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Section Leaders:
Fionn Kelly & Madmatt
The
Sunken Lane
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German Commander - Fionn
Kelly
NOTE: SPOILER INFORMATION. This After Action
Report contains detailed information regarding units and terrain
disposition to a scenario that may be included in the release version
of Combat Mission. If you wish to play this game Blind or partake in a
Double Blind match then READ NO FURTHER!!!!
Graphics Note:
While the events in this AAR were played on a very recent Beta Build of
Combat Mission. The graphics, at that time, were not finalized. For
Final Graphics please view the POTD Feature which runs daily here and
various features on the CMHQ-Annex site.
Turn
3:
Teichert
Considerations:
1.
I want to press my attack home wherever
possible.
2.
I am far too weak to attack wherever Bil chooses
to advance therefore I must attack where he is not advancing.
3.
Wherever Bil attacks I must absorb the assault
and immediately counter-attack with whatever remnants survive the
initial onslaught.
4.
This way I can minimize my chances of advancing
headlong into the main body of his forces and maximize the number of
casualties I inflict on his main bodies.
Orders
Phase:
From what I can see of his forces Bil seems to
be making a co-ordinated push up either side of the main road. I
anticipate that he is advancing with one company to each side of the
main road. I can expect 1 platoon to advance along the wooded ridges on
each side of the road.
I can expect the remaining two platoons to
advance through the wheat fields on either side of the road. I’ve
seen no activity on my far left near the map edge and I decide that
this is an opportunity to begin my attack.
I order one half-squad to advance across the wheat field
to see if any enemy are present there. If there are then I only lose a
half-squad. If there aren’t then I will order my entire platoon to
dash forward and begin rolling up the enemy’s flank while the rest of
my line attacks the enemy’s main body. In close-fighting his heavy
weapons teams won’t have a chance and I’d love to butcher his
support MGs while his infantry troops are hundreds of metres away ;).
Elsewhere the order is simple. Hold at all costs
! There can be no retreat from our present positions until we have
whittled the enemy’s force into impotence.
Action
Phase:
Well, this was an immensely eventful turn and I
think that about the only way I can illustrate this easily is to show
you many, many pictures since otherwise I fear people will get
confused.
On my extreme left the half-squad dashes forward
and almost makes it to the far edge of the wheatfield by the end of the
turn. So far it hasn’t seen any enemy and so it looks like I might be
attacking across this field soon enough.
I’ve enlarged the infantry somewhat so that you
can see my recon half-squad. Hiding behind the bocage are the rest of
its platoon ready to ambush anyone who should suddenly appear.
On the left side
of the sunken lane my orders to Teichert’s platoon are simple. They
must hold and invite the Tommies into the warm embrace of their
grenades and SMGs.
Each red circle marks the location of a Tommy rifle squad while each
blue circle marks the location of one of Teichert’s squads. The blue
lines mark which enemy squads Teichert’s men are firing at. As you
can see the volume of Teichert’s squads fire is effectively pinning
those enemy units closest to his units.
By the 45th second of the movie ( 6 seconds after the jpeg
above this was taken) yet more Tommies have marched into my line of
fire. I have lost a total of 6 men so far but definitely caused at
least 18 casualties. What is even better is that I can identify 5
separate infantry squads involved in this combat. 6 squads = 2 infantry
platoons so I can be reasonably sure that at one-third of Bil’s
attacking force is engaging Teichert’s platoon in close quarters
battle and is coming off substantially the worse for it.
The blue and red numbers in this picture show the number of confirmed
casualties in each squad at the end of the 3rd turn.
Firstly, you should note that there are SIX British infantry squads in
the picture. This confirms that Bil has sent two platoons into my
defensive position. We can also confirm the total annihilation of three
squads and the mauling of two others. In total I can definitely see 36
British casualties in front of my position. For my own part Teichert
has suffered 9 casualties. The majority of these were suffered due to
the fact that the British simply attacked with overwhelming numbers and
with their numerical advantage got close enough to ensure they’d
cause at least some casualties to my own men. Still, a 4 to 1 exchange
rate in this position is quite acceptable.
On my right flank things also went
well. Bil obviously didn’t expect me to have moved forward from my
setup position and his forces walked slowly and calmly into my ambush
and, again, suffered some quite severe casualties.
In this shot
you can clearly see, labeled, the guts of two platoons of British
infantry. This means that only two platoons of his infantry are
unaccounted for and this knowledge significantly increases my freedom
to maneuver as it radically decreases the likelihood of me being ambush
by his forces if I choose to maneuver. He must think I’m merely
putting an outpost line here since his forces continue to advance
towards me. Little does he realize that he is advancing into the teeth
of an SS platoon set up behind the bocage. Even worse for Bil is the
fact that I decided to move the SS platoon guarding the right of the
road onto the edge of the woods overlooking the field he is advancing
over. I decided to bring as much firepower to bear as I could. Whatever
of his forces he chooses to push forward are simply doomed in the face
of this firepower.
As you can see here the platoon which attacked the rightmost squad
defending the wheat field was badly attrited but it has managed to
seriously weaken my line. The Platoon HQ and one Tommy squad panicked
and ran away but the remaining two squads wrought a fearful vengeance
on my squad. I have lost nine out of the ten member squad and extracted
only fifteen casualties in return. Fortunately for me the two squads,
which look certain to breach my line here next turn, are isolated from
their fellows so it appears as though Bil will be unable to capitalize
on the damage wrought by their mad rush.
And now things become delightfully clear. It is now absolutely clear
that I have ambushed Bil’s entire left flank. I can count three
entire platoons PLUS a gaggle of mortars and MMGs trapped in the field.
I pour fire into his infantry platoons and apart from the losses
detailed in the above picture I DEFINITELY cause another 16 casualties
at the cost of only a single man wounded on my side. His forces are in disarray
and it will take him some time to pull back, re-organize and stabilize
his front. I think that if Bil didn’t have any tanks I’d simple
halt my planned counter-attacks now and simply ambush him again
whenever his reinforcements arrive since I really have deeply wounded
his forces. Three of his platoons will, by the end of the next turn,
cease to exist as viable fighting formations and the others will, in
all probability, be badly mauled.
Overall this turn I can confirm
causing 67 casualties to Bil’s forces. These casualties are confined
to his infantry squads and platoon HQs and thus are a serious blow to
his forces. In return Bil has inflicted 19 casualties on my forces.
This is extremely good news for me since, I’ll have to lose a lot of
men to kill his tanks and so I need to whittle his infantry down for as
little cost as possible right now..
I took mostly top-down shots in
this turn because it was very climactic and, in order to explain it all
properly, I felt top-down shots would cause the least misinterpretation
among readers.
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