AAR1 - World War III Begins

I finally completed the first game of World War III, 1958 style.  I've been a little under the weather lately, so about three weeks passed between setting it up and actually playing the game.  

It was a surprise in a lot of ways.  Doing this as a campaign resulted in a much more complex process to generate the battle than I expected; the landscape is bewilderingly devoid of cover, and the units involved ended up being much smaller than I expected that they would be.  That was all topped off by rolling up a heavy low cloud deck, affecting sighting and aerial aspects of the battle.

All of that said, the game was a blast; the AAR follows:

_________________________________________

Lt. Page panned the horizon through his binoculars, looking for any sort of movement in the morning gloom.  The sky was overcast, and dawn was only just fracturing the darkness, exposing wisps of haze clinging to the landscape.  The last couple of days had been turbulent, with preparations for attack suddenly interrupted by movement to the defense. The result was utter chaos.  

His recce squadron was spread out on a north south line in the area of Semmenstedt and Timmern, screening for the heavier elements of the 6 Armored Division west and north of his position.  Currently his armored car sat in a tree-line between fields immediately east of Timmern, where he watched the roads coming out of Roklum.  

He marveled at how peaceful it was, waiting for war to arrive.  The only hint of the impending fight were the jets overhead, but even they seemed removed, the landscape insulated by the clouds above.

The gray vehicles on the road startled him, and he did a double take to be sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.  They weren't; time to go to work...

World War III begins!  The first shots ended up being a small squabble between opposing recconnaissance units.  It is early morning with a low overcast and occasional light rain.  The British forces were preparing for attack on the next morning, and are generally farther forward than expected in the defense, and in hastily made positions.

British forces consisted of  a armored recce squadron of 12th Lancers:

SHQ: 2x Ferret Mk.1, 1x M3 scout car, 2x Jeeps

    4x Troop, Lt. Armored Car: 2x Daimler Mk II, 2x Ferret Mk.1

    1x Hvy. Troop: 4x AEC Mk.III, 1x Ferret Mk.1

    1x Assault Troop: 4x Saracen & Infantry sections

(Note: Ferret Mk.1 proxied with Dingos)

UK Recce Squadron

Soviet forces from 10th tank Division:

Divisional Recce Company:

CHQ: 1x BTR-40

    1x Pltn: 5x PT-76

    2x Pltn: 3x BTR-40

From Motor Rifle Rgmt:

Combat Recce Patrol:

    1x T55

    1x MR Pltn, 2x BTR-50

Motor Rifle Regiment Vanguard:

    MR Company (remainder & attached elements):

        CHQ: 1x BTR-50

        2x MR Pltn: 2x BTR-50

        2x T-55

        1x BTR-152A

Soviet recce elements.

The battlefield is about 70 km southeast of Hanover, West Germany, and 20 km west of the inner German border.  Soviet forces enter the table heading in a northwesterly direction immediately west of Roklum (just off table) toward Semmenstedt (north) and Timmern (south) near the west end of the table.

An easterly view of the table with Semmenstedt to the left 

(north) and Timmern to the right (foreground).

The Soviet view looking a little north of west.

The game started with the British deployed in and around the two towns, Semmenstedt to the north, and Timmern a little south, sitting patiently, waiting for the Soviet advance.

British Assault troop deployed in Timmern, 

North is to the top in this view.

SHQ in Semmenstedt, Lt. AC Pltns to the east, and 

Hvy Pltn in the field in the top right of the view, 

looking to the southeast.

Soviet BTR-40s advanced down the northern road out of Roklum, with the two platoons hop-scotching along.  Slightly behind them was a platoon of PT-76s moving down the southern road, running west out of Roklum.

Looking east, BTR-40s take artillery hits, 

while PT-76s advance into the farm.

The BTR-40s got spotted by the Daimlers in the treeline 1400m east of Timmern.  They were out of gun range for the Daimlers, so a battery of 155mm guns was called upon to chase the BTRs back to East Germany.

BTR-40s scatter after 155mm shells start landing.

