Norwegian Sea. One has apparently survived and slipped through the GIUK Gap.

Soviet bombers make a third attack on the Bucharest tank plant; losing a Tu-22 Blinder and another Tu-16. The three nights of raids have halted production entirely.

The Soviets renew their offensive in Iran, finally confident that they have ammassed sufficient supplies to sustain operations for a few weeks.

Marshall Papkov, former Western TVD commander, is shot for his failures in East Germany.

chico20854

01-27-2022, 04:39 PM

That said, the Army had a variety of light cavalry and motorized infantry organization models using the hmmwv or jeep, up to the OTL ACR(L). With production of TOW, small arms, hmmwv, and potentially M198 howitzers presumably ramped up for the war in China, material may be available in quantity. This equipment is easily transported, supports existing doctrine, and uses existing logistics stockpiles. Plus, the combat mos manning numbers in the light ACR/CAV TOE are less than or equal to those of a heavy ACR or CAV unit. Any excess support personnel in HHTs and RSS can be released back as replacements. With a heavy squadron (+), all the separates (MICO, ADA btty, Sapper CO, and MP plt), and two reequipped light squadrons the regiment can still perform most reconnaissance and security missions. The biggest handicap would be the loss of the RAS, assuming that the helo’s were cocooned and shipped and not sent by strategic airlift.

I'm using this early post-cold war study (https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA262665.pdf) as a basis for my light ACR, just with LAV-75/Buford/choose your favorite as the AGS and with LAV-25-series vehicles replacing the M113s and other miscellaneous armored vehicles. The only oddity is the ADATS (NLOS-M in the study) on a LAV-75 chassis that GDW put in the US Army Vehicle Guide, so there's a total of four companies in the army with this system instead of just three (in the 9th ID's ADA battalion)!

Raellus

01-27-2022, 04:54 PM

Chico, what was that Spetsnaz team doing in Seattle?

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cawest

01-27-2022, 05:24 PM

That's practical only to a limited extent. Normally helos transported by sea are shrink-wrapped (see this photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BN5gdDUOoqveQbVHV-m1kP3o2chG8YVH/view?usp=sharing)) to protect them from the corrosion from the sea spray. The pilots and ground crew normally deploy by air and link up with their aircraft at the pier. Army helicopter pilots are not normally trained on shipboard landing procedures, which in the North Atlantic winter could be quite dicey. (The Canadian Navy developed a system to winch helicopters down onto the landing pad of frigates and destroyers!) The cargo ships are not normally set up to support flight operations (they would ideally need additonal lighting, firefighting, maintenance shops, fuel and oxygen supplies, an ordnance magazine, additional accomodations, fresh water and generators) and leaving room for flight operations and maintenance reduces the ship's carrying capacity. Of course there are workarounds, but most helicopters being deployed by sea will not be able to be flown along the way.

yes, in peace time but if your going to be carrying helos. why not use them because what happens if that ship sinks with the helos on them. sometimes you have to learn on the job. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/britain-once-tried-built-aircraft-carrier-container-ship-183127

Homer

01-27-2022, 08:11 PM

I'm using this early post-cold war study (https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA262665.pdf) as a basis for my light ACR, just with LAV-75/Buford/choose your favorite as the AGS and with LAV-25-series vehicles replacing the M113s and other miscellaneous armored vehicles. The only oddity is the ADATS (NLOS-M in the study) on a LAV-75 chassis that GDW put in the US Army Vehicle Guide, so there's a total of four companies in the army with this system instead of just three (in the 9th ID's ADA battalion)!

Great Stuff!

That looks a lot more likely than HMMWV mounted scouts! The tracks keep the mobility of the heavy ACR. I think the C-141/C-17 sortie count may have driven the real life choice of vehicles. The NLOS would be a useful addition. And there were M113 scout platoon organizations that included M901s and dragon mount M113s, so there may be a way to get some AT firepower back. Realistically the LACR would be a unit that would flow into theater by strategic air then do its tactical and operational movement by ground.

pmulcahy11b

01-28-2022, 01:28 PM

Chico, what was that Spetsnaz team doing in Seattle?

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There have been Spetsnaz sleeper cells in the US and most Western countries since Spetsnaz was first formed during the Cold War.

Raellus

01-28-2022, 02:29 PM

There have been Spetsnaz sleeper cells in the US and most Western countries since Spetsnaz was first formed during the Cold War.

Right- I'm not questioning their presence in the USA. I'm just curious about what that particular team's mission was. Chico?

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chico20854

01-28-2022, 04:33 PM

January 28, 1997

The Headquarters, 41st Infantry Division is formed at Camp Atterbury, IN, taking command of the 33rd (Illinois National Guard), 73rd (Ohio National Guard) and 106th (Indiana National Guard) Infantry Brigades. (An unofficial alternative is the 41st (Oregon) Infantry Brigade, since the 106th doesn't seem to have actually existed!), as well as miscellaneous other independent service and support units.

Unofficially:

The Commonwealth Defense Attache, UK Lieutenant General Sir Robert Owens, at a reception at the Swiss Ambassador's residence in New Delhi, has a conversation with the Soviet defense attache, Colonel General Oleg Tulaev, about opening a dialouge on war termination. (This method of conducting negotiations was approved by the NATO heads of state earlier in the month).

Troops from the 1st Washington State Defense Force Brigade and sheriff's deputies surround the last Spetsnaz team member and kill him in a firefight as they attempt to detain him.

The US Navy activates helicopter squadrons HS-22, 23, 24 and 25 to fly SH-3 ASW helicopters and HC-10 to fly Sea King AEW helicopters from escort carriers.

The British Royal Fleet Auxilary places the repair ship RFA Assistance (former Stena Protector) into service following its conversion from a subsea service vessel.

A P-3C Orion of No 11 Sqn, RAAF attacks and sinks the Soviet Victor-I attack submarine K-454 in the Philippine Sea northwest of Palau.

The Soviet Baltic Front orders the 107th MRD to assist the MVD in hunting down pro-NATO partisans and their American Special Forces trainers in the Baltic Republics.

An all-out effort is launched to locate the Kirov-class battlecruiser identified the prior day. Patrol aircraft, bombers and ELINT aircraft fly over the North Atlantic. Another Soviet raider sinks the Panamanian cargo ship Toshka, sailing unescorted in the North Atlantic carrying civilian cargo to Spain.

Soviet long-range aviation switches targets to Brasov, Romania, and the large DAC truck and IAR helicopter plants in the city.

The Soviet offensive in Iran continues, with Pasdaran troops, now better trained and equipped with chemical protective gear, nonetheless overwhelmed by Soviet mechanized troops' firepower and mobility.

chico20854

01-28-2022, 04:40 PM

Right- I'm not questioning their presence in the USA. I'm just curious about what that particular team's mission was. Chico?

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They had several targets in the Puget Sound area on their list. Their dream was to strike the SSBN base in Bangor, Washington (they reconned it and decided that absent hijaking a helicopter they had little chance of overcoming the base's security and damaging a boomer). Other objectives included to damage the Boeing aircraft plants, disrupt deployment from the port of Tacoma and McChord AFB (as they did by shooting down the 767), possibly inflitrate Ft Lewis and assasinate the CG of 9th ID and the families of many I Corps commanders. There were also shipyards and refineries in the region, as well as the big Naval ammo dump at Port Hadlock.

I had the GRU direct that the Spetsnaz teams try to hide in urban areas, where they were more likely to be able to blend into the crowd than in a rural area or small town where strangers would be immediately noticed.

chico20854

01-28-2022, 04:49 PM

yes, in peace time but if your going to be carrying helos. why not use them because what happens if that ship sinks with the helos on them. sometimes you have to learn on the job. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/britain-once-tried-built-aircraft-carrier-container-ship-183127

The US does convert a couple container ships to serve as escort carriers. Stay tuned! A summary of the program is here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zfOeFcYOejkR0_N8YFpHwqN7xSQCvCQA/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113449820256795539704&rtpof=true&sd=true).

For more info on how to do it, check out one of my favorite books (https://www.amazon.com/Merchant-Ships-War-Falklands-Experience/dp/087021845X).

chico20854

01-28-2022, 04:53 PM

Great Stuff!
That looks a lot more likely than HMMWV mounted scouts! The tracks keep the mobility of the heavy ACR. I think the C-141/C-17 sortie count may have driven the real life choice of vehicles. The NLOS would be a useful addition. And there were M113 scout platoon organizations that included M901s and dragon mount M113s, so there may be a way to get some AT firepower back. Realistically the LACR would be a unit that would flow into theater by strategic air then do its tactical and operational movement by ground.

I agree, I think that LACR is one that is much more likely to be effective in a medium-intensity conflict. Against a Soviet tank army they're still out of luck, but in a light corps that was always a foregone conclusion. It seems from the US Army Vehicle Guide that the Army had decided to forgo some strategic mobility in exchange for additional tactical mobility and firepower in the light infantry divisions with the conversion of three battalions to various light mechanized and AGS battalions. Not a bad tradeoff in my opinion!

Homer

01-28-2022, 07:37 PM

I agree, I think that LACR is one that is much more likely to be effective in a medium-intensity conflict. Against a Soviet tank army they're still out of luck, but in a light corps that was always a foregone conclusion. It seems from the US Army Vehicle Guide that the Army had decided to forgo some strategic mobility in exchange for additional tactical mobility and firepower in the light infantry divisions with the conversion of three battalions to various light mechanized and AGS battalions. Not a bad tradeoff in my opinion!

Yep. There's a scene in Sword Point where a BMP battalion rolls over a light infantry battalion so quickly the POV character doesn’t even realize they’d done so. A platoon of 105mm armed AGS could have evened the odds a bit. Rediscovering the value of mobile, protected firepower in support of infantry seems to be almost generational in the US.

The AGS/113/109 equipped regiment was probably as much a casualty of the “peace dividend” as of any real bias for strategic mobility. Witness the deployment by air of a composite heavy battalion into an airhead during OIF I or the deployment by air of an USMC armored unit to Afghanistan. You can do it if you’re willing to dedicate the sorties. Especially once the C-17 comes on line.

Being a little less armored is not as lethal in most parts of the CENTCOM AOR as it is in Europe or Korea with closer engagement ranges and heavy threats. In Iran and on the Arabian peninsula there are more areas supporting long range fires than in Europe, while a medium weight system is sufficient for the Armor threat in most of Sub-Saharan Africa.

chico20854

01-29-2022, 04:29 PM

January 29, 1997

Qom falls to Soviets as Pasdaran resistance crumbles under the firepower of Soviet tank regiments.

Turkish troops capture Larnaca and advance on Limassol. The Greek government decides to deploy troops to Cyprus to resist the Turks.

Unofficially,

USAF Systems Command, responding to desperate calls to increase the supply of precision guided munitions, begins emergency test series to outfit the F-111 and F-15E strike aircraft with the AGM-142 Have Nap missile, currently in production and in the inventory for use on the B-52 as a conventional stand-off weapon.

The RFA Assistance departs Hull, England for Muscat, Oman to service RN and allied vessels in the Middle East.

Western TVD commander Marshall Slepnev orders Reserve Front to bring 4th Guards Tank Army, with two tank divisions, two motor-rifle divisions and two independent tank regiments, out of its reserve positions northeast of Poznan.

The Soviet raider Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, attacks and sinks the German container ship Dubai Bay, en route empty to North Carolina to load ammunition.

The unidentified Kirov-class battlecruiser shoots down an unarmed HU-25 Coast Guard patrol airplane in the Atlantic. SACLANT orders the formation of surface action groups in Norfolk, Gibraltar, St Johns and Belfast to sortie against it when it is located.

Poor weather over Romania grants the country a reprieve from Soviet strategic bombing. In an effort to maintain its armored strength, the Romanian ministry of defense meets with several attaches in Bucharest.

A Soviet raider sinks the Panamanian-flagged bulk freigher Ocean Pearl II bringing grain into Lagos. The loss of the cargo exacerbates the food crisis in Nigeria.

US Navy SEEBEEs complete their work at Cocos (Keeling) Islands Airport in the Indian Ocean, having constructed barracks, a large hangar, additional ramp space and various support facilities sufficient to support a US or RAAF P-3 squadron.

chico20854

01-30-2022, 08:01 AM

January 30, 1997

Nothing in the canon for today...

Strategic Air Command receives authorization from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop modified JDAM GPS-guidance kits for B-61 and B-83 nuclear bombs.

Aircraft from the carriers Constellation and Abraham Lincoln launch strikes against North Korean troops and artillery sites along the DMZ from the Yellow Sea.

The first South Korean container ship, the Hanjin Keelung, arrives in Charleston, SC for conversion to an escort carrier.

The Victory ship Earlham Victory exits the shipyard after reactivation and crosses San Francisco Bay to load cargo in Oakland. The WW II built ship had sailed for 8 years post war, mostly in support of the Korean and Vietnam wars. Also leaving the shipyard that day, the freighter John Lykes, reactivated after being laid up for nearly 18 months.

In light of Soviet long-range aviation's focus on Romanian tank and trucks plants, CENTAF launches Operation Night Breeze. USAF F-15Es, F-111s and F-117s, British, Luftwaffe and Marineflieger (German naval air force) Tornadoes launch six waves of attacks on Polish tank plant in Gliwice and the Martin tank plant in Czechoslovakia. The use of PGMs by the NATO aircraft allow the raids to be more successful than the Soviet ones, and production at both plants is severely curtailed.

The Soviet frigate SKR-58 hits a NATO mine while crossing the GIUK Gap and sinks. Three sailors survive and are captured by the US cruiser Leyte Gulf, patrolling the Gap.

The surface action groups formed the prior day sortie into the North Atlantic, joining the search for the Soviet battle cruiser.

The Greek 2nd Parachute Regiment arrives at Paphos airport in southwestern Cyprus and immediately rushes to defense of Limassol. V Infantry Division in Crete loads onto amphibious shipping. The Greek Navy deploys into Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

Turkish troops in Bulgaria capture the town of Kotel in the Balkan Mountains (which run east to west across the country) after weeks of fighting in the bitter winter conditions.

