Royals in Helmand

[toxicpixie]

Bit hopeful sending the pioneers in if the KV-2 is still active

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Well, plenty more where they came from, the tank will run out of ammo eventually!

[toxicpixie]

I'm not sure the technical, close combat and engineering elite of the Heer will take kindly to that suggestion

Perhaps sending in the SS would help? They may not be good soldiers but at least they know how to die!*

*Opinion of the Falschirmjagers. Although they also followed it with "... or how to run away" so not even as limp an endorsement as it first looks.

[bigjackmac]

I don't have pioneers, and I don't want the KV-1 running out of ammo by shooting my little platoon to pieces!!!

V/R,
Jack

[nikharwood]

Does the mission objective allow you to ignore it..?

[bigjackmac]

Negative.  The scenario is called "The Troll;" the objective is to take a bridge at the far end of the table, with the point being every bridge has its troll.  In this case, the troll is a KV-1...

V/R,
Jack

[pierre the shy]

You have two choices Jack,

if you don't need the bridge intact...

Send in the Stukas

or if you want the bridge intact....

bring up some 88's/other heavy artillery

I think those were about the only choices the Germans had when they first encountered KV-2's...historically there are some cases of whole divisions being halted by single KV's for a day or more, they just couldn't touch them any other way IIRC.

Good Luck with the KV mission 

Got to say I always really enjoy reading your blog stuff - your figures and table always look excellent and your write ups are very readable - don't know how you find the time!

[bigjackmac]

Pierre,

Thanks man, and I do need the bridge intact.  Also, I don't have air/arty/ATGs, just my four Panzer Mk IIIs.

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

It was nice knowing you Jack

[bigjackmac]

Yeah, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.  I'd say my plan is just to rush in, get as close as possible, and pour fire into it until the gun is knocked out and/or the crew bails, but first I've got to play it straight.  That is, we've never seen a KV-1 before, so I've got to engage it at first in order to discover we can't penetrate it.  At that point we will be very vulnerable; once we're able to get moving at speed he'll have to get pretty lucky to hit one of us, and then we'll be vulnerable once we get to point blank range and we're pouring fire into him, if we don't bail him relatively quickly.

And don't forget, there are two other PEFs on the board as well...

V/R,
Jack

[nikharwood]

You're going to have fun (and your work cut out) with this one 

[bigjackmac]

Well boss, it was real, and it was fun, but it wasn't real fun.  I'm about to post the batrep under the 'Panzer Aces' thread.

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's now 0530 on 3 July 2002, thirteen days since the last fight, and the Royal Marines are on the hunt.  It's early morning twilight, still mostly dark, and soon the sun will rise, and contact is imminent.

While they believe Pasha Gul's statement that the Merchant could be of use in identifying and finding their ambushers, Sherlock and the boys were a bit reticent about the Merchant's wife claiming he was abducted by the Taliban at the same exact time the Royals were coming to pay him a visit.  So the Section was doing it the hard way; lots of patrols out to meet with local informants, and to identify new ones.  The constant patrolling and presence finally paid off; a local stated the Merchant had been spotted in a nearby village, and battalion was able to confirm this via SIGINT.

So the Section mounted out to the village, and thus began three days of constant patrolling, looking for the Merchant and consistently showing up five minutes after he'd just left.  They tracked him through the mountains, and through Tamir Pass, but now they had him.  The Section had called up support, and the rest of the platoon was brought forward.  They formed a circle and began pushing in on the only area the Merchant could be; the only question was, who would find him first?  The Section was sure they had him; he's pinned up against the Neral River, with only two crossings within a few kilometers.  The Section split up, with Sherlock taking some Marines north to a fordable spot, and Knocker taking the res towards a small bridge.  The other two Sections of the platoon were on the opposite (west) side of the river, closing in on the ford and bridge.

Knocker's team finally found them.


Overview, north is up.  The river is at left (west), running north and south, while there are dirt roads crossing the bridge and running north-south.  There is a small farmer's compound just east of the bridge, an orchard just across the street, and the edge of Tamir Pass can be seen at right.

Yep, those are the new roads and rivers.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2016/07/royals-in-parwan-fight-7.html

The battalion will soon be ending its deployment, returning to Jolly Olde England, and the Section absolutely wishes to see off their ambushers prior to going home, to get some modicum of retribution.  How they're going to do that is still a bit up in the air, however.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Painful

[Techno]

Good stuff, again, Jack.

Cheers - Phil