It has been a while since I last posted.
Been trying to get my head around the numbers of divisions facing NATO, the timing of their availability at the Forward Edge of Battle (FEBA), and in relation to each of the Attack Options discussed a couple of posts ago. I think that I've made some progress. Using the estimates of scale from the Attack Options, and combined with the timeline and Order of Battle (Orbat) used by the boardgame Third World War (TWW), I've come up with a set of Force Points to reflect the combat power available for the Attack on Five Fronts option. From that I've generalised to give a set of numbers for the other Attack Options.
Next challenge is to do the same for NATO. The TWW game give a sense of scale and timing for the Five Front Option for NATO, but I'm not at all clear on the readiness of NATO. The key question is how long would it have taken for NATO's forward divisions to get themselves together and get to forward deployment zones. Plus, which divisions of NATO's Orbat would immediately available and which might need to travel, such as the Belgians or the Dutch.
Next is US Army, Part 2
