On this day 25 years ago

[chico20854]

February 3, 1997

Nothing official today!

Talks in New Dehli continue between Soviet and British delegations. No immediate progress is reported.

The Victory ship Wayne Victory leaves the shipyard in Philadelphia, PA and loads cargo of scrap steel for Argentina; once there it will load munitions provided to Argentina under MAP (the Military Aid Program), whose return has been requested by the US.

The Victory ship transport PVT Fred C Murphy is activated in Mobile, Alabama and begins loading a cargo of general supplies for the US naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba.

The container ship Hanjin Hing Kong arrives in Charleston, SC for conversion to an escort carrier.

The US aircraft carrier Midway leaves the shipyard in San Diego, returned to service after several years in reserve.

Pro-NATO Latvian partisans led by American Special Forces advisors ambush a supply convoy of the 107th MRD.

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Despite the aerial and artillery bombardment of the prior days, 1st Guards Tank Army launches a fierce attack on the German bridgehead at Gubin. The attack drives the Germans back halfway to the Oder River by nightfall.

The 116th MRD counterattacks the NATO force at Koshka Yavr on the Kola Peninsula, suffering heavy losses as it was expecting only a single worn-down American battalion, not the reinforced Norwegian brigade (with armor) that it encountered.

The US 10th Mountain Division launches an air assault on the headquarters of the 45th Guards MRD, which results in command and control in the Soviet division breaking down and a chaotic retreat.

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The Kirov's "escort", the corvette Skola, has fallen nearly 100 nm behind the cruiser, unable to keep up with the battlecruiser's nuclear reactors. The hapless combatant is located by aircraft from the USS Enterprise and shortly receives a visit by F/A-18s of VFA-94, who sink the vessel with laser-guided bombs and cluster bombs. The Enterprise group, however, cannot locate the Kirov.

Turkish forces in Thrace fall back to a secondary defense line, consisting of concrete bunkers and pillboxes prepared long ago. The fortifications allow the otherwise outnumbered and outgunned Turkish troops to hold back the Greek invaders.

The Bucharest tank plant delivers its first TR-85 tank following the Soviet air raids of prior week; overall, the plant is operating at 40 percent of its capacity before the raids.

Soviet bombers strike the tank plant in Slavonski Brod, Croatia.

[chico20854]

February 4, 1997

Nothing in the canon today!

The NATO delegation informs the Soviet delegation in New Delhi that NATO cannot accept the Soviet proposal on war termination. Talks break down.

A shadowy company closes on the purchase of the former Bushkill Resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, which had been closed for seven years.

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The Canadian Navy recommissions the "destroyer" (most would consider it a frigate) Saguenay, retired in 1990. The reactivation included modernized electronics and a Phalanx close-in missile defense gun system.

Convoy 208 departs San Francisco Bay for Korea. Its ships include the Cape Horn and Arabian Breeze, carrying the 264th Engineer Group; the John Lykes carrying bulk ammunition and containerized supplies for 8th US Army, and the Earlham Victory carrying bagged rice to help sustain the South Korean civilian population.

The 107th MRD's 379th Artillery Regiment launches a massive artillery bombardment on underdeveloped forested area suspected of hosting anti-Soviet partisans, while MVD troops arrest inhabinants of local villages suspected of supporting them.

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German reinforcements pour into the Gubin bridgehead, while 4th Guards Tank Army is thrown into the drive to force the German troops from Polish soil.

The Echo II-class submarine K-35, its missile tubes empty after attack on Convoy 112, arrives in the Orinoco River Delta for replenishment from the Soviet merchantman Suzdal, which has been anchored in a remote channel for several weeks and resupplying raiders.

The Kirov continues its rampage, sinking the Cypriot-flagged tanker Neptune Wave carrying crude oil from Nigeria to the US Gulf Coast with gunfire.

Soviet bombers attack Bucharest, targeting command and control facilities. They lose three aircraft to Jugosav SA-3 batteries which have been moved into the area in the prior day.

The Turkish submarine Sakarya sinks the Bulgarian training ship Nikola Vaptzarov leaving Varna with reinforcements for beseiged Burgas.

As the Pasdaran continues to crumble under relentless Soviet assault, CENTCOM commanders meet with their Saudi and Iranian counterparts, who urge rapid deployment of CENTCOM troops and combat aircraft.

The Chasov Yar truck rebuild plant in eastern Ukraine turns out its first rebuilt BTR-40 Armored Personnel Carrier, fitting a nearly 50-year old armored shell onto a newer production GAZ-3307 truck chassis. This is in response to reports of the unservicability of BTR-40s being activated by mobilization-only units.

The American transport Marine Reliance departs Haifa en route to Split, Croatia with Israeli tanks for Romania.

[chico20854]

February 5, 1997

4th Marine Division moved by sea from Pearl Harbor to Yokosuka, Japan. [I have this as the 3rd Division].

Unofficial:

The Swiss ambassador in New Delhi convinces both NATO and Soviet delegations to remain, although no future meetings are scheduled.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Pennsylvania Freedom is delivered in Portland, OR.

The US aircraft carrier Midway begins workups with its new air wing, CVW-16, composed of newly raised squadrons.

The fierce but static fighting near the DMZ continues.

For the third day, an intense struggle continues at the Gubin bridgehead. With the pontoon bridges and ferry landing sites under frequent heavy artillery bombardment, the German commanders commit the former East German 40th Air Assault Brigade, flown into the rear area on Bundeswehr CH-53 helicopters. Each of the brigades troops carries some sort of anti-tank weapon, predominantly RPG-16s.

The last TOW missiles in the Norwegian inventory are shipped to the front, leaving the nation reliant on US production.

Soviet Long Range Aviation in the Southwest TVD starts a 48-hour maintenance stand down, as fewer and fewer aircraft are available for the nightly raids over the Balkans.

Turkish troops in Thrace effectively halt the Greek advance after progressing 10-20 km. In Bulgaria the front is static, with Turkish troops besieging Burgas and deep into the Balkan Mountains but neither side able to muster the troops and supplies to launch an offensive.

The 73rd Tank Division in the Volga Military District is called up, formed out of the staff and student body of the Kazan Higher Tank Command School and local reservists.

[chico20854]

February 6, 1997


A shipment of Cadillac-Gage Stingray light tanks awaiting export to Pakistan is requisitioned by the US Army's Field Materials Headquarters Company 12.

Unofficially,

The Freedom ship Kentucky Freedom is delivered in Galveston, TX and the Alabama Freedom in Pascagoula, MS.

The 157th Infantry Brigade (M), US Army Reserve, completes its rotation at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, CA and is declared combat ready.

The 43rd Infantry Brigade (Connecticut National Guard) completes Rotation 97-3 at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Ft. Polk, LA and is declared combat ready.

The container ship Hanjin Keelung leaves the Charleston Navy Yard, having been converted to an escort carrier and commissioned as the USS Langley CVHE-1. The newest warship begins a quick workup period, embarking several SH-3, EH-3 and UH-1 helicopters and a flight of Marine Corps AV-8C Harriers.

Convoy 205 (troop ships carrying men and cargo ships carrying vehicles and heavy equipment of the 163rd ACR (MT and TX NG)) arrives in Pusan, Korea.

The Constellation and Abraham Lincoln conclude a period of air operations in the Yellow Sea and retire to the southeast, headed to Okinawa for a replenishment period and linking up with the Independence battle group, arriving in the theater.

The battlecruiser Kirov continues its rampage through the South Atlantic. It sets the Liberian-flagged ore carrier Jade Triumph on fire, then sinks the British patrol ship HMS Shetland, guard ship for Ascension Island, when it rushed to respond to the striken freighter's mayday calls. The cruiser finished the day's action with a close pass by the British Island, shelling the airfield and it's vital fuel supplies, igniting a blaze that shut down all operations on the island.

The arrival of East German elite paratroopers and clear skies over the Gubin bridgehead brings a halt to Soviet progress. Combat is fierce and artillery fire intense for another day.

The Dutch Red Army sets fire to trucks in the parking lot of the truck plant in Zwolle, damaging or destroying a week's worth of production.

Turkish troops on Cyprus face off against Greeks in the mountainous center of the island. With both sides taking advantage of the difficult terrain forward progress is measured in meters.

The Turkish government announces another round of reservists being recalled, this one for 24-year old men. Turkey enjoys vast pools of trained men but lacks modern weapons and equipment to send them into battle with.

CENTCOM commander General Barbaneri returns to the US after meeting the Saudi defense minister and Iranian defense officials. He lobbies for release of transportation assets to CENTCOM, noting the threat to his region and decreasing numbers of units ready for deployment to Europe.

[chico20854]

February 7, 1997

Nothing in the canon for today!

The FBI receives word of additional Spetsnaz teams' arrival in Mexico, having transited from India to Singapore to Panama to Nicaragua, then travelling overland to Mexico.

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The 130th Tactical Airlift Wing (West Virginia Air National Guard) and its subordinate 130th Tactical Airlift Squadron arrive in Sacheon, Republic of Korea.

