Briefing
Nordkapp 83 WW3 in the Artic 1. Thanks Many thanks to everyone who play tested this scenario and provided me with precious information. A special thanks to Pelle Holmen, who created the Swedish OOB, helped to correct the map and still got time to provide valuable information on the Soviet OOB, special thanks also to Jose Maria Serrano for a late but very welcome information on the Soviet OOB for the area. 2. Background In 1981, the KGB, produced a report that told Soviet Union leaders that Cold War was changing, in fact, the Soviet Union had long passed their peak and now the tide was turning towards the USA and Nato, both economically and militarily. In September 1983 the mistaken identification of a civilian passenger plane from KAL airlines caused a Soviet fighter pilot to shoot it down, the USA quickly accused the Soviet's. To further their concerns, Nato's command post exercise for 1983, codenamed "Able Archer", included to important changes, not only was to involve high-level officials, including the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in major roles, with cameo appearances by the President and the Vice President, it also included a practice drill that took NATO forces through a full-scale simulated release of nuclear weapons. On the night of November 8-9,a KGB centre sent a cable message reporting that US forces in Europe had gone on alert and that in some bases mobilization had already started. The motive was the recent terrorist attack on Marine's barracks in Lebanon, impending manoeuvres, or the countdown for a surprise attack. General Secretary Andropov believed that Reagan could launch a first strike, besides the Soviet doctrine preview a pre-emptive attack as soon as a Nato mobilization for an attack was detected, Soviet General's were also in favour of striking now , everyone knew that this could be the last opportunity for the Warsaw Pact, after 1983 they would never be able to defeat Nato, even by now things were looking difficult. Andropov didn't want to go to war, but he was being hardly pressed to do it, besides the KGB report's did seem to indicate a mobilization by Nato, everyone knew that an exercise was the best excuse o start an attack, even Soviet plans included it. War was back to Europe once again. 3. The forces in presence and their objectives Soviet - Soviet main objectives are the Norwegian ports and airports. They need them to place the Northern Fleet closer to the Atlantic. To achieve this they have a wide array of means that include a Naval Infantry Reg., a Parachute Division, an Air Assault Brigade, Motorized Rifle Divisions and other supporting forces. The objectives must be quickly seized in order to avoid the shipment of major Nato reinforcements that could severely hamper your offensive. Swift and decisive action by the Airborne troops must be backed up as quickly as possible by ground forces. Nato ? The main objective is to deny the Soviets the ports and airports on the Norwegian coast. To achieve this there isn?t much available power, however with the mobilization the needed forces will start to arrive, in addition there?s also Nato?s reinforcements on their way and the possibility of Sweden joining the fight. 4. Main events At the game start there?s a 110% shock effect for the Soviets and a 90% effect for Nato, this will normalize by the third day, the Soviets also start with a 110% Air shock. If the Soviets occupy Tromso, Narvik or Bodo a Supply Point is placed on the location If Nato attack and occupy Murmansk and/or Kola the Soviet?s will release the nuclear and chemical weapons, in addition the Mot. Rifle Div. Of the Ministry of Interior and the ad-hoc garrison of Murmansk and Kola will also enter the game. The Swedish entrance into the war is dependant of the Soviet approach to Norway, too close to Swedish borders will mean that Sweden will feel restless and deploy troops in NATO assistance. 5. Strategies 5.1. Soviet Soviet main objectives are far away from their starting point, in addition the snow covered ground and the lack of roads put a great emphasis in the airmobile and naval forces. However, to throw the airmobile and naval forces directly at the main objectives on the Norwegian coast cold mean that they will have to fight isolated for a large number of days until the Motorized Rifle Divisions arrive. On early planning the Soviet must also take into account that the terrain does not favour movement, in order to move fast he must go into the roads and since there aren?t many roads leading to the objectives this can well result in a easily defeated offensive. Obvious points of the Soviet strategy are an early Air and Naval assault aimed at either Tromso, Bodo or Narvik, in order to place that vital supply point;next the Soviets must not only fight the Nato counter-attacks but also link the forces coming from the East with the Naval and Airborne forces. Another problem to the Soviets comes from their open south flank in which the Finnish and the Swedish can manoeuvre at ease and give some serious headaches or more to the Soviet. The Soviet has the choice, once Sweden enters the war, to request an additional Mot. Rifle Div. At the cost of 6vp?s, this should be well measured since the vp?s can prove valuable at the end and the benefits of the late arriving Div. May not compensate them? As for the opposition, apart from the obvious high-quality but late arriving Nato reinforcements, the Soviet must keep an eye on the Guerrilla units that can cause havoc to the supply lines and to the Norwegian and Finnish mobilization brigades that are highly mobile units and in coordinated attacks can wipe out the Soviet forces. 5.2. NATO With their objectives well defined (to avoid the Soviet from obtaining Tromso, Bodo and Narvik) the Nato player will have his hands full, in the first place he has very few units to counter any Soviet initial attacks, the mobilization brigades will take their time and will appear spread through the turns. Those facts make a defence on a stable line impossible and force the Nato player o fight a highly mobile battle with his forces spread over the entire map trying to counter the Soviet moves. Since the initial Soviet attack must include a strong Air and Naval assault the Nato player is left for the first turns with whatever objectives the Soviet leave him, this can force a Nato regrouping on the South further unbalancing his forces. Another point to consider on the overall Nato strategy is which reinforcements to bring in since they all cost precious vp?s, it may be tempting to bring them all in but one should consider the wise ness of doing so? The Nato player should also make good use from the Guerrilla units since these are his earliest incoming reinforcements and will probably make the bulk of the fight on the first turns. 6. General notes Why do the Nato reinforcements cost so many vp?s? Because those units are also badly needed in Nato?s Central Front, so if you divert them to the North it means you are taking them from the Central Front effectively giving an advantage to the Soviet?s in there. When designing the game, after reading some Soviet strategy books, it became obvious that if there were attacks in North Scandinavia, the Soviets would cross through Finland and maybe even Sweden since it was their only chance of avoiding the narrowing of the advance to the single road that links the Norwegian coast. Another thing to note is that the lack of the usual Soviet advantage in the sheer number of effectives, this is due to the fact that they only had two Rifle Div. completely prepared for artic warfare, which is much different from winter warfare in which the Soviet army was a specialist. Joao Lima

