Relief on the Border? Kakstadt Gap - part 5

Remember all those British helicopters landing near Kakstadt Ost?  This is what happened next.  Being quite a small engagement I set it op on an 8x5 foot table at Sheffield Wargames Society last Wednesday.

The players were carefully chosen for their special characteristics.  John (left) played the Brits - he was already wearing DPM and has a nice red beret.  Martin (off camera) led the hardline Marxist East Germans - I've seen him reading The Guardian.  The roguishly handsome chap at the back is your humble correspondent.
Sharp eyed readers will note that the Party HQ seen in this post has been reduced to rubble.  The building is the property of Bertrand and languishes in his Norfolk bunker so some quick thinking was called for.  I think I got away with it though.
(This photo by Pete Scholey - others by me)

The paras - a full battalion thereof, less a few in-flight casualties - were to take and hold Kakstadt Ost in order to protect the flank of NATO troops breaking through the border defences.
What the Brits didn't know was that in the woods near their LZ were elements of a DDR Motor Rifle Regiment.  A full tank battalion, plus companies of HQ, infantry, engineers, AA and AT.  The elements of the DRR MRR clanked on in random order (each stand needing a 6 on turn 2, then a 5,6 on turn 3 etc).
The Commies were to deny the village to the enemy and retain a force capable of counterattacking NATO follow-on mechanised forces.

The village was occupied by a company of East German border guards.  As the paras arrived they sensibly skulked in the ruined buildings.

The paras soon occupied most of the village, despite some fire from the border guards.

But who is this arriving to speak to the guards?  And in a rather posh car too.  It may look like a Renault 12 but this being the East it's a  Romanian-built Dacia 1300.  Either way it's a nice old Solido diecast.

Despite setting their underfed dogs on the paras the southernmost platoon soon have up....

...while their comrades in the north have been joined by the local Stasi officer.

As the paras deployed to defend the village the East Germans began arriving.  Their BAT platoon was kept bust potting away at the paper-thin armour of the DDR BTR-60s (actually Soviet-era diecasts).
Some urgent radio requests resulted in the appearance of....

...the RAF, in the shape of a flight of Phantoms.

Sadly the Phantoms were seen off by a DDR SA-9 battery and as the Commies closed in it wasn't looking good.

More coming soon!