Soviet bombers encounter a rude surprise when they return to the skies over Brasov, Romania - the city's defenses have been augmented by a battery of Patriot missiles of the 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery, flown in from Germany. The American missiles down 8 bombers.

The 135th Field Artillery Brigade (Missouri National Guard) completes its deployment into Hamburg.

The Mobilization-only 113th MRD is called up in the Caucasus for service in the Balkans.

pmulcahy11b

01-30-2022, 10:31 AM

micromachine

01-30-2022, 12:04 PM

The Marineflieger was formed at the same time as the modern Bundemarine. The wikipedia article is a simplistic read on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marineflieger

Raellus

01-30-2022, 01:04 PM

But that leaves a question, one that I'll probably find out about later when I do my reading. Germany has no aircraft carriers, so is the Marineflieger basically limited to helicopters?

I'm pretty sure the Marineflieger operated the Tornado IDS in the anti-shipping role.

IIRC, they also operated the Bréguet 1150 Atlantic patrol/ASW prop plane.

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Homer

01-30-2022, 01:09 PM

Marineflieger. That's a new one on me. I put it in Bing and I'll definitely read about it later.

But that leaves a question, one that I'll probably find out about later when I do my reading. Germany has no aircraft carriers, so is the Marineflieger basically limited to helicopters? And in a Twilight 2000 timeline, why didn't they buy the AV-8 to operate off of some of the larger ships? (They do have amphibious assault ships, though these are also basically helicopter carriers.)

The late 80s/early 90s (and presumably T2K) Marineflieger operated the Tornado IDS in two wings focused on anti-shipping tasks with a secondary land attack capability; a patrol wing of Atlantic’s; a wing of shipboard and land based Lynx ASW/ASuW and Sea King ASuW; and a utility/SAR/special projects wing of Dorniers, Sea Kings, and Atlantics. The Bundesmarine operated a handful of LCMs of the Barbe class, but nothing to take the weight or support the logistics of a Harrier. FWIW, the bundesmarine’s envisioned main areas of operation would under land based coverage.

Ursus Maior

01-31-2022, 02:51 PM

I'm pretty sure the Marineflieger operated the Tornado IDS in the anti-shipping role.

IIRC, they also operated the Bréguet 1150 Atlantic patrol/ASW prop plane.

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Yes, they did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panavia_Tornado#German_Navy_(Marineflieger)

Until 1994, when CFE treat obligations kicked in, the Deutsche Marine (until 1990: Bundesmarine, engl. Federal Navy) operated two wings of 48 Tornado IDS each. They were employed in a naval strike, wild-weasel and reconnaissance role. In 2005 the second wing was disbanded, its Tornados transferred to the Luftwaffe for the same mission. Main strike missile was the Kormoran and later the Harpoon.

chico20854

01-31-2022, 02:58 PM

The late 80s/early 90s (and presumably T2K) Marineflieger operated the Tornado IDS in two wings focused on anti-shipping tasks with a secondary land attack capability; a patrol wing of Atlantic’s; a wing of shipboard and land based Lynx ASW/ASuW and Sea King ASuW; and a utility/SAR/special projects wing of Dorniers, Sea Kings, and Atlantics. The Bundesmarine operated a handful of LCMs of the Barbe class, but nothing to take the weight or support the logistics of a Harrier. FWIW, the bundesmarine’s envisioned main areas of operation would under land based coverage.

Exactly, couldn't summarize them any better myself!

Ursus Maior

01-31-2022, 03:18 PM

FWIW, the bundesmarine’s envisioned main areas of operation would under land based coverage.

Yes, mostly that was the case. Germany was responsible for guarding the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, both marginal seas immediately bordering Germany. Missions here were differed a bit, but were similar. Additionally, Germany participated in NATO's permanent Atlantic presence Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT), usually vexilating a frigate or destroyer to it. STANAVFORLANT was tasked with keeping the North Atlantic approaches to Europe free from hostile forces, largely meaning anti-submarine duty against Soviet subs hunting US convoys, which participated in REFORGER, the return of forces to Germany.

The Baltic Sea theater was a very special one for Germany, though. Germany was, together with Denmark, responsible for guarding the North Atlantic against a break-out of Soviet forces from the Baltic Sea. Denmark was the lead nation in this task, always commanding Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (BALTAP), but the Bundeswehr was the much larger army, committing most of the naval force to the task. All in all, Germany committed all 40 of it's missile fast-attack craft and its 24 submarines to the task, plus the aforementioned two wings of Tornado IDS.

These forces shut the Baltic Approaches, the Kattegat, close for the Soviet Navy, forcing the USSR to base most of its attack strength in Northern Russia. Also, the 30 NATO submarines (24 German and six Danish) were crewed by less than 1,000 men, but forced Warsaw Pact forces to build up a anti-submarine force of 15,000 personnel in the Baltic Sea, including 75 anti-submarine ships, mostly Soviet. BALTAP forces were also multi-purpose. In addition to blocking sea-lanes for Soviet ships to harass NATO convoys in the North Atlantic, they also safeguarded Jutland and the Danish islands against an invasion by the Warsaw Pact.

Additionally, Jutland could be used as a base for additional forces, mostly aircraft, to support the defense of Norway as well as harassing Warsaw Pact shipping and striking against targets as far as Leningrad and as close as East Germany and Poland. This would have made it more difficult for Warsaw Pact forces to mass forces in harbors for an invasion or guard important command and logistics sites against airstrikes: NATO could approach from mainland Europe into Pact airspace, as well as from the sea and, should Sweden have joined (which was very likely in case of a major war), from the North.

chico20854

01-31-2022, 04:16 PM

January 31, 1997

Greece declares war on Turkey and attacks Turkish forces in Thrace.

unofficially:

Colonel General Oleg Tulaev, Soviet defense attache in New Delhi, tells Commonwealth Defense Attache, UK Lieutenant General Sir Robert Owens that the USSR is willing to engage in the proposed dialog.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Michigan Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, TX and the South Carolina Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

Commander Patrol Wings Pacific orders the deployment of Navy Reserve squadron VP-60, operating dated P-3B Orions, to deploy from its home station at NAS Glenview, Ill to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Airport in the Indian Ocean, in response to increasing reports of Soviet raider activity in the Indian Ocean and to protect the anticipated deployment of troops and equipment to CENTCOM.

A patrol of 107th MRD's 660th Motor-Rifle Regiment clashes with Green Berets of the 10th SF Group. When the Soviet troops call in supporting T-86 tanks the Americans slip away into forested swampland.

TR-1 reconniassance aircraft loitering over the Inner-German Border detect the movement of tank transporters and trucks carrying 4th Guards Tank Army westward. CENTAF dispatches the deep strike aircraft that were mission ready (following the prior night's costly raids on the tank plants) to interdict the moving Soviet reinforcements. CINCEUR denies permission to use ATACMS deep-strike missiles against Polish territory, afraid (because there are conventional and nuclear variants of the missile in service in Europe) of provoking a Soviet nuclear response.

The hunt for the Kirov-class battlecruiser in the stormy North Atlantic is fruitless, with no sign of the ship.

A Soviet reconniassance satellite locates Convoy 112 in the Atlantic 750 miles northwest of the Azores. The Soviet Echo II-class SSGN (nuclear cruise missile submarine) K-35 fires a salvo of 8 P-1000/SS-N-12 missiles at the convoy from a range of over 200 miles. The escort's only ship equipped with area defense surface-to-air missiles, the frigate Talbot, intercepted two of the incoming missiles, and three of the remaining six missiles struck ships. The Coast Guard cutter Spencer and transports Cape Lobos and Seaboard Star were all struck, and the missiles' one-ton warheads sank the cutter and started fires on the transports, which ultimately were not able to be extinguished.

Turkish and Greek troops clash west of Limassol, Cyprus.

Soviet bombers change targets for the night's raids over the Balkans, switching to the explosives plant in Fagaras, Romania's only domestic source. The raid uses carefully route planning to avoid coming in range of the Patriot missiles and is spectacularly successful, detonating what was likely the largest non-nuclear explosion in the history of the Balkans.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense and the Israeli Defense Force sign a secret contract to purchase Israel's fleet of Tiran-5 tanks, which are T-55s captured during the Arab-Israeli wars, fitted with a NATO 105mm gun and otherwise modernized. Israel was in the process of retiring the tank from its reserve forces; the purchase was financed by US Foreign Security Assistance funds, authorized by the year-end appropriations act.

The German government requisitions the ro-ro ship Heralden upon delivery; the Finnish government protests on behalf of its owners despite the German government reimbursing the Finnish company the funds they had spent on the ship plus a 5% premium.

In the Yellow Sea, the carriers Abraham Lincoln and Constellation continue to fly close air support missions over the DMZ in Korea.

Pasdaran officials reach out to the IPA leadership, desperate for modern anti-tank weapons and air cover. They refuse to recognize the National Emergency Council's authority, however, so no such support is forthcoming.

Homer

01-31-2022, 08:39 PM

Hmm… so is Advent Crown a product of Soviet recalcitrance, NATO overconfidence, or just coalition misunderstanding?

Matt Wiser

01-31-2022, 09:57 PM

Could very well be all three.

chico20854

02-01-2022, 04:10 PM

February 1, 1997

The final elements of the 7th Infantry Division (Light) arrive in Korea and are rushed to the front, under command of IX Corps.

Unofficially:

The 130th Tactical Airlift Squadron (West Virginia Air National Guard) is declared fully operational and begins deployment to Korea.

In Oakland, California the freighter Cape Byron is handed over to the US National Shipping Agency following its shipyard activation.

Naval aviators receive their first training against LSK (East German Air Force) MiG-29s attached to VF-43 at Oceana NAS and VF-126 at Miramar.

4th Guards Tank Army arrives in postions west of Świebodzin, Poland. Its artillery (down to regimental level) is ordered forward to reinforce 2nd Guards Tank Army. The forward movement is subjected to a hail of NATO interdiction fires.

On the Kola Peninsula, NATO resumes its offensive. The Canadian Special Service Force attacks northeast to isolate the Srednii Peninsula. The 10th Mountain Division attacks east out of Pechenga along the Kola Highway and the Norwegian 6th Division moves southeast to Titovka and the Koshka Yavr airfield. The US 6th Infantry Division's airborne battalion (the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry) launches the first NATO parachute assault of the war, landing at dusk on the runway at Koshka Yavr. A fierce battle in the darkness ensues as American paratroops tangle with the airfield’s garrison of recovering Soviet paratroops, survivors of the 7th Guards Airborne Division.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jXpgw6P5KkIW_JYcjkmEycVxBGlOyA8g/view?usp=sharing)
The aged Essex-class carrier Lexington is recommissioned in New Orleans, Louisiana and begins a short workup period with a scratch air wing culled from training squadrons along the Gulf Coast.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k1cQs9uyCa8as-6Ih8pljivelGHPVX27/view?usp=sharing)
A helicopter from a NATO Surface Action Group made up of of the US destroyers William V. Pratt and O'Bannon and the British frigate Cornwall sights the Soviet battlecruiser and, in a surprise, its escort, a single corvette. The task force breaks radio silence to report the sighting, prompting the Soviet force to immediately release a barrage of anti-surface missiles, with over-the-horizon guidance by one of Kirov's Ka-27 helicopters. The NATO group fires its Harpoon missiles, while Kirov downs the O'Bannon's SH-60 helicopter with a SA-N-6 missile. All three Allied ships are hit, and soon sink, while the battlecruiser's point defense missiles and guns shoot down the incoming Harpoons. The accompanying corvette is not targeted and is undamaged. Kirov and her escort depart the area, headed south at 30 knots.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GR9RI4A2YGABRCG-TvLrtjqnCQrnf18_/view?usp=sharing)
The Greek V Infantry Division lands at Paphos in western Cyprus, while Turkish troops secure Limassol. The area behind the front lines is a hotbed of civil conflict as armed gangs of Greek and Turkish civilians inflict atrocities on the other.

Greek troops of D Corps cross the Maritsa River in Thrace, facing Turkish Gendarmes and reserve infantry. Turkish commanders in Bulgaria are ordered to halt offensive action and dig in to their positons for "a temporary period".

The Turkish submarine Sakarya takes up station off the Bulgarian port of Varna in an attempt to interdict the flow of supplies to Bulgaria from the USSR.

Soviet bombers shift targets once again, launching their first raids against Jugoslavia. The night's effort is directed at suppressing the Jugoslav air defense force.

chico20854

02-01-2022, 04:13 PM

Hmm… so is Advent Crown a product of Soviet recalcitrance, NATO overconfidence, or just coalition misunderstanding?

Both of the first two, plus a lot of pressure from Western political leaders and pandering to the Polish Government in Exile, who are clamoring for liberation (yet, as Stalin liked to ask, "how many divisions does the Pope have?"). Stay tuned!!!

chico20854

02-02-2022, 04:01 PM

February 2, 1997

Nothing in the canon for today, but unofficially:

The first informal meeting, hosted by the Swiss Embassy in New Delhi, occurs between Soviet and British delegations on war termination. Both sides agree that the war needs to be brought to a swift conclusion. The Soviet proposal is a return to prewar German borders, transfer of all Manchuria to the USSR, annexation of northwestern Iran to Azerbaijan, "regime change" in Romania, arrest of the Polish Government in Exile and their transfer to Poland for "Proletarian Justice" and neutral, demilitarized South Korea and Germany, accompanied by crippling reparations from Germany and a withdrawal of American troops and nuclear weapons from Europe and East Asia.

The Foxtrot-class submarine B-475 sinks the American freighter President as it sails unescorted from Okinawa to Guam.

A flare-up of fighting in Manchuria begins, as the Peoples Liberation Army sees an opportunity to take advantage of bitter cold weather to infiltrate Soviet front lines.

The 135th Field Artillery Brigade (Missouri National Guard) is declared ready for combat and begins moving to the front.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X_kjnoriajJ4OrGahnVpPXVAW7IE8LDD/view?usp=sharing)
V US Corps sends forward the 42nd Field Artillery Brigade to plaster the massing Soviet artillery opposite the Frankfurt-on-Oder bridgehead with MLRS rockets.

