On this day 25 years ago (Commentary Thread)

[chico20854]

Do you think by now in the conflict Portugal's Mechanized Brigade which was IRL earmarked for NATO would have entered combat or been retained in Portugal

Canon doesn't mention Portugal at all... I believe that the NATO-committed mechanized brigade was slotted for service in Northeastern Italy. With Italy out of NATO that mission goes away. It should probably be considered for employment in Turkey. I hadn't really concentrated on it, so thank you, I'll see if I can write it in soon!

The Portugese airborne and marines will make an appearance soon, though, I believe! Stay tuned!

[chico20854]

True, if CWC implementation was followed through, the weapons would be at Johnston Atoll, PB arsenal or elsewhere for destruction. Not sure if the CWC process went down the same way in T2K- could easily see it not happening.

That said, my question was more related to the 55th SRW dispersing earlier than the remainder of the strategic force. Its assets have a pre and post attack C2 and targeting role. I was curious about the the trigger for their dispersal considering it happened in CONUS in advance of the initiation of nuclear warfare and separate of other assets dispersing. Since pact CW use did not trigger a US/NATO nuclear response I wondered if it increased the readiness posture of US strategic forces or if the dispersal was just coincidence.

I have the CWC fall to the wayside when the Soviets suppress the liberalization in Eastern Europe in 1989, so the US plows ahead with development and fielding of the Bigeye chemical bombs and binary chemical rounds, as well as retention of older 1950s-era capability. The mustard gas attack mentioned a few days ago was with older chemical weapons, mustard gas from the 1950s, chosen because it is more persistent than the nerve gas in the modern rounds.

The 55th SRW dispersal was just a forward-looking commander "taking initiative".

[Homer]

Cool- thanks.

So, Steel Box/Golden Python didnt happen. That means theres a good quantity of air and artillery delivered agent out there. As I recall Clausen and Miesiau kept the bulk of US chemical rounds in USAREUR. Like nuclear, they were available for oesharing with allied partners as circumstances required.

[bash]

I just started following this thread again. It's so well done!

[ToughOmbres]

Portugal

I believe that's correct-the mechanized brigade from Portugal was earmarked for Italy RL/our time line. The Brigade's area of assignment/responsibility is a bit fuzzy now-been a long time.

Regardless the 25 Years ago thread is excellent and always look forward to future installments!

[chico20854]

July 29, 1997

The American forces in Iran are quick to recover. The commander of the US I MEF, Lt. General Samuel A. MacLean, assumes command of CENTCOM while the commander of the US XVIII Airborne Corps, Lt. General Edward Carabello, takes over the US 3rd Army. The first step MacLean takes is to order a withdrawal to the Gulf Coast. The 3rd Army begins moving out of their forward positions even as the Soviets attack. Most units withdraw in good order under the protection of the 6th ACCB and elements of the US 9th Air Force.

Unofficially,

The Victory ship Pan American Victory and cargo ship Nancy Lykes are reactivated in Oakland, California and begin loading cargo for the CENTCOM AOR.

In Alaska, the remainder of X Corps, facing 25th Corps along the Yukon River east of Nome, is ordered to undertake a fighting withdrawal eastward, evacuating to the Fort Wainwright-Fairbanks area.

In southern China the Soviet 28th Army consolidates its hold on the city of Nanning. Their Vietnamese allies encourage them to continue their advance, especially as Chinese resistance has faded away, but the Soviet commander is reluctant, concerned about his ability to protect his supply lines, which themselves are fragile, support from home virtually non-existent due to Allied naval activity.

South Korean artillery and tank units in Pyongyang concentrate their fire on the unfinished Ryugyong Hotel, which looms 105 stories over the city and provides innumerable observation points for the fanatical defenders.

To the north, advance patrols of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) link up with the lead elements of the Chinese 45th Airborne Division. I Corps turns its axis of advance eastward to clear the mountainous center of the country and link up with Allied forces operating along the east coast of the peninsula.

The Soviet attack outside Brest is slowed by German artillery fire that drops DPICM, FASCAM and chemical rounds on the lead tank regiments. Behind the Soviet lines, a German Fernsp$her long-range reconnaissance patrol frantically searches the Soviet rear area for targets for a tactical nuclear round.

