On this day 25 years ago (Commentary Thread)

[Homer]

I like the selling the phone card scam. I’ve heard that happens. Can’t wait till they get the ta-50 theft ring that’ll “help you buy it back.” I’ve heard that happens too.

With NBC weapons coming into use I wonder what the supply situation is like for NBC equipment. In light/airborne/air assault units individual NBC gear anecdotally had a tendency to find its way to places like the “top of the ruck, so you can pull it out when you need a pillow”. Also, ICE packs are added weight that may have been pulled back to the trains by now, or even lost due to battlefield accident. For heavy and static units, the situation may be better. I’ll bet there’s a rush to get the Sanators FMC and lay hands on some DS2 and other consumables. The good news for NATO is MOPP can theoretically get ramped up pretty quickly after first use, and at least with regards to chem, WARPAC personal nbc equipment was much more limiting than US/NATO at this time.

[chico20854]

June 24, 1997

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An amphibious assault by the U.S. 4th (my 3rd) Marine Division and 6th
ROK Marine Brigade south of Nampo unhinges the KPA defensive lines in the west.

Unofficially,

The Freedom-class cargo ship Los Angeles Freedom is delivered in San Diego, California.

The commanding general of the Army Training and Doctrine Command appears before a joint session of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to explain his actions regarding the "5th Squad" and Fort Dix scandals. He stumbles and attempts to placate and mislead the Members; his disastrous performance before the TV cameras is the lead story for the nightly news, overshadowing the action on the front lines.

SACEUR orders a general advance towards the Soviet border, launched along the entire front. II British Corps (attached to Second German Army) strikes northeast, intending to cut off 4th Guards Tank Army and 22nd Army in the Wisła bend. III US Corps forces its way across the Wisła north of Grudziądz, exploiting the gap between the Polish 1st and 4th Armies on opposite sides of the river. V US Corps and VI German Korps, forming the main effort for First German Army, advance on a broad front towards Lublin and Brest, while Panzergruppe Oberdorf, reinforced by VII US Corps, together Third German Army’s strike force, heads for the Soviet border west of Lvov, leaving the Polish redoubt to XI US Corps. The offensive is generally successful along the line, although rates of advance are slowed by the dreadful supply situation. Soviet units resist as fiercely as ever.

The German 2nd Military Police Command moves into Poland from East Germany, becoming part of the ad hoc multinational effort to secure the NATO rear area. The 2nd’s duties range from securing NATO facilities, escorting convoys, investigating losses of supplies and equipment in the rear area, assisting the Polish Free Congress in its efforts to establish a local police force to maintain order among the local population, managing refugee flows, investigating crimes committed by or against NATO personnel and performing sweeps for deserters and stragglers. The command’s troops, mainly composed of West German police officers in peacetime, take on this daunting list of duties with pride and great diligence, doing the best they can in the circumstances.

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Underscoring the need for additional rear area security troops, a survey party of American engineers inspecting the rail line linking Poznan and Warsaw is attacked by a group of anti-NATO partisans west of Kutno. The group is wiped out and the partisans escape; the engineers are only missed many hours later when they fail to return to their home base.

XI US Corps resumes its attack in southeastern Poland; progress is slow as the cornered Polish troops furiously counterattack and the American artillery is starved of ICM and FASCAM rounds and MLRS rockets; even high explosive rounds are slow to arrive at the front after a journey of over 1100 kilometers from the port in Bremerhaven.

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Outside Warsaw, NATO artillery begin days of attacks on the surrounded city, breaking up Pact concentrations and strong points identified by aerial reconniassance.

In Finland, the 16th Guards’ motor-rifle regiments are empty shells and General Kuznetsov (commander of the Northwestern TVD) orders the burned out division to the side of the road, replacing them with the 64th Guards Motor-Rifle Division. The 64th Guards’ officers and sergeants are hardened veterans of the war in China and launch a relentless pursuit of the American 10th Mountain Division, whose troops are exhausted from constant action and low on ammunition after decimating the 16th Guards MRD.

Spetsnaz troops crater the highway to Skibotn just before the Finnish-Norwegian border, blocking the escape route once again. The Soviet irregulars fade away into the wilderness before Norwegian troops can reach the site, relying on persistent chemical agents delivered by Scud missiles of the 6th Guards Missile Brigade to delay repair of the road.

The carrier Eisenhower arrives in Scapa Flow, north of Scotland, where the extensive repair organization (ashore and afloat) can repair the damage wrought in the Barents Sea. (Aircraft on flight deck blew up after an AS-4 missile exploded 50 meters overhead, starting a large fire that destroyed most of the remaining air wing and threatened the ship’s survival).

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As the NATO convoy in the Mediterranean makes its way past Malta, Turkish IV Corps on Cyprus launches a series of attacks to tie down Greek troops and divert supplies from Thrace. Simultaneously, it transfers its 14th Armored Brigade (equipped with M48 tanks and M113s) back to the mainland, where it will go to reinforce 1st Turkish Army's efforts in Thrace.

[chico20854]

Originally Posted by Milano

Thank you again Chico for doing this. It is SO cool. I like the forest fire.

Thanks! Glad folks are enjoying this!

Originally Posted by Homer

I like the selling the phone car scam. I’ve heard that happens. Can’t wait till they get the ta-50 theft ring that’ll “help you buy it back.” I’ve heard that happens too.

Names have been changed to protect the innocent/guilty...

[chico20854]

June 25, 1997

Nothing official for today! Unofficially,

The Freedom-class cargo ship Jackson Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, Texas and the Pascagoula Freedom is delivered in its namesake city.

The Army Chief of Staff denies the request of the Commanding General of the Training and Doctrine Command for immediate retirement. He is, however, relieved of command and assigned to the Pentagon.

Private Cutler requests fire guard every night; the private who draws up the duty roster nightly is happy to oblige since it means other soldiers in the platoon don't have to perform the duty.

Chinese troops launch an assault crossing across the Yalu River into North Korea. The troops of the 28th (my 5th) Group Army, supported by F-16s of the American AVG II, overwhelm the border guards of the 33rd Border Security Brigade and people's militia that are all that the North Korean regime can muster to oppose the Chinese force.

The growth of the Free Polish Legions through defections of entire units has largely stopped. Those units whose commanders are inclined to defect have, by this point, had an opportunity, and the Communist Party and their Soviet overseers have tightened political oversight of remaining Polish Army units. Every unit of company size or higher has a political officer and Soviet “coordination officers” are present at regimental and higher headquarters. The SB (secret police) has infiltrated the ranks with informants, and Soviet KGB Border Guard regiments are operating in eastern Poland, with helicopter-borne quick reaction forces available to quickly strike at a defecting headquarters.

East of Warsaw, German and American troops continue their cautious advance towards the Soviet border, wary of their exposed supply lines, hostile local population and potential for Soviet reserves to appear at any moment.

On the Baltic Coast, US Marines of the 6th Marine Expeditionary Brigade launch an amphibious attack on the Hel Peninsula under cover of darkness across the Bay of Puck in AAVP-7 amphibians. Landing between the front line and the naval base, the appearance of US Marines in the rear finally breaks the resistance of the Polish troops on the front line, and by dusk German soldiers and American Marines enter the town.

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The US Air Force resorts to using C-130 transports to sustain the operations of its forward-deployed units based in Poland. The ammunition, fuel and parts brought in sustain the A-10 force that is so valuable in supporting NATO troops' advance.

In Finland, the 64th Guards MRD continues the pressure on the 10th Mountain Division, taking advantage of their superior armor and the American’s shortage of ammunition to steamroller over blocking positions. Once again cut off from retreat to Norwegian territory and in only intermittent radio contact with X Corps Headquarters, the American division commander orders an evacuation of ground forces through Sweden, following the road and rail routes to Narvik. (Surviving helicopters load their ground crews and fly to Norwegian bases.) The American general is relying on Sweden’s continued flexibility regarding its neutrality, where Swedish authorities turn a blind eye to NATO incursions into its territory and airspace. The passage of an entire infantry division, however diminished by losses in the recent offensive, and its purchase of supplies of food, truck parts and fuel to sustain that passage, is, however, of a massively larger scale than a multi-squadron air raid at low level over sparsely populated territory or the transit of special forces troops in civilian clothing in civilian vehicles. Swedish authorities feel the need, partially in response to Soviet objections to previous NATO incursions and partially as a well-justified desire to maintain their armed neutrality and demonstrate their sovereignty, to object. Swedish police and customs officials, backed up by local Home Guards and reservists, meet the American troops at the border. The lead elements agree to allow the Swedes to “safeguard” their weapons in sealed containers (guarded by a joint force of American and Swedish troops) and accept passage to an internment camp (that happens to be located next to a temporary bus station that offers hourly service to Narvik).

