British Army of the Rhine
Scen 5 - British Steel (v1.1)
Ortberg
May 9th 1989 - Day 3 @ 0700 hrs

During the war the Soviet High Command frequently 
refused to co-operate with NATO plans and varied 
the size, location and schedule of its offensive to 
suit them. The catastrophic loss of command 
control due to the rising electronic warfare battle 
exacerbated this problem and the Battle of 
Ortberg began and ran itself without the guidance 
of the British General Staff which, as things turned 
out, may have been a good thing. 

The original NATO plan for a left hook by the 22nd 
Armored Brigade of the 1st Armored Division 
against the north most enemy spearhead would 
doubtless have been crushed by the sheer weight 
of Soviet armor and artillery that would have met the 
British force. What actually happened was that the 
British missed the Soviet Spearhead and ploughed 
headlong into a follow-up force - the 48th Guards 
Tank Regiment - which was definitely not expecting 
combat at that time and place. The Soviet forces 
began the battle deployed in Line of March, strung 
out along the autobahn from east to west and 
unable to support each other. Given that the 
balance of forces was almost equal and that the 
Soviets had been caught unprepared and under 
deployed, this was one of the best chances that 
NATO had for achieving a victory. 
