Ukko`s Hammer 07.07.2012

Der nun folgende AAR wurde von Zipuli geschrieben und im Original auf http://www.steelbeasts.com veröffentlicht.

7th July 2012
0645 hrs

Selänpää airfield... Our company arrived here a couple of hours ago. We've been moving from location to location, preparing ourselves for the coming counterattack. But so far the order hasn't come. The rest of our Battlegroup UKKO, named after the old supreme god of Finnish folklore, is fighting at HIGHWAY 15. An enemy brigade has been trying to break them, but our troops have managed to delay and attrit the enemy while keeping casualties relatively low.

My platoon, a pioneer platoon with one of the old T-72M1s for breaching and 2 sections of pioneers, is in position with vehicles camouflaged and AAMGs manned. This airfield is old and small, but during the WW2 Finnish BF-109s scrambled from here to meet the red tide. And they did well too: in 1944 during the hardest fighting, the Finnish "Mersu" -pilots shot down one regiment a day. If our coming fight succeeds even close to that, we can be proud!

Selänpää airfield in the morning of 7th July.

Once we arrived here, our CO gave preparation orders for a number of possible counterattack missions and directions. Whichever way we would go, he would use the company in 2 parts:

The main part TAPIO would conduct the main attack with most of the company's strenght in following order:
- "Charly" platoon of 3 CV9030s
- CO's Leopard 2A4 and FO's FOV90
- "Alfa" platoon of 4 Leopard 2A4s
- My engineer platoon, callsign "Walrus"
- "Hunter" -ATGM half-platoon of 2 XA-180 APCs and 2 Spike ATGM launchers
- Second half of "Bravo" platoon, 2 Leos
- "Packhorse" maintenance platoon with ARV, ambulance, ammo truck and M113 of the company mechanics...

To support the main attack TAPIO10 is formed from:
- XO's CV9030
- First half of "Bravo" platoon, 2 Leos
- "Delta" platoon of 3 CV9030s

Looking at my map, the most probable mission for us was going to be attacking to PIHLAJASAARI. A small settlement north of HIGHWAY 15. To get there, the enemy would need to cross small river of TORASJOKI. And that river crossing would canalize their forces in the PIHLAJASAARI area. Our CO, callsign TAPIO, named after a Finnish forest goblin god who got his own brand of Vodka nowadays, said the enemy may switch the axis of attack there. So the enemy may continue north after our Battlegroup's main body or head east... towards our company.

In this case we would attack through the farm of NÄKKIMISTÖ and head east. The terrain there is well suited for armour, at least in Finnish terms. There are some fields and numerous roads to use. Engagement ranges would be 500m and less, though at PIHLAJASAARI there is a larger set of fields with more open ground. The CO said the enemy battalion is supported by an SPA battalion... the area looks suited for them.

Näkkimistö farm. From here onwards the terrain opens up a bit.

The bridge over Torasjoki. This is the only bridge in the area that supports heavy armour. Later it was destroyed by Finnish Jägers...

One of the Battlegroup's recon patrols overwatching the Pihlajasaari fields.

0725 hrs

Listening to the Battlegroups command frequency I could quite well follow the action. Ukko was now withdrawing from Highway 15 to Pihlajasaari. The Battlegroup's main body was pulling out of the area and a small rear guard, callsign "Nyyrikki" was left behind to keep the enemy from starting a full scale pursuit attack. As me and my NCOs were gathered over the map of the area, a motocycle drove in and the rider yelled "hop in, sir!". The messanger was from Tapio. I took the quick ride to meet the CO, all the other officers were there already...

"Okay gentlemen, we received orders from Ukko!" We were all ears. It turned out, that the enemy brigade had changed its point battalion and was heading to Pihlajasaari. The S-2 (intel officer of the battlegroup) had said this is the last fresh battalion of the brigade, so basically the enemy was running out of steam soon. Our mission was to attack to Pihlajasaari and inflict maximal casualties to the enemy. Then we were to break contact and withdraw to battlegroup main body to resupply. The attack was to begin 0800 hrs.

We would be supported by 4 mortars and 6 SPAs. Other forces taking part in our operation are the rearguard, who are still maintaining contact and will pull out 1200 hrs, and a jäger platoon callsign "Hippa", that will infiltrate dismounted through the swamps east of the Bridge and will try to destroy the bridge. This would cut the main supply route and the only route to bring in more enemy forces. Cunning indeed - if it works!