Soviet EW forces jam NATO's JSTARS airborne radar, blinding the vital targeting asset. NATO air forces need over four hours to sortie Dutch F-16s with ARMs to attack the jammers; once they leave the area the jamming resumes. After dark falls NATO ELINT assets locate the jammers and MLRS rockets are fired at them, blanketing the area around them with submunitions.

The fighting in Bavaria slows as the Italian forces consolidate their holdings, reposition units and replenish supplies. Opposite them NATO forces try to reorganize a coherent defense line as additional troops arrive.

A change of government occurs in Portugal. The prior government, which had followed a policy of neutrality despite its NATO obligations, is replaced with a right-wing one that offers Portugal's expeditionary forces (marines, airborne troops and a mechanized brigade which had been tasked to northeastern Italy) for employment in the Mediterranean. The change in government is trumpeted by Soviet propaganda as a military coup in the Iberian nation, highlighting that the new Prime Minister is a former Army captain.

F-111Fs of the 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron strike the Italian Trapani Birgi AFB in Sicily. The remainder of the 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron deploys to Moron AB, Spain from RAF Lakenheath and commences flying strike missions against targets in Sardinia, Sicily and southern Italy.

Commanders of the Jugoslav 5th Army issue desperate calls to Beograd for additional troops, ammunition, armored vehicles and air support to help counter the Italian offensive. The only air support that is forthcoming is a dozen sorties from the Americans of the 112th Tactical Fighter Wing (Pennsylvania National Guard), who are able to silence the Italian's MLRS force with liberal application of cluster munitions. The Jugoslav Army, facing Pact troops on all sides and exhausted by months of war in Romania, has nothing to spare.

The Soviet drive outside Kars, Turkey is stalled when the Turkish IX Corps command orders the mobile portion of the 14th Mechanized Brigade (a battalion of infantry in M59 APCs, a tank battalion in M-47 tanks and a self-propelled artillery battalion with M52T self-propelled 155mm howitzers) to halt the Soviet attack and drive 42nd Corps back across the border in preparation for a Turkish assault on the border city of Leninkan. The plan is a fantasy, but the loyal Turkish brigade commander faithfully orders his brigade forward. The counterattack is a debacle as the Soviet artillery commander masses over 150 guns and howitzers on the Turkish formation as it advances over open ground in broad daylight. The survivors of the artillery attack then run into the 42nd Motor-Rifle Divisions 392nd Tank Regiment, whose T-62s are superior to the aged American tanks. By sundown the brigade is destroyed, its survivors absorbed by the 9th Infantry Division, which is rushing to the Kars region.

[chico20854]

I believe that's correct-the mechanized brigade from Portugal was earmarked for Italy RL/our time line. The Brigade's area of assignment/responsibility is a bit fuzzy now-been a long time.

Regardless the 25 Years ago thread is excellent and always look forward to future installments!

I just started following this thread again. It's so well done!

Glad folks are enjoying this!!!

[chico20854]

July 30, 1997

The Soviet 1st Tank Division begins redeployment from China to Poland.

Unofficially,

Seeing the potential to destabilize the situation, Carl Hughes, leader of the shadowy New America extremist group, authorizes the infiltration of several of the civilian militias on the Mexican border by members of his organization.

The Echo II-class cruise missile submarine K-35 departs the Pavlovsk Bay submarine base outside Vladivostok for its next patrol.

Patrols from IX US Corps, driving northeast through central North Korea, establish direct radio contact with South Korean troops of the II Corps in their positions to the east.

The Soviet 1st and 2nd Far Eastern Fronts have fully committed their reserve formations and are advancing on a broad front from Mongolia to the Yalu. Chinese resistance is met almost immediately with tactical nuclear firepower, and individual regiments and divisions, acting with uncharacteristic initiative, launch themselves southward, advancing headlong regardless of lines of communication to their rear.

On the edge of the Arctic icepack northwest of Spitsbergen, the American attack submarine USS Olympia locates the Soviet Delta II-class SSBN K-92 and sinks her with two Mk. 48 torpedoes.

American logisitcs units in western Germany begin mass issues of the last rounds remaining in the vast ammunition depots that had been built up in prewar years - chemical munitions of a dizzying variety - artillery shells, aerial bombs, even landmines. The chemical weapons are distributed to a wide variety of American and NATO commands.

