Book Review: Northern Fury - H-Hour by Bart Gauvin and Joel Radunzel

Last week I had to do a bit of air travel for work.  When I know I'll be spending several hours in a fairly small plane (in this case a Saab 340) I tend to download a new book to make the whole thing a little more bearable.  Fortunately for me I knew Northern Fury had just been released on the Amazon Kindle Store - so I hoped I was in for a treat.

I feel like there are a lot of parallels between Northern Fury and it's famous (in these circles anyway) predessor, Red Storm Rising.  Both books have a fairly grand scope.  Whilst focusing on specific people (quite a few, like RSR) doing specific things, these things are happening in several locations across the globe, mostly in this book Russia (or a resurgent USSR), Norway and the United States in the case of this book.

When Tom Clancy and Larry Bond wrote RSR, they gamed out many of the scenarios - specifically the naval actions - using Mr Bond's Harpoon ruleset to test out various hypothesis.  My understanding was they went with the results of the actions as they played out in the games.

In the case of Northern Fury Bart Gauvin and Joel Radunzel primarily used a computer game "Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations" to game out various actions.  I'd guess primarily air actions, but some smaller naval actions in this particular book.  I think this lends the book an excellent air of authenticity.

Speaking of authenticity, both authors are current officers in the Canadian and US military's (Army).  I guess that doesn't always make a difference (Tom Clancy anyone) but it certainly helps in books like The Third World War & Untold Story (General Sir John Hackett), Team Yankee (Harold Coyle), Red Army (Ralph Peters), the Red, Black & Blue Effect (Harvey Black).  The authors mention many of these books in their foreward.

I'm not going to go into what happens in the book.  I don't want to give anything away as I think you need to be a little bit "unaware" so you can be caught by the surprises that happen in the book.  The authors have their own website and blog here and they provide a brief overview here.  The website also has a quite a bit of useful information on it re WARPAC and NATO forces focussing now on Norway which is nice.  Their blog has more interesting bits and pieces like some of the bits that got cut from the novel.

So what did I think of the book?  Basically I loved it!  Gauvin and Radunzel have come up with a unique and quite believable setting, a few years after the Cold War novel standard date range and it really works.  They link in several other well known events, like the winter Olympics in a very cool way - so I was super impressed.

I enjoyed the characters, the research is obvious - I do wonder if either of the authors have traveled/worked in Norway as that all felt pretty real.  The vehicle, aircraft, helicopter, weaponry descriptions all felt accurate without feeling laboured.  There is no sentences like "... he carefully sighted his 7.62mm Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk AG3 battle rifle at the Soviet VDV paratrooper who had just slide of the side of the still moving BMD-1 (Boyevaya Mashina Desanta) airborne mechanised assault vehicle, whilst carrying his 5.45mm RPK-74 squad light machine-gun."  Thank goodness!

The worst thing about the book is that it finished...  Beware that unlike RSR this is not a complete story in one book.  It really is about the lead up to war and then the first few hours of the war.  There is much yet to come and I want to read about it!  I hope the authors do well enough from this publication to continue to be motivated to write the rest of their story.  I for one will snap up each book as it comes out.  I can honestly say that in my opinion, this book ranks up there with the best of the books of the genre and I can't wait for the next one.

Thanks

Richard

Some Strategic Deep Thought and a Book Review...

As you may have realised from some of my previous posts (like this one here) I’ve been expanding my standard Central European cold war horizons to include some forces (now being built) based around NATO’s Northern Flank for a new project: THE SOVIET INVASION OF SCANDANAVIA – 1986

I find this a really interesting area of operations - very different to the Central European theatre in many ways - but a critical setting in any Cold War scenario.  In my plans this includes Norway - which will be the main subject of today's post - as well as Denmark, but also includes Sweden and Finland.  I'm yet to decide exactly what direction to go down for Sweden and Finland - but have some pretty solid ideas for Norway and Denmark.

The Soviets had some very pressing strategic reasons for wanting to take over at least northern Norway and the whole of Denmark.  Looking at Norway in particular, it's northern bases and early warning facilities sat directly astride the exit corridor of the Soviets largest and most powerful naval force - the Red Banner Northern Fleet.  That of course includes the massive Soviet Naval Aviation assets based throughout the Kola Peninsula region, who would need to sortie out into the Atlantic.

Apart from not having to deal with Norwegian of other NATO aircraft based on their doorstep, those very same bases would give Soviet aircraft greater range and make it easier for them to reach Iceland, the UK and further south into the Atlantic.

Another by-product of the Soviets taking Northern Norway is that this would put a major brake on the NATO Maritime Strategy of forward operations in the Norwegian sea - right up to direct attacks on Soviet bases in the Murmansk region.  But more on that later.

One thing I really like about looking at this theatre of operations is that you can play a range of games.  Naval assets are very important in this setting - so you could use a game like 2nd Fleet or Harpoon to game that aspect.  If you are interested in running some Fast Attack Craft you could play Bulldogs Away!!  There is massive scope of Amphibious Landings, Air Assaults, River crossings, games with extremely different and difficult weather effects, Raids, SF action etc etc.

Another thing that interests me is the correlation of forces.  Rather than massive armies smashing each other across the length and breadth of West Germany, any clash in Northern Norway is more likely to include some of the more elite units on both sides, suh as the Soviets VDV and Naval Infantry up against Royal Marines (British and Dutch), USMC, ACE Mobile Force, along side units fielding some of the older and/or lighter and/or funky kit around such as T-55s, PT-76s, upgraded WW2 era Chaffee tanks, NM135s etc.

Finally the terrain is fairly unique as well - with a single road supporting most of Northern Norway, fjords, mountains, arctic tundra, etc.

So you should be able to have very different Cold War games, using different forces, on different terrain - so the games should have a very different feel about them.

