Cantonments in T2k

[natehale1971]

Hi everyone,

I have some questions that i've been trying to figure out for a while about Cantonments. Does anyone have a basic outline of what is found in cantonments or even how the cantonments would be 'officially' and 'unofficially' referred to by the militaries that have had to establish them

I know most have roughly developed civilian Shantytowns or tent cities that have been built in their 'shadow' in hopes of getting protection form roving marauders and the like...

As for names of cantonments... I was thinking of using this as an example of an American Cantonment in Europe. Does anyone have a better template to use

US Army Base Camp Purgatory (US Army Europe, UNITED STATES EUROPEAN COMMAND)

Also... what is the smallest independent military unit that in your opinions would establish Cantonments My thought would be Battalions since they are the smallest self-sufficient military unit of command...

I had thought of Military Cantonments actually being a series of complexes spread out over an area of operations for a Division, broken into spheres of responsibility based upon Brigade, then down to the Battalion levels.

Has anyone else given any serious thoughts to this

(Sorry for the random nature of this post, i'll try and clean it up when i'm able... my brain is acting so werid right now. i'm really sorry about this.)

[bigehauser]

I never really understood fully what that term meant when I first starting getting into T2K, but I would say that a military cantonment may look something similar to a firebase of Vietnam, or a FOB of today.

[natehale1971]

I never really understood fully what that term meant when I first starting getting into T2K, but I would say that a military cantonment may look something similar to a firebase of Vietnam, or a FOB of today.

That's what i was thinking as well... I just don't know what kinds of things you'd find in Firebases or FOBs of today. or how they are named...

[Targan]

A cantonment would cover a much larger area than an FOB or a firebase. But it would probably have a strictly military area within it or next to it which would much like an FOB or firebase.

[Legbreaker]

There's an example of one in either Twilight Encounters, or Special Operations. I'll see if I can find it in a few hours and post it for all to see.

It's just a small one though, maybe a hundred or so military plus probably three times or more civilians outside the wire.

[natehale1971]

My group during our T2k campaign spent alot of time at their cantonment between the major adventures, and these mini-campaigns dealt with the extensive redevelopment and reconstruction of the surrounding the civilian communities as part of their 'heart and minds' policies. as soon as i find the notes i'll post them.

[Slappy]

While I agree that the core military area would be small, the area controlled by a catonment would have to be fairly large. One of the key reasons for the catonment system was to allow the military unit access to local food supplies and growing areas. The military would need to excercise control over a large enough area of farms to feed both themselves and the civilians working the farms.

I have always pictured a central military compound which was heavily dug in, walled, sandbagged, fields of fire cleared, etc. containing the essentials:
Base housing
Motorpool
Repair facilities
Armory and ammo storage
Food storage areas
Artillery positions
Mess area
Field hospital to the extent there was one
Command post
Animal pens / horse stables
Small parade ground
Some sort of recreation facility
This could be a village that was taken over and converted or something constructed in a relatively open area.

There would likely be either a civilian village or shantytown nearby providing local services not provided internally (simple handcrafts and "leisure activities", whatever that means to you, being the ones that come to mind).

From this base the unit would need to exert effective control over an area at least several miles around. The goal is to provide enough security to the remaining population that they could produce enough food to supply themselves and the military unit. This means preventing marauder raids, other military units moving into the area and local uprisings. Most basically you have a system of taxation in exchange for security. This can be mutually amenable or just a protection racket depending on the situation.

I expect that the unit would have roving patrols in the area and on roads potentially combined with smaller garrisons at key points. This depends on the size of the unit and the territory, but posting platoon sized units in key population centers and infrastructure adds additional security and provides for faster reaction to problems that crop up.

Depending on the friendliness of the situation, I would expect that local ORMOs or militia would also play a role. Modestly trained locals could provide rudimentary security, act as a sort of police force and attempt to hold marauders until a reaction force arrived. These could be largely independent or have assigned trainers/monitors from the catonment unit.

That's the wasy I've always seen it anyway. Of course local conditions will vary widely depending on any number of factors.

[Adm.Lee]

Would they need to have a civilian shantytown nearby I wonder if they couldn't just move into an existing town/village and fortify that. The civilians there would be moved out (peaceably, I should hope) or allowed to live inside.

Using an existing town means the unit dosen't have to create infrastructure from scratch (water, power, etc.), and can concentrate on using buildings that already exist for quarters. And, ruins can be salvaged for repairs. What's left of the road & bridge network can be used, too.