2nd Guards Tank Army launches an attack on the British-held bridgehead opposite Frankfurt-on-Oder, in an attempt to draw off Allied airpower from the ongoing battle at the Gubin bridgehead.

Soviet General B.V. Rumyantsyev, commander of the 11th Guards Army, is killed in Poland when his helicopter crashes while evading a RAF Phantom fighter jet.

On the Kola Peninsula, the US 6th ID(L) crosses the frozen Titovka River to maintain X Corp's advance towards the next obstacle on the way to Murmansk, the Litsa River. The Norwegian 14th Brigade is attached to the American division, and the track (road is too generous a term to describe it!) serves as the dividing line between the American and Norwegian 6th Divisions.

The Soviet Victor III-class nuclear submarine K-412 attacks the American container ship Sea-Land Mercury, travelling unescorted to the Mediterranean at 23 knots. The ship is struck by a single torpedo and left dead in the water; the arrival of P-3 patrol aircraft prevents the submarine from finishing off the kill.

Soviet bombers return to the skies over the Balkans, returning to strike the Bucharest tank plant again. A Tu-16 is lost to defending anti-aircraft fire.

Pasdaran lines in central Iran continue to crumble under the relentless attack from three Soviet armies.

The USAF 149th Tactical Fighter Group, based in southeastern Turkey, launches another interdiction attack, blocking the northwestern road through the mountains between Tabriz and Azerbaijan when it catches a Soviet supply convoy in a narrow pass, a perfect target for the F-16s cluster bombs.

The battlecruiser Kirov exits the region near Ascension Island following its raid of the prior day. In doing so, it exhausts the last of its fuel oil supply, leaving it solely reliant on its nuclear power plant. This limits the ship's speed to 18 knots. The ship's main anti-ship missile battery has only three SS-N-19 missiles remaining and ammunition for the 100mm guns is also running low. Appraised of its status, the Naval command in Moscow orders the ship to link up with a hidden supply ship in South America.

The 60th Tank Division, a Category C unit from the Moscow Military District, is activated in the town of Dzerzhinsk, about 230 miles east of Moscow. The division is equipped with T-62 tanks and Second World War-vintage artillery.

[chico20854]

February 8, 1997

Greece begins a naval blockade of Turkey in the Aegean Sea. It would extend it to the Mediterranean coast but it's navy is insufficient to enfore it.

Unofficially:

The Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy departs Mobile with cargo for the US Navy base at Guantanamo, Cuba. It is escorted by the Coast Guard cutter Resolute.

In Charleston SC, the escort carrier USS Langley's air wing reaches its full strength - six AV-8C Harriers, six SH-3H ASW helicopters, three EH-3I AEW helicopters and three UH/HH-1 helicopters.

The attack submarine USS Tunny discharges SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One off Matua Island, one of the Kurile Islands north of Japan, shortly before midnight.

The American carriers Constellation, Independence and Abraham Lincoln launch a raid on the Nampho shipyard, port and naval base complex. Much of the strike force is dedicated to suppression of North Korean anti-aircraft artillery, and the raid is helped by the freezing-over of the harbor, which immobilized many of the craft present.

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The struggle to hold (or, from the Pact perspective, eliminate) the bridgeheads across the Oder in Poland continues, with repeated attacks and counter-attacks. The front lines are fluid but the Pact forces are unsucessful in driving NATO troops back to the river.

Frontal Aviation's 305th Bomber Regiment launches a low-level raid on the ELINT station on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea north of Poland. One aircraft is shot down by anti-aircraft artillery fire from the Home Guard and small Army garrison.

The last Soviet paratroopers defending the Boris Gleb power station on the Norwegian-Soviet border surrender after holding out in the underground halls for over a month.

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A Bulgarian Mi-14 helicopter, flying cover for a coastal convoy from Varna to Burgas, sights the submerged Turkish submarine Sakarya and attacks it. The attack is unsuccessful, but the Turkish submarine is hounded by a series of surface and air units, which drive it into a minefield which results in the submarine's sinking.

The American cruiser USS Virginia is damaged by the blast from a Soviet SS-N-12 missile (fired by the Echo II-class cruise missile submarine K-131) which detonated in the chaff cloud near the cruiser while it was escorting westbound Convoy 117.

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CENTCOM orders the sortie of the prepositioning fleet at Diego Garcia. The 22 ships there carry equipment and vehicles for an Army heavy brigade, a Marine Expeditionary Brigade, a Naval hospital, port development equipment and ammunition and supplies.

[chico20854]

February 9, 1997

France, Belgium, Italy and Greece legally leave NATO; their participation had ended 60 days earlier.

Unofficial:

The 123rd Army Reserve Command, from Indianapolis, Indiana and activated at nearby Fort Benjamin Harrison, is redesignated HQ, XI US Corps, receiving a new commanding general, Lieutenant General Albert Savage, former commander of III Corps.

SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One makes a predawn raid on the Soviet air defense radar on Matua in the Kurile Islands. They subsequently engage the defenders of the island's small airstrip, overwhelming them with the volume and accuracy of their gunfire, and detonate demolition charges in the runway. They evacuate by SDV before they can be caught by the the remnants of the garrison or reinforcements flown in from nearby islands.

With the arrival of the 7th Infantry Division in Korea, I Corps is able to pull the 2nd Infantry Division off the front lines, where it has been fighting for over six weeks, for rest and to receive reinforcements. (The replacement system is now feeding over 1000 trained troops, both new draftees and recalled inactive reservists, into the Korean theatre each week.)

US Navy Patrol squadron VP-60 arrives at the recently improved Cocos Islands, Airport, Australia and begins flying patrols looking for Soviet raiders and submarines. Australian authorities impose a near-total communications blackout on the inhabitants to prevent news of American combat missions being launched from Australian territory from becoming public.

The Freedom ship Idaho Freedom returns to San Francisco Bay, calling at the Oakland Army Terminal to load its next cargo. The Pennsylvania Freedom, delivered on the 5th is ordered to Tacoma, Washington, from Portland, to load its first cargo.

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The Mainz Army Depot in Germany returns its 200th M1-series tank damaged in the Battle of Germany to 7th Army after repair, testing and certification as combat ready.

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Soviet Su-24 bombers strike Danish targets, including the Gedser port facility (terminus of a ferry to Germany).

Soviet forces make a maximum effort to eliminate the Gubin and Frankfurt-on-Oder bridgeheads, which once again fail.

US Marines of the 8th Marine Expeditionary Brigade raid the Libyan Gamal Abdul El Nasser Air Base and adjacent SA-5 missile regiment launch stations, destroying the missiles and radar, cratering the runway and collapsing many of the hardened aircraft shelters.

The Soviet destroyer Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, sinks the Greek-owned bulk carrier Archimedes, expending the last of its complement of SS-N-22 Sunburst missiles.

A combined military and civilian force on Ascension extinguishes the fire in the island's aviation fuel tank farm that was ignited by the Kirov's shelling three days prior.

The American transport ship Marine Reliance arrives in Split, Croatia with a load of Ti-67 tanks for Romania.

The last aircraft of the Iranian 32nd Tactical Fighter Wing arrive in Iran and the F-20 Tigershark unit begins flying combat air patrols over the areas of Iran controlled by the Iran Nowin government. The 41st Tactical Figher Wing hands over its remaining F-5s to the 22nd Wing, its pilots and ground staff boarding Iran Air 747s bound for Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia to pick up new F-20s.

The US Transportation Command issues a warning order to airlift units and sealift planners, alerting them to an imminent need to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia and Iran.

[chico20854]

February 10, 1997

Denmark declares war on the Soviet Union following the prior dayss (and weeks') attacks on Danish facilities and ships.

Unofficially:

The Freedom-class cargo ship Wisconsin Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, TX and the Indiana Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

The 56th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania National Guard) completes Rotation 97-4 at NTC-2 at the Yakima Training Center and is declared combat ready.

The escort carrier USS Shangri-La (CVHE-3) is commissioned at the Charleston Navy Yard. A week prior it had been a Korean-flag container ship.

The Canadian Navy commissions the patrol-minesweeper Nanaimo in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She begins a transit through the Panama Canal to British Columbia, joining westbound Convoy 117 for the first part of the trip.

There's chaos in the North Sea as simultaneous explosions on five offshore oil platforms disrupt production from the Forties oil field, the largest in the British sector of the North Sea.

The Soviet 2nd and 4th Guards Tank Armies halt their offensive actions, while their reserve formations construct hasty field fortifications. For the first time in a week, the front lines of the Oder bridgeheads are quiet.

The Soviet 1077th Ski Regiment grows to five battalions of all-female volunteers, mostly from the Leningrad area. The new battalion joins the rest of the unit patrolling 18th Army's open southern flank southwest of Murmansk as NATO troops push eastward.

Naval clash in the Aegean between the Greek and Turkish navies, when the Turkish 3rd Assault Boat Flotilla sorties into the Aegean and engages a Greek Surface Action Group composed of the destroyers Kanaris and Lonchi. Both destroyers are overwhelmed by Turkish SSMs and sink, taking down the Turkish missile boat Pelikan with them. An air battle follows overhead, when Greek A-7s swoop in, sink the Turkish missile boats Sismek and Gurbet, and are subsequently set upon by Turkish F-4s. Two A-7s are lost, and when Greek F-4s intervened one of each nation's Phantoms are downed before the engagement finally ends, 45 minutes after the first shot was fired.

