Scenario: Egyptian-Libyan war miniseries (1977)

[SaS TrooP]

Hello guys!

Here come my promised three scenarios, the miniseries, covering the little known Egyptian-Libyan war of 1977.

That was was a short conflict between the two states. The was was epically lost by the Libyans. It's significance is greater than one may think, as Anwar Sadat (president of Egypt) broke the Libyans in just 4 days and had ALL THE ABILITY to depose and remove Quaddafi forever. So as you can easily guess, his decision directly allowed certain other conflicts to happen, such as Chad, Lockerbie bombings, 2011 Libyan Civil War etc.

Allright, dropping the historical part now, here are the scenarios and their appropriate descriptions:

Egyptian-Libyan War of 1977 - Part 1 - The Prelude*
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Date: July 21, 1977*
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Battle Location: As Sallum & Halfaya Pass, close to border with Libya, Egypt*
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Battle Type: Libyan raid (advance) vs. Egyptian delay*
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After Egyptian dramatic loss of Yom Kippur War in 1973, Anwar Sadat changed his approach to Egyptian external affairs. Progressing peace talks with Israel led Egypt away from nasserism and pan-arab socialism supported by Soviet Union and entire eastern block.
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Logical consequence of this were preparations for Camp David Accords and closening ties with United States. Such was the change that would complete in 1982 and switch Egypt to western allignment that it remains in today.
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On the other hand, one of the leaders of pan-arab movement, Muammar Kaddafi of Libya, saw these developments as danger of spreading zionism and capitalism across the arab world. For this reason, Libyan intelligence conducted a series of covert ops against Egyptian government. Those particularly worth noting were failed coup d'etat of 1976 and hijacking EgyptAir Flight 321. All this resulted in increasing tentions and military build-up.
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In late spring of 1977, politically driven "March on Cairo" headed out from Tobruk in Libya with the purpose to firther destabilize Sadat regime. Border Guards stopped the civilian march by firing in the air and in response Libyan artillery attacked Egyptian border with mediocre barrages.
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Finally, on 21st of July, 1977, Libyan 9th Tank Battalion of armoured brigade - supported with artillery and air force - conducted a raid on As-Sallum, border city connecting Egypt and Libya. Sollum was a home to border guards units, that were recently reinforced by infantry due to increasing tensions. The raid itself was successful and light infantry was beaten and taken captive. Yet, Libyan troops took significant losses in the process as tanks descended the pass without proper infantry cover and defences were more powerful than expected. This would be the prelude to the carnage of the following day. Unbeknown to the Libyans, Sadat managed to deploy elite Republican Guard armoured units to the east of Hallfaya Pass.
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Sollum would soon be a battlefield on scale much larger than in World War 2.
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But for now, conduct the raid. Capture As-Sallum and neutralize the infantry threat so rest of the brigade may properly deploy...
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Notes: If played against the AI the human player should take the Libyan side.*
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Sources: Various internet sources*
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Design by: Marcin "SaS TrooP" Kaluza
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[SaS TrooP]

Here comes the second one...

Egyptian-Libyan War of 1977 - Part 2 - The Battle*
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Date: July 22, 1977*
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Battle Location: As Sallum & Halfaya Pass, close to border with Libya, Egypt*
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Battle Type: Egyptian counterattack (advance) vs. Libyan delay*
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Following the raid on As-Sallum by 9th Tank Battalion the previous day (and scenario), Anwar Sadat gave a green light for Egyptian Corps to advance. As it was mentioned, Kaddafi's commanders were not aware that Egypt managed to mass much greater force around Sollum, namely 2 armoured and 1 mechanized divisions to 3 libyan brigades of various equipment. It is easy to calcualte that that Egyptians had in fact advantage way over 3:1 compared to their enemies.
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Egyptian counterattack started when massive air attacks strafed Libyan airfields in border region and around Tobruk, destroying about 20 aircraft. Right after a wave of two divisions assaulted Sollum area with third one flanking through the desert to the south.
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In just one day battle Libyan force was literally obliterated, lost hundreds of vehicles of all sorts and was diminished into poor disarray of ragtag refugees.
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In the following days, Egyptians will capture entire border region and stop - only after requests from fellow Arab states - not far from Tobruk. After that, it will take weeks for them to evacuate and territorial control will return to status quo.
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Libya will not allow itself any open hostilities towards Egypt again.
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You are a commander of armoured brigade from one of Republican Guard divisions secretly deployed in the area. You have at your disposal top quality Egyptian equipment of that time grouped in 3 battalions: 2 armoured and 1 mechanized (split between the two). Use your force as first wave shock troops. Avoid unnecessary losses, but its not your key problem as other brigades will take over if you are exhausted. Libyan force just near Sollum is made of armoured brigade of mixed quality. Beware of anti-air defences.
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Notes: If played against the AI the human player should take the Egyptian side.*
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Sources: Various internet sources*
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Design by: Marcin "SaS TrooP" Kaluza
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[SaS TrooP]

And the third one...

