NGP85 "81: Better Dead than Red v1.1"

[JDR Dragoon]

Players notes and considerations.

This turn is mid-Day (12 am to 2pm). Visibility has dropped to 2 hexes (about 3 kilometers) due to partially cloudy weather and rain. This has had no effect on operations in the air or on the ground, apart from the drop in visibility.

West of Mannheim, the Military Police company of the 4th ID succesfully protects the Command Post of the divisions 1st Brigade from attack by Spetznas Infiltrators, wiping them out in the process.

In the Bundeswehr III Korps sector the enemy has now broken contact everywhere, and it is only thorugh SIGINT, that I know that the units of the Polish 2. Army are still out there. My attempts at hitting the located enemy HQs with airpower are scotched by enemy SAMs and interceptors, which forces my Alpha Jets to jettison ordinance and break off



Even in front of Kassel, the Polish 2. Mech. Div. Stops its advance and withdraws. Reported interdiction on units moving along the road from Witzenhausen to Hessisch Lichtenau suggests that more units are being moved up from reserve.



At Fulda it is clear that I am now facing two divisions: My old friend the 20th GMRD, plus an unknown (but not undetected) East German Motorrifle Div. The forces defending here include a brigade from the 8th Inf. Div, plus 1st and 3rd squadron, 11th ACR, buttressed by Attack Helicopters and one of the most dense obstacle belts on the map, so I am confident of being able to bloody him. Nevertheless, enemy air recon spies out my positions, and an enemy probe, heavily supported by attack aviation hits the 1st Squadron/11th ACR hard. USAF F4 Phantoms hit back against the attacking T62s of the 20th GMRD, blanketing them with clusterbombs.



South of Fulda the 39th GMRD probes forward again in battalion strenght, but runs into a buzzsaw. After blundering into my minefields, the attacking battalions, despite getting support from their own attack aviation and helicopters, gets savaged by artillery, attack helicopters and A10s, stopping the probe in its tracks. On top of this, A Coy/5-68 Armor Btn shoots down an attacking SU17.



At Bad Neustadt the enemy conserves his strenght, scouting out my positions through air reconnaisance. The following strike missions get intercepted by USAF F15s though, sparing me those losses. A strike against Panzergrenadierbattalion 353 south of Bad Neustadt does go in, but the unit is heavily entrenched and suffers little damage.

Further to the south, an attack by two T62 battalions of the 9th TD pushes Panzerbattalion 343 out of its position, although the German tankers manage to destroy three T62s for each loss of their own.



At Schweinfurt, my Air-Recon reveals enemy armor and infantry assembling opposite the 3rd Brigade/3rd ID. I would wager a guess, that these units are from the 6th GTD. In order to safeguard its position, the brigade orders two artillery delivered minefields in order to block off major roads.



To the south of Schweinfurt, the 106th GABD continues to enlarge its lodgment slightly. The US delaying forces call in a heavy airstrike on the lead BMD equipped company, which should at least dampen their enthusiasm. In turn, the US 2/64 Armor Btn is again hit by a Soviet airstrike. It doesn´t appear as if the enemy has begun advancing on Würzburg yet, but enemy air-recon against Kitzingen suggests that he may be about to seize the crossings here.



At Bamberg the E-German 7. Panzer Div breaks contact. The only parts of the E-German 3. Army now advancing is the 11. Motsch. Div., whose old T55s are handily stopped by the 2nd ACR, suffering huge losses in the process. Between Kronach and Lichtenfels two HQs are pinpointed by SIGINT, likely representing units in reserve.



At Erfurt the suspected E-German Army HQ shows itself again. Perhaps this HQ is slated for commanding the units now moving between Leipzig and Weissenfels, who continue to suffer losses from my interdiction?



The difference in score grows with 120 points, which is welcome.



The basic problem remains though: There is a large hole in the VII Corps line between the german 12. Panzer Div. and the US 3rd Inf Div. And the reinforcements sent to deal with the problem are only now beginning to make themselves felt.