tactical advice and principles

[Alek]

Syrian tactics - basic principles.

Doing battle against the Syrians, BLUEFOR has a few basic principles that fit the general concept of exposure, caution, and preserving forces.

Principle 1: The need to understand and imagine the blue forces as an evil terminator, sowing death around him wherever he looks with lethal and accurate weapons.

Reaction: You must hide your troops from the eyes of the enemy. Putting a tank at a distance in overwatch to control the terrain will not work. The Blue side will have something to kill the tank at all ranges modelled in CMSF.

You can also use smoke. Note however that the red smoke is fired at a distance of about 100-150 meters, covering a wide area but there is a big disadvantage in that it needs some time (1-3 minutes) to properly spread. It is not possible to immediately hide behind smoke like with Blue. The Red infantry have the same smoke as the Blue infantry.

Use smoke in advance, for example to move through open space in the street. Note that the Blue forces will see through the smoke with their IR-vision equipped vehicles such as the Abrams, recon Striker, recon Humvee and Bradley. The smoke will stil degrade their vision however, possibly ‘greying’ their LoS tool.

Principle 2: Recognize the fact that in the case of military contact Blue will operate on the principle: "see-destroy". Their reaction time is very, very quick.

Principle 3: To react especially quickly, blue forces stick together and move with small steps. Watch how the computer fights best and try to understand yourself that a slow moving dense group (platoon, company, etc.) of Blue forces is more profitable and usually brings more benefits than a quick strike.

Reaction: If after exposing your tanks to fire you have surviving vehicles in front of the enemy, give them a command to change position, retreat to shelter, even though it would seem they have a local advantage. The “see-destroy” rule applies to Red tanks almost without exception. Even if the frontal armour could withstand the next hit, a hail of rounds or a top attack weapon like Javelin would still be fatal.

Put Red equipment; heavy weapons and antitank weapons in a way that could only lead to flanking fire against Blue. Hit them hard before they complete their short reaction time and confusion in their ranks may mean you can shoot again and again, choking the enemy into defeat.

Keep your troops in groups, such as platoon groups of three tanks. Better yet, attach one tank to two infantry fighting vehicles. ATGMs and SPG-9s also useful in a group with other weapons. Firing as a group increases the likelihood of damage to the destruction of the blue, especially Abrams tanks.

Avoid head-on collisions with Abrams tanks. You do not have the means to damage them from the front, with the exception of the AT-14 and RPG-29. There is an option to hit a tank with numerous ATGM hits from a distance, which can damage the external systems (optics, tracks, sights), even without destroying it, but this option is quite risky.

Principle 4: Blue are as vulnerable as Red to shells, bullets, missiles with the exception of Abrams tanks. For example, even such an old machine as a BMP-1 or BTR-60PB can decimate Blue infantry if left unchecked. For example quickly go to the end of the road to fire on an area where there is a blue infantry, pause 15-20 seconds and retreat. This would allow the vehicles to properly handle the blue infantry without the threat of a Javelin (which requires about 25-30 to fire from the identification of the tank). Use target arcs to pre-position the turret in the right direction.

Attack the flank whenever you can and do not hit the forehead when you cannot win. Even the heavy Abrams is vulnerable in the flank. It is possible to have a platoon T-72s beating Bradley from the front, but how many infantry with Javelins are around the Bradley?

Principle 5: Use the terrain to isolate some of the Blue units - reverse slopes, alleys, and corners are all good. Direct clashes will only lead to loss but isolating units will give you a local advantage.

Put your troops in “keyhole” positions. That is to say a sector which is limited to a narrow area of fire and covered elsewhere. When the enemy is caught by this fire they will not be able to count on the support of the rest of their troops. This is especially useful against manoeuvring enemy troops.

Put your infantry squads on the back side of buildings. This will make them invisible to the enemy from the front, and leave them able to attack the enemies vulnerable rear as they pass.

Urban areas are excellent places to fight from. Even an Abrams can be killed up close with hand grenades.

