AAR: Hammer and Anvil

[shahadi]

Originally Posted by Aeraaa

Turns 26-30




In these turns, I identify the main axis of advance of the Ukrainian mechanized force: Siret bridge to the south.

So the plan is to find where to put units to ambush the Ukrainian heavy force. I send some infantry at (14), planning to send them even more south. In addition, I will try to sneak one platoon of the force defending Siret bridge towards (15). They will probably be able to delay the Ukrainians for long enough until I figure out where to counter them…

I think they want the main bridge and will advance in mass towards 11, 12, and 13.

I would hold all units. Cut off Ukrainian paras from linking up to the main force; while making a LOD from 14 SW to a point east of the main bridge, as far south as the old cementery. The Ukrainian advance must be slowed...use artillery fires to slow them down. Pyros has a tutorial showing how to engage artillery fires with each turn. That's the ambush.

Great stuff!

[Aeraaa]

^Yeah, that is one way that they can go. However, they can also go towards the city park, as there are also a couple of objectives there, so I'm not 100% sure about their intentions. But probably I will eventually do the same thing as you recommend. The problem is also that while I believe most paras are counterattacking my infantry, there are probably some isolated squads, snipers and AT teams that are scattered around the city and if I move my force without caution I can lose a couple of vehicles and I definitely do not want to have casualties on my tanks or AT before I hit the heavy forces.

About artillery yeah, I generally know how to use them for delaying tactics, but the heavy force will probably won't be affected that much (armored vehicles and such). I believe my arty will be better used slaughtering the light forces at (5) and (6), although this will happen very soon; then I can turn towards the heavy forces to try to harass them as much as I can.

Anyway, we'll soon see.

[shahadi]

Originally Posted by Aeraaa

^Yeah, that is one way that they can go. However, they can also go towards the city park, as there are also a couple of objectives there, so I'm not 100% sure about their intentions. But probably I will eventually do the same thing as you recommend. The problem is also that while I believe most paras are counterattacking my infantry, there are probably some isolated squads, snipers and AT teams that are scattered around the city and if I move my force without caution I can lose a couple of vehicles and I definitely do not want to have casualties on my tanks or AT before I hit the heavy forces.

About artillery yeah, I generally know how to use them for delaying tactics, but the heavy force will probably won't be affected that much (armored vehicles and such). I believe my arty will be better used slaughtering the light forces at (5) and (6), although this will happen very soon; then I can turn towards the heavy forces to try to harass them as much as I can.

Anyway, we'll soon see.

Yeah, I see what you mean about smaller para groups.

Would VF values tell us the Ukrainian LCOA?

[Aeraaa]

Originally Posted by shahadi

Would VF values tell us the Ukrainian LCOA?

All VF values are 250 each.

[shahadi]

Originally Posted by Aeraaa

All VF values are 250 each.

Any VF clusters with combined VF values more than any others?

[Aeraaa]

Main bridge to the west has 4 VPs.

Train bridge up to NW has 2.


The bank plus the crossroads to where Sima's House is 2 more.


The city park has one and directly behind the park, the train junction has one, so the area has 2.


There is 1 more where there is a rail-road crossroad (to the west of the train junction).


These are all VPs I have inside the city as of now. Siret bridge has 2 more VPs.


Ukrainians have 7 VPs inside the city (church, university, city hall, old cemetery, 3 VPs at the secondary bridge to the south) plus one more in the town where I began the attack. The eastern part of the city is completely devoid of VPs.

[Aeraaa]

Turns 31-35



While there are numerous small actions everywhere, I’ll focus on the most important points.

To the southeast, the Ukrainian main body continues to move towards Siret bridge, capturing it easily after most of its defenders are eliminated. Only a few isolated squads, two BTRs and two tanks remain (one of them is the company commander’s tank, which is immobilized and not of much use). A brave heavy MG squad causes casualties to the truck-borne infantry to the north at (2) before succumbing to close range tank fire. In the end, Ukrainians had few casualties. Their tanks are being shelled though at (1), by 120mm mortar fire and 152mm artillery fire. My artillery also shells the infantry force at (2) and (3), causing great casualties to the regular infantry. My 35mm AAGs also fire at (4), pinning that force in place. Ukrainian mortars though are successful in shelling my artillery at (5), destroying two trucks and causing disruption.

