Orders phase

The biggest problem for this turn is obviously Sgt. Washington and his Sherman M4A3 near the northern woods. The tank has withdrawn further into cover last turn, but it is only a matter of time before the Panzer IV will advance into LOS on the road to - most probably - engage and destroy my tank using the armored car for a lethal crossfire. But even on the better surface of the road, the Panzer IV will take at least one full turn to come into firing position, and I want to use this time to get my Sherman into a good defensive stance. After checking LOS for a while, I come up with a plan.

The LOS line shows the earliest point at which the Panzer IV will have LOS to my tank. I use the "rotate to" order to find a position from which both the armored car and the Panther cannot get a clear shot at my sides. For the next turn, I face my front a little more towards the armored car, since the tank will most likely not make it into firing position (which is just a guess based on playing experience)

My right flank is relatively safe, since the embankment is obstructing the LOS for the armored car. It will have come around to face my front in order to engage - OR leave the cover of the house completely and fight it out in the open.

This is all not perfect, but I don't see too many other options for now. I still could simply run away by exiting off the map and denying the Germans the victory points for destroying my tank, but that's simply not my style :-)

The other Sherman in the town, now immobilized from the Nebelwerfer, unfortunately will be of little help for Sgt. Washington. But the position of the Sherman is not too bad - it has a good LOS to Sgt. Washingtons tank should the armored car decide to drive up the small hill and it has some good lines of fire within the town. At the same time, the Sherman in town cannot be engaged from outside of town (other than by artillery...)

Sgt. Diamond and his immobile Sherman. What I kinda like is that the tank can trace an LOS to the crossing just in front of the south-eastern block building, where enemy vehicles are most likely to enter the town. Notice the huge crater in front of the church beside the Sherman - this is what a Nebelwerfer does for you 8-/

The two HMGs in the east are having a really hard time making the crossing over the river. The .50 cal is now hopelessly routed and running around in panic. The .30 cal is pinned, but still able to take orders.

A last desperate chance to get across the river and into relative safety. Since the river is somewhat lower than the surrounding terrain, the MG team should have fair cover against the enemy fire from the rear, but with all the heavy equipment, the going will be slow...

On the hill south of town, the rifle platoons finally arrived in position. I have now five rifle squads there, supported by two MGs and two platoon HQs. I feel this should be enough to repel a platoon sized assault, but not much more that that...

The defensive position on the southern hill. Two rifle platoons are behind each other with overlapping fields of fire, and the two MGs support the position from the back.

And I also don't want to forget to mention that the last German POWs are now about to leave the map in good order - just trying to avoid being called a "war criminal" :-)

An MG team is escorting the prisoners of war to the rear. The MG team has lost its machinegun after being captured itself in turn 2, and is using pistols and a really grim look on the face to keep the prisoners at bay...

Action phase:

As Sgt. Washington is pivoting his tank to face the enemy tank and armored car, the armored car dashes from behind the house and moves to the embankment. My Sherman is not reacting to the armored car yet, be it because it is buttoned up and didn't see the car approaching, or because the car is hidden from view below the embankment. The car stops, still out of LOS, and no shots are fired.

The armored car races from behind the house and stops, less than 100 meters away from Sgt. Washingtons tank. It appears to be out of LOS, though - mind you, I have used visual enlargement for the screenshot, so while the player can see the car, the tank might not. The game engine behaves exactly the same, no matter which enlargement level is used for the VISUAL playback...

Meanwhile, the Panzer IV is moving down the road, and does so pretty fast. It's ALMOST in LOS to my Sherman now (hidden behind the trees in the upper right corner)

The tension is rising once again, here. But there is a little relief...

The fighter-bomber is far from finished yet, although it already knocked out two enemy tanks and at least three halftracks! The sound of its engine roars again, as it enters the dive...

The MG bullets spray the two halftracks beside each other on the road, ripping through the thin armor and disabling them BOTH! One strafe, two kills... that pilot up there hs just earned him a medal, I'd say!

Of course the pilot is able to roam free above the battlefield because the Germans seem to lack an effective AA weapon. If he had been fired upon, I bet that the pilot would have decided long time ago to leave. I am VERY happy he stayed :-)

Around the same area, the last of my men covering the southern road is killed in a tragic manner. After the bazooka and MG teams surrendered, the mortar team decided to run for it. Heavy fire from the closely following enemy infantry incurred several casualties, and in the middle of the frozen river, the remaining two men of the team are trapped in a deadly crossfire!

Crossfire!

The last remaining man is not able to carry the mortar equipment all by his own and decides to drop it on the stop and run for his life! But he doesn't make it... just meters before reaching the other side, he is killed by an MP burst from one of the following Grenadiers.

The last man dropped the equipment and is running for his life! The tracer you see in this shot is killing him meters before reaching the other side!

But the German infantry doesn't stop for a second, and by the end of the turn is already busy crossing the river where I thought they would do - at the southernmost tip as far away from town as possible.

The German infantry is crossing the frozen river, 600 and more meters away from town. Some MGs around the town are firing at the enemy infantry, but I have ordered most of them to hide to save up ammo for more effective fire later.

And that's because ammo is indeed running low. At least one MG is already really low, and many others have only enough for 6 or 7 full bursts.

But the Germans are also advancing along the central road. I can see at least one platoon moving down the road towards the bridge. MG fire from Sgt. Washingtons Sherman as well as from town is pouring down on them, but doesn't stop their advance.

One lonely bazooka team is hiding in a patch of trees beside the bridge, as the German infantry is advancing through the snow on the other side of the small elevation (unfortunately barely visible in this jpg'd format). MG fire from the town pins down one of the squads for a short time, but doesn't seem to have much more effect.

In the town, the Nebelwerfer barrage gave way to smoke rounds. I can see three smoke pillars rising up from around the road leading away from the bridge into town. Although they will hinder my defensive fire a little, I am much more happy to see smoke than those deadly "screaming minnies" again...

Smoke rounds are falling on the town to cover the German assault across open ground. If you ask me - smoke is MUCH better than HE... :-)

I feel the pressure on the town rising with every second. We're reaching critical points in the battle - Sgt. Washingtons Sherman in the north and the first German units crossing the river certainly mark the beginning of the end. Are my defenses going to hold? And - most importantly - can my armor survive?