AAR: Long Generated Campaign US v Communist

[Hermit]

1st Bn A: Main force armor is in the woods. Mech elements from division have emerged from the woods and reached the base of the first large hill on the enemy's northern flank. Orders are to skirt the base of the hill around the NW side, being mindful of enemy AA guns that we know are on the hillside somewhere, and begin penetration into the rear areas. Go team go!

1st Bn B: All vehicles are safely across the vallely and into the perimeter of the woods. Three enemy assault teams have been encountered in the woods and engaged by our own men. One of our mech squads took a beating, but all three enemy infantry are on the run. Two heavily suppressed T-34's were still guarding the back-side of the woods, and used their machine guns to pin down our boys. A main force tank was able to get a clear shot at one of the tanks and it was engaged from 200m with devastating results. A third enemy tank is somewhere to the South, and very close, as it pounded one of our main force MG's that started suppression firing into the woods on the other side of the clearing. As an engineer team started moving south to assault that tank, two more disrupted (but still alert) enemy infantry squads laid into the engineers, who went to ground with only minor casualties. Instrinsic artillery fire has been requested to shift fire to the SW to suppress any other hidden enemy units on our flank as we prepare to cross the clearing. Also, we don't want to get our own heads blown off by friendly fire.

2nd Bn A: Main force units have advanced to the wooded base of a large hill that is part of the enemy's main defensive line. Using the woods and crest of a spur as cover, we are temporarily halting to regroup. A platoon of T-34's has been spotted on the NE side of the hill, in a slight saddle, that we had planned to use as our route of advance. We have requested that they be given a healthy dose of large metal objects falling from the sky before we proceed. Although our concentration of forces at the base of the hill is a bit risky, we have only received a sporadic peppering from enemy 60mm mortars anywhere in the area lately, and intel is confident that all large calibre enemy artillery has either been rendered ineffective or simply run out of ammunition. A probe of APC's with onboard infantry has been sent to explore the southern route (which also happens to be in the direction of one of our objectives). That route was initially rejected as too open and exposed to fire from any secondary defensive line. However, helo scouting and the lack of ANY fire from that quadrant makes it worth reconsideration. Unfortunately, our advancing infantry teams failed to spot a lone enemy unit, and before anyone had a chance to react, the "whoosh" of a rocket launcher broke the silence. The flash of light from a small stand of trees revealed the location of the enemy bazooka team, but not before they had turned one of the taxis into a pile of scrap. The advance infantry, obviously a little pissed off, returned heavy small arms fire, but only succeeded in driving the team to ground. One of the Sherman Dozer tanks manuevered for a clear view, and succeeded in killing the enemy team after a sustained period of cannon and MG fire from about 400 meters.

2nd Bn B: There is little to report in this sector, as we continue a slow advance behind scouting infantry. With no objectives in the area, the Colonel has allowed us to proceed with maximum caution, sniffing for another route into the enemy's rear. We are also to remain available as a reserve force, to head north as needed if group A becomes stalled or heavily engaged.

[Hermit]

1st Bn A: Three enemy 20mm AA were located when they shot at scouting APC's. All were destroyed by the Chaffees and main force tanks. The northern objective area was approached by some of the section, but section B arrived there first and the enemy fled the battlefield. Some units of section A drove into the enemy's rear area, but did not locate any enemy units.

1st Bn B: Indirect suppression fire by our flame tanks allowed friendly infantry to overrun the enemy infantry in the woods. Moving forward cautiously, the grunts were able to approach and destroy the two remaining T-34's in this wooded area. Mech units moved forward rapidly after this final breakthrough and were able to capture the northern objective, about 300 m past the woods, with minimal effort.

