On this day 25 years ago

[chico20854]

February 3, 1997

Nothing official today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 4, 1997

Nothing in the canon today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 5, 1997

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

Unofficial:

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

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

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

The fierce but static fighting near the DMZ continues.

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 6, 1997


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

Unofficially,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 7, 1997

Nothing in the canon for today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 8, 1997

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

Unofficially:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 9, 1997

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

Unofficial:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 10, 1997

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

Unofficially:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 11, 1997

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

Unofficial:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 12, 1997

Nothing official for today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 13, 1997

Nothing official for the day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 14, 1997

Another day with nothing in the official canon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 15, 1997

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 16, 1997

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

Unofficially:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 17, 1997

Nothing official today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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