ORBAT - Soviet Air Assault Capability, Part 2 Army Air Assault Battalion

Each Soviet Combined Arms Army in the forward deployed groups of forces included an Air Assault Battalion in its make up by the mid 1980s.  The Army level Air Assault Battalion deployed a mix of BMD equiped and Infantry sub units all of which were parachute trained and part of the wider Desantno-ShturmoviyVoyska (DSHV) rather than the Vozdushno desantnye voyska (VDV) both of which were characterised by the term Desant. By 1986 the strength of the DSHV was assessed to be 16 Air Assault Brigades, 2 Regiments and 20 Battalions.

Prior to the deployment of Army Air Assault Battalions Soviet divisions would have a battalion of Motor Rifle troops trained as Heliborne Air Assault.  I assume these would be drawn from BTR units with dismounted Anti Tank platoons. Sources indicate that the 3 Companies might be drawn from different Units (Regiments) which would allow them all to be strongly task organised as in the illustration bellow.  I am not clear if this capability persisted once the Air Assault Battalions were available to the Armies of a Front but assume it would be.

ORBAT

The Air Assault units at each level were quite different, this post concentrates on the Army, Air Assault Battalion.

In broad terms the Army Air Assault Battalion consisted of a BMD Company, 2 Parachute Infantry Companies, a Mortar Battery, Air Defence platoon, Recce platoon and an AGL platoon.  I am choosing to represent it as follows:

• 1 BMD Coy  4 AKM, 1 PKM, 1 RPG 16, 2 BMD
• 2 Parachute Coy each, 5 AKM, 1PKM, 1 RPG 16, 1 AT-7
• Mortar Battery 2 82mm Mtr 1 x MOP
• Air Defence Platoon 3 AKM 3 SA7
• Recce Platoon 1 BRDM2
• AGL Platoon 2 AGS 17
• AT Pl 2 AT4 1 SPG9

The items in red are not supported well with hard evidence, they would normally be left out of BMD/BMP equipped infantry units.  In this particular case this makes little sense as the Companies would deploy independently and the two parachute companies would lack anti armour assets that would be available to them if they were in the Parachute Infantry Battalions of Air Assault Brigades of the DSHV, I have threfore included them where others have not.

Task Organisation

The companies were quite heavily task organised on operations as they tended to be deployed on company level operations and therefore each company deployed a slice of the battalion support assets.  The company level deployments would be made in support of operations by forward detachments in order to speed up the rate of manoeuvre through the seizing of key terrain such as river crossings mountain passes and key cross roads. Other Missions included Raids ambushes and blocks. These battalions would be used within 15km of the forward line of own troops to allow for rapid link up and fire support from artillery throughout the mission.

for the wargames table this will create an infantry company group that could contain:

• Parachute Infantry Company 4 AKM, 1PKM, 1 RPG 16, 1 AT-7

• Attached Support elements:

• Anti Aircraft detachment (1AKM 1SA7)

• Anti Tank detachment (1 AT4 1 SPG 9) 

• Mortar detachment (1 82mm Mor, I OP) 

• Direct Fire Support detachment (1 AGS17)

There is evidence to support this level of task organisation and it fits with the articulated doctrine of Air Assault elements being used in Company and Battalion groupings.  Depending on missions the battalion might choose a less even split. Use of BTR D is not clear if any were available to add Mobility to Mortars or if light trucks were used.

Lift

A BMD equipped Company required a lift of approximately 12 Hook or 7 Halo. I estimated this based on a figure of 37 to lift a Battalion with 3 BMD Companies.  This breaks down to:

• 30 Hooks carrying BMDs (15 Halo)
• 2 per Company Group for the remainder of the personel and equipment including HQ and support (either aircraft)

With out vehicles a battalion required 13 Hip about 4 per Company group.

Given a flight of 4 Hips could lift a Company of Infantry and 5 Halos 10 BMDs the lift assets available to an Army in the Mid 80s together with the support of One + flights from the Heavy lift squadron from the Front Transport regiment could move the 3 Divisional Rifle companies, the two air assault parachute companies and the BMD company simultaneously.

The regrouping of 2nd Echelon Army Aviation assets and Front aviation assets would remove the lift constraint to the deployment of Army and Front Air Assault assets simultaneously, which provides an interesting concept of manoeuvre support on the main axis of advance, a bit like Operation Market Garden on steroids but much more viral.

