May 12, 1997

The canon is silent on today. Unofficially,

The container-barge carrier Macau Carrier is delivered in Quincy, Massachusetts. The craft, while civilian manned, is assigned to the US Navy's Military Sealift Command to support amphibious operations since it is designed to deploy barges from its open stern.

2nd Brigade, 50th Armored Division (New Jersey National Guard) completes Rotation 97-7 at NTC-3 at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona and is declared combat ready.

1st Battalion, The Royal Welch Fusiliers departs Northern Ireland for the UK, again in preparation for service in Poland.

Colonel Oleg Tumanski's spetsnaz team in the UK attempts a raid on the RAF airbase at Coltishall in Norfolk, England, home of the Jaguar attack aircraft force. Unfortunately, most of the Jaguars are deployed to Germany or Oman, leaving behind a robust security force composed of RAF Regiment "Rock Apes" and augmentees from the base's command, administrative and support staff. The team succeeds in blowing a hole in the perimeter fencing, but loses the first three men though the gap to well-placed machinegun fire. The remaining members of the team retreat, leaving the dead men in the breach.

Because the B-52’s arsenal does not include antiradar missiles, USAF planners use the brute-force approach. Nine B-52s from the 320th Bomb Wing conduct near-simultaneous cluster-bomb attacks against three major North Korean radar facilities defending the western approaches to Pyongyang. The explosions from 88,000 orange-sized bomblets shredded and silence each site.

The Dutch 2nd Marine Combat Group launches another raid on the Dutch Red Army, killing another six terrorists.

German panzergrenadiers of the First German Army arrive on the outskirts of Poznań, where resistance is fierce. The garrison of the city consists of officer cadets from the Armored Forces School, OTK, WOW, ORMO and ZOMO militia and many of the fixed elements of the Polish Army’s support structure as well as the remnants of the 9th Mechanized Division, reinforced with BMP-2s fresh off the production line at the factory next to the airport on the western edge of the city. Overhead, Chorzow's military industry is targeted by NATO airpower.

The 1169th Engineer Group (Combat) (Alabama National Guard) is declared operational in Germany and is initially attached to 7th Army, assigned to improve the infrastructure needed to sustain the NATO advance into Poland.

In the Balkans, the Turkish V Corps pauses to regroup, transferring the battered 8th Infantry Division to a reserve position to rebuild. On the other side of the line, the Soviet 58th Army pauses to reorganize, while the Bulgarian high command rushes construction units to restore the road and rail lines that the invading Turks had overrun.

The 101st Air Assault Division establishes a continuous, somewhat secure ground route between the shores of the Gulf and its forward brigade in Ardakan. The division's patrols are mopping up the last remnants of the 105th Guards Air Assault Division and their Tudeh allies, and the division's mobility and position northwest of Shiraz present a threat to the Soviet troops closing on the Iranian capital.

All along the front, Transcaucasian Front launches attacks to try to secure ground before XVIII Airborne Corps can consolidate its positions and link up with their IPA allies.

The 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light) begins screening operations, sending mounted patrols out north from Khorramshahr to secure the approaches to the northern Persian Gulf.

Convoy 140 continues its transit of the North Atlantic. The USS Enterprise carrier battle group appears on the horizon to the south of the convoy, while the Saratoga battle group sails ahead to the northeast and the Dwight D Eisenhower battle group, steaming at 25 knots, gains on the convoy from the southwest.

Hey Chico, riveting stuff. But one question on April 26th what happened to the PVO commander as quoted by you.

"April 26, 1997
Soviet interceptors from the Kaliningrad region get pulled into the air battle over northern Poland. Responding to calls for assistance from the naval task force, a mixed force of Su-27s and MiG-31s head west, only to be intercepted by the RAF Typhoons and USAF F-15s flying top cover for the night's Advent Storm air raids on crossings of the Wisla River. By the end of the engagement, the PVO air defense troops have lost eight interceptors, with three NATO fighters shot down. The commander of the PVO "

Don't leave me hanging like this. :)

May 13, 1997

Nothing official for the day!

The Federal government rests its case in the treason trial of Autumn Lotus, the accused helper for the Soviet spetsnaz team operating in New Mexico; the defendant has been removed from the courtroom every day of her trial.

The US XXIII Corps headquarters moves into Poland, assigned to First German Army. It will gain units as they arrive in the country.

The British II Corps bypasses Poznan to the north and continues east while the US V Corps passes to the south, leaving VI German Korps to overrun the city's garrison, by now cut off.

Troop ships and transports carrying the 40th Infantry Division (Mechanized) (California National Guard) arrive at the Dutch ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Vlissingen after a long transit through the Panama Canal. The division's vehicles will be transported to the front on civilian trucks augmented by NATO tank transporters.

Saami partisans demolish two bridges on the Kirov Railroad (which connects Murmansk with Leningrad and the rest of the USSR) near the village of Magnetity, south of Murmansk.

Greek engineers replace the damaged rail and road bridges near Alexandropolous, allowing the resumption of easy overland support to the Greek D Corps fighting in Thrace. The engineers next focus on the city's airport, which the Turks had cratered the runway and extensively damaged.

In the Mediterranean, the America and John F Kennedy battle groups shift their focus to the Bulgarian and Soviet garrison of Burgas, which has been under attack since January by Turkish troops. The city's port has seen a steady influx of supplies and reinforcements, preventing the Turks from capturing it.

The two Ranger battalions which had dropped alongside the 82nd Airborne Division begin withdrawing to Saudi Arabia to serve as a theatre reserve.

3rd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division resumes its deployment to Iran following the cruise missile strike on its marshalling area at the port of Jubayl on the 9th; the attack forced the delay while replacement vehicles and supplies were drawn from the meagre theater reserve stocks.

Outside Bandar Abbas, the British 27th Brigade intercepts a camel caravan (organized and partially staffed by Tudeh rebels) carrying over 20 tons of ammunition to the isolated 103rd Guards Air Assault Division in the city below.

The USS Independence's air wing shifts its attention to the 94th (my 57th) Guards Air Assault Brigade in Chah Bahar, striking the formation's air defense battery in preparation for further strikes.

The B-52s of the 320th Bomb Wing establish a forward operating location at Kadena Air Force Base, Japan. The base has a long history of supporting B-52s, hosting the bombers for missions over Vietnam from 1968-70.

MI6 provides the SAS team in Leningrad with forged workers passes for the Baltic Shipyard.

