[chico20854]

January 15, 1998

It has become apparent that the bombs have petered out. Both sides seem to believe that an unlimited nuclear exchange will inevitably result in the extermination of human life and have seemed to be determined to keep nuclear strikes under some control (almost by mutual agreement). As it turned out, the effect is not to destroy humanity - only civilization.

As far as restoring power, however, the situation is grave. There are not enough technicians left in any one place to keep a nuclear power plant operating. Even with conventional power plants (thermal and hydro), as time passes, trained technicians become scarce and more units have to be shut down. Fossil-fueled plants not adjacent to fuel supplies become inoperable as the transportation system fails to deliver more fuel; even plants that maintain a stockpile are rapidly depleting them as the cold winter and extreme demand force them to produce the maximum possible output.

American fighter-bombers arrive over the troop columns of the 54th (my 108th) Motor-Rifle Division and drop a trio of B61 nuclear bombs on the massed vehicles. The strike halts the division's movement to the front.

Unofficially,

RainbowSix reports that many refugees have entered the area of Avon and Somerset and a large number linger at Minehead in Somerset, on the edge of Exmoor, where they have occupied a former Holiday Camp (the site's chalets offer ready-made accommodation).

The American destroyer USS Nicholson, a survivor of the battleship Iowa's surface action group, performs a solo anti-shipping patrol in the Baltic, hoping to interdict rumored supply runs by Soviet and Polish craft into ports along the Polish coast. It locates a small craft moving south at high speed towards the Polish coast near Kolobrzeg and closes at 30 knots. (The destroyer's sole remaining helicopter has been grounded due to lack of fuel and anti-ship missiles). When in visual range it confirms the target as a Soviet Poti-class corvette and opens fire with the its forward 5-inch gun. Seven shots are sufficient to sink the Soviet ASW ship (which fails to fire a single effective shot at the destroyer). As it slows and turns back toward deeper water, the American ship detonates a bottom-laid mine, ripping the bow off and sending the ship to the bottom.

CNN Reporter Wolf Blitzer is executed by firing squad in Perm (in Siberia) as a CIA Spy. While it is true that the CIA made use of his reporting over many years, he was never an agency employee and never knowingly and actively worked for the agency.