Encountering Unexpected Resistance: One Hasty Attack Drill after another!
CMSF2 AAR: Unexpected Resistance
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Had a hankering to play CMSF2, which I haven't touched in quite a while. With the combination of forces, and the ability to unpack campaigns, the replay ability of the game is basically bottomless. I know I'm not alone in changing the BLUFOR force from, say, US army to the Bundesheer, to see what needs to be done differently in any particular scenario. Today you're joining me for a standalone version of the mission "Unexpected Resistance" - which originally is about 5 or 6 missions in to the Dutch campaign. Let's see what an equivalent Canadian force could do in lieu of the Dutch.
The Hasty Attack
The theme for this AAR is without the hasty attack. Alternatively called a 'quick attack.' So, what is it? Well, that's a matter for some discussion. In absolute terms, a hasty or quick attack is against an enemy who is themselves un-prepared or less than fully prepared to receive an attack. Hasty attacks in an ideal scenario are used in the context of say, a meeting engagement, a spoiling attack or running into a hasty defence, such as a rear-guard. The common denominator is that a hasty attack is launched with immediately gained intel, (i.e: seeing an enemy or taking contact to the front) and done quick and dirty to get inside an enemy's decision loop. The hasty attack is a practiced drill, to insure its rapidity. It follows a relatively standard procedure, such as 'left-flanking' or 'right-flanking' with a few standard formations and task organisations. This is where its rapidity of action comes from.
However, unlike the textbook definition of being against an 'unprepared' enemy, the hasty attack can can be used wherever unexpected and sudden resistance has been encountered, even if that resistance is in improved positions. The presence of improved positions, on that note, does not necessarily mean an enemy is prepared to meet you. An often cited example of this is McMaster's fight at 73 Easting. Indeed, you will encounter examples of 'hasty breaches' of fighting positions or anti-tank positions. Like my previous discussion, where we touched upon battle positions and how their textbook definition can often be stretched, in my opinion the hasty attack's definition is equally elastic. To ultimately answer the question of 'well, what is it?' - I give the unsatisfying answer; 'it does what it says on the tin.'
A perhaps more important question is 'how does one do a hasty attack?' Let's go to the source, from the Canadian Forces Training Video Series 'Combat Team: Part 2'. A hasty attack will first:
- Locate and Define the Enemy;
- Isolate the Objective;
- Suppress the Enemy; and
- Concentrate Forces at the critical time and place.
Once that has been done, a quick consideration, often by the Company leader, Forward Observer or point Platoon leader, of the following will be made:
- Strength and location of the enemy
- Nature of the Ground;
- Time and Space; and
- Assessment of Tasks
Based on his assessment of the above, the leader issues orders made to either go down one of the flanks or storm in down the middle, and how the assault will be 'shot' on to the objective. A decision to attack mounted or dismounted will be made on the above considerations as well. The point of dismount, if an attack goes in mounted, will be decided with in an equally formulaic manner (i.e. "Dismount, left-rear close").
To give you a time-frame of this decision process, you're doing a hasty attack right if the ultimate attack occurs within 30 minutes to an hour and 30 minutes of initial contact. If that seems slow...remember that slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Let's put it into practice.
Situation
The Brigade's progress over the last 24 hours has slowed down considerably. It has proved necessary to pause and clear the main supply route of IEDs, which has grounded progress to a halt in spite of not having any firm contact with enemy forces. What little contact we have had with the enemy has been in the form of a few irregular spotters, most of which were captured by our forces.
Brigade's fear that the enemy has used this opportunity to re-establish some form of coherent posture appears to now have been confirmed by these EPWs, who spoke of a roadblock along the centre-line of our axis of advance. The lead combat team, with Recce operating in close concert, are now leading the Brigade advance and have confirmed these reports. The forward leader has hastily drawn up a contingency plan of attack and assigned intermediary objectives should enemy presence be confirmed.
