On this day 25 years ago (Commentary Thread)

[chico20854]

is there a reason that 1st Brigade, 49th Armored Division did poorly at NTC and then was updated from M60A4s to M1s. i would think that the newer tanks would be used on a unit going to Germany or other combat zones.

I was trying to lay the groundwork for why a relatively high-readiness armored division would be spending the year sitting in Chicago waiting for transportation while the 50th AD (which historically had chronic issues maintaining troop strength and was considered a low priority unit) was sent to Europe in May. Certainly using Chicago as a port of embarcation causes problems with shipping, since only smaller ships fit through the St Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes, but in that case why not send the division to one of a dozen plus ports on the Gulf or East Coasts Heck, 40th ID deploys through California ports and transits the Panama Canal.

As to the poor performance, you can look at the ample evidence from Desert Storm re: the readiness of National Guard heavy brigades. I'm positing that many of those issues were worked on in the 1991-96 period, since 1st Cav and 5th ID are sent into action in December with their roundout brigades, but my experience in a National Guard heavy division in the mid-90s showed that there were serious readiness issues. Soldiers were overweight, out of shape, too old and likely medically unable to deploy, basic soldier skills were not practiced, discipline was lax (I recall one occaision when our female company commander stood outsides the barracks, which was rocking and rolling, and said "I want this party to end since we have a convoy at 0500, but I don't dare go in there"), officers marginally qualified (at the time only 15% of captains in the state had a bachelor's degree), and so on - you could have described my unit as a drinking club that wore camouflage. I'm not saying my experience was universal - my next guard unit was equal in professionalism and discipline to an active-duty one - but I'm (for purposes of the timeline) going to lean to the 49th being more of the former than the latter.

Why would such a train wreck of a unit be slotted for an equipment upgrade Maybe early results from combat in Europe showed the inferiority of the M60A4, and the Army figured that if 49 AD was going to require months of retraining (as National Guard roundout brigades needed in 1990-1) that some of that time could be used to field eqipment that 1) was less likely to get soldiers killed and 2) was familiar to active-duty troops and recent trainess which were coming in to the division to replace those that had been shown by NTC to be unable to perform their jobs.

As the war continues around the world, the new M1s and Bradleys that are supposed to go to 49 AD end up getting sent overseas as loss replacements, leaving the division sitting waiting for equipment, and when it does arrive, that's when the shipping delays come into play. It isn't pretty but it does provide some rationale for why the division never deploys overseas!

[Louied]

Chico, I think your doing a great job trying to explain how a Div slated to join III Corp would get stuck Stateside. I was thinking along the lines of it being in the midst of conversion to M1/BFV when the was kicked off in December, basically having the whole Div having to retrain.

I can post them later but some interesting things I have found to bolster your points (even though you know since you were there)

1) found a doc concerning observing 50 ARD in 1992 BCTP training/warfighter exercise.. Observing the 50th Armor during BCTP is a sobering experience. I doubt this oecrowd could ever go to war in an effective posture

2) from what I am finding the AC Corp commanders wanted priority for the separate ARNG Bdes to reinforce as they felt they were more useful initially to supplement the AC divisions (Roundup)

3) it appears one of the ALB Future papers call for a Heavy Corps having, as separate maneuver formationsan Avn Bde, an AR Bde, an ACR, and a IN Bde (Rear Battle). Sep MXB would go to XVIII Corp and I/IX Corp for Korean contingency.1

4) again it appears from Congressional testimony that the AC did not have any faith that the RO Bdes would be ready when a war started, one statement was that they had no plans to send them over in REFORGER. It looks like 194 ARB & 197 MXB would have been used to RO 5 MXD & 1 CD (at least before 89 when 4 MXD lost their Bde)

Chico, keep up the good work and did you see my response to the UK JTP plans
I can list all the US centric ones later tonight.

[pmulcahy11b]

Chico, you have been dealing a lot with the sea war. This is a much-neglected area of the Twilight War, in canon, supplements, and to tell the truth, by us on this board. It is a welcome addition.

[chico20854]

January 4, 1997

nothing official for today, but unofficially:

After refuelling and restocking, Convoy 202 (including the Idaho Freedom) sails from Honolulu, destination Guam. The convoy includes 38 cargo ships, a rescue vessel and five escorts and its passage is cleared by P-3 aircraft and long-range sonar surveillance from a supporting SURTASS ship.

NATO troops in Norway consolidate their gains, rounding up the last Soviet stragglers, clearing lines of communications, establishing support facilities and replenishing stocks from truck convoys. Naval units begin clearing harbor of Kirkenes of mines and debris, including a sunken Soviet landing craft.

