ChalkLine's Desiderata

[ChalkLine]

(because I think I'm funny. Here's something to bring back those 'good memories')

"Cosmoline" MIL-SPEC Grease (MIL-C-11796C, Class 3)
1.0L Can (1 quart) 0.9kg, $4 V/V
3.8L Can (1 gallon) 3.2kg, $9 V/V
7.6L Can (2 gallons) 6.4kg $16 V/V
11.4L Can (3 gallons) 9.5kg $23 V/V
19.0L Pail (5 gallons)15.9kg $26 V/V
205.0L Drum (54 gallons) 181.4kg $200 V/V

[ChalkLine]

Soviet/Russian Vehicle Thermographic Sights

It's well known the Soviets preferred to sink R&D into light intensification rather than thermographic sights before the dissolution of the USSR. The main reason was the resolution of the Gen-1 thermographs; out past a certain range the target appeared as a blob and couldn't be clearly identified and the risk of blue-on-blue was too high for a widely deployed vision system. In this regard Soviet thermographs were slightly inferior in resolution to western variants.

However they did actually mass produce and deploy a system, and this was the Agava-2 Gen-1 thermographic on the command variant of the T-80, the T-80UK, first appearing in 1992 after the dissolution.

What's not widely known is they had a Gen-2 variant, the Agava-M1, ready for widespread fielding in 1995 for general retrofitting. Unlike what you'd expect this had nothing to do with the French systems they were looking at but an in-house model developed from the earlier Agava-2.

However the breakup of the federation and the collapse of the economy meant like so many nascent systems this project was shelved due to being sourced from countries now outside Russia. Once the technology was secured the project was continued on shoestring budget and resurfaced as a retrofit in 2016.

Depending on your backstory this means that Soviet thermographs might now be available for a variety of vehicles, but probably not in any uniform fashion. The first vehicles would be the T-80UKs getting updated and their old Agava-2s bolted onto other vehicles.
Like all thermal sights it's a fairly evident installation being an armoured drum on the top left of the turret possibly allowing players to realise something's up with the vehicle. Small vehicles such as the BMP-1 to -2s, BTRs and BRDM-2s would need them mounted on the hull or a new armoured bulge mounts on the turret top.

[ChalkLine]

Government and Law in the Polish People's Republic during the Twilight War

(This is uses the 1st edition timeline rather than the ludicrous 2.2 edition where Germany invades Poland. Again. If you have any doubts about the likelihood of this just ask a German for their opinion of it.
I've covered some of this in prior posts.)

A fundamental paradox of the Eastern Bloc was that even when the USSR began to institute limited reforms the Soviet buffer-states tended to remain rigidly authoritarian due to their unpopular governments. This is an important factor in the makeup of the Polish state during the war.
When the NATO troops cross the Polish frontier the The Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) or PRL, immediately went over to war footing. Martial law was decreed and the system of Wojna Ludowa, or "People's War' was introduced.

People's War is critical to understanding Twilight 2000 Poland.
Under the Wojna Ludowa concept every single citizen works together to repel the invader. The concept of "civilian" disappears and is replaced with either "combatant' or "supporting non-combatant". All personal projects and the tiny Polish private sector is immediately halted and the full weight of the communist state is thrown at the enemy. Any reference to "civilian" in the rules regarding Poland should be ignored, they make no sense unless the individual is 'trapped' behind NATO lines and then they legally under PRL law should attempt to pass through the lines to Polish-held areas to assist the war effort.

The PRL had universal conscription pre-war and any male between 16 and 56 years old is either working in supporting industries or drafted back into the army. Any female between 16 and 56 was expected to take up the support tasks the draftees had to abandon to fight and later would become frontline troops in their own right. Every single non-combatant becomes a member of the OP-PRL or the OTK, the Polish Civil Defence and the Polish Territorial Army respectively. In the case of OTK duties these are off-hours duties such as guarding infrastructure or patrolling facilities and enforcing martial law. All non-combatants are expected to either evacuate the facility along with its infrastructure if the enemy threaten if at all possible and if not they are expected to fight to repel the enemy. Children and the elderly are evacuated to the USSR or the Baltic States if possible or as far east as can be achieved.

The ruling PRL political party, the PZPR, hands over power to the Wojskowa Rada, 'Military Council', or WR, and the civil authorities simply support the war effort. The Milicja Obywatelska, 'Citizen's Militia' (police force), or MO is not conscripted and their paramilitary wing the dreaded Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej, 'Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia', or ZOMO are used where military police action is required, usually against the PRL's own citizens although they can operate as light motorised infantry in their BTR-60s.

