Hemmed in by Hedgerows

You are the lead infantry platoon commander in an Allied tank-mech company in Europe in 1944. Your company’s mission is to seize a nameless small town set among hedgerows, which typically line all of the roads in the area. In most places, there is a ditch between the roadway and the hedgerow. Roads are narrow, barely wide enough for two vehicles, and hedgerows comprise dense, ancient growth four- to six-feet high.

Your company commander has decided to continue to move after dark because the company is behind schedule. Since speed is vital, your troops mount the tanks and the company forges ahead through the night, breaking through German lines before the Germans realize what’s happening. Mistaking Allied tanks for German tanks, a German tank pulls into the column, only to be destroyed from the rear by an Allied tank. A few hundred yards from the town, the lead tank stops for no apparent reason, and the rest of the column also comes to a halt.

From your position on the third tank, you can now hear German voices on the other side of the hedgerow, about 10 feet away to your right. You immediately throw a hand grenade and command the nearest squad to open fire. The tank commander accelerates, moving out of immediate danger to a position 200 yards down the road. Hit by an antitank rocket fired by the Germans, the tank behind you bursts into flame, lighting the nearby roadway.

You deploy your troops in ditches along the road. There are now only 3 tanks, 22 riflemen (each with 3 or 4 grenades), and 2 Browning automatic riflemen left in your mini task force trapped between the burning tank and the town. You do not know what happened to the eight men from your platoon who were riding on that tank. Since the main body is stalled a quarter mile to the rear, the company commander orders you to rejoin the main force. You wonder how to do this. It is physically impossible for the tanks to leave the road, which is still partly lit by the burning tank. Your platoon can squeeze through the hedgerows into the fields beyond, but that is where the Germans are. Although you can only see a few Germans near the burning tank, you believe that you are surrounded by the enemy. The Germans can fire through the hedgerow, but only with limited accuracy. They can also fire over the hedgerows, but must expose themselves to do so. Some of your men have been in combat for only a few days and are near panic. You outrank the tank commander, who is another lieutenant. What are your orders?

Send your frag order and rationale to the Marine Corps Gazelle, TDG #91-6, P. O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the August issue.

Coca Strike

The Situation

You command Company K, 3d Battalion, 4th Marines. As part of a multinational operation, you are patrolling a rural area in the nation of Generica with the intent of destroying the local cocaine-trade infrastructure. Company I is patrolling 20 kilometers to your east. The rest of the battalion is aboard the USS Tarawa 10 kilometers offshore, 40 kilometers west of you, with Company L in heliborne reserve.

You are reinforced by the battalion air liaison officer, an intelligence officer/linguist from the Defense Intelligence Agency, a Generican Marine officer with a bullhorn, and a radio operator with an AN/PSC-3 satellite radio providing UHF communications with the Tarawa. At the Generican Government’s request you are on foot, but you have an AN/MRC-138A radio vehicle for HF communications with a Generican Marine company patrolling 20 kilometers west of you.

Your mission is to destroy coca crops and processing facilities and capture traffickers while avoiding collateral casualties and damage as far as possible. No artillery or fixed-wing air support can be used. Four AH-1W Cobras armed with miniguns, rockets, and Hellfires are on strip alert at a FARP (forward arming and refueling point) 25 kilometers south of you. You have first priority for their support.

Moving north along a dirt road, you stop at 1300 as you emerge from moderately dense forest to check in with battalion. A steep hill mass is ahead; your map shows that the road leads to a village in a saddle on the hill mass, but you cannot see it from where you are. The battalion commander tells you real-time satellite imagery shows about 20 people loading cargo onto a large airplane at an airstrip near several sheds amid coca fields northwest of the hill mass. You know the traffickers usually take off at dusk, about 1730. People are also in the village, in the fields of potatoes, corn, and sugarcane southwest of the hill mass, and on the road west of the village.

The battalion commander orders you to capture the plane with its cargo if possible and destroy it otherwise, capture any traffickers you can, and destroy the airstrip, processing facility, and cultivated coca. Because of the desire to show goodwill toward those uninvolved in the drug trade, you are not to fire any weapons in or at the village atop the hill mass unless fired on from the village, and under no circumstances may you use mortars or rockets against targets in the village.

The Requirement

Within fifteen minutes, prepare the fragmentary orders you would issue your company. Include plans for use of supporting arms, an overlay, and a brief explanation of your rationale.

