To Major Nillsson
From Lance Major Roz Femur
Copy Senior Officers 130 EMR, Jim 9000
Sir,
As agreed I helped supervise and the run the Minuteman exercise.
Blue Forces Defender, Group A + 20 Navy crew
Red Forces Attacker Two Groups B+C
Equipment levels as Normal issue expect No Supercharges or wirepods were allowed.
Summary of exercise
I only observed the actions of group c on decks 0,1 and 2 and those defenders in its vicinity. I will restrict myself to those observations.
Defenders layout
1/2 squad and half section of navy crew in area of Marine assembly area Deck 1
1 squad in area of shaft A Deck 2
1/2 squad navy Crew Power Control
1 and 1/2 squads deck 3 in area of shaft C and Comm. Cen.
Attackers plan
Two group attack through two routes,
B group enter via EAL on Deck 3
C group enter via main shuttle bay, Via Shaft C, secure shaft C and then take Power control on Deck 2.
Comments on Defence
Defence type, Defence in Depth
Attacker two route attack Spearhead.
Group C deployed in shuttle bay without mishap. Showed some deception as to which shaft(s) they would attack down. Established observation down Shaft C without undue difficulty. 2 Blue marines were in shaft C deck 3.
Comment, It may have been possible that the defender could have established a better fire trap on shaft C. Effectively as the red forces enter shaft C, they are entering a very long corridor with masses of covered fire positions. It may have been possible for them the defenders to this as a rather nice fire trap.
Blue forces Deck 1 deployed to cover exit of red force from shaft C.
These forces though could not interdict movement through shaft C.
Allowed this opportunity Red moved ASAP down to Deck 3 to clear the Shaft C. (Comment the defender on Deck 1 could have been deployed in a more aggressive manner as they later were to interdict Shaft C either by grenade fire or direct fire. But they were being misdirected as to which shaft Red would come down. Comment Reds attacking deployments seemed rather aggressive and very incautious.)
Blue on deck 1 now decided to interdict shaft C, whilst Red grouped a squad and 1/2 on deck 0 and 2 in shaft A. Blue fired grenades into shaft C . Red replied effectively but paided a heavy price due to over crowding in shaft C. Blue decided to bide its time and stopped interdicting shaft C. This marine half squad had lost its robot 1 marine and all its navy crew. The navy Crew were deployed to close to the shaft and suffered heavily from grenade attack.
Blue then decided to use a squad to located shaft A deck 2 to counterattack up shaft A into the shuttle bay. This was executed extremely well against a half squad defense, but Group C was not unduly fazed by this and to remove its APGW and lead squads down shaft C. Thus the counterattack whilst executed brilliantly did not achieve its primary aim, though Group Cs CO Major Patel became a simulated casualty.
Red though at the same time as the counterattack its attack from shaft C deck 2 into power control. This it achieved with a minimum of fuss, except for very late on when the last three blue defenders from deck 1 attacked the rear of the Red force attacking Power control on deck 2. This created further casualties.
Comment. Blues marine half squad on deck 1, after a small degree of initial trepidation did very well and inflicted on Red about 10 simulated marine casualties. They showed great skill and punished an over confident Red attack. The marine squad from deck 2 shaft A also did very well, but not as well as the half squad. Red forces had a good beginning and ending with a serious hiccup in the middle.
L/Major Femur RH, 130 EMR
FROM: Lt J M Kemp
TO: Lt. Col. T A Kilgore
CC: Captain Rackham, All Officers
After the random officer casualty round in the ward-room I found myself commanding A Group defending the Agamemnon. I nominated Lt Holland as my 2ic.
After a brief discussion we decided that we needed to maintain a hold of both main control and the CommCen because of the exercise restraints on communications which required CommCen for communication between decks. I would also have liked to garrison Power Control, Fire Control, the Ops Centre, the shuttle bay and each of the emergency airlocks with marines, however one Group proved insufficient. The basic plan was to interdict boarders entering via the EAL next to Main Control and/or down shafts A & C from the shuttle bay. There was a squad in reserve to provide a counter-attack force once the schwerpunkt had been identified.
Initial Deployment
A HQ CommCen (excluding CSR)
A CSR Deck 5 Marine Assembly area (between shaft A & ?G)
A1 In reserve on Deck 2 Marine Assembly Area (next to shaft A)
A2 C fire trap covering entry by EAL next to Main Control
A2 D fire trap in Shaft A (decks 3 & 5)
A3 C in reserve outside CommCen (near EAL & shaft C)
A3 D fire trap in shaft C (on decks 3 & 5)
Navy 1 Fire Control
Navy 2 Power Control
Navy 3 Main Control
Navy 4 CommCen
Navy 5 Ops Centre
Each of the Navy sections had one Officer (or Petty Officer) and 3 ratings.
