BATTLE 17
Iraq v. U.S. Army, Iraqi Delay
Visibility: 2
Turn: 27
Having repulsed two assaults in succession, the Marauders were finally able to pull away from the Coalition forces. Col. Mustafa withdrew along the same East-West road that had seen so much carnage just a few hours prior. With night approaching, the Marauders settled in in the open fields near a small village. Pickets were posted, a few new Toyota trucks outfitted with machine guns to replace earlier losses, ammunition replenished. The night was moonless, with visibility limited to no more than a hundred yards. Col. Mustafa could not shake the feeling that something was off, so at midnight he ordered the crews of the three T-55s to get in their tanks and use their night vision equipment to scan the horizon...
The ATGs are positioned on the hills, with their trucks nearby, and the other vehicles are spread out throughout the formation. Infantry is sticking close to the objectives. The units equipped with enhanced vision are spaced a bit further back, where they can still survey the field, but without being the first line of defense.
It is the infantry pickets that spot the first enemy - it is again the Abrams tanks, advancing along the road.
The Marauders make good use of the fortuitous layout of the village. The Abrams can either crush right through the buildings, or else move along the road, and expose themselves to assaults from infantry units that cannot be engaged by tanks that have not yet entered the village. Concentrated RPG fire from several units puts paid to one platoon of Abrams in short order.
The central Abrams advance grinds down a PA squad and then proceeds to wipe out two vehicles that were sitting in the open. Those vehicles have neither moved nor fired - they were simply spotted by the American tanks.
The battle has again settled into a pattern. The remaining Abrams basically do not move, but with each turn, they appear to spot several Marauder units (even the ones that that haven't moved or fired), and grind them to dust. An attack on the tanks still seems suicidal but, increasingly, so does staying put. A Company has already lost about 1/3 of its troops.
I use support weapons in Z-fire mode to try and button the tanks, but these also get spotted - a very experienced ZPU-4 AA unit is wiped out with a single shot in this manner. Marauder reinforcements are coming up toward the Abrams - we'll see if they can make a difference. The American infantry has appeared in several places, with some of their units just as blind as most of the Iraqis, and some units with good NV. Because the Marauders are not dug in, to be spotted is to be killed.
In view of this, the Marauder infantry sections have also taken to firing Z-fire. This provides an excess of targets for the Abrams tanks, and the destruction of A Company is slowed.
Whilst any moves in the north are met with withering fire from the Abrams and more unseen infantry troops, across the southern and central sector, Marauders are making a push. Sheer numbers, and the occasional NV unit, allow American units to be spotted. Bedouins charge in for the kill several times, even though they are more easily spotted by the Abrams - at a distance of more than 1,000m, the tanks do little damage. Troops with AT weapons are being shifted north, to eventually put down the tanks.
Remnants of A Company, and a few units from C Company, finally pay back the Abrams tanks. One of the kills goes down to a simple grenade assault, albeit by a veteran team. This stabilizes the northern sector. With their flank secure, C Company re-enters the town and begins to clear out the road, where a few MMG and Dragon sections are advancing.
Charging forward from the southern sector, the Bedouin cavalry reaches the North-South road in the American rear and spreads out to go after the mortars. In the open terrain, the American 81mm and 60mm mortars took a heavy toll on Marauder troops (even disintegrating a Bedouin band in one shot). Lost comrades can never be brought back - but they can be avenged... and on the way to the mortars, the Bedouins wipe out the American HQ unit.
AFTERMATH:
With the death of the tanks, the Marauders were able to recapture the victory objectives. The entire US force, except two Avenger units, was completely wiped out, but Marauder losses were heavy, both in infantry (where they lost more than the Americans) and especially, and unusually, in vehicles.