TURN: 21 OF 60	SCENARIO NAME: Going to Town

Kampfgruppe Vossen:

Well, my slow infantry re-organisation of the constituents of kampfgruppe Vossen continues. They are marching to the wooded hill and are re-organising before I push onwards and over the wooded hill with them

This shot shows the Sherman to the left and the Puma to the right as well as the road running in the depression it will use to outflank the Sherman whilst remaining covered from its fire.

As the Puma makes its way along the road in the depression you can appreciate how, to the Sherman, it appears hull-down. At this moment in time the Sherman is still facing southwestwards since it is engaging my Panzer IV J.

Now I really want to tell you about a piece of movement that surprised the hell out of me. I don’t think Martin plotted it since it began in the middle of a turn so I think it was due to the tactical AI. Anyway, as my Puma neared the road and was threatening to flank Martin’s Sherman the Sherman began to reverse until it was, eventually, out of line of sight of my Panzer IV J and THEN it re-oriented itself to turn its frontal armour towards my Puma which is a threat only to the Sherman’s side and rear armour.

I’m 99% certain this was due to tactical AI decision-making since the time of commencement of the movement and its precision simply would mean Martin would have had to read my mind to see what I was planning if he had planned it. I’d like everyone to compare this tactical AI which, on its own initiative, reverses a Sherman away from a Panzer IV J so that it can be free to deal with a much closer threat to its flank. How many times have we seen AIs which would, at best, simply have stayed in place and either ignored the Puma or turned their entire hull front towards it thus becoming easy prey for my Panzer IV J. I always like to see an AI coming up with the exactly correct solution to a relatively complex problem and I just thought it was worth drawing attention to this as it really impressed me. Kudos to Charles for programming it.

Hell, there are a few games, which I won’t name, in which tanks are infamous for having such poor pathfinding and threat assessment that they continually turn their weak flank and rear armour towards the enemy or ignore potent targets in favour of distant and unthreatening targets. I think that this example is illustrative of how much more "real" and correct the AIs actions are in CM.

My Puma has pulled into cover behind the house here as the Sherman has begun to target it and is beginning to traverse its hull to face the Puma also. The Puma is taking this opportunity to harass Martin’s machinegun teams as they attempt to pull back to the west side of the river.

As the Sherman has now turned to face my Puma fully it would be far too risky to attempt to tackle the Sherman with my Puma. What I have decided to do, therefore, is move my Pz IV J forward until it gets a shot at the Sherman. Once it gets a shot then it will either knock the Sherman out OR force it to re-orient to face the Pz IV J. If it turns to face the IV J then I will order my Puma in for a close-range shot.

Kampfgruppe von Kelly:

I have scored a major success here in the central portion of my advance. My sole surviving tank has managed to take out another enemy Sherman in the town. The Sherman suddenly appeared from behind a house with its side armour facing my Pz IV which did not need the invitation to be repeated.

I’m extremely surprised to see that my Pz IV J managed to squeeze a shot through the gaps in the houses all the way to the Sherman. Surprised but happy since I NEED that Pz IV J.

Very little else happens on this front as I’m primarily concerned with trying to take out the Sherman to my north and with trying to re-organise my Volksgrenadier infantry to board the SPW 251/1s standing by behind the cover of nearby houses.

My scout infantry have succeeded in annihilating the bazooka team which barred my route forward and once the Sherman to the north is annihilated I will have a clear run right to the bridge and will really be able to start laying down some direct fire.

Kampfgruppe Backe:

The following trilogy follows the torture of Martin’s southern force… It would seem that they are being totally overwhelmed by the amount of firepower being directed at them as they alternately try to make a break across the river or just lie cowering helplessly in the dirt.

It appears that five US teams are holding this area. One of them, a bazooka team, fires at an SPW 251/1 at extreme range but misses. Whilst several of the others run around in panic or cower in the dirt.

As one team heads runs looking for cover where there is three other unidentified US units hide and pray.

As my infantry close in one of the American units makes a break for the river. Concentrated rifle fire and a few casualties soon turn this unit back however.

I STILL have only lost one SPW 251/1 and 1 man in this battle. The SPW 251/1 fell foul of an ambush whilst the infantryman was killed by machinegun fire from an enemy HMG on the other side of the river. This is the difference that having a well co-ordinated attack with commanders and subordinates in close contact makes. Compare this to my earlier assault on the hill and it is clear what I did wrong there. My only defence is that Martin’s artillery strikes really rattled me.

The moral effect of his artillery on me is something I am relying on emulating when my artillery strikes home next turn and the turn after that.

POWs:

Finally all my POWs are on the move to the rear area. I put together this little montage in celebration of the sheer number of POWs I’ve captured.

The blue circles denote the locations of US POWs. The red circle denotes the location of a Panzergrenadier platoon whilst the black-clad unit in the foreground is Obergefreiter Holzapfel who will guard the prisoners.

The Americans from the wall line march towards my lines as my sole surviving Pz IV J exchanges fire with the Sherman it was shown to have killed above.

The shattered volksgrenadiers of Kampfgruppe Vossen stop upon entering the woods as long lines of allied POWs stream past them towards the rear. For them the war IS over ! Note the knocked out Panther in the background.