Wargames Unit - Soviet Divisional Anti Tank Battalion

The composition of this battalion was one of the first posts I made on this blog and has received the most hits. I finished the unit at the start of this month in preparation for a game here we see one of the Sprut batteries about to come into action against a force of German Leopard 2s.

The Battalion is made up of three batteries and an HQ, 2 Batteries of 2A45 Spruts towed by MTLB and 1 Battery of BRDM 2 with AT5.  The HQ and the GW Battery command post field OPs with PSNR Radars and laser rangefinders. Justifying the Spruts is a little fun but they certainly look cool.

The MTLBs are by S&S, The Spruts are by Military wheels, crewed by converted Elhiem cold war  Soviets and the BTR 60 is by liberation. The OPs are scratch built on 40mm bases.

The GW battery uses S&S BRDM 2s although the AT5 carrying wagons have scratch built site units for the missile controller. 

The Divisional Anti Tank Battalion is the primary anti tank reserve of the MRD, Insane Tank action is what its for.  The counter attack by Leopard 2A4s of 123 and 124 Pz Battalion of 12 Pz Brigade into the flank of 18 Guards MRD at Wissenberg.

References:

Review - Models 1/72 Military Wheels 2A45 Sprut

Wargames Unit - Soviet MRR Anti Tank Reserve

Review - Models 1/72, S&S BRDM 2 + AT5

Orbat - Soviet Divisional Units, Part 1 Anti Tank Battalion

Review - Models 1/72, S&S GSP Ferry

The GSP ferry was first introduced into service in 1959 and used extensively by both the Soviets and a range of client states throughout the cold war.  The equipment was a key component of the Soviet river crossing machine, and was part of the assault river crossing capability held by the divisional engineer regiments, but generally attached out to regiments and forward detachments to aid in the rapid crossing of the many rivers that sat between them and the French border.  Capable of carrying a load of 50 tons it was  assembled from a pair of ferry vehicles and  could be ready for use in 3-5 minutes.

The Kit is very simple and consists of a single piece casting of the GSP in the water and the eight metal parts that make up the ramps., The main casting is well formed with some minor surface bubbles which I have left.  Getting the ramps to stick in the raised position is fun but Shaun tells me this has been addressed for the production versions.

I have painted mine Green, which might come as a bit of a surprise.  If I were doing it again I would represent some ropes on the deck The Trim Vein and maybe add the odd crew figure or two.  

I have two of Shauns PTS-M tracked amphibians which I use to represent the Assault crossing capability when on the move.  I am currently working up a visually appealing river crossing approach based on a number of water line representations of swimming vehicles the ferry, The PTS-Ms and some floating bridging I have yet to buy.

I believe the GSP Ferries are now released and available from S&S.

References:

Prime Portal GSP ferry walk around

Modelling - Converting a BRDM2Rkh

The BRDM 2 was the primary scout car operated by the Soviet Union in the later part of the cold war, it was produced between 1962 - 1989, it had a crew of 4 and mounted a 14.5mm KPVT HMG in the same turret as the BTR 60PB.  The BRDM 2 Rkh is an NBC Reconaisance version of the vehicle with flag planting, soil sampling and environment monitoring capabilities, two versions of this vehicle exist one with a standard turret and the other with a 7.62mm MG and a small sensing port in the turret.

The basic model was S&S's BRDM2 which is a good representation of the vehicle requiring minor amounts of filling on the raised detail on the back decks, front headlight clusters and around the rear left wheel.  It is now supplied with a turret with rear mounted smoke grenade discharger units representing a Russian BRDM 2M, these are easily removed with a sharp knife and file for those like me requiring an earlier version, for those requiring something operated by the Russian Federation, you get it for no effort.  I like this model the hull and turret shapes are good although it is a little smaller than the ACE model, sadly no longer available. As well as filling and filling I added a search light at the commanders position out of the spares box.

I wanted two BRDM 2Rkh, so I decided to use an Elhiem NBC clad figure in the commanders position on each vehicle, so removed the moulded hatch detail and and amended the figure to remove the weapon and add representation of the soil sampling kit using brass wire and green stuff.  Hatches and the window covers were made from thin plasticard.

