Mission 1 : Across the Rio Grande! Lajitas, Texas. January 18, 1941

Shortly after dawn on the morning of January 18th lead elements of the US 1st Cavalry begin crossing the Rio Grande River into Mexico from their staging areas near Lajitas, Texas. Their objective to cross the border and clear the small Mexican village of Lajitas, Mexico (sister village of Lajitas, Texas) of any Fascist forces. Although fordable in many places, Engineers managed to emplace pontoon bridges across the Rio Grande River during the previous night to make the crossing easier.

Your men will be up against those Fascist forces in Mexico who are currently receiving training and support from Italy in the form of military advisors. These advisors are made up of Spanish Civil War veterans and as such have a higher than normal ELR for Italian troops. Some Italian vehicles have been smuggled into Mexico as well.

• Type: River Assault (modified).
• NORTH is to the right side of the mapboards.
• Mapboard selection: 2 mapboards. The eastern-most mapboard (only) must be a river mapboard: use random dr to determine which mapboard to use (either 7, 8 or 40). No standard bridges exist across the river. Roll directly on the Farmland column of Table A9 to determine western-most mapboard.
• Weather: EC are Clear, Moderate with a No Wind.
• Enemy ELR: Fascist Partisan 2; Italian Advisors 2.
• FRIENDLY side can place 2 Foot Bridges across the river in any location. If islands are involved, no Foot Bridges are placed in those hexes, the bridges just continue again at the next water hex in the bridge path.

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This is an SASL Hypothetical Campaign recreating an incursion into Northern Mexico by the US 1st Cavalry Division in operations against the enemies of the newly elected President of Mexico, Avila Camacho in January 1941.

My command is the C Troop/1^st Squadron/7^th Cavalry Regiment/1^st Cavalry Division which includes the following units;

• x1 9-1 (Captain Torrance)
• x1 8-0 (1^st Lieutenant Narvel)
• x1 7-0 (2^nd Lieutenant Dins)
• x1 7-0 (2^nd Lieutenant Johnston)
• x10 6-6-7
• x4 3-4-7
• x6 2-2-7
• x6 LMG
• x10 Horses(3)
• x10 Horses(2)
• x4 Horses(1)

I have originally planned to use 5-4-7’s as the Base Cavalry Squad (M1903 armed) but these are not available in the US OOB so instead I am using the 6-6-7’s (M1 Garand armed squads).

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A Weekend in Mexico

C Company/1st Squadron/7th Cavalry RGT/1st Cavalry BDE/1st Cavalry DIV
Campaign in Northern Mexico
January 1941

INTRODUCTION: This in a custom SASL Campaign simulating a “hypothetical” invasion of Northern Mexico by US forces in support of the newly elected Mexican president, . There are 5 Missions covering the period of January 18th to January 19th, 1941. This is 2 per day and one for the night of the 18th.

The theme is loosely based on the real situation in Mexico in the 1930’s. Before the 1940 presidential election between conservative candidate Juan Almazan and P.R.I. designate Avila Camacho, tensions between pro-fascist and pro-communist groups that had simmered since the middle 1930’s began to erupt into violence. Alarmed by the possibilities of an unstable pro-fascist or pro-communist government below the Rio Grande, the U.S. began to offer both covert and clandestine aid to the established government.

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I’m currently working on designing an SASL Campaign based on a hypothetical incursion of northern Mexico in early 1941 by elements of the 1st US Cavalry Division. The preliminary campaign name will either be “Weekend in Mexico”, if I go with 2 missions per day or “5 Weeks in Mexico” if I go with weekly missions. I am also considering designing custom maps based on real life terrain of the “incursion area”.

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Due to lack of time I have halted this campaign and may start it back up later. I believe I got burned out since I was trying to develop a WinSPWW2 campaign along the same theme. It seems the eastern front is getting old and I am moving on to another theater and theme for an SASL Campaign.

I will post more once that project is put together.

I managed to get a 5 more turns done of Mission #2 of the SASL MOSKVA Campaign.

Mission 2 : Counterstroke. Kryokovo, Russia, December 8, 1941

Starting on December 5th the Soviet Counteroffensive hit the tired and cold Germans hard. 7th Guards Rifle Division was thrown into the fight and ordered to widen a gap in the German lines. At the end of the first week German troops were thrown back along the entire front.

• Type : Take the Highway (5)
• Mapboard selection : Roll directly on the Farmland table
• Initial mapboards : Weather : EC are Snow with a Mild Breeze from the Northeast
• Mission End : Divide the total Road Network by 4 (four) to determine the number of turns.
• Enemy ELR : 2
• There is an additional +2 DRM on tables G2, G5a G7 and G8

MISSION SETUP
My 2nd mission is to clear a 1700 meter section of road of all enemy forces so that follow-on forces can exploit the gap. The company will start the mission off-board to the East (top of map image). Weather is ground snow which may slow my advance but fortunately my men are equipped with winter camouflage. As a benefit, this should help prevent them from being identified too early allowing them to close on the enemy without being hit with long range fire. With the death of Kapitan Demochev, Starshiy Lejtenant Pronin has taken command of the company and Lejtenant Orlov has been newly assigned to the command.

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Mission 1 : Repulsed ! Chimki, Russia. December 1, 1941

By December 1941 the German 9th Army was making its last effort in trying to reach Moscow from the northwest. Some motorcycle elements of the 62. Panzepioniere Regiment reached Chimki within a mere 23 km’s northwest from the Kremlin. Different units of Rokkosovsky’s 16th Army were thrown into the fray in order to stop this last desperate effort. The exhausted Germans were stopped cold in their last attempt to take the capital.

• Type : Enemy Offensive (9)
• Mapboard selection : A8d
• Initial mapboards : On a dr <2 the easternmost board (only) uses Table 8b with a +2 DRM
• Weather : EC are Snow with a Mild Breeze from the Northeast.
• Enemy ELR : 2
• There is an additional +1 DRM on tables G2, G5a, G7 and G8

MISSION SETUP
My 1st mission was to defend against an enemy attack from the bottom board edge (West). Fortunately, I was provided a single 45mm ATG along with some Mines and Wire from Battalion HQ to add to my defensive line. Not much but it would have to do. Starshiy Lejtenant Pronin and 1st Platoon take up positions on the left flank directly behind Hill 498. Kapitan Demochev and the rest of the Company along with the ATG deploy in the center. The HMG and crew take up a position to the rear overlooking the defenses from the 2nd floor of a wooden building.

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This is an SASL Historical Campaign recreating the 7th Guards Division’s part of the Soviet Winter Offensive against the German spearheads threatening Moscow in December 1941.

My command is the 2^nd Company/1^st Battalion/20^th Guards Rifle Regiment/7^th Guards Rifle Division which includes the following units;

• x1 8-0 (Kapitan Demochev)
• x1 7-0 (Starshiy Lejtenant Pronin)
• x9 4-5-8
• x1 2-4-8
• x2 1-2-7
• x1 HMG
• x1 MMG
• x5 LMG
• x1 50mm MTR
• x1 ATR

As you can tell we are short on leaders, a common thing when playing the Russians. But fortunately my squads are rated as ‘Elite’ for the campaign so that should give them a little more staying power under fire.

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