The Second Battle of Isandwana (17-23 July 2017) was a decisive engagement between the 17th Panzer Regiment of the Afrikakorps-Ost of the Prussian Republic and four divisions of Zulu under African Union command. Taking place near the historical Battle of Isandwana fought over 140 years prior, many parallels were made by observers.
Order of Battle
Afrikakorps-Ost
Commander: General Sebastian Runge
Units:
17th Panzer Division
56 Nebelpardner II Main Battle Tank
56 Puma AFV of all variants
22 FH70 towed guns
1,200 Panzergrenadier
Zulu Army
Commanders: General Dusima, General Madeline Sittner
Units:
Dumisa:
20th Motorized Division
22nd Mechanized Division (UDC)
31st Armored Division
38th Mechanized Division
Equipment: Kit was often shared between divisions, so precise numbers per unit were not available.
Dumisa:
50 M5A4 Victoria Main Battle Tank
50 M1154 Zamburak wheeled 8x8 self-propelled gun
25 M1118B/90 Commando wheeled 4x4 armored car
25 M1118B/TOW Commando wheeled 4x4 armored car
50 M104A Ratel wheeled 6x6 IFV
100 Cedco C8, equipped with heavy machine guns, automatic cannon, ATGM, and SAM
20 155mm M1770 Scorpio self-propelled howitzer
60 105mm M150 towed howitzer
50,000 soldiers
Sittner:
15th Boer Forward Division
50 M104B Ratel IFV
25 Commando TOW, either M1115 or M1118 (no distinction was made)
9,000 skirmishers
Prelude#
When the African Wars begun, Prussian holdings in Zimbabwe and Botswana were threatened by the emerging African Union. It was decided to send a force into South Africa in order to threaten African Union logistics lines and decisively end the conflict.
The African Union was aware of the threat Prussian holdings in Africa held, and made repeated attempts to dislodge the entrenched Prussians. However, these attacks resulted in little. Emboldened by their success, the Prussian high command saw an opportunity to attack south. The 17th Panzer Division, under General Sebastian Runge, advanced south.
The nearest units available were those under General Madeline Sittner and General Dumisa. Sittner's force, while unable to stop the Prussians, were able to relay vital information to General Dumisa to move into position and halt the Prussian forces.
The Prussian advance throughout the previous weeks were rapid, repelling ambushes from General Sittner's forces. The Prussian forces, whose confidence was bolstered by their new Nebelpardner IIK tanks, found their advance slowed by renewed attacks against logistics units; General Sittner redirected her forces to strike the increasingly extended supply lines.
While Sittner's force was unable to halt the Prussian divisions, it provided valuable information. Key elements was that the Prussians spoke German, a language similar to Afrikaner. In addition, Sittner's forces were able to capture a Prussian radio set, using it to listen to Prussian frequencies as they advanced. By the time General Dumisa encountered the Prussians, they were prepared.
General Dumisa was aware of the disposition of Prussian forces, and decided to engage them in Isandwana. The choice is both tactical and symbolic; the terrain afforded great mobility for his largely wheeled divisions, negating the improved off-road performance afforded by the largely tracked vehicles of the Prussian force. In addition, it was this battlefield where his ancestor, King Cethshwayo, had defeated a British force nearly 140 years earlier.
Battle
Prussian scout units detected the forces of General Dumisa ready for combat, and outnumbering them significantly. Distressed by this development, General Runge ordered his units, equipped with the new Nebelpardner IIK tanks, to to take up defensive positions, supported by Puma and Panzergrenadier.
General Dumisa proceeded as planned, having anticipated the defensive posture assumed by the Prussian force. Trained in both modern and traditional Zulu tactics, he saw that traditional Zulu tactics of mobility and the Bull Horn formation his ancestors pioneered could be adapted to modern weapons.
The Bull Horn formation comprises of three parts: the chest, the horns, and the loins. The chest comprised of strong units to pin the opposing force. The horns comprised of faster units to outflank the opponent. Both the chest would then encircle and destroy the opponent. If the chest is broken, then the loins, or reserves, would be brought into battle.
