War in the Far North

[chico20854]

Here's another new piece, part one of three on the Norwegian-Kola campaign for v1.

The Soviet Invasion of Norway, 1996 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KcDW693EWJ8sGM04na7S_M5No0gcM3mK/view?usp=sharing)

part 2 is two supporting documents:
Environmental Factors in the Norwegian Campaign (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yp6T9fndKER087VdB3t8TJafjtkzQFJx/view?usp=sharing) and
Northern Campaign Theater Map (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EICZcMCnxMU2je8VfLQx0ejWK9vYNR1V/view?usp=sharing)

part 3, the Kola Campaign, is still a few weeks off, hopefully less.

All of these will be on my website, once I can get it working. (Ugh).

Once that gets out it's off to the Battle of Germany, 1996...

[Olefin]

Cant wait to read it when I get home - love all the new content that is being posted in the last month - the fanzine, this and the new sourcebook

[Amagi]

Good stuff!

[Raellus]

It's always a treat when you share new material, Chico. Thank you!

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[Ewan]

A really good read and looking forward to part 3 and Battle of Germany 1996
I do have one question, as part of the ACE Mobile Force (Land) OOB we have Italian and Belgian units and I thought they would not deploy due to their governments not supporting NATO during the war.

[Lurken]

A really good read and looking forward to part 3 and Battle of Germany 1996
I do have one question, as part of the ACE Mobile Force (Land) OOB we have Italian and Belgian units and I thought they would not deploy due to their governments not supporting NATO during the war.

It is explained in the text. In the case of the Italians, it is due to the Italians refusing the accept the cowardice of the socialist government of Italy refusing to aid the rest of the NATO. Basically going AWOL. Same with the Belgians I think.

[Ewan]

It is explained in the text. In the case of the Italians, it is due to the Italians refusing the accept the cowardice of the socialist government of Italy refusing to aid the rest of the NATO. Basically going AWOL. Same with the Belgians I think.
Thanks, I missed that bit and it makes sense

[rcaf_777]

Thanks, I missed that bit and it makes sense

ACE Mobile Force (Land) was never meet to be a that would fight on a large scale

"NATO’s first foray into rapid reaction can be traced back to proposals in 1960 by the then Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR), General Lauris Norstad, to create a rapidly deployable mobile force for his command – Allied Command Europe (ACE) – to help deter intimidation, coercion or aggression, short of general war, against allied nations located on ACE’s northern and southern flanks. In peacetime, these nations hosted no or a very small allied military presence, and the concept of the AMF aimed at projecting a multinational deterrent capability on short notice."

https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2009/03/25/from-amf-to-nrf/index.html

Logistical speak a force like would a nightmare to support. Also Canada the US and Uk also already had forces earmarked for the region

United Kingdom/Netherlands Landing Force
4th Marine Amphibious Brigade. (USMC)
Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group (downsize in 1987 and disbanded in 1989)

[Louied]

Chico, Great job as usual.......

I had been working on this, its on hold while I am trying to finish my BAOR/UKMF/UKLF docs. Feel free to use in updates.

[chico20854]

Thanks for all the feedback folks!

On the AMF(L), I had it deploy prior to the outbreak of war in its deterrent role as a show of Allied solidarity, less German units, who were both unavailable (in combat against GSFG) and to avoid any lingering bad feelings about German troops on Norwegian soil, which was a very real concern throughout the cold war. The force's manifest failings as a combat unit led to it being disbanded fairly quickly, the British and Canadian units falling under command of other HQs of their own military, the Belgians repatriated and the Italian deserters who remained to fight (most of the Alpini battalion) and the Luxembourgers attached to the Canadian headquarters.

Changing gear, I'd like your feedback on the format of my documents as I fiddle with the second part of the Norwegian campaign. Are there readability issues? Things I could tweak? This document had pictures in it, is that something that adds to it? (They complicate any effort to publish it, since there may be IP issues with some of them). This document had some maps in the text, but it didn't have where the front lines were on any given date. The Advent Crown (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zUoLMitN7SXnCQzd2QCa88HV5dougetD/view?usp=sharing) and 1998 Campaign (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XwPtYV0H11AXYkTJ_qyrDiP8lLaY1hYM/view?usp=sharing) documents had links built in to Google maps that showed unit locations at different times. I have a more detailed jpeg map of the western Kola that I can (with an investment of time) put in unit locations. (In that case I've decided a google map isn't going to work because the dirt roads that are about all that exist in most of the area don't show on the map at any useful scale.) This document had references listed, is that something you find useful? Is the orbat useful? Too detailed? Not detailed enough? Should it list equipment types? Numbers? You guys are the audience for what I'm writing up, so I'd like your feedback on how I can make it better. (And that opens another issue... what content-wise can I improve? Too much on logistics? Not enough? More on the air war? Something in my writing style that grates? Always open to feedback on that as well! Seriously!)

And looking forward, I'd like to get the Battle of Germany out next after the Kola campaign. Any preferences for the next history for me to work on after that? I feel RDF Sourcebook and the Korean Peninsula sourcebooks did great jobs (Raellus!!!!) detailing the course of the war in those areas, so I'm not really interested in reinventing those wheels. I'm thinking the Battle of the Norwegian Sea/Third Battle of the Atlantic or 1996-7 Balkan/Turkish theater are the next big lifts, as well as picking up where Webstral left off in the Chinese theater. Or I could shift my focus to doing more unit histories, which I have a lot already started, but with the completion of the Battle of Germany document I would be able to pull together nearly the entire history of the German armies, for example. (I have roughly 20 pages of German Army unit histories drafted so far.)

