Generated Campaign - Romania 2007

[RoPlayer]

Premise: This is a fictional Romania vs ??? (Several nations) campaign.

In this scenario the War on Terror has turned into a prolonged battle of attrition. With the US engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, the governments of China, North Korea and Iran see this as an ideal oportunity to further their agendas. Meanwhile, in Russia, tendencies reminescent from the communist era are on the rise. In Europe the EU is slowly dissolving.
It is in this context that a dictatorial regime takes power in Romania. The populance, tired of the inefficiency and corruption of the state apparatus, gladly embraced a charismatic ultranationalist which promised them citizens of Romania a better life for them and their children.
Hungary, which had long dreamed of Transylvania becoming part of its territory once again, began a fierce propaganda against the new leader, accusing him of embarking on an ethnic cleansing campaign against the hungarian minoritiy and demanded that hungarian peacekeepers be allowed to enter Transylvania. The ultimatum was promptly rebuffed despite the UN sanctioning the action...

The Romanian core forces consist of the following:
1) An elite Airborne Mountain Company. The men are well trained and highly motivated. Each squad is equipped with AIM rifles (Romanian AK74 variant) with attached 40mm grenade launchers, PKM LMGs and RPG-7 rocket launchers for anti-tank capabilities. The transports are IAR-330L helicopters.
2) A gunship section of 2 IAR-330D SOCAT helicopters armed with a variety of cannons, missiles and rockets.
3) An IAR-316B recon helicopter.

The objective of the campaign is to force a Hungarian surrender before other nations interviene in the conflict.

FIRST BATTLE : January 2007
Mission : Romanian Advance vs Hungarian Delay
Location : North of Debrecen

"Alright, here's where we stand", Lt. Col Lungu started his briefing. Present were also the platoon commanders of the airborne company and the commander of the gunship section.
"Our mechanized forces are advancing all along the frontline, racing to prevent the hungarians from reaching and digging in all along the Tisa river. Things are going pretty well, but that's only because the hungarians want to beat us to the river and are currently in a general, orderly retreat... they've even abandoned Debrecen. However, there is a serious force mounting just north of here with which they hope to cut off our spearheads. And our mission is to stop them. We'll begin here... The hungarians have set up a defensive position along this frozen river. Beyond it, as you can see, lies a village to the north and a wooded area to the south. This means the area is a good defensive position whichever your direction of attack. And that's why HQ wants this whole area secure.... Now the good news: we have some air support, a couple of Lancer IIIs armed with cluster bombs and also some 152mm and 122mm artillery support. We've also been provided with 3 artillery observers."
"Here's the plan: we'll deploy to the south and race to the other side of the frozen river. There we'll disembark and secure the area. After that we'll slowly move north and secure the that side of the river before clearing the road to the village back on our side. It would also be a good idea to capture the bridge over the river intact... Any questions?... Good. Remember: advance slowly and let the enemy come to you. when they're bunched together we'll call in those Lancers and they'll bomb 'em straight to hell. The visibility is poor, so at least we won't have to worry about being shot down before we get to our objectives. Still... BE CAREFUL about calling in those airstrikes..."


