AAR: Long Generated Campaign US v Communist

[secretgeek]

Am loving this AAR! I'd like to credit you with getting me playing SPMBT again after a bit of a break.

[Hermit]

Through clever electronic intercepts, the enemy was able to sever our communication links for the past week or so, and no reports have apparently gotten through. Their ability to penetrate our security systems is being throughly investigated, and if a traitor is found, he will be severely dealt with! (i.e., I wasn't able to post for some time for some as-yet unknown reason. John/Imp's useful advice to trash my cookies, reboot, and re-login seems to have worked)

[SecretGeek - glad you're enjoying it, welcome back]

Our last engagement concluded with several rounds of airstrikes and artillery pounding the enemy in advance of small probing actions. Eventually we punched through the enemy lines, and began streaming units into their rear area, using our infantry/RR106 jeeps/fixed guns to frustrate the enemy's own advances. Our artillery provided supporting fire against any large enemy concentrations, which convinced most of them to give up. We then wheeled our penetrating teams to the north and south and began hitting them from behind. The enemy decided that discretion was the better part of valor and left the field in a ragged and hasty withdraw. Casualties on our side were a bit more than previously, but no irreplaceable losses.

A few more M-47's Pattons that had been damaged were upgraded to M-48A2's, and our two transport helos, which only had single-squad capacity, were upgraded to some heavy-lift (226 capacity) helos.

[Hermit]

Its January 1956, and our next assignment will take us to French Indochina. Thank heaven we won't be going back to Korea again. It's colder than billy-hell up in those mountains this time of year. And it won't be quite as miserable in the jungles of Vietnam in January either.

The Viet Cong have been active lately in the Mekong Delta region, and the French just don't have the transport and equipment necessary to move their present forces around in that semi-liquid landscape. We'll be out of the river area itself, but there's plenty of flooded areas, swamps, and rice-paddies to make any mosquitoes absolutely gleeful. I hope they send some bug-repellent along with us. Any spare Viet-Cong repellent could also come in handy.

There is a fair amount of tree-covered areas, which border on jungle, but it's not quite so dense. There are some obvious choke-points where the flooded areas will force passage in land bridges of only 200 or 300 meters across. There is one paved road running E-W which passes through two small villages, and farther south is a dirt road that will be of more tactical importance. It has a wooden bridge spanning the northern section of a flooded area about 200 meters across. Because there is densely wooded areas to the north and south of the road, but not too close, it will be an ideal route for us to drive into the enemy rear area. Therefore, we don't plan on destroying it, but we're sure the enemy will be making use of it as well. We expect that location to be the scene of heavy fighting.

The battle plan is to advance quickly and secure as many of the choke points as possible before they are taken by the enemy, then wait to see the enemy's force disposition. One or two points will then be chosen for a sustained push, and our forces will then be realigned to block the enemy at the others while driving throught the chosen gaps. Since speed will be key in this encounter, we've requested and received from division several platoons of amphibious APCs. The standard complement of Ammo 1/2-tracks is the only additional ground forces available. Two flights of A-26 Intruder fighter-bombers with the new cluster munitions have also been assigned to help disperse enemy infantry concentrations that are expected at the choke-points.

[Hermit]

The battle shaped up to be a totally one-sided massacre. The enemy attacked en-masse for the most part, had no vehicles, no armor, and few heavy guns. They got a few good shots in with their hand-held anti-tank rockets and 57mm recoilless rifles. A new heavier Recoilless weapon called a B-10 also made an appearance, but the few of them that made it to the front lines shot from long range and revealed their positions too soon. They did not score any hits before being demolished by return fire from our vehicles.

Our infantry advanced rapidly in their APC's and set up blocking positions in the wooded areas, and our armor waited in positions at the fringe of woods that had open shots to the bottlenecked areas. As the enemy appeared, our armor cut loose with MG's and occassional cannon fire to stop the advance and force the enemy formations to pack together, then artillery was called in to obliterate the concentrated troops.

An unexpected and very effective enemy mortar barrage succeeded in heavily damaging one of the Dusters and immobilizing another. It also sent a platoon of ours running for cover. There must have been 20 or 25 shells landing within the course of a minute or two. There was just one explosion after another as they kept firing them on us. Most of their other mortars fell without significant effect. Sometimes it forced our tanks to fall-back momentarily while suppressed to avoid any surprise infantry charges, but otherwise the enemy made poor use of its much-vaunted mortar teams. Perhaps this was because it could not find most of our infantry until they were in the thick of things. Enemy arty consisted of light 76mm pieces which had very little effect other than to immobilize two of the Shermans. It was silenced by counterbattery fire after about 15 minutes in any event.