The East German 18th Marine Regiment, isolated in Sasnitz since the beginning of the war, joins the NATO forces driving along the Baltic Coast. The US 11th Aviation Brigade launches a nighttime deep-penetration raid across the front line, disabling a pair of pontoon bridges over the Niesse river north of Gorlitz and wreaking havoc on the masses of Pact vehicles awaiting passage into Poland as Soviet forces evacuate East Germany.

The 1st and 2nd Brigades, 2nd ID are locked in fierce combat against North Korean armored forces, which outnumber the American force by nearly 5 to one. The superior American tanks with lavish artillery and air support inflict heavy losses on the North Koreans, but are forced to give ground by the sheet quantity of enemy armor as their ammunition supply runs low as congestion, awful weather, refugees and enemy commando action delay their resupply convoys.

photo
The American containership Sea-Land Mariner, carrying containerized supplies for American troops, is struck by a Soviet SSM in the North Sea and set afire. Dutch emergency vessels respond and after 14 hours extinguish the fire.

AFRICOM secures two C-141 flights to Morocco to transport military equipment and supplies that will be distributed to anti-Soviet guerilla groups throughout the continent.

Scattered skirmishes erupt on the Turko-Soviet border, as Soviet KGB Border Guards and Turkish gendarmes trade shots. Neither nation has the resources to escalate the fighting.

The Soviet Ministry of Fisheries issues an order for its deep draft trawlers and support vessels in the southen Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans to rendevous at pre-designated points (well away from established shipping lanes) and await further orders, relayed from the Navy. Given the situation off the Soviet coasts, fishing craft are not to attempt the return voyage.

[chico20854]

January 5, 1997

photo
The US 25th ID(L) begins its deployment by air to Korea from its home station in Hawaii. Troops move on a fleet of US and Korean Air widebody jets, while the division's vehicles are carried aboard C-5, C-17 and C-141 airlifters.

unofficially:

The Freedom-class cargo ship Rhode Island Freedom is delivered in Portland, OR.

The Politburo decides to try to convince the Dutch and Danish publics of the high cost of their support of the war (and scare them out of continued support for the war) by demonstrative strikes on their nations. A Spetsnaz team scuttles a chemical tanker (loaded with poisonous benzene) in the mouth of Rotterdam harbor, booby traps it and lights it on fire, at the same time that a Soviet air raid bombs the refinery and chemical plant in the city and mines the harbor, followed by a Scaleboard strike with persistent chemical munitions on the port and the main rail junction. One of the Su-24s, dodging Dutch F-16s, accidentally releases its munitions onto the historic center of the city. A similar strike targets Aarhus in Denmark. Thousands are killed in both countries, overwhelmingly civilians.

photo
AFNON and X Corps launch an attack into the USSR, acting on the authorization by NATO heads of state a few days prior. (This is the first time American troops have fought Red Army troops on Soviet soil since 1919). Border guards offer stiff resistance, but the main opposition comes from the remnants of 6th Army, which is still reeling after the long retreat across northern Norway. The strongest resistance comes from paratroopers brought in to shore up the border defenses.

The attack submarine USS Bluefish sinks the Soviet frigate Deyatelny in the Black Sea, the first of several Pact ships it will attack as it patrols the generally hostile Black Sea.

Turkish troops cut the road and rail routes to the Bulgarian port of Burgas; the garrison and population there is sustained by stores on hand and what can be brought in the city's port.

Soviet commerce raiders sortie from havens in the Seychelles, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea.

[pmulcahy11b]

is there a reason that 1st Brigade, 49th Armored Division did poorly at NTC and then was updated from M60A4s to M1s. i would think that the newer tanks would be used on a unit going to Germany or other combat zones.

I've been to AT with 1st Bde, 49th AD, several times in the early-mid 1980s. And except for a couple of high-speed battalions and companies, 1st Bde was a cluster f**k every time. I don't know what training (if any) they did on their weekends. I don't know if they ever did any MUTA 5s or 6s. I don't know if any of their personnel ever did additional training. I don't know what their ratios of veterans -- nonveterans were. I don't know if anyone ever had them do alternate training (from proper paperwork to how to relube an M113 roadwheel in the field). But if 1st Bde was an example, the 49th AD was a mess, except for a few gems (Like my battalion, if I may say so myself -- I learned more from my time in 1/325 that I did my whole first enlistment in the Regular Army).

[chico20854]

January 6, 1997

photo
Responding to the prior day's attacks on Rotterdam, the Dutch government orders the Netherlands I Leger Korps into Germany to fight Warsaw Pact forces.

Unofficially:

The Dutch and Danish populations are outraged about the previous day's attacks and demand retribution against the USSR.

In Korea, the US 2nd ID's lines begin to strain as 1st Shock Army commits its third and final armored corps (the 806th) to the breakthrough. Some relief comes as VII ROK Corps releases the 20th Mechanized Infantry Division to reinforce the beleaugered Americans.