Now there is some excellent resources out there that describe in some detail the military situation, the setting etc on NATO's northern flank.  Some are free - such as "Don't Rock the Boat: Reinforcing Norway in Crisis and War" and "A-10 Operations and the Battle for North Norway" can be downloaded for free from the RAND Corporation.

Others you have to buy...  After reading several reviews and comments I ending up buying "Battle for the Fiords - NATO's Forward Maritime Strategy in Action" by Eric Grove with Graham Thompson.

I got mine very cheaply from Thriftbooks - who I had never used before and was very impressed with.

The primary focus of this book is to report on Exercise Teamwork '88 which was really a series of joined-up naval exercises plus some Amphibious exercises which attempted to replicate almost the entire spectrum of NATO's forward maritime strategy.

To put things in context, in Chapter 1 the author first gives us a quick overview of evolution of NATO maritime strategy since the early 1950s.  He discusses NATO's "Striking Fleet" a term I had not seen before, and interestingly the history shows how NATO has moved from a fairly aggressive sail right at 'em approach in the early years, through a period in the 1970s where a step back was taken and it looked basically like Norway was considered lost before the war even began, up into the 1980s when the NATO (read mainly US Navy's) plans were to take "...offensive actions that keep the Soviet Navy focussed on threats to their own forces in the Norwegian and Barents Seas..." and to "..be ready to carry the fight to the enemy and not to react to his actions, to deny him sanctuaries" and "to threaten key elements of his warfighting strategy in his home waters".

Now - my strategic naval experience (ha ha ha) is entirely based around reading "Red Storm Rising", playing Harpoon and other boardgames etc.  I remember a spot in RSR when USS Dallas(?) I think is right on the Soviet's door step before the war and just as hostilities are initiated, is pulled back for political reasons and Clancy says something like "...thus throwing years of naval planning out the window".

I had never really understood what that actually meant until now, reading this book.  I had always thought - but hang on, if the Soviets can smash a Carrier Battlegroup fairly easily way out in the Atlantic (like they do in RSR) - how would a CBG survive even closer to the Soviet mainland.  Well... - this book provides one of the possible answers to that question as well.  More on that in a minute.

Here's one of the many maps in the book.  This one graphically shows NATO's forward maritime strategy.

I'd read a least one argument against the forward strategy (written by an army officer?) which had basically said - "Hey - all the action is in Central Europe.  All the Navy should worry about is getting the convoys through to us so we can smash the Reds and win the war where it counts"  He also says something like "Any move towards the Kola Peninsula or a SSBM sanctuary by a large naval force is more likely to cause the Soviets to go nuclear than deter anything" - or at least words to those effects.  Kinda made sense to me.

So reading this book, I got the other side of the story.  The main thrust is - if NATO gives the Soviets so much to worry about up North, the Soviets will have to react or else things could really go pear-shaped for them.  Reacting means pulling assets (subs in particular), which would have been able to go convoy hunting, or attack Norway etc back towards home waters to take on the Striking Fleet.  So - attack is the best defence - who knew!

Chapter 2 discusses some of the planning, background to the conflict (some of which is kind of silly - but it was for the purposes of the exercise) but some of which does have some excellent "detail seeds" which should be in a thorough background piece for any person working on a idea for why the Cold War went hot.  Then the book starts to list the forces that would be going into action.  This is broken down into the Striking Fleet Atlantic, the Amphibious Striking Force, the ASW Striking Force.  It also lists naval air and land based air support that would be involved.  All the listing is very useful.

Chapter 3 goes into a fair amount of detail into how the first parts of the exercise played out.  This was a "Freeplay" battle around the GIUK Gap - with the idea being, I imagine - to represent the Striking Fleet with it's ASW Group in advance and Amphib Group bringing up the rear trying to smash through the GIUK barrier which is being defended by Soviet SSN and aircraft.  It contains lovely little details, like the fact that the Royal Navy's best ASW platform, which helped pick off numerous subs, was a very unassuming Leander Class frigate HMS Cleopatra which seems to have had an impressive towed array.

It appears that the author was based in the ASW fleet for quite a while and he details the actions taken by the HMS Illustrious's Sea Harriers using Sea Eagle ASM against Soviet Surface Action Groups which show some of the value of these excellent little fighters.

Chapter 4 for me was where it really starts to get interesting.  Here we start to get into a potential scenario for how the Forward Strategy may have worked.  Basically as the Striking Fleet gets closer to Norway (having blown through the GIUK gap), mine-hunters go to work clearing any Soviet mines from a selected fiord.  This is followed up by the ASW Group who arrive next and have a limited time to saturate the fiord looking for enemy subs - especially the little diesel ones like the Kilo class which would have been used in this area.  Norwegian subs would also be used for this anti-submarine work.

NATO aircraft, including B-52s can also be used to lay mines to prevent entry into the fiord by enemy subs and surface vessels.

Then the Striking Fleet arrives and parks in the fiord - which is big enough to allow a full range of carrier operations from within the protection of the fiord.

You can see I saved all the best pics for this bit!

It's not as easy as all that in reality - NATO's anti-mine assets are quite limited and many which took part in the exercise were taken from their native countries where I imagine in a shooting war they would have steady trade without this tasking.  In addition to that, the anti-sub work is very challenging due to the nature of the environment - namely the very rocky bottom of the fiord, the mixing of fresh water and salt water, low sonar ranges etc.  In the exercise a number of NATO ships had incidents with rocks and one can imagine in wartime conditions they would be tempted to get even closer to the shoreline looking for subs or seeking to hide from missiles.

The Fiord strategy seems to have a fair amount going for it.  The CBG and other groups can be relatively well protected by the physical envronment.  Their ASW and AA assets, which are by themselves very impressive, can be supplemented by land-based, AWACS, ASW and anti-air assets as well as ground based SAM and AAA platforms.  The aircraft from the carriers can support land engagements, including amphibious assualts untertaken by the Amphib group further up the coast.  It would significantly add to any defence of Northern Norway and would go a fair way to evening up the forces in the region.

