River crossing battle tactics

[Imp]

I was refering to TOS-1s which are more infantry & light armour killers than the Smerch mentioned but fires block LOS if get enough going even for TI units.

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by Imp

I was refering to TOS-1s which are more infantry & light armour killers than the Smerch mentioned but fires block LOS if get enough going even for TI units.

I had forgotten the possibility of using incendiary weapons as possible thermal blockers as a tactic - nice idea!.

Sufficient depth of fire hexes does work like smoke against these vision devices. (I forget if it is 3 hexes of large fires or 4?).

Enemy would have to go through the firewall, or at least into it to see through. This could be a warming experience!.

If you have these in MRL deliverable form then you can build up a patch of fire that the hi-tech adversary will find inconvenient. It may need a few doses to get the firewall deep enough to be reliable. Air napalm is more variable (you would need a lot of napalm planes, and they are subject to AAA - some air forces do have access to bombers with multiple FAE or napalm, but these get laid in a single strip - so 3 such runs would have to be done in parallel to make a useful firewall (?)).

Problem would be if the fire area has to be placed somewhere that you may want to eventually cross (esp if you will need to use dismounts there!).

So "Imp's firewall" is a limited usage tactic, but possibly useful in the right circumstances.

Cheers
Andy

[RazGator]

A few years back, I designed a series of hypothetical scenarios of a Chinese vs SEATO/NATO comflict in Korea during 2020. My main purpose was to examine Sino military capability for the near future. I saved the ones that were fun and one of those was a night river crossing by Italian Lagunari Rangers and Tuscania Commandos.

Since it was for my own play, the scenario doesn't have a description but if you would like to try it, I'll shoot it to you.

[Imp]

So "Imp's firewall" is a limited usage tactic, but possibly useful in the right circumstances.

I have found it very effective with most terrain TI units tend to be back from the river bank so can deny them sight or change the anty by making them move. Difficult to guess LOS with fire & smoke so set yours up covering where he might move for & start piling everyone else in the water while hitting the far bank with conventional arty.
If you are lucky can hit infantry fairly near to the bank & deny LOS to places further back with the same volley, couple of strikes & your window has opened.
If you have them now is a good time to send in the planes as his armour might be on the move so easier to detect plus may give you some idea of which way to break out once you are over.

[Graeme]

I read in a few different sources, wiki, globalsecurity.org on the net that it may have some systems from a T-90 as they may have got one as a gift and can try to reverse engineer some systems. I believe around 10 years ago a couple of companies here in Czech Rep and Slovakia were helping them get parts for their tanks and planes as they fly Albatros' which were built near Prague and Slovakia still services Soviet era tanks I believe. Someone should have a word with Kim so we can have some accurate info for our game.


The fire smoking out the enemy TI/Vision seems a good tactic and Im seeing it in action now as Im defending a town, but with arty and everything else at a premium for NK its a bit of afterthought. I need it more for defending from infantry and countering their arty then as a screen, it usually gets a bit desperate at the end of a battle defending the hexes and the arty is needed there.

[Marcello]

Originally Posted by Graeme

I read in a few different sources, wiki, globalsecurity.org on the net that it may have some systems from a T-90 as they may have got one as a gift and can try to reverse engineer some systems. I believe around 10 years ago a couple of companies here in Czech Rep and Slovakia were helping them get parts for their tanks and planes as they fly Albatros' which were built near Prague and Slovakia still services Soviet era tanks I believe. Someone should have a word with Kim so we can have some accurate info for our game.

They may have purchased a T-90 but as far as reverse engineering...Just look at the size of the laser rangefinders they make. It might give them some ideas on things like armor arrays, layout and the odd subsystem here and there but they aren't going to be able to copy much; this especially as most of their R&D is focused elsewhere. They can't hope to match SK armor and things are only going to get worse as the K2 tanks start to roll out and the assembly lines and M48s begins to be phased out in the next future, and they probably realize that. Purchasing spares for old soviet era gears is something they are known to do. Occasionally they even buy whole weapon systems: they bought a dozen or two of BTR-80A from Russia, surplus MiG-21bis from Kazakhstan etc. But meaningful quantities of high tech stuff are simply outside the scope of their finances.

Originally Posted by Graeme

The fire smoking out the enemy TI/Vision seems a good tactic and Im seeing it in action now as Im defending a town, but with arty and everything else at a premium for NK its a bit of afterthought. I need it more for defending from infantry and countering their arty then as a screen, it usually gets a bit desperate at the end of a battle defending the hexes and the arty is needed there.

You can always use ammo resupply. In real life they are supposed to have a pretty generous ammunition allotment, up to 480 rounds per tube stored forward.

[Mobhack]

The discussion of this particular NK tank is rather swerving away from the thread topic. If any more discussion is needed on the subject, I think you should best start a new thread on it (or use an existing Korean kit one?) over in the TO&E forum.

Cheers
Andy

[Imp]

Just remembered what is most likely a cheat but so tempting I have used if terrain allows. The big hovercraft Russia USA possibly others can just fit a barge carrier in them meaning quick transportation to near the river
If you have managed to clear out AT weaponry & the river is wide the hovers are then great at spotting units on the far bank just stick a squad in them & go for a look. Big target though so stay out of RPG range.