Martial law is onerous. A strict curfew operates between 0600 to 2200 and anyone violating curfew is immediately arrested. "Shooting on sight" is not a phenomenon, authoritarian states respond to crises by becoming even more legalistic if that is possible and instead offenders for any crime appear before military tribunals and are made an example of by long and demeaning trials. Censorship was of course already in place pre-war.

Unless the crime is active treason the usual punishment is harsh forced labour under heavy guard, which is given every licence to mistreat prisoners, while the offender is used as a propaganda exercise. Crimes that are particularly abhorred by the state are avoiding work, hoarding supplies, spreading enemy propaganda (defeatism is later added to this) and smuggling, all of which not only violate martial law but also offend communist ideology and thus incur extra approbation from the authorities. Smuggling is especially heavily policed and deterred as it is considered stealing from the state, the war effort and the people. Note that only East Germany allowed conscientious objectors in the Eastern Bloc, if you can fight and are ordered to you must.

As before the war any right to strike is forbidden and mandatory confiscation of war material is common.

Those convicted of actively aiding and abetting the enemy are stripped of their citizenship, executed by hanging and afterwards placards detailing their crimes are affixed to their publicly displayed bodies and at the place of their crimes. As the military situation deteriorates more capital crimes are added to the list depending on the locality, situation and attitude of the relevant authorities. In the case that too many abettors are captured, say in the case that a NATO canton is overrun and the Polish workers are recovered, then the captives are marched into the Polish hinterland, placed into camps and used for rubble-clearing, demining and UXO clearance while being subject to harsh treatment 'befitting traitors' and enduing re-education. Note that the re-education is undertaken by the civil authorities and their lack of restraint towards political criminals was well known. This system has a powerful deterrent effect.

The PRL steps up its denunciation state. This is a state in which citizens are encouraged to monitor each other and denounce any unpatriotic activity or even conversations. In some places the MO will simply write this off as harmless but in other, especially sensitive areas, the MO will be rigid in its behaviour towards such transgressions. Denunciation states invariably fall prey to civil axe-grinding where petty rivalries can played out by frivolously denouncing rivals. Oddly enough this useless 'noise' can make the secret police less effective as they have trouble discerning real security threats from the backbiting but it can be hell for unpopular community members as they're dragged into the police compound on frequent allegations.

As you can see this means the Poland the players see in the game will be very different than the one depicted in the books. The Poles will ferociously defend their country partly due to innate patriotism but also due to the severe nature of the PRL and its treatment of those who undermine the fight against the invader. Polish Free Legion personnel not only risk themselves but their families who will be arrested, detained, interrogated and probably sent to holding camps in the interim as hostages until the authorities can think of what to do with them. Family members in the army will probably be demoted as untrustworthy, they should have informed on their traitorous relatives in the state's eyes, and in all doubt sent to units where political control is pervasive and rigid.

[Homer]

Wow, thats total national mobilization. With measures like those in place being the domestic norm, I wonder how the poles would view civilian populations in neighboring (western) states

[ChalkLine]

Wow, that's total national mobilization. With measures like those in place being the domestic norm, I wonder how the poles would view civilian populations in neighboring (western) states

Well, the weird thing is most people don't realise how the Eastern Bloc and especially the Soviets saw The Cold War.

The Soviets saw the Cold War as essentially a tradition going back to the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War1, on their side Western aggression never really stopped and the West simply used them to bleed out the Nazis in The Second World War. The Soviets had endured eight million dead and had demanded that Germany be demilitarised (like Austria) but instead the West re-armed them, a serious red line. This is largely due to the fact that for the entire Second World War the Nazis had been saying they'd make peace with the West and then combine with the USA and Britain to crush Bolshevism and as far as they could see this was exactly what was happening. So when the West created NATO it was the sum of all their fears; their view was that the West was going to crush them while they were weak after fighting the Nazis thus the Iron Curtain and the Warsaw Treaty Organisation (fun fact: they called NATO "The North Atlantic Pact" )

So this gives you an idea how they saw Western societies and their peoples as well as their readiness. In Communist perspectives the workers of the West were too fragmented to resist being mobilised for war so mobilisation would only occur on a cost basis but that the West, as usual being suspected of being uncaring of workers lives due to their belief in eternal class war, would use their troops right up the point it looked like the economies would suffer too much.

So in game terms you can expect communists to see the West as eternal enemies, always ready to invade and always trying to undermine their 'perfect system'. Soviet troops especially will be distrustful of British, German and US troops. This is odd because in GDW's game those are the only troops that see combat in Poland so T2K is a worst-case scenario for the Soviets.

