MISSISSIPPI
Mississippi in 1964 is a backwater of racism and violence, heavily effected by the drought and the epidemics that characterize the deep south. Mississippi is considered MilGov for no other reason than the fact that her neighbors are all MilGov.
1) NUCLEAR TARGETS
TARGET DATE TYPE SIZE
Keesler AFB 10/28/62 SS-N-4 1 mT
2) ORGANIZED MILITARY FORCES
The Mississippi National Guard contained the 108th Armored Cavalry Regiment, and this unit was called up in late 1962. Sent to the Middle East in 1963, this unit has still not been able to return home. The only real organized force left is the Jackson city militia, detailed below. There is virtually nothing left in Mississippi that either federal government feels like spending their limited resources to protect. All the military facilities in the state have been abandoned due to the difficulty in feeding and supplying them, and reoccupying them anytime in the near future is a dream. In the various river communities there are a few MilGov commercial agents and militia advisors but nothing close to an organized force exists outside of Jackson. Most of these advisors come from the MilGov enclaves in northeastern Louisiana and Memphis. CivGov is represented in the state only by a few CIA agents in Jackson.
"City Armored Corps"--Jackson (1700 men, 21 AFVs)
3) MISSISSIPPI RIVER BANK
Several communities along the river at the various lock sites serve as portages for the vital barge traffic that flows along the river. Since nearly all the barge traffic is sponsored or affiliated with MilGov in some way, many of these communities are controlled by militia garrisons who pay lip service to MilGov. Many are purely independent trading towns, however, who will deal with anyone.
Greenville: An active river trading community, fairly typical of the smaller river towns in the area. Greenville receives much trade and travel from Memphis upriver and is steadily growing in size. The Highway 82 bridge spanning the river to Arkansas collapsed last year and much of the cross-river traffic is done by a large ferry that uses a horse-drawn rope system capable of carrying anything up to a five-ton truck.
Vicksburg: A bustling survivor community home to 20,000 souls and the largest river enclave between Memphis and the Gulf. The barge traffic is steady and the city has become a vital stopping point on the Mississippi River for both commercial and travel purposes. As the I-20 river bridge is still up, there is also a fair amount of overland travel and trade into and out of Louisiana from here, especially with the 39th Infantry Division being just across the river in northeastern Louisiana. Vicksburg's barge and caravan-carried goods are traded with Jackson for that city's natural gas, and Vicksburg has thus been able to restore electricity to many parts of town. On the northern outskirts, in an area of trailer courts, used car lots and swampy tributaries of the Yazoo River, there is an old forgotten WW I-vintage ammunition bunker. The bunker still holds stocks of mustard gas and some crazy survivalists have recently discovered them and are plotting how to use them against the Vicksburg government that refuses to give them respect.
4) NORTHERN PLAINS
The northern parts of the state have seen fields dry up and people flee in large numbers over the last year, leaving much pickings for marauders and bandits. Many refugees escaping the violence in Memphis have scoured the area of nearly anything left of value.
Grenada: The largest survivor community in the northern half of the state, Grenada is controlled by a racist overlordship led by a man named Neely Green. Green has set himself up as "king of his own country" and is busy enslaving minorities and taking tolls on I-55. His troops number some four or five hundred, well-armed but complacent with having it so easy lately. Grenada was the pre-war home of the 631st Field Artillery Brigade (MS ARNG), and while that unit was shipped to Europe, there was ample equipment left behind to outfit Green's militia. He is very short of ammunition and that is usually what he takes as toll fare. The drought is reducing his prey daily so it is just a matter of time before Green pulls up stakes and moves his operation elsewhere, much to the relief of the citizens of Grenada.
Columbus Air Force Base: Abandoned in 1963 as too difficult to defend and feed, this air base is now just a deserted shell. The total population is now only four soldiers, although one of them a general, who mainly spend their time playing cards.
5) CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI
A wasteland of bone-dry fields and small scattered survivor communities. The epidemics of 1963 hit this area hard, severely reducing the population. The state capital of Jackson is still functioning and is the only large city left in the state.
Meridian: Almost completely abandoned as the drought depleted the food reserves to the point where the town collapsed. Many of the residents moved west to Jackson to crowd into the refugee camps there.
Jackson: The largest pocket of civilization away from the river and the home of the reorganized state government. Some 40,000 people still live in Jackson, along with probably 20,000 more impoverished refugees from the drought-ravaged lands around the state camped at the outskirts in huge tent cities. Jackson has a large supply of natural gas that has helped it through fuel oil shortages, providing some basic electricity and water pumping. This gas supply is heavily guarded by the "City Armor Corps"--a combination of strong municipal militias and the fragmentary remains of a few Mississippi National Guard units that were in Jackson before the war (some 1,700 total men under arms plus 21 AFVs left behind when the 108th ACR shipped out). The gas will be tapped out in a decade or so, but for now it keeps the city alive and worth living in as well as giving the city something of value to trade. There is much commerce with Vicksburg (just 45 miles away) for goods shipped up and down the river, and even with the 39th Infantry Division in Louisiana, with Jackson's energy resources being the main commodity.
6) SOUTHERN/GULF COAST
In the southern part of the state, the nuking of Biloxi disrupted the fishing trade along the Gulf Coast for a year or so, but desperation brought on by the drought is causing people to reoccupy the coastal communities again.
Biloxi: On October 28, 1962, the Soviet Golf I class ballistic missile submarine B-121, lurking off the southern coast of Cuba, launched a SS-N-4 SLBM at Keesler Air Force Base. The 1 megaton warhead airburst low over the air base, the damage was enormous and the fires raged for days. The area of total devastation stretches from I-110 in the east to I-10 in the north to Popps Ferry Road in the west. Into November, the surviving citizens buried their dead as best they could, until the sheer numbers got out of hand and the survivors fled to the north. The dying did a fair amount of pillaging and looting on their way out and most of the city is now in ruins. The residential districts on the other side of Biloxi Bay from the AFB are especially devastated and no one lives between the bay and I-10 at all. Through a freak of wind patterns, much of the initial fallout fell out to sea, and today Biloxi's radiation levels are relatively low, though this is not common knowledge. The empty streets of downtown Biloxi are roamed by a group of thirty escaped mental patients from Gary, Indiana under the sadistic leadership of "Carl the King". How they got from Gary to here is an epic story of stolen cars, hijacked river tugs and a trail of violence and murder along the way. They are holed up in a luxurious waterfront resort hotel, the Edgwater, which they have filled with the choicest loot from the city, and take pleasure in hunting the few remaining refugees in the area.
Gulfport: In the immediate aftermath of the nuke on Biloxi just fifteen miles away and the crazed rioting and panic that followed, the US Navy evacuated the naval base here and has never returned. There has been some planning by MilGov Command about how to try and salvage the naval docks and shipyards, but there are currently no resources available for such an undertaking. After two years of neglect and looting it is doubtful that anything of value remains, anyway. US Navy forces from Pensacola occasionally visit the base looking for specific items they need.
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