Egyptian-Libyan War of 1977 - Part 3 - The Camp*
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Date: July 23, 1977*
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Battle Location: deserts near Al-Jaghbub, close to border with Egypt, Libya*
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Battle Type: Egyptian commando raid vs. Rebels/Libya defence*
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When Libyan brigades to the north were decimated a day before and Egyptian divisions poured into Libya and chased for Tobruk, Arab states - as mentinoed previously - pushed Sadat for a ceasefire and halting the advance. Sadat finally agreed, but there was one more thing to do.
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Several hunded kilometres to the south of Sollum lies the oasis town of Al-Jaghbub. This oasis is probably more widely known under Italian name Giarabub, as it was a stage of siege and fierce engagement during World War 2. Since Italians saw the strategic potential of this place and carried out raids towards Sudan, Al-Jaghbub was as well communicated with the rest of Libya as it remained small and lowly populated. Knowing this, Kaddafi's military set up a number of training camps in the area. Within those camps various rebel groups were trained, for instance those that seeked control of Auzou strip in northern Chad. Also - according to Egyptian intelligence - a number people conducting terrorist acts against Egypt came out of Al-Jaghbub.
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On July 23, when combat was dying down in the north, Egyptian commando force was deployed via helicopters and raided Al-Jaghbub camp, in result leading to its destruction. Commanos destoyed or captured a significant number of weapons and other light equipment. The raid further diminished Libyan capabilities of striking not only its eastern neighbour, but also all others.
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You are a commander of two Egyptian commando heloborne assault companies and a weapons company. Cairo believes it is more than enough to crush Al-Jaghbub training camp. Intelligence believes that number of rebels oscillates around two hundred randomly armed people. They are not expected to put stiff resistance, but expect the camp to have fortified defensive positions. Choose your LZ and take it. Be careful: we are coming in fast and have element of surprise, but the longer you wait with dropping your force, the greater chance it is for them to man their AA weapons should they have any.
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Notes: If played against the AI the human player should take the Egyptian side.*
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Sources: Various internet sources*
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Design by: Marcin "SaS TrooP" Kaluza
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[shahadi]

I played the third of the miniseries.

Fun. Interesting. Entertaining scenario.

I decided to approach the target from the swamp area after having found several clear paths. I assessed the Libyans would consider the swamp as a barrier and position their main forces orientated to the left, top, and bottom of their camp.

Observations

Working with a weapons platoon is problematic. Consider inserting RPG and MMG teams within the two platoons. This decision would have been made before "dust off" anyway.

The Egyptian company is short a platoon. Oh well, it was Donald Rumsfeld who said, "...you go to war with the army you have..."

From the scenario text: "You are a commander of two Egyptian commando heliborne assault companies and a weapons company."

I got a marginal victory



Insert RPG and MMG teams within a platoon on the same bird

Thanks SaS TrooP!

[SaS TrooP]

What do you mean "short by platoon"? Any sources indicating they should have 4 combat platoons? Or as "short by platoon" you mean lack of weapons platoon?

I got no data here, but there are still many armies that keep weapons company under battalion command and have no weapons platoon whatsoever.

[shahadi]

Originally Posted by SaS TrooP

What do you mean "short by platoon"? Any sources indicating they should have 4 combat platoons? Or as "short by platoon" you mean lack of weapons platoon?

I got no data here, but there are still many armies that keep weapons company under battalion command and have no weapons platoon whatsoever.

Sorry. I am saying the commando company (not two as said in the scenario text) has only two rifle platoons (combat platoons as you say) rather than three rifle platoons.

While weapons companies are under battalion command and their teams train together under separate leaders than the rifle companies, when weapon teams are tasked to rifle companies, they are nominally done so by weapons squad to rile platoon or weapons platoon to rifle company. A battalion may have three companies normally, with a weapons company of three platoons to support the rifle companies.

I checked the database utility for the Egyptian OOB and found the commando company, formation 210, is available between '60 to '68. Although there are no helicopter commando formations, all the Egyptian rifle companies, including the commando company, are composed of three rifle platoons.

So, if your rifle company of two platoons was by design, no problem with me as I cited Rumsfeld, "...you go to war with the army you have..."

Na zdrowie!

[SaS TrooP]

Never really heard of any serious commando unit (not pure special purpose like Spetznatz) having just two combat platoons. This is dramatically inferior man and firepower...

[RetLT]

Minor issue: In The battle scenario, the Libyan unit BG7 arrives in a grey hex off map.

[DRG]

now corrected for the patch... there are actually three trucks deployed on grey hexes

[SaS TrooP]

Must have missed it while testing. Thank you!