Nearby, the 3rd Guards Artillery Division begins the mobilization process as the situation on the Kola Peninsula grows more critical. The division pairs officers and NCOs from the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School with recalled reservists from the Leningrad area. They all are dismayed to discover that the division’s equipment set, which should have been sufficient to fully equip three howitzer regiments and a rocket artillery brigade, instead consists of 48 ancient ML-20 152mm guns and 24 Second-World War Katusha rocket launchers mounted on trucks that have not been maintained in decades that no amount of mechanical magic will ever be able to make move again.

Sorry, too rushed posting on that day. Fixed it for you!

May 14, 1997

Third German Army forms Panzergruppe Oberdorf, assigned the 21st Panzer Grenadier Division, the 27th FallshirmJaeger Brigade, the US 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) and 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment, with 120 guides from the Free Polish Congress.

Unofficially,

The Freedom-class cargo ship Manhattan Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, Texas and the Chicago and Mobile Freedoms are delivered in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

German troops make slow progress in the battle for Poznan against fierce Polish resistance.

The former Western TVD radio-technical warfare officer is killed when his command BMP is struck by a German HOT missile outside Namyslow, Poland.

NATO deep strike aircraft are ordered to halt their campaign to cripple Polish war industry as it becomes increasingly likely that ground troops will overrun the factories. (Added to this is that the damage caused by bombing creates more defensive postions for Polish defenders to hide in). The interdiction aircraft instead shift their efforts to halting the flow of Pact reinforcements and supplies to the front.

X Corps in northern Norway directs the 111th Engineer Brigade to detach its construction engineers to southern Finnmark to construct temporary staging camps near the village of Kautokeino, assisted by 10th Mountain Division’s engineer regiment and two infantry battalions to provide security and manpower.

The 102nd Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (New York Air National Guard) is withdrawn from the Faroe Islands to Dover, England to provide search and rescue support over the English Channel and North Sea while the squadron awaits replacement aircraft after the losses it suffered over Norway and the Norwegian Sea.

photo The semi-submersible heavy lift ship Super Servant 5 completes loading the damaged American destroyer Stethem and sets sail from Gibraltar. The American frigate McCloy accompanies the ship to protect it and its valuable cargo.

A stream of Air Force transports and requisitioned civil airliners begin moving troops of the 36th Infantry Division to Europe. The Air Force aircraft land at German airports, while the civilian ones land in the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Upon landing, the troops are transported to the ports in busses escorted by German territorial troops.

XVIII Airborne Corps continues to move troops, equipment and supplies across the Persian Gulf into the lodgement it has established. The effort is hindered by damage to Iranian port facilities and the shortage of shipping assets. The USMC's 1st Division, further south in Bahrain and Qatar, has enough amphibious lift to move less than a battalion, such is the demand for amphibious shipping to move the 4th Division, now crossing the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia.

The two remaining Soviet raiders in the Indian Ocean, the Echo-class submarine K-35 and the destroyer Buliny, rendezvous 350 nm south of Diego Garcia.

I wonder what patch the 36th Mech is wearing? The RL and historic incarnation of the 36th wears the “T patch”, which the 36th brigade gave up when they folded into the 49th AD in the 90s. With an extant 36th Brigade the “T patch” would probably be claimed. Maybe the army makes a new patch, or maybe they take the interim 36th airborne patch from the 60s, the “star patch”? Or maybe the 36th brigade loses their patch when they get folded into the 44th?

Patches, etc. seem like small things, but unit identity is a large part of cohesion and combat effectiveness, especially in ARNG organizations or in divisions with storied legacies. Patches are one artifact of that identity.

May 15, 1997

Nothing official for the day.

The defense rests in the treason trial of Autumn Lotus; the defense counsel attempted to question the legitimacy of evidence collected by the military and its admissibility in court.

map of front lines in Poland
No. 58 Squadron, RAF Regiment seizes the Soviet airfield at Powidz, Poland. The British troops, they are startled to discover, are actually several miles ahead of friendly units in an area that, thankfully has few Pact defenders present to resist the unit's heavily armed (but unarmored) Land Rovers.

Third German Army pauses to reorganize and replenish supplies in preparation for PanzerGruppe Oberdorf's drive.

NATO deep strike aircraft roam along the Warta, Oder and Wisla River valleys seeking out masses of Soviet and Polish vehicles bunched up waiting for river crossings. They are assisted in this hunt by USAF TR-1 and E-8 surveillance aircraft, now orbiting over liberated Polish territory.

The German government begins releasing some territorial security troops from active service, allowing the German economy to partially recover from the withdrawal of most of its adult male workforce. The economy is still, however, struggling from the burdens of repairing battle damage in both East and West, the cutoff of energy supplies from the USSR and worldwide economic turmoil caused by the war.

A SH-60 helicopter from the USS Deyo, part of the escort of Convoy 140, sinks an unidentified Soviet submarine. (Surviving Soviet records list a number of boats that lost contact in mid-May in the North Atlantic.)

The American heavy cruiser Salem and her battle group arrive in Ascension Island in the South Atlantic for a brief stopover to collect mail, discharge a handful of wounded sailors and receive intelligence updates and a consignment of high-priority parts.

In Iran, Rifleman Goreng Nassang further distinguishes himself. Back with his unit (the 1/7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles) outside of Bandar Abbas, he successfully hits a Soviet captain and his radio operator with his trusty GPMG at a range of over 1600 yards.

The two Soviet raiders in the Indian Ocean, the Echo II-class sub K-35 and the destroyer Buliny launch a cruise missile strike on the American base at Diego Garcia. Using targeting data from one of the USSR's last remaining RORSAT (ocean radar recon) satellites, the destroyer dashes towards the American base and launches its five remaining SS-N-22 cruise missiles at the ships in the lagoon. The submarine fires its four SS-N-12 cruise missiles at the airfield, hoping to strike the tank farm, runway and any aircraft parked on the apron. The strike is a success; the American destroyer tender Acadia is struck and sunk, while the tanker Mount Washington is set ablaze, sinking at dusk. The air base is also damaged, with two fuel tanks burst (the fire put out after herculean efforts of the base firefighting team), two P-3s of VP-4, two C-141s of the 172nd Military Airlift Wing (Mississippi Air National Guard) and a KC-135 of the 380th Air Refueling Squadron lost.

The SAS team in Leningrad uses the fake passes and a substantial bribe to obtain access to the nuclear battlecruiser Rossiya, under construction at the Baltic Shipyard. They manage to start a fire belowdecks and escape before the fire brigade can arrive.

