.com.unity Forums
  The Official e-Store of Shrapnel Games

This Month's Specials

BCT Commander- Save $8.00
winSPWW2- Save $5.00

   







Go Back   .com.unity Forums > The Camo Workshop > WinSPMBT > After Action Reports
Notices


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 19th, 2013, 03:15 PM
gingertanker's Avatar

gingertanker gingertanker is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Israel
Posts: 187
Thanks: 51
Thanked 98 Times in 67 Posts
gingertanker is on a distinguished road
Default Tiran Battalion Campaign

So I decided to play a generated with the IDF. Never did this before always played with other countries.

As the Israeli side in winSPMBT is very strong, I was looking for a way to play with a weak(er) Israeli side.

The scenario- The 1982 war in Lebanon causes the falling apart of the fledgling peace between Israel and Egypt. Egytian forces rush into the recently demilitarized Sinai. with the entire IDF in Lebanon and the Golan(where hostilities with Syria are imminent), only 2nd and 3rd rate units are available for Sinai.

One of these units is a 100 tank strong brigade of T-62 tanks, named Tiran 6 by the Israelis. In real life this brigade was part of the General HQ reserves and never used. In my campaign, it is hurled at the Egyptians.

Ground rules for my campaign-
-As the IDF only has 100 of these tanks and very little crewmen who can operate them, tank losses will be replaced sparingly or by other 2nd and 3rd rate tanks.
-No more than 1 airstrike will be used per scenario(not including helicopters)
-Very little to no artillery will be available.


My OOB:
1 Tank Battalion with
3 Tiran 6 Companies(A,B,C)
1 Mech Inf Company(D)
1 SP-Mortar platoon
1 Recce section


AARs for each battle will be detailed and with screenshots.
__________________
The best terrain for tank operations is terrain devoid of anti tank weapons.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old September 19th, 2013, 04:20 PM
gingertanker's Avatar

gingertanker gingertanker is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Israel
Posts: 187
Thanks: 51
Thanked 98 Times in 67 Posts
gingertanker is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Tiran Battalion Campaign

Having been called to their dry storage base, the reservists of the 320th armored brigade were able to prepare their unique tanks for combat and deploy to the Southern Negev within 24 hours.

The brigade was ordered to advance into Sinai, capture high grounds and prepare for an incoming Egyptian armored force. The battalion was ordered to capture a ridge of small hills dominating an intersection in the desert. The battalion was allocated air support by MD-500 attack helicopters, as well as F-4 Phantoms.

Arriving to ridge around the time the Egyptians were expected, and the companies arranged behind the cover of hills. A company and D company were planned to attack the north of the bridge and move south towards the intersection to its west. B company was ordered to take good positions to cover this advance. C company was to attack the south of the ridge and use them to support the advance of A and D companies once they cross the ridge line.

Turn 0:Here A company and D company are prepared to begin their move, hidden behind a small hill:


Turn 1:B company moves to take overwatch positions, with the two attack helicopters flying overhead:

Turn 2: During this movement tank J1 from B company was immobilized by soft sand:


This was an ominous sign for the tankers of the battalion, loosing a tank before combat has even started. Non the less they rolled on, B company taking over watch positions and the two helicopters approaching the ridge line. First contact was reached in turn 3, with an MD-500 spotting enemy tanks moving towards the center of the ridge line.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...T3BcoversA.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...rstcontact.JPG


Fearful that the Egyptians may take the ridge line positions while his battalion is on the move, the Israeli CO ordered the helicopters to start engaging enemy tanks, and called in a single airstrike.

General plan on turn 4: A company will continue its attack on the ridge line with 2 platoons. 1st platoon of A company will lead D company adn its APCs to move to the north of the ridge under cover of the terrain, and than attack south. B company will remain in over watto the south of the ridge with 2 platoons:



The MD-500s managed to hit 2 tanks with their TOW missiles, but non the less by turn 4 the enemy managed to take positions on the northern objective. The Israeli tankers were appalled to see the silhouettes of American made M60A1 tanks.




This was however expected by the commanders of A and D companies, and D company APCs were still far enough to be safe while their accompanying Tiran 6 tanks from A company/1st platoon quickly did away with the first M60. The other one was quickly killed by TOW missile from an MD-500. The threat to the soft APCs was removed for now.




