[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Tegyrius

The 1e core rules' timeline and Mediterranean Cruise both establish the Turkish offensive into Bulgaria (which we fleshed out a bit in our Romania work) as launching on Christmas Eve 1996. The RDF Sourcebook states that Tabriz fell to Soviet forces on Christmas of the same year.

Thanks! I'd forgotten about that. Tegyrius and I mentioned Christmas, 1996, in our Romania Sourcebook:

Operation Racetrack

After a long and harrowing flight from Aviano, Italy, in the pre-dawn hours of December 24th, Christmas Eve Day, the first elements of the US 173rd Airborne Brigade landed at the Romanian Air Force’s 90th Airlift Base just outside of Bucharest. The first American paratroopers on the ground dug in around the airport to await the arrival of the rest of the brigade and its attendant supporting units.

Escorted by F-16s of the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing, and directed by an RAF E-3D AWACS flying out of Akrotiti on Cyprus, USAF transport pilots flew a practically non-stop round-trip shuttle service from Italy to Romania, remaining on the ground only long enough to load and unload men and materiel, and refuel. Although the US military officially dubbed the operation, “Racetrack”, an American cable news network referred to it as “Operation Rudolph” and, in the popular imagination, the name stuck. Combat troops and artillery were first to arrive in country, then the Brigade’s helicopters (228th Aviation Battalion), and finally, its LAV-75s (D Company, 16th Armor). To protect the Romanian airfield and the vulnerable USAF transports shuttling to and fro, a squadron from the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing was forward deployed to Bucharest. Having lost many of its own combat aircraft to WTO air defenses, the Romanian Air force was happy to provide its American guests with avgas.

By December 31st, the 173rd Airborne’s redeployment from Italy was more or less complete. Despite being a token force, the arrival of the American Sky Soldiers on Romanian soil had a heartening effect on its battered military.

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