1In Britain's case the antagonism really goes back to the 1820s, something we called The Great Game and something they see as just some sort of weird Russophobia

[Homer]

Yep, if youre sitting on the eastern side of the IGB, or the Oder, T2k looks very much like the west once more taking advantage of a situation to make a land grab/power grab.

Your description really does make Poland sound like a place where there is a oerifle behind every bush. I dont imagine the Germans would be seen as anything less than a implacable foe, and US, UK, Danish, and Canadian troops with them would be equally guilty by association.

Kind of makes me wonder how badly the Soviets (supposed allies) behaved to have some Poles and Polish towns become neutral or supportive of NATO troops.

[Ursus Maior]

The Polish people feared a new partition, yes, but they loathed the Soviet Union, because they saw the Soviet Army as one of occupation. And frankly, that's exactly what it was. The Soviet army was not there to defend Poland, but to create a buffer to secure the USSR. Everyone in the Warsaw Pact knew this, but only two-and-a-half countries made it out of the conundrum that was the Eastern Bloc's fear of being occupied by Soviet armed forces ad perpetuum.

Yugoslavia left the bloc early, when the USSR war still weak. Having liberated itself during the war, Tito wasn't depending on Stalin as much as others. So, when the Soviet leader finally botched his relationship with Tito for good, Tito could leave the Soviet sphere of influence with Western help. Yugoslavia was not as important for the Soviet security cordon and when Stalin died, Khrushchev went for a climate change. So, Yugoslavia was safe.

Albania went second, and the matter is quite complicated, but in the end, Albania wasn't worth any effort and the split became public during the Khrushchev thawing. So the tiny Adriatic state, never having been occupied in the first place, left the Eastern Bloc per se almost quitly.

Next were Hungary and the ČSSR, both failing in their endeavors ultimately. In both cases, however, the enterprise to leave the Soviet zone of influence was almost doomed from the start. Hungary and ČSSR were direct neighbors of the USSR and thus extremely important to the defense of it. Them being part of the Soviet empire was not something that could be discussed. Also, in both cases, the split was to occur on the basis of local leaders aiming at not only leaving the Soviet empire, but also Marxist socialist ideals as preached by the USSR. In both cases, popular revolts were important parts of the political shift, something the Soviets always feared for themselves. So they went down hard on both, Hungary and the ČSSR.

Thus, when Romania aimed at leaving the direct zone of influence and especially occupation by the USSR, their leaders looked at the lessons others had endured and counted two and two together: being a direct neighbor of the USSR, Romania couldn't hope to leave the bloc entirely. But it got rid of occupation quite early. This left being tied militarily to the USSR by means of the Warsaw Pact. This was hardly negotiable, but Romania pulled off to never participate in big exercises and especially not having Soviet troops on its soil.

Romanian leadership had a narrow and slippery path to walk, in order to accomplish that. First of all, any form of official disobedience to Marxist socialist ideals was out of the question. Second, any form of popular unrest was, too. And third, the economy had to provide enough so that the USSR couldn't bully Romania into submission. The latter part worked, thanks to large scale investment into heavy industries, especially steel. This led to considerable fallout as the USSR basically sanctioned Romania, but Romanian leadership cooperated with the West as a consequence.

Romania only barely made it. While the Soviets never set foot into the country militarily, Romania's economy was so desolate and the security apparatus so immense that Romanians struggled probably the most during the fall of the regime in 1989. In the end, Ceaușescu and his wife were the only Eastern Bloc dictators to get killed by their own people for what they had done to their country. However, the killing of the Ceaușescus had profound impact on Erich and Margot Honnecker, the East German counterpart of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu.

[ChalkLine]

Encounter Weapons

1 Assault Rifle 1-6, SAW 7-10
2 Assault Rifle 1-6, Battle Rifle 7-10
3 Assault Rifle 1-6, Battle Rifle 7-10
4 Assault Rifle
5 Assault Rifle 1-5, w/Grenade Launcher 6-10
6 Carbine 1-9, w/Grenade Launcher 10-10
7 Carbine 1-7, SMG 8-10
8 Civilian Weapon 1-8, Unique/Odd 9-10
9 Marksman's Rifle 1-7, Sniper Rifle 8-10
10 Pistol 1-8, Improvised/Melee 9-10

Own Military 1-7, Other Military 8-10

Grenades: 1d6-3(+2 if Regular)

[ChalkLine]

Mortar Shells as Rockets

Usually an NPC thing, this is a concept for GMs to use so they can have artillery that doesn't automatically turn the PCs into a set of smoking boots.