Send your frag order and rationale to the Marine Corps Gazette, TDG #91-8, P. O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the October issue.

The Attack on Narrow Pass-Continued

This scenario is the continuation of TDG #91-3, “The Attack on Narrow Pass,” published in the March 1991 issue, and is based on a common solution for that scenario submitted by several players.

The Initial Situation

The initial scenario, described in detail in the March issue, is summarized here: You command a reinforced rifle platoon guarding the left flank of the battalion as it advances north through Narrow Pass to relieve a helicopterborne force encircled at Sanctuary City. As you parallel the battalion, your point squad chases off an enemy listening post near Checkpoint 37. About the same time, the battalion gets involved in a significant firelight near the bridge. The time is about 2030. You spot two enemy machinegun positions on the outcrops to Narrow Pass that are opening up on the battalion. You contemplate taking some sort of action to assist the battalion, but you decide that your orders to guard the flank are explicit and that you had best stay put. You decide to try to suppress the westernmost gun position with an attached machinegun squad, and you let battalion know you can adjust supporting arms on the easternmost position. But beyond that you will stick to your original mission. You set your three squads in a blocking position in the trees along the east-west road near Checkpoint 37, preparing to repel any enemy approaching from the west.

The New Situation

The enemy machineguns fall silent as you suppress with supporting arms and your own machineguns. Battalion has successfully outflanked the enemy and is advancing north again. Your platoon engages an enemy patrol of about squad size approaching from the northwest; the enemy patrol withdraws hurriedly from whence it came. Checking out the scene of the firefight, you recover two enemy corpses. Artillery impacts several hundred meters west of your position. That was about a half hour ago; you have had no enemy activity since then. Suddenly, battalion comes under heavy fire as it nears Narrow Pass. The enemy machineguns that you engaged open up on the battalion again, this time from either flank. It is apparent that the enemy has a sizable force at the pass. From the radio traffic you discern that battalion has been hit hard: two companies are unable to advance and are taking casualties. Anxious to help, you contact battalion to offer your services. “Just wait out,” the S-3 snaps agitatedly. “We’ve got other things to worry about right now.” The time is now 2200. What do you do?

The Requirement

Within a five-minute time limit, prepare the fragmentary order (if any) you would issue to your squad leaders and attachments, including the intent of your plan. Include any plans for the use of supporting arms, an overlay of any schemes of maneuver, and any further communications you would make with battalion. Then give a brief explanation of your rationale. Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #91-9, Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the authors’ and other solutions in the November issue.

Short End of the Stick, Part I

The Situation

Since we landed eight days ago, the operation has been going well. We quickly gained air superiority. Our mobile forces-mounted in light armored vehicles, well-equipped with a new generation of precision-guided weapons, and acting in close cooperation with our aircraft-are moving rapidly inland. Indeed, we would already have destroyed the enemy’s conventional forces were it not for the fact that so much of the country was heavily wooded.

You are the commander of a Marine infantry battalion (four companies, without attachments) serving as part of the follow-on forces that must “mop up” the pockets of resistance bypassed by the mobile forces. You have only your organic vehicles. As a result, you and your men must move and fight largely on foot. Worse yet, the density of the woods in which you operate-which remind you more than anything of the places in Quantico where you got lost trying to learn land navigation-makes the use of the new long-range precision-guided munitions almost impossible.

Thus, for the past week you have been marching and fighting the oldfashioned way. Fortunately, resistance has been light, so that you and the battalions on your flanks have been able to move about 25 kilometers a day. While there have been no wholesale surrenders, groups of enemy stragglers have been giving themselves up on a regular basis. Those enemy units that do wish to put up a fight have seldom tried to hold their ground. They have generally been satisified to drop a few trees and fire a few shots before fleeing.

Today, however, as you and your battalion, near the end of a 23-kilometer march, were entering the supposedly secure town of San Miguel, you were surprised by three enemy light armored vehicles that burst out of the woods and onto the road. One was quickly dispatched by a hail of fire from your grenade and rocket launchers. The crews of the other two vehicles surrendered in time to avoid the same fate. You were lucky this time. Although the vehicles had working machineguns and plenty of ammunition, the crews neglected to fire on the tempting target offered by your battalion on the road.

As night falls, you find your billets in San Miguel. At 2200, you receive your orders, and a home-made map. from regiment.