At turn 6 the planned airstrike was commited by a single F-4. The aircraft missed with its Mavrick A missile and than went in for a strafing run, resulting in it being shot down by Strela SAMs(4 hits). From that point on the Israelis were weary of calling in air support, although they later did, with the unfortunate result of another lost Phantom.



Although shocked by the loss of the F-4, the Israeli commander was pleased as A company took positions in the center of the ridge.


He decided that B company may now leave its over watch positions and move forward. This will allow the quicker use of B company in case its needed. Shortly after, The Mech Inf company D and its attached tank platoon bypassed the hills to the north, safe from enemy fire, and prepared to move south on the back of the ridge to attack the enemy from his left flank.

However when the tanks arrived at the western slope of the hills they identified an Egyptian Motorised company with escorting MBTs and Pt-76s. To avoid casualties to the soft APCs and also to prevent a prolonged fight with the Egyptian infantry, D company was ordered to halt while her accompanying tanks engaged this force.



The exposure of this force in open ground proved fatal for the Egyptian force, which lost nearly this entire force. In only 2 turns he lost 7-10 vehicles, including a few tanks as can be seen here:


However not all new were good for the Israelis. Egyptian tanks were reaching the ridge line again, and although they took casualties they posed a serious threat to the Israelis. D company was stuck in the northern part of the ridge, several of its APCs knocked out or immobilized by fierce mortar and howitzer artillery barrages. To make things worse, several AT-3 sections started opening fire on C company as it took positions on the ridge, and it lost 2 tanks, including the CO. These were the first but not the last casualties in the battle.


However by turn 22 the entire ridge was in Israeli hands, and at least 10 more Egyptian tanks were knocked out, including several T-62s in a confusing battle at ranges of 100-300 meters. At this point another group of Egyptian tanks made its way towards the intersection. The Israelis prepared to engage and non this tanks made it to the objectives.



Satisfied that the threat from enemy armor is reduced and that the battle can be won only by decisive action, the Israeli CO used B company that passed between A and D companies, crossed the ridge and attacked from north to south(as was originally planned for D company), with A company providing over watch.



This move by B company was met by Egyptian Mech Infantry, that was now filling the entire area around the intersection and near the objectives. By turn 26 A company had to move to stop this infantry from retaking the central objective, and B company dispatched a platoon west to take the secondary objectives. C company was pressuring the south of the enemy, where brave but futile resistance was presented by RPG volleys from Egyptian Infantry.


In a last ditch attack a company sized Egyptian mech inf force, in size roughly a company, attack the center of the ridge. Company had to fall back to the rear slopes and engage the enemy troops as the came into view.



The 115 HE rounds proved well suited for destroying the enemy infantry, and this assault was smitten by turn 30. With this the battle was all but won, both sides taking heavy casualties.

The result was a marginal victory for the Israelis, who indeed destroyed the Egyptian force in it's entirety and captured the ridge, but 7 Tiran tanks out of 33, 2 APCs, and 59 men(as well as 2 aircraft). The Egyptians lost 37 AFVs(of which roughly 22-25 were tanks) and 25 APCs, as well as 558 men.




Following this battle the battalion had very little time to rest and refit before preparing to delay against a large Egyptian force. As there were no tanks to replace those lost, the situation was extremely difficult.

To be continued.
__________________
The best terrain for tank operations is terrain devoid of anti tank weapons.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old September 24th, 2013, 07:57 PM
gingertanker's Avatar

gingertanker gingertanker is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Israel
Posts: 187
Thanks: 51
Thanked 98 Times in 67 Posts
gingertanker is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Tiran Battalion Campaign

Having been able to re-service only 4 out of 7 tanks lost in the first battle, the Israeli commander was ordered to take positions to defend a ridge of hills with a crossroad on the southern hill.
To assist the battalion, a company of reserve infantry and a weapons company(Mortars, ATGMs, HMGs, Snipers) were attached to it.

The plan was simple enough-

Tank companies A and B took good positions on the ridge, from which they were to destroy enemy AFVs as they attacked. D company(mech inf) was deployed to the northern part of the ridge and dug in, prepared to fend off any infantry that passed through the tank fire. The reserve inf company was given the same role along the southern part of the ridge. In the center of the ridge, on a high hill, the weapons company was deployed along with some reservists, allowing it to support the north and south with HMG and sniper fire. Tank company C was held behind the ridge in reserve.

