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Section Leaders:
Last Defense
German Debriefing Rick doomed his forces from the very start of
the game. He set up in positions from which there was no escape. Now,
there is nothing wrong with setting forces up in positions from which
there is no escape IF you wish them to die in place but if you wish to utilize
these forces again then you must ensure they have a safe egress route. I began the game in a far too “jokey” manner
since Rick had played up his PBEM inexperience when beginning the game and
I had determined to “try a few things” this game just for fun. Once I
lost my first StuG and half-track though I abandoned that approach and realized
I’d have to play in earnest. This also contributed significantly to my
“hunting down the survivors” approach during the game. Rick’s deployments on my right flank were very
unfortunate. Defending from behind the wall is a good idea BUT there are
absolutely no covered routes of retreat from that position and it is far
too easily flanked to either side.. Furthermore, if he had placed an
entire company there I could still have easily destroyed it simply by
placing HMG 42s on the hills to its right and bringing tanks up to MG it
on its open left. It’s a bad position and one that simply isn’t
suitable unless you intend to stand in place for the entire game OR you
have a large amount of smoke available to cover any withdrawal. On my left flank he handled the infantry well
although it must be noted that by placing BOTH platoons forward he let me
isolate/destroy them from the village and charge the machineguns with ease
and peace of mind. Rick has learnt this lesson though and from what
he tells me hasn’t repeated these mistakes in other PBEMs. Rick should have kept some bazooka teams in
reserve near the village and withdrawn his MG teams the instant that his
infantry position in the wheatfield was compromised. Then, he should have
withdrawn the MGs to the other side of the river or set up a defensive
position in the building nearest the ford from where 4 or 5 machineguns
could have held my infantry off and his bazooka would have prevented me
from bringing tanks in to blast it apart. Then, when his infantry platoon
showed up his MGs could have provided suppressing fire to help them across
the river and could have helped him counter-attack. Everywhere along the front Rick retreated
between 1 and 2 turns too late and this proved particularly deadly to his
support weapons. This is an artifact shown by many IGO/UGO players when
faced with a vicious assault in a WEGO environment in my opinion. I was quite pleased with my conduct of the
majority of infantry assaults although, obviously, I feel that my very
first rush was ill-timed and unfortunate and that I could have reduced
casualties to around the 50 casualty mark if I hadn’t made that rush and
had had just a little more luck with my armoured fighting vehicles. In any
case this battle was, in my opinion, a very good example of how a vicious,
focused, and fast attack can achieve its objectives with LOWER casualties
than a slow and deliberate attack. In the end I suffered only half the casualties
of the American force and maintained my support weapons in good condition.
Within 12 hours I would probably have had 20 men or so returned to my unit
after being treated for minor wounds and would have been only a slightly
weak infantry company quite capable of offensive action again.
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