Lt Holland and I split the command of the ship into two parts. He was responsible for operations along shaft A and on Decks 0 & 1. I was responsible for Shaft C and Decks 2, 3 & 5. I would control things overall.
The defence was intended as a last-ditch defence with a mobile element to spoil the enemy attack by counter-attacking their rear elements and distracting them from their main effort.
Enemy Intent
The enemy plan was a two-pronged assault through the Shuttle bay and the EAL next to CommCen. The latter entry was not one I had considered and the enemy therefore obtained some local surprise. This was in part offset by the fact that I had the HQ element in CommCen and part of my reserve waiting where they entered.
The enemy plan appeared to be to gain control of shaft C and the CommCen before conducting operations through Power Control to Main Control.
Narrative
The enemy deployed into Deck 3 from the airlock and down shaft C more or less simultaneously. I found my squad trying to hold off two groups from two directions. At the same time A2 was kept busy with an enemy feint down shaft A. After a stiff exchange of fire and grenades A3 became simulated casualties, a number of the enemy were also downed. The remaining two members of A3 split up with one joining Group HQ in CommCen and the other joining A1 for the counter-attack.
Group HQ decided that attacking into a Group plus was suicidal and waited for the enemy to attempt to enter CommCen (a few grenades were thrown through the door in the meantime). On entry the enemy were engaged and a number of simulated casualties were inflicted before the CommCen fell.
As the enemy massed outside CommCen I planned the counter-attack with Lt Holland. I waited until the bulk of the enemy were in shaft C before giving the GO order. The counter-attack moved up shaft A onto the shuttle bay and engaged one of the enemy Group HQs. During the exchange the enemy Group Commander became a casualty. However our primary target had been the CS robots and these escaped down shaft C with the remainder of the enemy HQ element. A1 pressed home the attack and followed up the enemy. After an exchange of grenades and SCA fire outside power control the three remaining members of A1 became casualties, as did a number of enemy marines and one of the CSR.
Towards the end of the counter-attack the enemy entered Power Control with two squads of marines. The four naval crew there put up an exceptionally good fight and caused three simulated casualties amongst the enemy marines. At this point the exercise ended.
Problems Encountered
The restriction on inter-deck communication caused some difficulty with the fire-trap on shaft C which was being controlled from the bottom of the ship. When the enemy entered the top of the shaft it was not immediately apparent and there was therefore a delay in opening fire.
Insufficient manpower was available to defend the ship against a determined attack by two Marine groups. The attackers had a relatively easy time and managed to totally overcome the ship's defences in less than two minutes [10 turns]. Had the exercise allowed it I could have made use of the RHQ robots to bolster the naval sections and the additional CSR would have been particularly useful for the initial firetrap on shaft C and the counter-attack.
Conclusion
Either I need to re-sit my Lt to L/Major exams again or the ship needs to be defended by more than a single Marine Group and 20 naval personnel. I believe that there are sufficient Marines, what would be most useful is additional CSR, Combat Robots and navy personnel. In action the resources of RHQ would be available as would more crew members.
We should repeat Exercise Minuteman with RHQ, 1 Group & all the Naval personnel not involved in running the ship. The attacking force should remain the same (2 full groups).
Lt J M Kemp, EMC
OC 3/A/130 EMR
ESS Agamemnon
JOLLY SECRET
By Acting Major Sainsbury, CinC RED (Attackers)
I will not add to the detailed narrative provided by Lt Kemp and Major Patel. I will make a few general points.
1. My attack plan was deliberately to do the unexpected, by not attacking via the most direct route to Main Control. This did surprise Force Blue, but such was our overwhelming force that it made little difference to the outcome in my view, and a more predictable attack into Min Control would also have been successful very quickly. I agree with Lt Kemp that more crew would have made our job slower and more costly.
2. I was impressed with the quality of all the officers concerned in the exercise. I will name in particular two officers who have had little opportunity to shine as they have had little combat experience, but they shown in this simulation which bodes well for the future of the Regiment.
They were:
RED Force W - Lance-Major West, for his aggressive and enterprising command of the second prong attack from the Shuttle Deck and down c-way Charlie. He was in no way dismayed by casualties and pressed home his advantage with great elan.
BLUE Reserve: Ensign Y. Rovas, for the skill and enthusiasm displayed in the Shuttle Deck counter-attack and subsequent pursuit down c-way Charlie. The Ensign has clearly been paying attention and in my view has earned a merit mark towards his Lieutenant's pips.
3. The exercise demonstrated yet again the great difficulty of defending ESS Agamemnon from determined boarding action by a superior force, especially of marines. This difficulty is founded upon the architecture of the vessel and I see no solution to the tactical problem.
4. Officers should note the effectiveness of heavy grenade use against massed attacking marines.
Sainsbury