Along the Barents coast, 18th Army keeps up the pressure on the NATO forces still on Soviet territory, launching an attack after an eight-day pause to regroup, absorb replacements, resupply and repair damage to the highway launch. While the 76th Guards Airborne and 77th Guards Motor-Rifle Division (both reinforced with tanks and APCs stripped from other 18th Army units) attack down the roads, the 134th Guards Motor-Rifle Regiment and 7th Guards Airborne battlegroup move cross-country towards the center of the NATO line and the 116th MRD and Division Polyarnyy attack the flanks. X Corps troops conduct a textbook fighting withdrawal to the next in a series of fighting positions, many dating from the Second World War. Allied casualties are moderate, but after months of war worldwide replacements are scarce and green recruits rushed through a truncated training course are a poor substitute for a combat-hardened veteran. Part of the Canadian-led force is evacuated overland, the remainder going by sea. The retreat is scorched earth, with roads and buildings dynamited, a ship sunk in the channel leading to Liinakhamari and the mine at Nikel flooded, leaving nothing of value for Northwestern TVD to use against AFNON across the border.

The Gurkhas of 27 Brigade join Marines of the 1st Marine Division in a series of heliborne insertions into the Zagros Mountains, placing patrols along likely egress routes for the remnants of the 103rd Guards Air Assault Division which are trying to make their way back to friendly lines.

Further north, remnants of the Iranian 18th Armored Division link up with the 24th Infantry Division as the American heavy force pushes north torwards Ahvaz.

In the USSR, the Party authorities direct the Ministry of Defense to expand the spring conscription wave to deal with the losses the Red Army is suffering around the world. The flow of replacements for soldiers lost in battle had been limited by a Politburo reluctant to remove even more young, fit workers from the labor force. However, the situation called for the usual bi-annual intake of conscripts to be doubled, to include 17 and a half-year olds as well as 18-year olds. Approximately one fourth of this intake is sent to training units in the Soviet interior for service as NCOs, as sailors, in the Air Force or Air Defense Force, in the MVD or KGB Border Guards or as technical specialists. The remainder of the intake is delivered to the rear areas of the fronts, en masse and completely untrained. Some front commanders establish ad-hoc training programs while others distribute the conscripts to motor-rifle platoons irrespective of their knowledge of the Russian language or any skills they might possess. Likewise, the Politburo limits further activation of mobilization-only divisions, many of which consist of stockpiles of worn out T-34s or T-54s, trucks retired after decades of service on collective farms and WW II-era artillery, absent armored personnel carriers, modern radios and anti-tank weapons.

[chico20854]

June 26, 1997

1st Marine Division begins moving into the Zagros Mountains, towards the airfield complex at Yadz.

Unofficially,

At Fort Lee, Virginia, the court martial of seven privates, accused members of "5th Squad", concludes. Five of the privates are found guilty and sentenced to jail, while two others are acquitted but dismissed from the service with bad conduct discharges.

At Fort Benning, Georgia, there is a major reorganization of the training units on the post. The Infantry Training Brigade hives its initial entry training battalions off into a separate brigade (the 2nd Infantry Brigade (Training)), transfers the staff of the airborne school (the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 507th Infantry) to Fort Leonard Wood to serve as the staff of 1st Brigade, 17th Airborne Division and tasking the two training support battalions to plan to support civilian authorities. The airborne school continues operations using a combination of recalled retiree and civilian instructors, turning out replacements for the 82nd Airborne Division as well as jump qualified recruits for the 11th and 17th Airborne Divisions. The Infantry Training Brigade, renamed the 1st Infantry Brigade (Training) also assumes command of the Ranger Training Brigade, taking the top 15 percent of graduates from the post’s basic training brigades as well as the top graduate of each infantry AIT class nationwide.

The Chinese forces reinforce their bridgehead over the Yalu. To the northeast, the 3rd Army crosses into North Korea territory, where its advance is quickly brought to a halt by fierce resistance in the mountainous terrain.

The Allied amphibious force in Nampho completes its sweep of the city, rooting out North Korean stragglers and fanatical armed civilians to ensure a somewhat secure rear area for the advance that is to come.

In northeastern Poland, II British Corps and III US Corps link up, cutting off the Pact forces in the Wisła bend and XII German Korps crosses the Wisła and blocks the retreat of the isolated Pact forces. Further south, V US Corps captures Siedlce, nearly halfway between Warsaw and the Soviet border as German troops approach Lublin from the southwest and west.

The Dutch Red Army detonates a IED under a bus transporting American reinforcements to Germany; 34 soldiers and the civilian driver are killed.

The LSK (former East German Air Force) concentrates its remaining MiG-29s (17 remain flyable) in JG-3 (Jagdgruppe 3, fighter group), disbanding JG-2 and JG-7. Excess personnel are assigned to security duties at bases in Poland, where the Alphajet force is supporting ground troops. Their Soviet counterparts in Frontal Aviaition are operating at about 20 percent of prewar strength.

Allied artillery continues to pound defensive positions in Warsaw. Soviet troops in the city take up residence in the Palac Kultury, sharing the massive structure with the fanatical communists of the East German loyalist VOPO Regiment Mitte, who roam the city looking for "defeatists, spies and collaborators."

The Sierra II-class attack sub K-336 completes post-voyage repairs and restocking and slips away from the dock for some local test dives.

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The 6th ACCB continues to cover the advance of XVIII Airborne Corps; its attack helicopters are very effective in detecting and breaking up Soviet armored counterattacks that otherwise would cause the light troops of the 101st and 9th Divisions considerable difficulty. To reinforce I MEF, 3rd Army transfers the 48th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Georgia National Guard) to Bandar Abbas, where it will quickly be committed to action.

The Politburo directs all efforts to reinforcing the Soviet border in Ukraine, Byelorussia and the Kaliningrad pocket. 1st Shock Army is rushed to the front from garrisons near Moscow and 1st Byelorussian Front's 3rd Guards Tank Army brought to full strength. Some airborne units are also airlifted to the Western TVD, although restricted to Soviet territory. MVD internal troop units in western Ukraine are also released to Western TVD command, their operations again limited to defense of Soviet territory. Marshall Slepnev (Western TVD commander) knows better than to request command of KGB Border Guard brigades in his area.

[chico20854]

I had to go back in and edit Friday and the weekend's posts... poor drafting of my master document excluded the general NATO offensive in Poland and the Politburo's scrambling for more troops! Oops!

[chico20854]

June 27, 1997

The 3rd (I have the 4th) Marine Division departs Bandar Abbas, heading north into the Zagros Mountains towards Shiraz to break the siege of that city.

photo1 photo2
(Unofficially, A Soviet RORSAT satellite overflies the Mediterranean and the locates the NATO convoy. Soviet naval authorities relay the convoy's location to Athens.) Light fleet elements of the Greek navy savage the NATO convoy in the night and escape relatively unharmed.

Unofficially,

McDonnell Douglas places a second JDAM production line in St. Charles, Missouri into service, increasing production of the precision-guided munition to 260 kits a day. Ten of those kits are the classified NV (Nuclear Variant), supplied to Strategic Air Command, the Navy and USAF Europe for use with B-61 nuclear bombs.

A New Mexico State Guard patrol locates the remains of a suspected Soviet spetsnaz team in the remote mountains of south-central New Mexico. Temperatures in prior days have exceeded 100 F. The corpses carry silenced AK-74s, demolition gear, encrypted communications gear but the canteens are empty.

The Department of Defense Contract Adjudication Board makes a preliminary recommendation that Boeing be paid $150 million for the requisitioning of its Skyfox subsidiary, $1 million for each of the 120 aircraft, $25 million for the conversion and $5 million for the spare parts and components. The company and the government will continue to discuss a more accurate valuation but the award goes a long way to calming nerves frayed by the Air Force's actions.

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British forces rush towards the Soviet border, facing weakening Soviet resistance. The US 4th Infantry Division, assigned to V Corps, encounters troops of the 120th Guards Motor-Rifle Division, an element of 7th Tank Army of the 1st Byelorussian Front, the first element of that Front to see action.

Panzergruppe Oberdorf strikes northeast, preventing 1st Guards Tank Army from reinforcing the defense of Lublin, and the formation’s 6th Panzergrenadier Division takes over occupation duties from VI German Korps.

US Marines and German troops advance further into the town of Hel on the Baltic Coast following the Marine's landing a few days prior. The battleship Iowa is brought forward into the Baltic to lend its big gun's firepower to the effort, despite the misgivings of SACLANT, who has granted OPCON to CINCBALTAP.

The 329th Engineer Group (US Army Reserve)'s battalions have been farmed out to US XXIII Corps and British forces fighting their way into Warsaw, taking heavy casaulties in the urban fight.