The 155s came in and killed two BTR-40s as their comrades went scrambling for cover.  The Pt-76s continued to advance and were spotted as they took cover in the farm between Timmern and Roklum.  The eagle-eyed PT-76s took up position at the western edge of the farm, and managed to spot the Ferret in the tree line about 800 meters to the west (rolling an 01 on D100 makes them nearly psychic, low is good), and decided to engage, immobilizing a Ferret Mk.1 (played by a Dingo, as I somehow failed to purchase any Ferret models).  The two Daimlers returned fire, hitting nothing, while two batteries of 155mm guns were called in on the PT-76s.  The Pt-76s finished off the Ferret and killed a Daimler, and the repositioned BTR-40s called in 152mm guns on the tree line.

PT-76s on the west edge of the farm spot and fire at a Ferret 

in the distant tree line.

Despite anticipating the 155 fire,  three of the PT-76s were destroyed while withdrawing from the farm, while the remaining British armored cars in the tree-line made a rush for Timmern. Shortly after the British were backing away, the 152mm rounds started crashing on the tree-line, killing many small rodents.

Moments later the situation for the PT-76s had changed, 

the two survivors head for cover east of the farm.

The two remaining British armored cars head for Timmern.

After a couple of minutes both the remaining Pt-76s and BTR-40s regrouped and continued their advance westward.  The British were still in the Semmenstedt, the field south of it, and in Timmern.  The remaining BTR-40s "believed" that they had taken fire from the tree-line east of the field, and called in 152mm fire on the tree-line, just east of the AEC Mk. IIIs, which decided to withdraw back into Semmedstedt.

BTR-40s taking a hard look at Semmenstedt and its immediate

 surroundings (mostly out of view to the right).

The British Assault Troop's view of the exploding tree-line, 

east of Timmern.  The two little specks this side of the poofs 

are the two British armored cars.

Ground level view of the above from the section 

and Saracen to the left of the buildings. 

Another Ferret, this one, immediately east of the Semmenstedt, got caught in the 152mm fire, and as the fire walked west, the British SHQ in Semmenstdt ordered everyone to fall back to the next set of positions.

152mm artillery fire landing near Semmenstedt.

British forces withdraw from Semmenstedt 

(East is to the top in this view).

At about this time the CRP from the Soviet Motor Rifle Regiment entered the east end of the table, but the British never saw them. 

Losses were:

British:                                Soviet:                

2x Ferret Mk.1                    2x BTR-40       

1x Daimler Mk. 2                3x PT-76

______________________________________

British recce will take up positions a battlefield or so to the west, and we'll do it again.  Somewhere in that area is a Regiment of Centurions and some support, so things will likely get a little more interesting.

The Soviets are currently heading slightly north of west, and taking full advantage of open terrain.  Plans are to advance quickly, avoid getting caught up in fights in towns and cities and keep pushing west, fast.

I expect to set up the second game this weekend. and hope to have a new report by late next week.

The Third World War, June 13, 1958

The combined forces of Belgium, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States prepared to launch operation Titus, the relief of West Berlin, on the morning of 14 June, 1958. 

Forces of the united Kingdom would lead an attack from the North,  US and West German forces would lead an attack in central Germany, and US forces from the south.  The remaining NATO forces would defend the inner German border against any Warsaw Pact intrusion and protect the flanks of the three allied columns.

The US agreed to avoid employing atomic weapons, if possible, on German soil, but retained  right to readily use them elsewhere, dependent on Soviet response and escalation.  The general hope was that the fighting would be limited to German soil, though that would clearly depend on the Soviets.  

All NATO forces involved in the action, started from deployment in West Germany, and initially at least, targets of opportunity in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere were not to be engaged.  The Warsaw Pact doctrine did not oblige in kind, with Polish, Czech, and Soviet air and naval bases involved even before the start of hostilities. 

NATO hoped that the events in Germany would be embraced as a localized conflict of limited scope, and believed that early NATO success, and social unrest in the various Warpac nations would work to NATO's favor.  Both northern and southern NATO partners, while still in a state of alert and on a war footing, would not take part in the limited offensive.