The IAR-330L raced through the treetops. "We're almost there!", reported Lt. Moraru. Just then, several bursts lit up from the front. "Damn!"...
"what the hell was that?", asked Lt. Col. Lungu
"Small arms fire, sir!"
"Alright, take it down!"
The helicopter landed and Lt. Col. Lungu and his HQ staff disembarked along with the scout section from the leading airborne platoon.
Soon after, the rest of the company disembarked near the frozen river. The two 330D gunships lingered in the back, witing for the order to pounce on any unsuspecting armor. The company began regrouping.
Then came an all-too familiar "thud!"... mortars. But the rounds fell far to the north... and more over... the helos reported they were smoke rounds. "Maybe that's where their main forces are", though Col. lungu as his task force moves through the snowy woods.
Corporal Closca and his men moved quickly to reach the next patch of woods when gunfire erupted from his left. One man... then another dropped lifeless to the ground.The squad hit the dirt. The hungarians were somewhere in a patch of woods some distance away from him. He had to get his men out of the open and let the other squads outflank them.
Lt. Moraru saw the bursts once again. This time he knew exactly where they were coming from. His SOCAT wasn't heavily armed, he only had a machinegun. But still he could give that infantry squad a nasty suprise. He carefully manouvered his helo in position... there they were. He ordered his gunner to open fire. Tracers flew in the enemy's direction, but sure enough, the enemy squad opened fire. Lt. Moraru manouvered out of the way before once again moving into position and letting his gunner fire a few more shots at them. This repeated a couple of times.
"Sir, how about we get those gunships here?", asked the Lt.
"Negative", answered Col. Lungu. "Get your wingmen to help"
"Yes, sir!"
The other two helicopters moved into position. Then both sprayed the area with their machineguns.
"Keep firing!", ordered the Col. Soon, one of his squads would be close enough to engage them.
Lt. Moraru joined his helo group and soon all 3 helicopters were firing countinous bursts at the forest.
Maj. Ivanovici, leader of the Airborne Mountain Company moved into position as the helicopters above him furiously machinegunned the trees some 100 meters in front of him. He could see the hungarians taking cover. "Fire at will!", he ordered his men. The mountain hunters took aim and fired. After a few bursts the hungarians began to pull out.
"Stay on them!", Col. Lungu ordered the helo group.
Corporal Apostol and his men hurried to get to the objective areas. His scout team was to seek out enemy armor or artillery. He quickly reached another patch of trees, but even before his men got a chance to catch their breath autmated fire erupted from their left. In an instant his two men were dead, instinctively he threw a smoke grenade to cover his escape.
Corporal Colsca saw the helicopters savage the woods where the hungarians hid. He then began to advance, but after barely 100 more meters they were under fire again. Once again they hit the soft, cold snow.
Col. Lungu didn't like what he heard. Those damn hungarians sure know how to hide. But soon the company would be completely deployed and they should have no problem outflanking the isolated squads hiding in the woods.
Lt. Moraru and his helo group mercilessly pursued the retreating hungarian infantry section, their machineguns tearing through the frozen forest. He couldn't help admiting that he did experience an almost sadistic pleasure at seeing those infantrymen being gunned down like target practice dummies. One after another the men fell until the section dispersed into the woods. "They're dead, sir!The enemy section has dispersed!", lt. Moraru reported.
Maj Ivanovici and his men began moving north. A scout team was ambushed there. But just as they raced to outflank the possible area they came under fire. One man down. Maj Invanovici quickly pulled his men out of view.
"What?!", Lt. Col. Lungu barked into the radio. Maj Ivanovici had been unable to locate the enemy... worse yet, he took casualties. "Let's get a closer look".
His staff was stunned."But sir!"
"NOW!"
They moved through the trees and sure enough they were met by enemy fire. He heard a scream... man down. But now he knew where they were. Once again he would call in some transport helos to supress the enemy before moving in.
Sublt. Lupu had to wrestle with the controls a bit as he tried to dodge the incoming enemy fire. It took quite a few passes before the enemy had to reload. Now was his chance. "Fire!", he ordered his gunner. His wingman soon joined him.
Lt. Col. Lungu could see the two helicopters above him showering the woods before him with bullets. The enemy stopped retaliating. His infantry could move in now.
Corporal Antonescu received the order to secure the woods. His men moved quickly as the helicopters stopped firing. once they were in the woods they soon made contanct with the hungarians wich were now pinned down. Antonescu's men opened fire and two enemy soldiers did not follow their comrades as the enemy section began to retreat.
Corporal Closca finally brought his men in a nearby forest, as they were still being shot at, though the fire was now quite inaccurate. The rest of the company was advancing behind him.
"Don't let them get away!", added Lt. Col. Lungu as he finished ordering a second helo group to pursue and destroy the retreating enemy section which was now in the open. Two more helicopters swooped down and began machinegunning the retreating survivors.
But just when things started going well mortar rounds began raining down on the advancing infantry. To the men taking cover it seemed to last forever.
"They'll pay!", said Co. Lungu to himself as his staff relayed the coordinated for the first artillery strike. The target: a patch of smoke a couple of kilometers away. Meanwhile, the helicopters continued chopping down the retreating section unabated. His infantry continued to advance and take cover in the nearby forests.
Another bombardment, this time solely concentrated around his HQ... something wasn't right... was it just blind luck on behalf of the hungarians that the mortars were falling this close to him?