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The Norwegian theatre is relatively quiet, as 18th Army advances through the devastated territory abandoned by NATO and as the US 10th Mountain Division retreats into Swedish territory. The Soviet ambassador to Stockholm lodges a protest, but the Swedish foreign minister points out the presence of Soviet troops in adjacent Finland as an example of combatants not respecting the boundaries of neutral Nordic states.

The Liberian-flag bulk carrier Orient Sunray, carrying a load of grain, strikes a drifting mine as it approaches Port Harcourt, Nigeria and floods. While tugs reach the ship and manage to pull it aground within sight of land, the cargo is ruined by the influx of seawater and the ship is ultimately abandoned.

American and Korean troops leapfrog deeper into North Korea as that despotic regime struggles to maintain order and regain initiative. South Korean mechnanized forces (built around the VII ROK Corps) are committed to exploit the collapse of the North Korean defenses along the DMZ, pushing rapidly but cautiously northward along the main road to Pyongyang as US and ROK Marines drive eastward from the coast.

In Iran, XVIII Airborne Corps makes slow progress through the difficult terrain, while to the south the Marines of I MEF are capturing more ground as Soviet resistance at the end of such extended supply lines fades.

[Matt Wiser]

Now, who on the Soviet side is going to ask the Defense Council for nuclear release? CINC-FAR EAST, CINC-WEST? Defense Minister (on recommendation of Chief of the General Staff)?

[chico20854]

June 28, 1997

NATO naval forces (the air groups of the American carriers USS John F. Kennedy and USS America) launch air strikes against Greek naval bases in retaliation for the prior night's attack on the convoy to Izmir.

What turns out to be the last shipment of AR-18 rifles, known locally as the Type 96, is dispatched from the US to China.

Franciszek Kowalczyk, a very wealthy and powerful man before the war, takes up residence in the Pieskowa Skała Castle in the Ojców National Park 20 km north of Krakow. Styling himself the Baron of Ojców, he takes over the castle as a private retreat and fortress after his wife and family were killed in the fighting in Silesia. It is rumored that large stores of arms, ammunition, and gold lie hidden behind the fortress walls. He has stocked it with food and its own generators and alarm systems. He has a small and fiercely loyal staff who guard his walls and tend the packs of guard dogs which roam the castle area day and night.

Unofficially,

Private Randall Cutler, whose platoon has been locked down for many weeks, slips out his barracks' laundry room window and crawls around the building before getting up and walking to the nearby convenience store, where he buys nearly $50 of toiletries that his platoon mates need.

Lublin falls to the VI German Corps, the remnants of 8th Guards Army falling back in disarray, the Polish defenders resisting to the end.

In liberated Poland, the Free Polish Congress has established the bare outlines of a functioning state from their temporary capital in Poznań. The top leadership positions are filled by exiles or their descendants, but they have insufficient numbers and expertise to adequately fill the needs. Some assistance is received from allied civil affairs units. Most positions are filled by defectors or prewar officials who have, to one degree or another, pledged loyalty to the Western-allied government. The economy as moribund and most urban residents are dependent on NATO food aid. The government tries to return refugees to their homes, but in many cases, that is impossible due to the massive damage inflicted by the battles. The unemployed and dislocated who are able bodied are tasked with clearing rubble and restoring housing and utilities. With an eye on gaining and maintaining popular support, the Polish Free Congress does not institute conscription; the various Polish Free Legions and guide detachments (attached to NATO units) are manned by volunteers from Poland and the Polish diaspora, defectors and captured Polish Army soldiers who answer the call of recruiters sent through the POW transit facilities before the POWs are shipped to the UK or North America for captivity. The Free Legions face the same logistical challenges that the former East German units confronted, cut off from resupply of munitions and spare parts. The US and UK provide the Poles with limited quantities of light vehicles (HMMWVs and Land Rovers) and mortars as well as rations, fuel and communications equipment.

As NATO troops approach the northern Polish-Russian border, desperate measures are implemented to beef up the defenses of Kaliningrad. The defenders consist of 3rd Shock Army, pulled out of action a month ago after losses of nearly 75 percent, the 2nd Guards Tank Army (reconstructing for only a few weeks), KGB Border Guards and security units, some under the command of the Baltic Fleet. Baltic Fleet organizes its troops into Division Baltiisk, composed around a cadre of security troops from various installations, augmented by large numbers of shoreside personnel and sailors from inoperable ships in the region, haphazardly equipped with a sprinkling of aged APCs and whatever castoff heavy weapons and small arms the Baltic Fleet could locate in its storerooms and with artillery improvised from naval guns from warships of various ages, hastily mounted on improvised carriages.

Advance patrols of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment begin encountering troops of the 115th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a PVO (Air Defense Corps) unit stationed on the Polish-Soviet border. The missile crews had been deployed forward into Poland, and after their missiles were destroyed by NATO missile strikes they were left in Poland to serve as infantry.

In northern Sweden, the Karasuando Massacre begins when the the commander of the 10th Mountain Division's cavalry battalion (the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry) refuses to permit his officers to surrender their sidearms, especially his pearl-handled Colt revolvers. The matter quickly escalates, and the heavily armed cavalrymen open fire. The subsequent skirmish starts days of violence and chaos as some elements of the American division fight their way out of Sweden, opposed by home guards and some army units rushed in as reinforcements, while other American battalions remain peacefully in their internment camps. To add to the confusion, the forward detachment of the 64th Guards Motor-Rifle Division, in hot pursuit of the American rear guards, crosses the border into Sweden, running into the oncoming Swedish reinforcements. The day of chaotic violence grips northern Swedish Lapland as three armies fight for control of the town of Kiruna, which controls the rail line and road to Narvik. Norwegian troops cross the border into Sweden to cover their American allies’ retreat. In the skies above confusion reigns as well, with Soviet Frontal Aviation, the Swedish Air Force and the disorganized remnants of several American carrier air wings (flying from Bardufoss and Evenes/Narvik) tangling in the airspace over Swedish Lapland.

Elsewhere in the Far North, the RAF contribution to Allied Forces North Norway is consolidated into a single squadron of Harriers and Jaguars, serving alongside a single squadron of Buccaneers and another of Tornados in the naval strike role. The remaining US naval air squadrons from Narvik and Bardufoss are withdrawn, and 12th Air Force consolidates its fighter aircraft in the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing, with a squadron of F-15Es, another of F-15A interceptors and a flight of F-16Cs. The 917th Tactical Fighter Wing disbands its 706th Tactical Fighter Squadron, assigning all of the wing’s remaining seven A-10s as well as the three surviving USMC and USAF OV-10s to the 47th Tactical Fighter Squadron. The US Marines combine their F/A-18s into two squadrons and disband most of the temporary air bases they had established along the Norwegian coast. The Luftforsvaret (Norwegian Air Force) assigns its few remaining combat aircraft to 718 Skvadron, at Bodø.

At sea, the remaining Allied surface combatants beyond the minimum needed to escort supply convoys to Liinakhamari are withdrawn, the damaged ones for refit and repair in the United Kingdom and the few battle-worthy ones to further action in the Baltic or Mediterranean. Operational NATO submarines (American, British as well as a Dutch diesel boat) continue their months-long hunt for SSBNs and their support ships.

The USS Iowa, providing naval gunfire support to German and American troops near Gdansk, is struck by two Polish MiG-17s in a kamikaze attack that sets fire to a helicopter refueling on fantail. The fire penetrates deep into the ship, reaching the boiler room, which forces the ship's power plant offline.

The Sierra II-class attack submarine K-336 departs Gremikha on its second combat patrol. As NATO troops retreat from the Murmansk area and the situation deteriorates around the world, the Soviet naval command begins to sortie some of its nuclear missile submarines. The K-336, one of the USSR's quietest and most advanced boats, is assigned to escort one of the newest and most important SSBNs, the Barrikada TK-217.

The remnants of the NATO convoy to Turkey arrive in Izmir. Commanders are stunned to discover that its losses exceed 60 percent.

In Romania, the 38th Army is reinforced with the mobilization-only 58th Tank Division. The division's T-54 and T-62 tanks are split up between the army’s motor-rifle divisions, which are chronically short of tanks and a reasonable reaction to the questionable competence of the division’s overaged reservist command staff.

Following days of heavy fighting against XVIII Airborne Corps in Kuzestan, the 78th Tank Division is rotated out of the front line and allowed to recover in the Tehran area.

For the first time, Det. G, 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron flies two R-5D hypersonic flights over the USSR. The two sorties fly parallel, gathering invaluable imagery of the movement of Soviet troops and supplies.

[chico20854]

Originally Posted by Matt Wiser

Now, who on the Soviet side is going to ask the Defense Council for nuclear release? CINC-FAR EAST, CINC-WEST? Defense Minister (on recommendation of Chief of the General Staff)?

I think it's the accumulation of a number of factors... Allied offensives on the Polish, Iranian, Manchurian and Korean fronts, lack of progress in the Balkans, declining economic/industrial performance, running low on recruits, unrest in the USSR...

