Mission 5: The battle of Plovdiv.
Turks advance deep into Bulgaria. Their main strategic objective is the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. Their route passes near another very important city, Plovdiv. Plovdiv has to be captured, or its garrison fixed in placed and bypassed if the Turkish drive towards Sofia is to succeed.
In this battle I take the scenario designer’s advice and pick Bulgaria, even though it is not player #1. A quick survey of the battlefield shows that there are two main sets of objective: the villages north of Plovdiv (that are in the way of the main line of communication) and Plovdiv itself. Like I mentioned before, the Turks can just capture the first set to bypass the defenders, so if they manage that, I will counterattack the Turkish force (this would be the most probable response anyway).
As usual, most of Bulgaria’s army is infantry. In addition to that, some 82mm mortars and a 152mm battery is at my disposal, plus two T-72M2 tank companies. This force has little mobility, the T72s at least have thermals so they are worth something, but the Turks have also attack helicopters, so I need to cause lots of casualties in dogged defense and hope for the best.
In the first turns I see the first elements of my opponent. A mechanized force, with several M60A3 tanks and for the first time, attack helos as well. The latter are always a problem, thus I need to minimize their impact on the battle. Some T72 from inside Plovdiv shoot at the attackers’ left flank and the result is one M60A3 damaged and one Cobra armored car destroyed. The Cobras (the attack helos) are fired by MANPADs and reply with rocket and 20mm fire. I plot artillery strikes on the road that the Turkish armored columns take, hoping to disrupt the attackers.
Turkish artillery fire first, causing some disruption to my ranks. In addition to that, a HUGE enemy air formation, of about 20 F4s and 20 F16s (!!!) engage my forces. I lose several BMPs, 4 tanks and some trucks and MANPADs to this menacing force. My tanks manage to destroy 3 Turkish tanks, but suffer 3 more casualties from enemy helos. My artillery causes some superficial damage to the Turkish force, but one howitzer is attacked inside Plovdiv from scouts that managed to sneak inside the city.
Turks approach the first crossroad (from now on nicknamed Derventski crossroads from the captain responsible for its defense). Despite heavy artillery fire, Turkish infantry disembark from their APCs and engage the Bulgarians in fierce close combat. At turn 11, they finally capture the crossroads, but casualties are mounting at the attacker side. Bulgarian tank fire knock out several Turkish APCs and M60A3 tanks as well (tank casualties are 8 Bulgarian tanks to 10 Turkish so far). My tank effectiveness increases when I realize how stupid I was the previous 10 turns. How so? By not realizing that the Turkish attack helicopters have a vision of 30, thus not being able to fire through smoke. Since my tanks have thermals, I can just pop smoke and either pick up Turkish APCs, or duel with tanks (and my tanks have the advantage there, thanks to the better frontal armor of the T72M2). And to think that 6 of the 8 tanks I’ve lost were knocked out by attack helos launching TOWs…
Turks advance towards the northwestern suburb, in order to at least secure the highway north of Plovdiv. Bulgarian tankers cause significant casualties to Turkish tanks and APCs, but also suffer casualties on their own. In the suburb, close combat infantry fighting erupts and the Turkish advance is stalled.
The advance on the NW suburb is slow and bloody. Bulgarian infantry make any dismounted advance costly and the T72s make any tank advance just as costly. In the end the Turks cannot secure the highway north of Plovdiv and were nowhere near assaulting the city, let alone capture it. Final result is as follows:
Turks lost 29 M60A3s (plus 7 more immobilized) and a Cobra attack helicopter. Bulgarians lost 17 T72M2s (only remain). In total the Turkish force was composed of 56 tanks, 14 Cobras, 20 F4 2000s and 20 F16s (yes, I’ve actually counted them all), making it officially the most aviation heavy scenario I have ever played. Despite this, the air force was only marginally effective, Turkish artillery was ineffective and only the Cobras were the stars of the Turkish side, since they claimed 12 of the 17 tanks lost from me (another one from a M60A3 and the other 4 from the fixed wing aircraft).
End result? Bulgarian minor victory. The Turkish offensive has to stop its advance, losing valuable time and enabling the Bulgarians to continue their resistance. Invasion was not a walk in the park as the Turks had hoped…