On this day 25 years ago (Commentary Thread)

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by chico20854

March 26, 1997



Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team ambushes a bus full of soldiers headed for training on the Salisbury Plain. Thirteen British troops are killed, twelve are wounded. The crew of the Land Rover escorting the bus manage to kill one of the Russians before the remainder of the team escapes.

Did Tumanski take the body with them, or order it left behind? (Important, for lots of reasons.)

BTW, what kind of clothing is the Spetsnaz team wearing (in general)?

[chico20854]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Did Tumanski take the body with them, or order it left behind? (Important, for lots of reasons.)

BTW, what kind of clothing is the Spetsnaz team wearing (in general)?

I think that with the survivors of the ambush in shock they probably had time to take the body with them. They're generally in civilian clothes.

[chico20854]

March 28, 1997

Another day with nothing in the canon...

Informed of the breakdown of the latest peace talks, NATO heads of state give final approval for the execution of Operation Advent Crown.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Illinois Freedom is delivered in Portland, Oregon.

A second mobilization LAV-25 plant is opened in Springfield, Ohio, at a recently closed heavy truck plant. The vehicles produced here are delivered to US Marine Corps and Army units around the world.

Sinn Fein leadership announces that the PIRA is implementing a unilateral cease fire for the duration of the war plus six months.

The Second German Army launches an artillery raid on Polish air defense positions. A task force of German, Danish and American MLRS launchers rush to the front lines along the Oder River in Szczecin and Swinoujscie (at the mouth of the river) and unleash a hail of rockets on the Polish 26th Air Defense Artillery Division's firing positions along the Baltic Coast and the river line. The raids do immense damage, blanketing the prepared firing positions with thousands of submunitions. The raid, while successful, is less effective than hoped. Many of the batteries had already been savaged by Allied airpower, and they had, in many cases, shot off nearly their entire stockpile of missiles, which the USSR had not replaced. Some of the batteries had moved to alternative firing positions (which had been identified by electronic and satellite reconniassance); the field positions offered less protection than the prewar permanent emplacments.

The Victor III-class submarine K-412, having successfully traversed the GIUK Gap, rendevous with the ice-strengthened freighter Rabochaya Smena in the icepack west of Svalbard (to avoid the mines and NATO naval forces approaching Murmansk). The freighter is able to supply the submarine with a full load of torpedoes, provisions and an opportunity for the crew to get some fresh air.

The Soviet raider Buliny makes its presence in the Indian Ocean known with an attack on the Cypriot general cargo carrier Orient Challenge, carrying a mixed cargo of steel rolls, automotive parts, bagged coffee beans and industrial chemicals in barrels from France and West Africa to Australia. The destroyer's gunfire sets the chemicals alight, leading to the ship's rapid abandonment and rapid loss.

The Iranian 41st Tactical Fighter Squadron flies its first sorties over Iran with its' new F-20 fighters, supporting the I Corps in the western portion of the front.

STAVKA requests that the Politburo seek negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party for a separate peace, in light of the horrendous casualties inflicted on First Far Eastern Front and demands of war in the West and Iran. They are unaware of the Chinese position expressing the desire to occupy Siberian territory if victorious.

[chico20854]

March 29, 1997

A young American journalist, Fanya Ayn Wilkerson, bribes her way onto a cargo ship headed to the Middle East, sent by an editor who wants stories about "the role of today's women in the Armed Services."

Unofficially,

3rd Brigade, 40th Infantry Division (California National Guard) completes Rotation 97-5 at NTC-3 at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona and is declared combat ready.

The US Navy places an order for an additional 5,000 Ruger P-85 pistols to supplement the over 10,000 of the gun that were already in Navy and Marine Corps use.

Unionist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland announce that they will observe ceasefire for "so long as the Catholic terrorists defer from taking the lives of innocent, loyal Britons." Colonel Tumanski's spetsnaz team emplaces explosives on an overpass over the M6 motorway, a major route known as the "Backbone of Britain".

The commander of the Far Eastern TVD, Marshall Aliyev, is ordered to launch an immediate counterattack to take advantage of the Chinese army's disarray. He replies with a list of supplies, reinforcements and replacements that are required to restore his forces to being able to maintain their current defensive line, and rebuts the request to launch an offensive as a complete fantasy given the dire state of his troops.

American, Danish, British, German and Canadian formations begin staging supplies and readying for movement into East Germany. Additional battalions are slipped into the Oder bridgeheads after nightfall.

The last Soviet defenders of the Rybachiy Peninsula are pushed to the shore of the Barents Sea by Canadian troops. Further east on the Kola Peninsula, British, Dutch and American marines continue their slow, steady advance southwest out of Teriberka.

The American carrier Independence moves farther south in the Arabian Sea, after receiving intelligence (gleaned from radio intercepts) that the Soviet Tango-class submarine B-290 is active in the Indian Ocean and possibly operating close to the southern Iranian coast.

The Iranian 22nd Tactical Fighter Squadron hands over its remaining five F-5Es to its sister 21st TFS and boards the Iran Air 747 that arrived from the US the day before. That aircraft will transport the squadron to Georgia to transition to the F-20 Tigershark, as part of the last Iranian Air Force wing to receive the fighter.

American carrier aircraft in the Yellow Sea turn their attention back to North Korea, continuing the weeks-long series of raids on North Korean hardened artillery bunkers along the DMZ. The heavily protected caves are easily enough dealth with when precision-guided munitions are available, but the large number of the bunkers and falling stockpiles of guided bombs and missiles mean that the task is still ongoing.

Soviet premier Sauronski orders the KGB to arrest the General Staff officers who were the genesis of the prior day's suggestion to seek peace with the Chinese. Such decisions are to be made by the Politburo and followed by the Army - it is not the Army's place to get involved. (Sauronski, however, refrains from having the Marshalls in STAVKA arrested, realizing he needs their expertise and influence to keep the war going).

[chico20854]

March 30, 1997

In a crude attempt to slow the flow of reinforcements and supplies into the Korean Peninsula and deter further cooperation with the Allies, North Korea launches several primitive ballistic missiles against western Japanese ports.

Unofficially,

The West German parliament holds a secret session, in which a measure is passed permitting Territorial troops to be used outside German territory. (Military lawyers had already deemed that use of Territorials in East Germany was allowable, as East Germany was still sovreign German land).

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

The 1st Brigade, Washington State Guard is ordered to begin intensive sweeps of the area around SeaTac International Airport and the approaches to McChord Air Force Base in anticipation of a major upcoming airlift from those fields.

The timer set by Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team runs down at 3 am, detonating the 55 lbs of Semtex and dropping the several-hundred-ton bridge onto a nearly deserted M6 motorway, blocking all traffic.

The NVA 19th Motor-Rifle Division is renamed the 219th PanzerGrenadier Division. It remains in West Germany reorganizing and rebuilding following the losses it sustained in the Battle of Germany.

As the sun sets, a massive contingent of NATO tactical aircraft take off from bases throughout Germany and the Netherlands. First, waves of interceptor aircraft, guided by a pair of E-3 AWACS aircraft, clear the skies of Soviet aircraft of any type. They are closely followed by USAF EF-111, Marine Corps EA-6 and Luftwaffe Tornado ECR jammer aircraft and F-16s loaded down with anti-radiation missiles to strike surface-to-air-missile batteries. These are in preparation for the main strike force: over 100 deep-strike F-15Es, F-111s and Tornadoes that target the bridges over the Wisla and other transportation bottlenecks, Phantoms, F/A-18s and F-16s that seek out Pact supply dumps and marshalling areas, and Alfa Jets, Harriers and A-10s that work over Soviet and Polish artillery batteries and headquarters along the Oder-Niesse line. The first large-scale NATO air offensive in months (and the first to appear over Poland) catches the Pact air defenses off guard, but they fight back, downing over 20 Allied aircraft.