The German Army Combined High Command adopts the Kriegheerstruktur, a wartime army structure that establishes three Army commands, 12 Korps headquarters and 14 Jaeger divisions and integrates the East German Army into the Bundeswehr.

On the Kola, Norwegian troops of the 6th Division link up with Amerrican paratroops from the 6th ID(L) fighting to secure the Koshka Yavr air base. American, Canadian and Norwegian troops continue their advance to the east.

The Soviet battlecruiser in the Atlantic, now identified as the Kirov, sinks the American cargo ship American Reservist, sailing unescorted in the North Atlantic. The Soviet ship also uses its onboard SA-N-6 SAM battery to down two 42nd Bomb Wing B-52Gs sent to strike it with Harpoon missiles.

The Turkish high command commits the 28th Infantry Division to Cyprus and directs a number of reinforcement divisions to Thrace.

The British repair ship Assistance arrives in Gibraltar, aiding in repairs to the US carrier John F Kennedy while awaiting a convoy through the Mediterranean.

The Soviet Kilo-class submarine B-177 sinks the Romanian tranpsort Bazias 5 in the Mediterranean at the mouth of the Adriatic as the Romanian ship was bringing in vitally needed supplies to Jugoslav ports.

Soviet bombers continue their assault on Jugoslavia, attacking the Kragujevac ordnance plant complex.

The 2nd Battalion, 6th Special Forces Group deploys its first B-Team to Romania. The team divides its efforts into providing training and communications to Romanian Army units (allowing them to, for example, call in airstrikes from US and NATO strike aircraft) and improving the quality of Romanian reserve units and Patriotic Guards formations.

The American transport ship Marine Reliance arrives at the Israeli port of Haifa and begins loading Ti-67 Tiran-5 tanks for Romania.

The 4th Alabama Infantry Brigade is activated by the governor, consisting of the Headquarters & 3rd Battalion in Montgomery, 1st Battalion in Opelika, 2nd Battalion in Dothan with the 4th Battalion in Florala. The state defense force unit is assigned to protect the state capital and national guard facilities on a rotating basis.

chico20854

02-03-2022, 04:23 PM

February 3, 1997

Nothing official today!

Talks in New Dehli continue between Soviet and British delegations. No immediate progress is reported.

The Victory ship Wayne Victory leaves the shipyard in Philadelphia, PA and loads cargo of scrap steel for Argentina; once there it will load munitions provided to Argentina under MAP (the Military Aid Program), whose return has been requested by the US.

The Victory ship transport PVT Fred C Murphy is activated in Mobile, Alabama and begins loading a cargo of general supplies for the US naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba.

The container ship Hanjin Hing Kong arrives in Charleston, SC for conversion to an escort carrier.

The US aircraft carrier Midway leaves the shipyard in San Diego, returned to service after several years in reserve.

Pro-NATO Latvian partisans led by American Special Forces advisors ambush a supply convoy of the 107th MRD.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1woiyg1Gvh49yCp1VSwvb89h4DJnYoTm8/view?usp=sharing)
Despite the aerial and artillery bombardment of the prior days, 1st Guards Tank Army launches a fierce attack on the German bridgehead at Gubin. The attack drives the Germans back halfway to the Oder River by nightfall.

The 116th MRD counterattacks the NATO force at Koshka Yavr on the Kola Peninsula, suffering heavy losses as it was expecting only a single worn-down American battalion, not the reinforced Norwegian brigade (with armor) that it encountered.

The US 10th Mountain Division launches an air assault on the headquarters of the 45th Guards MRD, which results in command and control in the Soviet division breaking down and a chaotic retreat.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i6uFQsW4CMp3dIzL-AukPdTSfWcYuzjI/view?usp=sharing)
The Kirov's "escort", the corvette Skola, has fallen nearly 100 nm behind the cruiser, unable to keep up with the battlecruiser's nuclear reactors. The hapless combatant is located by aircraft from the USS Enterprise and shortly receives a visit by F/A-18s of VFA-94, who sink the vessel with laser-guided bombs and cluster bombs. The Enterprise group, however, cannot locate the Kirov.

Turkish forces in Thrace fall back to a secondary defense line, consisting of concrete bunkers and pillboxes prepared long ago. The fortifications allow the otherwise outnumbered and outgunned Turkish troops to hold back the Greek invaders.

The Bucharest tank plant delivers its first TR-85 tank following the Soviet air raids of prior week; overall, the plant is operating at 40 percent of its capacity before the raids.

Soviet bombers strike the tank plant in Slavonski Brod, Croatia.

lordroel

02-04-2022, 09:55 AM

Keep it up.

Question how do you come up with all the not-official stuff.

chico20854

02-04-2022, 04:01 PM

Keep it up.

Question how do you come up with all the not-official stuff.

I've been amassing it for (many) years, several years before this board ever existed. Much of it was worked out with some friends from the DC area, some I've pulled together over the years with some unofficial campaign histories (Advent Crown (https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1XyXAGQmUEj_EL1TqQX3oC3q4m0gM_8rk&usp=sharing), the Norwegian Campaign part 1 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KcDW693EWJ8sGM04na7S_M5No0gcM3mK/view?usp=sharing) and part 2 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YSkq5k5_R2Odsss74byhCqGwkjFxMs3y/view?usp=sharing), the Summer 1998 Campaign (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XwPtYV0H11AXYkTJ_qyrDiP8lLaY1hYM/view?usp=sharing)) and an Illustrated History of the war (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gM5KjRiSQHuDl2qANJ3NgbltIU-4D3OK/view?usp=sharing). I also have a couple other folks here feeding me ideas; Olefin provided me a sketch of the Kirov's history which I'm adapting, for example and Stilleto69 has generously shared his unit history drafts with me.

Right now I have 9 Excel spreadsheets open feeding my master timeline document (Allied strategic sites, Pact strategic sites, US Navy ships, Soviet surface ships, Soviet subs, Allied transport ships, USN air units, USAF air units and the Pact ground forces. Don't have the Allied surface ships spreadsheet open today). Likewise I have 8 Word documents and 4 pdf's open.

A lot of it also is just coloring in the spaces between what canon has published. For example, the US Army Vehicle Guide says that the 26th ID deployed by air to Korea in February. I can break that down into several daily items, like beginning and end. A lot of the rest is pulling together bits of 1980s doctrine and various "what-ifs" or looking at instances from World War II that might be applicable.

I've been collecting images for most of this time, I have almost 41,000 Twilight:2000-related photos on my hard drive. At times like this (with tension between Russia and Ukraine) I can spend a few hours a day gathering more - for example I saw footage the other day of BMP-3s manuevering in the snow. That could come in handy!

I'm glad folks are enjoying this!

chico20854

02-04-2022, 04:24 PM

February 4, 1997

Nothing in the canon today!

The NATO delegation informs the Soviet delegation in New Delhi that NATO cannot accept the Soviet proposal on war termination. Talks break down.

A shadowy company closes on the purchase of the former Bushkill Resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, which had been closed for seven years.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UbSyITNVHdidxdpxnM5dmXRrbi9ZeUIY/view?usp=sharing)
The Canadian Navy recommissions the "destroyer" (most would consider it a frigate) Saguenay, retired in 1990. The reactivation included modernized electronics and a Phalanx close-in missile defense gun system.

Convoy 208 departs San Francisco Bay for Korea. Its ships include the Cape Horn and Arabian Breeze, carrying the 264th Engineer Group; the John Lykes carrying bulk ammunition and containerized supplies for 8th US Army, and the Earlham Victory carrying bagged rice to help sustain the South Korean civilian population.

The 107th MRD's 379th Artillery Regiment launches a massive artillery bombardment on underdeveloped forested area suspected of hosting anti-Soviet partisans, while MVD troops arrest inhabinants of local villages suspected of supporting them.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qw7UV3cEwX7pAjMQcuqVCFVymKL-ubKz/view?usp=sharing)
German reinforcements pour into the Gubin bridgehead, while 4th Guards Tank Army is thrown into the drive to force the German troops from Polish soil.

The Echo II-class submarine K-35, its missile tubes empty after attack on Convoy 112, arrives in the Orinoco River Delta for replenishment from the Soviet merchantman Suzdal, which has been anchored in a remote channel for several weeks and resupplying raiders.

The Kirov continues its rampage, sinking the Cypriot-flagged tanker Neptune Wave carrying crude oil from Nigeria to the US Gulf Coast with gunfire.

Soviet bombers attack Bucharest, targeting command and control facilities. They lose three aircraft to Jugosav SA-3 batteries which have been moved into the area in the prior day.

The Turkish submarine Sakarya sinks the Bulgarian training ship Nikola Vaptzarov leaving Varna with reinforcements for beseiged Burgas.

As the Pasdaran continues to crumble under relentless Soviet assault, CENTCOM commanders meet with their Saudi and Iranian counterparts, who urge rapid deployment of CENTCOM troops and combat aircraft.

The Chasov Yar truck rebuild plant in eastern Ukraine turns out its first rebuilt BTR-40 Armored Personnel Carrier, fitting a nearly 50-year old armored shell onto a newer production GAZ-3307 truck chassis. This is in response to reports of the unservicability of BTR-40s being activated by mobilization-only units.

The American transport Marine Reliance departs Haifa en route to Split, Croatia with Israeli tanks for Romania.

chico20854

02-05-2022, 06:52 AM

February 5, 1997

4th Marine Division moved by sea from Pearl Harbor to Yokosuka, Japan. [I have this as the 3rd Division].

Unofficial:

The Swiss ambassador in New Delhi convinces both NATO and Soviet delegations to remain, although no future meetings are scheduled.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Pennsylvania Freedom is delivered in Portland, OR.

The US aircraft carrier Midway begins workups with its new air wing, CVW-16, composed of newly raised squadrons.

The fierce but static fighting near the DMZ continues.

For the third day, an intense struggle continues at the Gubin bridgehead. With the pontoon bridges and ferry landing sites under frequent heavy artillery bombardment, the German commanders commit the former East German 40th Air Assault Brigade, flown into the rear area on Bundeswehr CH-53 helicopters. Each of the brigades troops carries some sort of anti-tank weapon, predominantly RPG-16s.

The last TOW missiles in the Norwegian inventory are shipped to the front, leaving the nation reliant on US production.

Soviet Long Range Aviation in the Southwest TVD starts a 48-hour maintenance stand down, as fewer and fewer aircraft are available for the nightly raids over the Balkans.

Turkish troops in Thrace effectively halt the Greek advance after progressing 10-20 km. In Bulgaria the front is static, with Turkish troops besieging Burgas and deep into the Balkan Mountains but neither side able to muster the troops and supplies to launch an offensive.

The 73rd Tank Division in the Volga Military District is called up, formed out of the staff and student body of the Kazan Higher Tank Command School and local reservists.

Homer

02-05-2022, 11:09 PM

stilleto69

02-06-2022, 06:01 AM

@ Homer.

So true, that's why for my unit histories I switched it to the 1st MEB being sent from Hawaii to Japan, to either be used as an amphibious landing unit or to bring the 3rd MARDIV up to 3 regiment. I have them as having only 4th & 9th Marines.

chico20854

02-06-2022, 09:42 PM

February 6, 1997

A shipment of Cadillac-Gage Stingray light tanks awaiting export to Pakistan is requisitioned by the US Army's Field Materials Headquarters Company 12.

Unofficially,

The Freedom ship Kentucky Freedom is delivered in Galveston, TX and the Alabama Freedom in Pascagoula, MS.

The 157th Infantry Brigade (M), US Army Reserve, completes its rotation at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, CA and is declared combat ready.

The 43rd Infantry Brigade (Connecticut National Guard) completes Rotation 97-3 at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Ft. Polk, LA and is declared combat ready.

The container ship Hanjin Keelung leaves the Charleston Navy Yard, having been converted to an escort carrier and commissioned as the USS Langley CVHE-1. The newest warship begins a quick workup period, embarking several SH-3, EH-3 and UH-1 helicopters and a flight of Marine Corps AV-8C Harriers.

Convoy 205 (troop ships carrying men and cargo ships carrying vehicles and heavy equipment of the 163rd ACR (MT and TX NG)) arrives in Pusan, Korea.

The Constellation and Abraham Lincoln conclude a period of air operations in the Yellow Sea and retire to the southeast, headed to Okinawa for a replenishment period and linking up with the Independence battle group, arriving in the theater.

The battlecruiser Kirov continues its rampage through the South Atlantic. It sets the Liberian-flagged ore carrier Jade Triumph on fire, then sinks the British patrol ship HMS Shetland, guard ship for Ascension Island, when it rushed to respond to the striken freighter's mayday calls. The cruiser finished the day's action with a close pass by the British Island, shelling the airfield and it's vital fuel supplies, igniting a blaze that shut down all operations on the island.

The arrival of East German elite paratroopers and clear skies over the Gubin bridgehead brings a halt to Soviet progress. Combat is fierce and artillery fire intense for another day.

The Dutch Red Army sets fire to trucks in the parking lot of the truck plant in Zwolle, damaging or destroying a week's worth of production.

Turkish troops on Cyprus face off against Greeks in the mountainous center of the island. With both sides taking advantage of the difficult terrain forward progress is measured in meters.

The Turkish government announces another round of reservists being recalled, this one for 24-year old men. Turkey enjoys vast pools of trained men but lacks modern weapons and equipment to send them into battle with.

CENTCOM commander General Barbaneri returns to the US after meeting the Saudi defense minister and Iranian defense officials. He lobbies for release of transportation assets to CENTCOM, noting the threat to his region and decreasing numbers of units ready for deployment to Europe.

chico20854

02-07-2022, 09:15 AM

[QUOTE=chico20854;90270]February 5, 1997

4th Marine Division moved by sea from Pearl Harbor to Yokosuka, Japan. [I have this as the 3rd Division].

