Northern Fury 43 - Red Devils 31/3/94

[fitzpatv]

Situation

The British 5th Airborne Brigade (Red Devils) are sent to capture Banak airport in Arctic Norway (which, until recently, has been a major and almost inaccessible Soviet stronghold). Some Canadian and Dutch units will provide support. Meanwhile (outside scenario scope), the Royal Marine Commandos will be securing Alta and the US 82nd Airborne will be dropping around Narvik. Other formations will follow-up by sea. You can only play as NATO.

None of this would be possible unless things had gone remarkably well, against all odds, in Tour de Force. I couldn’t have achieved such a result and was, in any case, prevented by a repeating game crash. If you would like an account of how the tide might have turned, please refer to AndrewJ’s attachment to my Tour de Force review. Bear in mind that Andrew played a long time ago when the game was very different to the way it is now.

Unusually, your force consists primarily of transport aircraft and ground troops which, needless to say, have to be flown in. There are just two naval vessels in the game, namely the carriers Carl Vinson and Invincible (which face no threat from the Russians) and most of their aircraft are under AI control. You can freely use 3 F-14s and 8 Hornets from Vinson and one fighter and two attack Harriers from Invincible. All of the Hornets are loaded with Sidewinders, iron bombs and Mavericks.

In addition, you can pay 100VP a time to call-in pairs of Intruders for one-off strikes, via Special Actions. Two of these carry Mavericks and the others bombs. Like most such options, this is of very dubious worth.

However, it is also possible to call on 8 Sparrow-armed Hornets, 4 SEAD Hornets with HARMs (supported by two Viking tankers) and additional KC-135s and VC-10s at any point, again using Special Actions. All of these aircraft will operate entirely under AI Control, following pre-set Missions.

There is an elaborate plan for flying-in the paratroops and this is best described as it happened in practice.

On the ground, you have six squads of Special Forces (five Norwegian, one Canadian), which are all AI-controlled and basically sit around Banak, theoretically providing intel.

As for the Soviets, they have no naval units whatsoever. In the air, they can field Flanker and Flogger K fighters, MiG-27, Frogfoot, Flogger H and Fitter attack planes, plus Hind gunships. As usual, they have lots of SAMs, but the heavy stuff is back in the Kola and should pose no threat. Around Banak, there are Gainfuls, Geckoes and Grouse and Grail MANPADs, plus fixed and mobile AA. Needless to say, there are plenty of Soviet ground troops, with elements of a motor rifle division around Banak and a couple of tank battalions near Kirkenes and on the Finnish border.

Planning[/b

Despite the scenario’s ‘Easy’ official difficulty rating (seldom a reliable guide in Command), it looked like another suicide mission, sending a herd of vulnerable transports against SAMs and fighters with a skeletal escort. Clearly, the eight Sparrow Hornets would have to be committed to cover the initial landing and we would just have to cover the subsequent reinforcement runs as best we could. As far as possible, we would do recon in advance, spot the SAMs and then use our one-off SEAD strike to at least damage them. Otherwise, we would just have to hope that the opening wave of 58 Hercules would swamp the defences and get enough troops down to seize the air base. Even then, there was a risk that the penalties for losing high-value aircraft would cost me the game, regardless.

Once down, our ground troops would have to fend-off the Soviets (no doubt including tanks and artillery) while I was micro-managing follow-up operations (and getting the surviving transports clear). Initially, I was unsure whether my ground forces would fire back or move without being expressly told to.

The plan in the Briefing calls for drops to start six hours in, at 18:00Z and for the airport to be secured within two hours. I worked-out the transit times for the Hercules and Globemaster (C-17) transports from their various bases in Iceland, Shetland, Orkney, Scotland and England to Banak and calculated departure times to get them all there in a swarm. Matters were complicated by a no-fly exclusion zone along the Norwegian coast and it was hard to allow for take-off time, then varying speeds as the big planes gradually gained height. It seemed best to have everything move individually to a rendezvous point over HMS Invincible (off the Nordkapp), the head in to Banak around the N end of the exclusion zone (note that the latter also complicates RTB).

