So, first off, sorry about the late post this time. I meant to post late last week but between my day job and my second job with EpochXperience, it's been a busy time for this blogger. I still miss you guys and will do my best to get one to two posts a month out there. That said, let's get started.
One thing I am looking to do is put more Fistful of TOWs 3 orbats out there. I really want to make these available for folks as they seem to be rather popular with people. One thing I want to do now is to work on a formation near and dear to Twilight: 2000 fans, I'm going to do the 5th Infantry Division ca. 1997. Doing it in 2000 is a bit of guesswork based on "Death of a Division." It's doable, but I'd rather leave that to a later project, no?
 |
| Taken from the Free League Website |
The 5th Division, in real life, the division was assigned to US III Corps, and was supposed to be part of the US force designated to reinforce NORTHAG. The division had two active brigades, as well as a roundout brigade, the 256th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) of the Louisiana National Guard. The division in case of war, was supposed to fly over on civilian air transport (read: airliners), collect their pre-positioned equipment in Germany, and then go fight the Soviets presumably invading West Germany.
In Twilight: 2000, obviously things didn't go that way. The division according to the 1st Edition Army Vehicle Guide deployed by air and sea (um huh?) to West Germany in December of 1996. It went into action as part of III Corps but then was transferred to Panzergruppe Obendorf. Most Twilight: 2000 fans are pretty familiar with the rest of the division's war record. But suffice it to say, the 5th had an eclectic mix of gear as it was made up of active and reserve units.
 |
Shoulder Patch of the 5th Infantry Division, Taken from Wikipedia
|
Now, there's some good information on the 5th. We have three sources to figure out the TOE for the division. One is of course, the venerable US Army Vehicle Guide.
 |
Ol' Reliable Itself - Taken from Amazon.com
|
Another pair of items I have available are two books I am sure played a role in the research of the US Army Vehicle Guide. One is Armies of NATO's Central Front by David C. Isby and Charles Kemps. I was lucky to get a copy cheap, but I assure you, it's hard to find, but worth the price.
 |
Taken from Abe Books.com
|
Another complementary work is Gordon Rottman's work on the US Army in the 1980s, which had a very helpful battalion-level breakdown of the divisions and independent brigades of the US Army ca. 1987. Granted, I suspect some of the battalions would have realigned again sometime between then and the Twilight War, but hey, might as well go with it.
A final source is a friend of mine's. Chico and I did a lot of work for the late and lamented DC Working Group. I enjoyed the work we put out and one of those items was a battalion-level breakdown of the various battalions of EVERY division in the US Army at the beginning of the Twilight War. Our work can be found at the following links:
We did a lot of research on these, so I am going to borrow from all three of these elements to come up with a 5th Division that well, works.
So...without further ado...here's the 5th Division.
5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), December 1996
Quality: Good/Excellent
Artillery Accuracy and Response: 2+ for both
Combat Formations
4-12th Cavalry (Divisional Cavalry Squadron)
Base Troops:
2 recon M3 Bradley CFV (NBC Recon Platoon)
2 Cav Troops, each with:
1 M-106 4.2" Mortar Carrier
4 recon M-3 Bradley CFV
2 Air Cav Troops, each with:
2 OH-58
1 AH-1V
Armored Battalions (1-70th, 3-70th, 2-77th, 3-77th, and 1-156th (LANG))
Base Troops:
1 recon M3 Bradley CFV (Scout Platoon)
1 M-106 4.2" Mortar Carrier
1 Stinger Base + HMMWV (ADA Platoon)
4 Tank Companies, each with:
3 M1A1 MBT
Mechanized Battalions (1-61st, 3-6th, 4-6th, 2-156th (LANG), and 3-156th (LANG))
Base Troops:
1 recon M-3 Bradley CFV
1 M-106 4.2" Mortar Carrier
1 Stinger Base + 1 HMMWV
AT Company:
3 M901 ITVs
4 Mechanized Infantry Companies, each with:
4 M2A2 Bradleys + 4 Infantry Stands with Javelin ATGM
Engineer Battalion (7th Combat Engineers)
1 M9 Dozer
2 M-60 AVLB
2 M-728 CEV
3 Medium Trucks with Bridge Sections
Attack Helicopter Battalion (1-5th)
6 AH-1V
3 OH-58
Artillery Support Groups
Tube Artillery Battalions (4-1st, 5-1st. and 1-141st Artillery (LANG))
6 M-109A3 SP 155mm How
MLRS Battery (C Battery, 21st Artillery Regiment)
2 M-270 MLRS
Well, that's it for now, We'll be back later with more Twilight: 2000 wargaming related content soon!