“We are continuing the work of securing these roads through the woods,” the order read. “Your job is to clear the stretch of woods between road number five and the Marquesa Creek, inclusive. I’m giving you no deadline; take whatever time you need to get the job done. Remember, however, we have to maintain the tempo of this operation. We don’t want to give the enemy time to reorganize itself.”

As you ponder your map, your staff gathers. The first to arrive is the supply officer, who tells you that your request for additional night vision goggles (to augment the 50 sets that you already have) has been denied.

The Requirement

Discuss your intent, the concept of operations, and the guidance you will give the staff concerning the order to be issued to the battalion. Include any plans for the use of supporting arms, an overlay of any schemes of maneuver, and any further communications you would make with battalion. Then give a brief explanation of your rationale. Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #91-10, Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the December issue.

Rescue the Ambassador!

Situation

You are the commanding officer Company G, Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/8, 26th MEU(SOC) currently embarked aboard amphibious shipping on your regularly scheduled deployment to the Mediterranean. You have been awakened from your early afternoon MORP and hurriedly summoned to the BLT commander’s stateroom where the BLT commander, S-3, S-2, and air officer are waiting for you. You are told that our national security agencies have been watching the crisis unfold in the neighboring Middle Eastern region, and the situation has just taken a sudden and dramatic turn for the worse, as the small, peace-loving nation of GOOD was invaded (without apparent provocation) early this morning by its much larger and stronger neighbor BAD in a blitz-style attack. In a matter of hours BAD had completely engulfed the unprepared nation of GOOD and is now engaged in consolidating its conquest. Of immediate concern to us, however, is that the forces of BAD have captured and are holding the U.S. Ambassador and his family in his country residence. All of the Ambassador‘s staff, servants, and security who were present at the residence when it was seized have been removed.

The National Command Authority has decided to attempt a surprise rescue immediately before the forces of BAD either relocate or harm the Ambassador and his family. Your mission, Skipper, is to rescue the Ambassador tonight. It is expected that the Ambassador will be located in either Building A or B, both of which are two-story stone buildings. All of the other buildings in the compound are made of wood. You are to bring out the Ambassador, his wife, and their three children. The rescue attempt will be conducted in the last few minutes of the predawn darkness. You are to depart in less than 6 hours.

It is believed that the residence is being guarded by no more than 60 lightly armed security forces. The exact deployment of this small enemy force cannot be determined. However, no BAD vehicles have been observed inside the compound. (It is precisely because of this temporary vulnerability that the decision has been made to attempt the rescue immediately.) It is estimated that BAD forces are capable of reacting to the residence from the west within 15 minutes with a reinforced company mounted in OTC-62 personnel carriers. BAD air should not be a threat, as we expect to maintain local air superiority over the objective area for the duration of the raid. However, BAD air defenses will preclude us from either approaching or retiring from the west.

Because of the distances involved, you will be supported by six CH-53Es (.50 cals mounted) and fixed-wing aircraft only. (Aerial refueling will be required.) The objective is out of range of naval gunfire. You are to build your raid force from six rifle squads and can take as much of your weapons platoon as you need. Finally, you may take any two of the specially configured M151s. Our air operations will support your scheme of maneuver on the ground.

Requirement

Describe your task organization for the mission. Submit an overlay of your scheme of maneuver within the objective area to include specific landing points for each of your six helicopters and a brief explanation of your plan. Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, c/o Tactical Decision Game #92-1, P. O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the March 1992 issue.

Dull Garrison Chronicles, Part IV: Take the Airfield

Situation

As the commanding officer BLT 2/8 (part of 26th MEU), you and your command are feeling pretty good about yourselves after Company G was able to rescue the American Ambassador. The general situation, however, has deteriorated further. The forces of BAD invaded Dull Island and are threatening to overrun the Marine garrison, which has suffered heavy casualties and is now fighting for survival on the outskirts of Al Habib. Furthermore, it would appear that BAD is already reinforcing and fortifying its defense of Dull Garrison Island even while it is attempting to eliminate the Marine stronghold.

The loss of Dull Garrison Island would be devastating to the American effort since access to other possible staging areas has eroded through the neglect of reciprocal defense treaties. Therefore, the National Command Authority has no choice but to order the immediate seizure of that vital island staging area.

It has been decided that the initial attack on Dull Garrison Island will occur at the island’s Airfield #2 in order to (a) relieve pressure on the beleaguered Marine garrison; (b) cut off the airfield through which BAD is bringing in supplies and reinforcements; and (c) provide an entry point for the U.S. forces that will continue the attack and secure the entire island.

