SECTION FIVE: The Great Lakes (Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio)
WISCONSIN
The state in 1964 is a wild and wooly place, but perhaps the hope of the future as well. The state suffered a nuclear strike and large areas of the state are empty and barren today. Disease, shortages and exposure took their toll during the chaos and many local communities were left to their own devices. The predations of marauders have made life tough, but the land is good and food was plentiful until recently when some shortages began to be felt due to the drought. Despite these problems, Wisconsin is heaven compared to most of the rest of the nation
1) NUCLEAR TARGETS
Date Type Target
10/28/62 SS-7 Lake Geneva (overshoot)
2) ORGANIZED MILITARY FORCES
The state's 32nd Infantry Division was mobilized and shipped out the Saint Lawrence in 1962 and demolished in the European theatre. In late 1962, the 84th Infantry Division was formed in Milwaukee by redesignation of 84th Training Division (US Army Reserve) and was employed to internal security and disaster relief missions. Pressures of the job and the unstable supply net caused the unit to move out of the cities and relocate to LaCrosse in 1963.
84th Infantry Division--LaCrosse (2500 men, 20 AFVs)
3) THE STATE AT LARGE
Eh?: Some Canadian military units have recently launched raids against marauder formations into northern Wisconsin, which have brought protests by both CivGov and MilGov but no great concern from the individualistic citizens of those states glad to be rid of a few more marauders. There is some question where these incursions are official sanctioned by the Canadians or the actions of rogue units.
Lake Geneva: Hit by an overshot 6 megaton SS-7 ground burst aimed at Chicago on October 28, 1962, and is now just a radioactive windswept ghost town, picked clean by wary survivors. A vast, glass-lined crater is all that remains today of the city.
Madison: The former state capital is now a gutted ruin. Around the city buildings are broken and blackened from fire.
Milwaukee: Destroyed by riots, the city of Milwaukee now consists of three isolated enclaves of survivors surrounded by a burnt-out urban husk. The enclaves are centered around the Saint Francis Seminary, the old breweries, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. The group controlling the breweries still turns out limited amounts of beer, but the main product is a limited amount of ethanol and methanol for burning in engines. The market for this is large in the city.
Menominee: Home of the "Free Republic of Wisconsin", founded and led by Kari Mortikai, an Asian woman in her 30's.
LaCrosse: The unchallenged oasis of security in this state is the river town of LaCrosse. The outskirts are fortified and the town is in fairly good structural shape and boasts an ever-growing refugee population, many from Minneapolis and Chicago. The number fluctuate but are about 52,000 by now. Currently garrisoned by the CivGov 84th Infantry Division. An former training unit with 2,500 men, a number significantly boosted by reinforcements from local militias, overall division command is under General Leger. This is an all-Wisconsin unit that has worked hard to make the town's defenses formidable. While strong on manpower, the unit is even stronger in armored vehicles and firepower. At the east entrance, five M48 Patton tanks are barricaded by a low brick wall, the engines won't start, so they are basically metal pillboxes. They also have ten other M48s which operate--one stationed on the north wall and the other on the west wall. Other assets include a WWII-era M24 Chaffee tank with no rounds for it's 76mm main gun, two M88 Armored Recovery Vehicles, six M59A1 APCs, two M40 155mm self-propelled guns with it's tracked FAASVs, four LVTP-5 amphibious tractors armed with MGs and grenade launchers, and a pair of elderly 75mm-armed M3 GMC anti-tank halftracks dug in behind the city's wall. Additionally, they have six WWII surplus M3A1 White scout cars, and numerous deuce-and-a-halves, five-ton trucks, and civilian pickup trucks. Personal weapons are mainly M-14s, but several homemade Sterling-type weapon types are being introduced to their numbers. The base defenses include at each side of the compound a well-riveted and dug-in mortar pit, each holding eight 81mm tubes. In the dead center of the base, not far from HQ, is another pit with six 4.2 inch mortars in place. Each pit is well-manned and those crewmen are very competent. They have .50 caliber and .30 caliber MGs along the town's perimeter wall. They are low on the munitions, however, as they have been battling marauders virtually non-stop for months and are just now beginning to set up reloading industries. For their 90mm tank guns they are down to basically a vehicle's base load per track and have scarcely fifty 155mm rounds left for the self-propelled guns. They also have very little 75mm left for the GMCs and are down to a couple of hundred rounds for each machinegun type. Ammo for personal weapons and grenades are okay. The enclave here runs frequent cross-border patrols throughout southern Minnesota, with a permanent outpost being centered in the town of Red Wing.
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