"Inflict casualties" I thought to myself. Good mission - we wouldn't need to take or hold any ground, just kill enemies. The plan was to give him such a bloody nose, that the attack would simply melt away. I liked it. Back with my platoon I gave the orders to my guys. They were ready in few minutes, as I had anticipated this mission and had given good orders in already, just in case.

0755 hrs

I wave my finger in a cicle to indicate "start engines" to my platoon, which they do. We drive past Packhorse's vehicles towards Alfa's position. When the attack commences, we will follow the Leopards, some 500m behind. I found Alfa in the correct location, and CO's vehicle was there as well. I arrived just in time. The attack started rolling with Charly taking point. We headed east along the main track leading to Näkkimistö crossroads. Tapio10 headed south towards the town of ANTTILA...

Just 30 seconds after the attack started moving, a pair of jets flew right over us, dropping munitions some 300m in front of us, near the crossroads. What the...?

Our mission and the tactical map. This beautiful map of the area is as close to reality as SB Pro allows and is used by the Karelian Brigade for training.

Same area in the google maps view. The numbered areas will be referred to later in this AAR.

0802 hrs

My platoon seconds before the company moved out. Hunter's APC behind me.

"Walrus, this is Tapio. Move to front to my vehicle. Breach the minefield. Over!"... The flyby was a pair of ground attack planes that dropped scattered mines all over the area east of the airfield (Marked Area 1 in the google map). Good thing Charly saw them in time and didn't drive into them!

I did as ordered and passed Alfa platoon on the track. After Tapio's Leopard I saw the mines on the ground. I gave a quick order to the T-72 to breach a lane and I saw the tank commander close his hatch and traverse the turret to rear to avoid damage to the 125mm barrel. Plows down in they went and they pushed aside the mines, and four detonated without effect. The lane was quicly ready and my first section moved in and marked the lane for the vehicles to use. "Tapio this is Walrus, lane marked and ready!"

Just as I was ready I was given order to head south to ROAD 369 as the minefield extended there and Tapio10 tanks needed the route. I waved my arm to signal "column formation" and "march". And off we went.

Charly and the minefield, just east of the airfield.

The lane is ready. Hunter's APCs moving through. The lane was ready in few minutes, so my guys were very much "on the ball". Things were looking good at this point.

Heading to the next breach location I heard the news. "What the F***!" Three of our 9 Leopards had received mine damage and were effectively out of the fight. It made me mad... As the engineer officer I always said to the other guys that either make a lane or go round the minefield in following manner: go back 200, move left/right minimum of 500 and carefully move forwards to see if there are more mines. If there are, repeat. It turned out the guys were too eager and tried to bypass the minefields just around the edge. Two vehicles hit the mines this way and the third was using my northern lane, but wandered off the marked area and hit a mine on the side of the road. We were not in contact with the enemy yet and suffered 30% tank casualties. Murphy's law... Friction of war... Had to focus on task at hand, we had a mission to accomplish. This was part of the business, I knew it, but still it hit the morale quite effectively!

While breaching the southern lane I heard autocannon firing and Delta came in the radio. They had contact with 2 BMP-2s at the town of Anttila (Marked Area 2 in map) and were engaging them. There was also infantry. "Fire mission, over"... the FO came in and started to send the fire mission data to the mortars that were still at the airfield.

Delta's CV9030 taking a "shortcut" through a swamp. Lucky for Delta, the swamp was quite dry and didn't suck in the vehicles, but the traveling was slow none the less. The CV has superb cross terrain mobility and it can almost "float" on swamps... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAsR7m1wXM0
...see 03:30 onwards... but nothing is swamp proof.

Delta deploying in contact.

I drove back east as ordered and took positions behind Charly platoon at the Näkkimistö farm. Charly was in good positions behind the houses and I could see Alfa some 300m in front of us, with the Leopards looking for prey. Behind the woods I saw some puffs of smoke and heard the sounds of autocannons engaging targets. It was Delta. For now they had no tank support as the 2 Bravo callsigns assigned to Tapio10 were not in the area yet. The other Leopard struck a mine 1 click north of the fighting and the other was still on its way. Tapio10's plan was to move in tanks first, but that plan went in the trash bin after the mine incidents.