Thus far, the Soviets saw what was happening as at least a European, if not Global event.  The current actions were obviously part of NATO's bigger plan .  By June 10, Soviet intelligence was convinced that the western threat was in no way a bluff, and additional urgency and preparations were initiated.  On 11 June, at the last moment possible,  Moscow adjusted their plan accordingly.

As always, both sides misunderstood, and misjudged their counterpart, and now many people would pay more dearly than ever for these failings. In the early morning hours of Friday, June 13, 1958,  World War III began, with NATO forces in the field, largely surprised as Soviet and Warsaw Pact Forces poured across the inner German border.

The Situation in Moscow (Cold War Hot 1958 Alt-History)

With East and West on the doorstep of atomic war, Malenkov recognized that the situation had simply become unacceptable, and that the Soviets had over-played their hand.  Possibly he, maybe more than anyone else in the Soviet leadership, understood the threat of such a war, and that any Soviet victory, if possible, would not be so good as victory in the last war.  And that victory had come at unimaginable cost.

With each step of escalation regarding West Berlin, Malenkov believed that the Americans would reach their limit, and that an underlying lack of NATO unity would force the US to yield.  But surprisingly, that did not happen.  It made no sense.  

Malenkov realized that somehow, he simply did not understand the Americans.  And he realized that his peers likely understood them less so.  The bluffing game could not be won, and war was now, at best, only days away.  So he called a meeting of the presidium and presented his thoughts regarding this desperate situation. 

He knew his view would be a challenged, but these men had each fought and suffered for their country, and he was sure that despite individual ambitions, each loved his country just as he did, and loved it enough to save it. Surely they would see reason.  

But, some men are not reasonable, and discussion of East Germany's defense turned to the discussion of the offense.  After all, Soviet forces were better positioned than ever for war, and better that American atomic weapons fell on West Germany, rather than East.

With those final days melting away in the shadow of the western ultimatum, the Soviet leadership became silent.  By the West, they were not seen; they were not heard.  Malenkov sat in his cell, alone, alternately consumed by anguish and anger, waiting for the end.

NATO Chooses War

After the shoot down of the American aircraft in the air corridor to West Berlin, the gravity of the situation was better understood by all.  This was far worse than in 1948-49.  West Berliners were more than worried, for they knew, more than anyone else, that they could not last for long.

Many in the American administration had been convinced that since the coupe ousting Khrushchev, the Soviets were following a path to war.  Eisenhower finally gave in, agreeing that war seemed inevitable.  Convincing some of their NATO allies had been challenging, regardless of Soviet actions.  Despite the Soviet escalation, the isolation of West Berlin had still come as a surprise to the US, and forced Eisenhower's hand.

Rather than having to hold back an avalanche of Soviet forces marching into the federal Republic, it seemed that NATO would have to be the first to cross the inner German border.  The Warsaw pact nations held a huge advantage in manpower, but the US still  had a huge lead in the ability to deliver atomic weapons through cannons, bombs, missiles, and rockets.

The biggest problem for NATO was the resistance by some NATO allies to the use of American atomic weapons on German soil.  Various measures were offered by the Americans to resolve the issue, as American doctrine (and its new Pentomic divisions) required  their use, but the debate persisted.  Some of the American leadership were relieved that this resistance was offered, while others believed that America should shoot first, and deal with "complications" later.

The French were dubious about America's romance with atomic weapons, but hadn't issued any ultimatums yet, though DeGaulle's star seemed to be rising again and there was American belief that he would offer greater resistance to US plans, than President Coty.

The fact was that West Berlin, isolated from the West, could not hold out for long, and the NATO window to respond was short.  Action had to be taken quickly.  Existing plans for the invasion of East Germany, being nothing more than a planning exercise,  were dusted off, modified significantly, and being acted on, even as they were being re-written.