Chapter 5 goes into the war in the fiords and includes air and sub attacks on the carriers, integrating air defences and anti-sub defences.

Chapter 6 is THE chapter if your only interested in land-based action - as it deals with the Amphibious landings and operations ashore.  It provides a brief background on Norway, the geography, climate, transport links etc and makes reference to the difficulties operating in this environment.

It lists Soviet assets available - along with this very handy map:

and goes into some detail of how a Soviet amphibious assualt might take place and the sort of weaknesses or challenges a Soviet sea-borne assault might face.  The book then goes into some detail on the various Norwegian and other NATO forces that are available and some of the "action" undertaken during the exercise.

The last two chapters deal with Logistics - which was actually more interesting than I first thought - and Lessons Learned.  Again this is quite interesting to anyone interested in this region and the Cold war in general - but neither of these chapters probably have that much of use for a wargamer - apart from some more "seed" ideas.

I should add here that the book is chock full of pictures - most of them of ships - but a lot of aircraft and ground forces as well.  And the good thing about all the ground photos is that I've neer seen any of the before!

So - all in all I'm very happy with my purchase of this book - and using it along with the other research I have done into this region - it all adds flavour into how I'd like "my" northern flank campaign and games to run.

If you're interested and can get it as cheaply as I did - I'd say go for it!

Thanks (and sorry for the extra long post!)

Richard

Book Review: The Black Effect by Harvey Black

Late last week my copy of Harvey Black’s latest Cold War novel “The Black Effect” arrived in the post from Amazon UK. I was of course rather chuffed and keen to get into it, having waited a couple of weeks for the book to arrive.

So what can I say about "The Black Effect". First up – if you’re reading this blog you are probably interested in the Cold War. If you’re interested in the Cold War, you’ll probably enjoy reading decent Cold War fiction. Currently the stocks of good Cold War fiction are running pretty low – with the Cold War being dead and buried for 20+ odd years now. So if all this lines up for you, buy the book. If you haven’t read “The Red Effect” yet, buy that book too!

"The Black Effect" kicks of directly after "The Red Effect" – it is essentially focused on a series of battles between British Army on the Rhine forces versus their Soviet 3rd Shock Army counterparts. Other parts of the battle for West Germany (and Denmark) are covered – either as parts of briefings or in little snippets following minor, minor characters. A sub v sub battle, some American ops and even a little bit of politics are covered, which give the story good background. Key people from Book 1 are followed up, and I was interested to see what happened to them.

Without wanting to give too much away, numerous elements of 1980s conventional warfare are covered and some of my concerns towards the end of the first book and dealt with in detail in the second book, including air and helicopter warfare, NATO artillery and counter-battery, air defence etc. New things like air assaults, contested river crossings and chemical warfare are also covered well. I felt this was all treated in an excellent and extremely realistic fashion – as is everything else in the book.

Mr Black is basically even in his coverage of the British and Soviet forces – and this is enjoyable as well. No one acts particularly stupidly and neither does a series of particularly hard to believe things happen to make one character a real hero – it’s all very “real” and bad things can happen to anyone.

From a wargaming point of view the book is excellent. Interestingly, and again this comes out in the first book, in my mind it shows you can wargame the Cold War in scales larger than 6mm. Many of the actions involve reinforced NATO platoons, fighting as part of a bigger action, but basically on their own as the other units in the action have their own problems to deal with. Mixed Combat Teams, with some infantry, supported by a troop of tanks (or less) with a couple of Milans, a Sustained Fire GPMG, and maybe a couple of mortars, is a force that is very easy to put on a table. Of course you need a fair amount of Soviets – but there are more and more options becoming available in that area.

I think a wargamer will take a lot away from this book – I know I have, and it is affecting what I am planning right now.

I have nothing really negative to say about "The Black Effect" – I guess if I was digging I'd have to say I'd like better maps please... anything else is just being pedantic and not sincere – as I sincerely enjoyed reading it and it gave strength to my Cold War Hot Hot Hot frame of mind.

I do have one question though.  My reading seems to suggest that the Carl Gustav 84mm MAW was a section level weapon in the BAOR in 1984 (the time setting of the book) - but there is no mention of it.  I'm wondering if my understanding is incorrect.
Anyway - bring on “The Blue Effect”.

Thanks

Richard

Book Review: The Red Effect by Harvey Black

Well last week an order arrived from Amazon, and included in it was reading “The Red Effect” by Harvey Black – which I had discovered from the Cold War Message Board of TMP.


Now a week later and I’ve just finished reading it and thought I’d share my thoughts with you.

First up – buy the book. Simple as that. If you are like me and have always enjoyed Cold War fiction – then this book will float your boat.

Secondly – “The Red Effect” is meant to be book 1 of a trilogy – which I think is good news.

The book starts with the standard goings-on of Cold War soldiery – focussed mainly on BRIXMIS

Now onto more detail. I’ll start with my likes.

Harvey Black knows his stuff. He is ex British Army Intelligence and obviously served in BRIXMIS. His descriptions of things have a feel of authenticity which is excellent – almost too much at some points. You could probably drive around Berlin flowing the directions in this book, and know which camera and lens is best for taking photos of Soviet troop trains.

It has a nice reality feel to it. Later in the book when he is describing a British unit setting up I was able to look on Google Maps and pretty much see everything he was describing. I like this. Other books in this setting use fictional towns and locations (Red Storm Rising) or twist real locations so I found it difficult to follow on Google Maps (First Clash).