While the fighting was going on I listened to the Battlegroup's command network as well. According to reports there the rear guard was engaging some enemy tanks, but they were not pushing hard to north. Recce patrols reported enemy PCs and tanks moving west from the bridge, but the last report was the enemies are coming towards the recce patrol's positions and they had to take a hike. And then nothing was heard of them... To me it sounded like the S-2 was right about the enemy wanting to switch axis. They had had their share of casualties fighting against our forces, so maybe they saw the "opening" in our lines and wanted to move west. I thought to myself that it must be enemy recon element the Deltas were engaging. That too was an indication that the enemy is indeed coming our way.

The order came to Charly to take point and continue east along the main road (marked as "Anttilantie" in the google map)...

Alfa (in the background) and Charly with CO (foreground) at Näkkimistö farm, ready to move out.

0819 hrs

After bombarding the enemies with mortars, Delta moved in to Anttila. After dismounting the troops, they started mopping up. The enemy BMP-2s were no match for the CVs and the attack managed to destroy the 4 enemy PCs and the infantry as well. While this was going on, north of them, the main body was moving east.

Delta's fire mission strikes home.

Delta attacking dismounted to mop up the remaining enemy infantry cought in the open at Anttila. PKT firing and the troops, carrying the NLAW, moving forwards. Delta's attack was a success and soon they continued to move up on our southern flank.

0825 hrs

Alfa had reached the next battleposition and was in position. Charly moved behind them and once Alfa stopped, Charly veered to the right, backed up in the woods and shut their engines. These guys knew what they were doing I thought. It gave some confidence, as my next orders were to follow them on point. I drove quickly from the farm to catch up with Charly and stopped on the left side and shut my engines as well. The fighting south-west of us was dying out. The CO wanted to wait here for the Tapio10 to get in line with us on the right. I knew he was doing the right thing, but thinking the enemy main body was moving towards us made me want to move out. The position we were in was a chokepoint... To our north-east were the houses of MIETUNAHO. The main body was to move past it along the road, with Charly on point, me following and ready to secure our right flank. Alfa would follow Charly and me and Hunter would go through Mietunaho and go through the wooded area east of it and take eyes on the PIHLAJASUO - PIHLAJASAARI fields...

Charly on the move behind Alfa.

0830 hrs

"Charly move out!" The engines came back to life and Charly formed up on the main road and headed east. I waved "march march" and my vehicles lined up some 500m behind them. And off we went. Artillery started firing at the terrain about 2km in front of us, harassing the enemies probably already in the area.

Charly continued east and I reached my turn. My mission was to head south-east to a power-line and set up defence there (Marked Area 3 in the map). The T-72 was moving on point, bend to bend, slowing down, observing, then speeding up again. We followed in the M113s, with .50 cals searching for signs of the enemy inside the woods.

We reached the powerline soon and I gave the order to dismount and to deploy. The infantry took positions covering the directions to south and east. At the powerline I found a good knoll with visibility to east and ordered the T-72 to move there, just in case. It did have a 125mm cannon, even if its main task was to plow things. I wasn't going to rely on the .50 cals and M72 LAWs if the enemy came to pay a visit with tanks!

Walrus pioneers secured the southern flank of Tapio. I took positions in a two story building as well. M113 in position behind the house. This is my rightmost section, the rest are deployed east of here at the powerline.

0835 hrs

While I was deploying, the Jäger Platoon "Hippa" reported they had succesfully infiltrated to the east of the bridge and were starting to launch their strike. They started by firing at the bridge area with artillery and then moved quickly in. They reported enemy artillery pieces moving in, missing the arty strike by inches. When they got near the bridge they ambushed a column of trucks, that we found out later carried most of the SPA Battalion's ammunition! There was also a tank at the bridge, that had had some trouble I guess and was left behind off the side of the road. The jägers managed to set up demo charges on the bridge even when they didn't manage to take out the tank itself. The bridge was soon blown to bits and the jägers moved into high ground just east of the bridge to overwatch the ambush area. They had NLAWs and other heavy AT weapons, so the enemy would not just walk over them...

The jägers attacking to the bridge and destroying the trucks.