2nd Bn A: Main force tanks proceeded expeditiously through the break in the hills, destroying all three enemy T-34's while on the move. Fortunately, the fly-boys finally saw fit to make a pass over us, probably looking for those T-34's we called in about earlier. They spotted a whole company of the tanks in the flat area behind the large hill, which we might have blundered past. Then "Kapow!" you get sucker-punched in the back when you've driven past them. Instead, it was us that did the sucker-punching; we smoked them real good and then headed north to the Central objective, where we set up in cover of the woods on the far side and just waited. The mech boys kept driving north and took our objective, and when the Chinese counter-attacked with their tanks, we opened fire, just like making popcorn: pop, pop, pop-pop! Too bad, so sad.

2nd Bn B: Since section A was cut off from the Southern objective by a large group of enemy armor, section B turned north to attempt seizing it. This meant picking up the pace a little, and we lost our caution. Also, artillery was running out of ammo, so we weren't able to prep the area in front of our now rapidly moving force, and we paid for it. One of the flame tanks was toasted (literally) by a lone surviving enemy tank in the woods which had not been spotted by the advancing grunts. That turned out to be the worst of the remaining resistance. We spotted a few enemy squads, but they were quickly suppressed or driven off and we proceeded to take the objective with little further interference.

[Hermit]

The expected enemy counter-attack was both half-hearted and futile. About eight or nine enemy tanks were destroyed, as well as five or six enemy squads. The rest of their infantry units retreated behind smoke, and soon all resistance crumbled as the enemy left the battlefield to the victors. Post-battle analysis showed that the enemy still had a substantial number of infantry units in the large woods to the SE of the central objective, but most were in various states of distress. Several enemy armored units were scattered about, almost all having been immobilized by artillery during the battle. Enemy casualties were heavy, and ours light by comparison:

1 Sherman flame tank destroyed (and crew cooked alive)
5 divisional APC's destroyed
4 tanks heavily damaged
2 helos lightly damaged
3 divisional 1/2 tracks (gun or mortar) damaged
81 men lost
1 aircraft lightly damaged

Apparently the French are having a hard time in Vietnam, and we've been ordered to pack up and ship out the provide assistance. The mission will be to assault VietMinh positions in the highlands on two adjacent mountains, each with a double camel-back ridgeline. Intel says the terrain around the mountains is fairly flat, but with quite a bit of jungle. There appears to be a corridor of loosely connected clearings that would make a good east-to-west route of advance. We're scheduled to attack just after first light when the visibility will be about 500 meters. That sounds good to me, since we'll be able to see where we're going, but it won't allow the Viet-Minh on the mountains to see us coming and fire on us from long range.

We thought HQ might abandon the flame tanks, especially since one got destroyed in the last mission and they're no longer in production. However, I heard they might be useful in that jungle terrain for smoking (haha) out the enemy, so they went ahead and shipped us one from the reserves and plenty of spare parts. We didn't receive any other upgraded equipment, just repairs for our damaged units, and then we had to load up for the trip overseas.

Divisional HQ said there will be plenty of air support this time, with both fighter-bombers and close support bombers on call. The French also had two Russian advisor helo pilots defect with their Mil-1's that they've agreed to lend us. Not good for much if you ask me, since they don't even have any weapons, but the Colonel said they can carry a few men in the cockpit and sneak 'em behind enemy lines, so we'll just have to wait and see. We are also getting four batteries of division 105mm artillery to assist. Looks to be a challenging mission ahead.

[Hermit]

Upon arrival in Vietnam, we were given four Sherman Flails to assist in the assault, as well as four platoons of Mech engineers. They should help out alot with mine clearing. The Colonel decided to keep each battalion intact for this battle, and we've been moving steadily forward since the operation kicked off. As usual with the military, things started off late, and by the time we got rolling it was well past first light. Dawn is approaching and visibility is about 700 meters or so, not so different than what we expected to have. I wonder if it will help us or the enemy more to have the longer range of sight.