Briefing

Nordkapp 83

WW3 in the Artic

1. Thanks

Many thanks to everyone who play tested this scenario and provided me
with precious information. A special thanks to Pelle Holmen, who created the
Swedish OOB, helped to correct the map and still got time to provide valuable
information on the Soviet OOB, special thanks also to Jose Maria Serrano for a
late but very welcome information on the Soviet OOB for the area.

2. Background

In 1981, the KGB, produced a report that told Soviet Union leaders that Cold War was changing, in fact, the Soviet Union had long passed their peak and now the tide was turning towards the USA and Nato, both economically and militarily. In September 1983 the mistaken identification of a civilian passenger plane from KAL airlines caused a Soviet fighter pilot to shoot it down, the USA quickly accused the Soviet's. To further their concerns, Nato's command post exercise for 1983, codenamed "Able Archer", included to important changes, not only was to involve high-level officials, including the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in major roles, with cameo appearances by the President and the Vice President, it also included a practice drill that took NATO forces through a full-scale simulated release of nuclear weapons.

On the night of November 8-9,a KGB centre sent a cable message reporting that US forces in Europe had gone on alert and that in some bases mobilization had already started. The motive was the recent terrorist attack on Marine's barracks in Lebanon, impending manoeuvres, or the countdown for a surprise attack.

General Secretary Andropov believed that Reagan could launch a first strike, besides the Soviet doctrine preview a pre-emptive attack as soon as a Nato mobilization for an attack was detected, Soviet General's were also in favour of striking now , everyone knew that this could be the last opportunity for the Warsaw Pact, after 1983 they would never be able to defeat Nato, even by now things were looking difficult.

Andropov didn't want to go to war, but he was being hardly pressed to do it, besides the KGB report's did seem to indicate a mobilization by Nato, everyone knew that an exercise was the best excuse o start an attack, even Soviet plans included it. War was back to Europe once again.

3. The forces in presence and their objectives

Soviet - Soviet main objectives are the Norwegian ports and airports.
They need them to place the Northern Fleet closer to the Atlantic. To achieve
this they have a wide array of means that include a Naval Infantry Reg., a
Parachute Division, an Air Assault Brigade, Motorized Rifle Divisions and other
supporting forces. The objectives must be quickly seized in order to avoid the
shipment of major Nato reinforcements that could severely hamper your
offensive. Swift and decisive action by the Airborne troops must be backed up
as quickly as possible by ground forces.

