On this day 25 years ago (Commentary Thread)

[chico20854]

June 26, 1998

Following nearly two months of assembly, company and battalion-level training and delays in transportation, 19 Infantry Brigade is deployed from England to Germany.

Matagorda Island air base, a small facility in coastal Texas used to support training flights and coastal zone patrols, is abandoned. The base is stripped and blown up, leaving nothing remaining but the charred frameworks of empty Quonset huts and hangars and a badly cratered runway.

Unofficially,

A series of orders are issued from Colorado Springs to implement the Joint Chiefs' directive to prepare for nuclear strikes on Mexican targets. One of the first units to move are the National Guard Green Berets of the 19th Special Forces Group's designated Direct Action B-Team, who load onto an Army National Guard C-27 transport for infiltration behind Mexican lines south of the Rio Grande. Likewise, the cadre of the Military Freefall School at Yuma Proving Ground and a detachment from the USAF Special Operations Center at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico are dropped behind Mexican lines, into Baja California and central Mexico, respectively. All three detachments are tasked with identifying the routes used by Mexican logistics truck convoys and where they are loading from. The paratroops all jump with motorcycles and FAVs to provide rapid cross-country mobility.

Mexican forces largely spend the day absorbing the previous day's captures and attempting to establish secure lines to prevent the escape of thousands of American military personnel who are attempting to escape Mexican captivity as well as manage the streams of refugees fleeing to American-held territory.

The B Team from the 8th SF Group in Chiapas, southern Mexico, has begun to arm the men of several small indigenous villages, preparing them to take up arms against the remnants of local authorities. To the south, at Cato Sano air base in Honduras, aviation fuel supplies are dwindling, with what remains allocated to supply drops to support the Green Berets; the 198th Tactical Fighter Squadron is largely grounded pending delivery of more fuel.

The 47th Infantry Division falls back through British Columbia, following several days of strong Soviet pressure and intelligence reports that the Soviets may have recently received additional tactical nuclear weapons. The American division is accompanied by Canadian territorial troops.

Fighting rages in Heidelberg, Germany as a combined force of German border guards (both former East and West German), the East German reservists of the 219th Motor-Rifle Division and a mixed bag of American rear area support troops rallies to blunt the latest assault by the Soviet 41st Army, which has driven back the Danish Expeditionary Force before turning west, squeezing out the waning Italian 3rd Corps.

The Maltese authorities back down, faced with the firepower of the Kennedy battle group. The government, already straining to support its population, has no desire for American gunboats to be less than a kilometer from its seat of power. The carrier commander has offered to allow Maltese authorities to examine the condition of his ship, verifying its need for repairs; unfortunately the harbor has only a small boatyard to service the town's fishing fleet and there is no shipyard in the nation capable of drydocking the massive carrier. Maltese officials are eager to speed the Americans' departure, unable to support the needs of the thousands of sailors aboard.

A skirmish breaks out between Albanian troops of the 24th Division and the Greek IX Infantry Division jointly occupying the Suvenir ammunition plant in western Macedonia; the erstwhile allies had been sharing the plant's output as well as jointly operating the nearby hydropower plant that keeps the machinery going.

The airborne school operated by XVIII Airborne Corps accepts its first non-U.S. Army troops. The class starting today has two British students and an Iranian student as well as a trio of Marines headed for 4th Marine Division's Force Reconnaissance detachment.

[ToughOmbres]

Updates and the Mexican invasion

More great updates per usual.

Do you envision between isolated ranchers and armed civilians (even post TDM) that the Mexican Army is slowly bleeding to death as it marches further into Texas and the Southwest even before it encounters the remnants of the US Army

With regard to New America do you think the New America cells would remain inert, come out fighting or quietly disperse as much of their cached supplies to the US military and live again to fight another day elsewhere

Knowing New America's ideology I would envision New American enclaves coming out in the open for an apocalyptic (pun intended) bloody last stand against the Mexican invasion.

What say the group

[chico20854]

June 27, 1998

Nothing official for the day. Unofficially,

A patrol from the 40th Infantry Division's 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry, detached from the main body of the squadron, reaches the outer perimeter of the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach. After a few tense moments as both armed formations verify each other's status, contact is made and within an hour word is relayed to 63rd (my XVI) Corps Headquarters that several companies worth of heavily armed and trained teens from the California 10th Cadet Brigade are intact and loyal.

Further south, Brigade Ensenada, which has sustained nearly 50 percent losses so far in the Battle of San Diego, regroups before joining 1st Mechanized Brigade in attacking the dug-in Marines of the Recruit Training Depot. The Marines receive much-needed assistance from a daring low-level night flight by a pair of CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters of HMT-302, which brings in food, ammunition (including several cases of 40mm grenades, the first the defenders have received to date), medical supplies and two under-slung LAV-25s with full loads of fuel and ammunition. They evacuate the wounded as they depart; the flights are a huge boost to morale.

The at-least theoretical encirclement of the Fort Bliss garrison is completed with the linkup of forward elements of the Torres Motorized Cavalry Brigade's 9th Motorized Cavalry Regiment and the Chihuahua Brigade's 76th Infantry Regiment at the top of San Augustin Pass east of the town of Las Cruces, New Mexico. (The encirclement is theoretical because Brigade Chihuahua has left only two of its infantry regiments spread out over the 440-mile route of its advance to secure its supply line and occupy the vast area it has traversed.) Brigade Chihuahua's drive west to link up with the Torres Brigade has allowed the 214th Field Artillery Brigade and the remnants of the Holloman Air Force Base garrison to withdraw northward unopposed; the 214th's Pershing missiles arriving safely at Canon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico safely today. In El Paso, Brigade Torreon has reached full strength with the arrival of its final regiment from the Mexican interior; Brigade Durango still has a single regiment on the way.

The first battalion (6-112 Armor) of the 49th Armored Division loads its vehicles aboard ten open deck barges in the Mississippi River in Quincy, Illinois. The remainder of 3rd Brigade and Division headquarters are en route, while 2nd Brigade is headed for Evansville, Indiana and 1st Brigade is to load at La Crosse, Wisconsin.

In its first actions against now-veteran Mexican troops, the companies of the 46th Infantry Division dispatched to halt the Mexican invasion are roughly handled, unexpectedly being thrown back by the firepower and deft maneuvering of Brigade Matamoros and the 2nd Mechanized Brigade. Three of the companies disintegrate under the pressure of Mexican follow-on attacks.