Pact forces begin pell-mell retreat from Berlin towards the Oder-Niesse line; poor weather prevents Allied airpower from devastating their columns. To the north, German troops reach the Polish border west of Szczecin and clash with outposts of the Polish 12th Armored Division. The Czech expeditionary force withdraws to home territory.

On the Kola Peninsula, X Corps troops are astride the Kola Highway west of Zapolyarny, threatening the road junction that leads to Nikel.

The Soviet Tango-class sub Novosibirsk Komsomolets sinks the Filipino bulk carrier Southern Princess carrying grain to Antwerp.

[chico20854]

Chico, I think your doing a great job trying to explain how a Div slated to join III Corp would get stuck Stateside. I was thinking along the lines of it being in the midst of conversion to M1/BFV when the was kicked off in December, basically having the whole Div having to retrain.

I can post them later but some interesting things I have found to bolster your points (even though you know since you were there)

1) found a doc concerning observing 50 ARD in 1992 BCTP training/warfighter exercise.. Observing the 50th Armor during BCTP is a sobering experience. I doubt this oecrowd could ever go to war in an effective posture

2) from what I am finding the AC Corp commanders wanted priority for the separate ARNG Bdes to reinforce as they felt they were more useful initially to supplement the AC divisions (Roundup)

3) it appears one of the ALB Future papers call for a Heavy Corps having, as separate maneuver formationsan Avn Bde, an AR Bde, an ACR, and a IN Bde (Rear Battle). Sep MXB would go to XVIII Corp and I/IX Corp for Korean contingency.1

4) again it appears from Congressional testimony that the AC did not have any faith that the RO Bdes would be ready when a war started, one statement was that they had no plans to send them over in REFORGER. It looks like 194 ARB & 197 MXB would have been used to RO 5 MXD & 1 CD (at least before 89 when 4 MXD lost their Bde)

Chico, keep up the good work and did you see my response to the UK JTP plans
I can list all the US centric ones later tonight.

Thanks for the comments! Yes, I saw your response; that would be great!

I did see some of those documents on the model corps structure, and it sure looks different from the cobbled-together divisions and corps that GDW laid out! And GDW certainly didn't know (or decided to ignore) the readiness problems.

I'll probably use the same rationale for 42nd ID as well. I'm also going with the idea that the Army establishes two more NTCs, at Yakima Firing Range in Washington and Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona as well as setting up a second JRTC (at Ft Chaffee or Ft Polk, whichever your t2k world has the other one at) with the idea that most reserve component brigades will get at least a 3-week rotation through before deploying. Seeing if it's possible to fit those resources with the deployment schedule GDW laid out is on my to-do list... I recall the 1990s "what to do with the National Guard" discussions where there was considerably more enthusiasm for independent brigades to augment the AC than there was for the continuation of entire divisions.

I'm also going on the idea that some reserve component units had their act together. The 116th ACR is listed as deploying to Germany early in 1996(!) and as I noted 256 Bde and 155 AB deploy with their AC divisions. The 35th ID also is an early deployer.

Chico, you have been dealing a lot with the sea war. This is a much-neglected area of the Twilight War, in canon, supplements, and to tell the truth, by us on this board. It is a welcome addition.

Thanks! I'm glad you guys are enjoying this. I have a lot of my stuff on the naval war that I've been putting together over the years. I would balance it out with more from the air and ground side but I don't have as much to draw on... my Battle of Germany doc is really just a bare outline, with less detail than I've already put in here. Once Advent Crown kicks off in April I have my history of that campaign to draw on through the summer. I'm still spending a couple hours a day scraping various sources and beefing up the master timeline document, trying to balance going over a lot of sources for what I need to post today/this week/this month with trying to go through a source comprehensively so that I know it's all in there.

[stilleto69]

Great work as always Chico. I've been using your idea of new JRTCs at Yakima PG, Ft. Chaffee and Ft. Polk. I figured what a better way to try get as many units ready for the meat-grinder in Europe.

[Louied]

Chico,

I will post the list of U.S. oriented JTPs here this weekend.

Shrike,

I forgot if you are on Tanknet too but we were discussing updating the NATO ORBAT. The idea was to take a country section and each person update what is in version 8.5, then we would post it and Pat Callahan (who is still on) would incorporate it into the master document. I was going to do BAOR and take a stab at the U.S. one. I just havent had time. Are you interested

[chico20854]

January 7, 1997

The Dutch 4th Mechanized Division enters Germany.

Unofficial:

The 278th ACR loads the last of its vehicles on ships assigned to Convoy 110 in Savannah, Georgia for transit to Germany.

Nine MC-141s of the 76th Military Airlift Squadron arrive at Clark, AFB, Phillipines.

The first contingent of East German POWs captured the prior year in China arrive in Hickam AFB, Hawaii for a week of leave before continuing their journey home.