In defense of Dull Garrison Island, the enemy has mustered a full division spearheaded by elite Guards and filled out with regular infantry spread throughout the entire island. Fortunately, other than a few antiaircraft batteries, the division’s heavy equipment has not yet caught up with it. Airfield #2 is thought to be defended by a small battalion (400 men) of regular infantry along with three antiaircraft emplacements. (See map.)

Available to provide close air support (CAS) are the the MEU’s eight Harriers and eight Cobra’s. A carrier battle group (CBG) will support the landing from a distance but will be engaged primarily in air superiority and CBG and amphibious task force (ATF) defensive missions. Once the airfield secured, elements of the 82d Airborne Division will be airlifted directly into it (by parachute if necessary). The initial elements are to assist the MEU in strengthening and expanding its foothold. The division will eventually assume the mission of securing the rest of the island. Finally, you are ordered to minimize collateral civilian damage. In support of this effort, the BLT’s specific missions are to:

* Secure Dull Garrison Island Airfield #2 (ATF Obj I) ensuring that the three antiaircraft emplacements are destroyed. The airlift of stateside forces is scheduled to begin a mere 6 hours after the commencement of the assault.

* Secure the village of Al Joblin (LF OBJ 1) in order to destroy the enemy headquarters and combat units located there as well as to prevent any reinforcement of the airfield.

* Seize the bridge over North River (LF Obj 2) in order to block any reaction the enemy may attempt as well as to facilitate future operations ashore.

Because of unfavorable beach conditions, the only suitable landing site for an amphibious assault is located at the mouth of North River, which is dry at this time of year. It is felt that the LCACs and AAVs will have no difficulty in overcoming any sandbars that may be located in this area. Beachmasters, however, will have to determine if an alternate landing point will have to be offset slightly for the LCUs, LCM-8s, and general offload. There are two LCACs and two LCUs aboard the LHA and one LCAC and one LCU aboard the LPD. Company E retains possession of the combat rigid raiding craft. Furthermore, there are only enough helicopters available to lift either one reinforced rifle company or the 105mm platoon of the battery at a time. The BLT is tasked organized aboard ship as follows:

LHA BLT 2/8 Headquarters (-) (rein)

Company G

Artillery Battery (4xl05mm+4xl55mm)

Engineer Platoon (-)

TOW section

3d Squad, Dragon Platoon

LPD

Company E

Weapons Company (-)

2d Squad, Engineer Platoon

Platoon LAI

(4xLAV+2xLAV-AT+lxLAV-M)

IST

Company F

AAV Platoon

1st Squad, Dragon Platoon

1st Squad, Engineer Platoon

Requirement

As the BLT commander, briefly discuss your plans for accomplishing your mission to include your task organization for the assault, your sequencing of units ashore, and the broad missions you assign your subordinates. Include an overlay which indicates the landing zones you intend to use, additional BLT objectives that you may designate, and your general scheme of maneuver. Submit your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #92-6, Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the August 1992 issue.

Dull Garrison Chronicles Part V: Company Assault

This is a continuation of the TDGs presented in recent months. As a general review, the commander, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) was ordered to assault and secure Dull Garrison Island Airfield #2 so it can be used by follow-on forces arriving from the United States. It it believed that the airfield is only being defended by one of the enemy’s small battalions (400 men). The battalion headquarters and one rifle company appear to be located in the village of A1 Joblin. The airfield itself (ATF Obj I) is being defended by a second rifle company. The enemy’s third rifle company is thought to be located near the bridge spanning the North River, which is virtually dry at this time of the year. Three antiaircraft positions have been identified and are depicted on the accompanying map.

To accomplish his mission, the battalion commander assigned Company E the main effort and directed it to land by CRRC over Red Beach (immediately south of the mouth of South Creek) at L -5 hours, and move covertly toward Airfield #2. At L-hour Company E destroy the antiaircraft artillery (AAA) site south of the field and secure the airfield (ATF Obj I), advancing no further than the designated limit of advance (LOA). Company F would land over Blue Beach at L-hour, destroy the AAA site to the north and and assault to secure Al Joblin (LF Obj 1) and the AAA site to the west. The light armored infanty (LAI) platoon will follow in trace of Company F and seize the bridge over North River. A 105mm howitzer platoon will be in position south of South Creek by L-hour.

