February 21, 1998
Nothing official for the day. Unofficially,
The 402nd Field Artillery Brigade gets in its first firefight, between one of the brigade’s platoons and the militia of the small town of Chillicothe, Texas. The soldiers retreat, leaving five dead behind.
The fighting in Fairbanks continues as the desperate troops of the Soviet 147th (my 261st) Motor-Rifle Division give up positions in the citys downtown, shifting the focus of resistance to the railroad yard and industrial area on the north side of the Chena River.
The Hungarian 53rd Mechanized Rifle Brgade is able to requisition sufficient railroad rolling stock to load all of its troops and heavy equipment; the commander authorizes the outfitting of several cars with anti-aircraft weapons, armored vehicles and armor to allow the formation (probably to be split into three separate units) to fight its way through opposition.
The attacks against the 158th Motor-Rifle Division expand in scope, with Jugoslav partisan fighters (coordinating with US Green Berets of the 6th Special Forces Group) surrounding all of the division's outposts along the valley of the Bosna River.
The Bulgarian freighter A.B. Buzko, with a partial load of grain and iron ore aboard, arrives in the Greek port of Patros, only to discover that it has been hit by an American nuclear bomber. The ship's captain, unable to reach Bulgarian naval command (the headquarters bunker was struck in the fall and alternate facilities have gone offline in the chaos of post-nuclear Bulgaria), heads back to sea, instructing his radio officer to try to reach any Warsaw Pact naval headquarters.
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I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
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