Orders phase

With adrenaline still pumping from the tank battle in the previous turn, I give orders to my tanks first. I see a good chance to get rid of that StuG - it is in clear view of two of my M4A3 Shermans AND facing ist flank to me (since it had to evade the knocked out PzIV on the road).

I leave the Sherman that bogged down the previous turn where it is and order it to engage the enemy Assault Gun. As can be seen, a quick LOS check reveals that the Shermans is not in LOS to the other PzIV...

...and with the other Sherman having a clear view on the StuG, I feel pretty safe to assume that there will be one less German tank to face in turn 21 :-) Of course the PzIV will not stay in place and probably move forward to support the StuG, but I seriuosly hope that by that time it'll be too late...

I also order the last Sherman in the northern part of town forward and into position.

The Sherman is ordered to keep racing down the road and then cross cut (slower) through the snow to one of the houses near the church. This Sherman should be hidden from view of the Germans along the way. I intend to use it as reserve and its main task will be to shoot any German halftracks off the bridge that make it that far. Of course I will also use it if the other two Shermans need help...

This, however, is all the good news. The rest of my orders deals with finetuning the positions around town to make sure everybody is right on the spot he's supposed to be and, of course, orders need to be given to the pitiful rest of my MLR in the east. Here, the situation is not good at all as more brave men are close to being overrun.

In the south, heavy MG fire is preventing my forces to retreat. The .50 cal MG team is pinned down with two casualties, the mortar team turned around a few meters after it left the woods and decided that it's not good to go, and the Platoon HQ panicked after losing one man. With the German Grenadiers not far away and the halftracks raking everything with MG fire, I start doubting if these guys will make it at all. For now, I assemble them on the far edge of the trees and hope that my MGs from the town will suppress the German assault.

But there is more bad news. The bazooka team hiding in a house beside the central road is worrying me more and more. I can see at least half a platoon moving forward to clear the house, and when I look around, there is nowhere to go, really. With my Shermans newly arrived on the scene, I feel that leaving the bazooka where it is has no real purpose anymore, and decide to withdraw. But where to go?

All open ground around the house - even worse, the next house is under German control. I decide to move the bazooka team to the south-west. It comes uncomfortably close to the Germans on the southern flank, but the patch of trees there is the only cover I have. Maybe, just maybe, the bazooka will be able to stall the German assault in the south by its mere presence... but maybe I am just daydreaming...

Last but not least, it's about time to move my MGs back. With the Shermans in the town, the need to harrass the Germans on every step they come closer to the town is gone. With tank support, a strong defense around the town should be enough to repell the German attack. So I order both of my forward MGs back. They will be terribly slow with all that equipment, but I hope it's not too late to move them across the river...

That finalises my orders. Now let's get that StuG out of the way!

Action phase

The pilot pulls up after taking out that Panther and rolls to the side to get a better view of the action down there. Slowly, he makes his way around the eastern edge of town and heads towards the woods. He has seen a big concentration of armor on one of the paths, obviously jammed behind a couple burning halftracks. The pilot decides to overfly that area and look for juicy targets. THERE! He spots a tank on the eastern edge of that clearing. Pull up, roll around, verify target, dive...

The fighter-bomber dives down on the German tank, jammed in the eastern clearing, and knocks it out! The bombs detonate a few meters beside the vehicle, but close enough to probably destroy ist gun and threads, rendering it incapable of further action. In the background - the US flags are visible above the town.

The StuG! Two M4A3s Sherman take careful aim as the driver of the assault gun desperately is probaly trying to rotate his vehicle to face the threat. He had to evade the Panzer IV in front of him which was knocked out just seconds ago, but now is facing his thin flank armor to one of my Shermans, while the other one (the one in the north behind the woods) has a great LOS to the back side of the StuG! Both Shermans fire almost simultanously...

CM tracks every round! Don't believe it? Hop on one of those 75mm rounds and ride along...

