Battle 1954

[rhys]

Verkhopenoye scenario from RF Eastern front replayed as Cold War 50's style. Close run battle. RF rules.
Soviets having it all their own way with some very lucky dice rolls to hit and not be hit by the Brits. Pushed from top right entry point down the right flank and down the middle road. Got stopped on the road. Shifted units across to reinforce the right flank attack which was going well. Brits reeled to their right to take the soviet attack in the flank and tried a dash up the left to take them in the rear but the shooting wasn't good enough - almost worked but not enough to force a morale check halt to the Soviet advance. Brits then Deployed their reserve to protect the road junction as the Soviets continued down the right. Soviet artillery and air support and he fire from tanks pushed the Brit inf back and ingnoring their right flank the Soviets took the crossroads. A really great game that at times swung back and forth and could have gone either way. A close run thing.

L battery 2nd Royal Horse Artillery Regiment

Conqueror 16th/5th Lancers

Kings Royal Rifle Corps

Life Guards Divisional Armoured Recce

[Bob_Mackenzie]

That looks really good. Nice terrain and very interesting kit on the table

[mausmann]

That is excellent! Super AAR with great looking terrain and models, many thanx for posting.....

[S_P]

Fantastic stuff.

[billk]

Great out-of-the-norm scenario.
Thx for posting... and good pics.

[Ed mac]

A great table set up,must have been a lot of fun to game,well done

[Ben Bob]

Really nice.
I'm super tempted to start modelling this period but in 10 or 6mm - there are so many cool options with WW2 and post-war kit and you are representing them well.

[Kalinovsky]

Interesting to see WWII armoured cars still in use

[Don McHugh]

Great looking game and AAR.

Don

[SABOT]

Top notch as always.

[Sultanbev]

Interesting to see WWII armoured cars still in use

Yes, it isn't that well known but things like the Daimler II, AEC Mk3, M3A1 White Scout Car, C15TA, Daimler Scout car were all used post war, in some cases as late as 1959 until the Saladins kicked in. I think some TA units had Daimler II until about 1964. Some of the Daimler II in BAOR were refitted with the LittleJohn adaptor after 1956.

Mind you, there is a CIA file on one particular Soviet tank division still using T-34/76 in 1952, so everyone was at it.

Mark

[Timotheus]

Of course we get all kinds of detailled information on the British stuff, but then the WP just comes in one green nameless mass!

Love the pictures and your stuff, thanks for posting.

Interesting to see WWII armoured cars still in use

1954 is good for either - I know the Daimler served in Korea and the AEC was eventually replaced by the Saladin during the late 50s (and yes, I had to google for both, LOL ) I think the Cromwell was still around and certainly the Comet. The Americans still had the 76mm Sherman going (as did Canada). It's a pretty cool time period, I think, that for hypothetical scenarios would be a lot of fun.

EDIT - Sorry, didn't see Sultanbev's response until I got to this page.

[dead1]

Excellent report. Never seen 1950s gaming but it looks cooler than the rather boring homogenised 1980s versions of WWIII.

Yes, it isn't that well known but things like the Daimler II, AEC Mk3, M3A1 White Scout Car, C15TA, Daimler Scout car were all used post war, in some cases as late as 1959 until the Saladins kicked in. I think some TA units had Daimler II until about 1964. Some of the Daimler II in BAOR were refitted with the LittleJohn adaptor after 1956.

Mind you, there is a CIA file on one particular Soviet tank division still using T-34/76 in 1952, so everyone was at it.

Mark

A lot of WWII kit survived in Western and Eastern service for a long time. Most NATO allies still counted Sherman as main tank in the mid-1950s and there were US units that were still flying F-51D Mustangs (albeit in ANG which in case of WWIII would have been Federalised so you might've had F-51s bombing Soviet tank divisions in mid-1950s). Spain operated CASA built Bf 109s and He-111s into the 1960s and along with the Swiss and Portuguese the Ju-52 up to the late 1970s. T-6 Texans remained in both training and COIN roles up the 1970s and many countries operated C-47s to the 1980s or even 1990s! M4s remained in service for just as long with some services like Dutch Marines only retiring them in 1970s. Greece only finally got rid of the M24 Chaffee in 1991 (at the same time they retired the last RF-84F Thunderstreak which was replaced by 20 year old ex-German RF-4Es)!

Basically it's impossible to reequip large armies quickly so they continue to maintain older gear in secondary countries or second rate units. Indeed the last M4 Shermans in US service weren't withdrawn until 1957! And given most European NATO states relied on US military aid (ala MAP) for equipment, it meant many ex-US castoffs lasted even longer.

We talk about the Commies never throwing out anything but in fact it wasn't until the massive cutbacks of the 1990s that Western forces became fully "modern" and got rid of most of their old kit (though today this means 30+ year old kit). And countries that didn't do the massive cutbacks ala Greece or Turkey (or Taiwan and South Korea) still maintain large amounts of old kit ala F-4 Phantoms or M48 Pattons in service or reserve. Even Japan still operates F-4E Phantom, Type 74 tank (M60 equivalent), Type 73 APC and M110 SPHs.