[chico20854]

January 19, 1998

Despite the nuclear strike near Omaha, the city is not abandoned because of its central location and proximity to the grain belt, and the fact that it is a rail transportation hub. West Virginia, while not a target of the nuclear strikes, is undesirable as a relocation site due to its remoteness. The only nuclear target in Indiana is the Whiting oil refinery facilities in the extreme north. Casualties from radiation are significant, due to the heavier strikes in Illinois. The large cities are not evacuated, since food is relatively easy to get to them, but civil unrest reduces the population. Wisconsin was not a target of the nuclear strikes and is not severely damaged by radiation. Disease, shortages, and exposure take their toll, however.

Colonel Piotr Bulganin, a GRU agent in the UK, is captured by the British Army.

The armies of the world are in sad shape following the long 1997 campaign and nuclear attacks on both the forces in the field and their homelands, the source of ammunition, reinforcements and replacements, fuel, spare parts and new weapons and vehicles. The average strength of NATO combat divisions at the front has fallen to about 8,000, with U.S. divisions running at about half of that. Warsaw Pact divisions now vary widely in strength, running from 500 to 10,000 effectives, but mostly in the 2-4,000 range. Lack of fuel, spare parts, and ammunition temporarily paralyze the armies. There are no surviving governments to negotiate peace, which, unfortunately, could have come if they had existed. Only the military command structures remain intact, and they remain faithful to the final orders of their governments. In a time of almost universal famine, only the military has the means of securing and distributing rations. Military casualties have been much lower than casualties among civilians.

Filming of sitcom Darwin Was A Monkeys Uncle aboard the replica USS Constitution is halted when it becomes apparent that TV sitcoms will no longer be aired.

Unofficially,

The Belgian Defense Minister is replaced as the Belgian Prime Minister travels to Paris for discussions on the administration of the occuplied territories. As he leaves Brussels his motorcade is confronted by mobs of angry Dutch-speaking Belgians, livid about the treatment of their ethnic kinsmen in Holland.

STAVKA orders the activation of another mobilization-only division, the 160th Motor-Rifle, in the North Caucasus Military District. The division is formed from troops assigned to a PVO missile training brigade and excess personnel from the Yeysk naval air base. Most of the unit’s stockpile of equipment has been depleted in the years of war that preceded its activation, leaving a handful of relics from the Great Patriotic War as the division’s artillery and tank park.

SOUTHCOM is only in intermittent contact with government and military commanders in the United States due to the chaos from the attacks. Traffic through the Panam Canal is almost non-existent as power and fuel shortages sweep the United States and other countries cutting shipments by sea.