Section Leaders:
Fionn Kelly & Madmatt

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German Commander - Fionn Kelly

Turn 3:

Orders Phase:

  With Murray advancing on what appears to be a company front before my central skirmish line I feel it behooves me to take advantage of this and send some extra forces forward to add their firepower to the pot. Next turn, as the enemy infantry begin to pass my men by and their helpless mortar and MG teams get into knife-fighting range I’ll spring an ambush. It will cost me the Elite platoon but with a little luck it could account for an MG platoon, a mortar platoon ( I count 3 mortars as a mortar platoon) and severe damage to the two platoons looking to pass to either side of my force.

Action Phase:

Well, as befits all plans this one didn’t survive contact with the enemy. Contact with the enemy? But I thought you ordered your men to hide and were planning to only open fire next turn? Yes, those WERE my orders. Unfortunately my Elite troops saw the enemy getting into range and decided to fire on their own initiative only eleven seconds into the turn.

On my right flank the squad-sized ambush does quite well. By the end of the turn it has killed 11 enemy infantry from a Veteran Glider Platoon. I can see the survivors of the platoon hunkering down in cover to my flank. Next turn they’ll be ordered to sweep in and pin my flanks to prevent me from escaping. It is unfortunate that the vagaries of incidental differences in orders sent both enemy platoons directly to the flanks of the skirmish squads and not directly into their jaws. This must be greatly reducing the casualties inflicted.

On the left flank of the ambush one can see that I’ve brought one further squad up to help lengthen my line slightly and have identified considerable enemy units. On the right of the picture one can see an MG platoon, to its left is a Crack Glider platoon accompanied by three 60mm mortar teams and on the far left one can see some infantry accompanied by at least two MGs. I think this supports my previous assertion that I’m facing a company of infantry supported by a large number of heavy weapons.

By the end of the turn I’ve lost 1 man but have definitely accounted for 13 Crack Glider infantry ( including the entire platoon HQ element), 1 Crack mortarmen and 11 Veteran Glider infantry.

This represents a confirmed 25 to 1 exchange rate but with the overwhelming strength of the enemy ( 1 Company plus supporting heavy weapons PLUS supporting tanks) I can’t hope to do much more than I already have and will have to withdraw quickly if I am to have any hope of extracting any troops from this position. With a little luck I might get half of my men back to second line. If I can do this then I would have fulfilled my two to one exchange rate requirement.

It’ll be interesting to see how Murray reacts to this. As I see it his options are:

a)      to begin reconning more extensively,

b)      to begin using artillery to preparatory bombard any possible defensive positions.

Knowing Murray it’ll be the latter and I’m going to have a very rough time of things until he eventually runs out of ammunition. Once he runs out of ammunition I’ll gain ascendancy again and, hopefully, I’ll have enough men left to counter-attack.

If I’m right this battle will develop along much the same lines as our last battle:

1.      Quick thrust deep into my lines accompanied by massive artillery barrages on defensive positions from 105 and 155mm artillery.

2.      Consolidation of the thrust followed by attacks along its depth as I, ostensibly, try to isolate his spearhead elements.

3.      Each of my thrusts is met by massed artillery fire and disperses due to casualties.

4.      Eventually Murray runs out of artillery.

5.      Once he does so my next thrust achieves decisive results and, when I follow this thrust up, it achieves decisive results.

On my right and left flanks little of any significance occurs. Murray is obviously pushing forward on each flank but he isn’t near any of my lines of resistance yet.

His plan is clear though, he will:

a)      thrust into my lines along the axis of advance provided by the central wooded highlands ( the big patch of woods pointing directly towards the middle of my line to my right of the road).

b)      Attempt to break through my lines in the centre but be quite willing to accept a stalemate so long as I commit much of my reserves to stopping his central thrust.

c)      His forces on my left flank will probe forward lightly then and attempt to make me think there’s a supporting attack coming in on that flank. He will push as far forward as he can and hope to force me to commit more of my reserves there.

d)      Once that is done he’ll launch his main attack on my right flank.

If I read this correctly I’ve identified a 5 company ( thus probably a 6 company ( 6 companies = 2 battalions whereas 5 companies is an incomplete force) ) force.

I estimate that 1 company is making the demonstration on my left flank.

One company is advancing along the trees just to the right of the road ( where my Platoon HQ and Panzerschreck team are running around). It will eventually run into the platoons I’ve set up around the rough terrain in the centre of my line.

One company is advancing  along the “central highland” and is currently being engaged by my skirmish line.

One company seems to be split into half-squads and is spreading out over the fords in advance of the other Amis infantry. I think that this is a Veteran company and is Murray’s “skirmish line”.

On my extreme right flank lies an indeterminate enemy force. From the looks of it it looks like a reinforced company. My current estimate is that this is a two-company strong force and is Murray’s actual main thrust. From the scant evidence presented so far it looks like Murray’s skirmish line is made of Veteran Glider troops while his main body consists of Crack troops. Therefore it seems reasonable to expect that any Elite troops will herald a major attack and their appearance will telegraph Murray’s primary thrust. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them.

So, with 4 main axes of advance remaining and 1 previously labeled axis of advance ( the one over the ford and bridges) actually beginning to look like a simple reconnaissance screen it looks like Murray has been reading about Bagration recently ;).

As with Bagration I expect each thrust to seek to get me to commit reserves, robbing the extreme right flank of reserves and thus ensuring that when his main blow falls ( no sooner than turn 20 most probably) it will sunder my flank quickly.

Caveat: Of course the exact timing of various thrusts cannot be predicted accurately at this stage and I can’t be sure that Murray’s forces on my left flank will attack before the right flank does but that is what I EXPECT them to do. If they don’t attack prior to his forces on my right flank attacking I’d expect them to be active around this time in order to tie down my forces facing them. After all, an inactive enemy doesn’t require any friendly forces to contain them and it would be a mistake for Murray to allow me to draw down on that flank to replenish my reserves ad nauseum.

Strategically this will be an interesting game but on the purely tactical level I fear that the “arty everything forever” modus will be less than nail-biting.. Effective but not exciting.