The German I Korps and XII Korps pause their attack on the large Pact pocket around the city of Torun as supplies of fuel and ammunition are cut to support higher priority units elsewhere.

The Soviet counterattack at Brest continues, with German forces pushed back another 5 km under intense (conventional) artillery attack. The only nuclear weapon use is against the Soviet 325th Tank Regiment, part of the 30th Guards Tank Division, whose regimental commander (an elderly colonel recalled from retirement after the regiment's prior commander was killed by a Romanian partisan as the division was en route to Byelorussia) was tricked by German radio-intelligence units to first transmit in the clear and then to relay his location to the Germans (who were impersonating his lost engineer company commander).

British II Corps makes another attempt to cross the Narew River, this time north of Grodno, against weak Soviet resistance (mostly the mobilization-only 249th Motor-Rifle Division and MVD internal troops), but the lack of adequate bridging equipment dooms the attempt.

Italian forces in Bavaria continue their pause as additional supply convoys wind their way through the Alps. Overhead the air battles diminish in intensity as some of the remaining Italian interceptors are diverted south and east to deal with NATO air attacks on Sicily and Jugoslav air attacks.

The 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron's F-111Fs strike Palermo Air Force Base and Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily.

The Italian assault in Slovenia rolls on as the overextended and poorly trained, equipped and motivated Jugoslav troops of the 5th Army begin to surrender en masse.

In eastern Turkey the 9th Infantry Division arrives in the valley to the east of Kars throughout the day; behind a screen established by the division's armored cavalry battalion the division is able to deploy its first two regiments (the 9th and 28th) in battle positions as the division artillery digs its guns in.

Pasdaran guerrillas in Esfahan attack the home of the city's water authority (striking it with three RPG-7 rounds, setting it afire), following his decision to divert scarce resources from the city's population to supporting the Soviet military.

The Soviet 40th Army, driven into the desert east of Yadz, returns with a vengance. While the 5th Guards Motor-Rifle Division attacks the Marine lines (and artillery tries to disrupt the flow of reserves to the threatened sector), the 201st Motor-Rifle Division sweeps south and west in a drive to cut the American supply lines. The 108th Motor-Rifle Division sends a two-regiment operational maneuver group west, into the no mans land between Yadz and Esfahan to block Allied reinforcements from that direction.

Despite the intervention of American Skyfox light attack aircraft earlier in the week, the town of brego, Colombia falls to the communist force that has been attacking it for weeks.

[chico20854]

July 31, 1997

The Dutch 104th Recon Battalion holds the approaches to Augsburg against a determined assault by the Italian Folgore Airborne Brigade. Although nearly wiped out, the 104th succeeds in preventing the Italian paratroopers from seizing several vital road junctions.

Unofficially,

The 9th Airborne Command and Control Squadron deploys some of its "Blue Eagle" airborne command post aircraft (a mix of EC-135 and E-6s) to its dispersal field at Kona International Airport, Hawaii.

The freighter Galveston Bay and troop ship General Patrick are activated in Oakland, California. Galveston Bay moves to Concord NWS to load ammunition, while the General Patrick moves to Tacoma, Washington to load troops for movement to Alaska.

Two US Army aviation contractors deliver in time to meet the end-of-month goals called for in their contracts. First, the Erickson Air Crane company delivers its first all-new CH-54B Tarhe, the fourth of the type to be accepted by the Army since 1972 (three others have been provided to the Alaska National Guard earlier in the year, assembled from spares the company had on hand at its Oregon facility). Second, two contract flight schools graduate their first classes that have trained on Robinson R44 light helicopters, rather than Army-owned and operated TH-57s.

The attack submarine USS Topeka, lurking off the Soviet coast near Vladivostok, detects the Echo II-class submarine K-35. After two hours of tracking, it attacks the old Soviet boat with three Mk-48 torpedoes and sinks it, ending the Soviet boat's long career attacking NATO targets around the world. (Its tally is two warships, seven tankers and freighters, 150 trucks and several aircraft destroyed in cruise missile attacks on Diego Garcia and Ningbo, China).

The USS Olympia is pursued by a pair of Soviet Tu-142 Bear-F ASW aircraft operating out of northern Russia after it sank a Soviet SSBN the prior day. It is able to escape by going deep and slow.

