Tuesday 2 June 2015

DUTCH - 103 Recce Battalion (103 VerkBat)

As part of our Dutch force for Septembers game Mark Fry and myself are working on some units from the NATO Covering Force 1 (NL) Corps. This force consisted of Dutch, West German and US troops. The US part of the force was 2 (US) AD (Fwd) which Andy Hamilton is working on leaving the Dutch and West German forces to me and Mark.

The NATO Covering Force had the following organisation http://www.orbat85.nl/order-of-battle/royal-army/1-nl-corps/41-pabrig.html#operational-role


I have already finished the 3. PzAufklBtl which can be seen elsewhere on this blog. So next up its the Dutch 103 Recce Battalion (103 VerkBat).


103 VerkBat (just got HQ, Recce and Infantry stands to finish off)

Recce Squadron with 1 x Leopard 2, 2 x M113 C&R, 1 x M113 and 1 x M106

Close up of the great CinC models

Another view of the CinC Dutch Recce variant of the M113

The unit packs a punch with 3 x Leopard 2 tanks. These were new to the unit in 1985.

The organisation of this unit was quite difficult to represent in CWC terms but thanks to the great work done by Hans Boersma on his http://www.orbat85.nl/ site I discovered that the Dutch had an alternative OOB known as POSO (Pelotons-Organieke Samenstelling Opgeheven) for this unit which made converting the units into CWC terms much easier and as this new organisation was available in 1985 both Mark and myself decided we would organise our units based on the new OOB.








10 comments:

  1. Very nice force. Useful orbats too.

    Cheers, Andy

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  2. OK, I'm now really tempted to do the POSO at 1-1. XD

    Brilliant work here, the models look great. What weapon does the Dutch Recce M113 use? I'm tempted to make one in 1/35 scale. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, the weapon is a Oerlikon GBD-ADA turret with a 25mm KBA Autocannon similar to the West German Marder.

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    2. Sweet, thanx!

      I'm going to see if there is a conversion kit or something out there. :)

      I haven't even ordered my Canadians yet, and now I'm looking at doing another NATO force afters. :)

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  3. Yep, more great units and as Andy says useful orbat information as well.
    Cheers
    Steve

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    Replies
    1. Cheers Steve, not long to Joy of Six! be nice to get some models on the table not had a game since Crisis Point in March!

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  4. Very nice Richard. Bet it was a relief to find that alternative TO&E, the earlier one really doesn't convert well CWC.

    Cheers
    Richard N

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Richard, yes I was struggling to convert the original TO&E into three squadrons with similar equipment that would be usable on the tabletop but the POSO organisation worked great and was around the right time period for the game.
      Cheers
      Richard P

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  5. Whilst the M113C&R has the autocannon the Orbat'85 also has some M113A1s as well with the hmgs
    Not sure if you can get the M113C&Rs in 1/35 scale - they have the 4 road wheels rather than the 5 that the standard M113 have
    The Dutch M113C&R are different from the Canadian Lynx, as the Lynx has the commander & driver hatches in tandum rather than side by side as the Dutch C&R has

    ReplyDelete