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I’m going to start this turn report by quickly skimming through the action which has occurred and trying to give you all a sense for the progression of action in the movies. I hope this works as I think it will give you more of a sense of what I see during replays than simple "end of turn" pictures.
Kampgfruppe Backe:
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The
veteran Panzergrenadier squad which traversed the open ground
and captured the enemy 0.5 calibre machinegun now turns its
attention at extremely close range on the nearby enemy
infantry squad (which I’m presuming is an infantry platoon
HQ). As you can see the SS Panzergrenadiers suffered heavy
casualties in crossing the open terrain but with the 0.5
calibre machinegun out of action I have high hopes of winning through with little further loss
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As the
enemy infantry panic and run away from my Panzergrenadiers
this allows my Panzergrenadiers to add grenades to their MP 44
fire. Here we can see the Panzergrenadiers stretching out
their arm to throw.
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Here the
grenade is in flight. I have drawn a simple red circle around
it since at that range it can be a little difficult to make
out. Note also that both enemy bazooka teams are well and
truly suppressed and that only the MG on the far right is
still resisting.
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BOOM !!! A
satisfying explosion hurls the enemy infantry team to its
feet. If I can keep up this volume of fire I have no doubt
that this position will be mine very soon and I can take a
good many prisoners.
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This shot
taken early in the turn shows the remnants of both
Volksgrenadier squads advancing. The one on the extreme left
is moving forward quickly and returning fire (although its
graphic shows only two men instead of three so it must have
taken some losses… when I checked I found it had lost 3 men so
far out of 8 ) whilst the Volksgrenadier unit in the centre is
pinned and crawling slowly towards cover. It has taken 2
casualties but it appears the fact that enemy machinegun and
rifle fire from the north have pinned it.
To help support the infantry
assault I have moved forward my SPW 251/1s and they are doing
a valuable job in suppressing the machineguns and bazookas.
Unfortunately there are not enough of them.. I will need to
use at least 4 or 5 half-tracks to suppress the enemy during
the next phase of my advance if I want to advance my infantry
without excessive loss.
So far this small advance has cost
me 13 men which is totally unacceptable. An full infantry
platoon only weighs in at 28 men and I can’t afford to lose
another half-platoon on the way to the river. I intend to use
half-tracks now. They are of minimal value in city fighting
and are massively vulnerable in such a fight so it makes sense
to risk them rather than my infantry now.
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I took
this shot to illustrate the fact that other half-tracks were
present and, in response to enemy fire from the north, had
re-oriented themselves to more effectively suppress that area.
Also, in so doing, they have become exposed to fire from
Martin’s Sherman which appears to have moved out from behind
the trees somewhat.
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This
picture is taken using quadruple zoom so as to ensure that the
Sherman would be visible so the perspective is skewed. It
shows the Sherman at 800 metres range engaging my SPW 251/1. I
think it just missed with its first shot but I don’t intend to
give it time for a second. I’m going to order that SPW 251/1
to retreat at the first opportunity.
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I took
this shot with TREES OFF and Scaling set at +3 (which is the
maximum increase in size possible) to try to ensure people
could see what was going on overall.
On the left you can see that
platoon of Panzergrenadiers from Kampfgruppe Eberbach situated
at the junction of both roads (with one squad still lagging
behind since it had to recombine before moving off). You can
also see the US positions and the 3 SPWs which carried the
attacking force into battle and which are providing covering
fire. In the background you can also spot the two newly
arrived half-tracks which are carrying another Panzergrenadier
squad and a Panzergrenadier HQ unit. As the SPWs passed over
the crest of the hill one took the opportunity to let an MG 42
team disembark to help the northern assault by laying down
some suppressive fire.