[Homer]

I know cannon doesn’t discuss it, but has SACEUR maintained the victor alert force? Those additional aircraft would be tempting to raid for reinforcements. Of course, they’ll be plenty busy soon enough…

[Targan]

Originally Posted by chico20854

[B]In northern Sweden, the Karasuando Massacre begins when the the commander of the 10th Mountain Division's cavalry battalion (the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry) refuses to permit his officers to surrender their sidearms, especially his pearl-handled Colt revolvers. The matter quickly escalates, and the heavily armed cavalrymen open fire. The subsequent skirmish starts days of violence and chaos as some elements of the American division fight their way out of Sweden, opposed by home guards and some army units rushed in as reinforcements, while other American battalions remain peacefully in their internment camps.

Plausible and depressing. What a waste.

[Matt Wiser]

Somebody's going to make the request: it has to come from at least one very high-ranking officer. A theater commander such as CINC-WEST or CINC-FAR EAST could do it (or both make their requests simultaneously or nearly so); or it's the Defense Minister upon recommendation of the Chief of the General Staff (who would get that from the some 100 Generals under him).

Even in Hackett's Third World War books, SACEUR maintained at least 5% of his dual-capable aircraft on alert for possible nuclear strike missions. Having some F-15Es, F-111s, Tornados, etc. locked and cocked for nuclear strike is a no-brainer-and the alert force might be increased if it looks like the Soviets may be getting ready for possible nuclear action.

[Homer]

Originally Posted by Matt Wiser

Even in Hackett's Third World War books, SACEUR maintained at least 5% of his dual-capable aircraft on alert for possible nuclear strike missions. Having some F-15Es, F-111s, Tornados, etc. locked and cocked for nuclear strike is a no-brainer-and the alert force might be increased if it looks like the Soviets may be getting ready for possible nuclear action.

Agree, and there’s plenty of evidence in cannon to support air delivered tactical nukes in addition to some explicitly identified cruise missile strikes. I was more wondering how much risk had been taken with that pool to maintain a mission capable force for the conventional side. With GLCM, Pershing, etc surviving, I could see some “prudent risk” taken with the SACEUR dual capable reserve at key points. I was actually remembering the raid into Poland with F-111s in Hackett’s books which had aircraft released from reserve for the operation.

[stilleto69]

I believe in one of my conversations with Chico, that the 3rd Air Force was retaining the 20th TFW @ RAF Upper Heyford and possibly 366th TFW @ RAF Sculthorpe for nuke strikes.

[chico20854]

Part of my Advent Crown writeup that didn't make it over to this thread (mostly because it didn't have a specific date attached to it) addresses this:

"NATO commanders held back one fourth of their remaining deep strike aircraft as a tactical nuclear reserve. At most NATO airbases, the pair of hardened aircraft shelters closest to the taxiway sat full at all times with quick reaction aircraft, fueled, crewed and loaded with B-61 nuclear bombs, ready to retaliate against any Soviet nuclear strike. An entire F-111 wing in the UK was also on standby, although their targets were gradually overrun by NATO infantry. Strategic reconnaissance assets scrambled to identify where the Western TVD and various Front headquarters displaced to, and USAFEUR and SAC had to update target allocation between theater and strategic targets as the theater area of operations extended into the Soviet Union."

So as attrition wears down the strike aircraft fleet a few aircraft get released, in addition to the Pershing and Ground Launched Cruise Missile fleets and the older SSBNs that are assigned theater missions in the NATO nuclear plan. That force is augmented by the pair of British Resolution-class SSBNs that have their retirement delayed, bringing the Royal Navy up to 6 boomers.

[chico20854]

June 29, 1997

1st Infantry Brigade (Arctic Recon) repulses a number of Soviet commando raids across the Bering Straits but is forced to withdraw westward when Soviet arctic mechanized units cross to the US side.

Unofficially,

Responding to word of the probable Spetsnaz team infiltrating New Mexico, self-appointed civilian militias deploy to the Mexican border in California, Arizona and New Mexico.

The ROK Army links up with the amphibious force which had landed in Nampho, cutting off North Korea's South Hwanghae Province from the rest of the nation. Combined Forces Korea directs several South Korean reserve and home defense divisions to seal off the area and make gradual inroads into subduing it; paramount, however, is preventing any disruptions to the supply lines or any breakout of isolated North Korean units.

Chinese forces in northwestern North Korea begin to advance southward, while in Manchuria the People's Liberation Army's daily tally of towns and villages liberated from Soviet occupation continues to grow.

The 332nd Anti-Tank Brigade is released from STAVKA's Artillery Reserve and transported to the Polish-Soviet border. The unit is equipped with three dozen MT-12 anti-tank guns and an equal number of self-propelled AT-6/9 ATGM launchers, mounted on MTLB chassis.

The 44th Guards Airborne Division, the VDV's training division, is ordered to deploy to the Lithuanian-Polish border, setting aside its mission preparing conscripts to be NCOs.

The Polish State Council and Politburo are secretly evacuated from Warsaw by helicopter to the Communist Party’s resort complex at Arlamów in the mountains on the Ukrainian border.

The Polish defenders of the town of Hel are forced back into the ruins of the naval base.

VII US Corps encounters Soviet reinforcements when the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment engages T-86 tanks of the 2nd Guards Motor-Rifle Division, the Red Army’s premier show division, just arriving at the front from Moscow.

The Polish Internal Front counterattacks in the north, with a weak drive southwest from Bialystok with a scratch force of Polish and Soviet border guards, OTK and WOW troops and East German communists. The attempt to relieve the siege of Warsaw and cut II British Corps off from its bridgeheads is stopped outside Ostrów Mazowiecka by a NATO force detached from Operational Group Warsaw, reinforced with the Polish 2nd Free Legion. The battle between former border guard comrades is especially bitter and tragic, and the Polish drive peters out.

American troops of XVIII Corps make slow progress into the southwestern portion of Warsaw, reaching the runway of the international airport at sundown.

Damage control parties on board the battleship USS Iowa struggle to contain the fire started by a Polish kamikaze attack the day before. As the fire spreads in the powerless battlewagon, escorting frigates come alongside to provide additional pumping power and spray down the hull. The commander orders the aft magazine flooded as a preventative measure, lest the hundreds of tons of powder and explosives detonate.

In northern Sweden, 10th Mountain Division’s commander is able to regain full control of his battalions and arrange a ceasefire with the local Swedish commander, which is honored by the reinforcing Swedish units. Both sides turn their attention to the advancing Soviets, which have thrown the battered 16th Motor-Rifle Division back into the line. The Americans provide forward air control parties to guide the US naval aircraft in their strikes, while the rest of the division and the Norwegians continue their movement back to Norway.

photo
In the Mediterranean, Operation Carpet Bagger commences - USAF attacks on Greek naval bases by the 140th Tactical Fighter Wing (Colorado Air National Guard)'s A-7s, flying from Turkish bases, covered by F-16As of the 482nd Tactical Fighter Wing (USAF Reserve), who shoot down 12 Greek fighters (2 F-16C, 4 Mirage 2000s and 6 F-4E Phantoms) with the loss of only one F-16A. US carriers continue to attack Greek naval facilities, facilities they are intimately familiar with since they used them for many decades themselves.

Marines of the 4th Division make contact with outer pickets of the Soviet 201st Motor-Rifle Division in the mountains north of Bandar Abbas. The action is the first combat that the troops of the 40th Army, veterans of the war in Afghanistan, have had with American troops.

The lead elements of the Australian 1st Armored Brigade arrive in Ad Damman, Saudi Arabia, to begin making arrangements for reception and deployment of the brigade's troops when they arrive in a few weeks. (The vehicles are being loaded at multiple Australian ports).

Activation of the 84th Tank Division, a mobilization-only unit from the Kiev Military District formed from the cadre and student body of the Kiev Higher Tank Engineering School and equipped with T-34s, T-10s and ISU-152 tank destroyers, is halted. Instead, the remaining students are rushed to the front as reinforcements for the battered divisions which have retreated across Poland. Many of the school’s instructors are also taken to replace losses at the front, and the warehouses of equipment are depleted to make up combat losses at the front.

[Homer]

Great chapter!

Lots of indicators that the WARPAC is coming to the end of its (conventional) tether. Laid out as you have it seems like a failure of pol-mil strategic level intelligence to not counsel caution as NATO forces close on the Soviet border and begin engaging units of strategic reserve and re-rolled naval and air defense units. Plus, the Chinese front is falling apart and there’s been internal revolt.

It almost seems like a fit of pique after peace talks broke down to not re-engage after nato’s recent performance. Even the north cape campaign, while costly and failing to seize the terrain objective, did achieve the purpose of neutralizing the red banner fleet and wrecking its bases.

