[chico20854]

July 23, 1997

Nothing official for the day! Unofficially,

The former commanding general of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, relieved of command in June after multiple scandals, is charged with dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer.

The prosecution in the Terminal Illness riot trial rests.

As the Chinese government struggles to retain some semblance of control over its rapidly disintegrating army, it decides to do what it can to throw the Soviet advance off guard. Seeing that the only area that Chinese forces are not in retreat is the force in North Korea, it commits the 15th Airborne Army (consisting of three lightly equipped but well-trained airborne divisions) to action in the growing Chinese bridgehead across the Yalu.

The USS Midway arrives in the Gulf of Alaska, and almost immediately its S-3s detect a submarine contact about 350 miles west of Juneau. The report is relayed to the attack submarine USS Baton Rouge, attached to the battlegroup, and the USS Houston, hunting in the region. Both attack submarines head for the contact area and the Houston intercepts a Soviet Delta III-class nuclear missile boat, and after several hours of a game of cat and mouse, succeeds in putting a torpedo in her. The Baton Rouge, in turn, encounters a suspected Akula-class attack submarine, and also succeeds in at least damaging it with a torpedo. The Baton Rouge is damaged in turn by a torpedo intercepting a towed decoy at close range, forcing her to disengage and head home. Post-war, the Delta III is identified as the K-44, which was severely damaged but made it back to Fokino, and the Akula is identified as the K-322, which was apparently sunk by the Baton Rouge, as it made no further contact.

In western Ukraine, 1st Guards Tank Army's attack makes modest progress as Panzergruppe Oberdorff, deprived of the paratroopers of the 27th FallshirmJaeger Brigade and worn out by months of nearly continuous combat, nearly runs out of momentum. The dispersed frontage and long cable runs between antennas and command posts required to minimize damage from Soviet tactical nuclear weapons require more soldiers to secure. Resupply is problematic at this distance, with ammunition from America traveling across the Atlantic, through German or Dutch ports, onto battered rail lines through war-damaged East Germany and Poland to a field ammunition facility on the east bank of the Wisła before being loaded onto trucks for the journey across eastern Poland and to a corps-level supply dump just over the Ukrainian border. Once there, the anxious ordnance troops are eager to get the rounds forward, afraid that a large stock of munitions will present a juicy target for Soviet attackers of many flavors.

In central Poland, German troops of I Korps (the 1st GebirgsJaeger Division, the 5th Grenzjaeger Division and 3rd Panzer Division) make another attempt to eliminate the Torun Pocket, which holds significant portions of the Polish 4th Army and Soviet 4th Guards TankArmy and 22nd Army.

The Danish 2nd Zeeland Mechanized Brigade enters in action in Bavaria, arriving in the city of Augsburg just moments before troops of the Italian Tridentina Alpine Brigade. The Danes are able to feed companies into the battle piecemeal, keeping the more lightly equipped Italians off-balance.

American troops in the battle for Warsaw continue their slow slogging drive into the city. Troops of the 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry (part of the 40th Infantry Division) drive the Polish defenders of the former Fort Służew, a still heavily protected remnant of the city's 19th century defenses and prewar home of the highest ranking generals in the Polish Army.

As trains arrive in Pushkin, a suburb of Leningrad, carrying elements of the 2nd Guards Artillery Division, those guns that are serviceable and the most experienced troops are diverted to a holding area. Within hours they are loaded back onto railcars and begin the short journey through the Baltic Republics to the Polish border, transferred to the 149th Guards Artillery Division, which has suffered from months in action.

The Jugoslav army's 14th Engineer Regiment supports an assault crossing of the Tagliemento River by infantry of the 228th Motorized Infantry Brigade. The attack, at dusk, is broken up by Italian MLRS rocket fire, which disrupts the marshalling area on the east bank of the river, while Italian light attack aircraft (the G.91s of the 32nd Stormo) suppress the guns of the Jugoslav 14th Artillery Regiment, aiming at the muzzle flashes in the darkness.

The Victory ship Wayne Victory arrives in Muscat, Oman, empty.

Pasdaran irregulars attack the isolated and immobilized remnants of the 69th Tank Division, seeking out survivors as well as useful intelligence (such as the 32nd Army code book found on the body of a T-34 tank battalion commander the prior day). The Pasdaran, ironically, suffer nearly as many casualties from the unexploded ordnance and artillery-laid minefields laid by friendly forces as they do from the scattered and shell-shocked remnants of the Soviet division.

The Marines of the 1st Marine Division capture the heights to the south and west of Yadz, driving back exhausted soldiers of the Soviet 40th Army (veterans of the mountain fighting in Afghanistan). From their perches they are able to direct accurate artillery fire and airstrikes on the defenders. (Their air support is especially effective as their supporting squadrons make use of recently recaptured airstrips nearby as well as the spacious Shiraz International Airport).

US Navy leaders divide the crew of the damaged frigate Bagley in Mombasa, Kenya to various duties while awaiting the arrival of a heavy lift ship. Some are assigned to provide local security for the ship and adjacent support activities, some to serve as advisors to the Kenyan Navy while others are flown to other war zones to serve as replacements aboard other ships.