Review - Model 1/72, Revell FV 4030 Challenger 1

Challenger 1 was an evolution of the Chieftain but contained some fairly revolutionary new components for its day. It entered service in 1983 with Chobham Armour, the British rifled 120mm tank gun and a new power pack and suspension units, it was a significant rework of the base line Chieftain design.  In 1985 it recieved the Thermal Observation and Gunnery Site and in 1991 sported a set of add on armour units that increased hull protection these units were used on all operational deployments once they were available although it would be interesting to know if there was sufficient to equip the whole fleet.  The Challenger 1 served alongside Cheiftain until Cheiftain was phased out around 1995 and was itself replaced by Challenger 2 between 1998 and 2002.

Revell released kits for both the base vehicle and one with a representation of the add on armour packs first seen in the Gulf war.  Both kits are the same except for the side skirts and the Kosova Version includes the additional nose armour.  The base vehicle is still on the Revell Catelouge whilst the version with the operational armour packs is now OOP.  Trumpeter also make models of both versions although I have yet to get a close look at them.

The kit is very straight forward to assemble with no real issues in construction although care should be taken around the assembly of the rear turret bin.  Whilst the tracks are link and length the precision of the moulding means these are very straight forward to assemble. The kit possesses some excellent mould detail but falls short in a couple of areas which is a little disappointing:

• the smoke grenade discharger units are poorly represented, 
• the vehicles stowage baskets all need filling and or covering to represent a vehicle in the field. 

Having said that these are all quite minor problems on what is otherwise an excellent kit.

To my mind what makes a war-games model is getting the stowage right, which largly involves looking at some pictures and quizzing some old soldiers if you can find them.  Pictures of the vehicles in Germany generally seem to be quite tidy compared with some of those seen on Op Granby, probably due to additional equipment and consumables water, ammo, food, oils and lubes being carried on operations over exercises when live rounds full NBC scalings etc might not be carried.  So whilst I was looking to use my Challengers in central europe I was keen to use the 1st Gulf War images to add some operational context to the look of the vehicles.

Typical stowage seen on Challengers includes Cam Nets in bins which can either be covered or uncovered, In addition the following are fairly common in photographs:

• Call Sign boards on either the turret rear or rear and sides, 
• Roll Matts strapped to the outside of the various turret stowage baskets, 
• Crew Shelters, 
• rolls of Hessian or the issued thermal plasticised equivalent
• Jerry cans in the rack at the back of the turret. 
• Cam Nets around barrels, more frequently on exercises than operations.
• Chieftain Bins on the turret sides.
• Antenas

Cam Nets are made from open weave bandage soaked in white glue, the covers are all from green stuff,   as are the hessian rolls on the sides of some of the vehicles, roll mats are cut from appropriately sized plastic rod.  The Call sign boards are cut from plasticard and the Chieftain bins scratch built from card stock.  A number of after market kits exist which can cut down the effort but they cost.  Whilst I have seen no images of air Identification panels in use from this period, they would seem sensible and might have been deployed in a conflict especially when operating under conditions of local air superiority.

Crewing british vehicles was proving to be a challenge until I discovered that Wee Friends had taken on a significant component of the CMSC range including the crew figures.  The Figures are offered with the Crew Guard Helmet which I believe started to appear from around 1987 but include additional heads sporting the Mk 6 combat helmets worn by Infantry crews from about the same time.

I also bought another three sheets of the TL Modelblau British decals to ensure I had enough C/S to get all 8 of the vehicles done.

In the process of working up this post, I have dived into a bunch of reference material and modeling components which I have listed below.  Both of Revell's Challenger 1 offerings are great kits and reward the effort required to stow and crew it

References:

Operation Granby: Desert Rats Armor and Transport in the Gulf War (Firepower Pictorial Specials 2000 Series)

Challenger Main Battle Tank 1982 - 1997, Osprey

Modelling the Challenger 1 and 2 MBT and Variants (Osprey Modelling)

Prime Portal Challenger 1 Walk around

Armorama Challenger 1 walk around

Google Books Modelling the Challenger 1 and 2 MBT and Varients

Review - Web Resources, M136 Exercise Picture Archive

KG Wings Model Review

On the Way Model Review

Another On the Way Model Review

Warpaint Colours and Markings of British Army Vehicles 1903-2003 Volume 3

Warpaint Colours and Markings of British Army Vehicles 1903-2003 Volume 2

Trumpeter Challenger 1 Review

Related Posts:

ORBAT - 1980's British BG Part 1, Armoured Divisions and Brigades

ORBAT - 1980's British BG Part 3, Equipment Change

Review - Model 1/72, Brittania FV432

The Kit and Accesories

TL Modelblau - British Decals 1/87

Revell Challenger 1 1/72 Model @ Amazon
Wee Friends Crew
CMK Challenger 1 Stowage
General British Stowage BW Models
General British Stowage Kingfisher Miniatures

Review - Model, S&S 1/72 2S3 Akatsiya

2S3 Akatsiya was the Soviet counter to the M109, only in this instance a 152mm Howitzer.  It entered service in 1973 and formed the core component of Soviet Divisional Artillery regiments as they evolved to their end state at the back end of the 1980s.  It had a maximum range with rocket assisted projectiles of 24km and was equipped with a dozer blade that allowed it to dig itself in.  The Soviet propensity for the employment of SP Artillery in the direct fire role in both defensive and offensive operations means that you really aught to own a few if your gaming Cold War Soviets.  In addition to wide spread use as an artillery platform the  hull was used for a wide range of other systems including, SA-4, GMZ, 2S4, and 2S5 so plenty of oppourtunity for conversion.

