AFTER ACTION REPORT

Filed by: 	John McKinney, Umpire
CPX date: 	11/22, resumed and ended 11/29

US players:	Brian Rock, Cmdr. 
			Lane Willard
			Nicholas "Manic" Moran
			Bill Jennings (as "Patton")
OPFOR 
players:	James Sterrett, Cmdr.
			Matt Ohlmer
			Paul Mason, 11/22
			Corinne Mahaffey, 11/29

ABOUT THIS CPX:

This CPX, run over the course of two weekends, was another "training"
game for me.  It was my third, and once again, I learned a great deal. 
My turn rate improved somewhat over my previous two games (9 minutes
real time per 1 minute game time) , but is still frustratingly slow,
given the frenzy of information I feel like I am trafficking every
second.  This is something I am still continuing to work on, and the
fact that I am increasing speed with every game is at least somewhat
encouraging.

As for the scenario, it was very complex, particularly in the issues I
was trying to explore (morale problems, potential massacre of WIAs,
etc.).  I felt these "real war" issues added richness to the scenario,
however, without slowing the game down much, if at all.  I will be
interested in exploring more such issues in the future.

I also want to say that all of the players were extremely professioinal
in their handling of their orders (they were all well ahead of me in
knowing lingo and tactics<g>, that's for sure.

For those of you who just want to cut to the chase, the final outcome of
this scenario is encapsulated in the very last line of text.  

For everyone else...


SITUATION:

The Soviets' 5th Shock Army has just broken through NATO lines in
eastern Slovakia and is  now racing westward toward the capital of
Bratislava.  Shattered US troops are retreating hastily and in
disarray.  If the offensive continues at its current pace, the capital
will fall and so will the rest of the Slovakian Republic.  

The attack is being spearheaded by a reinforced OPFOR tank regiment
which is currently entering "Sector 100" (Map 100) in the northern
foothills of the Carpathian mountains.  They are tasked with clearing a
path for the main body of the 5SA, but the rough, rocky draws and crags
in the region present a tricky obstacle; OPFOR's forces are in column
march formation and will have to spread out and maneuver into flanking
positions in order to remove any stubborn defenders.  How, quickly this
can be done, however, and whether the U.S. can adroitly fall back before
being overpowered, will be the big question.

There is another cause for concern for NATO, however.  A forward area
field hospital, which had been tending to many of the casualties during
the early fighting, is now in danger of being overrun by the OPFOR
onslaught.  This would be considered disastrous for U.S. morale, which
has already been badly shaken these last 24 hours.

The only forces near the medical unit are a few shattered infantry
companies (from the 325th Inf. Regiment) which are just now arriving
from the front after a hasty and disorganized retreat.  These units are
suffering from severe morale problems as well as a lack of leadership,
however, (company commanders were KIA) and are thus are almost more of a
liability than a help at this point.

[UMPIRE'S NOTE:  "Morale" was a major issue in this scenario, and
effected the outcome greatly.  More on that below.]

Rocky, the TF Cmdr., and Lane Willard (later replaced by Nicholas
Moran), his XO, are in command of a mechanized infantry bn. which is
just now arriving on the west side of the sector.  Attached to this bn.
are 10 ambulances, supply trucks (nature of supplies to be determined by
Rocky), demolition teams, and 2 M548 load carriers carrying 10 mines
each.  They were also to assume command of the retreating infantry units
to the east.  

WEATHER:

Due to heavy rains, visibility was down to 3000m.


U.S. MISSION:

The U.S. objectives were, in order of priority:

1)	Delay the OPFOR offensive.  Allow reinforcements time to arrive and
deploy along the west bank of the Slana River (the river on the western
side of the map).  

2)	Assist in the evacuation of the wounded as well las all medical
personnel from the area (located on the eastern rim of "the Cauldron,"
the roundish central valley).  10 ambulances have been attached to the
U.S. mech bn. for this purpose.

3)	Withdraw all forces to the west side of the Slana and destroy all
three bridges before OPFOR can gain access to them.

4)	Identify the main thrust of the attack before OPFOR reaches the Slana
valley.

5)	Preserve forces for the upcoming defensive stand along the Slana. 
(This force preservation implicitly included the shattered troops of the
325th, since they were placed under Rocky's command.)

