ORBAT - Soviet Task Org, Fronts against NORTHAG

The next set of games we intend to play will primarily looking at opperations in the NORTHAG area of responsibility, initially these will be operations against 1 Br Corps. In order to understand force composition and likly activities I decided to take a slightly closer look at NORTHAG and the Soviet Forces that were likly to head into the North German Plain.

Northag Deployment and Balance of Force

The first piece of analysis looked at the NORTHAG lay down and the composition and location of the Corps assets. Essentialy the Army Group Composition was as follows:

• 1 Ne Corps, 3 Divisions, 1 Bde Forward Based, MDP around the River Esk, 48 Hours to deploy
• 1 Ge Corps, 3 Divisions, 2 in place, 1 would hold Dutch Korps area until relieved.
• 1 Br Corps 3 Divisions, 1 Bde held back in UK, the weaker division on more difficult terrain
• 1 Be Corps 2 Weak Divisions, holding difficult terrain, 50% reserve formations from Belgium,
• 3 US Corps, 3 Divisions, providing Strategic depth, if the REFORGER exercise went well. 30 Days to deploy.

in the worst case the Soviets would face 7 Divisions, best case 13 Divisions, depending on warning time and disruption of deployment. If you take the Suverov model a Soviet Front amounted to some 14 Divisions, 14 against 7 was not a great bet, 14 against 13 was abysmal even with echeloned forces and use of economy of force measures such as pinning attacks they would be unlikely to achieve the force ratios required for success. I therefore think it is highly likely that in the Majority of circumstances the Soviets would have tried to push two fronts through NORTHAGs area the first being formed from GSFG and the GDRs NVA and the second from NGSF and the Polish PVA.

Warsaw Pact Operational Plan

Ralph Peters in his book Red Army conceptualises that the Soviet main efforts would have sat against the Belgians in the South and the German/Dutch units in the North with an economy of force action taking place against the British. A sensible plan with a couple of Flaws:

• The British are attacked by 3rd Shock Army a Tank Army, the Soviets would be doctrinaly unlikely to lead an attack with a Tank Army except under conditions where the defence was unhinged.
• It is doctrinally implausible that the Soviets would use a Tank Army in a pinning action.
• As outlined above, one front would probably be insufficient to take NORTHAG down.

My operational plan for the Warsaw Pact on the Central front takes Peter's basic premise but relies on the Soviets deploying 4 Fronts in the first echelon based on 1st Polish Front, 1st and 2nd German Fronts and 1st Czecheslovakian front, the 2nd Echelon would be provided by fronts from the Western Military districts of the Soviet Union. This broadly follows the composition laid down in the Rand Soviet - Warsaw Pact Western Theatre of Operations paper and puts 2 Fronts against NORTHAG.

The outline of the plan would see 1st Polish Front striking against the Dutch, German and Danish Forces in the North whilst the East Germans and Soviets of 1st German Front would hit the Germans, British and Belgians in the South with the inter Front boundaries falling in 1 Ge Corps area and 1 Be Corps areas. This would enable 1 Br Corps and 1 Ge Corps to be pinned by the commitment of one Soviet Army, Whilst an NVA Army hit the weak Belgian Corps and 2 Armies hit the weak Dutch, Danish and Germans in the North who would always be slow to arrive. The tank Armies of each front would sit in the second echelon ready to exploit success.

Of Note, there are references that refer to Polish objections around the split direction of attack they would need to pursue, although additional Naval Infantry and Airborne assets seem to have been allocated to the Danish Peninsular which leave them with reasonably credible force ratios.  The Strategic drivers for securing Denmark were primarily Naval and Air focusing on access to the North Sea for the Baltic Fleet and disruption of NATO Radar chains. (added 17 Dec 2013)

The Second Operational echelon could then be comprised of the 1st Baltic Front and the 1st Carpathian Front (originally posted as Belorussian and Ukranian, amended following analysis of Soviet Military District holdings, and the CIAs Warning of War in Europe). The biggest challenge would probably be getting the Polish army onto the start line given a trip wire scenario. The Map above which I have adapted probably sums this up.

The interesting benifit of this plan from the Warsaw Pact perspective is that it pitches the more obsolete elements of the Warsaw Pact against the more obsolete or late arriving elements of NATO, whilst the bulk of the more Modern Soviet and Czech assets fall against the British, German and US forces.

