Modelling - Converting Hobby Den's BTR 60PB to a BTR 60PU

As part of creating artillery and air defence units for the breakthrough project I kicked off a year or so ago I discovered a need for some armoured command vehicles.  The thought was to use specific communications vehicles rather than the k variants found in Motor Rifle Battalion and Company headquarters.  Armoured command vehicles were produced by the Soviets for the BTR 60/70 and 80 series vehicles and these were used extensively within the units I had in mind. 

The obvious choice was the  BTR-60R-145BM or one of its more modern variants the vehicle is a turretless version of the BTR 60, fitted with:

• A collapsible frame antenna 
• The AMU 10m telescopic mast 
• The AB-1-P/30 generator, 
• 5 Radio sets 
• A TA-57 field telephone.  

The vehicle also seems to attract the designation BTR 60 PU and  is visually similar to the BTR 60PU-12 an Air Defence command vehicle which would also be useful.

An analysis of the available imagery identified the following tasks to complete a conversion from a BTR 60 PB into the required command vehicles:

Fill Hole in hull for turret

Build a box to represent the AB-1-P/30 generator

Create some stowage box's for the side of the vehicle

Create a representation of the AMU 10m telescopic mast

Represent the stowed antenna tube on the top deck together with its end caps

Mount jerry cans on sides of vehicles 

The BTR 60PB I have chosen for the conversion is produced by the Hobby Den, which is an imposing resin and white metal kit with some clever ideas that give you a lot of crewing options as hatches are white metal castings that fit over recessed hull areas providing scope for crewing options at much reduced effort compared to other resins where the hatch and hull would need drilling and a new hatch creating to achieve the same effect.

Since I commenced this project a number of other models have come onto the market giving a degree of choice in the models that can be used notable amongst these is the S Models BTR 60 PB kit.  The quality of both the resin hull and the white metal wheel set and hatches has been good on all the copies I have received with small amounts of flash on the white metal parts and almost no air bubbles on the resin hull and turret.  The base of the turret is marginally convex but this was not really relevant to the model being built.

The conversion is very straightforward and can be done with the frame antenna erected or folded.  To simplify the problems around building the frame antenna I attached it directly to the hull . This avoided the needs to build the mounts and created a robust structure. I also simplified the frame from a double tube to a single tube. The frame supports and the frame itself were made from lengths of brass rod and to ease the problems of height adjustment I used green stuff to attach the frame to the upright frame supports.

Both the AMU 10 Telescopic mast and what I have termed the stowed antenna tube on the hull roof were cut from plastic rod.  The use of a cover fashioned from green stuff for the AMU 10 got around the need to model the detail at the top of the telescopic mast, although this could have been produced using  the mast components that come with ACEs BMP-1Ksh.

The Generator box was the final component of the fixed vehicle equipment and this was created through layering plastic strip to create an oblong box structure that would be easy to replicate consistently given that I needed a few of these vehicles.   All the other components I viewed as part of stowing the vehicles as the images I had collected showed a degree of variability in type and placement.  The Images variously show jerry cans and a large external stowage box mounted on the left and right hand side of the vehicle. which goes on which side seems to vary.

Stowage baskets are also seen mounted over the rear engine louvers and there are a number of images with command vehicles supporting a number of roof mounted stowage boxes.  Unusually for Soviet vehicles but less so for command vehicles in general these wagons are often seen with a variety of additional equipment.  

I have confined my stowage to include the Jerry cans on the right hand side and a large irregularly shaped stowage box on the left.  In addition I added a folded tarpaulin/tent on the roof made from green stuff and marked using a wet knife blade to create the straps folds and creases.  To get the various boxes and jerry cans to mount effectively on the hull it's necessary to file away some of the hull side hatches.

