[chico20854]

October 5, 1997

Nothing in canon for today.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Tulsa Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, Texas, the Ft. Worth Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, Mississippi and the Spokane Freedom in San Diego, California.

Canton, China is struck by a small Soviet tactical nuclear strike in a bid to cut off the trickle of relief supplies that daring captains continue to deliver.

The former commanding officer of the USS Missouri is arrested in Yokohama, Japan and charged with dereliction of duty for the unauthorized release of a nuclear weapon.

The NORTHAG G-4, the general responsible for the logistic support of most NATO units in Poland, reports that his efforts are at a critical state. His greatest concerns are the losses inflicted by Soviet nuclear weapons on his supply lines and support sites, the disruption of supply lines from damage to north German ports, the wholesale desertion of third-nation civilian contract workers and the near-total depletion of spare part supplies for former East German units. (Many former NVA units had subsisted during the advance across Poland by scavenging the battlefield for damaged Soviet and Pact vehicles for spares; while withdrawing that source has been cut off).

The NATO attack on Augsburg sees success, driving the Italian Ariete Armored Division from the city center, pushing the fighting to the city's southern outskirts; the nearby Battle of Ingolstadt is going less well for NATO, with American forces gradually being pushed out of that battered city.

In order to support the embattled Turkish Army in Thrace, 6th Fleet redirects the John F Kennedy, Wisconsin and Illustrious from the Adriatic to the Aegean Sea, hopefully forcing the Greeks to divert forces from the Turks and allowing JFK's aircraft to appear over the battlefield in Thrace. JFK's squadrons have been restored to full or near-full strength by the transfer of aircraft from the damaged USS America.

Turkish resistance in Thrace begins to evaporate as Soviet and Bulgarian tank units, supported by tactical nuclear strikes, begin a seemingly mad dash for Istanbul. Isolated units that stand and fight are bypassed or pounded to bits by conventional and nuclear artillery, while others streaming away from the battlefield in an attempt to survive find themselves competing with Pact units to see who reaches Istanbul first.

The German container ship Herm Kiepe arrives at the port of Becancour, Quebec to take on another load of containerized foodstuffs, industrial chemicals and munitions. The ship's master, nervous about the continuing and escalating nuclear exchange, is distressed by the presence of the Gentilly nuclear power plant a little more than a mile from his berth.

In one of the rare arms sales (the major arms manufacturers either retaining their output for themselves or their allies, or delivering to the Chinese under extremely large contracts signed in late 1995), France delivers the first AMX-40 tanks to Saudi Arabia, where they are placed into service with the 11th Mechanized Brigade, initially serving alongside older AMX-30 tanks from which the AMX-40 was developed. The deal helps to reinforce France's ties with the kingdom, hopefully (in the French calculus) encouraging preferred supplies of crude.

The Pakistani and Indian governments struggle to provide adequate relief to their populations in the wake of the nuclear attacks on their country.