German Soviet Front Composition and Deployment

Following the same logic as that used for the creation of the Chezcheslovakian front, it is assumed that the components of GSFG would be combined with those of the DDR to form two fronts each composed of two Combined Arms Armies a tank Army and an Air Army, with the Air Armies being formed from the disaggregation of assets owned by 16 Air Army and the Luftstreitkräfte der National Volksarmee.

Each Army is assumed to be 4 MRD and 1 TD in the case of CAA and 4 TD in the case of a Tank army, the idea is outlined in Victor Suverovs Inside the Soviet Army.

The Polish Army could also easily be restructured into a standard front given the incorporation of the Soviet 20th Tank Division into the tank Army, to create 1st Polish Front as follows;

• 1 PVA CAA; 16PVA TD, 1PVA MRD, 3PVA MRD, 9PVA MRD, 2PVA MRD
• 2 PVA CAA; 20PVA TD, 8PVA MRD, 12PVA MRD, 15PVA MRD, 4PVA MRD
• 6 PVA TA; 5PVA TD, 10PVA TD, 11PVA TD, 20TD (Soviet)
• 1 PVA Air Army

The Soviet Front attacking into the NORTHAG sector, 1st German Front, I have composed from:

• 5 NVA CAA; 9 NVA TD, 1 NVA MSD, 8 NVA MSD, 11NVA MSD, NVA MSD (res)
• 2 GvTA as a CAA; 16GvTD, 94GvMSD, 21MSD, 207MSD, 6MSD (fm NGSF)
• 3rd Shock Army TA; 7GvTD, 10GvTD, 12GvTD, 47GvTD
• 16 Air Army.

Whilst the front focused on CENTAG 2nd German Front would be comprised of;

• 8th GvCAA; 79TD, 27GvMSD, 39GvMSD, 57GvMSD, NVA MSD (res)
• 1st GvTA as CAA 9TD, 20GvMSD, 35MSD, 4 NVA MSD, NVA MSD (res)
• 20th Guards Army (TA) 32GvTD, 25 TD, 90GvTD, 11GvTD
• 4 Air Army

The 1st Czechoslovakian Front, could equally standardised as follows;

• 22 CAA; 30GvMSD, 18GvMSD, 48 MSD, 15 CSLA MSD, 31 TD
• 4 CSLA CAA; 2CSLA MSD, 19CSLA MSD, 20CSLA MSD 3CSLA MSD, 1CSLA TD
• 1 CSLA TA; 4CSLA TD, 9CSLA TD, 13CSLA TD, 15 TD (Soviet)
• 1 CSLA Air Army

This Orbat can be created by rationalising divisions within the Soviet Armies to meet Suverovs definition and redistributing the East German 3 NVA CAA and reserve units to bring the Soviet Fronts unto strength. Alternativly you would be bring forward 3 Soviet MRDs from the Western Military districts which would obviate the need to use the NVA reserves.  The same logic works for NGSF, CGSF and the Baltic, Belorussian and Carpathian Military Districts.  Depending on the Type of Scenario trip wire or  escalation the composition of the forces and fronts involved might vary considerably.  The CIA in Warning of War in Europe postulated 2 options:

• Trip Wire: 3 Fronts - 1/2 German and Czech, 2 Week Warning
• Soviet Preferred: 5/6 Fronts - as described above, 4 Weeks Warning

These warning times were stated for 1989 following Soviet force posture reductions and were considerably longer than those stated in 1984.  The illustration above would take some effort on behalf of the Warsaw pact to orchestrate.

1st German Front Deployment

The Soviet 1st German Front attacking into the Southern Half of NORTHAG is attacking with two Combined Armes Armies forward and a Tank Army in the second echelon. Following Ralph Peter's concept for Battle, the Front is deploying 5 GDR CAA South against the weak 1 Be Corps and the Southern most elements of 1 Br Corps, 19 Infantry Brigade. 20 Guards CAA atack into the remainder of 1 Be Corps and Southern most units of 1 Ge Corps, 3rd Shock Army is echeloned to exploit success either to the North or South.

