Battle Command Combat Engineering Features

Battle Command game features allow the modeling of important combat engineering capabilities and have an implementation that is divided into several major groupings:

1. EARTHMOVING - Capable units can perform functions such as assisting other units improve positions, excavating dismount fighting positions, excavating hull or turret defilade positions for AFVs, digging anti-tank ditches, filling-in previously or enemy dug positions or anti-tank ditches, removing obstacles, and removing rubble.  Specific vehicles and units have tonnage earthmoving capacities per hour, and earthmoving tasks have specific, constant soil tonnage requirements.

2. DEMOLITION - Normally dismount combat engineer platoons carry demolition charges with their vehicles which can be used to accomplish massively destructive tasks from extremely close range.  Grid-squares (100m x 100m) can be reduced to smoking craters (along with eliminating any units previously occupying the grid-square), which will also prevent vehicle movement through the area.  Specific units, including bridges, obstacles, fortifications, and minefields can be targeted for demolition.  Also, abatises (interlocking rows of felled trees) can be relatively quickly blown down in forested grid-squares.  Based on the unit capability, a certain amount of time will be required to emplace the explosives and then final detonation can be optionally held off until the user selects the "Authorize Detonation" checkbox.

3. OBSTACLES - Obstacles such as concertina wire, hedgehogs, and triangles can be unloaded from transport vehicles and emplaced by capable units (normally dismounted engineers).  Later, the same obstacles can be reloaded, transported to another location, and reused.  However, a substantial amount of time and effort may be required, for example, to emplace and remove several kilometers of triple-strand/triple line concertina wire.  Decisions on how to employ available engineer capacity will affect battle performance, since combat engineering takes on important meaning for survivability, mobility, and counter-mobility in the game.  Obstacles can also be optionally destroyed by capable units--normally through the use of special demolitions, or vehicular repositioning.

4. MINEFIELDS - Capable units emplace, load, and destroy minefield counters.  Minefield counters normally cover an area 100m x 100m and comprise approximately 50 anti-tank, anti-personnel, or mixed type minefields.  Based on the vehicle or troop dimensions and quantity of vehicles or troops moving through a minefield, there is a probability a vehicle or troop will be in enough proximity to a mine to detonate it.  Foot units unload groups of mines from transport and emplace the field under work-time constraints.  Volcano units can automatically emplace an entire Volcano minefield (almost 900 AT+AP mines) almost as fast as they can drive or fly.  Such a minefield can cover a linear distance of almost 2 kilometers.  Artillery can fire FASCAM minefields into target coordinates very quickly.  Certain types of minefields can be reclaimed, reloaded into transport, and reused at a later time.  Specific types of mines, such as Volcano and MOPMS, have optional self-destruct time choices.  For example, Volcano minefields at time of emplacement, can have one of three self-destruct time options chosen: 4, 48, or 360 (15 days) hours.  The self-destruct date and time chosen is displayed on the counter.

5. BRIDGING - Units can emplace, load, and destroy bridging.  An AVLB bridge can be dropped over an anti-tank ditch, road crater, or blown bridge for example.  Bailey and Medium Girder Bridges can be built out of 100m segments to cross large gaps.  Ribbon and other floating bridges can use segments as temporary ferries, or the segments can be assembled into a continuous crossing bridge.  Naturally, bridges and segments of bridges can be torn down, reloaded, and transported for subsequent usage.  

Below is the "Combat Engineering Control Window".  From this window (which is launched from a main Unit Information window), users can view unit combat engineering capabilities, set related orders, and evaluate continuing task progress.  The window is divided along the major task areas outlined above.  Unit combat engineering capabilities are normally specified in kilogram per hour of work per strength of the unit (units sustaining casualties will have less per hour work capability).

Combat Engineering Features: An Example

To show an example of combat engineer work within the game, a combat engineer company from the division engineer brigade of a contemporary U.S. Army heavy division has been modeled.  This company has the following organization:

The company unit counters have been broken down as follows:

Combat engineer dismounts with engineer fighting vehicle transport.

