Tactics 101

[kcdusk]

Anyone got another tactics scenario to run past the group?, similar to chicos from a month or so ago.

[chico20854]

I'll try to whip another one together in the next few days.

[pmulcahy11b]

Don't forget the first rule of tactics: No plan survives first contact.

Always have multiple backup plans!

[kcdusk]

Looking forward to the new plan and discussion.

Anyone should feel free to put a situation up at any time, not just chico.

[chico20854]

Ok, a continuation of the previous situation.

You have now eliminated the marauder band that was subjugating the town of Jaslo, Poland. The town elders have requested that you spend the next month organizing and training the town's militia to prevent further marauder incursions. They realize that they will not be able to resist an organized military unit over a platoon or so in size, so the militia does not need to be capable of sustained, high-intensity operations, but should be able to hold off a force of 100 or less hostiles with up to five tanks/AFVs. Lately there have been a fair number of Soviet deserters heading east through the area.

Images related to this thread are located at http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q...854/tactical2/ . That location includes a topo map of the area, which will be helpful to refer to. If you want to try another mapping program, the town is at about 49.74 ° N, 21.45 ° E. http://mapa.szukacz.pl/ has good details of the town.

The town's population is now down to 2500, of which 450 are of age and health to bear arms. 30 are local boys who have deserted from the Polish military - half were combat arms troops (veteran skill level) and half were support, air defense or air force troops (experienced). Those 30 are available for full-time service. The remaining 420 men are usually available for one day a week - 60 a day, with the full force available within 15 minutes of receipt of an alarm. Many have served in the Polish military in decades past, but age and time have dimmed their skills but not their motivation. They, however, are now at novice skill level. There are no men who served in any rank above lieutenant, and the highest ranking deserter was a squad leader.

Equipment is sparse. The town was on the front line at the beginning of the tactical nuclear exchange, never occupied by NATO troops. The counterattacking Pact forces stripped the town clean of any damaged vehicles or supply stockpiles that were built up during the conventional phase of the war - in fact the only remnant of the front-line status is a minefield (a 1:1 mix of AP & AT mines), which runs between the two rivers/streams that enter the NW and West sides of the topo map, 500m east of the map edge. (Each grid square is 1km on a side). There was a battery of ZU-23-2s stationed north of town (on a promontory marked with a red cross on the map) that was cluster-bombed; locals who went to investigate the conditions of the guns reported numerous unexploded bomblets in the area and turned back. (It is likely that one of the guns could be brought into service if the others were cannibalized and the area made safe).

The deserters arrived with a single MT-LB APC and there are approximately 25 still operable civilian cars in town. The most common form of transport is either bicycle or farm wagon/cart (see picture). All horses capable of serving as mounts for cavalry were requisitioned long ago.

The deserters brought with them two PKMs, a MAG and a DSHK. They also have two RPGs and all have AKMs, 3 with BG-15 GLs. About half of the remaining militia members have acquired small arms, mostly Mausers, Mosin-Nagants or civilian hunting weapons. There are also ten AK-74s, two more PKMs and a few pistols and grenades available if your plan for assaulting the school did not involve destroying/burning the building.

The town itself consists mostly of 2 story houses and commercial-type buildings. There are also three medium-large churches, a large town square, 6-8 communist large concrete apartment blocks (pretty much the same from Magdeburg to Vladivostok) and two industrial sites of importance - a bombed out munitions factory east of town (the complex north of the word Hankowka on the map) and a small oil refinery (!) that is inoperable due to lack of power, spare parts and crude oil, located Southwest of town (marked Rafineria on the map). The town council meets in the town hall on the north side of the town square; the town's food reserves are located in the basement of the church on the east side of the town square. The main road leading north out of town links up with the main highway east from Krakow near the ruins of Tarnow (where NATO nuked the 128th MRD in 1997).

Ammo reserves and communications gear beyond salvaged telephone equipment are nonexistent. Fuel reserves are also pretty low - the town decided that stockpiling food was a better approach than distilling it.

What ideas do you have for how to defend the town? What questions do you have for the town elders? (I've been there a few times, dated a girl from there a few years back).

Also, a quick request... for you infantry veterans out there could you wait a few days to allow people to post their ideas before putting in the textbook answer?

[chico20854]

Some additional information in response to a query:

The remainder of the town's population consists (roughly) of:

600 women between 15-55.
1000 children under 15
450 people over 55 years of age.

There is no earth moving equipment in town other than 6 working agricultural tractors.

The area around the town is mainly mixed agricultural. Before the war many families in the outlying areas of town (such as Kowalowy, north of the center of town) were self-sufficient for food except for flour/grain. With the war people are hungrier but not starving.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by chico20854

Also, a quick request... for you infantry veterans out there could you wait a few days to allow people to post their ideas before putting in the textbook answer?

Oh! Oh! I know, I know!...never mind.