The Next War - Operation Attila - D+3

Air War

After several hot discussions in Moscow, Warsaw Pact decided to continue using the saturation tactics in the air struggle against the Western Capitalists.
In North and Central sectors, strong groups of air superiority fighters were assigned, assisted by smaller groups of MIG-21 used to overstretch NATO's air forces.
In the South sectors, Hungarian air units with a small Soviet complement were expected to force the Italians to give up the control of their air space.

It wasn't a good decision.
At sunset of May 6 (D+3) Warsaw Pact held Air Superiority in the North and South sectors, but in the centre American F15 and F4 emerged victorious, opening up a corridor for REFORGER airlift.

Moreover, MIG-21 and MIG-23 losses have been even higher than the previous days, up to the point of questioning Pact's capability to contest air control in the near future. Every airfield in East Germany was littered by damaged or inoperable aircraft, well beyond ground crews' repair capabilities, plagued as always by a spare parts shortage.

Pact Special Forces Assault Phase

In preparation to the assault on I Belgian Corps' positions in Hannover, 3rd Shock Army requested a special forces assault on the Dutch Hawk SAM batteries located 30 km West of the city.

The assault was carried out by 3 Soviet and 1 East German Spetsnaz units and went bad since start. Due to a probable information leak, 4 MI-6 were shot down during the approach phase and the attacking commando was welcomed by 100 West German Police agents and mixed Military Police units, supported by a couple armored vehicles.

After 2 hours of firefight, the whole assault force was killed or forced to surrender without being able to damage the Hawk batteries. 

Pact Airborne Assault Phase

In order to support 1st Guards Tank Army advance toward the Ruhr, 76th Guards Airborne Division was transported to Bottrop, 30 km behind German III Corps Main Battle Area, by helicopters flying in NOE mode. The division had just the time to consolidate before several American Cobra helicopters attacked its positions,inflicting moderate losses. To prevent further losses, the remaining Cobra assault helicopter were quickly grounded by a coordinated SSM-delivered chemical attack on their airports.

Pact Land Movement

In South Germany, after an SSM delivered chemicals disabled German II Corps' artillery supporting Nuremberg's defenders, Czech 1st Army assaulted the city with heavy artillery support. NATO positions were overrun and 3 divisions exploited the breakthrough crossing the Danube, suffering some losses due to a stiff resistance by the retreating 10/4 German brigade.

At the end of the battle, the whole area around Nuremberg had been contaminated by persistent chemicals. In an official declaration released at 22:00, May 6 (D+3), Warsaw Pact spokesman Major -General Yuri Lebedev declared that "in the previous days NATO refused our offer to declare Nuremberg Open City. This ill fated decision brought suffering to the same German citizens NATO declares to protect, and caused the almost total destruction of one of the finest cities in central Europe."

The ruins of Nuremberg

Further South, the Hungarian Army entered Munich, but failed to dislodge the 1st mountain Division Base defending the center of the city. Due to accumulated fatigue and NATO opposition, the whole Army get bogged down around Munich.

Hungarian Army situation