AAR28: Operations Concluding the First Day of War (The Uwanda/Mugabia War)

I decided to take a break from my post apocalypse gaming just long enough to finish up some loose ends from the Uwanda-Mugabia war, occupying a town and completing a series of Uwandan air attacks on the first day of the war.

The map shows the location of the objectives 

along the border between Uwand and Mugabia.

Objective B6

By late afternoon of  D+1, Uwanda's forces reached the outskirts of Objective B6.  Aerial reconnaissance had shown that the town was occupied by Mugabian infantry with little support, similar to most other towns near the northern portion of the border.

Uwanda's attacking force deployed for the assault, but as they advanced, they discovered that the town had been abandoned by Mugabian forces, who had apparently withdrawn to either objective B10, or more likely B22.

Uwandan forces were received mostly without incident by the local residents who had largely stayed in their homes, and preparations began for the next stage of the advance.

Objectives B7, B8, and B9

Initial plans called for simply bypassing garrison troops located at objectives  over-run by Uwanda's advance.  Uwanda would place small occupying forces in the captured objectives, and move on, with the general belief that the immobility of Mugabia's garrisons rendered them little threat to Uwanda's the occupying forces, and that they would lack sufficient initiative to take on counter-attacks on their own. 

Uwanda's leadership realized that this could change, but believed that they could adapt rapidly enough, to overcome any surprises along the path of advance.

As Uwanda's forces advanced east through objectives B6 and B21, Mugabian forces at objectives B7, B8, B9, and B10 had been cut off from Mugabia proper.  Individually these forces posed little threat, but collectively they could yield more than a battalion of infantry, so it was decided to address them, before they became a problem.

Afternoon recon lead to early evening aerial attacks at  objectives B7, B8, and B9, with the goal being to destroy mobility, leadership, and any initiative that the garrisons might have.  Without vehicle transport, these troops would be hard pressed to move, and less likely to take initiative to do anything futile.  B10 was not attacked for the time being, with the intent, that any withdrawing forces would head in that direction, making them predictable and more easily managed, when the time came to do so.

Aerial Attack at objective B7

Similar to the events at Objective B6, was the result of the air force attack at Objective B7.  Uwandan Skymasters could not find any trace of the enemy finding only a couple of abandoned trucks (which they strafed).

The commander at B7 realized that if attacked, that his tiny force had no hope of surviving the Uwandan advance, so he had his troops hide their trucks and equipment, where they could, and his troops dissolved into the countryside.


Attack at objectives B8 and B9

Badu sat crouched behind the stone wall with his rifle, comforted by the though that his force did not appear to be in front of one of Uwanda's advancing elements.  Additional relief was felt, as he saw the dust plume rising on the road from Objective B8, indicating that the friendly forces from there, were arriving at his location, significantly bolstering the strength of the collective force.

The men around him began to cheer , but were quickly silenced, and started to scurry for cover.  He paused for a moment, watching and listening, and then he heard them, the whining engines of Uwandan Skymasters, following on the heels of the friendly forces.  He simply thought, "Oh no!", as he saw the first bombs released by the enemy jets.

Easterly view of the battlefield.

The Mugabian view looking west.

In the face of the Uwandan advance, Mugabian forces at objective B8 had decided to withdraw to Objective B9, and combine with the smaller force located there.  They happened to be arriving at B9, just as the Uwandan air force also arrived.

Friendly forces arrive from Objective B8.

The HQ element of Force B8 would simply drive through objective B9 without stopping, while most of the unit behind was either destroyed or scattered.

An unfriendly force arrives with them.

As The forces at Objective B9 had no air defense weapons, save their light machineguns, and the two towed anti aircraft guns of the force from B8 were on the road behind trucks.  The first pair of Skymasters line up on the column and released their bombs with perfect strikes, destroying several Mugabian trucks and their occupants.

The second skymaster makes its attack, the bombs 

already marked with the smaller plumes of smoke.

The next pair of Skymasters lined up and strafed trucks that had veered cross country, ultimately destroying three more trucks and many of their passengers.

As soon as the Skymasters had cleared the immediate airspace, Uwandan G91s came in from the north, and bombed the forces deployed on the western edge of the village at Objective B9.  Again, the bombs were perfectly on target, streams of tracers from the Mugabian light machineguns stopped, and only fire and death remained.

The first G91 lines up its shot.

The second G91 comes in...

… and leaves its mark.

The Uwandan jets turned for home, their mission complete, two more Mugabian forces essentially stricken from the order of battle.

___________

Not much of a battle here, just shooting fish in a barrel.  Mugabian light machineguns got no hits, and the Uwandans did the Following damage:

Mugabian Force B8 loses:

7x Truck
42x KIA
16x WIA

Mugabian Force B9 loses:

2x Jeep
2x Truck
27 KIA
3 WIA

Both forces lost over half of their numbers.  The number killed was again disproportionately high due to the type of attack, and the inability of Mugabian forces to tend to their wounded.

And thus, the first day of the war was at an end.