Bundeswehr troops in East Germany suspend their anti-guerilla sweeps (several pockets of communist and pro-Soviet guerillas were still operating in both urban and rural areas), handing internal security duties over to border guard and territorial units as the regulars re-orient for the forthcoming offensive.

On the Kola Peninsula, the NATO amphibious force breaks out of the rough terrain along the coast into open snow-covered tundra and follows the road as it turns west towards the bomber base at Severomorsk 25 miles/40 km away. Once in the open, the Allied force brushes aside scattered Soviet pickets, composed of MVD and naval troops, using artillery fire to break up enemy resistance.

The Norwegian bulk carrier Star Hansa strikes a mine on the approaches to Rotterdam, leaving it listing with its cargo of 44,000 tons of iron ore.

The Greek government calls up an additional 15,000 reservists, hoping to bolster the forces facing Turkey along the stalled front line in Thrace. Like many other armies around the world, finding modern weapons and vehicles for the masses of trained manpower available is a challenge, as is forming an effective fighting force from called up veterans whose military service is many years or even a decade or more removed.

The Soviet Kilo-class submarine B-177 moves into position off theTurkish port of Mersin, headquarters of its Mediterranean Command and the destination for several smaller-scale shipments of war materiel, including ammunition, trucks and parts sold (at great profit!) by Israel.

The Turkish submarine Uluçalireis sinks the Greek transport Theofilos as the ferry transports additional troops and vehicles to Cyprus.

The Chinese high command takes advantage of the disarray along the front line to infiltrate partisans through the Soviet positions. They also steal a page from the North Korean playbook, sending Y-5 biplanes (license-built copies of the Soviet An-2) at low level in the dark to penetrate the Soviet lines, dropping special operations troops and supplies for partisan bands.

The Soviet Naval command orders a pair of submarines - the Tango-class B-498 and the Victor I-class K-469 - to station themselves off the coast of Guinea. While the government ashore is a (somewhat) reliable ally, it continues to sell bauxite (aluminum ore) to western countries. The submarines are to disrupt the supply of food into the country and the export of the vital strategic commodity to the Allies.

[chico20854]

March 31, 1997

A really busy day considering that there is nothing in the canon!

TF 40.1 (the Lexington and her escorts) is ordered north to counter Soviet raiders operating out of Cuba.

In Oakland, California the Victory Ship Hannibal Victory exits the shipyard and moves to the commercial terminal to load bulk food for Korea, while the freighter Joseph Lykes moves to the Concord Naval Weapons Station to load ammunition for Korea.

The Vol'nyy, one of the Skory-class destroyers which broke out of Petropavlovsk earlier in the month, reaches the Philippines and finds cover in one of the thousands of islands, where it meets up with the Soviet fishing tanker Ust-Karsk, which has been hidden since the outbreak of the war.

Over Poland, a second night of NATO airstrikes, on a smaller scale than the night before, continues the effort to disrupt the Polish transportation network and attrit Pact formations close to the front.

Command arrangements for the forthcoming offensive into Poland are finalized. Nine NATO Corps are split between the three German armies (four corps in First German Army, three in Second and two in the Third), with each supported by an additional corps of German regulars, territorials and border guards in East Germany providing support). Logisticians limit the advance to 21 divisions, the most that the road and rail network can sustain. Engineer and artillery units are detached from the supporting German corps and brought to the front to support the assault across the Oder.

A retired Bundeswhehr Feldwebel, Wilhelm Schoenbohm, begins working on a design for an expedient 90mm anti-tank gun, using stored ordnance retired in the 1980s.

The final German jaeger divisions are formed: the 5th and 7th Grenzjaeger and the 11th, 14th and 15th Jaeger Divisions. The units are formed from the myriad regiments and brigades of territorial and border guard troops. Light on armored vehicles, artillery and heavy weapons, they will fight in close and built-up terrain and perform rear area and flank security roles.

Soviet forces raid Bornholm Island in the southern Baltic. The garrison is composed of three infantry battalions (two with trucks), an artillery battalion and a tank battalion with M-41 light tanks, mostly younger recalled reservists and conscripts due to Bornholm’s strategic position in the eastern Baltic. The combined Soviet-Polish force (the Polish 7th Marine Division and the Soviet Baltic Fleet's 336th Guards "Belostok" Marine Brigade) craters the runway at the airport and demolishes the tower and control center of the electronic intelligence facility on the island’s southeastern coast. Naval spetsnaz troops of the 4th Naval Spetsnaz Regiment (landed by hovercraft from Baltiysk) attack the Danish command’s communications facility and jam their mobile radios, allowing the Pact force to withdraw before the Danes can mount a coordinated counterattack.

The British amphibious force south of Teriberka force masses and overruns the Soviet outposts, but is soon rocked by a mechanized counterattack by the 76th Guards Airborne Division, supported by their contingent of BMD armored fighting vehicles, sweeping in on the southern flank, nearly cutting the road. Under pressure, the Royal Marines wheel and drive the Soviet paratroops back from the road, calling up the US Marine’s mechanized vehicles, laden with the Dutch battalion. NATO artillery and airstrikes break up the Soviet force’s integrity, but when the American armored vehicles arrive the sun has gone down, forcing an all-night hunt for individual vehicles, a hunt complicated when heavy American tanks bog down when they leave the road. Soviet artillery rains on the American armored force, and while the position is held NATO’s momentum is lost and the front freezes in place, in a mirror reflection of the stalemate to the west along the Litsa.

Dutch naval minesweepers clear the area around the damaged Norwegian bulker Star Hansa outside of Rotterdam, and clear three more mines that had been laid earlier in the month by a Soviet submarine. Following the clearance, tugs are able to tow the damaged ship into port.

Additional Dutch minesweepers, in cooperation with their British counterparts, sweep the path of the Coral Sea battle group as it transits the North Sea. (The carrier's squadrons make their combat debut in the evening's airstrikes over Poland).

The Soviet Kilo-class submarine B-177 sinks the German-owned cargo ship Trina as it approached Mersin, Turkey. The Trina was carrying 200 containers of food, ammunition and parts from Israel.

A Soviet raider sinks the American transport Margaret Lykes in the North Atlantic.

Seventeen General Staff officers are shot by the KGB for insubordiantion.

The Victor I-class submarine K-469 arrives off the port of Kamsar, Guinea and nearly immediately sinks the (Japanese-owned but) Liberian-flagged Massy Phoenix, departing with over 35,000 tons of Bauxite aboard.

[chico20854]

April 1, 1997

Nothing official today!

Air Force System Command clears modified JDAM GPS-guidance kits for deployment on B-61 and B-83 nuclear bombs. The adaptation enables bombers and strike aircraft to neutralize the hardest of Soviet targets (including ICBM silos and underground command posts) with a single weapon.

Pilots and ground crew of the Iranian 22nd Tactical Fighter Squadron arrive in Savannah, Georgia and receive their complement of F-20 fighters.

Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team damages a Britsh Airways 767 airliner with a SA-14 missile as it approaches Manchester Airport. The pilot manage to land the craft with only a few dozen injuries to the Canadian replacement troops aboard.

