ORBAT - 1980s Soviet MRR and TR, Part 1 Deployment and ORBAT

The Soviet Motor Rifle (MRR) and Tank Regiment (TR) in the 1980s had a broadly stable organisational structure with little significant structural change. Equipment change was however quite dramatic as the cold war arms race heated up in the final years of the cold war just prior to the collapse of the soviet union in 1991. Currently my concept of the cold war ends in 1993 with the withdrawal of the forward deployed groups of forces by the Russians.

The factors that affect the composition of the wargames force based on the Soviet Tank or Motor Rifle Regiment are location, base organisation, equipment change and task organisation which in the soviet force was governed by the Echelon system as well as factors such as march security. The intent of these posts is to articulate the impact of these to identify what can be fielded in the 1980s in order to create scenarios that would have been historically feasible.

in dealing with the Soviet Army it is always worth remembering that such a vast organisation changed quite slowly and whilst units in GSFG were armed with the latest equipment units in different readiness categories elsewhere continued to deploy older and or cheaper versions of key equipments for a considerable time, this could be as long as 10s of years. This offers considerable flexibility in the type of force deployed in any game.  On top of this the Soviets seldom threw hard ware away and tended to backload it to lower readiness units in less critical sectors or provide it to client states in Africa and the Middle East. A nice example of this is the T34, which equipped some mobilisation only units and of course was prevelant in client states in africa throughout this period.

This post will look at the impact of location and the basic structure and a subsequent ones will examine the impact of equipment evolution, the echelon system and task organisation.

The Groups of Soviet Forces that would likely be involved in action in central Europe, include the Northern Group of Forces in Poland, Group of Soviet Forces Germany and The Central Group of Forces in Chezceslovakia.  These forward deployed forces together with the European military districts inside the Soviet Union of Baltic, Byelorussia and Carpathia formed the Western TVD (strategic Direction) or theatre of operations. Other Theatres that might contribute forces directly include the South Western TVD aimed at Turkey and the Northern TVD aimed at Scandinavia.  An overview of Cold War Soviet Military Districts is here.

Inside the Soviet Army written by a Soviet defector noted that from within the Western TVD and the Warsaw pact forces local to those countries  unto 4 Fronts and a Group of Tank armies could be created. Each Front broadly consisted of an Air Army two Combined Arms Armies and a Tank Army. With the  NVA incorporated then GSFG could create 2 Fronts, Central Group of Forces including the CSLA would form another Front and together these constituted the 1st Echelon. The Northern Group of Forces with the PPA constituted the Front in the 2nd echelon.  The 3rd echelon a Group of Tank Armies could be created centred on the Byelorussia MD, the whole being aimed at Western Europe.

In the forward groups of forces the divisions were all Category A, in Byelorussia they were a mix of Category B and C and in the remaining Military Districts of the Western Theatre a Mix of category B and C. The so what in all that is that whilst the initial actions of any conflict would be conducted using the latest equipment, in units with the most lavish equipment scales follow on forces would be equipped with a more diverse range of tanks and APCs and be subject to a degree of orginisational variability, making for a wide variety of options for any Soviet force at a moment in time.

Guild Big Game 2011, 1st Echelon MRR seizing crossing
 points, 2nd Echelon MRR preparing to cross.

Within GSFG conventional wisdom holds that the broad transition progressed from T55/T62 combinations in the 60's through T62/T64 in the 70s to T62/64/80 in the 80's. Within this there were some interesting nuances relating to the introduction of Laser Range Finders, Tube launched missile systems, composite armour and reactive armour, many of these were delivered as upgrades to the in place force. In general older equipments provided the training stock or were found in the independent tank regiments attached to Motor Rifle Divisions.

Of interest and difficult to identify is the broad division between the deployment of T64 and T72. My current assumption is that T 64 deployment was prioritised to the forward Group of forces and that T72s were primarily used in the European Military Districts.  This assertion is indirectly supported by the composition of the Byelorussian forces following the decomposition of the Soviet Union.  In 1994 they deployed a mix of T54/55, T62, T64 and T72 with the largest single type being T72. The Osprey Tank War central front asserts that armour in both Central and Northern Group of forces would include significant numbers of T 72, which seems also likely of the Southern Group of Forces but not stated.  In addition to the broad equipment policy the forward deployed units were also subject to greater equipment scalings.

