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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. |
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I for one am very glad to hear it. Its a great resource and just good to read.
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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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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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. |
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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" 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. |
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 |
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 |
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.
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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 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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 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 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. |
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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. |
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.
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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! |
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. |
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.
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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 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. |
January 5, 1997
photo 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 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. |
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January 6, 1997
photo 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. |
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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. Quote:
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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.
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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? |
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 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. |
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Filling in the gaps
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. |
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. |
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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. |
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. |
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 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. |
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. |
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January 10, 1997
Nothing official today, but unofficially: photo 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 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. |
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