[chico20854]

May 13, 1997

Nothing official for the day!

The Federal government rests its case in the treason trial of Autumn Lotus, the accused helper for the Soviet spetsnaz team operating in New Mexico; the defendant has been removed from the courtroom every day of her trial.

The US XXIII Corps headquarters moves into Poland, assigned to First German Army. It will gain units as they arrive in the country.

The British II Corps bypasses Poznan to the north and continues east while the US V Corps passes to the south, leaving VI German Korps to overrun the city's garrison, by now cut off.

Troop ships and transports carrying the 40th Infantry Division (Mechanized) (California National Guard) arrive at the Dutch ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Vlissingen after a long transit through the Panama Canal. The division's vehicles will be transported to the front on civilian trucks augmented by NATO tank transporters.

Saami partisans demolish two bridges on the Kirov Railroad (which connects Murmansk with Leningrad and the rest of the USSR) near the village of Magnetity, south of Murmansk.

Greek engineers replace the damaged rail and road bridges near Alexandropolous, allowing the resumption of easy overland support to the Greek D Corps fighting in Thrace. The engineers next focus on the city's airport, which the Turks had cratered the runway and extensively damaged.

In the Mediterranean, the America and John F Kennedy battle groups shift their focus to the Bulgarian and Soviet garrison of Burgas, which has been under attack since January by Turkish troops. The city's port has seen a steady influx of supplies and reinforcements, preventing the Turks from capturing it.

The two Ranger battalions which had dropped alongside the 82nd Airborne Division begin withdrawing to Saudi Arabia to serve as a theatre reserve.

3rd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division resumes its deployment to Iran following the cruise missile strike on its marshalling area at the port of Jubayl on the 9th; the attack forced the delay while replacement vehicles and supplies were drawn from the meagre theater reserve stocks.

Outside Bandar Abbas, the British 27th Brigade intercepts a camel caravan (organized and partially staffed by Tudeh rebels) carrying over 20 tons of ammunition to the isolated 103rd Guards Air Assault Division in the city below.

The USS Independence's air wing shifts its attention to the 94th (my 57th) Guards Air Assault Brigade in Chah Bahar, striking the formation's air defense battery in preparation for further strikes.

The B-52s of the 320th Bomb Wing establish a forward operating location at Kadena Air Force Base, Japan. The base has a long history of supporting B-52s, hosting the bombers for missions over Vietnam from 1968-70.

MI6 provides the SAS team in Leningrad with forged workers passes for the Baltic Shipyard.

Nearby, the 3rd Guards Artillery Division begins the mobilization process as the situation on the Kola Peninsula grows more critical. The division pairs officers and NCOs from the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School with recalled reservists from the Leningrad area. They all are dismayed to discover that the division’s equipment set, which should have been sufficient to fully equip three howitzer regiments and a rocket artillery brigade, instead consists of 48 ancient ML-20 152mm guns and 24 Second-World War Katusha rocket launchers mounted on trucks that have not been maintained in decades that no amount of mechanical magic will ever be able to make move again.