RainbowSix reports that Major Nikita Drozdov, a highly trained KGB officer who speaks fluent English who was covertly inserted into the UK in late 1996 under the code name Kyril and initially based in East Anglia, makes his way to Leicester using the alias Jim Ross.

Fighting in Northern Ireland flares up, as the IRA and Irish Army launch their long-planned summer offensive. Initial attacks out of Catholic enclaves in Londonderry and Belfast are rebuffed by strong Loyalist and British Army defenses.

Heavier NATO reinforcements, in the form of the V US Corps and VI German Korps, which contain the remains of armored divisions and the complement of corps-level engineer, artillery and other supporting formations and which have spent the preceding months absorbing what few replacements that had arrived and rebuilding, are fully engaged. V Corps 28th Infantry Division establishes a series of strong blocking positions along the roads northwest of Schweinfurt which VII US Corps passes through.

Fighting in occupied Macedonia spreads throughout the zone jointly occupied by Greek and Albanian troops. The fighting is confused, with no front lines, numerous armed bands of Jugoslav deserters, partisans and armed civilians and both occupying armies' positions intermixed, with small isolated positions along major supply routes, in towns and key villages, and in power plants and industrial facilities.

[chico20854]

More great updates per usual.

Do you envision between isolated ranchers and armed civilians (even post TDM) that the Mexican Army is slowly bleeding to death as it marches further into Texas and the Southwest even before it encounters the remnants of the US Army

With regard to New America do you think the New America cells would remain inert, come out fighting or quietly disperse as much of their cached supplies to the US military and live again to fight another day elsewhere

Knowing New America's ideology I would envision New American enclaves coming out in the open for an apocalyptic (pun intended) bloody last stand against the Mexican invasion.

What say the group

Thanks! I'm glad that folks are enjoying this. I wish I had enough time to get caught up but I don't want to rush things and leave the detail out!

I can see the civilian opposition to the Mexican occupiers being more opportunistic than systematic. Isolated supply trucks, small groups of soldiers away from their garrisons and such are probably at risk, but few extended families have the firepower to face off against anything more than a squad or at most a platoon of troops. Even given the prevalence of AR-15s in Texas in the 1990s (much lower than today but not absent) a Mexican Army unit with G-3s and light machineguns would outgun armed civilians even before the company mortars get involved.

I'm not sure about New America cells. They're supposed to remain hidden until ordered to go active; I envision them in the southwest being remote ranches, mines and so on, with the occasional small town completely under their control. These sorts of facilities, combined with the low density of Mexican forces, could very well go unnoticed by the invaders and unwittingly bypassed; I can't see NA forces jumping into action to help government forces. (A cynical NA leader may in fact see the Mexican invasion as a bonus, weakening government forces and making the inevitable NA takeover easier!)

[kato13]

I can see the civilian opposition to the Mexican occupiers being more opportunistic than systematic. Isolated supply trucks, small groups of soldiers away from their garrisons and such are probably at risk, but few extended families have the firepower to face off against anything more than a squad or at most a platoon of troops. Even given the prevalence of AR-15s in Texas in the 1990s (much lower than today but not absent) a Mexican Army unit with G-3s and light machineguns would outgun armed civilians even before the company mortars get involved.

To start with yes. But eventually "WOLVERINES!". Well to be more locally appropriate but far less intimidating maybe "ARMADILLOS!"

[chico20854]

June 28, 1998

Another day with nothing in canon. Unofficially,

The Governor of California, having received word of the 10th California Cadet Brigade's status, and exercising his authority as commander of the California State Guard, demands that the unit not be committed to action against the invading Mexican Army, on account of the young age of its members. (Over 80 percent of the unit is under the age of 20). The 63 (my XVI) Corps commander counters with a commitment to use the formation for rear area security, protecting the corps' vulnerable supply convoys and routes through the ruins of Los Angeles.

In San Diego, the surrounded Marines come under renewed attack from the combined forces of Brigade Ensenada, Brigade Hermosilla and the 1st Mechanized Brigade, whose AMX-13 light tanks, protected by infantry teams, are used as assault guns to reduce Marine strongpoints with well-aimed 90mm fire.

Armored battles rage in southern California as 80 (my II) Corps launches its counterattack. The combined 177th Armored Brigade and 1st Brigade, 4th Armored Division sweep south, overrunning the pickets of Mexicali Brigade, which are woefully lacking in anti-tank weaponry. Simultaneously, the 108th Armored Cavalry Regiment and 223rd Armored Regiment drive west from Yuma Proving Ground, with the 223rd (the Yuma NTC OPFOR) launching a frontal attack along Interstate 10 to tie down LaPaz Brigade while the cavalry undertakes a sweeping flanking maneuver through the desert to the north.

With Mexican forces bypassing Fort Bliss, the commander of the School Brigade orders preparations for a withdrawal to the northeast, across the vast Dona Ana range complex and into southeastern New Mexico. A convoy of private cars and trucks is organized to move the dependents and civilian employees who remain sheltered on the base, which will be escorted by troops in HMMWVs while the main body of the brigade will travel in tactical vehicles. One battalion-sized task force will lead, prepared to punch its way through any Mexican blocking positions. A second battalion-sized group, commanded by the staff of the 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery, will serve as the rear guard, while the brigade support troops and headquarters will travel in the center of the formation, which will be spread out over a nearly 15-mile length of desert.

The 200 sailors assigned to the 2nd Tennessee State Guard Regiment have been fully integrated into the force as its 6th Battalion. They are well armed, with an array of obsolescent but fully functional small arms and a well-equipped heavy weapons company, with 18 90mm recoilless rifles and 36 M1919 light machineguns. The force is assigned to secure the Mississippi River crossings; reinforcements if the battalion needs it are identified as the Regiment's Rapid Response Force, a company-sized unit of former SWAT officers led by a one-legged retired US Army tank commander, Colonel Harlan Wilson. That unit is assigned a quartet of modernized M20 armored cars formerly assigned to the State Police.

In Quincy, Illinois, commanders from the 6th Battalion, 112th Armor begin constructing defensive works aboard the barges that will carry 3rd Brigade and Division Headquarters, 49th Armored Division to Oklahoma.