After capturing Siret bridge, the Ukrainian main body moves towards the southeastern outskirts of Roman itself. The heroic resistance of the force defending the bridge, gave me time to move three infantry platoons and one tank platoon to delay and damage the Ukrainian force. The first clash happens around (6), where my infantry destroys one BTR-4 and kills the crewmen that bailed out of the vehicle. 400+ points for one old RPG plus small arms fire, not bad at all. My remaining tank destroyers set position at (7) and fire at Ukrainian armor ineffectively. They are themselves destroyed by ATGM fire.

Ukrainians have more aircraft arriving and they bomb my forces around (8). I lose two trucks carrying 100mm AT guns (I have just one remaining and they haven’t participated in the battle at all) and one tank. I manage to damage one SU-25 though.

One platoon that outflanked the paras attacking Sima’s house put an end to the Ukrainian attacks and also managed to capture the city hall at (9).

Finally at (10), the Romanian battalion is almost completely across the bridge (sans their BTRs). They eventually manage to defeat the paratroopers counterattacking them and they also manage to capture the Romanuly church after bitter close quarters fighting with the engineer platoon defending it. My BTRs manage to chase off one Hind, but the other destroys one BTR and remains a viable threat.

In the pink squares are the objectives not yet captured by me. The university will quickly fall, but the bridge and the old cemetery are difficult goals and I probably need to find some kind of small mechanized task force to accomplish these objectives. Easier said than done, since I need all my armor for defending against the Ukrainian counterattack from the southeast and to keep it alive from enemy helos and aircraft to boot.

[shahadi]

Originally Posted by Aeraaa

Turns 31-35



In the pink squares are the objectives not yet captured by me. The university will quickly fall, but the bridge and the old cemetery are difficult goals and I probably need to find some kind of small mechanized task force to accomplish these objectives. Easier said than done, since I need all my armor for defending against the Ukrainian counterattack from the southeast and to keep it alive from enemy helos and aircraft to boot.

You may not have to go after them. Consider setting your defences along the Ukrainian LCOA, towards the Main Bridge, and let them come you.

[Aeraaa]

Turns 36-43(end)



The final turns saw the last efforts of the Ukrainian main force to break through towards the main bridge. Unfortunately for them, the resistance of the Romanian force around (1), (2) and (3) was tough and determined and they couldn’t move easily. At (1), the Romanian infantry platoon was still around the houses, killing the occasional BTR with an RPG or even grenade launcher rounds. At (2), the Ukrainian mechanized platoons managed to make some progress, until the time that the Romanian tanks came into play. The latter did lose one tank from a Hind ATGM though. At (3), not much happened, except from occasional pushes that were easily dealt. Romanian artillery was firing harassing fire at (4), making movement even more difficult.
One T-64BV tank platoon decided to help with the push as well. They maneuvered north, towards (5), and were engaged from the flanks by the TR-85 tanks of (2), their fire was abysmal though, and the Ukrainian tanks fired back, blowing up one TR-85. Since I was at a disadvantage, I pull my remaining two tanks out if sight. The Ukrainian tank platoon moved forward, but in the meantime, I positioned two more tank platoons in ambush position about 300 meters away. This time Romanian tankers were more successful, knocking out all 3 Ukrainian tanks by side shots, for no losses.
Despite the Romanian successes, one Ukrainian force of two mechanized platoons and one scout platoon manages to bypass the Romanian areas of resistance and dashes towards the west from the old cemetery. The meet the Romanian battalion that was also moving east to capture the secondary bridge. Their advance halts after losing a couple of BTR-4s to RPG fire and they also receive 14.5mm fire from BTRs that crossed the bridge. Since I received no ATGM fire lately, I decided to push my vehicles forward as well, with the last two platoons that were still in vehicles making a mounted advance towards the bridge. One of them dismounts to the south of the pool at (6) and captures the bridge in the final turn. After that, the only place in Roman still in Ukrainian hands is the old cemetery.
Ukrainians also made secondary attacks elsewhere. The first of them pushes towards the center along the E85 road. It comprises of mostly trucked infantry and a few light vehicles. This force is harassed by artillery fire around (7), receiving even more casualties. They do manage to reach the town though, up until position (8), where their advance is checked by a few surviving Romanian BTRs and the lone AT gun surviving, firing from (9).
The other advance is north from (12). They too receive artillery fire and they suffer casualties. However, resistance there is only comprised of a single mechanized squad and the 35mm guns of the AAA (plus the occasional direct fire from the field guns). Ukrainians also use a couple of Tunguskas firing direct fire towards my artillery park and they bomb my position with Su-24s to boot. These attacks cost me two 35mm AA guns and one 130mm gun, as well as numerous trucks and a dozen or so artillerymen casualties. It was a battle in which the artillery was used in an old Napoleonic fashion, firing directly towards the enemy, but in the end the Ukrainians couldn’t manage to come anywhere close to the city.
The Ukrainian air force was supporting the Ukrainian assault, bombing targets in the city indiscriminately (though I manage to damage one more Su-25 and one Su-24). One air strike caused casualties to the mechanized platoon at (13). In addition to the air strikes, the Ukrainian helos proved the most devastating weapon platform for my forces, costing me a significant amount of tanks, BTRs and other vehicles. They had actually ran out of missiles in the end, which is what saved my force from total destruction. And as a final note, one Ukrainian artillery observer managed to sneak close to Sima’s House at (14) and called a heavy and accurate 152mm artillery barrage. The result of the barrage was that all but 4 of the men defending the building were killed or wounded (Sima himself was among the casualties), every building around a 200 meter radius plus Sima’s house was wrecked and two BTRs outside were immobilized. It was a small morale victory for the Ukrainians, taking out a building and its heroic defenders long after they stopped being of any real importance in the grand scheme of things. They endured infantry assaults, sniper fire and MG fire, to be finally succumbed to something that could only be described as overkill…