It was always been a canonical head scratcher to me why 3d MARDIV (headquartered in Okinawa with a regimental combat team on Oahu) which trained extensively in Korea got deployed to CENTCOM after 4th MARDIV (a reserve formation) mobilized and deployed to Korea.

Maybe 3d MARDIV was held in reserve as the situation in Iran deteriorated due to their higher levels of equipment and proficiency as a regular formation? Or were they earmarked for a landing in support of a counterattack in Korea then released as Korea stabilized and the US committed forces to Iran?

If you look at other GDW sources, there’s not a lot of clues. Third World War doesn’t have them in the counter mix for any of the games. The Gulf War Fact Book mentions Task Force Taro but no one else from 3d MARDIV. Add in the fact that 3 MEF had an air wing and associated naval units and amphibious shipping assigned in Japan or in Hawaii and it really gets odd.

Easy to see why you have swapped the divisions. Makes sense.

When we looked at it we came to the same conclusion. It makes ZERO sense to take a division with a forward-deployed brigade in Okinawa, whose whole orientation is towards Korea and the Pacific, and let it sit there while they ship in a reserve formation from the West Coast, and shortly thereafter load the whole unit up and send it to CENTCOM! So we switched out 3rd and 4th Divisions in our (the DC Group's) history, and have 4th MarDiv do a long voyage from San Diego to Bandar Abbas (around the south coast of Australia to avoid detection). This preserves strategic surprise - the GRU very well may know that they departed, but have no idea as the days and weeks pass whether they are going to show up in Korea, Europe, CENTCOM, the Kuriles, the Aleutians or even the Kamchakta Peninsula or cross the Bering Straits into eastern Siberia. But to be prudent, the Soviets have to divert reconnaissance assets to look for it and maintain forces on alert in all those locations to counter the threat it poses. Force multiplier!

chico20854

02-07-2022, 04:45 PM

February 7, 1997

Nothing in the canon for today!

The FBI receives word of additional Spetsnaz teams' arrival in Mexico, having transited from India to Singapore to Panama to Nicaragua, then travelling overland to Mexico.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qXrDPzar-MSsHnK6TnZGPJAV7yBk7nzi/view?usp=sharing)
The 130th Tactical Airlift Wing (West Virginia Air National Guard) and its subordinate 130th Tactical Airlift Squadron arrive in Sacheon, Republic of Korea.

2nd Guards Tank Army launches an attack on the British-held bridgehead opposite Frankfurt-on-Oder, in an attempt to draw off Allied airpower from the ongoing battle at the Gubin bridgehead.

Soviet General B.V. Rumyantsyev, commander of the 11th Guards Army, is killed in Poland when his helicopter crashes while evading a RAF Phantom fighter jet.

On the Kola Peninsula, the US 6th ID(L) crosses the frozen Titovka River to maintain X Corp's advance towards the next obstacle on the way to Murmansk, the Litsa River. The Norwegian 14th Brigade is attached to the American division, and the track (road is too generous a term to describe it!) serves as the dividing line between the American and Norwegian 6th Divisions.

The Soviet Victor III-class nuclear submarine K-412 attacks the American container ship Sea-Land Mercury, travelling unescorted to the Mediterranean at 23 knots. The ship is struck by a single torpedo and left dead in the water; the arrival of P-3 patrol aircraft prevents the submarine from finishing off the kill.

Soviet bombers return to the skies over the Balkans, returning to strike the Bucharest tank plant again. A Tu-16 is lost to defending anti-aircraft fire.

Pasdaran lines in central Iran continue to crumble under the relentless attack from three Soviet armies.

The USAF 149th Tactical Fighter Group, based in southeastern Turkey, launches another interdiction attack, blocking the northwestern road through the mountains between Tabriz and Azerbaijan when it catches a Soviet supply convoy in a narrow pass, a perfect target for the F-16s cluster bombs.

The battlecruiser Kirov exits the region near Ascension Island following its raid of the prior day. In doing so, it exhausts the last of its fuel oil supply, leaving it solely reliant on its nuclear power plant. This limits the ship's speed to 18 knots. The ship's main anti-ship missile battery has only three SS-N-19 missiles remaining and ammunition for the 100mm guns is also running low. Appraised of its status, the Naval command in Moscow orders the ship to link up with a hidden supply ship in South America.

The 60th Tank Division, a Category C unit from the Moscow Military District, is activated in the town of Dzerzhinsk, about 230 miles east of Moscow. The division is equipped with T-62 tanks and Second World War-vintage artillery.

pmulcahy11b

02-08-2022, 01:02 PM

The Kirov is becoming the Moby Dick of the war.

chico20854

02-08-2022, 03:25 PM

The Kirov is becoming the Moby Dick of the war.

I'm a little torn! I have an end in sight (thanks Olefin!) but we're not there yet. I am struggling to explain how NATO navies can just let this thing run amok on the high seas... they're straining to provide escorts for merchantmen moving troops and equipment and have little to divert to the hunt, the big-name (and capability) units are still recovering from the Battle of the Norwegian Sea, they're reluctant to commit aircraft to the hunt, fearful that more will get shot down like the B-52s did, it's a big ocean with a lot of neutral traffic out there and the Kirov is staying away from (or maybe hiding in) the usual transit routes?

Luckily canon gives us an answer of how this all ultimately ends!

chico20854

02-08-2022, 04:10 PM

February 8, 1997

Greece begins a naval blockade of Turkey in the Aegean Sea. It would extend it to the Mediterranean coast but it's navy is insufficient to enfore it.

Unofficially:

The Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy departs Mobile with cargo for the US Navy base at Guantanamo, Cuba. It is escorted by the Coast Guard cutter Resolute.

In Charleston SC, the escort carrier USS Langley's air wing reaches its full strength - six AV-8C Harriers, six SH-3H ASW helicopters, three EH-3I AEW helicopters and three UH/HH-1 helicopters.

The attack submarine USS Tunny discharges SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One off Matua Island, one of the Kurile Islands north of Japan, shortly before midnight.

The American carriers Constellation, Independence and Abraham Lincoln launch a raid on the Nampho shipyard, port and naval base complex. Much of the strike force is dedicated to suppression of North Korean anti-aircraft artillery, and the raid is helped by the freezing-over of the harbor, which immobilized many of the craft present.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/15YCe_Zzosaxy4iS1MyuFNviVCC7zjCGJ/view?usp=sharing)
The struggle to hold (or, from the Pact perspective, eliminate) the bridgeheads across the Oder in Poland continues, with repeated attacks and counter-attacks. The front lines are fluid but the Pact forces are unsucessful in driving NATO troops back to the river.

Frontal Aviation's 305th Bomber Regiment launches a low-level raid on the ELINT station on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea north of Poland. One aircraft is shot down by anti-aircraft artillery fire from the Home Guard and small Army garrison.

The last Soviet paratroopers defending the Boris Gleb power station on the Norwegian-Soviet border surrender after holding out in the underground halls for over a month.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1akpZcZxtb2ySLrmPXJWyaACbvgeAKbv9/view?usp=sharing)
A Bulgarian Mi-14 helicopter, flying cover for a coastal convoy from Varna to Burgas, sights the submerged Turkish submarine Sakarya and attacks it. The attack is unsuccessful, but the Turkish submarine is hounded by a series of surface and air units, which drive it into a minefield which results in the submarine's sinking.

The American cruiser USS Virginia is damaged by the blast from a Soviet SS-N-12 missile (fired by the Echo II-class cruise missile submarine K-131) which detonated in the chaff cloud near the cruiser while it was escorting westbound Convoy 117.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/11HysDr6-k2h29KHhhd9CTJBnuBcwqzKu/view?usp=sharing)
CENTCOM orders the sortie of the prepositioning fleet at Diego Garcia. The 22 ships there carry equipment and vehicles for an Army heavy brigade, a Marine Expeditionary Brigade, a Naval hospital, port development equipment and ammunition and supplies.

chico20854

02-09-2022, 04:34 PM

February 9, 1997

France, Belgium, Italy and Greece legally leave NATO; their participation had ended 60 days earlier.

Unofficial:

The 123rd Army Reserve Command, from Indianapolis, Indiana and activated at nearby Fort Benjamin Harrison, is redesignated HQ, XI US Corps, receiving a new commanding general, Lieutenant General Albert Savage, former commander of III Corps.

SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One makes a predawn raid on the Soviet air defense radar on Matua in the Kurile Islands. They subsequently engage the defenders of the island's small airstrip, overwhelming them with the volume and accuracy of their gunfire, and detonate demolition charges in the runway. They evacuate by SDV before they can be caught by the the remnants of the garrison or reinforcements flown in from nearby islands.

With the arrival of the 7th Infantry Division in Korea, I Corps is able to pull the 2nd Infantry Division off the front lines, where it has been fighting for over six weeks, for rest and to receive reinforcements. (The replacement system is now feeding over 1000 trained troops, both new draftees and recalled inactive reservists, into the Korean theatre each week.)

US Navy Patrol squadron VP-60 arrives at the recently improved Cocos Islands, Airport, Australia and begins flying patrols looking for Soviet raiders and submarines. Australian authorities impose a near-total communications blackout on the inhabitants to prevent news of American combat missions being launched from Australian territory from becoming public.

The Freedom ship Idaho Freedom returns to San Francisco Bay, calling at the Oakland Army Terminal to load its next cargo. The Pennsylvania Freedom, delivered on the 5th is ordered to Tacoma, Washington, from Portland, to load its first cargo.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UiuDCPUeHH5HBRMqCnvs8zV2z7GgDMcY/view?usp=sharing)
The Mainz Army Depot in Germany returns its 200th M1-series tank damaged in the Battle of Germany to 7th Army after repair, testing and certification as combat ready.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TYNDjlHJKvle1gLqOHiwPvVXIB2mQemO/view?usp=sharing)
Soviet Su-24 bombers strike Danish targets, including the Gedser port facility (terminus of a ferry to Germany).

Soviet forces make a maximum effort to eliminate the Gubin and Frankfurt-on-Oder bridgeheads, which once again fail.

US Marines of the 8th Marine Expeditionary Brigade raid the Libyan Gamal Abdul El Nasser Air Base and adjacent SA-5 missile regiment launch stations, destroying the missiles and radar, cratering the runway and collapsing many of the hardened aircraft shelters.

The Soviet destroyer Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, sinks the Greek-owned bulk carrier Archimedes, expending the last of its complement of SS-N-22 Sunburst missiles.

A combined military and civilian force on Ascension extinguishes the fire in the island's aviation fuel tank farm that was ignited by the Kirov's shelling three days prior.

The American transport ship Marine Reliance arrives in Split, Croatia with a load of Ti-67 tanks for Romania.

The last aircraft of the Iranian 32nd Tactical Fighter Wing arrive in Iran and the F-20 Tigershark unit begins flying combat air patrols over the areas of Iran controlled by the Iran Nowin government. The 41st Tactical Figher Wing hands over its remaining F-5s to the 22nd Wing, its pilots and ground staff boarding Iran Air 747s bound for Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia to pick up new F-20s.

The US Transportation Command issues a warning order to airlift units and sealift planners, alerting them to an imminent need to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia and Iran.

cawest

02-09-2022, 05:40 PM

Greece might not be in NATO anymore but the USSR is still going to sink your ships.

chico20854

02-10-2022, 04:42 PM

February 10, 1997

Denmark declares war on the Soviet Union following the prior dayss (and weeks') attacks on Danish facilities and ships.

Unofficially:

The Freedom-class cargo ship Wisconsin Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, TX and the Indiana Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

The 56th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania National Guard) completes Rotation 97-4 at NTC-2 at the Yakima Training Center and is declared combat ready.

The escort carrier USS Shangri-La (CVHE-3) is commissioned at the Charleston Navy Yard. A week prior it had been a Korean-flag container ship.

The Canadian Navy commissions the patrol-minesweeper Nanaimo in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She begins a transit through the Panama Canal to British Columbia, joining westbound Convoy 117 for the first part of the trip.

There's chaos in the North Sea as simultaneous explosions on five offshore oil platforms disrupt production from the Forties oil field, the largest in the British sector of the North Sea.

The Soviet 2nd and 4th Guards Tank Armies halt their offensive actions, while their reserve formations construct hasty field fortifications. For the first time in a week, the front lines of the Oder bridgeheads are quiet.

The Soviet 1077th Ski Regiment grows to five battalions of all-female volunteers, mostly from the Leningrad area. The new battalion joins the rest of the unit patrolling 18th Army's open southern flank southwest of Murmansk as NATO troops push eastward.

Naval clash in the Aegean between the Greek and Turkish navies, when the Turkish 3rd Assault Boat Flotilla sorties into the Aegean and engages a Greek Surface Action Group composed of the destroyers Kanaris and Lonchi. Both destroyers are overwhelmed by Turkish SSMs and sink, taking down the Turkish missile boat Pelikan with them. An air battle follows overhead, when Greek A-7s swoop in, sink the Turkish missile boats Sismek and Gurbet, and are subsequently set upon by Turkish F-4s. Two A-7s are lost, and when Greek F-4s intervened one of each nation's Phantoms are downed before the engagement finally ends, 45 minutes after the first shot was fired.

Soviet bombers strike Brasov, Romania, hitting the ordnance plant once again. US Army Patriot missiles down two more Backfire bombers.

In Kaliningrad, the KGB arranges a meeting of the East German Communist Party, including party officials who fled reunited Germany, party members who were travelling elsewhere in the USSR and Warsaw Pact, political officers of East German Army units fighting in China and a number of officials arrested by the KGB during the retreat from East Germany. Following a script written by the KGB in Moscow, the Party meeting expels all SED members who supported or participtated in the reunification campaign and called for the formation of "Liberation Armed Forces" to free all of Germany from revanchist imperialist NATO-allied German authorities.

