April 21, 1997
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The Soviets launch a multi-division airborne assault in Iran. The 103rd Guards Airborne Division air-assaults Bandar Abbas. The 104th Guards lands at Bandar-e Khomeyni while the 105th Guards Air Assault Division seizes Bushehr while the 94th (my 57th) Air Assault Brigade seizes Chah Bahar. The assault uses nearly the entire Soviet airlift fleet, and the 94th (57th) is landed by heavy lift helicopters. The success of the assault is greatly assisted by the actions of supporting Tudeh rebels, who soften up the defenses and wreak havoc in the Iranian rear areas.
Unofficially,
Headquartery, XIII Corps is formed at Camp Mabry, Texas from the 89th and 90th ARCOMs. The new headquarters is assigned support duties in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
The troops of the 81st Infantry Brigade (Washington National Guard) return to Fort Lewis following their two-day pass. Only 14 fail to report; they are replaced by recalled reservists from the replacement pool maintained at the fort while the State Police are sent to their homes to retreive them.
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A F-15 of the 48th Fighter Interceptor Squadron from Langley AFB, Virginia, successfully launches a ASM-135 ASAT missile against Cosmos-2579, a Soviet Yantar-4 photoreconnaissance satellite that had just been launched from the Plesetsk space center.
Over Poland, the Advent Storm air attacks resume, with a multi-wing raid on the Kraśnik munitions plant.
The Soviet 26th Army Corps headquarters is redeployed from Arkhangelsk to Belomorsk, ordered to strengthen the landward defenses of Leningrad and the Finnish border.
The missile cruiser USS Virginia launches four TLAM (Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles) against the Soviet naval base in Liepaja, Latvia. The conventionally-armed missiles strike the KGB Border Guard naval detachment pier, sinking the patrol boat P-663 and inflicting significant damage to the facility.
In Iran, a massive artillery bombardment (with many chemical rounds) is fired at the Iranian positions (this is however of less power than originally planned as a US air strike had destroyed a sizeable proportion of the stores). Despite fierce resistance by the Iranian People's Army the Soviets push into the Zagros Mountains. In Bandar Abbas, under chemical attack, the Iranian militia flees, although some units put up a spirited resistance. The Gurkhas fight a desperate battle to keep the port open for reinforcements (the 27th Infantry Brigade).
Responding to continued instability in Central America and the Caribbean, the US 71st Airborne Brigade (Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma National Guards) is deployed to Honduras to assist the embattled government and make inroads against Sandanista-controlled and pro-Soviet Nicarauga.