Worst case, towns are already usually located where the water is-- streams, etc. No need to go get it.

I wonder if towns that were once castles and border forts would get preference Those would already be in dominating terrain.

[Abbott Shaull]

If you have access to Free City of Krakow, look at the Krakow ORMO/8th Polish MRD position as they are located through out the City. Look at old Middle Ages Castles, old western forts, and firebases they would all be used in combination to control the Cantonment.

The Battalion-size would be hard press to hold. I thinking Brigade/Regimental size would be smallest unit that would have independent Cantonments.

The Cantonment would have one centralize base where most of the support units would work out of such as supply, maintenance, and such, could be set up like old military fort or Castle, except minus the surrounding walls. Many of these personnel would provide the 'Infantry' support for this base.

Then surrounding the 'Base' would be the smaller unit positions. If it was Divisional Cantonment, the Brigades would have smaller version of the one occupied by the Divisional HQ/Support units.

Then spread out from these the Battalions/Squadrons would set various firebase to control the country-side. Their may be one Company size firebase for a 'local reaction force'. The rest of the Companies would have Company HQ, Platoon HQ, and Squad level check points they are responsibility for. Rotate the Company that is reactionary force.

Just some thoughts.

6355675

[Legbreaker]

There's an example of one in either Twilight Encounters, or Special Operations. I'll see if I can find it in a few hours and post it for all to see.

And here it is....



MAP DESCRIPTION

Although a military cantonment area covers miles of outlying fields, dwellings, and guard posts, a central encampment constitutes the administrative hub of the organization. The map shows atypical central encampment with its associated civilian quarters.

A. Administration Building: This is the main headquarters building of the unit. It has a large central reception area with five or six desks for clerks and a telephone switchboard. The interior of the building is subdivided into a number of offices and conference rooms, as well as a suite of rooms dedicated to radio transmitters and receivers, decoding machines, and a radio direction finder.

B. Barracks: Each barracks is the home for 20 to 30 soldiers. Soldiers are quartered by unit, with several private rooms occupied by senior NCOs, and two or three large rooms with bunks for the privates. Officers are housed separately. Each barracks building will have 15 to 20 men asleep late at night. Seldom will more than three or four (roll 1D6) off-duty men be present at other times. Individual units are housed as follows:

BO: Officers' quarters.

B1: 1st Infantry Company.

B2: 2nd Infantry Company.

B3: 3rd Infantry Company.

B4: 4th (Weapons) Infantry Company.

B5: Vehicle crews (part).

B6: Artillery gunners.

B7: Medical personnel and remaining vehicle crews.

C. Motor Pool: All of the unit's remaining armoured vehicles are parked here, with many of the motor transports as well. Four or five vehicles will usually be in the maintenance shed undergoing repair. Ten driver/mechanics work here most of the time during the day, along with 10 civilian labourers. Two armed guards always stand at the gate, with one in the maintenance shed and one more walking the fence. The fence is two layers of chain link with barbed wire on the top. The area between the two fences is mined, with a mine density of 0.5 per grid square.

D. Grain Silo: This is a large grain silo with a corrugated metal shed attached. It is always partially full of bulk grain waiting to be ground at the flour mill. The metal shed houses a mechanical conveyor belt used to move the grain to and from trucks. Seldom is anyone working near the grain silo except when active loading is taking place.

E. Barns: The cantonment has two barns the larger one houses about 40 horses, although many of these are usually in the connected pen. The smaller barn has 20 dairy cows. Two civilian workers are usually in each barn during the day. There is a 50-percent chance (roll 1-3 on 1 D6) of an officer being in the barn caring for his own riding horse.

F. Fields: The edges of several outlying fields are visible on the map. These are usually covered with stubble in the fall and winter, and are only plowed immediately prior to planting. Standing crops cover them in the late spring, summer, and early fall. Crews usually work in the fields during the day during plowing and harvest, and teams of boys and girls are often used to weed the fields while the crops are ripening.

G. Livestock Pens: The livestock pens and their small attached shed house various numbers of sheep, pigs, and poultry. One civilian worker usually tends or works nearby each pen during the day.

H. Hospital: This is a small hospital with two wards, an operating theatre, and an attached clinic for treating the civilian personnel who live in and near the encampment. Six to eight medical personnel are usually on duty during the day and two at night.