For the chest, he selected the 33rd Armored Division, equipped with new M5A4 Victoria tanks. While the M5A4 Victoria was decidedly outgunned by the Nebelpardner IIK, it was highly mobile, well-protected, and highly accurate with advanced command and organization capabilities.
For the horns, the 22nd Mechanized, comprising of UDC contractors and equipped with a mix of Zamburak self-propelled guns and Commando TOW, would form the left horn, and the 38th Mechanized, comprising of native Zulu equipped with a mix of Commando 90 and Ratel, would form the right horn.
The loins would be filled by the 20th Mechanized, a new but well-trained unit comprising of native Zulu and equipped with technicals. While unarmored and lightly armed, they were very mobile, allowing them to strike almost at will.
This force descended upon the Prussian forward units. First to engage was the 33rd Armored Division. Despite roughly equal force disposition, the superior tactical coordination made the Zulu force appear several times stronger than it really was. After a brief but intense exchange of long-range missiles that resulted in several Victoria and Nebelpardner knocked out, the Zulu force charged the Prussians with the help of smoke screens and suppressive fire. The Prussian forces were driven back, and were forced to leave their artillery behind, which was towed and not able to limber up in time.
The bold attack by the Zulu force caused concern for General Runge, who ordered his remaining force retreat to safer ground north. However, the 22nd Mechanized and 38th Mechanized divisions had just completed the encirclement of the Prussian force. This turned the once-orderly retreat into a Prussian rout. As the Prussian forces scattered, the highly mobile mechanized divisions, backed by the tanks of the 33rd, crushed the core of the 17th Panzer Division.
The survivors were pursued by elements of the 20th Motorized Division and General Sittner's scout units.
Losses
The 17th Panzer Division was destroyed completely, with only 72 reported survivors out of 12,000 soldiers, all auxiliaries. Virtually all of the heavy equipment of the division were either destroyed, disabled, broke down, or was captured.
Zulu losses are difficult to precisely establish, but are estimated to be between 2,000 and 2,500 soldiers. As for equipment losses, 15 Victoria tanks were knocked out alongside 23 Ratel IFVs, 20 Commando armored cars, and 6 Zamburak self-propelled guns. Most African Union equipment losses were only temporary, and only 3 Victoria tanks, 8 Ratels, 2 Commando, and no Zamburaks were irrecoverable.
Of note was the loss of all 56 of the 17th Panzer Division's Nebelpardner IIK main battle tanks. Some were disabled by artillery strikes but at 30 were disabled by anti-armor units with Kornet ATGM and gunfire from Victoria tanks. While the advanced systems of the Nebelpardner touted great survivability, they fell prey to the tactics of the African Union troops, who had faced comparably-equipped A-103 Mk II Destrier main battle tanks.
Result
The African Union forces, emboldened by the victory, made significant progress in subsequent offensives, although the Prussian forces fought a bitter fighting retreat. The defeat of the 17th Panzer Division in the Second Battle of Isandwana was a leading cause in the eventual withdrawl of all Prussian forces in Africa. For all purposes, it was a turning point.
In Prussia, the battle was heavily censored as "a minor skirmish," with no hint at the complete annihilation of the 17th Panzer Division. The families of the deceased soldiers of the division were given few words about their loved ones, merely stating that they are "missing in action."
However, reports of the battle soon surfaced on social media, and the ensuring public outrage caused Prussian officials to censor the advocates, but withdrew their forces nonetheless. To this day, the Prussian government denies their forces were ever defeated by that of the African Union, and that the withdrawl was done to focus their efforts against the Russian invasion.
Memorials
On the battlefield, an M1115B/90 Commando was emplaced on a monument to the African soldiers who died during the battle or afterwards from their wounds. The site is near a memorial to the Zulu forces who died in the Battle of Isandwana a century earlier.
The bodies of the Prussian forces were buried in a large, unmarked grave near the British carin, as the Prussian Government did not want them back.
