Cold War 1984 - The First Day

[fsn]

Lieutenant John Kennedy (he was named after the late president) gazed eastwards towards the line of trees. He saw nothing to worry him. 

"Anything Left-tenant?" His platoon sergeant Henry Fitzgerald had adopted the proper English pronunciation of his officer's rank, having been taken by the cool and efficient British officer who had briefed them only two days ago.

Kennedy was staring across from West Germany into East Germany. It was 9th May 1984, and on the other side of those trees were Soviet troops, hopefully too busy to celebrate Victory Day instead of pointing their tanks westward. Kennedy put away his binoculars and considered his small force. He had his platoon of the Texas National Guard - 32 part time warriors in four M113's. They were mostly young and full of fire, but his view of their effectiveness was slightly mollified after watching that film from a few years ago ... Southern Comfort. Kennedy grinned slightly.

Another film came to mind when Kennedy considered his armour support. Although he was happy to have armour, Kennedy wasn't too happy with the quality of the armour he had been given. Mentally, he'd called the tank units the Oddballs, considering them as weird as the tankers from Kelly's Heroes. Darn it, they didn't even have five tanks of the same type. The four M60A3's were fine, but there was a Starship in the mix. Wasn't the Starship useless --- the missile blew up in the gun barrel or something? To cap it all, the regular platoon officer hadn't even really made it into Germany. He's fallen off the ship when it docked in Hamburg and broken his leg. Sent home, probably with a Purple Heart. This left the M60's under the command of Staff Sergeant Henry H Hoover, whose hair was too long, whose breath smelt of degeneracy, and whose eyes seemed to be were permanently glassy. Hoover also constantly giggled like a schoolgirl on a first date, and seemed far too keen to see what damage his tanks could do to, well anything really.

Better were the other units Kennedy had attached. Firstly, there were two Dragon anti-tank missile crews in M151 MUTTS, and a couple of Stinger teams gave him some anti-air protection. Kennedy realised he didn't know the names of the NCOs in charge of these attachments.

"Well, Left-tenant? Anything?" Fitzgerald's query brought Kennedy back to the present. He glanced at the sky in the East.

"Nothing Tex." Fitzgerald was from California, but when he had joined the unit, he had been surprised that none of the platoon was nicknamed "Tex", so Kennedy had bestowed the name upon the Sergeant. Fitzgerald was the old man of the platoon. He's fought in Viet Nam and although he swore the scar on his calf was from a NVA bayonet, it was actually from a motor cycle accident.

Kennedy and Fitzgerald contemplate the situation.

The pair looked along the road stretched out in front of them. It was a second class road, probably not been repaired since the war, but it was still an artery between the two Germany's and with the heightened tension between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, Kennedy had been sent to keep an eye on it. He had no illusions that if the Soviets decided to attack, he would probably just have time to put out a warning before he and his rag-tag group would be swamped.

"Pity about those darned houses." Fitzgerald observed. A row of abandoned houses lined the road, blocking the view of an approach that the Soviets could take ... if they came. "We going to have to split the force?"   

Kennedy rubbed his chin. Splitting his force was not a good idea, but he didn't see what other option he had. What he did have to decide was how to split them. 50:50 seemed to be the best bet, so he deployed half his platoon on the other side of the woods, with two M60A3's, a Dragon and a Stinger. He kept Hoover and two of the M60A3's as well as the Starship with him as well as the rest of the platoon and the remaining Dragon and Stinger. He ordered the left flank force to keep themselves behind a handy copse, leaving just the Dragon team deployed with sight of the East German border. His force was concealed behind a hill. Hoover's tank was in a hulldown position and the Dragon team was deployed, but apart from that, the only one with eyes on were Kennedy and Fitzgerald. 

The general position looking from West Germany. The row of houses give the Americans a real problem.

Barely had the troops been deployed, the infantry not even having time to dig foxholes, when a low rumble was heard in the East. Smudges of exhaust fumes from a number of vehicles drifted above the trees.

Kennedy studied the road with his binoculars, an uncomfortable feeling that someone in those trees was studying his side with their binos.

He saw the two vehicles nose out from the cover of the treeline. He elbowed Fitzgerald and pointed. The sergeant studied them with his own binoculars.

"BRDM's" He opined. "Recce vehicles." 

The Soviet recce element advances

"They're technically still in East Germany" said Kennedy. "At least for until they get past the canal. Let's see what they're leading."