Guild Big Game 2011, BMP 1 MRB, passing through the 2S1 Battalion
of the 1st Echelon MRR

The motor rifle regiment and tank regiment were key building blocks in the development of soviet force structures.  The MRR consisted of the following elements:

3 Motor Rifle Battalions (2 BTR and 1 BMP) in MRD, and 1 BMP only in TD

1 Tank Battalion, with companies of 10 or 13 tanks, 13 in MRD by mid 1980s

1 122mm artillery Battery or Battalion, towed in early MRD or SP in TD, BMP equiped MRR and some later BTR MRB.

Recce Company
Anti Tank Battery
Air Defence Battery
Engineer companies

Regimental HQ, Supply, Repair and Medical elements

MRB, T-72, BMP 2, Revell, ACE and Liberation Miniatures

Tank Regiments were of similar structure but with 3 Tank Battalions and 1 Motor Rifle Battalion, an additional MRL battery and no AT company, Tank Regiments in MRD did not include a Motor Rifle Battalion.  Motor Rifle Regiments in Tank Divisions were equipped with BMP.

BTR equipped units contained additional Anti Tank platoons which in the forward Group of Forces could be over strength.

BTR, MRB - Figures and Vehicles Liberation Miniatures

Throughout the 80s there were relatively minor organisational changes to the overall structure of the MRR or TR.

• An increase in artillery from a gun battery to a battalion of three batteries (around 1984), on reflection I decided tripling the quantity of Artillery constituted a major change.  Some BTR Regiments in the forward group of forces started to receive 2S1 to replace D 30 towards the end of the period (1984?).
• Regimental Air Defence Batteries, migrated from 2 Platoons of 2 vehicle SA 9 Gaskin or SA 13 Gopher and 2 Platoons 2 vehicle ZSU 23-4 to 2 Platoons of 3 2S6 and 2 Platoons of 3 BMP 2 each with 3 SA 14 launchers.  The SA 9 equiped BTR and early BMP MRR whilst SA 13 equipped later BMP and Tank Regiments the 2S6 evolution was also confined to BMP and tank units.
• Regimental Recce retained a Track, Wheeled and MC Sect, with tracked migrating from PT 76, through (1980) BMP 1 to (1984) BMP 2.
• Regimental Anti Tank, MRR only, maintained structure and migrated equipment AT 3 to AT4 AT5.

In addition to the changes in the composition of the Regiment there were also changes to the MRB and TB, with the MRB undergoing the most significant, structural change in the 80s. This included changes to the composition and size to the:

• Morter Platoon the original 82mm mortars were replaced by 120mm mortars in the late 70's and the Vasilek automatic mortar started to replace 120mm in BTR and or BMP units by the end of the period.
• Air Defence Platoon SA 7/14 assets were originally distributed to companies but were then grouped into an AD Platoon with 3 BMP from 1984, by the end of the period this was reflected in BTR units probably from 1989.
• from around 1984 an AGS 17 platoon with 3 BMP was added in BMP equipped battalions, this existed in BTR battalions at company level but included additional transport. By the end of the period (1989) they were centralised in BTR units
• Anti Tank Platoon, BTR MRR only, enhanced size in forward Groups of Forces.
• Weapons section was created at company level with Anti Tank (AT 7) and Machine Gun (PKM) elements within the companies of BTR (3+3) equipped battalions and machine Gun squads in BMP (0+6) companies. (1989)

Most of the other changes over the period were created by swapping old equipment for new, or from different equipments being used in different units.

The next post in this series is 1980s Soviet MRR and TR - Part 2 Tank Change

References:

MRD 1979, 1984, 1989

MRR BMP 1979, 1984, 1989 BTR 1979, 1984, 1989

TD 1979, 1984, 1989

TR 1979, 1984, 1989

FM 100-2-3 The Soviet Army Troops, Organisation and Equipment.