The scenario I am working is against 4 UK Armoured Division which will be engaged by 20 GvCAA .  Given the fact that this will be a pinning attack, I am assuming they Soviet's will attack with 4 MRD in the first echelon and a single TD in the second. 20GvCAA is comprised of:

• 94GvMSD
• 21 MSD
• 207 MSD
• 6 MSD from Reinforcement from NGSF
• 17 TD

94GvMSD is our selected opponent for that part of 4 Armoured Division not hit by 5 NVA CAA

94GvMSD Zvenigorodsko Berlinskaya Order of Suverov

94 GvMSDs composition is reasonably well documented, from a number of Russian language sites and broadly seems to have consisted of the following:

• 204 The Red Guards Motorized Rifle UmanskoBerlinsky Orders of Suvorov, Kutuzov and B.Hmelnitskogo Regiment (Schwerin) BMP, 204GvMSP
• 286 The Red Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment Brandenburg (Schwerin) BTR, 286 GvMSP
• 288 The Red Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment Chisinau (Wismar) BTR, 288 GvMSP
• 74 Guards Tank Valginsky Order of Lenin Red Banner Orders of Suvorov, Kutuzov and B.Hmelnitskogo Regiment (Schwerin), 74 GvTP
• 199 Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment Brandenburg Red Banner (Wismar)
• 896 SAM Demblinsky Order of Alexander Nevsky Regiment (Schwerin)
• 20 Independent Tank Battalion (Schwerin)
• 496 separate anti-tank artillery battalion (Schwerin)
• 12 separate reconnaissance battalion (Schwerin)
• 159 separate communications battalion (Schwerin)
• 107 separate engineering battalion (Schwerin)
• 1130 separate battalion of material security
• 52 separate repair and refurbishment battalion

References:

• Fire and Fury, BAOR Orbat
• Russian GSFG site
• Land Forces in Lower Saxony
• Lower Saxony
• AFCENT deployment maps
• Cold War Decoded GSFG Post
• TMP Posts on 3rd Shock Army v BAOR
• Dutch Army Orbat and deployment
• The Third World War, General J Hackett
• Red Army - Ralph Peters
• Armies of NATO's Central Front
• The British Army in Germany, an Organisational History 1947 - 2004
• Confrontation; The Strategic Geography of NATO and The Warsaw Pact
• Forces 80 BAOR overview
• Warning of War in Europe, CIA

Related Posts

• ORBAT - Soviet Task Org, Fronts in the Western TVD
• ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 1 Deployment and ORBAT

Posted with Blogsy

Review - Book, Mil Mi-8/Mi17 Rotary-Wing Workhorse and Warhorse

Yefim Gordon provides a very comprehensive review of the worlds most widely used Helicopter across its many versions. He deals with the subject in the first Instance from its developmental perspective looking at the initial development, production of the first Generation Mi-8T and it's derivatives before turning his attention to the second generation Mi8M/Mi-17 with its increased power and lift and it's associated versions.

 

To give you a clue on the use of the word comprehensive, some 61 versions of the Mi-8T are covered and 83 for the Mi-8M/Mi-17 all these get at least a paragraph which outlines there principal differences a number of these paragraphs cover more than one version. Versions covered include both Civilian and Military marks.

He then goes onto describe the base aircraft in detail before looking at its operational use in both the Military and civilian arenas. In the Military deployment space the coverage mostly focuses on Afghanistan and Chechnea. This section of the book also includes a review of operation in foreign service, before he concludes with a discusion on how the aircraft competes with others of a similar type.

I must admit I found the book fascinating in its breadth, this is not a how it works book for the dedicated chopper nut but a comprehensive review of the aircraft and it's varients which for a number of my Soviet projects I found very useful. It's not really a cover to cover read either but is a stunning refernce superb for bottoming out the difference between the platforms and the broad service history and evolution. It is well illustrated with a large number of black and white photographs and a selection of high quality full colour photographs usefull as painting guides for a variety of military and civil platforms.

 


A very useful book if you are interested in the Mi-8, Soviet military aviation and understanding the use and deployment of this aircraft.


Mil Mi-8 / Mi-17 Rotary-Wing Workhorse and Warhorse (Red Star) @ Amazon

Other Book Reviews:

A History of Soviet Airborne Forces
Soviet Tactical Aviation
Armies of NATO's Central Front
Red Thrust, Central Front
The Soviet Afghan War, How a Super Power Fought and Lost
Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army
Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics
The Military Balance
Encyclopaedia of the Modern British Army
The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Manoeuvre
First Clash
The Third World War
The British Army in Germany

The Cold War Bookstore contains links to over 60 Cold War titles covered in my book list

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Cold Wargammer Hobby News - Autumn 2013

Well if the Summer was hot on the release front the Autumn has been bubbling along nicely as well,  a large amount of Cold War goodness has flowed out from a lot of the usual subjects.  Its been a great 3 months for the blog as well, thanks for all the support, we went through 150,000 hits and cracked the 10,000 hits in a month ceiling, so without further adoo on with the show.

