A few Mondays ago the Steel Beasts Soviet VU did an adversarial mission in an Afghan style greenzone. Blue with a battalion of tanks and a company of APCs and another company of scouts was attacking a force consisting of 1 reinforced tank company and an understrength infantry company supported by a scout platoon.
The plan for the attackers was to seize FUP Pegasus. From there the infantry company would attack the town of Khavar Zamin and behind that a tank company would cross the bridge there. After that we would "play it by ear."
The mission started with the scout company probing forward, one platoon to Khavar Zamin, one platoon to the area around Hissar and a third as a defacto reserve.
(Tank Company with the scout platoon heading to Khavar Zamin)
The scout platoon made contact on the highway along the periphery of Khavar Zamin. Unexpectedly the platoon was lucky enough to bypass the infantry ambush along the road and at the bridge.
However their luck ran out on the far side of the town when the platoon came under fire by a BRDM-2 in ambush.
The enemy vehicle was destroyed by the third vehicle in the scout platoon.
While that drama was taking place the tank battalion was moving into position at FUP Pegasus
After reaching Pegasus my company advanced forward to a canal near Qanate Arghandeh with the intent of crossing it. At this point contact was made with an ATGM at Hissar. The result was that B Coy was forced into withdrawing in response to the threat.
However care had to be taken so as to avoid being engaged from infantry in Khavar Zamin.
From the direction of Hissar enemy tanks made an appearance. Due to shear numbers in our favor (30 to 1) it was quickly neutralized.
After the tank and ATGM was dispatched my company proceeded to cross the canal one platoon at a time with the other platoons over watching Hissar.
In the process the battalion was under intense artillery...
...and harassment by suicidal enemy tankers.
(enemy tank "getting the good news")
Once B Coy reached the opposite side of the canal it proceeded to assault in the direction of Hissar, enemy tanks had been spotted by scouting infantry in the area. The enemy tank section was hit by artillery while being over watched by 1 platoon of B coy tanks and assaulted by 2 other platoons from the company. The result was no losses to own forces and a destroyed enemy tank section.
Once Hissar was secured B and D coy were tasked with advancing past the next canal. B advanced to the east of the canal and D advanced through the hamlet of Haji Gul. Unknown to us the hamlet was occupied by enemy infantry. The resulting engagement resulted in 3 tanks killed by enemy infantry, with a 4th killed by fragmentation from an exploding friendly shell.
(The disaster at Haji Gul)
The two companies proceeded to Zaley and then to the town of Goharshad...
...Which proved to be occupied...
...which resulted in some "door knocking."
Both companies bypassed Goharshad and continued to the northern most objective. This resulted in making contact with an enemy tank at Deh-e-Rajah...
... and copious amounts of artillery. The two resulted in 3 tank losses for B coy.
Another two were lost with all crew in an infantry ambush. By this point the norther objective was taken in the rush.
However the enemy mauled the remaining part of D coy which was following. The enemy spotted the lightning fast attack to the objective and responded with a couple of platoons. The result was that D coy was out of action and the greatly depleted B coy was cut off. The response was a single vehicle was sent to cross the river to respond to the surprise. It was told that Goharshad was "clearish." The result was a loss of a tank.
(Hunters and Hunted)
The response was to engage enemy armor in and around Jinan from our side of the river.
By the end we took one of the objectives but got bogged on the way to the second one.
(Destruction at Khavar Zamin)
(And at Goharshad)
(D coy casualties near Jinan)
(Enemy positions facing D coy's advance route, D coy's dead are in the background)
(The D coy casualties at Haji Gul)
