Thanks to all for their thoughts. I need to find the time to go back through my escape narrative and make sure it still makes sense. At one point I wrote it first person, then tried to make it more of a true narrative in the Red Storm Rising mold. I have one PC with Word and no internet and one with internet but no Word And no time/energy at night anymore.
What I was working on was a scenario where the bulk of 1st and 2nd Brigades were able to hastily escape the encirclement by forming two pncers, if you will. I thought that one brigade could bypass the 21st MRD to the West by Southeast (essentially skirting the 21st's left flank) and the other by driving through the shattered 124th along the Sieradz-Kalisz road, then driving South then Southeast towards Czestochowa. Forgive me for not having it handy...what I have written and my pile o' T2K is upstairs and the Wife is trying to get my little girls to sleep.
The key was to shatter the 124th (pretty much done) and pin the 21st in place with artillery. The impression I got from the canon scenario was the 21st had a pretty good idea where the 5th was. If you could turn the tables, you could use that to your advantage.
The breakout would be fueled (literally) by gasoline captured from the 124th's supply train and salvaged from their wrecked vehicles. For this I drew upon B troop/116th ACR and their adventures as outlined in the Black Madonna. After exiting the kill zone, they could transition back to their limited stock of alcohol fuels. Perhaps some convoys/dumps would be raided en route, providing them additional stocks of fuel and/or components to replace their now lost divisional stills (assumed to be large stills).
Without the time to brew large quantities of alcohol before winter and without wanting to burn the remainder of their captured gasoline without a good idea that they wouldn't just blunder into more Ivans that NATO intelligence failed to detect, they attempt to set up a defensive perimeter in the Czestochowa area and affect what repairs/recouperation they can and wait out the winter.
As far as still wanting to have small e&e style actions, this would be a messy, hasty, confused breakout. The phrase "all elbows and a-holes" comes to mind (pardon my French). Some portions of the divisional rear area and remnants of the 256th Brigade would still be cut off. If you want to be part of that, that's great.
If you're already captured and sitting on your helmet in some makeshift POW camp, perhaps there is hope we might come get you. Maybe.
Remember, I'm just one part time T2K enthusiast...no one needs to rewrite any of the "Destroyed 5th ID canon stuff" on account of me. That's the beauty of it all.
As far as doing a RDF Sourcebook campaign in CENTCOM...it's a good idea, but I like Europe and Poland in particular. In a way I feel the desire to set things right after the part that the 5th ID played in the destruction of the area not once but twice throughout the Twilight War.
The idea of doing a USMC or 8th ID campaign is good too....I admit I never thought of it, but that's probably due to my attachment to the 5th.
Part of this is also because I was unable to get a pdf copy of the Eastern Europe Sourcebook and some of the Challenge isuues that were missing links until well after I started concrete work on a narrative.
There's a lot of repairs to be made, supply/harrassment raids to be conducted, POW's to liberate, convoys to guard (trading captured Soviet vehicles to whoever has food...most likely Krakow, but anyone will do), returning to the battlefields for salvage, and with winter coming, marauders to fight. The 5th would be in a bit of a catch-22...too big to stay in one place due to the amount of food it would consume, but you don't want to get too spread out, either.
The heavy weapons of the 5th are all short on ammo, just like those of the 8th ID. Your M1A1 may be pretty much intact, but your radio aerial may be shot away. No fear, that one in your platoon that took a suspension kill several KM back...in the killing ground...still has a good spare! Who's up to volunteer?!
And you still only have 20 or 30 rounds left for the main gun. You won't be getting anymore anytime soon, so you better make 'em last!
With their supply lines gutted both during and after the breakout, I see the 4th GTA coming apart , with some units beginning the trek home in spring of 2001. Those will greate band of deserters and marauders that will be problems for months, if not years to come. I think you see this in Going Home, the Black Madionna, and White Eagle.
And thanks to whoever mentioned the Nimitz and an alternate universe...now I have the urge to go find "The Final Countdown" on DVD. Frack.
Thanks-
Dave
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