[chico20854]

June 30, 1997

In a major change to command and control arrangements, Coast Guard cutters and personnel are absorbed directly into the Navy. Local maritime defense districts remain under command of their (former) Coast Guard commanders and staff, but they are formally in the Navy chain of command rather than reporting to the Secretary of Transportation.

Unofficially,

Private Cutler makes a return visit to the convenience store, this time with orders from some of his platoon mates. He returns thirty minutes later with shaving cream, disposable razors, bars of soap, three cold sodas and a small bag of pretzels. He makes a small profit from the excursion.

Following a (very busy) week of flight testing, the Boeing Skyfox is granted emergency USAF type classification as the AT-33E. (The ground crew promptly mangle the designation into the type's popular nickname of "Ate 33" rather than the manufacturer's marketing name.)

Patrols of the 2nd Infantry Brigade (Arctic Recon) in the Aleutians are engaged by unknown enemies; subsequent examinations of the areas reveal shell casings from 5.45mm weapons, only used by the Warsaw Pact.

As a result of the ongoing conflict, control of Hong Kong remains in British hands, following an agreement between the Chinese and British governments to extend the British lease of the colony to such time as Chinese government is prepared to administer the area.

The Echo II-class cruise missile sub K-35 arrives at the naval base at Pavlovsk Bay, pulling into the tunnel dug into the mountainside to protect it from American attack. It is the submarine's first service with the Pacific Fleet and the conclusion of an epic patrol that departed Murmansk in December and took it through the North and South Atlantic and Indian Oceans before traversing the South China Sea and Sea of Japan, sinking Allied shipping and attacking targets ashore along the entire route.

VI German Korps heads northeast towards Brest, reinforcing V US Corps’ right flank, and soon encounters advanced elements of 5th Guards Tank Army.

VII US Corps' progress is halted by resistance from the 1st Shock Army and the effects of extended supply lines.

XI US Corps makes the least progress as the fanatical Polish defenders fight for every yard and launch countless counterattacks. The Poles are short of armored vehicles but their dismounted infantry know every inch of the rugged terrain of the Carpathian foothills and have the support of the local population. The Americans do not have enough infantry to secure their entire front, leaving their rear area vulnerable to infiltration by small Polish units.

In beseiged Warsaw, a 37-year old ZOMO (riot police) captain, Krzysztof Czarny, leads his company in a counterattack to recapture part of the paint shop of the Ursus tractor plant from German troops. Within two hours his command has taken 75 percent casualties from a senseless direct attack.

The last American troops leave Swedish territory. To their north, the Soviet forces facing Norwegian troops in Finland are at the end of long and tenuous supply line, and the fervor of defending the Soviet homeland wanes once the Finnish border is reached. Short of ammunition and fuel and with the Northwestern TVD on a theater-wide counterattack, 26th Corps orders the 115th Motor-Rifle Division to maintain a passive pursuit of the retreating Norwegians. Prince Jungi is happy to oblige, eager to return to his home territory and possible redeployment of his force to defend the border with the USSR.

US carriers (the John F Kennedy and America) turn their attention to the island of Crete, launching numerous airstrikes along the length and breadth of the island; dispatching the destroyer Briscoe to use its 5" guns in shore bombardment. The Greek missile boat Plotarhis Bessas, hiding in a cove on the south side of the island, launches all four of its Exocet missiles at 6 nm range at the destroyer. One is shot down by the destroyer's CIWS, one misses and the other two strike, one amidships and the other on the helipad. The warheads cause significant damage, and, like in the Falklands conflict 15 years prior, their unburned propellant ignites a massive fire. Within 45 minutes the order is given to abandon ship.

Navy salvage teams clear the first deep draft cargo berth at the port of Bandar Abbas as SEEBEEs clear the last unexploded ordnance from Bandar Abbas International Airport. (The Havadarya air base on the west end of the city was the first captured and returned to service.)

The USS Independence and its battle group disembark VMFA-112 and its F/A-18s and head out to sea, responding to rumors of activity by the remnants of the Soviet Indian Ocean Squadron.

[lordroel]

Just want to say, keep it up.

[chico20854]

July 1, 1997

Greece declares war on NATO in retaliation for the alliance's support of Turkey (which the Greeks interpret as interference in a local conflict unrelated to the larger NATO-Pact conflict) and the American strikes on its naval bases.

Unofficially,

The US 17th Airborne Division is formed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri from new draftees and volunteers from the Army throughout the continental US.

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

The 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing implements its dispersal plan, dispatching maintenance and support teams to dispersal airfields throughout the west coast.

A team of recalled reserve pilots and ground crew from the USAF and USN who have experience with the T-33 (alongside three Canadian pilots, who trained on the type) arrive at Mojave, California to begin a quick familiarization course on the AT-33E Skyfox.

American C-17 military transport arrive at a remote pattch of the Taklamakan Desert in far western China. While they have the blessing of the Chinese authorities, no word has been given to local authorities of the American's arrival in the vast desert. The aircraft land on a dry lakebed, unloading heavy equipment to drill a well, establish refuelling infrastructure (including a tankfarm in fuel bags) and a very bare-bones housing and support package. The secret soon-to-be-airbase will be used to support American aircraft's entry into the USSR through lightly defended Central Asian airspace.

South Korean troops of the WHAT Corps and the US I Corps, advancing in parallel, are less than 50 km from Pyongyang, North Korea. The North Korean Army in front of the Allied force has largely disintegrated, but the advance is slowed by local civilians, who alternately clog the roads, heading south as refugees seeking peace, prosperity and safety in South Korea and attack Allied forces heading north as diehard (and to Western eyes, brainwashed) holdouts seek to prevent their homeland from being overrun by foreign invaders.

map of front lines
The commander of the German III Korps calls on the last defenders of the Hel naval base to surrender; his offer is met by a barrage of mortar fire on his front lines. (Expending the last of the defender's stock of mortar ammunition).

In eastern Poland, V US and VI German Corps' advances grind to a halt while NATO deploys its reserves of strike aircraft and deep strike munitions to break up 1st Byelorussian Front. Confident of the suppression of the Voyska-PVO, the USAF releases the 379th Bomb Wing’s B-52G bombers to carpet bomb the Soviet force with a mixture of cluster and high explosive bombs. The bombing destroys relatively few armored vehicles but succeeds in disrupting the rear areas of both armies, damaging or destroying truck parks, supply dumps and towed artillery batteries.

II British Corps and III US Corps continued their progress, approaching Olsztyn from the south. Overextended and dependent on a handful of bridges and what could be flown into captured and expeditionary airfields, their advance slows while XII German Korps tightens the encirclement of Reserve and Baltic Fronts in the Wisła bend. (The Soviets are withdrawing from the west bank of the river under pressure from I German Korps, concentrating north of Torun for an attempt to break out). Olsztyn is defended by one of the last full strength OTK regiments and the 15th Mechanized Division, reduced to little more than a regiment in strength.

In northern Poland, Second German Army deploys VII German Korps to III US Corps’ left, pressing the remnants of Polish 1st Army back along the coast to the Soviet border.

In Warsaw, Captain Czarny is provided two dozen teenage boys as reinforcements for his company, which suffered losses of over 75 percent in fighting the prior day. They have never fired a military rifle and are not provided with uniforms, helmets, weapons or training before being assigned to his command. German, American and British troops continue to press in on the city, accompanied by constant artillery barrages on defensive positions.

The Karasuando Massacre creates tremendous anti-American sentiment in Sweden, forever condemning any chance of Sweden joining the war on NATO’s side. Few Swedes that see video footage of American troops shooting at Swedish police and middle-aged home guards or pictures of the burned ruins of downtown Kiruna can support joining the war as co-belligerents alongside NATO. The Swedish people and government ralliy around their military and, dismissing the offer of continued American air support from Norwegian bases, undertake the effort to deal with 26th Corps, which is gradually solidifying its positions in Swedish Lapland.

Morale in the NATO force in Norway slumps as a result of the defeat of the long-planned offensive. The air and naval forces have taken tremendous losses and infantry battalions at the front are badly depleted. While the wounded have been evacuated south and west, the Norwegian intelligence service’s informant at the Murmansk train station reports numerous carloads of Allied POWs headed south under heavy guard. The special operations troops that have survived the offensive are exfiltrating and unable to intercept the trains, and Finnish and Russian civilians and militias are rounding up downed airmen nearly every day. It is a dark time to be an Allied fighter in northern Norway. Nonetheless, actual disciplinary problems and desertion are low although black humor and soldier’s griping are rampant

In Iran, the 1st Marine Division passes through scattered Iranian defensive positions in the Zagros Mountains before entering the no-mans'-land that separates Allied and Soviet controlled territories. To their east, the Marines of the 4th Division launch vigorous attacks on the 201st Motor-Rifle Division, driving the Soviet division back to its previously prepared main line of resistance.