7th Tank Army's attack at Brest continues to gain steam as the 30th Guards Tank Division's spot in the line is replaced by the 47th (my 37th Guards) Tank Division. In the Army's rear area, survivors of the 120th Guards Motor-Rifle Division are transferred to the 30th Guards Tank, making up many of the losses it suffered in yesterday's tactical nuclear attack.

In the Baltic, Danish and American minesweeping forces complete clearing a safe zone around the hulk of the battleship Iowa.

F-111Fs of the 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron strike Comiso AFB, Sicily.

The Italian fleet sorties to drive 6th Fleet back from the Ionian and Aegean Seas. The movement is reported to US Naval Intelligence before the first ship weighs anchor (by a Christian Democrat officer apalled by Italy's socialist and communist-dominated goverment and its war against its longstanding NATO allies). The American carriers America and John F Kennedy are alerted, and the Italian fleet is met by a hail of missiles and bombs when it reaches open water beyond the range of land-based anti-aircraft missiles. The Italian carrier Garibaldi is hit by seven Harpoons and breaks its back, and seven other combatants are sunk or damaged before the fleet turns back to port.

The 42nd Motor-Rifle Division's assault on Kars, Turkey is reinforced by the arrival of the 19th Motor-Rifle Divison from the north, having blasted its way through the mountain passes from Georgia. The 19th faces the Turkish 9th Division's third regiment (the 17th), which offers fierce resistance to the advancing Soviets.

The Victory ship Wayne Victory begins its voyage back to US as part of Convoy 418.

In Iran, I MEF directs the full weight of 1st and 4th Marine Air Wings to disrupt 40th Army's counterattack on the 1st Marine Division at Yadz. Meanwhile, 4th Marine Division consolidates its positions in Kerman, protecting the east flank of the Allied advance and forcing support to the isolated airborne garrison at Chah Bahar onto a remote and lonely road far to the east, nearly touching the Pakistani border. The paras are subjected to harassment attacks by airstrikes from the USS Independence, preventing them from building up stocks to sustain them should the road be blocked.

To the north, the last elements of the 101st Air Assault Division abandon the Shia holy city of Qom as XVIII Airborne Corps withdraws to more defensible positions. The Iranian secret service, however, uses the brief Allied occupation of the city as an opportunity to infiltrate and exfiltrate agents and establish hidden supply caches.

[chico20854]

August 1, 1997

The last overland supply route between Yadz and Bandar Abbas is cut by attacking Soviet troops from the 40th Army, isolating 1st Marine Division.

The US 2nd Infantry Division relieves the surrounded airhead of the 2nd (my 44th) Chinese Parachute Division.

Another tank division, the 9th Guards (my 32nd Guards), begins movement from the front as it is ordered to be transferred from the Chinese front to Europe.

(unofficially) The Soviets launch a Kosmos 3M rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Almost immediately after launch it disgorged six Strela-3 secure communications satellites (used by the GRU to keep in touch with their agents and attaches around the world). NORAD, however, on high alert, is initially unable to distinguish between the satellites and Soviet nuclear weapons and sends out a flash nuclear alert. (officially) NATO governments spring into action, with President John Tanner ordering Vice President Julia Pemberton to board the NEACP (National Emergency Airborne Command Post) aircraft while he remains in Washington (taking shelter in the facility under the east wing of the White House). President Tanner refuses to leave Washington during this crisis. He says, in an informal remark to an aide, "I can't tell Americans to stand firm and stay calm if I'm hiding in a cave in the Smoky Mountains. If there's an inbound missile, I'll jump on a helicopter, but not one second before." Mrs. Tanner also refuses to leave Washington, but insists that their two children leave school and go to the family ranch in Wyoming.