Requirement

You are the company commander of Company E. Prepare the order you would issue your subordinates to carry out your mission. Include an overlay sketch and provide a brief discussion of the rationale behind your actions. Submit your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #92-7, Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the September 1992 issue.

Dull Garrison Chronicles Part VI: F-O-X Spells Relief

Situation

The 26th MEU has been directed to retake Dull Garrison Island from the forces of BAD in order to rescue the beleaguered Marine garrison and to establish a foothold for follow-on forces. Elements of the 82d Airborne Division have begun to arrive and have taken up defensive positions around DGI Airfield #2. Things appear to be going well in that respect. For a time, the pressure on the flagging Marine provisional rifle battalion had slackened. In an apparent effort to wipe them out once and for all, however, the enemy redoubled their efforts against the garrison‘s shrinking perimeter. The MEU commander, therefore, ordered a relief column to rescue the badly depleted battalion now located at Al Habib several kilometers south of Al Bandi.

BLT 2/8 will execute this mission with only its organic assets. The battalion commander was required to leave his TOWs, LAVs, and AAVs behind for airfield security. You are the commanding officer of Company F (“The Gunfighters”). Your company is assigned as the lead element of one of the battalion’s two parallel columns. Your mission is to proceed south along Al Bandi road, quickly bypassing or destroying any enemy resistance, in order to reach the provisional rifle battalion as rapidly as possible.

Your point has reported enemy activity in and around the small village of Al Bandi. It would appear that there are approximately 50 enemy soldiers armed only with small arms and medium machineguns. Attached to your company is a squad of heavy machineguns (two .50 caliber/Mk19s with component vehicles). You have your 60mm mortars and may call for support from the battalion’s organic 81mm mortars. There are also two sections of Cobras (four aircraft) supporting the battalion’s movement. The rules of engagement state that you may destroy any local buildings only if first fired upon from within, and you must direct your fire only into those buildings in which known enemy forces are located. In other words, you are to minimize collateral civilian damage as much as possible. After all, the civilians are on our side and preservation of community resources will help them to get back to their lives as soon as BAD forces can be driven from Dull Garrison Island.

Requirement

In a time limit of 5 minutes, decide how you will proceed, deploy your platoon, and issue your orders. Include an overlay sketch and provide a brief discussion of the rationale behind your actions. Submit your solutions to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #92-8, Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the October 1992 issue.

Dull Garrison Chronicles Part VII: The “Guts” of BLT 2/8

Situation

This is a continuation of the Dull Garrison Chronicles and takes place on the same terrain encountered in TDG #92-5. It is the last of the Dull Garrison Chronicles.

Currently, we find that through the skillful efforts of Company F, Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/8 has pushed past the village of Al Bandi and is bearing down on the larger town of Al Habib in two separate columns. The provisional rifle battalion (PRB) is desperately short of ammunition, water, and medical supplies and has a growing casualty list well over 60 percent. It is holding out on its last legs in the south central part of Al Habib.

In an apparent effort to eliminate the remnants of the PRB. the enemy has resorted to launching fanatic human wave assaults against the tiny Marine stronghold, while leaving weaker forces to engage and delay our advancing relief column on the outskirts of the town. Although it is thought that the bulk of the enemy’s screening forces are poised on the northern edge of town, it appears that at least four squads are located in the northeast corner.

Recognizing both the nature of the enemy’s dispositions and the urgency of the situation in relation to the PRB. the commander of BLT 2/8 has decided that the quickest way to reach the beleagured PRB is to envelop the enemy’s western flank, employing Company G, which is approaching from that direction in one of the battalion’s two columns. Finally, the battalion commander intends to fix the remainder of the enemy’s screening force in its positions by feigning an attack on the northern outskirts, using both Companies E and F. To this end. Company G has been designated the BLT’s point of main effort. Company G has attached two sections of heavy machineguns (total of four Mkl9/four .50 caliber M2HB) and one section (four launchers) of Dragons. Also available to the company commander are fire missions from the BLTs 81mm mortar platoon and artillery battery, as well as support from one section (two aircraft) of Cobra attack helicopters. Note: The accompanying map only reflects the northwest corner of Al Habib.

Requirement:

You are the commanding officer of Company G. Since time is critical to the survivors of the PRB, quickly formulate your plans and issue your orders. Include an overlay sketch and provide a brief discussion of the rationale behind your actions. Submit your solutions to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #92-9, P. O. Box 1775, Quantico. VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the November issue.