I commenced painting the vehicle with a pre shade of the lower hull wheels and underside of the vehicles using Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black. The model was then sprayed with Tamiya XF-13 JA Green, using a lighter coat on the lower hull ensures it remains a darker shade.  The panels were then picked out with Tamiya XF-65 Field Grey. A pin wash was applied using the Humbrol Black enamel wash and a blue grey filter applied to selected panels and hatches using a diluted Humbrol Blue Grey enamel wash.  The raised detail was dry-brushed using a mix of Vallejo Russian Uniform and Buff. Detail was then painted in as follows:

• Vallejo Black Grey for the HMG, Sight blocks, jerry cans and wheels
• Vallejo sky grey was used for tools.  
• Vallejo Medium flesh washed with Agrix Earthshade was used for wooden tool handles
• Vallejo Khaki grey was used for the canvas stowage, washed with GW's Agrix Earthshade before being highlighted with a mix of Khaki grey and buff.

The vehicle was then weathered using a heavy wash of Vallejo Mahogany Sand primarily targeted at the recesses, before the whole was over-sprayed using Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow. 

Markings consisted of a regimental symbol and tactical 3 digit number, with the number coming from QRF and the regimental marking from the model collect large decal sheet.

The vehicle is based on laser cut MDF bases supplied by East Riding miniatures, these are covered in a mix of sand and white glue before painting. Once dry a range of bsing materials have been used to create the vegetation on the base.

References:

Books:

Jane's Armour and Artillery 2002/2003

Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army, D Isby, 1988
Red God of War, Soviet Artillery and Rocket Forces

Web:
BTR-60PB Mini Walk-round Prime Portal
BTR-60 Army Guide
BTR-60PU-12 Walk-round
BTR-60-R145BM

Other Posts of Interest:

Modelling - Cold War Soviet Vehicle Markings and Decals
Wargames Unit-Soviet Late 80's, 2S1 Battalion
ORBAT-Soviet Late 80's Breakthrough Capability, Part 3 Non Divisional Artillery Assets
ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 4 Artillery

TTP - The Soviet Advanced Guard and March Security

The Soviet Army had well developed doctrine around march security and transition to battle formations from the line of march, this was critical to acheiving success in the encounter battles they postulated would be the most common form of engagement and in maintaining the rates of advance they envisioned.  This is an area where a degree of task organisation would occur and provides a good framework for Scenario development for smaller games.  The Advance guard is well documented across a variety of sources so it is straight forward to research, FM 100-2-1 is one of the best.

As an added bonus the Advanced Guard is a small self contained force that makes an excellent choice for a starter army.  So an interesting vehicle for exploration of the organisation and processes associated with its operation.  Its part of what most people would consider the classic Soviet steam roller and these elements rarely appeal to me, but for the reasons stated above and some interesting time and space problems associated with the relationship between the advanced guard and the main body that I think are less well understood its worth looking at.

The building blocks for creating the Advanced Guard are nearly all drawn from within the Motor Rifle Regiment or the Tank Regiment, details of their composition can be found in the post 1980s Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 1 deployment and Orbat, whilst details on equipment change, Engineer, Artillery support and the Anti Tank Reserve can be found in subsequent posts.  The core element for the Advanced Guard is the Motor Rifle or Tank Battalion.

The Advanced Guard mission was to provide forward march security to the lead Regiment on an axis of advance, in the example we will look at here we will consider a MRR but a TR could equally be configured to fill this role.  Unlike the Forward detachment the purpose was to provide warning and an initial raction force to deal with enemy encountered on route as the MRR moved down its axis of advance.  The Advanced Guard was a key component in transitioning the Regiment effectivly from March Formation to Battle Formation.  In contrast the forward detachment was tasked with specific missions to take and hold terrain constraints or block reserves, the unifying purpose of both organisations however was the same, in order to allow the MRR/MRD to advance along the line of march at speed.

March formations in the British army were used for out of contact manouver, where contact was expected then the unit would be configured to advance to contact, a battle formation for which the manouver speed would be much lower as this was a tacticle deployment. Reacting to contact from a march formation would be an emergency procedure and certainly in my experience was seldom discused or practiced, advance to contact was, so the British and Soviet doctrine is very different.