While tankers were available, the endurance of the transports made them mostly unnecessary. Note that, while British Hercules (the great majority) can do in-flight refuelling, the Canadian and handful of Dutch ones can’t.

Loading rules vary for different parts of the airlift. All of the first wave uses the Cargo rules, so I began by loading the many Hercules. Not everything would fit, but I tried to disperse different types of unit (infantry, artillery, machine guns, snipers, forward observers, saboteurs and HQ) across planes to reduce the risk of having all of my eggs in one basket. Some unarmed cars were best left at home.

Events

31/3/94 12:00Z: Our special forces around Banak could see absolutely nothing!. In fact, they failed to spot anything all game and might as well not have been there. This may or may not be a bug.

One of the available F-14s on Vinson had a TARPS recon pod, so I sent it to make-up for this. It drew two Floggers from the airbase and wisely turned-tail, having spotted just a mobile radar 100nm SSE of Banak, which hindered any chance of surprise. The Floggers pursued and were tackled by two AI-controlled Harriers and a pair of AI Hornets flying CAP over the carriers. Both Soviet planes were downed for 10VP each, but they damaged a Harrier with an Archer. The encounter consumed 9 of our scant supply of A2A missiles.

13:00Z: One of the other assigned Tomcats visited Banak and lured another pair of MiG-23s, which were eventually disposed of by five NATO fighters and another 9 missiles. We just miss too often (at 50% range), which didn’t happen the way the game was back when the scenario was written.

I feared that there were still another 20 Floggers at Banak and the damnable Special Forces could see none of them. For now, we lacked the ready fighters to lure-out and kill any more.

Resignedly, the transports began leaving from Keflavik, Inverness and Lossiemouth. The ground crews wondered whether they would ever see any of them again.

14:00Z: By 14:34, all Wave 1 transports were airborne, more joining the stream from Kirkwall, Sumburgh and Tingwall in Scotland’s Northern Isles. I pondered whether to have them approach Banak from Invincible high, to immunise from Geckoes, MANPADs and AA, or low, to minimise radar detection.

15:00Z: An F-14 preceded a Harrier FA-2 with ground search radar to Banak. The latter spotted a Gainful and many other enemy ground units, including Geckoes and 57mm AA. What the Hell were the Special Forces doing?!. As before, two Floggers sortied, chased the F-14 (the Harrier was on a different course and was ignored) and, wonder of wonders, the AI CAP needed just four shots to dispose of them!. The Harrier then detected more Soviet units about 30-40nm S and NE of Banak.

We faced the usual problem. We had SEAD planes, but the SAMs and AA were dark and the HARM Hornets would be under AI Control and would not do anything clever like Bearing-Only Launches. Flying planes in low to provoke them would be problematic, due to the Floggers. It seemed best to keep chipping away at the MiGs for now.

So another F-14 went to Banak and met no Floggers!. It covered while two Harrier FA.2 attack planes with heavy iron bombs sortied to provoke the SAMs and I used the Special Action to order the SEAD strike, which indeed turned-out to be AI-Controlled.

16:00Z: Oh, Hell!. The SEAD Hornets moved to a position 78nm NW of Banak and then began circling, out of HARM range of the targets!. Nothing I could do about it beyond sending a Harrier in low at great risk, in the fond hope that the F/A-18s would react when the SAMs lit-up. A volley of Gainfuls and Geckoes efficiently dealt with the Harrier, costing 15VP, whereupon the SAMs promptly switched-off again as the Hornets continued their aimless circling. Other Russian radars, further afield, were on, but the Hornets made no effort to go after them, either. I RTB’d the second Harrier in disgust.

Basically, the operation wasn’t going to work unless I was prepared to accept ferocious losses, as I couldn’t protect the transports. I still didn’t know if the Soviets were keeping Floggers back for the landings. To be honest, I would have pulled the whole show at this point if it had been up to me, but orders were orders, so I pressed-on.