JROTC has Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines. There is no government obligation, BUT, if you enlisted then JROTC would get you Private E-2 and if the officer commanding wrote you a nice letter, then you could get PFC E-3.

ROTC (the Senior, Collegiate program) was disbanded on January 16, 1997. Junion ROTC (for high school students), you are correct, has no government obligation and in fact high school students are largely too young to enlist (as the school year goes on more of the senior class will turn 18; 17-year olds can enlist with their parent's permission but cannot be deployed outside the US). The cadre for JROTC is almost entirely retirees (my JROTC regiment had a single active-duty Staff Sergeant or Sergeant First Class and a half-dozen or more retired Sergeants Major), so on mobilization I could see the active-duty NCO being pulled into the replacement system; as the war goes on maybe the younger retirees (who remain legally members of the military eligible for recall) will get pulled as well. Administrative and logistic support was from local Senior ROTC units; to the extent those tasks were performed by active duty soldiers (vs civilian employees) they would be degraded.

Post-TDM the situation may change, as JROTC units represent an in-place, organized military force, granted one composed largely of 14-17 year olds with no equipment, field gear or combat training. (The JROTC syllabus consisted of leadership, map reading, public speaking, first aid and drill and ceremony.) In the summer of 1997 (spoiler alert!) the California state government forms two disaaster relief regiments from the California Cadet Corps, a state-sponsored JROTC-like organization. One of these units ends up defending Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach through 1998 and then is assigned rear area security in support of the Army in the Mexican campaign. I have a handful of other cadet-type organizations used by state governments as part of or supplements to the various state defense forces.

Would JROTC remain as a citizenship/character building program or would it become more focused on fitness and common task skills once conscription was instituted and it became clear this wasn’t going to be a quick war (summer 97 curriculum change)? I could see no weapons training (maybe weaponeer or .22), but more PT, NBC skills, AFV ID, etc.

If you go into ROTC in college, completion of the JROTC program will allow you to enter ROTC as a sophomore cadet instead of a freshman cadet. You're out of phase, but most ROTC cadets are.

I assume you mean for T2K purposes. The actual ROTC program still exists. I was just on their page; I had to check when I read your post.

That made me smile. In ROTC, the National Guard, and on active duty, I sometimes used the M60 as an ad hoc sniper rifle. It's ROF is so slow that it's easy to squeeze off single shots accurately.

I'm having tech issues. I'll be back up on Thursday...

When I was in Air Force JROTC (mid-70s), it was a point to advise the parents that JROTC was not a 'boot camp' and there was absolutely no service obligation. Several years later, my son joins Army JROTC (2019) and I was shocked that they had the kids doing rifle drill, marksmanship training, and PT. And this was after the Lieutenant Colonel commanding, promised no military boot camp...

So...with an increasingly deteriorating international situation, I can see efforts to use JROTC as a 'prelude' to basic training, and with the outbreak of war (for the U.S.) maybe even a quick NCO academy to get Corporals at least.

May 16, 1997

As forward elements of the 24th Infantry Division move into the Bandar-e Khomeyni-Khorramshahr area, the 82nd Airborne begins withdrawing to Saudi Arabia. As the 1st Brigade, 24th Infantry is moving into its' positions, the Soviets strike back. A battle group built around the 217th (my 337th) Guards Airborne Regiment and several Tudeh guerrilla companies launch attacks in the Ramshir-Shadegan area. The 1st of the 24th use their firepower well. The attacks are beaten back. The Soviets, however, are able to withdraw in good order.

German Third Army commits seven divisions to the capture of Silesia. They face three battered Pact divisions - the Polish 12th Tank and 2nd Motor-Rifle and the Soviet 35th (my 93rd) Guards Motor-Rifle, and various workers militia and ZOMO riot police battalions.

Unofficially,

The tanker Suwanee is delivered in Baltimore, Maryland and put into naval service.

The jury reaches a guilty verdict in the treason trial of Autumn Lotus, who provided transportation, food and shelter to a Soviet Spetsnaz team operating in New Mexico.

US Forces Korea launch a co-ordinated air campaign against North Korea. Recent POW interrogations have revealed that the North Korean People's Army has largely expended its stocks of food, fuel and ammunition at the front and that great efforts are required to keep the troops supplied. Some supplies are coming from further north, while others are being provided by the DPRK's Soviet sponsor. Consequently, USFK implements an all-out interdiction campaign designed to halt the North Korean transportation system. The 320th Bpmb Wing's B-52s hit Pyongyang, jamming the remaining air defense radars while the bombers attack the capital's rail yards. US Navy aircraft from the Kitty Hawk and Nimitz carrier battle groups (and conventionally-armed Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from some of the escorts) pound other targets in the city, while the F-111s of the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing and the Stennis and Abraham Lincoln battle groups pound Wonsan on the east coast.

The 631st Field Artillery Brigade (Mississippi National Guard) arrives at the Oakland Port of Embarkation for transit to Korea.

III German Korps links up with the amphibious lodgment and isolates Kolobrzeg on the Baltic Coast.

Anti-Soviet partisans on the Kola rescue the pilot of a USMC F/A-18 fighter-bomber who was shot down attacking air defense sites south of Murmansk.

Convoy 140 arrives off the southwest coast of the UK, having taken a more southerly route to avoid Soviet submarines that had ravaged Convoy 136 a few weeks prior. The escort carrier Shangri La departs the convoy, joining the westbound Convoy 143.

The "Rumble in the Jungle" erupts in Colombia when Colombian national police commandos, accompanied by American advisors of the 8th Special Forces Group, launch a helicopter assault on the guerilla-controlled hamlet of El Moral (east of Cali), carried by American UH-1s of the 3rd Battalion, 228th Aviation. The town conceals the headquarters of the ELM-L, a splinter group of the larger ELM marxist guerrilla group. The battle that follows is fierce, with two helicopters and a A-7 attack jet of the 156th Tactical Fighter Group (Puerto Rico Air National Guard) shot down by SA-7s, likely supplied by Cuba, making their first appearance in Colombia. By sundown the police and their American allies have gained control of the town but find themselves under siege by hundreds of guerillas and armed peasants and townspeople.