I am still unraveling the story of the evolution of Helicopter support but will explain the organisational evolution of this force in a future post, if your interested the storey is well told on the 16 Air Army site

For Game purposes at a vehicle scale of 1:3 I'll be using 1 Halo and 1 Mi 8 for the BMD Company group and 2 Hip, or  a Hook for the Parachute Infantry company groups.

Artillery

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that missions would be supported by Artillery and it is feasible that this artillery could be grouped under command on such missions and operate from behind the Forward Line of Own Troops. This could provide suppression of the LS and Route as well as support during any fighting.  Route suppression would require careful planning in order to avoid friendly fire.  examples of both these approaches as well as on call tasks in more direct support are provided from analysis operations in Afghanistan.  Given the Soviet concepts of the forward grouping of Artillery from the second echelon the impact of this could be significant this is outlined in more detail in the Orbat Post on Soviet Artillery.

Air

It is highly likely that Air Assault operations would be accompanied by Air support both on insertion and during the attack.  This would be increasingly likely if taking place beyond the range of own artillery. Forward Air Controllers were provided to battalions for this purpose.  Air Units would be drawn from the Fronts Air Army.  This would likely include both Ground attack, Fighter and Air Defence suppression assets who would be part of a comprehensive insertion and suppression plan in line with  operations in Afghanistan

Attack Helicopters

Transport Helicopters would be supported by Attack Helicopters as well as carrying some suppression capabilities of their own.  These would provide additional Anti Armour capability to the Air Assault force prior to the link up with the ground force.  Whilst the Afghan experience highlights the escourt role of the Gunships, the differences in the operational environment on the central front would call for these assets to play a wider variety of roles during air assault operations. Both divisional and Army aviation assets would be available, likly missions include fire support into the DZ on landing and blocking and engagement of counter attacks against the Air Assault force

Perestroika, Glasnost and Air Assault Capability Evolution

Some of this capability was deployed late into Air Assault units, post 1989 and by then they were being removed or pushed back into the Soviet Union along with critical Engineer assets such as assault bridging units and long range fighter ground attack.  This was done in order to underline Soviet Political policy, they were adopting a less aggressive and more traditional defensive posture, where forward defence had moved from France all the way back to the IGB. It was probably also underpinned by the economics of the Cold War.  This creates a degree of confusion in trying to interpret Orbat evolution in the Cold War as in train changes were stopped as the cold war came to a close.

When we start considering how we get to war fighting positions at the end of the Cold War these may have come from different political agendas so it is reasonable to hypothesise events unfolding where some of the restructuring at the very end of the Cold War may not have been followed through. As ever with the cold war when your scrapping on the central front you have moved into the realm of alternate histories or fantasy.

References:

ORBAT - Soviet Air Assault Capability, Part 1 Overview and Lift
ORBAT- 1980's MRR and TRR, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Red Thrust, 1989,  S Zalouga

Military Balance 1986-87
Military Balance 1990-91

Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army
Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics

The Soviet Afghan War, 2002, L Grau

The Bear went over the Mountain

The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Manoeuvre

FM 100-2 Specialised Warfare and Rear Area Support, Chapter 3 Heliborn Operations
FM 100-3, Soviet Troop Organisation and Equipment

FM 100-60 OPFOR

Inside the Soviet Army

SASO The Soviet Combined Arms Battalion - Reorganisation for Tactical Flexibility

Fire and Fury Modern Cold War Orbats - Soviet

Soviet Bloc Elite Forces, Zaloga and Loop, Osprey 1985
Soviet Airborn Operations in Theatre of War, SASO, 1988
16va.be Web Site - Excellent resource for Soviet Air Force in GDR

Terrain - Modern Farm Buildings

As part of the terrain building effort for Wissenberg I wanted to create some farm buildings with a modern flavour to add some 1980s context to the battlefield.  I have been looking at this project for some time and had settled on a couple of styles of modern barn using pressed metal components the inspiration came from these images of Barns and Cowsheds.

The build process was similar to the supermarket, create a base out of hardboard, create a sketch and dimension everything then create the basic structure from foam core before building the facards on to card before mounting on the structure.  

As with previous builds a variety of card stock items and pre molded plastic sheet were used, this included the coregated clading and the breeze blocks.