Another part of the reality that I was impressed with was the combat scenes. Although these only really come towards the very end of the book, again they felt authentic. Whilst I love Team Yankee, and read it probably once a year or so, I always felt that it didn’t really portray the potential awesome power of the Soviet Army in this period. Some of the actions, like the first couple of contacts, start with minimal artillery barrages, involve fairly small soviet units using poor tactics, against properly prepared, well placed US units. Bad things tend to happen to units “over there” rather than to Team Yankee. In The Red Effect, you get a feel for what it would be like under a Soviet preparatory barrage – from an infantry man’s point of view. You see the difficulties of a single British Division trying to defend 90 kilometres of front, the difficulty of infantry, not defeating but simply delaying an armoured juggernaut bearing down on them etc.

Black goes into detail on the make-up of individual units and their dispositions. This is gold for wargamers and I’ll be re-reading with a view to using the book to create scenarios.

NATO is kind of caught with its pants down – not wanting to upset the Soviets. A fairly realistic option in my view. No NATO first strike or anything like that.

I thought his approach to how the war started was “interesting”. Some books like Team Yankee and First Clash focus on the small picture and leave the strategic setting to other books like The Third World War, or ignore it altogether. Red Storm Rising uses the first quarter at least of the book to set out the rationale of the conflict, at least from the Soviet side. Black does something similar, setting up the characters and describing some historical events that up the ante. The reason for going to war though, is set out in a fairly short conversation between the Chairman/General Secretary of the USSR and the Head of the KGB. Part of the reason I read these kind of books is to see what things had to happen, in that author’s mind, to lead to World War 3. It appears not much in Black’s view – all it takes is his Leonid Brezhnev equivalent not to die – and like I said, I find that interesting.

Things I liked less – and bear in mind I like the book – so these are probably merely quibbles.

Black deals with historical events, such as the shooting down of KAL 007, but renames the flight. He renames the American President – who was an actor, the British Prime Minister is a stern woman and the Soviet leaders have names very similar to their real names. I don’t see the point. It’s fiction. Maybe it’s a legal thing (I have no idea) but I would have preferred real names and events.

There’s no real mention of REFORGER or other NATO exercises in 1984. No mention of NATO counter-battery fire or air strikes. These are really petty quibbles – as you can see I’m scraping here to find something negative.

I guess the bottom line is that I am very much looking forward to the next book. I’ve been doing a lot of WW2 gaming, painting, model making etc lately and it was really great to stumble across a Cold War Gone Hot novel and get back in the CWGH.

Having read all my other CWGH books to death it’s also interesting to be back in the position of not knowing how this will all end and wondering what direction Mr Black will take.  So well done Harvey Black - and bring on book 2!

Thanks and have fun



Richard

Book Reviews: Choose Your Own Adventure in Modern Combat

Recently I was lucky enough to purchase these 3 books by John Antal, who is (or at least was) a US Army Tank Officer who commanded a tank battalion in Korea and served as the Executive Officer of OPFOR at the National Training Centre in the US. He certainly appears to me to be a credible author on a set of books such as these.


The books are not your standard fare – in fact the first two are sub-labelled as “An Interactive Exercise in Small-Unit Tactics and Leadership” while the final book is sub-labelled “An Interactive Exercise in Company Level Command in Battle.” They are therefore a kind of serious adult “Choose your own adventure” books. Typically this takes three forms.

1. Where the character you “play” looks at a tactical situation and comes up with 3 or so potential concepts for how the operation could proceed and you are forced to choose one. An example in Infantry Combat is where engineers have dug a tank ditch in front of 4 trails leading into a wadi. You have to choose either a forward defence directly overlooking the tank ditch, a reverse slope defence at the end of the trails away from the tank ditch or a middle of the road defence where you split your platoon and defend each trail independently.

2. Situations where you have to make leadership decisions – such as listening to your platoon sergeant’s advice or doing what you want to do

3. Random possibilities – typically when you are in the middle of combat. You roll a dice and follow the result to another page. It’s pretty easy to die with a random dice roll.

The book is split into sections and as you make decisions at the end of each section you are given a new section number to turn to, which continues the story.

Some elements are typical to each story. In the first two books you are a new first lieutenant who has just arrived in the company when you unit is shipped overseas (to the Middle East) to deal with some situation. In Armour Attacks you are in charge of an M1 tank platoon while in Infantry Combat you are in charge of a Light Infantry Platoon. Combat Team is set in country that could only be Korea, you are a replacement Captain for a Company CO who has been killed in action. So again you have just arrived before being pitched straight into battle and you command a mixed Armour/Mechanised Infantry Team with some attached assets.

At some point you’ll have to deal with someone junior to you who can either help you or hinder you. The experienced Platoon Sergeant or bitter XO – neither of which want to be saddled with an inexperienced Lieutenant or new Captain just as they are about to go into battle. Whilst interesting I found these episodes a little one dimensional – because when you make the “right” decision you typically shake hands and become best mates which seemed a little fairy tale to me – but fine for the story.

Sometimes you make the wrong decision and it isn’t always immediately apparent. In Infantry Combat I tried not to cheat and made what I thought were the right decisions all the way through the book and won the battle – but at the loss of most of my men. So I went back and changed one very simple decision – I had allowed the men rest after working all night and excepted that our defences would not be finished, but they would be better rested – I changed this to forcing them to keep working so we were better prepared. That one change made a significant difference and once we had won the battle we got a new task and were sent out again – something I had completely missed the first time around.

I enjoyed all 3 books and probably found Combat Team to be the most challenging at first because in the previous books you have a company commander who tells you what is what and all you have to do is develop a platoon plan to fit in with your commanders’ intent. However in Combat Team you are the company commander and have to make all the big decisions. I managed to get my whole company chopped up at the first hurdle the first time around – but once I make the right decision I had no problems throughout the rest of the book.

The books teach some worthwhile lessons – some of which can translate into wargaming I think (or hope).

