LOTS of action occurred this turn but since the fighting in the village is the most up close and personal I. m going to start there. Also, since I. m finding it much easier to write today (yesterday was a real struggle for some reason& AAR-writers block hehe ;-) ) I. m going to freely drift through various related topics which I. ve been thinking about recently but haven. t mentioned in other AARs yet.
I. ve been asked to give some more detailed numbers on men so I. m going to try and do that whilst not getting too bogged down in the details. The more detail goes into these reports the longer it takes me to type them down and the less work I do on Villers-Bocage (for which my erstwhile opponent gave me a great map which kept me up until 6 am this morning as I tried to build all the correct elevations into the scenario. I. ve only done a quarter of the elevations so far and have only covered the south and west of Villers-Bocage but I can tell you it certainly doesn. t look like good tank country to me. It opens up a little to the south-east and north-east but I can absolutely see now why Wittmann and supporting units were able to wreak such havoc. The British should have had major dismounted infantry guarding the routes into town. Not doing so was a major oversight which becomes obvious from just a cursory study of the map and elevations. Still, when you are there and operating under the blanket of fog of war, limited intelligence and fear its easy to miss things (as I think my game has shown hehe ;-) ).
The format I use is simply:
Platoon letter, squad number, commander rank and name, number alive, number dead, special info. This is how the info is presented in the game and it is very simple to understand& A lot of thought has gone into ensuring that you can play Combat Mission by look and feel and won. t have to pull down massive charts every time you want to do something.
E.g. B1a, Unteroffizier Faustle, 1-3
Half-team A of the 1st Squad of B platoon, commanded by Unt Faustle. Now it consists of 1 man but three of its men are dead.
I also said I. d do a few demonstrative things on usenet and I. ll be posting them over the weekend. I. m going to show exactly how the scaling works and how tree coverage and a few other things work. Let me know if you prefer this new format or if you prefer me to go to an older format ok?
Kampfgruppe Student:
Strength:
1 Panzerschreck Squad: 2 men.
2 Fallschirmjaeger squads: 11 men total.
Student's platoon HQ: 2 men
To put this in perspective, a platoon HQ should consist of four men and each Fallschirmjaeger squad should have 10 men in it. Thus, as can be readily appreciated my units are down to almost exactly half strength and are facing roughly two platoons to a company of Americans. I can. t wait to see an entire elite platoon of paratroops in action in house to house fighting. I bet they. d be awesome SO what I. ve done is I cooked up a little cityfighting scenario in about 45 minutes to play against Martin. He. s busy though so I don. t know if he has time to play it but I bet it. ll be a blast plus I put into practice a lot of things I learnt in this game and my defence is solid. Very solid.
A nasty little battle develops in the central building.
As you can see above three enemy squads have entered the apartment building but the rifle fire and grenades from five Panzergrenadiers have pinned two US squads whilst my Panzerschreck team (in blatant exploitation of a bug ) have fired from inside the house at an American target also inside the building. Charles has probably already fixed this since Steve seems to have spotted it too. To be honest I had totally forgotten about this bug being present (I think it happened to me once before) and I wasn. t being sneaky putting the Panzerschreck deep in the house trying to exploit a bug I was just running scared ;-). Still, it worked out nicely for me as can be seen here. All three American squads are pinned as the clap of a grenade explosion is followed an instant later by the roar of a Panzerschreck going off. Take that Martin !
Isn. t cityfighting hell? ALL the units in this building are now pinned.
So, what happened? Well, its actually quite funny. It would seem that the explosion of the Panzerfaust spooked my own men so much that they also hit the ground. That. ll teach me for putting Panzerfausts inside a building. It all will come down to which side recovers first. In Combat Mission there is no faffing about with predetermined recovery of morale times. Soldiers recover when they aren. t being actively subjected to enemy fire, reach cover, are encouraged by aggressive nearby enemy units and so on. There. s none of this, "ten seconds after being pinned each and every unit will recover enough to pop up and return fire again" stuff I sometimes see in other games. It. s all calculated dynamically on the fly.
Ten seconds later it. s all over bar the mopping up.
