Operation GLACIER 2 - Afghanistan Jan 2007

[Combatintman]

Ok folks, I've been working on some other stuff. This work in progress is a standalone mission which took place at Jugroom Fort, Garmsir District, Helmand Province on 15 Jan 2007.

For those that want to know where this is punch in the following geo coords into Google Earth:

31 04 02 11N

64 10 06 91E

The following is the draft briefing for the mission:

Situation: Enemy Forces

3 Commando Brigade’s Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF) has been operating in the area for a number of weeks collecting intelligence on what is assessed to be a Taliban (TB) HQ and Combat Service Support (CSS) node at Jugroom Fort. Reporting indicates that this location is a key staging point for foreign fighters making the journey from Pakistan and provides C2 and logistics support to the fighters that are attacking Garmsir District Centre (GMR DC) on a daily basis. BRF recces have been able to confirm the presence of at least a platoon’s worth of Taliban routinely occupying the fort. Sentry positions in the Fort’s sangars are manned on a 24 hour basis. The enemy is assessed to be equipped with weapons ranging from SPG-9 recoilless rifles and DShK HMG down to normal small arms and RPGs. Due to the assessed importance of this location to the TB, it is likely to be reinforced very quickly, probably from the North in at least platoon strength. As the TB currently feel safe in this area, the IED threat is assessed as LOW.

Situation: Friendly Forces

Helmand Task Force (HTF) remains stretched by its commitments Province-wide and in order to retain some freedom of action, the enemy must be disrupted at every possible opportunity. It is assessed that a successful attack on this identified C2 and logistics node will give HTF elements deployed in GMR DC some relief from the current tempo of attacks and the inflow of foreign fighters will be significantly reduced prior to the onset of fighting season. Accordingly, Information Exploitation (IX) Group is to conduct a raid on Jugroom Fort. The main assault force is comprised of Zulu Company, 45 Commando RM, with its 1 and 5 troops mounted in Armoured Support Troop AFVs which will arrive at the Line of Departure (LD) in 15 minutes (0400 hrs). 4 Troop is dismounted and will arrive in 30 minutes (0415 hrs) and is your designated reserve. A troop of Scimitars from C Squadron the Light Dragoons is also task-organised with the assault group. Your ISTAR group, comprising two sniper pairs, a JTAC (C/S WIDOW 71) and a FOO party from 29 (Commando) Regiment Royal Artillery are at the LD now. Offensive support comes in the form of a battery of 105mm Light Guns from 29 Cdo Regt RA, Z Coy’s grouped mortars and a pair of Harrier GR7’s from Kandahar (C/S RECOIL 45). Two Apache pairs will conduct reliefs in place with the Harriers (C/Ss UGLY 50 and UGLY 52) ensuring that you have on call air at all times.

Situation: Terrain and Weather

Key terrain is Fort Jugroom which is a complex of buildings surrounded by a 2m high perimeter wall with sangars. There is a number of compounds in the immediate vicinity of Fort Jugroom which are a mix of single and double-storey buildings bounded by a mix of 3m and 6m high walls. These are likely to be inhabited by civilians and therefore should be targeted only if you positively ID them as firing points. All buildings and compounds provide cover and concealment to both enemy and friendly forces. The remainder of the ground to the North and East is agricultural, interspersed with a number of small irrigation ditches and trees. The fort and compound complexes lie to the East of a North-South oriented irrigation canal which flows into the Helmand Rud (Helmand River). The canal is severely restricted for manoeuvre while the Helmand Rud is assessed as good for manoeuvre however it should be crossed at low speed by armoured vehicles to reduce the risk of bogging in. The irrigation ditch is traversable by dismounts and vehicles via a narrow East-West oriented bridge opposite the Fort. To the North of the Helmand Rud and West of the Irrigation Canal the ground is primarily open agricultural land with a small number of small irrigation ditches and buildings which offer cover and concealment to both enemy and friendly forces. The status of these buildings is unknown and therefore it must be assumed that they are civilian occupied. The LD is to the South of the Helmand Rud and provides good observation and fields of fire onto the objective and its surroundings as well as providing concealment for forces forming up for the attack. It is 0345 in the morning of 15 Jan 07 and therefore temperatures are cool and you are operating under low light conditions which will favour your target acquisition systems while degrading those of the enemy.