Until recently the only available kit was a balaton offering which was both expensive and some what large.  S&S now offer a 2S3 which is a simple and effective representation of this artillery piece.  The model consists of 4 resin components which are relativly free of bubles and flash, the tracks being the component requiering the most attention.  In addition there are 4 white metal components which includes the main gun, commanders MG, Barrel clamp and dozer blade all were flash free.  Price currently in the UK is £10 which includes P&P.

Assembly is very straight forward with no issues.  All the hatches are molded closed so a bit of effort is required if you want to crew the beast up.

Stowage and markings are minimal and I painted mine in Vallejo Russian Green and based them on pre cut MDF bases.  The only markings I have added are turret numbers, which are becoming a little difficult to find in white.  I am currently getting mine from Scotia

Bases are painted GW calthan brown and highlighted with Vallejo Desert yellow before static grass and tufts are added.

References:

2S3 Walk around
2S3 Walk around 2
S&S Models
S&S current Price List Jan 2013
Orbat - 1980's MRR and TRR, Part 4 Artillery

Review - Books, Armies of NATOS Central Front

The Armies of NATO'S central Front was written in 1985 and is probably the definative work of this nature on NATO'S armies covering a wealth of detail particularly on organisation that is other wise rather more difficult to come by than data on the Warsaw pact and the Soviet Union.  As such this volume is in high demand and if you can pick up a copy for less than £100 you are doing well.   

As well as covering the strategic context and how NATO would approach the defence of Western Europe it majors on the organisation equipment and tactics of the member Nations with Chapters on:

• Belgium
• Canada
• France
• Federal Republic of Germany
• Great Britain
• Luxemberg - a very short chapter
• The Netherlands
• United States of America
• Danish Jutland Division

The armies of Southern and Northern Europe sit outside the scope of the title.  Each National section broadly covers the Background, Including Strategy and training before looking at Unit organisation and Order Of Battle, How that Nation will fight its battles, Weapons and Equipment, current force deployment and the National Air Force. The level of detail and the breadth of coverage really make it one of the must have titles for anyone interested in the period in general or NATO specifically.  The only problem is availability of the title and hence cost, a superb reference book for the central front enthusiast.

Armies of NATO's Central Front @ Amazon

Other Book Reviews:

A History of Soviet Airborne Forces 
Soviet Tactical Aviation
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

Review - Web Resources, SSVC on You Tube

SSVC were the organisation that used to make and probably still do make the bulk of the Services information and training films.  A number of their titles from the early 80s have been placed on You Tube by a variety of people and are worth watching if your interested in gaming British in the Cold War period.  They provide some insight into what the British Army got up to but are also an excellent source of detail on what it looked like and there is excellent footage in a number of the videos of SLR equiped Infantry and exercise stowed FV432s chieftains M109s and Abbots.   Todate I have only looked at one or too but they are worth a look.

Thanks to Nick Dives from the Guild for finding this little collection and passing it on.

Other videos include:

• Fighting in Woods
• Individual Field Craft
• Section Fire and Manouver
• It Could be You
• Recce Patrol
• Fighting Patrol

If you served in the Army from the late 70s through to the early 80s I'm sure they will bring back some memories, for those of you that didn't they represent a bunch of videos of historical interest illustrating as they do the look of personal and equipment as well as some great examples of early 80s voice procedure when Pronto, Shelldrake and Sunray were all still chatting away before the arrival of the more modern call sign system, clansman radios and officers with regional accents.

Cold War British Army Training Videos @ You Tube

TTP - Forward Detachments and Tactical Air Assault

The Soviet Army had a doctrine of creating forward detachments to support ground manoeuvre and supporting these with Air Assault capability. Each division in the first echelon of an Army might establish one battalion as a forward detachment drawn from a unit in its second echelon in addition each army might supply a regiment for the same purpose from one of the second echelon Divisions On the main axis of advance it would be quite conceivable to find multiple forward detachments deployed across a Divisions frontage.

Their focus was on acheiving critical missions in order to maintain the momentum of the advance rather than in engaging all enemy met as such they would seek to avoid combat prior to their objective. Each Forward detachment would be task organised to allow it to operate independently of the parent formation and to achieve its objectives, objectives could typically be 30-35km beyond the forward line of own troops. This could only be achieved in relatively fluid situations following breakthroughs, during meeting engagements or in the enemy covering force zone and with appropriate task organisation and support by air aviation and depth fire assets.