The round has left the cannon and is arcing down towards the target. The round is hard to spot in this compressed format, but you can maybe barely see it between the wooden house and the block building with the US flag on it. One thing I cannot show unfortunately is how the round is flying in an arc towards its target. Oh, and by the way, the speed that the round is traveling is based on its real life muzzle velocity... i.e. try to follow an 88!

Within split seconds the round is overflying the river, reaching the highest point of the trajectory here.

Less than a second after it has been fired, the round is flying across the open ground in the center of the map, already now starting to arc down towards its target.

Whizzz... the 75mm AP tank round is passing the German Grenadiers which probably don't even notice it - they're busy racing for the house where my bazooka team is hiding out (later more). In the background, partly hidden by the burning PzIV, the target - a German assault gun!

Just milliseconds before impact! The round is reaching its target after marginally more than a second of flight. It looks good - that flank is like a barn!

IMPACT! The round hits the thin flank armor of the StuG and punches a nice clean hole, immediately disabling the vehicle - and probably most of ist crew.

But the StuG does not brew up. Not yet, at least!

Because as whoever of the crew survived the first hit is scrambling to bail out, another round zooms in - this one fired from the Sherman behind the northern woods! And it's going for the back side of the assault gun!

The 75mm AP round tears into the thin armor and ignites the ammo or engine. I seriously, seriously doubt if any of the crew survived this mayhem! In this shot visible - the remainin German Panzer IV as well as a halftrack coming in from the rear.

It's the last Panzer IV which causes a bit of trouble just before the turn ends. It starts moving forward until it comes into LOS of my Sherman behind the northern woods. The enemy tank immediately rotates to face the US tank and while my Sherman crew is deserately trying to change from HE ammo to AP rounds (my Sherman was engaging the infantry attacking my lone bazooka team near the road), the Panzer IV manages to fire off two near-misses!

The Sherman crew spots the Panzer IV as soon as it clears the burning farm house. But my tank (I assume) has HE ammo loaded since it was firing at enemy infantry, and before it can get off a shot, the German tank fires twice!

Both rounds from the Pz IV miss, but really really close! Here's one... yep - I was holding my breath!

Shortly before the end of the turn, a halftrack moves in between the tanks (coming from behind the woods) and fires with its mounted MG at the Sherman. The tank commander stays calm and does not button up (yet)

In the south, however, my infantry is taking a beating. The German halftracks advance now behind the German infantry and manage to pin down all of my men. Casualties are mounting.

The .50 cal MG team is hopelessly pinned down by the German halftracks and infantry. It has lost two crew members, and the remaining three are keeping their heads down.

The MG fire from the hill south of town doesn't seem to provide too much cover - not surprising, since my MMGs are firing from a distance of 500 meters and more.

The MMGs on the hill are trying to help the pinned buddies in the south, but with little effect. The prone squads in the middle-right are from the half platoon which I ordered there. They're hiding to avoid enemy fire. I might order them to fire at the German assaulters across the river in the next turn.

The situation is also bad for the lonely bazooka team hiding by the road. I had ordered it to run away in front of the German infantry during the order phase, but since it is out of command (no HQ unit nearby), it takes 33 seconds before the order will be executed. Too late... by the time the bazooka team wants to move out of the back door, the first German soldiers are reaching the house.

Just as the bazooka team is preparing to withdraw from the house, the first German soldiers are "knocking on the door". Notice the uniform of the German infantry - it seems to be a vehicle crew (maybe from one of those halftracks).

After a short hand-to-hand combat with the vehicle crew, the bazooka team decides to run! Too late - with MG fire from the rear (halftracks) and rifle fire from the house (once the German Grenadiers reach it), the bazooka team breaks and runs away in panic. I really, really can't blame Cpl. Holland...

And still - although my southern flank is giving away, two German tanks have been blown to pieces this turn. I now have three tanks against one Panzer IV! If I manage to knock that one out and keep at least one of my Shermans alive, then the German halftracks will have no chance to reach the town. And if they don't reach the town, the German infantry will have to approach the town across the river, lots of open ground and then face almost two full US rifle companies! My confidence is growing!