Soviet bombers strike Brasov, Romania, hitting the ordnance plant once again. US Army Patriot missiles down two more Backfire bombers.

In Kaliningrad, the KGB arranges a meeting of the East German Communist Party, including party officials who fled reunited Germany, party members who were travelling elsewhere in the USSR and Warsaw Pact, political officers of East German Army units fighting in China and a number of officials arrested by the KGB during the retreat from East Germany. Following a script written by the KGB in Moscow, the Party meeting expels all SED members who supported or participtated in the reunification campaign and called for the formation of "Liberation Armed Forces" to free all of Germany from revanchist imperialist NATO-allied German authorities.

[chico20854]

February 11, 1997

A Spetsnaz team under Colonel Mikhail Tumanski arrives in the UK, landed in inflatable boats on a remote section of coastline.

Unofficial:

The order to deploy CENTCOM to Iran and Saudi Arabia is issued. Within hours, the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division is loading on transport aircraft for Saudi Arabia. The 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) moves its equipment and vehicles to the port of Savannah, the 101st Air Assault Division to Jacksonville, Florida and the 9th ID(Lt Mech) to Tacoma, Washington. The Air Force hastily shuffles tankers to support the deployment of the highest priority aircraft, the F-15Cs of the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing and the F-15Es of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing. (The F-15s are able to load maximum fuel tankage for their deployment flights since there are two ships - the Buffalo Soldier and the American Merlin - loaded with munitions and spares en route to the region from Diego Garcia.)

The 53rd Infantry Brigade (Florida National Guard) completes Rotation 97-5 at JRTC-2 at Fort Chaffee, AR and declared combat ready.

The front along the Oder River in Poland remains quiet for a second day. Soviet units pull back 500m or so to the fighting positions that have been prepared by their rear elements in the prior few days.

IV Corps headquarters is formed in Flushing, New York from personnel assigned to the 77th and 94th Army Reserve Commands (known as ARCOMs). When the mobilization support mission was completed, IV Corps assumes duties overseeing and supporting training units in the northeast, providing security in the New York Port of Embarkation, receiving and processing POWs arriving from overseas and coordinating the emergency and disaster relief planning efforts of civil authorities.

The Freedom ship Idaho Freedom is directed to Tacoma, Washington to prepare to load elements of the 9th ID (Motorized) from nearby Fort Lewis.

The Soviet raider Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, attacks the Romanian-flag general cargo ship Trinity, using the ship's 130mm guns, setting it ablaze.

Soviet long-range aviation returns to Jugoslav skies, hitting the Čačak munitions plant in Serbia.

The American transport USNS Bob Hope loads the vehicles of the 169th Field Artillery Brigade (Colorado National Guard) at the Bayonne Army terminal in New Jersey for movement to Germany.

The 362nd Guards Assault Gun Regiment in the Odessa Military District is mobilized for service in the Balkans.

[chico20854]

February 12, 1997

Nothing official for today!

The US 11th Airborne Division is activated at Fort Dix, New Jersey from volunteers from throughout the Army.

The XI Corps Headquarters staff travels to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for a command post exercise.

A preliminary assesment of the damage to the Forties oil field infrastructure in the North Sea concludes that it will be out of service for the remainder of the year. A classified annex to the assessment discloses that the "incident" was likely the result of a Spetsnaz raid.

The Western TVD begins to rotate units on the front line in Poland, bringing fresher and stronger divisions up while withdrawing worn-out units for reconstruction. Among the many changes is bringing forward the 3rd GMRD, which enters action in Poland under command of the 22nd Army.

The escort carrier Shangri-La receives its air wing off Cherry Point, NC and begins transit to Jacksonville, FL.

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army begins to amass an infantry-strong reserve force from the stream of light divisions that flow weekly from the interior. With Soviet resources stretched to the limit by the worldwide conflict, the upcoming thaw in Manchuria offers an opportunity to launch an offensive, one where the outnumbered Soviet forces will be unable to exploit their superior mobility due to the mud, and whose fire support has been weakened with the transfer of aircraft to other theaters and diversion of artillery ammunition to other fronts.

The Soviet battle cruiser Kirov, in the South Atlantic en route to a resupply, encounters the Brazilian-flagged freighter Rio Coari. It peppers the freighter's bridge with 30mm fire before landing a detachment from the ship's Ka-27 helicopter to seize the ship.

A detachment of the US Navy SEEBEEs Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 arrives on Ascension Island to install a temporary fuel system and repair the fire-damaged original system.

The 17th Guards Tank Division is withdrawn for reconstruction following nearly two months on the front line beseiging Galati, Romania.

The last tanks for Romania are unloaded from the American ship Marine Reliance, which departs for its next assignment.

Soviet bombers target the Romanian shipyards in Mangalia in a bid to prevent Romania from completing ships to contest Pact control of the Black Sea.

The Fast Sealift Ships Pollux, Antares and Denebola load the 151st Field Artillery Brigade (SC National Guard) in Charleston, SC.

The 6th Air Cavalry Combat Brigade, 14th Armored Cavaly Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized), 18th Field Artillery Brigade, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and 20th Engineer Brigade are all placed on alert for deployment to the CENTCOM AOR. Movement of vehicles and equipment to load ports and arrival of ships and aircraft will take several days (or weeks) yet.

Following up on the East German Communist Party meeting on the 10th, the Red Army sponsors the creation, training and equipment of East German loyalist units. Many military veterans are assigned to Volkspolezei (VoPo) riot control units, which sided with the Soviets during the Battle of Germany, (organized into three independent regiments). Students attending schools in the USSR and Warsaw Pact nations and workers and tourists under age 30 are hastily rounded up from their locations and formed into two regiments of the Freie Deutsche Jugend, a party-allied youth political organization that was transformed into a party militia.

The mini-convoy of the Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy and Coast Guard Cutter Resolute arrives in Guantanamo, Cuba.

[chico20854]

February 13, 1997

Nothing official for the day.

The 46th Brigade, 38th Infantry Division (Michigan National Guard) completes Rotation 97-3 at NTC-3 at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona and is declared combat ready.

Air Force Systems Command concludes its test series of AGM-142 Have Nap missile drops from F-111s at Edwards AFB, CA and clears the missile for use from that aircraft.

The final former South Korean container ship, the Hanjin Kobe, arrives at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, CA, for conversion to an escort carrier.

The Iranian 43rd Tactical Fighter Training Squadron receives its complement of F-20s in Savannah, Georgia and flies them to Pensacola for conversion training.

RAF Mildenhall struck again (the first strike was on January 11th), this time by Tu-22Ms. This time 3rd Air Force was ready and very little damage was incurred.

Following the collapse of the drive to eliminate the NATO bridgeheads in western Poland, the Polish Communist Party declares a total national mobilization. The last manufacturing plants producing civilian goods convert to military production and the nation begins to prepare for the possibility of NATO invasion. Rationing is imposed nationwide as the government increases stockpiles of food, fuel and materials. The population is called out to assist in the war effort; each town, city and village forms a militia (mostly armed with Second World War-vintage rifles and submachineguns, if armed at all). A massive effort is launched to create defensive lines across the country. Pensioners are assigned duties digging trenches, and schools go to a half-day schedule, with classes (often on military subjects such as small-unit tactics or use of gas masks) in the morning and the afternoons spent working on defensive positions.

1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division reaches the mouth of the Litsa River.

The Romanian freighter Trinity, set ablaze 2 days prior, sinks 200 miles west of Dakar, while the Soviet destroyer Buliny heads for Luanda, Angola for replenishment.

Cloudy weather over Jugoslavia results in Soviet bombers dropping their loads over rural Croatia, damaging several farms but having no real effect on the Jugoslav war effort other than to enrage a few more Jugoslav families.

The 38th Infantry Division (Indiana and Michigan National Guards) begins loading vehicles and equipment aboard ships in the ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia.

The US Coast Guard cutter Resolute begins a patrol of local area in the central Caribbean.

[chico20854]

February 14, 1997

Another day with nothing in the official canon.

The latest (and last) version of the US Nuclear warfighting plan, the Single Intergrated Operating Plan or "SIOP", known as SIOP 8, Revision 2 goes into effect. It has quite extensive changes from the prior version, as several targets located in East Germany are now under NATO control and many of the Red Army garrisons have been vacated when their tenant units deployed. This version also omits targets in the People's Republic of China.

A C-141 from the 30th Military Airlift Squadron loads a cargo of AGM-142 Have Nap missiles from K.I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan for transfer to F-111 units in the UK.

The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) commander, refelcting on the difficulty controlling forces in the Frankfurt-on-Oder bridgehead and forces on the Czechoslovak border simultaneously, requests the establishment of a second corps headquarters in BAOR.