These are mortar bombs repurposed as rockets for use in the simple tube MLRS. They don't have quite the range of the usual rocket nor do they have the same explosive power although they are pretty close. Usually I give clear numbers for things like this but in this case it's really what the GM needs for the scenario. The basic guidelines are:

- Longer range than a mortar but shorter range than the rulebook rocket

- Lower accuracy. This is the big one. These things swamp the area but the chances of fragmentation is lower due to the wider dispersion. This is to keep the game playable.

- Same damage as the mortar bomb placed in the craftshop-made rocket hull, mortar bombs must be a smaller calibre than the MLRS rulebook rocket munition.

- Non-trivial chance of 'loony bombs'. These are rockets that fly off in odd directions.

If the players start to become cavalier about these rockets remember that the crews of the MLRS might have issue rockets they keep in reserve that are accurate, powerful and long ranged. Never sneer at the GM.

Some MLRS suitable for this:
(incomplete list)

Soviet:
- BM-21 "Grad" (122mm)
- 9P138 "Grad-1" (122mm Short)
- BM-21V "Grad-V" (122mm)
- LPRS "Grad-P" (122mm Short)
- BM-14MM 2B2R (140mm)
- BM-14-17M 8U35M (140mm)
- RPU-14 towed 8U38 (140mm)

Czech:
- RM-70 (122mm)
- RM-70/85 (122mm)

Yugoslavia:
- M-63 "Plamen" (128mm)
- RAK-12 towed (128mm)
- M-77 "Oganj" (128mm)

USA:
- M91 towed (115mm) [This would require barrels to be manufactured to replace the VX rocket containers which function as a barrel]

[ChalkLine]

Ammunition Belt Loader.
Quickly loads loose rounds into the appropriate belts.
Wt: 5.0kg
Price: $10(V/V)

(These are usually in the box containing the complete weapon along with its tools, two spare barrels and so on)

Shown: 7.62x54mmR Belt Loader from the PKM on its storage box (image not in Juhlin forums)
There is a Swedish version that does M31 link belts so I'm assuming there are NATO versions

[ChalkLine]

FV101 Skorpion 30 (not a misspelling)

This is the FV101 Scorpion rearmed with the Soviet Shipunov 2A42 30mm automatic cannon.

The 2A42 is 100kg lighter than the FV101's standard L23A1 76mm gun and produces about half the recoil force: 5,100kg vs 16,500kg for the standard 76mm.

It is the standard weapon taken from wrecked BMP-2s:
"A stabilized 30 mm 2A42 autocannon with dual ammunition feeds, which provide a choice of 3UBR6 AP-T and 3UOR6 HE-T / 3UOF8 HE-I ammunition. The gun has a selectable rate of fire, either slow at 200 to 300 rounds per minute or fast at 550 rounds per minute. This gives a continuous fire time of 100150 seconds (or only 55 seconds, depending on the rate of fire chosen) before running out of ammunition. The original stabilization provides reasonable accuracy up to a speed of about 35 kilometres per hour."

500 rounds are in a basket fixed to the floor of the turret basket. The weapon is infamous for the amount of fumes it puts into the turret and two high volume fans have been placed in the turret roof. Even so, firing the weapon at its full rate of fire often has the crew leaving their hatches open. Normally the weapon is only fired in short bursts.

[ChalkLine]

Death of a Division - the logistics story
So I've been rethinking Death of a Division using the rail lines as a supply line but going over it the scenario idea doesn't work as I wanted the PCs to play surviving corps-level logistics groups falling back down the rail.
However I thought I'd share with you where the original logstics rail lines went through to see if they can help in any way.
The Fifth starts its final journey in canton at Chojnice and I'm assuming that's where the initial rail-head is.
- Chojnice to Tuchola: Direct Rail
This is a simple trip. The convoy escorts and trains can go straight there.
- Tuchola to Torun: Rail through Dworzec Kolejowy "Wierzchucin", skirt Bydgoszcz on the north and the east.
This is to avoid crossing the Vistula which the rails don't anyway. While dangerous it's still not out of the ordinary.
- Torun to Krośniewice: Aleksandr3w Kujawski, Włocławek, Ostrowy on Route 91. Nowy Ostrowy (8.1km by road, 5.6km to Krośniewice) is the railhead, the rail continues south. Coal station.
Here things start to come unstuck. The lines are very long and unprotected. The logistics guys would be voicing concerns big time by now. They've stopped short of Krośniewice at Nowa-Ostrowy (just outside Ostrowa) and captured a coal loading area which is ideal for a rail-head. While dodgy as for the length of the line it's a good set up.
However at that point the enemy gets across the Vistula at Torun and cuts the line. I'm assuming the convoy guards have massed at Włocławek awaiting orders. When Kutno, up to that time contested, is cut they get marooned.
- Nowy Ostrowy, Kutno, Łęczyca, Ozork3w, Ł3dź.
The division can't get into Ł3dź and there's no falling back. At this point they have to leave the rail lines. All rail assets are blown in place to deny them to the enemy.