Mission: Overall Description

Mission: ATTACK: Z Company Group is to attack the Fort Jugroom complex in order to disrupt TB C2 and logistics throughout Helmand Province.

Tasks:

1. Destroy the defences of Fort Jugroom (marked as objectives).

2. Clear Fort Jugroom complex of insurgents and secure items of intelligence value.

3. Extract from the area and return to the desert leaguer (notional – surrender will be triggered before this happens).

Execution: Commander’s Intent

My intent is to use my ISTAR group to cue air and artillery strikes on the Fort Jugroom defences prior to H-Hour (0400). With the defences eliminated, I will conduct a rapid ground assault using overwhelming firepower to clear the enemy from the complex. With the complex cleared, I will secure any items of intelligence interest and extract rapidly to the desert leaguer. Endstate is the Taliban defeated in the vicinity of Fort Jugroom and Z Coy group secure in the desert leaguer balanced for subsequent operations.

Execution: Basic Plan

Your choice OC Z Coy but I suggest that you make full use of your offensive support to strike your allocated targets and any positively identified firing positions. ROE preclude the use of indiscriminate strikes on civilian infrastructure so ensure that your use of firepower is targeted. You should conduct your main assault with 1 and 5 Troops soon after their arrival while retaining 4 Troop as your reserve and therefore I would wait to see how the situation develops before committing 4 Troop. Your ISTAR group is well positioned on the LD and I would suggest leaving it in place because it provides excellent overwatch across all arcs. Refer to the tactical map for a suggested scheme of manoeuvre.

[Erwin]

A pleasure to read something so well written and clear. Altho', what are "sangars"?

Presumably certain, if not all, buildings have a penalty cost for damage to penalize destruction of civ property?

[LongLeftFlank]

Sangars are simply piles of large rocks used in place of sandbags to construct crude emplacements above ground. Normally used in places where the soil is, well, too rocky, for below-ground entrenchments to be readily dug, and where the additional elevation is helpful to command an otherwise fairly flat expanse of badlands. Since these things are readily visible, and since unlike earth, solid rock has no capacity to absorb shell splinters -- on the contrary, new fragments are a hazard -- they're generally considered an inferior fortification and used only as an expedient.

Widely used in the North African WWII campaign.

[Erwin]

thanks for the explanation...

[Combatintman]

For those that don't know too much about the actual events depicted in this mission check out these links:

Not something I can replicate in the mission editor I hasten to add ...

[Erwin]

Some very dramatic footage there. But, it's impossible to figure out how anyone can see what they are shooting at.

[Combatintman]

Ok folks - here's some pictures ...

Google Earth Overhead:

CMSF Overhead:

CMSF Oblique taken from the southern end (blue setup) of the map:

As the mission starts at 0345 your initial view will be a lot darker than this!!

Enjoy.

[JonS]

+31° 04' 02.11", +64° 10' 06.91" works in gmaps

[Combatintman]

Ok - if I've done this right, the mission should be up in the repository fairly soon.

[Combatintman]

It seems I did get it vaguely right - the mission is up. Some things I forgot to mention when I uploaded to the repository - this mission is a Blue versus Red AI and requires CMSF plus the British Module and patched to version 1.32

[jspec]

Thanks for the mission, really liked it. Just finished up playing and I've got a few questions when you get a chance- (spoiler-ish, a little, below).

I ended up with a minor defeat, 150 to 194. I failed 'civilian buildings', and unconventional secured 'enemy casualties' (10 killed on my side, rushed a bit at one point and those rpgs got me!)

The game ended with 57 minutes still to go, is that because of the score? Meaning I couldn't have won even if I successfully assaulted the compound? I was just working my way up to it when it ended. I had knocked down most of the defenses, but the main buildings were pretty much untouched and the end screen showed there were still lots of enemy in there.

Also, I really tried to only shoot at buildings after I had been shot at from them- granted, once I was I leveled them, but I wasn't carpet bombing the whole place. Should I have only shot back with small arms to avoid the 'civilian buildings' penalty?

was fun still, so thanks again - looking forward to that campaign of yours!

