Axis Turn 26

	TURN: 26 OF 60	SCENARIO NAME: Going to Town

Fionn Kelly - Germans vs. Americans - Martin Turewicz

Kampfgruppe Vossen:

Kampfgruppe Vossen is in bad, bad shape. Out of an original total of sixty-two infantrymen and one Puma it now disposes of only twenty-six, shaken infantrymen. This is less than one platoon. I am therefore considering combining it with the infantry-weak Kampfgruppe von Kelly to create a strong city assault force. In fact, even its name is a misnomer. Hauptmann Vossen was amongst the first to fall in the ambush along the forest path

Initially though Kampfgruppe Vossen still has a battle to fight. I have decided that, after the destruction of my Puma, I cannot unnecessarily risk Wiesenhofer’s Panzer IV and I have ordered Unteroffizier Poppe’s squad (or at least the three survivors from his squad) forward to deal with the enemy tank.

This shot shows Poppe’s squad advancing on the enemy Sherman, just barely visible behind a smokescreen and the intervening terrain. Poppe’s unit data table shows he is equipped with two Panzerfausts (the grey rocket launcher symbols) which should give him more than enough firepower to knock out a single Sherman.

Last turn I forgot to mention one thing. Several of Martin’s machinegun teams which have been trying to withdraw to the west bank of the river have come under fire from the Puma and Obersturmfuhrer Gojowy’s men. It seems that one has panicked and run eastwards away from my fire. It is also possible that Martin ordered this MG team to move eastwards towards my Puma but that order is quite plainly suicidal so I doubt it was a planned act. Anyway, as the 0.5 calibre HMG team neared my Puma they lost their nerve and surrendered to my forces. Add another two prisoners to the &qupt;bag" ;-).

Kampfgruppe von Kelly:

As Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV J swings northwards off the road and into a hull-down position ready to engage the northern Sherman it continues its "nuisance" engagement of enemy positions on the western bank of the river. Whilst this sort of fire is relatively ineffective it does keep the enemy’s head down and punishes movement sufficiently that it attrits the enemy slightly and as the old saying goes, every bit helps.

Enemy machinegun fire is beginning to ping off Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV at regular intervals now and since I don’t want to lose yet another tank commander I’m going to order him to button up before he advances any closer to the enemy.

This nice shot is taken from just behind the Pz IV in the direction of the Sherman. At the moment the northern Sherman is hidden by the smokescreen but, whilst Martin might have thought this a good idea at the time it does allow my Pz IV to freely move into a hull-down position, settle in and wait for the smoke to clear. He would have been better not laying down any smoke and attempting to kill Wiesenhofer’s tank as it moved into position. Still, hindsight is 20/20 and there are many things in this game I would not do again if I’d known then what I know now. (We’re both still learning how things work and this is our largest head to head battle yet so we’re making all the mistakes you guys will now know to avoid since we really are boldly going where no-one has gone before ;-). )

Obersturmfuehrer Gojowy’s platoon (or at least the three survivors ;-) ) have reached the river AND the bridge has reverted to German control. YES ! There are only 4 victory locations in the village and I think that if I can hold two of them then I have an excellent chance of winning the game based on the amount of damage I have caused to Martin versus the amount he has caused me. As a side benefit of this move Gojowy’s men can bring the enemy machinegunners which are retreating over the river ice under direct fire. Martin, once again, waited far too long to withdraw his men. Also, putting the slow-moving MGs in front of an infantry positions was a bad choice. If he was determined to fight it out here then it is better to put infantry on the east bank and emplace the MGs on the west bank since the infantry can RUN across the river whilst the MGs can only walk across it.

I still don’t see any evidence of bazookas in the western bank position. Is it possible that Martin has neglected to provide them with an anti-tank defence or is he using this platoon as a sacrificial decoy to force me to commit my tanks in much the same way that Vice-Admiral Ozawa’s carriers were used to entice the commitment of Halsey’s forces away from the San Bernardino Straits at Leyte in 1944?

It is possible but I have a feeling that this isn’t the case. Martin doesn’t seem to be the sort of person who makes plans within plans within plans. I love setting up defences which lead the enemy into traps by creating simple yes/no force commitment situations to which he/she will respond predictably but I think Martin simply expects this reinforced platoon to hold my forces at the river and that it isn’t part of a greater subterfuge. He seems obsessed with keeping my forces AWAY from the town instead of inviting them inside where his numerical superiority and defensive positions will ensure him of the first shot and ensure he has the upper hand in any fight with my AFVs. If he expects this force to slaughter my infantry as the advance slowly over open ice then he’s in for a BIG surprise as I’m not going to waste a single infantryman in a frontal assault on this extremely strong (in anti-personnel terms) position.

Martin would appear to have an entire infantry platoon and two or three HMGs set up to defend this position. What this means is that any infantry assault across the ice would be an absolute massacre. He’d simply scythe my men down in droves BUT an armoured attack against an enemy armed, at best, with rifles and machineguns is bound to be succeed with minimal casualties.

