All,
It's 1700 on 1 Feb 1990, and the CLA's 2nd Air Assault Company, 7th Infantry Battalion, having only recently come ashore at the Bay of Pigs landing site, has taken up defensive positions. The CLA's 2nd Airborne Battalion twice dealt the enemy heavy blows at El Rincon; the second severe enough to send the enemy's 6th Armored Battalion wheeling and in retreat towards its base at Cienfuegos. Looking to seize the opportunity to put a major enemy armored formation permanently out of the fight, Generalissimo Waraldonez ordered the 2nd Air Assault Company lifted into blocking positions east of El Rincon to cut off the enemy's retreat, placing the enemy troops between 1st Airborne Battalion in the west and 2nd Air Assault Company in the east.
A bold move to be sure, but the CLA has now placed the enemy in "death ground," that patch of real estate in which the enemy cannot sit still and they cannot run, they must attack for the sake of their very own survival. 2nd Air Assault Company was about to reap what the Generalissimo had sown with his overly ambitious battle plan…
So far we've had:
1) B Squadron SOF destroyed a radar site in support of amphibious landings at Playa Colorada (5). B Sqdn then egressed and linked up with CLA rotary wing assets for their follow-on mission in Havana (6).
2) C Squadron SOF destroyed a the Cuban military's communications center.
3) 1st Para Battalion dropped in and seized a bridge to screen the landings at Playa Colorada (5).
4) 2nd Para battalion dropped in and eliminated a Castro-regime garrison to screen the landings at the Bay of Pigs (just west of (4).
5) 1st Marine Company, 3rd Infantry Battalion, made an amphibious assault at Playa Colorada.
6) A Squadron SOF attacked a Castro-regime SAM site near Havana, which failed to clear the way for B Squadron's helo assault into Havana.
7) 2nd Marine Company, 6th Infantry Battalion, landed at the Bay of Pigs then turned east and ran into a strong enemy force, which it handily defeated.
8) B Company of the UWG pursued and destroyed an enemy garrison in the Escambray Mountains.
9) B Squadron SOF conducted an aerial insertion into Havana to seize a radio station and broadcast news of the invasion.
10) 10th Popular Force Battalion seized and destroyed the Pedroso bridge to protect the Bay of Pigs landing site from the Matanzas garrison.
11) 1st Airborne Infantry Battalion successfully fought off a regime counterattack near the bridge at Sandino, protecting the western (Playa Colorada) landing site from the Pinar del Rio garrison.
12) 6th Infantry Battalion fought through an enemy ambush while pushing inland from the Bay of Pigs landing site.
13) 8th Popular Force Battalion ambushed a mechanized column of the enemy 2nd Armored Battalion, just west of Havana.
14) 2nd Airborne Battalion engaged enemy armored forces of the 6th Armored Battalion in the village of El Rincon, en route to the Bay of Pigs landing site.
15) 4th Infantry Battalion's 1st Air Assault Company conducts an air assault southeast of Sandino to counter enemy mechanized forces of 3rd Infantry Battalion (forcing 1st Airborne Battalion's right flank).
16) 9th Popular Force Battalion conducts a spoiling attack on the regime's 7th Infantry Battalion in the Matanzas garrison.
17) 2nd Air Assault Company, 7th Infantry Battalion, inserts east of El Rincon to block the escape of the regime's 6th Armored Battalion.
The opposing forces, with regime troops on the left and CLA troops on the right. The CLA force consists of US troops from Pendraken's Vietnam range, while the regime guys are Argentinians from Pendraken's Falklands Range with Takara plastic T-34s in support.
The CLA force has a Command Stand representing their Company Commander, seven rifle teams, an HMG team, a TOW ATGM team, a Charles Gustav team, and a single leader figure representing their Battalion Commander. The enemy force has a Command Stand, seven rifle teams, and four T-34 tanks.
Overview of the map, north is up. The enemy is in the bottom left corner, fleeing from the west, trying to escape to the east. The CLA force is divided into two elements, with the rail line, which sits atop an embankment, splitting their defense down the middle. The Colonel is in the north, atop Hill 33, and the Captain is in the south, atop Hill 35.
Enemy tanks surged forward all along the line, with CLA anti-tank assets doing what they could to stem the armored tide. To see how it turned out, please check the blog at:
linkOne more still to post from last week, then I played four more fights this weekend. I also have a SITREP for D-Day to post, then I got into some other stuff as well, so keep your eyes peeled ;)
V/R,
Jack
's preferred method for stripping paint from resin and plastic models.