The MRB would be reinforced and task organised to acheive its mission the level of reinforcement would be dependent on a number of factors:

• Weather the Regiment was on a main or subsiduary access
• The type of offensive action being prosecuted
• March
• Pursuit
• Meeting Engagement
• Enemy Posture and Strength

The Soviets adapted 2 Pre battle formations based  on whether they expected to encounter the enemy or not. If encounter with the enemy was expected then march security elements would be deployed to front, flanks and rear of the main body.  The Advanced Guard would deploy in three components on a single axis.  These were:

• The Combat Recce patrol of a platoon of Infantry and a single tank
• The Advance Party, the remainder of the lead Company reinforced by a range of  assets depending on the situation and what had been provided to the Advanced Guard these could include:
• Morter Platoon, Morter Battery or Gun Battery, 120mm Mortar or 2S1
• AT Section or Platoon, BRDM2 +AT5
• Engineer Section
• Tank Platoon, depending on formation T-64, T-72, T-80 marks being dependent on year.
• The Advance Guard Main Body, the remainder of the lead Motor Rifle Battalion and the remainder of the reinforcement units that could include:
• Air Defence Platoon, ZSU 23-4 or SA-9 or 2S6 or BMP2 + SA14
• Battery or Battalion of Guns, 2S1 or 2S3
• Up to an AT Company,
• Engineer Assets, relevant to the opperation

The Advance Guard could operate in close co-operation with a number of regimental assets which for scenarios involving the advanced guard could easily be included, these are:

• The reinforced regimental Recce Company, reinforcement would come from engineer, chemical and artillery reconaisance assets
• The Mobility Support Group which would be a task organised engineer group reinforced with infantry and armour from second echelon formations, with the primary role of clearing and breaching obsticles identified by the reconaisance elements.
• Regimental Artillery Group, assets in range would provide supporting fires as directed by the Regimental commander in the event of contact. Command and Observation Posts might be grouped with the components of the guard to provide coverage
• Regimental Headquaters, frequently the Regimental HQ might travel with or just to the rear of the Advanced Guard, equally the Battalion HQ might travel just to the rear of the Advance Party, I have not represented this in the force as presented here

Additionally interesting scenarios might be constructed around interaction with in place elements such as forward detachments.  Passage of echelons might also be worthy of consideration although weather this would be done in march formation might be subject to situation and the proximety of remaining enemy.

Bearing in mind that I play based on Rapid fire the abstraction of the vehicles and personel used by this ruleset presents a number of challenges in representing these elements.  Looking at it from front to back I have currently decided to represent the Advanced Guard and the associated regimental elements as follows:

Reinforced Regimental Recce Company 

The purpose of the Regimental Recce Company was to gather intelligence and develop the information identified by other forward deployed asset such as the Divisional Recc battalion, it was not part of the Advanced Guard, it was key to identifying enemy and targets and can work well as part of a depth game.

I currently represent the regimental Recce Company with a BMP R as the HQ and a BRDM2 and a BMP platoon each represented by a vehicle.  The organisation included a motorcycle section which is currently un represented.  Reinforcement  comes in the form of a single BRDM2 Rkh platoon from the Regimental Chemical defence Company, and assets from the Divisional Engineer recce elements in BTR 60 and a PRP 3 representing artillery reconnaissance elements from a reinforced RAG.  I intend to operate these as three pairs each with a BMP and BRDM2/BTR60 in it.

The Advance Party.

The advanced party provided march security for the advanced guard and was in turn protected by a combat recce patrol that it would deploy forward.  Depending on circumstances terrain and visibility  it could work closely with the CRP providing support and overwatch, or stand off from the CRP to give greater reaction time. Distances between the two elements are quoted as between 1.5km and 5km depending on sources. On Contact the advanced party could block, strike or maneuver and strike depending on the size and disposition of the encountered force. The effects of these actions would be to fix or destroy the opposing forces lead elements.

The representation of the CRP is quite difficult given the Rapid fire approach to one APC to each company.  Because the BMPs are very under represented my personal preference here is to add an additional BMP effectively with no dismounts, as a Recce element. Where CRPs are required to provide flank guards the same approach would be taken.