I’m struggling to believe that Martin doesn’t have any bazookas interspersed throughout this infantry position as he must know how vulnerable it is to armoured assault. The portion of my brain which is estimating remaining enemy force levels tells me he probably has less than a half-dozen bazooka teams left and the portion analysing Martin’s previous behaviour tells me that it is quite likely that Martin has created a position capable of ONLY anti-personnel action but somehow, since I’m so focussed on anti-tank defence when building my defensive positions, I somehow believe there MUST be AT teams in there somewhere. Well, I’ll find out soon enough. I’m going to bring more infantry forward and try to get a more exact picture of what’s there. If every enemy unit in the trees is actively firing at my forces with rifle and machinegun then I will rush Wiesenhofer forward and quite literally drive right over their positions.

As it becomes obvious that my village assault will go in roughly on-time (turn 30) I move my two remaining half-tracks forward in a VERY open display of intent. I want Martin to focus on these forces as I drive them slowly towards the bridge.

I will cross them over the bridge whereupon my Pz IV will turn right and destroy the enemy infantry position whilst my HTs swing left and support the forces fighting in the forest. However, Martin doesn’t know this and will probably presume that a full-force assault on the town is being planned. I’m sure Martin is planning to trade ground for lives and time and is planning to fall back towards the apartment complex as my assaults approach as this will allow him to whittle down my forces for the least loss to himself.

One corollary to this is that if I seem to be staging an armoured assault and Martin withdraws he will then be farther from any troops which I LATER do advance. By provoking retreats with sham attacks I hope to force him to abandon the perimeter of the village so as to allow me to advance my forces towards the perimeter without loss (I also intend to get a few shots in as he redeploys). This is an example of a plan within a plan. They don’t always work out as intended BUT the beauty of a plan within a plan is that even if the inner, intricate plan fails to come to fruition, the simpler, more basic, broader plan usually succeeds.

Carefully crafting such plan ensures that even if all the intricacies fail each action still moves us towards the end-goal. If intricacies do work then we may achieve that goal with fewer casualties or do so more quickly but the most important thing is that the success of the intricacies is a bonus and not an essential. E.g. If Martin doesn’t abandon his perimeter defence when my tanks advance then I can simply roll up and machinegun his forces from close range.

Kampfgruppe Backe:

As you can see my forces are advancing in relatively good order and with few casualties. While one unit is pinned at this moment in time I think I have only suffered one or two casualties during this move. It looks like its going well for me and my forces will be in position to attack once my 105mm barrage has finished hitting Martin’s southern positions.

And here is my maskirovka. My little deception is that I have split Obersturmfuehrer Frick’s platoon into half-squads and tagged Backe onto their movement path also.

The end result of this is that instead of four manoeuvre units this platoon now consists of seven. Whilst this does stop the enemy from concentrating fire it does, more importantly, also mean that Martin will see SEVEN manoeuvre units crossing the river and probably assume that another two platoons are crossing. Hopefully this will lead Martin to over-estimate the forces I am pushing through on his left flank. Instead of two platoons worth of men (what I actually have) I’m hoping he will think that close to four platoons are advancing. That ought to scare him an unbalance his threat assessment.

Prior to this turn I have captured 57 prisoners and confirmed the deaths of 49 American soldiers. The addition of Corporal Nugent and his comrade raises my total of captured Americans to 59 whilst confirming the deaths of 53 Americans. Why is this important to me?

Well, after my severe losses in tanks and SPW 251/1s in recent turns (damned jabos ;-) ) I don’t think I have the strength to capture the whole village and think that this game may be decided on points as it were. I need to gain the outskirts of the village, take a couple of victory locations and deny the others to the enemy to secure a victory. Since POWs get double points I’m pretty happy that I’ve captured many of them as this will greatly increase my "points haul".

In a real campaign, as I’ve told Steve recently, I’d simply fight my way into the outskirts of the village and hold tight whilst awaiting nightfall and the arrival of reinforcements before renewing my assault.

Things are going well so far. I expect Poppe to take out the Sherman next turn and then I can turn my full attentions towards the village. My southern force is advancing with few casualties over open terrain and I still haven’t seen bazookas amongst the infantry force on the western bank.

On the other hand I have seen two infantry teams amongst the first row of houses in the village and I am almost certain that these infantry teams are bazooka teams How predictable of Martin. Well, if I can see them then I can kill them. Since a bazooka has a range of 200 metres I have the luxury of being able to machinegun them to death from just outside their weapons envelope. Sure, it will slow me down but once I am certain that all Martin’s bazooka teams are destroyed I can simply drive up to the houses containing infantry units and obliterate them with my tank’s machinegunfire.

I just wish I had another tank or two. I’m kicking myself over the loss of my Puma as it would be an invaluable addition right now and it really wasn’t necessary to risk it. Between that bad decision and the airstrikes I lost five armoured vehicles which would be priceless armoured machinegun platforms during the village assault. Oh well, command is the art of achieving the impossible by any means necessary with too few forces I guess ;-).