The Soviets were precipitating what they always insisted would happen; the west would prove to be the aggressor that the Soviets feared it to be, and they would enjoy the advantage of allowing NATO to expend itself in a hopeless advance into eastern Germany.  There was no doubt in the minds of Soviet leadership, that they could out-last the American offensive.  However, some were not sure it would be worth the cost. 

It seemed that humanity was about to find out.

Prelude to War: Germany 1958 (An Alternative History)

Sometime back, I thought that I was going to start my Cold War hot campaign set in 1958, and posted an introduction to the setting here.  Things are now moving along, so the following is a continuation of back-story leading up to the conflict.

____________________

From the time of joint occupation, West Berlin had been a cancer in the heart of Soviet communism.  The economic recovery of West Germany and particularly West Berlin was brandished as a weapon by the west, continuously inflicting wounds that diminished the accomplishments of the Soviet communist model.

The West constantly challenged social order, sparking unrest, resulting in riots and strikes.  East Berliners left for the west by the thousands, and among them were a significant portion of the most educated and able.  And, the western instigated discontent spread beyond the borders of East Berlin and East Germany, extending throughout the Warsaw Pact nations.

There was simply no way around it, the Soviets had to force the west out of Berlin, and eventually, all of Germany.  Melankov had always been especially wary of the use of atomic weapons, and understood that given the current situation between east and west, this was not the time to risk their use.  War in Germany was really out of the question, despite what some of Melankov's contemporaries thought, as it would inevitably lead to atomic warfare, which would impose disproportionate burden on the Soviet Union.

Though the US and Soviet Union both had attack plans for Germany, every indication from intelligence was that the US, and the west generally had no intention to invade the eastern block.  Opportunity had risen to varying degrees previously in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and even East Germany, but Eisenhower had understood the importance of, and respected the Soviet sphere of influence.

Eisenhower's policies were based on economy, not military conquest, and US allies could not afford, and more importantly, did not want to again experience war.  Thus, the most obvious weapon which could force the west out of Berlin, and maybe all of Germany, was the well employed threat of war.  Soviet leadership developed a plan of escalation, that would seemingly threaten war, while convincing the west that Soviet atomic weapon development and employment was advancing to match that of the Americans.  

First, the demand was made for the withdrawal of western forces from West Berlin; the West replied with propaganda about “resolve”.  And so, the East employed ways to make the cost of NATO staying in West Berlin greater than could possibly be afforded.  An escalating series of actions were now set in motion.

First a fence was installed isolating West Berlin from East and crossing at the checkpoints was made very burdensome for westerners, and nearly impossible for residents of the east.  Both the land and air corridors to West Berlin were policed more aggressively, with road travelers frequently being stopped and sometimes detained for extended periods.  The West officially protested each action with growing concern.  And with each protest, the East became more steadfast in their effort.

In time occasional intrusions into West German air space occurred, resulting in a US F86 Sabre being shot down in January, 1958 (The Soviet pilot was received a hero, but died in an "accident" shortly afterward).  Pilots continued to play a potentially deadly game of cat and mouse with increasing belligerence on both sides.  Additionally, there were incidents along the inner German border involving both military personnel and civilians.  These incidents sometimes resulted in injury or death and became more frequent as the tension grew.

During this period, the US increased the number of exercises and alerts involving their forces deployed in West Germany, as did most of the NATO partners with forces located there.  The re-arming of West German military forces was hurried, and France held forces that might otherwise been sent to deal with their Algerian problem.  As time advanced, each action served only to bring about the next reaction.

The Soviets recalled some of Khrushchev’s draw-down forces back to East Germany, and increased the frequency and scope of exercises.  Likewise, the number of air patrols were significantly increased, as were airspace violations by Soviet bombers along the coasts of northern and western Europe.

In the west, the recalled Soviet forces were seen by many as a build-up for an imminent attack by the Warsaw Pact.  NATO responded in kind, with US, UK, Canadian, and French reserves being activated and partially deployed.  The US conversion to Pentagonal divisions was accelerated and US reconnaissance overflights of Warsaw Pact and Soviet territory were increased, resulting is some losses both to enemy aircraft and the new SA-2 missiles that were entering service.

