[chico20854]

August 24, 1997

Another day that canon is silent on... Unofficially,

Soviet troops in Alaska begin a reshuffle, with fresh units being committed in central Alaska and others shifted south.

The Prime Minister and Cabinet return to Downing Street. Despite the return of the Government to London, the 11 regional command centers remain fully manned and operational.

In the Japanese-occupied Kurile Islands of Iturup and Kunashir a population transfer is occurring. Along with the evacuation of Soviet POWs, recently arrived Japanese government officials begin evacuating civilians who do not have family ties to the area (defined as at least one family member living in the islands in July 1945 prior to the Soviet seizure). The same flights and voyages that are carrying evacuees off the islands are also carrying "tourists", Japanese citizens that were evicted by (or fled) the Soviets and their descendants. To the dismay of the Soviet citizens, many of the "tourists" begin assessing various homes and businesses, apparently with the intention of settling in the newly reconquered territory. The government officials have no comment on the plan.

Along the northern end of the front line of the Polish-Soviet border 2nd Western Front goes over on the offensive from the Kaliningrad enclave. A Polish-led task force cuts off the US Marine garrison of Baltiysk while the rest of 1st Polish Army (reinforced with Soviet and Polish border guards and the Baltic Fleet's Division Baltiysk) drives the Danish Jutland Division out of Soviet territory. The 3rd Guards Shock Army and 2nd Guards Tank Army also attack southward against the US III Corps and VII German Korps, who use their massive mobility and firepower (both conventional and nuclear) to blunt the attacks and hold their ground.

In southern Germany, the Italian Army has run out of steam as the last of the nation's prewar stocks of fuel, ammunition and spare parts has been largely depleted. Italian industry is still in the process of mobilizing, and the industrial mobilization process (which would be chaotic in the best of circumstances given the state of Italian government and industry) is slowed by the country's isolation from its former NATO partners, who are NOT going to assist it with transport, raw materials or critical components. The Soviets offer to step in, but their assistance is a far cry from what NATO provided.

A helicopter from the escort carrier USS Langley, operating in the Norwegian Sea, detects the Soviet Delta I-class SSBN K-171 moving southbound at 5 knots. Within 10 minutes a swarm of five SH-3 Sea King helicopters are overhead; the boomer is located and sunk by four Mk-46 air-dropped torpedo hits. It is the third Soviet boomer sunk in August.

In Egypt, the commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade receives word that his request for air-droppable armor has been approved; L Company, 73rd Armor is being activated at Fort Bragg. Unfortunately, due to the widespread losses in the LAV-75 force the unit will be equipped with obsolescent M551 Sheridan light tanks.

XVIII Airborne Corps continues its slow withdrawal through the Zagros Mountains, with the 101st Air Assault Division launching a string of airmobile assaults on the advancing 4th Army as it crawls through the Zagros Mountains, pushing back the highly mobile 9th Infantry Division (Motorized). Allied Pasdaran guerrillas harrass the Soviet transport and supply troops with repeated pinprick attacks on the Soviet rear, slowing their progress.