As predicted, the real action was around the wooden bridge. Heavy infantry fighting occurred in the woods to the north of the bridge, as our troops attempted to stop an enemy flanking attack. It was touch and go for a while, as the enemy kept pouring troops into the fight. Two of our squads lost their nerve and fled before being reminded of their duty. APC's were providing supporting fire, but in those close quarters, they had some difficulty. In fact, two APC's were lost to enemy hand-held AT rockets, and about 20 of our men also fell. Eventually the two Sherman Flame tanks of Bn B appeared and laid waste to both wood and flesh around them. Three of our own men suffered severe burns when some splash-back landed on them in the close-packed woods. Although diminished, it wasn't until the whole enemy force called it quits that this entanglement ended. By the time it was over, we had committed 4 platoons of infantry to the fight, including supporting APC's, plus the two flame tanks.

It was the opposite situation on the bridge itself. One Sherman FO tank and one platoon of infantry held the bridge for the entire battle. Upon arriving at the bridge on our side of the flooded area, we could already see the enemy troops approaching the other side. By good fortune, there was a slight rise in the road just before the bridge. Our tank could sit protected behind the hump, then nudge forward to heave shells and pour MG fire into any enemy troops that tried to cross. They were only able to get three or four AT shots at it the whole fight, and they all missed, then the launchers were blasted to bits. The enemy made repeated attempts to cross, all of which were repulsed. While a few single soldiers managed to make the crossing, our supporting troops made short work of them. Seeing that we were not willing to blow the bridge itself, the enemy troops gathered their nerves and prepared to make a concerted rush across and overrun us with sheer numbers. That's when the tank commander called in a strike by a flight of the A-26 marauders. I could tell from the size of them that they must carry a good-sized payload, and boy, did they. Between the three of them they must have dropped 10 tons of bomblets on the hapless enemy. The planes droned overhead at extremely low altitude and it looked like someone was shaking pepper down on the enemy. It sounded like firecrackers at a Chinese new-year celebration, with a continuous pop-pop-poppoppop-pop noise wafting over the water. After the dust cleared, all that we could see of the enemy was the fleeing backsides of the survivors. It wasn't long after that until the whole enemy force began disappearing into the woods.

When we slowly advanced over the bridge, it was a grisly scene that awaited us. We must have wiped out the major part of a whole enemy regiment. We counted almost 400 bodies on and in the approaches to the bridge. While we were generally happy to have succeeded in our mission, it was sobering to see all that wasted human effort.

[Hermit]

Having pushed the VietCong/VietMinh back in the Mekong Delta area, we have gradually been flushing enemy units out of their bases and worked our way northward over the past few months. It's now the fall of 1956, and we've cornered some consolidated enemy units in the rugged mountains of the Central Highlands. They haven't had time to prepare defensive positions yet, and we've been ordered to move forward and engage before they do have time.

Their positions are concentrated in an area containing six rugged peaks, comprising one central horseshoe-shaped ridge surrounded by five others that are nearly as impressive. There are some tree-covered valleys, some rice paddies, and a very few open areas on the surrounding plateau. There is a single dirt road running E-W, and one running N-S. The N-S road will be of little use, since it will be well behind the expected encounter area, and it's unlikely the enemy will come down off their high hills and seize it. The E-W road, while potentially useful, offers many opportunities for ambush (of us) and will therefore be used only on a section-by-section basis as we clear it. There's good visibility from a weather standpoint, but the many high hills and trees mean it will be mostly short lines of sight. The enemy's acquisition of B-10's, discovered in our last encounter, combined with the short lines of sight, will make it difficult for effective enemy troop-killing by armor without endangering our own tanks, meaning they'll be relegated to a suppression role when/if they have an LOS to the enemy. That also ignores the extremely rugged and steep hillsides. When you factor in that aspect, armor will have only a limited role in this engagement.

Since our last report, we've upgraded another tank to M48A2, and replaced another that was lost to an enemy SKZ bazooka. We also got new SPA artillery after ours went back for refitting. Our 155mm units were replaced by 8-inch, closed-top units. Unfortunately, they hardly carry any ammo, just enough for a few volleys, and they'll have to be be tied closely to an ammo supply or they'll be of very little use either. Division has sent over six platoons of scouts to search out the enemy, and six big transport helos to ferry troops around in the area. Two flights of Intruder's with those kick-a** cluster bombs are also waiting on-call. That's all we're getting in terms of support this time, plus a bunch of ammo 1/2-tracks. Wish us luck!

