Abvan - Truppen Special Assault Section And Terran Counterparts
"Stand by on the particle cannon...You might want to look away."
Empire's Rift, Chpt. 20
by Steve Rzasa
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| NAS Hessian |
Abvan Were Truppen Assault Formations Classified As Shock Troops
On the Westcentral Front in 2652, the Northern Alliance formed a Truppen unit called the Rhoda Battalion to develop Truppen assault tactics. The Rhoda Truppen were then assigned as cadre to train thirty-six Abvan Divisions of three brigades each. There were two regiments to a brigade. In most cases, regiments were deployed independently and attached to a Northern Alliance Infantry Corps. They were spacemobile and airmobile. These formations would usually lead an attack. Often better equipped than other Truppen infantry, they were expected to take heavy casualties. Abvan units engaged the enemy with overwhelming force, as opposed to special forces units operating in small teams.
Grenadiertruppen were specialized Abvan formations specializing in siege operations. First established with a distinct role in the mid- to late-27th century, grenadiertruppen regiments would storm enemy positions at the forefront of an attack. Later, when the use of the original regiment-sized formations was abandoned, Northern Alliance armies retained a grenadiertruppen company in the divisional command element as specialist assault troops.
Terran Use of Shock Troops
During the Terran Offensive of 2656, the Terran general Chao Shen developed and implemented the idea of shock troops to attack weak points along the Northern Alliance lines on Fujan-4 to effect a breakthrough, which the Terran Army could exploit. The Terran Army also deployed hunter commando units who were specially trained to hunt truppen through ambushes and search & destroy operations.
The Chao Shen infiltration tactics called for special infantry assault units to be detached from the main lines and sent to infiltrate enemy lines, supported by brief, intense artillery fire missions. 'Shen' patrols avoided enemy strong points and attacked Truppen units when and where they found them, leaving the following heavier infantry formations to engage main force elements and strong points. The goal of Shen units was to infiltrate the enemy's lines and interdict Truppen elements to prevent them from engaging the main Terran assault forces.
Notwithstanding their hatred of Truppen, the same tactical doctrine was widely espoused in Terran and Reittian forces in late 2657 and 2658, with mixed results. The Terran Army training doctrine for platoon tactics from 2657 onwards, mimicked the brutal tactics of Truppen shock troops. Additionally, Distan Colony and Outland Colony divisions deployed amongst Terran forces in the eastern provinces were regarded as the best shock troops in the Terran ranks and were employed extensively. Terran Republic forces were also trained in tactics by surviving Reittian cadre from chasseur orbital jump infantry units and were instructed in the use of Reittian heavy rail machineguns and particle grenades.
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| Terran Tug |
The Second Consular War
The Reittian Army
During the Second Consular War, the Reittian Army deployed upwards of fifty Shock Armies between 2665 and 2673. Many of the units which spearheaded the Reittian offensives on the Northeastern Front from the Battle of Deovara Starsystem (2667–2668) to the Battle of Baedecker (2672-2673) were Shock armies. Shock armies had high proportions of infantry, engineers and field artillery, but with less emphasis on operational mobility. Reittian Shock armies were characterized by a higher number of army-level artillery units to break Northern Alliance defense positions by weight of fire, and often had metatank regiments or heavy self-propelled gun regiments for direct fire-support. Once a Shock army made a breach in an enemy tactical position, mobile units like fusion tank and mechanized corps would move through the Shock army's positions to mop up isolated enemy units.
Well-known Shock Armies included the 22nd Shock Army, which spearheaded several offensives in the Linara Nebula, and the 43rd Shock Army, which played a pivotal role in the Battle of Baedecker. A Reittian ad hoc battle company was a combined-arms unit of about eighty men in assault groups of six to eight men, closely supported by field artillery. These tactical units were efficient in the house-to-house fighting that they were forced to conduct in each Northern Alliance city they encountered from Deovara to Baedecker
Northern Alliance Armies
In the Northern Alliance armed forces, Truppen armies received the best gear and weapons. Truppen served as heavy units used to smash well-armed and well-equipped Reittian armies on the Northeastern Front. The Truppen Armies lost much of their strength after the Kutasek Starfields Campaign (2670) but nevertheless fought in many theaters and played a significant role in the Battle for the Baedecker constellations (2672–2673).
After The Consular Wars
The demands of infantry fighting in the Second Consular War erased much of the romance of 'shock' troops, particularly when any well-trained infantry was capable of similar tactics. The Reittians retained the term 'Shock' (although the term can also be translated as 'Strike') as a designation for specialized armies as part of Reittian battle doctrine. The Terran Republic abandoned shock troops in favor of a combined arms doctrine that emphasized superior fire support and firepower.
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