Invasion! Action on the DMZ

First up on our Korea 1985 game saw the Invasion of the South by the NK at a ROK Battalion held sector of the DMZ. Above on the left is the ROK line and along the right the NK side.

ROK/Allied Forces consisted of 1 Battalion ROK Light Infantry minus the Weapons Company on the line, with 1 Company of a US Mech Infantry Battalion, 1 Company of Armour (M48 MBT), and 1 Battery of ROK Artillery (M101A1 105mm) in reserve. The ROK Infantry were deployed on the DMZ line platoon elements, for a Battalion to be spread this far apart it will always be hard to keep the line intact.

NK Forces enjoyed a nice three or four to one advantage here as they were able to deploy 2 Battalions of Armour (T72, T55 in one Battalion, and T34/85 in a ‘C’ class Battalion), 1 Battalion of Regular Infantry, 1 Battalion of Airborne Infantry, and two ‘C’ class trained Battalions. In addition the NK Forces had 1 Battalion of Artillery as support.
Things looked a little grim for me as the ROK Commander…Above a Battalion of T34/85 shows their hand and begins to advance along with Infantry support.
NK also had a two turn advantage in movement and those sneaky blighters had tunnels that could deploy both Armour and Infantry right in the middle of the DMZ. Visions of Larry Bonds novel are quite acceptable when planning.

Al and I had discussed this scenario a few times, so it was up to me to make the best of the situation as we had always known that an overrun of the ROK line was probably unavoidable.

Al started out by crossing his C Class trained Infantry across the DMZ in two thrusts, with one being supported by the T34/85 battalion. The DMZ being quite open let me roll a good spotting score before they got to far advanced, I was also in the luck as the a Company of NK Infantry and one Company of Armour managed to fail on morale due to the heavily mined approaches to the South’s Main line of Resistance (MLR). With about one third of this first attack out of the way I managed to concentrate a barrage of arty on a complete Company wave, decimating it in the process leaving only a Battalion of NK Infantry and two Companies of Armour actually making it to my line. Round one to the South.

In my next turn I managed to move my Armour from reserve an activated my US Mech Infantry Coy to move onto the centre of the line as it had started to buckle under the pressure. For my M113 borne Infantry it was just in time as Al’s remaining T34/85 Companies overran the MLR and started to outflank my centre. M113’s are very soft targets at the best of times so they managed to get out just in the nick of time. Again my arty played a nice roll and more NK Infantry were worn down, however in a gritty piece of fighting two Platoons of my Infantry from D Coy were surrounded and only one managed to break out with the other being wiped out.

I started to move my remaining Infantry on the left hand flank towards the centre onto a hill which I had planned to become an island of resistance, this went well although the NK Infantry was starting to consolidate at the base. In a bold move Al’s Airborne Battalion (above)arrived onto the field landing at the base of the hill that I was pinning all my hopes on, however although the drop was successful in hitting the drop zone most of his three Companies worth of Platoons landed being pinned. My remaining platoons engaged and again scored some impressive casualties on the NK’s however it was now apparent my island was about to be swallowed. Round two to Al’s NK scoundrels

T34/85's pushing past the Airborne Troops. Could they hold?

Al’s two T34/85 Companies were by now in range of the 90mm Guns from my M48’s and it was an unpleasant surprise that Al’s first salvo at my Company wiped out the leading Platoon. In a retort the other two M48 Platoons avenged themselves destroying two of Al’s T34/85 Platoons while dug in troops from the hill above sent anti tank missiles through the top armour of another Platoon with ease

T34's burning, although outclassed by the ROK M48's they could still pack a surprise.

The left hill above was one of my major strongholds...Or so I thought.

85mm HEAT rounds still pack a punch.

At the base of the hill Al’s NK airborne troops came out of being pinned and assaulted the hill and my two remaining M48 Platoons with RPG fire, I was lucky to survive the encounter and without Infantry support available to flush the Para’s out and decided to retire them from the battle

Regular Infantry explode out of a tunnel.

Again just as I believed the battle to be turning my way a T72 company and Battalion of Motorized Regular Infantry smashed their way out of a tunnel on my right flank destroying all hopes of reinforcing the centre hill. My US Mech Coy de bussed and started to assault NK Forces at the right flank and with the .50 Cals from the tracks in support inflicted some serious damage. Quick thinking from my troops already dug in on the line saw a volley of anti tank missiles destroy two Platoons worth of T72’s while the Command Platoon failed a morale test and was sent back over to the NK line to re organize themselves.

Here I removed my M113’s as well after I lost the remaining Platoon holding the hill, and therefore my tracks were open to attack from the rear. Pushed off the Hill the 4 remaining Platoons from C and D Companies moved without haste to the rear of the battle to regroup. Round Three Draw.

T72's burn in the background, as seen from the ROK arty possie. Superb support was given from this Battery.

The next two moves saw the appearance of another Battalion of NK Infantry along with Al’s arty battalion from the tunnel on the right flank, the choice presented itself of whether I bracket the guns and tractors or the Infantry. After some indecision Al urged me that the biggest threat would come from the swarm of green at the base of the hill rather than guns in tow, so acting on his advice my 105’s broke up the NK attack with ease. The NK arty would have to wait.
With the bulk of my force still intact I decided to withdraw from the MLR. By staying on the line with the left flank wide open all I was doing was pin pricking Al’s NK’s. And of course while the NK forces were still advancing out of the tunnels I was being threatened with envelopment.

So we left it there, my Battalion Group had been in contact with the evil NK force for six hours and had stood up to most threats, but the sheer numbers had swayed the battle Al’s way.

ROK/US Losses
60 KIA
10 WIA
1 Platoon M48 MBT

NK Losses
600 KIA
200 WIA
3 Platoons T34/85 Tanks
2 Platoons T72 MBT

A costly victory to NK forces, but in terms of assets recovered by my ROK/US Forces a withdrawal rather than a defeat.

Lessons learned, ATGM are vital to defensive operations and can stop an armoured attack without close Infantry support in their tracks.

Airborne Forces probably need to be dropped out further from the actual attack to give themselves time to reorganize before being committed.

Trained troops need at least a three or four to one advantage in numbers when attacking experienced troops, dug in on an emplaced line.

Good control of arty is just as essential as good dice throwing, pick your targets wisely.

A great game will some good company, cheers Al.