Figures

Elhiem

Matt has had a busy few months at Elhiem Figures with a number of excellent Ultra Modern and WW2 releases but the pack that got me going are these babies:

Cold War Soviet Weapons, these look like a great addition to Matts Soviet Cold War Range and really start to round it out providing a SA7/14 operator, RPG-26 and Dragunov sniper rifle, depending on the detail of the soviet organisation you are creating and the time fram of your orbat will depend on how many you need, suffice to say for the late 80s units you need a lot.  Not yet up on his web site but hopefully not too long to wait now.

Black Dog

Israeli Tank Crew, nice addition to the black dog range and useful for those of you interested in AIW not sure if these hit the time zone for cold war, as I am no a massive expert on what the well dressed israleli tank crew should be waring.

Models

S&S, 

Shaun at S&S continues to produce at a ridiculous rate when you think over the last few months he has brought out these and a fair number of additions to the WW2 Range as well as a new range of figures for modern Africa.

The BV 206 is great for NATO's Northern Flank with the Royal Marines or AMF(L) battalions, his 1.2 ton land rover is also useful in this context, although potentially a mite chilly for the Northern flank for the cabriolet version

The M42 looks like a really excellent model from the photos on Shauns site works for early cold war Germans and right through to the end of the period on the Southern flank with the Greeks and the Turks.

The HS30 is a very unusual wagon, useful for early cold war germans (in the days before M113 and Marder) Produced under licence by Hanomag and Henschel and known in german service as the Schutzenpanzer SPZ 12-3, command, artillery op TOW, Milan and Morter Carrier versions were developed.  Produced from 1958 -1962, started being replaced by Marder from 1970 although the Germans still had some 758 in service in 1973.  Only used by Germany

Shaun's last offer of the autumn period is this very tidy Gamma Goat, useful for US Airborne

on top of all that Shaun has finally got with the information age and set S&S up with a web shop superb

Hobbey Den

Brian at the Hobbey Den knocked out this very nifty and much needed BTR 40 which fills a bit of a gap in the market the only other one to my knowledge being by Liberation

He has also knocked up this rather handy trench

However the big news is that Mat 'O' War is back which is truly brilliant news, fantastic wargaming mat I have had two for over 5 years now and they are as good as the day they were bought. Seen in action below during the Waidhaus Gap game this summer.

ACE

As ever with ACE good news and bad the good news is a BMD 2, the bad is that the recently re released BMP2 seems to have cleared off the shelves already, which is a pity as having built a few now I can state they were a fantastic improvement on the last version.

Airfix

Airfix dropped the Harrier GR3, a really good model bit pricy, recently reviewed on the blog by yours truly.  With a picture blow just for good measure.  The review post is here

Italetri

They announced the Leopard 1 A4 release in the summer but have done that a few times and not delivered but its now in the stores, looks like I'll be able to finish the Canadians after all.

Vallejo

Vallejo seem to have been quite busy with a range of washes and textured paints, have yet to try any myself or come across anyone else who has.

Books

Tankograd

If your an NVA fan or interested in the BTR 50 and its derivatives this might be right up your street, probably a little focused for most of the wargaming community.

WWW.

Dimanoeverdatenbank

on the Web the return of the massively useful M136 web site I'll update the links on the blog at some stage, they also have a face book page, very handy. Now retitled Military Dateabase or more expressively Dimanoeverdatenbank, either way a superb photo reference of exercises in germany since the 70's

CWG on Facebook

and whilst I am on the Web you can still follow us on Facebook, insane ramblings along with products and links to stuff of interest to the Modern Wargaming community, 66 followers currently and keen to make a 100!

The Winter Magazine

Winter is I suppose one of my favourite times of the year, the long nights and Christmas holiday's make for a lot of Hobby time, which is always good news. I have a few interesting projects on the go which should ensure a reasonable degree of content for the winter magazine which should include.

• The final Instalments of the Waidhause Gap
• A new scenario Passing the Baton, which pitches 1 Br Corps against 1st German Front from GSFG.
• Orbat and TTP articles around Northags deployment, and NATO air Land Battle
• Completion of some long standing British Projects

and as its nearly December, have a good one - not sure what the Soviets did about Christmas

Posted with Blogsy