Unofficially,

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

The American attack submarine Topeka is hounded by Soviet coastal forces and anti-submarine aircraft following its sinking of the Echo II-class boat K-35 the prior day. Defenders detect the breakup of the Soviet boat and send the corvette MPK-64 to investigate. The Soviet boat gets a return on the submarine and calls for more support; a Be-12 amphibian of the 289th Independent Anti-Submarine Aviation Regiment is the first to arrive. Soon the sky overhead is a hive of activity, with helicopters, flying boats and an Il-38 patrol plane all joining the hunt. Numerous torpedoes are dropped, all of which the American boat evades, but it is driven towards the corvette, which launches a volley from its anti-submarine mortars. One of the rounds strikes seconds after the American boat fires a volley of Mk 48 torpedoes at the Soviet ship. The 43-pound warhead punches a hole through the sub's conning tower (it struck at an angle), saving the hull from a major penetration, while the corvette turns at high speed to try to outrun the torpedoes. As the ship hits 32 knots it strikes a mine which had broke loose during the explosions and disruptions in the water over the prior hours, sinking MPK-64. The Topeka goes deep and slips away at 5 knots, trying to remain as quiet as possible with the damaged sail.

The front line in Ukraine and Poland is largely static, as both sides try to husband resources in a manner to prevent creation of a suitable nuclear target.

The Soviet high command brings forward the 26th and 28th Railway Brigades to repair the railyard in Kovel, Ukraine that had been struck by an American ATACMS-N missile on July 28th. The railroad troops provide the expertise and heavy equipment to repair the damage (which was relatively light, since the American missile had a W70-3 "nuetron bomb", which was optimized to create a massive blast of man-killing radiation but inflict little physical damage). Raw manpower was provided by a levy of over 1500 NATO POWs which were gathered from MVD prison camps from throughout Ukraine and Minsk, guarded by contingents from the 18th Convoy Brigade and 345th Convoy Regiment.

photo
Operation Carthaginian - the Allied invasion of Sicily and Sardinia - begins at dawn. The US 173rd Airborne Brigade and Canadian Parachute Regiment are dropped outside Messina, Sicily while the marines of the 8th Marine Expeditionary Brigade land at Marsala. The Iberian Airborne Brigade Group is dropped on the Caligari airfield, Sardinia and Portuguese marines land at Alghero. Air support is provided by the carriers America and John F Kennedy as well as fighters from the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing and Spanish Escuadron 121 and Escuadron 122 of Ala de Caza 12 at Torrejon de Ardoz, all supported by over a dozen KC-10 and KC-135 tankers.

Back in Portugal, the 1st Independent Composite Brigade begins the process of preparing for deployment. Additional conscripts are transferred in, and units from elsewhere in the Army are stripped of trucks, radios and other equipment needed to bring the brigade up to full strength.

Organized Jugoslav resistance on the Italian front has effectively ceased, with only isolated Army units offering resistance while the mass of the Jugoslav force either flees or surrenders.

In eastern Turkey, Third Army is forced to divide its attention when Soviet forces launch an amphibious attack on the Black Sea coast, cutting the coastal road between the port city (and naval base) of Rize and the border. The landing is bloody but successful as the Turkish defenders pound the invasion force with heavy fire from a wide variety of obsolescent guns and artillery pieces, sinking the escorting corvettes MPK-68 and SKR-30.

42nd Corps pauses for resupply and to allow better preparation for an attack on the Turkish defense around Kars, a defense that has been reinforced by the remnants of the 49th Mountain Infantry Brigade, which has reformed after being driven back from the border by the 19th MRD.

The reclusive Albanian regime begins a full mobilization of its military, which is heavily reliant on reservists. With few foreign diplomats in Tirana, and even fewer foreigners elsewhere in the country, the thinking behind the regime's decision is unknown. High officials refuse to acknowledge the development, let alone offer an explanation.

[chico20854]

August 2, 1997

The Dutch 104th Recon Battalion is withdrawn to Holland for reconstruction as the defense of the Augsburg area is strengthened with the arrival of additional British units of I British Corps.

Under pressure from the Soviet 7th Army and with Soviet paratroops of the 104th Guards Air Assault Division active to its rear, the 24th Infantry Division abandons Ahvaz, which it had captured but days before.

The commander of the 10th Guards Motor-Rifle Division, Major General V.B. Dovator, is killed in an American artillery attack while he is inspecting a forward position. His deputy commander, Konstantin P. Yermolayev, assumes command.

Although the Pembertons are divorced, the Vice President arranges for her daughter to take an extended hiking trip in the Cascades with her father. When it becomes obvious that a nuclear attack is not imminent, America's readiness level is downgraded, and conditions return more or less to normal. Vice President Pemberton objects to what she calls the "women and children first mentality" which had put her on the NEACP aircraft, and insists that she and the President trade off each time there is a crisis. The next time Tanner will board NEACP and Pemberton will stay in Washington until the last minute.

