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Section Leaders:
Click Here for Print Friendly .DOC version German Commander - Fionn
Kelly German Turns 1-5 Turn
1: So,
let’s hop on my BMW motorcycle and take you for a spot-tour of my
front-line in Panzermeyer fashion shall we? We’ll
move from left to right.
This is a platoon-sized position guarding my left flank. One Motorised SS platoon is arrayed in depth here utilising split squads to give the position some depth. The platoon is co-located with my Jagdpanzer IV (lang) and sited facing leftwards as my flank protection. Any enemy recon vehicles will be dealt with by the Jpz IV while the infantry will wait to ambush any infantry who make for the Jpz IV.
Approximately 100 metres in front of the JpzIV/platoon position I have emplaced two HMG42s, a Panzerschreck, an 81mm FO and a 2cm FlaKvierling. This position won’t stand up to an infantry assault but it will play havoc with any infantry passing it to the right or left AND will present a great threat to any reconnaissance vehicles or tanks which advance ahead of enemy infantry forces. The fields of fire are excellent and I expect this position to significantly attrit any enemy units passing to either side of it.
This
picture shows the field of fire to the front of the position shown in
the picture above. No infantry or light armour unit is going to make it
across the open ground in front of this position without taking severe
casualties. It will attrit and delay the enemy and force him to expend
excessive ordnance and forces to destroy it. I’m very happy with this
position.
Leutnant
Handschein is situated in a forward position in the very centre of the
map. His position has been chosen with a view to allowing him to launch
a counter-attack and/or quickly move to reinforce whichever of my
flanks is threatened. His forward position is exposed but is covered by
fire from several friendly HMG and FlaK teams and so should prove
stronger than it first appears. In any case it goes against my grain to
sit passively back and be attacked so I’d rather lose Handschein and
his platoon in an ill-fated counter-attacked than a stolid defence.
This
picture is taken from one of the hills overlooking the central portion
of the front. You can see the 3.7cm FlaK cannon, the 105mm FO and a
panzerschreck team in the valley in front of the position. As you can
realise this position isn’t designed to withstand a determined
infantry assault but is, instead, designed to provide long-range fire
to attrit and dissuade the enemy from the direct approach. ( The black
circle marks the position of Handschein’s platoon and is present to
give you an idea of overwatch potential.)
Obersturmbannfuehrer
Hochstadter’s platoon is situated in front of one of my Panthers in
VERY poor tank country with a view to providing one of those infantry
ambushes I have previously mentioned. The ground in front of
Hochstadter is almost uniformly impenetrable to enemy vehicles. His
right flank is protected by a very steep cliff and his fron and left
are a bit too open for infantry to assault through. His position is
also protected from long-range fire by the lie of the terrain. Overall
any tank which approaches to bring DF HE to bear on Hochstadter will be
killed by the Panther or my FlaK while any infantry which assault can
ONLY do so on the right through the wooded plateau there. If they move
through there I’ll hit them with so much arty and FlaK as to make
them sorry they were ever born. The platoon is, once again, split into
half-squads so as to : a)
cover more of the terrain with fire. b)
Mislead Chris as to my actual strength.
Just
behind Osf Hochstadter’s platoon Osf Scheer’s platoon is emplaced
to provide fire into the forest. Which I feel any unit attacking
Hochstadter will move through. I am definitely hoping to channel the
enemy advance here into the wooded plateau since I’ve set up
something of a killing zone there and could easily account for 2
platoons at little cost to myself if Chris attacks through there.
As
insurance against a wide flanking maneuvre I have detached one squad
from Scheer’s platoon and moved it off to my right flank under the
command of the company commander. I will shuttle this squad forward as
necessary to provide the Panther on that flank with anti-bazooka
protection or bring the squad back into the fold of Scheer’s command
if the enemy makes a head-on assault.
My
entire right flank protection force comprises one Panther situated so
as to maximize fields of fire and encourage Chris to keep his tanks
back, one 81mm FO situated so as to be able to bring arty down on the
heads of any infantry sneaking up using the trees for cover AND one SPW
250/9 in hiding in the hollow behind the 81mm FO. I intend to utilize this 250/9 in the counter-reconnaissance role and as a mobile MG nest
if the enemy infantry are advancing too quickly for my liking. Overall
though I will simply use it as the situation moves me and so am keeping
it in hiding until I have a definite use for it. This then is my deployment and rationale behind it. The
highlight of the first turn is the shooting down of a US Jabo by one of
my 3.7cm FlaKs before it even makes it onto the map. Nothing of any real significance occurs during the rest of the first five turns. I note some enemy infantry on a hill on the other side of the map and decide to let them taste a little airborne lead ( to little effect), watch a platoon-sized unit conducting careful recon of my left flank and, eventually, get bored waiting for the enemy reconnaissance elements to appear on my right flank and decide to force Chris’ hand by committing my SPW 250-9 to a pre-emptive counter-reconnaissance.
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