Welcome to the Big Split, commanders!
What are you talking about, you might think? Well, we have been detailing WARNO’s divisional “house cleaning” in the last couple of DevBlogs. In today’s post, we tackle a major one: the Warsaw Pact’s Berliner Gruppierung division.
The proposed changes to this Berlin-focused urban combat formation grew to be so encompassing we decided to divide the battlegroup into two!
Yes, this means a brand-new division will be made available for free to all current Early Access owners of WARNO.
Hence, this House Cleaning Part 6, to be known as the Big Split, covers the changes to Berliner Gruppierung and the new Soviet Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada, or 6th Guards Separate Motor Rifle Brigade.
Let’s go, commanders!
A special kind of “Housecleaning”
In our Berlin war scenario, the Berliner Gruppierung was tasked with taking that pesky Western imperialistic and hedonistic enclave, West Berlin, through furious house-to-house combat. As such, it would regroup one Nationale Volksarmee division (1. Motorisierte Schützendivision), one Soviet brigade (the 6th Guards Separate Motor Rifle Brigade), one artillery brigade, four to eight K.d.A battalions, two Volkspolizei, two assault engineer battalions, one airmobile battalion, nine Grenzer regiments, ... That’s well above two divisions in total strength!
A little bit too much, creating a “bloated” battlegroup worth two WARNO divisions. High time for some trimming and streamlining. Furthermore, we saw a “real” reason by looking again at the Warsaw Pact’s offensive plan, Operation Zentrum, for taking West Berlin. It called for a two-pronged assault: one from the outer ring, so East German territory, attacking inwards; and one from within East Berlin advancing through the city.
The other main reason for splitting Berliner Gruppierung into two was that the Warsaw Pact has fewer divisions compared to NATO in WARNO’s roster. Adding a new division would level the playing field a bit, giving players more choice.
Berliner Gruppierung and 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada
Creating two new divisions from the original Berliner Gruppierung means some major changes and updates.
The Berliner Gruppierung will stay, but focus more on the 1. Motorisierte Schützendivision at its core, performing the “outer ring” attack. The new Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada will detail the “within Berlin” offensive, attacking out of East Berlin. Both divisions will see a significant transformation, removing and updating units in each T&OE.
So what’s in store?
Berliner Gruppierung
The main change to the Berliner Gruppierung will be the removal of all Soviet units and transferring them to the Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada. However, some additional East German units will also find their way to the new Soviet division, see for all the details below, according to Unternehmen Zentrum's town-pronged plan.
- All VOPOS and Fs.-JÄGER will be removed from Berliner Gruppierung.
- One of the 1. Motorisierte Schützendivision regiments will be made available to the Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada. This is the sole BMP-equipped regiment. This means Berliner Gruppierung retains only the BTR-70-mounted MOT.-SCHÜTZEN (which will be expanded with new units, see below).
- The 1. Motorisierte Schützendivision, expected to fight against an enemy within the tight confines of Berlin, never upgraded its KPZ. T-55A to KPZ. T-55AM2 standards (surely because there would hardly be any tank-versus-tank engagements envisioned). This means the latter tanks have been removed from the division.
- Unlike other NVA motorized rifle divisions, this one had no MT-LB STRELA-10 (again, because the air threat wasn’t that critical around Berlin, far in the rear). Instead, it had almost three times the allocation of STRELA-2M. This will be represented in-game (see below).
Having seen what gets removed, let’s turn the page now to see what will be added.
- The 1. Motorisierte Schützendivision’s core troops will be BTR-70-transported infantry with some extra training and equipment for urban warfare. To represent this, we added some new squads:
- MOT.-SCHÜTZEN (SVD) replacing their RPG with a Dragunov marksman rifle.
- MOT.-SCHÜTZEN (Strela) replacing the RPG, but this one with a Strela-2M MANPAD.
- MOT.-SCHÜTZEN (Metis) with the short-range ATGM.
- And of course, the regular MOT.-SCHÜTZEN (BTR).
- With the several battalions in support, the division gains access (and extra cards) of K.D.A. and K.D.A. AUFK. squads, plus SPG-9 recoilless rifle teams.
- The WACHREGIMENT will also be expanded into several more squad variants.
- More artillery will find its way to the Berliner Gruppierung. These include SFL-H 2S1 122mm plus D-20 152mm howitzers and the (new) World War 2-era M-30 122mm.
- And while the KPZ. T-55AM2 gets removed, they are replaced with extra cards of the KPZ. T-55A.
- Air support will feature several new MiG-21bis loadouts, as well as the brand-new L-39ZO trainers, used in a light bomber role - the Warsaw Pact counterpart to NATO’s Alpha Jet.
- The slot distribution of each Berliner Gruppierung category has been reworked, with a greater emphasis placed on LOG, INF, and ART.
Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada
Now onwards to our new Soviet Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada, with as its core, the East Berlin-based 6th Guards Separate Motor Rifle Brigade. Created after the Berlin Crisis of 1962, this formation was directly subordinate to the Soviet Group of Forces Germany, and took care of security duties within East Berlin. Next to featuring a sizable contingent of military police and ceremonial troops, it was nonetheless well-equipped and trained for any potential urban warfare conflict within the city.
As mentioned previously, the Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada will get from the original Berliner Gruppierung the following:
- Most of the Soviet troops and units (see below for more details).
- All VOPOS and their (vintage) artillery ZIS-2 and ZIS-3 pieces.
- East German MOT.-SCHÜTZEN with their BMP-1s, as well as a few KPZ. T-55A (in a Soviet division, nonetheless!).