[Hermit]

As we began to move forward, the enemy pounded the dirt road with 122mm heavy artillery. I was orinally a little ticked off at the Colonel for not allowing us to ride the tanks down the road until the heavy jungle and steep hills began, but I'm beginning to see his wisdom now. It wouldn't have been pretty to have been caught in that barrage. Heck, I didn't even know they had 122mm artillery. I thought the biggest thing they had was the 85mm stuff. At the last minute, division called and said that we'd receive some artillery support ourselves, two batteries of 105mm howitzers that would be dedicated to us.

After plastering the mountain peak above with 8-inch SPA fire, the heavy helos dropped two platoons of scouts and three platoons of our infantry on our side of the ridge to the NE of the central horseshoe ridge. No enemy fire was received during the offload, but as soon as the troops crested the ridgline, the fight was on. The enemy has at least two platoons on the reverse side of the slope, and elements of several other platoons fired at us from the SE ridgeline as well. The helos went back for another load of troops while our vehicles from Bn B navigated the heavily forested plateau to make a screened approach to the northern side of the ridge. Scouts sent ahead of the vehicle column spotted two ambushes by enemy soldiers, which were quickly neutralized by helos spraying the canopy with MG fire. The suppressed enemy units were then overrun by our vehicles.

Rounding the northern foot of the ridge was not as easy. The column came under fire from three B-10's somewhere on the lower slopes of the NW ridgeline from long range, and despite the column's multiple eyeballs, the launchers could not be located until after the lead Patton was lost. When the B-10's were eventually spotted, they were fired at with everything the column had. While the enemy attack did succeed in destroying one tank with a lucky shot, they paid dearly. All three B-10's were destroyed. I'm guessing they knew what would happen once they were located, but they just kept shooting round after round until they scored a hit. You have to admire the courage of those guys!

In the southern area, the tanks of Bn A eventually took a quick jaunt down the dirt road after it had been cleared up to the crest of a smaller hill. On the other side, our infantry once again came under intense MG and small arms fire. Two of the MG's were spotted, and tanks moved into place to take out their positions. An SKZ launcher popped up from over the crest of the hill, having crawled their way through a broken area unspotted by our now suppressed troops. Fortunately the Colonel had the column headed by the slower, but more protected, M103 tanks since they can still manage a good pace on the road. Two shots from the SKZ hit home, but neither penetrated, and as you can imagine, there were no more chances given to the enemy. At the same time, we dismounted all the heavy MG crews of our own that had been piggybacking on the rearward tanks. Just in time too, as the enemy had two heavy MG's of their own somewhere on a ridge about 1 click to the south that began raking the column with bursts of 12.7mm bullets. Everyone hunkered down for a few minutes, until one of the scout teams got the courage to give the enemy the finger before popping a few smoke grenades and screening us from the incoming rounds. Now we'll have to decide whether to move forward and push through the enemy blocking force, or deploy more spread out around the road to avoid incoming artillery until we can neutralize the enemy. We know better than to just sit here too long. Gotta move, shoot, move.

[Hermit]

The Colonel opted to spread out around the road and make a serious effort to annhilate the enemy troops rather than smoke or suppressing them and passing through. The heavy MG's to the south kept the heads of our infantry down, so the armor would have had to advance without escort. That option was judged unacceptable. The armor has both climbed and descended the small ridge to either side of the road. In the meantime, the loaded helos were diverted to the south, and under cover of smoke, deployed two platoons in the fields of long grass to the south. One platoon was put to the western edge, to approach the woods and small hillock believed to be screening the enemy heavy MGs. The other was dropped in a wooded clearing to find the source of some 7.92 medium MG's that began firing as well. This platoon began receiving lots of small arms fire as soon as it emerged from the woodline, losing 2 men in the hail of gunfire. Bullets were flying everywhere, and all they could do was drop to the ground and hope that help would arrive soon. You'd be amazed how flat you can make yourself when it really matters! Fortunately, some of the armor that had repositioned higher up the ridgeline could see the spots the firing was coming from, and laid down some suppression fire with their machine guns and a few cannon rounds. The Dusters made some good use of their rapid-fire 40mm guns, since they weren't expecting any air threats. In fact, after the Dusters sprayed the area, the enemy firing almost completely ceased, and we were able to get up some screening smoke.