I. Ammo Bunkers: Each of these concrete bunkers is sunk into the ground so that the roof is only one or two feet above ground level. The earth has been excavated away from their front, and the front of each bunker has been further reinforced with sandbags. Each bunker holds a selection of small arms, small arms ammunition, mortar and artillery rounds, grenades, and bulk explosives. No one is ever on duty in the actual bunkers.

J. Mess Hall: This is a large central cafeteria with an adjoining kitchen facility, plus a separate room for the officers' mess and a small private dining room. Eight kitchen personnel are usually on duty here during the day and an armed guard at night.

K. Slaughter House: This is a large facility used to slaughter cattle and dress meat. A large cattle pen and small refrigeration plant are attached. Six civilians work here during the day, and an armed guard is present at night.

L. Flour Mill: The grain grown by the community is ground to flour here. Bagged flour is stored in an attached shed. Six civilians work here during the day, and an armed guard is present here at night.

M. Large Still: This is a large, fixed still (as described in the basic game) used to make fuel spirits out of cellulose waste from the flour mill and the wheat fields. The alcohol distilled here is pumped into the storage tanks at site N described below.

N. Fuel Depot: The four large raised alcohol tanks here each hold 500 gallons of alcohol. Gravity feed hoses with vise clamps are attached to the bottom of the tanks and are used to fuel vehicles. Two civilians work here during the day.

O. Generator: The corrugated metal shed houses a large, alcohol-fuelled generator that supplies the entire compound with electricity. At least one civilian worker is always on duty here maintaining the generator.

P. Fuel Truck Hardstand: This is a large, square depression, with the north side gradually sloped to form an entry/exit ramp. The floor of the depression is covered with pierced steel plating.

Q. Laundry: Several large, open fires are used to heat water for the laundry. The laundry proper is staffed by 12 civilian women during the day.

R. "The Kremlin": This is a two-story, irregularly shaped, leaning building of remarkable architecture and design. It is built of corrugated metal, logs, timber, bricks, and anything else the owners could scrounge up. It is amazing that it manages to stay standing at all. During the day it is quiet, with the owners and staff asleep upstairs. At night the bottom floor is a low-ceilinged, smoke filled, noisy tavern that caters to the Soviet servicemen. There is some live entertainment, and the upstairs rooms are used to consummate sudden romances which develop between the patrons and staff.

S. Shantytown: This section of the cantonment is where the civilian workers, their families, and the various camp followers live. It is a confusing maze of cramped alleyways lined with tin and tar paper shacks. The inhabitants scratch out a living on the bare edge of survival, beset by poverty, crime, and disease.

T. Towers: Guard towers are spaced at intervals along the perimeter security fence. About half the towers have armed guards at any given time.

U. Gate: Each gate, including the one between Shantytown and the main camp, is guarded at all times by an armed soldier.

Soviet Garrison: The guards on duty at any given time are provided by one company of infantry. The other troops will be training or off duty during the day, in barracks or shantytown during the evening, and asleep in barracks after midnight.

HQ SECTION
. Two Veteran NPC officers with Makarovs.
. Eight Experienced NPCs with AKMs.

VEHICLE CREWS
. 10 Experienced NPCs with AKMs.
. 20 Experienced NPCs with Makarovs.
Vehicles include one T-90, one BMP-3, one BTR-70, one BRDM-3, 10 five-ton trucks, six three-quarter-ton trucks, and four UAZ-469s.

ARTILLERY
Howitzer Battery
. 10 Experienced NPCs with AKMs and one D-30 howitzer.

Mortar Battery
. 10 Experienced NPCs with AKMs and one 120mm mortar.

MEDICAL
. 10 Experienced NPCs with Makarovs.

INFANTRY
. 1st Company, 1st Section
Eight Veteran NPCs with AK-74s.
One Veteran NPC with an RPK-74.
One Veteran NPC with an RPG-16 and a Makarov.

. 1st Company, 2nd Section
Eight Veteran NPCs with AK-74s.
One Veteran NPC with an RPK-74.
One Veteran NPC with an RPG-16 and a Makarov.

. 2nd Company, 1st Section
Eight Veteran NPCs with AK-74s.
One Veteran NPC with an RPK-74.
One Veteran NPC with an RPG-16 and a Makarov.

. 2nd Company, 2nd Section
Eight Veteran NPCs with AK-74s.
One Veteran NPC with an RPK-74.
One Veteran NPC with an RPG-16 and a Makarov.