[Erwin]

"The game ended with 57 minutes still to go..." I have seen that a lot when one wins a Total Victory or similar and the Ai just surrenders. But, in this case it seems frustratingly premature. Hope the designer may take another look at the victory conditions.

[Combatintman]

jspec,

Glad you enjoyed it.

The mission is deliberately loaded victory point wise to make it pretty hard to win. The design choice here was to reflect reality as much as possible given that the operation itself was what could be best described as 'a draw'.

This mission is one that I actually put together about a year ago and I have tinkered and tinkered with it on and off since then. It is possible to win or draw but on my last two play tests I suffered minor defeats as you did.

By the sounds of it you played it pretty much as I play it in that you smashed civilian buildings containing enemy forces once identified. It should be possible to win taking this approach and is in accordance with the ROE stated in the mission brief.

SPOILER ALERT:

The balance with this one is to keep your casualties right down while getting to the 'Taliban HQ' (a touch objective) and not destroying the buildings comprising that objective.

The fact that you got hammered by RPGs is also deliberate as in reality that is exactly what happened to IX Group on the day, they pretty much assaulted into what was an extremely well set up killing zone and once they realised this decided that discretion was the better part of valour. The trick here is to remember that you have plenty of time (2 hours) and use your CVR(T)s to 'jockey' and draw RPG fire. Once drawn you will have identified the RPG firing points and can justifiably hammer them with your offensive support (indirect and air/aviation) or alternately pour fire on them using your CVR(T)s with 'Target Light' orders and your Bulldogs to reduce the points you lose for civilian infrastructure damage. Hopefully you can do this with losing any of them in the process (it is possible). If you can do all of this you should be able to reach a draw (historical result) or a minor British victory.

[jspec]

Combatintman, thanks for the explanation - felt like I was advancing slow enough, but thinking about it now, with all that time I could have been even more cautious.

Also I suppose even though I was careful with civilian buildings, some of my apache targeting orders could have been a little less... 'vigorous'. Was just so nice to have some air power again! (been playing cmbn/fi lately)

take care-

[Combatintman]

FWIW I was with 3 Commando Brigade during this tour so I know a fair amount about what went on over this period. I have at least three more missions in the pipeline which attempt to depict events in Helmand at this time. Chances are that you will see these before the TELIC campaign hits the streets as the latter involves a hell of a lot more work than I bargained for although I am progressing steadily with it.

[jspec]

Well glad you made it back okay, and thanks for your service. Looking forward to those missions whenever you get around to them!

[Erwin]

More Brit scenarios are always welcome. They are the most interesting to game with.

[zmoney]

Yeah I like Brit scenarios too. In fact the Brit campaign is the only one I've finished.

[snake_eye]

You guys are delivering me of the problems encountered with CMBN V 2.0. At last here is a good scenario for CMSF

I'll download it right away and play it. I'll get back to CMBN V 2.0 when the dust will settle down. Might take some time

Thanks Combatintman

[Collingwood]

A quick note to thank you for this scenario. I did manage to take all the objectives, however I too suffered a minor defeat, it seems due to the same reasons as others have mentioned - I took a few casualties since those RPGs kept popping up everywhere, I also destroyed civilian buildings due to my heavy-handed arty and air response to RPGs etc. I also lost points for 'infrastructure' - would that be because I pretty much destroyed the jugroom fort ?

I think this one has high replay value. I only got the game a few days ago and have played half a dozen or so battles, and this was my first defeat. It might sound strange, but that pleased me greatly. Perhaps a lot of the missions I've played have been easy, but I was worried that I wouldn't find a challenge.

cheers

[Combatintman]

Collingwood - glad you enjoyed and one of the reasons you lost out would have been for smashing the HQ complex. The defensive positions and sangars are fair game but not the HQ.

[Collingwood]

Collingwood - glad you enjoyed and one of the reasons you lost out would have been for smashing the HQ complex. The defensive positions and sangars are fair game but not the HQ.

I just finished replaying, and got a minor victory. I ended with (edit) 11 KIA and 13 wounded - which is a pretty terrible result I admit. It surprised me because I did medic every casualty. Although I achieved all the objectives, the high casualty rate dragged my score down (or increased the enemy's).

