[chico20854]

April 22, 1997

Eritrean rebels, with USAF and USN long-range air support, land forces on the Dahlik Islands, destroy the remnants of the Soviet forces along with much of the Ethiopian Navy.

Unofficially,

A RPG is fired at the destroyer Coontz, in drydock in the Philadekphia Naval Shipyard, starting a small fire that is quickly extinguished.

An inventory of ammunition stocks at Camp Dawson, West Virginia reveals that an entire magazine of 40mm HE rounds for M-203 grenade launchers is empty, over 100 72-round cases.

Three Soviet Skory-class destroyers, the Vertkiy, Vidnyy and Vdumchivyy, rendevous approximately 700 nm south of Adak, Alaska. They are met at the rendevous site by the Hotel-class submarine K-178, a former missile sub that was converted to a support vessel. The sub is able to supply some food and ammunition to the destroyers as well as an intelligence update.

In Poland, NATO troops continue their slow territorial gains against continuing strong resistance. Polish units at the front receive a steady flow of replacement troops from territorial defense units, but replacement vehicles are limited to what can be produced by domestic factories (the Bydgoszcz rolling stock plant, turning out OT-64s, 2S1s and MTLBs from Stalowa Wola, the Jelcz, Starachowice and Lublin truck plants, the BMP factory in Poznan and the Labedy tank plant). Soviet units receive a steady flow of replacement troops and equipment, transported through Poland on priority rail shipments that are the target of NATO special operations forces and interdiction aircraft.

Advent Storm continues to target Poland's military industry, with attacks on the Skarżysko-Kamienna ammunition plant. Cumulative losses for NATO strike aircraft are in excess of 10 percent since the beginning of the month.

In Iran, Soviet patratroops consolidate their positions, clearing out Iranian police and military rear area troops and securing airports in their airheads for follow-on shipments of supplies and equipment. These prove fleeting, as the Iranian Air Force and the USAF 9th Air Force launch an all-out effort to close the airheads, putting all aircraft capable of air-to-air combat in the skies over the Soviet troops. Soviet Frontal Aviation tries to provide escorts for the transports, but American F-15s and Iranian F-4s and F-14s succeed in pulling the escorts away, letting F-16s, F-5s and F-20s tear through the streams of Il-76 and An-12 transports. By nightfall, 37 Soviet transport aircraft have been shot down (as well as 14 fighters), at the cost of 2 F-15s, a F-4 and a F-20 which fell to a Il-76's tail guns.

On the ground below, Soviet forces surge forward. Iranian units at the front find their rear area in disarray and commanders are faced with the very real possibility that the supplies and equipment they have on hand (averaging about three days worth of consumables such as fuel, ammunition and rations) will not be replaced easily. The Iranian II Corps was already preparing for a withdrawal towards Shiraz, but the speed of 45th (my 32nd) Army catches it off guard and Iranian units fall back in a semi-organized manner.

The SAS troops in Leningrad attack the Baltic Fleet base at Khronstadt. They swim into the base's harbor under cover of darkness and attach explosive charges to five ships before exfiltrating. When the limpet mines explode at dawn all of the ships are disabled; the corvette SKR-12, Whiskey-class submarine S-194 and minesweeper BT-322 are all sunk.

The Victor III-class submarine K-412 arrives in position off the port of St. Johns, Newfoundland, to await the transit of the next NATO convoy. Red Banner Northern Fleet commanders plan for the Victor I K-469 to reinforce the blockade when it completes its transit from West Africa.

The convoy carrying troops of 28 ANZUK Brigade arrives at the port of Kunsan, Korea.