[chico20854]

December 13, 1997

Two B-1B’s striking from Kenyan bases destroy the Cabinda refinery in Angola in a conventional bombing attack to deny its use to the Soviets and
Cubans, eliminating the last source of refined fuel for the Cuban forces in Angola, crippling their remaining air and mechanized forces.

Egyptian and Israeli aircraft destroy the last operational Libyan refinery at Tobruk, depriving the Libyan Army and Air Force of their last source of refined fuel. All fighting in the area soon grinds to a halt as the Egyptian and Libyan militaries come apart along with their countries.

In South Africa, the police and military forces put down the last of the rioters, using armor and machine guns freely against them as martial law
is enforced fully. Over two hundred thousand people have been killed in the riots since the nuclear attacks occurred.

Afraid that it is just a matter of time before Mount Weather, one of the most well known secret sites in America, is struck, President Munson orders the evacuation of the executive and legislative officials, leaving a caretaker staff behind to guard the site's still considerable resources.

Unofficially,

President Munson and his entourage (over 500 federal employees, members of Congress, military personnel and security forces, with an additional 350 family members) travel to Peters Mountain, Virginia, site of a less well-known bunker, 90 miles away near Charlottesville. The president travels by armored vehicle, the employees and their families by requisitioned school buses.

A B-52G from the 93rd Bomb Wing from Castle AFB, California (operating from its dispersal base at NAS Fallon in Nevada) flies another sortie over the USSR, this one targeting the city of Ulan-Ude. Closing to within 200 miles, the bomber launched four of its SRAM II missiles, each with a 100kt warhead. Two hit the Far Eastern TVD headquarters (one ground burst aimed at the headquarters building in the city center and one, also a ground burst, the alternate command post bunker outside the city), one is set for air burst over the city's airport (home to a Mi-17 and Su-25 airframe plant as well as a pair of Tu-95 Bear bombers dispersed from their home station in Kazakhstan) and the final one strikes the junction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad and the Trans-Mongolian railroad, cutting off the main resupply route for Soviet forces in central China. Following the attack, the bomber turns south, where it is intercepted by a PVO MiG-23 that damages the big bomber (wounding the female co-pilot) but fails to bring it down. The bomber lumbers on, exiting over China before turning east over the Pacific, hoping for a tanker before heading to a recovery base. No tanker can be located (following attacks on Guam, Clark AFB and Okinawa), so the bomber lands at the Japanese air base on Iwo Jima, which the co-pilot bitterly complains is not the tropical paradise she dreamed of riding out a nuclear war in. Within six hours a KC-135 tanker lands, bringing with it a repair crew, fuel and reload missiles. Unfortunately, the damage to the BUFF is more than can be repaired at the remote island, so it is destroyed and the crew and remaining weapons evacuated.

The Soviets continue their campaign to destroy the American petroleum industry, this time by attacking refineries in the center of the country. A SS-19 ICBM fired by the 28th Guards Missile Division at Kozelsk disperses six MIRVs, each with a 550-kiloton warhead. They are aimed at the refineries in Tulsa and Ponca City, Oklahoma and Eldorado, Kansas. Two are aimed at oil terminals (at Kansas City, Kansas and Sugar Creek, Missouri) - both targets that were once refineries that the GRU failed to notice had closed. A final MIRV, aimed at McConnell Air Force Base, detonates several miles short of the target, destroying several dozen acres of productive farmland.

To escape the chaos in Boston, the headquarters of the First Maritime Defense District is moved to Camp Edwards on Cape Cod. Its commander, RADM Scott MacDowell, concentrates his very limited assets on supporting the fishing fleets and defending critical assets along the New England coastline.

In California, the Lieutenant Governor, State Adjutant General, Attorney General, Commander of the State Police and Bakersfield DA take some time from the response to the strikes in the Bay area to meet about the situation in the 5th Brigade. The state government is overtaxed responding to the nuclear strikes on the state, and the prospect of putting down a rebellious, heavily armed brigade would be a challenge in normal times. The decision is made to request military assistance, and the governor contacts the commander of Sixth Army at the Presidio of San Francisco to formally request armed federal troops.

The shipyard in Odense, Denmark delivers its last ship, the Susan Mae. The massive 100,000-ton containership is dispatched to the US to load supplies to sustain the war effort.