Mission
It is now 1530h. Intent is to have all objectives secured no later than 1630h and be consolidated and ready to lead the Brigade's advance. Friendly casualties must not exceed 20 percent of our total forces.
Terrain
It is a hot, clear day. The ground is dry and dusty. The immediate landscape is broken up by small orchards and forested areas on small hills, separated by dried, marshy irrigation ditches.
The balance of the terrain consists of agricultural land, with the occasional home. As is standard for the area, these homes are generally enclosed by stone walls of varying heights. The irrigation ditches are navigable in several locations by ICVs and Tanks.
Enemy forces
Unknown. Given the prevalence of IEDs along the main route of advance, it is likely that whatever force in front of us is made up of irregulars in whole or part.
Friendly forces
D ("Dukes") Coy of the totally real 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Highland Regiment (1RCHR)* and its constituent independent battlegroup (IBG) are leading the advance of the, also equally real, 7th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group*. The IBG's recce platoon has provided a section in direct support, and they are already in the AO. With them is D Coy's observer section and a Forward Tactical Air Controller from the BG's HQ. Following shortly behind are 13 and 15 Rifle Platoons and the Coy HQ. They are roughly separated by five minute intervals.
Supporting this forward group is a section from 9 Troop, C Squadron, 1st Royal Canadian Tank Regiment (also, very, very real)*. We can expect the armour in about 30 minutes' time, as they are conducting refuelling and re-arming.
Fires are provided by the Battlegroup's organic mortar platoon, consisting of 8 x 81mm mortars, which will shortly be ready for firing. We already have, presently, priorities of fire from a platoon of M777 howitzers from the supporting RCHA battery.
Finally, rotary wing support will be provided by a pair of US Army Apaches flying column cover. We should have contact with them shortly.
*None of these are remotely real regiments, just a homage to something.
Scheme
The plan for now is to "locate and define" the enemy. The Recce get to work...
Locating and Defining the Enemy
The four Coyotes that make up the tip of the advance press forward. The suspected enemy OP and CP is struck by a brief prep fire mission from the M777s at this time.
Contact is rapidly gained with enemy PCs of varying types in defensive positions. The Troop leader promptly (61) engages a BMP, holing it several times before it does a survivability move. The final status of the BMP is unknown.
His wingman (61A), who has posted himself hull down on the road, reports a BTR crossing from his left to right, disappearing behind Bravo 5. He is unable to fire on the vehicle.
The second recce section (62, 62A) also spot and engage an enemy technical, sitting in an improved position on top of Bravo 5. They engage it at the same time, because who doesn't like a little overkill now and again?
The intelligence picture builds up rapidly from here. More PCs are spotted in defensive positions, or some semblance of concealment. Some positions are well sited, others are downright amateurish. As so often with fighting the virtual Syrians in SF2, your mileage will vary. Equally as important as spotting these vehicles, the dismounted OPs begin to spot, and report, conventional enemy dismounts moving forward into fighting positions.
The second Recce section, on the left flank, push forward, intent on probing the enemy. The lead Coyote crosses the irrigation ditch and rapidly discovers that the entire front of Bravo 5 is covered by a wire obstacle line. 62, second section lead, moves up to join his wingman, but is immobilized by an IED . The section leader is wounded and the crew bails out. Enemy mortar fire chases them as they seek cover, in some trees and all the dismounts are made fatalities. There are no spotting rounds. The implication, of course is that the fordable portions of the irrigation ditch is pre-referenced.
Despite this set back, the terrain 62 and 62A have moved into is much more amenable to manoeuvre, whereas 61 is in close terrain. To effectively probe Bravo 4 would require getting to basically within grenade range, or dismounting, neither of which are palatable options at present time. So, The troop leader shifts left to join with 62A and carry on. It is now 1537 hours. The Air Controller has finally established communications with the Apaches, who report they are on station. The presence of friendly air assets reinforces my decision to shift left; let the Apaches screen the right flank.