The Vol'nyy, one of the Skory-class destroyers which broke out of Petropavlovsk earlier in the month, completes replenishment from the Soviet fishing tanker Ust-Karsk in the islands of the southern Philippines and resumes its voyage.

The personnel of 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) load onto airliners at McChord AFB, Washington for transit to Saudi Arabia. The planes will fly to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, Anderson AFB, Guam, Paya Lebar Air Base in Singapore and then to Muscat, Oman before disembarking, transferring to C-130s and smaller civilian airliners for the final hop into eastern Saudi Arabia. The entire process takes three exhausting days, leaving the troops dazed and jet lagged (and a great many in great need of a smoke!)

As the sun sets, the NATO air offensive is of a markedly lower level of intensity, primarily intended not to tip off enemy air defenses of the onslaught that will arrive in the predawn hours.

The American attack submarine USS Batfish enters the Mediterranean and begins searching for Soviet and Pact shipping.

The convoy carrying reinforcements for the Middle East Field Force, including the containership Author carrying helicopters of 78 Squadron RAF, arrives in Muscat, Oman.

The Soviet raider Buliny makes its presence in the Indian Ocean known, sinking the American freighter South Dakota Freedom as it sailed in ballast back to the US after delivering supplies to CENTCOM.

The Caspian Sea Flotilla's Spetsnaz detachment attaches a limpet mine to the Liberian crude oil tanker Knock Sheen, at anchor in the Red Sea awaiting reopening of the Suez Canal. The subsequent explosion produces an effect less than hoped for, releasing a great quantity of crude oil but not putting the ship at risk of sinking. Instead, the leaking vessel has to be towed to Port Suez for drydocking and repair.

The Saudi government approves the hiring of two brigades of Pakistani mercanaries. The troops, seconded from the Pakistani Army, will obstensibly be employed to enhance security for the Saudi holy sites. In reality, one will be deployed to relieve American units in providing security for the Persian Gulf ports and the other will be deployed to Iran to guard ports and other vital facilities. The Pakistanis will bring their own small arms and use vehicles and heavy weapons from Saudi stockpiles. (The Saudis have more weapons available than citizens willing to wield them).

With the start of the second quarter of the year, new daily production goals go into effect across the USSR. Enterprises involved in the war effort (not just producing weapons but supporting war production or producing energy or raw materials for war production) are increased by 20 percent. Labor and raw materials allocated to consumer consumption are cut by 25 percent, the reductions redirected to the war effort. There will be no increase in pay for workers. When this is announced unrest breaks out around the nation. The workers of the Kirov Tank Plant in Leningrad put down their tools and march into the streets. Within 90 minutes they are facing off against the MVD troops of the 2nd Special Motorized Rifle Regiment. When a delegation of workers advances on the riot troops, their commander orders them to open fire on the "sabateurs and seditionists". 25 workers are killed in the first volley. The strike immediately fizzles, and MVD troops surround the workers, forcing them back to work. The workers are kept on the factory grounds, put back to work and only released after a review by the KGB, a process that takes up to five days. Unrest erupts elsewhere in the USSR, reaching the same terrible results.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by chico20854

April 1, 1997


Air Force System Command clears modified JDAM GPS-guidance kits for deployment on B-61 and B-83 nuclear bombs. The adaptation enables bombers and strike aircraft to neutralize the hardest of Soviet targets (including ICBM silos and underground command posts) with a single weapon.

That parallels what the Air Force is doing right now.

[chico20854]

April 2, 1997

A big day...

The US 45th Infantry Division is declared operational and begins deployment to Korea by sea.

NATO launches Operation Advent Crown, the invasion of Poland. The plan calls for the Second German Army to strike along the Baltic Coast with Kaliningrad and Grodno as the ultimate objectives, advancing through Szczecin, Slupsk and Gdańsk. The First German Army, with I British Corps will advance through central Poland, with the objective of reaching the Soviet border in the vicinity of Brest, capturing Poznań and Łódź and bypassing Warsaw. The Third German Army is tasked to take Silesia and southern Poland, ultimately reaching Lublin and Lvov in the Ukraine, advancing through Wrocław, Gliwice, Katowice, Krakow and Rzeszow. On the flank, Seventh US Army will gradually extend its area of responsibility eastward as additional National Guard divisions become available from the United States.

Unofficially,

While the plan envisions sweeping armored thrusts deep into Poland, on the ground there is a different reality. The Polish Army, the Polish people and their Soviet allies have prepared a deep system of fortifications the likes of which have been unseen since the Battle of Kursk in 1943. Western Poland has been transformed into a series of interlocking lines of field fortifications, painstakingly constructed by every available engineer unit from the Polish Army and Soviet First and Second Western Fronts. OTK (Territorial Defense) units and support troops, local civilians, Allied POWs and even prisoners from Polish jails had all been drafted into digging trench lines in the snow, working up to 18 hours a day. Command posts had been buried and camouflaged, minefields laid, barbed wire strung and reserve positions prepared. Open areas that could serve as helicopter landing zones had poles and cables rigged across them. Artillery batteries had, on average, ten firing positions surveyed and prepared. Fighting positions had stockpiles of food and ammunition to enable their defenders to hold out when cut off. Anti-tank reserve units and mobile blocking forces were in position to counter NATO breakthroughs. The Pact front line is actually a series of outposts, with the main line of resistance out of the direct line of sight of NATO troops. The defense zone is nearly 50 miles deep along the entire frontier, a truly massive effort to construct in three short months of winter. Following the completion of the defensive line, the Polish government evacuated the remaining civilian population, both to protect them and to prevent pro-NATO partisans from hiding among them.

This construction activity had been observed by NATO reconnaissance assets, so the attacking force knew what it would have to defeat. Second German Army begins clearing the coastal minefields and neutralizing Polish coastal defense missile launchers before being able to launch flanking amphibious landings. In other sectors the solution is simply to apply large amounts of firepower. Massed artillery fires, concentrated in key sectors, break up small parts of the defensive line. DPICM and FASCAM munitions are used to tie reaction forces in place. Hunter-killer helicopter teams hunt bunkers rather than tanks. Transport aircraft drop large fuel air explosive bombs into stretches of forest to create new landing zones for helicopters.

Nonetheless, when the offensive kicks off progress is slow. The artillery barrage is less intense than its Second World War counterparts because NATO artillery units are constantly changing position to avoid Pact counterbattery fire. IFVs and tanks are used in direct-fire support of attacking NATO infantry, but by the end of the day the attacks have only succeeded in overrunning the Polish outer picket line; defensive minefields block access to the main line of resistance.

The ground offensive is accompanied by the beginning of Advent Storm, 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force's offensive. Advent Storm's first goal is the interruption of Pact reinforcements' flow into the battle area. In this effort they try to balance striking target-rich chokepoints against doing so much damage to the infrastructure that advancing troops will be slowed down or blocked. In this regard, Soviet troops in open terrain are the preferred (and maddeningly rare) target.

On the Kola, a scratch force of Soviet paratroops, sailors, MVD and KGB troops continue to prevent the NATO force from making rapid progress. NATO marines force Soviet defenders back along the road, advance, and then find their flank under attack from Soviet troops enjoying superior mobility. The advance is measured in meters; a successful day might see 400 meters of territory gained at the cost of a company of highly trained marines.

The carrier Lexington carries out an airstrike against the Polish cargo ship Praca in the Yucatán Channel. The Polish ship had left the Soviet enclave in Mariel, Cuba and is headed to Nicarauga to act as a raider supply ship. Lady Lex's A-4 Skyhawks sink the ship with general-purpose bombs.