1. Preparation and Planning – never time wasted – and be flexible because your opponent will have plans too!

2. Focus – of your units direction and firepower – never letting the objectives required to complete the mission slip from your sight as you get distracted

3. Keeping the initiative – keep your opponents reacting to your moves

4. Manoeuvre – concentrate your strengths against your opponents weaknesses

Anyway – the bottom line is that these books are interesting and fun. They are pretty relevant to the Cold War as all the equipment and training of the enemy you face is essentially Soviet in nature and the weapons and tactics used by the Americans is all based around AirLand Battle thinking.

So if you get the chance – have a look at these books.

Have fun

Richard

BRIXMIS

I had hoped to have some photos up today of some new finished Soviet VDV - but "Oh Shiney" syndrome took over and instead of finishing them off I spent may modelling time on the weekend cleaning and basing a load of the new Elhiem West Germans and working on a couple of S&S Models Jagdpanzer Kanones.  More of both of those later (or sooner I hope).

Anyway - in the mean time I just wanted to let you know about this book "BRIXMIS: The untold exploits of Britain's most daring Cold War Spy Mission" by Tony Geraghty that I am currently reading.

This is an excellent book which follows BRIXMIS - British Commanders'-in-Chief Mission tot he Soviet Forces in Germany - from its inception soon after the end of the Second World War, all the way through the Cold War.  Each of the four powers - the Soviets, US, Britian and France had one of these missions that operated as a "liaison" unit in East and West Germany working with (and watching) the other side.

The book provides you with a reasonable good potted history of the Cold War - basically as events happened around the world, they all had an impact on the running of BRIXMIS operations - so it is useful from that perspective.

It's main thrust though is relaying accounts of the "tours" undertaken by BRIXMIS teams, the disasters, the funny events, the fantastic intelligence gains, the audacity and chutzpah of some of the team members etc.  The Soviets and East German Stasi go out of their way to stop the Allied Missions from operating - attempting to tail their every move, arrest them for the slightest perceived infraction and in some cases - ram them off the road or even shoot at them.

And yet much of what we knew of the WARPAC forces, TO&Es and specifically equipment - came from the Allied Missions.  The gall of these guys is completely amazing.  Two officers illegally break into a Soviet underground bunker - several stories of underground bunker.  Upon leaving they see that their car, parked metres from the opening of the bunker, now has two Soviet guards there questioning the driver.  They walk up to the guards - say "Well everything appears to be in order here.  Catty on."  Salute, hop into the car and drive off.

A Soviet train carrying brand new BMP-2s stops.  BRIXMIS need to find out the calibre of the new gun carried by the BMP-2.  Not having a tape measure handy, a sergeant jumps up onto the BMP, presses the apple he was going to have for lunch into the gun barrel and leaves.  NATO now knows its a 30mm barrel.

At another train line a bunch of new T-80s arrive.  A BRIXMIS officer jumps on board, find the turret hatch is not locked, gets in and photgraphs the inside of the T-80.  He also find an officers briefcase full on info on the last exercise - which he nicks.  On another occassion a NCO nicks a ERA brick from a T-80.

To find out how Soviet aircraft and helicopters operate, BRIXMIS teams go onto the firing range, under the bombing - knowing that the Stasi won't follow them there.  They also nick unexploded bombs and take photos of the underside of aircraft - things satellites can't see.

The stories go on and on and are well worth the read. 

It was very interesting to read how well NATO knew every airfield and bases in East Germany.  BRIXMIS even took samples of airfield surfaces and under layers.  They could provide NATO air planners with photos of each base from numerous angles.  A great deal of the info that lead to increased numbers of ATGMs and the newer ones to defeat ERA came from the Allied missions.

And of course they played a significant role being on the ground provide verification of the peaceful or otherwise intent of WARPAC forces.

So basically - I very much recommend this book to you and think it provides valuable insight to anyone interested in the Cold War.

Take care

Richard

Book Review: Chieftains - The WWIII Novel

Well over 20 years ago I borrowed a book called "Chieftains" from a mate. It was a good dramatic read, and introduced me to a few concepts that I certainly had never heard of before. I returned the book and over the years had always wanted to read it again - especially in the last 12 months or so.

So on Thursday I once again borrowed the same book from the same mate, who probably found the book in the same spot that he placed it after I gave it back to him 20 years ago!

Here it is looking a little aged:



I finished it this morning and thought it worthy of an immediate book review as I think it is a relatively rare book now.

The book was first published in 1982 and describes a Third World War type situation set in around 1985. Whilst not much detail is entered into the reasons why it all kicked off - it appears to begin down in Yugslavia with the Russians intervening and the Americans providing logistical support to the Yugoslavs. As the Western nations have been going through a recession for most of the late seventies and early eighties, defence spending is down and it is implied that this is enough for the Soviet leadership to think "Why the hell not!" and invade Western Europe.

The story follows a number of different people - a little like Red Storm Rising - but only looks at things from the NATO point of view, is generally focussed on tankers, and is primarily about a Chieftain crew in particular.

Whilst the Soviets arn't shown as supermen or super-boogeymen per say - the sheer weight of the Soviet numbers is enough to be constantly driving the NATO forces back for the majority of the book. The book has a certain doom and gloom about it. Nothing is held back - war certainly is hell, and you don't want to form much of an emotional connection to the characters as its highly likely when you turn the next page that they'll die - often a somewhat senseless death.

Mistakes are made, either stupid little ones or massive ones - but it is done in a very realistic, totally beleivable manner. Artillery is massively destructive, gas is used - and I won't tell you what happens in the end - but I'm sure you can guess. Not a happy ending kind of story - a little like reality.

Team Yankee certainly felt a bit cleaner, less mistakes were made and the tactical situations were generally one sided - in favour of NATO. So whilst the story lines are similar - not much else is.

