[chico20854]

June 28, 1998

Another day with nothing in canon. Unofficially,

The Governor of California, having received word of the 10th California Cadet Brigade's status, and exercising his authority as commander of the California State Guard, demands that the unit not be committed to action against the invading Mexican Army, on account of the young age of its members. (Over 80 percent of the unit is under the age of 20). The 63 (my XVI) Corps commander counters with a commitment to use the formation for rear area security, protecting the corps' vulnerable supply convoys and routes through the ruins of Los Angeles.

In San Diego, the surrounded Marines come under renewed attack from the combined forces of Brigade Ensenada, Brigade Hermosilla and the 1st Mechanized Brigade, whose AMX-13 light tanks, protected by infantry teams, are used as assault guns to reduce Marine strongpoints with well-aimed 90mm fire.

Armored battles rage in southern California as 80 (my II) Corps launches its counterattack. The combined 177th Armored Brigade and 1st Brigade, 4th Armored Division sweep south, overrunning the pickets of Mexicali Brigade, which are woefully lacking in anti-tank weaponry. Simultaneously, the 108th Armored Cavalry Regiment and 223rd Armored Regiment drive west from Yuma Proving Ground, with the 223rd (the Yuma NTC OPFOR) launching a frontal attack along Interstate 10 to tie down LaPaz Brigade while the cavalry undertakes a sweeping flanking maneuver through the desert to the north.

With Mexican forces bypassing Fort Bliss, the commander of the School Brigade orders preparations for a withdrawal to the northeast, across the vast Dona Ana range complex and into southeastern New Mexico. A convoy of private cars and trucks is organized to move the dependents and civilian employees who remain sheltered on the base, which will be escorted by troops in HMMWVs while the main body of the brigade will travel in tactical vehicles. One battalion-sized task force will lead, prepared to punch its way through any Mexican blocking positions. A second battalion-sized group, commanded by the staff of the 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery, will serve as the rear guard, while the brigade support troops and headquarters will travel in the center of the formation, which will be spread out over a nearly 15-mile length of desert.

The 200 sailors assigned to the 2nd Tennessee State Guard Regiment have been fully integrated into the force as its 6th Battalion. They are well armed, with an array of obsolescent but fully functional small arms and a well-equipped heavy weapons company, with 18 90mm recoilless rifles and 36 M1919 light machineguns. The force is assigned to secure the Mississippi River crossings; reinforcements if the battalion needs it are identified as the Regiment's Rapid Response Force, a company-sized unit of former SWAT officers led by a one-legged retired US Army tank commander, Colonel Harlan Wilson. That unit is assigned a quartet of modernized M20 armored cars formerly assigned to the State Police.

In Quincy, Illinois, commanders from the 6th Battalion, 112th Armor begin constructing defensive works aboard the barges that will carry 3rd Brigade and Division Headquarters, 49th Armored Division to Oklahoma.

The first ships carrying the Soviet forces from Cuba arrive in the eastern Mexican port of Altamira. Upon unloading, the troops are moved to a nearby (formerly American-owned) ranch for training. For while the unit is in theory a combat-ready Red Army division, is is actually composed of three separate detachments - the 7th Specialized Motor-Rifle Brigade (a reinforced motor-rifle regiment with a tank battalion, a BMP battalion, two BTR battalions, an artillery battalion as well as air defense, rocket artillery, engineer and recon companies), a contingent of over 3,000 military personnel (mostly officers and long-service NCOs and warrant officers) from all branches of service that had been assigned as advisors to the Cuban military, and finally over 5,000 Soviet civilians who were living in Cuba and who are being ejected along with their military brethren. Before being committed to action, Major General Femerov wants time to forge this collection of men into a capable fighting force. It is blessed with a nearly full complement of armored vehicles and heavy weapons which had been in Cuba, originally intended for the USSR's Caribbean allies (Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela).

Fighting for Heidelberg, Germany rages as Soviet forces attempt to drive the NATO defenders out. German troops are defending the heavily built up Old Town and castle, with artillery observers on the Konigstuhl mountain on the east side of town, while American defenders are rushing to complete hardening of positions in Patton Kaserne on the west side of town.

The 1048th Assault Gun Regiment has been nearly entirely eliminated. Patient work by a detachment from the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines has set all the hulks of disabled Soviet assault guns ablaze, and continued resistance has largely stopped. A handful of stragglers remain dug in, resisting calls for their surrender and fighting on despite lack of food and water.

The nuclear missile cruiser USS Virginia has scoured many hundreds of miles of empty Southern Pacific waters in search of enemy shipping but turned up nothing as it approaches the Galapagos Islands.

The newly-formed 138th Motor-Rifle Division departs the training grounds on the outskirts of the town of Borisov, Byelorussia, a key transportation point on the Moscow-Minsk railroad line, and relieves the MVD, police and Party officials of responsibility for the town.