The Soviet Kilo-class diesel submarine B-177 moves west to the sealane between Cyprus and Turkey. The Turkish landing ship Karamürselbey soon passes close by (returning from Cyprus with wounded and refugees from the fighting), and the Soviet submarine launches a pair of 53-61M torpedoes, which hit and break the transport's back. As it settles under the waves the ship gets a mayday call off, and soon the sky overhead is filled with helicopters rescuing sailors and passengers from the water. Other helicopters, AB-205 naval variants, begin hunting for the sub using dipping sonars. The Soviet boat maneuvers to evade its pursuers, but unwittingly sails into a Turkish defensive minefield. It sets off a MR-80 mine on the seabed and the subsequent blast is the end of the Soviet boat.

Labor unrest occurs across the USSR, in nearly every of the union republics and across the USSR's 11 time zones. MVD riot control units are supplemented by VDV airborne troops in restoring order in the cities.

The Soviet Tango-class submarine B-498 arrives off the coast of Guinea, and attacks the Greek-flag Konkar Star, carrying a load of Brazilian wheat into Conkary.

The freighter Cape Bingham exits the shipyard in Oakland, California and moves to the Oakland Army Terminal to load vehicles and equipment of the 40th Infantry Division.

The Coast Guard-sourced patrol squadron VOJ-202 is deployed to the Caribbean to continue the raider hunt.

US Civil Affairs units are made responsible for handling refugees and restoration of local administration by the Polish Free Congress in NATO Occupied Poland.

[cawest]

just saw this and thought it might be....helpful. https://www.military.com/history/onl...box=1648907113

[chico20854]

April 3, 1997

The Japanese 1st Airborne Brigade is airlifted to Korea, assigned (at the insistence of the Japanese government) the mission of clearing the DPRK's ballistic missile complex in Wonsan.

The last British troops in Kenya depart to join the MEFF in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iran.

Unofficially,

The offensive into Poland continues. Progress is slow as Allied combat engineers are brought forward to clear the minefields protecting the main Pact line of resistance, while NATO and Soviet artillery engage in a nonstop game of cat-and-mouse, firing endless series of short barrages and displacement before counterbattery radar and orbiting ELINT aircraft locate the firing batteries.

Advent Storm continues in the skies over Poland. ELINT aircraft and satellites maintain coverage of Poland, watching for movement of Pact reserves that attack aircraft can swoop down on. Deep strike missions are flown against lines of communication, while the close air support tasking is fraught with danger because of the massive amounts of artillery rounds in flight over the front line and the attentions of Pact anti-aircraft weapons that had been concealed along the main line of resistance.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Beijing Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, Texas.

On the Kola Peninsula, Allied marines continue to try to advance towards the Severomorsk bomber base against Soviet paratroops. The fighting is intense in the open, snow-covered terrain of the Arctic tundra.

The 177th Armored Brigade, the opposing force at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, receives its first platoon of T-90 tanks and BMP-3 IFVs, captured in the Battle of Germany. Army intelligence had completed their initial technical assessment and passed some of its contingent on to the NTC's OPFOR to better prepare deploying units for the opposition they will face.

The Soviet destroyer Vol'nyy attacks the US transport Virginia Freedom, sailing independently with a cargo to USN and USAF bases in the Philippines, sinking it with gunfire.

Troops of the 2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) follow their compatriots from the 1st Brigade in loading onto airliners for transit to Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian 42nd Tactical Fighter Squadron begins its ferry flight to Iran, following the route used by the rest of the wing in March.

The Tango-class submarine B-290 fires its last torpedoes at the Turkish vehicle carrier Und Transporter in the Arabian Sea, sinking her. The carrier Independence dispatches a series of S-3 Vikings to the area to try to locate the Soviet boat, unsuccessfully.

No mention is made by TASS (or any other Soviet news outlet) of the NATO attack on Poland or the labor unrest around the country. Instead, there are additional exhortations to resist revanchist Germany and their capitalist allies by increasing efforts to support the brave Soviet and fraternal socialist troops defending the motherland.

[chico20854]

Originally Posted by cawest

just saw this and thought it might be....helpful. https://www.military.com/history/onl...box=1648907113

Thanks! I hadn't heard about the business jet aspect of that attack! In the Falklands the Argentines used Super Entendards, a pair flying with one Exocet and a huge drop tank each with a Learjet flying at high altitude as the scout aircraft. They had a total inventory of 5 air-launched Exocets at the outbreak of the war and Britain was able to pressure France to halt delivery of the rest of the order.

[chico20854]

April 4, 1997

Nothing official for today. Unofficially,

The American heavy cruiser Des Moines follows its sister Salem back into commission in Philadelphia following a similar refit. Once it completes its post-commissioning workup it will be assigned to the Pacific Fleet.

The US 23rd Infantry Division, hastily formed at Camp Zama, Japan in February from miscellaneous Army troops located in Japan, the Philippines and elsewhere in the Pacific, augmented by several aircraft loads of freshly trained recruits fresh from training bases in the United States, begins battalion-level exercises at Marine Corps facilities at Camp Fuji and in Okinawa. Equipment is mostly issued from war reserve stocks in theater, with some new equipment from the US and other shortages made up by “informal” transfers from the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force.

Convoy 214, carrying troops and equipment of the 45th Infantry Division, departs San Francisco Bay under heavy escort. The Midway carrier battle group transits 300 miles to the north, with fighter-bombers patrolling the area around the convoy and airborne radar aircraft sweeping the region. P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft sweep the convoy's route, searching for Soviet submarines and surface raiders.

NATO electronic warfare units along the front line in Poland focus their efforts on identifying and locating Pact counterbattery radars so NATO artillery and air power can concentrate on them.

The Danish Odense shipyard delivers the massive container ship Kirsten Mae, the last of a series of five 90,000-ton containerships. Each ship can carry over 6400 containers. The ship is immediately dispatched to New York to load ammunition and supplies.

NATO forces southwest of Teriberka on the Kola Peninsula are still 20 miles from the Severomorsk bomber base and 50 miles from Murmans and face continuing fierce Soviet resistance. Offshore, the invasion fleet is in need of replenishment and has been actively engaged against a stream of Soviet submarines (losing a third landing ship, the transport USS Charleston in addition to the two frigates that have been lost since the landing almost two weeks ago).

The Bundesmarine (German Navy) commissions the former Al Zahraa, an Iraqi landing ship that had been interned in Hamburg since 1990. Requisitioned at the outbreak of war, the ship required extensive shipyard work before being placed in service.

The first aircraft carrying troops of the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) arrive in Saudi Arabia.

Soviet commanders in Iran have their allocations of supplies and fuel cut by 25 percent as resources are diverted to the Far East to make good the losses sustained in March. Their problem is made worse by a coordinated series of airstrikes on their supply lines made by F-15Es of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing and F-16s of the 149th Tactical Fighter Group operating out of eastern Turkey. The airstrikes prove particularly devastating since they are guided in by Green Berets of the 5th Special Forces Group, operating with Kurdish guerrillas.

The Victor I-class submarine K-469 sinks another bulk carrier, this time the Panamanian-flag Frontier Star, only a year old, as it arrives in Guinea to load bauuxite.

[chico20854]

April 5, 1997

In western Poland, the 6th Air Assault Division is called back into action, counterattacking wherever possible.

Unofficially,

With the relatively slow initial progress of Operation Advent Crown, the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars' alert is changed from preparing for deployment to the Middle East to standing by for deployment to the Continent to reinforce BAOR.