Overwatching the destroyed bridge on the background, the jägers are ready for any reinforcements. Their presence and the fact that the bridge was out meant that the battlefield was now isolated and no more enemies should flow in to fight us!

Summing up it all in my mind I made the conclusion that the enemy battalion managed to get into Pihlajasaari in almost full strenght. The SPA battalion was probably moving behind the battalion main force and it managed to slip away from the jägers just in time...

Hunter just got his mission to move to our north and Charly was close to his objective south of Pihlajasuo. My defence was soon in position and Tapio10 was moving in from my south-west, some one click away...

0842

Just as I had my troops in positions, I heard a burst of autocannon fire very close to my north. "This is Charly, enemy PC destroyed!"... "Here we go!" I thought to myself. This must be the enemy main body! Charly started his attack and Alfa got the order to move through my position to support Charly.

Charly opens up on enemy BMP-2. This shot started the main battle. The location is Marked Area 4 in the google map.

Once the fighting started I ordered my T-72 to move a bit forwards to the powerline to see that no enemies are moving towards my position. If this was the enemy main body, and they were moving in from the south, then they would hit me first. I didn't want to get any surprises. The T-tank moved slowly past my second section and after few meters stopped and fired a long burst with the coax. Then the TC climbed up and turned his cupola around and fired away a full belt with the AAMG. "Contact infantry front... wait out!" The T-72 turret traversed quickly to right and a huge boom rocked the tank and branches and bark from the pine trees strarted falling on my infantrymen.

T-72 engaging a BMP-2 moving towards my position in the open. The T-tank blends nicely with the terrain, but unfortunately the enemy had TIS in his tanks...

"Tapio, this is Walrus! Engaging enemy PCs moving at me from the east. Two destroyed! Over!" Just as I was reporting in, a round came flying through the woods and hit the T-72, that was now, slowly, reversing towards my men. The bright flash made me blink and after I opened my eyes the T-72 was a turretles burning hulk of a tank. F***! Looks like a full enemy BMP company with tanks is moving my way, some 300 meters away!

Just as my tank exploded, Leopards from Alfa appeared from my six and stormed through the woods to the edge of the field. Simultaneously I heard gunfire from my south... Tapio10 was in the area and started engaging the enemy company. From my north I heard the CO's Leo also taking part in the battle. The enemy company, on the move in the open, was now engaged from three sides! I tend to think my T-tankers didn't die in vain, as it seems they stopped the enemy in the open and the enemy turned on it just in time for Tapio10 to engage their vulnerable side armour!

A fierce tank battle erupted with engagement ranges of about 100-300 meters. Tank cannons roared, autocannons chewed up armour and enemy Tunguskas fired rapid burst against our tanks. The first Alfa tank to see the enemy opened up and Wittman style started popping the enemy vehicles... BMP, BMP, T-72, Tunguska, T-72, BMP... one by one the enemy force started to melt away.

While the fighting was going on, me and some of the pioneers ran to the T-72 hulk. There was no-one alive. The turret was removed in an explosion and we found it ten meters from the hull. It was a mess, but still we made sure nothing of use would be left behind for the enemy to use...

Alfa engaging targets at close range. This is location 5 in the google map - a small open area south of Charly's objective.

Furia taking out a T-72M4. Alfa fired most their ready rounds as quickly as they could and the enemy attack was stopped within minutes.

In the heat of battle anything can go wrong. One of Tapio10's CV9030s was hit by friendly fire, and another was lost to a T-72 hiding in excellent battleposition. This meant that Tapio10 had now lost 3 of its 6 vehicles. Later on the XO got hit as well and. Alfa's tanks were also engaged by a hidden T-72 and one Leopard was lost. Another one got hit by enemy artillery and was immobilized and heavily damaged. CO's Leopard had some of the guys wounded by a hit, but they kept on going till the end of the fight. We believe we succesfully enagaged and destroyed most of 2 mechanized companies and their supporting tanks. So all in all it was a succes, but still all these casualties and spent ammo meant our attack would not continue in a few moments...

A T-72 sees a lone CV9030 one click away and fires. The CV, belonging to Tapio10 was destroyed. Another CV was lost in friendly fire and third one shortly after this... by the same T-72.