The "reinforcements" were known to consist of an armored brigade of
three tank battalions, but no indication was given as to how long it
would take for these forces to arrive.  (They would just have to have to
"sweat it out."<g>)

[UMPIRE'S NOTE: I later came up with the idea of a "surprise player" to
enter the game (Bill Jennings, a.k.a. "George S. Patton III") who would
command the tank bns.  Since no one knew he was coming, or when, there
was no time for them to coordinate -- it would have to be done on the
fly, upon his arrival.  Results of this suprise arrival had both good
and bad results... as you will see.]

OPFOR MISSION:

The OPFOR side had fewer objectives, but the decisions involved were no
less complex.  The 5th Shock Army, in order to meet its tight timetable,
had to proceed in column formation along the fastest route possible. 
This meant finding a safe path (least opposition).  As the 5th Army's
forward detachment, James' force was to secure a route through which the
rest of the army could follow, if possible, by either by blowing away
any resistance encountered, if possible, or if not, by alerting the main
body of forces to go around Sector 100 completely.  While such a detour
was not preferable, the loss of time could be made up if James' decision
was made quickly enough.  [My ballpark timing for this decision was one
hour from the time they entered the map].

OPFOR was later given a road map showing the area outside of Map 100
along with the main highways, along with the various estimated times of
arrival (in Bratislava) for each of these highways.  [Here the OPFOR
team made a fatal assumption.  They thought the highways represented the
*only* acceptable routes for OPFOR, ignoring the advice from previous
orders.  Since the only routes shown on the map went through "Spisska"
(the town on the northern side of of the map near the river), OPFOR
assumed that they must clear the main road leading to that town.  This
assumption hurt OPFOR greatly.]

[UMPIRE'S NOTE:  While this assumption at first seemed understandable, I
later recalled sending a message from "High Command" on at least two
occasions when I mentioned using alternate routes through Map 100. 
(Sigh) Oh well.]

THE U.S. PLAN:

As good instincts/dumbluck would have it <g>, Rocky and Lane agreed that
they should concentrate their forces along the fastest avenue of attack
(the highway running west and northwest to Spisska.)  The commitment to
this area was so intense, in fact, that they left virtually all other
areas of the map unattended!  A big risk, but it ended up being the
right choice, as OPFOR was determined to charge down that path.

Rocky also made it clear that he was giving a high priority to the
evacuation, leading the evacuation task force personally (TF Rescue) and
even giving up one of his two command helos to accelerate the
transporting the wounded out of the danger zone.  [This attention to the
evacuation persisted throughout the battle, making sure every last WIA
got out safely.   I sensed an almost paternal care here, as though,
whatever else happened, he was going to get those boys out of there!]

Rocky gave most of the  mech force (127th) and half the mines to Lane
(TF Counterpunch) which Lane deployed smartly, I thought, taking
advantage of the jagged terrain along both sides of the stretch of
highway running northwest toward Spisska (Hellfire Pass).  The 127th,
being a reserve unit, was equipped with Dragons, not Javelins, but Lane
got most of them into good forward positions with overlapping fields of
fire so their short range (1000m) was still quite effective.

Rocky planned to double up engineers on the southern bridge and blow
that up as soon as possible, then move the engineers to the middle
bridge and blow that one, blowing the northern bridge last.  The
defenses were supposed to withdraw to different pre-planned phase lines,
in conjunction with each bridge blowing, so that they would be near the
last bridge shortly before it was rigged to blow.

[UMPIRE'S NOTE: This is a good example, I think, of a plan that works
well in a CPX.  An orderly progression of events with clear intent.  A
plan like this I think can withstand the pressures of a changing
battlefield (as well as a frenzied, overwhelmed umpire<g>)  Phase lines
were general, not precise, so I could use my best judgement as the
situation dictated, but the intent was clear.

OPFOR PLAN:

James broke down his force into three separate elements.  The Advanced
Guard (commanded by Matt Ohlmer) was to act as the forward recon of the
detachment, and contained mainly light APCs, a mech company and some
"towed" anti-tank assets.  The AG was followed by the Foward Security
Element, (commanded by Paul Mason, later replaced by Corinne) which had
a lot more punch (including a tank battalion and mortars) plus various
bridging and mine-laying/clearing engineer units).  Finally came the
main body of the tank regiment, commanded by James but later given to
Tim Harmon (Miata).