You do need to think a bit with this stuff especially around pattern matching with roofing material, or you can end up with some interesting effects as I did on at least one of my buildings.  Most roofs will need you to make some form of ridge tile to cover the gap and I have used both paper and plasticard successfully for this.  

The other top tip from this build was that foam core Stanley knifes and wine don't mix well as i narrowly missed taking the top off my thumb when I left it the wrong side of the steel ruler that I was enthusiastically running the Stanley knife down.

The buildings were painted using a mix of Vajello colours and liquid Poster Paints and the effects were achieved through the application of washing and dry brushing as ever the intent was to avoid uniform colourings and make the building look used and abused. 

The first building was an open Barn built from breeze blocks asbestos and tin cladding sheets on a metal frame work.  The Metal framework was constructed from plastic strip and the rest from preformed plastic sheet.

The second was a metal framed Modern Cow Shed, built from preformed concrete blocks and aluminium cladding, with large sheet metal gates. The sheet metal gates on the front were constructed from plasticard and plastic strip.  The concrete slabs were scored cardboard covered in diluted wall filler, the remainder being constructed from preformed plastic sheet.

The last of the buildings was a more traditional structure, inspired by the first picture in the post in this case it was built entirely out of the moulded plastic sheet with no foam core structure.  I have a mind to make a few more farm outbuildings as they are really very useful and worked well in conjunction with the Byzantium farm house.

Other posts in this Series:

Terrain - Byzantium 20mm, German Buildings
Terrain - Modern Supermarket

Terrain - Hikki Trees, Pine Forests

Terrain - Making It Modern

Terrain - Camouflaged Hides 

Review - Web Resources, Soviet 16th Air Army

For the last few months I have been working up a fairly large Helicopter force, in order to represent Soviet Air Assault operations.  As I have been building and researching this force it has become increasingly apparent that you need to develop a fairly good model of Frontal Aviation in general in order to play out a decent Air Assault Game.

I have known of the 16 Air Army site for a year or so but it is primarily presented in French and my interest in Airplanes to date has been at the bottom end of limited.  Today I discovered that they had a fairly extensive Orbat for GSFGs Army Aviation component which looked somewhat different to the model I was working.  Having now sorted translate for my browser I realise what a jewel this site is.  Not only does it include the Orbat of GSFGs 16 Air Army including its aviation components but also maps out the evolution of the force and its equipment throughout the 80s.

This is a truly first class resource it includes deployment details, Unit evolution and  Equipment evolution which when combined with other web resources such as Air Power Australia and the good old wikipedia pretty much allows the bulk of the picture to be assembled.  In addition to a lot of facts and some great pictures the site includes translations from Soviet Air Crews experiences during there time in Germany which includes interesting descriptions of exercises and other deployments that provide insite into their mode of operation and the support they would offer to the land battle.

Interestingly for me at least Hugo also references most unit titles and abbreviations in Russian (latin rather than Cyrillic alphabets), something I will probably take up myself.  A gem of a website that should be high on your hit list if cold war games are your bag.

16 Air Army

Liebster Awards

 

 

 

Here are the Liebster rules as I got them from Dougies Wargaming Blog, Gowans 1/72 Scale Models and Hurry up and Wait

 

Copy and paste the award on your blog linking it to the blogger who has given it to you.

Pass the award to your top 5 favourite blogs with less than 200 followers by leaving a comment on one of their posts to notify them that they have won the award and listing them on your own blog.

Sit back and bask in that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing that you have just made someone's day!

A Big thankyou for the Nominations and on to mine

• First up Rusty over at Hurry up and Wait - a superb blog about the Falklands war breathtaking in its scope and covering all aspects of the conflict in a variety of Scales
• Next up Richard Cs Cold War Hot Hot Hot, a great blog and a guy that gave me a good leg up when I started and a man with a shared obsession
• Then There's Stopping The Red Tide a Campaign based blog recently started by Mwnciboo down in Cardiff based around a 15mm Cold War Hot Campaign with some great pics and Scenario background detail
• Another relative beginner in the blogosphere but not to writhing is Richard B over at Barber on Wargames, a collection of interesting 20th centuary conflicts covered with Richards inevitable eye for detail and History
• And Finally another new blog by Queeg, entitled Musings from the Warp, some superb 20mm vehicle modelling and painting in 20mm.