1st Bn is proceeding through the clearing chain as planned, with light resistance. So far our scouts have spotted two SKS anti-tank rocket launchers, two MMG's, and nine enemy squads (either before or after shooting at us). All have been destroyed by heavy return fire from our units. Enemy 60mm and 81mm mortars have been harrassing us, but no barrage has caught us dead-on so far. We've suffered a few casualties, but nothing serious. We'd heard that the VietMinh would bring artillery right up close to the front, but we were surprised how close they really mean. The defector Russian helos dropped a scout team in a small clearing near some smoke puffs about 1.5km from our first stopping point, and when they snuck to the edge of the woods, they spotted three 76mm field guns in sandbagged pits. Needless to say, they quickly called in support. Two snipers were infiltrated by helo, and after about 10 minutes, all the crews were killed without any response.

We've come across the enemy's first mine belt, and with our dozer's and engineers working without enemy interference have easily swept a clear path. We also stumbled across two enemy bunkers, one of which must have been used mostly for storage and as a bomb shelter, because the enemy had let trees and bushes grow up in front of it to such an extent that it had no field of fire after about 50 meters. They manned it up quickly when they saw our engineers filtering through the woods nearby, but a Sherman flame tank knocked it out easily from point-blank range. The 'zippo' also took on the bunker about 400 meters to the north, with similar results.

2nd Bn discoverd a small dirt road that the French said was used for logging in bygone days, so they are driving cautiously up that with heavy prep-fire from the divisional 105 batteries. They've only encountered one or two enemy units so far, although they've been hit with a steady rain of 60mm mortars. Keeping the Flails up front, screened by smoke from our barrage seems to be the best response. They are almost impervious to the small calibre enemy mortars, and the enemy's limited AT capability and the amount of suppression caused by our 105mm makes the risks minimal. They have just come across a heavily mined section of the road, so engineer and infantry teams following behind them have started fanning out to bypass the mines. Two more enemy squads were detected when they opened fire, and they will soon be the subject of retribution.

[Hermit]

1st Bn continued moving forward, using the clearings to leap-frog from one woodline to the next, until nearing the central objective. Then the battalion split into two sections, one turning sharply north to approach the northern objective and the other veering slightly south to take the Central objective. Both sections cautiously approached and captured the objectives with persistant creeping forward.

2nd Battalion infantry fanned out and secured the flanks of the main force. Divisional infantry, supported by the Flail and Pershing CS tanks took the objectives.

Lack of time has blunted this battle report, and it is entirely uninteresting. Besides closure, it is being written to point out that there were continuous counter-attacks by enemy infantry and SKS launchers until the VietMinh requested a cease-fire and withdrew from the battle (i.e., time ran out). After 2 & 1/2 hours of combat, we had finally succeeded. However it was not for lack of trying to recapture by the enemy. As they filtered back into their own territory, I was amazed at the number of enemy units still concealed in the large wooded areas that were advancing from their emplacements to reclaim the objectives.

Losses:
1 M19 40mm SPAA (crew survived)
3 Tanks immobilized
1 helo slightly damaged
2 trucks w/AAMG from division
2 divisional squads
several men from other units

[Hermit]

After a few months of rest and refit, we have been called up to meet an aggressive thrust by the Russians into portions of occupied Germany. We are tasked with giving the Russkies a sound thrashing to remind them we will defend the Germans against Communist agression, and also to keep the cold war from getting any hotter.

The terrain is rolling hills with small pockets of woods. There is a paved road E-W across the southern portion of the map, and a NW-SE dirt road that intersects the paved road just past our objective areas. Both roads have bocage along most of their length (i.e., trees growing on rough terrain). The hills are about 30 meters high and there are some depressions and ravines in between, a few as much as 25 meters deep. There are many patches of broken ground dispered around the area.

Division has supplied 2 armored rifle companies, a few half-tracks & M75 boxcar APC's for taxis, ammo half-tracks, and limited air support. The battle plan is to move AT guns up to the hills overlooking the objectives and place them on broken patches, behind cover of smoke where necessary. These will be used to provide distractions for enemy fire, as well as take out some enemy armor. Main force tanks will stay in Bn groups and traverse the low ground between the hills to avoid being skylined and shot at, and take up positions to provide flanking fire as enemy units attempt to seize the objectives. Our own infantry will take the unusual risk of riding the main force tanks up to the expected encounter area and dismount under cover of terrain or smoke. Then they can provide scouting and screening services as the armor moves into better positions. Infantry support tanks will accompany the armored infantry companies from division as one proceeds through the wooded areas near the objectives to act as recon and targets, and the other will advance down the road, dismounting and using the bocage as cover as needed, to penetrate into the enemy rear.

