On this day 25 years ago (Commentary Thread)

[chico20854]

February 23, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day!

Unofficially:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

Adminsitrative note... I'll be out for a long weekend. I'll get caught up on Tuesday!

[shrike6]

Chico, came across something you might find helpful. Direct link in your PMs

[chico20854]

Chico, came across something you might find helpful. Direct link in your PMs

Thanks! I'll take a look!

[chico20854]

Adminsitrative note... I'll be out for a long weekend. I'll get caught up on Tuesday!

I'm back, although I'll only be able to get a couple days in today, the rest tomorrow!

[chico20854]

February 24, 1997

Nothing official today, but unofficially:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 25, 1997

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

Unofficially:

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 26, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day. Unofficially,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 27, 1997

Another day with nothing official!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

February 28, 1997

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

Unofficially,

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

March 1, 1997

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

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

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

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

Unofficially,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

March 2, 1997

Nothing official for today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

March 3, 1997

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

Unofficially:

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

March 4, 1997

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

Unofficially:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[chico20854]

March 5, 1997

Nothing in the canon for the day! Unofficially,

NATO heads of state begin another secret session on war strategy. This meeting includes the Jugoslav and Romanian leadership as well as a delegation from the Polish government in exile.

USAF and RAF strike aircraft launch a series of attacks on Polish and Soviet supply dumps and fuel depots that have been identified by radar aircraft orbiting over the Inter-German Border.

The 39th Infantry Brigade (Air Assault) (Arkansas National Guard) completes Rotation 97-6 at JRTC-2 at Fort Chaffee, AR and declared combat ready.

The Iranian 42nd Tactical Fighter Squadron receives its F-20s in Savannah, Georgia, completing the outfitting of the 41st Wing. The squadron flies their new aircraft to Pensacola, Florida for conversion training. (The squadron's personnel are experienced with the F-20s predecessor, the F-5E, so training focuses on the differences between the two models).

The eccentric rock star Ted Hendrix calls off his round the world voyage in his yacht the Iron Duke (a carefully reproduced copy of the clipper ship Cutty Sark) due to the world situation. He leaves the ship in Key West, Florida, heading to his ranch in North Dakota for some big game hunting.

Two Soviet submarines, the Victor I-class K-367 and the Victor III-class K-251, infiltrate the Japanses naval base at Sasebo and sink the destroyer Haruyuki, the frigates Oyodo and Sendai and the oiler Sagami. The K-367 is sunk as it tries to escape the area.

The Soviet raider Buliny, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, departs Luanda, Angola at dark.

The American heavy cruiser Newport News is detached from the escort of Convoy 124, heading for Scapa Flow, Scotland.

Convoy 8.1 arrives in Split, Croatia and begins unloading munitions, light vehicles and supplies to support the Romanian and Jugoslav war effort.

Convoy 8.2 splits once again, with six ships heading to Antalya, Turkey while the remaining 12 head southeast towards Israel and the Suez Canal.

3rd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division begins unloading the transports Shugart, Gordon, Yano, Gililand and Soderman in Damman, Saudi Arabia as additional aircraft arrive carrying the brigade's troops.

The Soviet 7th Guards Army attacks the Iranian I Corps in the Kermanshah-Hamadan-Bourjes area.

The supertanker Solt Companion continues to drift in the Straits of Hormuz; the fires aboard are too intense for salvage crews to board to attach a tow line. US and Allied naval forces in the region begin a frantic effort to locate the naval Spetsnaz teams that were responsible for the attack on the tanker, but there are dozens and dozens of small trading vessels in the region. Ironically, one of the most useful assets in this effort are the over 150 small armed motorboats manned by the Pasdaran, boats that had plagued the Persian Gulf in the 1980s.