Austria in T2K

[Raellus]

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of using Austria as a T2K campaign setting. It just seems like a really fertile area for a T2K game- devastated, disputed, and relatively chaotic. In addition the Austrian military and your relatively standard belligerents that are encountered frequently in the Poland modules, you've got the Italians, Hungarians, and Czechs all occupying pieces of Austrian territory. This also makes available some fairly uncommon weaponry and AFVs.

I've been pouring over my T2K stuff looking for any and all mention of Austria. I guess I've always taken Austria for granted, assuming for all of these years that it was a part of Cold War NATO. Much to my embarrassment, I discovered that this was not the case (the big clue being that Austria doesn't feature in any of my NATO gear/uni books).

Anyway, references to Austria in the T2K canon are pretty scattered, and not much detail is given. I remember reading snippets here and there in the past but I can't find them now. For example, I'm sure that I read somewhere that much of the Austrian military was absorbed into the German military at some point during the war. There's references to Soviet, American, and German forces present there in the respective T2K Vehicle Guides, and multiple references to Austria's invasion by Italian and Hungarian forces. IIRC seeing a reference or two to Czech forces being involved but can't find any Czech units listed as being there as of July 1, 2000, which I find a bit surprising.

Anyway, any help you could give in directing me to T2K info on Austria, or just good references on the Cold War Austrian military would be greatly appreciated.

[Cdnwolf]

I am trying to do a campaign in the Alp mountain range along the Austria, Italy, Swiss borders. I have a great map from National Geographic detailing the area and it would be ripe for encounters.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

I am trying to do a campaign in the Alp mountain range along the Austria, Italy, Swiss borders. I have a great map from National Geographic detailing the area and it would be ripe for encounters.

That map really drives home how defensible/isolated a lot of those mountain towns are. On one hand, a small group of trained, well armed and/or resourceful fighters could hold off a much larger force in one of those mountain passes. On other, isolated valley settlements would have to keep transportation lines open and maintain good relationships with neighboring settlements so as not to starve to death.

[Raellus]

I've decided that my next T2K-related project will be a adventure module/sourcebook for Austria.

I've already mapped NATO and WTO unit locations in Austria for Winter 2000-2001, using the Going Home module as the main reference. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...ea5604ee&msa=0

There are quite a few more American units (all of 4th U.S. Army) listed as being in Austria in July of 2000 but, unfortunately, the U.S. Army Vehicle Guide doesn't give exact locations for any of them. Same goes for Soviet units in the S.V.G. That 5-6 month gap is open to interpretation, but I'd like a fairly solid starting place from which to start my speculation. I did place a handful of U.S. & Soviet on my Summer 2000 map, but that was a few years ago and I can't remember where I found the exact location references. Any ideas?

[kato13]

Here is what I have for the Area. I don't know exactly where I got the data but I went chronologically through the modules and updated any location as I found a new one.




This is the same except units are color coded by country

[Raellus]

Awesome, Kato. Thanks! Your maps mostly line up with mine but I've got a couple of Soviet units (2nd SW Front HQ, 8th GTA w/ 5th TD and 51st TD) based in and around Vienna. According to Going Home, from which I got the bulk of my information, the Italian Folgore MD is also in the vicinity, but they've gone rogue!

Do you happen to know of any nuke strikes in Austria? IIRC, I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that Vienna got hit, but I don't recall coming across any other mention of specific targets on Austrian soil. I'm currently working on a write up of paramilitary factions in Austria c. 2000 and I want to make sure that I don't base any of them in cities that have been nuked.

[dragoon500ly]

Of intrest is what the pre-war Austrian armed forces look like (did you know that Austria was prevented by treaty from fielding missiles of any kind?)

Army: 45,400 (29,600 conscripts)

Standing Alert Force:
1 Mechanized Division of three brigades (1 armd bn, 1 mech bn, 2 SP Arty bns, 2 SP Antitank bns each), with 1 AA bn, 1 engineer bn and 1 signal bn.

Standing Field Units
1 Army HQ
1 reconnaissance bn
2 signal bns
1 Arty bn
1 SP Antitank bn
2 AA bns
1 engineer bn (corps)
1 air-mobile inf bn
2 mountain inf bns
1 guards bn

Cadre Force units (full strength on mobilization)
2 Corps HQ
2 arty bns
2 engineer bns
5 signal bns
3 logistic regiments
9 Regional Commands with 8 mobile brigade HQs; 24 infantry bns, 8 arty bns, 8 engineer/antitank bns, 8 support battalions; 1 territoral command with 28 Landwehrstamm-regimente (training 'bns'); 26 infantry regiments, 40 engineer/antitank companies

Equipment includes
50 M-60A3 MBT
120 M-60A1 MBT
467 Saurer 4K4F APCs
300 M-68 105mm turret-mounted fortress guns
22 SFKM2 155mm fortress guns
108 IFH 105mm towed hows
24 FHM-1 155mm towed hows
56 M-109 SP 155mm hows (42 more on order)
18 M-51 130 MRLs
305 81mm mortars
100 M-2/M-30 107mm mortars
100 120mm mortars
482 20m towed AA guns
75 35mm towed AA guns
60 40mm AA guns
38 M-42 SP AA guns
1,400 74mm, 84mm recoilless rifles
397 106mm recoilless rifles
240 M-52/M-55 85mm towed antitank guns
189 JPz SK Kuerassier 105mm SP antitank guns


Reserves: 197,000 men, another 970,000 have reserve commitments

Air Force: 4,600 (2,400 conscripts); 32 combat aircraft

4 Fighter Ground Attack Squadrons w/32 Saab 105OE
6 helicopter squadrons w/13 AB-206A, 23 AB-212, 23 Alouette III, 12
OH-58B, 21 AB-204
1 Training/liaison squadron w/2 Skyvan, 12 Turbo-Porter, 6 O-1E, 18
Saab 91D, 19 L-19
3 AD Bns w/36 20mm towed AA guns, 18 35mm towed AA guns

souce is the Military Balance 1988/89

[Cdnwolf]

Great now it means I have to finish my map and listing for Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Romania areas...

[rcaf_777]

Cool

Got any more

[Webstral]

I agree that Austria is a splendid area for Twilight: 2000 development. Given all of the players involved, one could imagine almost anything.

[Raellus]

One obstacle that I'm running into is Austria's geography. It's pretty mountainous, making it difficult to move around and limiting the amount of arable land. According to Going Home, the Soviets have strong forces inside or close to Austria's most productive agricultural region. I've come up with a bunch of factions, but there aren't a whole lot of places to put them that make sense.