The remainder of the Advance Party includes;

• A Tank platoon, represented by a single tank, 
• A MR Coy represented by a BMP 2 and the associated dismounts. 
• An ACRV Command and Observation Post(COP) from the battery or battalion attached to the parent MRB.
• The MRBs Mortar Battery, represented by 2 MTLB and 2 120mm Mortar.  These might also be grouped with the Advanced Guard Main Body.

The COP would be using the unit as protection and would be available to adjust fire to achieve the requested effect, if fires were allocated by the Combined Arms Commander at Battalion or Regimental level.  This is somewhat different to western use of Observation Officers. If more artilery had been attached to the Advanced Guard this could equally be a Battery of 2S1. If deployed these might be used in a direct or indirect fire role.

Additional elements that could be represented include the Advanced Guard battalion commander who would move forward if contact was expected an AT Section or platoon and engineer elements.  If your just starting out in Cold War this sort of force provides a great starter option with both vehicle variety and small size yet capable of realistic deployment in a number of scenarios,

The Advanced Guard Main Body.

The Advanced Guard Main Body is constituted from the remainder of the Advanced Guard and it provides march security for the lead regiment.  Depending on circumstances distance between it and the advance party could be between 1.5km - 10km this seems to be dependent on whether the advanced party is supporting the CRP or stood off from it as the distance to the CRP seems to be a fairly consitant at 10km.  

On contact it could block or strike and if striking would be highly likely to maneuver and strike in order to take an enemy in the flank.  The purpose would be to destroy the lead enemy company and fix or destroy the lead enemy battle group.  

The Advanced Guard MRB has been reinforced with a battery of guns, one AA Platoon from the regimental Air Defence Platoon, and a Platoon from the Regimental Anti Tank Company.  It is missing those elements already detached to form the Advanced Party. The Battalion commander has grouped his own Air Defence Platoon with the ZSU 23-4 platoon.

and the Tank Company Headquaters tank has been grouped with the AT - Platoon to form a small Anti Tank reserve. This element would be used to counter unexpected enemy tank action, or screen open flanks.  I am not convinced it would be formally committed as part of the immediate plan as that would leave no reserve.  

Each of the MR Coys is grouped with a tank platoon and the unit also includes the battalion HQ which could deploy forward  and the AGS 17 Direct fire support platoon. Close on the heels of the Advance Guard and located behind it in the order of march to deal swiftly with Engineering tasks identified by the Recce elements is a Maneuver Support Group based on components from the Regimental Engineer company together with some reinforcing elements.  The Advanced Guard could also find itself closely followed by the tactical elements of the Regimental Headquaters and other assets such as a COP from the Artillery Battalion.

The ability or inability of Junior Commanders to react would be compensated for by the forward positioning of the more senior headquaters although this can lead to confusion over who is directing what.  The doctrinal intent was for the senior headquaters to be in a position to rapidly assess the battle and deploy the follow on force elements rapidly and effectively.

The Maneuver Support Group

The Manouver Support Group was responsible within the MRR for the identification, clearance /breaching and marking of obstacles on the supported units route as well as the provision of route marking capability, the maintenance of the route and its own security. The detachment would include reconnaissance, security and engineer elements.  MSGs could be formed from the Regiments own Engineer company or be provided from Divisional Engineer assets. The main purpose is to facilitate the Regiments movement rather than the Advance Guards.

The MSG covers three capability areas;

• Route Clearance
• Minefield Breaching
• Small gap crossing

Route Clearance

The route clearance capability is represented by 1 T-72A with an MTU dozer blade 3 of which were held by the Engineer Company.  The Platoon would be drawn from a 2nd Echelon element of the Regiment or Division.  

Minefield Breaching

The mine field breaching capability is covered by the provision of KMT mine rollers which could be fitted to vehicles as required. In addition and provided from the Divisional Engineer Regiment is an MTK 2 explosive breaching vehicle, this capability was also available on a T-55 hull and a BTR 50 hull.

Gap Crossing Small

A Regiment held a mix of Truck mounted TMM and Tank mounted MT-55 or MTU Vheicle Launched Bridges.  MRR would have a preponderance of the truck mounted systems whilst tank regiments would have more of the tank based systems, sadly no one makes a TMM in 1/72.

