[chico20854]

April 24, 1997

Father Wojiech Niekarz is refused enlistment into the Polish Army because of his age. (He is 64 years old). He sought to join the fight to defend his homeland against the second German invasion of his lifetime.

Unofficially,

The Freedom-class cargo ship Cleveland Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The FBI sets up surveillance of the South Jersey apartment. Agents quietly displace the residents of the adjacent units and deploy a mobile command post two blocks away.

The Fourth Marine Division, a reserve force, assembles in Camp Pendleton, California following conclusion of a division-level exercise at MCB 29 Palms.

The US 10th Special Forces Group teams operating in the Baltic republics redouble their efforts to disrupt Soviet supply lines heading into Poland. Three rail lines are cut and an ammunition depot is attacked; six guards are killed when their BTR is struck with LAWs while responding to the break-in.

Advent Storm turns its attention from industrial targets back to transportation infrastructure as intelligence indicates that Polish internal troops, using three of their four pontoon regiments, have repaired many of the bridges damaged by earlier airstrikes, allowing trains carrying Soviet supplies and reinforcements to travel deeper into Poland before having to unload their cargoes onto the already overburdened road network.

In light of the seriousness of the situation in Korea, brigade-level exercises for the 23rd Infantry Division are cancelled and the division's battalions are ordered immediately transferred to the front in Korea. A hastily assembled stream of C-130s (American, Korean and Japanese), civilian airliners and ferries begin moving troops and equipment across the Straits of Tsushima.

Soviet Long-Range Aviation, following several weeks of low intensity operations to allow units to rebuild and consolidate, returns to the skies over the Balkans, striking the Craiova tractor plant (which has been turning out replacement TAB-79 scout cars).

The Soviet destroyer task force in the North Pacific makes its first kill when it catches the Danish-flag freighter Gitte Sif. The small container ship takes several hours to sink, allowing the crew time to escape into the ship's lifeboat, as well as radioing a distress signal.

A US Navy EP-3 Aires ELINT aircraft detects the 3P41 Top Dome radar of a Slava-class cruiser emanating from the vicinity of Tartus, Syria. (Two of the Slavas were sunk in the Battle of the Norwegian Sea. The remaining Northern Fleet unit, the Admiral Lobov, was active off Teriberka in the last two weeks, and two remain in the Pacific, leaving only the class' lead ship, the Slava, unaccounted for, barring a massive intelligence failure.)

Soviet paratroopers in Iran complete the securing of their airheads and begin digging in as they await the arrival of relieving friendly mechanized forces. In conjunction with Tudeh guerillas they send out patrols to disrupt IPA operations and provide early warning of approaching enemy forces. The patrols also scrounge for food and fuel to supplement the meagre stocks on hand. (Military Transport Aviation, following the losses of the prior days, pulls its Il-76 and An-12 transports from the area, leaving smaller An-26s and helicopters to low level nighttime sorties to supply the large airborne force.)

The USS Independence group is ordered east, to return to the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz to help suppress the Soviet landing force. The group's commander objects, claiming he is wearing down his force sailing back and forth across the Arabian Sea, but is overruled.

In Leningrad, local police and MVD internal troops are placed on high alert. Security checkpoints are implemented at the train, metro and bus stations. Police are not told who they are looking for, but dozens of suspicious people (and several wanted criminals) are detained. The SAS' informant warns the team, and they stay hidden.

Soviet crewmen aboard the Venezuelan tanker Jose Carlos Mariategui set off a bomb in the ship's machinery spaces as it is in port in Conakry, Guinea. The bombing is blamed on NATO as the ship sinks at her berth.