Turning the "Time Flank" - An Spoiling Attack in Conquest of the Aegean - AAR Part 1

My objective for day one is to delay the enemy force at or near the river crossings. On my left, my most powerful formation is the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment and with this unit I will launch a spoiling attack across the river. My expectation is to disrupt the enemy forces while they prepare to cross the river across the main highway. On my right, an assortment of infantry and support weapons are to assemble a hasty defense at the buildings and forts in Amyntaion.

Situation at 0727 Day 1. See text for details.

Infantry Skills One on One Training: The 3-5 Second Rush - ArmA 3

Despite of all claims to the contrary and no matter how tactical your squad mates or you think you are, chances are that you will find yourself in the field of fire of an non-suppressed enemy weapon with a mortar barrage trying to catch up with you.

Entering the training area.

From time to time, it is good to go back to the basic infantry drills. Today I made a custom single player training scenario in ArmA 3 to re-train myself on the so-called 3-5 seconds rush.

Turning the "Time Flank" - An Spoiling Attack in Conquest of the Aegean - The Theory, The Plan

No war game in my hard drive is out of reach for some degree of experimentation about real warfare. Some war games just fit better than others.

When it comes to land maneuver warfare, a few of these war games fit like a glove. Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm, Scourge of War and all the games made by Panther Games are outstanding examples.

The vision and theories about land maneuver warfare compiled in Robert Leonhard's Fighting by Minutes are one of the most profound and exciting products of recent military thought. According to Leonhard, time is the primary dimension of warfare and the dynamics of the battlefield can be viewed and better appreciated under the lens of time.

Following such a bold premise, it is not surprising that Leonhard describes the existence of a "time flank" in addition to the two dimensional ones which are very familiar to everybody (i.e. left or right flank). In his own words (page 6):

An Army's lines extend only so far to the right and left. It has a certain finite depth as well. But an Army also has temporal limits that define its influence: an army is not always strong. There is a period of time before the army is ready to fight, and there is a period of time after it is no longer ready to fight. These boundaries in time represent the army's "time flank". The commander who learns to "turn the time flank", so to speak, will consistently overturn enemy defenses.

To learn and practice the concept of "turning the time flank" I went to this great old historical scenario in Conquest of the Aegean (CotA from here). The scenario is named "First Clean Break" and when played from the Allied side presents the player with a though delaying action. A brigade-sized force of British and Australian infantry and armor must delay a German panzer division. The scenario starts on 13Apr1941 at 0600 and ends on D+3 at 2300.

A bit on purpose, I chose an scenario where spatial flanking options are limited. As shown in the screenshot above, the area of operations is narrow and deep. The green (Australian) and brown (British) icons show the start position of my forces. My forces are dangerously forward and I would have preferred a bit more depth for this delay action.

Killing Team Mates with the Bullets You Don't Fire - Micro AAR - ArmA 2

There are places in the mechanized warfare battlefield where the IFVs don't go and where the infantry is asked to dismount and do their thing. A situation like this came up during a counter insurgency presence patrol against Taliban forces.

This US infantry squad has just dismounted from their Bradley IFVs and is preparing to move to a group of walled houses where insurgents have been observed. Due to the risk of RPGs, the Bradley IFVs are to remain behind providing support by fire. The whole operation is to be executed by a US platoon (-) sized force. 

This is from a custom-made, single player mission played with ArmA 2. I am commanding a US infantry squad. The events affecting the other squads are not included in this AAR.

Desert Warfare: Securing a Bridge Near an Iraqi Town - Part 2 of 2 - Steel Beasts ProPE 3.011

Continued from a previous entry.

An odd enemy artillery barrage caught the first part of our retreat. Two of my tanks suffered damages in communications and targeting equipment.  

Desert Warfare: Securing a Bridge Near an Iraqi Town - Part 1 of 2 - Steel Beasts ProPE 3.011

In this blog entry, a US Cavalry troop (-) falls slightly short of securing OBJ Rockville, a tiny bridge near an Iraqi town.

This is game play from a custom-made single player fictional scenario.

Desert Warfare: a US Cavalry Troop Gets It in the Flank - Steel Beasts ProPE 3.011

I was supposed to pull back my platoon of M3A2 scouts and let the tanks lead the attack against the hastily prepared Iraqi defenses. Ghost troop pushed forward, unaware that the sister formation at his right didn't keep up. The flank of Ghost troop was about to come undone.

This is game play from a custom-made single player scenario inspired in real events during the Gulf War. 

Sergeant Nels A. Moller, your sacrifice will never be forgotten.

All Is Tactics Until Bullets (or BBs) Start Flying - ArmA 3 - And Fake Guns

I've been reading a lot of translated WWII-era Soviet translations of field manuals. Among many other things, there is the recurring theme of mass and momentum (keep moving forward). Very interesting stuff that maybe I can write something about in the future. Although I've grown past the common (and wrong) perception that all Soviet infantry were just mobs moved in human waves by ruthless commissars, I found myself wondering why a formation here and there was not better laid out.

Nicknamed after the Argentine 1880s warlord "Chacho" Penaloza, my son has taught me the value of keeping things simple. Here pictured during a break at an airsoft match.

Friday of Helicopters

Flying helicopters is fun as Fridays. In this short entry, what's going on in the rotary wing of my computer.

Tanks vs Guns - A Short Combat Mission Red Thunder Narrative

Dirt.

You dig it for protection. It gets over you and invades every crevice of your body. It spoils the lubrication of every round of ammo you previously cleaned.

If you are lucky enough, you will see it as a telltale of a tank round falling short and lifting in front of you in prodigious quantities. It will stay put as if defying gravity. One wishes that defiance would last long enough, like ours against the enemy.

There is a macabre calculus that applies to the combat between tanks and guns. If one gun takes two to three tanks, they say, its job is done. We rarely keep tabs of our battle deeds. We are just too busy shoveling in rounds, looking through the sights and staying alive.