At 1538 hours, 13 platoon makes its entrance. They're several minutes late. The Battlegroup's mortar platoon is now also on call and reporting it is ready to fire. The new arrivals coil up into a temporary harbour just short of the irrigation ditch.
61 and 62A have in the meantime pressed on, skirting around the left of Bravo 5, keeping woods between them and the enemy. As they wrap around the woods the two Coyotes briefly pause to scan the terrain. There appears to be another improved position, in a treeline to the rear of Bravo 5. A quick recce by fire does not draw any return fire or stir movement - abandoned or unoccupied, it seems. A bit of a risky presumption, but one I am willing to make based on the knowledge we had seen enemy dismounts move forward into Bravo 5 earlier.
By 1540 hours it appears that a relatively firm picture of the enemy has been built up.
The enemy appear to be spread between three to four forward fighting positions, with at least one additional position a few hundred meters to the rear. The enemy is an ad hoc force, given the relative heterogeneity of their personnel carriers. All the positions are improved to some degree, with sandbags, foxholes, trenches and wires. However, some appear to be hastily manned, with men seen moving into them before our very eyes. The type of dismounts occupying these positions are also quite mixed, lending further credence to my belief that the enemy force is a scratch one. Unconventional and irregular fighters are rubbing shoulders with government troops. The only unknown still is Bravo 4, but its relatively incapable of influencing events on the left flank in any event, having no firm sight lines.
A Hasty Attack: Interrupted
Okay. Let's move over to steps two through four. Recall: Isolate the objective, suppress it, then select a method and manner of assaulting it.
The objective is: Bravo 5. The terrain has been pulling me in this direction, and although it appears the toughest nut to crack it has the best space to deploy a full platoon and locations from which I can effectively support that effort. Further, it appears to have no depth, with the recce over watching the fighting positions to the rear.
15 Platoon and D Coy HQ are nowhere to be seen still, complicating the issue. The tanks are still well out as well. However, I had decided I had enough information and strength to seize at least one objective; that would get me on key terrain while the enemy was still, presumably, also gathering themselves. As if to iterate this point, while the attack is being prepared, the OPs report yet more enemy dismounts taking positions in the trenches and foxholes across the front.
So 13 Platoon's leader orders a standard left-flanking attack, dismounting to enemy's rear. He co-ordinates with the forward observer to isolate Bravo 5 from the positions across the road, a task for the mortars. A brief barrage is ordered on the objective itself. The scheme: 41 (HQ and weapons section) and 41C (3rd section) will provide direct suppressive fires. 3rd section will remain mounted so 41C can swiftly reinforce the assault, if needed. 1st and 2nd sections, mounted in 41A and B will cross the ditch and conduct the left-hook through the recce's forward positions.
It will take until 1544 hours for all the indirect fires to be organised and co-ordinated.
It never gets going.
Just as the spotting rounds begin to impact from both the HE and smoke missions, the OPs and 61A, still hull down watching the road, report multiple inbound armoured vehicles. A mixed platoon of BMPs and BTRs, along with two modernised T-62s cross the road just forward of Bravo 6. 61A engages gamely, knocking out a BTR, but wisely pops smoke and pulls back when the T-62s rumble into his gunner's sight.
The rest of this rag-tag armoured group rumble past and disappear behind Bravo 5.
There's really nothing for it; to continue with the attack with those T-62s prowling in the vicinity is foolish in the extreme. The smoke mission is called off, but we let the general antipersonnel mission go forward on Bravo 5, as it is highly likely to cause the enemy harm. The Apaches are vectored onto the vicinity of Bravo 5. This will take around five minutes.
In the interim, the recce forward and to the left of Bravo 5 pull back to more defensible positions, taking partial hull down battle positions near the irrigation ditch. This is both, and most obviously, to minimize the risk of fratricide from the Apaches and to better protect 13 platoon's temporary position more effectively. It turns out to be a very prudent decision, for a T-62 rumbles forward, through the very set of trees they themselves had been occupying a moment before. 61 and 62A both open up, wildly spraying the enemy tank as it emerges, its flank exposed. The enemy crew bail out and are cut down.
