TURN: 32 OF 60	SCENARIO NAME: Going to Town

Fionn Kelly - Germans vs. Americans - Martin Turewicz

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As Kampfgruppe Vossen’s infantry finally reach the shelter of a couple of houses the Sherman finally stops shelling them. After gathering breath there for a few minutes I intend to push the Volksgrenadiers across the river nearer the bridge.

In the meanwhile

Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV continues its nice slow advance on the troops guarding the western bank. All the American units from this position are, by now, in full retreat northwards and are a broken force.

As Wiesenhofer’s panzer continues to pour some close-range MG fire into their ranks the Americans begin surrendering en masse, if the shattered remnants of a platoon can really be called en masse. By the end of this turn the platoon headquarters and two infantry squads have surrendered to my force here. At full strength these units would comprise twenty-eight infantrymen but only five have survived. It seems my shelling and suppressive fires have had a major effect. It just goes to show you how dangerous it is to emplace units in locations without cover or concealment.

In any case I have moved three vehicle crew forward to cross the river in an attempt to deceive Martin into thinking I have more forces at my disposal than I really have. My main strategy at this stage is to bluff Martin into believing my forces are more numerous than they truly are and so I’m hoping each vehicle crew will seem like an infantry squad to him. I don’t know exactly how they will appear to Martin since this is the first time either Martin or I will have so many vehicle crew to play around with but its worth a shot.

Kampfgruppe Backe’s infantry are making nice progress in the woods. Unfortunately Martin has managed to pull one platoon back into the town from the defensive positions in the wood and they have escaped from my grasp but another two squads have fallen to my forces.

At this stage that means that he has lost 3 infantry platoons and a heavy weapons company to my forces. This must constitute a major blow to his global morale BUT the massive drop in my global morale due to the losses from airstrikes (in which I lost approximately 13% of my global morale just due to losses from the airstrike) means that Martin still holds the advantage. A numerical advantage, superior morale and superior positions. I’ve always liked impossible missions ;-).

POW status:

2 squads in south: 9 men captured, 14 dead.

Sgt Stanley: 1 captured, 11 dead

Lieutenant Sieland: 2 captured, 2 dead

Corporal Faber: 2 captured, 3 dead.

So, this turn I’ve captured fourteen men whose units had suffered a cumulative total of thirty dead.