Soviet Doctrine Case Study: Forward Detachment
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 4:25 am
Soviet Doctrine Case Study: Forward Detachment
The Soviet military machine is focused on tempo, massed firepower and manuever.
Tempo: The Soviet Military believed that World War 3 would be won or lost in mere weeks. The speed and lethality of the modern battlefield would required new tactics and strategies to keep up. With this in mind, the Soviet ground forces were built from the ground up to be lean and fast. Leadership from the company down was streamlined down to a playbook of battle drills in order to enact orders quickly and with little input. This allowed greater creativity and initiative from the battalion up.
Massed Firepower: Artillery is the god of war. The Soviets field artillery battalions where NATO may use a single battery. They believed massed fire from artillery was the only way to allow large mechanized formations to succeed in the attack
Manuever: It's been said that the US manuevers to fight while the Soviets fight to manuever. Warsaw Pact forces believe in freedom of movement above all else. They would prefer to surround an enemy and choke it out with artillery or sieze an important piece of terrain in the enemies depth.
These three concepts are exemplified in the Forward Detachment.
This formation was not a standardized unit but a flexible template that could be as small as a single vehicle or as large as an entire division. A Forward Detachment was a task organized unit that would move ahead of the main force as water moves through a stream. It would be tasked with taking important terrain like a bridge ahead of the main force or clear out harassing scouts so the units behind did not need to deploy for battle. The commander of this unit had great leeway to use his iniative and would use small dirt roads and other forms of cover to avoid battle where possible.
The scenario "Lesson of War" is a great example of a Forward Detachment in action.
This scenario features a motorized rifle battalion reinforced with a tank company, reconnaissance team, air defense and artillery. Let’s take a closer look at each unit.
Reconnaissance is our eyes and ears. They will take point with their speed and elusiveness.
Tanks form the spear tip. They have the greatest firepower and armor of any unit but they cannot clear out infantry by themselves
Mechanized infantry are vulnerable from range but once they get in close nothing is stopping a company of BMP’s and infantry. Note that a destroyed BMP is also a destroyed infantry unit. We will use tanks to soak up fire as we get in range.
Air defense and artillery are self-explanatory.
Overall Strategy
Our mission is to secure the B505 highway for follow on forces. Intelligence estimates we face a small force consisting of infantry primarily.
My first step is to give all units a generous amount of initiative. The enemy could be anywhere and in a small battle every unit is important. We must give them ability to get out of ambushes and other bad situations.
I will first send my recce vehicle along the road above highway B505. The rest of my force will move deliberate behind with a pause of 5 minutes so there is one hex between each unit. My plan is to fix any units I come across and bypass them. Once I have a good idea of where the main defense is I will flank them, prep them with artillery and finish them off with an attack from multiple directions.
The Battle
In the first turn we are ambushed outside of Stadelhofen. I have spotted three infantry platoons marked with the blue line. I will now flank to the south and leave a single infantry company outside the ambush zone to catch any units that try to chase my flank force.
Here we can see the advantage of the flanking strategy. We have caught a group of support vehicles along B22 highway and a headquarters outside of Schedernhorf. We have also caused massive casualties around Stadelhofen with artillery alone. I have used the smaller battery to soften up known enemy positions while the larger has been on call since it has greater range.
To finish off the enemy pocket I will place my units just outside line of sight to the enemy and set them to (Assault). I will use pauses to make sure all units move at the same time. In the meantime, I will set both artillery batteries to bombarding known positions and a few unknown just in case.
The Soviet military machine is focused on tempo, massed firepower and manuever.
Tempo: The Soviet Military believed that World War 3 would be won or lost in mere weeks. The speed and lethality of the modern battlefield would required new tactics and strategies to keep up. With this in mind, the Soviet ground forces were built from the ground up to be lean and fast. Leadership from the company down was streamlined down to a playbook of battle drills in order to enact orders quickly and with little input. This allowed greater creativity and initiative from the battalion up.
Massed Firepower: Artillery is the god of war. The Soviets field artillery battalions where NATO may use a single battery. They believed massed fire from artillery was the only way to allow large mechanized formations to succeed in the attack
Manuever: It's been said that the US manuevers to fight while the Soviets fight to manuever. Warsaw Pact forces believe in freedom of movement above all else. They would prefer to surround an enemy and choke it out with artillery or sieze an important piece of terrain in the enemies depth.
These three concepts are exemplified in the Forward Detachment.
This formation was not a standardized unit but a flexible template that could be as small as a single vehicle or as large as an entire division. A Forward Detachment was a task organized unit that would move ahead of the main force as water moves through a stream. It would be tasked with taking important terrain like a bridge ahead of the main force or clear out harassing scouts so the units behind did not need to deploy for battle. The commander of this unit had great leeway to use his iniative and would use small dirt roads and other forms of cover to avoid battle where possible.
The scenario "Lesson of War" is a great example of a Forward Detachment in action.
- 1.jpg (58.64 KiB) Viewed 1148 times
Reconnaissance is our eyes and ears. They will take point with their speed and elusiveness.
Tanks form the spear tip. They have the greatest firepower and armor of any unit but they cannot clear out infantry by themselves
Mechanized infantry are vulnerable from range but once they get in close nothing is stopping a company of BMP’s and infantry. Note that a destroyed BMP is also a destroyed infantry unit. We will use tanks to soak up fire as we get in range.
Air defense and artillery are self-explanatory.
Overall Strategy
Our mission is to secure the B505 highway for follow on forces. Intelligence estimates we face a small force consisting of infantry primarily.
My first step is to give all units a generous amount of initiative. The enemy could be anywhere and in a small battle every unit is important. We must give them ability to get out of ambushes and other bad situations.
- 2.jpg (422.35 KiB) Viewed 1148 times
The Battle
- 3.jpg (79.72 KiB) Viewed 1148 times
- 4.jpg (202.55 KiB) Viewed 1148 times
To finish off the enemy pocket I will place my units just outside line of sight to the enemy and set them to (Assault). I will use pauses to make sure all units move at the same time. In the meantime, I will set both artillery batteries to bombarding known positions and a few unknown just in case.
