[chico20854]

June 2, 1998

The United Brotherhood of Fishermen seize Cape Cod.

Unofficially,

The reaction to the news of the cut to food allocations is quick and violent. Rioting breaks out in areas around the nation as desperate civilians attempt to seize the food that the military is refusing to deliver. In California, Texas and Arizona the rioting is directed at refugee camps sheltering tens of thousands of Mexican refugees, who are (unfairly) blamed for "stealing the food that rightfully belongs to Americans". The attacks on the refugee camps turn into massacres, as overwhelmed security forces are unable (and in some cases unwilling) to protect their charges.

The American breakout from Ansbach starts at dawn. VII Corps' composite cavalry force composed of the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry and 36th Cavalry Squadron (Composite), outside the pocket on the east side and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, outside on the west, launch probing attacks to discover the weakest points along the encircling forces line. 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry achieves success against the 19th Guards Tank Division, and is able to identify its opponent as the 37th Guards Tank Regiment, locating its headquarters as it becomes apparent that the Soviet force is nearly immobile. (It turns out that the regiment's force of T-62 tanks is, in fact, nearly out of fuel, the convoy of trucks dispatched to refuel them lost in the German countryside). The regimental headquarters' location is quickly passed up the chain of command and within 15 minutes it is hit by a 1.1-kiloton artillery round fired by a 8-inch howitzer of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Artillery, assigned to the 210th Field Artillery Brigade. The American cavalry force, reinforced by the 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (attached from V Corps) launches an attack in the immediate aftermath of the strike and within an hour makes contact with the 1st Infantry Division's 4th Battalion, 37th Armor. Under an umbrella of supporting artillery fire from the massed artillery batteries of VII Corps, reinforced by guns of the 135th Field Artillery Brigade (Missouri National Guard) from 4th Army, the two encircled divisions evacuate the city.

As the final Bradleys leave the burning town, a terrified Specialist Randolph Cutler decides that the evacuation is too perilous and that he is best off in the gasthaus basement with its stockpile of food and quarter-keg of fine Bavarian lager.

The Shiraz state munitions plant in Iran opens a new facility on the outskirts of the city, turning out one ton of TNT high explosive daily.