TURN: 29 OF 60	SCENARIO NAME: Going to Town

Fionn Kelly - Germans vs. Americans - Martin Turewicz

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Again a turn of little activity except for what looks to be a very nice artillery barrage hitting the southern American positions. Here we go:

The infantry of Kampfgruppe Vossen have attempted to dash across the open fields towards the house to their west. I simply don’t have the time to try to work them around and through gullies to avoid the line of sight of the enemy Sherman. As long as I want to go for a win I’m going to have to try to break that platoon into the enemy’s north so as to split the enemy’s defences. If that isn’t possible then I’m going to find it very difficult to break through an infantry line which massively outnumbers me if I advance along only one axis.

As you can see here the lone remaining Sherman (identified as being immobilized) is shelling my infantry from long range. It eventually ends the turn by causing a single casualty and causing one unit to run back to the woods .

Still, the majority of my force appears to be making it so I will continue the charge. I’m still going for a win and to do so I need to present Martin with a threat to his northern flank. He’ll have to shift infantry to counter it if only to prevent my infantry from destroying his tank with a close-range surprise attack.

More of my shattered infantry filter forwards towards the house near the bridge as Wiesenhofer and the remaining half-track lay down a firebase to try to keep some of the enemy weapons suppressed so that the toll they are taking on my advance is lessened.

Wiesenhofer is in a very good position to be in the midst of the enemy infantry position by turn 31. To delay the advance any longer would give Martin a chance to provide some AT support to those troops. I’m very conscious that I have, at best 4 manoeuvre units (many down to half-strength) whilst Martin still has 8. If I can remove two or three of his platoons with my barrage and audacious charge I’ll be in a much better position for the end-game.

Just before my arty is due to fall it appears that the advance enemy platoon has been ordered to fall back to the reinforced platoon behind it. Perfect. Even though Martin doesn’t and can’t know it at the moment his forces are just heading directly towards the 105mm artillery barrage which is due to arrive in about fifteen seconds. Sayonara guys !

The first shells land and I can hear shouts from American’s as they are being wounded and killed by the barrage. It definitely has the effect of suppressing this entire position and for the remainder of the turn very little fire emanates from this position.

Here we see a German artillery shell just prior to impact. It took me about ten attempts to freeze-frame at just the right instant to get this shot since the shell drops so quickly. Note the circled enemy unit running towards the rear. Now you see him…

Now you don’t. That squad or infantry platoon headquarters is GONE ! I hope it’s a HQ since that will make the other units there much, much more likely to surrender since their "motivating" force is gone.

As you can see my basic plan is to move the platoons (actually only at half strength or so) up to pin his forces from the south, move one platoon into the blockhouse, supporting the assault with Wiesenhofer’s tank, and move one platoon up north to flank him. I’m low on ammo, low on manpower and out of artillery so I think I’m going to have to wait for Martin to make mistakes if I’m to win. Personally I’m about ready to settle for the bridge and the blockhouse overlooking it as per my orders.