SASO The Soviet Combined Arms Battalion - Reorganisation for Tactical Flexibility

CIA The Soviet Motorised Rifle Division and Tank Division Organisation 1970

Tank War Central Front, Osprey

Military Balance 1993 - 1994, IISS

Warsaw Pact Orbat 1989

Inside The Soviet Army Today, Osprey
Inside The Soviet Army, V Suverov

Weapons and Tactic of The Soviet Army, Isbey

ORBAT- 1980's MRR and TRR Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 

Review - Model 1/72, ACE BMP 2

ACE models, you either love them or hate them, over the last couple of years I have become an admirer of this firms products.  They offer a range of limited production run kits, which frequently means a lot of flash and fit issues with limited instructions which cover what goes where, mostly, but does little to cover off the assembly sequence. This means a bit more thinking and effort is required in order to complete the models. I have made nearly 20 of their BMP kits now and so feel sufficiently experienced in their construction to offer some advice to the as yet uninitiated, that's not to say I do it with any degree of finesse as I mass produce to meet the needs of a large Soviet force.

The BMP 2 entered service with Soviet Army in the early 80s and by the late 80's they had probably replaced the BMP 1 in the forward deployed groups of forces.  The principal changes associated with the BMP 2 were a two man turret, 30mm canon AT4/5/6 launcher capable of being fired from under armour and a corresponding reduction in the amount of troops carried.  In order to accommodate the extra weight and still swim additional buoyancy was required that accounts for the more boxy shape on those equipped with track guards.  The Vehicle can be used from the 1980s to the present day and has seen active service all over the globe, so a very versatile addition to the collection.

Basic Assembly Issues

The difficult bits in assembling this model is the hull assembly and the track assembly around the front sprocket.  

The first is managed by spending an amount of effort preparing the hull sides and base with a file or sanding stick to ensure the hull sides and hull base fit well together. The return roller holes toward the upper edge of the hull side should be drilled if needed before assembly. I generally get the base of the hull sides attached and leave this to dry before attempting to resolve any miss allignment of the angle of the hull base bow and the hull sides. If the hull rear is fitted at this time getting the sides vertical is easier. With the base of the hull sides secured clamps can be used to ensure that the hull front bonds well or you can sit and hold it.  This is a bigger problem on the BMP 1 kits I have had than the BMP 2 kits.

I then attack the tracks before adding the hull top.  I add the road wheels and return rollers to the hull sides and assemble the front sprocket but don't add to the hull as shown in the picture above, which was taken before I had developed a process to reduce the pain of adding the tracks.  In order to resolve track fit over the front sprocket the easiest method I have tried is as follows:

• Remove front sprocket teeth, over that part of the arc that will be covered by track links.
• Remove guide horns on underside of track links, going over sprocket
• Clean front and rear of track link
• Assemble
• Attach to hull
• on the lower portions of the track removing the inside guide horns can ease track alignment if your road wheels are not straight
• Assemble remainder of track, file and fill where required

I then fit the hull top which never quite meets between the front and the rear, I tend to leave the gap at the rear, the better option is probably the front as the splash plate will cover any mess left from filling and filling.  Paying plenty of attention to fit and fileing to achieve it pays a dividend. The remainder of the assembly is quite straight forward but continuing to check fit before assembly remains the watch word.

The major omission from the vehicles is representation of the firing ports which I have personally not rectified but would be relatively straight forward to produce from Foil or plastic sheet.  I Have batch assembled upto 4 vehicles at a time and oddly this can be more efficient as it is best to wait for the bonds to cure on the hull assembly before completing the tracks and hull top fit, as well as the waits for filler to cure when fitting the hull tops.

Having endured the pain, the BMP 2 is really a very good model compared to some of their earlier offerings, the final result is always very worth while and beats resin versions by a mile. 

Stowage on Soviet vehicles is always an interesting question, as the soviet soldier was given little equipment and therefore little gets strapped on the outside, although they do have the odd habit of putting the crew on the outside.

Pictures from Afghanistan, Chechnya and Georgia give a slightly different view to that seen of vehicles in Europe and I have opted for something in between. I have seen one immage of a cam net on top of the tarpaulin secured to the hull side but have not represented that.

