From: Christopher Downes-Ward <Christopher_Downes-Ward@a...>
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 13:16:42 -0000
Subject: [DSII][AAR][LONG]Rock Apes at Bay
What a lot of tags, this is an after action report of a "modern" battle that I
played over the weekend.
ROCK APES AT BAY
"Flight Lieutenant Edwards men will follow him anywhere - out of a sense
of curiosity"
The cold war has turned hot, after 12 months of fighting both sides are
scraping the barrel for troops to rotate into the front lines. Among the
Soviet units is a Motor Rifle regiment mad up of "Students" from countries
such as Cuba, Angola and Mozambique who have been unable to return home. For
NATO now that their Airfield defence responsibilities have been taken over by
RAuxAF Regiment squadrons, RAF Regiment Light Armoured Squadrons are being
used as front line units.
1. DEFENDERS 1 LIGHT ARMOURED SQUADRON, 33 GROUP RAF REGIMENT
HQ Flight (Regular/2):
1 Sultan APC, 1 Militia Stand
B (Regular/1), C (Veteran /2) and D (Regular/2) Flights
5 Spartan APC's, 5 Militia Stands + IAVR
A (Support) (Regular/1) Flight
6 Scorpion Light Tanks Engineering Flight 1 Sampson ARV (not present) A FLIGHT
4 SQUADRON, RAF
2 flights of 2 Harriers (Regular/3, Regular/1, Regular/2, Vetran/2)
EQUIPMENT Sultan
Size 2 fast tracked, 1/1 armour, no ECM, "Free" APSW, 1 infantry
stand Spartan
Size 1 fast tracked, 1/1 armour, no ECM, "Free" APSW, 1 infantry
stand Scorpion
Size 2 fast tracked, 1/1 armour, no ECM, HVC/3(ENH) Tu, APSW Tu,
"Free" APSW Harrier
Size 3 Aerospace, 0/0 armour, Enh ECM, SLAM/3 (ENH) fixed, DFO (MAK) x
1,
RFAC/1 (ENH) fixed.
House rule SLAM are a 1 shot weapon.
2. ATTACKERS A AND B COMPANIES 1ST BATTALION "SOCIALIST SOLIDARITY" MOTOR
RIFLE REGIMENT
HQ 1 BTR 60, 2 Militia stands 1, 2 and 3 platoons
3 BTR 60, 6 Militia stands + IAVR, 3 APSW stands
Weapons platoon
1 Gaz 69 jeep + AOP
4 Gaz 66 lorries + light artillery + 3 HEF markers
Bn HQ (Green/3)
Mortar Bat (Regular/3)
AOP (Regular/2)
A Company
Green/3
A/1 Regular/1
A/2 Green/2
A/3 Green/1
B Company
Regular/1
B/1 Green/2
B/2 Regular/1
B/3 Regular/2
A COMPANY 2ND BATTALION 456TH TANK REGIMENT CHQ
1 T55 (Regular/1)
1 (Regular/1), 2 (Green/2), and 3 (Regular/3) Platoons
4 T55
EQUIPMENT T55
Size 3, slow tracked, 3/2 Armour, no ECM, HVC/3(BAS) Tu, APSW
Tu, "Free" APSW BTR 60
Size 3, Hi-Mob Wheeled, 1/1 Armour, no ECM, APSW Tu, 3 Infantry
GAZ 69
Size 1, Hi Mob Wheeled, 0/0 Armour, no ECM, APSW, 1 Infantry
team GAZ 66
Size 3, Low Mob Wheeled, 0/0 Armour, no ECM, Cargo
3. TERRAIN
Cultivated Flat farmland with several light woods and one small and one large
village. A single road leads from the attackers edge to the defenders edge.
Two other roads run at right angles one just by the attackers entry point one
halfway across the board. One small village lies between the two cross roads
formed and a larger village lies around the central crossroads.
Effectively all non-road terrain is poor, all roads are easy.
4. DEPLOYMENT
RAF REGIMENT
B and D flights in woods about halfway across on either flank, C flight hidden
in the small village next to the road. A flight to the rear of the large
village. HQ flight with A flight. B, C and D Flights are all just withing APSW
shot of each other, A Flight are the reserve and counter attack force.
SOCIALIST SOLIDARITY
1st platoon of T55's and A/3 on road to advance up centre.
2nd platoon of T55's on South with A/1, A/2 and A/CHQ, to threaten D
Flight and take C flight in the flank. 3rd Platoon of T55's on North with B
Company to threaten B Flight and take C flight in the flank. T55 Company HQ,
Battalion HQ and Mortar battery deployed on baseline at the centre.
5. THE ACTION
1ST TURN The first T55 platoon advanced down the road and took IAVR
opportunity fire from C Flight destroying the two lead tanks (including the
platoon leader), the platoon drops two levels of confidence (to shaken) and
panics.
