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.