In March, four US servicemen and seven civilians were indefinitely detained by East German Police, while traveling to East Berlin.  They were arrested during three different incidents in the same week, and none were allowed any contact outside of East German and Soviet authorities.  A US protest was largely ignored, and land transit to West Berlin was closed.

The last straw came with the closure of the air corridors to West Berlin.  The East Germans gave warning, and just after the closure began, the Americans responded with a pair of F-86s escorting a C-119 through corridor airspace.  All three aircraft were shot down along with a Soviet Mig-19 in the process.

NATO forces were already on alert, with NATO now preparing for war in earnest.  The number of deployed reserves grew in the days following the shoot-down.   Civilians on both sides of the inner German Border began moving away from it.  The situation in isolated West Berlin grew precarious, as the west worked on a plan to save the city. 

East Germany and the Soviets were given 8 days to open the corridors to East Berlin, or “suffer the consequences of their action”.  Soviet and East German forces deployed to absorb an initial NATO advance, despite the fact that some in Soviet intelligence still believed that NATO would not attack.  Soviet preparations included the deployment of both active and dummy FROG and SCUD "atomic" missile units.  The "bluff" needed to be complete.

The corridors were not re-opened...

Building the Road to War: Modular Terrain Boards - Part 3

This post addresses the addition of of stream, river, and some hill terrain modules for my 1950s Cold War Germany terrain project.  The  modular terrain design concept was presented in part 1, and the general construction and finish methods are addressed in part 2 of this series of posts.  This post will mostly address design of the moduler waterways, basic hill modules, and few special pieces. 

Streams

First I'll tackle the streams streams.  I've long used a rather narrow 5/16" wide stream system with my terrain, which works universally with 6mm to 15mm scale figures, though is a bit narrow for larger scales.  The stream is routed 3/8" deep into the foam with a Dremel and router attachment, and is centered at three inches inset from the near end of the tile.

The centerline of the stream is located on the tile, the edges or banks of the streambed located, and a loose path of the stream drawn on the tile, before routing the actual stream path.  The path can be widened between the ends of the tiles, but always maintains the same location and profile on the edges of the tile.

This a 6" wide tile (by 12" long), so the stream is centered 

on the short end of the panel.  On the typical 12' square tile,

 the stream would be inset 3" from the near end of the tile.

The stream system layout is much like that of the road design, except that the stream path between the edges of the tile is more irregular.  The basic tiles types are straight, diagonal, and bends.  Note that there are three types of bends, a broad, tight, and combined bend.

A mirror image of the Combined Bend shown above completes all of 

the bend configurations.  Roads can also be added as desired.

Stream tiles after routing stream bed.

Once the path is routed into the the tile, the banks of the edges are sanded to a 45 degree angle, and are cut about 3/16" deep into the the foam, leaving a vertical walled 3/16" channel for the stream bed.  In between the edges, all sorts of sanding and shaping can be done, including small islands in the stream, lower areas representing little floodplains, boggy areas, etc.

The stream tile edge profile

Stream tiles after sanding.

Completed stream tiles

Stream Bridges

The bridges over the strams were made by simply cutting a slot with a hobby knife and sliding a retaining wall into place made from a piece of 1/8" wide foam.  Two bridges are smooth and painted to be  of concrete, and two had a stone pattern etched in with a ball point pen.

With concrete retaining walls.

With stone retaining walls

If the terrain is intended for a single or narrow range of scales, you can add rocks and whanot to the streams, though I avoid this, as rocks that look fine in 15 to 28mm, don't always look right at 6mm.  Additionally they can interfer with the "stackability" of the foam tiles, which may or may not be a consideration. 

Rivers

River tiles are similar to the streams, except that in this instance, the waterway will be three inches wide, the tiles with roads will be dedicated to 6mm, but roadless river tiles will work in any scale.  The three inch water obstacle may not seem very wide, but given the game scales that I use in 6mm, it will represent a 30 to 150 meter wide waterway.