The AOP tries to call down mortar fire on C Flight but fails, so does the tank
company commander. The battalion commander succeeds and a barrage drops on C
flight, to no effect. The Harriers swoop over the battlefield, three fires
SLAM's at the Mortar battery destroying two, the other fires at the remnants
of the 1st T55 platoon destroying the last 2. A flight head towards the North
flank.
2ND TURN
A/3 dash past the burning T55's and debus, their fire kills one stand.
They are then subject to a withering hail of fire from C Flight which kills
three stands (3 APSW
and 3 Militia stands firing effectively at Militia in the open), A/3
passes all the tests.
The mortar's now fire on D flight - to no effect.
3RD TURN
C Flight Fall back to large village and set-up hasty defence, A/3 mount
up and follow. Support flight move into the open and engage a T55 platoon,
missing entirely. The Harrier try using guns against BTR60's and miss the lot.
The mortars fire on D flight - killing 1 stand and lowerinf their morale
to Steady.
4TH TURN
A/3 advance down road and debus in Close Assault range.
B company move backwards onto the roads and head up the middle following
A/3.
At this point I realised that now that C flight had pulled back my positions
were
no longer giving each other mutual support - if I had followed doctrine
and split up A flight into three sections and attached a section to each
combat flight then they would have been, on the other hand I would had no
counter attack force. So B and D flights pull back through woods towards their
carriers. Support flight engage the T55's again and kill 2. Harriers try guns
again, missing everything.
5TH TURN
C Flight engage A/3 and kill all the dismounted infantry.
All the harriers are forced off by LAD fire. B Company continues to advance
along road. B and D flights continue to pull back through woods towards their
carriers.
6TH TURN
The BTR's from A/3 attempt to rush C flight but IAVR fire kills the lot.
But that uses C Flights activation, B Company rush forward. B and D flights
mount up and begin to pull back. A Flight head back towards the large village
The Harriers manage to kill 2 BTR's 1 from B/1 and one from B/2.
7TH TURN C Flight Kill another BTR but are then close assaulted, C flight fail
their test and drop to shaken. There are now 6 BTR60's burning in front of
their position.
8TH TURN
C Flight attempt to Close Assault B/1 but fail their test. B/1 close
assault C flight killing 3 teams of gunners and losing 1 BTR60 and 1 team. C
flight fall
back and are Broken, B/1 follow through and rout them.
At this point we gave up (due to RL e.g. sleep).
1st Light Armoured could try to close assault the units of B company in the
village but would be likely to take heavy casualties. "SOCIALIST SOLIDARITY"
had taken all their objectives but had taken a heavy beating.
6. SITREP
This is how the units looked at the end. The remnants of A company were so far
from the scene of the action as to be useless.
1 LIGHT ARMOURED SQUADRON, 33 GROUP RAF REGIMENT SHQ: Intact, Confident
Support Flight: Intact, withdrawing, Confident B Flight: intact, withdrawing,
Confident C Flight: 1 gunner stand and 5 Spartans left, routed D Flight: Lost
1 gunner stand, withdrawing, Steady
A AND B COMPANIES 1ST BATTALION "SOCIALIST SOLIDARITY" MOTOR RIFLE REGIMENT
BHQ: Intact, Confident A Coy. CHQ: Intact, Confident
1st Platoon - destroyed
2nd Platoon - Lost 1 BTR60 and 2 stands, 1 BTR60 DMG, Shaken
3rd Platoon - lost 2 BTR60's and 2 stands, Shaken
B Coy CHQ: Intact
1st Platoon - 2 stands left, Shaken
2nd Platoon - lost 1 BTR60 and 2 stands, Steady
3rd Platoon - Intact, Confident
Weapons Platoon
AOP- intact, Confident
Mortars - 2 destroyed all ammo fired, Shaken
A COMPANY 2ND BATTALION 456TH TANK REGIMENT CHQ: Intact. Confident
1st Platoon - destroyed
2nd Platoon - 1 Damaged T55 left, Shaken
3rd Platoon - 3T55's left, Shaken
7. LESSONS LEARNED/HIGHSPOTS
Once C Flight had withdrawn, "SOCIALIST SOLIDARITY" could storm straight up
the road and hit C Flight without taking fire from B or D flights and A flight
was out on the left flank wiping out a T55 platoon. Make sure that your
positions are capable of
supporting each other. Hunting artillery with Aerospace is fun - if they
have no air defence.
Leaders are important: A/1 a Green platoon with a 1 leader, took a lot
of punishment but kept on coming, they absorbed a lot of fire and cleared the
way for B company to storm through. The T55's kept trying to move and fire
with a Basic firecon against small targets this was really not a good idea.
8. REFERENCES The Zone 2, Blind Fire: James Rough An Encyclopaedia of the RAF,
Terry Gander (1985)
http://www.rafregiment.co.uk
http://www.rockape.org.uk
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