twilight 1964

[RN7]

SOUTH CAROLINA

Aside from Charleston, the state suffered little direct damage in the nuclear exchanges, although it suffered mightily in the ensuing social collapse, seeing a thirty-percent reduction in population since 1962. During the hell of that first winter, an odd conglomeration of rebels and activists, malcontents and white supremacists had begun to coalesce, seemingly by design, and begged, argued, pleaded, browbeat, cajoled, and occasionally assassinated the leaders and populace of South Carolina into "seceding". Their usual "pitch line" went something like "Them DAMN Yankees up North are the cause of all this!" It was crude propaganda, but, with people freezing and starving in the midst of a nuclear winter, it worked. Seeing that the federal government was mobilizing all National Guard units across the country not for recovery and reconstruction work in their home states, but to be put on ships and thrown into what was quickly becoming a nuclear meat grinder in Europe, Governor Ernest Hollings said "No". The South Carolina National Guard was instructed by the Governor to secure all federal bases in the state for use in defending the borders, effectively defederalizing them. All federal military units in the state were obliged to leave, urged on by a newly elected state law to that effect, with the exception of the Parris Island enclave (see below). Animosity between South Carolina and both federal governments is still high, and both would love to bring the state into their respective folds. For the state, however, isolation comes with a high price. With trade and commerce drastically reduced, conditions in the state have deteriorated over the last year as the drought has taken hold of the farmlands and eaten away at crop reserves. Effective state government from Columbia is growing increasingly difficult, and legislative sessions there are growing shorter and less frequent. It is just a matter of time before either the state returns fully to the union or fragments.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS
TARGET DATE TYPE SIZE
Charleston 10/28/62 SS-7 6 mT

2) ORGANIZED MILITARY FORCES
The South Carolina National Guard is too small and too overtaxed to truly defend the borders anymore. The National Guard forces of the state were combined into the "First Army". Most of the troops came from South Carolina, but small contingents came in from North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. Most of these groups from other states were pretty raw; consisting mostly of southern rights sympathizers and marauders-turned-patriots. They have suffered much desertion and loss during the famines and droughts of the last year, further decreasing their effectiveness. It is, however, still an effective and cohesive force, especially around the cities in the central part of the state. Rumors abound that they are working to secure final independence by making crude tactical nuclear weapons made with material confiscated from the Barnwell River nuclear power plant. While South Carolina is technically free of Federal troops, there are several small MilGov garrisons along the coast.

"First Army"--Statewide
Parris Island garrison (375 men)
Kiawah Island garrison (60 men)

3) THE STATE AT LARGE
Columbia: Still the state capital and the most heavily-defended city in the area. The bulk of the state's military forces are concentrated here now.
Spartanburg: To the northwest of Columbia, Spartanburg has become a regional power center. Now home to a thriving population of about 40,800 with a very strong militia called the "State Auxiliary Police", they have hydroelectric generators operating, providing electric power to the region.
Loris: This small town on the North Carolina border is home to a largish marauder band settling down here for the winter. This marauder group is formed from the remains of a recon company of the US Army's 1st Armored Division, which was evacuated to Savannah in 1964. The unit's leader is Major Helga Rommel, a charismatic woman with bigger plans for her future than sitting in Savannah waiting for reassignment. When Rommel returned to America with the evacuation, she gathered the remains of her unit, and lured others with the promise of loot and rape. They took advantage of the general offer to leave and within three months, they have become the most feared marauder bands in South Carolina. The band is organized into two platoons, with a total of 48 men. The group is highly mobile and vehicle assets include an old M3 Stuart light tank, five large military trucks, and two jeeps.

4) CHARLESTON
The war: The navy yards and submarine base were the target of a Russian SS-7 ICBM late on October 28, 1962. The 6 megaton warhead airburst over the outer harbor, sinking everything in sight and sending a 120 foot high wall of water at Charleston to crush what the blast and heat missed. Virtually the entire city south of Highway 17 was leveled, though large concrete and steel structures remain standing as badly twisted and still radioactive tree stumps on the partially flooded peninsula. As far out as North Charleston, every tree is blackened and dead, every house burned and broken, the highways and major streets are still jammed with cars charred a deep brown on the sides facing the ocean. Abandoned by the state as way too expensive to try and rebuild, the looters and scum have gone wild over the years, destroying nearly every thing left standing.
The harbor: Charleston's harbor, once one of the busiest on the East Coast, is now littered with sunken and capsized ships and nearly completely blocked off from the Atlantic. The airburst effects filled in the ship channel and shifted the sandy bars around to the point where today anything with a draft over three feet cannot get in or out. The relatively narrow deep shipping channel is also hopelessly blocked with several dozen sunken ships, some of them huge oil tankers. Were anyone ever able to clear the channel (an engineering feat that probably wont be possible for decades) there are still a number of intact vessels at the various docks to be salvaged. These include a US Navy destroyer and two British Royal Navy frigates that were here on a port visit when the nuke fell. As well, there are about twenty assorted merchantmen still afloat in the harbor.
Survivors: Out in the western suburbs live small groups of refugees and hold-outs. The city's inhabitants have largely dispersed into the surrounding coastal towns following the chaos and economic dislocation of the of the drought in the summer of 1964. Today, just a few thousand people farm the city environs, supplementing their harvests with the catch from their small fishing fleet. This fleet consists of a couple dozen dilapidated sailboats (or diesel boats converted to sail). None are very seaworthy and most have been patched together and repaired numerous times. A few hundred Black Muslims, many of them having escaped from New York City, are also living in North Charleston. They are led by a man named Blotto, and despite being heavily armed and strongly Islamic, they have given the other local refugees no trouble and have even tried to help them out on occasion.

5) MILGOV ENCLAVES
Parris Island USMC Recruit Depot: Today the only federal enclave in the state. The reasons for its continued existence have more to do with the massive MilGov enclave just forty miles down in coast in Savannah than anything else. The garrison at Parris is in constant contact with Savannah and this continued show of force and support is the only reason the South Carolina state government hasn't pushed to have the enclave leave the state yet, the Governor is well aware that the forces in Savannah alone could overrun his entire state in weeks. The standing MilGov cantonment here now numbers some 375 men, comprising former Parris Island instructors and senior NCOs recently augmented by some returning European vets. The garrison has some M-8 armored cars and diesel jeeps (as the Marines have a stash of diesel here) for perimeter security, but they have little to fear from the SC state forces. They also have been rotating a detachment north to Kiawah Island on a three month cycle. This little island of security has attracted a lot of refugees, especially in the last six months as the drought in the state grows, and at some point they will have to be dealt with.
Kiawah Island: During the chaos after the nuking of Charleston, a few surviving cadets from the Citadel Military Academy tried to secure the parts of their campus that were still standing. They took heavy losses in pitched battles with looters before evacuating south with everything they could carry. The trek through the shattered and violent city was a death march for the young cadets, but thanks to the leadership of the senior staff and faculty, a good number of them made it out. They eventually settled on Kiawah Island, a sandy strip some fifteen miles south of the city, that was easily defensible. They are still entrenched there, having built the island up into a virtual fortress, and their numbers have swollen to some sixty effectives. Because of the isolated nature of the island, the South Carolina state government has basically ignored them. There is much trade with the local communities and the cadets are very well thought of in the area, support on the part of the state for any effort to oust them would be nonexistent. Recent reinforcements from the Marine Corps Training Facility at Parris Island have helped the enclave to think about maybe expanding.