. 3rd Company, 1st Section
Eight Experienced NPCs with AK-74s.
One Experienced NPC with an RPK-74.
One Experienced NPC with an RPG-16 and a Makarov.

. 3rd Company, 2nd Section
Eight Experienced NPCs with AK-74s.
One Experienced NPC with an RPK-74.
One Experienced NPC with an RPG-16 and a Makarov.

. 4th Company, 1st Section
Two Experienced NPCs with PK machineguns.
Three Experienced NPCs with AKMs.

. 4th Company, 2nd Section
Two Experienced NPCs with PK machineguns.
Three Experienced NPCs with AKMs.

. 4th Company, 3rd Section
Two Experienced NPCs with AGS-17
Three Experienced NPCs with AKMs.

. 4th Company, 4th Section
Two Experienced NPCs with AT-4s.
Three Experienced NPCs with AKMs.

[Abbott Shaull]

Looks good.

[Raellus]

In order to determine what a cantonment would look like, it's helpful to start with why cantonments exist in the first place.

In a nutshell, canon implies that cantonments were developed due to:

1. Low troop concentrations. Due to a variety of factors (attrition, lack of replacements), late in the Twilight War, a continuous front could no longer be maintained.

2. Need for units to produce their own food. As modern industry and transportation systems broke down, whole divisions found themselves needing to grow their own food (and fuel).

3. Distance and available motor transportation. In the modern world, with helicopters and STOL capable transport aircraft, a division or RCT can "cover" hundreds of square miles. It's still pretty incredible how much territory a division is asked to control in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. In the Twilight world, with few aircraft serviceable/available, and fewer trucks, this area would be shrunk down to a couple dozen square miles.

So, in order to become relatively self sufficient from a supply standpoint and for defensive purposes, cantonments were developed.

The "look" of the cantonment would also depend on unit size.

A divisional cantonment would be based around a large town or small city. The divisional HQ, along with its various attached support units, would be based in the central settlement. The division's component regiments would then take up positions in surrounding towns and villages. The division's artillery would be established in "firebases" (discussed elsewhere) which would be distributed in a couple of key locations so as to cover the area of the entire cantonment (or as much of it as possible) with defensive fires.

I would imagine that the whatever combat AFVs the division possesses would be maintained centrally to act a mobile counterattacking force or to be concentrated for raids on enemy cantonments. It wouldn't make much sense to disperse the AFVs around the cantonment's perimeter. Defensively, AFVs are used to defend against the enemy's AFVs. The division's infantry formations would have their own AT weaponry so they could hold off an attack until the mobile reserves could arrive.

Rifle companies would rotate between garrison duty in the cantonment's various settlements and firebases and performing patrols and such.

[Abbott Shaull]

My group during our T2k campaign spent alot of time at their cantonment between the major adventures, and these mini-campaigns dealt with the extensive redevelopment and reconstruction of the surrounding the civilian communities as part of their 'heart and minds' policies. as soon as i find the notes i'll post them.

Yes that what a lot of units would do. I see almost every Division and higher HQ having a unit of 36-90 men who would be out on patrols like this. Much like the Special Forces or SAS. Who would go out in 6 to 12 man patrols, on these patrols they would talk to the locals and if they found a need would pass it up their chain of command to help them.

Such as if a building needing repair or something that a engineering unit can help, they would show up to help.

[natehale1971]

One of our mini-adventures had the PCs dealing with the construction of a series of clinics that where seen as being something similar to 'battalion aide stations' throughout the area that the division was assigned. Each of these clinics where manned by a combat field medic supervisor (SGT or SSG), combat field medic specialists (actual medics with the rank of SPC or SGT) and combat field medic technicians (the technicians where combat lifesavers with the rank of PFC). these clinics where then overseen by a team of medical officers (doctors, nurses and physician assistants)...

[Raellus]

I forgot to make mention of the civilians. The local civies would play an important role in the cantonment system. They would help in the planting and harvesting of crops, brewing of fuel, washing and mending of uniforms, reloading of spent brass (where the appropriate machinary and military grade are available), building of defensive works, etc.

In exchange, the occupying military would provide protection and law enforcement, medical care, training for the local militia, technical and engineering support, etc.

This exchange of labor/service for military protection is very much like the feudal system of the early Middle Ages. I like to call it neo-feudalism.

This is all in theory. Civil affairs and psyops would become crucial to winning the locals' "hearts and minds". If occupying troops behave badly or fail to reciprocate the effort and service of the local civilians, things could get ugly.