Olefin

02-10-2022, 04:45 PM

definition of a bar room brawl that keeps getting bigger

Naval clash in the Aegean between the Greek and Turkish navies, when the Turkish 3rd Assault Boat Flotilla sorties into the Aegean and engages a Greek Surface Action Group composed of the destroyers Kanaris and Lonchi. Both destroyers are overwhelmed by Turkish SSMs and sink, taking down the Turkish missile boat Pelikan with them. An air battle follows overhead, when Greek A-7s swoop in, sink the Turkish missile boats Sismek and Gurbet, and are subsequently set upon by Turkish F-4s. Two A-7s are lost, and when Greek F-4s intervened one of each nation's Phantoms are downed before the engagement finally ends, 45 minutes after the first shot was fired.

chico20854

02-10-2022, 04:48 PM

Greece might not be in NATO anymore but the USSR is still going to sink your ships.

The Soviets figured that the cargo moving on the world's oceans wasn't going to make it through the NATO blockades along the approaches to the USSR, so if it's moving it isn't for them and therefore possibly for NATO or neutral countries. Either way they aren't going to risk the possibility of being sighted and called in, so it's more or less a sink on sight (visual, radar or shipborne helicopter) policy.

And the Greeks were the largest owners of ships in the world at the time, so it was inevitable both that some of them would see the earning potential of carrying cargo to combatant nations and that some of their ships would get sunk. Most of their ships weren't even Greek flagged (which obligated them to use more expensive Greek crews and follow all kinds of pesky bureaucratic rules!).

So it's not really that the Soviets targeted the ship knowing it was Greek, it was more a case of "nothing personal, its just business"!

chico20854

02-11-2022, 09:50 AM

February 11, 1997

A Spetsnaz team under Colonel Mikhail Tumanski arrives in the UK, landed in inflatable boats on a remote section of coastline.

Unofficial:

The order to deploy CENTCOM to Iran and Saudi Arabia is issued. Within hours, the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division is loading on transport aircraft for Saudi Arabia. The 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) moves its equipment and vehicles to the port of Savannah, the 101st Air Assault Division to Jacksonville, Florida and the 9th ID(Lt Mech) to Tacoma, Washington. The Air Force hastily shuffles tankers to support the deployment of the highest priority aircraft, the F-15Cs of the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing and the F-15Es of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing. (The F-15s are able to load maximum fuel tankage for their deployment flights since there are two ships - the Buffalo Soldier and the American Merlin - loaded with munitions and spares en route to the region from Diego Garcia.)

The 53rd Infantry Brigade (Florida National Guard) completes Rotation 97-5 at JRTC-2 at Fort Chaffee, AR and declared combat ready.

The front along the Oder River in Poland remains quiet for a second day. Soviet units pull back 500m or so to the fighting positions that have been prepared by their rear elements in the prior few days.

IV Corps headquarters is formed in Flushing, New York from personnel assigned to the 77th and 94th Army Reserve Commands (known as ARCOMs). When the mobilization support mission was completed, IV Corps assumes duties overseeing and supporting training units in the northeast, providing security in the New York Port of Embarkation, receiving and processing POWs arriving from overseas and coordinating the emergency and disaster relief planning efforts of civil authorities.

The Freedom ship Idaho Freedom is directed to Tacoma, Washington to prepare to load elements of the 9th ID (Motorized) from nearby Fort Lewis.

The Soviet raider Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, attacks the Romanian-flag general cargo ship Trinity, using the ship's 130mm guns, setting it ablaze.

Soviet long-range aviation returns to Jugoslav skies, hitting the Čačak munitions plant in Serbia.

The American transport USNS Bob Hope loads the vehicles of the 169th Field Artillery Brigade (Colorado National Guard) at the Bayonne Army terminal in New Jersey for movement to Germany.

The 362nd Guards Assault Gun Regiment in the Odessa Military District is mobilized for service in the Balkans.

chico20854

02-12-2022, 06:18 AM

February 12, 1997

Nothing official for today!

The US 11th Airborne Division is activated at Fort Dix, New Jersey from volunteers from throughout the Army.

The XI Corps Headquarters staff travels to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for a command post exercise.

A preliminary assesment of the damage to the Forties oil field infrastructure in the North Sea concludes that it will be out of service for the remainder of the year. A classified annex to the assessment discloses that the "incident" was likely the result of a Spetsnaz raid.

The Western TVD begins to rotate units on the front line in Poland, bringing fresher and stronger divisions up while withdrawing worn-out units for reconstruction. Among the many changes is bringing forward the 3rd GMRD, which enters action in Poland under command of the 22nd Army.

The escort carrier Shangri-La receives its air wing off Cherry Point, NC and begins transit to Jacksonville, FL.

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army begins to amass an infantry-strong reserve force from the stream of light divisions that flow weekly from the interior. With Soviet resources stretched to the limit by the worldwide conflict, the upcoming thaw in Manchuria offers an opportunity to launch an offensive, one where the outnumbered Soviet forces will be unable to exploit their superior mobility due to the mud, and whose fire support has been weakened with the transfer of aircraft to other theaters and diversion of artillery ammunition to other fronts.

The Soviet battle cruiser Kirov, in the South Atlantic en route to a resupply, encounters the Brazilian-flagged freighter Rio Coari. It peppers the freighter's bridge with 30mm fire before landing a detachment from the ship's Ka-27 helicopter to seize the ship.

A detachment of the US Navy SEEBEEs Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 arrives on Ascension Island to install a temporary fuel system and repair the fire-damaged original system.

The 17th Guards Tank Division is withdrawn for reconstruction following nearly two months on the front line beseiging Galati, Romania.

The last tanks for Romania are unloaded from the American ship Marine Reliance, which departs for its next assignment.

Soviet bombers target the Romanian shipyards in Mangalia in a bid to prevent Romania from completing ships to contest Pact control of the Black Sea.

The Fast Sealift Ships Pollux, Antares and Denebola load the 151st Field Artillery Brigade (SC National Guard) in Charleston, SC.

The 6th Air Cavalry Combat Brigade, 14th Armored Cavaly Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized), 18th Field Artillery Brigade, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and 20th Engineer Brigade are all placed on alert for deployment to the CENTCOM AOR. Movement of vehicles and equipment to load ports and arrival of ships and aircraft will take several days (or weeks) yet.

Following up on the East German Communist Party meeting on the 10th, the Red Army sponsors the creation, training and equipment of East German loyalist units. Many military veterans are assigned to Volkspolezei (VoPo) riot control units, which sided with the Soviets during the Battle of Germany, (organized into three independent regiments). Students attending schools in the USSR and Warsaw Pact nations and workers and tourists under age 30 are hastily rounded up from their locations and formed into two regiments of the Freie Deutsche Jugend, a party-allied youth political organization that was transformed into a party militia.

The mini-convoy of the Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy and Coast Guard Cutter Resolute arrives in Guantanamo, Cuba.

chico20854

02-13-2022, 05:59 PM

February 13, 1997

Nothing official for the day.

The 46th Brigade, 38th Infantry Division (Michigan National Guard) completes Rotation 97-3 at NTC-3 at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona and is declared combat ready.

Air Force Systems Command concludes its test series of AGM-142 Have Nap missile drops from F-111s at Edwards AFB, CA and clears the missile for use from that aircraft.

The final former South Korean container ship, the Hanjin Kobe, arrives at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, CA, for conversion to an escort carrier.

The Iranian 43rd Tactical Fighter Training Squadron receives its complement of F-20s in Savannah, Georgia and flies them to Pensacola for conversion training.

RAF Mildenhall struck again (the first strike was on January 11th), this time by Tu-22Ms. This time 3rd Air Force was ready and very little damage was incurred.

Following the collapse of the drive to eliminate the NATO bridgeheads in western Poland, the Polish Communist Party declares a total national mobilization. The last manufacturing plants producing civilian goods convert to military production and the nation begins to prepare for the possibility of NATO invasion. Rationing is imposed nationwide as the government increases stockpiles of food, fuel and materials. The population is called out to assist in the war effort; each town, city and village forms a militia (mostly armed with Second World War-vintage rifles and submachineguns, if armed at all). A massive effort is launched to create defensive lines across the country. Pensioners are assigned duties digging trenches, and schools go to a half-day schedule, with classes (often on military subjects such as small-unit tactics or use of gas masks) in the morning and the afternoons spent working on defensive positions.

1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division reaches the mouth of the Litsa River.

The Romanian freighter Trinity, set ablaze 2 days prior, sinks 200 miles west of Dakar, while the Soviet destroyer Buliny heads for Luanda, Angola for replenishment.

Cloudy weather over Jugoslavia results in Soviet bombers dropping their loads over rural Croatia, damaging several farms but having no real effect on the Jugoslav war effort other than to enrage a few more Jugoslav families.

The 38th Infantry Division (Indiana and Michigan National Guards) begins loading vehicles and equipment aboard ships in the ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia.

The US Coast Guard cutter Resolute begins a patrol of local area in the central Caribbean.

chico20854

02-14-2022, 03:49 PM

February 14, 1997

Another day with nothing in the official canon.

The latest (and last) version of the US Nuclear warfighting plan, the Single Intergrated Operating Plan or "SIOP", known as SIOP 8, Revision 2 goes into effect. It has quite extensive changes from the prior version, as several targets located in East Germany are now under NATO control and many of the Red Army garrisons have been vacated when their tenant units deployed. This version also omits targets in the People's Republic of China.

A C-141 from the 30th Military Airlift Squadron loads a cargo of AGM-142 Have Nap missiles from K.I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan for transfer to F-111 units in the UK.

The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) commander, refelcting on the difficulty controlling forces in the Frankfurt-on-Oder bridgehead and forces on the Czechoslovak border simultaneously, requests the establishment of a second corps headquarters in BAOR.

The 10th Special Forces Group in Poland and the Baltic States launches a series of coordinated strikes on Soviet supply lines, ambushing over a dozen trains and convoys over a three-hour period.

In the Pacific, American aircraft launch Operation Steel Hammer - four American carriers (the Abraham Lincoln, Independence, Constellation and John C. Stennis, making its combat debut with the US Navy Reserve Air Wing CVW-20 embarked), operating in coordination with USAF aircraft operating from Japan, all under the direction of an E-3 AWACS, carry out a raid on Vladivostok area naval bases. Most of the sorties are devoted to suppression of the PVO regional air defense network, so central Vladivostok is spared attack, several smaller outlying bases receiving devastating amounts of damage.

The Soviet battlecruiser Kirov enters the Orinoco River Delta in remote eastern Venezuela and meets the Soviet supply ship Suzdal, which has been hiding there for several weeks. The Suzdal provides Kirov with 12 fuel air explosive versions of the SS-N-19 Shipwreck missile for a special attack mission along with fuel, other munitions and supplies.

Soviet long-range aviation returns once again to the Bucharest tank plant, where the presence of American Patriot missiles and newly introduced jamming and electronic spoofing results in no damage to the plant.

The first formerly Israeli Ti-67 tanks arrive at the front in Romania. The front continues to remain largely static as Soviet forces try to amass sufficient manpower and supplies to resume the offensive and Romanian and Jugoslav forces try to conserve their resources and maintain a strong defense.

The final elements of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Special Forces Group arrive in Romania, and half of the 1st Battalion is in Jugoslavia, embedding in Jugoslav Army units and training territorial defense troops to communicate with NATO forces, including how to call in airstrikes and artillery fire.

Homer

02-14-2022, 06:33 PM

The naval raider activity has me wondering about the MPA force. I know Keflavik got hit by a SSM strike early on (I’m asssuming they’ve reconstituted or developed a dispersed base), and Kirov bombarded Ascension with NGF. Bermuda, Azores, etc. seem to be up and running covering convoys and hunting raiders. Seeing Kirov load FAE warheads has me wondering if something isn’t about to be done to address that.

chico20854

02-15-2022, 04:10 PM

February 15, 1997

Another day with nothing official, but unofficially a lot is going on!

The Freedom-class cargo ship Virginia Freedom is delivered in Portland, Oregon. It is directed to sail to Tacoma, Washington to load follow-on elements of the 9th ID (Motorized).

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l5Dp73mruvi7Pzz_MI5g6GXGQuOGTh1x/view?usp=sharing)
Headquarters, II Corps is activated at Fort Rucker, Alabama from the 121st Army Reserve Command (ARCOM), an Army Reserve unit responsible for providing peacetime command and administrative support to other Army Reserve units in its geographic area, with an initial wartime mission of supporting the mobilization and deployment of those units as well as assisting Army National Guard units in its area.

The first AGM-142 Have Nap missiles are delivered to RAF Lakenheath and orientation to the new weapon begins.

Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team, disguised as "ramblers" (hikers), begins surveying forests in Berkshire to identify USAF Ground Launched Cruise Missile deployment sites, or, better yet, to locate one of the missile flights, which have been dispersed since December.

Operation Newsboy, the photo reconnaissance by RF-16s of the 192 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of North Korean naval facilities at Wonsan, North Korea, is launched. Unfortunately, the North Koreans are alerted by Soviet agents in Japan and the mission results in 3 of the 4 aircraft involved being lost.

The 26th Infantry Division (Light) (Massachussetts and Connecticut National Guards) begins its deployment by air to Korea.

The NATO offensive on the Kola stalls as 3rd Brigade, 6th (US) Infantry Division arrives at the Litsa River nine miles south of its mouth and the Norwegian 6th Division crosses the frozen Litsa 10 miles further south using the partially destroyed railroad bridge. The Norwegian's forward momentum is halted by well dug in troops on the heights looming overhead.

The Soviet Victor III-class submarine K-254 is sunk off Jacksonville by the USCG cutter in conjunction with P-3s from Jax NAS and, in its first action, the escort carrier Shangri-La.

Soviet long-range bombers come in over Jugoslavia at low level and supersonic speeds, different tactics than had been used in prior raids. The infiltration is successful, and the Zastava munitions complex is hit. One aged Tu-22 Blinder crashes into a mountain on the exit from the target area, with no survivors.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/107ucqawgYX3RMogrDDHzQCFbeoYEAj4O/view?usp=sharing)
The 1st Tactical Fighter Wing's F-15s fly their first operational sortie, patrolling over the Persian Gulf to protect the eastern Saudi ports and assist the Iranian Air Force.