[chico20854]

July 2, 1997

Keeping with its treaty obligations, Italy declares war on NATO.

Canadian troops in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia prepare defense lines throughout both provinces.

Warsaw Pact forces withdraw from the front with the Chinese Army quickly following them.

Unofficially,

The 276th ADA Battery (Laser) (Provisional) is relieved of its test and development mission and placed on alert for immediate deployment. One of the battery's four platoons (with three XM-12 systems) will remain at Fort Bliss to develop tactics and train new crew members. One platoon is airlifted to Korea to use its novel system against a variety of ground and air targets, while the battery headquarters and two firing platoons deploy to Europe via priority airlift.

Private Cutler's barracks business grows, now offering candy and Playboys, which Cutler has begun buying without orders being placed in advance.

The American carriers Abraham Lincoln, Stennis and Nimitz launch Operation Left Sweep, another raid on Soviet naval facilities near Vladivostok. The strikes' fighter escort further whittle down the PVO air defense interceptor fleet - the panicked commander of the 23rd PVO Corps reports that if he does not immediately receive a shipment of missiles and replacement aircraft he cannot guarantee round the clock coverage of Vladivostok.

NATO advanced elements close on the Soviet-Polish border, continuing the siege of Warsaw. SACEUR, General Phelps, is most concerned about the threat posed by 1st Byelorussian Front in the center. Intelligence indicates that the front’s third army, 3rd Guards Tank Army, is moving towards the border, ready to exploit any crack in First German Army’s line. The aerial bombardment has disrupted the Soviet force temporarily, but once the offensive resumes there is a serious possibility that the NATO force will not be able to hold, let alone continue to advance. A bold response is needed, and once again it is decided to risk USAF assets to resolve the crisis.

The 487th Tactical Missile Wing (-) is declared operational, with its headquarters at Konya AB, Turkey.

The US Sixth Fleet strikes the Italian naval base at Taranto. The attack submarine USS Scranton is lurking outside the entrance, catching the frigate Aliseo in the flank with a pair of Mk 48 torpedoes and the destroyer Francesco Mimbelli with a pair of Harpoons. The attack stirs up a confused hornets nest as the base responds to the American air attack, and the Italians manage to spot the submerged boat and sink her with helicopter-delivered depth charges.

photo
As I MEF continues its advance in the Zagros Mountains, rear area troops continue their efforts to sustain the advance as well as establish a base structure in heavily damaged Bandar Abbas. Maintenance teams search the city for materiel that can be salvaged and repaired or reissued.

An Aeroflot I-86 arrives in Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow carrying Italian mechanical and industrial engineers and planners to resume their oversight of the completion of the truck plant on the city's outskirts.

[chico20854]

July 3, 1997

A Canadian battle group raised for service in Korea has its departure cancelled and, renamed Northern Command, is sent to Yukon.

The last USAF troops leave Point Salines Airport in Grenada.

Unofficially,

XV Corps Headquarters completes its command post exercise at Ft Leavenworth, Kansas and is declared ready for deployment.

A militiaman near Nogales, Arizona opens fire on a group of Mexican immigrants fleeing north.

The second regiment from the 5th Marine Division (the 27th Marines) arrives at Twentynine Palms, California to join its sister regiment the 26th in regiment-level pre-deployment exercises. The troops practice working in coordination with artillery, tanks and close-support aircraft from VMFAT-101, the F/A-18 readiness squadron at Air Station El Toro.

Soviet Arctic troops advancing across the Bering Strait consolidate their positions on the coast, establishing Nome as their headquarters and logistical hub, taking advantage of the port and airport facilities.

South Korean troops and American Marines of I MEB close on the North Korean coastal city of Hamhung, North Korea's third largest city and a major industrial center and transportation hub.

The Commander of 2nd Western Front reports that his troops holding the city of Brest have less than one days' supply remaining and that the rail lines leading to his front’s rear area have been cut; reinforcing divisions promised him are gathering near Smolensk but immobile while awaiting trucks to bring forward supplies of fuel for their hodgepodge collection of wheeled vehicles and to move the armored vehicles to the front.

The German III Korps reports that the town and naval base of Hel are finally under control, over a month after the start of the Battle of the Hel Peninsula.

In besieged Warsaw, troops of the American 40th Infantry Division (California National Guard) clear the last defenders from the now ruined terminal of Warsaw International Airport. ZOMO Captain Czarny's depleted company is assigned a reserve position 500m behind the front line in the Ursus Tractor Factory; he spends much of the day scavenging weapons and equipment from the dead and wounded to give his teenage recruits.

The last NATO troops (from the Norwegian Vestoppland Infanteri Regiment, part of 6th Brigade that had fought throughout the entire campaign) leave Soviet territory on the Kola Peninsula.

A GRU detachment arrives at Comiso Air Base, Sicily to tour the former USAF Ground Launched Cruise Missile facility. The team will brief Spetsnaz teams on the detailed layout of the facility, which closely resembles similar ones in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.

A fire rages through the Kama River Truck Plant's diesel engine manufacturing facility. The plant is the Soviet Union's largest truck plant.

A Soviet raider, a converted Cuban SD-14 type freighter, sinks the Panamanian-flag (but US-owned) tanker Texaco Star as it transits the Caribbean from Venezuela to the US Gulf Coast.

The Egyptian government completes an award of a contract to clear the Suez Canal of mines and sunken ship. The winning bid goes to a company led by a trio of retired generals that has little experience in large projects, has only a dozen employees (nearly all relatives of the generals) and until receiving the first payment under the contract, virtually no money to mobilize men and equipment to do the job.

Low-level skirmishing break out along the entire length of the Indian-Pakistani border as both nations rush troops to the front. Islamist tribal militias in northwestern Pakistan fill the vacuum left by the withdrawal of Army troops.

[ToughOmbres]

Excellent reading. By this time in the timeline is the US following the Danish example and setting up the first (or expanding existing) Strategic Reserve Stockpiles like the one in Allegheny Uprising?

[Homer]

Originally Posted by chico20854

A GRU detachment arrives at Comiso Air Base, Sicily to tour the former USAF Ground Launched Cruise Missile facility. The team will brief Spetsnaz teams on the detailed layout of the facility, which closely resembles similar ones in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.

Not only will they have the GAMA area at Comiso to learn from, they’ll get a couple of different WSAs and Victor Alert areas at Italian and former US bases to study. The Greeks will have a strategic reconnaissance aircraft Base at Hellenikon and the Souda Bay complex (or what’s left of it) to offer.

There’s a lot of information to be gained, depending on how far the Greeks and Italians are willing to let the Soviets go in exploiting the sites.

[chico20854]

July 4, 1997

The megapunk band Terminal Illness holds a "Release Dain Dangerous" concert on the Boston Common. Band members decide to omit the request for a permit, inviting the police to do something about it. A directive is issued by an emergency meeting of the city council to prohibit the concert and disperse any megapunks that gather at the Common. The success at enforcing the directive is short-lived, and by early evening 80,000 megapunks fill downtown Boston. In the greatest blunder in the history of the Boston Police Department, Chief Elliot Washington orders the arrest of Terminal Illness. Fifty veteran officers, armed with riot shotguns (loaded with rubber bullets and tear gas), approach the bandstand from the rear. As the officers rush the band members, Greasy Fellow (the band's backup guitarist) drops one of them with a roundhouse swing of his guitar. Six shotgun blasts answer his defiance. The crowd, already whipped to a frenzy by the music, charges the bandstand. The officers fire into the crowd trying to disperse it, with no visible effect. In a crazed rush, the megapunks overrun the officers. City riot units cannot regain control of the Common, and the mayor requests aid from the governor.

photo
Italian troops of the 4th Alpini Army Corps and 3rd Army Corps cross into Tyrolia, taking the Austrian garrison units by surprise. Italian airmobile and airborne troops capture mountain passes and tunnels, and alpine troops quickly link up with them, overrunning the defenders.

Unofficially,

A-10s of the 343rd Tactical Fighter Wing engage Soviet invasion forces in Alaska. Patrols of the 172nd Infantry Brigade (Arctic) clash with Soviet hovercraft of the 1st Arctic Mechanized Brigade as they screen the Soviet invasion fleet, in the world’s first hovercraft vs. hovercraft battle.

American strike aircraft once again destroy the bridge at Khasan, cutting the sole rail line between the USSR and North Korea.

South Korean troops are now 25 km from central Pyongyang as resistance stiffens, bolstered by the increasingly urban terrain that favors defenders more than the open fields south of the city.

photo
7th Fleet launches Operation Kickback - the American submarines Chicago, Honolulu, Key West and Columbus strike Soviet Naval Aviation bases in Pacific (from Vladivostok to Petropavlovsk) with submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. The strikes are quite successful, overwhelming the air defenses of the region following the recent carrier strikes.

