www.fuldagap.com
Hey Guys, trying to get the word out in advance for this great airsoft op. This is the premier NC operation of the year, two days of awesome airsoft. They hold operation Fulda gap every year. This is at Command Decisions Wargames Center in Taylorsville, NC. This is an incredible field, by far the best in North Carolina. The Paintball version of this scenario is held the week after, and has a cutoff of 500 players! People come from around the country to play paintball at this field for Fulda. You do not want to miss this airsoft game.
The Details.
This hypothetical scenario recreates a portion of an overall attack on West Germany by the Warsaw Pact. The area surrounding Fulda would have been an obvious route for any aggressor attacking into West Germany in an effort to seize the all-important industrial and financial center of the country and the Rhine/Main River crossings around Frankfurt. In this the Soviet Union has committed the 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies, supported by Czechoslovakian and East German divisions, to seize Frankfurt as quickly as possible. Given the importance of the objective, air formations have been given the task of sweeping the skies of Allied aircraft and decimating the enemy ground formations. But only the most shortsighted of Soviet commanders expect this to be an easily accomplished objective.
Assigned the mission of defending the Fulda Gap and Frankfurt is the US Army's Fifth Corps and elements of the West German III Korps. Fifth Corp's primary punch is the 3rd Armored Division and one brigade from the 3th Mechanized Division, defending the important US pre-positioned equipment storage sites critical for reinforcing units arriving from the United States. Equipped with M60A1 tanks and the M113 APC, the well-trained GIs are preparing to conduct summer maneuvers. Covering 3rd Armor's front is the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment with the mission of buying the time needed for the rest of the Corps to respond and reach their pre-planned positions. Also assigned to the defense of this area is the West German 5th Panzer Division, no stranger to fighting the Soviets during World War II where many of its former members fell on battlefields deep in the USSR.
Initially caught flatfooted by the viciousness of the attack, American and West German aircraft are soon sparring for dominance of the skies with their Soviet counterparts. For many of the opposing pilots this was nothing new as they had faced one another before in the hostile skies over North Korea, Vietnam and other unnamed conflicts of the simmering Cold War.
Finally, hanging over the battlefield is the very real threat posed by chemical and nuclear weapons. Combined with a determination by the West to stop the Soviet juggernaut at any cost and the USSR's hunger for the rich territories of central Europe, the use of these terrible weapons of destruction becomes a real possibility.
Now it's up to you to determine the outcome of the opening moves of World War III!
History behind the Op.
The Fulda Gap is a section of territory between the former East German border and Frankfurt, (West) Germany.
Named after the unfortunately placed town of Fulda, strategically the Fulda Gap was of immense importance during the Cold War. It was one of two obvious routes for any invader attacking West Germany. (The other was the North German Plain.)
Frankfurt, relatively close to the Gap, was at the heart of West German industrial and financial power, and its loss would have been a serious blow for West Germany and NATO. It was also an important civil and military air hub that was important to the defense of West Germany.
Perhaps more importantly, the terrain between the Gap and the river Rhine was less rugged than adjacent districts, offering the best pathway for an invading force from Warsaw Pact territory to reach and cross the formidable Rhine before NATO was in a position to prevent it.
Strategic planners on both sides of the Iron Curtain understood its importance and forces were allocated accordingly. Defense of the Fulda Gap was tasked primarily to the US V Corps. More specifically, the actual East/West border in the Fulda Gap was protected by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment from 1972-1994. Its principal adversary was the Soviet 8th Guards Army. Both formations were lavishly equipped and generally received a high priority on new equipment
The Soviet 8th Guards Army was to be followed by a number of additional armies and has been positively identified as the key Soviet axis of advance in any (hypothetical) major military confrontation in Cold War Europe.
By 1985, NATO and Warsaw Pact forces had been staring at each other across the Iron Curtain for 40 years as the Cold War became increasingly warmer. During the mid '80s, the Cold War reached a boiling point as the ideologies of communism and capitalism were in their most confrontational posture. One spark on the world scene would be all that it would take to ignite these powerful military forces and send them crashing into each other across the only thing that stood between them in Germany: the open region of Erfurt-Eisenach, Vogelsberg, and the highlands north of the Autobahn...the region used by the US Third Army to drive deep into Germany at the close of WWII...the Fulda Gap.
We are not certain when the term "Fulda Gap" began to be used in military circles to speak of the prominent terrain corridor that runs from what used to be East Germany toward Frankfurt. Some of us remember hearing it in the 1960's. We do know that by 1980 the term was in broad use all the way up to NATO.
If the Eight Guards Army was deployed to forward positions before the outbreak of war its engineers would have needed bridging for only one secondary river, the Fulda, and that river was sometimes fordable in late summer. For the more probable scenario, a short warning attack (with no preliminary deployment from Kasernes and training areas), some bridging could also have been needed for the Werra River.