The other T-62 is briefly spotted at this point, moving around the opposite side of the hill, before it disappears from the Coyote's sight into some trees forward of the wire obstacles. The position is, frankly, nonsensical and downright amateurish. Nevertheless, it could still potentially fire on 13 Platoon if they break cover. The forward observer can still see the T-62 - and therefore order a smoke mission, in the event it is spared the Apaches' attention.
Speaking of the Apaches, they do indeed make their presence felt, systematically destroying BMPs and BTRs. Despite the air controller also spotting the remaining T-62, the helicopter pilots do not appear able to identify and are never successfully vectored onto this threat. We have to content ourselves with lesser-threats being removed and smoke obscuring the T-62 instead. The Apaches have limited Hellfires and are therefore waved off after they score a pair of BTRs each. I want to preserve their ammo and keep them (quite literally) as a floating reserve.
The Forward Observer, for his part, has been keeping busy putting point fires down on adjacent enemy positions, doing his best to fill the time aggressively and destructively. It is at this point the much delayed arrival of 15 Platoon and D Coy HQ occur. Which means we can try again with this "hasty" attack, albeit modified to account for the remaining T-62 and additional strength now on the field.
It takes a few minutes for the Company leader to get up to speed and ensure he has good C2 links, but once he is positioned near 13 Platoon it does not take long to hash out a bigger, better version of the original plan. The orders are issued and fires co-ordinated. D Coy goes in at 1554 hours.
The Hasty Attack
This time the attack goes in as planned, 13 Platoon in its entirety forms a base of fire from the original position, the dismounts firing until the smoke builds and fully obscures their line of sight. Once the smoke has built up to a satisfactory degree, 15 Platoon conducts the left flanking attack.
The ramps go down and the LAVs switch to co-axial fire, and shift to other suspected positions, or alternatively slew their turrets to the flanks to guard for unexpected threats. A LAV, for example, knocks out a BMP across the road as the obscuring smoke begins to lift.
The infantry take over the firefight and assault.
It isn't long until the lead section has taken the first position.
Then more enemy armour arrives. This time they're T72s, a far more pressing threat. D Coy's commander, who had been supporting 15 Platoon by fire, shifts his LAV's fire to the T-72s as they flit past in the distance. He engages with some effect and promptly reports the contacts. It's not long before the OPs on the right flank pick up these tanks as well, moving through the forested hill to the right of Bravo 6. The Apaches are tasked onto these new targets.
15 Platoon's LAVs decide to play it safe in light of these new contacts, popping defensive smoke and falling back a few dozen metres into cover and concealment provided by trees. Their dismounts, consolidating on the first captured position, are in effective cover and go firm, but the attack is once again temporarily halted.
No sooner has the forward air controller vectored the Apaches in on their likely avenue of advance than our own tanks appear. A pair of Leopard 2A6Ms rumble forward, briefly confer with D Coy's MWO (the Company Sergeant-Major) , who had stayed back to help cover the right flank, and then they get to work. It isn't long before they have accounted for several T-72s.
The Leopards jockey frequently, even if its just to pull back to reload before taking the same BP, and as a result never take return fire. It's in many ways the typical tank-on-tank engagement in SF2, with the OPFOR MBTs being targets. Nevertheless, they do constitute the single largest threat to the entire effort and are the focus of co-ordinated direct and indirect fire.
The Apaches account for at least one T-72 before the threat fizzles out. I suspected at the time that there was at least one T-72 still intact that had taken position somewhere in Bravo 4, but it no longer posed a threat to the main effort. The Leopards disengage and shift left to take over 13 Platoon's base of fire position, knocking out the remaining T62 shortly after.
