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All,
Because I love you so much, and you’ve been so patient, I present a battle report in its entirety, not split into two parts. But the next one will be in two parts. Probably the last one too 😉
It’s 1530 on 8 August 1986, and Team Whiskey has taken the better part of the day to recover survivors from the northern bank of the Main River and get reorganized while other elements of V Corps man the ramparts against the Red horde. However, by mid-afternoon the Soviets have broken through in several places. Team Whiskey is once again called upon to stem the bleeding. The Soviets are on the south/west bank of the Main River, in the face of Frankfurt. It quickly becomes evident the Soviets do not intend on entering the city, choosing instead to conduct a double envelopment to by-pass and cut off the Frankfurt en route to the Rhine.
Team Whiskey, with much of its armor remaining (none committed to the fight at the Main River bridge), rushes a powerful force to the suburbs of Frankfurt to blunt the enemy’s northern thrust, with Whiskey’s commanding officer, Lt Col Lacy, in personal command of the mission, leading both mechanized infantry companies and a platoon of his tanks into the fray. Both infantry companies are understrength (only two platoons each), with a company commander, platoon commander, and one platoon coming over from the recently disbanded (due to casualties/losses) 1st Squadron, 11th ACR. Additionally, the 81mm mortar platoon is out of the fight as they attempt scrounge new mortar tubes and ammo, having fired off all their ammo, spiked their tubes, then swam the Main River to get back to friendly lines in the last fight.
Captain Bronshtein’s Kilo Company (with TOW, MG, and sniper attachments) arrived first, setting up in the southern sector, while Captain Phillips’ India Company, still mounted in their Bradleys, swings further north, with Lt Travers’ 2nd Tank Platoon swinging north further still.
Overview of the forces, with the usual overwhelming Soviet horde on the left, and the NATO troops on the right, though I must admit Team Whiskey has more than I’m used to, so this is gonna be interesting.
The table, looking west to east from the US baseline. The tan line across the top is actually a rail line atop a raised embankment, and is key to this scenario. The embankment is impassable to vehicles EXCEPT in the northeast east (top left) corner. So the Soviets are kinda screwed in that they have a bunch of armor on hand, but it’s all forced to come through a severe bottleneck. Capt Bronshtein and Kil Company are dug-in in and around the big, black-roofed building at center right, just below the treeline. Capt Phillips and India will be coming on the board in Bradleys at bottom center (they and Lt Travers’ tank platoon are off table right now), and Lt Travers tank platoon will come on at bottom left.The Soviet plan is shock and awe, to hit as hard and as fast as possible to try to get their vehicles through that damn bottleneck at to left. The Soviets are running their usual three Mech formations (7 BMPs, 1 command team, and 6 rifle teams each), and they are key to the opening phase. The infantry from two of the mech formations (2 x command team, 12 x rifle team) stand detached, visible at top right on the railroad tracks. The infantry from the third mech formation are dismounted at the bottleneck (top left), and all Soviet vehicles are stacked behind them. The plan is for all the Soviet infantry to move forward to spot and engage US infantry and anti-tank weapons, and for the armored vehicles (top left and top center) to move through the gap like they were shot out of a cannon, then spread out to provide fire support to the infantry and envelop the US positions.
US TOWs in action. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2015/10/team-whiskey-fulda-gap-batrep-8.htmlSeveral heroes identified in this one, I’m sure everyone but Ivan, Rod, and Kyote will like the result 😉 On to fight number 9!
V/R,
Jack
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