One of the things the book introduced me to all those years ago was the role of the SAS in West Germany in the middle of a Cold War Gone Hot. This aspect of the book is pretty cool, and if it had been written by Tom Clancy - apart from it being all about Americans - this section would have been greatly expanded.

Parts of the book are a little unsatisfying. It kind of felt like it was written to A) like John Hackett's "The Third World War" help convince the government to increase defence spending, B) convince the BAOR to train harder so they don't make stupid mistakes, C) to portray the Soviet Army as the big bad wolf that everyone thought it was in the 70s and 80s which kind of turned out to be not really so true, and D) try and convince everyone to avoid war at all costs (a good idea in my book). As such it was very, very grim.

Some parts seemed a little unlikely, the lack of NATO air support, particularly against massive inviting targets, such as a strategic Soviet bridgehead didn't ring true to me nor did the Soviet use of gas with seemingly no impact of the Russian performance. The timing of the book meant systems like MLRS, DPICM and FASCAM were non exsistent, and the performance of the M1 (refered to as the XM1 in the book) is woefully short of reality - potentially able to knocked out by an ASU-57 or RPG, no Thermal Imaging, no blast bins for the ammo etc. But still not bad for a book published in 1982, which probably meant it was written in 1980 or earlier.

That doesn't for a second mean that as a whole I didn't really enjoy the book. Some of the engagements are written extremely well, and you get caught up in action, especially as the Chieftain moves from firing point to firing point, hammering at Soviet armour and being hammered at in turn. It represent the chaos of battle extremely well.

Overall I think this book is well worth the read. The size of this particularly genre of books is pretty limited to begin with and this is a worthy addition to the panetheon. Its also nice to have a book that is written from a primarily British point of view and is more interested in showing what the authour considered to be the likely realities of the battle rather than having a happy ending.

If you get the chance to read this book - read it.

Have fun

Richard

Book Review: Red Thrust

The full title of the book is - Red Thrust: Attack on the Central Front, Soviet Tactics and Capabilities in the 1990s – Steven J. Zaloga



In my never ending quest for good quality books on a Cold War turned hot, I recently acquired a copy of Red Thrust: Attack on the Central Front, Soviet Tactics and Capabilities in the 1990s by Steven Zaloga. At first I was a little worried that the book would be perhaps a little too modern – as my standard timeframe for the Cold War is the mid to late 1980’s, but upon reading it, Red Thrust more than suited my purposes.

Basic Premise

Written in 1989, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the general implosion of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, Zaloga creates an interesting and extremely plausible scenario where a moment of general slackness during a fire of a Soviet base in East Germany leads to an ammunition explosion that kills a large number of civilians (including children).

This simple incident leads to a series of national protests and even some terrorist incidents directed at Soviet troops. Martial law is declared and things go from bad to worse when Soviet motor rifle troops are thrown into police actions with no police training and AKs instead of riot gear.

The East Germany army – considered by NATO and the Soviets to be the most reliable is not happy with the way the Soviets are dealing with their citizens and at times help the rioters. It reaches a point in Berlin where an East German army unit actively helps civilians cross into West Berlin and then engage in a battle with Soviet forces. Inevitably fighting spreads and West German army and police units also engage Soviet forces when civilians are targeted.

Once the fighting cools down, the Soviets start a new blockade of Berlin. The West German attempt to break the air blockade and a number of air battles occur and SAM sites both in East and est Germany are targeted, including US sites. Polish and Czech nationalists start to seize on the Soviets inability to deal with East Germany by starting their own anti-soviet actions.

All this basically leads the Soviets to decide to take out West Germany before NATO can get ready to maybe drive on East Germany to relieve Berlin. The Soviets believe they can reach the Rhine in 7 days – well before the US can effectively reinforce NATO.

Remainder of the Book

This premise sets up the rest of the book. The focus shifts from the strategic view to events in Bavaria where The Southwestern front attacks out of Czechoslavakia. Each chapter (including the introduction which outlines the plans and events that I briefly described above) focuses on a particularly element of the Soviet military – firstly in a fictional scenario, then an analysis of what just happened, providing background, explanations and comparisons.

The chapters are as follows:

1. Plan Buran: The Invasion of Western Europe
2. Motor Rifle Attack: The skirmish in Hofzell Woods
3. Tank Attack: The Charge at Presbach
4. Spetsnaz in Action: Scouting the Danube Bridgehead
5. Attack Helicopters: The Air Assault at Irlbach
6. Red Artillery: The God of War
7. Fighter Combat: The Battle for the Airfields
8. Chemical Warfare: Gas Attack at Geiselhoring.

I very much enjoyed reading this excellent book. The fictional scenarios at the beginning of each chapter are very well written, and transfer information in an engaging manner. Zaloga can write good fiction, including gritty action scenes, not just the facts and figures he’s probably more well known for.

The book is solely written from the Soviet perspective and vehicles and weapons systems are called by their Soviet names and nicknames rather than NATO titles. It includes things like why the Soviet’s tanks are smaller than their NATO counterparts, what its like to go into combat in a BMP-2, the difficulties involved in air assaults, Soviet NBC suits, a good review of the thinking behind the Hind helicopter etc.

Although set in the 1990s, I’d say that 99.9% of the information is applicable to the late 80’s and the stuff that probably isn’t applicable is more likely to do with NATO advances such as precision guided munitions, SADARM and DPICM munitions.

All-in-all, if you’re interested in this stuff at all (and by stuff I mean Cold War Hot Hot Hot stuff), I think you’d be pretty happy with this book and I heartily recommend it to you.

Have fun

Richard

Book Review: Air Battle Central Europe

OK – it’s time for another book review as I’ve just finished reading “Air Battle Central Europe” by Alfred Price, published in 1986.