May 17, 1997

Nothing official for the day. Unofficially,

American and Allied planners face growing shortages as simultaneous offensives occur around the world. Prewar stockpiles have largely been depleted, and while Western industrial production is turning out ever increasing amounts of war materiel it is not enough to offset the voracious appetite of global war. Shipping is in short supply with three major convoys at sea moving troops and months of Soviet commerce raiding. Logistics planners try to better manage the supplies they have - substituting when possible and allocating scarce resources to the most pressing needs. One policy change US planners implement regards MREs, where supplies are rapidly dwindling as troops in the field consume them and other users want them to add to emergency stockpiles. The new policy limits MREs to one per day for troops beyond the rear of brigades in action and prohibits further transfer of MREs into CONUS stockpiles. Trainees in the US will be issued prepackaged perishable foods. In response, FEMA buys up the remainder of the year's production from the country's three biggest suppliers of dehydrated camping food as well as massive quantities of canned food. Similar changes occur in many other areas of supply.

Engineers at the US Army TACOM complete the design of a SS-23 guidance radar jamming system that can be truck mounted. After testing against SS-23s transferred from the NVA at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the system is ordered into emergency mass production.

The 196th Infantry Brigade is formed at Fort Ord, California as part of the wartime expansion of the Army, assigned a mix of draftees, recalled reservists and retirees and a smattering of reassigned active-duty NCOs, including the entire peacetime Army recruiting command staff on the West Coast who are medically fit for deployment. Due to the demands of the war the “Chargers Brigade” does not receive its complete complement of specialist troops and is issued WW II-era howitzers and converted civilian vehicles for training purposes.

The 214th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma is stood down from alert, informed by the Joint Chiefs that it will remain in CONUS as part of a small strategic reserve, especially since the deployment of additional Pershing II missiles to Europe could be seen as escalatory.

US Forces Korea's air campaign against North Korean transportation infrastructure continues with more F-111, B-52 and naval strikes on Pyongyang and Wonsan. NSA signals interception teams record a call between Kim Jong Il and Soviet General Secretary Sauronski in which the North Korean leader begs for modern Soviet air defense missiles and PVO interceptors to cover his nation; Sauronski rebuffs the North Korean, explaining (accurately) that he has none to spare and refusing to divert PVO forces from defending the USSR.

The lead squadrons of the US 1st Cavalry Division enter Szczecinek.

The Luftwaffe 4th Luftjaeger Regiment is formed as the threat to airbases in West Germany (from Spetsnaz or saboteur attack or Warsaw Pact air raids) recedes. The regiment is tasked with providing security for NATO supply convoys and logistics sites in Poland as NATO advances towards the Soviet border.

Troops of the Hungarian Sopron Border Guard District detain a group of eight men crossing into Hungary from Austria. (The border is one of only two Warsaw Pact borders that is not seeing war; the other is the Soviet-Finnish broder). Hidden within the group's cars are several M-16 rifles, explosives, detanators and sophisticated communications equipment. They do not identify themselves and are not heard from again in the West. (The group was a CIA paramilitary team attempting to infiltrate into the USSR via Hungary; the Department of Defense thought the plan was foolish and denied the CIA's request for assistance.)

Behind the screen maintained by the King’s Guard in northern Norway, the Norwegian 8th Brigade and the Sør-Norge Mechanized Brigade move into the area around Karasjok, forming a division-sized force.

Ships from Convoy 140 arrive in Bremen, Hamburg and Bremerhaven, Germany and begin unloading the 36th Infantry Division (Mechanized), the 107th ACR and 44th AD as well as thousands of tons of ammunition and supplies. The massive escort force allowed the convoy to arrive unscathed, despite the numerous objections of US Navy Admirals to their vaunted carrier forces being "wasted escorting a bunch of merchant tubs wallowing along at 7 knots".

POWs in the hastily established POW camp outside Bushehr riot, demanding better rations and an end to the overcrowding. The rioters nearly overwhelm the MPs guarding the camp's perimeter, saved only by the arrival of an Iranian infantry battalion. Over 300 POWs are killed in the disorder. The 24th Infantry Division and 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light) pursue the retreating Soviet and Tudeh forces, advancing 5 km towards Ramshir and Shadegan. In Leningrad the fire aboard the battlecruiser Rossiya, lit by a British SAS team two nights before, is extinguished.

The "Rumble in the Jungle" continues, with American and Colombian transport planes dropping supplies to the surrounded troops. At sundown another air assault is launched, delivering two companies of Colombian Army infantry, equipped with heavy machineguns and moertars. Throughout the day, as the battle rages, the government troops are supported by further waves of American attack aircraft, moving fast and low to avoid guerilla MANPADS.

On the other side of the world, a Pakistani Army patrol clashes with Indian border guards along the disputed border west of Srinagar. India claims the Pakistanis were on Indian territory and that the patrol was escorting Muslim rebels into the disputed region of Kashmir, which both nations claim.

May 18, 1997

Nationwide conscription begins in Canada. Initially, there are some "card burning" rallies held by people opposing Canadian involvement in the war in Europe and by those resisting conscription.

Unofficially,

Outside Fort Lee, Virginia, MPs are called to a low-budget hotel in the early morning to break up a rowdy gathering of trainees. When the MPs arrive there are over 25 soldiers (mostly privates but including one staff sergeant and a lone, female, second lieutenant), ample alchohol, cocaine and six unregistered firearms. All the soldiers are brought to the base confinement facility.

The final major secret transfer of precious objects out of London takes place under the careful watch of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards. This final consignment includes the second copy of the Magna Carta kept at the British Library.

A third day of airstrikes on North Korean transportation sites continues. The USAF long-range aircraft are supplemented by F-16s of the 16th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 432nd Tactical Fighter Wing, forward deployed to Kangnung Air Base, Korea; the F-16s carry precision-guided munitions to target bridges and tunnels along the rail lines approaching the DMZ, while ROKAF and USAF A-10s search roads and rail lines for convoys and trains to attack.

VII German Korps advances on Walcz and Piła while III German Korps, assisted by more amphibious landings (often in battalion size), takes Koszalin and Slupsk. The Soviet 3rd Shock Army, battered by a month of intense action and at less than 25 percent strength, is withdrawn to the Kaliningrad oblast for rest and reconstruction.

As the Polish Free Congress discovers the challenges of governing recaptured territory, 7th US Army offers the assistance of the 42nd Military Police Group (Customs) in battling smuggling and black market activity.

The contractors hired by the German government complete their first job, emergency repairs to the railroad bridge over the Oder at Krosno Odrzańskie, which had been damaged by RAF Tornadoes in January.

Logistic difficulties slow the American counterattack in Iran as the limited reserves of ammunition and spare parts in Saudi Arabia are depleted. CENTCOM's limited transportation resources for moving things across the Persian Gulf are nearly fully committed to sustain the forces that have already been moved to Iran, leaving the US Marine's 1st Division, the 434th Field Artillery Brigade and many of XVIII Airborne Corps' support units stranded in Saudi Arabia.