[ChalkLine]

Survival Trivia:
Running distilled water steam through a gas mask filter will remove benzine and toluene. Something the Russians worked out after the collapse of the Russian economy and rampant pollution.

[ChalkLine]

Communist 'Human Wave' Attacks.

It's often said that communist forces, especially Russian and Chinese commanders, use 'human wave assaults. This is entirely untrue and was even untrue during the Russian infantry actions after The Great War.

Frequently what is termed a human wave assault derives from two sources:

The first being Second World War accounts from Axis troops which the West accepted for political reasons. These commanders were keen to portray themselves as 'apolitical professional Prussians' rather Nazi accomplices. However Soviet troops of all nationalities were considered by the commanders as frankly inferior (or worse) and to have been beaten by them would admit losing to soldiers worse than their portayed scientific, cool soldiering. Thus the myth of the mindless wave of human meat assaults driven on by the NKVD 'barrage troops'. In historical fact the Axis used more barrage troops than did the Soviets and Soviet soldiers were simply sent back forward and not shot - unlike their commanders.

The second reason is from accounts of the actual troops. To them being massively outnumbered seems that the troops are endlessly pouring in, no matter how many they put down. This comes from an important concept in Eastern soldiering; you're more likely to be killed in a retreat where the enemy gets a free shot at you and then having to assault all over again than in pressing the attack. At the point of commitment the soldiers have it ingrained into them there's no turning back, the better-equipped troops have essentially endless munitions to pour onto you if you don't disrupt them. This does indeed look like fanaticism.

This doesn't mean that these attacks are stupid. People who have assumed this over the last century have paid dearly. For instance, here's an qualifier for The Battle of Kapyong during the latter Korean Civil War that is illustrative:

The PVA attacks had been launched quickly and aggressively, placing their light machine guns on the flank in support and attempting to close to attack the 3 RAR perimeter with grenades. Contrary to some contemporary western accounts, the PVA did not use human wave tactics. Rather, using a tactic known as 'one-point-two sides', they used massed forces and infiltration to achieve local numerical superiority and to penetrate the gaps between the forward companies, before attempting to envelop the 3 RAR while drawing their fire to the front, away from their threatened flanks. They would normally attempt to close with UN defensive positions using darkness or poor visibility to cover their movement and to counter US air superiority, before attacking using massed force, coordinated with close fire support. However, although normally well-planned and closely supported by machine-gun, mortar, and artillery fire, PVA attacks in Korea were often inflexible in execution once launched. This was mostly due to the lack of radio communications below battalion-level, with the PVA instead relying on whistle blasts, bugle calls, and runners for command and control, and although their 60 mm (2.4 in) and 81 mm (3.2 in) mortars had provided particularly effective indirect fire support, these problems were again evident during the fighting at Kapyong

What does this have to do with roleplaying

Using mindless forward assaults rapidly becomes boring for most players, they like enemies they have to out-think. A fight where every players gets a perfect target picture of the enemy who only moves directly towards them would be considered dumb in a 1990s corridor-shooter video game. It's very same same.

Enemies that stop short and dig in, forcing you to attack them, enemies that suddenly swing off to the flank and out of sight, enemies that feign retreat, enemies that act like they value their own lives are all realistic, threatening enemies.

[ChalkLine]

Dams.

Europe has an estimated 150,000 dams that have exceeded their lifespans.

It is highly likely that these dams will fail without the excessive upkeep required for such old structures. In fact even the dams with plenty of life will fail anyway.

But these old dams will go first. Poland is dotted with old dams and these will fail during the campaign period causing unexpected hazards, population shifts and serious environmental problems.

Fallout likes dams. They are natural sediment-traps and all that washed-away fallout heads there. Whenever the dams fail they don't just inundate the downstream areas with filthy, disease-bearing water but the radiation problems will become acute. The players may find themselves very thirsty . . .

"Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink"

EDIT: Don't eat bottom feeder fish