"Sir!... we've spotted an enemy squad...", then came the coordinates. One of his helicopters was just reporting on an enemy squad near to his location. Perhaps they had been the spotters... the location was right.
"Very well... Engage and destroy them!"
"What the?...", sublt. Patrascu asked as he began to distinguish a second squad in the distance.
"Sir... we've got another squad over here!"
"That's it!", thought Col. Lungu. The mortar strike was meant to soften them up. He quickly gathered all his helos and instructed them to attack the two new contacts.
"Under fire!", screamed Sublt. Irimescu as he evaded enemy fire. They fired from the woods.
"Engage at will!", Col. Lungu ordered his helicopters.
Like a swarm of wasps the helos buzzed about, continuously firing their machineguns.
Col. Lungu listened to the radio chatter. And the image his mind painted was an ugly one. Two more squads hiding in the woods, just west... in front of him. the air was saturated with the sound of the rotors and machinegun fire. but he knew he had to play one of his aces: his two gunships.
Sublt. Bucur had been watching the battle from afar and he was aching to join the fray. Now his wish had been granted. Two enemy infantry squads had been reported in the woods to the west, right in front of him. There would be no fireballs like when engaging tanks, but it would have to do. No sooner did he fire his first autocannon round than he saw tracers flying from furter south. "Three squads?!"
The exact same thought was echoed in the mind of Lt. Col. Lungu. Especially since his infantry was too far away to help. His helos would have to solve this by themselves. Bullets and autocannon shells tore through the trees, as the battle unfolded.
Corporal Closca and his men crept closer to the two infantry squads reported nearby. "There must be something here", the Corporal thought as he recalled the furious fire some 6 helicopters rained upon the area. But just as they were about to make contact, they were once again under fire from afar, this time an enemy grenade launcher claimed one more of his men. But sure enough, as the rest of the company moved and attacked he saw the enemy squad hiding in the snowy field.
Lt. Col. Lungu now realized he had his hands full. He had hoped for a smoother ride, but so far it had been a slow advance... and not one objective secured. Still... he had plenty of artillery and air support and his helicopter force had so far proven itself to be lethal even against infantry taking cover in forests.
Finally his helicopters did their job and supressed the enemy infantry enough for his own troops to start advancing. Still... there was one issue that bothered him: most of his helos were now running low on ammo. He hoped that this breakthrough would be the decisive one. If not... then he would have to use artillery next time, which although more powerful, was far less accurate.
Meanwhile distant explosions signaled that the artillery bombardment had begun. True enough, the enemy mortars had been silent, so the coordinates must have been correct.
As the mountain troops moved into the open, his helicopters kept the pressure on, even though they were now starting to, one by one, run out of ammo. He sent the small IAR-316b to scout out ahead, at high altitude, but came up empty, not even one shot fired at it. It seems that there are not mobile AA units in the area and what they are facing are almost exclusively infantry units. Still, despite not having to cope with enemy SAMs and armor, having to root out every last enemy squad hiding in the woods was costing his helos far more ammunition than he anticipated. He made a mental not to purchase s couple of ammo carriers in the future.
His forces slowly advanced as the enemy infantry retreated. The enemy mortars still struck, but at a much lower intensity.His two gunships mopped up the last resistance with a ferociuos 57mm rocket barrage. Still, there was one element which bothered him. His IAR-316b recon copter reported seeing an enemy Strela AA team. So that meant that there might be more infantry SAMs to the north. Regardless... his infantry managed to break through the enemy lines.
Under the mortar fire his men advanced slowly. There had been virtually no resistance after securing the southern objectives. Right now the only danger was that there would not be enough time to secure all objectives, since lone strela teams might prove fatal should he decide to hop around from objective to objective.
Seeing how slow the advance was, col. Lungu decide to gamble and ordered Maj ivanovici to board a SOCAT gunship and secure the northernmost objectives... he had to take the change of the helo being shot down by enemy SAM teams, especially since his advancing infantry did come across such teams hiding in the forest.
"Contact!", said the pilot of the gunship as they aproached the objective. The pilot spotted a team of enemy infantry guarding the northernmost objective.
There was no more time for finesse. Col. Lungu decided it was time to bring in the air support. The Lancer's cluster bombs should take care of any infantry hiding there...
The Lancer swooped down and strafed the area before carpet bombing it... Maj Invanovici couldn't tell how hany casualties there were, but the sight had certainly been an awesome one. He got his men ready to climb back into the SOCAT gunship and get ready to secure the area. The gunship took off and slowly advanced... upon closer inspection there seemed to be two badly mauled infantry squads... but further to the north... an entire heavy weapons platoon!... Maj Ivanovici ordered the gunship to land before communicating this information to the Col.
Promptly the Col. requested the second airstrike, meant to decisively remove the defenders... Despite the Lancer's cluster bombs badly mauling the defenders, the operation was soon ended...
At the end of the day the terrain proved much more difficult to traverse than thought and the infantry simply moved too slowly to secure the objectives scattered all over the map of operations. Second, the amount of firepower needed to dislodge the enemy infantry had been too high, even when all the weaponry of the gunships had been brought to bear. The battle had been a draw...