The platoon to the west fared better, taking only a few bursts from the heavy MG's which went over our heads, and small arms fire from one enemy squad that must have seen our movement in the tall grass. The MG's were spotted after they spewed a few more bursts at the remaining troops on the hill with the tanks, and the helos and two Pershings shooting from long range were able to silence them after a few minutes.

In the north, it was a continued slug-fest as our men on the SE ridge and theirs on the SW traded shots. Some casualties were caused on both sides, but niether side lost any units. One of our squads will have to be retired due to men lost, but our armor has finally negotiated the rim of the mountain and is inside the "bowl" formed by the surrouding ridge lines. Two AA MG's on the NW peak were spotted when they shot continuously at our orbitting helos. Our 8-inch SPA made short work of them after a few minutes of dropping their huge shells all over that peak. The Colonel took advantage of the shelling (and its suppression effects) to go ahead and drop a platoon on the inside rim of that ridge to provide recon info. There was a suprising volley of small arms fire at the off-loading troops that came from the wooded valley in the center of the bowl. Apparently the 10 minutes of 105mm barrage hadn't done as great a job of suppressing that area as expected. As the men scrambled for cover, an enemy squad hidden in rough terrain on the eastern edge of that ridge fired on them from above as well. Since our men had taken cover based upon the fire coming up from the bowl, they were exposed to fire from above and took several casualties before suppression fire from our ammo supply 1/2-tracks, shooting from all the way across the bowl, managed to force the enemy squad back into cover. Subsequent fire from the tanks' main guns, especially the CS Pershings, eventually drove the enemy from his shelter, and the much relieved infantry squads dispatched the survivors as they ran for the safety of the reverse slope of the ridge. Unfortunately, one of our squads on the ridgeline will also have to be retired from combat now. The bowl received several more liberal applications of 105mm, and that seemed to have quieted that area as well.

[Hermit]

Once a good smoke screen had been established, another platoon was helo'd in to support the troops that came under fire after emerging from the woods down south. After the smoke cleared, even more enemy fire erupted. We estimate there are three to four enemy platoons in the area. Since headquarters never believes the figures we report, we probably out to tell them there's three companies down here, and then they'll cut that number down and arrive at the correct actual amount! The tanks on the small ridgeline along the dirt road fired upon as many enemy units as they could spot, and then we laid another smoke screen down while the helo's come back to evacuate us, and we'll await further orders. By this time, some of the heavy MG's we had left behind had established good positions on the ridgeline as well, and they began to fire at the revealed enemy infantry after the smoke cleared again. The tanks had already rolled forward, screened in front by the divisional scouts. Just in time too, as several rounds of mortar fire walked back and forth across the road where the vehicles had previously stopped and fired. One of the machine gun teams newly established on the ridge caught a mortar round close to their setup spot, and it put two good men out of action. However, those enemy troops are starting to get chewed up from the hail of MG fire. Some have even started moving back toward their base. The MG fire is turning out to be so effective, we've contacted division and called off a planned artillery strike so the resulting smoke won't block the line of sight.

Enemy troops on the NW side of this same road-ridge have started shooting at our troops on the SE ridge of the bowl, as well as shooting from behind at our scouts moving west in front of the tanks. The CS Pershings and the Sherman Flails have been diverted to engage those enemy troops, but were themselves taken under fire by an SKZ bazooka. It hit one of the Pershings, but did only minor damage, and was shortly taken out by one of the Pattons with a couple bursts from its coaxial machine gun. The other tanks have pushed down the road another 400 meters or so, and are waiting there for some real infantry support before they approach a small village with woods on the north side.

In the bowl, the Bn B tanks have pulled even with the infantry on the ridges and down in the wooded bowl and are now offering some serious fire support to the troops. While the enemy squads continue to appear out of nowhere and cut down one or two of our men occassionally, they have short lives in the face of all that firepower. A platoon of grunts has also now been successfully emplaced on the western edge of the NW peak of the bowl and has spotted and engaged 4 enemy squads and provided targetting info against two of the enemy heavy MG's that were suppressing our troops to the east. Light attack helo's maneuvered around and were able to spot another AA MG and engage two squads with deadly effect.

