The Third World War (European Scenario)

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The Operational Art of War IV
The Third World War (European Scenario)
A Narrative Replay
By Bootlegger

This scenario is a direct conversion from Frank Chadwick's (Game Designers Workshop) excellent board game “The Third World War: The Battle for Germany. The OOB's have been massively updated along with the possible battle plans the Soviet AI can execute as those plans and OOB's were obtained after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Chapter 1
“The Day Before”

0705901930Z

Vicinity Casteau, Belgium. SHAPE/SACEUR Hq's Command Ops Center.

General Mark Russo, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), was standing behind his work station when his Intel Officer came out of the Coms bunker. Col Josef Krubb of the West Germany Army handed him a folded piece of paper. Russo looked at Krubb whose face stayed stoic, as it always did.

He unfolded the note and read the four words..”Permission Granted, Godspeed, SecState” “Took them long enough” said Russo to Grubb. “Coms, get me the Cdrs of AGNorth, AGCenter, the German 1st and US VII Corps on the secure line. I need it done as fast as possible” ordered Russo.

The “Permission” gave Russo authority to order the demolition of the bridges in Hamburg, Hanover, and Nurnburg, an order he was waiting to give. Hopefully they had enough time before Ivan crossed the IGB...

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Chapter 2
“The Good, Bad, and Ugly”

9 July, 1990 0345Z
0709900345Z

Russo was looking at the four folders on his desk. “Personnel, Intel, Ops, Logistics.” He slid the Log and Per folders to the side, grumbling under his breath as he did. He knew the timelines regarding getting reinforcements and supplies from the US to Europe . 7 days at best. 4-5 crossing the Atlantic, 2-3 offloading and getting them into theater. The Chief Naval Ops (CNO) had reminded him that Ivan was not playing very nice at the moment. Russo knew that the Navy was taking some pretty good hits as they covered the convoy.

Thankfully REFORGER was implemented once the order to send the 82nd into Iran was given. That gave the personnel of the 1st ID (Mech), time to fall onto their POMCUS Site, draw their equipment, and occupy their GDP positions before the outbreak of hostilities.

He opened the Intel and Ops folders, read the bullet summaries, and then stared at the Satellite, JSTARS, and Photo Recon data. He glanced over to an Ops bullet point then looked at a series of JSTARS pictures showing the Warsaw Pact forces moving into the salient that formed between Hamburg and Hanover. A penetration of 150Kms. The loss of Hamburg along with the 3rd Pz Div was bad enough. The Brit 1st Ar Div took a beating and withdrew to Bremen trying to reorganize. The Dutch 1st Mech Div made it to Bremerhaven but there was a gap, one he couldn't fill because Russian Spetnaz forces disrupted the deployment of the Dutch 1st Mech Corps.

|He looked at the Bullet points from both reports and wrote a separate list, taking only those that mattered (To Him):
COMNOR: 76th Gds Abn Div atks at Bodo. Est...Lost 1-2 days
COMDEN: WP airstrikes cause heavy loses to Danish AF
AG North: WP will bypass Kiel, Isolate Jutland 1-2 days
AG North: WP continues atk along axis Bremen-Groningen and Hanover-Bielfeld-Munster.

Russo changed the screen on the wall displaying the disposition of AG North's combat units to that of AG Center. After 4 days of fighting and delaying, the 11th and 2nd ACR's were spent, but their sacrifice gave the US V and VII Corps much needed time to get set. That front was stable, for now.

Switching to AG South's display, well here were surprises. Even after Yugoslavia declared neutrality, the WP still attacked. Same with Austria when they launched an airstrike against the airfields around Vienna. Greece and Turkey, although attacked, were well dug in.

The next few days will be the hardest thought Russo as he leaned back in his chair....

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