What happened? Well, as you can see Unteroffizier Essen. s Fallschirmjaeger squad has suffered massive casualties and decided to surrender to the enemy. In the previous picture Essen. s squad was down to half-strength but still had five men left so what happened in the intervening EIGHT seconds? Well, simply put, this is the nature of cityfighting, Cityfighting in Combat Mission ( and in real life) consists of short, sharp local conflicts resolved at extremely close range with the maximum of violence possible. Cityfighting usually consists of quick massacres. You mass sufficient forces to charge an enemy building and upon entering you and the enemy exchange fire at a range of perhaps five to ten metres with submachineguns and grenades. It. s like the scene in Saving Private Ryan (a not altogether realistic war film& no driver. s vision blocks on the Tiger I allow a man to simply shoot the driver whilst veteran Panzergrenadiers run straight down a street without bothering to clear the houses on either side first. Sigh. Still, it was a great film which I saw several times.) in which the paratroopers end the stand-off with German soldiers in the town with a 2 or 3 second burst of submachinegun fire. You suffer massive casualties very, very quickly.
In this case Unteroffizier Essen. s
squad suffered four casualties in just eight seconds and, when reduced to a single survivor, surrendered. Veterans REALLY do fight almost to the death in Combat Mission. Anyone who worried about not being able to get attached to their troops can stop now. I. m extremely attached to my better units since I. ve often seen Crack and Elite troops (in scenarios I throw together just to test things out) do things I. d consider almost impossible. In one of Martin. s "specials" I charged an elite British paratroop platoon across a bridge under the fire of at least four HMGs and a pillbox. When they reached the other side the survivors (shattered remnants of two squads) routed a couple of security squads, destroyed two pillboxes, captured the two houses nearest the river and drove the HMGs away from the bridge before beginning to exchange fire with 20mm AAA cannons (like you saw in Saving Private Ryan& it. s the bit where the cannon blows the men standing on the tank apart) at close range. It was phenomenal to see, especially since it was all occurring at night and was very atmospheric.
By the way, the explosion you can see in the shot is the result of another Panzerschreck being fired at the American infantry ;-). My Panzerschreck crew is going mad firing as rapidly as possible. I think they fired four shots during this single minute-long turn which is pretty phenomenal.
Another American platoon joins the fray. GULP!
Well, as you can see in the above shot it looks like another American platoon is rushing the building to add its firepower to the fire base already established. Within seconds both of my Panzerschreck crew are killed.
I. ve clicked on Student (I renamed him in the editor before starting the game since I thought it. d be fun to give each of my Kampfgruppe leaders instantly recognisable names& Student, Carius and Eberbach ;-).). Let me explain what all the lines mean so that you can make sense of it all.
The red lines emanating from Student to each of the German units nearby show that each german unit nearby is in command and control and benefits from Student. s leadership. The red line emanating from Student indicates which American unit he is firing at whilst the yellow lines show which enemy units are firing at him.
In the southern building Leutnant Student and the remaining six Fallschirmjaeger are resisting quite well but against the overwhelming force which has just entered their positions it is only a matter of time.
Once Student
is killed the Americans begin to turn their attention towards the remaining six Fallschirmjaeger. Two American infantry units (out of a total of four in each platoon) are pinned as shown by crawling figures so hopefully this means that I. ve gotten some good kills. I can. t be sure if I have or haven. t due to the fog of war but the number of pinned enemy units gives me hope.
When the Fallschirmjaeger squad commanded by Unteroffizier Posner finally surrenders I lose all the detailed intelligence I was getting on enemy units and, instead, simply get a number of American stars to mark the last known locations of the Americans.
Well, the fight for the town is now over. I made some costly errors but I. ve learnt a lot and the next time I fight in a city I. m determined that things will be different ;-).
Casualties:
Total casualties suffered this turn: 9 men killed.
Surrendered: 6 Fallschirmjaeger.
Lessons learnt:
- Half-squads are only useful for
scouting and an outpost line which is intended to fall back
quickly and outside of enemy LOS to recombine with its
partner half-squad. They are NOT combat formations.
- Never, ever try to defend the
entire perimeter of a town if you don. t have the manpower
to do so effectively. In close range fighting (which all
cityfighting is) you either won. t have the time to redeploy
OR it will have to be done under constant fire from the
enemy.
- Artillery WILL cause casualties.
Accept that and don. t try to run from a building which is
being shelled. It will only cause more casualties.
- Don. t try anything fancy. Create a
short, strong defensive position and mow the enemy down as
he approaches you. Don. t go out to meet him or try fancy
feinted withdrawals. Cityfighting is short, sharp, brutal
and basic. Don. t go against this nature. Embrace it,
understand it better than your enemy and utilise this
understanding to maximally attrit the enemy.