The first ships carrying the Soviet forces from Cuba arrive in the eastern Mexican port of Altamira. Upon unloading, the troops are moved to a nearby (formerly American-owned) ranch for training. For while the unit is in theory a combat-ready Red Army division, is is actually composed of three separate detachments - the 7th Specialized Motor-Rifle Brigade (a reinforced motor-rifle regiment with a tank battalion, a BMP battalion, two BTR battalions, an artillery battalion as well as air defense, rocket artillery, engineer and recon companies), a contingent of over 3,000 military personnel (mostly officers and long-service NCOs and warrant officers) from all branches of service that had been assigned as advisors to the Cuban military, and finally over 5,000 Soviet civilians who were living in Cuba and who are being ejected along with their military brethren. Before being committed to action, Major General Femerov wants time to forge this collection of men into a capable fighting force. It is blessed with a nearly full complement of armored vehicles and heavy weapons which had been in Cuba, originally intended for the USSR's Caribbean allies (Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela).

Fighting for Heidelberg, Germany rages as Soviet forces attempt to drive the NATO defenders out. German troops are defending the heavily built up Old Town and castle, with artillery observers on the Konigstuhl mountain on the east side of town, while American defenders are rushing to complete hardening of positions in Patton Kaserne on the west side of town.

The 1048th Assault Gun Regiment has been nearly entirely eliminated. Patient work by a detachment from the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines has set all the hulks of disabled Soviet assault guns ablaze, and continued resistance has largely stopped. A handful of stragglers remain dug in, resisting calls for their surrender and fighting on despite lack of food and water.

The nuclear missile cruiser USS Virginia has scoured many hundreds of miles of empty Southern Pacific waters in search of enemy shipping but turned up nothing as it approaches the Galapagos Islands.

The newly-formed 138th Motor-Rifle Division departs the training grounds on the outskirts of the town of Borisov, Byelorussia, a key transportation point on the Moscow-Minsk railroad line, and relieves the MVD, police and Party officials of responsibility for the town.

[chico20854]

June 29, 1998

Nothing official for the day. Unofficially,

A series of confused actions break out in the ruins of Los Angeles and Orange County, California as 63 (my XVI) Corps begins moving into the metro area in force, encountering Mexican troops of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and allied criminal and biker gangs. Neither side has the troop density to secure the area and supplies and communications on both sides are poor.

To the east, 89 (my II) Corps' coordinated attacks are making progress, with Mexican forces falling back before the massed American armor. Unfortunately, the American formations are short of infantry, leaving many isolated groups of Mexican stragglers in the American rear. American commanders are pleased with their success, but ammunition and fuel supplies are rapidly dwindling.

In San Diego, Mexican troops have broken onto the eastern end of the Marine base, fighting through several administrative and barracks structures on the east end of the base. The elite paratroops who landed at Miramar Naval Air Station on the first day of the invasion are sitting out the fight, as are the Mexican marines; both high-quality formations instead moving north along the coast against scattered opposition while clearing the coastal axis for further use.

The School Brigade begins its breakout from surrounded Fort Bliss, heading out over unpaved range roads out of the cantonment area. The column, a mix of tactical, civilian and commercial-type vehicles, moves at an aggravating 7 miles per hour, creating a massive dust cloud that causes drivers to repeatedly jam on their brakes after losing sight of the vehicle ahead of them. The rearguard 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery, holds off a probe by troops of Brigade Torreon.

Further east in Texas, 4th Mexican Army's western force resumes its advance after sweeping through San Antonio. Finding the SIGINT station at Merida ablaze, the Mexican forces make a modest attempt to segregate the station's staff from the trainees in the mass of POWs, but they are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of military personnel that they are suddenly responsible for. Numerous escapes occur as the American troops slip away past the overwhelmed Mexican guards; The 4th Army commander is willing to delegate administration of the city and the POWs to his allied criminal and biker gangs, allowing his troops to continue their drive north.

The Mexican "Coastal Column" accelerates its drive against the widely dispersed and under-equipped American 46th Infantry Division. The Mexican command sends its infantry regiments (each roughly equivalent to an American light infantry battalion although lacking anti-tank firepower) on multiple parallel roads, seeking out American positions. When one is found, the entire regiment concentrates its firepower on the Americans, who are often in squad or platoon strength. The speed of advance is faster than the overwhelmed American command can respond to, and by nightfall another roughly eight companies of Americans have been defeated and the front line moved 12 miles north, skirting the western edge of the ruins of the Houston Metroplex.

The American deep reconnaissance teams in the Mexican rear have traced the flow of supply trucks back to railheads in Mexico, the overtaxed Mexican rail operator unable as yet to extend service into captured American territory. When news of this is relayed back to Colorado Springs, nuclear planners, using relatively rudimentary maps of the Mexican rail network, focus on four key junctions in the Mexican rail network that can isolate the border region from the rest of Mexico. Urgent orders are issued for detailed radar reconnaissance to be performed of the sites; a E-8 JSTARS aircraft at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma is readied for flight.

The Mexican Ministry of Defense issues orders for units in Mexico to stand up additional infantry regiments, calling on the tens of thousands of partially-trained draftees released into the reserves in prior years; the new regiments will allow additional forces to be fed into the fighting in Texas and California.

Daily gains by Pact forces advancing in southern Germany are measured in hundreds of meters rather than kilometers. Pact forces have depleted their initial stockpiles and are not able to obtain food and fuel from the areas they have overrun. The Soviet effort does not have enough fuel or trucks to replenish units in action. Meanwhile, NATO resistance has stiffened.

In Heidelberg, having lost several hundred men for only nominal gains, the Soviet commander of the 41st Army orders his motor-rifle troops (the 30th Guards Motor-Rifle Division) to maintain the pressure on the city's defenders while directing his armored reserve - the battered 62nd Tank Division - to bypass the town to the west, attempting to "thread the needle" between Heidelberg and the ruined city of Mannheim to the northwest, with the Army's remnant 1318th Independent Air Assault Regiment (down to six weak companies) attempting to infiltrate in advance to locate a suitable crossing point over the Neckar River.