James' plan was simple.  Proceed down the highway with all possible
speed... use the lighter elements up front to "fix" the enemy while more
powerful rear elements flanked and killed.  While the understanding was
that they were to steamroll over anything small, while bypassing
anything strong, James was still convinced that they "had to take
Spisska, no matter what."  [Again, this was assumed because of the
strategic map only showing one highway -- it was not stated or implied
in any order.   I imagine OPFOR must have felt extremely
straight-jacketed by that assumption.]

We have, then, what would appear to be a fairly classic match-up.  A
determined offense focused on a single axis of approach, defended by an
equally determined defense committed soley to guarding that one
approach.  The fact that the U.S. only had one (effective) mech
battalion vs. a reinforced tank regiment (about a 1:4 ratio, which tends
to favor the attacker) was counterbalanced by the fact that OPFOR was
arriving in column, and couldnot bring its superior firepower to bear
until after many losses up front, and because the terrain offered so
many different places to conduct an ambush; a gauntlet of destruction.

But the U.S. had a wild card that turned the tide:  Rocky was able to
"rally" the shattered troops of the 325th (at great risk and not without
some rather spectacular drama, as you will see).

THE "MORALE" FACTOR

One of my main reasons for creating this scenario was to explore the
issue of poor morale, and how a commander deals with that.  While not
gamed in normal TacOps games, I am pleased to find that it is perfectly
gameable in a CPX.

To model the 325th's "poor morale," I set the firing ranges of all its
units to zero (to simulate "cowering," ) then rolled a die to determine
whether each company would: a) remain cowering (most probable) , b) run
at first sight of the enemy, c) run if fired on, d) run after sustained
engagement (3 turns), or e) fight normally.

The "rules" of this aspect of the game was communicated through
role-playing.  The night before the battle, a wounded "NCO" appeared at
Rocky's command post (through a live chat on PAL) and told him about the
morale situation, and what he thought could be done about it.  Without
giving away the mechanics of the game, Rocky was made aware that to
improve morale, troops had to be "rallied, "  which could be
accomplished by one of the following methods:

1)  Withdraw shattered troops behind friendly lines
2)  Surround shattered troops with other friendlies.
3)  Have one of the TF commanders ('Rocky or Lane) go to the front and
rally these troops personally.  Over time, a show of leadership would
turn them around.  Rocky's stature as C.O. carried an extra rallying
bonus, if he went.  (Obviously, heavy penalties would be incurred if he
were to be lost in action on this mission.)

Interestingly, Rocky chose #3.  A few minutes before the battle, he
climbed into his command helo and set out to whip those boys back into a
fighting unit again.  He began with Alpha coy in the northeast, then
Bravo near the highway, 2km from the eastern map edge, and finally to
Charlie company in the town in the far southeast corner.  

To simulate his "rallying," I put him in a role-playing position and
presented him with different challenges.  The first company for example,
had not yet begun moving to their new waypoint as ordered, and were
noticeably lax in their respect for his authority.  Rocky issued
commands and described the exact manner in which his commands should be
delivered: a swift kick with the steel toe to get their attention, then
an inspiring pep-talk about how important they were to the mission.  The
time for rallying was from 4-8 minutes, depending on how impressed I was
by the content and nature of his commands.

[UMPIRES' NOTE: Yes, totally subjective, I know, but I figured that was
okay, since inspiring leadership *is* an emotional/subjective issue.]  

After four minutes (I was indeed very impressed), Alpha company was
rallied and ready to follow their orders: withdraw to the northwest side
of Hellfire Pass.  Rocky got into his command helo and dusted off for
Bravo Company.

THE BATTLE BEGINS

Little did anyone know, but while Rocky was with Alpha company kicking
butt, OPFOR's lead elements were arriving on the map!  As Rocky crossed
the main highway en route to Bravo company, he was spotted by two pairs
of light APCs which promptly opened fire on his command helo.  He
escaped and landed behind some trees near the town at 080 easting
(Kokava) where Bravo was cowering away.  Having seen the Task Force
commander's bravery under fire, however, they instantly snapped-to when
Rocky gave them orders.  Their respect was immediate.  They were fully
rallied after only one minute, and ranges were set to optimum firing
range literally seconds before OPFOR's APC's came within that range! 
Two BRDM2s were destroyed, and the battle was joined -- far earlier than
might otherwise have been the case had they not been rallied.  