The population of patients suffering from PTSD at the Bay Pines, Florida VA hospital peaks at over 9,000.

Unofficially,

Strategic Reserve Stockpile SRS-27554-9, located at the US Department of Agriculture Sheep Research Center in Dubois, Idaho, is fully stocked with the arrival of the final shipment - ten brand-new M1081 LMTV trucks, loaded with MREs. The trucks are refueled and the entrance to the underground garage facility is concreted over.

The Italians resume their attacks in Bavaria, driving north from the northern suburbs of Munich towards Regensburg to link up with Czech troops and attacking across the Iller River, pushing back the exhausted troops of the US 10th Mountain Division.

On Sicily, the Canadian Airborne seizes the Messina municipal airfield, and a stream of C-130 and C-17 aircraft begins airlifting in the Espana Airmobile Brigade.

The Soviet 42nd Corps launches its attack on the Turkish IX Corps outside of Kars. Taking advantage of its superior training and equipment, the Soviet force masses 250 guns and howitzers, delivering a massive 45-minute barrage that tears great gaps in the Turkish defensive positions. The feeble counterbattery fire from the dug-in Turkish artillery is met with a devastating response (from two entire battalions of self-propelled 152mm howitzers guided by counterbattery radar). The final half dozen rounds fired by each Soviet gun before the assault commences are loaded with Soman nerve gas, blanketing the Turkish positions in deadly clouds. The subsequent Soviet assault is successful, running through the shattered and choking remnants of the 9th Infantry Division; by nightfall the Turkish commanding general is being interrogated by the 42nd Corps GRU detachment. Along the Black Sea Coast, Turkish troops battle the Soviet 156th Motor-Rifle Division for control of the town of Rize. The battle in the town has started innumerable fires and sends much of the civilian population fleeing.

In Cherbakul (in the Urals), the 257th Motor-Rifle Division, which was activated in June from the students and some of the cadre of the 78th Training Motor-Rifle Division, completes its training and embarks on trains for transit to the front in the west. The unit needs less than the normal amount of rail capacity, since it has only four battalions of tanks (old T-55s) and three battalion of APCs (early model, open-top BTR-60s).

[chico20854]

August 3, 1997

As in late 1950, the stunning success of the Allied summer offensive ultimately leads to disaster. The Soviet STAVKA, its armed forces hard pressed in Europe and struggling to maintain control of Manchuria, decides to take drastic countermeasures in order to neutralize this new threat to its conquests in China. As in late 1950, the Allies are taken by surprise by the direct, overwhelming intervention of a third power. Rushed to the Yalu, the newly-formed Soviet Yalu Front (consisting of the 30th and 35th Soviet Armies) crashes into the long, exposed right flank of 8th Army.

Unofficially,

The troop transport General Patrick loads 3000 replacement troops from Fort Lewis for movement to Alaska, sailing unescorted.

The first levy of American athletes - both collegiate and professional - report to basic training sites around the US following the June policy change which eliminated deferments for top-tier athletes. For many, it is shocking development and underscores just how bad the manpower pinch has become.

A disagreement mars the daily Joint Chiefs morning meeting, when the Army Chief of Staff and Commandant of the Marine Corps, reflecting on the latest manpower figures (losses, accessions and the allocation of drafted personnel), note that the Navy and Air Force have lost considerable numbers of weapons systems (ships and aircraft) and are decreasing in combat power yet continue to receive draftees as if they were still a much larger force, as well as retaining tens of thousands of excess personnel to crew and support ships and weapons that no longer exist and that American industry is unable to replace. The ground combat commanders, whose forces are taking heavy losses from Kaliningrad to Korea, see their manpower strength drop while the Navy and Air Force have excess service members. Chairman Cummings is able to tamp down the argument that follows, decreeing that the matter is to be decided by the Secretary of Defense.

Colonel Tumanski, his Spetsnaz team reduced to four men, receives word from Moscow Center that he is to concentrate his efforts on identifying targets that other teams (or systems) can hit.

