LongLeftFlank
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Posts posted by LongLeftFlank
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Soooo... d'ya think that if Kettler and JasonC were both to post in this poor innocent, almost childlike, thread at precisely the same moment, a rift would appear in the space-time-continuum? And in the split second before we all dissolved into pure entropy, would we glimpse Michael Dorosh glowering back at us from his non-Euclidean prison beneath the waves?
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Thanks Buzz.
Btw, the fact that its taken BFC so long to review my upload tells me they're in hardcore production mode.... Good stuff imminent!
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Hmm, it's taking a while for BFC to review it, but I uploaded my full sized Ramadi map to the Repository. At some point it should show up....
Just in case someone wants to try and push the Ramadi series forward, here is the background briefing I wrote a while back for my next scenario in the sequence, WICKED WEDNESDAY.
In any case, it may make interesting historical reading. I am hoping that at some point Bing West or one of the other quality mil historians (and not some pinko journalist) will write a full history of the Ramadi battles (2003-2009). Or at least someone will update the Wikipedia entry to provide the big picture.
Props to those who served, those who died, and those who still carry the scars.
*****
WICKED WEDNESDAY. Ramadi, Anbar Province, IRAQ, July 14, 2004.
The first two weeks of April 2004 had been a watershed moment in the fortunes of the American-led occupation of Iraq. To the ill-disguised glee of opponents of the invasion, the ferocious Sunni insurgent attacks across Anbar Province, and the simultaneous eruptions by Shia followers of cleric Muktada al-Sadr, seemed to have at last laid bare the Bush-Blair lies of "Mission Accomplished", as well as the fiction that transition from occupation to a civilian Iraqi authority was either imminent or popularly supported. In short, Iraq policy had become a plaything of election year politics.
With the siege of rebel-held Fallujah now called off under intense political pressure, the Marine First Division hastily rethought its strategy in Anbar. The Marine-led "community policing" approach (No Better Friend: No Worse Enemy) of deploying light infantry patrols into restive urban areas had ended in near-disaster. Allied forces now reverted to the Army's post-Mogadishu approach of (fortified) camps, checkpoints and cordons, with carefully planned forays into insurgent areas conducted only by company-scale-plus forces, supported by armor and air power.
The insurgents too, had paid a terrible price for their propaganda victories. Hundreds of eager but poorly trained jihadis now lay in mosques awaiting burial, stacked like cordwood in bloodstained sheets. Even when surprised and outnumbered, the despised Americans had quickly regained initiative and massive fire superiority. The key to final victory, insurgent leaders knew, was in killing white men; few other metrics mattered. But it was now clear that this would not be accomplished through sustained infantry attacks, but rather by hit-and-run ambush, sniping, mortar attacks and above all, mine warfare.
Yet with transition back to Iraqi rule inevitable, ready or not, Coalition troops were not to be allowed to abandon the seething cities altogether -- Fallujah aside, where a farcical "truce" was in place. 1st Marine Division CO, MJG Mattis tersely laid out the political imperatives during a visit to the weary 2/4 Marines at Combat Outpost at the eastern edge of Ramadi. “If we don’t hold the Government Center and the provincial capital, the rest of the province goes to hell in a handbasket.” Victory could be achieved “if we can get the Iraqis to work with us. They don’t have to love us."
Thus, Allied forces -- Iraqi police and hastily trained National Guardsmen "supported" by Marines -- had no choice but to fortify largely symbolic government "offices" in the center of hostile cities like Ramadi. These isolated garrisons needed supply of course, and it was the supply routes that were most vulnerable to attack, a fact not lost on the enemy.
The remainder of April was fairly quiet as both sides regrouped, but in May a spate of IED attacks struck at the "Boxcar" and "Dagger" convoys and the mobile Marine patrols protecting them, killing a number of personnel. The uparmoring of the Humvees and trucks that were the Marines' primary transport, long overdue, was ongoing, in spite of a press and Congressional outcry, plus heroic improvization by maintenance crews.