In Leningrad, the British SAS team launches what will turn out to be its final attack. They infiltrate the Vostochnaya electrical substation and attack the control center. The subsequent damage to the control center severely disrupts the life of the city, cutting off power to 40 percent of the city, shutting down much of the metro system and the main water treatment plant as well as massive portions of the city's industry.

In Colombia, the battle of El Moral comes to an end as the guerrillas, battered by mortar fire and two days of nearly nonstop air attack, melt away into the jungle. They take their dead and wounded with them, leaving the government forces in control of the town and its hostile population. Government losses approach 150 dead and over 300 wounded.

May 19, 1997

NATO airstrikes destroy the road and rail bridges across the Raba River in Bochnia, 40 km south of Krakow.

Unofficially,

The Freedom-class cargo ship Tehran Freedom is delivered in Portland, Oregon.

With the end of the school year, the governor of Texas orders the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets to active duty, splitting its remaining membership (those contracted to ROTC have already been deployed) into two regiments. The 3rd Regiment (unofficially known as “the 1st Aggies”) leaves its College Station home to augment the Border Patrol in guarding the Mexican border, operating out of a ranch on the outskirts of Eagle Pass and from Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio. The regiment’s cadets are armed with a hodgepodge of M16s from Air Force and National Guard stocks, M14s and M1s from the State Guard, shotguns from the factory in Eagle Pass and civilian weapons owned by the unit’s members or donated by alumni. Its sister regiment, the 5th Texas Regiment, is assigned "special missions" from the governor’s office.

The MP investigators at Fort Lee, Virginia discover that the party they broke up the night before was a gathering of the "5th Squad", a gang formed by trainees at the base, mostly attending the fuel handler advanced individual training course. The exclusively African-American gang had started out as a harmless social organization but over several months had evolved into a criminal organization, moving drugs onto the base. Witness interviews revealed that the weekly graduation parties (to celebrate the graduation of the members of the training company's senior platoon) frequently involved assault, rape and drug abuse. The investigators forward their finding to the JAG and to the Army Criminal Investigation Command.

The B-52s of the 320th Bomb Wing shift to northeastern North Korea, alarming Soviet air defense commanders in the Vladivostok area. The bombers instead hit transportation and industrial facilities in Chongjin, North Korea's third largest city. 7th Air Force withdraws its remaining A-10 force from the interdiction effort over North Korea, alarmed at the loss of five of the increasingly hard to replace aircraft in the first day's operation to North Korean anti-aircraft artillery fire.

The Poznan airport is captured by panzergrenadiers and the factory floor of the BMP-2 plant is torn apart by artillery and mortar fire. The German commander offers to permit the garrison to surrender before the artillery turns its guns on the old city. The garrison commander stalls for time, allowing the bridges over the Warta and the switches and repair shops in the city’s railyards to be demolished, before accepting the offer.

To the north of Poznan, the Polish 10th Border Guard Brigade, its commander killed in a partisan attack, declares in favor of the government in exile, the largest unit to date to declare for NATO.

The American heavy cruiser Des Moines completes 45 days of post-commissioning workups at Naval Station Mayport, Florida and is ordered to the Pacific. It will be assigned an escort force from the Pacific Fleet when it completes its transit of the Panama Canal.

The CIA station chief in Pakistan meets with a group of Afghan Mujahadin leaders who are demanding the resumption of American weapons shipments, which have been curtailed because of the war. The CIA officer explains that the worldwide war has prevented him from being able to obtain additional Stinger missiles, Soviet-caliber small arms and ammunition and explosives. He reinterates the CIA's continued financial support of the Afghan rebels and the provision of small numbers of Lee-Enfield rifles and ammunition, and the departure of most of the Soviet 40th Army to fight in Iran, leaving only small garrisons to hold the cities. The guerrilla leaders reject his call for the resistance to shut down the Afghan road network to the Soviets and their DRA allies.

Authorities from naval headquarters in Moscow judge the hulk of the battlecruiser Rossiya a total loss, fit only for scrap. The KGB finally obtains the location of the SAS safehouse in Leningrad and calls in the Alfa Group commando team.

Additional clashes break out along the Indian-Pakistani border in Kashmir. There are three separate firefights between patrols and artillery duels disturbing the night. Leaders of both nations are silent, resisting calls both to de-escalate the tensions and hawkish calls to respond with overwhelming force to force the other side to back down.

one of the things that might happen is a throwback to the ACW. Officers will be offered the idea that they buy their own sidearms as long as it is a the "right" set of calibers. maybe after it does so well that senior NCOs will get the same offer. there are a lot of small shops that can make AR platforms or 1911 clones and the like.

Hopefully they take out a good number of the Alfa Group team before going down

May 20, 1997

Today is the original jump-off date for Operation Rampart, Third German Army's offensive to capture Opole and Czestochowa. Heavy spring rains force a delay.

Unofficially,

The Freedom ship Wichita Freedom is delivered in Galveston, Texas.

The lieutentant and about half of the privates arrested at the "5th Squad" gathering over the weekend are released from jail at Fort Lee, Virginia.

Poor weather over much of the Korean Peninsula results in most Allied airstrikes being called off; the F-111s of the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing, however, score a coup when they catch a train carrying hundreds of tons of munitions from the USSR rushing south between Wonsan and Hamhung; the bombers not only take out the train but the secondary explosions destroy the railbed in the rugged mountains, taking the rail line out of commission for months.

In central Poland, First German Army’s advanced slows. Its rear areas are in disarray, from both Pact attacks on its supply lines and damage to the infrastructure needed to support the offensive. Parties of engineers struggle to repair damaged bridges, roads and railroad lines and develop new depots, supply dumps, helipads, headquarters and expeditionary airfields. The deployment of additional rear area security troops only adds to the logistical difficulties. The First German Army commander, General Helmut Diedrichs, also faces a strategic choice - whether to continue driving east for Warsaw, whose defenses are relatively rudimentary, or whether to attack northeast towards Bydgoszcz and the lower Wisła River valley, where the Soviet Reserve Front is still relatively intact and growing stronger every day as it absorbs both replacements from the USSR and stragglers from other Soviet units fleeing the NATO onslaught. Such a drive would also decrease the pressure on Second German Army’s flank, allowing the two formations to reinforce each others’ efforts.

The 107th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Ohio National Guard) is declared ready for combat and is assigned to XI Corps.