The Iranian Air Force continues its attempts to liberate its country by weakening the enemy forces occupying its territory. While the remaining attack helicopters (a few dozen pre-revolutionary AH-1 Cobras that were rebuilt in the US and Israel from 1994-6, bringing them nearly on par with the US Army and USMC's AH-1V King Cobras) are dedicated to supporting the ongoing counter-marauder operations, the fixed-wing fighter-bomber fleet is striking Soviet targets behind the front lines. An example of this is the day's mission package, which sees an early-morning sortie by F-20s of the 42nd Tactical Fighter Squadron with reconnaissance pods to verify targets located the prior day. The flights last less than 45 minutes, at low altitude, and the aircraft are met on the taxiway by a jeep, ready to rush the onboard film to waiting intelligence analysts. (The Iranians are not equipped with the latest real-time recon pods). A quick review concludes that the target, a battery of ML-20 152mm howitzers of 32nd Army's 400th Gun Artillery Brigade, are still in place and the waiting flight of F-4Es of the 61st Tactical Fighter Squadron takes off. Top cover is provided by a pair of F-15s from the American 1st Tactical Fighter Wing, with command coordinated by Iranian officers operating from a hardened bunker under Shiraz International Airport. The F-4s, flying at low level through the Zagros Mountains, attract scattered small-arms fire as they approach the target area, popping up to 1000 feet for weapons delivery. The artillery battery, located some 15 km behind the front line, is defended by the 32nd Army's depleted 272nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade; the defenders light up a single SA-11 launcher's radars and fire three missiles, all that the ready battery has remaining. (The battery was alerted by the earlier F-20 overflight to the possibility that the Iranians might be back.) One of the missiles peppers the trailing Phantom with shrapnel, and it continues on the attack run trailing smoke rather than peel off and be vulnerable to being picked off separately; the other two missiles miss. The F-4s blanket the battery (down to three guns from its prewar four) with 96 500-lb bombs, set for a mix of impact and airburst; the blast and shrapnel from the dozens of bombs thoroughly demolish the howitzers, their prime movers, crews and much of the ammunition dumped at the battery. The return flight is uneventful, and upon landing the damaged Phantom is assessed as likely needing several months of repair in the conditions of 1998 Iran.

[chico20854]

June 30, 1998

The 106th Guards Air Assault Division arrives in the Ryazan area for reconstruction from the remaining elements of the Airborne center there. (Unofficially) It ends up absorbing not only the center's remaining personnel but also a number of local militias and MVD troops. It also dispatches a detachment to scavenge the site of the Kubinka Armor Museum, which yields a hodgepodge of aged and unique armor, a mixed blessing given the burden it places on the unit's mechanics.

Unofficially,

The destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG-32), which reactivated in November after over a decade in reserve, appears off the coast of San Diego. Its missile launchers are empty, but the ship boasts over 450 rounds of ammunition for its pair of 5-inch guns, many of which are expended over the next few hours as experienced ANGLICO spotter teams ashore direct the destroyer's fire on Mexican positions. This fire forces the Mexican force to avoid the open ground along the base's southern and western edges.

The Marine Corps belatedly organizes the cadre and miscellaneous staff at its base at Twentynine Palms as an ad-hoc force composed of two infantry battalions and a LAV-25 scout company and places the command, designated Task Force Devil Dog, at the disposal of the 89 (my II) Corps commander. That corps' attack is beginning to slow as the meagre stockpiles of fuel in California are increasingly depleted by the movement of 63 (my XVI) and 89 (my II) Corps.

The School Brigade's overland movement out of Fort Bliss continues, with the rearguard 5th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery slipping out of the cantonment area in the early morning hours, leaving a massive inferno behind as the few remaining undamaged buildings are torched to deny them to the enemy. The column is forced to halt mid-morning as the temperature rises and the many civilian-type vehicles begin to suffer from the relentless dust and rough tank trails; the halt gives the column time to clear filters, refuel and distribute water to the passengers.

To the west, the Torres Motorized Cavalry Regiment (releasing the cavalry regiments of the Torreon and Durango Brigades back to their parent commands to pursue the School Brigade) begins advancing on the next strategic target, New Mexico's largest city, Albuquerque. The Mexican armored cars advance up Interstate 25, staying on the western bank of the Rio Grande.

4th Army's drive up the Interstate 35 corridor resumes, with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment reaching the perimeter fence of Bergstrom Air Force Base and the capital city of Austin, which the Governor and his bodyguard of Texas Rangers has fled for the safety of, initially, Waco. To its east, Brigade Saltillo is engaged in fierce combat with the 2nd Texas Brigade at Camp Swift; the relatively fresh Mexican troops have greater amounts of ammunition as well as more heavy weapons (particularly mortars) which give them the advantage. The 91st Training Division dispatches its reaction regiment to Austin to try to slow the Mexican advance, while directing its remaining trainees to preparing defenses for Fort Hood.

A E-8 JSTARS of the 968th Airborne Warning and Control Training Squadron, one of two training aircraft remaining in the US, flies an operational sortie over Mexico, its radar system mapping a number of targets throughout the central part of the country. It is escorted on the mission by a pair of F-16s of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing to ensure that the Mexican Air Force's F-5 fleet, believed to be neutralized over a week prior, does not interfere with the vital mission. When the JSTARS crosses back into American territory the radar map information is relayed to the Joint Chiefs as well as several Air Force bases in the region. Upon receipt, the data is pored over by mission planners and by midnight orders are being issued.

The 47th Infantry Division, fighting alone in British Columbia, tries to hobble together a defense of the vital transportation hub of Prince George. The isolated division commander fears that Soviet troops advancing overland from the port of Prince Rupert will sever his escape route as his troops undertake a fighting withdrawal against Soviet troops that are pushing south from the Yukon.

The pace of the Pact advance in southern Germany is limited by logistic challenges and poor communications and motivation - Soviet, Czech and Italian troops are aware of the strategic goal of the campaign but are reluctant to be killed in a war that it is very clear has been lost by all sides. Isolated NATO positions are taking days or weeks to reduce, since there is insufficient ammunition (or troops) to overrun them, resorting to sieges to defeat the defenders.

The defense of Heidelberg holds, despite appalling conditions for everyone (soldiers on both sides and civilians which have not fled) in the city. Fires rage, the streets are choked with debris and trash as well as running with a disease-ridden ooze of oil, sewage and who knows what. Supplies for the defenders are running low, with hastily drafted civilian porters and NATO headquarters troops daring to cross the Neckar River carrying duffel bags stuffed with a somewhat standard allocation of ammunition (including a handful of pre-loaded magazines), water and rations. Soviet troops make minimal gains in the day's fighting.

[chico20854]

July 1, 1998

With North Korean People's Army support, the Soviet 194th Motor Rifle Division, reinforced by the 203rd Air Assault Brigade, crosses the DMZ and forges south.

