2RGT Campaign: "Red Line" - Normandy, 1977

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History of the Conflict

The armed conflict in Normandy finds its roots in the end of the 19th century, when the Allies, and in particular the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, after winning the war against the Axis powers, started returning the former German-occupied lands to the nations they once belonged to. The only nation that didn't regain control of all of its lands was France, which saw the Americans maintain control of Normandy, one of its regions. The war ended in 1945, and more than thirty years later, the United States were still holding on to Normandy. A number of French politicians claimed the region controlled by the Americans, but when all diplomatic efforts failed to deliver the expected results, France turned to the Soviet Union for help.

The Soviet Union began designing air routes to France, needed to provide military support to the French ground units stationed around Normandy. Since November 25th 1977, hundreds of soviet military helicopters were used to transport all sorts of weapons, ammunitions and military systems in general from the Soviet Union to France. Tanks, military airplanes, artilleries and the like were transported to France, along with roughly 18000 soldiers and 1500 Russian military advisors. Operational control and intelligence deeply relied on the reconnaissance satellite Kosmos 954, launched by the Soviet Union in 1977. The entire operation was coordinated by a panel of generals belonging to different allied armies, under the command of the army general Vasiliy Petrov.

General Petrov's strategy was based on the joint use of armored ground vehicles and airborne troops. This kind of strategy was very well suited to Normandy's vast plains. The success of his tactic was mainly due to the fact that he tried to maintain initiative and the element of surprise as often as possible and was very good at swiftly moving ground and air troops from one location to the other according to how the battle evolved. The Americans, on the other hand, soon realized that things were slipping out of their hands and tried to overturn the situation. During the first days of December 1977, they launched an offensive on the besieged town of Evreux and on Berk. Both of those efforts turned out to be inconclusive, in fact the Russians managed to push back the American forces thanks to the various divisions that were already stationed in the area and to the ones that quickly arrived after the offensive, carrying BM-21 122 mm rocket launchers and tanks.

On January 8th 1978, after many airstrikes carried out by aircrafts such as the MiG-21 and MiG-15, the Su-25T and the L-39, the Soviet counteroffensive began. American outposts in Le Havre and the American base in Rouen were hit hard by the Russian pilots. Artillery and rocket batteries fired continuously while a Russian division assaulted the american troops stationed outside Rouen. The American reaction was way too slow, allowing many Russian tanks to slip on their sides and decimate the American soldiers. The losses on the American side were extremely high, leading the Army operational command to order the remaining troops to retreat on the outskirts of Caen, to try one last stand.

The next month was even worse for the American troops, which lost so many aircrafts to the enemy that their airborne division was practically nonexistent anymore. With the area under Soviet control, the American defeat was at the door.

On March 3rd 1978, general Petrov authorized the ultimate Soviet attack against the remaining American forces holding the city of Saint-Lô. The troops on the ground received artillery and air support, while mechanized infantry units, a French one and two Russian ones, attacked the American positions from the south and special forces units attacked from the north, backed by Mi-6 and Mi-8 helicopters. Furthermore, Petrov ordered a final mechanized assault on Caen, which quickly fell in the hands of the Russians.

The American troops were forced to retreat, allowing the French to regain control of all the cities and villages in Normandy that for decades remained under American control. The blowing defeat dealt to the United States during what later became known as the Normandy War, led the French to think they could try and hit the Americans in their own country, but the Soviet Union and its allies talked them into abandoning this idea and ceasing all hostilities. On March 8th 1978, Normandy was finally under French control.

Airfields - ground vehicles - modules (players) - modules (AIs) - RSBN frequencies - modules specifications

Russian-controlled airfields

Needs Oar Point - RSBN channel 5

Funtington - RSBN channel 4

Tangmere - RSBN channel 3

Ford - RSBN channel 2

Évreux - RSBN channel 30

Mission objectives

Objective 1: from Needs Oar Point airfield, bearing 141° for 180 km - Port of Le Havre - destroy the ships

Objective 2: from the Port of Le Havre, bearing 90° for 68 km - headqarters bunker - stop colonel Harris

Evreux airfield (under Russian control):

From Needs Oar Point airfield, bearing 133° for 272 km

From the headquarters bunker, bearing 166° for 47 km

Russian forces:

Aircrafts:

MiG-21 (5 slots, 2 of which occupied by 2RGT pilots)

MiG-15 (5 slots)

L-39 (5 slots)

Su-25T (4 slots, 3 of which occupied by 2RGT pilots)

American forces:

Aircrafts:

F-5E Tiger II

F-86F Sabre

Ground forces:

AAA Vulcan M163

SAM Hawk PCP

SAM Hawk LN M192

SAM Hawk SR AN/MPQ-50

SAM Hawk AN/MPQ-46

SAM Patriot ICC

SAM Patriot EPP

SAM Patriot ECS AN/MSQ-104

SAM Patriot AMG AN/MRC-137

SAM Patriot LN M901

SAM Patriot STR AN/MPQ-53

Su-25T Frogfoot suggested armaments:

SEAD/AA loadout (weight: 2770 kg)

Pylons:

1 MPS-410

2 R-73 --> [105 kg]

3 Kh-25MPU --> [315 kg]

4 Kh-25MPU --> [315 kg]

5 Kh-58U --> [650 kg]

6 L-081 Fantasmagoria

7 Kh-58U --> [650 kg]

8 Kh-25MPU --> [315 kg]

9 Kh-25MPU --> [315 kg]

10 R-73 --> [105 kg]

11 MPS-410

SEAD/AA/AG loadout (weight: 2590 kg)

Pylons:

1 MPS-410

2 R-73 --> [105 kg]

3 Kh-25MPU --> [315 kg]

4 Kh-25MPU --> [315 kg]

5 KAB-500KR --> [560 kg]

6 L-081 Fantasmagoria

7 KAB-500KR --> [560 kg]

8 Kh-25MPU --> [315 kg]

9 Kh-25MPU --> [315 kg]

10 R-73 --> [105 kg]

11 MPS-410

MiG-21 suggested armaments:

AA/IR loadout (weight: 1096 kg) (weight, without fuel tank, with 6 IR missiles: 406 kg)

Pylons:

5-1 R-60M --> [59 kg x2]

4-2 R-60MX2 --> [122 kg x2]

3 Fuel Tank 800 L --> [690 kg]

6 ASO-2 --> [22 kg x2]

AA/IR SPS-141 loadout (weight: 1266 kg) (weight, without fuel tank, with 4 IR missiles: 394 kg)

Pylons:

5-1 Fuel tank 490L --> [436 kg x2]

4-2 R-60MX2 --> [122 kg x2]

3 SPS-141-100 --> [150 kg]

Satellite imagery (attachment)

BLOG Campaign / registration and more

Web Site 2RGT

Modules:

MiG-15bis

MiG-21bis

L-39 Albatros

Su-25

MAP:

Normandy 1944 Map

Looks like a fantastic plane set, unfortunately mid-day US time will leave most of JG-1 unable to attend. I wish you the best of luck!

Looks like a fantastic plane set, unfortunately mid-day US time will leave most of JG-1 unable to attend. I wish you the best of luck!

Hi, thank you for your words of appreciation. It’s unfortunate that most of the USA pilots won’t be able to attend because of the huge time difference between our countries. We will consider changing the time of our future events to make it easier for you guys to join us, even though it’s not gonna be easy to find a time that works for the both of us, since there’s at least 5 hours of difference between USA and Italy time.

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

Weekends!!

Weekends!!

Hi, thank you for your suggestion. Since we received a few requests from American pilots to move our event to a weekend, we will change the date to a weekend and update this page with the new date as soon as possible. The time will remain 21:00 GMT+1. We’re hoping to get as many American pilots as we can on board by playing during the weekend. Stay tuned for the new date!

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

Weekends!!

Looks like a fantastic plane set, unfortunately mid-day US time will leave most of JG-1 unable to attend. I wish you the best of luck!

we have updated this post with the new date: 23 december, Saturday

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

:thumbup:

added 4 slots for the AV-8B

28:21 fire on SAM locations

30:50 contact: bandits at 12 o'clock

01:26:58 contact: bandits at 12 o'clock

01:31:30 evasive maneuver, without flares

02:08:20 obj 2 complete

02:16:32 naval obj completed