The 10th Special Forces Group in Poland and the Baltic States launches a series of coordinated strikes on Soviet supply lines, ambushing over a dozen trains and convoys over a three-hour period.

In the Pacific, American aircraft launch Operation Steel Hammer - four American carriers (the Abraham Lincoln, Independence, Constellation and John C. Stennis, making its combat debut with the US Navy Reserve Air Wing CVW-20 embarked), operating in coordination with USAF aircraft operating from Japan, all under the direction of an E-3 AWACS, carry out a raid on Vladivostok area naval bases. Most of the sorties are devoted to suppression of the PVO regional air defense network, so central Vladivostok is spared attack, several smaller outlying bases receiving devastating amounts of damage.

The Soviet battlecruiser Kirov enters the Orinoco River Delta in remote eastern Venezuela and meets the Soviet supply ship Suzdal, which has been hiding there for several weeks. The Suzdal provides Kirov with 12 fuel air explosive versions of the SS-N-19 Shipwreck missile for a special attack mission along with fuel, other munitions and supplies.

Soviet long-range aviation returns once again to the Bucharest tank plant, where the presence of American Patriot missiles and newly introduced jamming and electronic spoofing results in no damage to the plant.

The first formerly Israeli Ti-67 tanks arrive at the front in Romania. The front continues to remain largely static as Soviet forces try to amass sufficient manpower and supplies to resume the offensive and Romanian and Jugoslav forces try to conserve their resources and maintain a strong defense.

The final elements of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Special Forces Group arrive in Romania, and half of the 1st Battalion is in Jugoslavia, embedding in Jugoslav Army units and training territorial defense troops to communicate with NATO forces, including how to call in airstrikes and artillery fire.

[chico20854]

February 15, 1997

Another day with nothing official, but unofficially a lot is going on!

The Freedom-class cargo ship Virginia Freedom is delivered in Portland, Oregon. It is directed to sail to Tacoma, Washington to load follow-on elements of the 9th ID (Motorized).

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Headquarters, II Corps is activated at Fort Rucker, Alabama from the 121st Army Reserve Command (ARCOM), an Army Reserve unit responsible for providing peacetime command and administrative support to other Army Reserve units in its geographic area, with an initial wartime mission of supporting the mobilization and deployment of those units as well as assisting Army National Guard units in its area.

The first AGM-142 Have Nap missiles are delivered to RAF Lakenheath and orientation to the new weapon begins.

Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team, disguised as "ramblers" (hikers), begins surveying forests in Berkshire to identify USAF Ground Launched Cruise Missile deployment sites, or, better yet, to locate one of the missile flights, which have been dispersed since December.

Operation Newsboy, the photo reconnaissance by RF-16s of the 192 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of North Korean naval facilities at Wonsan, North Korea, is launched. Unfortunately, the North Koreans are alerted by Soviet agents in Japan and the mission results in 3 of the 4 aircraft involved being lost.

The 26th Infantry Division (Light) (Massachussetts and Connecticut National Guards) begins its deployment by air to Korea.

The NATO offensive on the Kola stalls as 3rd Brigade, 6th (US) Infantry Division arrives at the Litsa River nine miles south of its mouth and the Norwegian 6th Division crosses the frozen Litsa 10 miles further south using the partially destroyed railroad bridge. The Norwegian's forward momentum is halted by well dug in troops on the heights looming overhead.

The Soviet Victor III-class submarine K-254 is sunk off Jacksonville by the USCG cutter in conjunction with P-3s from Jax NAS and, in its first action, the escort carrier Shangri-La.

Soviet long-range bombers come in over Jugoslavia at low level and supersonic speeds, different tactics than had been used in prior raids. The infiltration is successful, and the Zastava munitions complex is hit. One aged Tu-22 Blinder crashes into a mountain on the exit from the target area, with no survivors.

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The 1st Tactical Fighter Wing's F-15s fly their first operational sortie, patrolling over the Persian Gulf to protect the eastern Saudi ports and assist the Iranian Air Force.

The 336th Tactical Fighter Squadron, part of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, arrives in Saudi Arabia with 24 F-15Es.

The convoy of prepositioning ships which sailed from Diego Garcia arrives in eastern Saudi ports.

[chico20854]

February 16, 1997

The Soviet ground offensive in Iran resumes as the first battalions of the 82nd Airborne Division land in Saudi Arabia.

Unofficially:

The Swiss ambassador hosts a short meeting in New Delhi between the NATO and Soviet peace delegations. The Soviets demand immediate withdrawal of NATO troops from the Kola, Bulgaria and Polish territory along the Oder-Niesse. NATO rejects the demands out of hand, prompting the Soviet delegation to storm out.

The AGM-142 Have Nap missile is cleared for use from F-15E Strike Eagles.

HQ, VIII US Corps is formed from the 124th ARCOM at Fort Lewis, Washington and assigned training support, security for the Tacoma Port of Embarkation and civil support functions throughout the Pacific Northwest.

SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One launches its second attack, landing at Korsakov on Sakhalin Island. One part of the team raids the airfield, demolishing a dozen Mi-14 and Mi-8 helicopters, while the rest of the team attacks the port facility, attaching limpet mines on the minesweeper Admiral Khoroshkhin and commandeering a civilian trawler, which was scuttled in the channel exiting the harbor.

US Pacific Command launches a major strike on North Korean naval bases in the Sea of Japan, known as Operation Sea Dragon. Operating under cover of land-based interceptors (USAF, USMC, RoKAF and JASDF), the USS Independence group raid on the Sagon-ni naval base. F-111s bomb the North Korean Navy's shipyard at Wonsan, destroying the headquarters for the North Korean Navy's East Fleet and damaging the Soviet destroyer Lovkiy, which was undergoing repairs before heading home. At the Mayangho naval base, F-111s sink an aged North Korean submarine, several patrol boats and three Soviet cargo ships.

SACEUR recieves a request from the Free Polish Congress to support the creation of military units to defend the slivers of Polish territory under NATO control (Szczecin and the three bridgeheads) and lay the groundwork for the restoration of a noncommunist Polish Army.

On the Kola Peninsula, the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division is detached to capture the naval bases on the western side of the Litsa Fjord, a mission that ends in disaster when Soviet naval troops blow up the nuclear waste storage facility at Andreeva Bay, raining radioactive waste onto the advancing infantrymen.

The US 103rd Field Artillery Brigade (Rhode Island National Guard)'s final men and guns (two battalions of towed 155mm howitzers) arrive in X Corps' rear area along the Norwegian-Soviet border, ready for action.

The battlecruiser Kirov sorties from the Orinoco River Delta, soon launching six missiles each at the refineries at Point Fortin and Pointe-a-Pierre on Trinidad. The missiles are not intercepted (or even noticed by local air-traffic controllers), and the fuel-air explosive warheads cause extensive damage to both refineries, stopping all production at both of them.

As a result of the increased raider threat and ongoing naval losses the American heavy cruiser Newport News, reactivated the previous summer as a training vessel, is ordered to Sunny Point, NC to discharge its midshipmen and load ammunition, to assume convoy escort ASuW (anti-surface warfare) duties.

SACLANT orders as many combatants as can reasonably be made ready to sea immediately to hunt down raiders. The Navy and Coast Guard are ordered to redouble their air searches, and areas less than 100 miles offshore are to be visually searched by members of the Civil Air Patrol, a paramilitary volunteer US Air Force auxilary.

The escort carrier Shangri-La sails from Jacksonville with its first convoy, Convoy 8, headed to the Mediterranean, carrying supplies, fuel and equipment to support Turkish, Romanian and Jugoslav allies as well as US forces in the Mediterranean.

[chico20854]

February 17, 1997

Nothing official today!

Most members of the Soviet peace delegation in New Delhi are ordered to return to Moscow, ending the peace talks for the time being.

The Victory Ship Wayne Victory departs Philadelphia for Argentina, unescorted but armed with a pair of 40mm cannon and four 20mm guns.

The British newspaper the Daily Mail reports that many of the "subversives" arrested in December have been released, although the most radical amongst them were still detained. Those that have been released are noticebly chastened, maintaining a low public profile, possibly as a result of a warning from MI 5 of a return to custody if considered "making trouble".

The Soviet navy's Division Polyarnyy is formed in Murmansk, taking command of the 8th and 211th Naval Infantry Regiments, 69th and 72nd Naval Infantry Brigades and other small naval security forces and other naval personnel from the Red Banner Northern Fleet’s bases in the Kola Peninsula.

photo
Soviet rocket artillery fire disrupts the 6th US Division's rear area, temporarily halting the unit's artillery fire as the guns expend the last of their ammunition and poor weather prevents helicopters from resupplying the batteries.

A NATO task force, under the command of the Canadian Special Service Force, begins a drive to clear the Srednii and Rybachiy Peninsulas (offshoots of the Kola Peninsula). The garrison is formed around the naval 501st Coastal Missile Regiment and the air defense force's 116th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.