[FJ_MD]

We want more man! very good reading!

[loktarr]

How many time to write this story? Very good...

[RoPlayer]

Lt. Col. Lungu reviewed his forces. The losses weren't that high; actually when comparing the casualties on both sides, one would think that the romanians have won. Sadly that wasn't so. The forces in the area still had a decent foothold and could launch a counterattack any time. He decided to slowly start replacing the lightly armed 330Ls with the 330D gunships. The IAR-330 model was similar to the Mi-24 series of the russians. It had decent speed, could carry a decent amount of men and also a wide range of weaponry. A transport and gunship all in one. Also he purchased a set of two ammo APCs where his helos could rearm. Now all he had to do was wait for further orders.

SECOND BATTLE: January 2007
Romanian Delay vs Hungarian Advance
Location: North of Debrecen

"Gentlemen, we now reap what we've sown...", started Lt. Col. Lungu."The hungarians have launched the counterattack HQ was expecting. Our job is to hold this road junction and the woods south of it. We won't have that much support this time since most resources have been diverted to support the advancing spearheads. Still, HQ did spare some ATROM mobile artillery. Actually these have just rolled off the production lines and they wanted us to test them. Their 155mm guns should prove useful. Intel about the enemy forces is scarce. We can expect anything from a full armored assault to enemy commandos. we will deploy in strategic areas and wait for them to come to us. The helos will be kept in the back as highly mobile machinegun and anti-tank platforms."

