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US style scenario briefings


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Below is the briefing I currently use for the hurtgen forest BETA scenario, US player side. I more or less adapted it to german operations order style which I have good refernces for. Now I´d like to know how much "US stylish" it really is! I used unit designations similar to what germans used, IE using roman numbers for bataillons. I at least know that US infantry companies are not numbered with arabic numbers, but use letters from the alphabet instead. :eek:

Any additinal hints you can give me or pointing at faults that I´m not aware of with regard to realistic US style briefings?

<ENEMY SITUATION>:

Retreating remnants of the german "III./ IR. 860" (as part of the "275.th ID") have established themselves in prepared fortified postions near Point 365 on the eastern slope of the Wehebach valley. Point 365 is guarded by at least two pillboxes (#141/32, #429) of the Siegfried line. Roadblocks and mine fields cover the most obvious approach routes. German unit quality: Mostly 2nd line, but well led and deeply entrenched; thus mostly safe from tree bursts. Well supported by artillery that is usually registered on key locations.

<FRIENDLY SITUATION>:

Since our starting attack two days ago, the german main line of resistance has been broken by units of the "39th" and "60th regiments". Our "I./ IR 39" (less "A" Cpy), framed by "II./ IR 39" covering left flank and "III./ IR 39" covering right flank, currently holds positions close to Point 365.

"A" Cpy. already bypassed the german strongpoint at Point 365 farther to the south and is now located at the forest edge to the west of Germeter town, which is part of the Btl. objective.

"II./ IR 39" tasked to attack on our left hangs back a little, leaving our left flank vulnerable to possible german counter attacks.

<MISSION>:

Reinforced elements of "I./ IR 39" (less "A" Cpy.) are to clear the area around Point 365 of german forces and open the main forest trail leading eastwards towards Germeter, enabling us to bring forward supply and tank support for the next days attack. As secondary objective part of the "W-Trail" in our attack sector is to be secured.

<COMBAT ORGANISATION>:

"I./ IR 39" (less "A" Cpy.)

supported by

"26 FAB", 105mm (providing 4 minutes of preplanned barrage)

with further fire missions available from H+5

"1./34th FAB", 155mm (on call)

(Allocated ammo for 4 Min.)

At least 100m security range to forward friendly units is to be maintained for any fire mission.

2x Plt. of "15 Eng C Btl."

1x Plt. of "746th Tank Btl." (5 Sherman Tanks)

arriving on H+5. Arrival point: Southern end of "W-Trail"

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Cpy is not correct - American terminology would be "Co."

Often, the letter followed the abbreviation, as in Co. E, but was also seen as E Co.

German terminology would be Kp., never a letter but always a number - ie 1. Kompanie, 2. Kompanie. Generally not done as an ordinal (ie 1e Kompanie, 2e Kompanie in military writing.)

The British would say Coy, generally a letter (some regiments excepted) as in A Coy, B Coy, with the letters often in quotation marks, as in "A" Coy, "B" Coy. Never seen afterwards ie Company B is a purely American designation. (I believe Guards units had numbered companies, some had names, for example Right Flank Company belonged to the Scots Guards, with No. 2 Company, No. 3 Company, and Left Flank Company).

Back to the US -

US Army Regimental designations would have battalions as arabic numberals, as in 2/116 (2d Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment). Slashes aren't common, generally orginals are used and commas - so 2nd Bn, 116th Inf instead of 2/116. Verbally, it might be shortened to "Second of the 116th). Roman numerals are used only for corps level units.

letters - company (ie Company A)

Arabic ordinals - battalion (2d Battalion)

Arabic ordinals - regiment (116th Infantry)

Arabic ordinals - Division (3rd Division)

Roman numerals - Corps (II Corps) - pronounced "Two Corps"

Arabic ordinals - Army (3rd Army)

Ordinals were usually used, ie 2d Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment or 2d Bn, 116th Infantry

Note the abbreviation is 2d in American practice and 2nd in Canadian/British practice

("Infantry" is generally assumed to mean "Infantry Regiment" when so used).

Division is always used in the designation, ie 3d Infantry Division, or with a national designation "3d US Infantry Division" to distinguish it from the 3rd British Division or 3rd Canadian Division. It would generally not be "3d Infantry" as that would be presumed to refer to a regiment rather than a division.

Your use of German terminology is so confusing as to be almost nonsensical. (As usual, the Germans prove their penchant for doing things almost 100 percent different from everyone else.)

"Reinforced elements of "I./ IR 39" (less "A" Cpy.)" should probably be "Reinforced elements of 1st Bn, 39th Inf (less Co. A)..."