The remaining two elements can support any of the capabilities this was;

• Infantry Company attached from a 2nd Echelon battalion to assist with route marking, security and provide additional manpower working under the guidance of the Sappers where needed . 
• Engineer Platoon mounted here in a BTR 60 PB could equally be transported in a truck and can enhance any of the three mobility support capabilities represented.

Having looked at the composition of the advanced guard and associated groups it is worth considering how it was designed to operate.  The spacing of the components in the order of march provided time for early warning allowing commanders time to think and take action.  To understand how this worked its necessary to understand a bit about the movement characteristics of vehicle columns and also to set it in the context of the Regimental order of march as this would drive what support it could expect and how quickly.

Speeds on the march varied but columns were expected to achieve the following rates of advance    

• Motor Transport on roads upto 40Km/h
• Armor on Roads or X Country 25-30Km/hr
• Under poor conditions Night or bad weather 20km/h
• On foot 4-6km/h

Of more interest I think is distance per minute as this gives an indication at the time intervals between the different elements of the march groups. So at 25km/h you travel about 4km in 10min or 400m in 1 minute at 40Km/h you travel about 7Km in 10min or 700m in a minute.

In looking at this we also need to understand the lengths of the columns involved as they add to both the distances and the time taken to get an effective force to a point.  Pass time of the column adds time to deployment, it is the amount of time it takes the column to pass a point which is a function of its length, difficult to start a war with one vehicle.   

Vehicle Numbers for the Advanced Guard:

• BMP Bn - 72 Vehicles including command and Echelon 
• 2S1 Bty 15 Vehicles including command and Echelon, 
• 2S1 Bn - 60 Vehicles including command and Echelon
• Tank Coy 13 Vehicles
• AT Platoon 5 Vehicles

so dependent on composition 105 to 150 vehicles

A Company Column of 10 vehicles with 25/50m between vehicles is 250 - 500m long and at 25km/h takes 1 minute from the first vehicle hitting a point to the last vehicle clearing that point.  With no space between units the 105 vehicles of the advance guard covers 2.5 - 5km so a pass time of 6-12 minutes at 25km/h with no choas and no gaps between the different components. Given the distances between the various components of the Advance Guard are longer this all takes more time. 

The references varies so a number of models for the spacing could be made, this one really serves to illustrates the point. The CRP is 5Km and 12.5 minutes ahead of the Advanced Party, which is composed of around 20 vehicles over 1km so a pass time of 2 minutes so about 15 minutes to bring the whole force into action. They in turn are 1.5 km and 3 minutes ahead of the Advance Guard which consistes of around 80 vehicles and a distance of 4km so a pass time  of 10 minutes so they would take an additional 15 minutes to come into action if the manouver to a flank this increases by an additional 2 minutes for every Km of maneuver before they get into action.  They are in turn 5-10km and another 15-20 minutes ahead of the main body around 300 vehicles around 15km so pass time is 30 minutes. If the enemy was weak or in a poor position the Soviet commander could commit units incrimentally to the battle if he wished, a suitable time table would need to be produced based on further analysis.

The impact of this is as follows:

• CRP encounters enemy at H, 
• Advance party can hit them at H+ 15, + 2min for every additional Km of maneuver. 
• Advance Guard Main Body can hit at H+30  + 2min for every additional Km of maneuver
• Regimental Main Body at H+75 + 1.5min + 2min for every additional Km

 The order of march also affected available artillery support

2S1 had a range of 15.3km or 21.9 km using extended range munitions. 2S3 18.5km and 24km respectively. Based on the scenario presented above a 2S1 Battalion with the Regimental Main Body is:

•  21km  from the CRP, 
• 16km from the Advanced Party
• 13.5km from the Advanced Party Main Body 

Given that they are at the front of the Regimental main Body which could be spread over 15km. The doctrine was for the Regimental Artillery group to be held well forward together with the regimental HQ in the order of March, the RHQ so it could deploy forward when contact was expected and for the Guns to be in range of the contact point and deployable quickly.

on CRP contact available artillery support is as follows:

• in Range of the Advance Guards Guns and Mortars on contact, these would take time to deploy and come into action 
• in range of the Main Body's guns at extreme range, if deployed immediately this may put much of the ensuing action out of range, so keeping these moving until the advanced party is committed 15 minutes later puts them 5-7km closer to the action which probably makes sense. On top of this there is deployment time but for SPGs this should be short.
• If the battle is moving in the direction of travel then the period for which the guns are available without displacing will also be affected although this is particularly difficult to represent on a 20mm table top battlefield.

