An amateur attempt at organizing
2500 doesn't sound like a battallion, that sounds like a Brigade. First thing I'd ask is how the intel was collected. For all I know that Brigade is the lead element of a whole division (8000-12000 for typical commie infantry TO&E). If the info was from some amateur, the enemy formation may be way bigger or smaller than what was reported. So it might be just a recon in force or something, but we can't count on that. Expect everyone will assume it's an all-out invasion.
More on enemy infantry formations: A unit that large WILL have support weapons. From RPK squad automatics to PK and DShK belt fed machine guns. Also 81mm mortars at the very least. Maybe 120mm mortars and towed artillery. Also, I would expect at least some of the unit to be motorized. Therefore, expect enemy recon elements on motorcycles or wheeled BRDM type vehicles. They may also have a forward detachment in some APCs to dash ahead and sieze key terrain features, in this case the bridge. Even if the unit started as completely foot-born, they might have confiscated a bunch of vehicles from civilians.
Additionally: If the unit's original beachhead had enough support, they might have fighter-bomber or helo gunships on call. What's travelling with the column may not be all they have available. They might not have much, but it only takes 1 or 2 passes from some gunships to ruin your whole day. They may be dropping cluster bombs, or even poison gas. Fun, huh?
Another problem might be refugees. Now how do we tell the difference between a stream of refugees and the enemy column in confiscated cars/trucks???
Now for friendly units:
First thing I'd to is announce everyone with firearms training or
competition experience to head to table A and tell me what you've had.
Next I'd send groups to collect guns and ammunition from gun stores. A problem I'd see is I haven't seen stores that carry enough to supply 800+ people with enough rifle ammo to sustain a long fight.
Why a long fight? I know the US Army said they will be here in 24 hours. However, feces happen in war. General Sad Sack may decide to send the division elsewhere, or the reinforcements are only a mechanized company (about 200 men) instead of a whole division (upwards of 20,000 in a US heavy division). "Relief in 24 hours" may stretch into 36, or 48, or 72, or never. The thing that sounds fishy is sending one US heavy division to tackle an enemy brigade. Either it's a lot more than a brigade that's coming my way or a lot less than a US division as reinforcements.
OK, unit breakdown:
Assemble groups of fit and aggressive groups of 20 in 4WD vehicles to dash ahead and harass the enemy and keep us informed of their advance. Get some HAM radio operators in each group. Get a good military vet or 2 in charge of each group.
Assemble groups of 50 of the lesser fit/lesser trained as more static defense types for holding the town and bridge.
Get a small group to count how many headed over the river and if/when all are back on the friendly side.
Find out if there are any belt-fed heavy weapons in private ownership and get them in some dug-in gun pits covering the bridge approaches. Also, get some weapon pits dug with whatever tripod mounted whatsit inside them that looks like a weapon as a dummy firing position. More on this later.
Get a group of folks to wire the bridge for demolition ASAP. Get some of the groups of 50 to defend against enemy advance attack parties.
Get medical facilities ready for incoming casualties. Also an alternate location outside town. Warn the med people if the enemy arrives, they will probably shoot all the wounded and press-gang the medical people into treating the enemy wounded, so they'd better be ready to clear out fast.
Get the construction company started digging trenches and embankments to hold the bridge area. Also have them pile a roadblock on the far and near sides of the bridge in case the demolition fails.
Get some welding equipment to pre-cut some of the bridge spans to make the demolition easier. Target a demolition time of 4 hours from now.
Keep some mobile groups in 4WD vehicles as a reserve, and some others spread out to warn of enemy approach. ALL directions, not just the far side of the river.
Get some of the private pilots up keeping tabs on the enemy location and keep them in contact with the 4WD harassment groups. Tell them to watch out for SAM-7 and other shoulder launched surface to air missiles.
Send the boats out to either bring back or destroy every boat on the river within 30 miles.
Send some crop dusters to spray the enemy column with pesticide. Tell the pilots to make ONE pass each. I don't think this will really kill any of them. My intention is to make them suit up in gas masks which will really slow them down. A combination of the crop-duster pass and an ambush by one of the 4WD groups should create some good confusion. If they respond
aggressively, we know we are dealing with a first rate unit. If it is a first rate unit, I'm telling all units to pull back to the friendly side and blow the bridge.
Some aggressive units may be best left on the far side with the option of retreating via boat pickup. I'd leave this to the small group commanders' discretion. I'd love to think we have a bunch of great guerrillas in the tradition of Francis Marion but my experience is just finding a good shooter is at least a 1 out of 10 shot, so I might have at most 100 effective people. More likely 20-30.
Warn everyone if the worst comes to worst, the enemy will have assault boats, the bridge won't blow up, and we'll eat a heavy preparatory fire by helo gunships, fighter-bombers, and artillery (REAL arty, I mean like 122mm and 152mm howitzers) before the ground attack comes. Expect at least 50% casualties from the prep barrage. Get some code words pre-planned to retreat to specific rally points beyond the town in case we can't hold them.
That's a good start for Colonel Edmund's Irregulars. I would really expect most of the militia to flee after a hard barrage and ground assault, I hate to say. A clever assault might cause an irreversible panic. For all I know a heliborne assault is a few minutes away.
Edmund
Heck this is the best use of the civilian home gaurd types...to absorb the brunt of the enemy advance, make them bleed, slow them down and possibly stop them.( very likely in this scinerio) Then the professionals can mop up.
