Unit Designations and Meeting Engagements

2/66 Armor vice 2-66 Armor:  Both refer to the Second Battalion of the
66th
Armored Regiment.  The difference in US usage is the / is used if the
Regiment
is acting as a Maneuver unit (Regimental command, etc) where the - is
used when the Battalion is part of a Task force or Brigade.

TOE (Table of Organization and Equipment) any higher than Brigade (Regiment)
is mostly support services and specialist units. Most games won't see the
Field Repair Company or the Engineer Topographic Detachment. Combat units tend
to
follow a pattern of 3-5 mix (Platoons to Companies, etc) With 1 Engineer
or
Artillery unit of the next size smaller to each unit in the mix (3-5
Companies
gets you 1 Engineer platoon and 1 Artillery platoon (6 tubes/guns)).

Meeting engagement: Think Gettysburg, or Quarte Bras. Forces "Bump" into each
other and units deploy from the March. Objective is to find the enemy.

Movement to contact: Moving force is trying to locate the main line of
resistance, or bypass routes. If both sides are doing it, see above. Objective
is to find and "Fix" the enemy (Fix: lock into place to allow others to
manuver)

Hasty Attack: the "I think I can lick'em with what I got" attack. Little or
no pre-planned fire support.  What usually follows a movement to
contact. Think Heth at Gettysburg. Objective is usually to secure terrain to
set up the following.

Deliberate Attack:  Think Pickett's assault.  Pre-planned fire support,
Priority of assets (Engineers, Logistics, etc). Objective is to destroy or
rout the enemy. Can also be directed at a significant terrain objective (River
crossing, beachhead, Strategic pass, etc.)

On Tue, 19 Mar 2002 20:49:06 -0800, Michael Brown <mwbrown@sonic.net>
wrote:

> Meeting engagement: Think Gettysburg, or Quarte Bras. Forces "Bump"
into each
> other and units deploy from the March. Objective is to find the enemy.

Not really Gettysburg. Gettysburg was more Movement To Contact, with lots of
reinforcements moving in from both sides. May 1 at Chancellorsville (the first
day of the battle) was a classic meeting engagement.

Sorry, just being pedantic... *grin*

> --- Michael Brown <mwbrown@sonic.net> wrote:

> etc) With 1 Engineer or

Old School: We now have a full brigade of engineers in the heavy divisions
which works out to 1 company per Batallion Task Force. And artillery call 'em
batteries and put captains in command even if they are
platoon-sized.

OK, Gettysburg on the evening of June 30th. So there:)

Michael Brown

[quoted original message omitted]

Well I am "Old School"(Enlisted about the time John was born):). I was
actually thinking of the Battalion Mortar Platoon, (most likely available)
instead of FA

Michael Brown

[quoted original message omitted]

AND I REMEMBER INFANTRY COMPANY WEAPONS PLATOONS with 81mm mortars and other
heavy weapons from roughly the same era.

and infantry platoon weapons squads that had both LMG and either 3.5" RL or
90mm RR as part of their weapons.

when both were taken out for a sweep where base camps (and bunkers) or armor
were likely, the grunts in the rifle squads found themselves humping the 3.5"
RL or the 90mm RR and ammo for the weapons squaddies!

hell everyone was trained in the use of all infantry weapons (mortars being
pocket artillery required a bit of extra training) up to the 105mm and 106mm
RR.