The three company dismount platoons, and their Bradley Engineer Fighting Vehicles.  Bradley EFVs have their TOW missile reloads removed to make room for engineer specialty equipment.  The dismounts are capable of devastating demolition attacks, emplacing and removing obstacles and direct emplaced minefields, and building temporary bridges.  Each platoon can also fight as effective heavy infantry.

        (dismount platoon = 27 soldiers, M2A3 ENG platoon = 4 vehicles)

M60A1 AVLBs--intended for hasty gap crossing and, in AVLM form, breaching minefields.

Each company has 4 M-60 AVLB vehicles and at least 4 AVLB bridges attached.  In practice however, several of the bridges are transported elsewhere and two of the AVLBs are modified into "AVLMs" (MICLIC mounting vehicles).  A MICLIC charge is a rocket propelled linear strand of C4 explosive, shot forward of the vehicle into a minefield and detonated to clear a lane through the minefield.

    (Each counter represents a single vehicle or bridge)

(Each counter represents a single MICLIC mounting vehicle)

The M9 Armored Combat Earthmover has earthmoving capabilities similar to a D7 bulldozer.

(Each counter represents 4 vehicles)

FLU419 Small Emplacement Excavator (SEE) tractors.

(Each counter represents a section of two tractors)

Two M548 Volcano minefield dispenser mounting vehicles, each with enough mines to cover about a 2 kilometer x 100m area.

x19 Minefields   x19 Minefields

Also, the company has some additional assets attached (including M88s and HEMTTs from the engineer battalion support platoon):

M88 Heavy Recovery Vehicles--useful for earthmoving and obstacle destruction tasks.  

(Each counter represents a section of two "Hercules" M88s)

The HEMTT cargo trucks are used to transport heavy, direct emplaced minefields that can be deliberately emplaced and removed by the engineer dismounts, plus some MOPMS remote emplaced minefields.

(Each counter represents a section of two trucks) x20 Minefields x10 Minefields x10 Minefields (with self-destruct option)

M1 Tanks with mine plows attached, useful for clearing lanes though minefields, or proofing lanes.  Not as quick to clear a lane as the MICLIC charge, however.

M1083 cargo trucks with concertina wire obstacles in cargo

x40 100m x 100m concertina obstacles

Cargo trucks carrying FASCAM artillery shells for M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery batteries

  x20 Minefields, with 4 hour self-destruct time.

The Combat Engineer Company in Action:

Dismounts with their Bradleys, M1A2 SEPs with mineplows out front.

The M9 ACEs have built some dismount fighting positions.  Each section takes about 30-60 minutes to create platoon dismount positions--the SEE tractor is better assigned to this type of task to free the M9s to excavate vehicle positions and/or dig anti-tank ditches.

An M9 ACE section can build a platoon turret defilade position in about a 1.5 hours--less for hull defilade positions.

The M9s have teamed up and spent several hours digging an anti-tank ditch.  The decision of where to build the ditch would be critical in the defense.  The ditch, and other temporary terrain modifications, will only become visible to the enemy when they can locate a unit with a line-of-sight to the modified terrain within a specific range based on the current visibility.

An M60 AVLB has dropped its bridge over the anti-tank ditch, allowing the free pass of vehicles (within the bridge's weight class rating) over the ditch.  Although the bridge is officially rated at MLC60 (60 metric tons), it can still pass vehicles up to 70 metric tons (including the M1 Abrams tank) with special considerations.

A dismount combat engineer platoon has rigged a grid-square for demolition and blown the charges--producing the equivalent of a 100m x 100m crater.

An M548 Volcano mine laying vehicle has emplaced several hundred meters of linear minefield between two ridges.  The minefield's self-destruct times can be seen on the lower left of each counter-- in this case 10:46 hours on 19 June.