Crossing Points - Combat Mission Black Sea AAR, Part 2

This is a continuation of this previous blog entry.

After a non-so auspicious start (see initial losses in the first blog entry), the US detachment starts to delivery covering fire for one Bradley IFV that will ford the creek.

Saving Basra - Steel Armor Blaze of War

December 1985. After years of war, the Iranians are feeling the pinch of social unrest. Determined to finish Saddam Hussein and his Army, chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani made it clear that the only way to finish the war would be an attack on Basra. The first phase of the operation would be crossing the the Shatt al-Arab river, south of Basra (Operation Karbala 4) and to turn the Iraqi defensive positions centered on Basra.

The lead tank of an Iraqi T-62 platoon moves west to be debriefed at the tactical command post.

The Iraqis understood the importance of defeating the Iranian offensive right at the onset of the operation. Iraqi General Maher Rashid led a successful clearing of the Iranian bridgehead. This blog entry shows how that fighting may have looked like from the Iraqi side.

Retaking Mount Hermon (or Some Part of It) - Campaign Series Middle East AAR

Part rescue mission of IDF troops trapped in the outpost system at Mt. Hermon, part tactical re-capture of strategical real estate, this scenario is a great representation of this bloody encounter in the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War (1973).

In real life, the briefing of the 317th Parachute Brigade was interrupted and never completed because of a Syrian air raid. This left the battalion and company commanders with just marching orders but not too much information about the enemy and the essence of the mission.

Not so Kurz und Vives (short and lively) - A Postcard from The Seven Years War

My choosing of the sequence to achieve strategic goals ... The King would never approve.

This blog entry is from "The Road to War", a campaign scenario from The Seven Years War. The goals are in the bottom right corner.

A Wrench in the Revolving Door - Panzer Battles, Battles of Normandy

Move those AT guns along, folks. The Germans will move!

Crossing Points - Combat Mission Black Sea AAR, Part 1

Set during a fictional war between the US and Russia in Ukraine, this scenario depicts a US combined arms detachment struggling to control a crossing point near a village.

More on "Turning the Time Flank" - ArmA 3

One year and a half back, I introduced you to the Robert Leonhard's concept of the so-called "temporal flank", which can be turned by attacking the enemy at a time when he is not fully deployed to engage. In this blog entry I explore the concept at the lowest tactical level.

These screenshots are from plain vanilla ArmA 3, using custom made missions.

Steel Beasts ProPE - The Battered Bastards

The snow, the village held by my US forces. It felt like the real battered bastards of Bastogne. But I had tanks, and I felt like I rendered my forces useless after this mission. 

However, if the enemy would have pushed a tad more, I would have died.

Panzer Battles - Battles of Normandy - Bypassing ENY Strong Points

What a somber day for the US 2nd Infantry Division (2 ID)! In real life and during the days up to the attack, the GIs dreaded taking Hill 192. It has been attacked before and nothing was won. In this second attempt, only moderate gains in terrain and attrition have been achieved.

The area of operations. Hill 192 is a rather flat mound centered around the objectives marked with a 100 marker. The west flank is the US 38th Infantry Regiment (2 Battalions). The east flank is the US 23rd Infantry Regiment (1 Battalion). Tanks from the US 741st Tank Battalion are widely spread across the front. Facing the American forces is the 9th Fallschirmjaeger Regiment. 

The Ever Expanding Bookshelf

I've visited my favorite bookstore in the area (For the Historian, Gettysburg PA, USA) and picked up some top-notch military history.