The Red Banner Northern Fleet begins several days of dispatching obsolescent Whiskey-class diesel-electric submarines to the North Sea. The boats, with small crews of recalled reservists aboard, are ordered to travel submerged at low speed in inshore waters, snorkeling at night or poor weather, to avoid detection. Knowing that they are incapable of successfully attacking modern NATO warships (despite the number of relics from the 1950s and 60s that NATO navies are reactivating), the subs carry only a pair of torpedoes each, the rest of the space aboard being consumed by mines.

The central front on the Polish-German border has settled into a new routine, with periodic air and artillery strikes from both sides. NATO establishes a shaky air supremacy over the Oder River valley, able to maintain at least a few interceptors airborne at all times, guided by an AWACS aircraft orbiting over West Germany. That force is sufficient to deal with minor Soviet raids and protect the bridgeheads in Poland from periodic harassment strikes by Soviet and Polish MiG-27s, Su-22s and Su-25s.

The Soviet battle cruiser Kirov sights the American tanker Overseas Jennifer, carrying crude from the Middle East to the US Gulf Coast 200 km east of Trinidad and sinks her with gunfire. She has only a single SSM remaining.

US naval commanders order the battleship New Jersey, patrolling the Pacific approaches to the Panama Canal, through the canal to protect the Caribbean from the marauding Kirov.

photo
76th and 2nd Brigades, 38th Infantry Division (Indiana National Guard) complete loading equipment and vehicles aboard ships and depart for Europe with Convoy 122. 38th ID's last brigade, the 46th, will ship on the next convoy. It started its equipment onload later because it had just finished a National Training Center rotation. Most troops will deploy by air aboard requisitioned civilian airliners. (A handful travel aboard the ships in their limited passenger space to provide security and limited maintenance for the cargo).

Soviet bombers over the Balkans strike the TAB APC plant in Moreni (about 60 miles northwest of Bucharest). The iron bombs are effective in blowing holes in the roof and walls and damaging the neighborhood but do relatively little damage to the production line's tools or many of the vehicles being built on it.

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute's patrol takes the craft 15 nm off the south Cuban coast. Onboard electronic sensors indicate it is being tracked by several coast defense radars.

[chico20854]

February 18, 1997

Nothing official for today.


British shipbuilders in Glasgow begin assembly of the first modules of the amphibious assault ship HMS Theseus, sister to the newly completed HMS Ocean.

The Dutch port of Rotterdam returns to full capacity following Soviet SSM and bomber attack in January. The refinery is operating at 75% of capacity, and the chemical plant at 50%.

East German VoPo regiments are assigned to the Polish Internal Front, with the unofficial mission to ensure Polish formations' loyalty to the Communist cause.

On the Kola, the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division attempts to force its way across the Litsa River, covered by fire from the division’s and corps’ artillery, but the LAV-25s of the 4th Battalion, 19th Infantry are too heavy to cross the frozen river’s ice, leaving the depleted infantry companies of 1-14 Infantry isolated only 250 meters from the river. After 12 hours of nonstop Soviet counterattacks, 1-14 withdraws across the river, leaving 200 dead behind.

The Soviet battle cruiser Kirov sinks the Dutch patrol vessel Pelikaan, responding to the prior day's sinking.

photo
The New Jersey battle group transits the Panama Canal and heads east at flank speed.

With Turkish interdiction of the Bulgarian coast diminished, the Soviet 157th MRD begins unloading in the Bulgarian port of Burgas.

The USNS Bob Hope, carrying the 169th Field Artillery Brigade (Colorado National Guard), arrives in Bremen, Germany.

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute's ESM equipment identifies a Muff Cobb radar in the port of Cienfuegos, Cuba. The Cuban Navy is known to employ the fire control radar in some of its patrol craft, but it is also widely used by the Soviet Navy.

[chico20854]

February 19, 1997

Massive air battles rage over Iran and the Persian Gulf, as Soviet Long Range Aviation shifts from the Balkans to neutralizing Saudi and Iranian oil production. Saudi and American F-15s, Kuwaiti F/A-18s and Saudi Tornadoes join Iranian F-14s, F-4s, F-20s in massive furballs against Soviet MiG-29s and Su-27s escorting the Soviet bombers.

Unofficially,

The first R-5D Aurora hypersonic spy plane is delivered in Palmdale, California.

The Iranian 41st Tactical Fighter Squadron receives its complement of F-20s in Savannah and follows its sister squadron to Pensacola.

Responding to the BAOR Commander's request, HQ II British Corps is established in Dusseldorf from the BAOR Headquarters, British Rear Combat Zone. The area of operations of the British Communications Zone, booted out of Belgium in December, was expanded to include all support duties within the Netherlands and West Germany.

The NVA (East German Army) 1st Motor-Schutzen Division is officially renamed the 21st PanzerGrenadier Division as it completes its re-equipment with Leopard II and III tanks and Marder IFVs and begins a period of training with a changed command staff at the Munster training area.

British, Dutch and American marines land at Teriberka, eastofMurmansk. The assault is launched with the transport fleet 30 miles offshore, with the initial waves arriving by helicopter and CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, followed by vehicles and troops arriving from over the horizon in LCAC hovercraft. The garrison of third-line naval security troops and local militia is quickly overwhelmed, and the handful of patrol craft and support ships in the harbor are quickly dispatched by gunfire from the supporting attack helicopters. Aggressive commanders ashore quickly dispatch infantry companies to secure the heights over the town, securing the area to allow the force to establish a logistic base to support a rapid advance on Murmansk.

The Kirov strikes the sea lane between the Venezuelan oil fields and the refinery in St. Croix, the world's largest. In a rampage, the nuclear-powered cruiser sinks two tankers and damages another with gunfire, then turns northeast, to travel up the Windward Islands to strike the refinery and the tankers feeding it. A Dutch patrol aircraft locates the ship and radios in its location before being blotted from the sky by a surface-to-air missile.

The New Jersey leaves behind its escorts, which are low on fuel and unable to keep pace with the massive battlewagon.

The 102nd MRD is mobilized in the Moscow Military District from the cadre and students of the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School.

[chico20854]

February 20, 1997

In the Middle East, the Soviets launch a series of commando raids by air assault and airborne units. These operations are only partially successful. Several strike teams are wiped out by Iranian commandos. Other teams reach their assigned targets only to find that they were dummy installations. The raids cause some disruption but the results are less than had been expected. Spetsnaz teams attack American airfields in Saudi Arabia. US Air Force Security units stop these raids with a minimal loss of aircraft and lives.

The air battles over Iran and Saudi Arabia continue, with additional squadrons of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing arriving in theater. Although the wings F-15E Strike Eagles are normally tasked with deep strike and interdiction ground attack missions they retain the air to air fighting capability of their F-15C interceptor brethren and are pressed into service in an air defense role, flying missions loaded down with AMRAAM missiles instead of Paveway guided bombs.

Unofficially,

Operation Hatchback - a series of strikes on Czechoslovakian strategic targets. The USAF 52nd TFW attacks the Bratislava refinery complex (partially in retaliation for Soviet attacks on the Forties oil field in the North Sea and the attacks on refineries in Trinidad). It loses 4 of the 35 F-16s committed, in addition to 2 damaged, severely damaging the refinery, neutralizing eight SAM sights and destroying two highway bridges. Simultaneously, B-52s of the 416th Bomb Wing launched 28 conventionally armed AGM-86 air launched cruise missiles against the Skoda truck plant. The incoming missiles captured the attention of the Czech air defense forces, allowing the F-16s to strike the targets relatively unscathed. Nearly half the cruise missiles were shot down, but the factory still sustained extensive damage.

Northwestern TVD commander Marshall Koroleve dispatches the 76th Guards Airborne Division from Murmansk to surround and wipe out the Allied landing at Teriberka, and his underlings scour the Kola for additional armed troops to send to the new area of operations. Admiral Popescu, the Northern Fleet commander, orders submarines and missile boats to sea to intercept the amphibious fleet. Some of Naval Aviation’s remaining long-range Tu-95 Bear patrol aircraft take off from their bases south of the White Sea and immediately light up their search radars, locating the nearly-stationary assault fleet despite the foul weather. The Backfire bombers that remain after the Battle of the Norwegian Sea follow a few hours later, after being loaded with conventional bombs (the stockpiles of anti-ship missiles were depleted in attacks on the American carriers in December, with remaining supplies reserved for anti-carrier use). The NATO fleet is protected from air attack by an intermittent combat air patrol of F-15s operating from Banak and F/A-18s from small airstrips in Norway, Sea Harriers from the escorting Illustrious and the guns and missiles of the surface escorts. The Backfire raid, nearly 40 aircraft strong, is faced by a single F-15A and four Sea Harriers that managed to get airborne. The Soviet aircraft approach at supersonic speed and toss dozens of 250 kg bombs at the fleet. Only two of the hundreds of bombs hit, setting the Spiegel Grove ablaze. The escorting destroyers and cruiser shoot down eight Backfires.

To the west, X Corps’ divisions launch probing attacks, seeking a weak point in 18th Army’s defensive line that can be exploited. Those attacks prove fruitless, each met by a vigorous Soviet counterattack and leading to a retreat back across the Litsa to the start lines. Casualties in these attacks are heavy and once again the Litsa River Valley earns its moniker as “The Valley of Death” that was first bestowed on it in the Second World War.