In June, with the transition imminent, 2/4 Marines discontinued most of its patrols inside Ramadi and instead set up static OPs to prevent IEDs being planted along main highway Route Michigan. Now it was the insurgents who took the initiative; on June 21 four Marine snipers were killed in their OP by Iraqi "allies". Three days later, two Iraqi police stations were overrun and blown up, possibly with the connivance of the policemen. An assault on the Anbar Governor's mansion was foiled by Marines.
Nonetheless, the transition went ahead as scheduled and by the end of June, a new "normal" had settled into place again in the battered center of Ramadi. The fortified OPs were keeping the supply routes under nonstop surveillance. Also, Marine / SEAL sniper units moving unpredictably from spot to spot, taking a heavy toll of trained insurgent snipers and IED minelayers. Potent Marine quick response forces (QRFs) in uparmored vehicles, backed by Army Bradleys and M1A1 tanks, were becoming well versed in responding to any attack on the OPs.
Therefore, in July the Saddam loyalist officers who directed the dominant insurgent factions in Ramadi changed tactics yet again.
At 1230 hours on July 14, 2004, COL Connor (DEVIL SIX), CO of US Army 1st Brigade Combat Team responsible for the entire sector from Ramadi to Fallujah, was driving west along Route Michigan when his security column was struck by an IED near the Saddam Mosque. This was followed by a fusilade of RPG shots and small arms fire. At the same instant, the nearby Marine squad (Engineers of JOKER 4/1, 2/4 Golf) at the "Ag Center" OP (really an Islamic law library) also came under fire. Within minutes, the day's QRF -- the battered Marine veterans of JOKER TWO, 2/4 Golf -- was rolling out of Combat Outpost in platoon strength, followed by Army Bradleys of 1/16 Mech ("Iron Rangers") from Camp Corregidor, farther east.
Meanwhile, a kilometer north, 2/4 CO LTC Kennedy (BASTARD SIX) was visiting Ramadi Hospital. Upon hearing the firefight, he and his escort, the 27 Marines of Mobile Assault Platoon 1 (MOBILE ONE, 2/4 Weapons Co.) under SSGT Drake, instantly mounted up and rode to the sound of the guns. As the gigantic Saddam Mosque loomed into sight ahead, the streets of Ramadi's normally bustling industrial area, the Marines noted tensely, were utterly deserted.
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Been silent on this for a while (worked 60 hours in the past 4 days, and not on CMSF....), but here are the briefing maps for RELIEF OF JOKER THREE.
For those who don't know anything about the Battle of Ramadi, they tell a concise story of what went down and why. It is the capital, agricultural and industrial hub and largest city in Sunni Anbar Province, a hotbed of Ba'athist support, and sits along the main highway / smuggling / infilitration route from Syria to Baghdad. Main US bases lay largely outside the urban core, but especially after Falluja they had to prop up an official presence at the Government Center for symbolic reasons. To do this, they needed to use a road (Michigan) and traffic along that road got attacked, constantly. So the Marines began setting up smaller OPs to protect the road. THEY got attacked. And so on, in a lethal game of cat-and-mouse for 3 years.
This post is buried back a ways in the thread, but it should answer the newb question "What's Ramadi?" for anyone needing to know....
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Self-bumping this old thread for a reason that will become known shortly.
And wow, at the risk of sounding self-patronising, I just reread the entire thread and am astonished how much military history I've been able to deep dive into over the past 5 years (2008-2012) in such a unique way using this game engine (Ramadi, Baba Amr, La Meauffe, Makin Atoll, Dien Bien Phu).
Regretfully though, I don't think my new job is going to allow me to continue.
Your Humble Narrator, LLF
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Fun thread, though several convoys worth of mythology floating around, no doubt. Here, I'll invent some more:
"In early 1944 Hitler's physician, Dr. Morell, convinced him to man the Atlantic Wall with 'stomach battalions' of ailing men fortified with Koester's Anti-Gas Pills, manufactured under contract by Bayer AG and for which Morell received a commission."
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Wait, I want to hear more about the hot Swedish doctor: Tell me more about 'Operation Granite'", she murmured, her breast heaving as she sprawled against the 50 cm bombard (a 1740 coronation gift from the Duke of Brabant).
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I synthesize pillars by using the balcony type with them. And can't you do terraced gardens by putting a little shed at the back?
