[chico20854]

March 8, 1997

The US 4th (I have the 3rd) Marine Division first enters combat against the North Korean Army.

Unofficially:

NATO heads of state conclude their conference. After nearly two days of discussion, they order SACEUR to prepare and execute an invasion of Poland to restore the Polish Government in Exile's control of the country, something it has not had since September, 1939.

A shipment of M-60 machineguns from the factory in Saco, Maine to the Army ordnance center at Anniston, Albama goes missing while the unmarked truck carrying the weapons was travelling through southwestern Virginia. Over 250 brand new weapons were aboard.

The site of the munitions train fire and explosion outside RAF Caerwent in Wales is cleared of unexploded ordnance so railroad workers can begin the task to remove the wreck of the train and rebuild the damaged track underneath it.

The carriers Abraham Lincoln, Independence, Constellation and John C. Stennis launch a coordinated series of raids against North Korean targets northwest of Pyongyang.

The 28th ANZUK Brigade begins a series of exercises at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in central Queensland, Australia. This is the first time the formation has had its battalions operate together.

1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Light Motorized) arrives at the port of Tacoma, Washington to load equipment and vehicles for Saudi Arabia. The brigade loads many of its vehicles and supplies into containers so that relatively abundant container ships can be used, speeding the brigade's deployment.

The former NVA (East German Army) reserve 6th Motor-Rifle Division is re-named the 26th PanzerGrenadier Division and reorganized, its three motor-rifle and single tank regiments each assigned a even mix of panzergrenadier and panzer battalions.

The American heavy cruiser Newport News departs Scapa Flow, Scotland, leading a group consisting of a missile cruiser, a destroyer and three frigates, on convoy escort duty in the Norwegian and Barents Seas and to provide on-call naval gunfire support for NATO troops ashore.

The British ferry European Freeway is sunk by a mine (laid by a Soviet submarine just days before) in the North Sea. It was carrying equipment to bring II British Corps up to strength.

The 82nd Motor Rifle Division arrives in the Bulgarian port of Varna, assigned to the 58th Army.

Convoy 126 forms in Jacksonville, Florida. It includes the vehicles, guns and heavy equipment of the 209th (New York National Guard) and 227th (Florida National Guard) Field Artillery Brigades.

The 20th Engineer Brigade (Airborne) loads its heavy equipment aboard transports in Morehead City, North Carolina for deployment to the CENTCOM region.

The transports Donald Kowalski (the former Soviet frieghter Donetsk Komsomolets, captured by the Royal Navy in December), the American transport Gulf Farmer and the Panamanian roll-on/roll-off ship Ciudad De Oviedo load the 187th Infantry Brigade (US Army Reserve)'s heavy equipment in Reykjavik, Iceland while 737s carry the brigade's troops to German airports.

3rd Brigade, 24th ID is fully manned and equipped in Saudi Arabia. The transport ships that carried its equipment are released to return to the U.S. for their next mission.

Long Range Aviation completes a week-long stand-down following several months of intense operations over the seas adjacent to Soviet territory, China, the Balkans and the Persian Gulf. Half of the force's Tu-16 Badger regiments are disbanded, their remaining aircraft and crews reassigned to the surviving units to bring them up to strength. Despite herculean efforts, the delivery of new Tu-22M4 Backfire bombers (one aircraft a week) is insufficient to replace the Backfire force's losses, and a third of the regiments are left intact but stripped of aircraft and aircrews. (The intent is to equip those regiments with aircraft as they become available). The Tu-22 Blinder force is allowed to continue operations until it fades into irrelevance, while the Tu-160 Blackhjack force is held for long-range nuclear strikes on the UK, Canada and USA and the Tu-95 Bear force continues to launch cruise missiles from over Soviet territory at targets in the NATO (and Japanese) rear.