Cold War Gone Hot 1985 : The 4th Netherlands Mechanised Division Order of Battle (CWC)

Hi all,

I have finally decided on the order of battle for my Dutch.

We have:

Division Assets:
298th Helicopter Squadron: 1 x Alouette iii

41st Armoured Brigade:
Bde HQ: 1 x HQ M577.
41st AA Battery: 2 x Gepard SPAA.
41st Engineer Company: 3 x M113 Engineer Combat Teams, 1 x AEV, 1 x AVLB
41st Artillery Battalion: 4 x M109A2 155mm SPG, 1 x FO (YPR-765C).
42nd Mechanised Battalion:
BHQ: 1 x HQ YPR-765C, 1 x Recon Lynx M113 C&R.
3 Mechanised Companies, each: 3 x YPR-765, Combat Teams
1 Weapons Company: 2 x YPR-765 with RT61 120mm Mortars, 1 x YPR-765PRAT (TOW).
41st & 43rd Tank Battalions, each:
BHQ: 1 x HQ Leopard 2A1, 1 x Recon Lynx M113 C&R.
3 Tank Companies, each: 4 x Leopard 2A1.

43rd Mechanised Brigade
Bde HQ: 1 x HQ M577.
43rd AA Battery: 2 x Gepard SPAA.
43rd Anti-Tank Company: 4 x YPR-765PRAT (TOW).
43rd Engineer Company: 3 x M113 Engineer Combat Teams, 1 x AEV, 1 x AVLB
43rd Artillery Battalion: 4 x M109A2 155mm SPG, 1 x FO (YPR-765C).
41st & 47th Mechanised Battalions, each:
BHQ: 1 x HQ YPR-765, 1 x Recon Lynx M113 C&R
3 Mechanised Companies, each: 3 x YPR-765 Combat Teams
1 Weapons Company: 1 x YPR-765 with RT61 120mm Mortar, 1 x YPR-765 with TOW.
42nd Tank Battalion:
BHQ: 1 x HQ Leopard 1A1-V, 1 x Recon Lynx M113 C&R.
3 Tank Companies, each: 4 x Leopard 1A1-V.

These two formations above are part of the 4th Mechanised Division, and are generally kept at high readiness (as far as that goes for Dutch forces) at their stations in Germany.

Cold War Gone Hot 1985 : The historical prelude to World War iii

Hi all,

Here is a rough draft of the timeline that is going to be used in my "alternate history" 1985 - the actual course of the war will be reflected in the games I have along with the Cold War Commanders annual Big Games.

• Konstantin Chernenko dies 10th March 1985.
• Mikhail Gorbachev is elected on 11^th March 1985.
• United States Army military intelligence officer Arthur D. Nicholson is shot by Soviet military sergeant Aleksandr Ryabtsev at a Soviet military base in Ludwigslust, East Germany. This causes a diplomatic incident and vicious infighting over policy between military hardliners and the moderates.
• General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov takes over in a military coup on the evening of the 25th of March 1985 as a counter to the reformers in the party, Gorbachev's eventual fate is "lost in the darkness of history". The majority of the Politburo that do not publicly change their support to Ouromov that very same evening are arrested.

• Demonstrations in East Germany and Poland to protest the coup and the removal of moderate politicians lead to mass chaos.
• In May, the coup leaders decide to end the uprisings in East Germany and the rest of the Eastern Bloc with a swift Chinese-style military crackdown. (In East Germany at least, the crackdown is not limited to demonstrators; numerous leading moderate Communists are "disappeared", never to be heard from again.)
• The crackdown inflames popular opposition to communism. In early June, a demonstration in Leipzig is brutally repressed by the East German Army at great loss of life. Two days later, a demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate ends with soldiers killing many East Berlin residents trying to scale the Berlin Wall and a West German cameraman filming the events. Those soldiers also fire shots over the wall into West Berlin. Soon after, the East German government responds to the international condemnation of their conduct by expelling all foreign journalists from the country.

• In mid-June, NATO airlifts military reinforcements and emergency supplies to West Berlin.
• After an interview with West German TV in which Ourumov implicitly threatens West Berlin, an American colonel orders that tactical nuclear weapons in West Germany be placed on high alert. Ourumov responds with new threats, a massive deployment of the Soviet submarine fleet to the Atlantic, and incursions of Soviet bombers into NATO airspace.
• These frequent forays in to NATO airspace lead to numerous incidents between the opposing forces, with a Bear bomber colliding with a US Navy F14 on the 24th of June over Iceland.

• On the 25^th June, 1985, Eastern troops cut off transportation and supply links between West Germany and West Berlin, and the Soviet Air Force mobilises to close off East Germany's airspace. Ourumov hopes the plan will prevent the West from entering into the Eastern sphere of influence and cut Berlin off from the West. NATO forces start a full-scale deployment into West Germany.
• As American convoys begin to cross the Atlantic, Ouromov declares a blockade of European ports. On the 1^st of July 1985, Soviet submarines and land based bombers attack NATO naval forces operating in the North Sea and Atlantic.
• Shortly afterwards, the United Nations Security Council holds an emergency session in New York City in the hopes of diffusing the hostilities between the superpowers, but this proves fruitless when neither side refuses to back down until other does. War at this point seems inevitable.

      What do ya all think?

      Peter

Cold War Gone Hot 1985 : The 42nd Tank Battalion - "Regiment Huzaren Prins Oranje"

Hi all,

Painted up my first Dutch unit for the 85-89 period, these are Leopard 1s for the armoured component of the 43rd Mechanised Infantry Brigade.

The aim was to try to create that strange brown/green that they seem to have used, sometimes appearing very brown and in other photos appearing dark green, like below:

Either way, the GHQ models carry my average painting!

Regards,
Peter

Cold War Gone Hot 1985 : The 4th Netherlands Mechanised Division

Hi all,

Well I recently (ie today) decided to sell of the Heroics and Ros Dutch army that I had and buy a new GHQ one! The price was about 3 times greater but I like to think that my painting has improved as much over the past few years ;)

I am going to include in my force the 41st Armoured and 42nd Mechanised Brigades, I am not sure what air support if any will be included.

I was really pulling my hair out in trying to find out when the Dutch began to paint their equipment in the NATO camo scheme - sources said that they were an early adopter but it was unusual to see a vehicle not in plain green before the 1990s! After asking on some of the forums I frequent I decided to base my force on the look of the army during the 1988 Free Lion exercise.

Below are some excellent videos to get you in the mood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jPu_9v36Ss  (Dutch in 1987)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSg3-OYChI4  (Germans, Brits, Americans and Dutch in 1988)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7V1V1F67ZU  (Dutch in 1989)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZWhMiTBuN0  (Dutch in 1994)

Thanks all, pics of the models forthcoming when I have had chance to paint them!

Peter