The USS New Jersey catches up with the Kirov, which is transiting near the west coast of Grenada, and in an hour-long confrontation off St Georges the two mighty ships engage in one of the last gun duels between rival warships in the 20th Century. The Kirov, hiding in the radar shadow of the island, lands the first blow, a broadside of airburst rounds that shreds New Jersey's radars, CIWS and Harpoon missile launchers. The broken Harpoon missile tubes leak jet fuel, which ignites a fire on deck. The smoke from the deck fire, as well as smoke from smoke pots and chaff rockets fired by the Kirov, obscures the battlecruiser, allowing it to land a few more volleys on the American battleship as well as expending its magazine of ASW and anti-aircraft missiles in SSM mode in a futile effort to damage the battleship enough to make an escape. Those rounds are insufficient to penetrate the battlewagon's armor, although continuing to destroy antennas, boats and fittings above the armor belt. Soon enough, New Jersey's optical rangefinders locate Kirov and nearly 30 minutes of high-speed maneuvering follow, as Kirov bobs and weaves, changes speed and does everything it can to dodge New Jersey's massive broadsides. Eventually, however, the game is up when a trio of 16-inch armor-piercing rounds find their mark, ripping through the comparatively lightly armored hull. The first rounds actually penetrate through the far side of the battlecruiser, detonating in the water alongside, damaging the hull and bending the starboard propeller shaft. That slows the cruiser and forces it to steam in circles, and within three minutes another two volleys arrive, utterly destroying the Soviet ship. (The superstructure above the weather deck is nearly blown off by a volley of high explosive rounds). As the ship begins to flood, the chief engineer orders both reactors flooded with seawater, preventing a meltdown as the ship sinks beneath the waves. A couple dozen men from the 700-plus man crew escape the burning wreck.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Vermont Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, TX and the Iowa Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

The escort carrier Franklin, CVHE-2, is commissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, CA, converted from a container ship.

The Royal Navy commissions its newest corvette, HMS Ashanti. The ship was under construction for the Malaysian Navy, but the Royal Navy took over the contract and had the ship rushed to completion. Malaysia was refunded the money it had paid for the ship (and its sister, still incomplete), which partially abated their protests.

A task force built around the Dutch 2nd Amphibious Combat Group raids a Dutch Red Army safehouse in Apeldoorn, killing 4 members, capturing a stock of AKs, a RPG-7, grenades, explosives and a Soviet-built secure radio and its code book. That code book and investigation of the members allows the Dutch government to identify other members as well as their GRU controller, who flees across the border into Belgium before he can be apprehended.

The US 169th Field Artillery Brigade (Colorado National Guard) declared operational in West Germany.

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute returns to Guantanamo, Cuba, where the Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy is completing its loadout with excess articles and the last non-essential workers from the base.

[chico20854]

February 21, 1997

The 5th Marine Division is formed at Camp Lejeune, SC and begins platoon and company-level training.

The air battles over Iran continue for a third day. The Soviet high command pulls two PVO MiG-23 regiments from quiet sectors of the border and throws them into the melee.

Unofficially,

Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team has identified three possible GLCM deployment sites in Berkshire, based on evidence of truck traffic and trash discarded at the sites. (MRE wrappers).

Off the west coast of Grenada, the battleship New Jersey recovers from its battle with the Kirov. The fires on deck have been extinguished and communications restored with portable satellite radios and repairs to antennas on the masts. The ship is ordered to get underway for Puerto Rico, where topside repairs will be made at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station. Her escorts are ordered to return to Panama for refueling and transit through the canal prior to resuming anti-submarine and anti-raider patrols around the canal's Pacific approaches and the west coast of Central America.

The last of the vehicles and heavy equipment left behind by the divisions that fell in on POMCUS stocks in Europe (less two brigade sets from 4th ID used as training equipment at NTC-2 and NTC-3) arrives at East Coast ports for transit to Germany as replacement equipment as shipping comes available.

The Soviet Victor III-class nuclear submarine K-412, operating in the central Atlantic, torpedos the Japanese supertanker Cosmo Pleiades, carrying over 250,000 tons of Saudi crude oil. The massive ship is left dead in the water and leaking oil.

The USS Independence group participates in Operation Sea Dragon II (raids on naval bases at Haeju and Rason, North Korea), with F-111s of the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing attacking the naval facility at Sungjon-Pando, sinking several patrol boats and damaging the Soviet frigate Poryvisty.

The 26th Infantry Division (Light) (Massachusetts and Connecticut National Guard) completes its deployment by air to Korea.

1st Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Alabama National Guard) completes its deployment to the Northern Theatre. A-Teams begin infiltrating into the Kola Peninsula through neutral Sweden and Finland.

At Teriberka, air attacks continue (a raid by Backfires on the beachhead and a low-level run by Su-24s firing rockets at the transport force). A combined force of HMS Illustrious’ Sea Harriers and helicopters from the escort force break up a Soviet missile boat sortie. British Special Boat Service (SBS) patrols ashore report the imminent arrival of Soviet paratroopers.

The heavy cruiser USS Newport News departs North Carolina as part of the escort of Convoy 124.

[chico20854]

February 22, 1997

A day of relative inactivity over the skies of Iran and the Persian Gulf, as both sides absorbed the heavy losses of aircrew and aircraft of the prior three days and decided to conserve their remaining ones. USAF stocks in the theatre of the most advanced missiles had dwindled - the prepositioned stocks contained mostly older (and inferior) AIM-7 Sparrow missiles rather than current-production AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, and the newly deploying 9th Air Force headquarters had pushed combat units into the theatre before the supporting logistic and maintenance units. This left the fighter squadrons with dozens of aircraft in need of repair, bereft of mechanics and with the spare parts still sitting aboard ships in port for want of supply specialists to sort them out.


Unofficially:

In a closed-door hearing, Secretary of the Navy Joseph Leary is interrogated as to "Why, exactly, could the US Navy not locate a single Soviet ship and prevent it from sinking five warships and seven merchantmen, destroying two refineries and shooting down four warplanes? What exactly has the Navy done with the billions of dollars we have appropriated over the years?"

The 71st Airborne Brigade is activated at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, drawing jump-qualified reserve and National Guard troops from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.

A debate is held in the House of Commons about reintroducing conscription. Some of the most vocal opposition comes from the Chiefs of the Defense Staff, who see little benefit from an influx of large numbers of conscripts which would need to be trained, housed and equipped.

The escort carrier Franklin, CVHE-2, converted from a South Korean container ship, begins workups off the California coast.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Oklahoma Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

"In retaliation for the murder of its martyrs on the 20th" (as it stated in an angry message) the Dutch Red Army explodes a truck bomb outside the Royal Palace in Den Haag, killing sixteen civilians and two police officers. The Royal Family had evacuated its palaces at the outbreak of war and remained safe in secret locations.

The Bundeswehr completes the transition of its existing I, II and III Corps headquarters to 1st, 2nd and 3rd German Armies, respectively.

At Teriberka, General Cedric Skinner, DSO, commander of 3 Commando Brigade and the landing force, orders a withdrawal. While later subject to fierce criticism for his decision, Skinner, who had been a Royal Marines company commander in the Falklands War 15 years prior, determined that the assault force would not have had sufficient time to establish itself ashore (establishing supply dumps and land-based air defense, emplacing artillery in dispersed firing positions and constructing a helipad), ultimately dooming the marines to defeat. The withdrawal occurrs at night, the retreating marines thoroughly demolishing the coastal defenses and liberally scattering mines and booby traps over the area.

The Victor III-class submarine K-412 sinks the American transport Maine, carrying vehicles and many of the helicopters of the 38th Infantry Division, as it lagged behind Convoy 122. (The ship, converted from a pair of Second World War-tankers, had an aged and unusual propulsion system. The 80-year old chief engineer fell ill and his younger assistant was unable to keep the aged propulsion plant going reliably.)

The fast sealift ships Pollux and Antares arrive in Hamburg carrying vehicles and most of the guns of the 151st Field Artillery Brigade (SC National Guard). The ships had been routed by the Azores and through French territorial waters to avoid Soviet subs and raiders.

[chico20854]

February 23, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day!

Unofficially:

The small convoy of the Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy and Coast Guard cutter Resolute arrives in Jacksonville, FL.

There is a change of leadership in the Navy in the aftermath of the Kirov sinking. Commander, Task Force 26 (Second Fleet's maritime patrol aircraft commander) is reassigned as the new Superintendent of the Navy War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Task Force 28, the Caribbean Task Force, is split off from Second Fleet and designated Fourth Fleet. Fourth Fleet will be assigned responsibility for the Caribbean and the Atlantic south of the Tropic of Cancer.

Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team finally spots a GLCM flight on the move in rural Berkshire, England in the early morning hours. The vehicles are out of range of the team's weapons (over 2 km away), and the colonel is alarmed by the firepower displayed by the flight, which outmatches the firepower his team can bring to bear. They are able to locate the general area the flight is hiding in (by observing from a distance with two observation posts).