The 336th Tactical Fighter Squadron, part of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, arrives in Saudi Arabia with 24 F-15Es.

The convoy of prepositioning ships which sailed from Diego Garcia arrives in eastern Saudi ports.

cawest

02-15-2022, 09:49 PM

here is one item that has not shown up yet. i could see them flying off the coast. one thing of note. it takes a high end radar guided missile to take out. they will show up on Radar, but hitting one with a missile is hard. why. most of them have fabric wings and little metal. the single engine also have small heat output...compared to a jet engine or gas turbine (P3). so if they see a sub, they can get a contact report off and if the sub has a SAM it will be hard to hit. the young pilot would need a spatula to clean out their flight suit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Air_Patrol

pmulcahy11b

02-16-2022, 10:34 AM

Olefin

02-16-2022, 01:07 PM

Homer

02-16-2022, 03:15 PM

February 15, 1997
Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team, disguised as "ramblers" (hikers), begins surveying forests in Berkshire to identify USAF Ground Launched Cruise Missile deployment sites, or, better yet, to locate one of the missile flights, which have been dispersed since December.

I can’t imagine there’s a lot of hikers roaming around the forest parks after TTW. It’ll be one interesting cover story for a military age male caught doing so!

chico20854

02-16-2022, 04:11 PM

February 16, 1997

The Soviet ground offensive in Iran resumes as the first battalions of the 82nd Airborne Division land in Saudi Arabia.

Unofficially:

The Swiss ambassador hosts a short meeting in New Delhi between the NATO and Soviet peace delegations. The Soviets demand immediate withdrawal of NATO troops from the Kola, Bulgaria and Polish territory along the Oder-Niesse. NATO rejects the demands out of hand, prompting the Soviet delegation to storm out.

The AGM-142 Have Nap missile is cleared for use from F-15E Strike Eagles.

HQ, VIII US Corps is formed from the 124th ARCOM at Fort Lewis, Washington and assigned training support, security for the Tacoma Port of Embarkation and civil support functions throughout the Pacific Northwest.

SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One launches its second attack, landing at Korsakov on Sakhalin Island. One part of the team raids the airfield, demolishing a dozen Mi-14 and Mi-8 helicopters, while the rest of the team attacks the port facility, attaching limpet mines on the minesweeper Admiral Khoroshkhin and commandeering a civilian trawler, which was scuttled in the channel exiting the harbor.

US Pacific Command launches a major strike on North Korean naval bases in the Sea of Japan, known as Operation Sea Dragon. Operating under cover of land-based interceptors (USAF, USMC, RoKAF and JASDF), the USS Independence group raid on the Sagon-ni naval base. F-111s bomb the North Korean Navy's shipyard at Wonsan, destroying the headquarters for the North Korean Navy's East Fleet and damaging the Soviet destroyer Lovkiy, which was undergoing repairs before heading home. At the Mayangho naval base, F-111s sink an aged North Korean submarine, several patrol boats and three Soviet cargo ships.

SACEUR recieves a request from the Free Polish Congress to support the creation of military units to defend the slivers of Polish territory under NATO control (Szczecin and the three bridgeheads) and lay the groundwork for the restoration of a noncommunist Polish Army.

On the Kola Peninsula, the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division is detached to capture the naval bases on the western side of the Litsa Fjord, a mission that ends in disaster when Soviet naval troops blow up the nuclear waste storage facility at Andreeva Bay, raining radioactive waste onto the advancing infantrymen.

The US 103rd Field Artillery Brigade (Rhode Island National Guard)'s final men and guns (two battalions of towed 155mm howitzers) arrive in X Corps' rear area along the Norwegian-Soviet border, ready for action.

The battlecruiser Kirov sorties from the Orinoco River Delta, soon launching six missiles each at the refineries at Point Fortin and Pointe-a-Pierre on Trinidad. The missiles are not intercepted (or even noticed by local air-traffic controllers), and the fuel-air explosive warheads cause extensive damage to both refineries, stopping all production at both of them.

As a result of the increased raider threat and ongoing naval losses the American heavy cruiser Newport News, reactivated the previous summer as a training vessel, is ordered to Sunny Point, NC to discharge its midshipmen and load ammunition, to assume convoy escort ASuW (anti-surface warfare) duties.

SACLANT orders as many combatants as can reasonably be made ready to sea immediately to hunt down raiders. The Navy and Coast Guard are ordered to redouble their air searches, and areas less than 100 miles offshore are to be visually searched by members of the Civil Air Patrol, a paramilitary volunteer US Air Force auxilary.

The escort carrier Shangri-La sails from Jacksonville with its first convoy, Convoy 8, headed to the Mediterranean, carrying supplies, fuel and equipment to support Turkish, Romanian and Jugoslav allies as well as US forces in the Mediterranean.

chico20854

02-16-2022, 04:14 PM

chico20854

02-16-2022, 04:20 PM

Just one thing, Chico -- the Tu-16 is not capable of supersonic speeds down on the deck. If you want a combination of age and down-on-the-deck supersonic capability, I would replace the Tu-16s with Tu-22 Blinders, which are capable of Mach 1.22 on the deck (though they have no NOE capability and bombing accuracy would be poor; probably better to arm them with cruise missiles or SRAMs).

Thanks Paul!

I went and edited the post to swap them out with Blinders. At this point in the war, I have Long Range Aviation relying on dumb bombs for missions like these. Most of the cruise missiles and ASMs in the stockpiles were expended in the campaign against the Chinese air defense network and subsequent demolition of Chinese military industry, in the Battle of the Norwegian Sea and in strikes on Luftwaffe bases in West Germany in the fall of 96, as well as long-range strikes on air bases in the UK. With targets in the Balkans relatively poorly protected, Long Range Aviation can use dumb bombs and save the remaining missiles (and current production) for higher priority targets.

chico20854

02-16-2022, 04:21 PM

Or the Tu-160 but they didnt build many of them

I have those held back for strategic strikes on NATO. Most of them are sitting deep in the USSR with nukes on board.

Homer

02-16-2022, 04:23 PM

cawest

02-16-2022, 05:43 PM

the us navy might want to blow apart the Pueblo. but it could also be a trap.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)

chico20854

02-17-2022, 04:50 PM

February 17, 1997

Nothing official today!

Most members of the Soviet peace delegation in New Delhi are ordered to return to Moscow, ending the peace talks for the time being.

The Victory Ship Wayne Victory departs Philadelphia for Argentina, unescorted but armed with a pair of 40mm cannon and four 20mm guns.

The British newspaper the Daily Mail reports that many of the "subversives" arrested in December have been released, although the most radical amongst them were still detained. Those that have been released are noticebly chastened, maintaining a low public profile, possibly as a result of a warning from MI 5 of a return to custody if considered "making trouble".

The Soviet navy's Division Polyarnyy is formed in Murmansk, taking command of the 8th and 211th Naval Infantry Regiments, 69th and 72nd Naval Infantry Brigades and other small naval security forces and other naval personnel from the Red Banner Northern Fleet’s bases in the Kola Peninsula.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PRhn4cVSu2NaejKnwfruDtEhSd6zRcM_/view?usp=sharing)
Soviet rocket artillery fire disrupts the 6th US Division's rear area, temporarily halting the unit's artillery fire as the guns expend the last of their ammunition and poor weather prevents helicopters from resupplying the batteries.

A NATO task force, under the command of the Canadian Special Service Force, begins a drive to clear the Srednii and Rybachiy Peninsulas (offshoots of the Kola Peninsula). The garrison is formed around the naval 501st Coastal Missile Regiment and the air defense force's 116th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.

The Red Banner Northern Fleet begins several days of dispatching obsolescent Whiskey-class diesel-electric submarines to the North Sea. The boats, with small crews of recalled reservists aboard, are ordered to travel submerged at low speed in inshore waters, snorkeling at night or poor weather, to avoid detection. Knowing that they are incapable of successfully attacking modern NATO warships (despite the number of relics from the 1950s and 60s that NATO navies are reactivating), the subs carry only a pair of torpedoes each, the rest of the space aboard being consumed by mines.

The central front on the Polish-German border has settled into a new routine, with periodic air and artillery strikes from both sides. NATO establishes a shaky air supremacy over the Oder River valley, able to maintain at least a few interceptors airborne at all times, guided by an AWACS aircraft orbiting over West Germany. That force is sufficient to deal with minor Soviet raids and protect the bridgeheads in Poland from periodic harassment strikes by Soviet and Polish MiG-27s, Su-22s and Su-25s.

The Soviet battle cruiser Kirov sights the American tanker Overseas Jennifer, carrying crude from the Middle East to the US Gulf Coast 200 km east of Trinidad and sinks her with gunfire. She has only a single SSM remaining.

US naval commanders order the battleship New Jersey, patrolling the Pacific approaches to the Panama Canal, through the canal to protect the Caribbean from the marauding Kirov.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NItZ-G_VxNIoc1RqPoGBMBnmtWClfU6I/view?usp=sharing)
76th and 2nd Brigades, 38th Infantry Division (Indiana National Guard) complete loading equipment and vehicles aboard ships and depart for Europe with Convoy 122. 38th ID's last brigade, the 46th, will ship on the next convoy. It started its equipment onload later because it had just finished a National Training Center rotation. Most troops will deploy by air aboard requisitioned civilian airliners. (A handful travel aboard the ships in their limited passenger space to provide security and limited maintenance for the cargo).

Soviet bombers over the Balkans strike the TAB APC plant in Moreni (about 60 miles northwest of Bucharest). The iron bombs are effective in blowing holes in the roof and walls and damaging the neighborhood but do relatively little damage to the production line's tools or many of the vehicles being built on it.

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute's patrol takes the craft 15 nm off the south Cuban coast. Onboard electronic sensors indicate it is being tracked by several coast defense radars.

chico20854

02-17-2022, 04:51 PM

Wow, that’s a good bit of Caribbean production knocked out! I know Trinidad and Tobago is commonwealth, but is it a combatant when attacked? That’ll potentially widen the war as other uncommitted countries look at their own vulnerable resources.

Possibly so! I guess the Soviets figured that if they were selling petroleum to combatant nations then their refinery was a legitimate target, combatant nation or not!

Homer

02-17-2022, 06:19 PM

Possibly so! I guess the Soviets figured that if they were selling petroleum to combatant nations then their refinery was a legitimate target, combatant nation or not!

If I can’t have it, nobody can!

chico20854

02-18-2022, 04:24 PM

February 18, 1997

Nothing official for today.

British shipbuilders in Glasgow begin assembly of the first modules of the amphibious assault ship HMS Theseus, sister to the newly completed HMS Ocean.

The Dutch port of Rotterdam returns to full capacity following Soviet SSM and bomber attack in January. The refinery is operating at 75% of capacity, and the chemical plant at 50%.

East German VoPo regiments are assigned to the Polish Internal Front, with the unofficial mission to ensure Polish formations' loyalty to the Communist cause.

On the Kola, the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division attempts to force its way across the Litsa River, covered by fire from the division’s and corps’ artillery, but the LAV-25s of the 4th Battalion, 19th Infantry are too heavy to cross the frozen river’s ice, leaving the depleted infantry companies of 1-14 Infantry isolated only 250 meters from the river. After 12 hours of nonstop Soviet counterattacks, 1-14 withdraws across the river, leaving 200 dead behind.

The Soviet battle cruiser Kirov sinks the Dutch patrol vessel Pelikaan, responding to the prior day's sinking.

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KxxO-H-dPCznhz0G2aegzuoPuZVUiK-n/view?usp=sharing)
The New Jersey battle group transits the Panama Canal and heads east at flank speed.

With Turkish interdiction of the Bulgarian coast diminished, the Soviet 157th MRD begins unloading in the Bulgarian port of Burgas.

The USNS Bob Hope, carrying the 169th Field Artillery Brigade (Colorado National Guard), arrives in Bremen, Germany.

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute's ESM equipment identifies a Muff Cobb radar in the port of Cienfuegos, Cuba. The Cuban Navy is known to employ the fire control radar in some of its patrol craft, but it is also widely used by the Soviet Navy.

chico20854

02-19-2022, 08:19 AM

February 19, 1997

Massive air battles rage over Iran and the Persian Gulf, as Soviet Long Range Aviation shifts from the Balkans to neutralizing Saudi and Iranian oil production. Saudi and American F-15s, Kuwaiti F/A-18s and Saudi Tornadoes join Iranian F-14s, F-4s, F-20s in massive furballs against Soviet MiG-29s and Su-27s escorting the Soviet bombers.

Unofficially,

The first R-5D Aurora hypersonic spy plane is delivered in Palmdale, California.

The Iranian 41st Tactical Fighter Squadron receives its complement of F-20s in Savannah and follows its sister squadron to Pensacola.

Responding to the BAOR Commander's request, HQ II British Corps is established in Dusseldorf from the BAOR Headquarters, British Rear Combat Zone. The area of operations of the British Communications Zone, booted out of Belgium in December, was expanded to include all support duties within the Netherlands and West Germany.

The NVA (East German Army) 1st Motor-Schutzen Division is officially renamed the 21st PanzerGrenadier Division as it completes its re-equipment with Leopard II and III tanks and Marder IFVs and begins a period of training with a changed command staff at the Munster training area.

British, Dutch and American marines land at Teriberka, eastofMurmansk. The assault is launched with the transport fleet 30 miles offshore, with the initial waves arriving by helicopter and CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, followed by vehicles and troops arriving from over the horizon in LCAC hovercraft. The garrison of third-line naval security troops and local militia is quickly overwhelmed, and the handful of patrol craft and support ships in the harbor are quickly dispatched by gunfire from the supporting attack helicopters. Aggressive commanders ashore quickly dispatch infantry companies to secure the heights over the town, securing the area to allow the force to establish a logistic base to support a rapid advance on Murmansk.

The Kirov strikes the sea lane between the Venezuelan oil fields and the refinery in St. Croix, the world's largest. In a rampage, the nuclear-powered cruiser sinks two tankers and damages another with gunfire, then turns northeast, to travel up the Windward Islands to strike the refinery and the tankers feeding it. A Dutch patrol aircraft locates the ship and radios in its location before being blotted from the sky by a surface-to-air missile.