Objectives would be focused on allowing the parent formation to maintain momentum towards its objective and as such could be focused on the ground or the enemy, typically these might include: 

• Securing River Crossings 
• Securing Defiles and Junctions
• Seizing and holding key objectives
• acheiving surprise through rapidity of manoeuvre
• Disruption of enemy defensive preparations and the cohesion of the defence
• penetration of hastily prepared positions
• Attack of Enemy HQs
• Blocking enemy counter attacks

The principal deduction is that a Combined Arms Army operating on a two division frontage could create 5 such battalions whilst on a three division frontage 6. 

DShV Units would routinly be task organised to support the forward detachments and on occasion act as forward detachments in their own right.  The DShV missions would be conducted primarily at company and battalion level as discussed in the Orbat Air Assault posts. Given that each BTR equiped MRD  could deploy 3 Companies capable of air assault (9 total in the Army)  and the army had 3 Companies in its Air Assault Battalion and the Front had 9 in the Air Assault Brigade the doctrine of supporting the ground forward detachments with Air Assault capability seems well resourced with regard to the combat assets.   Without Drawing on front level assets an Army could easily constitute 12 Air Assault Companies one of which could be BMD equipped.

The impact of this would be that the second echelon Battalions in each MRR would be minus a company, and the second echelon MRR would be short a battalion.  The First Echelon would be composed of fully formed regiments.

The role of the DShV elements in these operations would be to facilitate the forward detachment in the seizing of its objective, allowing it to maintain a high tempo of operations, this could include all the missions outlined above.  In esscance the Air Assault companies would support the manoeuvre of the forward detachments and or act as forward detachments in their own right.  In turn the forward detachments would facilitate the manouver of the regiments and divisions by clearing the path in front them or preventing enemy interference with their manoeuvre, allowing a high tempo of advance to be sustained on the principal axis of advance.  Critical to achieving this was the appropriate task organisation of the group to achieve the assigned mission which to my mind is the appeal of these organisations in wargaming.

Task Organisation

Lester Grau in his work the Soviet Combined Arms Battalion, Reorginisation for tacticle flexibility 1989, analised a variety of Soviet post war exercises and Military articles in order to construct a view of likly force composition.  In only 12 exercises of the 551 examined was task organisation absent, though what is not clear was the level of the exercise.  For Tank units attached to a Motor Rifle Battalion he noted the following:

• 1 Tank Company 80% 
• 2 Tank Companies 5%
• 1 Tank Battalion .2%
• 2 Tank Platoons 1%
• 1 Tank Platoon .7%
• No armour 11% Most likly in defence and mountainous terrain

Attachments of Motor Rifle Troops to tank battalions only occured 59% of the time with 44% being the attachment of 1 Company and the remainder being 1 or 2 Platoons. On 1 Occasion 2 Companies were attached attachments also included individual squads.

Motor Rifle Battalions frequently included attached Artillery battalions:

• 2 Battalions 0.5%
• 1 Battalion + 1 Battery 5%
• 1 Battalion 34%
• 2 Batteries 5%
• 1 Battery 21%

additional supporting artillery fire could be applied on top of this.

He provides similar statistics for engineers reconnaissance air defence and anti tank assets.  He noted that the most common grouping was an MR battalion grouped with a tank company, Artillery battalion and an engineer platoon and that this task organisation was most likly when the unit had been tasked to act as a forward detachment or advanced guard the attachments grew in number and size from 1975.  However the detail of the task organisation is always mission dependent and as can be seen there was significant latitude in the boundaries applied.

What this evidences is a Soviet doctrine of significant flexibility in task organisation particularly for the forward detachments,  it evidences a greater degree of flexibility than represented elsewhere and in some respects a more flexable approach than a number of NATO armies though to some extent the Soviet approach to command and control of Artillery made some of this inevitable .  David Glantz in The Conduct of Tactical Manouver extends the concepts covered in this paper to include the support of air assault components the detail of the task organisation of these assets can be found in Soviet Air Assault Capability Part 2

The Doctrine of employment of Forward Detachments offers significant potential for some very interesting games and our next game "Storming the Waidhaus Gap" looks at the interaction of these two soviet elements in the context of engageing the NATO covering force.

References:

FM 100-2 Specialised Warfare and Rear Area Support, Chapter 3 Heliborn Operations

FM 100-3, Soviet Troop Organisation and Equipment

Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army, Isbey, 1988

The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Maneuver: Spearhead of the Offensive, DM Glantze, 

A History of Soviet Airborne Forces (Cass Series on Soviet Military Theory & Practice)
The Soviet Combined Arms Battalion, Reorganisation for tactical flexibility
Tactics a Soviet view
Soviet Airland Battle Tactics
Soviet Military Operational Art: In Pursuit of Deep Battle (Soviet (Russian) Military Theory and Practice)

Related Posts:

ORBAT - Soviet Task Org, Fronts in the Western TVD

ORBAT Soviet Air Assault Capability,  Part 1, Part 2
ORBAT- 1980's MRR and TRR, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4