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Its the battle of 73 Eastings and you are the Iraqi Republican Guard commander. You have under your command an armored corps of 3 armored divisions (Tawakalna, Al-Medina and and 1 motorized light infantry division Adnan is on its way. On paper one of the most powerful armored formations in the world. Your even confident that with your mix of Soviet and Western tech and combat experience you could beat a Soviet divisions- known to be much more effective in the attack than the Americans. You've read up on the American experience at NTC in Ft Irwin and how badly most visiting units do. In addition you have a regular army armored divisions, one of the best in fact. Your troops are professional soldiers, combat veterans, politically reliable and used to winning. They can also fight in the heat and inside a CW environment.
During the Iran-Iraq war your troops broke the Shia's human wave attacks and pushed Iraq back to a decent bargaining position. Your equipment and battle tactics are proven. Your T-72 might not be as new as the Abrams, but in Iran is had no problem shrugging off enemy rounds. While the T-62's and T-55's wont be able to kill an Abrams they should work against the Bradley giving the BMP's more fire power. You know your South African artillery is first rate much better in theory than the older American M109.
US air power has not been able to serious attrit your forces, though they've minced your supply lines and communications. Coalition air has also grounded your air and helo support. Your ADA units have claimed some successes and overall the news on Iraqi ADA performance is encouraging. You've received word of the right hook and have just enough time to set your defense. When setting you know just how much the Americans can see from space. After all in Iran you were using American provided imagery. Not only can the Americans see you, but you know the Abrams is a race car of a tank so a meeting engagement does not favor you, but ambush or defense in depth might. You also know the Americans have an edge in night vision. You have both passive and active IR but no thermal.
Some things you don't know.
Just how effective Chobbam is vs HEAT. You assume its like the applique armor begin put on T-55's or maybe the ceramic fill rumored to be in the T-72 Dolly Partons.
You don't know that your bore riding steel Sabots are nearly worthless, or that NATO spool style rounds have twice the range.
You don't know the exact size of the US force. You suspect its VII Corps but do not know about the British division.
Historic Information
The Iraqi commander had his security screen pushed as far forward as 50 easting. He then had his forces arrayed for a defense in depth designed to channel attacks into mutually supporting kill boxes. However much of the artillery is not yet sighted in properly and the fiber optic net for secure communications is not established.
What would you do different compared to the historic commander?
During the Iran-Iraq war your troops broke the Shia's human wave attacks and pushed Iraq back to a decent bargaining position. Your equipment and battle tactics are proven. Your T-72 might not be as new as the Abrams, but in Iran is had no problem shrugging off enemy rounds. While the T-62's and T-55's wont be able to kill an Abrams they should work against the Bradley giving the BMP's more fire power. You know your South African artillery is first rate much better in theory than the older American M109.
US air power has not been able to serious attrit your forces, though they've minced your supply lines and communications. Coalition air has also grounded your air and helo support. Your ADA units have claimed some successes and overall the news on Iraqi ADA performance is encouraging. You've received word of the right hook and have just enough time to set your defense. When setting you know just how much the Americans can see from space. After all in Iran you were using American provided imagery. Not only can the Americans see you, but you know the Abrams is a race car of a tank so a meeting engagement does not favor you, but ambush or defense in depth might. You also know the Americans have an edge in night vision. You have both passive and active IR but no thermal.
Some things you don't know.
Just how effective Chobbam is vs HEAT. You assume its like the applique armor begin put on T-55's or maybe the ceramic fill rumored to be in the T-72 Dolly Partons.
You don't know that your bore riding steel Sabots are nearly worthless, or that NATO spool style rounds have twice the range.
You don't know the exact size of the US force. You suspect its VII Corps but do not know about the British division.
Historic Information
The Iraqi commander had his security screen pushed as far forward as 50 easting. He then had his forces arrayed for a defense in depth designed to channel attacks into mutually supporting kill boxes. However much of the artillery is not yet sighted in properly and the fiber optic net for secure communications is not established.
What would you do different compared to the historic commander?
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