3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) embarks for transit to Saudi Arabia by air, where they will link up with their equipment, which left by sea some weeks prior.

The Luftwaffe forms the 1st Luftjaeger Regiment. Its constituent elements are airfield defense and light anti-aircraft units assigned to the 1st Luftwaffe Division, as the Luftwaffe begins to deploy eastward, operating out of captured Soviet bases in East Germany. The regiment is tasked with defending those bases and the supply convoys that supply them.

The 209th (New York National Guard) and 227th (Florida National Guard) Field Artillery Brigades fire their first shots in anger from positions in East Germany.

The remnants of the US Berlin Brigade (concentrated as a reinforced battalion task force built around the 6th Battalion, 502nd Infantry) is attached to the Canadian 1st Division for operations in Poland.

NATO marines evacuate Teriberka following two weeks of nearly fruitless attacks on the Soviet force east of Murmansk. Intelligence indicates that the Red Banner Northern Fleet is readying a major task force, built around the Slava-class cruiser Admiral Lobov (the fleet’s last remaining capital ship) to wipe out the amphibious force. (The Admiral Lobov was leaving the shipyard in Polyarnyy after repairs from a Harpoon strike during the Battle of the Norwegian Sea.) The Allied commander in Northern Norway requests additional naval forces from SACLANT, but the remnants of Strike Fleet Atlantic are still in the Atlantic south of the GIUK Gap and days away from the Barents Sea. Two American and one British SSN in the area hunting SSBNs are diverted to counter the Soviet force, and an additional American snooper boat is lying silently at the entrance to the Kola Bay. Forced with the possible loss of the amphibious fleet and the brigades ashore, a withdrawal is ordered.

The evacuation ashore that follows is haphazard at best. The ships in Teriberka harbor load whatever troops and vehicles they can get aboard in two hours, then depart at dusk. The armored vehicles are withdrawn under cover of darkness, some via LCAC hovercraft and the lighter ones and artillery lifted by helicopters. Troops are evacuated by helicopter and tilt-rotor aircraft; some companies are ordered to break contact with the Soviets and head for isolated dispersed landing zones for pickup. The Allied engineers lay enough mines along the road to force the Soviets to advance slowly, but Soviet artillery wreaks havoc on the mass of marines awaiting withdrawal. US Marine Force Recon commandos hold the final perimeter, then slip away into the tundra, evacuated by helicopter, small boat and submarine as the landing fleet leaves the Barents.

In the Indian Ocean, the USS Independence launches Operation Manhammer - airstrikes on Soviet facilities at Socotra Island, South Yemen. Most of the Soviet Indian Ocean Squadron has already been dealt with, and most remaining units are at sea. The Tango-class sub B-290, however, is caught in port and sunk, and the support ships, shoreside communications facility and supply dump are all rendered useless.

The ships carrying the 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) arrive in Ad Damman, Saudi Arabia.

A high priority airlift deploys the 8 MH-60G special operations helicopters of the 55th Special Operations Squadron to Al-Udaid AB, Qatar to support USAFCENT operations as well as US Army special operations in the Middle East.

The Soviet Ministry of Transport, operating under instructions from the Politburo, orders a second round of mobilization from civilian autokollonas (truck transport organizations at local and republic level). This round (an earlier round occurred in February) turns up smaller numbers of a wide variety of older trucks in rather poor condition, accompanied by either older drivers or teenagers barely able to drive.

The Victory ship Wayne Victory, in Buenos Aries, Argentina, completes loading 10 LVPT-7s, 85 M-101 105mm howitzers, 5,700 small arms (a mix of M1 Garands, M1911 pistols, M2HB and M1917 machineguns), 250 recoilless rifles and 5,000 tons of ammunition, all of which had been loaned to Argentina under the Military Aid Program. The ship departs Argentina the next day.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by chico20854

The evacuation ashore that follows is haphazard at best. The ships in Teriberka harbor load whatever troops and vehicles they can get aboard in two hours, then depart at dusk. The armored vehicles are withdrawn under cover of darkness, some via LCAC hovercraft and the lighter ones and artillery lifted by helicopters. Troops are evacuated by helicopter and tilt-rotor aircraft; some companies are ordered to break contact with the Soviets and head for isolated dispersed landing zones for pickup. The Allied engineers lay enough mines along the road to force the Soviets to advance slowly, but Soviet artillery wreaks havoc on the mass of marines awaiting withdrawal. US Marine Force Recon commandos hold the final perimeter, then slip away into the tundra, evacuated by helicopter, small boat and submarine as the landing fleet leaves the Barents.

This has the feel of an arctic version of the end of the Gallipoli campaign in WWI.

[chico20854]

April 6, 1997

The ECM system on a C-5 of the 137th Military Airlift Squadron (NY Air National Guard) diverts a SA-14 missile fired at it as it takes off from Stewart ANGB, New York on resupply mission to Europe.

The vehicle carrier Ohio is activated from mothballs and enters service in New Orleans, LA, loading vehicles of the 36 ID's 32nd Infantry Brigade.

In Mobile, Alabama the Victory ship Furman enters service, loading a cargo of bagged plastic pellets for Brazil.

US Army Forces Command accepts assignments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for three engineer units to construct or improve a number of facilities around the US for possible future FEMA use.

In the North Atlantic, the Victor II-class sub K-476 sinks the American frigate Voge and the tanker Pecos as they moved across the G-I-UK Gap to resupply NATO forces in the Norwegian Sea.

The British 6th Infantry Division is notified that it has been offered to the Chinese government for use in the upcoming summer offensive, as it has effectively neutralized local pro-Soviet activity.

The Soviet destroyer Vertkiy, one of the ships that broke out of Petropavlovsk, begins to raid the Aleutians, where it has been hiding from American search aircraft. It runs amok through a small convoy carrying supplies to the garrison of Adak, sinking the Alaska state ferry Bartlett, the tug boat Sea Racer and the cargo barge she was towing and the pair's escort, the aged Coast Guard cutter Storis, the oldest ship in the Coast Guard.

US III Corps launches an assault across the Oder at Schwedt, south of Szczecin. Assault bridging units of the 411th Engineer Brigade and helicopters from all of the corps' subordinate units transport the soldiers of 1st Infantry Division's 5th Battalion, 16th Infantry and 2nd Battalion, 136th Infantry (Minnesota National Guard) across the river. By nightfall the Polish defenders (remnants of the 12th “Pomorska” Border Guard Brigade) have been pushed back 500 meters from the river and American engineers begin ferrying tanks and Bradley IFVs across.

2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) begins to arrive in Saudi Arabia.

The Tango-class submarine B-489 attacks another ship off the coast of Guinea, the small tanker Blue Star. The gasoline and diesel she is carrying are soon ablaze, the fire and pillar of smoke visible ashore. The sinking tanker carries with it the fuel needed to keep the country's vehicles running for over a week.

[chico20854]

Originally Posted by Targan

This has the feel of an arctic version of the end of the Gallipoli campaign in WWI.

Gallipoli is in fact one of the main drivers I had of the effort, alongside the 1982 Falklands campaign.

[shrike6]

Originally Posted by chico20854

April 6, 1997

US III Corps launches an assault across the Oder at Schwedt, south of Szczecin. Assault bridging units of the 411th Engineer Brigade and helicopters from all of the corps' subordinate units transport the soldiers of 1st Infantry Division's 5th Battalion, 16th Infantry and 2nd Battalion, 136th Infantry (Minnesota National Guard) across the river. By nightfall the Polish defenders (remnants of the 12th “Pomorska” Border Guard Brigade) have been pushed back 500 meters from the river and American engineers begin ferrying tanks and Bradley IFVs across.