Saami partisans, accompanied by Green Berets, launch their most audacious and successful attack, on the airfield located on the outskirts of their home village of Lovozero. The mortar and rocket attack on the base destroys six airplanes and three helicopters.

A portion of SACLANT’s growing sea power in the Norwegian Sea is used to escort a large supply convoy to Kirkenes and Liinakhamari on the Kola. The arrival of that convoy improves the logistical situation of Allied forces on Soviet territory, although it takes weeks to unload all the ships, even using all available small craft as lighters. The convoy effort is part of an effort by SACLANT to draw elements of the Red Banner Northern Fleet out into battle, where they can be overwhelmed by superior NATO numbers and firepower and defeated in detail.

XVIII Airborne Corps resumes its slow-paced, limited advance in Iran, pushing back the remnants of the Soviet airborne and Tudeh force in Khuzestan and establishing firm links to Iranian forces.

In a 1 am raid, KGB Alfa group commandos attack the Leningrad SAS safe house. They are too late, the British having exfiltrated to neutral Finland immediately following the attack on the power facility. The KGB team takes two casualties from booby traps ("anti-handling devices") left behind by the British.

Headquarters, USAF Tactical Air Command, directs that the 156th Tactical Fighter Group (Puerto Rico Air National Guard) reduce its allocation of A-7D aircraft from 24 to 16. (While authorized 24, it has only 22 present following the loss of an airframe in the Rumble in the Jungle and a crash during a training flight in March).

I think it would, at most, be on a limited basis. The main reason I say so would be ammunition/magazine compatability and spare part/maintenance availability - the weapon needs to be able to function as part of a unit that has standardized on the issue weapon. From what I have read, generals provided their own sidearms until 1943, when the Army started issuing "special" upgraded pistols to generals; upon retirement they are presented the opportunity to purchase the gun from the Army.

From personal experience, I wouldn't say never, because there are enough units, especially in the reserve components, where some rules receive "variable enforcement", that higher-ups look the other way.

The Army also had a pretty good stockpile of M1911s in Anniston, Albama following the fielding of the M9. In the mid-90s there were over 100,000 M1911s in storage, which makes the Charter Arms Bulldog purchase (on May 8th above, pulled from the v1 Small Arms Guide) a little redundant, except perhaps the Air Force felt that the Army wasn't forthcoming enough with the 1911s.

When we sent units into OEF, units bought sigs, and some other brands. to issue sidearms to more than just officers because there were not enough M9s. also SOCOM can and does buy a crazy amount of different weapons for the groups to use. its your time line, if this does not work for you... that is cool. :) i am still enjoying your work

Nice touch with MREs becoming controlled. I always thought the (relatively) easy availability of MREs or similar rations was a headscratcher in the equipment list given their manufacturing requirements, ease of use, and demand. Post-TDM they’d likely not be able to be produced. I can almost imagine MREs being signed for from a issue point and subsequently turned in if not used. Maybe there’s a cottage industry reboxing loose meals into cases for ease of storage and transport (Eventually there’d be cases with nothing but Ham Omelette!). Probably any similar rations captured or “acquired” would be similarly managed.

I wonder if there’d be an attempt to produce a “c-ration like” meal pre-tdm using commercial canned goods for use by low priority, mech, or rear echelon units. I guess they could just eat more T-rations, UGR-As, etc, but I’m looking at an individual meal for when unit feeding is impractical (offensive operations, NBC, or dispersed operations). Post-TDM, this may transition to a cottage industry producing preserved food such as dried meat, dried fruit, and hardtack for local patrolling and operations with the remaining canned goods and MREs held for high priority units or offensive operations. Maybe an early harbinger of Operation Ancient Mariner was the release of MRE and canned rations to 3d German Army from depot storage?

A friend of mine in a theater level unit attached to V Corps during OIF I related to me that they were on straight MREs from just before they jumped off until late June because the logistics chain hadn’t been able to bring even T-rations forward due to priorities on fuel, ammo, supporting additional forces flowing in, and water.

May 21, 1997

Polish intelligence receives word of Operation Rampart from a German deserter. Colonel Tomasz Piotrowski, Commander of the Polish 6th Air Assault Division, radios 1st Polish Tank Army HQ at Lublin for reinforcements, Piotrowski is told there aren't any to be sent. Undaunted, he then contacts the 4th Czechoslovak Army HQ. Defenses of Czestochowa consist of three ORMO battalions and a battalion of 30 obsolescent T-55s manned by military cadets.

Unofficially,

A quick survey of CONUS Army bases reveal that members of "5th Squad" are stationed at nearly every post. Few bases host more than 3 members, and none of the bases report any known criminal activity related to the group.

The first truck-mounted SS-23 guidance radar jammer is deployed at Bitburg Air Base, Germany.

The undamaged condition of Poznań’s old city leads the government in exile to choose the town as its temporary seat of government.

At a unit formation, Polish Free Congress president Lech Walesa addresses the troops of the 10th Border Guard Brigade. The troops are welcomed and the unit renamed the 1st Polish Free Legion, and Walesa offers to release any troops that do not wish to fight for a free Poland. About 30 percent accept the offer, but are dismayed to discover that there are American MPs of the 42nd MP Group waiting nearby to take them into custody as prisoners of war.

Marshall Slepnev (Western TVD commander) demands the arrest of the Poznań garrison commander’s family; the Polish Ministry of Defense refuses, judging that it is preferable for the historic old city to be left intact and occupied by a government of Poles than to be destroyed in a pointless battle of annihilation that would result in tens of thousands of Polish deaths.

The 428th Field Artillery Brigade (US Army Reserve) is declared combat ready in Germany. It is rushed into Poland to support the advance.

The growing NATO force on the Norwegian-Finnish border is kept supplied by convoys of civilian trucks, requisitioned by the government and largely driven by Pakistanis and Somalis. The American 10th Light Infantry Division detaches its light mechanized battalion and ground cavalry troops’ LAV-25s, HMMWV gun trucks and Fast Attack Vehicles to escort the convoys.

The Soviets reveal a new weapon in the skies over the North Atlantic, with the appearance of the Tu-22M2DP, an older-model Backfire bomber that has been modified into a long-range interceptor. The "new" aircraft mounts the long-range radar and missile system of the MiG-31 interceptor, while the aircraft's bombing equipment has been removed, replaced with additional fuel tankage, giving it enough range to wander over the airlanes over and south of the GIUK Gap. The fighter's first kill is a trio of C-5 transports from the 439th Military Airlift Wing and a World Airlines 767 carrying replacements to Germany.