However, not all units removed from Berliner Gruppierung will find their way to the new Soviet division. Some units we opted to cut entirely, for balancing and historical reasons.
- BURATINO. There were only a handful available in real life. They were more fitting to be featured in the Soviet “armored fist” division 119-ya Odtelniy Tankoviy Polk, where they can be found now.
- Su-17M4 and MiG-23ML.
- Fs.-JÄGER and variants (see below for what happened to the East German air assault troops).
- MOTOSTRELKI and BTR-80. The Soviet brigade was entirely equipped with BMPs only.
So, what’s new?
- As you saw in the previous list, we decided not to port the NVA’s Fs.-JÄGER squads but instead, create new units fitting their Operation Zentrum’s role better. The East German paratroopers were meant to seize the American and French sector’s airports by an airmobile coup de main, using assault helicopters. Therefore, we created the (new) LUFTSTURM-JÄGER, without the Forward Deployment trait, but transportable in an assault-equipped Mi-8 helicopter.
- To escort the East German paratroopers, we added (new) armed Mi-2URN and Mi-2URP ADDER helicopters ; as well as a Soviet Mi-8MT ESKORTNIY gunship.
- Much like the NATO’s PSSE-B’s false flag unit in West Berlin, we added new elite KGB SPETSGRUPPA “A” (aka Alfa Group) recon saboteur squads, making use of our full range of late 80’s civilian models.
- Artillery support includes the (new) self-propelled 2S5 GIATSINT-S 152mm artillery.
- Not new, but returning in full glory: the T-64 family with the Soviet division’s access to the T-64B, T-64BK and T-64BV variants.
- And taking its cue from the Berliner Gruppierung, we also added the new Soviet L-39ZO trainers and new MiG-21bis variants.
Furthermore, the Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada’s air support will be mostly provided by the East German air force, the Luftstreitkräfte, fielding older MiG-21bis strike aircraft, as well as the L-39ZO trainers.
However, there is one more change. We will transfer the 79th Guards Tank Division’s long-range MiG-31M interceptor to the new Soviet 6-ya OG Motostrelki Brigada. This particular plane was operated by the Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO) and patrolled Soviet airspace against NATO nuclear bombers and intruders. As a long-range, high-flying, fast-moving interceptor, it was not meant to be used near or over the front line.
It makes more sense that the MiG-31B were to be found further back, closer to Berlin, busy guarding the air space in East Germany in general. It would have pushed forward to fill the gap left by the Soviet 16th Air Army’s frontline aviation or used to counter the MIRAGE IV and F-117A from NATO’s Berlin Command.
To compensate for this change, the 79th Guards Tank Division’s will gain the new MIG-29 [AA3] with a new anti-air loadout.
Addendum to the UK 2nd Infantry Division
With the new and updated East German and Soviet divisions out of the way, let’s return to a NATO formation already featured in last week’s divisional house cleaning: the British Army’s 2nd Infantry Division. There is an addendum coming.
We were still working on (and testing) the introduction of the (new) Lynx AH.7 HELARM with FITOW (Further Improved TOW) missiles. This unit was developed by the United Kingdom in 1988 and saw limited production in 1990 as one of the first OTA (Overflight Top Attack) missiles. The United Kingdom created this new weaponry to compensate for the lack of TOW-2 missiles in its helicopter fleet.
This type of attack profile means that instead of aiming at a target’s center mass, the missile will gain some altitude at the last moment before flying over it and exploding above the target. The missile’s warhead will riddle the weaker top armor with cluster shrapnel.
In WARNO, this missile will be deadly to light armor or first- and second-generation tanks, but much less against the latest main battle tanks (featuring, for instance, Top Armor 3 or more in-game). It also doesn’t benefit from positioning on the flanks or the rear of the target.
The new LYNX AH.7 FITOW will be an anti-tank helicopter alongside the existing LYNX HELARM.
This new addition reinforces the UK’s 2nd Infantry Division airmobile component. The new OTA trait was created specifically for this, as well as a dedication top explosion SFX.
New Infantry Cards
Something else we’ve been working on is making a pass on all infantry card portraits. We wanted to add diversity and make them more photorealistic at the same time. Check out the first examples!
We will improve the infantry portraits, nation by nation, one at a time.
Divisional House Cleaning Explained
Why “divisional house cleaning”? We want to ensure that each division is up to scratch on the battlefield. We also wanted to better differentiate the battlegroups on each side, from armor composition to adding (new) or removing units.
Our intention is for each of the WARNO divisions to have a unique “personality” with better-defined advantages and drawbacks.
All the divisions previously talked about (see the list below) are already updated n WARNO.
- ”House Cleaning” Part 1, featuring the Soviet 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade, NATO’s U.S. 8th Infantry Division and Territorialkommando Süd can be encountered here.
- Part 2, dealing with NATO’s U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, the U.S. 3rd Armored Division, and Warsaw Pact’s Kampfgruppe der Arbeiterklasse Bezirk Erfurt can be checked in this DevBlog.
- ”House cleaning” Part 3, featuring the Soviet 39th Guards Motor Rifle Division and 79th Guards Tank Division and East German 4. Motorisierte Schützendivision, are detailed in this post here).
- Milestone GROUCHY also included the updated West German 5. Panzerdivision, 2. Panzergrenadierdivision, Territorialkommando Süd, and to the British 1st Armoured Division, which you can read about here.
- House Cleaning Part V takes care of the U.S. 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), French 11e Division Parachutiste, and UK 2nd Infantry Division. Read all about in this DevBlog here.
Until next week
That’s all for this DevBlog. Until the next one!
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See you on the battlefield, commander!