It's Finally Over (Soviet Campaign Spoilers)

[Simcoe]

Made a post a while back after (almost) finishing the Soviet campaign. I got to the last mission, got burnt out, frustrated and ceasefired to get a tactical defeat and beat the campaign. I think I gave fair feedback on the prior five missions but my notes on the last mission were mostly whining.

I couldn't stop thinking about it though, I had spent so much time and this last mission was a pebble in my shoe (see what I did there?). After taking a break I fired up a fresh save and started again...

I realized the biggest issue would not be M60's hiding in the trees but infantry. The first go around I attacked the junction with no artillery support and it went about as well as you would expect. My infantry couldn't build fire superiority by themselves and the tanks around Outskirts Junction Two would plaster any vehicles that tried to support them. Not to mention, spending longer than a couple turns would invite the USAF and artillery.

Also, I learned that the 1st Battalion on the left could not move out of position until the tanks around Outskirts Junction Two were dealt with. Smoke(at least when they have thermals) and artillery do not work against dug in tanks. This meant 3rd Battalion on the right would need to do most of the work. I love this campaign but it's a crime to get all these BMP's and not get use them until the end!

To accomplish this task we get the motherlode of artillery and air support. Has there been another mission with this much artillery? Another lesson though, you can't use the aircraft until a good portion of AA is dealt with. Sending them in at the start is a suicide mission.

With that in mind, where do we put this artillery. My motto is "better to use too much on too little than to use too little on too much" so we will focus an unholy amount of firepower on a few key locations. (yellow for artillery and purple for air support)

• Junction - I used all three 122mm batteries and a couple mortar batteries. I didn't want anything to slow me down here
• Industrial Yard - After shelling the junction I moved all artillery except for the mortars and cluster munitions here to make sure my attritted 3rd battalion could quickly secure the objective and make way for 1st Battalion
• Above Outskirt Junction Two - I left the cluster artillery on call in case I found an M60 I wanted to take out. In hindsight I should have just added it with the rest. It didn't take out the one tank I wanted but it sure destroyed everything else!
• Eurdorf - Before moving on the final objective my air support would be clear to soften up the town.

Junction Objective

After a massive bombardment my tanks and BTR's moved up and dismounted on the south side of the highway junction. My infantry took out the few remaining stragglers. Next, I brought up AT-7's and engaged the tanks in the tree line around Outskirt Junction Two and used my BTR's to rush the TOW vehicles on the flanks. With the objective secure I moved the infantry to the trees west of the Highway Junction and began to spot TOW vehicles around the Industrial Yard. I brought the T-62's up behind them and using the infantry spots my M-60's were able to take out the TOW's with only one loss. At this point there were three M60's left (two a little north of Outskirt Junction Two looking south west and one farther north west looking south) and I was starting to get a feel for the defense. There was a strong concentration on the East and West objectives but what about in the center?

Industrial Yard Objective

I scouted forward with a couple unmanned BTR's and only found an AA vehicle blocking my way. A couple T-62's dealt with it and my BTR's ventured to the top of the map and to the west with no contact. I had found gap I needed. I kept two tanks of the company slightly south of Outskirt Junction Two looking north to catch any tanks venturing out of the forest and moved the rest to swing behind them. Meanwhile, I brought up the infantry and dismounted them to the east of Outskirt Junction Two to flush out the tanks and bring them into my tank's sights. The flanking tanks soon got in behind the tank in the far north and the rest looked south as my infantry flushed out the two remaining tanks from the forest. It was far too satisfying seeing reverse into the sights of my T-62's. My remaining infantry and a platoon of tanks soon mopped up the Industrial Yard

US Counterattack

I have a confession. I got to this part and an entire company with most of my anti tank platoon was sitting in the Highway Junction when the counterattack occurred. They were all destroyed before I could react. I'm a coward and went back a few saves to make use of my towed anti tank guns. I caught them in a trap and made pretty short work of them.

Eursdorf

At this point I moved the 1st Battalion out of it's hiding place and prepared it to assault the final objective. After all the work I did I still lost two tanks coming down the hill. Those M60A3's are no joke. 

3rd Battalion began to clear the forest in the center of the map and found a few HQ teams then moved across the river to engage targets around Eursdorf. I brought three tanks across the river as well and sniped three M60's and an AA vehicle from their rear. I brought some AT-7's but they could never get any spots. 

At this point the air support arrived and started to pummel Eursdorf while 1st Battalion was getting their first scouts into the outskirts of town. I was looking forward to using my remaining tank ammunition to flatten the town block by block but the Americans decided to throw in the towel. 

