Paradrop 2005-AAR

Bishop746 · #1 May 17th, 2006, 08:54 PM

Enjoy, more post as I go.

Paradrop 2005

May 17, 2006

------------------------Spoilers-----------------------------------

My Pathfinders, LAW80 and Milan teams landed without incident and no sign of any Red forces. Two Pathfinders sections went north along with a Milan team and a LAW80 team to watch the East-West road on the north part of the map. An identical force went south to cover the north-south road. If the enemy came from either road I was hoping to delay long enough for my forces to get on the ground. The rest of the pathfinders headed towards the town, securing a few objectives along the way. My primary force landed with only the engineers suffering any losses due to landing in hilly terrain. The paratroopers deployed in a line and began moving towards the town as fast as I could get them there; I wanted to get out of the open as fast as possible.

On turn 3, the pathfinders covering the south road destroyed two civilian cars carrying rebel scouts. The scouts bailed out and tried to flee but didn�t get far. The company was starting to receive light small arms fire from sentries and scouts along the edge of the town. The enemy fire wasn�t very accurate but it was preventing my units from getting out of that open ground and into cover. A firefight erupted in the north when rebel scouts put my pathfinders under attack on the northern hill before being destroyed by the Brits.

The para company was within 300 meters of the road that skirts the edge of town when very accurate mortar fire fell on my forces. J platoon took a direct hit and lost 5 men from one shell. This fire continued with accuracy until I finally spotted the mortar pit amongst some buildings. I used a preset artillery strike and a Harrier destroyed the mortar along with an ammo dump. The mortar fire after that became less accurate but it further slowed down my forces and one hit did completely destroy my HQ section. When my company finally made it to the edge of the road it had destroyed the scouts and sentries but the rebels had begun to arrive in force in trucks on the northwest side of town and to the north of my position. The enemy was moving into town from a northern road so I called in my second Harrier on the crossroads. This Harrier had not made a bombing run so I knew this would be a full load, if it arrived in time. I could not have hoped for better when the Harrier strafed and bombed the enemy lined up on the road. An entire squad was destroyed along with several trucks. Several squads took heavy casualties not to mention the time the suppression alone gave me. K Platoon was furthest north and began to get cut up by a murderous cross fire coming from rebels in the town that had not be hit in the bombing run and on a hill north of the road. All I could do was rally, pop smoke and try to move them out of the killing zone. By some miracle, an enemy smoke barrage landed on top of them and they were able to move back about 150 meters, popping smoke the whole time. I pulled the two pathfinder sections and the Milan team off the northern hill and am sending them north around the woods into the enemies northern flank. I�m not hoping to take ground but draw some rebels away from my force.

M Platoon was to the left of K platoon and two squads from it made it to the large building at the roads edge along with a pathfinder section and LAW 80 team. They were almost surrounded in the building but after two turns of heavy fighting the rebels pulled back. I hope to get M Platoon together and get them linked up with L platoon which has a relatively stronger position in some houses along the road with good fields of fire.
After the civilian cars were destroyed nothing came up the south road where I only have a pathfinder section, a sniper and a Milan team covering. Two BTR-60s crested a ridge to the west but the Milan teams destroyed both quickly. A platoon of rebels, possibly from the BTR�s, is moving towards my small blocking force and the only help is the engineers platoon that is late crossing the ground because of their drop location.

I am in turn 13 of 28. It doesn�t look good but the Brits have been in tougher positions.

Bishop746 · #2 May 27th, 2006, 08:54 AM

May 26, 2006
Paradrop

Turns 13 to 23

Debacle: noun, a great disaster, a complete failure

Goat screw: noun, see above.

This has turned into a major rout. I take the full blame. I did not understand the scenario instructions and this has led to the fiasco I have now. Apparently, I was to take the landing zone and hold it, but I saw the objective hexes in town and following most SP scenarios; I set off to capture them. This was not a good idea. A few turns after 13th the Red armor began to show up in droves. Kursk did not have this much armor. The LAW 80 and Milan teams did an incredible job knocking the vast majority of the AFVs out with maybe only two missiles not hitting the target. The situation has degenerated into a running gun battle as I try to extract my forces from the town. The pathfinder�s E platoon along with a LAW and Milan team, which were out of ammo, were the easiest to get to cover. With what appeared to be a company bearing down on them they popped smoke and began moving southeast towards the tree line. They made it with few casualties and are now waiting to see if the enemy advances on them.

The Para engineers have had it pretty rough. Smoke has screened them most of the way as they retreat towards the hills to the east but they have taken casualties from the BTR�s to the rear and several platoons of infantry to the north. One BTR-60 stopped adjacent to an engineer squad and began firing but was destroyed by a satchel charge. By turn 23 only the sniper has made it to the hills but he is out of ammo. The engineer squads are pinned and the enemy is closing.

When the enemy appeared from the west he cut of L and M platoons� path of retreat. L and M were in a strong position because most of the enemy forces were retaking the LZ. I could not send the platoon across that open ground that was covered with enemy troops and AFVs so I decided to send them deeper into the town and try to set up a defensive position and try to last out the game. The two reduced platoons along with some Milan and LAW teams advanced to a road junction were three objective flags were placed. Without thinking I took the objectives. Bad idea. This has made killing this small force the number one priority of every enemy unit on the map. I set up near the intersection in three buildings and was immediately surrounded. L and M squads put up a stiff resistance forcing several militia squads to pull back with heavy casualties and destroying a BRDM but over the span of eight turns the paratroopers have lost all the squads and two missile teams. The only remaining units are an FO, a Milan team, and part of a routed Para squad.

To the north, the pathfinders and missile teams have expended all their missiles and are moving into the woods in the hope that they can avoid contact.

I fully expect to be demoted, ostracized by my colleagues, my sword broken over the knee of my commanding officer. Anyone knows where a marginally talented, former paratrooper commander with a great deal of guilt and emotional baggage can find a job.

Bishop746 · #3 May 28th, 2006, 12:15 PM

Paradrop 2005

Final

All units within town were destroyed or surrendered after putting up a stiff but futile resistance. One Engineer squad along with a sniper made it to the safety of the hills. Pathfinder platoon E along with ATGM teams was safely in the woods to the southeast at the end of the game. Several other ATGM teams made it to the edge of the map.

I was credited with killing 15 soft vehicles and 15 APCs. The Red forces certainly suffered heavily but it�s meaningless in the larger picture. The scenario rated the mission a draw but I consider it a complete failure in every respect. If my mission was to secure the landing zone then I had the forces to get into a defensive position and destroy his armor as it crossed the open ground. However, if my objective was to take the town and hold the LZ; then someone vastly underestimated the enemy forces in the area and should go down with me. I stand humbled but defiant.