The skirmish at Kokava escalated, as more OPFOR recon units from the
Advanced Guard approached Charlie Company's position.  Bravo company was
getting in first licks, but then got hit with flanking shots from
surviving OPFOR units which were travelling on faster roads.  The result
was an even exchange, though the U.S. lost more valuable units (M2s vs.
BRDM2s).  One platoon of Bravo escaped to the southern treeline
overlooking the valley there (South Pass).

[One piece of learning from all of this: it is very difficult to do
anything as the attacker in such situations when your forces are all in
column.  You cannot use your superior firepower until rear units catch
up.  All you can really do is keep expending units until your arty can
get some rounds on those defenders, which of course, takes time.  The
speediness of the roads did help, however, especially unsuppressed
units, who could race ahead and fire on defenders from the flanks who
have given their position away.]

Meanwhile, Rocky took off for Charlie company in the southeast corner of
the map.  Again, his helo was spotted and fired on by OPFOR BRDM2s and
BMPs.  This time, however, the shattered troops in the southeast did not
see Rocky's bravery, and thus needed more time to be rallied.  Rocky was
now busy with commanding his forces and could not give the 325th his
undivided attention.  About seven minutes later, though, he got Charlie
company combat-ready.  Once again, *this* occurred in the nick of time,
too, as their M2s spotted and killed an OPFOR recon unit that appeared
along the southeast road.  Little by little, OPFOR was losing its "eyes"
up front.

[While OPFOR saw the Blackhawk, they probably never guessed it was Rocky
himself!    Kind of dramatic when you think about it --how many
solitaire or PBEM games have you played where the commanding officer
takes the first fire, and does the recon?

THE FIGHTING MOUNTS

With so much resistance so early in the battle, Matt was quick to start
exploring other options.  He sent several recon patrols to the south
highway, which eventually ran into the retreating troops of Bravo.  In
spite of the fact that Bravo was in a pretty good ambush position there,
the recon units spotted and killed their M2s, along with any hope of
their leaving the area alive.<g>  Still, the newly rallied infantry
toughed it out, sending a Dragon team into the road to ambush other
approaching recon units, which it did quite admirably.  He also sent a
pair of recon units north and dropped off spotters  along the high
ground overlooking the northeast valley from the eastern side(totally
unnecessary, as it turned out, but probably a good precaution).  One was
taken out by a retreating Bravo unit.

Perhaps the only thing wrong with Matt's approach is that he did not
commit enough forces to these alternate approaches -- but that is a
tough call and I suppose it could be argued that he shouldn't have bled
the main effort along the highway any more than he did.  Little did he
or the rest of the OPFOR team know, however, that the only U.S. units
between his southern probe and the Slana River was a completely
defenseless field hospital !

EVACUATION

During this whole time, ambulances are approaching the field hospital
and preparing to evacuate.  To speed up the process, Rocky gave up one
of his command helos and let it be used to shuttle WIAs, one group at a
time, to a rendezvous point west of the Slana.  Several ambulances had
been ordered to turn back and go pick them up, while the others pressed
on.  (Rocky ended up making a good judgement call on the number of
ambulances to head back vs. continue, figuring on three more "shuttle
runs" for the helo while the ambulances evac'd the remaining six
groups.)

ROAD KILL

The fighting intensified even more, as the rest of Matt's Advanced Guard
moved along the highway to Kokava, followed by the first units of the
Forward Security Element.  OPFOR's losses kept piling up, though, as
Lane had daringly maneuvered his forward mech company to a town at a
critical bend in the road (South Borscht) where his M2s shot and killed
any unit that poked its nose out of Kokava.  The AG was almost
completely wiped out, and OPFOR's advance had been stopped.  [At one
point, Matt's command vehicle was shot out from under him, and there he
was, ducking bullets and artillery shells in Kokava, for quite a long
time.  I was surprised no one rescued him, or that he did not climb
aboard a nearby BMP!]

Artillery was heavy on both sides, dropping on both towns relentlessly. 
(It was like watching a feud between two neighboring towns, each bombing
the other).  With the arrival of Paul's FSE units, however, the tide was
beginning to sway back in OPFOR's favor.   Whether because Lane sensed
the momentum shifting, or because he was falling back to the next phase
line because the south bridge had been blown, I am not sure, but
nonetheless he ordered his mech company in S. Borscht to retreat north. 
His timing couldn't have been worse.

