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Originally Posted by Raellus
I mean, how else could the U.S. 5th ID have covered all of that ground largely unnoposed in the lead up to the "Death of a Division" scenario unless is was travelling through large, thinly defended gaps between major cantonment areas?
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Actually I think that would be because of the concentrated strength the 5th ID represented. By 2000 during the Twilight War there would be major differences between units which have adopted a cantonment posture (with manpower and hardware spread relatively thin in an attempt to hold territory and maintain security within the cantonment AO) and units which have been earmarked for major offensive operations like the NATO drive into Poland in the summer of 2000. The 5th ID may have moved through the territories of a number of fairly sizeable WarPac units as it pushed deep into Poland but as those WarPac units would have been in "cantonment mode" and the 5th ID was arrayed specifically for offensive operations with the fuel, ammo, manpower and concentrated fighting hardware to make it happen it would have been suicidal for the WarPac units to have attempted to engage the 5th ID in battle. I expect the WarPac units in the 5th ID's line of march kept a low profile and let them pass relatively unhindered, all the while using recon elements to determine the strength and likely objectives of the NATO forces and keep tabs on them as they went. The WarPac units in cantonment would then have sent word back to Reserve Front HQ at Lublin about the NATO forces moving east, and commenced a realignment of their force dispositions to a maneuver and battle posture. That way when the up to strength Soviet tank and motorist rifle divisions assembled at Lublin launched their counter offensive the 5th ID would find it very much harder to withdraw west back along their line of advance, and would be trapped and crushed hammer-and-anvil style.