Ratings for Troops for Operation Raviv

These are the factors for the Egyptian and IDF forces as per TOOFATLardies Charlie Don’t Surf.

Troops/Dice		0	1	2	3	4
IDF		1	2	3	4,5	6+
Egyptian Radar Troops		1,2,3,4	5,6	7+
Egyptian Static Infantry		1,2,3	4	5,6,7+
Egyptian Assault Infantry		1,2,3	4,5	6,7	8+

Egyptian Radar Troops and Static Infantry count as Obsolete Rifle Squads.

From page 32 of Charlie Don’t Surf revised.

The Obsolete Rifle Squad: This unit would have been completely up to date in the Korean War, but is now looking somewhat behind the times for the War of Attrition. Armed largely with semi-automatic weapons and inferior automatic weapons, these units simply cannot throw out the volume of firepower that the Assault Rifle Squad can. The Obsolete Rifle Squad loses one Action Dice when firing. So, for example, one of these squads using three Action Dice for firing will roll just 2D6 on the Fire Table.

Ratings for the Big Men

IDF

The Commander (Lieutenant Colonel Baruch "Pinko" Harel) and the second –in-command (Major Shlomo Baum) statistics will be scenario specific.

Role	Dice	Level
Platoon Commander	1	2
	2-5	3
	6	4
Platoon NCO	1	1
	2-5	2
	6	3

Egyptian Forces

To paraphrase Charlie Don’t Surf page 92.

Egyptian Big Men can be rated according to the wishes of the scenario designer, or may be diced for on the following table. Add +1 for a Egyptian Assault Infantry; subtract -1 for a Static or Radar Troops.

Role	Dice	Level
Company Commander	0-2	2
	3-4	3
	5-7	4
Platoon Commander	0-2	1
	3-5	2
	6-7	3

Egyptians for Operation Raviv

As we are gearing up for Operation Raviv, and waiting on more IDF infantry with AK47s and Uzis, I thought I would tackle the Egyptian side of the equation.

Egypt has two fortified areas and two radar installations in the zone of operations. Both of the fortified areas will have an armored element of an unknown size. The radar sites are reported as being lightly guarded. I am currently waiting on a book that may answer some of these questions.

For the AFVs I will be using the following stats from Charlie Don’t Surf.

Vehicle		Armour Class	Weapon	Strike	Speed
T55		10	100mm	11	Fast
BTR50		3	MG	MG	Fast/Amphib
BTR40		2	MG	MG	Wheeled
BTR152		2	MG	MG	Wheeled
T34/85		8	85mm	10	Fast
PT76		3	76mm	8	Fast/Amphib
SU100		8	100mm	11	Fast

As Mark and I already have these vehicles, all we need to wait on for the Egyptians are the radar stations, some terrain and the infantry to form up.

Operation Raviv IDF Troops

There is no official history for the IDF forces used in this operation. I came to this knowing I would have to be flexible.  Each BTR-50 would carry twenty men, so we start with a force of sixty men.

I assumed that Lieutenant Colonel Baruch "Pinko" Harel will be in one of the tanks and Major Shlomo Baum will be in one of the BTR-50s. The command staff will be broken across the three BTR-50.

Also there needs to be engineers attached as well. This will be an additional six troops.

So I end up with the following:

Company HQ
Major Shlomo Baum, radioman, four troops

Engineer Section

Captain and five engineers

Six Infantry Sections

Lieutenant and seven troops (one armed with a M20 "Super Bazooka")

If anyone has a more official source, please contact me. I think this is a great starting point for Charlie Don't Surf.

Now back to basing the IDF troops with their Uzis.

Egyptian T-55s for Operation Raviv

Here we have a platoon of Egyptian T-55s heading south towards the reported IDF landings on the west side of the Gulf of Suez. What will they find?

The tanks were done in Dark Sand (Vallejo) and washed with Games Workshop Devlan Mud.  My references for the period have Egyptian tanks done in a solid pattern but a recent parade picture shows darker brown stripes. I may end up doing my next platoon in those alternate colors.

Tanks are from QRF, bought through Scale Creep.

Operation Raviv

Back in the 1980s I picked up a copy of The Arab-Israeli Wars by Chaim Herzog. In the section on the War of Attrition are a map and a short write up on what is now known as Operation Raviv. While I had read the Born in Battle Magazine back than (before my newsstand stop carrying it, said no one wanted it) I was unaware of this raid to the far side of the Gulf of Suez. This was amazing for nine hours this company-sized unit using captured kit, was traveling down the coast of Egypt. While the IDF had air superiority it is hard to believe that the Israelis were able to do this.

So my project for 2011 is doing an operational campaign of the nine hours for this raid. As you can see I have the IDF forces ready. I am still debating if I need (want) a landing craft or three. Santa will be bring me the rest of the Egyptians after the new year.

Building the bases at Abu Darag and Ras Saafrana should not be difficult as they are radar site and not strengthened fortifications. Plus without any good photographs of the operation I am free to interpret the look and feel.

Keep watching for updates on this. The rules will be from the TOOFATLardies using Charlie Don’t Surf.