At 16:20, I used the Special action to order the extra tankers. Two were already active near Vinson and these would now be reinforced from Iceland on a cycling basis. More tankers from the UK would take-up a station (which I didn’t know in advance) somewhere N of Scotland. In practice, the tankers are only needed to re-fuel the AI CAP and other missions from the carriers. The transports essentially don’t need them and Refuelling should definitely be set to Never for all of them (and Auto-Evade should be set to No, or they won’t be able to disgorge troops).

At 16:35, I had intended to initiate the Wave 2 C-17s from RAF Mildenhall, but they weren’t ready yet, so I had to postpone it to 19:00Z. Similar timing applied to four Canadian Hercules at Reykjavik.

I noticed that the Viking tankers supporting the abortive SEAD mission (the Hornets had remained on-station) were re-fuelling other aircraft and even each other!

I decided that it was best to send the transports in high. How the mechanics would work-out remained to be seen.

17:00Z: The Wave 1 transports passed Invincible and turned towards Banak. I ordered the AI fighter sweep. Under my control, four Hornets attacked the defences with Mavericks, hitting a Gainful, Gecko and Grad MLRS but not eliminating any of them. Just a pinprick, really. Lots of Geckoes and MANPADs were fired and two of the F/A-18s were lost. At least it would reduce what they had to shoot at the transports. Again, the wretched SEAD Hornets just sat and watched…

18:00Z: The assault went in. As expected, enemy SAMs exacted a grievous toll, with 17 Hercules shot down (255VP) and the Russians scrambled a quartet each of Hinds and Frogfeet, but numbers did, indeed, swamp the defences. I found on the first drop that the 32,000’ cruise altitude of the Hercules was too high, so everything had to drop to 30,000 AGL at short notice, which was a lot of work. Enemy Geckoes seemed to be engaging above their ceiling, which contributed to the losses (MANPADs may have been doing the same, as a few Gainfuls couldn’t have killed that many transports). Not one transport took a hit and survived.

Fighters (the AI fighter sweep actually did its job) cleared away the enemy aircraft, retrieving 80VP. One F-14 was lost at some point. Once down, the paras brought their dispersed 105mm guns into play and these began to chew-up the defenders, who were mostly mechanised infantry with some T-55s and artillery. Rather quicker than expected, Banak was declared secured and 500VP were scored. Our guns also did enough damage to the motor rifle divisional HQ that it was declared captured for another 50. NATO ground units fire autonomously, but have to be moved manually (see below).

By 18:30, all organised resistance at Banak had ceased. Ground combat in Command always favours the side with the better artillery. We had issues with units landing near the airport being deemed to be ‘underwater’ and unable to fire due to the game’s chaotic ground mapping. Thankfully, I could move them.

There are two highly-resistant Soviet facilities (a Vehicle Park and Back-Load Point), which can take about 1,500DP and are supposed (Briefing) to be captured when a NATO unit is ‘in proximity’. The latter was difficult due to the quirks of the map and, even when I got units close (227m and 96m were the best I could achieve), nothing happened. I therefore had to watch in frustration as our artillery persisted in bombarding them and expending copious amounts of ammunition which, I was sure, would be needed later. I tried putting the guns on Weapons Hold, tinkering with WRA and marking the targets as Unfriendly, but the only palliative was moving them out of range. Even this was problematic, as Pathfinder causes ground units to move eccentrically on weird courses, giving the player little control.

The four transports at Reykjavik launched. These don’t use Cargo rules, but have to overfly Banak airport at minimum altitude AGL and Loiter speed, at which point four Canadian recon units with M113 APCs ‘teleport’ in from Iceland.

As they rounded the Nordkapp, the surviving 16 Hercules from 24 and 30 Squadrons, RAF were put on a Ferry Mission to Brize Norton, where they now had to pick-up reinforcements from the Gurkha Brigade. All other survivors simply went RTB at this point, having flown around the Exclusion Zone.