The abbreviation for Battalion is "Bn" in US practice.

[ December 30, 2005, 08:54 AM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

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Here it is converted to US terminology.

ENEMY SITUATION:

Retreating remnants of the German 3rd Bn, 860th Infantry Regiment (as part of the 275th Inf Div) have established themselves in prepared fortified postions near HILL 365 on the eastern slope of the WEHEBACH VALLEY. HILL 365 is guarded by at least two pillboxes (#141/32, #429) of the SIEGRFRIED LINE. Roadblocks and mine fields cover the most obvious approach routes. German unit quality: Mostly 2nd line, but well led and deeply entrenched; thus mostly safe from tree bursts. Well supported by artillery that is usually registered on key locations.

<font color="tan"> In Allied military writing, German designations were usually 'translated' into something more familiar; Canadian intelligence summaries, for example, talk about "GAF units" (German Air Force) rather than "LW" (Luftwaffe, the German designation). </font>

FRIENDLY SITUATION:

Since our starting attack two days ago, the German main line of resistance has been broken by units of the 39th and 60th Infantry. Our 1st Bn, 39th Inf (less A Co.), supported by 2d Bn covering the left flank and 3rd Bn covering the right flank, currently holds positions close to HILL 365.

Co. A already bypassed the German strongpoint at HILL 365 farther to the south and is now located at the forest edge to the west of GERMETER, which is part of the Bn. objective.

<font color="tan"> (Place names appear in ALL CAPS in operations orders. "Hill" is the term generally used for elevations - Point may be used also, I'd have to double check that). </font>

2nd Bn, 39th Infantry tasked to attack on our left failed to advance the MLR far enough forward, leaving our left flank vulnerable to possible German counter attacks.

<font color="tan">(always capitalize "German"). Avoid overly informal talk ie "our left hangs back a little" is best replaced with something more formal, as above. (MLR is Main Line of Resistance, a WW II term similar to the German HKL (Hauptkampflinie, or main battle line). I believe a more modern equivalent is FEBA (Forward Edge of the Battle Area).</font>

MISSION:

Reinforced elements of 1st Bn, 39th Infantry (less Co. A.) are to clear the area around HILL 365 of German forces and open the main forest trail leading eastwards towards GERMETER, enabling us to bring forward supply and tank support for the next day's attack. As secondary objective, part of the "W-Trail" in our attack sector is to be secured.

COMBAT ORGANIZATION:

1st Bn, 39th Infantry (less Co. A)

<font color="tan">(Correct US spelling is with a "z").</font>

supported by

26th Field Artillery Bn, 105mm (providing 4 minutes of preplanned barrage) with further fire missions available from H+5

64th Field Artillery Bn, 155mm (on call)

(Allocated ammo for 4 Min.)

At least 100 yard security range to forward friendly units is to be maintained for any fire mission.

<font color="tan">US units used Imperial measurements in WW II, not metric</font>

2x Plt. of 15 Eng C Bn

1x Plt. of 746th Tank Bn. (5 Sherman Tanks)

arriving on H+5. Arrival point: Southern end of "W-Trail"

<font color="tan">(There is no need for quotation marks around unit names).</font>

[ December 30, 2005, 12:06 PM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

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Mike has pretty much covered it, but one US OOB point. In CM, the 105mm batteries are 6 guns each. In reality, the standard was 4 guns in the infantry divisions, with 6 in armored field artillery and in regimental cannon companies. A 105mm divisional artillery battalion would thus be represented by 2 FOs rather than 3, if you want to get the shells per unit time correct. Of course you can set the overall shell budget as high as you like by dialing up the rounds per FO.

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I meant to include some positive comments. JasonC has a good take on briefings in the CMBB forum thread "bad scenario designs".

I'll add that your initial briefing here is clear and concise, appropriate to the forces involved, dramatic, and generally well written. As JasonC points out in the other thread, we don't really care what the XXth Corps is doing or the 7th Army, we want to know what our battalion is doing and what it wants done.

I like this briefing a lot, and the details seem to ring true; once the right terminology is used I think it is a winner.

Some other points for future reference - Oddly, armored divisions seem to be known by their numbers - ie "4th Armored" is used to refer to the 4th Armored Division, but I suspect that is because they did not have armored regiments. US armored divs organized independent tank battalions into Combat Commands instead. So instead of an armored regiment, they would have CC "A", CC "B", CC "R" instead (Combat Command A, B, and Reserve).