Czech, Soviet and Italian troops link up north of Munich, cutting off the narrow corridor that was still open between Austria and Germany. Taking advantage of the transfer of NATO troops south to halt the Italians, the Czechoslovakian 2nd Motor-Rifle Division resumes its advance, capturing Nuremburg.

After several days of preparatory work, the hulk of the USS Iowa is taken under tow by a trio of tugs - two civilian oilfield support boats and the US Navy salvage tug Edenton.

All Italian resistance in Sardinia has ended. The San Marco marine regiment, rushed south from the Trieste battlefront, attempts an amphibious crossing of the Straits of Massina at night. The Italian Marines are decimated by the American paratroopers who are prepared for that eventuality.

photo
To the north of Sicily, a battle erupts as Patrol Hydrofoil Squadron Two, with the six Pegasus-class missile boats, intercepts a Italian surface squadron dispatched from Naples to interdict the NATO transport fleet. While awaiting support from fighter-bombers from the USS America (operating to the south of the island), the hydrofoils accelerate to 48 knots on their foils and close on the Italian ships, which an orbiting E-3 AWACS aircraft in the area has located on radar and relays their position to the missile boats. The American force launches all 48 Harpoon missiles against the Italian force before turning tail and running west in an attempt to escape the Italian force's SSMs. Ten of the American missiles strike, sinking the destroyer Ardito, the frigates Euro and Perseo and damaging the cruiser Andrea Doria. Italian helicopters pursue the retreating hydrofoils and attack them with wire-guided anti-ship missiles. The missile boats, traveling at speed, are difficult targets, and only one, the USS Taurus, is hit. The strike is on the engine room, leaving the boat dead in the water. The crew abandons ship, leaving the boat adrift and smoking, where it is finished off by a flight of G.91Ys (which, in turn, are intercepted by a flight of F/A-18s from VFA-46, losing two). The Andrea Doria receives fatal damage minutes later when hit by a raid of 22 aircraft from the USS America and USS John F Kennedy.

Italian forces enter Ljubljana, capital of the Jugoslav republic of Slovenia. The commander of the Italian Forza Dalmatia establishes his headquarters in Ljubljana Castle, which rises above the city.

The Soviet 42nd Corps occupies the city of Kars, while to the north Soviet forces gain control of the port of Rize.

Convoy 158 arrives at three north German ports - Hamburg, Bremen and Bremerhaven and begin discharging its cargo - the 5th US Marine Division, a heavy brigade's worth of armored and wheeled vehicles as well as munitions, supplies and new vehicles.

[ToughOmbres]

Albania

August 1, 1997

The last overland supply route between Yadz and Bandar Abbas is cut by attacking Soviet troops from the 40th Army, isolating 1st Marine Division.

The US 2nd Infantry Division relieves the surrounded airhead of the 2nd (my 44th) Chinese Parachute Division.

Another tank division, the 9th Guards (my 32nd Guards), begins movement from the front as it is ordered to be transferred from the Chinese front to Europe.

(unofficially) The Soviets launch a Kosmos 3M rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Almost immediately after launch it disgorged six Strela-3 secure communications satellites (used by the GRU to keep in touch with their agents and attaches around the world). NORAD, however, on high alert, is initially unable to distinguish between the satellites and Soviet nuclear weapons and sends out a flash nuclear alert. (officially) NATO governments spring into action, with President John Tanner ordering Vice President Julia Pemberton to board the NEACP (National Emergency Airborne Command Post) aircraft while he remains in Washington (taking shelter in the facility under the east wing of the White House). President Tanner refuses to leave Washington during this crisis. He says, in an informal remark to an aide, "I can't tell Americans to stand firm and stay calm if I'm hiding in a cave in the Smoky Mountains. If there's an inbound missile, I'll jump on a helicopter, but not one second before." Mrs. Tanner also refuses to leave Washington, but insists that their two children leave school and go to the family ranch in Wyoming.

