AAR: The Iraqi Lost Legion - generated campaign

[raginis]

All Roads Lead to Rome

The British troops were not defeated in the previous battle, but nor could they stop Lt. Col. Mustafa from advancing along the road captured by the Marauders during the battle. Soon the Marauders came to the first Iraqi town encountered in the campaign so far. The locals welcomed the Iraqi troops with open arms, as news of their exploits have already spread to local Iraqi towns. As a result, a large number of young, untrained men offered to join the Marauders, and despite Mustafa's protestations, two more green People's Army companies were formed. The town's dilapidated weapons cache supplied only the most basic infantry weapons, but also three RPGs, which allowed an additional AT section to be created. Having lost contact with Engineers and the Artillery, Lt. Col. Mustafa acquiesced in this increase to his battalion. The respite, however, was short-lived as the Colonel received ominous news from the western outskirts of the town - a Saudi battalion supported by an unspecified number of fighting vehicles had just begun a door-to-door search of the town...


Type: Meeting Engagement
Visibility: 49 (2,450m)
Turn Limit: 23 turns

With a total of five Peoples Army companies, the Marauders once again decided to deploy in a line that covered the entire expected battlefield, without regard to experience of the units. The actual clash of forces would likely take place just east of the city - but that allowed the Saudis to take too many VPs in the city itself. The alternative was to try and push into the city and fight a pitched battle - always risky where the Marauders have only basic infantry weapons plus grenades, with no support weapons at squad level. Nevertheless, the Marauders' numbers would prove decisive - if you can advance everywhere, chances are the enemy won't be able to stop you everywhere...



The main Saudi push occurred in the northern ellipse. There are three VPs there closely spaced together on a grass-covered elevation. There were not many locations where I could place my support weapons to cover that mini-plateau. Troops in the forest to the east would at least have some protection, but any support weapons placed there would be in range of regular Saudi infantry.

The southern ellipse was a fairly high ridge where I placed most of my support weapons. They had OK fields of fire, but could not effectively support the troops in the north.

None of the above would have mattered if there were, say, 10 more turns on the clock, but as it was, I could not afford to let the Saudis advance as far as the northern plateau in order to defeat them with superior firepower while they were in open terrain. I had to push my rifle companies forward to try and take the city, stopping to fight the Saudis when encountered, retreating back into the protection of the support weapons when necessary, pushing ahead where there was no resistance.



On Turn 10, the southern-most push encountered the Saudi advance of perhaps 1-2 platoons (as it later turned out, supported by some MMG sections, plus possibly an additional platoon and TOW vehicles) This is the Marauder C Company advancing, so it consists of battle-bloodied troops, but at ranges of 50-150m the lack of that squad MG was a killer. This company advanced perhaps a further 200m from Turn 10 until Turn 23, getting shredded at close range (one squad ended the battle with 1 soldier), but also getting opportunities to fire at 50m, where at least the grenades come into play.



The TOW vehicles, unlike a section of V150F Commandos to the north, successfully resisted any close assaults with rifles and hand grenades. I didn't have time to push up RPGs (due to their low number of soldiers per section, I thought these would be too vulnerable in a city advance), so it ended in a stalemate. You can see the one RPG section that perhaps could have killed a TOW vehicle if I had 1-3 more turns. The squads coming in from the north of the picture were actually part of a separate push that could not help much until the very end of the battle.



In the upper-middle portion of the map the plateau was the key terrain feature. It had three objective flags and two Saudi AMX tanks moved to capture these. I had nothing to stop them with directly, but they eventually succumbed to the AT guns. Perhaps because of the grass, or the shape of the elevation, covering the approaches to the VPs with support weapons proved difficult. The infantry based in the forest at least had some cover, but entering the open terrain for a stand-up firefight with Saudi infantry proved too costly.



The above picture illustrates the difficulty. My scouts had already recaptured the VPs, so at least I could play defense here, but advance was proving difficult. The top-most Iraqi unit is a sniper hidden in a stone house. However, he's at elevation 11, and can't cover the VPs, or harass any of the Saudi troops that are approaching the VPs. The 12.7mm HMG section near the top-right corner (the highlighted hexes are the hexes visible to it) is one of the few units that actually can cover the VPs - but I had to place it in open terrain, within range of enemy infantry squads. A hit from an infantry squat can really tear up a HMG section, so this was a risk.

Marauders are attempting to advance from the forest to get into the city and capture the VPs there, but that exposes them to fire from Saudi units that are either in buildings, or are hidden behind the plateau. Any advance across the plateau would even expose my troops to Saudi reverse-slope defense. I was able to hold on to the VPs but, again, not able to make much progress here.



It is in the north where the Marauder A Company was able to advance without encountering much resistance. They close-assaulted the two V-150F Commandos which had no infantry support, and were able to get behind the Saudi line, take out a few mortar sections, and capture a number of VPs.



One enemy unit was in fact able to sneak through my line, and was advancing on a VP - but luckily Lt. Col. Mustafa, himself trying to get to a better spotting position to call in arty, was there and got his first kill.



In the end, a marginal victory was achieved. Of some note was the effectiveness of Saudi mortars - they brought four sections, and were able to inflict pretty good losses on my troops, including the complete destruction of an HMG section in one hit. Overall, the Saudi units were beaten, but not completely broken - nevertheless, the town was in Iraqi hands, and the Marauders could expect at least some rest and replacements...