19:00Z: A helipad was now ready for use at Banak. This scored nothing, but enabled choppers to be flown-in from Invincible, which could also start an AI-controlled supply shuttle with two Sea Kings. The latter scores nothing and just gives you a liability to protect.

Five of the seven C-17s at Mildenhall launched, as the troops they carried didn’t need a working runway. Two more C-17s did and were kept back – these would later fly-in ground crews from the two RAF squadrons earmarked for Banak, as well as some ammo.

I began manually ferrying Gazelle recon choppers (no radar) and useful Lynx AH-7s with TOW anti-tank missiles to Banak, as they became available.

By now, accumulated damage had eliminated the Soviet vehicle park, but this scored nothing. At least it reduced the haemorrhage of shells.

20:00Z: We got reports of vehicles approaching Banak from the S. Presently, a column of T-55s and mechanised infantry appeared. It proved quite resistant to artillery, but was eventually wiped-out.

The Back Load Point was then declared Captured – this actually depends on the damage it sustains, not proximity of NATO units (contrary to the Briefing). It scored 50VP for salvaged equipment.

The first batch of choppers reached Banak helipad. By now, the score was +442 and Average.

21:00Z: An update suggested that other operations to the SW were going well.

The Soviets began firing Scuds at the captured airport. This did 83% damage to the taxiway, though not to the new runway that was theoretically under construction/repair. I sent a Gazelle in that direction and promptly managed to fly it over a hidden MANPAD, which downed it. Some paras moved-up and dealt with the MANPAD and attempted a sweep to look for any more, but were frustrated by Pathfinder. You just can’t move units where you want to and they often move backwards and forwards of their own accord. Scuds kept coming.

The C-17s and Reykjavik Hercules arrived over Invincible before the runway was ready, so I had to put them in a holding pattern before realising later (on re-reading the Briefing) that this had been unnecessary.

22:00Z: Two more Gazelles were sent to Banak and the Sea King supply flights began. However, the Scuds kept arriving and one hit the helipad, wiping-out the entire force of choppers (5 AH-7s and a Gazelle) for -90VP. There was nothing I could do about this and, with the helipad 99% damaged, I had to RTB the two Gazelles in transit, sending them back to Invincible. The Sea King flights continued regardless and, again, I could do nothing to prevent it. It occurred that a chopper could simply land on the airfield, without the need for a helipad, but…

23:00Z: I now discovered that, of the five inbound C-17s, two were loaded with Cargo (Scimitar armoured cars) and the others (carrying Rapier MANPADs) were not. As a result, the former were low on endurance (5 hours’ fuel) and the latter weren’t (22 hours). The Reykjavik planes were fine as they weren’t carrying Cargo (in game terms). I tried re-basing the two struggling Globemasters to Jan Mayen, as suggested in the Briefing but, surprise, surprise, the runway was too short. So was the one at Tingwall, but I managed to allocate them to Sumburgh, which gave them just enough fuel. I let them re-fuel from tankers on the way back, just in case.

Meanwhile, Hercules from Wave 1 were landing at Brize Norton.

Mercifully, the Scuds stopped after 24 shots (a battery’s worth).

I sent the two aforementioned C-17s in, following instructions to overfly the airport at minimum altitude and Loiter speed (AGL). To my relief, it worked and the troops were delivered (no VP).

I also found that I’d been awarded 250VP for holding Banak thus far. It was now +587, still Average.

Unsure of the mechanics, I sent-in the other three Globemasters and these duly landed their Rapiers as they overflew the airport at Minimum/Loiter.

It turned-out that the supply Sea Kings didn’t need the helipad and managed to land elsewhere. I therefore re-sent the Gazelles.

1/4/94 00:00Z: The Banak runway was declared open (no VP), so the remaining pair of C-17s with the ground crews and ammo lifted-off from Mildenhall.

The four Reykjavik Hercules delivered the Canadian recon troops, which were sent to do perimeter duty (there is a red line on the map, roughly 15nm from Banak, beyond which NATO ground forces cannot go).