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Glad you enjoyed it. It was a very instructive exercise to make it, in terms of understanding why meother side can beat the other in the current conflict, even though i never finished a playthrough. I would love to see some action screenshots if you can post them.
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My wish list, besides features already present in the latest version of the engine:
1. For the love of all that's holy, after 5 years with this engine can we please please please add some non-clock-based dynamic "trigger" functionality to the AI! Even if it's a primitive set of (optionally hidden) Flags a la CM1 that cause a designated AI Group (oh, and we need more Groups, always) to "counterattack" when the Flag zone is "lost". The design community is more than clever enough to figure out how to get the most out of this feature and thereby compound the "intelligence" of the AI. Pure clock based movement while marginally acceptable for tank vs tank, makes real world infantry tactics other than "human wave" virtually impossible to recreate.
2. Some form of CosPlay support. Even if it's PBEM only and incomplete it would breathe new life into the system and rejuvenate the community. Simply allowing units on both sides to be designated as AI, not player controlled, would seem straightforward. So, e.g. the player commands the infantry, but can't control the tanks.... which is realistic. Or the lead element blunders into an ambush which the player can't avert, only react to.
3. Revamp the cover and "demolition" characteristics of buildings, clearly distinguishing traditional thick load-bearing walls or poured slab structures from more modern thin-walled cement pillared structures. Accurately reflect improved cover values va fire from higher or lower elevations (poured cement floors are the most bulletproof feature in modern buildings, but that's useless vs same level shooters). Accurately reflect limits on tank gun elevation/depression vs nearby targets (yup, I get it's complex).
FWIW
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You want a real education, follow Jason's comments on SeekingAlpha. It's about the best investment and economics blog out there.
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Remember, we Canadians got good value out of those Redcoats and were happy to quarter them in our houses, pay the stamp duties, et al. to keep them there. We were less populated and more scattered than our cousins to the South, had no Appalachians to shield us from hostile Indians, and also had the only recently conquered Quebecois (my Mum's side of the family) to worry about....
By 1812, there was a thriving US-Canada commerce, and extensive cross-border migration and intermarriage, which continued largely uninterrupted by hostilities. Which has set the tone for cordial relations since, in spite of stupid politicians and the occasional bored staff officer on both sides. The fortifications of the still paranoid 1830s period (Fort Niagara, Lewiston ME, Halifax Citadel, etc.) are pretty impressive though, and must have cost a pretty penny. The Rideau Canal, a piece of engineering nearly as impressive as the Erie Canal, was built to allow light warships and supply barges passage from the Ottawa River to Georgian Bay (Lake Huron)
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After 1789 when they gave back St Kitts to the Brits, the French no longer had a viable naval base to speak of in the New World, which meant no way to sustain an army capable of defending the Mississippi Territory. It's possible the Haitian rebellion deprived them of Port au Prince -- no idea. So, it was either sell the territory to the Yankees for cash, or else lose it to their encroachment, or worse, the hated British.
New Orleans was not fit for purpose as a naval base for some reason I'm not totally sure of -- never has been one in history, even though its position at the Mississippi mouth made it thrive as a commercial port. Too much silting (treacherous navigation for deeper draft warships) plus too frequent hurricanes with no sheltered anchorage would be my guess. And even though there are timber stands in the deep South I don't know if they're shipyard grade stores.
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Yes, the subsequent peace treaties might well have set the US-Canada border significantly farther south, leaving most of what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana and Washington State in Canada. The Columbia River might have been the border. Canada too might have become a very different, more industrialized nation, with the rich iron ores of the Great Lakes region at the disposal of newcomers. The great Yankee migration to the Upper Midwest which took place in the mid 19th century (due to overcrowding and climate change) might have resulted in many resuming (nominal) allegiance to the Crown, but bringing their entrepreneurial energy.
And with fewer Free states and Senators, the US Great Debate over slavery might have been more protracted.
EDIT: Oh, you're wisecracking about DEE-troit. Yeah, well fleeing slaves might well have become a part of the population in an enlarged Upper Canada, but a very different subsequent social evolution. Labor was always scarcer and more valuable in Canada, so they might have done a lot better for themselves, having arrived earlier. Who knows?
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Your timing is good, Heckenschutze, as I can finally access the Forums again after an extended absence. And your appreciation for my work is warmly appreciated in turn.