The New Jersey leaves behind its escorts, which are low on fuel and unable to keep pace with the massive battlewagon.

The 102nd MRD is mobilized in the Moscow Military District from the cadre and students of the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School.

shrike6

02-19-2022, 03:14 PM

I finally decided to mosey over here. Not sure why I didnt sooner but very impressive writing Chico. Can't wait to read what comes next.

chico20854

02-20-2022, 07:21 AM

I finally decided to mosey over here. Not sure why I didnt sooner but very impressive writing Chico. Can't wait to read what comes next.

I'm glad you (and others) are enjoying it! It's a lot of fun to do!

chico20854

02-20-2022, 07:45 AM

February 20, 1997

In the Middle East, the Soviets launch a series of commando raids by air assault and airborne units. These operations are only partially successful. Several strike teams are wiped out by Iranian commandos. Other teams reach their assigned targets only to find that they were dummy installations. The raids cause some disruption but the results are less than had been expected. Spetsnaz teams attack American airfields in Saudi Arabia. US Air Force Security units stop these raids with a minimal loss of aircraft and lives.

The air battles over Iran and Saudi Arabia continue, with additional squadrons of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing arriving in theater. Although the wings F-15E Strike Eagles are normally tasked with deep strike and interdiction ground attack missions they retain the air to air fighting capability of their F-15C interceptor brethren and are pressed into service in an air defense role, flying missions loaded down with AMRAAM missiles instead of Paveway guided bombs.

Unofficially,

Operation Hatchback - a series of strikes on Czechoslovakian strategic targets. The USAF 52nd TFW attacks the Bratislava refinery complex (partially in retaliation for Soviet attacks on the Forties oil field in the North Sea and the attacks on refineries in Trinidad). It loses 4 of the 35 F-16s committed, in addition to 2 damaged, severely damaging the refinery, neutralizing eight SAM sights and destroying two highway bridges. Simultaneously, B-52s of the 416th Bomb Wing launched 28 conventionally armed AGM-86 air launched cruise missiles against the Skoda truck plant. The incoming missiles captured the attention of the Czech air defense forces, allowing the F-16s to strike the targets relatively unscathed. Nearly half the cruise missiles were shot down, but the factory still sustained extensive damage.

Northwestern TVD commander Marshall Koroleve dispatches the 76th Guards Airborne Division from Murmansk to surround and wipe out the Allied landing at Teriberka, and his underlings scour the Kola for additional armed troops to send to the new area of operations. Admiral Popescu, the Northern Fleet commander, orders submarines and missile boats to sea to intercept the amphibious fleet. Some of Naval Aviation’s remaining long-range Tu-95 Bear patrol aircraft take off from their bases south of the White Sea and immediately light up their search radars, locating the nearly-stationary assault fleet despite the foul weather. The Backfire bombers that remain after the Battle of the Norwegian Sea follow a few hours later, after being loaded with conventional bombs (the stockpiles of anti-ship missiles were depleted in attacks on the American carriers in December, with remaining supplies reserved for anti-carrier use). The NATO fleet is protected from air attack by an intermittent combat air patrol of F-15s operating from Banak and F/A-18s from small airstrips in Norway, Sea Harriers from the escorting Illustrious and the guns and missiles of the surface escorts. The Backfire raid, nearly 40 aircraft strong, is faced by a single F-15A and four Sea Harriers that managed to get airborne. The Soviet aircraft approach at supersonic speed and toss dozens of 250 kg bombs at the fleet. Only two of the hundreds of bombs hit, setting the Spiegel Grove ablaze. The escorting destroyers and cruiser shoot down eight Backfires.

To the west, X Corps’ divisions launch probing attacks, seeking a weak point in 18th Army’s defensive line that can be exploited. Those attacks prove fruitless, each met by a vigorous Soviet counterattack and leading to a retreat back across the Litsa to the start lines. Casualties in these attacks are heavy and once again the Litsa River Valley earns its moniker as “The Valley of Death” that was first bestowed on it in the Second World War.

The USS New Jersey catches up with the Kirov, which is transiting near the west coast of Grenada, and in an hour-long confrontation off St Georges the two mighty ships engage in one of the last gun duels between rival warships in the 20th Century. The Kirov, hiding in the radar shadow of the island, lands the first blow, a broadside of airburst rounds that shreds New Jersey's radars, CIWS and Harpoon missile launchers. The broken Harpoon missile tubes leak jet fuel, which ignites a fire on deck. The smoke from the deck fire, as well as smoke from smoke pots and chaff rockets fired by the Kirov, obscures the battlecruiser, allowing it to land a few more volleys on the American battleship as well as expending its magazine of ASW and anti-aircraft missiles in SSM mode in a futile effort to damage the battleship enough to make an escape. Those rounds are insufficient to penetrate the battlewagon's armor, although continuing to destroy antennas, boats and fittings above the armor belt. Soon enough, New Jersey's optical rangefinders locate Kirov and nearly 30 minutes of high-speed maneuvering follow, as Kirov bobs and weaves, changes speed and does everything it can to dodge New Jersey's massive broadsides. Eventually, however, the game is up when a trio of 16-inch armor-piercing rounds find their mark, ripping through the comparatively lightly armored hull. The first rounds actually penetrate through the far side of the battlecruiser, detonating in the water alongside, damaging the hull and bending the starboard propeller shaft. That slows the cruiser and forces it to steam in circles, and within three minutes another two volleys arrive, utterly destroying the Soviet ship. (The superstructure above the weather deck is nearly blown off by a volley of high explosive rounds). As the ship begins to flood, the chief engineer orders both reactors flooded with seawater, preventing a meltdown as the ship sinks beneath the waves. A couple dozen men from the 700-plus man crew escape the burning wreck.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Vermont Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, TX and the Iowa Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

The escort carrier Franklin, CVHE-2, is commissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, CA, converted from a container ship.

The Royal Navy commissions its newest corvette, HMS Ashanti. The ship was under construction for the Malaysian Navy, but the Royal Navy took over the contract and had the ship rushed to completion. Malaysia was refunded the money it had paid for the ship (and its sister, still incomplete), which partially abated their protests.

A task force built around the Dutch 2nd Amphibious Combat Group raids a Dutch Red Army safehouse in Apeldoorn, killing 4 members, capturing a stock of AKs, a RPG-7, grenades, explosives and a Soviet-built secure radio and its code book. That code book and investigation of the members allows the Dutch government to identify other members as well as their GRU controller, who flees across the border into Belgium before he can be apprehended.

The US 169th Field Artillery Brigade (Colorado National Guard) declared operational in West Germany.

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute returns to Guantanamo, Cuba, where the Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy is completing its loadout with excess articles and the last non-essential workers from the base.

pmulcahy11b

02-20-2022, 01:14 PM

February 19, 1997

The first R-5D Aurora hypersonic spy plane is delivered in Palmdale, California.

Thanks!

chico20854

02-21-2022, 07:31 AM

February 21, 1997

The 5th Marine Division is formed at Camp Lejeune, SC and begins platoon and company-level training.

The air battles over Iran continue for a third day. The Soviet high command pulls two PVO MiG-23 regiments from quiet sectors of the border and throws them into the melee.

Unofficially,

Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team has identified three possible GLCM deployment sites in Berkshire, based on evidence of truck traffic and trash discarded at the sites. (MRE wrappers).

Off the west coast of Grenada, the battleship New Jersey recovers from its battle with the Kirov. The fires on deck have been extinguished and communications restored with portable satellite radios and repairs to antennas on the masts. The ship is ordered to get underway for Puerto Rico, where topside repairs will be made at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station. Her escorts are ordered to return to Panama for refueling and transit through the canal prior to resuming anti-submarine and anti-raider patrols around the canal's Pacific approaches and the west coast of Central America.

The last of the vehicles and heavy equipment left behind by the divisions that fell in on POMCUS stocks in Europe (less two brigade sets from 4th ID used as training equipment at NTC-2 and NTC-3) arrives at East Coast ports for transit to Germany as replacement equipment as shipping comes available.

The Soviet Victor III-class nuclear submarine K-412, operating in the central Atlantic, torpedos the Japanese supertanker Cosmo Pleiades, carrying over 250,000 tons of Saudi crude oil. The massive ship is left dead in the water and leaking oil.

The USS Independence group participates in Operation Sea Dragon II (raids on naval bases at Haeju and Rason, North Korea), with F-111s of the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing attacking the naval facility at Sungjon-Pando, sinking several patrol boats and damaging the Soviet frigate Poryvisty.

The 26th Infantry Division (Light) (Massachusetts and Connecticut National Guard) completes its deployment by air to Korea.

1st Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Alabama National Guard) completes its deployment to the Northern Theatre. A-Teams begin infiltrating into the Kola Peninsula through neutral Sweden and Finland.

At Teriberka, air attacks continue (a raid by Backfires on the beachhead and a low-level run by Su-24s firing rockets at the transport force). A combined force of HMS Illustrious’ Sea Harriers and helicopters from the escort force break up a Soviet missile boat sortie. British Special Boat Service (SBS) patrols ashore report the imminent arrival of Soviet paratroopers.

The heavy cruiser USS Newport News departs North Carolina as part of the escort of Convoy 124.

chico20854

02-21-2022, 07:34 AM

Thanks!

Your writeup of the aircraft inspired me to extrapolate (https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=6469) on it!

pmulcahy11b

02-21-2022, 08:40 AM

February 21, 1997

Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team has identified three possible GLCM deployment sites in Berkshire, based on evidence of truck traffic and trash discarded at the sites. (MRE wrappers).

That was something we were always getting on our troops about: Site OPSEC. Pick up your trash. Camouflage your positions, Camouflage or erase your entry and exits from the bivouac. Etc, Etc, Etc. You really have to inspect the bivouac and keep on them.

Homer

02-21-2022, 09:43 AM

GLCM and Pershing doctrinal pubs both directed one time use of hide sites. That said, finding multiple sites let’s you know you’re in the right area, and helps you narrow down what to look for. Pretty soon they’re going to get lucky.

chico20854

02-22-2022, 04:05 PM

February 22, 1997

A day of relative inactivity over the skies of Iran and the Persian Gulf, as both sides absorbed the heavy losses of aircrew and aircraft of the prior three days and decided to conserve their remaining ones. USAF stocks in the theatre of the most advanced missiles had dwindled - the prepositioned stocks contained mostly older (and inferior) AIM-7 Sparrow missiles rather than current-production AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, and the newly deploying 9th Air Force headquarters had pushed combat units into the theatre before the supporting logistic and maintenance units. This left the fighter squadrons with dozens of aircraft in need of repair, bereft of mechanics and with the spare parts still sitting aboard ships in port for want of supply specialists to sort them out.

Unofficially:

In a closed-door hearing, Secretary of the Navy Joseph Leary is interrogated as to "Why, exactly, could the US Navy not locate a single Soviet ship and prevent it from sinking five warships and seven merchantmen, destroying two refineries and shooting down four warplanes? What exactly has the Navy done with the billions of dollars we have appropriated over the years?"

The 71st Airborne Brigade is activated at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, drawing jump-qualified reserve and National Guard troops from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.

A debate is held in the House of Commons about reintroducing conscription. Some of the most vocal opposition comes from the Chiefs of the Defense Staff, who see little benefit from an influx of large numbers of conscripts which would need to be trained, housed and equipped.

The escort carrier Franklin, CVHE-2, converted from a South Korean container ship, begins workups off the California coast.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Oklahoma Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

"In retaliation for the murder of its martyrs on the 20th" (as it stated in an angry message) the Dutch Red Army explodes a truck bomb outside the Royal Palace in Den Haag, killing sixteen civilians and two police officers. The Royal Family had evacuated its palaces at the outbreak of war and remained safe in secret locations.

The Bundeswehr completes the transition of its existing I, II and III Corps headquarters to 1st, 2nd and 3rd German Armies, respectively.

At Teriberka, General Cedric Skinner, DSO, commander of 3 Commando Brigade and the landing force, orders a withdrawal. While later subject to fierce criticism for his decision, Skinner, who had been a Royal Marines company commander in the Falklands War 15 years prior, determined that the assault force would not have had sufficient time to establish itself ashore (establishing supply dumps and land-based air defense, emplacing artillery in dispersed firing positions and constructing a helipad), ultimately dooming the marines to defeat. The withdrawal occurrs at night, the retreating marines thoroughly demolishing the coastal defenses and liberally scattering mines and booby traps over the area.

The Victor III-class submarine K-412 sinks the American transport Maine, carrying vehicles and many of the helicopters of the 38th Infantry Division, as it lagged behind Convoy 122. (The ship, converted from a pair of Second World War-tankers, had an aged and unusual propulsion system. The 80-year old chief engineer fell ill and his younger assistant was unable to keep the aged propulsion plant going reliably.)

The fast sealift ships Pollux and Antares arrive in Hamburg carrying vehicles and most of the guns of the 151st Field Artillery Brigade (SC National Guard). The ships had been routed by the Azores and through French territorial waters to avoid Soviet subs and raiders.

chico20854

02-22-2022, 04:09 PM

That was something we were always getting on our troops about: Site OPSEC. Pick up your trash. Camouflage your positions, Camouflage or erase your entry and exits from the bivouac. Etc, Etc, Etc. You really have to inspect the bivouac and keep on them.

GLCM and Pershing doctrinal pubs both directed one time use of hide sites. That said, finding multiple sites let’s you know you’re in the right area, and helps you narrow down what to look for. Pretty soon they’re going to get lucky.

OPSEC, OPSEC, OPSEC!!!! After a couple months in the field the Air Force guys are getting sloppy! Of course with that many trucks in winter weather it's going to be quite a challenge to conceal the tire tracks, but the MRE wrappers are just poor soldier (airman?) skills and NCOs not doing their jobs...

stilleto69

02-22-2022, 05:29 PM

Or could this be an elaborate ruse by MI-5 or MI-6 to see if there are foreign Spetsnaz teams operating in England. Remember they've already concluded that the "accident" on the Forties oil rigs were Spetsnaz operations, so I can see MI-5 or MI-6 saying let's find out what's what. JMHO.

pmulcahy11b

02-22-2022, 06:23 PM

Your writeup of the aircraft inspired me to extrapolate (https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=6469) on it!

