June 17, 1997
As the threat from North Korea recedes, a handful of military dependents and civilian businessmen return to South Korea.
Unofficially,
An inspector general investigation of trainee abuse at Fort Dix makes the preliminary finding that abuse of female (and some male) trainees at the base is rampant, especially in the base's 5th Training Brigade. The IG has received reports of over 75 incidents from trainees present at the base in the last 15 days; additional witnesses will be interviewed by IG investigators at bases and units around the globe of soldiers that have departed Fort Dix in the last eight months.
The admirals in Washington overseeing Naval Aviation struggle to allocate their available resources. The fleet has lost four carriers (the Constellation, Forrestal, Vinson and Washington) and massive numbers of aircraft and pilots. Replacement aircraft have been slow to arrive (less than four squadrons of F-14s, three squadrons worth of A-6s and 15 A-12s, for example) and the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona nearly emptied of useful aircraft. Adding to the difficulty, advanced munitions are increasingly scarce, with prewar stockpiles depleted and production slow to ramp up.
In Manchuria, several lower-readiness Soviet divisions are on the verge of collapse, their older weapons lacking the technological edge over their Chinese opponents and requiring more maintenance. The "Fraternal Socialist Allied" divisions from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria are slowly withering away, as the flow of replacements from home has halted and Soviet war industry prioritizes providing for the Red Army.
Panzergrenadiers of VI German Korps cautiously continue their advance towards Lublin, aware that intelligence has reported sizeable uncommitted Soviet reserves and that there are no friendly units for miles on either side.
V German Korps, operating on the south bank of the Wisła, continues to move east, capturing Wieliczka and Bochnia before encountering resistance. With only two divisions and an unguarded flank to its south, the corps halts its advance and shifts its forces to the south, allowing XI US Corps to pass through and resume the offensive.
Outside Warsaw, the 329th Engineer Group (US Army Reserve) is detached from 7th Army command, assigned to the newly formed Operational Group Warsaw.
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NATO Northern sector commander General Frisvold and his staff realize that it is unlikely that Reindeer II is going to succeed. Certain Santa along the coast has not only failed to force a crossing of the Litsa but is now losing ground that had been held for months. The two drives through Finland have ground to a halt. The amphibious landings have failed, Strike Fleet Atlantic has been dealt a fatal blow and Allied air forces are fading from the skies. Red Banner Northern Fleet’s bases have been damaged, its capital ships sunk and its ammunition dumps emptied, but the capture of Murmansk is farther away than at any time since the collapse of 6th Army in December. Strategically, the war has moved on and Red Banner Northern Fleet can no longer threaten the North Atlantic sea lanes, themselves less important than earlier in the war when they were the avenue for transit of American divisions to the front in Central Europe. Northwestern TVD, while successful in defending Murmansk and notwithstanding 18th Army’s counterattacks, offers no credible threat to Norway. The Soviet SSBNs remain pierside in the Murmansk area bases, and the campaign has destroyed many of their other bases. After consultation with AFNORTH and SACEUR, Reindeer II is called off.
Two Foxtrot-class subs return to Severomorsk from mine laying voyages.
A NATO convoy of fast transports and cargo ships, accompanied by a strong covering force, forms in Rota, Spain and Gibraltar in an attempt to run the Greek blockade to the Turkish port of Izmir. It carries a large quantity of ammunition and a variety of equipment, supplies and troops (including a Spanish motorized infantry battalion, a US field artillery battalion, a Dutch Patriot battery and a Portuguese heavy truck company) to reinforce the beleaguered Turkish Army. The decision is made to send the 487th Tactical Missile Wing, so that it will be in a useful location if the war goes nuclear and to provide a meaningful, visible sign that NATO's nuclear umbrella extends over Turkey. As a protective measure, the 487th is loaded tactically in the convoy, with each flight shipped complete with all of its vehicles and equipment on board a separate ship, with the headquarters and support units spread among all seven ships. The convoy has a strong escort force, including the escort carrier USS Langley.
In Leningrad, workers begin dismantling the burned out hulk of the incomplete battlecruiser Rossiya, set afire by a SAS team in May. It will take over a week just to clear the wreckage of cranes, hoses and cables draping the deck.
The Great War of Africa drags on, increasing the misery of millions of innocents.
In Kashmir, the Indian Army has improved the roads leading towards the Pakistani encroachment enough to allow tank transporters to bring forward several platoons of Vijayanta tanks to deal with the Pakistani emplacements.