While the Leopards are neutralising the armoured threat, 13 Platoon, supported by the Recce, continue to turn the enemy's flank by driving on Bravo 6. Once again the objective is suppressed by 81mm fire and isolated from its neighbouring positions by a M777 smoke mission.
The approach to Bravo 6 is dominated by small trees which create complex terrain, and so the platoon opts to move in largely dismounted. The Company commander has linked up with them and trails behind in his LAV. One coyote also moves up on the left of the formation, cautiously trailing the infantry.
***
Bravo 5 meanwhile remains crawling with enemy infantry, on the far side of the hill from 13 Platoon's dismounts. Clearing the objective is going to necessitate a close range firefight, which is always a dicey proposition. An additional problem is that the building which constitutes the objective itself remains surrounded by a high stone wall, forming a potentially fatal funnel for infantry wishing to storm it. The Leopards help create a breach in this makeshift rampart, solving that issue.
The Canadian infantry stack up around this breach and the rear entrance, with the intention of assaulting the building simultaneously. They suffer a fatality from a nuisance mine as they move to do so. Its a surprising position for the mine, just behind one of the wire obstacles.
That tragedy aside, the men get going, tossing smoke over the remaining sections of the stone wall and moving swiftly under the cover of Leopard coaxial fire. They clear Bravo 5, suffering one man wounded in action for their efforts.
With Bravo 5 secured, the platoon's weapon section can use the roof of the building to take the enemy fighting positions in enfilade, and the Platoon's Carl Gustav promptly knocks out a BTR after crawling up with his section. The GPMG also goes to work, but the gunner is killed in action by enemy return fire after accounting for several enemy.
Despite suffering a fatality, the weapons section have done its job and do eventually gain fire superiority. The balance of the platoon, moving around the base of the hill to hit the trenches from the rear, halt often to engage enemy infantry falling back in disarray or panic. It is not long before they have secured the trenches around Bravo 5 entirely.
13 Platoon consolidates on position, clears its casualties and orients towards Bravo 4. They spend the rest of the battle taking pot-shots at enemy infantry who show themselves in this isolated position. 13 Platoon's fight is done.
***
15 Platoon's fight proves a bit more intense. As the platoon advances dismounted in two lines they take contact to the front: accurate and heavy small arms fire from Bravo 6. As expected, the LAVs have trouble identifying or finding good positions in this close terrain. It's largely down to the infantry for now. After organising the platoon, an attempt is made to crawl the GPMG forward to a good position, but before it can get into action two members of the gun team are incapacitated by fire. A section leader is able to crawl forward and toss a smoke; both casualties are cleared under this concealment.
By this point there's enough fire coming in at the enemy that the Company leader feels confident enough to move some LAVs forward, who add co-axial fire, as best as they can, to the efforts to suppress the enemy. With this seemingly overwhelming superiority of fire, the right-flanking assault proceeds and is soon engaging the enemy at close quarters. They suffer a few fatalities in a messy point blank fight but are soon rooting the enemy out with grenades and automatic fire.
Not my best performance, and I found it incredibly difficult to win fire superiority. I without a doubt jumped the gun with the assault and should have let the firefight rage for a bit longer.
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| Note: I originally had a fully accurate image but I screwed up editing it beyond repair. This is an approximation of the situation overlaid on a 3D preview of the map. |
The buildings in Bravo 6 took considerable structural damage from our prep fires, and the amount of enemy still up for a fight catch me a bit off guard. Dead and wounded Syrians are found on every floor of the building and its hard to tell who was killed by the infantry and who was killed by the artillery. A knocked out AA technical is also discovered on the position - going a long way to explain why the Apaches were able to work unmolested.
Like its sister platoon, 15 Platoon goes firm, clears its casualties, and orients towards Bravo 4.
The Recce now move through the secured positions and take hasty firing positions to the rear of Bravo 4. They had just begun to engage dismounts (some of whom are, it seems, falling back to an empty trench behind Bravo 4) when the scenario ends. The enemy's had enough.