A combined British-American force assaults Olsztyn in northeastern Poland. The US 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment skirts the city to the north, then turns south, while the British 6th Armoured Brigade repeats its armored thrust into the heart of the city that had failed in Warsaw weeks ago. This time the result is different, with demoralized Polish defenders slipping away into the forests south of the city.

Overnight into the 5th all the C-130s that NATO can muster in Europe drop airborne troops throughout 1st Byelorussian Front’s rear. The US 4th Ranger Battalion conducts a raid on 1st Byelorussian Front’s rear headquarters, killing or capturing the staff responsible for the front’s logistical support. The 240th Fallschirmjäger Brigade, only partially reformed after the battle of Inowrocław, captures the airbase at Biała Podlaska, with its 10,000-foot runway and adjacent rail line and highways. The 27th Fallschirmjäger Brigade lands from helicopters along 5th Guards Tank Army’s main supply route, establishing a network of company-size ambush positions along roads and travel routes in an attempt to paralyze the Soviet force by cutting off all supply movement. To the north the 26th Fallschirmjäger Brigade does the same to 7th Tank Army’s rear, while the 25th Fallschirmjäger Brigade drops along the Bug River, capturing bridges on the border.

The NATO troops from the Lapland Offensive, once returned to Norwegian territory, are directed to garrison locations to rebuild and rest. 10th Mountain Division has taken over 60 percent casualties overall and many of its infantry battalions are almost empty shells. Prince Jungi’s mechanized force is in desperate need of maintenance, some of its tanks having towed their broken down counterparts out of Finland. Both take in a trickle of replacements while the veterans sleep for days on end and the commander of the 10th Mountain Division's cavalry squadron is evacuated to the US, relieved of command. SACEUR directs that Allied Forces Northern Norway, upon evacuation to Norwegian territory, release X Corps' troops and the marine brigades for service elsewhere in the Alliance area, as well as aircraft not needed for the air defense of northern Norway.

The Victor II-class submarine K-517, a survivor of the Battle of the Norwegian Sea, arrives in the Indian Ocean.

General Suryakin in the Transcaucasian Front requests an additional two regiments of trucks to support his troops fighting in the Zagros Mountains.

A flight of eight Boeing AT-33E Skyfoxes - 1950s-era T-33 trainers converted to counter-insurgency light strike aircraft - departs Mojave, California for NAS Beeville, Texas, the first leg of a ferry flight to Howard Air Force Base, Panama, where they will replace A-7s in the 156th Tactical Fighter Group (Puerto Rico Air National Guard), freeing up those aircraft for service in the Balkans, Korea or Middle East.

The fighting along the Indian-Pakistani border intensifies, unlike in the continual skirmishing of the prior months. By sundown Indian troops have crossed the border in strength south of Lahore, cutting off a Pakistani salient.

[chico20854]

Originally Posted by ToughOmbres

Excellent reading. By this time in the timeline is the US following the Danish example and setting up the first (or expanding existing) Strategic Reserve Stockpiles like the one in Allegheny Uprising?

Thanks!

Yes, at this point FEMA is well underway in its strategic stockpile program as well as its hasty evacuation site construction program. I haven't detailed them much as yet; IIRC I made reference to the appropriations being made in a war spending bill. I'll try to slip some news in in coming weeks.

[chico20854]

July 5, 1997

By dawn, National Guard units have secured the downtown area of Boston following the riots that erupted during megapunk band Terminal Illness' unpermitted concert on Boston Common. Thirteen dead police officers are located. Property damage in the downtown area is estimated at $25 million. Twenty-six felony arrest warrants are issued against the members of Terminal Illness, who are arrested and charged.

The Jugoslav 5th Army launches an attack against northeast Italy in a brave effort to uphold its obligations as a NATO member (and recapture disputed territory it lost after World War Two).

Unofficially,

The Freedom-class cargo ship Jackson Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, Texas and the Salinas Freedom in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Headquarters, 141 Air Refueling Wing at Shemya, Alaska is ordered to evacuate all essential personnel due to the Soviet invasion of Alaska; many personnel volunteer to remain and fight to the last man, buying time for subordinate squadrons to evacuate. Two KC-135Es, inoperable, are destroyed by their ground crews. The naval air detachment on the island, VP-48, loads its personnel and much of its ground support equipment aboard six of the squadron's P-3 Orions and evacuates to the mainland while the SOSUS station force destroys its equipment and hitches a ride on another evacuation aircraft. Soviet aircraft from surviving but damaged airfields near Petropavlovsk appear in force overhead with an airborne force to seize the island, prompting the 110th Tactical Fighter Squadron to sortie all 18 aircraft against Soviet invasion force. In the battle that follows, the American F-15s down 40 transports and escorting Su-27 fighters, at the cost of 8 F-15As. Its sister squadron, the 122nd, downs 30 aircraft at the cost of 16.

The 1st Brigade, 11th Airborne Division completes Rotation 97-9 at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, is declared combat ready, and placed on alert for immediate deployment to Alaska.

The trainees at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, including Private Cutler and his platoon, are entertained by a traveling USO show featuring the eccentric rock star Ted Hendrix.

Chinese partisans cause 15 derailments of Soviet supply trains within a 24-hour period. The People's Liberation Army enters the city of Harbin, which had been occupied by Soviet troops since September, 1995.

ROK and American mechanized forces begin an encirclement of Pyongyang, the Americans advancing to the west of the city, the South Koreans to the east. The ruling regime secretly begins to evacuate the city before becoming trapped in it.

The American submarines that launched Operation Kickback begin to withdraw, heading to the safety of waters east of Japan where they can link up with a submarine tender to replenish their empty missile launchers.

In Poland, II British Corps pursues the fleeing defenders of Olsztyn north towards the Soviet border, while III US Corps moves east into the Masurian Lakes region, where it is rumored that the Polish government is maintaining a secret command post and reforming troop units.

To the west, III German Korps has driven the defenders of Gdynia out, where they reinforce the garrison of Gdańsk. That city is gradually being reduced to rubble by fierce urban fighting and suffering among the civilian population is great.

The Soviets react violently to the Allied airborne assault. MVD troops and KGB Border Guard units clash with the German 25th Fallshirmjaeger Brigade's paratroopers, who grimly hold on to some of the bridges and are forced to retreat and destroy some of the others. The lightly armed troops are no match for the tanks that the tank divisions pull off the line, dispersing into the woods whenever the tanks appear. Soviet artillery barrages rain down on any units that stand and fight, although many batteries are under attack themselves.

While the Soviets are securing their rear area, however, V US Corps and VI German Korps resume their assault from the west. The Soviet force buckles, retreating in disarray as armored vehicles are hastily reassigned to escort truck columns or give rides to retreating soldiers on foot.

HQ, XV Corps loads aboard military and civilian aircraft at McGuire AFB, New Jersey for transit to Germany.

The GRU detachment in Italy travels to Ghedi Tore Air Base to perform a detailed analysis of the tactical nuclear weapons storage vaults there (11 of which are installed in hardened aircraft shelters), which are built to a standard NATO design.

In Iran, XVIII Airborne Corps troops make progress in their advance as the US Marines and supporting soldiers link up with scattered IPA units. The British 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment is transferred from reserve positions in Saudi Arabia to the front in Iran, reinforcing the gurkhas of 27th Infantry Brigade.

I MEF's advance is slow while 4th Marine Division's two tank battalions face superior numbers of Soviet tanks, manned by veterans of Afghanistan. The 48th Infantry Brigade (Georgia National Guard), with two armor and two mechanized infantry battalions, is rushing north to tip the scales in favor of the Allies.

Soviet experts report that the Kama River truck plant's diesel engine plant will be out of operation for an estimated 12-18 months if sufficient automated machine tools can be obtained from Italy to replace them (halting further progress on the Ivanovo plant). The KGB begins investigating the fire to determine if it was arson or an accident by an exhausted worker.

In the Caribbean, a Soviet raider (a converted freighter with hidden weapons) intercepts the Cypriot ore carrier Angel Pride, loaded with Jamaican bauxite. The raider captures the bulker, evacuating the crew before setting her accommodation block afire and sending her to the bottom.

Pakistani troops counterattack south of Lahore in an attempt to break the blocking force cutting off the Pakistani pocket, but Indian armored units succeed in halting the attack with massed artillery and air attacks.

[chico20854]

July 6, 1997

Canadian troops moving east for transportation to Europe are redirected and sent west to be held as a strategic reserve in Alberta.