I know you eliminated most if not all of the roundout brigades in your universe. I was wondering why you kept around the roundout battalions?

[cawest]

i don't know if i showed this. but i remembered this when Pima air and space. the engine is the same one used in CH-47. i put this on the FB page for Twilight (not the official one). this could be used for those that cannot pass helo flight school or transports. the prop will take a few different types. it also might be good on your light CVs. it can carry gun pods, rock pods and Iron bombs. don't know how it would deal with PGMs and the like....but a rack of sidewinders could be nice...they put them on old A-10s. maybe Stinger mounts recovered from AH-64 and OH-58 program. Air-to-Air Stinger (ATAS) antiaircraft missile pod. oh the nice thing about it using the same engine as the CH-47... the parts are in the supply chain. forgot the link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-48_Enforcer

[chico20854]

April 7, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day!

The Freedom-class cargo ship Tennessee Freedom is delivered in Portland, Oregon.

Two battalions of the 42nd Infantry Division (Mechanized) (New York National Guard) are dispatched to augment New York State Police in the search for a Spetsnaz team suspected in the recent SAM attack.

Troops of the Aviation Brigade, 9th Infantry Division embark on aircraft for movement to Saudi Arabia. The 28th Infantry Divison (Pennsylvania National Guard) begins loading its heavy equipment and vehicles aboard ships in the ports of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Davisville, Rhode Island and Camden, New Jersey.

The Dutch Red Army attacks the American transport ship Banner in the Ems River as it approaches the German port of Emdem.

Peter Robinson, a local beat reporter for the Twin Cities Herald News, is killed by a Polish mortar round when reporting on "what your local Minnesota National Guard troops are doing in the war" from the Oder bridgehead.

SACLANT authorizes the release of approximately two thirds of his amphibious shipping to 6th Fleet. The Kearsarge, Bataan, Saipan, Guadalcanal and Guam Amphibious Ready Groups all converge on Gibraltar, to form Task Force 61.

The 180th Motor-Rifle Division has completed its mobilization and two weeks of hasty training (enough to begin working on company-level manuevers) and is ordered to the port of Odessa to load for transfer to the Bulgarian front.

The ships carrying the 2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) arrive in Ad Damman, Saudi Arabia.

Rioting breaks out in Conkary, Guinea, as the government tries to manage the rising crisis caused by the loss of food, fuel and export earnings as unidentified submarines ravage its coast.

The Soviet raider Buliny, operating in the sealanes off Madagascar, sinks the Cypriot-flagged bulk carrier Grand View, which was carrying iron ore to Japanese mills.

[chico20854]

Originally Posted by shrike6

I know you eliminated most if not all of the roundout brigades in your universe. I was wondering why you kept around the roundout battalions?

I'm not sure we gave it any concious thought one way or another!

[chico20854]

April 8, 1997

Nothing official for today!

After a month of training at the Shoalwater Training Area in northeastern Australia, the 28th ANZUK Brigade is ready for combat and begins deploying to South Korea aboard a trio of chartered car carriers, a pair of freighters, the naval transports Jervis Bay and Tobruk. The convoy is escorted by a task force of four frigates (two Australian and two New Zealand) and the Australian destroyer HMAS Hobart, with P-3s of Nos. 10 and 11 Squadron, RAAF clearing their path northward.

Retired Bundeswer Feldwebel Wilhelm Schoenbohm completes his design for a field expedient 90mm anti-tank gun. Dubbed the PAK-90, it mounts an obsolescent surplus 90mm gun (taken from M-48 tanks and Jadgpanzer self-propelled guns, kept in storage) on a carriage constructed of commercial truck parts and construction materials, fitted with a splinter shield that sandwiches a Kevlar blanket between two layers of mild steel. It is offered to the Bundeswehr command to outfit the newly formed jaeger divisions, composed of territorial and border guard troops who lack heavy fire support.

The bridgehead south of Szczecin is expanded by over a half mile in each direction. The entire 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division has been ferried into the pocket, with intense attack helicopter and artillery support from most of III Corps' available assets.

The limited success of the Teriberka landing prompts a strategic discussion at the highest level of NATO command. On the one hand, the naval losses suffered by the invasion fleet demonstrated that the Red Banner Northern Fleet still have the ability to damage ships in the immediate proximity of their bases. On the other, the amphibious force had been able to operate for two weeks off the Kola, and the hodgepodge nature of the Soviet opposition ashore demonstrates that Northwestern TVD is nearly out of troops to defend the Kola. Soviet air defenses had been manageable, and the dreaded Backfires had not appeared. (Intelligence notes the participation of Naval Aviation Backfires in raids over the Baltic Sea and Poland). SACLANT’s forces in the Atlantic have hunted down most of the raiders in the North Atlantic and losses in the convoy lanes have dropped dramatically, while the surviving carrier groups have rebuilt their escort forces and air wings, albeit with older models. A bold plan is hatched to eliminate the last of the Red Banner Northern Fleet and position allied forces in the far north to threaten Leningrad, in hopes of forcing the USSR to the table for peace talks.

Flights carrying troops of the 3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) begin arriving in Saudi Arabia. 1st Brigade clears the ports and moves northwest into the Saudi desert.

Another R-5D hypersonic spyplane sortie traverses the USSR, this time flying southward across the Baltic Republics, Byelorussia, Ukraine before turning east over Kazahkstan and the eastern portion of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Unrest continues in Guinea as the government proves completely unable to address the shortages of food and fuel.

[chico20854]

April 9, 1997

Nothing in canon for today. Unofficially,

The tanker Sabine is delivered in Newport News, Virginia. It is placed into civilian service, one of the last not to be pressed into service as a naval oiler.

The Oregon State Defense Force, a state military force, completes its civil emergency planning; the 41st Regiment is responsible for evacuation assembly/transportation sites and assisting law enforcement in traffic control, the 82nd Regiment is to provide in-transit security and protect evacuation sites on the east side of the Cascades, while the 249th Regiment is responsible for protecting the state government and Camp Rilea.

The last elements of the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) - the Division Artillery, Engineer Regiment, Air Defense Artillery Battalion, MP Company and MI Company - begin loading on aircraft for transit to Saudi Arabia.

German troops in the central sector have advanced less than 10 miles and losses are heavy on both sides. There is an outcry from the public and political leadership about the slow pace of the advance, but NATO commanders continue the slow, grinding advance rather than risk even higher losses.

Advent Storm shifts the focus of its deep strike aircraft to crippling the Polish war economy. The steel works in Nowa Huta, Poland are the first target for the nightly pounding from the air.

12th Air Force in Norway requests the return of the 10th TFW’s A-10s, but with Operation Advent Crown in full swing the tank killers are fully committed in Poland.

After 60 days of repairs, the fuel system on Ascension Island is returned to service after being shelled by the battlecruiser Kirov, which lit the fuel dump on fire.

In the only known submarine kill by a Tango-class submarine, the USS Billfish is sunk by the B-515 as the American sub is rushing north through the GIUK gap as the Soviet boat is preparing to snorkel following its own transit.

The Sixth Fleet is reinforced with an additional carrier, the Enterprise, bringing it up to three (USS America, USS John F. Kennedy and Enterprise).

The Soviet destroyer Vertkiy, one of the ships that broke out of Petropavlovsk, continues its raid through the Aleutians, shelling the headquarters of C Company, 3-207th Infantry, part of the 1st Infantry Brigade (Arctic Reconnaissance).