These babies are getting around, a great way to highlight some of the rich content thats out there in blog land - very 21st Centuary

 

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AAR - Wiesenberg Counter Attack, Part 3 Counter Strike

The final instalment of the Wisenberg counter attack covers the fighting that occurred between 18 Guards MRDs reserve and 12 Panzer Brigade on the afternoon and early evening of the 19th August 1988. As we know now this was the opening move in what was to become one of the larger and more critical meeting engagements of the war. It represents an attempt by both the German 4 Panzer Grenadier Division to stabilise a deteriorating situation from their perspective, whilst at the same time represents the beginnings of the same for Major General Khrenov of 18 Guards MRD the ensuing action would ultimately lead to the committal of 22 Combined Arms Armies 31 Tank Division as an Operational Manoeuvre Group, deep into the rear of VII US Corps, threatening the defence of The Fulda Gap and of Western Europe in a battle that would engage the Germans, French, Canadians, Americans, Czechoslovakians and the Red Army.

Following the initial exchanges of fire with 12 Panzer Brigades Recconaisance elements, 122 Panzer Grenadier Battalion in the West launched attacks to clear units of 79 MRD and 151 Air Assault Battalion holding Weimensheim and the Eastern Edge of the Hochwald, Whilst two flights of BO 105P HOT armed Attack Helicopters from 26 HeersFliegerRegiment deployed in support of 121 Mixed battalion and the elements of 4 Aufklärung Battalion in the East with the aim of assisting in clearing the Soviet Anti Tank Batterys located To the North East of Weimensheim and the Infantry that had been identified dug in South of Schmalwiesen that together dominated Fire Pocket Александр.

The BO -105Ps caught 280 MRR's Anti Tank battery in the process of relocating from its exposed position North of Hattenhof to its new position astride the Weimensheim/Schmalweisen Road, although the effectiveness of this initial attack was disrupted by SAM 7 engagements from the Anti Aircraft Platoon of 79 MRB dug in to the North.

The Soviets having redeployed 280 MRR'S AT Battery now had to slow the rate of advance of 121 Mixed Battalion and 4 Aufklärung Battalion moving into fire pocket Александр, In order to keep them in the kill zone they engaged with all three battalions of the RAG, which slowed the german advance but did little to destroy their tanks. Despite the AT fire and indirect fire the Germans continued to fight forward into the fire pocket.

The combined effect of the flights of Anti tank Helicopters together with the Leopard 1s of the two units proved too much for the Soviet Infantry and Anti tank batteries and as there resistance was worn down the pace of the German advance in this sector accelerated. Colonel Rokovski in his war diary records at 14:30 that things were becoming critical around Fire Pocket Александр and had warned both his reserve tank Company of T72As and the Divisional Helicopter Squadron for action in the vicinity of Schmalwiesen.

Col Rokovski's other pressing concern was the lack of availability of the Divisional BM27 battalion that had been on call to provide a SCATMIN attack to seal the exit of and disrupt movement through Fire Pocket Александр. Given the clear indication that 12 Panzer Brigade was avoiding Weisenberg he ordered the Regimental Recce company in that location to pull back to the rear of the fire pocket. The Mobile Obstacle Detachment enhanced the city as an obstacle by cratering road junctions as it withdrew whilst it's anti tank mine laying capability laid a hasty minefield across the principal exit from the fire pocket. 28 Battalion of the Regimental Artillery Group commenced preparation to deploy onto the forward edge of Weisenberg for a direct fire engagement into the depth of the fire pocket

122 Panzer Grenadier Battalion in the West had commenced clearance of the Hochwald supported by the battalion mortars in Weimensheim, in an attempt to reinforce the success of this attack Leopard 2s of the Battalions attached Panzer company pushed forward. As they did so they discovered the depth of the Soviet positions in the Hochwald and took further casualties.

122 Panzer Grenadier battalion's other company together with reconaisance and anti aircraft elements supported by the fire of 4 Artillery Regiments M110s had successfully cleared the elements of 79 MRB who had resolutely defended an area that was to become known in the histories as the Lidel cross road at the western end of Weimensheim and were consolidating their hold in that area.

Concurently with this the Mixed Battalion was completing its clearance of the forward AT positions but had started to draw fire from infantry believed to be from 79 MRB positioned around the watertower at the Northern edge of the light industrial estate on the outskirts of Weisenberg.

