[chico20854]

December 6, 1997

RainbowSix reports that the news of the losses on the EYEGLASS bunker leaks out, at which point it spreads like wildfire despite the absence of any conventional media outlets. The consequences are exactly what Burton had feared - the loss of the figurehead of their King has a devastating effect on the British people, accelerating a headlong surge in to total anarchy.

Officially,

Africa had watched in horror as first China, then much of Europe and North America experienced nuclear warfare, seeing city after city die, hoping they would be spared the horror of nuclear warfare. Those hopes proved to be false ones, as two Soviet nuclear ballistic submarines attack multiple targets throughout Africa, destroying refineries, oil fields and oil terminals in Nigeria, Morocco, the Ivory Coast, Egypt, Tunisia and South Africa.

Cairo, Suez and Alexandria are left in ruins by multiple strikes against the major refineries in those cities. While the Suez Canal is not directly targeted in the attack, the nuclear strikes on the refineries at Suez effectively block the southern end of the Canal with the wrecks of several merchant ships and tankers. Over three million Egyptians die in the attacks and another two million are severely wounded.

Soviet nuclear attacks on Morocco destroy both of its refineries, with the city and harbor of Casablanca being destroyed by two 250kt warheads as well. The detonations sink or damage over half the Royal Moroccan Navy and deny the use of the port to NATO for the rest of the war.

The main oilfield at El Borma in Tunisia is struck by a 250kt nuclear weapon, causing widespread damage but relatively few casualties due to its remoteness.

Nigeria is hit by twelve warheads, destroying every Nigerian oil refinery and onshore terminal as well as several offshore terminals. The strikes kill or wound two and a half million Nigerians in the space of fifteen minutes and devastate Nigerian oil production and shipping capabilities. The city of Port Harcourt is almost completely destroyed by the nuclear detonations and the fires that spread unchecked afterward.

The Abidjan Refinery in the Ivory Coast is destroyed by a direct hit, with over 350,000 dead and wounded including over 2000 French civilians and military. Casualties would have been much larger but the warhead fizzles and only detonates with 40kt, devastating the area around the refinery but leaving much of the city relatively untouched. The explosion sinks three tankers loading at the oil piers and wrecks the Vridi Canal, cutting off the port from the sea and trapping over three dozen ships

South Africa’s nuclear arsenal doesn’t deter the Soviets from attacking the refineries at Durban and Sasolburg, destroying both along with the cities that surround them, and leading to a very large loss of life. Panicked riots break out in Johannesburg as survivors from the nuclear strike at Sasolburg stream into the city.

The USAF and USN facilities at Diego Garcia are struck by two 200kt airbursts which destroy every remaining USAF and USN aircraft that is still on the ground or who failed to get far enough way in time as well as sinking several ships. The base facilities are destroyed as well except for some underground bunkers.

The refineries and ports at Mombasa and Cape Town, both targeted for destruction, are spared when the assigned Soviet SSBN, in the act of launching the attack on those cities, suffers a massive malfunction. The hatch on the missile tube does not fully open and the missile strikes the hatch, destroying the submarine and its remaining missiles.

Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt rapidly slide into anarchy as what is left of their governments and police are overrun by panicked citizens who go on an orgy of rioting, looting and killing trying to get what food and medical care are still left. Tunisia’s government manages to keep control, for now, only due to the remoteness of the attack itself.

In the Ivory Coast Abidjan rapidly devolves into chaos as panic and rioting cause almost as much damage as the nuclear attack caused. The French 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion loses 150 of its 500 men between the nuclear attack and trying to stop the riots and is forced to retreat to Port Bouet.

South Africa mobilizes quickly to re-establish public order as riots sweep the country as news of the nuclear attack spreads, slowed by EMP related damage causing disruptions to their communications and electrical power generation plants. By days end South Africa officially becomes a co-belligerent with the US, declaring war on the Soviets, their Warsaw Pact allies, Mozambique, Angola and Cuba.

Unofficially,

In Korea, Allied forces have retreated fully back to the prewar demilitarized zone fortifications, which had been hastily refurbished by forced labor of a combined force of North Korean civilian refugees, Soviet and North Korean POWs and South Korean civilians.

The 13th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light) is ordered to assume responsibility for disaster relief and food distribution in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area. The regiment, with one squadron of LAV-25s (originally issued for training purposes) and an air squadron using requisitioned civilian helicopters, requisitions civilian vehicles for the dismounted 2nd and 3rd Squadrons (as well as the Peacekeeper armored cars from the Three Mile Island and Susquehanna nuclear power plant guard forces). Despite the consternation the regiments' seizure causes, its role supporting the state government, police force and State Guard was instrumental in preventing Harrisburg from being overwhelmed by the flood of panicked evacuees fleeing the Philadelphia area.

A sheriff's patrol outside Bakersfield, California discovers a mass grave in an abandoned almond grove; the victims appear to have been shot.

In California, the desperate state government calls up the boys of the 10th California Cadet Brigade, which prewar had been part of a school-based paramilitary youth training program for children from elementary school to college ages. The brigade is one of two disaster relief units stood up over the summer, composed of 16-18 year old boys from the Los Angeles area.

In a tragic example of secrecy and poor communication gone mad, as part of a round of strikes against American and Canadian command and control sites, a Soviet SS-20 IRBM fired by the 586th Guards Missile Regiment in Siberia strikes Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. The Strategic Rocket Forces had not been informed of the Soviet invasion of Alaska and that the air base was actually the headquarters of the 25th Corps, the highest-level Red Army headquarters in the state.

Other attacks pound the Pacific Northwest, hitting the refineries in Ferndale and Anacortes, Washington, the bomber base at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane in the eastern part of the state and the nuclear submarine base at Bangor in Puget Sound, home base of the Pacific Fleet's Trident missile boats. While no boats are in port, the attack at Bangor destroys the support and reloading infrastructure at the base, although the dozens of ammunition igloos on the base remain intact.

American forces continue their campaign to cripple the Soviet petroleum industry, hitting targets throughout southern Russia - the refinery, petroleum facilities and naval base at Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea, Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) to the north (with a refinery, nerve gas plant, artillery plant and the famous Barrikada tractor factory) and Rostav-na-Donu, where the North Caucasian Military District headquarters, helicopter plant, air defense headquarters and ICBM repair facility are all struck by American MIRVs.