THE AIR STRIKE

At 7:21, 2 Soviet MiG-27s arrived, with the 127th's A company (the one
near South Borscht) as the target.  Two SAMs from a HMMWV-AD fired, but
missed.  (The other Hummer-AD unit was stuck in the middle city
(Roznava) and did not have a good firing position, in part, I believe,
because SitReps were not sent very often to the U.S. side.  [NOTE: This
was, to some degree, a conscioius penalty for using one of the command
helos as a medivac unit, but also because the ref was overwhelmed.<g>)]

The MiGs spotted the mech company just as it was retreating northward
from S. Borscht and was completely out in the open!  11 out of 12 M2s
were killed in one bombing!  One or two more were killed in the second. 
The success of this strike had both an expected and an unexpected
result, however.  (Discussed below).  

INTERMISSION

At this point we had to postpone the game.  Turns were going very slowly
(about 12 minutes real time/per 1 minute game time, as I recall) largely
due to the complicated unit names and the difficulty of finding them
under pressure.  I took the opportunity to rename many of the units on
both sides, which I feel helped me a lot -- even though there were many
more units in play the following week.  A changing of the guard
occurred, too, with Nicholas Moran taking over for Lane Willard on the
U.S. side, and Tim (Miata) Heaton and Corrinne taking over for Paul on
the OPFOR side.  (Did I forget anyone?:( )


ROUND 2

While almost all of 127/Company A's M2s were wiped out in the bombing,
many infantry/Dragon units remained (albeit some only had 1 person in
the unit), which managed to crawl to cover in the trees to the north. 
So there was still a threat to the north of the "elbow," but OPFOR
believed that after such a strike, plus an MLRS attack, they were safe. 
OPFOR later chose to press on, again, not thinking to detour from the
main highway.  (When I think of the $ I could have made selling an
aerial photo to them of the clear path they had to the river by any
route *except* the main highway...<g>)

The drive forward continued, then sputtered as a mass of M2 and ATGM
fire came from farther to the northwest.  What had happened was, the
now-rallied Alpha/325th, (originally a frontline NATO unit with
Javelins) had retreated through the northern woods and had set up shop
at the entrance to Hellfire.  And they fought like heroes -- thanks to
Rocky's risky decision to rally them earlier.  This combined with their
M2s and the M2s of the 127th turned the  OPFOR advance into a flaming
pile-up.

OPFOR artillery was ordered in, but targets did not remain visible long
enough to keep track of them easily, so rather than multiple
suppressions and return fire from Matt and Corrinne to polish them off,
the batteries were concentrated on single targets only.  They
annihilated their target, but at the cost of letting the other U.S.
defenders fire at will.  Matt and Corinne could never recover long
enough from the horrendous storm of missiles. 

[UMPIRE'S NOTE: An interesting difference between PBEM play and CPX play
here.  In PBEM, I can carefully watch the battlefield, even replay a
turn if I want, to track who's firing from where.  Can't do that in a
CPX, and there's so much going on I can barely remember where anything
is, even though I am familiar with the other side's setup.   This is
probably a far more accurate simulation of a soldier trying to locate a
flaming gun or ATGM, while under the pressure of combat, IMHO]

EVACUATION CONTINUES

During this whole time, the entire field hospital had been evacuated
right from under the nose of OPFOR.  The ambulances finished loading the
last of the wounded by 7:25 and were expected to be safely across the
river in another 10 min., and on their way to Bratislava (exited from
the map) in another 15.  Rocky, after finally getting Charlie company
rallied (in the far southeast), got them to withdraw to the Cauldron
where they would provide protection (presumably) for the medical units. 
He then took off for the Cauldron himself -- again taking fire from BMPs
on the southern highway!  Once again, Rocky escaped!

THE BRIDGES

Shortly after round 2 started, the southern bridge was blown
(accelerated by Rocky doubling up on engineers).  They were now headed
north to join the engineers at the middle bridge, which would then be
blown in the following 5-10 minutes.  No threat to either operation, so
this part of the mission looked to be two-thirds in the bag.

OPFOR GOES NORTH

After running into all those ATGMs from Hellfire, Corrinne decided
enough was enough and took her entire remaining Forward Security Element
north of the highway at Kokava and through the woods to the far north
and west.  It was a long, slow haul, but no resistance was met at all. 
Her first objective was to the treeline north of Spisska, about 25-30
min. away.