Its sister ship, the Vol'nyy, makes a dash into the South China Sea, hoping to intercept some of the tankers and freighters sustaining China's war effort and the Japanese and Korean war economies.

3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized)'s heavy equipment and vehicles arrive in Jubayl, Saudi Arabia.

The Lexington battle group intercepts the Venezuelan-flag tanker Salvador Allende en route to Cuba with a cargo of gasoline and diesel fuel. The ship refuses to heave to, so it is set ablaze by rockets fired by the carrier's T-2 Buckeyes.

[chico20854]

April 10, 1997

France deploys lead elements of its FAR to former African colonies to Mauritania and Senegal to deal with pro-Soviet guerrillas and internal rebellions that are at the point of toppling the governments of both nations.

Unofficially,

Anti-war protests on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley turn violent.

NATO forces make a landing on the eastern shore of the Oder opposite Swinoujscie, Poland. Bundeswehr artillery pounds the opposite shore while jaegers cross in small boats. An amphibious task force of the German 18th Marine Regiment and the US 6th Marine Expeditionary Brigade lands a few miles to the east to cut off Polish reinforcements. The fighting is intense and the town (on both sides of the mouth of the Oder) is completely destroyed in the fighting.

Advent Storm deep strike aircraft turn their attention to Lublin, Poland, striking the city's truck and tractor plants.

The Echo II-class SSGN K-35 finally rendezvous with the Soviet fishing fleet drifting in the far South Atlantic. The aged Soviet missile boat had crept south at slow speed to avoid detection. The loyal fishermen are overjoyed to see new faces; the submarine tethers to a fish factory ship while receiving minor repairs, a resupply of food (mostly frozen fish, of course!) and a partial reload of four SS-N-12 Sandbox cruise missiles.

American reconnaissance satellites locate a Soviet troop convoy in the Black Sea, departing from Odessa. Analysts predict that it is headed to the Bulgarian ports of Varna and/or Burgas.

The 41st Guards Tank Division is assigned to 6th Guards Tank Army and committed to action in northeastern Romania.

Vehicles, guns (36 M110A2 self-propelled howitzers) and heavy equipment of the 434th Field Artillery Brigade (US Army Reserve) load on ships in New Orleans, Louisiana for transit to Saudi Arabia.

The Independence battle group engages elements of the Soviet Indian Ocean Squadron making a run for Indian ports.

North Korean commandos launch an early morning attack on 8th Army's field headquarters. MPs of the 8th Military Police Brigade and headquarters staff fight off the attackers, losing nearly 50 men and women (including Captain Jennifer Warren, a MP company commander whose sister is serving in Germany).

[chico20854]

April 11, 1997

The second module of the Freedom space station is launched into space aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Unofficially,

A second night of rioting occurs on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. The campus police offices and ROTC offices are burned.

Convoy 132 departs Norfolk, Virginia, heading for Europe. The convoy includes a number of ships loaded with munitions, both new from America's war industry and aged rounds scrounged from the far corners of remote and nearly forgotten depots, as the offensive in Poland consumes incredible tonnages of ammunition. The convoy commander flies his flag in the nuclear-powered missile cruiser USS Virginia, returning to sea after sustaining damage early in the war.

Advent Storm strikes the Pokoj Steel Works in Bytom, Poland.

German troops in western Poland receive a rude surprise in the area that they have captured in the prior nine days' fighting, when a 45-year old farmer hits a Bundeswehr fuel tanker travelling in the division rear area with a homemade Molotov cocktail. This is the first instance of local civilian resistance to the NATO "liberation of Poland from Russian occupation."

American, Romanian and Turkish aircraft take turns attacking the reinforcement convoy that was located in the Black Sea south of Odessa, sinking several ships and strafing others.

The Iranian 42nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, with a dozen F-20 fighter-bombers, arrives in Iran. It disperses to four small airstrips in the Zagros Mountains and begins flying ground attack missions in support of embattled IPA troops.

The Independence battle group continued to scour the northern Indian Ocean for Soviet and Pact shipping.

2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division relieves the 3rd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division of the mission securing the ports of eastern Saudi Arabia.

The helicopters, vehicles and heavy equipment of the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized)'s aviation brigade arrive aboard their transport ships.

The Soviet destroyer Vol'nyy intercepts the supertanker Southern Jasmine, carrying 250,000 tons of crude oil to Japan, in the South China Sea. The raider rakes the tanker with gunfire, setting the accomodation block ablaze, but the ship's 130mm guns are insufficient to sink the massive tanker outright. After blasting away for 15 minutes, the electronic warfare officer reports that the tanker was successful in radioing a SOS, and the raider beats a hasty retreat before Allied aircraft arrive.

The Soviet Sierra II-class submarine K-534 enters the Persian Gulf, transiting under a supertanker to avoid detection.

The Venezuelan tanker Salvador Allende sinks after being struck by aircraft from the USS Lexington two days ago.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by chico20854

April 11, 1997



The Soviet destroyer Vol'nyy intercepts the supertanker Southern Jasmine, carrying 250,000 tons of crude oil to Japan, in the South China Sea.

The Venezuelan tanker Salvador Allende sinks after being struck by aircraft from the USS Lexington two days ago.

This sort of thing makes me think of what a mess that was made of the ecosystem before we went nuclear. Tarballs and oil slicks and debris of various sorts (along with garbage) must be everywhere.

If you've ever been a part of an NTC battalion police call of the desert, you know what a mess major units can leave behind.

[chico20854]

April 12, 1997

Eritrean rebels, with USAF and USN long-range air support, seize Asmara and Massawa, capturing or sinking portions of the Soviet and Ethiopian fleets based there. The remnants escape to the Dahlik Islands.

Unofficially,

Explosions (later identified as from a medium mortar) on delivery ramp of Sikorski helicopter plant in Stratford, Connecticut, destroying ten brand new UH-60s.

The 2nd Brigade, California State Guard is deployed on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley to restore order after two nights of rioting and widespread property damage.

1st Brigade, Washington State Guard is stood down from its enhanced patrolling around SeaTac Airport and McChord Air Force Base as the airlift of the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) concludes.

The Luftwaffe 2nd Luftjaeger Regiment is formed from airbase defense and light anti-aircraft units of the 2nd Luftwaffe Division. With the threat to its air bases in Bavaria receding as Soviet Frontal Aviation disappears from the skies over southwestern Germany, the division releases most of its security troops for service behind the lines in Poland. The regiment, mounted in trucks (including a large contingent of gun trucks from the flak companies), provides convoy escorts for NATO logistic traffic in the rear area, a task that NATO commanders are quickly discovering will consume substantial numbers of troops.

F-111s and Tornado strike aircraft reach out again over central Poland, striking the Jedlicze refinery and starting a large fire.

The Whiskey-class submarine S-359 begins another slow voyage to the North Sea, its hull packed with mines to disrupt NATO shipping.

The Echo II-class nuclear cruise missile submarine K-35 is ordered to wrap up its replenishment from the fishing fleet in the South Atlantic and to make its way into the Indian Ocean, keeping at least 150 nm from the South African coast to avoid maritime patrol aircraft.

The Norwegian-owned tanker Forward Pride is set afire and set adrift in the Suez Canal by Naval Spetsnaz troops from the Caspian Sea Flotilla.

[chico20854]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

This sort of thing makes me think of what a mess that was made of the ecosystem before we went nuclear. Tarballs and oil slicks and debris of various sorts (along with garbage) must be everywhere.