Unofficially,

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

The American attack submarine Topeka is hounded by Soviet coastal forces and anti-submarine aircraft following its sinking of the Echo II-class boat K-35 the prior day. Defenders detect the breakup of the Soviet boat and send the corvette MPK-64 to investigate. The Soviet boat gets a return on the submarine and calls for more support; a Be-12 amphibian of the 289th Independent Anti-Submarine Aviation Regiment is the first to arrive. Soon the sky overhead is a hive of activity, with helicopters, flying boats and an Il-38 patrol plane all joining the hunt. Numerous torpedoes are dropped, all of which the American boat evades, but it is driven towards the corvette, which launches a volley from its anti-submarine mortars. One of the rounds strikes seconds after the American boat fires a volley of Mk 48 torpedoes at the Soviet ship. The 43-pound warhead punches a hole through the sub's conning tower (it struck at an angle), saving the hull from a major penetration, while the corvette turns at high speed to try to outrun the torpedoes. As the ship hits 32 knots it strikes a mine which had broke loose during the explosions and disruptions in the water over the prior hours, sinking MPK-64. The Topeka goes deep and slips away at 5 knots, trying to remain as quiet as possible with the damaged sail.

The front line in Ukraine and Poland is largely static, as both sides try to husband resources in a manner to prevent creation of a suitable nuclear target.

The Soviet high command brings forward the 26th and 28th Railway Brigades to repair the railyard in Kovel, Ukraine that had been struck by an American ATACMS-N missile on July 28th. The railroad troops provide the expertise and heavy equipment to repair the damage (which was relatively light, since the American missile had a W70-3 "nuetron bomb", which was optimized to create a massive blast of man-killing radiation but inflict little physical damage). Raw manpower was provided by a levy of over 1500 NATO POWs which were gathered from MVD prison camps from throughout Ukraine and Minsk, guarded by contingents from the 18th Convoy Brigade and 345th Convoy Regiment.

photo
Operation Carthaginian - the Allied invasion of Sicily and Sardinia - begins at dawn. The US 173rd Airborne Brigade and Canadian Parachute Regiment are dropped outside Messina, Sicily while the marines of the 8th Marine Expeditionary Brigade land at Marsala. The Iberian Airborne Brigade Group is dropped on the Caligari airfield, Sardinia and Portuguese marines land at Alghero. Air support is provided by the carriers America and John F Kennedy as well as fighters from the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing and Spanish Escuadron 121 and Escuadron 122 of Ala de Caza 12 at Torrejon de Ardoz, all supported by over a dozen KC-10 and KC-135 tankers.

Back in Portugal, the 1st Independent Composite Brigade begins the process of preparing for deployment. Additional conscripts are transferred in, and units from elsewhere in the Army are stripped of trucks, radios and other equipment needed to bring the brigade up to full strength.

Organized Jugoslav resistance on the Italian front has effectively ceased, with only isolated Army units offering resistance while the mass of the Jugoslav force either flees or surrenders.

In eastern Turkey, Third Army is forced to divide its attention when Soviet forces launch an amphibious attack on the Black Sea coast, cutting the coastal road between the port city (and naval base) of Rize and the border. The landing is bloody but successful as the Turkish defenders pound the invasion force with heavy fire from a wide variety of obsolescent guns and artillery pieces, sinking the escorting corvettes MPK-68 and SKR-30.

42nd Corps pauses for resupply and to allow better preparation for an attack on the Turkish defense around Kars, a defense that has been reinforced by the remnants of the 49th Mountain Infantry Brigade, which has reformed after being driven back from the border by the 19th MRD.

The reclusive Albanian regime begins a full mobilization of its military, which is heavily reliant on reservists. With few foreign diplomats in Tirana, and even fewer foreigners elsewhere in the country, the thinking behind the regime's decision is unknown. High officials refuse to acknowledge the development, let alone offer an explanation.

The Hoxa Regime's innumerable bunkers across Albania aren't going to man themselves now are they......

[pmulcahy11b]

How has the Twilight War impacted the international stock market and banking system

[bash]

How has the Twilight War impacted the international stock market and banking system

I would posit that most securities/commodity markets probably shutter as soon as nuclear weapons start being used. No trader is going to want to be in one of the cities that is a potential nuke target and have the resources to leave. They'll all skip town for their cabins and cottages outside of the metro areas.

Banking would probably fall under emergency controls to prevent bank runs and riots and that kinds of thing. We'd also see everyone setting government enforced price controls for essential commodities. Non-essential items would see prices skyrocket but for basics the various governments would likely want to prevent price gouging. The effectiveness of price controls would basically extend only as far as police enforcing such things.