[chico20854]

March 26, 1998

The spring planting begins in Nebraska after the long, brutal winter of 1997-8 when the first potato crop of the year goes into the ground.

In Alaska the war has flared up, with A Company of the 2nd Battalion, 511th Infantry making its first combat jump since the Los Banos raid in the Philippines in February 1945 from the hodgepodge of bush planes operated by the 2nd Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment. The company establishes a blocking position along the highway between the retreating 147th (my 261st) Motor-Rifle Division and a detachment of the 110th Guards Motor-Rifle Division dispatched from Anchorage to link up with the 147th/261st and establish defenses to the northern apprroaches of Anchorage. Far to the east and south, the 71st Tank Division commandeers local small craft and what fuel it can find in preparation for a landing on Vancouver Island from its winter quarters on Quenn Charlotte Island.

The (former East) German 18th Marine Regiment returns to its prewar garrison on Rugen Island in the Baltic.

In northeastern Poland, the Category C 144th Guards Motor-Rifle Division is disbanded, its remaining troops and equipment redistributed to other units of 11th Guards Army.

Gurkhas of the 1/6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles arrive in Bandar Abbas, Iran from Bahrain, where they have been on internal security duties, to assist the Marines of I MEF in clearing the area of bandits, deserters and marauders. The Gurkha's experience fighting a guerrilla war in the region against Soviet paratroops the prior summer proves highly valuable.

The surrounded troops of the 294th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, 97th Guards Motor-Rifle Division, are low on ammunition, water and food. The regimental commander organizes a breakout towards the column's rear, but it quickly falls apart as the Romanians see the dismounted infantry get up to remount their vehicles which are frantically trying to turn around on the narrow road. The Romanians assault during the disorder and overrun the regiment.