As its Infantry companys formed up to clear the western outskirts of Weisenberg from an FUP on the Weisenberg - Hattenhof Road the area selected between Hattenhof and Weimensheim seemed secure and Brigadier General Wittenberg ordered Panzer Battalions 123 and 124 to Form up to the South East of Weimensheim ready for an attack North towards 18 Guards MRD. At around the same time 16:30 in Colonel Rokovski's war diary it was noted that the reserve tank company and the Divisional Helicopter Squadron entered the fight around Fire Pocket Александр to the North of Schmalwiesen. With his available reserve committed he requested that 31 Independent tank battalion be prepared to counter attack into his area of responsibility approaching from the Northern end of the Hochwald.

by 17:30 121 Mixed battalion together with the remenents of 4 Aufklärung Battalion had just about reached the Northern edge of fire pocket Александр. In order to halt its onward advance Colonel Rokovski moved 161 Artillery Battalion's 2S3s into position to engage with direct fire from the Southern edge of the woods they were located in North of Schmalwiesen . With Mi 24 Hinds from the Divisional Helicopter Squadron committed along with armoured reserve the Soviets still strugled to have any great effect on the fast moving armour that had spread out onto the open ground North of Hattenhof and West of Schmalwiesen

With the bulk of the Soviet forces now committed on fire pocket Александр and the villages of Weimenshiem and Hattenhof neutralised or secured the NATO artillery focused on the Russian farm and 27 Battery's Spruts, with their fire power suppressed the conditions to launch 123 and 124 Panzer battalions had been met, and despite the late discovery of a 151 Air Assault Battalion Ambush on the Eastern end of Weimensheim the Germans were ready to launch their Armoured Strike.

At around 18:00 hours Panzer Battalions 123 and 124 launched North through the Gap between Weimensheim and Hattenhof into the cleared space created by the exploits of the Brigades Panzer Grenadier Units. With their Eastern Flank secured by the deepening penetration of Fire Pocket Александр by the mixed battalions Leopard 1 s and Panzer Grenadiers Marders they drove North and West aiming to pass between the Hochvald and the Russian Farm.

At around the same time the leading elements of 18 Guards MRDs 91 independent Tank battalion started to appear in the vicinity of the Russian Farm Driving Hard into Fire Pocket Влад. Setting the stage for one of the most confined and intense tank actions of the war.

As the leopard 2s of the two panzer battalions accelerated through fire pocket Влад they ran head on into the T72Bs of 91 Independent tank battalion, with scenes reminiscent of the vicious close range tank battles around Prokhorovka at the climax of the battle of Kursk the two tank forces became decisively engaged.

Reflections:

That completes the tale of the game and indeed the Wisenberg Counter Attack Project, which I have been playing with for around 6 months this included building additional forces, generating the scenario, building Terrain playing the game and writing it all up. Which to my mind is a bit of an in depth gaming experience. It has been an absorbing exercise and has extended my knowledge of Soviet operational concepts and doctrine significantly.

Models and Terrain

The models and terrain were provided from the collections of the Guilds Panzerfaust 200, Mausman, Elhiem and myself.

Who won,

Well it's quite difficult to say, in the finest traditions of most gaming experiences we didn't quite finish, the German team delt methodically with the problems that they were presented with whilst the Soviets in hind sight made some interesting unforced errors. The wide deployment of the Soviet Force presented a stimulating challenge for the Germans that they could have capitalised more on by concentrating their assault on one rather than both of the sectors, which in fairness, in the execution of the armoured attack they did. The large gaming areas and quite low density of the initial forces engaged allowed for a degree of Manouver that has been missing from previous big games.

What worked,

phased deployment, different opposing force structures, gaming space, terrain density

What could be improved,

creating a mini campaign rather than a single game, speed of movement off road, weapon and acquisition ranges, artillery play.

What's Next,

At the moment we're debating that, but it could well be: "Securing The Weidhaus Gap"

I hope you have found reading about the experience fun, useful and informative.

References:

AAR - Wisenberg Counter Attack, Part 2 Opening Moves

AAR - Wiesenberg Counter Attack, Part 1 Ground

TTP - Soviet, Forward Detachments as a Covering Force

Scenario - The Wiessenberg Counter Attack

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