July 1, 1997
Greece declares war on NATO in retaliation for the alliance's support of Turkey (which the Greeks interpret as interference in a local conflict unrelated to the larger NATO-Pact conflict) and the American strikes on its naval bases.
Unofficially,
The US 17th Airborne Division is formed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri from new draftees and volunteers from the Army throughout the continental US.
The Freedom ship Denver Freedom is delivered in Galveston, Texas.
The 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing implements its dispersal plan, dispatching maintenance and support teams to dispersal airfields throughout the west coast.
A team of recalled reserve pilots and ground crew from the USAF and USN who have experience with the T-33 (alongside three Canadian pilots, who trained on the type) arrive at Mojave, California to begin a quick familiarization course on the AT-33E Skyfox.
American C-17 military transport arrive at a remote pattch of the Taklamakan Desert in far western China. While they have the blessing of the Chinese authorities, no word has been given to local authorities of the American's arrival in the vast desert. The aircraft land on a dry lakebed, unloading heavy equipment to drill a well, establish refuelling infrastructure (including a tankfarm in fuel bags) and a very bare-bones housing and support package. The secret soon-to-be-airbase will be used to support American aircraft's entry into the USSR through lightly defended Central Asian airspace.
South Korean troops of the WHAT Corps and the US I Corps, advancing in parallel, are less than 50 km from Pyongyang, North Korea. The North Korean Army in front of the Allied force has largely disintegrated, but the advance is slowed by local civilians, who alternately clog the roads, heading south as refugees seeking peace, prosperity and safety in South Korea and attack Allied forces heading north as diehard (and to Western eyes, brainwashed) holdouts seek to prevent their homeland from being overrun by foreign invaders.
map of front lines
The commander of the German III Korps calls on the last defenders of the Hel naval base to surrender; his offer is met by a barrage of mortar fire on his front lines. (Expending the last of the defender's stock of mortar ammunition).
In eastern Poland, V US and VI German Corps' advances grind to a halt while NATO deploys its reserves of strike aircraft and deep strike munitions to break up 1st Byelorussian Front. Confident of the suppression of the Voyska-PVO, the USAF releases the 379th Bomb Wing’s B-52G bombers to carpet bomb the Soviet force with a mixture of cluster and high explosive bombs. The bombing destroys relatively few armored vehicles but succeeds in disrupting the rear areas of both armies, damaging or destroying truck parks, supply dumps and towed artillery batteries.
II British Corps and III US Corps continued their progress, approaching Olsztyn from the south. Overextended and dependent on a handful of bridges and what could be flown into captured and expeditionary airfields, their advance slows while XII German Korps tightens the encirclement of Reserve and Baltic Fronts in the Wisła bend. (The Soviets are withdrawing from the west bank of the river under pressure from I German Korps, concentrating north of Torun for an attempt to break out). Olsztyn is defended by one of the last full strength OTK regiments and the 15th Mechanized Division, reduced to little more than a regiment in strength.
In northern Poland, Second German Army deploys VII German Korps to III US Corps’ left, pressing the remnants of Polish 1st Army back along the coast to the Soviet border.
In Warsaw, Captain Czarny is provided two dozen teenage boys as reinforcements for his company, which suffered losses of over 75 percent in fighting the prior day. They have never fired a military rifle and are not provided with uniforms, helmets, weapons or training before being assigned to his command. German, American and British troops continue to press in on the city, accompanied by constant artillery barrages on defensive positions.
The Karasuando Massacre creates tremendous anti-American sentiment in Sweden, forever condemning any chance of Sweden joining the war on NATO’s side. Few Swedes that see video footage of American troops shooting at Swedish police and middle-aged home guards or pictures of the burned ruins of downtown Kiruna can support joining the war as co-belligerents alongside NATO. The Swedish people and government ralliy around their military and, dismissing the offer of continued American air support from Norwegian bases, undertake the effort to deal with 26th Corps, which is gradually solidifying its positions in Swedish Lapland.
Morale in the NATO force in Norway slumps as a result of the defeat of the long-planned offensive. The air and naval forces have taken tremendous losses and infantry battalions at the front are badly depleted. While the wounded have been evacuated south and west, the Norwegian intelligence service’s informant at the Murmansk train station reports numerous carloads of Allied POWs headed south under heavy guard. The special operations troops that have survived the offensive are exfiltrating and unable to intercept the trains, and Finnish and Russian civilians and militias are rounding up downed airmen nearly every day. It is a dark time to be an Allied fighter in northern Norway. Nonetheless, actual disciplinary problems and desertion are low although black humor and soldier’s griping are rampant
In Iran, the 1st Marine Division passes through scattered Iranian defensive positions in the Zagros Mountains before entering the no-mans'-land that separates Allied and Soviet controlled territories. To their east, the Marines of the 4th Division launch vigorous attacks on the 201st Motor-Rifle Division, driving the Soviet division back to its previously prepared main line of resistance.