This time I restricted arty to trenches only, and didn't use any air strikes. Everything was left intact except for one wall of a DP. I left every vehicle behind and did everything by foot. It was a close run thing though, several sections were entirely out of ammo by the time they were within the fort. It made for a pretty intense fight though.

Thanks again Combatintman !

[snake_eye]

@combatintman

That scenario is done like a real military operation against a known enemy area. No wonder, knowing your background.

I have been however amazed at the number of assets being available at the beginning of the Ops from the departure line. The Brits don’t seem to relinquish in spending money in ordnances for the benefit of its troops.

I played as usual in RT Elite

*************SPOILERS************************

I used these assets to pound and bomb, at discretion, the known Fort and Taliban’s HQ. That was done from the beginning and during the moves of 5th Troop (on the far right) and 1st troop (on the far left).

The Scimitars were split and deployed on the right, the center and the left to suppress any opposition as soon as it might be revealed.

The Talibans on the right were fool enough to shoot at them. The Scimitars replied and fixed them with the help of the Snipers. Just to get time to call mortars and an Apache on them.

As soon as that was done, the 5th troop having moved to the far right in order to prepare its crossing of the wadi made it. Dismounted troopers made it to the far side with their tracks overwatching them and pouring suppressing fire on likely enemy positions, before rejoining.

During all that time the choppers were preventing any possible Talibans groups to move toward 5th Troops hovering over a large interdiction area in front of them.

5th Troop took and cleared the houses in front of them and moved to the trenches farther away (previously drawn to the attention of the mortars). Meanwhile mortars were ordered to fire an interdiction line on their right, not allowing any Talibans to come from the houses from the other village on the right farther away.

Then time came for 1st Troop to move through the wadi on the far left in order to secure the trench line and the houses farther back. The Scimitar was used as bait and it worked. Then the shelling of the trench lines and the choppers suppression fire at the area farther back was in effect while the first, then second and finally third tracks crossed the wadi without any interference. However, some RPG’s and or Recoiless rounds hit the grounds farther away. Then a track luckily unloaded got hit (that was the only one lost)The troops dismounted and did the clearing with the tracks overwatching them and pouring suppressing fire.

The clearing done with 01:01:03 remaining time left, the Talibans surrendered and the Brits got a Tactical Victory with 200 points against 23.

The casualties were the following:

Brits 2 KIA 116 for the Talibans

2 WIA 69

0 MIA 2

1 AVL 0

The Brits got 50 points for the Forts defence as well as for the Taliban HQ, O points for the Infrastructures and 100 points for the Civilian Building

I might just say, that the surrender came as a surprise. I wished that I could have brought 1 St Troop farther away and across the bridge in order to establish a fire zone at the fort and the Taliban HQ while 5th Troops would have pushed the Taliban’s toward them.

All the time 4th Troop remain idle doing nothing as is the case with a reserve force. They did not have the time to get into action.

Your scenario is none the less a pretty good one and close to a Real Action one. At least as far as CMSF can have a scenario designer do it.

I am just waiting with interest the next one, you are about to release.

[Combatintman]

snake eye - the assets available I had to tone down to make it slightly challenging. While I was out there I saw the whole thing through the video downlink and you would not believe the pounding that place took. With operations of this type at that particular point in time, having the assets piled up was one of the many criteria required for the operation to be approved.

As for releasing Operation Glacier 1 as a mission - I have now tried uploading twice to the repository and for whatever reason it is not working - will try again today.

[BlackMoria]

Very nice scenario. I got a British Major Victory with only 1 WIA and inflicting 130 KIA and 54 WIA on the enemy.

It seemed almost too easy as the enemy surrendered well before I got into the fort, which is the only disappointment with the scenario.

I advanced with a right flank maneuver with both mech platoons to the urban area on the right flank and then fought on foot with both platoons supported by the following tracks and started rolling the enemy up on the right flank towards the fort when the scenario ended.

I had my AHs set for wide area 'personnel' strikes in the enemy rear area and the AHs bagged most of the enemy reinforcements as they attempted to moved up to the fort.

Slow and methodical advances with overwhelming firepower (my sections used short bounds and mutual fire support to short rush suspected enemy positions) will win the day for this one.

Fine scenario. I look forward to your other scenarios.