If you've ever been a part of an NTC battalion police call of the desert, you know what a mess major units can leave behind.

I got oil all over my shoes on a beach in California three years ago... from a tanker that the Japanese sank in early 1942!

As far as leaving a mess behind, doing a dismounted patrol at Fort Sill was always fun... I recall looking down as I lifted by boot off a piece of UXO and clearly remember the date stamp, also 1942!

[chico20854]

April 13, 1997

The Iranian government, under pressure from Soviet forces and Tudeh infiltrators, declares martial law.

Bostonians are rudely jarred from their apathy by news of the sinking of the Universe Carolina, a supertanker bound for Boston Harbor. The military authorities place the residents on notice that gasoline and heating oil rationing are imminent. The local press leaps upon the local government and military officials, trying to find out why the loss of one tanker (albeit a giant one) could trigger such massive fuel rationing. They are met with stonewalling by the officials.

Unofficially,

The Freedom-class cargo ship Berlin Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, Texas.

1st Brigade, 40th ID (CA National Guard), completes Rotation 97-7 at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, CA and is declared combat ready, while at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Ft. Polk, Louisiana the 45th Infantry Brigade (Oklahoma National Guard) is declared combat ready after completing Rotation 97-7.

In San Francisco, the cargo ship Reliance is brought into service from reserve and begins a short coastal voyage to Long Beach to load cargo.

RAF Menwith Hills (a NSA ELINT facility in North Yorkshire) is heavily damaged in a cruise missile attack, launched over the Baltic Sea by Tu-95 Bear-H bombers. The raid leads to a significant loss of the capability to intercept Soviet and Pact strategic communications.

On the Kola Peninsula, the Soviets attack along the Litsa line. 18th Army tries to drive NATO out of the USSR. The 76th Guards Airborne Division, having had a week of rest to replenish and absorb replacements, leads the assault across the Litsa, supported by the combined artillery fire of the army’s divisions and Northwest TVD’s 2nd Guards Artillery Division, which has not seen action since November, and the guns of the 66th Anti-Aircraft Missile-Artillery Division’s forward regiments firing in indirect fire mode. The attack catches the NATO defenders off guard; with most units positioning one third of their troops on the front line, two thirds of Allied infantrymen are sitting in garrisons in the rear area. All the Soviet divisions along the front launch local attacks to tie down X Corps’ troops, while the 76th Guards Airborne Division concentrates at the Kola Highway’s bridge over the Litsa, launching an assault using its BMDs across the still-frozen river. The KGB lands a detachment from the 82nd Border Guard Brigade from light helicopters three miles behind the line, which sets up ambush positions along the highway. The airborne troops break through the US 6th Division’s front line, and the Soviet commander throws the 134th Guards Motor-Rifle Regiment into the breach. The motor-rifle force, the size of a small division with six battalions of motor-rifle troops and tanks with a nearly full artillery regiment in support, has its engineer company lay assault bridges across the Litsa, executes a textbook exploitation and links up with the KGB force, advancing six miles within the first 12 hours of the offensive, while the paratroops deploy north and south to guard the flanks.

Aircraft from the aircraft carriers America, John F Kennedy and Enterprise, supported by USAF tankers operating and F-16s of the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing operating from Spanish air bases, launch a series of preparatory airstrikes on Libyan air defense targets.

The 180th Motor-Rifle Division arrives in Varna, Bulgaria, having lost most of its engineer battalion and half of its anti-aircraft regiment to NATO airstrikes in the Black Sea.

3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) clears the ports and moves inland to serve as a mobile reserve force. The final contingent of aircraft carrying the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) begin arriving in Saudi Arabia, as do the final transport ships.

B Squadron, Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta dispatches its first team into Manchuria from its operational base at Clark Air Force Base, Philippines. The elite of the elite are tasked with locating Soviet communications, logistic and headquarters facilities, striking the most important and calling in the others for attack by other assets.

[chico20854]

April 14, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day!

Unofficially,

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

Headquarters, XII US Corps is formed at Fort Meade, Maryland from the 79th and 97th ARCOMs, assigned training support, support to civil authority and oversight of the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation.

Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team fires its mortar at the ICI chemical plant in Runcorn, Cheshire. The attack releases a cloud of poisonous chlorine gas, which drifts across the Manchester Ship Canal and down the River Mersey, headed for Liverpool.

British Harriers are re-tasked to close air support of I British Corps' advance into Poland. This time they have a new weapon in their armoury, Brimstone, a millimetre wave radar guided variant of the proven Hellfire. The carefully husbanded stocks of Brimstone prove exceptional in eliminating individual tanks as the Harriers provide close air support.

On the Kola Peninsula, Allied forces struggle to contain 18th Army's assault across the Litsa. X Corps scrambles to contain the Soviet attack. While infantry battalions scramble to return their troops to the front rapidly without presenting a lucrative target for enemy air and artillery attack, 12th Air Force is called in to slow the assault. The first to respond are the A-10s of the 917th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying from Kirkenes, while OV-10s of the Marine Corps’ VMO-1 and the USAF’s 27th Tactical Air Support Squadron seek out Soviet gun positions. The A-10s blanket the bridge crossing site with cluster bombs before turning their guns to Soviet armored vehicles. American and Norwegian F-16s concentrate on suppressing Soviet anti-aircraft guns and missiles (assisted by X Corps artillery), allowing the 35th TFW’s surviving F-15Es to blanket the hostile artillery, massed on the sides of the Kola Highway on the east side of the Litsa, with cluster bombs. The US 6th Infantry Division’s remaining Cobra attack helicopters follow the A-10s, plinking BMDs with gunfire, TOW missiles and rockets. The Soviet 66th Division’s heavy guns quickly shift fire, ravaging the low-flying NATO aircraft. Both corps artillery brigades pound the Soviet bridgehead, assisted by fire from the Canadian-led force across the bay to the north. The Canadians also detach the Luxembourg battalion and the last remaining company of Italian Alpini to the US 6th Division, which go to reinforce the northern side of the bulge. 6th ID’s 1st Brigade, its heaviest brigade, reinforced with the divisional cavalry squadron (4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry), occupies reserve defensive positions along the Kola Highway halfway to the Titovka River. The arrival of British troops, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Green Jackets (assigned to 3 Commando Brigade but not landed in Teriberka) strengthens X Corps’ defensive line. On the opposite side of the lines, 18th Army is unable to rally additional reserves to reinforce the advance and a massive traffic jam arises on the Kola Highway as reinforcements (the sailors of the 72nd Naval Infantry Brigade, mounted in Murmansk city busses), resupply vehicles and supporting artillery batteries all crowd onto the single-lane paved road, with ambulances and trucks of wounded rushing east. NATO artillery fire adds to the chaos on the roads, and soon the Soviet advance peters to a halt. The Soviet troops dig in, and X Corps cannot muster sufficient force to drive them out. The Soviet counteroffensive in the High North has come to an end.

Air attacks on Libyan targets continue as Task Force 61 makes a predawn sortie from the harbor in Gibraltar carrying the marines of the 8th Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

The Iranian National Emergency Coucil makes an offer to the nearly destroyed Pasdaran, offering it seats on the NEC and the integration of Pasdaran armed units into the IPA chain of command. The Pasdaran accept (although the splinter anti-Satanic Army refuses and continues to fight all non-Iranian forces) and their forces are absorbed into the Iranian army.

The Sierra II-class sub K-534 makes its first kill in the Persian Gulf, sinking the Liberian tanker Neve Hampton.