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]

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

Thanks! Glad folks are enjoying this!

I like the selling the phone car scam. Ive heard that happens. Cant wait till they get the ta-50 theft ring thatll oehelp you buy it back. Ive 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 posts 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.

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(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 formations 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 Ojc3w National Park 20 km north of Krakow. Styling himself the Baron of Ojc3w, 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 wings 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 Bod,.

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 armys motor-rifle divisions, which are chronically short of tanks and a reasonable reaction to the questionable competence of the divisions 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]

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 doesnt discuss it, but has SACEUR maintained the victor alert force Those additional aircraft would be tempting to raid for reinforcements. Of course, theyll be plenty busy soon enough

[Targan]

[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]

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.