Welcome to Ukraine - AAR Part 2 - Combat Mission Black Sea

The ebb and flow of combat is pretty much like pushing heavy furniture through a bare floor. You push really hard and nothing happens. A short time thereafter, the slightest touch will jolt the heaviest load with ease. Predicting when one of those jolts will happen and how much it will last is impossible. In such posture my Ukrainian forces find themselves: how long and how much of the enemy pushes can we sustain?

The ATGM team in our right flank gets greedy and takes aim at their third T-72 tank.

The missile eats up the distance towards its intended target, its propulsion so fierce and its speed so great that the guidance of the missile team crew appears like a mere hint.

It turns out that ahead there were not your T-72 tanks of yesteryear but the new ones kitted with APS. The ATGM missile is destroyed with an explosion no less violent or dramatic than the one that couldn't happen within the tank. 

With Russian BMPs around the T-72s, the returning fire was predictable. Note the elevation of the BMP's cannon, which is due to the engagement range.

The Russian infantry, hidden by smoke and crops, fades in and out of sight.

Our right flank is under enemy fire. A round from a BMP-2 flies over the ATGM team. The team pulls out, uninjured but shocked to every corner of their adrenaline-laden bodies.

Another ATGM team, on the left flank is well hidden within a farm building.

Russian infantry's inchworm movement across the open field is well and alive. With no weapon systems having a direct LOS on them we call mortar fire onto their estimated position.

But quickly thereafter our attention is diverted from indirect fire weapons towards an ATGM in the middle of our sector. They just acquired an enemy BMP-2 through the treeline and they don't slack in their willingness to neutralize anything.

The missile hits the Russian BMP-2 directly. It's a kill.

Our mortars open up on the ghosts of Russian infantry advancing through the fields in front of us.

On the meantime, our right flank is about to come undone. A Russian BMP-2 skirts the treeline. To my infantry, its engine revs up with the unmistakable sound and smell of danger.

From our center, the recoilless rifle and the ATGM team exchange rounds with the offending BMP-2. Note the BMP-2 cannon shell on top of the HQ team to the left of this picture.

Target!

How many victories can a soldier hold against men and steel before he is brushed aside by the blunt force of combat?

Cheers,