Nato ? The main objective is to deny the Soviets the ports and airports
on the Norwegian coast. To achieve this there isn?t much available power,
however with the mobilization the needed forces will start to arrive, in addition there?s also Nato?s reinforcements on their way and the possibility of Sweden joining the fight.

4. Main events

At the game start there?s a 110% shock effect for the Soviets and a 90% effect for Nato, this will normalize by the third day, the Soviets also start with a 110% Air shock.
If the Soviets occupy Tromso, Narvik or Bodo a Supply Point is placed on the location
If Nato attack and occupy Murmansk and/or Kola the Soviet?s will release the nuclear and chemical weapons, in addition the Mot. Rifle Div. Of the Ministry of Interior and the ad-hoc garrison of Murmansk and Kola will also enter the game.
The Swedish entrance into the war is dependant of the Soviet approach to
Norway, too close to Swedish borders will mean that Sweden will feel restless
and deploy troops in NATO assistance.

5. Strategies

5.1. Soviet

Soviet main objectives are far away from their starting point, in addition the snow covered ground and the lack of roads put a great emphasis in the airmobile and naval forces. However, to throw the airmobile and naval
forces directly at the main objectives on the Norwegian coast cold mean that
they will have to fight isolated for a large number of days until the Motorized
Rifle Divisions arrive.

On early planning the Soviet must also take into account that the terrain
does not favour movement, in order to move fast he must go into the roads and
since there aren?t many roads leading to the objectives this can well result in a easily defeated offensive.

Obvious points of the Soviet strategy are an early Air and Naval assault
aimed at either Tromso, Bodo or Narvik, in order to place that vital supply point;next the Soviets must not only fight the Nato counter-attacks but also link the forces coming from the East with the Naval and Airborne forces.

Another problem to the Soviets comes from their open south flank in
which the Finnish and the Swedish can manoeuvre at ease and give some
serious headaches or more to the Soviet.

The Soviet has the choice, once Sweden enters the war, to request an
additional Mot. Rifle Div. At the cost of 6vp?s, this should be well measured
since the vp?s can prove valuable at the end and the benefits of the late arriving Div. May not compensate them?

As for the opposition, apart from the obvious high-quality but late arriving Nato reinforcements, the Soviet must keep an eye on the Guerrilla units that can cause havoc to the supply lines and to the Norwegian and Finnish
mobilization brigades that are highly mobile units and in coordinated attacks can wipe out the Soviet forces.

5.2. NATO

With their objectives well defined (to avoid the Soviet from
obtaining Tromso, Bodo and Narvik) the Nato player will have his hands full, in
the first place he has very few units to counter any Soviet initial attacks, the mobilization brigades will take their time and will appear spread through the turns.

Those facts make a defence on a stable line impossible and force the
Nato player o fight a highly mobile battle with his forces spread over the entire map trying to counter the Soviet moves.

Since the initial Soviet attack must include a strong Air and Naval assault the Nato player is left for the first turns with whatever objectives the Soviet leave him, this can force a Nato regrouping on the South further unbalancing his forces. Another point to consider on the overall Nato strategy is which reinforcements to bring in since they all cost precious vp?s, it may be tempting to bring them all in but one should consider the wise ness of doing so?

The Nato player should also make good use from the Guerrilla units
since these are his earliest incoming reinforcements and will probably make the
bulk of the fight on the first turns.

6. General notes

Why do the Nato reinforcements cost so many vp?s? Because those units
are also badly needed in Nato?s Central Front, so if you divert them to the North it means you are taking them from the Central Front effectively giving an
advantage to the Soviet?s in there.

When designing the game, after reading some Soviet strategy books, it
became obvious that if there were attacks in North Scandinavia, the Soviets
would cross through Finland and maybe even Sweden since it was their only
chance of avoiding the narrowing of the advance to the single road that links the Norwegian coast.

Another thing to note is that the lack of the usual Soviet advantage in the sheer number of effectives, this is due to the fact that they only had two Rifle Div. completely prepared for artic warfare, which is much different from winter warfare in which the Soviet army was a specialist.

Joao Lima