[Hermit]

It is now August 1955, and tensions with the Russians have flared again. While our forces were conducting standard training exercises, some Russian recon forces were spotted and pursued by over-zealous West-German militia. A fight soon erupted, and now both sides have sent supporting troops into the melee. We should be encountering each other soon enough. The expected meeting place is an area of fields and farmland, hemmed in by long tree-lines and small pockets of woods. Two large-sized hills of height 30 or so dominate the center of the expected battlefield, with the southerly one having a paved road that goes right through the saddle of its twin crests. There's also another east-west road of hard-packed dirt farther to the south, lined in many places by trees. Our objectives are the fields east of the two hills, approximately evenly spaced to the northeast, east, and southeast of them.

Since the engagement erupted in the late morning, there will be plenty of light left during the afternoon hours in which we expect to meet the Russians. Visibility is pretty good, about 2 & 1/2 kilometers. Also, because training operations were already underway, there will be a whole squadron of F-86 Sabre's available for air support. Division said most of their planes are currently arming and re-fueling and expects 10 or so to be airborne soon. Conversely, since the Russians were merely spying on us, no Russian aircraft are expected to be ready in time to engage us. The Colonel has also requested that some of the recon troops/106mm jeeps be cross-attached from division, as he was pleased with their exploits on our last mission. Finally, Corps headquarters sent two more of the upgraded M-48A2's to replace damaged tanks. Somewhat surprisingly, the Colonel chose to request repair parts and keep our Sherman Flame tanks. With their low standard ammo load, mediocre armor, and poor-pentrating gun, I question his logic. While they are extremely good at digging enemy infantry out of entrenched positions, the short range of their flame weapons means they must get into range of the new enemy hand-held AT weapons and limits that use. I suppose if the enemy infantry are suppressed that might still work, and unlike our own grunts, they'll be shielded from enemy MG and small-arms fire. Maybe they'll still be useful after all. Only time will tell. At least I'm not the one riding around in those things...

The Colonel plans to drive directly for the hilltops, one hill assigned to each Battalion to ensure they do not fall into the hands of the enemy, then divert part of each to occupy the outlying objective areas. An additional portion from each will divert toward the center objective, hopefully flanking any Russian units attempting to occupy it. The larger, slower, and more heavily armored M103's will continue to occupy the hilltops to snipe from long range at enemy armor moving forward. They're the only ones with enough penetrating power at long range to be effective, and their thick frontal armor should provide some protection. Well, it's time to saddle up and get moving. I'll send more reports as time permits.