The Sierra II-class attack sub K-336 returns to the Kola Peninsula after its long patrol in the Atlantic. It berths in the remote port of Gremikha, 350 km east of Murmansk, to avoid capture by NATO ground troops.

In the skies over Korea, 7th Air Force launches another major raid on Pyongyang, striking targets that the North Koreans had repaired or that were missed in earlier raids. The strike manages to knock out the city's largest coal-fired power plant, making electrical service even more infrequent.

The final detachments of the 20th Engineer Brigade (Airborne) arrive in Iran from Saudi Arabia. Two combat engineer battalions (the 27th and 5th) are detached to the 9th and 24th Infantry Divisions, respectively, to support their organic engineer regiments, while the remaining battalions begin constructing infrastructure to support Third Army’s concept of holding a strip of territory along the shore of the Persian Gulf, forcing the Soviets to fight in the Zagros Mountains. Several heliports are constructed for the 101st Air Assault Division and the 6th ACCB, supply dumps established and fortified and the road network along the coast and into the mountains is improved to support the additional traffic generated by XVIII Airborne Corps.

The 82nd Airborne Division completes its withdrawal from Iran, returning to Saudi Arabia to absorb reinforcements and reconstitute.

The USS Independence strikes Chah Bahar, disrupting the Soviet paratroopers there.

Further south in the Indian Ocean, the Diego Garcia base is working to put itself back together after the cruise missile attacks. SEEBEEs are en route to repair the damage, while the base's P-3s launch a frantic search for the Soviet vessels that launched the attack.

The Soviet raiding force, having expended their missiles, have looped south and east. They are en route to meet up with some Soviet fishing vessels for fuel for the Buliny before making way to Vietnam for a resupply.

The Politburo grants permission for the General Staff to direct local military commissions to initiate another round of mobilization to support troop levels at the front. Each republic, region and locality is given a number of reservists to provide within 15 days; it is up to local officials to determine who is chosen. In larger cities the call-up is based on age and civilian employment; in the regions and countryside, especially in the villages and collective farms, it is decided by favoritism and bribery.

The call-up also extends to the large population of the incarcerated. The Ministry of Justice and Ministry of the Interior meet to establish criteria for selecting prisoners from the MVD's massive labor camp system for "parole at the front".

The proper name of the Polish unit is 6th Pomeranian Air Assault Division.

In the T2k Timeline, the 6th Pomeranian AAD has one battalion roughly equivalent to the US's Delta. two airborne battalions. and three air assault battalions, plus support personnel such as recon vehicles, artillery, REMFs, HQ elements, etc,

Chewbarka loves that there is an Airborne unit named for him.

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.c8a9e20d...pid=ImgRaw&r=0

May 22, 1997

Lieutenant-General Boleslav Myrec, Czech 4th Army commander, responds to Colonel Piotrowski's plea for help. He agrees to send the Czech 19th Motorized Rifle Division (6,000 men, 43 tanks) to Katowice, Poland to aid in the defense. More importantly, he sends a battery of four 130mm long range guns to help augment the defenses. At dusk the first Czech troops arrive in Katowice and the 3000 survivors of the 6th Air Assault Division head north to Czestochowa.

In response to earlier attacks on facilities in the rear area and rioting in POW cages, the first complement of SPAS-12 automatic shotguns are issued to US Army MPs in Iran.

Unofficially,

The container-barge carrier Dailan Carrier is delivered in Quincy, Massachusetts. It proceeds to nearby Qounset Point, Rhode Island to load its first cargo of containerized ammunition and supplies before sailing to Europe, where it will join the floating logistics train of II MEF.

The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support group begins a crash program to develop and field a "modern C-ration" composed of a cardboard box with shorter shelf life packaged and canned food items. The ration would use food processing industry capacity that can't be used for MRE production to partially replace MRE use in areas where the light weight, long shelf life and convenience of the MRE are not essential.

SACLANT shifts the reconstituted Strike Force Atlantic north to the GIUK Gap. The Saratoga, Enterprise and Eisenhower battle groups use their fighters and fighter-bombers to augment the USAF F-15 force in Iceland and RAF Tornado F3 interceptors in Scotland in patrolling the airspace over the Norwegian Sea to protect the air bridge to Europe from further Soviet attacks.

The heavy cruiser Des Moines completes its transit of the Panama Canal and officially becomes part of the Pacific Fleet. Meeting up with her battle group (composed of a guided-missile cruiser, two destroyers, a pair of frigates and an oiler) she steams for Pearl Harbor.

MVD and KGB internal security troops sweep the town of Lovozero on the Kola Peninsula, seeking those that attacked the nearby airfield. The raid results in the capture of six Green Berets, the death of four American troops and eight Saami partisans and the destruction of the village’s partisan organization.

The SAS team that operated in Leningrad boards a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Brussels. They discarded their weapons and equipment in a lake outside the city.

After only a week in the UK, the 102nd Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (New York Air National Guard) is ordered to Gibraltar to provide search and rescue support to Allied forces in the approaches to the Mediterranean and in the western Med, leaving its remaining three HH-60 helicopters in the UK. (The helos are promptly reassigned to the 56th ARRS, operating from Keflavik, Iceland). Upon arrival in Gibraltar the 102nd is shocked to discover the replacement aircraft it is assigned are not new HH-60s, but Vietnam-veteran HH-3 "Jolly Green Giants" pulled out of storage in the Arizona desert and rushed to Gibraltar in a priority airlift aboard giant C-5 transports. The "new" helicopters lack the modern avionics of the squadron's prior mount, and the squadron's younger pilots and mechanics are not familiar with the aircraft, which the squadron had retired in 1992. Nevertheless, the squadron continues to be assigned missions, and headquarters justifies the move noting that the squadron's location in the western Mediterranean does not demand the latest technology to succeed.

The Egyptian government, after months of dithering, signs a contract with a large French engineering and construction firm for clearing the wreckage from the Suez Canal. The multi-million pound contract award immediately raises howls of protest about "European recolonization" from domestic firms (none of which have anything approaching the ability to perform the work, but which instead would have subcontracted the work to the same foreign firms after skimming off a healthy portion of the cost and adding delays and confusion.) The government, already under pressure from the loss of foreign aid, canal toll revenue and facing a food crisis, backs down, suspending the contract for "reconsideration".

The British 27th Brigade in Iran launches an assault on an outpost established by the 350th Guards Airborne Regiment outside of Bandar Abbas. The 14-hour assault, launched in the pre-dawn hours, culminates in a close-quarter battle with the Gurkhas fighting with their famous Kukri knives as ammunition runs low on both sides.