One of Alfas Leopards hunting in the midst of the battle. The Leo in the background was destroyed by a hiding T-72. Another one was damaged by artillery, meaning Alfa was down 50%...

0854 hrs

By now the battle for the little field was over. Charly had the order to continue east to take the wooded ridgeline overwatching Pihlajasaari fields. They moved up with infantry dismounted, but soon ran into enemy infantry and some BMPs and T-72s that pulled back from the main fighting.

While this was going on, I heard on the comms that Hunter had made it to the north (Marked Area 6 on the map) and had spotted enemy howitzers in the open. This was the SPA Battalion for sure. The ATGM men were dismounted and moved into position. The guys did well, blowing up at least 4 2S1 howitzers. The ATGM platoon FO patrol also kept our artillerymen busy, dropping loads of HE on the Battalion, destroying many trucks and damaging howitzers. Charly's vehicles also skirmished with the SPAs... one CV had a look at the fields and exchanged fire with the artillery pieces. One fired in self defence and managed to damage the CV, that soon pulled back.

Charly infantry in close combat with the enemy infantry, north of the armour graveyard.

Charly's CV in close contact with a BMP-2. The CV came on top and the BMP-2 was left burning... This is as far as Charly pushed.

View from Hunter's positions. The ATGM teams have killed the howitzers and FO is calling in smoke and HE missions. The SPA battalion cannot support now...

A top-attack missile hits another 2S1. Hunter doing his worst!

0907 hrs

The fighting continues... But neither side is pushing forwards anymore. A relieving message arrives from Battlegroup HQ: S-2 has estimated that by now the enemy has lost more than half of its strenght! Our mission was to inflict casualties and that we sure did! Then Ukko himself came on comms and told our CO that we are free to withdraw if the situation requires... we had done our bit. Tapio decided to carry on the fight for now. We all agreed that it was what we came for and the situation at that moment looked OK...ish...

While Charly was still in contact, we had the incident with enemy artillery immobilizing one of the Leopards, rest of Alfas Leos were heading to resupply ammunition... XO got killed by a tank round. Hunter did well, had few infantry casualties, but ran out of missiles and he too started to pull out. Our attack was losing momentum and we had some 25% casualties... My guys were sitting on their thumbs doing nothing, the T-72 kept burning and the sounds of fighting started slowly to die out. At least the intensity, that is!

While I was doing nothing, Packhorse was busy. He had a Leopard to recover and tanks were hungry for more 120mm ammunition after the fierce fighting. Alfa resupplied and prepared to return to the fray.

Packhorse's ARV towing the damaged Leopard to safety.

Alfa's two remaining tanks rearming, supported by my pioneers.

0913 hrs

With the company attack stopped for now and casualties rising, Tapio gave the order to break contact and withdraw to Battlegroup main body. We had the orders to pull out first to the area east of Selänpää airfield, gather the coy there and then continue the withdrawal.

Charly, who was the last somewhat intact callsign (only 1 vehicle damaged, and infantry casualties), was to be the last callsign to break contact. A rear guard so to say. The rest started to pull back, with Alfa going in first to set up a welcoming party for any possible enemies that would try to pursuit.

Packhorse and Walrus pulling out.

The SPA Battalion was kept suppressed while Hunter disengaged.

Charly, the last callsign to break contact, overwatching while the rest of us pull out.

I ordered my men to mount up and we left the area, withdrawing after Packhorse's vehicles. Everything went rather smoothly, only Charly and Hunter had some individual infantry contacts that were suppressed with accurate MG fire. My platoon pulled back all the way to Näkkimistö farm, from where, as ordered to, I scouted the withdraw routes to see that there are no more mine-surprises. There was not, a good thing as my plow was now a blow and only vehicle with any chance to breach was the ARV and its plows. I wouldn't count on a POG like Katie, our ARV commander, to do pioneer's job. And if the ARV was to be lost while breaching, who would recover it...?

When the whole gang was up at Näkkimistö farm, the order came to pull out all the way. Everything went nicely and by 0940 hrs we were in our assembly area, ready to move north after the heavy fighting. The guys didn't look like they did before, everybody and every vehicle has stains and marks of combat in them. But we did what we were ordered to! I was quite honestly proud of our boys. Even the CO gave a smile, though he looked 10 years older than before the attack, and he was wounded too.