 The elements I chose to represent are as follows:

• The unditching beam that appears in a lot of picture, I made mine from plastic rod with green stuff securing straps.  The key thing to note here is that the beam needs to be longer than the track width.
• Some hessian wrapped cam nets/tarpaulins around the turret were added made from rolled green stuff before being marked with a wet knife.
• The occasional box tarpaulin was placed on the back deck, this is impossible to do with out obscuring the upper hatches or optics but assume like many British vehicles that the upper hatches were not routinely used.
• I only included launch tubes on half the vehicles but added the rest of the launcher on all

Painting and Decals

The vehicles are painted in Vajello Rusian Green like all my soviet equipment. The Decals are a white numbering set produced by QRF for there 15mm vehicles.  The AT 4/5/6 launch tubes are painted in Vajello Russian Uniform,  the Tarpaulins and Canvas elements are Vajello english uniform, washed in Devlin Mud and highlighted in Vajello Khaki mixed with buff. Deck grills are Vajello black grey, straps Vajello Grey Green. Weathering is done with washes of Vajello Khaki and Khaki Grey. 

ACE have re released this model with considerable improvements a review of the latest product can be found here

Other Resources:

ACE BMP 2D Review on the way models
Henk of Holland Ace Modern Soviet Vehicles
ACE BMP 1A1 OST KG Wings Review
ACE BMP 2 Review on the way models
ACE BMP2, ACE Models page
Military Photos BMP 2
Prime Portal BMP2 Walk around
Military Vehicle Photos BMP 2
Review - Model 1/72, ACE Re Release

Review - Web Resources, DTIC Online

DTIC is the US militaries Defence Technical Information Centre and they host a large online repository of Military information covering Science, Equipment Organisation and Doctrine.  The repository rolls back to the cold war and includes much of what was published by the Soviet Army Studies Office, now the Foreign Military Studies Office.

A search using Soviet Army Studies Office as the criteria will yield a raft of useful information about the cold war and immediate post cold war period on the Soviet Military.  Some of these are articles published in US military publications of the time others are reports.

Useful Titles include:

The Soviet Combined Arms Battalion - Reorganisation for Tactical Flexibility, This includes a discussion on the evolution of the Motor Rifle Battalion from 1949 - 1989 and an analysis of 500 post war exercises conducted by the Soviet Army and published in either there military or Press to determine likely task organisations by the Soviets.  The article then goes on to conceptualise the evolution of the Combined Arms Battalion.

Soviet Battalion in Defence, which talks at some level of detail on the organisation of the soviet battalion in defence including the use and application of fires, engineer, reconnaissance assets and the preparation for and conduct of the defensive battle.

The Battle for Hill 3234: Last Ditch Defence in the Mountains of Afghanistan - the 9 Company Story

Warsaw Pact Views on Trends in Ground Forces Tactics

Changing Soviet Objective Depths a reflection of Changing Circumstances.

All these articles represent contemporary intelligence analysis and as such will inevitably be inaccurate.  Having said that the level of analysis is more than I'm personally going to have a go at, and represent a solid alternative to learning Russian and as I am rapidly discovering trying to piece together change that you physically experienced 20 years ago can be difficult to re create with any degree of accuracy.

Other useful search terms include:

The Journal of Slavic Military Studies

Combat Studies Institute

Wargames Unit - Soviet early 80's MRB

This post describes how I represent Soviet the early 80's Motor Rifle Battalions in my MRR  the unit is based on the Guild Red Tide 2010 Orbats produced by Piers Brand. I am currently working a series of Posts to describe the Motor Rifle and Tank Regiments deployed over the 1980s and will be revising this unit when I have finished the research, It represents a unit deployed on the central front either as part of the CSFG or held within the Soviet Military districts of the Western TVD.

It represents a BMP 2 equipped Motor Rifle Regiment supported by a Company of 12 T-72 and an artillery Command and Observation Post which would come with the associated battery or battalion of guns. The T-72s are the Revel version which based on reading to date represents a T-72 A, The BMP 2s are ACE and are reviewed in detail here,  The MTLB and BRDM 2Us are also from ACE.

The AGS -17 is grouped with the Battalion HQ along with a sniper, commander radio operator and SA 7 operator. The rifle companies currently include 1 RPG, 1 LMG/GPMG, 1 Commander and 6 Riflemen. All the figures are Liberation Miniatures.

