All,
***Wolfhag posts Jack's batreps here on TMP because Jack can't. Jack appreciates the comments, but cannot respond here. Go to the blog***
Here we go, the last fight of the "Tears of the Sun" recreation. Who will make it and who won't, that's the big question here, 'cause they're not all gonna make it home, way too many bad guys pouring out of the jungle. Stick with me, this is a long batrep, long enough I probably should have broken it into two separate battle reports, but I didn't want to mess up the flow.
It's now 0950 on 29 July 1990, and Captain Stelosavo's TF23 is on the run in Nigeria. They jumped into the country three days ago to save a Cuban Reporter and Cameraman at risk due to a military coup that killed the president and is cleansing the countryside of his supporters. The Cuban commandos quickly secured the Reporter and Cameraman, but when their extraction helicopter was shot down they found themselves attempting to escape on foot to the border with South Leon with a slew of local villagers. Yesterday they heard gunfire and made a quick side-trip to end a government massacre of more innocent country-folk, but the local government commander was able to get a radio call out for reinforcements, which no doubt was received by the enemy units pursuing the Cubans and their 'package.' The Cuban operators pushed the refugees relentlessly, marching them through the night in an attempt to outpace their pursuers, and though haggard ,the villagers were doing a good job of moving quickly and quietly to the border extraction point. Everything was going well until about 0930, when Tracker, walking point, called the column to a halt, when RPGs came streaming in, wounding and killing several refugees. The Cuban Special Forces operators immediately came on line and assaulted through the Nigerian government ambush, then fell back to check the refugees, but they suffered a casualty in the process: Rocky was hit in both legs and knocked out of the fight.
Ryder and his men immediately set about getting the refugees and Rocky ready to move, then packed them off towards the border extraction point while they created a thin defensive line, intent on screening the evacuation of the refugees. Unfortunately, while they were screwing around with the refugees and wounded, the bad guys infiltrated in behind them, initiating another firefight with a salvo of rocket propelled grenades. None of the Cubans were hit, but as soon as they recovered from the shock of the explosions they saw they were boxed in on three sides and massively outnumbered, setting the stage for a particularly savage fight.
Overview, north is up. The Cuban line is in the field at center left, where the three cotton puffs mark the RPG explosions. The road running southwest (bottom left) to east (right) runs uphill (you can't see in this photo, but everything east of the river is a pretty steep slope) was used by the refugees (far right) to escape towards the border extraction point (off camera to top right). Government troops are out in force, with two teams at bottom center, one at bottom left, one at left, one at top left, and one at top center, with their commander in the village at bottom center left.
Yes, this is exactly the same table as the last fight. In the last fight, the Cubans/refugees moved onto the table in the southwest (bottom left), then were ambushed from the north (top center). The Cuban operators conducted immediate action drill for a near ambush, close assaulting through the enemy position, then falling back to their original position on the trail. They checked the refugees and got them moving towards the extraction point as the Cubans set up a hasty defensive line to hold off the pursuing government troops. That's where we are now.
The Cubans are falling back to the river, worn out (purple bead is showing Tracker out of ammo, pink bead is showing Zuma dropped his M-60 and only has a pistol) and shot to pieces (yellow beads are wounds, Aarby has one and Zuma has two). To read the batrep, please check the blog at:
linkWow, what a fight! What a set of fights, actually, that was a tremendous amount of fun. I had a great time, and I hope you did, too. Combat Patrol proved up to the task, and if you haven't seen the movie previously, you pretty much have now, as my little operation went almost exactly as the movie did (unlike when I tried to do the movie "Lone Survivor" and didn't even end up with one survivor…).
So that ties this up, not sure what's up next. I really want/need to get over to WWII, to Kampfgruppe Klink, to finish up the Fall of France, but lots of other ideas/projects clouding up my time and judgement ;) Stay tuned, something cool will happen, I promise.