Unofficially,

effects
American bombers and missiles fan out in the early morning hours, carrying out the Joint Chief's orders to use nuclear weapons to slow or halt the Mexican invasion. A B-1B from the 337th Bomb Squadron takes off from its dispersal base (Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma), heading for Mexico City with a pair of B-61 bombs aboard. As it crosses the border over Big Bend National Park at low level and Mach 1, the 214th Field Artillery Brigade, evacuated from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico launches a pair of Pershing II Intermediate-Range missiles at the railyards at Los Mochis and Torreon. Meanwhile, F-16s from the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing head for the Mexican cities of Saltillo and Monterrey, to strike railyards hubs near those cities. The B-1B arrives over Mexico City after the rail strikes have occurred, striking the Ministry of Defense building with one of the bombs. The bomb is set for 0.3 kT, enough to flatten the building but not enough to start a firestorm or create massive damage on Mexico's largest city. The Pershing II and F-16 strikes, all ground bursts, are higher yield in order to ensure the destruction of the railyards. (The steel rails, heavily anchored and only centimeters above the ground, are particularly resistant to blast and thermal damage; a ground burst vaporizing the rails as it forms a crater is the surest way to ensure destruction.)

The Mexican Navy's Pacific Fleet sorties from its forward base in Ensenada, ordered to drive off the American destroyer USS John Paul Jones and interdict the San Diego battle zone. The Mexican task force is built around two Second World War-era American destroyers, which have been meticulously maintained but are running low on fuel.

The final surviving member of the 1048th Assault Gun Regiment's ill-fated raid into II MEF's rear area in northwestern Poland is finally killed by US Marines as he shelters in a dugout underneath his disabled ISU-152 assault gun.

[chico20854]

July 2, 1998

Allied airstrikes slow the Soviet advance across the battle-scarred ground south of the DMZ (fought over 18 months prior) as ROK and American mechanized forces are quickly marshalled into place to respond.

Unofficially,

The nuclear strikes on Mexico City and key railroad bottlenecks has an immediate effect on the Mexican war effort. Central control over the actions of the three engaged armies disintegrates following the destruction of the Ministry of National Defense headquarters, and 1st Army, responsible for rear area operations in most of Mexico, is forced to shift emphasis from generating additional forces and supplies for the war to the north to maintaining order among a desperate, scared and unstable populace. The Presidential Guard Brigade is deployed to secure other government buildings (and, unofficially, neighborhoods populated by rich and powerful regime members and supporters), while the Military Police Brigade and Engineer Brigade try to provide disaster relief and maintain order.

There is little immediate effect on the armies fighting to the north, as there are still a few days of supplies already in the pipeline north of the strikes, and except for a few senior officers the fighting troops are wholly unaware of the strikes to their south, so poor is communication with the center.

The Joint Chiefs are grimly satisfied with the execution of the strikes and issue orders for the special operations teams which provided spotting and bomb damage assessment for the strikes to withdraw, remaining undetected if possible.

The fallout from the surface bursts begins to fall closer to the border, although of lower radiation intensity.

An old-fashioned naval battle rages off the California Coast as the Mexican Pacific fleet engages the American destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG-32), the newest vessel in the engagement at 40 years of age. The gun battle favors the Mexicans, whose World War Two-vintage destroyers feature a total of eight 5-inch manually fed guns facing the American's two semi-automatic 5-inch guns and a magazine depleted by days of shore bombardment in San Diego. Both opponents' fire control systems are equally dated, and the crews of about equal ability (the American crew a mix of inexperienced draftees and seasoned veterans, the Mexicans well-trained pre-war regulars). The Mexican flotilla splits into two parallel columns sailing north, one to the seaward side of John Paul Jones' track and one in between the American ship and the shore. The maneuver forces the American ship to concentrate the fire of its forward, unobstructed turret, on one enemy ship, the inshore Quezacoatl, while zig-zagging to allow the rear turret to fire at the seaward Netzahuacoyotl without presenting the a broadside opportunity. After a few minutes of back-and-forth gunfire the range drops to six nautical miles and both sides rapidly begin registering hits. Quezacoatl is the first one to fall out of battle, its bridge perforated by shrapnel and its aged steam plant offline. John Paul Jones' steam plant is the next to fail from battle damage, and as it glides to a halt the damaged Netzahuacoyotl unleashes another eight rounds, leaving the American ship ablaze. The damaged Netzahuacoyotl breaks off the engagement and turns south, heading to Ensenada for urgently needed repairs, leaving the sailors of both floundering ships to make their way ashore on their own. By sundown both destroyers have slipped below the waves, with moderate loss of life from both crews.

Some of the American sailors land in Mexican-controlled territory and begin a cat-and-mouse effort to evade patrols, while a dozen or so manage to come ashore into territory still held by the embattled marines, who once again repulse a fierce Mexican attack. LCpl Steven Barker, one of the defending recruits who has already been recognized for his coolness under fire and bravery, destroys one of 1st Mechanized Brigade's AMX-13 light tanks with a well-placed shot from his M203 grenade launcher.

Farther up the coast of California, the forward detachment of the 196th Infantry Brigade, advancing into Anaheim from the high ground south of City of Industry, catches a resupply column supporting the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment unawares, capturing the unit's supply of food, fuel and water for the day as well as crippling future resupply capability. The 2nd Brigade, 40th Infantry Division has relieved the 10th California Cadet Brigade, whose largely teenaged soldiers have been evacuated to secure the Interstate 5 corridor leading north to the vital Bakersfield refinery complex, source of 6th Army's fuel.

2nd Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery, which has assumed the lead of the School Brigade's column, encounters the first enemy troops in the unit's breakout drive, an isolated squad from Brigade Chihuahua in the small mountain community of Pi+-on, New Mexico. The Mexicans are surrounded and surrender without a fight.

In southern Arizona, Brigade Nogales, which has been sitting nearly immobile for weeks, increases its patrolling, trying to determine if the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Huachuca and the defense force at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson are still strong forces that the isolated brigade cannot overcome.

While still struggling to deal with the capture of San Antonio, the Mexican 4th Army closes its forces on Austin. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment sweeps across Bergstrom Air Force Base, although too late to capture any intact aircraft or significant supplies; the defenders burned many of the buildings before evacuating. The division-sized Coastal Column is bypassing the ruins of Houston, sweeping aside penny packets of infantry dispatched in an ineffective effort by the 46th Infantry Division's command to halt the Mexican invasion while still maintaining tight control of the oilfields, ranches and farms and refugee camps of East Texas.

In southeastern Nebraska the winter wheat harvest begins. Military forces are deployed in what force can be spared to protect the tankers bringing fuel to the agricultural areas and to guard the harvest as it is brought in. Many grain depots on the rail lines double as garrisons for the troops that are dedicated to ensuring that this vital source of food for the nation is secure; the harvest continues through the month.

