June 24, 1998
With Greek troops remaining in Macedonia and beginning the process of annexation, the Albanians withdraw from the temporary alliance between the two nations. Albanian units are directed to cease cooperation with adjacent Greek units.
photo
The Soviet Division Cuba begins movement out of Cuba on Mexican transports. (Unofficially) The hastily-assembled Mexican fleet is insufficient to haul the entire force, so the Soviets press some of the various friendly vessels in port into service, including the Bulgarian freighter A.B. Buzko, which arrived in Cuba in March, the Polish bulker Orlęta Lviv and the Greek Paraguay Express, which sought shelter in Cuban waters when Greece entered the war against NATO in June, 1997. Most of the tanks (export-model T-72 originally intended for the USSR's Caribbean allies, never delivered when war broke out, the Soviets planning to return them home for Red Army use but never confident in their ability to move them securely) are loaded aboard the Soviet Ro/Ro ship Skulptor Golubkina.
Unofficially,
The G-3, Operations officer, for the Joint Chiefs reports his staff's preliminary assessment of the request for nuclear strike options to halt the Mexican invasion. First, political guidance is needed as to the type of targets to be considered - population centers, military bases, command and control facilities, transport hubs, industrial facilities, or something else, as well as the levels of damage assurance and tolerance for civilian casualties. The Joint Strategic Planning Staff was destroyed in the attack on SAC Headquarters in Nebraska in November, and the mobile small staff that survived does not have target information for Mexico, so a reconnaissance effort will be needed. Soviet strikes and the subsequent months of disorder has severely disrupted communications with remaining units equipped with nuclear weapons; while many have been concentrated in "safe" havens, those havens are not necessarily located alongside the delivery systems. Coordination with the G-4 (Logistics) and G-6 (Communications) staffs will be required to develop implementation plans.
In addition to considering nuclear options, the Joint Chiefs attempt to identify additional conventional forces that can be sent to the fight in the Southwest. Noting the impressive performance of the Marine recruits in San Diego, the ongoing resistance offered by the School Brigade at Fort Bliss and the heroic stand of the cadets of the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas as well as the general breakdown of conscription in CONUS, they condsider it appropriate to convert training formations to combat units. Consequently, they direct the Army Chief of Staff to proceed with converting the many training brigades and divisions in the US (10 divisions and over a dozen brigades) to combat formations.
The fighting in San Diego drags on for another day, although resistance in the burning naval base is beginning to crumble as ammunition and food supplies dwindle and losses mount. The Mexican 1st Mechanized Brigade makes an assault on the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, advancing under the cover of the urban sprawl to within a quarter mile of the Marines' perimeter. Advance patrols from the Mexican 2nd Army and US 63 (my XVI) Corps are independently scouting conditions in the urban waste of Los Angeles and Orange Counties; the Mexican patrols cooperating with the Los Amigos motorcycle gang.
Brigade Chichuahhua's movement out of the Sacramento Mountains to the town of Alamogordo and the adjacent Holloman Air Force Base is delayed by a salvo of MLRS rockets which rips through its leading formations. This is the first time the Mexican unit has come under enemy artillery fire, and it is a sign that they are within range of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Field Artillery, which is covering the 214th Field Artillery Brigade's retreat from the area. (The formation had been operating at White Sands Missile Range since early in 1997). There is no sign of the American artillery beyond the smoke trails in the sky overhead, the brigade commander wisely deciding to keep his vulnerable command at at least stand-off range. The brigade's other battalion, the 3rd Battalion, 9th Artillery, is concurrently on the road north, headed for the relatively safe haven of Canon Air Force Base 250 miles away with its 36 Pershing II intermediate-range missiles.
The School Brigade in Fort Bliss withdraws back north across the parade ground, now a torn-up field of craters and debris, taking cover in the ruined buildings on the northern perimeter, where fighting positions have been created for the brigade's anti-aircraft guns. The open area presents an excellent killing ground for any Mexican frontal attacks; Brigade Ciudad Juarez has begun shifting troops east to attack the post cantonment area through the airfield on the east end. On the northern outskirts of town a patrol from the Torres Motorized Cavalry Brigade captures a small group of stragglers from the Texas 9th State Guard Brigade, which has been smashed over the last few weeks' fighting. The group contains the unit commander, a 68-year old colonel (who incidentally had left the Army in 1971 as a 1st Lieutenant after a combat tour with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam).
The Mexican 4th Army in Texas continues its relentless advance as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment crosses Interstate 10 and has Highway 281 north of San Antonio under fire, leaving Interstate 35 as the only major road out of the city. To the east the Coastal Column begins bypassing the ruins of Corpus Christi to the west, with the 2nd Mechanized Brigade capturing Chase Field Naval Air Station following a day and a half long battle against the base security detachment, a battle in which all surviving aircraft were either flown off or burned by he defenders.
The Boeing Skyfoxes of the 198th Tactical Fighter Squadron return to the skies over southern Mexico once again, striking the gas processing facilities at Reforma on the Yucatan. Taking advantage of Mexico's complete lack of air defenses, the counterinsurgency aircraft are able to attack a target usually allocated to advanced medium bombers or fighter-bombers; the strike disables 40 percent of Mexico's remaining natural gas production.
X German Korps, guarding the Rhine frontier near Heidelberg, and XII German Korps, stationed along the Rhine northwest of Frankfurt, are ordered onto the lines south of Frankfurt.
Behind Soviet/North Korean lines, supplies are pushed forward to front-line units, while many Soviet divisions begin to call in more dispersed detachments that have been spread out through the country maintaining order, concentrating near the front lines.