Unofficially,

The Soviet Minister of Defense, at the urging of the Chief of the General Staff, the commanders of the Western and Far Eastern TVDs, the chairman of GOSPLAN and the head of the Military-Industrial Commission, requests a meeting of the Presidium of the USSR, the subgroup of the Politburo that oversees STAVKA and provides political direction of the overall war effort. At that meeting he is joined by the chair of the KGB and the Minister of the Interior (who controls the MVD Internal Troops) and summarizes the grave situation the Soviet war effort is facing. The ability of the Red Army to resist is collapsing in the Far East and the situation on the Western Front is likely to be in a similar situation within days as NATO troops cross the Soviet border in multiple sectors. The situation in the Balkans is proceding slowly, and the expansion of the war into Austria is further stressing the war effort. The North Korean Army is on the verge of collapse and Soviet troops are giving ground in Iran. Within the USSR the economy is in dire straits, ethnic tension and resistance to the war is growing while industrial production is slowing while the GRU reports ever increasing Western armaments production. He concludes by stating that the USSR has not been in such peril since the dark days of 1942 and urges an immediate renewal of the peace talks, with an offer of a worldwide immediate ceasefire in place as a sign of good faith.

The US 11th Airborne Division (less 3rd Brigade) is declared combat ready, although awaiting a full unit set of equipment, short of communications gear, helicopters, parachutes, HMMWVs and LAVs due to the needs of units at the front.

The Soviet 130th Air Assault Brigade, which was devastated by American fighters en route to their parachute drop on Shemya Island, Alaska, reduced to scattered and confused elements distributed all over the island (as well as troops on the nearby unihabited Aliad and Nizki Islands), struggles to overrun Eareckson Air Station, fiercely defended by a force of Alaska National Guardsmen, Air Force Security Forces and station personnel, sailors and Coast Guardsmen.

Cadets of the 10th California Cadet Brigade begin first aid, traffic control and disaster relief training at the El Toro Marine Corps airbase in Orange County.

B-52 bombers of the 43rd and 320th Bomb Wings strike Soviet air defense sites, coastal artillery positions, command posts, communications facilities and army garrisons in the Kurile Islands.

More secret convoys evacuate the Kim family from Pyongyang, each member travelling separately in a military convoy to various secret underground command posts and hideaways. A force of determined North Korean Army troops take heavy losses trying to hold open the last road leading out of the capital.

A Dutch Red Army attack on the nuclear weapons depot at Doornspijk is repulsed before breaching the perimeter.

photo photo
The Warsaw Pact launches an attack on Austria, with the Czechoslovakian 2nd Army and Soviet 28th Corps driving on Vienna and Lower Austria from the Bratislava area and 2nd Southwestern Front attacking from the East. Simultaneously, the 1st Southwestern Front launches a series of spoiling attacks along the lines in Bavaria to tie down Seventh US Army, I Dutch Corps and the German territorials.

In southeastern Poland, XI US Corps makes progress, entering the city of Rzeszow as the force moves forward along the foothills of the Carpathians. To their north, Panzergruppe Oberdorff reaches the Soviet border, the 46th Engineer Brigade assisting the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)'s Engineer Regiment in breaching the defenses along the Soviet border, one of the first US Army ground units on Soviet soil since the allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1918-20.

NATO forces assembled for the Kola Campaign begin to disperse. X Corps headquarters is flown back to Alaska to command the units responding to Soviet attacks in the 49th state.

HQ, XV Corps arrives in Germany. 7th Army plans to use the command along the Czechoslovakian border in East Germany, replacing VII Corps which is now on the Ukrainian border.

The front in Romania is largely static as Turkish and Romanian troops enjoy a respite as Soviet units are starved of fuel and ammunition, which has been diverted to other fronts. The American 71st Airborne Brigade continues to hold its positions outside Deva, Romania as its S-4 (logistics officer) frantically tries to establish a secure transport route for supplies to travel along, since the Adriatic Sea is now a war zone with Greek and Italian forces interdicting its entrance.

The Victory ship Wayne Victory arrives in Bandar Abbas and begins the discharge of its deck cargo of telephone poles, which are immediately used to repair the city's shattered communications system.

Third Army's Provost Marshall reports that 90 percent of the Soviet POWs captured in May's landings in Iran have now been evacuated to the United States, largely aboard transport aircraft that were leaving the region after discharging troops or cargo.

The carrier Lexington and her battle group are dispatched from the southern Gulf of Mexico into the Caribbean to hunt down the Soviet raider. It is supported by the HU-25 surface search aircraft of VOJ-202 composed of USCG personnel and aircraft, operating from the Muniz Air National Guard base in Puerto Rico.

[chico20854]

July 7, 1997

After a frantic 48 hours of legal activity, the members of the megapunk band Terminal Illness are released on astronomical bond. The band's attorney locates the band's leader and frontman Dain Danger in the Waltham County Sanatorium, where he has been admitted under the name of John Doe 23.

The Presidium of the Soviet Union authorizes the use of nuclear weapons.

Unofficially,

The decision to release nuclear weapons causes great consternation in the Soviet high command. The Minister of Defense had argued vigorously against the decision, stating that nuclear weapons are not a panacea and in fact would cause great damage to Moscow's Polish ally as well as opening the very real possibility of escalating rapidly to a general strategic exchange that would end in the destruction of the USSR. He is overruled by General Secretary Sauronski, who has convinced himself that NATO will be shocked by the first use of nuclear weapons since 1945 into abandoning its folly of supporting the Polish traitors' claim of the pre-1939 borders. He is joined by the Politburo's idealogical "voice of wisdom" who argues that the capitalist West is morally weak and that the Soviet victories in the Kola show that NATO troops do not have the will, at the individual soldier's level, to fight to overthrow the Soviet workers' paradise. The Foreign Minister doubts that the peace talks would be fruitful without the USSR having to accept humiliating conditions to secure peace. KGB Chairman Yangel remains largely silent throughout the deliberations, mostly confining his remarks to technical issues such as the release of warheads from KGB custody to military units tasked to deliver them. He, therefore, makes it of the utmost importance that his departure from Moscow immediately after the conclusion of the meeting remain absolutely secret.

Private Cutler's barracks business is faltering as his platoon mates have eaten their fill of candy and he has amassed a sizeable portion of the platoon's available cash. (The privates are required to have their pay deposited in a bank and only allowed to take a small portion of their pay in cash). He decides to expand his market to other platoons in the company, whose needs have been, until now, unmet!

The final regiment of the 5th Marine Division, the 28th, arrives in California to begin advanced combined-arms training as evaluators declare the 26th Regiment ready for action.

The Soviet 130th Air Assault Brigade on Shemya Island, Alaska has overrun the airfield and most of its hangars, destroyed the fuel tanks and has rallied its remaining paratroops into a semi-coherent force that has most of the remaining defenders pinned down in the base's support and barracks buildings.

The US supports Operation Repo, the Japanese occupation of the Kuriles. The 732rd Tactical Fighter Wing provides top cover & SEAD for Japanese aircraft that are supporting the landings, the 27th Tactical Fighter Wings's F-111s help interdict the islands. A RF-16C of the 192nd Tactical Reconniassance Squadron is lost on a dawn mission performing bomb damage assessment of the B-52 strikes. The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force escorts civilian transports, US Navy amphibious ships and its own force of 6 LSTs and the LSD Ōsumi from Hokkaido to landing stations off the islands of Iturup and Kunashir, landing troops around mid-day.

The Bundeswehr calls up the security units it had released in May, and Denmark commits two mechanized brigades and a regimental combat team to assist the struggling Austrians.

Additional units of First German Army surge eastwards in Poland to link up with the paratroops that are struggling along the Soviet border.

XI US Corps secures Rzeszow and its airport, while struggling to maintain a secure front to its south against frequent partisan attacks and infiltrators from the Polish 3rd Army.

The 113th Field Artillery Brigade (North Carolina National Guard) is transferred from III Corps in northeastern Poland to the Warsaw area, assigned to XXIII Corps, where the brigade's M-109 howitzer battalion (the 1st Battalion, 113th Field Artillery) is thrown into action supporting infantry battling towards the Siekierki power plant on the city's south side.

2nd Brigade, 6th Infantry Division (Light) embarks on buses and airliners for transfer to Stavanger, Norway, where it will load on ships for transfer to the Netherlands.

The Sierra III-class submarine K-231 is delivered from the shipyard in Gorky. The titanium-hulled boat is the last, and most advanced, nuclear-powered attack submarine built by the USSR. It begins a voyage to the Black Sea via the inland waterways, escorted by a tug boat and armed KGB riverine patrol vessel.

The Victor II-class attack submarine K-517 locates an Allied convoy moving along the East African coast. It attacks, blowing the bow off the escorting American frigate USS Bagley as well as sinking the American freighters Cape Farragut and Richmond Freedom (on her maiden voyage) and Liberian tanker Esko Stokes. It flees the area, pursued by the British frigate Juno and American Coast Guard cutter Jarvis.

The second flight of AT-33E Skyfoxes arrive at Howard Air Force Base, Panama.