In the refugee camps west of Pittsburgh, a charismatic leader is making the rounds, raising an army of disaffected evacuees from Ohio to "seize the stocks of food that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is holding back from us and our suffering armies."

X German Korps and XII German Korps are heavily engaged on the front lines south of Frankfurt and the meatgrinder battle for Heidelberg. While composed of West German territorials, border guards (both former East and West German) and East German reservists, these additional trained and motivated troops stiffen the NATO defense.

Maltese authorities raise another ineffective demand for the USS John F Kennedy battle group to move on. The American admiral in charge of the flotilla refuses, citing the damage to his flagship (while ignoring the inability of any shipyard in Malta to repair it to a sufficiently seaworthy condition; the small boatyard in Marsaxlokk is sufficient solely to support the town's fishing fleet).

[chico20854]

July 3, 1998

Nothing in canon for the day. Unofficially,

The fighting in San Diego continues, although not to the advantage of the encircled Marines. The heroic pilots of the CH-53Es from HMT-302 return overnight, brining in additional supplies of ammunition, water and food and evacuating over 50 wounded Marines, but one of the huge helicopters is shot down by Mexican machinegun fire while taking off on the return flight, crashing on the Recruit Depot's northern perimeter, which is already behind the Mexican front line. With the squadron already displaced from its home station at MCAS Tustin by the advance of Mexican paratroops, forcing it to operate from Port Hueneme, the squadron commander prohibits further resupply flights during clear nights. In the encircled garrison, Mexican troops of Brigade Hermosillo advance into the northeastern portion of the base, reaching the wide Belleau Wood Avenue after overrunning a maze of burning supply and service buildings.

Reinforced with the infantry of Task Force Devil Dog and additional fuel supplies, 89 (my II) Corps resumes its assault in the Imperial Valley, driving Brigade Mexicali back to the cover of the shattered and abandoned city of Palm Springs. To the east, the other pincer of the corps offensive sees success, with the 108th Armored Cavalry Regiment cutting off Brigade La Paz along Interstate 8 west of Yuma, Arizona; the Mexican command begins to infiltrate its troops back across the border to avoid encirclement and elimination.

The Torres Motorized Cavalry Brigade's advance up the Interstate 25 corridor is halted south of the town of Truth or Consequences by dug-in troops who are (comparatively) well-equipped with anti-tank weapons and aggressively employed HMMWVs equipped with Mk-19 grenade launchers and machineguns. Brigade Ciudad Juarez and Brigade Torreon resume their advance, with the depleted Brigade Ciudad Juarez trailing the retreating School Brigade and Brigade Torreon headed east into the vastness of West Texas.

Confused fighting rages in Austin, Texas, with an ad-hoc American defense force (composed of armed civilians, troops from Fort Hood, stragglers from San Antonio and other battles to the south and Air Force personnel displaced from Bergstrom Air Force Base) tangling in yet more urban fighting against Mexican troops, who are growing increasingly desperate in their attempt to capture ground and supplies as word begins to trickle forward that the feeble trickle of supplies from home is going to be disrupted.

HQ, 4th Armored Division is disbanded. Each of the division's brigades become independent, reporting to their respective Corps headquarters (1st Brigade - 89 (my II) Corps in California, 2nd Brigade - VIII Corps in the Pacific Northwest and 3rd Brigade to 90 (my XIII) Corps in Texas).

In the American Midwest, the withdrawal of the first battalions of the 49th Armored Division for movement to the front has caused a wave of unrest, as local authorities are unable to provide the resources and stability the troops did and as various armed groups decide to take advantage of the rapidly developing security vacuum.

ROK mechanized troops and an American armor-heavy task force built around the 163rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (Montana National Guard) are in position to strike the flank of the Soviet force south of the DMZ. The 194th (my 67th) Motor-Rifle Division, in the lead, is depending on the 203rd (my 14th) Air Assault Brigade (reinforced with North Korean stragglers integrated into the elite paratroop force) to protect the exposed sides of the salient created by the attacking force. Morning fog provides partial protection from allied airpower.

Northwest of the fierce fighting for Heidelberg, the Soviet 62nd Tank Division (still badly depleted from its fighting in Erbach an der Donau in May and June despite an influx of T-34s and Uzbek teenagers) reaches the banks of the Neckar River on the outskirts of the ruined city of Mannheim. An aggressive young officer leads a team of dismounted motor-riflemen across the river, capturing the abutments of a partially-collapsed railroad bridge; by dusk division engineers are hastily reinforcing it to support heavy traffic.

The Hungarian 53rd Mechanized Brigade, slowly moving through eastern Siberia as it tries to make its way back home, has reached the town of Kemorovo. It has taken nearly a month to gather the fuel to move the formation a little over 300 miles, fighting occasional skirmishes against armed bands (and some local authorities that object to the Hungarians' passage).

[chico20854]

July 4, 1998

Nothing official today. Unofficially,

Americans are not in their usual celebratory mood on this, the 222nd anniversary of their nation's independence from Great Britain. Hundreds of thousands of troops are scattered in desperate combat around the world, including in five American states and in neighboring Canada, the first time America has been under land attack since the War of 1812. Millions have died in the prior year from Soviet nuclear attack and the side-effects of those strikes, and not a single citizen's life is unaffected. The government that was established in the 18th century has been, at least in theory temporarily, supplanted by a ruling council of senior military officers, and many areas are completely lawless.

Fighting in Los Angeles becomes more widespread as increasing numbers of Mexican criminal gangs, paratroops, marines and armored cavalrymen arrive in the ruined city. As with other areas of the front, the cessation of resupply (barely adequate and haphazard as it may have been) as a result of the nuclear attacks has had a perverse effect - Mexican troops need to continue their advance to capture food and fuel from the Americans; to remain in static positions is to to court disaster without resupply.

The troops facing the Torres Motorized Cavalry Brigade at the New Mexico town of Truth or Consequences are identified as USAF security police, the 1606th Security Police Group, reinforced with local militia and police. The Mexican rear area is suffering from pinprick attacks from the cadre of the USAF special operations school at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. To the east, Brigade Chihuahua is coming under increasing pressure as its strung-out infantry outposts, scattered over 450 miles of New Mexico and Texas, are cut off from resupply and attempting to deal with a largely hostile (and heavily armed) local population.

Grae notes that long hot dusty days are spent harvesting the winter red wheat in Nebraska to feed the nation in the coming year. Rail transportation moves the crops east to distribution points as best they can, given the poor state of the transportation network.