His forces were in place. The hungarians started in force with a mortar and 122mm artillery bombardment. Now all he had to do is wait...
"Sir! Our recon helicopter just reported in. He was under fire from enemy SAM and machinegun fire. Sublt Ardeleanu isn't sure, but he believes that enemy armor is present. He also saw a patch of smoke several kilometers away. Might me those mortars."
"Very well... Send the coordinates to the ATROMS. I want those mortars silenced for starters. Tell them to use cluster shells."
Cluster munitions were quite something. He heard from Maj Ivanovici that the ones the Lancers dropped during the last mission inflicted severe losses on the enemy. The public really looked down on them because they hit anything... including civilians... but war is war.
Another bombardment. This time the hungarians laid some smoke in the center. It wouldn't be long before his men made contact. He decided to send the agile IAR-316b for another recon run. "Check the south first.", Lt. Col. Lungu ordered.
Sublt. Ardeleanu wasn't quite comfortable. Had had been shot at with SAMs the last time. The missle didn't lock on but still... He climbed high and began patrolling the area when once again machinegun fire came from the same direction, follow by another SAM. "They've got some SAMs sir... also maybe some tanks", reported Sublt. Ardeleanu as he brought his small helicopter to safety.
The hungarias meanwhile kept laying smoke further to the north, but still no contact. Then the mortars started again, this time they concentrated on the troops securing the southers woods. But it also meant that the mortars have given away their position. Col. Lungu quickly ordered a counter-barrage. No soone did he finish giving the order than a ferocious bombardment started pounding the area. One, then another and another... it never seemed to end. It was an almost eerie feeling of being watched after seeing how the hungarians have zeroed-in on his HQ's position.
Corporal Balan and his men were quietly waiting in the woods beside the road when something drew his attention: the sound of a car. Not a tank, but a car. An UAZ. There it was, clamly driving down the road. Perhaps a scout team? Or even worse, artillery observers. Nevertheless, he and his men calmly took aim and opened fire. The car was soon riddled with bullets, the driver and front passenger killed instantly while the passenger in the back frantically got out of the car and ran for shelter. He didn't get far however...
A UAZ? That was odd... Perhaps the hungarians got overconfident? Anyway, Lt. Col. Lungu's forces were soon about to find out.
But before he could finish his thought the mortars started hitting again... this time they fell on the ATROMs... When it was over two of them were in flames. Seconds later a familiar screech in the sky... A hungarian Grippen streamed towards his troops. The Gunships promtly launched their Strelas, but the jet fighter easily shoot their aim off. Fortunately this supressed the iplot enough for him to target the helos instead of the well hidden infantry... The Grippen strafed the IAR-330D gunship to little effect. Then the fighter's wingman dived in but also took aim at the helicopters. The air raid accomplished little... but then the bombardment started again, and this time a direct hit on one helicopter send it down in flames.
"God damn it!"... Col. Lungu was seething... he ordered all his remaining ATROMs to target the suspected mortar positions.
"Contact!"... two T-72s were reported to the south. Finally he could exact some payback.
Sublt. Bucur and his wingman moved into position. He would slow down and creept on the tanks so that his Euro Spike AT missiles can get a good lock.
Sublt. Pmutz and his men readied themselves as they prepared to assault the approaching armor. Hiding behind the trees he could see the T-72 only 50 meters away. His men fired their RPG-7s and one of them hit the tracks... the tank was stopped dead.
"Go for it!", Sublt. Bucur encouraged his wingman. The tank was now immobilized and an easy prey for the Euro Spike. He would go for another T-72 spotted closer to the objective area. He slowly manouvered along the trees and came up behind the tank. Once in his sights he opened fire with his autocannon and rockets... the T-72 didn' last long and finally there was the fireball he wanted to see.
Sublt. Ardelean once again took his small helo higher to take a look at the battlefield and... "Mother of GOD!...". there they were... 1,2,3,4,5,6 T-72s... 7 including the immobilized T-72.
Lt. Col. Lungu immediately ordered his newly aquired Gunships to move to the area and prepare to engage.
"Let's see what this baby can do...", thought to himself Lt. Moraru as he manouvered his new 330D into position. Gone was the puny machinegun he had on board last time. Now he had some serious firepower. And he would rain it all on the T-72s hiding somewhere in the woods.
Sublt. Saguna furiously swung his helicopter left and right as he tried to hold back the onrushing tanks. "There must be an entire company over there!"... His gunner no longer bothered to take aim at this distance and just sprayed the advancing mass of armor with shells and rockets.
As his wingman struggled to keep the tanks at bay, Sublt. Bucur outflanked the tanks and began to fire his autocannon and rockets from near-point-blank range. Soon four attack helicopter were buzzing around the tanks... but the problem was that the vaunted Euro Spike missiles refused to lock and so the helos were forced to hit the tanks with only their cannons and rockets. Most of the shots bounced harmlessly off the thick armor...
One by one the gunships depleted their ammunition and headed for the ammo carriers far back... Meanwhile the furious counter-artillery barrages continued.
The armored assault continued unabated as another Grippen strike hit the ATROMs. This time they used Maverick guided missiles... to deadly effect. Unless the gunships were rearmed soon, the situation could become disastrous. The infantry platoon to the south rushed to meet the tanks as the SOCAT gunships returned. But still there was little that could be done against the thick armor or the T-72s. With the Euro Spikes malfunctioning the autocannons and rockets were all the gunships could offer as support. At best, they could immobilize the tanks and force their crews to bail out. meanwhile, both the center and northern groups reported having made contact with enemy infantry.
The enemy bombardment reached a peak intensity and then... a huge fireball from the south... "No!"... another one... the several secondary explosions... "No!Damn it! NO!!"... The ammo carrier, together with the two helos rearming were completely destroyed... what little AT capability Col. Lungu had was now gone... it was up to his men now. He immediately directed all his ATROMs tu fire cluster munitions at the tanks which were still pinned down. meanwhile the other infantry platoons reported more and more enemy infantry. Still, this was far from absolute disaster. He still had plenty of artillery with which to slow the enemy down.
... Corporal Averescu hit the deck as the T-72 exploded. It was the second his team destroyed in the space of a few minutes, not counting the one that was immobolized and abandoned. It had been a really bad day... the Euro Spikes malfunctioned so all the helos could do was slow down the tanks with their cannons and rockets. But soon they ran out and they were left to fend for themselves. Two sections of his platoon had been destroyed and one section took heavy casualties. so it was up to him to take back the woods. He heard heavy fighting further to the north... Lt. Culda must be having a bad day too...
Slowly but surely Lt. Culda's men were being pushed back, despite the heavy bombardment the remaining ATROMs rained. And just when he thought things couldn't get worse, at T-72 entered the field. Lt. Culda's section and another section opened fire with grenade aunchers and RPGs, but to no effect. Lt. Culda could only take cover wait for the next bombardment.
Lt. Col. Lungu grimly listened to the radio... the center objectives had been taken by the hungarians and Culda's men were retreating... "God damn those Euro Spikes!..."
Eventually the situation had been stabilized. The southern woods were eventually secured, the lone T-72 tank was ambushed when it tried to take the crossroads and the enemy infantry was slowed down by friendly artillery and fire support from the remaining 330L helos.
It had been a victory... but a very costly one. The only thing that made Col. Lungu feel better was the knowledge that all of the T-72s meant for the breakthrough had been destroyed... mostly by his elite infantry. But still, it was a victory none the less.