Conclusion

This was a very satisfying mission and like the best scenarios it taught some valuable lessons:

• Soviet artillery should be used in mass at built up areas like towns - The Soviets wanted freedom of movement above all and these built up areas will slow you down, restrict your movement and force your precious infantry to dismount, opening them up to artillery.
• Each unit should support eachother from squad/squad on to battalion/battalion - The first battalion will take over 50% casualties getting off that hill if it isn't supported but the 3rd battalion is in a great position to flank the units watching that hill.
• Always be looking for a gap in the enemy lines - Even the lowly T-62 can take out an entire platoon of M60A3's from behind.
• Know the enemies' order of battle. If you know the American tank platoon has 5 tanks but only see four, you will be looking out for that tank rather than an ignorant player who figures they know where the entire platoon is.

This was a very fun campaign and really cements my preference of playing the Russian faction in Combat Mission. They have a totally different style compared to any other faction and I find playing with inferior equipment more interesting than sitting an Abrams or Tiger on a hill and watching it rack up kills. You really have to earn your victories whether it's Red Thunder, Cold War or Black Sea.

[The_MonkeyKing]

There we go.

nice tactical victory after 20min of hard battle (I hit cease fire)
- I am content without taking the last objective

end state:

This is where the battle was won:
- first turns had fire missions to suppress the American.
- dismounted infantry went first over the ridge to hand wave the US positions to the tanks (first 5 turns)
-- this was the most important step. The T62s need solid data on the enemy positions to spot anything.
- at turn 5 tanks, BMPs and air strikes all at the same time engage to the enemy
-- biggest problem were couple of M60A3 TTS who got lucky with dust clouds... (one killed whole T62 co.)
- after this just drive up to enemy positions and roll them up

[Simcoe]

9 hours ago, The_MonkeyKing said:

There we go.

nice tactical victory after 20min of hard battle (I hit cease fire)
- I am content without taking the last objective

end state:

This is where the battle was won:
- first turns had fire missions to suppress the American.
- dismounted infantry went first over the ridge to hand wave the US positions to the tanks (first 5 turns)
-- this was the most important step. The T62s need solid data on the enemy positions to spot anything.
- at turn 5 tanks, BMPs and air strikes all at the same time engage to the enemy
-- biggest problem were couple of M60A3 TTS who got lucky with dust clouds... (one killed whole T62 co.)
- after this just drive up to enemy positions and roll them up

Nice job! I wish there was a way to properly suppress the tanks/TOW's around the industrial yard but they're just too spread out for it to be effective. How much artillery did u put in the other objectives? And how did you take care of the US counter attack?

[The_MonkeyKing]

6 minutes ago, Simcoe said:

Nice job! I wish there was a way to properly suppress the tanks/TOW's around the industrial yard but they're just too spread out for it to be effective. How much artillery did u put in the other objectives? And how did you take care of the US counter attack?

Industrial yard was a matter of overwhelming firepower. Dissembly building by building. Tanks were dealt with in the initial phase when I peaked over the hill with everything I had.

I had all the fires coming down right from the start at the time when I engaged with my full force from the hill. Can't remember the specific locations. The presumed hostile locations that could engage my hill.

I won the battle before the counter attack came. My first attempt was ruined by this so I decided to be done in about 20min.

[Simcoe]

6 hours ago, The_MonkeyKing said:

Industrial yard was a matter of overwhelming firepower. Dissembly building by building. Tanks were dealt with in the initial phase when I peaked over the hill with everything I had.

I had all the fires coming down right from the start at the time when I engaged with my full force from the hill. Can't remember the specific locations. The presumed hostile locations that could engage my hill.

I won the battle before the counter attack came. My first attempt was ruined by this so I decided to be done in about 20min.

That's interesting. So you just peppered the whole left side of the map? That's a good idea to win before the counterattack. If you have most of 1st and 3rd battalion level left you can certainly do it if you're okay with the casualties.

[M.Herm]

On 6/25/2022 at 2:39 AM, Simcoe said:

Also, I learned that the 1st Battalion on the left could not move out of position until the tanks around Outskirts Junction Two were dealt with. Smoke(at least when they have thermals) and artillery do not work against dug in tanks. This meant 3rd Battalion on the right would need to do most of the work. I love this campaign but it's a crime to get all these BMP's and not get use them until the end!

 

You can take the 1st and deploy them on the other side as well, a bit tight space but worked fine.