South Korean infantry (mostly reservists), liberally supported by Allied airpower, fights the advancing Soviet 194th (my 67th) Motor-Rifle Division to a halt on the outskirts of the ruins of Yongjiu, which was destroyed in the 1997 fighting. The effort presents an opportunity for the American 163rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (Montana National Guard) and South Korean 20th Infantry Division (Mechanized) to smash into the Soviet flank. The North Korean troops pressed into Soviet service drop their weapons and run, while the elite Soviet paratroops of the 203rd (my 14th) Air Assault Brigade seek to use the rough terrain and high ground to disrupt the armored counterattack.

The fighting in Macedonia escalates further, with the intertwined former allied Greek and Albanian units struggling to sort themselves out, defeat their opponents and form a coherent front line. Adding to the difficulty, both nations are struggling to sustain their forces in occupied Jugoslavia in the face of dire conditions at home - meaning that, despite the propaganda and exhortations coming from government mouthpieces, the troops at the front are starved of ammunition, fuel and the other supplies they need to sustain the fighting.

[chico20854]

July 5, 1998

(Unofficially) As another day of clear weather presents the pilots of attack aircraft with picture-perfect targeting opportunities, the Soviet drive across the DMZ falls apart. ROK infantry launch a counterattack out of Yungjiu while Allied armor slices through the Soviet rear, sweeping aside the resistance of the remaining Soviet paratroops of the 203rd (my 14th) Air Assault Brigade. (Officially) The Allied armored/mechanized force savagely mauls the enemy formations and forces them back across the border. It will prove to be the last major Soviet-led offensive of the war in Korea.

Unofficially,

The final transports arrive in the Mexican port of Altamira carrying troops and supplies for the Soviet Division Cuba. The crews of Soviet ships in the ragtag flotilla are drafted into service with the division, Major General Femorov accepting the risk that the experienced sailors he needs to continue his journey back home may be lost in combat, so desperate is the need for men for Division Cuba. Most of the Mexican vessels are abandoned as well, but the third-country ships (including the Bulgarian A.B. Buzko, the Polish Orlęta Lviv and the Greek Paraguay Express) begin scrounging fuel to return to sea rather than be stranded in Mexico. The Mexican naval authorities do what they can, securing some poorly refined crude that can be burned in the Bulgarian steamship's boilers.

Harold Thomas, leader of the refugee army forming west of Pittsburgh, tests out his force, which to date has been indifferently armed with whatever weapons individuals brought along with them. Thomas sets his sights on an isolated military facility - an Army Reserve regional vehicle maintenance center on Neville Island in the middle of the Ohio River downstream of downtown Pittsburgh. Since the deployment of the units the facility supported in peacetime, its staff (composed of civilian workers and soldiers medically disqualified from deployment) was reassigned to perform repair duties on seriously damaged vehicles evacuated to the US from combat zones around the world; the base was assigned as a repair center for M-750 armored cars and M35-series 2 1/2-ton trucks. He leads his ragtag force of desperate refugees (that many would characterize as marauders) in a multi-prong attack on the base, which straddles the middle of the long, narrow island and has been supported by river traffic since the nuclear strikes in November and December. As human waves of lightly-armed men assault from the landside, an "elite" force of Thomas' most loyal fighters crosses the river from the north bank in small boats. Fierce close-in fighting ensues, in which the Army personnel are overwhelmed. Thomas' group captures three operable M-750s and a dozen trucks as well as a healthy stockpile of parts, tools and damaged vehicles; the bodies of the expert mechanics needed to employ them, however, are scattered all around the plant, reducing the value of the prize. The armored cars have very little ammunition, and the biggest prize is the contents of the base's arms room, with three dozen M16s and five M60 machineguns as well as the machineguns for the M750s and the small arms wielded by the late employees.

A pre-dawn Mexican attack on the Marines in San Diego is partially successful; little ground is captured but the Marines lose several dozen men and expend increasingly scarce ammunition repelling the assault. The weather is too clear for any risky resupply flights to be flown.

89 (my II) Corps to the east is immobilized while awaiting additional fuel tankers to arrive; the force's Marines of Task Force Devil Dog ambush a Mexican patrol attempting to infiltrate behind the corps' lines through the broiling-hot Joshua Tree National Park.

In New Mexico and West Texas a strange calm reigns, with the retreating School Brigade, short on supplies and reliant on increasingly breakdown-prone civilian vehicles, attempting to make its way to friendly territory without a major clash with their Mexican opponents, who are equally reluctant to fight, given their poor supply situation and extreme dispersal.

Fighting in eastern Texas is increasingly confused as Mexican Army and allied criminal and biker gangs contest control of Austin; an informal force of snipers (all US Marine Corps veterans) ensconce themselves on the Texas Tower's 27th-floor observation deck, dominating the campus with accurate rifle fire. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment bypasses the city once again, passing through the city's eastern suburbs and looping west to block Interstate 35 once again. North of Houston, the Mexican Coastal Column is gradually spreading out, with individual regiments advancing north and east nearly independently, overrunning equally dispersed detachments of the ill-fated 46th Infantry Division.

In British Columbia, the 47th Infantry Division comes under coordinated attack by the 13th Guards Air Assault Division from the north and the 114th (my 202nd) Motor-Rifle Division from the west. While short of ammunition and fuel, the American infantry and their Canadian allies turn back the assault.

The 34th (my 14th) Tank Division, a category C unit that saw much action earlier in the war in China and Turkey, is shifted from occupation duty in Thrace under 14th Army's command to 5th Guards Army in Romania, where it is assigned to secure the Ukrainian-Romanian border west of the ruins of Odessa, keeping the two-way flow of supplies and petroleum with Romania secure.

Outside the northwestern Russian town of Volkhov, a group of three deserters from the 115th Guards Motor-Rifle Division take over an isolated farmhouse, taking the residents (an elderly couple and their teenage granddaughter) hostage, forcing them to cook for them as they rest and steal what few valuables the locals possess. The couple's 12-year old grandson, who was out hunting when the deserters arrived, notices that something is wrong and hides in the woods to observe. Seeing the armed deserter, the boy flees to town and alerts the local MVD security troops.