The rivers are cut with the dremel/router, as per the streams, with the river bed 3/8 inch deep and 3 inches wide.  The terrain is shaped and sanded in the same way as previous tiles, with the bank edge profile cut 3/16 inch deep into the routed bank, and extents on a gradule rise to a point 1 inch from the edge of the router cut. Both the streams and rivers are painted after the rest of the tile, and coated with two coats of artist's acrylic gloss medium, prior to flocking the tile.

The routed river bed.

The river tile edge profile design above, and result below.

Sanded river tiles with completed bank profiles.

Completed river tiles

 

River Bridges

The river bridges were mostly constructed from varying thicknesses of insulation foam.  Pathways for the water were sanded with Tuff Grit sanding sticks, with detail glued in place with matte medium, and pinned until dry.  Then they were coated in acrylic pastes and painted.

The bridge in the distance above and to the left below used a 

piece of sheet styrene plastic for the road bed, with a strip glued 

underneath to represent the supporting structure and strips glued 

in place for the retaining walls.  The lower supports were made 

from foam.

Views of the finished bridges.  The bridges fit into slots cut into

 the foam tiles, and can be removed so that destroyed bridge 

models can be placed if needed.

Road/Slope Tiles

To make the new 6mm roads compatible with my existing hill/slope tiles, I needed to add a few basic road/slope tiles.  These use a 1" rise over 6" run on "straight slope" tiles with a road running up them.  

Basic 12" slope tile edge profile.

The road and slope are both laid out on the tile top and edges, 1 inch rise over 6 inches of run, and the basic slope edges cut.  I just use a hacksaw blade, though an hobby miter box saw may be a better choice to get a constant slope.  I then shape the slope with out cutting into the road bed of the tile, Once the slope is cut, the road bed of shaped to blend into the slope.

The road bed and edge profile drawn onto the tile.

The edge slope cut a hack saw blade.  Tuff-Grit files to clean

 up the edge profile.

With the rest of the slope roughed out with the hack saw blade. 

The road bed is left to be cut later.

The slope is further roughed out with a Surform tool.

The road bed is roughed out with the hack raw, the Surform, 

and the Tuff Grit files.

A different angle of the roughed out road bed.

The cut along the road bed, and ditches are further shaped

 with the Tuff-Grit files

The tile is sanded.

Another view of the sanded tile, better showing how the slope 

across the tile blends with the standard edge profile.

I made four total road/slope tiles, two each with the road set 

to the left or right side of the tile.

New road slope tiles with my older hill/slope tiles.  Note the 

road slope tile stacked on a regular flat road tile to complete 

the road across the span of the tile.

Finished road slope tiles.

Towns

I made two small town tiles in this batch of tiles, each based on towns that will be on the first tabletop in upcoming battles.  The towns are shown below, mated together, such that they could represent a larger town.

I started off by drawing a three inch grid on the tiles, then transferring the primary town roads from a 1:25,000 German army map from the 1950s.  The primary roads were drawn onto the tile in 1" width, and then secondary roads were added.  The tiles were lightly sanded, coated with acrylic paste, then painted, and flocked.

Odd Sized Tiles

I also made some odd sized tiles for filling in spaces created by some of the diagonal road tiles.  Half and quarter tiles, measuring 12"x6" and 6"square.  

6"x12' and 6" square tiles.

Some of the odd sized tiles completed.

Completed Terrain Tiles

The views below show completed tiles from this batch, demonstrating how the roads fit together with the odd sized tiles.

The second view shows the tiles spaced apart to more readily 

show how they fit together.  One of the town tiles can be seen 

in the foreground of the views above.

This batch totaled 65 tiles making about 51 square feet of terrain.  For games, I set up the tiles on top of a sheet of felt, which keeps the tiles from sliding around on the table top.

That completes the tiles for use in gaming battles set on the North German Plain.  The next group (sometime later in the new year) of tiles will be geared for games set in the Fulda Gap and other more hilly parts of Germany. 

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's day.