SACEUR approves the prior week's request to support the establishment of so-called Polish Free Legions, armed forces of the Polish Government in Exile. Despite the name and the announcment, the reality is less impressive. The "Free Legions" amount to five company-sized formations composed of first or second-generation Polish immigrants serving in other NATO militaries seconded to the Polish government, augmented by carefully screened volunteers from among Polish POWs captured in the fighting of the past months.

Convoy 122 is attacked by two Soviet submarines, the Kilo-class B-459 and the Echo II-class K-131. The quiet diesel boat spots the convoy and relaya its location to the SSGN as well as providing updated inflight guidance to the SS-N-12 missiles K-131 launched, before launching a torpedo attack. The missiles strike the escorting Canadian frigate HMCS Terra Nova and the American freighter Montana Freedom (on its maiden voyage), and the torpedoes sink the Danish-flag Seaboard Sun.

The American fast sealift ship Denebola arrives in Emden, Germany carrying the vehicles and heavy equipment of the 151st Field Artillery Brigade (SC National Guard). Like the ships that arrived the day before, the vessel had taken a circuitous route to avoid Soviet raiders. Travelling at 30 knots also helped to avoid enemy attacks!

photo
The 1st Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light) arrives in Saudi Arabia via priority airlift. The Squadron's LAVs and the regiment's M917 ADATS troop are deployed behind the screen established by the 82nd Airborne in northeastern Saudi Arabia, ready to respond to any enemy attacks.

[chico20854]

February 24, 1997

Nothing official today, but unofficially:

A Spetnsaz team of the 16th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (reporting directly to GRU headquarters in Moscow) crosses into the US over a lightly patrolled section of border in southwestern New Mexico.

The Assistant Chief of Staff, N2 (Intelligence) of the Second Fleet in the Atlantic announces his retirement.

A two-man patrol from Col Tumanski's Spetsnaz team probes the defenses of the GLCM flight while two other men return to their safehouse to retrieve a light mortar and an AT-4 missile launcher.

IX Corps in Korea transitions from supporting the deployment of US troops into the Korean Peninsula to commanding the 7th and 26th Infantry Divisions in combat operations along the DMZ north of Seoul.

SACEUR authorizes a major realignment of forces along the nearly 1250 km of active front line in Germany. Second German Army assumes responsibility for the area from the Baltic Coast southward, First German Army takes responsibility for the central portion of the Oder-Niesse line and Third German Army the sector up to the Czech-Polish-German tri-border point. The US 7th Army sector is extended along the Czechoslovak border all the way to Austria. All the armies are multi-national, and the German armies divert significant combat forces to internal security and reconstruction tasks in the former East Germany.

NATO commanders in the Kola decide that future attacks along the Litsa are most likely to produce high casualties without territorial gains and call a temporary halt to offensive operations until the strategic situation along the front changes, and both opposing armies begin to dig in and settle down for an extended period.

The Soviet Echo II-class cruise missile submarine K-131, its missiles expended, ordered to Bluefields, Nicarauga for replenishment.

The landing ship Spiegel Grove, damaged by Soviet bombers off Teriberka, sinks while under tow.

The trailing elements of the 82nd Airborne Division arrive in Saudi Arabia. They are accompanied by the AH-1S of the Aviation Squadron, NBC company and Air Defense Battery of the 14th ACR (Light).

The 235th Rear Area Protection Division is called up in Artemovsk, Ukraine, falling in on cadre and supplies from the 36th Motor-Rifle Division and begins absorbing reservists and raw conscripts and small-unit (platoon and company) training.

[chico20854]

February 25, 1997

The owners of the airship Columbia begin preparing her for her first long flight, gathering survival supplies-guns, ammo, food concentrates, clothing, camping gear and all of the material necessary to build new airships, including tank after tank of carefully refrigerated liquid helium.

Unofficially:

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute departs Jacksonville, links up with four freighters and the tanker Overseas Alice transiting the Straits of Florida.

The Second Fleet's chief of staff is relieved of duty following a preliminary investigation into the Kirov breakout and pursuit.

The two members of Col. Tumanski's team that were attempting to locate the GLCM flight are intercepted by troops of the 2nd Battalion, The Wessex Regiment and detained. The rest of the team sets up the 82mm mortar and fires ten rounds at the area they suspect the flight is hiding in before abandoning it and leaving the area to avoid capture.

The Soviet raider Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, arrives in Luanda, Angola and is refuellled and rearmed. The ship's 130mm magazines are fully replenished and a partial load of 5 SS-N-22 missiles are received.

The USSR and Greece sign a secret accord, allowing Soviet submarines and their support ships to operate in Greek waters.

The 14th ACR (Light)'s support squadron and the lead battalion of the 7th Transportation Brigade arrive in Saudi Arabia.

[chico20854]

February 26, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day. Unofficially,

The Headquarters, XI US Corps completes its intense two-week command post exercise (in which it "fought" a month-long campaign which started as a defense against a Soviet Front and ended with a counteroffensive) and returns to its home station of Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for equipment issue prior to deploying.

The 43rd (Wessex) Brigade dispatches additional companies to the area around the GLCM flight that was attacked (with only a single injury) by Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team. The flood of additional troops to the area causes the Soviet colonel to withdraw from the area and seek other targets. (The diversion of troops to the area in itself consumes resources that would otherwise be directed to the front).

The old carrier USS Midway and its air group, CVW-16, is declared combat ready in San Diego. It is ordered to patrol the northeast Pacific, the area between the Aleutians, Midway and Puget Sound. CVW-16 fields two F/A-18 squadrons, a squadron of A-7E attack jets and a squadron of A-6 bombers, along with the usual complement of airborne early warning and electronic warfare aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters. The air wing does not have tankers, F-14 interceptors or fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft.

Convoy 208 arrives in Pusan, Korea, bringing with it the 264th Engineer Group, bulk ammunition and containerized supplies for 8th US Army and carrying bagged rice to help sustain the South Korean civilian population.

The 151st Field Artillery “Gamecock" Brigade (South Carolina National Guard), with a M109 battalion and a M110 howitzer battalion is reported ready for action in Germany, and is assigned to III Corps.

On the Kola Peninsula, units on the front line gradually reduce the portion of troops at the front, withdrawing the rest to prewar buildings in the rear (in the towns of Zaozersk, Kola and Murmansk for the Soviets, Nikel, Luostari and Pechenga for NATO troops). X Corps withdraws 10th Mountain Division, which has suffered the highest losses, back into Norway for rest, refit and to absorb what replacement troops and equipment arrive in Norway. The Norwegian Army rotates brigades off the front line, replacing the most damaged platoons in each battalion with replacement platoons reassigned from units in southern Norway and replacing losses in other units with fresh recruits from the training system, which was working overtime to make up for the casualties of over four months of intense combat. The Dutch marine battalion receives a steady stream of reservists to replace its losses, although the replacements arrive only with small arms.

A Soviet raider in the South Atlantic sinks the bulk carrier Merchant Pioneer, carrying 60,000 tons of fertilizer to Lagos, Nigeria. The loss of the cargo will add to the growing food catastrophe in Africa.

Convoy 8, under the protection of the escort carrier Shangri-La (and other escorts), arrives in Gibraltar.

2nd Squadron, 14th ACR (Light) and its 919th Engineer Company arrive in Saudi Arabia. The 269th Aviation Battalion (Combat) of the 18th Airborne Corps is deployed as well.

The 196th Motor-Rifle Division, a mobilization-only division from the Moscow Mlitary District, is called up in Kursk and assigned to the 2nd Guards Army. It is equipped with T-62 tanks, Second World War-vintage artillery and 160mm mortars instead of howitzers in the regimental artillery batteries.

[chico20854]

February 27, 1997

Another day with nothing official!

The Spetnsaz team that crossed into New Mexico links up with a sympathizer on a remote back road and is driven to safe house in Albuquerque.

The cargo ship Racer is returned to service (from reserve) in San Francisco and travels to Suisun Bay to load ammunition from the Concord Naval Weapons Station.

A representative of HM Government meets covertly with representatives of the Ulster Defense Association (a Protestant paramilitary group), making known that the government is prepared to implement harsh measures to curtail terrorist activity for the duration of the war.

NATO troops in Germany begin a complex dance to reorient into the new sectors identified in the previous days.

Engineer units on both sides of the front line in the Kola begin efforts to construct additional roads and river crossings. Bunkers for headquarters are blasted out of the tundra and warm shelter constructed in the rear areas.

A SOSUS fixed sonar sensor array east of Bermuda detects the Echo II-class nuclear cruise missile submarine K-131 transiting at speed. P-3 patrol aircraft of VP-49 are vectored to its location and, after a two-hour hunt, sink it with air-dropped torpedoes.

The Soviet Black Sea Fleet dispatches a truck convoy carrying supplies, spares and torpedoes, to Varna, Bulgaria for further overland movement to Patros, Greece. Upon arrival there they will support surviving Soviet naval units in the Mediterranean.

The 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) begins loading vehicles and heavy equipment aboard ships in Savannah, Georgia.

