Combat Recovery of Vehicles
In the brutal grind of the Soviet-Axis front of The Second World War the Axis slowly started to run out of armoured vehicles. The savage fighting unparalleled in its intensity, ferocity and longevity elsewhere on the planet meant that the huge Soviet factories so painfully evacuated east could out-manufacture the Axis factories that nightly were pounded from the air meanwhile in the west the allies could bring in vehicles manufactured safe distances from the fighting. This led to a strange phenomenon in the style of combat.
Whole battles would range over who could recover a knocked-out armoured vehicle first. In the midst of the fighting the Axis troops would throw forward recovery teams to drag out the precious combat hulks for rebuilding. At the same time they'd also try and recover the enemies' vehicles as well to make up the shortfalls in their own armoured lists. Noting this, the Allies on all fronts responded by sending their own teams in to drag vehicles out in an effort to beat the Axis to the prize or they'd simply end up facing the same vehicle after a short period. The US actually made their own specialised tank recovery/transporter known as the M25 Dragon Wagon that still looks like it could see service today in its angled armour and no-nonsense build concept. Also both sides would fight bitterly to ensure the battlefield was held long enough to recover the wrecks, the Axis so they could reuse the vehicles and the Allies so they could recover their own and deny Axis vehicles to the enemy.
In Twilight 2000 both sides see the same situation arise again. While certain anti tank weapons result in an unrecoverable wreck many leave a vehicle capable of salvage.
A simple scenario can be created where the troops fight over just such a downed vehicle and this can even be inserted into the period just before the break out at Kalisz or in other campaigns. The situation that is needed to recreate this bitter style of fighting is:
- Decent troop numbers.
- A coherent enemy rather than scattered bandits or small patrols.
- Recovery gear available to both sides.
The following sort of assumes and M1A1 has been disabled prior to the breakout at Kalisz. It can be easily adapted for other situations.
First off, play out the demise of the vehicle. While in the normal style of small campaign you can make this a simple IFV or APC (most commanders wouldn't risk a recovery vehicle over a truck) in large unit settings a late-era MBT is the obvious choice. Either the players knock it out or near it when it goes down.
The first thing friendly forces will try and do is secure the area and recover the crew. Specialists such as AFV crewmen are valuable and medical teams will push up to the vehicle to try and provide aid and extract the wounded. If the vehicle is in a highly exposed area this can be extremely dangerous, the recovery teams may even try trenching forwards under the cover of night. The wreck site must be secured and this is easier said than done, for a start it's already known that something capable of damaging an armoured vehicle overwatches the area. Each area capable of dominating the vehicle's location has to be occupied and secured. It's at this point the enemy begins to be assured that a recovery effort is underway and starts their own efforts to secure the site.
While the recovery teams are on their way the local troops will have to deal with the first counter attacks. The enemy will probe forward, not looking for a serious fight but rather trying to estimate the level of security the area has. The local troops try and oppose these probes and also search out and negate any observation posts that are set up. The enemy isn't stupid, they know what's going on and will task assets suitable to the prize. If the enemy has artillery the OPs might at this time range a few shots to register some locations the defenders might set up. While the security element fights off the probes they should also be furiously digging in for what comes next.
Now the enemy knows where the vehicle is, roughly what sort of opposition there is and what the nature of the AO is they might mount their first serious counter attack. Utilising what artillery fires they have the attack should come from at least two directions at once, this is the sucky bit about holding a known location. Hopefully friendly flanking units can fend off some of the enemies flanking movements but there should be tense moments while radio gives updates on how well those efforts are going.
While taking care not to hit the vehicle, the enemy FOs direct fires onto areas of serious resistance. If these are in the open the fuzes are air bursts meaning there's no cover. If they are dispersed positions they will probably be ground bursts and if it's hardpoints then they will probably be delay fuzes to explode after they penetrate the cover. Clever defenders will use a variety of defences.
The enemy are intelligent soldiers and not obedient orcs; they assault using the terrain and timing to keep the odds on their side and don't rush forward like morons to a certain death (anyone who that that was a good idea was dead by 1996). Often the players will just see muzzle flashes. They can roll whatever numbers they like but should only have the vaguest idea if they hit people. Environmental factors such as screams, visible wounded and so on are fairly rare and often drowned out be the din of the battle. Players who disregard incoming fire attract more incoming fire, often of the explosive variety.
Should the counter attack be a serious effort command will vector over reinforcements from the reserve if they can spare them. Note these aren't unlimited and there's other actions going on. Command will always try and save enough troops in the reserve to deal with breakthroughs so keep this in mind.
After the fighting is going on and the enemy and the players rearranged the scenery with whatever ordnance they have at hand at some point either the enemies' or the player's recovery team will show up, possibly both. Now the big effort starts. The recover team has an immediate security team that covers their area but they need the enemy removed from the AO. The enemy has exactly the same idea.
Note that NPCs don't usually throw themselves to their deaths. Attacks should stall at 10% losses and the enemy commander doesn't throw more troops into a meatgrinder without extremely good reason. The vehicle isn't worth it yet. At 10% the enemy stop pushing forward and 25% they start to fall back in good order. At 50% they make a run for it and at 75% they'll discard weapons in their flight. The players shouldn't always know this happens, often they'll only notice a lull in the shooting. Note that this might simply be the enemy commander shifting the axis of attack. A good way to guess that the enemy has had enough is when they start popping smoke and the other side should always be smoking the crap out of the place. (A note on smoke: if the players have a good position the enemy might simply fling smoke at it to neutralise the players' fire)
If the players have fought off the enemy push they can go forward and set up a perimeter. If they have to fall back (do players ever actually retreat?) then they have to push forward and the situation is reversed. Rinse and repeat until one side starts to run out of assets.
If it looks like the vehicle is going to fall into enemy hands and cannot be retaken then it has to be destroyed or contaminated to deny it to the enemy. During the fight the recovery team will have stripped weapons, radios, vision gear (including periscopes, they're removable), ammunition and POL (Petrol Oil Lubricants) if possible.
If it looks like the players are planning to demolish the vehicle the enemy will call artillery on it in the attempt to kill demolition teams and hope the vehicle is not too seriously damaged, assuming they can see it.
Note that recovering a vehicle is the sort of mission the enemy will risk a similar asset on. If they do commit an MBT or MBTs these won't wander in by themselves or lead an assault. Their weapons have extremely long ranges and MBTs work best in the T2K setting as support elements, standing back and slamming positions with heavy HE while being far enough away that players would have to deploy an ATGM to hit it. Armoured vehicles *always* have an infantry security element (infantry are cheap) who push forward to deny rocket-range positions to an attacker. If vehicles are attacked with an ATGM they will pop smoke and retire, shifting position. Meanwhile the infantry will note the position and call it in using the vehicle's radio.
Sooner or later one side will get their recovery team into position and start to recover the vehicle. This can take hours depending on the situation, however a vehicle too badly bogged will simply be blown in place.
What's the pay off for all this?
Have the players rewarded in a campaign sense. For a start such a defence should be appreciated by command. If they recover the vehicle reasonably intact it should turn up later to provide heavy support for the group, possibly during the breakout.
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