The BRDM's crawled forward. Kennedy had to admire the courage of their crew, heading into a foreign country in what was little better than a tin can.  Kennedy was aware that the Dragon crewman was watching him intently. He had ordered everyone to hold fire until he gave the nod for his Dragon team launch. He shook his head, and the man returned to watching the advancing Soviets.   

The crack of the 105mm gun in Hoover's M60 caught Kennedy by surprise. He stared, open mouthed as the rear BRDM exploded. He darted to the rear of the M60 and pulled out the field telephone.

"Hoover!" he screamed into the phone. "Cease fire! You may just have started WW3." In response, the 105mm erupted again and the second BRDM disappeared in a fountain of fire. All Kennedy heard was Hoover's insane giggle interspersed with shouts of "Got'em both!"

Behind the trees, deep growls from many engines were heard, and dark shapes moved in the woods. 


In the distance came the sounds of an artillery barrage. WWIII was starting all over.

"Looks like this is serious, Sir." Fitzgerald's use of the honorific worried Kennedy., as did the movement to his front.  Vehicles had appeared from the trees, and were making a move towards the American left. T62s and BTR60s, a couple of platoons of each. That meant there were more lurking somewhere in the pines.

The Soviet commander launches his attack

The Americans were spread thinly. Oddball 4 was on the extreme left, one side of a small wood behind which two of Kennedy's  squads, a Stinger and a Dragon waited. Between the damned houses and the wood, was Oddballs 3, and that was all that faced the Soviet onslaught.

The other side of the houses was the rest the remaining missile teams, and the rest of the infantry waited in their M113s. Oddballs 1, 2 and 5 (the Starship) were in hull down positions on the hill on the right side of the houses.

 As the Soviets made for the security of rising ground, Oddball 4 took a shot and was lucky enough to destroy a BTR60.  Oddballs 2 and 5 moved up to get a flanking shot on the advancing Soviets.

Oddball4 4 gets a lucky hit.

Kennedy watched without able to do much. He ordered a squad to follow the two tanks, and moved his right hand Dragon to move to the other side of the damned houses.

Oddballs 5 (the Starship) managed to hit a T62 with a  Shillelagh missile stopping it in it's tracks, but not managing a total kill. By now the Soviet tanks were in a position to reply, and one platoon halted and Oddballs 1 exploded. 

Oddball 4 struck again and another BTR60 went up in smoke. The Soviet attack was being hampered by the wrecks and the sheer number of armoured vehicles trying to negotiate the narrow gap between the road and the pond, but they were still advancing.

  The Soviet attack is hampered by wrecks and stalled vehicles.

Now the lead T62 was nearing the wood where the American infantry crouched. A LAW round bounced off the front armour ineffectually, and as at a signal, the Soviets began machine gunning the tree line.

The lead T62 confronts US infantry after shrugging of a LAW strike

To add to Kennedy's problems, the Soviet commander loosed his final T62 and BTR60 platoons who began an advance on the other side of the road, directly towards Kennedy.



By now, the Soviet infantry had begun to dismount to clear out the wood on Kennedy's left. He had lost contact with the infantry but the Stinger team radioed that "everyone was dead" as they had exited the scene.

Kennedy, seeing the fresh Soviets coming towards him, and in danger of being cut off by the mass of the enemy currently massacring half his platoon ordered a retreat.
 


The Soviets broke through the American lines at this point but with heavy loss. The two BRDMs and two BTR60s with crew lost, as well as a T62 lost and one damaged.  The US lost two squads and a Dragon team, as well as Hoover and his M60.

[kipt]

Nice write up. Too modern for me but good action.

[Steve J]

Great AAR .

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great report and nice figures mate!

[Techno 3]

Good stuff, Nobby ! 

[paulr]

    

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Which rules ?

[fsn]

Nobby's Modern Rules (1960-1990)

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Ta La

[d_Guy]

Brilliant write-up, catchy rules title. 

[fsn]

The rules are one of a set ...

Nobby's WWII Rules (1931-1950)
Nobby's ACW Rules (1861-1865)
Nobby's Napoleonic Rules (1804-1821)
Nobby's C18 Rules (1704-1715)
Nobby's Rules for blokes with mostly spears (2000BC to 1415)

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Wat 'appen to ut period from 1415 to 1704 ?

[fsn]

Meh!

I have a half written set for Nobby's Renaissance Rules (1416-1599) which never seemed to go right, and I'm working on Nobby's C17 Rules (1600-1703) for which I'm down to 7 pages on "names of guns".




 

[Last Hussar]

Needs more Chieftains. 

[Last Hussar]

Wat 'appen to ut period from 1415 to 1704 ?

Nothing

The whole world was at peace. Well known fact that.