Nemesis #3 - Home Front - Pact Preview

Hello commanders,

We are back with our second Nemesis #3 - Home Front Warsaw Pact preview. In today’s DevBlog, we’ll cast our eye on the Soviet 157-ya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya.

In case you’ve missed it: Nemesis #3 - Home Front covers two divisions, far away from the European battlefields, safeguarding their respective alliance’s critical flank. It’s polar bears versus brown bears - no war bears, though. NATO’s Alaska-based US 6th Infantry Division (Light) was previewed in last week’s DevBlog here.

Without further ado…

[h2]Warsaw Pact’s 157-ya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya[/h2]
The ever-important Crimea is the next “flank” we are visiting, with the Soviet 157-ya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya being our Nemesis division of choice. Unlike many other Soviet Army formations, this particular battlegroup didn’t trace its lineage to World War II. It was only activated in the Crimean Oblast in 1969, seeing no action during its Cold War history. In the final years, the division was converted into a training formation and then pretty much devolved into a weapon storage unit. After the Soviet Union’s dissolution, the 157-ya MSD was merged with the Ukrainian armed forces.

However, in our timeline, this will not happen. In WARNO’s 1989, the 157-ya MSD is part of the Soviet Army’s 32nd Army Corps, which controlled all troops in the vitally important Crimea. These forces guarded against enemy landings or raids from the Black Sea, protecting the critical Soviet Navy’s infrastructure and naval bases.

The 157-ya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya was a mobilization division with a small cadre of professional soldiers. The majority of its manpower came from reservists who, in times of conflict, would be recalled and man the (older) equipment kept in storage on the heavily defended peninsula. As such, the 157-ya MSD will be the first Soviet reserve division in WARNO.

Some attachments will beef up the formation. Including:

Personnel from the nearby 711th Territorial Training Center.
Assets from the Soviet Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, including various vehicles and weaponry, in varying stages of active testing prior to being pressed into service.
An eclectic mix of stored equipment. If we know one thing, the Soviet Army never threw anything away, however obsolete.

[h2]157-ya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya in WARNO[/h2]
What can you expect from the 157-ya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya? New units are highlighted in bold and italic.

LOG

A good category. The division is on home turf. This means on the supply side, the usual FOB, URAL-4320, and KRAZ-225B supply trucks, as well as the heavy-lift MI-6A supply helo.
On the command side, the classic BELOZOR jeep, as well as the (new) BTR-40B and BTR-152S wheeled armored command vehicles. These latter two units trade speed for HP.

INF

A very good category for the 157-ya MSD with plenty of diversity.
A small core of professional MOTOSTRELKI squads, coming in either BMP-1P or BTR-60PB (one card each), plus a command version.
The usual array of weapon support teams: FAGOT, KONKURS, and PKM. Being a reserve division aimed at defense, several heavier units are also deployable, including the new DShK 12,7mm in a dual ground and AA (tripod) mode.
A sizable quantity of the division’s force will be made up of the new REZERVISTI, all with the Disheartened trait and their own special models. These reservist soldiers come in several flavors:
- REZERVISTI KOM.: 7-man command squad with AK-74, one PKM, and RPG-7VM. They come in either URAL trucks or [BTR-152K APC (used in other Warsaw Pact armies, but first time to be featured in a Soviet Army division).
- REZERVISTI: 7-man rifle squad with AK-74, one RPK-74, and RPG-7VM. They have the same transport options as the preceding unit.
- PARTIZANI: despite the name, not sneaky resistance fighters. Instead, this is a common Soviet nickname for finding the second-rate recruit when you scrape the barrel. Badly equipped, badly motivated, and barely trained. In WARNO, the PARTIZANI are 10-man rifle squads with AKM, one World War 2-vintage DPM and one M91/30 PU Mosin sniper rifle (both new weapons), and an RPG-2. They deploy in URAL trucks.
- REZ. SAPERI: an 8-man engineer squad with AKM, one WW2 vintage DPM and satchel charges. Likewise deployable in URAL trucks.
- REZ. SAPERI (LPO): an 8-man assault engineer squad with a mix of World War 2 PPS-43 (new) and AKMs, plus an LPO-50 flamethrower. Likewise, in a URAL.
- REZ. MAKSIM 7,62mm: Hiram Maxim's good ol' "Nazi Killer" machine gun from 1910 (modified 1941) was still held in Soviet storage in great numbers in 1989.
- REZ. B-11 107mm: an older and bigger recoilless rifle and the predecessor to the SPG-9. It is roughly similar to the American M40A1, although with a bit less AP.
- REZ. OKHRANA: a 5-man squad with four PPS-43 (new) and one DPM, they were mostly railroad guards looking for saboteur or other suspicious-looking folk. They come with the Security trait and patrol in their UAZ-3151.
To keep the rabble in line, the division can count on KOMENDATURA and ZAGRADOTRYAD military police squads.
Mirroring the USMC SECURITY squads from the Nemesis opposing US 6th Infantry Division (Light), the new OKHRANA VMF provides on-the-ground security for Sevastopol’s important naval facilities. These are 14-man strong squads fielding AK-74 and RPK-74s, deploying with the Security trait and brand-new black-cladded Soviet naval infantry models.