Situation Summary: Overall I am
confident of taking the hill position for minimal further
losses. I have lost 13 men taking it but I still have roughly
half a platoon of survivors which, together with the 1 squad
of Panzergrenadiers and HQ platoon moving up can form a
composite platoons. Altogether, with a little re-organisation
I can have the equivalent of two platoons on line and ready to
advance here within 2 minutes. I can back them up with 5 SPW
251/1s (thus ensuring that at least one platoon can be fully
carried into battle) and intend to lead off with the SPW
251/1s since I want to minimize infantry losses during the
taking of the next hill/ambush site.
Kampfgruppe Vossen:
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As you can see in this shot
the Sherman immobilized behind the buildings to the south has
gotten a clear line of fire on my troops as the filter down
the road and is shelling them with a vengeance. DAMN !!! This
shelling is hurting me badly as the Sherman’s 75mm HE shells
are slamming into totally exposed troops. I am beginning to
think that I should have not attempted to clear this road. It
appears that Martin hasn’t defended it at all and it is
costing me men I can ill-afford to lose. (You can see several
half-squads which have "hit the dirt" and are attempting to
get away from the gun.
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By the end of the turn most
of my units have recovered slightly and attempt to rush down
the road again. I’m willing to give them one more chance to
make a dash for it as backtracking at this stage would take me
a huge amount of time.
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This shot shows both the
disposition of my forces at turn’s end AND the effects of
command and control. My platoon leader has advanced on ahead
so these squads are tracing their command and control to the
highlighted company command unit. Note the two half-squads on
the left of the screen which are so far away through the woods
that they are out of control. These two half squads are out of
command and control and thus, instead of reacting within a few
seconds to any orders they can take over half a minute (and in
one case later in the game one of my units has a delay of 150
seconds GULP!!! .. Combat Mission REALLY penalizes you for
forgetting command and control.)
Kampfgruppe von Kelly:
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Ah… I NEVER tire of the sight of
SPW 251/1s and tanks advancing in concert.. Especially when I
know that Martin’s AT firepower is quite attritioned
;-).
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I like to call the above shot my
"OOPS !" picture.. In this you can see the end result of me
forgetting to move Lieutenant Woehler’s platoon forward with his
infantry.. Later, when I checked the delay which would occur
if I ordered this infantry squads to move without their
platoon leader near I found it’d take over two minutes to get
them moving. They were under fire at the time from enemy
machineguns so I can understand that they would be hard to
move. Since it will only take a minute for Leutnant Woehler to
run to their positions I decide to halt them in place and let
them catch their breath (yes, fatigue is modelled in Combat
Mission) whilst they wait for their CO to catch up.
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This magnified shot
shows the area fire targets for my Panzer IV Hs. Although I
don’t show it in this shot the Panther and StuG III also have
target in the wall line. Basically I am having 4 tanks area fire into the houses and trees, have half-tracks laying down
fire on MGs and bazookas and am running my infantry to the
wall as quickly as possible. I hope it works. P.s. The
perspective in this shot is well off due to the unit
magnifications and zooming I am using so its only to
illustrate some of my area fire targets.
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This shot shows the
disposition of my advancing platoon of Panzergrenadiers. As
you can see as my SPW 251/1s advanced one of them disgorged an
MG 42 which immediately began laying down suppressive fires.
More enemy units are present than I had expected which worries
me since obviously, my weak assault force will, now, not
suffice to fully take the line.
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This shot is a nice
American’s eye view of my advance. In it you can see my two
squads of Panzergrenadiers, supporting SPW 251/1s right behind
them and, a little farther behind the tanks with which I am
suppressing the Americans. Note the large number of new
craters all around this defensive position.
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This shot is taken from the
infantry position on the enemy’s northern flank. From this
American’s point of view it really most look as though he has
caused me severe casualties mustn’t it? He can see smoke
rising from several discrete locations but must be worried by
the sheer number of tanks and SPW 251/1s in view. I know that
if I was in his shoes I would be worried ;-).
Kampfgruppe
Student:
*SIGH*. Well, just
when you thought things couldn’t get worse they do.. An entire
company of enemy infantry has just appeared from BEHIND my
infantry. They ripped into the redeployed Volksgrenadier
squads and ambushed the MG 42 whilst it was
displacing.
