[chico20854]

November 2, 1997

Irish troops begin to move to the northern counties in response to the growing conflict across the border in Northern Ireland. The government of Eire, which relies on Sinn Fein for support, claims that the deployment is wholly defensive.

Unofficially,

The light frigate USS Menges is delivered in Pascagoula, Mississippi and manned by a mix of USN and USCG personnel.

The 1950s-vintage Decatur-class destroyer USS John Paul Jones, is recommissioned in Norfolk, Virginia and sets sail for the Pacific. The ship had last been in commission in 1982; such is the need for escorts that in January she and her sisters were ordered back into service, obsolescent as she is. The reactivation process included installation of modern radars, electronics and self-defense systems but she still lacks helicopters and a modern sonar.

ROK stay-behind special forces troops in North Korea spot the columns of the reinforcing 12th Motor-Rifle Division heading south after crossing the Ch'ongch'on River and within hours the formation is stuck by a South Korean nuclear-tipped Lance missile, largely ending the division’s war.

Allied forces in Korea have established a semi-prepared defensive line across North Korea from Wonsan to Pyongyang, using the south bank of the Taedong River as an obstacle. Engineers destroy the river crossings, while 8th Army headquarters acquiesces to ROK concerns and denies the use of atomic demolition munitions or nuclear strikes to create a nuclear dead zone on the north bank. ROK and US light units establish a screen through the central mountains, and the most battered units are withdrawn from the front lines for reconstruction.

ROK naval units move into the estuary of the Taedong River to provide naval gunfire support to Allied forces. The South Koreas are willing to risk the destroyer Jeon Ju, a World War II-era ship with six 5-inch guns, in the effort.

The Luftwaffe 2nd Luftjaeger Regiment reaches the safety of the German border and is assigned a sector along the Oder River south of Frankfurt-Oder.

The 930th Tactical Fighter Group (USAF Reserve) relinquishes the last of its surviving A-10s to the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing. It receives a composite force of six A-37 and six Boeing Skyfox light attack aircraft as replacements; it has been nearly six months since the unit had a dozen combat-ready aircraft.

Panzergruppe Westhoven, another ad-hoc multinational formation formed in the spring and assigned to First German Army, is disbanded, its constituent units returned to their national corps.

West of Wroclaw, the US XI Corps prepares a counterattack to once again rescue an encircled friendly unit, in this case the V German Korps.

NATO technical intelligence specialists score an amazing prize when a SS-23 missile lands within the perimeter of Ramstein Air Base and its nuclear warhead fails to detonate. Air Force Security Police immediately secure the site and EOD personnel arrive; unfamiliar with Soviet nuclear weapons they are unable to make the warhead safe but transport it (very! gingerly) to a hardened aircraft shelter.

Convoy 304 arrives in the North Sea following a nearly-unopposed voyage from North America. Naval commanders are dismayed to discover that some ships from Convoy 302 are still at anchor awaiting berths. The smaller ships are able to proceed to shallower ports such as Esbjerg, Denmark and Eemshaven, Netherlands.

Convoy 306 is off St. Johns, Newfoundland.

Red Banner Northern Fleet surges many of its remaining nuclear and diesel-powered submarines into the Barents Sea.

While 5th Special Force Group's Green Berets work with the Kurds of northwestern Iran, the 7th Group works in central and Eastern Iran, among the Baluch and Lur tribal groups. 7th Group even deploys several A-teams across the border into post-nuclear Pakistan, more gathering intelligence than active combat operations.

Kenyan stevedores work to unload the convoy that arrived in Mombasa. American commanders are frustrated to learn the slow pace that the workers work at, and are forced to choose between unloading supplies for the units already in action and unloading additional combat capability. Ultimately, the decision is made to unload several days worth of munitions and fuel as well as desperately needed parts, then switch over, if the ships' loading permits.