[Hermit]

A heavy firefight developed on the western edge of the SE peak of the "bowl." A scout team blundered into an enemy squad hiding just below a large cliff as they descended it. The enemy was very cunning, waiting until the scouts were in point-blank range before cutting them down like so many stalks of grass (4 stalks, to be precise). The two of our squads following them heard the gunfire and rushed to the scene, lobbing smoke grenades over the edge of the cliff before approaching the precipice. They shot blindly down upon the area the shots had come from, and received a fusilade of return fire, much more than that expected from a single squad. An observation helo arrived to monitor the scene, and it spotted three enemy squads hiding in the woods on the slopes below, as they suddenly changed target and started shooting at him. Tanks in the bowl managed to get a bead on one of the squads, and poured round after round of HE into the area. We think it caused a few casualties, but were satisfied regardless since it forced the enemy to bury their faces in the dirt. The cavalry also arrived in the form of a light attack helo that strafed the enemy squads until our men could descend to the enemy's position. We threw all our grenades down the hill at the enemy and succeeded in driving them out of their hidden ambush ground. They are being encouraged to continue their "strategic withdrawal" by a prod from one of the circling A-26 Invaders. The vegetation on that whole side of the ridge was flayed with cluster bomblets as the plane flew over and dropped it's payload. Take that, you lousy SOB's!

Down south, our MG fire continued from the smaller ridge, and we were able to get a platoon of scouts helo-lifted to the edge of the woods. After signalling all clear, they ventured further south and southwest looking for the enemy positions. They spotted several enemy militia units, and also an SKZ when it fired at them and killed one of our troopers. A pair of 40mm AA guns were also helo-lifted to a sheltered rock outcropping on the eastern end of the small ridgline as well. Those guns and the MG's kept the enemy squads suppressed, and gradually whittled away at them until two CS Pershings arrived and cleared the area.

Enemy resistance increased as our infantry and medium armor pressed forward on the western side of the small ridge, toward another small wooded ridge north of the road. Several of our squads took one or two unexpected casualties, as the number of enemy units in the area was much higher than previously estimated. Apparently our scout teams are not detecting many enemy units in this terrain until/unless they stumble right into them. We'll have to be more careful approaching these pockets, but we need to make sure no enemy AT weapons can take shots at our armor as it passes by. In fact, one Sherman Flame tank was immobilized by a lucky B10 shot from almost 750 meters away, hidden in tall grass south of the nearby town. Our infantry teams temporarily fell back to regroup and plan a better attack route. Meanwhile, some 155mm off-map artillery was requested to pound the new ridgeline for a couple minutes in advance of our advance. We had hoped to avoid the need for artillery support in this area, as it could heavily pockmark the road if it's off-target, as well as the fact that most of our artillery is currently engaged in destroying enemy artillery and mortar units spotted in the region by their lingering smoke palls.

[Hermit]

The heavy M103 tanks finally caught up with the infantry on the smaller ridge to the south. Using their thick frontal armor as a defense, they plowed their way forward into close proximity to the enemy infantry emplacements. Many RPG-2 rockets were fired at the brave tankers, but fortunately most missed, and the few that hit did not penetrate. One of the M103's was immobilized, but it basically just turned into a heavy pillbox at that point. It continued to pour serious amounts of lead into the enemy positions from its three MG's. Eight enemy infantry squads were eliminated or forced back into the woods. The B10 launcher was taken under fire by several Pattons, and was forced to cower in its foxhole until a light attack helo crept close enough to strafe it into oblivion.

Our infantry and scouts are now making good progress down the west side of the SE peak and across the valley to the SW peak, assisted by a battery of 105mm, tank fire, and MG volleys. Smoke is screen them from long range fire, and most of the enemy units they uncover are heavily suppressed and unable to return fire effectively. Time is getting to be a problem since we still need to climb that peak. The men are getting hot and very tired. I don't think they can be pushed much harder or they'll lose some of their fighting ability.

Up north, the tanks are turning south to approach the NW peak, while the two transport helos have managed to deposit a company of infantry in a sheltered area at the base of the peak. Sniper and MG teams have been doing a good job of covering fire as the other troops press forward to join them. Two A-26's have been ordered to make a pass ahead of them and pepper the slopes with cluster bomblets to allow them a chance. Otherwise, the enemy shooting down from the slopes is liable to cut us to pieces.

-----

After an additional 20 minutes or so of heavy fighting, we have managed to reach our objectives with minimal losses. The enemy, seeing our flags raised above the objective areas, slunk away and left us to celebrate a hard won victory.