Six A-7s depart Howard Air Force Base, Panama for Point Salines Airport, Grenada, the first stop in their journey to the Middle East.

I was lucky enough to have one of the 6th's (at that time a brigade) companies guarding the base I was stationed on in Bosnia. Wonderful guys, their NCOs were tough as nails and great friends. Many of the professional troops had years of experience on UN peacekeeping missions dating back to the 80s.

I'm using GDW's larger orbat for the 6th for this timeline, it reduces the effort I need to expend in re-writing the Battle of Czestochowa and I would justify it by saying that they called up recently discharged vets to beef up the force structure!

One thing most people don't know is that the Polish unit, called GROM, was the first unit ashore in OIF. They disabled an oil platform and then went ashore to disable more oil infrastructure.

So they stepped onto the plane and vanished into Finnair

(old travel industry joke - seemed appropriate in this context)

I should have named Orlando that. He's a Shih Zsu that barks a lot and has a surprisingly loud voice for >9-pound dog!

May 23, 1997

Following the issuance of SPAS-12 automatic shotguns to US Army MPs in the Persian Gulf, USAF police units in Poland and Germany receive the guns.

Unofficially,

After a month of investigation, Army CID (Criminal Investigation Division) agents are unable to determine how over 7200 40mm grenade launcher rounds disappeared from a storage bunker at Camp Dawson, West Virginia. The investigation is placed in an inactive status as the agents are assigned to other cases, including the growing investigation into the "5th Squad" gang potentially spreading from Fort Lee.

In the skies over Korea, American bombers return to northeastern North Korea, striking the port city of Kimchaek and the rail junction at Kilju, disrupting transportation from the USSR.

Continued poor weather in Poland greatly slows operations on the ground; the heavy rains wash out roads and make low-level flight hazardous. The armies take advantage of the lull to try to rest their troops and move supplies forward.

As NATO advances across Poland, a shadow war is taking place in the woods and out of the way places as special operation forces and guerillas seek out enemy weak spots to exploit. NATO rear areas are constantly on guard against pro-Pact guerillas, remnants of cut off or destroyed units and Polish civilians who, from devotion to Communism or nationalism, take up arms against the German invaders and their Western allies. Spetsnaz units, as well as their elite air assault and airborne counterparts, seek out isolated NATO troop units, communications sites or unguarded chokepoints along lines of communications. If these targets are weak enough they attack them immediately, and if not they radio in the location, to be engaged by Frontal Aviation or, more likely, surface-to-surface missile systems. Likewise, NATO has troops operating behind Warsaw Pact lines. The US has two Special Forces groups, the 10th and the 20th, committed to the Central Front, as well as Long-Range Surveillance Detachments from each corps and division headquarters. The Green Berets concentrate on supporting anti-Soviet resistance groups and encouraging Pact units to defect, as well as performing direct action missions. The UK’s Special Air Service Group roams the woods of central Poland as well as safe houses in Warsaw and other cities, scouting Pact supply routes, assassinating traffic control officers, rescuing and evacuating downed airmen, notifying headquarters of advancing Pact troops and identifying targets for deep strike aircraft and systems. German Korps reconnaissance companies and the Danish Jægerkorpset also roam the Pact rear areas, seeking targets for others to attack, raiding vulnerable sites, helping downed airmen and generally causing as much disruption as possible.

The USAF 17th Air Force, responding to the advancing front line in Poland and improved security situation in East Germany, moves several units assigned close air support missions to former Soviet Frontal Aviation bases in East Germany. The bases have been released by the Luftwaffe, which has scoured them for parts and materiel that can be used to support the LSK (the former East German air force). The "new" bases don't have the amenities usually associated with a US Air Force base but reduce the transit time aircraft have to spend getting to and from the action.

With the boat secured and a caretaker crew aboard, the crew of the Sierra II-class SSN K-336 is granted a month of celebratory leave following their successful patrol in the North Atlantic.

The Red Banner Northern Fleet begins another series of mining missions, dispatching the Foxtrot-class boat B-2 to the North Sea.

Responding to the progress made by Greek engineers, Turkish F-4 fighters strike the Alexandropolous airfield with a low-level overflight scattering cluster bomblets over the field, destroying a pair of fixed-wing light transports and a UH-1 utility helicopter.

No. 35 Squadron, RAF and No. 21 Squadron fly numerous sorties with their Jaguar attack bombers in support of 25 Brigade's troops, which are keeping the paratroops of the 103rd Guards Air Assault Division tied down in Bandar Abbas, Iran.

A detachment from the MVD 16th Convoy Brigade is the first to transfer prisoners to the Army under the so-called “front parole” program, releasing 45 carefully-screened prisoners to the 20th Guards Motor-Rifle Division as the unit is in reserve near Lvov.

I have the 36th ID using the "T Patch"; when the 36th Brigade is rolled into the 46th ID (where I put them as I shuffled brigades to account for the 29th ID existing) I have them swapping to the 46th Division patch. I figure that to build the new divisional identities when the formerly independent brigades are thrust into divisions together that the brigade patches go; this also helps break down intra-unit barriers in the new composite battalions (cavalry, engineer, CEWI) that are formed. And yes, Joe is going to bitch about it. It's his right!

Some interesting things can start to happen when you combine guard units into composite divisional battalions and squadrons. Depending on the lineage of the original troops/companies/batteries you could have a unit whose antecedent subunits had squared off against each other. It’d be water under the bridge, but would definitely be a touch of color.

Moot point but in case you needed one the 36th Brigade was authorized a different patch in the early 70s.Of course there was no 36th at that time and the 71st wore the T patch then.
https://www.eaglesofwar.com/images/p...edium/1712.jpg

I'm not sure where you put the 36TD t2K-wise, but one should remember that in T2K-terms, what is now 36ID was 49ID T2K-wise.

I'm not sure where you put the 36ID t2K-wise, but one should remember that in T2K-terms, what is now 36ID was 49AD T2K-wise.

its hard to say Paul. Lineage wise its kind of a mess. One could make a good case that the 36th, 46th etc. IDs in T2K would not contain the lineage of Divisions that held those designation before like today's IRL 134th Inf Reg has no ties to the WWII 134th Inf Reg.. Basically making them new blank slate divisions with no history. So the lineage of those Division would still reside in the their child Separate Brigade. 46th ID lineage held in 46/38ID, etc. Not that lineage really matters in T2Kbut as an academic practice its interesting.