Scenario: Egyptian-Libyan war miniseries (1977)

[SaS TrooP]

And the third one...

Egyptian-Libyan War of 1977 - Part 3 - The Camp*
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Date: July 23, 1977*
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Battle Location: deserts near Al-Jaghbub, close to border with Egypt, Libya*
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Battle Type: Egyptian commando raid vs. Rebels/Libya defence*
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When Libyan brigades to the north were decimated a day before and Egyptian divisions poured into Libya and chased for Tobruk, Arab states - as mentinoed previously - pushed Sadat for a ceasefire and halting the advance. Sadat finally agreed, but there was one more thing to do.
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Several hunded kilometres to the south of Sollum lies the oasis town of Al-Jaghbub. This oasis is probably more widely known under Italian name Giarabub, as it was a stage of siege and fierce engagement during World War 2. Since Italians saw the strategic potential of this place and carried out raids towards Sudan, Al-Jaghbub was as well communicated with the rest of Libya as it remained small and lowly populated. Knowing this, Kaddafi's military set up a number of training camps in the area. Within those camps various rebel groups were trained, for instance those that seeked control of Auzou strip in northern Chad. Also - according to Egyptian intelligence - a number people conducting terrorist acts against Egypt came out of Al-Jaghbub.
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On July 23, when combat was dying down in the north, Egyptian commando force was deployed via helicopters and raided Al-Jaghbub camp, in result leading to its destruction. Commanos destoyed or captured a significant number of weapons and other light equipment. The raid further diminished Libyan capabilities of striking not only its eastern neighbour, but also all others.
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You are a commander of two Egyptian commando heloborne assault companies and a weapons company. Cairo believes it is more than enough to crush Al-Jaghbub training camp. Intelligence believes that number of rebels oscillates around two hundred randomly armed people. They are not expected to put stiff resistance, but expect the camp to have fortified defensive positions. Choose your LZ and take it. Be careful: we are coming in fast and have element of surprise, but the longer you wait with dropping your force, the greater chance it is for them to man their AA weapons should they have any.
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Notes: If played against the AI the human player should take the Egyptian side.*
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Sources: Various internet sources*
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Design by: Marcin "SaS TrooP" Kaluza
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[shahadi]

I played the third of the miniseries.

Fun. Interesting. Entertaining scenario.

I decided to approach the target from the swamp area after having found several clear paths. I assessed the Libyans would consider the swamp as a barrier and position their main forces orientated to the left, top, and bottom of their camp.

Observations

Working with a weapons platoon is problematic. Consider inserting RPG and MMG teams within the two platoons. This decision would have been made before "dust off" anyway.

The Egyptian company is short a platoon. Oh well, it was Donald Rumsfeld who said, "...you go to war with the army you have..."

From the scenario text: "You are a commander of two Egyptian commando heliborne assault companies and a weapons company."

I got a marginal victory



Insert RPG and MMG teams within a platoon on the same bird

Thanks SaS TrooP!

[SaS TrooP]

What do you mean "short by platoon"? Any sources indicating they should have 4 combat platoons? Or as "short by platoon" you mean lack of weapons platoon?

I got no data here, but there are still many armies that keep weapons company under battalion command and have no weapons platoon whatsoever.

[shahadi]

Originally Posted by SaS TrooP

What do you mean "short by platoon"? Any sources indicating they should have 4 combat platoons? Or as "short by platoon" you mean lack of weapons platoon?

I got no data here, but there are still many armies that keep weapons company under battalion command and have no weapons platoon whatsoever.

Sorry. I am saying the commando company (not two as said in the scenario text) has only two rifle platoons (combat platoons as you say) rather than three rifle platoons.

While weapons companies are under battalion command and their teams train together under separate leaders than the rifle companies, when weapon teams are tasked to rifle companies, they are nominally done so by weapons squad to rile platoon or weapons platoon to rifle company. A battalion may have three companies normally, with a weapons company of three platoons to support the rifle companies.

I checked the database utility for the Egyptian OOB and found the commando company, formation 210, is available between '60 to '68. Although there are no helicopter commando formations, all the Egyptian rifle companies, including the commando company, are composed of three rifle platoons.

So, if your rifle company of two platoons was by design, no problem with me as I cited Rumsfeld, "...you go to war with the army you have..."

Na zdrowie!