References

ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 1 Deployment and ORBAT
TTP - Soviet Forward Detachment as a Covering Force
Wargames Unite - Soviet Early 80's MRB

ORBAT - 1980s British BG, Part 4 Recce Group

The first armoured Battle Group I am creating is based on an Infantry battalion in a Mechanised Brigade and has been allocated the following assets;

1 Squadron of Cheiftain

2 Rifle Companies in FV 432

1 Recce Troop with Scimitar

1 Milan Platoon,  3 Sections and Milan Mobile only, the other section was detached with the third Rifle company

1 Morter Platoon with 81mm Mortars in FV432

1 Artillery Tac Party

1 Air Op of two Gazelles for limited periods of time

1 Sniper section ( not all mechanised battalions would deploy snipers)

1 SF GPMG Section ( not all mechanised battalions would deploy SF GPMG teams)

1 Field Troop RE

1 Armoured Engineer Detachment, 1 AVRE, 2 AVLB

1 Battery of Guns in direct support, Up to 2 more batteries of guns occasionally

Within the battle group further grouping occurred at the direction of the commanding officer.  These ranged from very specific groupings for a particular phase of the battle or a particular mission to more enduring ones that tended to reflect a particular CO's preferences or a fashionable trend at a particular point in time. In this post I am looking at how Recce assets might have been grouped within the battle group outlined above.

I served in a Mechanised Infantry Battalion in BAOR from 1986 - 1988 and recall seeing Milan mobile equipped with the then new Milan Compact Turret task organised with the Recce Platoon quite frequently. In 1991 - 1992 I was at the British Army Training Unit Suffield in Canada and witnessed a number of interesting configurations of Recce either in the advance, in withdrawal or as a covering force in defence.  In the latter two cases the intent was to confuse the enemy about what they had encountered and in the advance to improve the ability of the Recce group to identify obstacles, engage the enemy with direct or indirect fire or deal with enemy armour.  The use of Recce groups is also documented in a number of books about Gulf War 1 which was heavily influenced by what was going on in the late 1980's but of it's own right created a level of innovation.

I am trying to chase down the dates for the introduction of Milan Mobile, which was probably around 1985 with spartans for transport this was probably one of the main drivers behind the creation of these more complex Recce groupings.  In the early 1980's I assume the groupings were probably simpler but interestingly more complex for other sub units, more of that in the next post.

The elements of the Battlegroup most likely to contribute to the Recce Group were as follows:

Recce Platoon. The Recce platoon consisted of 8 CVRT Scimeters organised into two sections each of two detachments of two Recce cars. The cars nearly always operated in pairs and tended to advance using one vehicle or pair of vehicles in over watch whilst the other advanced. They were equipped with dismount able thermal imagers OTIS and spyglass and laser binoculars, at least one of the thermal immagers could be deployed hand held from the turret. The limited armour protection of the vehicles together with the fact that the role required them to look and listen, meant that they tended to operate head out of the turret.

Milan Mobile. The Milan Mobile section was part of the Milan platoon and initially operated from Spartan, but in 1987 were issued with the Milan Compact Turret which saw service in Gulf war 1 but was eventually replaced by Warrior.  The Milan Compact Turret allowed the missiles to be fired from under armour but equally importantly provided a vehicle mounted thermal immager. The section comprised 4 CVRT MCT.  They tended to be available to infantry battle groups only.

Engineer Field Troop. The engineer field troop consisting of 3 sections each equipped with a 432, and a troop HQ consisting of Troop Commander, Troop Staff Seargent and Troop Recce Seargent each with a CVRT. The Recce Seargent routinely deployed with the Recce platoon in order to identify and report obstacles and could be reinforced by either the staff Seargent or the Troop Commander who might other wise provide advice, plan, control or sheppard engineer assets to tasks.

Forward Observation Officers.  Each battery in an Artillery regiment would provide a Tac party to a Battlegroup, these tended to be fairly static groupings in order to build relationships and foster understanding between commanders and their supporting Fire Controllers.  Each Tac party comprised a Battery Commander and three forward observation officers all mounted in FV 432 and equipped with enhanced Night Viewing devices and ground surveillance radars.  Their principal roles were advice, fire planning and fire control.  They would be grouped as required for the mission.

Mortar Fire Controllers. In addition to its 8 mortar tubes the mortar platoon deployed 3 MFCs and the Platoon commander in CVRTs again equipped with a range of hand held thermal viewing devices and laser binoculars.  In outline they provided similar functions to the Artillery Tac parties and would work in close cooperation with BCs and FOOs. They tended to be available to Infantry battle groups only.