The 14th ACR (Lt)'s regimental headquarters arrives in Saudi Arabia, accompanied by the advance party of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade.

The 82nd Motor-Rifle Division transits to the Don River from its garrisons near Volgograd to load onto ships that will transport the unit to Bulgaria.

[chico20854]

February 28, 1997

The 44th (my 20th) Armored Division's headquarters is formed at Ft Hood, Texas, taking command of the 30th Armored (Tennesse National Guard), 31st Armored (Alabama National Guard) and 218th Infantry (Mechanized) (South Carolina National Guard) brigades. The new division begins training and establishing division-level units (Division Artillery, a composite cavalry squadron and an engineer regiment headquarters, amoung others) from the previously independent brigades' units.

Unofficially,

The Freedom ship Ohio Freedom is delivered in Galveston, Texas.

The 218th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized), South Carolina National Guard, completes Rotation 97-5 at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California and is declared combat ready, the same time falling under command of the new armored division.

The 2nd Brigade, 29th ID(L) (Maryland and Virginia National Guards) completes Rotation 97-5 at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Ft. Polk, LA and is declared combat ready.

Col. Tumanski is ordered by Moscow Center (the GRU headquarters at Khodinka airfield in Moscow) to maintain survellience of the identified GLCM launch sites but to shift his efforts to disrupting the flow of supplies and reinforcements onto the continent.

Convoy 8, under the protection of the escort carrier Shangri-La and other US and allied escorts, departs Gibraltar, heading east through the Mediterranean. Several Soviet ships and submarines from the Mediterranean Squadron remain unaccounted for, despite intense searches for them.

The 14th ACR (Light)'s final squadron (the 3rd) arrives in Saudi Arabia, completing the unit's priority airlift. Military Airlift Command shifts some of its aircraft back to supporting the war in Europe and Korea following the deployment of the 82nd and 14th to Saudi Arabia, despite the considerable amount of CENTCOM troops and equipment still ready to go to the Middle East.

[chico20854]

March 1, 1997

The 6th Air Cavalry Combat Brigade is assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps and begins to deploy by air to Saudi Arabia.

The 41st Infantry Division becomes operational and begins deployment to Korea by sea.

The 43rd Infantry Division becomes operational and begins deployment to Europe by sea. The division's 187th Infantry Brigade (US Army Reserve) is forward deployed to Iceland, requiring sealift planners to identify available ships that can fit into the island nation's harbors and direct them there.

Hamadan falls to Soviet troops. The Iranian National Security Force begins recruiting nationalist Iranians, mostly veterans of the Iran-Iraq war, for Operation Shadow, an effort to seed anti-Soviet guerrilla bands in areas likely to be occupied by the Soviets and their Tudeh allies.

Unofficially,

The US Navy assigns the training carrier Lexington in Pensacola an operational anti-raider role in the Caribbean with a scratch air wing (three squadrons of A-4s from the trainign establishment and some Sea King helicopters) and a small battle group, designated Task Force 40.1.

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

The Spetsnaz team in Albuquerque conducts a reconniassance of the Kirtland Air Force Base nuclear weapons storage facility.

A Senior MI-5 official meets with a Ulster Volunteer Force leader in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, to convey the same message regarding sectarian terror as was delivered to the UDA in February. He also hints that MI-5 would entertain more extreme measures (beyond indefinate internment without trial, likely assassination of leadership) if the warning was ignored.

The Headquarters, 12th Air Force arrives in Orland AB, Norway to provide C3I for USAF units in Norwegian theatre.

Guards aboard the Soviet destroyer Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, replenishing and receiving minor repairs in Luanda, Angola, detect swimmers in the harbor nearby and drop grenades in the water. The sailors' quick action disrupted an attack by 4 Reconnaissance Commando, South African Defense Force, who lost three recces in the failed operation.

Convoy 10 departs Savannah, with a dozen ships carrying the equipment and vehicles of the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized).

[chico20854]

March 2, 1997

Nothing official for today!

The Freedom-class cargo ship Missouri Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

An unexplained explosion rocks a remote Sandia National Laboratory site in rural New Mexico.

The Spetsnaz team under Col. Mikhail Tumanski lays explosive charges under the rail line exiting the US Army munitions depot at Caerwent, Wales.

The Escort Carrier Franklin (a former container ship converted to operate helicopters and Harrier jump jets) returns to San Francisco Bay, ready to escort the convoy carrying 41st Infantry Division to Korea on its first operational mission.

The former East German 24th Motorshutzen Division is re-designated the 24th PanzerGrenadier Division but retains its Soviet equipment and motor-rifle division structure.

The 2nd and 76th Brigades, 38th Infantry Division arrive in Bremerhaven, Germany with Convoy 122. The brigades have lost a portion of their heavy equipment to raiders on the convoy, and are forced to requisition replacement vehicles from the theater's reserve stocks.

The 3rd Brigade, 24th ID (M) loads its forward detachment aboard aircraft at Hunter Army Airfield for transit to Saudi Arabia. Upon arrival they will begin unloading prepositioned equipment from the squadron of ships which had been maintained afloat in Diego Garcia. They will form CENTCOM's first heavy brigade deployed to the region.

The 14th ACR (Light) reports it is fully mission capable and moves into postions alongside the Saudi National Guard's 3rd Light Motorized Brigade south of the Kuwaiti border.

[chico20854]

March 3, 1997

As Iranian II Corps' defense of Esfahan continues, 4th Army commits the 31st (my 23rd Guards) Motor-Rifle Division (a Category C unit from the Transcaucasian Military District) to action outside Arak.

Unofficially:

TF 40.1 (the Lexington battle group) is ordered to patrol the Caribbean Sea, initially the eastern approaches to the Panama Canal and to be prepared to reinforce the New Jersey battlegroup on the Pacific approaches as the battleship is under repair at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico following its duel with the Kirov.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Colorado Freedom is delivered in San Diego, California. It is ordered to Port Hueneme, California to load cargo for the CENTCOM AOR.

An ad-hoc task force from the USAF Pararescue School is formed to assist the FBI in tracking down the suspected Spetsnaz team following yesterday's Sandia attack.

Col. Tumanski's Spetsnaz team detonates explosives under a railcar full of flares leaving the US Army munitions dump at Caerwent, Wales. The subsequent fire ignites other railcars carrying explosives and consumes the locomotive. The rail line is out of service, slowing significantly the transfer of the over 400,000 tons of US Army munitions still stored at the site.

The 264th Engineer Group (Combat) (Wisconsin National Guard) arrives in Korea, where it is assigned to restore roads, structures and bridges destroyed in December's fighting.

Convoy 8, including the escort carrier Shangri-La, splits into two sub-convoys east of Malta. Convoy 8.1 turns north into the Adriatic, headed for Jugoslav ports, while Convoy 8.2 (including the Shangi-La) continues east.

[chico20854]

March 4, 1997

Kashan and Arak fall to the Soviet 4th Army; the Iranian II Corps continues to defend the approaches to Esfahan.

Unofficially:

The Freedom-class cargo ship Nebraska Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

The 55th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania National Guard) completes Rotation 97-5 at NTC-2 at the Yakima Training Center and is declared combat ready; as the division's last brigade the entire division is declared combat ready.

The first three company-sized Polish Free Legions report to the Grafenwohr training area in Germany for pre-combat training. The units are equipped with HMMWVs provided by the US Army and captured RPGs and Soviet 120mm mortars.

The former East German 8th Motor-Rifle Division is re-named the 28th PanzerGrenadier Division, assigned to VI Korps.

The 196th Field Artillery Brigade (Tennessee National Guard) arrives at Jacksonville, Florida for loading aboard the transports Oklahoma Freedom, Cape Elgin, Ibn Qutaibah and Symphorine for transit to Saudi Arabia.

Naval Spetsnaz teams, covertly deployed through Iraq and sailing through the Persian Gulf in a dhow (a traditional regional sailing vessel), strike two targets. One team sets the supertanker Solt Companion afire, with 2.25 million barrels of crude oil aboard, in the Straits of Hormuz. The other team sinks the smaller tanker Oraholm in the entrance to Bandar Abbas' oil port.

F-16As of the 89th TFS (AFRES) launch a mission over the Black Sea to sweep Soviet shipping from the sealane between Burgas and Soviet ports in Crimea and Georgia. They locate three small freighters sailing independently and sink them with gunfire and cluster bombs.

Another F-16 unit in Turkey, the 149th Tactical Fighter Group, based in the southeast, launches a decoy air raid on Soviet targets outside Yerevan, Armenia. The American fighters never cross into Soviet airspace - one flight of four aircraft approaches the border, prompting Soviet fire control radars to light up and interceptors to launch, before turning back. A second flight launches anti-radiation missiles at the newly identified radars, while the squadron's remaining aircraft engage the fighters with long-range missiles before turning back. As Soviet fighters pursue the retreating American aircraft, the first flight, which had dropped to low level over the mountainous terrain, pop up and ambushed the surprised Su-15s. Five Soviet aircraft are lost, a SA-10 battalion command post and acquisition radar is destroyed and two SA-2 batteries are neutralized.