However, I regret I can give you no promise that any of my CM projects (le Carillon, DienBienPhu, Ramadi, CM:PTO) will be resumed anytime soon.
In April I began working with a new company in the Philippines and the job duties, together with the relocation of my family halfway around the world leaves me no time at all for gaming. Moreover, the only CM game currently active on my (aging) laptop is CMSF so I can't really even tinker with the editors on a casual basis. My CM PC is now in storage in my brother's basement and it was a dinosaur anyway.
Who knows: at some point I may resume the hobby especially if the editor functionality continues to evolve and become more user friendly but for now I fear it isn't in the cards.
Best regards,
LONGLEFTFLANK
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Read literally in translation, the Holy Qu'ran does seem to leave little room for doubt or interpretation. Man is sinful, proud and avaricious; he has rebelled against his One True God. He is perforce consigned to flames of hell unless he Submits (Islam) to the true word of God, as expressed by the Prophets, especially Mohammed (pbuh).... As interpreted by the Prophet himself (hadith) and by numerous scholars and imams for 1500 years since -- reread that last bit, it's important.
The universe is divided into Dar al Islam and Dar al Harb ("the domain of war"), and it is the sacred duty of every Muslim to bring God's true religion to every corner of the world. There is no command laid on the faithful to honour any promise or contract with the unbelievers, or indeed, to spare their lives: "When you encounter the infidels, strike off their heads." Sharif don't like it, blah blah blah.
Hmm, so it seems that Muslims are divinely commanded to be fanatical, intolerant, murderous, insistently proselytising bigots. Not much leeway for interpretation.
Except for that 1300 years of Islamic jurisprudence that short-circuits the fundamentalist line, saying that only he who is without sin may rightfully cast the first stone of holy war or claim the rewards of martyrdom. So "jihad" is in practice a 24x7 struggle to remain just, humble and charitable toward one's neighbour, whomever he be. Does that allow a clean path to reconciling a traditional Muslim life with living a conflict-free life side by side with nonbelievers in a secular world that permits ceasing to believe, blasphemy, Internet porn and your own son to legally marry another dude in direct contravention of God's word? Hardly, but there is precisely no religion whose adherents do not feel "under attack" by the above right now.
I have little patience for those who unceasingly blame our own (Western) civilization for the world's ills and injustices while eagerly making excuses for ignorant fanatics and mass murderers, be they Salafists, Communists or Falangists. But I also see no reason to tar 1.5 billion Muslims as terrorists or fifth columnists, especially when they form the vast majority of victims of their own fanatics.
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Interesting how tolerant we are of these rebel fighters invoking the greatness of God every time they destroy a vehicle or kill SAA soldiers.
I remember not so long ago how folks in these forums got all over American soldiers and Marines for hooting and cheering after destroying Iraqi positions shown in videos during the second Iraq war.
The stresses of combat certainly affect people in different ways.
Well, keep in mind that for Muslims, the takbir isn't only a battle cry or an exultation of bloodshed, even though we infidels associate it with that (and it can certainly be intended that way). It is also used both in celebration (football matches, weddings) and as an anxious benison against evil, a la "Hail Mary, full of grace").
Black Prince: no arguments there. Time will tell.
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Well hey, you can game out whatever floats your invasion barge, but to make this a remotely plausible what-if IMHO, you'd have to assume no US participation in the war in Europe (isolationism). Or else a 1942 German victory in the East, quickly followed by a brilliant Rommel annihilation (capture) of the British and then the US armies in North Africa (following Torch). Plus, they change their UBoat codes and are still sinking convoys as fast as the US can build, so only limited US forces have arrived in the UK. Oh, and they got jets early and have air superiority over the Channel. Anything else?
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In my oppinion we are not likely to see Syria split into two countries. The current behaviour of the regime would indicate that they are playing an all or nothing game. Erwin talked about the regime's determination to deny the rebels any cities. I believe that the regime is concerned that the loss of a major city in its entirety to the rebels would result in increased international recognition for the opposition. Were Aleppo to fall to the rebels for example, it is likely that it would become a seat of governance for the opposition and a kind of rival capital city just as Benghazi did in Libya. This could result in more countries recognising the opposition as the legitimate government, potentially removing any legal barriers to direct military intervention by foreign powers at their behest.