 All this becomes interesting on a number of counts which can be played out in games

• Time Pressure is a key element, if you wish to manouver and retain the initiative time to plan will be short, probably around 7-10 minutes, the plan needs to be simple and this is where templated drills work well to my mind.  Creating this time pressure in a game can be difficult ideas include the following:
• Players might be restricted to this time limitation for planning followed by a fixed deployment time 
• Players might be given no specific planning time and fixed duration move times. 
• Players may only be given an overview map with a number of contact locations identified and no indicator of which will be played.
• Players might be presented with an initial situation and troop deployment from which the game starts and fixed duration move times.
• The arrival sequence, timing and grouping of the Soviet forces and the availability of fire support can be built in with variations available if the commander wishes to flank attack.
• The relative directions of engagement, so whilst the CRP might contact from the front any of the other groups might hit from a flank.
• A multi board game  would enable the manouver to play this would be more effective with blinds but would tend to decrease the time pressure as more elapsed time would be needed to move the force elements.
• Scenarios could be built against NATO formations expecting or not expecting contact.

References:

Books:

Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army, D Isby, 1988
Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics, WP Baxter, 1986
The Race to The Swift, R Simpkin, 1985
Red God of War, Bellamy, 1986
Offensive Operations, Sidorenko, 1970
The Warsaw Pact Arms Doctrine and Strategy

Internet:

Tactics the Soviet Way, Rechinko, 1984 
FM 100-2-3 The Soviet Army Troops, Organisation and Equipment  
FM 100-2-1 The Soviet Army Operations and Tactics
The Soviet Motor Rifle Battalion in the Meeting Engagement DTIC
Tactics of the Soviet Army Regiment DTIC
The Soviet Tank Battalion Tactics DIA
The Soviet Tank Company Tactics DIA
The Soviet Mortrorised Rifle Company DIA
The Soviet Motorised Rifle Battalion DIA

Other Posts of Interest:

Wargames Unit - Soviet Late 80's MRB
Wargames Unit - Soviet MRR, Anti Tank Reserve
ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 1 Deployment and ORBAT
ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 3 Engineers
ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 4 Artillery
TTP-Soviet Forward Detachments and Tactical Air Assault

Wargames Unit - British 1980's Tracked Rapier Battery

The concept for this years game pitched the British in defence and knowing the amount of Soviet air power that could be deployed against them I knew they needed to up their air defence game. The Rappier battery should be an HQ and 3 Troops but that seemed a little excessive given that I would only deploy two battle groups.

Rapier was an area air defence weapon and was deployed as part of the overall air defence plan rather than being attached to particular units. having said that units would end up under their umbrella so it seemed sensible to have some level of representation. The tracked Rapier battery is implemented at a vehicle scale of 1:3 which creates problems when representing troops that contained 4 launchers, I have gone for the following organisation:

• Battery HQ of 1 Saxon
• 2 Troops each of 1 Tracked Rapier and 1 M548

The M548s towed or carried the blind fire Radars along with immediate missile reloads for the launch vehicles. Given the cramped conditions on the launch vehicles I suspect the M548s carried a lot of other stuff.

The launch vehicles are from Cromwells range and the M548s are from S&S. All the stowage is locally produced using green stuff and bandage with white glue. Painting is in line with the model review posts on the vehicle and the crew commander is a Britania FV 432 commander.

 

Altogether I think the unit makes a nice little addition to my Brit forces and hope to get them into action latter in the year together with the Javalin detachments I am also engaged in building at the moment.

Related Posts of Interest:

Review - Model 1/76, Cromwell Tracked Rapier
Review - Model 1/72, S&S M548
ORBAT - 1980s British Air Defence

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