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My MG42 is
withdrawing calmly and without casualty to the apartment block
when ….
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An enemy infantry
squad heaves into view, fires and drops three of my men in
only a second. Good GOD !!! This is a massacre now.
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No, your eyes are not
deceiving you. What looks like at least 2 platoons of infantry
and probably an entire company is in sight. An entire platoon
occupies the house towards which the MG42 team was crawling
and in, quite literally, one concentrated burst of fire
annihilates the survivors.
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After the destruction
of my machinegun I selected the 3rd level camera view and
spied yet another horrible scene. In the picture above you can
see one of my Volksgrenadier infantry squads which has just
been forced out of its hiding hole by an entire platoon of
American’s racing towards the next door building which houses
the rest of its platoon. Unfortunately this move exposes it to
the fire of the rifle platoon which just killed my MG 42 ( all
the yellow lines mark the lines of fire of enemy units firing
at the Volksgrenadier squad… The black line leads from the VG
squad to its platoon HQ… The line is black since the VG squad
is out of control). and…
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Overwhelmed by the
enemy barrage my VG squad surrenders after suffering 4
casualties in 14 or 15 seconds.
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This shot from the
point of view of the assaulting American infantry is a study
in irony. The surrendering American unit in the foreground is
not some new triumph but is, instead, the crew of the M1919
MMG which I captured some ten minutes ago.. As you can see the
remnants of my Volksgrenadier squad are facing the wrong way
to counter this assault and with the capture of the other
Volksgrenadier squad which could see all the American units I
lose exact information on American positions.
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All the confirmed
enemy positions are now replaced with simple American stars
since I have no units able to trace LOS to the American
positions. I don’t need LOS though since I know exactly what
will happen next. Having surprised my other positions the
Americans will attempt to rush this one also. I will pull my
men deeper into the building and resist as strongly as
possible.
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These two units are:
- a sharpshooter and
- two survivors from a fallschirmjaeger
squad.
They are all that remains in the
centre of the village to block the enemy advance. These three
men can see an entire infantry platoon dash into the house in
front of them. I hope they are praying to whatever god or gods
they believe in since they will soon join them.
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In the tall multi-story house
overlooking the river my MG 42 team finally opens up a
harassing fire on the American units. It is hopeless however
as this shot shows. I can see at least a company of Americans
flowing past this position and into the town. Still, every
kill now makes my job later less difficult.
My entire southern
defensive line comprises ten men. Lieutenant Student has
survived until now and is leading this defence. They watch as
an entire company of infantry advances on their positions. (I
have used scaling to make this apparent in the above picture.)
It will all be over soon.
Conclusion:
The enemy now has 1 battalion of
infantry in the village. I have, at best, 2 companies of
infantry at hand. Of these 2 companies several platoons have
taken losses and aren’t fully combat-capable anymore. The
patching work I’m going to have to do by combining a severely
damaged Volksgrenadier platoon and a severely damaged
Panzergrenadier platoon in Kampfgruppe Backe (in the south) is
a typical example of this. Patching units together like this
lessens combat effectiveness but sometimes it must be done.
I’m put in such a position right now. I don’t like it but it
must be done.
One of the major problems I’m
having right now is that many infantry squads are separated
from their platoon leaders. When infantry are too far from
their platoon leaders they are more likely to flee and
generally perform tasks more slowly, more poorly and with
higher casualties than they otherwise would suffer. This, no
doubt, is hurting me a lot so I have resolved to change my
tactics and consolidate and reorganize whilst pushing very
light reconnaissance forces out beyond the wall line once it is
recovered.. I’ll also send a tank or two forward to destroy
that last remaining Sherman of course so that my SPW 251/1s
can advance more freely. Also, given the small number of men I
have a single Sherman could irrevocably damage my
assault.
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