As Assad's regime increasingly loses controll, it may well decamp to the coast, just as Ghadaffi fled to his stronghold of Sirte. However, I think this would only be done as an act of desperation. By the time that occurs, the Syrian Army will likely have been left in tatters. The Syrian Air Force would be forced to leave whatever bases they still retain at that time behind. Huge stock piles of equipment and ammunition would be left in the hands of the rebels (it is unlikely that the SAA would be able to transport or destroy a significant amount of materiel, even if they have already begun doing so, especially when the logistical problems which they are already facing are considered. I doubt that a coastal 'rump' Syria would be able to hold out in the long term. From what I've read, the rebels have already infiltrated beyond the mountain ranges into Latakia and Tartus.
Interesting points, but I don't buy the Libya comparison. There is no sign of foreign intervention which would create the kind of rout of regime forces you describe; so they have plenty of time for an orderly evacuation of essential equipment to the coast. They've already purged most of the unreliable Sunnis out of the army, and those who remain are mortally afraid of rebel retribution for their many war crimes. The Assads can't bring the entire loyalist population and all their families along into exile to where? (Tehran or Moscow I guess). Ergo, they will consider a defensible separate state their best option. This is not risk-free, but IMHO their foreign supporters plus Western indifference / dislike of the Sunni Islamists will make that division accomplished fact over time. Just my opinion.
"All or nothing" makes a great slogan, but there is simply no way in my view that the Assads/Alawites will win this civil war ("All"), still less reconcile with any of the Sunni opposition. That door is closed and the longer the war goes on, the fewer moderates remain. And as this becomes clear, I find it impossible to believe the well-armed Loyalists will meekly shrug and say "Nothing" (i.e. ethnic cleansing and dismal exile, following the Palestinians)
The only thing that will hold the country together now within its current (postcolonial) boundaries is a foreign occupation. And again IMHO, that simply ain't gonna happen unless the regime begins gassing cities en masse or sumfink. Which I suppose is conceivable but unlikely. Nobody wants to implement the Powell doctrine in Syria. It's not like anyone there will be grateful for more than about 6 weeks, if that long. The West is Crusaded out; only an Arab-Israeli war will bring them back in on the ground. Again, one man's view.
PS. There was an independent 'Alawite Republic' in the coastal zone for a period between the collapse of Ottoman rule and the French "it isn't really a colony, it's a 'mandate' or umm 'protectorate' or something" arrival. Too lazy to wiki the details right now.
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Nah, Erwin, I have no more inside dope than you do. And I don't see the population as "fanatical", just some of the leadership. The poor Sunni populace of the heartland would be the primary losers in this scenario, although a lot of non-Sunnis would also lose everything (perhaps their lives too) in the subsequent "exchanges of populations".
But unlike Alan and some others here I simply don't see the Assads outlasting (or ha! coming to terms with) the resistance and holding the entire country, even if the war drags on for another year or more. But even if the Assads fled, they couldn't take 2 million non-Sunni Syrians along with them. I have simply lost faith in the ability of these populations to live together under a single regime at this point, given their respective leaderships. Even though they've lived together since the Prophet's Companions kicked out the Byzantines, the old social contract is broken -- by the stupidity and greed of the Assads, and the Sunni extremists they've empowered through their actions aren't inclined to put it back together. It's basically Yugoslavia redux. Only the US could reimpose an (unstable) single state solution, by basically repeating the Iraq counterinsurgency. And the chances of that happening are _______.
I also suspect that the IED (roadside bomb) war is well underway in the rural areas between the cities and that the Syrian army is rapidly losing its ability to resupply and shift large (and politically reliable) mech forces among hotspots. That same kind of hit and run war nearly paralyzed the vastly more capable US force in Anbar.
Guys, the rebels don't have to destroy the regime's tank divisions in head-to-head combat to win. They just need to keep bleeding them dry one IED or sniper shot at a time. Local regime outposts may already be reaching informal truces with the rebels -- if the Assads can't stop that happening that's the beginning of the end for them.