British forces reach Frankfurt-an-Oder on the Polish border. They enter the city, but are unable to seize the bridges over the Oder.

photo
182nd Tactical Fighter Squadron begins combat air patrols over Turkey from the airbase at Batman. Its F-16Cs are initially tasked with air defense of Southeastern Turkey but soon will receive orders to interdict Soviet supply lines in northwestern Iran.

A F-16A of the 482nd Tactical Fighter Wing's 89th Tactical Fighter Squadron (AFRES) intercepts a Soviet Be-12 anti-submarine patrol aircraft over the Black Sea and downs the lumbering flying boat.

A Soviet raider sinks a Cypriot-flagged ore carrier leaving Durban, South Africa with a cargo of chrome ore.

[chico20854]

Chico,

I will post the list of U.S. oriented JTPs here this weekend.

Thanks!!!!

[Homer]

Filling in the gaps

Great work on the timeline! It really fills in the gaps.

One thing I always felt was missing in canon was the echelon above division US forces, especially in Europe. Part of the buildup and transition to war would have been the mobilization of reserve units and facilities. The Army maintained a general officer reserve command under 7th Army which had over 1000 drilling reservists plus additional IRR or individual augmentees who would fill support, engineering, and medical positions in Europe based regular and reserve units on mobilization. In addition, the USAF and Army maintained contingency medical facilities in the UK and Germany to be filled by reservists. All these would be additive to the existing depot and logistics structure- vehicle rebuild, fuel pipelines, even a dairy plant and bakery.

While cannon alludes to these units either falling victim to tactical strikes or being gradually folded into divisional structures as replacements, some of it has to have survived post TDM to enable the buildup for the offensives in 1998 and 2000.

[chico20854]

January 8, 1997

Feeling emboldened by Turkish success in Bulgaria, Cypriots of Turkish descent hold a rally in Nicosia. Some fly the Turkish flag, despite the reunification of the island in 1994. Greek youth heckle and jeer the rally, and the situation escalates into scuffles and broken glass.

Unofficially:

US Pacific Command launches Operation Steel Bandit - US Navy and USAF units, with support from allies, launch raid on Soviet naval station at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. The air strikes from the carriers Ranger and Abraham Lincoln and Clark AFB in the Philippines are nearly disastrous, but US Army Rangers from the 6th Ranger Battalion and allies land at the airfield and destroy vital facilities and tangling with responding troops from the 50th GMRD. Overall the costly raid is successful in halting the Soviets' use of the former US base for missions over the South China Sea and ferry bombing missions across China to Siberia.

The 163rd ACR (MT and TX NG) completes loading its troops, vehicles and heavy equipment on ships in Tacoma, Washington for transit to Korea. The group of ships is designated Convoy 205 and heads out that evening, escorted by a force of the destroyer Towers, frigate Lang and Coast Guard cutter Jarvis.

Remaining Pact troops are driven out of East German territory. German troops, a combination of the Schleswig-Holstein Territorial Command and East German 5 Armee, cross the Polish border west of Szczecin, intent on securing a solid front line along the Oder-Niesse line and giving the Polish Government in Exile a slice of Polish territory to bolster its legitimacy.

The Soviet destroyer Buliny, damaged early in the war in the Norwegian Sea but repaired and replenished, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Mikhail Mischenko, slips across GIUK gap by hiding in iceberg fields in the Arctic night.

The attack submarine USS Bluefish takes up station off Burgas, Bulgaria to interdict the city. It sinks the Soviet troop transport Shota Rustaveli but is spotted by a Bulgarian Mi-14 helicopter, beginning a three-day ordeal to escape a Pact ASW task force vectored onto it.

[chico20854]

Great work on the timeline! It really fills in the gaps.

One thing I always felt was missing in canon was the echelon above division US forces, especially in Europe. Part of the buildup and transition to war would have been the mobilization of reserve units and facilities. The Army maintained a general officer reserve command under 7th Army which had over 1000 drilling reservists plus additional IRR or individual augmentees who would fill support, engineering, and medical positions in Europe based regular and reserve units on mobilization. In addition, the USAF and Army maintained contingency medical facilities in the UK and Germany to be filled by reservists. All these would be additive to the existing depot and logistics structure- vehicle rebuild, fuel pipelines, even a dairy plant and bakery.

While cannon alludes to these units either falling victim to tactical strikes or being gradually folded into divisional structures as replacements, some of it has to have survived post TDM to enable the buildup for the offensives in 1998 and 2000.

Welcome to the forum!

I hope to shed some light on these organizations as well as the vast WHNS (Wartime Host Nation Support) organization within the German territorial army structure. Part of my challenge with this is finding the information, since my orbats focus on the combat arms units, but I will dig through some back issues of Army Logistician and see what I can find! I have an easier time with the corps-level brigades, MP, Field Artillery and to a certain extent Engineer. As I keep developing my resources I will put more of these in.