Five Harriers, two transport Sea Kings and a last AH-7 began ferry runs to Banak. Six Harriers on Ferry loadouts, with a theoretical range of 1,800nm, began a similar run from Tingwall in the Shetlands.

01:00Z: Absolute chaos!. It transpired that none of the aircraft en route to Banak could actually land there (message said there was no suitable facility, Failure Other). Not sure whether this was due to the damage to the helipad and taxiway from the Scud hits, the lack of any parking spots, etc or simply a bug. Remember that the earlier chopper flights went fine, before the Scuds and the theoretical opening of the runway.

Worse, all of the aircraft (except the Tingwall Harriers, which hadn’t been on a Mission due to the need to fly around the Exclusion Zone) were automatically re-based to Brize Norton (of all places!) and the choppers all went to Minimum Altitude, the Gazelles reducing speed to just 61 knots, which didn’t give them enough endurance to get back to Invincible. I managed to adjust the speed to correct this, but wild horses wouldn’t make them fly above 2,000’ (perhaps, I now reflect, they were still on a default Loadout altitude from the aborted Mission, though this isn’t obvious for Ferry Missions). After a lot of trouble, I eventually got them all back to Invincible, but only just. I also re-based the Tingwall Harriers to the carrier, at least for now.

02:00Z: A Canadian recon troop found and destroyed a Grouse and Gainful, hidden in the woods S of Banak. The things are like lice on a dog’s back in these Fury scenarios!.

We were then warned that the expected heavy Soviet counter-attack was pending, from the same direction. A dozen strike planes (all we had) were scrambled from the carriers with whatever they were loaded-with, with four fighters in support. On the approach, these aircraft detected the enemy column about 32nm S of the airport, screened by Gainfuls and Geckoes. There were maybe nine units of mechanised infantry and seven of tanks, plus some ZSU mobile AA.

Our strike planes couldn’t attack straightaway because of the SAMs and it was painfully apparent that they would not have the endurance to do anything. Unable to land at Banak, they RTB’d, one by one.

The Canadians found another Gainful and MANPAD inside our perimeter and dealt with them. Some Soviet ground units score 2VP as part of the 17th Tank Brigade, but most score nothing (nor do NATO ground losses).

03:00Z: Sixteen Hercules, full of Gurkhas and their kit, lifted-off from Brize Norton. These troops all had to be loaded as Cargo in advance.

A C-17 with 658 Squadron, RAF’s ground crew arrived at Banak. Again, it had to overfly the runway at minimum altitude and Loiter to do so. It used an unloading technique called LAPES, where the plane touches down on the runway, the passengers leap out and run and the transport then takes off again. Though it isn’t enforced, planes doing this should be kept 5-10 minutes apart. The delivery also included some TOWs for the AH-7s – pity we couldn’t use them…

04:00Z: The last C-17 delivered No 1 Squadron’s ground crew and ammo.

Another 250VP were scored for holding Banak. It was now +841 and a Major Victory, but this could turn sour if the Russians managed to re-take the airport.

Soviet ground forces arrived from the S. A BMP took-out a Canadian recon troop, then halted where it could call-in an airstrike, before being eliminated by artillery. With awful timing, Soviet planes arrived just after our human-controlled fighters had gone RTB. Numerous MiG-27s, Flogger Hs and Fitters were escorted by Flankers and Flogger Ks.

I’d sent the last AH-7 to help, but it lacked the endurance and had to RTB.

05:00Z: A turkey shoot ensued as the Soviets got a good dose of their own MANPAD medicine. Helped by the AI fighter sweep (which had remained on station, with periodic refuelling), the Rapiers downed 6 Fitters, 6 MiG-27s and 4 Flogger Ks (which may have been on attack loadouts). Going Engaged Defensive under fire did not help the Soviets press-home their attacks, nor did it save them as they circled and invited us to keep shooting at them. Four more Flogger Ks arrived and committed suicide in turn, then a third batch fared no better.

Mechanised infantry and ZSUs advanced and did some damage before succumbing to steel rain from the British artillery. Oddly, there was no sign of the suspected T-72s.