Principle 6. Blue units are very good at spotting, especially at night when the Red troops become almost useless. We must remember the only Red units with significant night vision are T-72MV Turms-T/T-72MV 2001 tanks and AT-14/AT-4 ATGM teams. Unfortunately that's all. Commanders often have to stick out from the hatch to slightly improve their spotting, particularly with the older forms of technology.

Use infantry squads to spot the enemy, particularly teams with radio equipment. These are more likely to spot the enemy, at least in the form of a question mark. They are also scarce and harder to overlook.

Assign sectors for all you units. It will concentrating their attention a little and can compensate for poor optics. In addition it helps to maintain the discipline of fire. Remember that the unit will not shoot outside the sector, even if it is approached at close range. Therefore assign the sector accurately.

All squads that do not participate in combat and surveillance should hide. This will slightly reduce their chances of being killed due to careless shots of a frightened soldier. When the squad is hiding (the state of hiding) one of the soldiers are always a little bit watching (spotting) and, accordingly, there is information about the situation. Remember that a hiding platoon almost always fails to respond to fire, unlike in CMBB.

Try to fight at such distances that the blue does not have its usual advantages in detection. Try cutting the distance to the enemy and getting close.

Lean commanders out of their hatches with tanks and APCs so they are better able to observe the enemy at a distance of 200-700m. Remember, the commander of the BMP-2 cannot unbutton. But don’t do this with the whole platoon; some tanks can lose their commander. I use the scheme - two tanks (including the HQ) - with protruding commanders, and one with closed hatches. Sticking out the commander of the BMP-1 results in them more often and more quickly using its ATGM.

Principle 7: In CMSF artillery support is very, very powerful. In practice, this results in overkill for all infantry if they are hit with massive fire.

In case of artillery fire, leave your infantry reserves in armoured vehicles. Syrian infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers are well protected from shelling. In addition they have few fragile observation devices that may be damaged by the shrapnel.

Do not put your infantry in places likely to be hit by the blue artillery commander. These may include big two/three story buildings or trenches.

“Personnel” artillery strikes are good against infantry - the shells provide a wide spread of shrapnel. Armour missions cause the shells to explode late – this is good against buildings, the munitions often penetrate the entire building from top to bottom and explode on the ground floor. Against Bradley and Stryker, is too bad. Ordinary explosions on the grounds creates a crater and dust. Craters of the Armour hits are deeper. Blue is much faster to call artillery fire. Only FO-teams on the red side may direct artillery although commanders of platoons, companies and battalions can direct battalion mortars.

If you have a GRAD MLRS, use the mode “Ground-Normal-Medium”. This will be one volley, which covers approximately 300 by 300 meters. After that, the GRAD MLRS will take a long time to reload – strikes greater than that will not work, and explosions in “Personnel” mode of the GRAD are very weak and give a very large spread.

Principle 8: Remember the strengths and weaknesses of your troops and equipment. Use poor quality infantry as an observation unit, orienting you in the battle, or holding in sheltered positions until the last moment.

The most powerful tool in your hands against blue is artillery which must be carefully planned in its use. A well placed artillery strike will decimated the blue just like the Reds. Artillery will also reduce accuracy of fire and ATGM guidance because of panic among the enemy troops.

RPG-7s, and especially the RPG-29 are also not bad. Especially with massive use, a platoons worth of four rocket-propelled grenades will destroy anything if it is hit immediately on all sides.

Remember the type of projectile: 105 mm T-HEAT are good against tanks and anything else. 73 mm (85 mm) grenades are good against armoured vehicles but not as reliable. They are not as useful against the front of tanks but sometimes a lucky hit will do damage. 40mm HE and 105mm thermobaric are useless against armour but devastating against infantry.

Firing range of an RPG in meters, above which the AT specialist shoots only on orders and are not very accurate:

Conscript ~80

Green ~130

Regular ~150

Veteran ~200

Crack ~300

Use a fire on the area if the blue infantry entered the house and shoot from there, then hide again. 2-3 rockets will knock the wall, and another 2-3 grenades and submachine gun fire across the gap will calm everyone in the room permanently.