When US military planners first found a need for a name to identify this probable axis of Soviet attack there may have been a debate as to whether it should be named for Fulda or Bad Hersfeld. Probably it was resolved in favor of Fulda because that was the better known city and its name was more user friendly (easier to say and write).
Operations Plan 4102 [with Annexes] was a top secret road map from peace to war by the US European Command. It described in minute detail how the US forces would react, almost hourly, to a Soviet attack across the inter-German border, including detailed plans for bringing in reinforcements from the United States, equipping them, and putting them under NATO command. The plan included descriptions of where each unit will go upon the outbreak of war, and now individual combat units would use the hills and valleys of the rugged West German terrain to conduct a defense in depth, including nuclear-release procedures.
Every piece of artillery, every machine gun, rifle, mortar, tank, and anti-tank weapon in the 3d Armored Division was intended to hit the Russians the moment they came pouring through the gap.
During the 1980s, V Corps included the 3d Armored Division, 8th Infantry Division, and 11th Armored Cavalry. The VII Corps included the 1st Armored Division, 3d Infantry Division, 1st Infantry Division (Forward), and 2d Armored Cavalry. The separate 2d Armored Division (Forward) was stationed in northern Germany. These forces were arrayed, in line with the NATO General Defense Plan, in an essentially static forward defense of the traditional, critical eastern approaches to Western Europe. Their mission was to hold off an attack from the East until reinforcements could arrive from the United States.
Anyones interest peaked?
DID I MENTION THERE ARE TANKS!!!!
Here is the mission orders.
WARSAW PACT MAIN OBJECTIVES
The Warsaw Pact will be the aggressor and will prompt the attack on the West. The main objective is to seize all possible territory directly West of Fulda Gap to the Rhine River, cutting NATO forces in half to the North and to the South. Next, destroy all remaining NATO forces and capture the West German city of Frankfurt. Post advance options include nuclear exchange with the West, an agreed upon cease fire, or the unconditional surrender of Western Forces.
NATO MAIN OBJECTIVES
NATO does not wish to start WWIII in the European Theater because it is outnumbered 1.5 to 1 in almost all areas along the West / East German boarder and in many places, especially in regards to tanks, 3 to 1. If a Soviet led offensive should take place, NATO will hold off the advance to the Rhine River at all costs. If the Soviets push past the Rhine River, Western influence and its ideals will be lost to Communism in the whole of Europe. Because NATO is so outnumbered, they have relied heavily on the threat of the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
In case of an attack, NATO would advance across the Fulda Plain to stall the Soviet advance using conventional forces, do not allow the Soviets to cross the Rhine River, try to push the Soviets back into East Germany and sue for a cease fire before a nuclear exchange occurs. The worst-case victory will come through the use of nuclear weapons, but the use of tactical nuclear weapons could lead to a full-scale, world-wide nuclear exchange between NATO and WARSAW PACT nations.
Game Phases
GAME PHASES- Day One (Saturday)
1st Phase (1000-1300) -Warsaw Pact: Advance across Fulda Gap taking out NATO forces while seizing all territory East of the Fulda River, taking Bad Herzfeld (Fort Duckett) and Fulda (Firebase Alpha) and holding them (including all FOBs and OPs).
1st Phase- NATO: Stall Soviet advance to Frankfurt (Sim City) as much as possible without using tactical nuclear weapons. Points awarded for all geographical regions still under NATO control after end of phase, but subtracted for the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
2nd Phase (1300-1700) -Warsaw Pact: Advance across the Fulda River and seize Marburg (HB Hill), Limburg (Ft. Apache) and Frankfurt (Sim City).
If all areas East of the Rhine River are held along with all of Frankfurt, it will result in a cease fire with NATO with the Warsaw Pact bringing all of Germany under communist East Germany-a great political and military victory in itself.
2nd Phase- NATO: Continue stalling Soviet advance, and counter attack as much as possible to push Soviets back into East Germany. More points are awarded for NATO holding territory than for Soviets taking it because NATO is outnumbered.
If NATO pushes the Warsaw Pact nations back into East Germany, it will be a militaristic and political humiliation for Moscow.
Night game (2000-2300)
Played between FB Rex/FB Alpha/Sim City with Warsaw Pact holding Camp Lee (FB Rex) and Gotha (FB Hammer) and NATO holding Fulda and Frankfurt.
Day Two (Sunday)
0900-1400
Warsaw Pact- Re-enter field and occupy Frankfurt, Fulda, Camp Lee (FB Rex) and Gotha. Defend the territory against the NATO counterattack.
NATO- Re-enter field and occupy Limburg, Marburg, and Bad Herzfeld. Launch counterattack on Warsaw Pact in eastern Germany and drive them back to East Germany and Czechoslovakia.
This game is still a few months away, I will let you know of the details when they are released. I do NOT know about age limits, prices, or others details.
