	TURN: 30 OF 60	SCENARIO NAME: Going to Town

Fionn Kelly - Germans vs. Americans - Martin Turewicz

Kampfgruppe Vossen:

As my forces attempt to cross in the face of fire from the Sherman I begin to take some losses. I lose three men this turn to long-range enemy fire. As you can see from this picture two of my units have broken and are running for cover. I’d particularly like to point out the actions of the unit to the left. As it broke it ran for the nearest, best cover available and is now sheltering in a crater caused by a shell from the very Sherman which has, now, caused it to break. A nice touch.

At the end of the turn approximately half of my units have reached, or are close to reaching cover whilst the other half are taking shelter from the Sherman’s fire. I’ll see if I can move them laterally next turn and then work them up more slowly.

Kampfgruppe von Kelly:

Note: This shot is taken with zooming in effect so perspective is slightly skewed. This nice shot shows Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV racing across the bridge towards the far side and taking the defenders under fire as it does so. It has just fired a shot...

...which hits home with devastating results. The trees which the enemy has been using for cover have burst into flames and, now, the enemy is being consumed by the cover which had previously protected him. I now feel confident that this area will fall to my forces very easily and quickly.

My infantry continue to mass in the house. It isn’t really correct to call it massing since there are so few of them compared to the enemy’s forces but, still, they are congregating there. A single extra veteran Panzergrenadier platoon mounted on half-tracks is all I’d need to break through his forces now. Unfortunately the plane strikes put paid to my hopes of mounting a platoon-sized mounted assault with my best panzergrenadiers.

Kampfgruppe Backe:

Martin’s southern flank is in full retreat. I am certain this is a planned retreat and not the retreat of panicked units. Still, it is extremely welcome as my artillery has a very good chance of causing extreme casualties to these exposed troops.

The two infantry units which were part of the platoon which suffered the one squad being totally wiped out are scattered to the very bottom left and bottom right of the screen. It looks like they will certainly fall prisoner to my forces. I’m beginning to think that my artillery wiped out the platoon HQ. Very fortunate.

My forces are level with the retreating enemy and, next turn, will begin to advance to try to capture as many of them as possible. It looks like I’m going to get my wish and remove two platoons from Martin’s force structure next turn. With judicious use of my tank I should be able to break into the town. I have still identified only three bazooka emplacements and intend to use infantry to force those teams back and/or annihilate them. Doing so will allow me to bring my tank to bear directly on the enemy in the building overlooking the bridge and help support my infantry units.

My infantry is quite fragile right now so I am going to try to do everything possible to preserve it and prevent frontal assaults on defended positions. Anytime I can use cover or use time to minimize losses then I will do so. My hard, fast pushes earlier have paid off by getting me here and in allowing me to overrun several of Martin’s positions but now I must be very careful.

Conducting a successful attack into an urban landscape in the face of a more numerous enemy is an almost impossible task. Thus, I am limiting my goals to taking the blockhouse overlooking the bridge at this stage. I will take every opportunity to hack away at Martin’s forces whilst doing this however and if any opportunities to advance farther present themselves I will take them.

Force Composition:


	Kampfgruppe Vossen:

B0 Leutnant Grotz            2-2
B1 Obergefreiter Terborg     4-4
B2 Unteroffizier Oldendahl   5-3
B3 Unteroffizier Gloser      3-5
                             14-14

C0                           KIA
C1 Unteroffizier Scheiner    8
C2 Unteroffizier Poppe       3-5
C3 Unteroffizier Sauer       2-6
                             13-15

Total: 27 surviving infantrymen. Half of these are officerless and so almost
       worthless in the attack.

		Kampfgruppe von	Kelly.

Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV J
Two Spw-251s

F0 Obersturmfuhrer Gojowy    1-3
F2 Unteroffizier Altschuler  1-7
                             2-26

L0                           KIA
L1 Unteroffizier Welt        7-1
L2 Unteroffizier Vogel       5-3
L3 Unteroffizier Gloser      7-1
                             19-9

Total:  21 surviving infantrymen. 19 of these are officerless. This is a stroke
        of bad luck since platoon L is in extremely good shape apart from its
        officers being dead.

	Kampfgruppe Backe:

A1 Haupsturmfuhrer Backe     5-1
H0 Obersturmfuhrer Nolting   2-2
T1 Rotmeister Wolff          5-1
T2 Rotmeister Kalb           3-3
                             15-7

D0 Leutnant Janz             1-3
D1 Unteroffizier Schumacher  1-7
D2 Unteroffizier Beck        6-2
D3 Unteroffizier Blank       4-4
                             12-16

E0 Obersturmfuhrer Frick     4 
E1 Unteroffizier Sheaffer    5-3 
E2 Unteroffizier Altmann     7-1 
E3 Unteroffizier Franz       7-1
                             23-5

G0 Obersturmfuhrer Kanther   4
G1 Unteroffizier Geiser      2-6
G2 Unteroffizier Stein       5-3
G3 Unteroffizier Ferner      4-4
                             15-13
Total: 65 infantrymen. All officers

Overall:

Kampfgruppe Vossen is reduced to a total strength of one platoon, comprised of two half-platoons, one officerless.

Kampfgruppe von Kelly is reduced to roughly half a platoon of officerless men and the two survivors of Gojowy’s platoon.

Kampfgruppe Backe is reduced to 3 manoeuvre units mustering the strength of two full platoons. It also has a couple of MGs in support but these are too far away to do more than pin the enemy momentarily.

Basically I have five manoeuvre capable units mustering approximately three and a half platoons worth of men. Facing this are eight enemy manoeuvre capable units mustering probably six platoons worth of men. I have 105 combat infantrymen available for this assault. Given that eight two-thirds strength US platoons still total 210 men and I expect Martin’s force to equivalence to this number even after I overrun the western and southern positions it can be seen that I’ll be doing well simply to gain a foothold in the town. Perhaps he’ll see me stopping and decide to counter-attack. It’d be nice if he did. Very nice.

It’s going to be fun to press an assault home against an enemy which outnumbers me two to one. It’s going to be lots of fun. Basically I’ve given up trying to take the entire village unless it is a much, much weaker position than it seems to be. Basically I’m going to take the blockhouse and see if Martin wants to counter-attack. If he does then I can bloody his nose yet again.