06:00Z: More mechanised infantry arrived, but fewer this time and they didn’t last long. To my incredulity, a Hercules from No 57 Squadron appeared over the battlefield, supposedly on RTB to Lossiemouth – it was clearly lost!. Chances are that it was on an AI-controlled supply mission, having been re-assigned as per the Briefing, but these flights should only have started lifting-off about then. It couldn’t land at Banak as matters stood and proceeded to just stooge around, waiting to get shot down or run out of fuel.

I also noticed that the NATO Support side had, so far, lost 8 Hornets, 5 F-14s and a Viking tanker, which could only have been down to AI blundering. At least it cost no VP.

The Hercules got itself killed by Flankers (again, no cost) which then, mad and lucky with it, dove over Banak and gave the Rapier crews more target practice. Both were eventually downed.

07:00Z: An update related that things were still going well on other fronts, but that the Soviets still held Narvik and were attacking in the S (the latter was presumably units trying to escape Northwards). Capturing Narvik was now the priority, with further landings planned around Bjerkvik and Hakvik (the subject, I believe, of Northern Fury 45).

There were ominous reports of another Soviet counter-attack from the NE, probably from the 82nd Independent Tank Battalion at Kirkenes. I tried to re-deploy accordingly, Pathfinder permitting. A Harrier spotted about seven units about two hours away from our positions.

08:00Z: A further update warned that our forces were struggling at Narvik and on the S flank. It confirmed the identity of the incoming enemy armour on our NE front and promised that it would be air-struck (either it wasn’t or it was not the 82nd). Reserves were due to be committed at Narvik.

Hercules began to arrive with the Gurkhas. For this run, the planes have to go-in at minimum altitude and Loiter as before, at least 3-5 minutes apart to utilise LAPES, but the player also has to Unload Cargo. Thankfully, this worked well enough and there were no serious endurance issues.

09:00Z: All of the Gurkhas were landed, except for six 120mm mortars, which the game told me could not be paradropped and had to be taken back to Brize Norton.

We received a third tranche of 250VP for retaining control of Banak.

The Russians approaching from the NE were actually T-80 tanks, with a weak diversionary attack by remnants to the S. It was probably just bad luck, but the tanks initially appeared to be invulnerable to artillery, which was a worry. Two Hornets arrived from Vinson and did some damage with Mavericks at the limit of their range, but eight individual tanks kept coming.

10:00Z: The T-80s were not invulnerable to artillery and their luck ran out, only for reports to arrive of infantry coming-in from the W. These were quite likely retreating from our Royal Marine Commandoes in that sector. They got short shrift from the 105s guarding that flank.

11:00Z: Various transport squadrons were being re-tasked, at which point their aircraft disappeared, save for those assigned to the malfunctioning supply flights. At least it reduced the work involved in getting them home.

Right at the end, a half-dozen attack planes (Flogger Hs, MiG-27s and a Fitter) made a desperate raid on Banak and were slaughtered by Rapiers and F-14s.

12:00Z: It ended as a Triumph, with a score of +1,433.

NATO lost 3 fighters/attack planes, 17 transports and 7 choppers, plus 369 ground elements (mostly in downed transports). In addition, the NATO Support side lost 14 fighters/attack planes, a transport and 2 Viking tankers.

The USSR lost 20 fighters, 22 attack planes, 4 choppers and 347 ground elements.

It hadn’t been cheap or easy, but Banak had been taken and held.

Two scenarios to go, unless Bart releases any more. To use a hackneyed adage, it should all be over by Christmas...

[Gunner98]

Thanks for the report, Vince.

You may have had more luck running the first wave of Hurcs at minimum alt (600' AGL, I think, for para) and using terrain masking. I remember that this was a very tricky scenario to build. I tried to limit the player's workload while exposing the complexity and risk of this type of operation. It sounds like most of it is still working, but there are some obvious issues.

No new scenarios in the offing. Life has overtaken my capacity but I do need to get back at it.

Thanks again

Bart