[chico20854]

October 15, 1997

The commander of the German 1st Panzer Division is killed (unofficially) when Soviet electronic reconnaissance units locate his command post vehicle and relay its location to a battery of 2S7 203mm guns, which rapidly plaster the area with high explosive rounds. His deputy, Brigadier General Helmut Korell, assumes command.

The Tabriz airhead is declared secure and raids throughout the Soviet rear area begin.

The 6th Air Cavalry Combat Brigade stages forward to Bandar-e-Khomeyni from Saudi Arabia to support the airhead near Tabriz. The brigade has received the bulk of the few replacement aircraft that have arrived from the US and (unofficially) is operating at over two-thirds of authorized strength.

Unofficially,

The Freedom-class cargo ship San Francisco Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, Texas and the Kansas City Freedom in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The light frigate USS Sellstrom is delivered in Newport, Rhode Island.

On the extreme western end of the Chinese Front, the commander of the 39th Army directs the 292nd Motor-Rifle Division to drive south into the Chinese interior and not to stop.

Bremen International Airport is hit by a 250-kt Soviet warhead. The headquarters, maintenance facility and most of the 64th Tactical Airlift Squadron is destroyed.

The 107th Armored Cavalry Regiment, having covered nearly 100 km with captured Soviet trucks, abandons them (their gas tanks drained) and resumes its slower movement on foot.

The second Soviet ASW group, rushing north from the White Sea after the USS Olympia (which the Soviets have had intermittent detections of on fixed seabed sensors), arrives in the sub's vicinity, coordinating with the other group and one of the few remaining land-based ASW aircraft.

A difficult day for Soviet troops in the Balkans. In an operation coordinated by the 6th Special Forces Group, rail lines across the region are cut and dozens of supply convoys in the mountains of Jugoslavia and Romania are ambushed. The intensity and huge breadth of the attacks are paralyzing, and of such a huge scale that the few Soviet units specifically dedicated to anti-partisan warfare (mostly airborne troops augmented by a handful of KGB Border Guard detachments) are unable to effectively respond. The attacks not only cripple Soviet operations for days, the flurry of radio traffic from panicked Soviet formations allows an orbiting RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft to pinpoint numerous headquarters and troop locations for further attacks.

Civilian tugs begin towing the damaged USS Independence from the dock in Muscat, Oman to Dubai.

After weeks of delay, bureaucracy and equipment shortages, the 321st (my 252nd) Motor-Rifle Division begins movement from its home stations to the front in Romania. American reconnaissance satellites spot the division’s movement (to maintain control it moves in closely-spaced regimental columns) and within hours the formation is the unwelcome recipient of five air-launched cruise missiles which ravage the unit.