Nonetheless, the coastal area remains a relatively safe haven for them. And btw, I misnamed the Antitaurus mountains guarding the coast (they're in Turkey). It's the Nusariyah escarpment, an extension of the Anti-Lebanon range. And it is a hell of a lot more defensible from the west than from the east.
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My prediction, FWIW, is that the Assad clan and the Alawite population will decamp to a new state in the Syrian Levant -- the non-Sunni majority coastlands between Lebanon and Turkey. Protected by the Antitaurus mountains, a defensible natural barrier, and possessing the entire Syrian arsenal as well as the country's best farmland and its only ports, and joined by most of the Christians, Druse and educated Sunnis, this new state will be backed by Iran, Russia, and Greece but also (ironically) by Israel and Turkey. These relationships will defeat any Western sanctions relating to war crimes indictments and brutal ethnic cleansing. Those sanctions will dissolve over time as the division becomes established fact, and the new state may eventually gain widespread formal recognition and a UN seat. Because this state will be multisectarian and the Assads are generally secular in outlook, Iranian influence will fade over time in favour of more practical new alliances with neighbours, including the despised "Zionist entity".
Israel, in fact, could find its regional position somewhat strengthened, as a coastal alliance of Levantine mini-states emerges ("Assadistan", Lebanon, Israel), all feeling mortally threatened by Sunni Arab Salafism, and seeking to develop into modern, high tech economies.
Sanctions notwithstanding, this new, secular state may actually prosper economically in spite of Assad clan corruption and crony capitalism, ongoing warfare and the need to resettle millions of former residents of Damascus, Homs and other Syrian cities. On the other hand, there will be no more need to support a poor, exploding Sunni population so the vestiges of Ba'ath socialism will be abandoned.
The remainder of Syria will become a landlocked Islamic Republic, inevitably dominated by anti-Western Sunni Salafis. However, in practice their radicalism will be hamstrung by tribal factionalism plus the total ruin of their economy by the war. Crude sharia law will be imposed on the population, but local gangsterism and militia rule will defeat all attempts at effective central government. Plus, with the middle classes fleeing hand over fist (taking their capital and knowhow with them), the devastated nation will be completely dependent on subsidies from the Arab oil states.
The most radical (AQ-oriented) elements, being unable to found their fantasy Salafist Caliphate in Damascus, and in any case being far better at fighting than at governing -- will simply fan out to (re)destabilize neighbouring areas: Lebanon, West Bank, Iraq's Anbar, Kurdish Iraq and Turkey and maybe Jordan. That is bad news in general for these areas, but these movements are unlikely to prevail anywhere, since all these areas are governed by unsympathetic regimes with large armies. And the Syrian Islamic Republic won't be able to provide much material support to the "warrior brothers", as it will be mired in low intensity fighting with the Assads -- indeed, like Franco's Spain, it will be only too happy to see these Islamist radicals get killed off elsewhere. So this will be disturbing but inconclusive -- the primary victims will be the poor Sunnis living in these areas.
My two dinars.
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And at the other end of the clothing spectrum, now that snow is making an appearance, I assume winter clothing (e.g. greatcoats) will also become available. ISTR greatcoat clad ANA forces appearing in CMA.
EDIT: Oops, question answered in another thread.
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Can't help you with Aberdeen, but I just visited the Springfield Armoury National Historical Site in MA. Free admission, friendly staff, outstanding small arms collection -- from wheellocks to Bullpups -- and well worth a visit, both for firearms enthusiasts and those interested in the Industrial Revolution. Those ingenious Yankees passed back and forth a lot of key mass production / "copy exact" techniques with their neighbours in the textile mills (and private arms manufacturers like Colt, S&W, Winchester, etc.) that were later adopted and pushed further by the railroads, steel and then the automotive industries in the Midwest starting in the mid 1800s. And yes, they also lifted (and then reexported) a lot of ideas from the great European arsenals.
A powerful example of a large government (military industrial complex) institution rapidly pushing forward the state of civilization in constructive collaboration with private enterprise.
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Poor John. Hope he gets better soon.
New file at the Repository: Ramadi Government Center FULL_UPLOAD.zip (2013-08-24)
in CMSF Scenario and Mod Design Forum
Posted
Couple screenies...