ART

A good, healthy category with lots of varied options. Artillery is mostly composed of older pieces, however.
These include mortars such as B14 82mm and older PM-43 120mm (in WARNO service with other Warsaw Pact nations but first time in the Soviet Army).
The ubiquitous towed D-30 122mm howitzer.
Some equipment already in use by other Warsaw Pact nations but not by the Soviet Army. These are the D-1 152mm howitzer and BM-24M MLRS.
The local Crimean defenders could also strengthen their firepower with some dusty equipment drawn from deep storage, especially World War 2 artillery.
- The BS-3 100mm was still used in 1989 as a field gun, retaining some decent AT capabilities.
- The super-heavy B-4M 203mm and Br-5M 280mm can both be considered AVRE material, thanks to their direct HE fire capacity.

The Crimea was also the Soviet Navy’s testing ground for new weapons, such as the A-222 BEREG coastal defense artillery. Designed to strike enemy ships loitering at sea, the modern 130mm gun could easily be turned into a ground-fire self-propelled gun with a long range and high rate of fire, but lacking AP shells or smoke.

TANK

An average category as the 157-ya MSD relied mostly on the T-54B and T-55A, including command variants, the first time these tanks models appear in a Soviet Army division in WARNO.
The division could also count on the new T-55A Obr. 81, a variant with a smoke launcher and better laser rangefinder (resulting in a tank gun range of 2100m).
Another new variant is the T-55AM1 (and the AM1K command variant), which is a hybrid featuring T-55A's armor with T-55AM2's improved gun.
Support vehicles include the BRDM-2 MALYUTKA-P and the TO-55 flamethrower tank.
A new piece of equipment is the KSM-65 100mm mobile coastal gun, which can be turned into a decent towed AT gun with a good RoF.
And at last, the cherry on the cake. The Crimea held a number of World War 2 vintage IS-2M (Iosif Stalin) tanks. Most were used as static pillboxes, but we considered that in our March to War, quite a few would have been brought back into running order by cannibalizing the part of whatever tanks remained.

REC

So far away from the frontline, the division’s recon assets weren’t a priority. This means standard RAZEVDKA and BRM-1K.
The battlegroup also receives the (new but old) BTR-40A armored car with ZPU-2 AA machine guns.
The new REZ. RAZVEDKA unit is a 7-man recon squad identical to REZERVISTI infantry and riding to battle in URAL trucks and the BTR-40 APC.
And lastly, the USSR ordered eight K-1 light helicopters from the Indian HAL company. After one crashed during a test flight, more order were canceled. The delivered machines, known as K-1 CHETAK, were assigned to the Black Sea Fleet and used as training helicopters. This light helo has been featured in other WARNO nations, but under a different name altogether. Did we mention that the K-1 was, in fact, a license-produced ALOUETTE III? Informally, they were known as “Frenchmen” helicopters. So, a French rotorcraft in service with the Soviet armed forces… who would have thought?

Average, with the division’s organic AA being mediocre. This is offset by the plentiful army and coastal AA defenses to repel any airborne assaults.
Divisional AA includes the light (new) STRELA-3, regular ZU-23-2 and URAL-4320 ZPU-4.
Army-level AA includes the AZP S-60 57mm and 2K11M3 KRUG-M3 (both units the first time they are featured in a Soviet division).
Coastal artillery provides the super-heavy (new) KS-30 130mm AA gun.

HEL

Pretty dismal. There was no dedicated attack helicopter squadron nearby, so the only rotary wing support would have been provided by the trusty Mi-8 hastily equipped with weapons.
This means you’ll deploy the MI-8MT [RKT2] and the MI-8TV, the latter similar in configuration to its East German counterpart, although here equipped with Falanga-P missiles.

AIR

A good category for the 157-ya MSD with close air support provided by SU-25 in RKT2, AT, CLU and HE roles.
And air superiority done by MiG-23ML [AA], and new SU-15TM "Flagon" interceptors with two different configurations of R-98MR and R-98MT missiles.
The Crimean peninsula was also the testing ground for the future navalized variant of the Su-27, the new SU-27K (the post-Cold War Su-33), although in-game bearing its then prototype designation of T-10K-3.

The 157-ya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya is a defensive reservist division relying on strong infantry, artillery, and air support. While armor is present, its plentiful infantry and mix of old (and some very new) units form the backbone of the division’s firepower.

[h2]Until Next Week![/h2]
That’s all for this week. We hope to bring you more news - especially on when Nemesis #3 launches - soon!

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See you on the battlefield, commander.