Artillery seem to be organized into Field Artillery Battalions, as you point out - abbreviated FA Bn. Collectively, they were not grouped into Regiments as in the German or British armies, but simply referred to for example as "3d Division Artillery", or DivArty for short. 105 and 155 units seem both to have been designated FA Bn (the British had Field Regiments (firing 88mm (25pdr) guns) and Medium Regiments (firing 4.5 or 5.5 inch howitzers) for artillery (in addition to anti-tank, light anti-aircraft, heavy anti-aircraft, and coastal regiments, among others).

Here's a good website with order of battle info that might help with your nomenclature

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/documents/ETO-OB/ETOOB-TOC.htm

Sample Infantry Division page -

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/documents/eto-ob/63ID-ETO.htm

[ December 30, 2005, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

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I'm familiar with the term MLR from the early seventies, and didn't realize that it dated back to WWII. Did MLR change meaning over time? In seventies-speak MLR and FEBA were most certainly *not* the same thing. FEBA was your outpost line, where you picked off Soviet light vehicles. MLR was where your infantry was dug in (three alternate positions -- which is why I have trouble thinking it's gamey to split squads at the begining of a scenario to dig more foxholes).

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Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

Some other points for future reference - Oddly, armored divisions seem to be known by their numbers - ie "4th Armored" is used to refer to the 4th Armored Division, but I suspect that is because they did not have armored regiments. US armored divs organized independent tank battalions into Combat Commands instead.

Both 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions had Armored Regiments. They were the old organization and were already outside the US when the organization was changed. It was determined to keep theirs on the old style to avoid confusion before they went into combat.

Afterwards they thought it was a great idea to keep them armor heavy.

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Originally posted by Philippe:

I'm familiar with the term MLR from the early seventies, and didn't realize that it dated back to WWII. Did MLR change meaning over time? In seventies-speak MLR and FEBA were most certainly *not* the same thing. FEBA was your outpost line, where you picked off Soviet light vehicles. MLR was where your infantry was dug in (three alternate positions -- which is why I have trouble thinking it's gamey to split squads at the begining of a scenario to dig more foxholes).

Good question, I may have blundered on that one. I know some of the WW II terms laboured on into the 1970s in some places. For example, today's Line of Departure was known as the Start Line in WW II and for a couple decades afterwards, from what old vets tell me, anyway. It's possible MLR spanned the gap. I was under the impression FEBA was the same thing but apparently not, thanks for the clarification.

Perhaps someone with a WW II glossary can fill us in?

FWIW, wikipedia gives this:

Forward Edge of Battle Area (FEBA) is a military term used by American, British and Commonwealth military forces. It refers to the front lines in a conflict. The FEBA may or may not correspond to the forward line of own troops (FLOT).

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Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

<font color="tan"> (Place names appear in ALL CAPS in operations orders. "Hill" is the term generally used for elevations - Point may be used also, I'd have to double check that). </font>

Yep, in case of the modelled map location, the point in fact is not a hill and the US report mentiones the particular topographical point as "point 365" a well. It´s as found in the sceanrio down in the valley at a point where the forest road crosses the wehebach creek up the eastern slope towards the community of "Germeter". There´s no actual creek to be found on the map though (the Wehebach creek was about 15 to 20 feet wide, too small to be modelled with the 20m wide water tiles).
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Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

FRIENDLY SITUATION:

Since our starting attack two days ago, the German main line of resistance has been broken by units of the 39th and 60th Infantry. Our 1st Bn, 39th Inf (less A Co.), supported by 2d Bn covering the left flank and 3rd Bn covering the right flank, currently holds positions close to HILL 365.

Co. A already bypassed the German strongpoint at HILL 365 farther to the south and is now located at the forest edge to the west of GERMETER, which is part of the Bn. objective.

<font color="tan"> (Please in your briefing could you after 39th and 60th Infantry insert 'Regiments' in order to be clear about what you are describing since we are not all experts on US protocals. Also to be consistent keep it as A Co. and not Co. A throughout at least again for consistancy and clarity but also because I think that letter then Company is the correct and usual informal method.) </font>

While I'm no expert I believe that the FEBA (Forward Edge of the Battle Area) is just that a line from which the Main Battle Area begins from, MBA replacing the older MLR term some time in the 70's in US doctrine. In front of the FEBA was the Coverring Force in the Covering Area which could extend out in front as far as 50 miles, but usually 15-20 miles IIRC.

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Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by RockinHarry:

..and anybody who wants to know about german briefing/orders styles, should give Michaels website a check, in particular:

http://www.deutschesoldaten.com/procedures/opsorder.htm

(..or purchase tons of old german field manuals for the same purpose, like I did :D :eek: )

smile.gif </font>
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