[chico20854]

July 6, 1998

Nothing official for the day. Unofficially,

A fierce battle erupts in Duluth, Minnesota between a semi-official militia (led by a former sheriff's deputy, his family and a group of younger members of the town's VFW post) and a group of desperate refugees from the Twin Cities that have been sheltering at the nearby Jay Cooke State Park, who are trying to seize control of a grain elevator in the town's port. The storage facility contains nearly 3.5 million bushels of grain harvested late in 1997 that has been stranded in the port by the frozen Lake Superior and the breakdown in transportation. The refugees assault is repelled, but the militia has sustained heavy losses in the defense.

After two weeks of training, the first Mexican Army independent Voluntarios companies are declared combat ready. Ten companies are dispatched to each army operating in American territory under command of junior officers, many seconded from the Rural Guard force. Privately, many surviving senior officers in Mexico City figure they are sending the barely trained soldiers, most of whom were civilians less than three weeks ago, to their death if they were to face US Army troops. Unbeknownst to them, however, a group of generals within the Ministry of Defense have coordinated with senior PRI politicians, who see the Voluntarios as a useful way to reduce the population of impoverished people that would otherwise threaten instability under the pressures of economic collapse and American nuclear attack.

The transport USS Frederick is dispatched from Port Hueneme back to the San Diego area carrying supplies and another LAV-25. It is escorted by the light frigate USS Joyce and the Coast Guard cutter Chase, detached from the USS Oriskany group in San Francisco Bay.

In the San Diego fighting, the Marine's last remaining armored vehicle, a LAV-25 brought in by helicopter, is destroyed when one of 1st Mechanized Brigade's remaining ten AMX-13s catches it dashing from cover to cover, ripping it apart with a 90mm high explosive round. Mexican troops have established a foothold in the recruit training area, having crossed under cover of darkness and smoke. The Marines launch a furious counterattack but, low on ammunition, are unable to drive them out; they reluctantly resort to lighting the barracks the Mexicans have seized partial control of on fire, withdrawing the remaining friendly troops and using the previously meticulously maintained landscape in between as a kill zone.

A patrol from the battle-scarred New Mexico Military Institute links up with a scouting party from the withdrawing School Brigade west of Artesia. The cadets inform the Army unit that the nearby town (and its supplies of food and fuel from nearby oil wells) is held by two companies of Brigade Chihuahua's 35th Infantry Regiment and informal Mexican auxiliary troops and allied gangsters.

Fighting continues to rage in Austin, with the Mexican advance essentially halted by American resistance, disorganized as it is.

Troops of the 62nd Tank Division are able to break out of their bridgehead on the north side of the Neckar River in the ruins of Mannheim; the division's engineers restore the shattered railroad bridge enough for the unit's T-34s and T-55s to cross over as the division's troops race north. 1st Southwestern Front gives the formation priority of supply, ordering the rest of the front's troops to keep up pressure on NATO troops elsewhere along the line.

Allied troops in South Korea sweep the area evacuated by retreating North Korean and Soviet troops, hoping to identify any booby traps left behind, salvage weapons and ammunition and ensure that no stragglers, deserters or stay-behind parties are operating in the area.

A squad of MVD troops from the Volkhov garrison surround the farmhouse outside town that has been taken over by a group of three deserters from the 115th Guards Motor-Rifle Division. The squad leader calls for them to come out; one does so and is arrested but his two compatriots refuse, holding three civilians hostage.

[chico20854]

July 7, 1998

Canon is silent on the day. Unofficially,

Fighting is now widespread throughout the Los Angeles basin; while there are no defined front lines Mexican forces have overrun the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and are carefully navigating the less-heavily-damaged corridor between the Torrance and Carson refinery nuclear strikes.

After a hard overnight's steam, the small American task force of the USS Frederick, the USS Joyce and the USCG Chase arrive off of San Diego. The Chase's helicopter is able to drop a sling load of ammunition and food in an open area between burning Marine barracks before briefly hovering to pick up five wounded Marines. It takes heavy Mexican fire as it departs over the international airport. Despite this, it returns to the area an hour later, accompanied by another HH-65 from the Joyce. This mission brings in more food and water as well as three corpsmen from the ships who volunteer to remain ashore assisting the wounded. The helicopters once again take heavy fire, forcing the commander of the Frederic to delay beaching his LST or landing boats until after dark.

In eastern California, 89 (my II) Corps is still immobilized by lack of fuel; water supplies for the troops in the 120+ degree heat are also a vital logistical concern. Brigade LaPaz has almost completely withdrawn from American territory, shifting west to come to the aid of Brigade Mexicali.

Brigade Chihuahua's garrison in Artesia, New Mexico is crushed by a predawn American attack. The cadets of the New Mexico Military Institute attack the town from the north, while three battalions of the School Brigade (the 2nd, 3rd and 6th Battalions, 56th Air Defense Artillery), reinforced with the veteran gunners of the Air Defense School, attack from the south, east and west, respectively. The 300 or so Mexican defenders last less than 45 minutes before the Americans have restored control of the town.

The Mexican Coastal Column's effort in eastern Texas has proven spectacularly successful, with the 46th Infantry Division disintegrating under relentless, widely dispersed attacks. The success comes at the cost of the gradual dissolution of the Mexican force, as it spreads out over an ever-increasing area in pursuit of fleeing American troops and resources.

The Soviet assault on Prince George, British Columbia, defended by the 47th Infantry Division and remnants of the Canadian 39th Brigade, resumes. This time, the Soviets launch numerous dismounted infantry assaults, forcing the 47th to commit its reserves. With Allied troops and reserves suitably tied up, the Soviet hammer blow falls, with the 114th (my 202nd) Motor-Rifle Division dispatching its 414th Tank Regiment, down to 32 T-55s accompanied by a half-dozen BTR-50s and several dozen riflemen clinging to the turret sides, cross-country to cut the defenders off from the south.

Soviet tanks and troops rush north through the Dead Zone north of Mannheim, opposed only by scattered detachments of German territorials, reaching Darmstadt by sundown. The commander of SOUTHAG orders NATO troops south of the Main (mostly in the Heidelberg area) to evacuate behind that barrier, taking advantage of the rough terrain to the east of the Dead Zone.

The Bulgarian freighter A.B. Buzko departs the Mexican port of Altamira; having received decent treatment while in Cuba and low on fuel, the ship's captain decides to head to the port of Cienfuegos on Cuba's southern coast.

In the early morning hours, the teenage girl held hostage by a pair of deserters outside Volkhov, Russia emerges from the farmhouse, escorted by one of the men. A MVD sniper shoots at the deserter, killing him with one shot, and the girl flees. The remaining desperado remains in the cabin, killing the elderly couple inside before the MVD troopers can rush in and overwhelm him. The troops execute him on the spot.