Purchase these Items

Products mentioned in this Article

--None--
 

 

Fighting Bear - Part 2 Fighting Tactics For the Soviets In Team Yankee

Fighting Bear - Part 2
Fighting Tactics For the Soviets In Team Yankee

With Jökull Gíslason

Privet tovarishchi! (Greetings Comrades!) and welcome to your second lecture at the Frunze Military Academy.

Now that you are comfortable with your army composition we look at the second part, how to fight your battles!

Click here to go to Fighting Bear - Part 2...

Soviet Army Military Doctrine
You must fight to your strengths and the enemy’s weakness. The Soviet Army is a sledgehammer not a fine sharp sword. We fight like a bear, not a butterfly. The finer niceties of manoeuver and tactics are not for us. We have numbers and we must crush the enemy while we still have the momentum. Win before they can respond and keep hold on the initiative. 

Orders and Skill
In order to have a larger army our forces are not as wieldy and with a low skill level 5+ your are far more likely to fail skill tests than to pass them. So never plan your operations relying on such fancy orders, in fact do you best not to use them since they are more likely to end in failure. The only order I use with any regularity is “Follow Me”. 

Formulate A Plan And Stick To It
A key factor in winning is controlling the battle. Decide how you are going to win, what objective you plan to take and then use overwhelming force in that direction and leave only a portion of your army as a covering force to prevent the enemy from taking objectives. You will win by achieving local superiority and it is important to hit as hard as you can with your heaviest hitters. Go hard and fast and win on your terms. You might still keep an open mind, plan B is acceptable if a great opportunity presents itself and you are certain of success, then switch with full force. But do not be tempted to divide your forces between objectives as this will allow your enemy to defeat you piecemeal.

Fighting Bear - Part 2 Fighting Tactics For the Soviets In Team Yankee

Spearhead
Since you are more likely to be on the attack then use every advantage you can get. Such as expanding your deployment zone. Remember even though objectives and the enemies deployment zone count as hostile, you are allowed to approach within 8”/20cm if you are in concealment. This can expand your deployment zone considerably and is very useful in missions where your enemy must rely on reserves. It might mean you are on him before he has the forces to respond. Spearhead is also a rule you can take full advantage of without worrying about skill levels.

Fighting Bear - Part 2 Fighting Tactics For the Soviets In Team Yankee

Economy Of Force
For other parts of the battlefield try to do the job with the smallest investment. It is a great use for a small recce unit if it can threaten a flank and pin down expensive NATO units. Also for defence, do not waste a large force. Often it is enough to be able to threaten. Keep in mind that often it is not necessary to expose your covering force, it can do the same good hiding in cover. It is there to tie down enemy forces or prevent defeat. If it can do that by being there it is not necessary to engage the enemy and enter into harms way. A good example is our Storm Anti-tank units. NATO is harder to hit, can use movement orders better than we and even has helpful special rules. Our Storms are a basic to hit 3+ which in cover translates to 4+ against returning fire making them a rather single shot weapon before being annihilated by return fire. This unit is better used as a possible threat than exposing themselves. Staying behind cover and covering the flank objective and forcing the enemy to move with caution might be a far better tactic. 

Fighting Bear - Part 2 Fighting Tactics For the Soviets In Team Yankee

Embrace Acceptable Casualties
You will not be able to avoid them and any timid tactics will only serve your enemy. You must be brutal. Not only to your enemy but also in handling your own forces. Think ahead and take ground. The key is to win before the enemy can respond. Use your infantry offensively. They seem week but their 3+ save and numbers will make it hard for the NATO forces to whittle them down fast enough. True they may lack in firepower to tackle NATO’s MBT but that is what everything else is for, the infantry can take on everything else efficiently and remember that the AK-74 teams have their own Anti-tank secondary weapon that will make short work of everything else that it hits. The infantry are also your best choice against minefields. Yes, they have poor skill but their saves should make sure that enough are left to do the job. Where you attack make sure you do so in overwhelming force. Mix tanks with your infantry attack and support it with air and artillery. Do not give NATO the chance to defeat you in detail, one attack at the time.

Target Saturation
By creating a saturation attack and you gain an advantage by overwhelming the defending side's technological, physical and mental ability to respond effectively. Even in Team Yankee you can get into the enemies mind. If you present too many targets your enemy can no longer effectively respond and is likely to make mistakes. Put yourself in their position. Where you see difficulties he might see an unstoppable force. Keep the enemy unbalanced, take acceptable casualties and crush 

Fighting Bear - Part 2 Fighting Tactics For the Soviets In Team Yankee

Poor Skill, Great Morale
Your teams are easier to hit, but they will carry on. Even when they are falling below breaking point they are likely to soldier on. This is one of your advantages and it is likewise often a NATO weakness and it should be taken into account.

Have Strong Supporting Units
Air power can be powerful by being able to be right where you need it. Against strong NATO AA this is problematic, so you might want to concentrate on destroying their Anti-Air first. Whatever you decide never go for half measures but go all in. Being able to call in air support at the critical point of the battle can turn the tide. Artillery is not as good, since it relies on skill tests and that is not the best tactic in the Soviet Army, although clever commanders might be able to find good use for it. The main thing is to use your support where your main thrust is.

Keep in mind that some commanders have taken this all the way and rely on Air Power to win. This was discussed in the first part as the The Leaf Blower Tactic.

Fighting Bear - Part 2 Fighting Tactics For the Soviets In Team Yankee

Deny Your Enemy Their Advantage
Do not allow your enemy to use their strengths to their advantage. Bypass strong defences and unfavourable terrain. Let them follow you and leave their hideouts. Here there is a good quote by Patton, the most able US commander of World War 2:

"My flanks are something for the enemy to worry about, not me. Before he finds out where my flanks are, I'll be cutting the bastard's throat."

Yes, I know what you are thinking, Patton was a general in the enemies army. But comrades it is even sweeter to use the enemy’s wisdom against them than your own!

Make Darkness Your Friend
Many Russian commanders may be intimidated by fighting at night and for a good reason. Many NATO units fight as well in darkness as they do in the day where ours do not. This might find you fighting at very unfavourable odds. As bad as beng hit on 3+ while hitting back on a 6. However they still have to find you. So avoid going after targets of opportunity but use the night to manoeuver. As long as you don’t fire every enemy unit must take a test to see you and many will fail – given you still have some distance. You should only fire back if you have enough firepower to been very sure of success. 

Fighting Bear - Part 2 Fighting Tactics For the Soviets In Team Yankee

Formulate Your Plan and Strike Hard and Fast
The key to winning with a Soviet Force or any Warsaw pact force is just that. Formulate your plan and strike as hard as you can while you still have the strength to overwhelm the enemy before he can effectively respond. Time is not on your side, it works with your enemy. Do not allow him to dictate the battle but make sure he is dancing to your tune. We are not subtle and it is not for us to manoeuvre and constantly redeploy. We win go going full force straight at the jugular.

Learn this doctrine and let it guide you into battle. These are your strengths, let NATO play their game of cat and mouse to their chagrin when they realise that they have mistaken a bear for a cat.
~Jökull


Last Updated On Wednesday, August 15, 2018