From the inside jacket: “If it ever came to an all-out fight between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, the flatlands of northern Germany could be the scene of some of the fiercest ground fighting. This book vividly describes the sort of air actions that would take place above, in front of and behind that land battle.”

The book is based around a series of interviews with a number of high ranking and middle ranking NATO officers and is primarily focused on NORTHAG and the Second Allied Tactical Air Force (2 ATAF). It begins with an imagined 2 ATAF Communiqué reporting on the air support provided to NORTHAG on the first day of a war in Central Europe.

From there, the author interviews the Commander of 2 ATAF who provides a very interesting “View from the Top” – an overview of his assets, what he might receive in wartime conditions, his responsibilities in a war, how they would attempt to blunt the initial strike by WARPAC etc. He discusses AWACS, SAMs, the need to take the offensive and results of putting enemy airfields out of action, the role of recon fighters, Close Air Support (CAS) and helicopters (including some interesting thoughts on the Hind). Its actually pretty useful stuff, and is easy to understand.

The next interview is with a British Army Colonel who in the early 1980’s was responsible for coordinating air and land operations in NORTHAG. He describes how army commanders make decisions and requests for air support. Interestingly he points out that the CO of NORTHAG used to say that the job of the air force was to keep the enemy air force off his back and stop the enemy’s second echelon of reserves from linking up with their front echelon. This meant that the army had to accept that at least for the first few days of a conflict the only friendly aircraft they would see would be passing through their area at high speed on their way to and from targets beyond the battle area.

The majority of the chapters in the book is focused on different aircraft and their role in a conflict as described through interview by typically a senior officer from that aircraft’s squadron. They are:
The Air Defence Battle – USAF F-15C
The Long Punch – USAF F-111E
The Bridge Droppers – USAF F-111F
The Airfield Bashers – RAF Tornado GR1
The Carpet-Bombers – Luftwaffe Tornado
The Jump-Jet Dimension – RAF Harrier GR3
The Battlefield Bruisers – USAF A-10
The Intelligence Gatherers – USAF Phantom RF-4C
The Tank-Swatters – British Army Lynx and Gazelle
The Electronic Foxers – USAF EF-111Raven
The ‘Wild Weasels – USAF Phantom F-4G and Phantom F-4E
Guardians of the Baltic Shore – Marine Flieger Tornado and F-104

There is also a chapter on the Air Defence of the UK and the book finishes with a wrap up Overview, putting the whole picture together.

The whole book is excellent and I learnt a lot, but the chapters of most worth to a “standard wargame” i.e. focused on the ground operations, are the chapters on the CAS and helo operations – looking at the Harrier, A-10 and Lynx. So I’ll try and draw out what I found most interesting from each chapter.

Harrier GR3
I’m a bit of a fan of the old Harrier – so much of the chapter was not particularly new to me. The bit that I found most interesting was that although the Harriers normally operate in pairs, the RAF are not keen to send them out in penny-packets. Even though the Harriers are dispersed, they would prefer to attack an appropriate target sorties of 12 aircraft plus. That’s a lot of cluster bombs.

Harriers would not normally operate in what a wargamer would consider CAS – instead operating on the far side of the battle line.


BL755 Cluster bombs

A-10 Warthog
A-10’s on the other hand do operate in pairs normally, with two pairs coming together on the odd occasion to hammer an enemy armoured force. An A-10 gun run will normally only target one vehicle, unless two happen to be very close together, but a single A-10 should be able to knock out 10 tanks in a single mission.

A-10’s use Forward Air Controllers to identify AA systems like the ZSU-23-4 and try to engage them with their Mavericks, meaning then can stand off, out of range of the Shilka, and still destroy it.

A-10 pilots view the Hind as their most serious airborne threat.

Lynx AH.1
I found this chapter very interesting and it really bought into focus how the British Army intended to use their anti-tank helicopters. It describes how the Gazelle and Lynx’s work together, how they plan and set up operations, and how the helos move into firing positions. “When flying nap-of-the-earth one feels more like an infantryman than an aviator. It is more akin to being an airborne Land Rover than a low-level fast jet.”

I was interested to read that all the firing positions would have been previously scouted, how artillery would be used to force tank crews to button up, and how a squadron sized attack would take place – trying to get side shots where possible on individually selected vehicles.

“If everything had gone according to plan, the first the enemy knew of the attack would be when up to 24 tanks and other key vehicles in his force suddenly burst into flames; and then between 10 and 20 seconds later, depending on the helicopters’ firing range, a whole lot more would go up; and with another 20 seconds, more still. That would certainly make a tank battalion commander’s eyes water – if that is not shock action, I don’t know what is! Without doubt it would throw an enemy column into complete and utter chaos and bring their advance to a halt until they could sort themselves out.”

The chapter completely changed my ideas of how I would try to write rules for how attack helos would operate in a Cold War Hot scenario.

Now – something highly unlikely to ever be needed in a wargame – but really cool – the book discussed some of the weapons systems used to attack large concentrations of armour and airfields. So I thought I’d show you some youtube clips of some of the systems discussed in the book.


West German MW-1


RAF JP233


Durandel BLU-107

Recommendation
I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand air power and how it relates to the ground battle. I got mine cheaply too - so that helps!

Have fun

Richard

Book Review: Team Yankee – A Novel of World War Three

Well its been a long time since I’ve done something like this – probably something like 1986 at university, which is ironic since Team Yankee was first published in 1988. Now 28 years later I’m writing a book review on it, instead of painting tonight….



First up – I’ve got to say I fall pretty clearly into the “I love Team Yankee” faction. The reason I love this book is because it’s one of the few books out there that I can still remember how I felt as I read the book all those years ago. And what’s more I can still feel a little of that each time I read it, and I’ve probably read it 7 or 8 times over the years.

On the cover Tom Clancy is quoted as saying “This book is so real, you can smell the smoke.” And that’s how I felt as I read it for the first time. I felt like I was getting a little taste of what it might have been like.