Battle of the Garagiola River Revisited

The scenario for this game is the same as TDG #92-10, only it is seen this time from the enemy’s point of view-i.e., with the roles reversed. The games stand alone and can be played in any order-but both should be played. The purpose is to illustrate the importance of trying to understand an enemy by seeing the situation through his binoculars.

Situation

You are the commander of the 9th Marines advancing generally east along the lakeshore as part of the division. Your regiment includes the 1st and 2d Battalions on assault amphibious vehicles (AAVs) and the 3d Battalion on trucks. For the last 10 days the division has been advancing against an enemy tank-mechanized force of regimental strength. This enemy has been waging an effective and clever delaying action, fighting tenaciously from delaying positions, making effective use of terrain and supporting arms, but disengaging and falling back before the division can bring about a decisive engagement. Frustrated over the rate of advance and inability to force the enemy into battle, the division commander moves your regiment into the lead and attaches a tank battalion. His instructions to you are: “Attack aggressively, force a crossing of the Garagiola River as quickly as possible to facilitate the continuation of the advance, and crush the enemy force opposing us once and for all. The 4th Marines will be ready to reinforce and exploit your success.”

Intelligence indicates that the enemy has fallen back through Tragedia and Garagiola and is preparing positions along the Garagiola River, which has steep banks that make it impassible to any vehicles. As your leading mechanized battalion approaches Checkpoint 68, you receive a report of enemy light-armored infantry (with antitank missiles) at Tragedia. Within the next half hour your regiment will be engaged. What are your orders, Colonel?

Requirement

In a time limit of 10 minutes, give the orders you would pass to your subordinates. Provide a sketch of your plan, any guidance for supporting arms, and a brief explanation of your plan. Submit your solution to Marine Corps Gazette, TDG #92-12, P. O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134

The Enemy Over the Bridge

by Capt John F. Schmitt

The following is an example of a tactical decision game like those in use at the Marine Corps University as a tool for developing military judgment and decisionmaking ability. The basic idea behind these deceptively simple games is to create a hypothetical battlefield dilemma of some sort and require the players to develop a solution under pressure of a time limit. The games work best in groups up to about a dozen, where Marines can argue the merits of various plans. The games are designed to teach students how to think rather than what to think, the rationale being that since each battlefield situation is unique it is futile to try to provide the right answer in advance for every conceivable situation. In fact, as in war, there are no absolute right or wrong answers. As long as a solution reflects the tenets of maneuver warfare, it is the “right” answer.

The Situation

You are the commanding officer, 3d Battalion, 6th Marines. Your battalion consists of two rifle companies on foot, one rifle company in trucks, a tank company (minus), and a TOW section on HMMWVs.

Friendly forces hold the bridge and the riverline. (You believe the river to be unfordable.) Reconnaissance elements are operating north of the river. Tomorrow morning the division begins a major offensive north across the river, with the division’s main effort in 6th Marines’ zone. Your battalion will spearhead the regiment’s attack.

You are to occupy the assembly area shown on the map west of Hamlet in preparation for the morning attack across the river commencing at 0400. You are moving north toward the assembly area as shown. At 2000, your surveillance and target acquisition (STA) platoon, which is forward reconnoitering the route, reports enemy infantry occupying your assembly area in strength and continuing to reinforce. The size of these enemy units is unknown but estimated to be at least a company. Further, the STA platoon commander reports he has just met a reconnaissance team that was operating north of the river but has been forced south across the river under fire. The reconnaissance team leader reports there is no sign of friendly forces holding the riverline or the bridge and that enemy infantry with some light vehicles has been moving across the bridge for at least 30 minutes. This is all the information the STA and reconnaissance Marines can tell you.

As the battalion commander, what will you do?

Requirement

Within a five-minute time limit, give your solution in the form of the fragmentary order you would issue to your subordinates-to include the intent behind your plan-and support it with an overlay sketch. Then give a brief (200 words or less) explanation of the reasons behind your decision, the key considerations that led you to choose your course of action. Since there is no school solution to a problem like this, the emphasis is not so much on the course you take as in the reasons behind that course. Send your solution without delay to the Marine Corps Gazette, care of Tactical Decision Games, P.O. Box 1775, Quantico. VA 22134. My solution and one or two others chosen by the editor will be published in the June issue.