I put your article on a thumb drive to read later tonight. (I have to sneakernet right now -- I bought a new laptop and I can't get the damned think to talk to my desktop like my old laptop. The old laptop sucked, but at least it networked!) :grumble:

pmulcahy11b

02-22-2022, 06:27 PM

=chico20854;90575 ...and NCOs not doing their jobs...

That's at least as important as competent soldiers -- competent NCOs.

Homer

02-22-2022, 07:34 PM

I’d imagine the GLCM troops and their accompanying security force would have been pretty keyed up at first, but fatigue, boredom, and complacency have doubtless crept in.

That said, a deployed GLCM flight would still be a tough target. In addition to a platoon sized force of USAF CSPs on the inner perimeter, they had an outer perimeter formed from host nation troops. According to the sources I’ve found these were supposed to be RAF Regiment or TA Infantry in what looks to be platoon or larger. Plus dogs, electronic sensors, etc. And probably a local reaction force.

The spetsnaz can hit and hit hard. After all, they’ve got the rest of their lives to do this mission. Once they do so, they can expect to be hunted ruthlessly.

chico20854

02-23-2022, 05:02 PM

February 23, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day!

Unofficially:

The small convoy of the Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy and Coast Guard cutter Resolute arrives in Jacksonville, FL.

There is a change of leadership in the Navy in the aftermath of the Kirov sinking. Commander, Task Force 26 (Second Fleet's maritime patrol aircraft commander) is reassigned as the new Superintendent of the Navy War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Task Force 28, the Caribbean Task Force, is split off from Second Fleet and designated Fourth Fleet. Fourth Fleet will be assigned responsibility for the Caribbean and the Atlantic south of the Tropic of Cancer.

Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team finally spots a GLCM flight on the move in rural Berkshire, England in the early morning hours. The vehicles are out of range of the team's weapons (over 2 km away), and the colonel is alarmed by the firepower displayed by the flight, which outmatches the firepower his team can bring to bear. They are able to locate the general area the flight is hiding in (by observing from a distance with two observation posts).

SACEUR approves the prior week's request to support the establishment of so-called Polish Free Legions, armed forces of the Polish Government in Exile. Despite the name and the announcment, the reality is less impressive. The "Free Legions" amount to five company-sized formations composed of first or second-generation Polish immigrants serving in other NATO militaries seconded to the Polish government, augmented by carefully screened volunteers from among Polish POWs captured in the fighting of the past months.

Convoy 122 is attacked by two Soviet submarines, the Kilo-class B-459 and the Echo II-class K-131. The quiet diesel boat spots the convoy and relaya its location to the SSGN as well as providing updated inflight guidance to the SS-N-12 missiles K-131 launched, before launching a torpedo attack. The missiles strike the escorting Canadian frigate HMCS Terra Nova and the American freighter Montana Freedom (on its maiden voyage), and the torpedoes sink the Danish-flag Seaboard Sun.

The American fast sealift ship Denebola arrives in Emden, Germany carrying the vehicles and heavy equipment of the 151st Field Artillery Brigade (SC National Guard). Like the ships that arrived the day before, the vessel had taken a circuitous route to avoid Soviet raiders. Travelling at 30 knots also helped to avoid enemy attacks!

photo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ldRrVsol0o-11pp9ow7vlqBVdoicjCmv/view?usp=sharing)
The 1st Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light) arrives in Saudi Arabia via priority airlift. The Squadron's LAVs and the regiment's M917 ADATS troop are deployed behind the screen established by the 82nd Airborne in northeastern Saudi Arabia, ready to respond to any enemy attacks.

chico20854

02-23-2022, 05:03 PM

Adminsitrative note... I'll be out for a long weekend. I'll get caught up on Tuesday!

shrike6

02-24-2022, 03:46 PM

Chico, came across something you might find helpful. Direct link in your PMs

chico20854

03-01-2022, 04:33 PM

Chico, came across something you might find helpful. Direct link in your PMs

Thanks! I'll take a look!

chico20854

03-01-2022, 04:34 PM

Adminsitrative note... I'll be out for a long weekend. I'll get caught up on Tuesday!

I'm back, although I'll only be able to get a couple days in today, the rest tomorrow!

chico20854

03-01-2022, 04:35 PM

February 24, 1997

Nothing official today, but unofficially:

A Spetnsaz team of the 16th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (reporting directly to GRU headquarters in Moscow) crosses into the US over a lightly patrolled section of border in southwestern New Mexico.

The Assistant Chief of Staff, N2 (Intelligence) of the Second Fleet in the Atlantic announces his retirement.

A two-man patrol from Col Tumanski's Spetsnaz team probes the defenses of the GLCM flight while two other men return to their safehouse to retrieve a light mortar and an AT-4 missile launcher.

IX Corps in Korea transitions from supporting the deployment of US troops into the Korean Peninsula to commanding the 7th and 26th Infantry Divisions in combat operations along the DMZ north of Seoul.

SACEUR authorizes a major realignment of forces along the nearly 1250 km of active front line in Germany. Second German Army assumes responsibility for the area from the Baltic Coast southward, First German Army takes responsibility for the central portion of the Oder-Niesse line and Third German Army the sector up to the Czech-Polish-German tri-border point. The US 7th Army sector is extended along the Czechoslovak border all the way to Austria. All the armies are multi-national, and the German armies divert significant combat forces to internal security and reconstruction tasks in the former East Germany.

NATO commanders in the Kola decide that future attacks along the Litsa are most likely to produce high casualties without territorial gains and call a temporary halt to offensive operations until the strategic situation along the front changes, and both opposing armies begin to dig in and settle down for an extended period.

The Soviet Echo II-class cruise missile submarine K-131, its missiles expended, ordered to Bluefields, Nicarauga for replenishment.

The landing ship Spiegel Grove, damaged by Soviet bombers off Teriberka, sinks while under tow.

The trailing elements of the 82nd Airborne Division arrive in Saudi Arabia. They are accompanied by the AH-1S of the Aviation Squadron, NBC company and Air Defense Battery of the 14th ACR (Light).

The 235th Rear Area Protection Division is called up in Artemovsk, Ukraine, falling in on cadre and supplies from the 36th Motor-Rifle Division and begins absorbing reservists and raw conscripts and small-unit (platoon and company) training.

chico20854

03-01-2022, 04:39 PM

February 25, 1997

The owners of the airship Columbia begin preparing her for her first long flight, gathering survival supplies-guns, ammo, food concentrates, clothing, camping gear and all of the material necessary to build new airships, including tank after tank of carefully refrigerated liquid helium.

Unofficially:

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute departs Jacksonville, links up with four freighters and the tanker Overseas Alice transiting the Straits of Florida.

The Second Fleet's chief of staff is relieved of duty following a preliminary investigation into the Kirov breakout and pursuit.

The two members of Col. Tumanski's team that were attempting to locate the GLCM flight are intercepted by troops of the 2nd Battalion, The Wessex Regiment and detained. The rest of the team sets up the 82mm mortar and fires ten rounds at the area they suspect the flight is hiding in before abandoning it and leaving the area to avoid capture.

The Soviet raider Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, arrives in Luanda, Angola and is refuellled and rearmed. The ship's 130mm magazines are fully replenished and a partial load of 5 SS-N-22 missiles are received.

The USSR and Greece sign a secret accord, allowing Soviet submarines and their support ships to operate in Greek waters.

The 14th ACR (Light)'s support squadron and the lead battalion of the 7th Transportation Brigade arrive in Saudi Arabia.

chico20854

03-02-2022, 04:34 PM

February 26, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day. Unofficially,

The Headquarters, XI US Corps completes its intense two-week command post exercise (in which it "fought" a month-long campaign which started as a defense against a Soviet Front and ended with a counteroffensive) and returns to its home station of Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for equipment issue prior to deploying.

The 43rd (Wessex) Brigade dispatches additional companies to the area around the GLCM flight that was attacked (with only a single injury) by Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team. The flood of additional troops to the area causes the Soviet colonel to withdraw from the area and seek other targets. (The diversion of troops to the area in itself consumes resources that would otherwise be directed to the front).

The old carrier USS Midway and its air group, CVW-16, is declared combat ready in San Diego. It is ordered to patrol the northeast Pacific, the area between the Aleutians, Midway and Puget Sound. CVW-16 fields two F/A-18 squadrons, a squadron of A-7E attack jets and a squadron of A-6 bombers, along with the usual complement of airborne early warning and electronic warfare aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters. The air wing does not have tankers, F-14 interceptors or fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft.

Convoy 208 arrives in Pusan, Korea, bringing with it the 264th Engineer Group, bulk ammunition and containerized supplies for 8th US Army and carrying bagged rice to help sustain the South Korean civilian population.

The 151st Field Artillery “Gamecock" Brigade (South Carolina National Guard), with a M109 battalion and a M110 howitzer battalion is reported ready for action in Germany, and is assigned to III Corps.

On the Kola Peninsula, units on the front line gradually reduce the portion of troops at the front, withdrawing the rest to prewar buildings in the rear (in the towns of Zaozersk, Kola and Murmansk for the Soviets, Nikel, Luostari and Pechenga for NATO troops). X Corps withdraws 10th Mountain Division, which has suffered the highest losses, back into Norway for rest, refit and to absorb what replacement troops and equipment arrive in Norway. The Norwegian Army rotates brigades off the front line, replacing the most damaged platoons in each battalion with replacement platoons reassigned from units in southern Norway and replacing losses in other units with fresh recruits from the training system, which was working overtime to make up for the casualties of over four months of intense combat. The Dutch marine battalion receives a steady stream of reservists to replace its losses, although the replacements arrive only with small arms.

A Soviet raider in the South Atlantic sinks the bulk carrier Merchant Pioneer, carrying 60,000 tons of fertilizer to Lagos, Nigeria. The loss of the cargo will add to the growing food catastrophe in Africa.

Convoy 8, under the protection of the escort carrier Shangri-La (and other escorts), arrives in Gibraltar.

2nd Squadron, 14th ACR (Light) and its 919th Engineer Company arrive in Saudi Arabia. The 269th Aviation Battalion (Combat) of the 18th Airborne Corps is deployed as well.

The 196th Motor-Rifle Division, a mobilization-only division from the Moscow Mlitary District, is called up in Kursk and assigned to the 2nd Guards Army. It is equipped with T-62 tanks, Second World War-vintage artillery and 160mm mortars instead of howitzers in the regimental artillery batteries.

chico20854

03-02-2022, 04:39 PM

February 27, 1997

Another day with nothing official!

The Spetnsaz team that crossed into New Mexico links up with a sympathizer on a remote back road and is driven to safe house in Albuquerque.

The cargo ship Racer is returned to service (from reserve) in San Francisco and travels to Suisun Bay to load ammunition from the Concord Naval Weapons Station.

A representative of HM Government meets covertly with representatives of the Ulster Defense Association (a Protestant paramilitary group), making known that the government is prepared to implement harsh measures to curtail terrorist activity for the duration of the war.

NATO troops in Germany begin a complex dance to reorient into the new sectors identified in the previous days.

Engineer units on both sides of the front line in the Kola begin efforts to construct additional roads and river crossings. Bunkers for headquarters are blasted out of the tundra and warm shelter constructed in the rear areas.

A SOSUS fixed sonar sensor array east of Bermuda detects the Echo II-class nuclear cruise missile submarine K-131 transiting at speed. P-3 patrol aircraft of VP-49 are vectored to its location and, after a two-hour hunt, sink it with air-dropped torpedoes.

The Soviet Black Sea Fleet dispatches a truck convoy carrying supplies, spares and torpedoes, to Varna, Bulgaria for further overland movement to Patros, Greece. Upon arrival there they will support surviving Soviet naval units in the Mediterranean.

The 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) begins loading vehicles and heavy equipment aboard ships in Savannah, Georgia.

The 14th ACR (Lt)'s regimental headquarters arrives in Saudi Arabia, accompanied by the advance party of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade.

The 82nd Motor-Rifle Division transits to the Don River from its garrisons near Volgograd to load onto ships that will transport the unit to Bulgaria.

chico20854

03-02-2022, 04:49 PM

February 28, 1997

The 44th (my 20th) Armored Division's headquarters is formed at Ft Hood, Texas, taking command of the 30th Armored (Tennesse National Guard), 31st Armored (Alabama National Guard) and 218th Infantry (Mechanized) (South Carolina National Guard) brigades. The new division begins training and establishing division-level units (Division Artillery, a composite cavalry squadron and an engineer regiment headquarters, amoung others) from the previously independent brigades' units.

Unofficially,

The Freedom ship Ohio Freedom is delivered in Galveston, Texas.

The 218th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized), South Carolina National Guard, completes Rotation 97-5 at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California and is declared combat ready, the same time falling under command of the new armored division.

The 2nd Brigade, 29th ID(L) (Maryland and Virginia National Guards) completes Rotation 97-5 at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Ft. Polk, LA and is declared combat ready.

Col. Tumanski is ordered by Moscow Center (the GRU headquarters at Khodinka airfield in Moscow) to maintain survellience of the identified GLCM launch sites but to shift his efforts to disrupting the flow of supplies and reinforcements onto the continent.

Convoy 8, under the protection of the escort carrier Shangri-La and other US and allied escorts, departs Gibraltar, heading east through the Mediterranean. Several Soviet ships and submarines from the Mediterranean Squadron remain unaccounted for, despite intense searches for them.

The 14th ACR (Light)'s final squadron (the 3rd) arrives in Saudi Arabia, completing the unit's priority airlift. Military Airlift Command shifts some of its aircraft back to supporting the war in Europe and Korea following the deployment of the 82nd and 14th to Saudi Arabia, despite the considerable amount of CENTCOM troops and equipment still ready to go to the Middle East.