Casualties table and final words coming soon.

[Aeraaa]

Aftermath:




Equipment losses:

Romanians

23 TR-85 medium tanks
5 TABC-79 scout cars
46 TAB-77 APCs (BTRs)
1 130mm field artillery gun
5 100mm AT guns
6 BRDM-2 Malyutka tank destroyers
7 35mm AAA

Ukrainians

4 T-64BVs main battle tanks
12 BMD-2 airborne IFVs
11 Kraz Spartan light armored scout cars
1 Kraz Spartan tank destroyer
3 BRDM-2 Spandrel tank destroyers
1 PRP-3 recon vehicle
1 BRDM-2 scout car
8 BTR-4 GROM IFVs
12 BTR-80 APCs (BTR)
2 100mm AT guns
3 Su-25T Grach ground attack aircraft


The final disposition of forces is shown in the following map:



Looking at the map, I see where the majority of Ukrainian armor went: to the south, to support the push. Unfortunately for them, it was too little, too late. An engineer company also was about to assault the defenders of the city park.

In general, the battle went according to how I expected it to be: A quick assault from my part, then defending successfully against a hasty attack from Ukrainian heavy forces. My decision to make the main attack to the north of the city was correct, as I gained a foothold very quickly and then things were easy. The attack on Siret bridge was weaker and resulted in heavy casualties (and also proved to be indefensible). However, it did cause the Ukrainian main force to first attack south, which gave me time to prepare for a successful defence. With the arrival of the last battalion to the west, the Ukrainian paratroopers had no chance, although they did manage to slow it down for quite some time, thanks to the support of a Hind flight.

The Ukrainian main force was not as heavily armored as I thought. It seems it was composed of one tank company, one mechanized battalion and what amounts to a rifle regiment, in trucks. Trucks. If light armored APCs have a hard to surviving on the modern battlefield, trucks should only be used as a bad joke. More than half of total Ukrainian casualties came from truck borne infantry be killed in their wheeled coffins by artillery, AAA firing to the ground and even small arms fire.

I mentioned the heroic resistance of one Ukrainian team on one wooden building, but another one that should be mentioned should be my AAA crews. Not only they stopped the Ukrainian advance to the north after firing nonstop at Ukrainian infantry there, not only they endured tank, artillery, autocannon fire and air strikes, they also made the day for Ukrainian pilots difficult and also shot down two planes. They had very high casualties though, so most of the medals they should receive will be posthumous.

Now what was the result of the game? By points alone, it is a draw, but the WW3 scenarios have special conditions always. My objective was to keep the bridges under Romanian hands and also suffer less than 12000 points of losses. The second objective was achieved. As for the first, I have all bridges apart from Siret bridge, although realistically speaking I will have a hard time defending against tanks and infantry in the secondary bridge. The only point in Ukrainian hands at the battle’s end is the old cemetery, and most of the city is in Romanian hands, so I consider this battle to be a Romanian victory. The aftermath of this IMHO will be that the Romanians pull back from the eastern part of the city and form a defensive line from the old apartments to the north to the pool to the south. There they can hold out against the Ukrainians for a little bit more, but they will eventually have to abandon Roman altogether.

To conclude, another fun scenario by SasTroop. This is the last of the WW3 series, and I eagerly await for the next ones to be released. Keep up the good work!