Comments
Well, frankly, I am not impressed with the result. If the entire purpose of this was to demonstrate how hasty attacks are meant to get inside and stay inside an enemy's decision loop, then I failed quite comprehensively. I am also a bit displeased with the casualties.
Now to give vent to my frustrations! Every time I was about to act on the information I had, something forced me to reconsider. First it was the appearance of, frankly, a gaggle of barely-useful museum piece armour, then the appearance of T-72s. Each time I was reacting to developments. I was saved primarily by the relatively amateurish scheme of manoeuvre used by the OPFOR - which I suspect was by design, rather than by lazy AI plan making. Had the reinforcing elements just reinforced the fighting positions I would've been delayed even more than I was. I was, frankly, lucky to KO a T-62MV with a Coyote. That allowed me to resume the offensive much sooner than I would have been able to otherwise.
I hesitate to say it, as a poor craftsman will often blame his tools, but a lot of what occurred in this mission is a direct result of my native Canada's equipment and organisation. Let me be clear, the Canadian Forces that are displayed in Shock Force 2 are lavishly, and I would actually say unrealistically, well equipped. Our M777s, for example, have precision artillery rounds. As we are operating in a NATO operational umbrella, rotary-wing support is never far away. Our armour is rare, but excellent, no better or worse than our allies. We have access to our M190A4+ self propelled artillery, which I think in reality had been mothballed, scrapped or sold off the year before the fictional conflict takes place (2008). So in many ways, Canada has been generously improved for a fictional conflict. However, key deficiencies remain. Our infantry lack any form of intermediate to long-range heavy anti-tank and it shows strongly in this mission. An equivalent Dutch force would have had the excellent Spike anti-tank system, an American Stryker unit a proliferation of Javelins; about the only other nation in game that shares our deficiency of man-portable HAT is the Bundesheer (and even they have Milans in some number). Our nearest equivalent to these systems, the Eryx, do not have the range to match. The Carl Gustav remains an excellent support weapon and bunker buster, but is by the standards of the day hardly a tank killer, and in any event lacks the range to really get inside a enemy tank's ability to identify and kill you.
All this means that conducting a 'textbook' hasty attack was difficult. Perhaps I should say I performed a 'somewhat hasty attack.' The fact that this 'unexpected resistance' was in shockingly improved positions did not help things either, and in hindsight a bit more of a deliberate effort might have been justified.
Yet while I had quite a few frustrations and upsets, quite a lot did go well. The core principles of any effective attack were on display here. We built up a rapid and effective picture of the enemy, co-ordinated our fires extremely well, remembered to isolate objectives we wished to take and maximised the advantages of the light and speedy LAV in manoeuvring through a variety of terrain. We did our best to 'flow like water' through masked terrain, and where none could be found, direct and indirect suppressive fires provided the cover. Even better, we got to put on a bit of a dismounted display, which can be very rare in Shock Force 2 when you have overwhelming fires. The friendly Leopards, for example, were ultimately a bit of a sideshow! It's in its dismounted fighting that I think the Canadian infantry's mechanised platoon really shines. I have always thought our section organisation was no-frills and effective, and with the majority of LAVs in the platoon carrying Carl Gustavs and sufficient ammunition, the ability to reduce hard points and produce opportunity to manoeuvre even in the face of a well entrenched enemy remains excellent.
Personal and Housekeeping
Well, this is actually the last day of my holiday, and unfortunately the flurry of blog posts will be subsiding considerably. As I write this I am in fact waiting for the results of my PCR test to come back to determine if I am good to return to England. I'm eager to get back, given I woke up to an exciting opportunity.
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| Redacted, for obvious reasons! |
On the CM front, I will continue to update my on-going DAR on the Battlefront Forums. My opponent James and myself have been steadily doing turns throughout our respective breaks and I now have quite a bit of stored-up screenshots and action. So keep an eye on that. As always, thanks for reading.
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