Now I’ve never served in the military, although I have worked for the Defence Department, a heart condition leading to a transplant, totally ruled me out. The reason I’m saying this is that I want to make it clear I’m no veteran, have no experience and am not an expert – far from all that actually.

So for a total outsider like me was given a glimpse at the pointy end of the stick in a Cold War turned hot.

THE STORY

The story contained in the book is set within the scenario set out by General Sir John Hackett in his two books “The Third World War” and “The Third World War: The Untold Story”. This postulates, amongst other things, a Warsaw Pact invasion of North West Europe in 1984. As with most NATO thought of the time (as I understand it) the scenario sees the WARPAC forces doing particularly well in the NORTHAG area of NATO, well CENTAG basically holds the attacks in their sector before going on the counterattack.

This is not a slag on NORTHAG, merely acknowledgement that the CENTAG sector, dominated by the Americans, was the most defensible sector of West Germany. The North German Plain which made up a lot of the NORTHAG area was considered to be “tank country” and much less defensible.

Harold Coyle, the author, as an American armour officer, and to me this provides the book with a sense of authenticity. Team Yankee is the name of a fictitious tank heavy combat team stationed in West Germany.

The beginning of the book sees Team Yankee dug in waiting to see if the war is going to kick off. Once it does the Team goes through a series of battles, which are generally described in great detail. Basic maps are provided throughout the book to give people like me a better understanding of the positioning of the platoons, the direction of attacks, etc. The action is therefore, very easy to follow.

In some ways I feel that the book is written almost with a wargame in mind or as a kind of a training manual. The first battle is purely defensive, with no manoeuvring necessary by the Team. The second battle on the same day introduces infantry into the mix. As the missions change and the battles progress, artillery is introduced, Team Yankee goes on a company attack, we get single tanks in action against numerous Soviet tanks. A fight takes place a night, from multiple directions, ambushes take place, infantry take on infantry. We then get into a battalion attack, introduce US and Soviet helicopters and then airpower. Last but not least, combat engineers, tank ditches, scatterable mines and DPICM artillery enter the book.

When Games Designer Workshop designed the Team Yankee game, it was able to replicate what I have outlined above, with the players able to get into the game almost straight away with different stages in the game introducing more advanced rules.

As a training manual it has some interesting points on Leadership, some practical pointers (like why you should listen in boring lectures to advice you might need some day on how to get your stuck tank off an tree trunk).

The characters, which are perhaps a little wooden, develop somewhat as the book progresses. The happy-go-lucky Team XO turns into a cold-eyed killing machine, while the hopeless First Lieutenant of the 3rd Platoon finds, once the shooting starts, that it all becomes clear and turns into a good soldier. The replacements, just like in World War Two, pretty much get ignored by everyone until they die, when the characters spend a couple of seconds wondering what their names were.

ORDERS OF BATTLE & SCENARIOS

Another of the great things about this book is that as you read it, if you’re a wargamer, you are constantly thinking “I’d like to play this!”

Coyle explains very well, how Team Yankee fits into the mechanised infantry battalion it has been assigned to. He details, not in a boring way, the Order of Battle of the Team and the Battalion it fits into. He also provides cursory OOB on the Soviet and Polish units it faces.

Through the majority of the book Team Yankee consists of two platoons of M1 Abrams tanks, a Mechanised Infantry platoon in M113 APCs and a command element of two more M1s. On occasion the Team is supported by a couple of M901 ITVs and a FIST team. Towards the end of the book another M1 platoon is added back into Team Yankee and some Bradleys are also attached.

The interesting thing here is that the M1s are original Abrams, armed with 105mm tank cannons, not the 120mm smoothbores which we know completely dominated the Soviet tanks in the Iraqi army in both Gulf Wars. It therefore takes 2 or 3 shots to cripple a T-72.

As I discussed above, each battle can be separated into wargaming scenario fairly simply. There are even non-Team Yankee missions that are obliquely discussed that could be made into a scenario. One I’ve always wanted to do is a Fighting Withdrawal similar to the Cavalry battle that takes place in front of Team Yankee’s positions at the start of the book. You don’t get much detail on it, but enough to fire up your imagination.

PROBLEMS

Some people in reviews I’ve read on Amazon, seem to have a problem with the main character Sean Bannon, Commander of Team Yankee. He can be a bit flippant at times, and has a bit of an attitude around his commanding officers on numerous occasions, and some seem to think that more than unlikely. Personally – I think this actually adds to his character. He admits he has a bit of an anger issue, particularly with things he thinks are wrong or stupid. He does seem to be a decent commander, not above reaming someone who deserves it, but he genuinely cares for his men. I like him.

The other problem many have pointed out with the book, and really the one thing that I felt slightly “unreal” in the book is the make-up and size of enemy forces fought by the Team. Sure, Team Yankee is a “lucky” unit – which means it doesn’t ever get totally stonked by Soviet artillery, or attacked by an overwhelming force. Most of the Russian officers are not quite portrayed as buffoons, but some are not to far from it – very stereotypical – but coming from a serving US Army officer, maybe this is not to surprising.

I was a bit disappointed in this aspect of the book. While things go wrong, Team Yankee makes it out of most of its battles relatively unharmed. I don’t want to make to much of this actually – as it would have made for a less than interesting book if most of the Team had been destroyed in the first artillery barrage. Much of Team Yankee’s battalion does get pretty hammered by the Soviets, but they are only typically in M113s or their derivatives. Certainly, some M1s do get knocked out.

Basically I think this stops Team Yankee from being an absolutely fantastic book. However, like I said at the start – I still love it, and if ever I want to get into a Cold War Hot frame of mind, I turn to it and have enjoyed it again and again.

I would recommend this book to anyone.

Have fun

Richard