DAR: Russia 2

[RERomine]

Turn 16

Enemy artillery has taken something of a break. What is coming in is for the most part dropping smoke. That is a nice breather for a change.

Resistance pocket is starting to cave in. It looks like I might be able to get to at least two of the southern flags. The three northern flags will be more complicated. The three enemy T-90As and the one MTLB complicate the issue since I have no armor to help with them. Artillery apparently damaged one T-90A and the MTLB, but they are still alive. Unless they leave, I have to assume they are still dangerous. My two tank platoons crested the southern rim of the plateau and started providing support to the infantry. Artillery is also hitting the larger enemy pocket of resistance on the north side of their line.

My lone gunship crested the plateau and spotted a ATGM BRDM-2 and took it out. I'm sure it wasn't alone, however. My tanks need to be careful.

Casualties

Friendly: Estimated 10 casualties.

Enemy: One BRDM-2 KonkursM destroyed, estimated 20 enemy casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 17

More smoke from the enemy artillery. They also dropped some big stuff in a vacant location. No harm done from that.

Captured a one of the southern flags. I should be able to get another one in the same area, but there are a lot of Russian size 0 units around: infantry ATGM and SAM teams, scouts and marksmen. They don't do much damage, but I can't ignore them. It slows me down.

Forces are still advancing on the northern pocket. We won't get through in time, but it keeps them from going elsewhere. My tanks on the southern rim are having trouble finding targets, but I don't want to move around too much because of all the infantry ATGM spotted further north. Most don't seem to have TI, but I don't want to find one that does by accident.

I lost my last gunship. It was moving into position and got destroyed by a T-90A firing an ATGM. Both gunships were put out of action by ATGMs. SAMs aren't the only thing to worry about if it flies. I still don't know where that T-90A is located.

A Javelin team was able to get into position to destroy two of the three enemy T-90As I do know about. The last one was seen running away. Two Zeuses were spotted on the back edge of the map. No worries since I don't have anything that flies anymore.

Artillery destroyed a T-72BM that nothing else seemed to be able to draw a bead on. The MTLB in the valley is still there.

Casualties

Friendly: One AH-64D destroyed, estimated 10 casualties.

Enemy: Two T-90As and one T-72BM destroyed, estimated 20 enemy casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 18

The enemy is dropping heavy stuff on target again. They capped one of my Javelin teams. I'll win this battle, but it could be expensive.

Pushing toward two more flags. I won't get to two flags I expected to capture, but at least I got one I didn't expect. It's worth 195 where the two I won't get to are worth 95, so I guess this works out better. Still running into those size 0 units. I'll be interested in seeing how many of those little things are still around when the battle ends.

The back edge of my northern group is what got hit by the enemy heavy artillery. My forces there weren't too dense, but I didn't like having my Javelin teams pounded.

My artillery was able to take out one of the Zeuses and I finally got that MTLB in the valley. That was a concern since it's machine guns are pretty potent.

Casualties

Friendly: Estimated 10 casualties.

Enemy: One ZSU-23-4M5 and one MT-LBM-6MA destroyed, estimated 20 enemy casualties.

[RERomine]

Marginal Victory

Turn 19

I continued to push on the enemy northern position until the very end. They were stubbornly holding on. It didn't help that they had a gully to their back that could hide more units. I'm not sure how many ducked into that gully to collect themselves and then came back out shooting. A few more turns and that position would have collapsed.

After a bit of selective suppressing of the enemy, I was able to capture the last two flags I was after. There were a lot of small units around so I made sure they wouldn't suppress the two I had select to make the run to the flags. Overall, it worked out pretty well.

My artillery destroyed one more Zeus and generally made life miserable for the infantry pocket in the north.

Casualties

Friendly: Estimated 5 casualties.

Enemy: One ZSU-23-4M5 destroyed, estimated 15 enemy casualties.

Total Casualties

US

Men: 122
Artillery: 0
Soft Vehicles: 0
APCs: 0
AFVs: 0
Air Transports/Helos: 2 (AH-64D and UAV)
Aircraft: 0

Russia

Men: 585
Artillery: 1
Soft Vehicles: 0
APCs: 40
AFVs: 37
Air Transports/Helos: 0
Aircraft: 0

Score

US: 28971
Russia: 3822

Final Comments

I'm not thrilled with a marginal victory but this was a tough battle and brute force won the day. The points tell me I didn't miss decisive by much. In brute force battles, casualties can be expected to be heavy. While I expected the slaughter of the enemy vehicles, I didn't expect the infantry fight that followed. For the infantry on both sides, there wasn't anywhere to really hide. There were burning tanks and APCs everywhere and the while smoke blocked the line of sight for many units, the infantry SAM and ATGM units could see and fire through it. There was no real sneaking up on anyone. There is an exception to this, however.

The enemy made no effort to control the grassy plains below the plateau. Units on the plateau, but not on the edge couldn't see the low ground. This allowed me to move units around at will, albeit nervously. The two tank platoons that engaged from the southern edge of the plateau were able to get there without being fired upon. The only enemy units that were ever in position to fire on the southern plains were the two T-72BMs that seemed to be chasing my M113s away. I had recon all over the southern plains, so the enemy tanks weren't a surprise. What I did wrong was I didn't test the ability to move around the southern fringes earlier. Once I had a foot hold up top, I should have started swinging my armor around.

I was surprised at the effectiveness of the Russian ATGMs against my gunships. In the future, I'll pay attention to tanks armed with those. While I don't use my gunships a great deal, I don't want them getting blown up, either.

Overall, I achieved my battle objectives. I planned on capturing all the flags that nobody owned at the beginning of the battle. That would have given me 16 out of 21. As it turns out, I captured 17 flags; all the ones I planned on plus one the Russians started with. My Javelin teams took heavier casualties (11 out of 27) than expected but the terrain didn't allow for quick and covered movement. Such is combat, I guess.

I've attached the save just before I ended my last turn. Also, there is a screen print of the "Tank Park". Enjoy!