The main recognition feature of the BRDM 2 Rkh are the racks of flags mounted on either side of the vehicle and covered and stowed over the back decks when the vehicle is traveling between tasks.  The alternative is to model them down and in operation. Stowed looked easier so stowed it was.  The Dischargers were made from card stock using square rod cut to size and caped with an oblong piece of card to represent the elongated top of the discharger unit.  The other components required are the rests near the turret and the uprights again produced from card stock.

I decided not to represent the covers at any level of detail and added what looks like some reactive cloth to the sides of the vehicle using green stuff as represented in the 2nd of the two black and white images.

The vehicle will be painted and marked in line with the rest of the Soviets and will become part of the Mobility Support Detachment for the MRR as outlined in this post here

References:

FM 100 3-1, The Soviet Army, Troops, Organisation and Equipment
Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army
War Wheels BRDM 2Rkh
ORBAT - 1980s Soviet MRR and TR, Part 3 Engineers

Review - Web Resources, M136 Exercise Picture Archive

The M136 website is an excellent web resource with a significant amount of imagery generated by a number of photographers living in Germany throughout the cold war period.  Whilst the cold war is extensively covered post cold war content is also good.  The Web site is in German but its easy enough to navigate and most of the information is pictorial in nature

Exercises from 1960 through to 2010 are covered making this a first rate historical record.  Most NATO nations are covered I have used it for US, Canadians, Danes, British, Dutch and Belgium

In addition to the extensive imagery archive the site has also archived op orders, exercise instructions and news paper articles about the exercises.

 If the central front in the cold war or indeed the post cold war period is of interest to you this really is a brilliant web site.

Review - Models 1/72, Trumpeter M113 A2, M150 Conversion

The M113 was used by the Canadians as their primary APC for 4 CMBG, the A2 started to come into service with Canadian units from 1983 and both variants were used across the roles allocated to the vehicle with no obvious patterns. This included providing the platform for the TOW equipped anti armour defence platoons.  The Canadians adopted the TOW system in the mid to late 70s and used it mounted on the M113,  its not clear from the references if these were actually M150s.

The model like all the other trumpeter kits I have ever made is very straight forward to assemble and contains a wealth of detail both internal and external. The only obvious problem area is the plastic tracks, the joining of the two ends still seems to defeat a reliable approach for achieving an enduring bond. I would also recommend a good study of the photography collection with regard to the particular vehicles being made as there are a number of alternative parts not needed on all vehicles some of which requier holes cutting in the hull.

I used the TOW launcher from the Dragon HMMWV kit which looks sadly to be discontinued as it was one of the cheapest ways to get a decent TOW launcher, given that you had other things to do with the HMMWVs. I used a card stock plastic tube to provide the base of the mount into which the TOW launcher fitted.

Just about every picture of a Canadian M113 I have seen has a road wheel fixed to the trim vane, not sure why but included one here. Of course it was not until I had fixed it that I noticed that in the photos it was half a road wheel. in addition I added some rolled stowage on the front hull top, and a cam net. the crew were provided by some Elhiem Germans with the guns removed and the head of a liberation South African figure

Decals came from a number of sources, the top set are TL Modelblau, The middle set QRF black numbers and the letters are Fantasy print shop Luftwaffe serials.  The things a boy has to do to get a decently marked up set of vehicles.

For Colour and marking guides I have used the excellent Armoured Acorn site, and managed to identify the Call Signs from a number of forum posts by ex Canadian Forces soldiers.  The Anti Tank Platoon was Call Sign 55 with 18 Vehicles in 4 sections of 4 and 2 in the HQ.  55 A-P being the 16 Vehicles in the sections the Call Sign of the Command vehicles being 55.  Morters were 57, Pioneers 58 and the Company HQ 59.

It would appear from the references that some units carried number plates and some did not. The paint scheme uses Vajello Russian Uniform, German Uniform and Black, The Hatch spall liners are in Gunship Green and the Cam Net in Bronze Green.  The TOW Launcher is Olive Drab.  I used this model as a bit of a tester for the Canadians to try out the Cam scheme and get all the decals together.