[chico20854]

December 21, 1997

Nothing in canon for the day.

On the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere it is not only sunlight that is in short supply. As the nuclear attacks continue, the world trading and transportation systems have almost entirely shut down, leading to massive shortages of food, fuel and other necessities of lie. While food stocks exist, thanks to the bountiful harvest of the fall, moving the food to the population without petroleum is a nearly insurmountable challenge for the remnants of national governments.

In Paramus, New Jersey the 42nd Infantry Division makes its first arrest for hoarding food. Tony DiBello, owner of a small grocery wholesaler, refuses to sell his remaining stock to the military at the price established by 1st Army under the provisions of martial law (twice the price in effect on November 15), demanding five times the price. After he is arrested, troops sieze his entire inventory and allocate half of it to feeding centers and the other half is transported back to the local national guard armory that the battalion is operating from for the unit's cooks to prepare for the troops.

The Belgian government rallies all available security and emergency forces to provide relief in Antwerp following the attack on Antwerp. The interior minister reaches out to his French counterpart for assistance.

Soviet missiles rain down on petroleum and command and control targets in Ontario and Quebec. The national capital of Ottawa is blanketed with MIRVs from a SLBM.

An American Minuteman II missile strikes the Soviet refinery complex in Nizhnekamsk, and another destroys the massive Kama River Truck Plant at nearby Naberezhnye Chelny.

The new Danish containership Susan Mae, at anchor in New York's outer harbor awaiting cargo, is boarded by six armed men from a motorboat. The men rob the crew of cash, electronics and food from the galley but are disappointed to discover that the ship does not have any cargo aboard.

RainbowSix reports that most survivors of the strikes in South Wales head north into rural Wales or east across the border into South West England. Refugees fleeing the chaos of South Wales cause large scale upheaval in Mid Wales as many small towns and villages are swamped by the desperate hordes. Some refugees are integrated into the local communities but many locals oppose the influx and form armed groups in resistance against them.

The commanding officer of the 156th (my 190th) Motor-Rifle Division, the former deputy commander of the division's 53rd Reconnaissance Battalion, appears in public alongside the city's Communist Party chief to declare that the city is in safe hands. The division's troops spread out throughout the city, establishing small garrisons in most neighborhoods. The 190th's logistics officers are overjoyed by the seizure of the city's small arms ammunition factory, which yields over a million rounds for the division's guns. They are even more pleased by the capture of the intact Transmash plant, which has been turning out T-74s since early 1996. There are only a few complete tanks present, but plenty of parts to maintain them and several dozen in various stages of construction.