- Use the top stories of building for long-range fire more effectively. My MGs were poorly placed during the entire scenario. When the enemy appeared not to be coming from the expected angles I had to displace my MGs but instead of displacing them to forward locations I should have moved them to my last line of defence from which they could have brought fire to bear on the enemy units as they moved from house to house.
There. s more but those are the major salient points.
Kampfgruppe Vossen:
Force Strength:
- 1 Puma And
- 2 platoons of Volksgrenadiers
B, Leutnant Grotz, 2-2 (A platoon HQ with 2 men alive, 2 dead)
B1a, Unt Faustle, 1-3 ( A half-squad with only 1 surviving member)
B1b, Obg Terborg, 4 (The other half-squad formed when squad B1 split)
B2, Unt Oldendahl 7-1
B3 It's gone. Totally wiped out.
C1 Unt Scheiner 8
C2 Unt Poppe 3-5 (Panicked)
C3b Obg Diller 1-3 (Routed + previously panicked)
Points to note:
Note that the second half-squad formed by splitting an infantry squad is commanded by an Obergefreiter instead of an Unteroffizier. This is a nice little detail showing understanding of the rank system.
Note that Platoon C has no platoon HQ. It was totally wiped out. In theory each squad should have eight men and a company HQ of 6 men was also attached. The magnitude of the disaster which my northern flank has become can be understood if I tell you that it SHOULD consist of 62 men but instead consists of only 26 men. An ambush by a significantly inferior force and a few HE shells was enough to destroy this two-platoon Kampfgruppe of green soldiers.
If they had been experienced veterans they would have blown right through this ambush and emerged with little loss but the green soldiers allowed themselves to get pinned and died in droves as a result. It. s also worth noting that while some units got massacred, others came through relatively unscathed. This is another nice side-effect of Combat Mission. s complicated morale and ability modelling. Not all units within a single platoon will act in the same manner so you really do find attacks fragmenting just as they did in real life and learn the value of phase lines and stops for re-organisation just as they found necessary in real life.
Well, since I didn. t have any confidence in the ability of my green Volksgrenadiers to clear the route I decided to order my Puma to barrel down the forest path at maximum speed in the hope that it would go past so quickly that the Americans wouldn. t have time to fire at it.
It seems to
have worked. As my Puma exits the woods the American bazooka team is engaged with a half-squad of submachinegunners and the American Sherman covering the road has been destroyed. How? Read Kampfgruppe von Kelly. s exploits and you. ll learn what happened. It. s pretty interesting actually.
As
Unteroffizier Bachmaier. s Puma races towards the cover of a nearby house he spots an enemy machinegun post in the woods to his front and takes it under fire. This shot is taken using the Tab key which locks the camera to the turret of the Puma and this gives me a great "commander. s eye view" of what is going on.
All in all Kampfgruppe Vossen looks like its getting the upper hand in the forest. It has taken out one of the enemy units in the forest and now just needs to eliminate the bazooka team before it can re-organise and move forward again.
Enemy
infantry are streaming towards the wood from Martin. s collapsed wall line and I intend to use the Puma to bring close-range machinegun fire to bear on these broken units to encourage them to surrender.
End of Turn Force Composition:
No losses suffered at all.
Kampfgruppe Backe:
Force Structure:
SPW 251/1 Obg Hemper 2
SPW 251/1 Obg Holzapfel 2
SPW 251/1 Obg Holschneider 2
SPW 251/1 Obg Hermanns 1-1
SPW 251/1 Obg Osterhaus 2
A1 Hsf Backe 6
H0 Osf Nolting 4
Mg42 Rot Wolff 6
FO Osf Schulist 1-1
Green Volksgrenadier Platoon.
D0 Lt Janz 1-3
D1 Unt Schumacher 3-5
D2 Unt Beck 7-1 (Was not involved in the fight for the US hilltop)
D3 Unt Blank 5-3
Vet PanzerGrenadier Platoon.
E0 Osf Frich 4
E1 Unt Sheaffer 7-1
E2 Unt Altmann 7-1
E3 Unt Frantz 7-1
Vet PanzerGrenadier Platoon
G0 Osf Kanther 4
G1 Unt Geiser 2-6 (This unit charged the hill and captured 8 enemy.)
G2 Unt Stein 8
G3 I won't give details of this unit here since it was on my "Dash O. Death" HT and is some 500 metres from the rest of the platoon, well away from ANY of my forces.
This was a pretty quiet turn with just a little re-organisation and the loss of Obergefreiter Holzapel. s SPW 251/1 to enemy tank fire as it was stopped by the traffic accident.