Remember that you cannot penetrate the Abrams front armour except occasionally with AT-14 and RPG-29. In the side the Abrams MBT is vulnerable, even to T-62 or AT-4. Your T-72 tanks with an “MV” in the name can withstand 1-2 frontal hits, T-62 MV can withstand a frontal hit sometimes.

“Combat not important, the key is manoeuvre”. Syrian vehicles are very fast rides on the road, much faster than the blue. Especially with BMPs, use them for quick manoeuvres behind enemy lines to attack certain vulnerable points just to confuse his plans. And remember that the initial portion of 200-400 meters can be under good cover by pre-releasing smoke. Use speed and manoeuvre to move from dangerous positions and for rearrangements.

Carefully check the experience of your troops. For example, the regular experienced T-62 uses AT guided projectiles more often than green experience, and can hit more often. More experienced units much use better guided weapons (AT guided shells) and have a lower response time and better ammunition selection. Conscript-level is practically worthless, except for firing with a large group, firing from the rear ,or for covert surveillance. In a long battle (at least 2-3 minutes), they will not stand up.

It is necessary to keep the fire discipline for the red side, let the blue hammer some unlucky unit. If you are engaged and you didn’t plan it and the remaining units are not found, you should clench your teeth and hold on, as you do not want to fight. Premature opening of fire will give nothing but losses.

The level of troops in QB can pick up one notch by setting the quality to Excellent. Overall quality and combat effectiveness can be described as follows:

Conscripts - useless. Can fight for one minute, can be used in ambushes and fights that can be realized for 10-20 seconds. There are be used for surveillance.

Green - can be used in ambushes or in a battle with an opponent of ordinary experience. Precise employment of weapons is bad (guns, ATGMs, aiming artillery). They will panic under too much pressure and will often ‘bug out’ under fire.

Regulars - can fight well with the support of their heavy guns. Normally use sophisticated weapons and keep their positions.

Veterans - can fight against a stronger enemy and quickly come to their senses after the panic. Make good use of sophisticated weapons, good reaction time.

Cracks – given equal numbers and equipments can even have an advantage over blue.

Keep your units in contact with each other, particularly because the Syrian infantry often has no radio. Infantry in contact (at least distant visual level - ELITE keeps it almost always) fight and interact with each other much better and quickly intersect the enemy.

With mechanized infantry (in the BTR-60PB, on the BMP-1, BMP-2), try as far as possible to use them in conjunction with combat vehicles or better, with the tanks - in the same order of battle, or in a building when the armoured vehicle can quickly come to the aid of their infantry. This greatly increases the efficiency of both vehicles and infantry.

Principle 9: Finally, blue have Javelin missiles, and you do not. Blues have the perfect IR equipment, and you do not. Blue aircraft are active and yours are not. Blue tanks are invulnerable from the front but yours are not. Blue can see at night and you can not. Always remember that.

GL HF

[Alan8325]

Nice guide! I look forward to playing the RED vs BLUE campaign that you guys are working on.

We must remember the only Red units with significant night vision are T-72MV Turms-T/T-72MV 2001 tanks and AT-14/AT-4 ATGM teams. Unfortunately that's all.

I believe all Syrian special forces units (the guys in the black uniforms, not airborne) have night vision. This was as of version 1.21 though, I haven't checked in v1.30.

[Rosseau]

A very enjoyable read. Would also appreciate any additional comments from the other vets. Thank you!

[Guest Guest]

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[Erwin]

Very useful reminder, Alek. Thanks...

[Waaarg]

Yes thank you. A lot of these principals can be applied to Blue. I was struggling on the 2nd mission of the Canadian campaign. After reading this, I changed my entire plan, and am doing quite well.

[Alek]

....

I believe all Syrian special forces units (the guys in the black uniforms, not airborne) have night vision. This was as of version 1.21 though, I haven't checked in v1.30.

Yes you are right....

I did not mention the SF-as it is obvious state ... it seems even in the manual was said about NV for SF. I have "ordinary" units, which can get lost in the general ranks...