Axis Turn 27

	TURN: 27 OF 60	SCENARIO NAME: Going to Town

Fionn Kelly - Germans vs. Americans - Martin Turewicz

The big news this turn is that I destroyed Martin’s northern Sherman. Here’s how it happened.

Kampfgruppe Vossen:

Unteroffizier Poppe’s three-man unit has been faithfully slogging its way over the wooded hill and to within thirty or so metres of the enemy Sherman. Once in position it got ready and waited for the clearing of the enemy smokescreen.

Note that Poppe’s squad is carrying two Panzerfausts. Even it misses with the first it should definitely have enough to do the job. At the moment the enemy tank is unbuttoned and concentrating on some infantry to the south. It has no idea I am here. Good.

As the smokescreen clears Poppe’s men launch a single Panzerfaust towards the enemy Sherman as units farther back spray it with submachinegun fire and appear to kill the commander or at the very least suppress him.

An extremely satisfying and large explosion follows as the first Panzerfaust hits home and brews up the Sherman. As Poppe’s men survey their handiwork the enemy crew bails out and comes running out of the enemy tank, straight towards Poppe. A burst of SMG fire soon pins them and, no doubt, these men too will soon be added to my prisoner cages.

The rest of Kampfgruppe Vossen is scattered throughout the wood and I will wait in place for it to catch up so that my forces won’t be scattered to hell and back as I attempt to cross the river to the north of the town.

Kampfgruppe von Kelly:

The Panzergrenadiers of Gojowy’s platoon (all two of them ;-) ) take the enemy machineguns and one unidentified infantry team under fire as they attempt to escape. The unidentified team is wiped out almost instantly and the machineguns withdrawing over the river seem to suffer a casualty or two. If I had a full-strength squad here absolutely nothing would make it over the river. As it is I am just exacting a small toll for Martin’s retreat. I don’t mind this limited effect really since I have a plan.. More of that will follow later.

I’ve been trying to move Unteroffizier Ferner’s infantry squad southwards towards its parent HQ (Obersturmfuhrer Kanther) from the house near the bridge where it has been stationed since its "Dash O’ Death" ride but every time I try to move it it comes under extremely heavy MG and rifle fire. I have counted four separate machineguns and at least two platoons of infantry firing at it. That southern flank is alive with Americans. Good thing I called in some artillery to attrit it isn’t it?

Wiesenhofer continues to lay down some shellfire on the western bank now that the enemy tank is destroyed. I’ve taken a look at the enemy position and…

I can only see four infantry squad (in other words, a platoon plus a platoon HQ) and three, soon to be four, machinegun teams. It’d be a real meatgrinder for any infantry-led assault so that’s exactly what I won’t do. That’s the problem with building a strong but uni-capability defence Martin. If the enemy doesn’t send the ONLY type of unit you are capable of defeating then you will be defeated. Anyways, I’m going to rush Wiesenhofer forward and with a little luck and a lot of speed I’ll be in amongst Martin’s position with a tank before he even has a chance to issue a withdraw order. That should supply lots more prisoners for my bag.

As you can see my SPW 251/1s have reached the dip in the road just under two hundred metres from the bridge. I’m sure this is making Martin think some sort of assault is going to go in as soon as possible but I won’t do so until my artillery hits in the woods and I’ve sorted out his western bank defence force.

In the meantime they are taking the building overlooking the bridge a few bursts of machinegun fire. Martin has troops in there and I might just get lucky. It’s worth a shot anyway. Having the remnants of five platoons assaulting the remnants of eight isn’t the sort of task which is easily winnable so I need to try to get whatever edges I can. Martin hasn’t shown great reactivity to sudden bold thrusts so I’m hoping to use my tank very, very aggressively in city-fighting which is something he won’t expect and something which I can use to drive his forces from their perimeter defences and deeper into the town thus saving my shattered infantry from the torment of closing open ground directly into the fire of entrenched enemy.

Kampfgruppe Backe:

All is going well here. I’ve mixed drivers in with the panzergrenadiers and they are advancing with light casualties. They’ve suffered some loss but it’s been relatively minimal given what I am facing.

Note that the bridge is firmly under German control and that the buildings overlooking the river are "neutral". There are four victory locations in the village and I own one, have denied the other to the enemy and am confident of capturing at least the building overlooking the river. If I can do that then I have a good chance of securing a "points victory" by taking those and denying the others to the enemy. Who knows, if Martin has few bazooka teams left and I can identify and eliminate them Wiesenhofer could run riot and truly smash the American defence. I can dream can’t I? ;-)

With the removal of that northern Sherman the entire map east of the river is mine. The next stage of my advance is to destroy the western bank platoon and MG force and remove Martin from the southern forest via a combined artillery and infantry attack.

Once that is taken care of I will decide where I want to go from there. Since my forces will be forming a big L with the long stem to the south of the river I think I will probably advance my tank up the main road towards the building overlooking the bridge and use it as an anchor for the two stems of the L and using the tanks heavy fire to smash any serious opposition which resists to either stem of the L.