All of my forces are moving into the little hollow at the south of the hilltop and are re-organising themselves ready for the push to the river. I anticipate keeping them in this position until such time as they can advance safely without being fired on by the Sherman to my north. I feel relatively safe here as I have ordered the American prisoners into the dip also as a little protection from enemy artillery fire.
Once my position is a little more secure I intend to push Obersturmfuhrer Kanther. s reduced platoon forward as a scout force supported by a couple of half-tracks. Already the brilliant Unteroffizier Geiser is moving forward towards the next likely American ambush position along with Obergefreiter Hermann. s SPW 251/1. I have chosen to send Obergefreiter Hermann. s SPW 251/1 forward since its gunner has been killed and so it has no more offensive capability. I won. t risk it unnecessarily since it is still a valuable vehicle BUT I must risk some vehicles to uncover enemy AT ambushes and if I must risk a vehicle then I choose to risk one which has no further offensive capability.
Kampfgruppe von Kelly:
Force Structure:
PzIVJ, Unt Heubaum, 5, 31 HE, 35 AP, 1 SMOKE.
PzIVJ, Unt Wiesenhofer, 5, 36 HE, 30 AP, 3 SMOKE.
StuG, Unt Carius, 3-1, 4 HE, 5 AP, 2 SMOKE.
Pz V, Unt von Kelly, 4-1, 13 HE, 13 AP.
SPW 251/1 Obg Mertens, 2.
SPW 251/1, Obg Taus, 2.
SPW 251/1, Obg Schultz, 2.
SPW 251/1, Lederer, 2.
Veteran Panzergrenadier Platoon:
F0 Osf Gowojy 2-2
F1 Died in dismounted assault on wall line.
F2 Unt Altschuler 2-6
F3 Burned to death in SPW 251/1 which was hit by artillery.
Green Volksgrenadier Platoon:
L0 Lt Woehler 4
L1 Unt Welt 7-1
L2 Unt Vogel 8
L3 Unt Elm 8
Miscellaneous
Mg42 Rot Hoffmann 5-1
FO 210mm Rockets 2 ( 1 minutes worth of ammunition)
FO 105mm Tube Arty 2 ( 2 minutes worth of ammunition)
BOOM!!! The cornerstone of the American defence goes up in flames. The Sherman co-located with the house is also engulfed in flames.
I was delighted when this happened. Mere seconds later enemy units began spilling out of the house and the Sherman was destroyed. This is the break I was waiting for.
Well, well, well. The first enemy unit surrenders as the occupants of the house run in panic from the blaze. I have no doubts that I. m going to capture many of them also as my Panther and SPW 251/1s advance almost to the wall to pour close-range machinegun fire into the scattering Americans.
Here you can see my Panther and SPW 251/1s closing in on the house so as to deliver more effective fire to the scattering Americans.
Since I want to save my infantry from further enemy fire I. ve decided to ride the Americans down using SPW 251/1s and tanks to deliver devastating close-range machinegun fire.
The
Volksgrenadiers nearby rush to the wall line to help add their fire to the cauldron. I want to end this as quickly as possible and don. t mind risking a few Volksgrenadiers to ensure that no Americans can escape.
Losses & Expenditure:
PzIVJ, Unt Heubaum, 5, 26 HE, 35 AP, 1 SMOKE.
PzIVJ, Unt Wiesenhofer, 5, 32 HE, 30 AP, 3 SMOKE.
StuG, Unt Carius, 3-1, 4 HE, 2 SMOKE.
Pz V, Unt von Kelly, 4-1, 10 HE, 11 AP.
F0 Osf Gowojy 1-3 Enemy MG fire killed one man.
L3 Unt Elm 7-1 Enemy MG fire from the north killed one man.
Prisoner Report:
Captured in Town:
M1919MMG Corporal Painter 4-1
Captured in Clearing:
M1919MMG Corporal Norwood 1-4
I3 Rifle Squad Sgt Alphonson 12
South Hill:
B0 Platoon HQ Lt Reth 2-2
M1919 MMG Cpl Savage 3-2
0.50 Calibre HMG Cpl Haskel 5-1
Bazooka Cpl Green 1-1
Bazooka Cpl Figeroa 1-1
Wall Line:
G0 Platoon HQ Lt Rost 3-1
Bazooka Cpl Bennett 1-1
Total: 33 Prisoners. 14 Men killed in the units from which these men were taken prisoner.