[The fact that Rocky did not choose to cover that northern route with
*any* kind of sentry unit at all rather amazes me.  There were at least
a couple of bottlenecks up there that would have required only one or
two units for that purpose, but hey, easy for *me* to say, with such an
abundance of hindsight.<g>]

Matt sent a recon unit up there to proceed south to the town north
Hellfire, but it was promptly pounced on by M2s sitting on the south
side of Hellfire, so OPFOR lost it's eyes in that area.

HITS TO THE 'BODY'

While Corrinne bushwhacked her way northwest, Tim (Miata) was now
arriving with the main body of the tank regiment.  Not following her
lead, or more probably, following James' insistence that the route
through Hellfire must be taken, he charged right into the same mass of
ATGMs that Corrinne had begun to encounter before.  Even with all those
tanks, Nicholas (taking over for Lane) was hit by several M2s set up
just west of the Spisska bridge, at the very edge of the 3000m
visibility range.  What few tanks could return fire had little chance of
a hit, especially suppressed as they were.  Dragons also  fired from the
flanks, adding to the destruction.  It was basically a turkey shoot for
the U.S.  with tank carcasses piling up by the dozens.  The "main body"
was starting to look pretty emaciated.  And yet, still they pressed
onward!

Finally, Tim took one battalion (3rd) of OPFOR's tanks and followed the
lead of some AT units earlier which had entered the woods south of
Hellfire and were headed along the trails north of the Cauldron, toward
the big city on the river (Roznava).  Since the U.S. by this time had
completely evacuated the area and were now setting up on the west side
of the river, these tanks arrived north of Roznava intact.

A single recon unit, however, had arrived in Roznava itself just seconds
after the U.S. evacuated the area, and after having mined the highway
running through the town.  (That is what the Load Carriers were for --
laying mines.   Spotting these units apparently caused quite a bit of
discussion in the NATO chat channel.)  The APC was killed by M2s, but
the scout team left behind was able to see some of the US units
retreating.  One of the units spotted was the southern load carrier.

PATTON ARRIVES!

At around 7:50 or so, the first of "Patton's" tank battalions were
arriving from the west.  Since Rocky had specified that they should come
by the fastest route possible, no flanking attack was possible but they
were on the map just in time to set up a wall of armor along the west
side of the river.

[Unfortunately, I had not given a complete map set of my predrawn maps
to all the players, and Bill Jennings (Patton) had trouble coordinating
his attack with Rocky.  That, however, was part of my plan... to create
confusion as Patton arrived, not just jubilation.  After all, no one
knew another player was coming to join them! (I wonder: was this the
first time a "surprise appearance" like this was done?)]

James, in an attempt at killing off the long-range shooters up by
Spisska bridge, ordered a rocket strike there (HE), which resulted in
many exploding vehicles -- "some, which you have not spotted before."  
[This referred to a few of Patton's tanks, and was the first clue that
reinforcements of some kind had arrived, but I don't think James picked
up on that.]  The many explosions may have emboldened him to keep
pressing on with the attack at Hellfire, but in fact, several of those
explosions were not M2s but the supply trucks and the mine-layer.  The
kills against the tanks approaching Hellfire therefore continued.

OPFOR TAKES SPISSKA!

By 8:00, having met no resistance whatsoever in the north, the FSE was
poised north of Spisska with a view across the Slana River.  Corinne
wasted no time charging into Spisska, where again, not a single
defensive unit was found.  (I imagine she was probably just as surprised
as anyone<g>).  One of her tank companies, however, was virtually
obliterated by M2 fire coming from  the middle of the river valley when
it mounted a hill just east of the town.  These were the 325th M2s that
had escorted the medical units.

Minutes later, a battle raged between the tanks in Spisska and Patton's
tanks, along with many of the 127th's M2s and Dragons.  Corrine's 2nd
tank company was hammered, taking fire from three different directions. 
This was a strong 2nd clue to OPFOR that the U.S. was defending in
force, and would be a tough obstacle for 5SA to dislodge.

THE BIG PICTURE

Meanwhile, a guessing game was being played on both sides.  As commander
of OPFOR's Forward Detachment, James was tasked with the responsiblity
of sending the 5th Shock Army along the fastest route -- in this case,
because they are in column, the fastest route is equivolent to the
safest.  Earlier, (7:20 or so) James told 5SA to hold tight, thinking he
would blow through the defenses at Hellfire and capture the fastest
route.  James was apparently "fooled" by the success of the airstrike
and his rocket strikes to think that his forces could still blow past
there, especially since the momentum had started to shift a little in
OPFOR's favor.  I believe this delayed him from telling Army HQ to
circumvent the area, which he did not communicate until around 8:00 or
so (shortly after the engagement with Cor's tanks in Spisska).   The
advice to circumvent was supposed to have been made as soon as possible,
as this is a longer route.

