TURN: 20 OF 60	SCENARIO NAME: Going to Town

Aerial Attacks:

I’m writing about the aerial attacks since they didn’t befall any of the three main Kampfgruppe this turn. Instead the weight of the allied aerial assault fell on Unteroffizier Eberbach’s poor, trapped StuG III. I had responded to the aerial attack on my Panther last turn by ordering my other valuable vehicles to scatter as quickly as possible but, even though Eberbach’s StuG was driven into the cover of the forest path, this did not save it.

Kampfgruppe Vossen:

After the desperate losses to my anti-armour firepower in the previous turn I ordered my Puma to advance at maximum speed around the edge of the forest and into a small gully to the west of the American Sherman. My aim is to outflank the enemy Sherman and use my 50mm L60 main gun to penetrate the non-sloped side armour of the Sherman. At a range of 100 metres my Puma has a very good chance of penetrating the side armour but almost none of penetrating the frontal armour.

At the end of the turn my Puma is stranded right out in the open and can clearly be targeted by the American Sherman at almost pointblank range. The blue line was drawn by myself to illustrate LOS. The red line is a line drawn in-game by the computer to denote which target the Puma is firing at.

This shot shows my plan of advance. The road down which the Puma is advancing is at a lower level than the Sherman and provides the Puma with almost full cover from the Sherman’ fire. The blue circle denotes the position of two American machinegun teams which are withdrawing. Once the Sherman is taken care of I intend to use my Puma to machinegun these teams as they withdraw across the river and cause them severe casualties. I have noted one more American tank in the northern portion of the town which, fortunately, cannot engage my Puma once it reaches the gully.

During this time the first Volksgrenadier infantry have reached the western edge of the forest and will continue to advance through it. Whilst they will definitely only advance slowly through the trees they are my insurance in case my armoured assault on this Sherman fails. If my Panzer IV and Puma are knocked out then my infantry will destroy this Sherman using Panzerfausts and this will allow me to, at least, consolidate my position on the east bank of the river.

Kampfgruppe von Kelly:

The three surviving panzergrenadiers of Obersturmfuhrer Gojowy’s platoon have routed an American unit (which I can only assume must have been a bazooka team) and driven it out into the snow. It will surely be eliminated soon. Yet another threat to my armoured forces will be eliminated thank god.

As the action phase starts I watch an enemy shell from the Sherman in the village hitting Carius’ StuG III in the flank and knocking it out. NOTE that the StuG has not brewed up.

Literally less than a second later a second round, this time from the Sherman to the north, impacts on the rear superstructure of the StuG III and easily penetrates causing the tank to brew up. Since the armour on the side is so much thicker than the armour to the rear the shell which hit the side of the StuG III did not have sufficient remaining kinetic energy to cause "brewing up" whilst the shell which hit the rear of the StuG III most assuredly did have the necessary excess kinetic energy.

I have now lost 4 tanks in under 2 minutes. To be fair to my efforts it must be stated that two were knocked out by enemy aerial attack and that of the two destroyed by enemy tank fire only one still had any ammunition left. While these statements are all true it does nothing to alter the unenviable situation I am now placed in. One Panzer IV and one Puma are squaring up to at least three Shermans at long range and the enemy airplane is still circling overhead looking to rack up even more kills.

The first of the American prisoners of war my forces have captured are beginning to make their way towards the rear as shown in this shot.

Kampfgruppe Backe:

The assault goes in. The concentrated fire my SPW 251/1s are putting out combined with the fire from my advancing Panzergrenadiers seems to have rattled the Americans. I can see American units milling around wildly, attempting to run to the river, only to be shot, pinned and run back into the forest. My assault goes well with only a single casualty to my assaulting forces.

As can be seen in this shot my Panzergrenadiers advance as the second echelon debarks and prepares to move into the wooden building to help lay down suppressing fire on the American positions.

Conclusion:

Massive artillery support arriving just as I relocate , a company of infantry popping up directly in my rear, a platoon or so of tanks appearing JUST as my tanks traverse the ONLY locations in the enemy fields of fire where their flanks will be exposed AND the appearance of an American fighter-bomber which obliterates my best tank and a trapped StuG.

The gods of war are most definitely not smiling on me this day and things are just getting worse and worse. If the reinforcements had arrived just a turn or two later my tanks would have been in a much better condition to combat them. Still, no point crying over spilt milk. I’m putting all my faith in my artillery strikes. They are roughly 2 minutes away so, hopefully, they’ll be devastating.