Aika velikultia...

Alfa leaving Näkkimistö.

Charly... first in, last out. These guys did well!

1415 hrs

We assembled in the CO's command post for a debriefing. Half of the officers we had in the briefing, were now gone, either KIA or wounded. Their 2ICs had taken over and some "new" faces for the O group were there. Also the battlegroup S-2 and Ukko himself were there. Before our CO started to give orders about the resupply, Ukko gave a speech about how well we had done and that the enemy was not stopped and our reserves would move in the finish them off. I didn't listen to him that much, but the S-2 had more interesting things to say.

He laid on a map and went through the battle from 0600 onwards to 1200 when the Nyyrikki rearguard withdrew as last unit.

Situation 0828 hrs. Anttila is taken and we continue the attack. The enemy battalion had attacked with one company on point starting from 0715 hrs and had crossed the river at 0745 hrs. They had pushed north and taken Pihlajasaari. By the time of this screenshot, the battalion main body was switching the axis of attack to west, with 2nd coy (B) in position south of Pihlajasuo and 3rd coy (C) moving in from the east to link up. Their plan was to wait for the SPA Bn to support and then attack with 2 companies.

Situation 0840 hrs. Charly will soon be in contact with enemy main body. My engineers have secured the powerline. The SPA Bn got through just in time before Hippa blew the bridge and destroyed their ammo trucks. Tapio10 is some 2 clicks behind us on the right flank. Enemy battalion is forming up for the attack in the cover of the wooded ridge.

Situation 0857 hrs. This is the culmination point of the battle, which resulted in the enemy attack to halt, like they say in Finland, like a stick in a pile of poo. We were extremely lucky here... The enemy started the attack by moving to the open a few seconds before we moved to the same open! This meant they were pounded from 3 sides, while we were partially in the cover of the terrain! Simultaneusly Charly hit the second company, who was supporting the 3rd in its dash through the open. And a thorn in the side, Hunter managed to go around all the enemy frontline troops and is trashing the SPA Battalion in depth. Looking at the map it seems like we could've just pushed through to finish the SPA Bn, but the enemy 1st coy was still at Pihlajasaari and had by now BMPs and ATGMs pointed at our direction. Charly actually engaged a couple of these BMPs and killed a few.

Situation 0920 hrs. Tapio is breaking contact and pulling out. The SPA Bn has lost 3rd of its howitzers. The 2 companies that were supposed to continue the attack west have melted away. The last company is holding Pihlajasaari. Notice that the enemy brought in reserve forces from the south, using an alternate route and using a bridgelayer to bring in tanks past the river. The reserve company, a T-72 company with platoon of BMPs continued north and deployed to cover the SPAs. So if we hadn't withdrawn now, we would've been forced to engage a fresh unit! So lucky us we got the hell out of dodge when we did! Nice timing Duke!

The scenario was a blast to play with you guys and thank you all for taking part! Something similar will soon follow... more challenging COOP missions that is!

I will post this scenario in the downloads area, so go ahead and see if you can do better! We scored 72/100 points. It resulted in victory, but with less casualties... maybe...

Stellenbesetzungsliste/ staffing list:

CO (TAPIO): Duke(911) --> Deutschland
XO (TAPIO 10): Eisenschwein(911) --> Deutschland

QM (PACKHORSE): Kingtiger -- > Schweden
Pioniere/ engineers (WALRUS): Zipuli --> Finnland
PzJg (HUNTER): LtJackless(911) --> Deutschland

ALPHA PzZg:[INDENT]3Reg_Furia --> Spain
3er. Reg. Emiio --> Spain
3REG_Lipe --> Spain
AlfaTank --> Canada
[/INDENT]

BRAVO PzZg:[INDENT] Tjay --> GB
Paladin --> USA
Marko --> Irland
Thonar(911) --> Deutschland
[/INDENT]

CHARLY PzGrenZg:[INDENT]Falli(911) --> Deutschland
Dr.Thodt(911) --> Deutschland
LtDan(911) --> Deutschland
[/INDENT]

DELTA PzGrenZG:[INDENT]Chuikov --> USA
Induction --> Finnland
[/INDENT]

Danke Zipuli für den AAR und an alle Mitsimulanten.

MkG

Duke