Advance to Sofia part 3: Sofia through binoculars
The final battle of the series is the Turkish advance towards the Bulgarian capital. The outskirts of the city are visible on the western side of the map. The defenders are mostly the Serbian forces, composed of a tank company, an artillery battery, a MRL battery, a helicopter flight and a paratrooper battalion hidden in the woods. Serbs will get the rest of the mechanized brigade (two tank companies and a mechanized rifle battalion) as reinforcements later.
The Turkish forces that will be used to attack the defenders of Sofia will be the 1st Armored Brigade again, augmented with elements of the 23rd motorized division, since the former suffered significant losses in the previous battle.
The map of the battlefield is the following:
Battle report:
The Turkish forces advance towards Sofia. Their movement look more like a probe, than a full scale assault. When they are in position (1) they get engaged by my helicopters and also bombarded by artillery. As a result the force is seriously disrupted.
My paratrooper battalion at (3) moves forward. Its mission is to scout the enemy dispositions and make small ambushes when necessary. In general, it is successful in its mission, but the paras suffer serious losses from the Turkish artillery.
The Turkish forward element advance to their maximum extent at (2). At that point, I receive my reinforcements. The tank company (4) and mechanized company (5) will form one combat team, company (6) will join the tank company already deployed at (9) and (7) and (8) will be the final combat team. My plan changes from defense to counterattack, as I estimate I have the superiority in armor to do so. Due to that, the rest of the battle resembles more of a meeting engagement than a set piece assault.
Initially, my tanks wipe out the forward Turkish elements. Every combat team moves forward as shown by the blue arrows. Turkish artillery manages to cause some casualties on my APCs, but my movement is not slowed down in general.
When the southern combat team reached position (2), they come under fire from Turkish tanks deployed in (10). A fierce tank battle develops, where the Turks lose more than 10 tanks for no losses on my own. Hidden ZTA TOW tank destroyers manage to damage to of my tanks. Aided by artillery support (which can come very accurately thanks to the Paras) I suppress the tank destroyers and finally knock them out by accurate tank fire. Probably the most dangerous Turkish weapon for my tanks is out of action. Brilliant!
The center wing also moves forward. More tank fire manages to damage two of my tanks and knock out one. The retribution is swift, and disproportionally more effective. The combat team deploys at village (11), where it overwatches the movement of the northern combat team.
The northern combat team moves forward, engaging the Turkish infantry that appears in front of it a position (12). After fierce close combat fighting, the infantry is annihilated and both central and northern combat teams can move forward. The southern also follows soon.
The Turks have two more tank positions at (13) and (14). Since they are comprised of M60A3s, they cannot do anything but die valiantly. In a frontal engagement, the M-2001 is definitely superior to the M-60A3 in every aspect.
My forces move forward, all combat teams now combined, and they receive more tank fire from positions (15) and (16). This time, the more capable M-60Ts are my opponents. They manage to knock out 5 of my M-2001s, but thanks to superiority in numbers and aided by artillery strikes, I manage to destroy all M-60Ts (well, there were only 4 of them).
My forces come out of the woods, where an impressive spectacle awaits them: around 100 BTR-80s, as well as the artillery park of the enemy awaits them in the circle at (17). The outcome cannot really be described as a battle, but rather as a turkey shoot (pun intended). My tanks and artillery have a field day, destroying around 60 vehicles by the end of the scenario. It is a disaster for the Turks.
Nevertheless, one final attack is being made by the Turkish forces. An M60A3 tank company, makes a maneuver at (18). They come out of the woods and find my own artillery park at (19). I lose 4 Plamen MRLs to tank fire and I’m forced to relocate my artillery.
The battle ends soon, and the Serbs have pulled off an amazing victory!
Total losses are:
Serbs lose 6 M-2001 MBTs and 5 MRLs. Turkish losses are much more severe. They lose 42 M60A3 tanks, 4 M60T tanks, 2 ZTA tank destroyers, 2 Firtina SPGs, 4 M-110 SPGs, 15 T-122 Sakarya MRLs. The 1st Armored is practically destroyed and the 23rd motorized infantry division has taken severe losses and is combat ineffective. The Turkish offensive is stopped dead in its tracks.
The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, publishes an article in which it claims that the Bulgarians were saved by a huge European coalition aimed at denying Turkey the right to protect its minority in Bulgaria. It also remarks that 620 Turkish soldiers have martyred with many more wounded and missing, but their opponents have approximately 10000 casualties in total. The chief of general staff of Turkey announces that the goal of the offensive is achieved, and the Turkish army will switch to defensive posture to protect its gains.
The Serbian commander, Major Obranovic, received a hero’s welcome in Serbia, while his conduct of the defense of Sofia was covered by every military form of media in the Balkans.
So this concludes the Return of the Ottomans scenario package. Total losses of all factions are given below:
Turkey
3876 men
333 APC
151 tanks
3 tank destroyers
13 SPGs
17 MRLs
10 AA vehicles
7 attack helicopters
4 transport helicopters
7 aircraft
Bulgaria
1248 men
17 APC
17 tanks
13 aircraft
Romania
650 men
31 APC
25 tanks
Serbia
499 men
37 APCs
19 tanks
3 AA vehicles
6 MRLs