The INTERBALL/Tail Probe observations of several unusual features of the plasma populations in the Earth's magnetosphere during the passage of the magnetic cloud on January 6--11, 1997 are presented. Interaction of high-pressure pulses on leading and trailing edges of the cloud with the magnetosphere resulted in its strong compression and large-scale motions of the geomagnetic tail. Several important consequences of this interaction were: (1) observations of the magnetopause position 6RE nearer to the Earth than on average; (2) a huge increase in the magnetosheath plasma density and temperature; and (3) oscillation of magnetospheric tail structures past the satellite. These observations are discussed and compared with several models. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union