Here the deployment of tanks and reserve infantry on the southern objective(crossroad) can be seen:


As the Israelis finished their preparations, the gunners and commanders in the Tiran-6 tanks started spotting enemy tanks and AFVs approaching. They opened fire at ranges exceeding 3000 meters, wasting ammunition and scoring only a few hits.


The Israeli commander ordered his tankers to stop firing and wait for the enemy to come into more effective range(2-2.5 km). As they waited, the Israelis were amazed by the mass of enemy tanks driving straight towards them and raising plumes of dust.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/2/T3dust.JPG

Engaging the enemy once again, the Israelis hit many Egyptian tanks, and their own losses were minimal at this point. However within a few minutes the sheer number of enemy vehicles caused issues, as some Israeli tanks ran out of ammo and were force to retreat to cover rather than continue the carnage.





This, combined with the loss of a few Israeli tanks, allowed the Egyptians to nearly reach the ridge line, putting them in range of the short range but highly lethal Dragon ATGMs from the weapons company.



However by this time the Israeli commander grew very concerned of his ability to stop the attack, and as Egyptian artillery started raining accurately on his line companies, he ordered C company led by captain Azzam(something has to be done about the Israeli names list) to move forward and bolster the central and northern objectives.



This created somewhat of a mess, with Israeli tanks moving in and out of contact with the enemy at the same time.



C company formed a line on the central objective just as Egyptian tanks were reaching its western slope, and started engaging the enemy. At this point, while they took some tank casualties the Israelis were quite confident, having counted nearly 40 burning Egyptian tanks of different models. At this point Egyptian infantry and combat engineers squads started assaulting the south and north parts of the ridge.



These attempts were at first brushed off by the Israeli infantry and supporting tanks. However the Egyptians used massive ATGM support to destroy several more tanks, and causing the others to seek cover or deploy smoke. At this point the Israeli reservists protecting the southern objective were left with no tank support, and facing what looked like 2 companies of Egyptian infantry.



As the south of the line was falling apart, the Israelis made an attempt to counter attack with tanks but these attempts failed, the tanks taking heavy ATGM fire.




The battalion now had nearly half the tanks it started the battle with, and the Egyptian infantry was still advancing, now supported by additional T-54 and T-62 tanks. The Israelis decided to stop counterattacking and try to regroup their remaining tanks behind the central objective. As some of the tanks could not disengage, others were hit on their way, and one was immobilized in a dune, only a hand full of tanks were gathered, along with some APCs.




The crossroads on the south of the hill were now in Egyptian hands.



What followed was a brutal battle between the Egyptians who continued to try and advance from the southern objective east and north east, and the Israelis who were determined to concede no more ground even at the price of loosing the battalion altogether as fighting force. Egyptian tanks and infantry stormed the central objective from two directions and some T-62 and T-54 tanks were destroyed at point blank range.



A pair of Tiran 6 tanks and two M113s rushed to aid the troops on a hill behind the southern objective, and were able to destroy 2 or 3 companies of infantry as well as many ATGM teams.

As the battle ended the battalion was no longer a fighting force, having lost all but 5 of its tanks, many of its APCs, and dozens of mech-infantry men. The Egyptian side took horrific casualties and could not take most of the objectives. As with the Israeli force, the Egyptian force lost it's abilty to continue fighting after the battle, loosing all of its AFVs(at least 60 tanks, several light AA and SP-ATGM, and 32 APCs), and most of its infantry. The result was a very marginal and bloody Israeli victory:



OKEY- This was the fiercest battle I have ever had with the AI assaulting. I expected a turkey shoot, which it really was when it started. However massive use of ATGMs and Artillery by the AI really did me in. My tanks spent much of the battle hiding or changing positions. I also dident expect such an effective concentration of effort by the AI, which had probably 3-4 inf companies attacking in a very narrow front. This was fun but in all reality ended my campaign, unless I break my own rules and replace at least 20 of my lost tanks...
__________________
The best terrain for tank operations is terrain devoid of anti tank weapons.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old September 28th, 2013, 07:22 AM

Taskforce Taskforce is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Scandinavia
Posts: 80
Thanks: 5
Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts
Taskforce is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Tiran Battalion Campaign

It was very interesting to read! To bad your taskforce suffered too many losses, but that's life.

Did any of your surviving tank crews reach tank ace status?

Cheers, Taskforce
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:01 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©1999 - 2024, Shrapnel Games, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.