BATUS

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BATUS
Author: Carl Schulze
Softcover - 64 pages
Publisher: Tankograd
Price: £7.99
Number: 9008

The book

With a size equivalent to all the training areas in the UK, BATUS or by its proper title British Army Training Unit Suffield is one of the British Army's prime training areas. It allows a Battle group containing 1400 men up to 30 days training. The exercises are known as Medicine Man or simply Med Man to those taking part, the name is derived from the emblem of BATUS which is the head of a Cree (an Indian tribe who used to roam the plains) medicine man. For the Army it is a place to fully exercise a Battlegroup in the art of War fighting, the exercises comprise of two main phases Live Fire and Tactical Effects Simulation (TESEX), which is the side I most familiar with, complete with a live enemy.

The exercising Battlegroup is usually made of the following; Two Tank Squadrons, two Infantry Battalions, an Armoured Engineer Squadron, and a Close Air Defence troop. There will always be logistical support from Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers usually as part of the Light Aid Detachment, the Royal Logistical Corps support and there is always an armoured section from the Royal Army Medical Corps. There will also be an Artillery Close Support Battery which although does not make up the Battlegroup acts in support of operations. Depending on the Battlegroup there may also be an element from the Army Air Corps providing transport, liaison or attack helicopters. Once the exercising Battlegroup has taken over all the vehicles to be used during the exercise the Battlegroup will prepare and deploy out onto the prairie on D-Day, once they deploy the Battlegroup will not return until the end of all the exercises.

This title is in Tankograd's regular format of dual German and English it gives a good history of BATUS and its place in the training of the British Army today. This title moves on to describing how the Medicine Man exercise work and breaks down the training for each of the build up exercises which make up each part of Exercise Medicine Man. The final part of the Live Firing Exercise in known as 'Tractable' and the TES phase is known as 'Totalise'. This title will give the reader a great insight in how and what happens during Exercise Medicine Man. Once you have read the concise information in the first fourteen pages, including the useful abbreviations the reader can move onto the fabulous colour photographs.

This book is a feast of reference pictures, although there are not in depth features of each vehicle there are plenty of pictures to whet the appetite of either the modeller or those interested in things military. The book starts with the basic and ever so important basis of the Battlegroup, the Infantryman it then moves onto the Challenger 2, Warrior and the venerable 432 as the Mortar section vehicle. The next series of photo's feature the new toys for the Engineers Trojan and Titan along with the TBT's, Shielder and the CET before finishing with the Drops, 432 Section vehicle (I think it's the same one I used in '94!) the new FL12 and a Spartan. The Royal Artillery is up next with the Stormer HVM armed with Starstreak and a single AS90. Medics have the 432 ambulance in one picture they provide a valuable service for any casualty real or exercise play. Of course with all this armour and additional vehicles the REME are heavily featured as they are very busy, war fighting either real or simulated creates a great deal of stress and strain on the machines, as a result they spend carrying out routine and emergency tasks to keep the Battlegroup mobile. The various Command Vehicles are featured and they provide the link to combined operations. The various 'B' vehicles are featured including the MMLC (Medium Mobility) Drops and the IMMLC (Improved Mobility - Monster Truck on steroids), the older Bedford MJ's appear as well as the Bedford TM 8 tonne. The most striking vehicle is the sniper platoon Land Rover. A few pictures are devoted to the Mobile After Action Review Systems these large vehicles are mobile theatres which go out on the Prairie after the TES battle runs. The OPFOR vehicles are featured next with the Vismod Scorpions which are known as Salamander ( the TES equipment takes care of the 'firepower') the most obvious feature is the longer barrel which is nothing more than a section of drain pipe. The Sturgeon is next which is the FV103 Spartan fitted with the Milan Compact Turret. There are also some Vismod Land Rovers which replicate the OPFOR enemy air defence. The book rounds off with a series of photographs of both the Training Support Vehicles and the Range Safety Staff (Red Tops) including the very Red Warrior minus Rarden.

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One thing that is not seen on any of the BATUS vehicles, add-on armour this is solely reserved for vehicles on operations and not used for training. The reader may be surprised at the lack of heavy chipping of the paintwork on the BATUS fleet, yes the vehicles are heavily used throughout the year but they are maintained to a very high degree. During the winter all these vehicles are overhauled and the all the necessary work is carried out. In fact at the end of the exercise season the last Battlegroup does a lot of the preparation work. Nearly all the Battlegroup vehicles are painted in the traditional Green and Stone camouflage with some of the 'newer' vehicles appearing in the plain NATO IR Green. The NATO Green is a hard wearing pain the Stone overspray is less so, the black backgrounds of the ZAP numbers is always discoloured but the number itself is always prominent. The location of all vehicles by Zap number is always checked before any live firing takes place. OPFOR vehicles are painted in a shade of grey (similar to the IDF) this is to give the Battlegroup another visual clue to who a vehicle might belong to. Many of the photographs feature the BT46, made by Saab Training Systems, and AWES equipment, made by Cubic Defence. This equipment is only fitted to the vehicle for the TES phase of Exercise Medicine Man. Each kit is tailored to a particular vehicle and the software that operates the equipment is highly sophisticated, this enables the OPFOR vehicles to assume the role of T80 for the Salamander and of the BMP 3 for the Sturgeon.

Conclusion

Highly recommended especially to those interested in things modern and for anyone who has an interest in the British Army. For me it was like visiting an old friend, I have taken part in Exercise Medicine Man and I worked with the TES equipment in the UK. For the modeller there are plenty of different photographs of possible variations on all those modern vehicles produced today. For the ambitious modeller you could always try to scratch build the TES equipment after all AFV Club/Revell still produce the Scorpion.

Thanks to Justin at Bookworld for the review sample. To see other titles from Tankograd, as well as those from other publishers, please see their website: BOOKWORLD