I'd like to hear your ideas!

Thanks!!!

[rcaf_777]

Thanks for all the feedback folks!

The force's manifest failings as a combat unit led to it being disbanded fairly quickly, the British and Canadian units falling under command of other HQs of their own military, the Belgians repatriated and the Italian deserters who remained to fight (most of the Alpini battalion) and the Luxembourgers attached to the Canadian headquarters.

why not have the entire Canadian force in Norway have them move from Germany to Norway there was certainly enough political pressure in Canada to do so many at NATO that felt if 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group and
Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group were committed to Norway it would have tipped the balance of power in the region towards NATO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Air-Sea_Transportable_Brigade_Group

[Ewan]

I thought the photos gave it a really professional feel to it and what would be really useful at the end would be bullet points of the key dates of the campaign.

The 96/97 Balkan/Turkish theatre would certainly be an interesting area to explore.

[chico20854]

why not have the entire Canadian force in Norway have them move from Germany to Norway there was certainly enough political pressure in Canada to do so many at NATO that felt if 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group and
Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group were committed to Norway it would have tipped the balance of power in the region towards NATO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Air-Sea_Transportable_Brigade_Group

I think that would be a little too drastic of a change from the v1 storyline, which has an entire Canadian division in action in 2000 in Central Europe. As it was, the CAST Brigade's Norway commitment was withdrawn in 1987. More relevantly, transporting a mechanized brigade from southwestern Germany to northern Norway would have been a very difficult move with all the reinforcements flowing into Germany in late 1996, and upon arrival in Norway the armored vehicles would have been tied to the few roads that existed, already burdened with trying to support a large NATO force. The deployment of the US 6th ID from Alaska (a mission which, as far as I can tell, was never considered in Cold War planning) does a bit to tip the balance of power in the theater as well.

[stilleto69]

Hey Chico,

I don't think you need to change anything. I like how you give just enough information to allow the reader to fill in the gaps left and just enough leeway, that allow a ref to tweak if they are so inclined. Thanks to your info, I can finally fill in some of the gaps for my US Navy/Marine Corps aviation history as well as USAF unit histories. Again what a great read.

[chico20854]

I thought the photos gave it a really professional feel to it and what would be really useful at the end would be bullet points of the key dates of the campaign.

The 96/97 Balkan/Turkish theatre would certainly be an interesting area to explore.

Thanks for the feedback! I'll add a comprehensive campaign timeline as an annex to the Kola piece. I'm both excited and intimidated about the Balkans campaign, since there isn't as much information on the area and the savagery of the conflicts in the region over the past 200+ years!

[Rainbow Six]

Hey Chico, good to see you around.

Personally I'd love to see a German Army Guide (especially if it included the German Territorial units that were largely overlooked by the NATO Vehicle Guide). Would probably fit well with your Czechoslovak Guide.

[pmulcahy11b]

Yeah...I went to your site and basically downloaded everything new. I love having a GBit connection!

[Ewan]

Still valid back then as it is today
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2021/march/03/210303-arctic-mobility

[Vespers War]

Just as an aside because this is one of the rare times it's relevant, a Norwegian campaign seems like the sort of place where someone might try dogsleds for transporting supplies. Historically, a pair of large sled dogs could pull a sled with 200-250 pounds plus provisions for the dogs and musher at about 4 miles per hour. The Sirius Patrol in Greenland currently uses around 11-15 dogs per sled, which are smaller than the 19th-century dogs (Greenland dogs are 30-32 kg while malamutes are 36-54 kg), and they haul 350-500 kilograms at a time. Greenland has close to 15,000 dogs, half of which are actively used for pulling sleds.

[chico20854]

Ok, here it is finally... part two, War in the Kola (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YSkq5k5_R2Odsss74byhCqGwkjFxMs3y/view?usp=sharing) and the attendant map pack (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e3JWvIWFG9j383DpbeMlQHifrLCfsLRp/view?usp=sharing).

(The maps are all included in the document, the map pack is just for those that might want to look at them separately). I'll get this up on the website soon.

Some minor "designer's notes": 1) It took longer than I thought it would to finish this up, partly because of some other projects I'm working or helping on, so I apologize if you've been waiting; 2) the 16th MRD is renamed the 376th at some point after the narrative in this document; and 3) I apologize that there are 2 different styles of map - the theater map is too large to show the action along the Litsa and the map I was able to work off of for the Litsa was a completely different style than the theater map. These were my first attempt to do any sort of semi-serious graphic editing. They certainly aren't of contemporary professional standard but I think they adequately convey the information.

Thanks to Lurken for his help refining some of the ideas in here!

Take a look and let me know what your thoughts are!

[Ewan]

Just started to read it and at thirty eight pages looks really thorough, also the maps look really impressive. Well that’s my bank holiday weekend taken care off.

Thank you for both this and the Norwegian campaign write ups as it gives a new insight to a neglected part of the overall war.

[Raellus]

Outstanding work, as always, Chico. I'm really enjoying it. Thank you for sharing it here.

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[Trooper]

Great work!

Very useful background material for my own Nordic Twilight 2000 campaign.