NATO, WAPA and the indefensibility of LandJut in NGP and D85

[JDR Dragoon]

And the last parts:

The Armoured Infantry Brigades of the Division:

-The Brigade HQ Unit: Only partially manned in peacetime. Was to be fleshed out with reserve officers and personnel upon mobilization. Suffered under the fact that it was often hard to train the brigade staff in managing all of their constituent battalions except on the largest of exercises, and the fact, that said battalions were only partially manned in peacetime. Should probably be classed as "D" due to this.

-"Panserbataljonen" (The Armoured Battalion): A "square" battalion with 4 fighting companies (and a HQ company not represented in the game). The 1st and 2nd Company consisted of two Tank Squadrons of 10 Leopard 1A3 tanks each. These units were manned by enlisted men on running contracts. Due to a failure to reach recruitment goals these units still needed to be fleshed out with enlisted men on reserve contracts upon mobilization. Should probably be rated as "C" due to this. The 3rd company was an armoured infantry company in M113s. 138 men (represents trench strenght and people manning heavy weapons). Again, the goal was for this unit to be manned entirely with enlisted men on contracts, but due to the above mentioned failure to reach recruitment goals, most of these companies were instead manned with 9 month conscripts. Could thus be be classed as either "C" or "D" as a result. The 4th Company was a motorized Infantry Company consisting of 9 month conscripts recently recalled to service. Should be classed as "D". 138 men (represents trench strenght and people manning heavy weapons).

-"De Pansrede Infanteribataljoner" (The Armoured Infantry Battalions): Another "square" battalion. The 1st and 2nd companies consisted of 2 armoured infantry companies in M113s. These units were supposed to be manned entirely with enlisted personnel on running contracts but due to failure to reach recruitment goals most of these units would have been reliant on former enlisted personnel on reserve contracts in order to be fleshed out upon mobilization. 138 men each (represents trench strenght and people manning heavy weapons). Should thus be classed as "C". The 3rd company was a Squadron of 10 Leopard 1A3 Tanks manned by enlisted personnel on running contracts. Due to recruitment problems these units were also reliant on reserve personnel to flesh them out in case of war. This problem was even more marked here, since most of the effort went into filling up the Tank squadrons in the Armored Battalion first, these units were even more reliant upon reserve personnel. Could thus be either "C" or "D". The 4th company was a Motorized Infantry company manned by recently trained 9 month conscripts. 138 men (represents trench strenght and people manning heavy weapons). Should thus be classed as "D".

-"Brigadeartilleriafdelingen" (The Brigade Artillery Battalion): Consisted of 2 batteries of 6 M109 each (the unupgraded version with the "short" M114 gun) manned by enlisted men on running contracts. Due to recruitment problems these units needed rounding out with reserve enlisted men upon mobilization. Should thus be classed as "C"´s. WMD capable. The 3rd battery consisted of 8 towed M114 ex-US 1950s vintage Howitzers manned by 9 month conscripts. Should be "Unreliable". Not WMD Capable.

-"Brigadeingeniørkompagni" (Brigade Engineer Company). An engineer company in M113 APCs. Could build bridges, but only of a size appropriate for crossing minor streams and rivers like those marked "light blue" on the map. Should thus just be "minelay/clear" capable. About 125 men if only "trench strenght" is counted.

-"Trænbataljon" (Logistics Battalion). The same comment as pr. the divisional and corps LOG units above.

-"Panserværnskompagni" (PVKMP) (Anti-Tank Company). Consisted of 12 M113 APCs with external TOW mounts (3 platoons of 4 vehicles each) manned mostly by enlisted personnel on running contracts. Due to recruitment problems these units would likely still need fleshing out with reserve enlisted personnel upon mobilization. Should thus be classed as "C". No TIS. Also had 12 Jeeps/Landrovers (3 platoons of 4 each) with TOW predominantly manned by 9 month conscripts. Should thus be classed as "D". No TIS either.

-Since the danish M113 equipped units have very high Hard Attack values (18) in the stock DF85 game, the above AT Company might also simply be left out and these high AT values retained (since this would represent the TOW platoons being divided out amongst the M113 equipped companies with 1 TOW platoon going to each of the 5 M113 companies in the brigade). The remaining TOW launchers can then be consolidated into a single counter. Again it is a design decision. Do what you think best. "EDIT": Apparently the AT Companies were abolished in the early 80´s (between 1980 and 1983 depending on unit and placing within the forcestructure), so leaving the M113 companies at "18" Hard Attack and consolidating the remaining launcher sinto a single counter of 8 launchers is the way to go IMHO (8 because more TOW launchers were procured so that each brigade had a total of 7 platoons of 4 launchers each).

-The Hard Attack (8) and Soft attack (10) values of the Motorized infantry units in the brigades are probably a bit on the low side, since the MOTINF companies of the brigades have the same weapons mix as the armoured infantry companies (except for a lower number of .50 HMGs, but their 81mm mortar section had one tube more than the APC companies). I propose raising Hard attack to 9-10 and Soft attack to 11-12.

As for the units manning these brigades and their placement (1985):

-"1. Jyske Brigade"/1st. Jutland Brigade. HQ garrisoned in Fredericia.
Units:
-"III. Bataljon Jyske Dragonregiment (JDR) (3rd Battalion Jutland Dragoon Regiment). The brigades Armored Battalion. Garrisoned in Oksbøl.
-"I. Bataljon Kongens Jyske Fodregiment" (KJFR) (1st Battalion The Kings Own Jutland Regiment of Foot). Armored Infantry Battalion. Garrisoned in Fredericia.
-"I. Bataljon Fynske Livregiment" (FLR) (1st Battalion Funen Life Regiment). Armored Infantry Battalion. Garrisoned in Odense.
-"6. Artilleriafdeling Nørrejyske Artilleriregiment" (NJAR) (6th Artillery Battalion North Jutland Artillery Regiment). Garrisoned in Skive.
-"1. Panseringeniørkompagni" (1st armoured Engineer Company)
-"1. Panserværnskompagni" (1st Anti-Tank Company)
-"6. Trænbataljon" (6th Logistics Battalion)

-"2. Jyske Brigade". HQ garrisoned in Skive.
-"II Bataljon Jyske Dragonregiment". Garrisoned in Holstebro.
-"I Bataljon Dronningens Livregiment". (DRLR) (1st battalion The Queens Life Regiment). Garrisoned in Ålborg.
-"II Bataljon Dronningens Livregiment". Garrisoned in Ålborg.
-"3. Artilleriafdeling Nørrejyske Artilleriregiment". Garrisoned in Skive.
-"2. Panseringeniørkompagni". Garrisoned in Randers.
-"2. Panserværnskompagni"
-"10. Trænbataljon".


-"3. Jyske Brigade". HQ garrisoned in Haderslev.
-"I Bataljon Jydske Dragonregiment". Garrisoned in Holstebro.
-"I Bataljon Prinsens Livregiment" (PLR) (1st Battalion The Prince´s own Life Regiment). Garrisoned in Viborg.
-"II Bataljon Prinsens Livregiment". Garrisoned in Viborg.
-"7. Artilleriafdeling Sønderjyske Artilleriregiment" (SJAR) (7th Artillery Battalion South Jutland Artillery Regiment). Garrisoned in Varde.
-"3. Panseringeniørkompagni"
-"3. Panserværnskompagni"
-"7. Trænbataljon"


-All Engineer and Logistics units would come from either Jyske Ingeniørregiment (Jutland Engineer Regiment) garrisoned in Randers or Jyske Trænregiment (Jutland Logistics Regiment) based in Ålborg.