 From these assets the battle group would constitute a  Recce Group which routinely could include:

8 Scimeter

4 MCT

1 or 2 Engineer Recce

1 MFC

1 FOO

1 Sampson

Giving us 16 or 17 Vehicles, so at 1:3 at least 5 models, for my units I am currently intending to use:

2 Scimeter, 1 MCT, 1 Engr Recce, 1 FOO or MFC

This then was a fairly routine grouping of assets to form a Recce group, it would be unusual not to see some combination of these assets operating under the command of Recce platoon.  More immaginative commanders would consider other options to problems however such groupings were less frequent. The list of additional assets to be considered could include:

Milan Sections. There were 4 Milan sections in Milan Platoon each consting of a section commander, and two two post detachments the complete section being mounted in 3 FV 432s. In the Early 80's the section was mounted in 1 Ferrit Scout Car and 2 FV432.  It was reasonably common to Group SF Guns with Milan and as they had no dedicated transport gave them some ability to cut about the battlefield. The combination of the two allowed more effective engagement of enemy vehicles, with the milan destroying the vehicle and the SF GPMG the crews or dismounted infantry.  It was routine to group one Milan section with each rifle company allowing one to be held in reserve as a flank guard, or deployed with Recce to deceive the enemy as to our strengths and dispositions.

SF Sections, an SF section at this time consisted of 3 detachments of two guns and routinely could be allocated to the rifle companies or grouped with Milan or indeed some combination of both.  The receiving unit would provide transport, usually in platoon command wagons in the rifle companies or section command wagons in the Milan Sections as both carried less men routinely than other vehicles. 

Armoured Troops/Squadrons. Mixing Armour with Recce could be acheived in a number of ways.  The simplest was to detach a troop of tanks from one or more of the units squadrons, the second was to create a larger grouping of a squadron with Recce Group under the command of the squadron or some third party or indeed not to formalise the arrangement but merely to make the support of recce part of the squadrons mission.  

Snipers. Snipers if available, might be mixed in withn recce they were quite difficult to employ in armoured warfare, if there is significant mobility in the battle.  They have to be transported, deployed and extracted but can be very effective both as an observation and an engagement asset. They could also be grouped with Milan sections or rifle companies.

Air Observation Posts. For limited periods of time air observation posts of gazel helicopters could be tasked with Recce.  Air Ops could provide both observation and indirect fire control and there speed and ease of redeployment conferred a significant advantage. They were of course vulnerable to ground fire, but this was lessoned in the early nighties with the introduction of the roof mounted sight which meant that more of the helicopter was cancelled when observing.  Movement would be conducted making best use if available cover with the aircraft flying and hovering within meters of the ground. You don't need big flight stands for Recce choppers.

Creating mixed forces of heavy armour and Recce would be done in order to allow Recce to operate within the footprint of the direct fire envelope of MBTs, this might be done in order to counter a specific threat or to create a force mix that when encountered might look electronically and physically like the main force.

From the wargames perspective it should be apparent that the British Army of this period was extremely flexible in its ability to task organise forces to the mission. Some examples might serve to illustrate what was done and when.

For units preparing defences, it was usual to deploy some form of covering force. This might be layered such that the brigade might be sat behind a screen provided by Divisional Recce, but would deploy its own screen of armour this could be a single squadron, an armour heavy battle group or an infantry heavy battle group dependent on the nature of the terrain.

Within the battle groups preparing defences behind the screening forces, they could deploy there own forward screen. This might include a strong Recce group and a squadron, or a Recce group that included a mix of armour, the intent would be to buy time and confuse the enemy as to what had been found. The easiest way to impose delay being to force the enemy to deploy an attack against what he thought was a main force position.  The Soviet echelon system was designed to deal with this and maintain the momentum of an advance,

So if our battle group was to deploy such a screen, what might it look like? Clearly there was significant flexibility but an example might be as follows:

Recce Platoon 8 Scimeter

Milan Mobile 4 MCT

1 MFC, 1 Spartan

1 FOO, 1 FV432

1 Sampson

Given the mission the Engineer Recce would be of less use but there removal still leaves us with a group of 15 vehicles, so 5 models at 1:3.  In addition because of the mission additional force elements might be added to the mix including:

1 or more Snipers Pairs, 

1 Milan section with SF GPMG, 3 FV 432, 5 Milan , 2 SF GPMG

1 Troop of tanks, 3 MBTS

1 Air Op, 2 Gazells

Some obstacles: Minefields, dummy minefields, route cratering, 

So with my 1:3 representation, 2 Scimeter, 1 MCT, 1 MFC Spartan, 1 FV432 Foo, 1 FV 432 with 2 Milan and 1 SF, 1 MBT, 1 Gazell

In the advance the grouping might bring back the engineers, loose the Milan and snipers, add an extra troop or loose the troop of tanks. It could operate in close cooperation with tanks or if the country was close, woods or urban terrain be replaced by a company of infantry.

All this depended on the composition of the battle group or the mission in hand, screens could be deployed forward or to a flank and both the Milan platoon and Recce Platoon could be employed in these roles, dRecce forward with Milan on a Flank. 

The British Armoured Battle Group in the late 1980s early 1990s was a very flexible beast offering a wide range of options to those with the imagination to conceive them and boldness to try them.  I was on the staff at BATUS or supported training evaluation there for 4 years between 1991 and 1996 and witnessed over twenty Medicine man exercises, for the imaginative and the bold, rule 1 applied..............there were no rules! But it had better work especially if it flew in the face of conventional wisdom.

References:

ORBAT 1980s British Battle Group, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Rats' Tales: Staffordshire Regiment at War in the Gulf

Review - Model 1/72, S&S Gaz 66 Model

O

The Gaz 66 was extensivly used by a wide variety of protagonists in the cold war from the Soviet Union and Warsaw pact through to third world nations in Asia and Africa.  It was a key vehicle within the VDV where it provide a significant amount of the gun tow/light truck capability within battalion and regimental support weapons elements.  So given that most wargamers love paras and few cold war players can resist the alure of the VDV that probably represented the zenith of mans acheivements in the arena of verticle envelopment,  in terms of scale and range of equipment deployed, it should be of little supprise that this particular vehicle should be in high demand.  As with many of Shauns offerings it is also dramaticaly under represented in the 20 mm modelling world with only Balaton and AER offering an alternative to my knowledge.  The both the Balaton and AER offerings are aimed at the modelling community rather than the wargaming being more complex, a little more pricey and potentially less robust. Having said that they do make some lovely models that are unavailable else where and give an easier route to a Gaz 66 B.

The model is moulded in white resin in two parts cab and truck body, and includes metal parts for the chasis axels and wheels.  The mouldings on my 6 copies were clean and required little preparation befor assembly being largely free of flash and air holes. Assembly is quite straight forward with the difficult bits of which axel goes where being driven by slightly different attachments to the Chasis. Care. Needs to be taken around the seating of Cab and truck bed in order to get the alighnment right.

As well as the cargo truck body Shaun also makes a great little box body version of this truck which works for HQs and signals intercept type units.  the cargo body is modelled without the seats and rails associated with the passenger carrying versions, my intent is to model these as detachable inserts with a variety of different crews and loads allowing me to exploit the potential of this truck for use by Angolans, Cubans, UNITA, Afgans and my Soviet VDV.  The selection of the Cargo body also allows the vehicle to be used as a technical for heavy MGs, ZU 23-2s and recoiless rifles.

I have finished mine in a generic Russian green paint scheme whith no specific markings which should allow me to operate it across the range of armies listed above, for those interested TL Modelblau produce a set of decals for soviet airborne, which whilst intended for a parade finish are seen in photos of Soviet vehicles in tha field.  These tend to be more frequently associated with armoured rather than soft skin vehicles.

I have given the vehicles lower body and wheels a fairly heavy weathering using washes of kaki and Khaki drab And based it for Europe or Africa, it will work in the green zone, Lebanon or Syria but would probably look odd in the Sinai. 

There are a few conversion options for the adventurous, a soft top version for the Soviet airborne would be a challenge they also used the cabed version. an attempt at the airportable M 1975 122mm MRL version is a more interesting proposition and is on the list of things to do for a rainy day. Having said that the open topped version does look attractive.

In summary a great wargames model, needing little preparation time that can be deployed in a wide variety of armies from the late 60s up until the present day.