[Hermit]

After advancing relatively unopposed for about 15 minutes, both armored infantry companies from division ran into enemy mechanized formations and promptly put out smoke and dismounted. Most of the vehicles withdrew a good distance back to avoid the inevitable barrage of artillery. The bocage terrain makes great cover for our dismounted troops, but it is hell on vehicles, so it can also act as an impediment once the advance is stalled - it is much more difficult to flank the obstructing force.

The AT guns on the hilltop was a great plan to start with, but as soon as a larger number of enemy vehicles appeared, they became shell magnets. The Colonel called for smoke to screen a repositioning move to the flanks of the hill to keep them from becoming scrap metal. Only one artillery barrage of 122mm hit one of them before we had them all out of the way. While the guns could have remained hidden for longer and not drawn so much attention to themselves, they probably wouldn't have had much time to escape in that case. So although the kill numbers of enemy armor was disappointingly low, it served to slow the enemy advance slightly and also distract some of his artillery, so all-in-all we'll probaly try it again some time. We lost a 1/2-track in the process, but they knocked out 4 enemy tanks and 2 APC's so far. The enemy fire didn't manage to hit any of the guns themselves, but four crewman were put out of action by a near miss.

We discovered shortly after sighting the enemy's major force groups that they had fielded some new armor. I heard some of the intel guys calling them a T-54-3. Whatever they're called, they have a new 100mm gun and thick armor. A lot of our shots just bounced off their fronts. Southern battalion had to throw up a smoke-screen and dash behind the flank of a large hill to get better positions. It turned out to be a good move, as many of these behemoths accompanied by T-34's tried to come around our southern flank, over a rise on the edge of the battlefield. A steady pounding with artillery slowed and suppressed their movement, so that we were able to demolish 10 or 15 of them, a few at a time, as they rounded the hillside. Another group came down the road and through an open area straight toward the southern objective. We had little to oppose them besides artillery, and they are now in a position to threaten the infantry holding that area.

In the far north, six T-34's were spotted trying to flank in that direction. Four F-84 fighter-bombers have been asked to make some runs over them, and hopefully they'll be deterred before getting into our rear area.

Shortly after the engagement really began, the enemy called in an airstrike of its own on us. Two Yak-9's and two IL-10's came swooping down and laid into the southern group of main force tanks. One Patton and one taxi have been destroyed by rocket fire from the IL-10's. The Yak's picked on some infantry and a Patton, but both survived. One of the Yak's and one of the IL-10's were brought down, and both others were damaged. The IL-10's are tough SOB's, and doing enough damage to knock them outta the sky is very difficult. Fortunately, the Russian pilot was a glory hound and he came back for another pass. That time one of the M19 SPAA gave him a solid hit with it's twin 40's, and he never even pulled up from his intial dive. BOOM! Right into the ground. We all cheered as the fireball mushroomed into the sky.

In the center, main force tanks found little resistance and bypassed to the north the conflict around the road, as the enemy also apparently did to the south. Leading halftracks cleared the way and they were able to completely pass through adjacent terrain, unlike the enemy thrust that is being stalled by our infantry. In the undulating ground to the south of the road, fields of fire are short and unpredictable. While our infantry is taking a beating, it is still in most of its initial positions. Enemy armor is piling up and constantly suppressed by our artillery. Meanwhile, our tanks found an opening in the bocage, raced down the road to get behind the enemy thrust, and have just emerged again. They are circling around to the south and coming upon the enemy from behind. Three T-34's went up in smoke just a few moments ago, and it looks like the Russian center may collapse shortly, between artillery suppression, slightly effective recoilles rifle fire from the bocage into their flank, and our main force armor in their rear. We just need the infantry to hold out for another 10 minutes....