| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Mercenary Traffic |
| Date: | Wed, 12 Nov 1997 01:03:31 +0000 |
>begin file
>Anyone got correlation-of-forces on the Yemen situation?
>Zipper
>Akbar has three brigades of mechanised infantry, or nine battalions.
Just for perspective, that's four times as many troops as Ares musters,
and about half the strength of the Yemeni army. Each battalion consists
of about three hundred troops in thirty-some infantry fighting vehicles,
a dozen tanks, and another three hundred troops in trucks, so the Yemeni
Jihad has about a hundred tanks, three hundred BMP and BTRs, and about
six thousand frontline troops.
Rusanov has one weaker battalion: four tanks, eight cavalry vehicles,
and four infantry companies for a total of eighty-some APCs and four
hundred men. Most of that force is in Seattle, ten thousand miles away:
one company's tied up in Southwest Africa, and another is about to be
annihilated by the Jihad, so cut Sasha's force to two companies.
Also, compare the equipment. Akbar's BMPs mount antitank missiles, while
Rusanov's LAV-30s have only machineguns and light cannon. Akbar's tanks
are of the same generation as Rusanov's old Merkava 5s, and finally it's
Akbar's horde - ready, waiting, primed for action - against Sasha's
force having to be shipped over by sea.
In short, Rusanov's best bet was to write off his company in the Yemen
and move on. Instead, he's jumped in to take command on-scene - worst
place possible for him to be - and so he's going to go down with the
ship. Stylish, brave, wonderful for morale, stupid. Typically Russian.
Akbar's force has Rusanov's unit by the balls, and we're poised for the
moment of decision. Too bad, I kind of liked the Russian.
>Hooke
>You neglected a key point. Akbar might have read his Clausewitz, but
Rusanov prefers Sun Tzu.
>Niblick
>What's that got to do with anything?
>Hooke
>You do know Rusanov's not some 3 Shock Army human-wave-attack merchant,
don't you? He was _desyante voyska_, then _reydokyvii_, before he
defected.
>Niblick
>Once more in English, please???
>Hooke
>He was paratroops, then special forces. Spetznaz. Lots of experience.
Defected in '48 when his unit was ordered to wipe out a village in
Finland: they refused, so State Security sent a company from a convict
battalion to do the job. The convicts were having _real_ fun in the
ville, and Sasha's squad - he was the second-in-command - decided to
stop them. Eight _reydokyvii_ killed a hundred soldiers in about ten or
fifteen minutes, then beat feet for the border. Two of them made it out
alive. Rusanov's used to bad odds.
Either he's lost it or he has a plan. Probably moving some small units
into the area to harass Akbar's logistics and rear areas, weaken the
defences around the camp, then breaking out and running for the coast.
Those APCs he uses are pretty fast, especially on road, if he can break
contact once he should make it.
>Niblick
>A buddy of mine says none of the heavy stuff's moved. It's still lined
up in the shelters at his base.
>Frack
>Yeah. Not much air activity either. A few Herk flights, maybe one or
two a day. The MiGs are still in the revetments.
>Bong
>Gotta be a cast-iron bitch running those Hercules out to the Yemen.
It's what, twenty, twenty-five hours each way? Three or four mid-air
refuellings? All to drop maybe ten tons per plane.
>Willis
>Any word on opportunities?
>Pollack
>Akbar's still looking for tread-heads and SPUTS as instructors, paying
good rates, but the conditions suck. Got to speak Arabic, got to convert
to Shi'ia Islam, got to accept Akbar as the heir to the Prophet, and
forget it if you're not male. No word from Rusanov, they aren't much
into crisis hiring.
>Niblick
>The Corporate Court is probably going to drek on Akbar from a great
height. Watch their boards, they might hire a grunch of us to go play in
the Yemen. They're deliberating rignt now.
>Denizen
>Against those numbers we'd _need_ a grunch of us.
>Bracket
+++++end file]<<<<<
-- Bungle <01:03:26/11-12-58>