Col. Lungu now implemented some changes. With the Euro Spike a complete failure, the two original gunships were traded for two IAR-317 Aifoxes. An older model, smaller and slower, carrying only 4 missiles. But at least these were Malutka-M missiles, which proved their reliability time and again during exercises. These would be the tank hunters. The rest of the helos would be slowly converted to IAR-330D type since its autocannon and 57mm rockets were ideally suited for supporting airborne infantry.
Col. Lungu reflected on the last battle... The hungarians almost achieved a total victory had it not been for the determination of his mountain troops to stop the enemy armor. The failure of the Euro Spike had certainly been the fatal surprise of the day. Second, hungarian artillery struck with frightening precision, destroying no less than two ATROMs on one bombardment. Also a helicopter had been shot down in the same manner, as well as an ammo carrier receiving a direct hit and two gunships being destroyed a s a result. Still, the ATROMs, when benefitting from accurate spotting can deliver devastating firepower, the cluster munitions being especially deadly.
Third, the hungarians had one last surprise: the Saab Gripen. Only luck made it so that the Gripens targeted the helos on their first pass and released their bombs randomly. But on their second pass they targeted the ATROMs and managed to destroy one of them.
Still... the greatest threat to victory had been the enemy modernized T-72s. But with the Airfoxes this would no longer be an issue.