Several Nebelpardner IIK tanks were captured intact. Two were sent to Paternia for technical analysis, and one was retained by the African Union as a trophy. This tank is on display in the South African Armor Museum in Bloemfontein, alongside a cosmetically-restored M5A4 Victoria which was knocked out during the battle.
@GermanWarMachine We're fine.
@TemDesBur The Nebelpardner IIK was held in great respect by both the Zulu and Boer forces. It's armor was tough, was quite mobile, and it had a gun which was more powerful than their weapon. Defeating them involved tactics that needed incredible coordination from several arms such as infantry and artillery, a variety of weapons systems, and high degree of discipline and skill on all participants.
However, as difficult as it was to defeat the Nebelpardner IIK, it was not impossible, and not unique. The A-103 series posed similar issues, as it benefited from a similar set of systems, and required similarly complex and highly coordinated tactics to destroy. But the key is that it wasn't invincible. Once soldiers got that in their head, then the rest is a matter of practice.
Nebelpardners were destroyed in a variety of means. Many were largely intact but combat-ineffective due to damage from mines, massed rifle grenade and RPG volleys, and close-range attacks by infantry. While the armor was never breached in these attacks, other external system such as the optics and tracks were engaged, rendering the tank blind and immobile. In some cases, infantry drove crews out by activating the external fire extinguisher switch in close-distance attacks.
In other cases, they were engaged with volleys of anti-tank missiles from hidden positions and in the case of the Kornet, at distances beyond the effective range of its weapons. Anti-tank guns on the Victoria and Zamburak could penetrate the frontal armor at distances of 2,000m with relatively high effectiveness.
Artillery strikes often immobilized the tanks, and Copperhead missiles from the 155mm howitzer were deadly weapons.
While the gun-armed Ratel and Commando had limited capability against the Nebelpardner IIK, they were still useful against its supporting units such as dismounted Panzergrenadier, Puma IFV, and logistics. While not directly hurting the tanks, they made it much easier to destroy them.
Just because the armor can't be penetrated does not mean that it is invincible. Many Nebelpardner which were disabled had intact armor and all internal systems were functional. However, what use is that if it can't aim its weapons and get to somewhere it is needed?
@TemDesBur Which I am.
This scenario is all entirely plausible. Attacking the Prussian holdings were unsuccessful due to the concentration of firepower and a natural defender's advantage.
However, this led to significant overconfidence with the Prussian forces, and they made a bid to strike South Africa, an area important to the AU's industrial base. However, doing so basically threw away the defensive hegemony enjoyed by Prussian forces.
Against them is a Boer-Zulu force with ostensibly less firepower. The only machines which could contest the Nebelpardner's armor from the front at any range was the limited number of Zamburak self-propelled guns, Victoria tanks, TOW-carrying Commando armored cars and Cedco pickup trucks, and Ratels with their ATGMs.
The African force had numerous advantages not realized by General Runge; mobility, intelligence, familiarity with terrain, and numbers. Both the Zulus and Boers inhabited the land for centuries, and were very familiar with the terrain. Gen. Dumisa was particularly familiar with the area, given his heritage. Afrikaner, the language spoken by Boers, is derived from Dutch, a Teutonic language like German. This allowed them to quickly translate intercepted Prussian communications. Much of the African force employed wheeled vehicles, where the Prussians used tracked machines. Given the terrain, the wheeled vehicles were faster and could take up positions more quickly. Only their tanks were tracked, a necessity given the incredible weight. Finally, numbers. The Prussian force was decisively outnumbered on a 4-1 basis.
In short, the Prussian force could hit well above its weight, but was relatively slow, predictable, in the dark, and much smaller than the force sent to confront it.
@marcox43 Yep, another one of Pilotmario's (well put together) attempts at making himself more credible.
Yes. @marcox43
is that on the RP?
Of course you would have a word with this.
And yet here I am. @TemDesBur
The withdrawal of Prussian forces after the conflict was swift and simple.
No Nebelparders were lost and only 2000 men were wounded beyond battle readiness. Your credibility is stained due to your terroristic reputation.
Biased information, not taken into account due to the previous reputation of the AU