James' advice, however late, was correct, however.  Rocky, making his
own guess, had ordered two of the three tank battalions to the area. 
(He was aware of the danger of committing all of them and leaving an
alternate off-map route open).  With only one battalion in reserve, this
would cause a delay to the 5SA but not a long one.  

I carefully weighed one other important fact, however: shortly before
the battle, James had sent a message to 5SA that he would attempt to
"draw the reserves" toward him, thereby leaving the alternate route
open.  He succeeded, sort of, as Rocky summoned two-thirds of the
force.  Unfortunately, James' decision to send the 5th Shock Army south
came rather late, I felt, (about an hour after start of battle) and that
fact, coupled with 5SA having to fight through a possible reserve tank
battalion in column made me feel that the decision was, in this case, a
little *too* late.  [Took me a long time to work this all out, but on
balance that's the outcome I came up with.  Sorry, James.:)]

END OF GAME

The battle was terminated at 8:09 (game time) during a buildup in the
fighting around Spisska, (mostly due to the fact that I hada prior
social commitment even more pressing than the game -- commonly referred
to as a "date."<g>)  There was little time to debrief, and what little
time ther e was was not enough to properly assess the situation.  Since
then, I have.  Here's the rundown:

At game's end, OPFOR occupied Spisska with a considerable force (a tank
company and a mech platoon ) which left much of the U.S. infantry in
Hellfire cut off and unable to withdraw.  This, in my opinion (and after
playing out the game another 10 turns) would have finally broken the
back of the Hellfire resistance, though not without more losses to the
Spisska force.  Losses would have been heavier still had it tried to
engage or move to the west.

OPFOR had a full tank battalion and an anti-tank company north of
Roznava (the middle city) but the question was, what next?  Had they
moved south to Roznava, they would have been butchered by the 127th and
325th mech units across the river, and then taken more losses from the
six minefields once they got to the city itself.  If they had gone north
and assisted in taking Hellfire, it appears they might dislodge the
remainder of the 325th's mech units on the south side and perhaps cause
considerable damage to Patton's tanks near Spisska, especially if the
rocket attacks continued.  (Another rocket attack at 8:18 proved that a
concentration of M1s is indeed vulnerable to MLRS, even if only HE.)

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the possibility of taking control of Hellfire, the forward
detachment would have been almost completely depleted, with control of
Spisska still questionable and control of the river valley completely
secured by the U.S.  Not safe enough to reroute the 5SA back to Map 100,
in any case, and their current route (off-map) which got off to a
somewhat late-ish start, still had a tank battalion to deal with.

The one thing that almost made me decide in favor of OPFOR was that
James stated -- before the battle -- that he intended to draw the
reserves, which he did, but not completely.  Rocky was cautious enough
not to commit all of them, and it took nearly an hour for James to make
the decision to send 5SA on the longer route, making their fate somewhat
questionable -- more questionable, I think, then when the battle began.

The U.S., on the other hand, accomplished nearly all of its objectives.

1) The OPFOR advance was delayed considerably.  (It took nearly an hour
for OPFOR to reach Spisska, and their hold was loosening as time wore
on.)

2) The field hospital was evacuated. [I was amazed by this.  Given the
proximity of the hospital to the OPFOR advance, I really thought there
was going to be a hail of bullets and lots of accidental deaths of
WIAs.]

3) Most of the U.S. forces were withdrawn across the river, except for
the three platoons or so in Hellfire.  Two of the three bridges were
blown, and as the game played out, it now seems highly likely that the
third bridge would have been destroyed, too. [While OPFOR did have a
bridging unit, it would not have likely survived had it gone anywhere
near the river valley any time soon.]

4) The axis of OPFOR's attack was obvious, though Rocky may have been
somewhat overzealous in committing two battalions of tanks.  Given that
James sent the 5SA around the map 100 area, the reserves probably could
have used at least one of those battalions back.  But the Slana river
basin was secure.

5) Force preservation was achieved, and achieved admirably.  The 325th
was rallied and combat effective (though at great risk) and less than
50% casualties.

I can now say that the battle was an unqualified U.S. victory.

Riki
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