Orders phase

With all of the defenders around the bridge either dead or captured, I decide to withdraw the remaining three men squad and the MG team further north. I am remotely hoping of luring the Germans into a pursue - and in front of my Sherman - but then I seriously doubt that they will do it. On the other hand, if they don't - well then covered by the Sherman, I might be able to set up a nice flanking fire position for the noth. Let's see...

While the enemy Panzer is struggling with the terrain (he is moving along a wooded slope right there), I use my chance to move my remaining units near the river further north.

The situation on the river, calls for a few more adjustments. Fionn is keeping his tank well out of the lethal zone of any bazooka teams that might be in the town, and as his infantry is slowly reaching the near bank, I am quite sure that he will attack with his infantry first. It's still a couple of turns time, but just to go sure, I am moving one of my reserve squads a bit up, just in case that the bazooka team (red circle in the middle) has to withdraw quickly. One of my strongest cards here is the MG team in the church, which has a great LOS all the way down to the river and might be even powerful enough to stall an enemy attack uphill from the river.

A few "precautions"...

In the south, I am playing with the thought of withdrawing my platoon out of the corner building now. It would be a good time, since the attackers are still too far away to prevent the withdrawal. On the other hand, it will take the German platoons at least another turn to get to the edge of the woods, and my platoon might inflict some more casualties... I decide to stay one more turn. It will be ONLY one more turn, since after that the ammo of the squad will be most likely very low.

Additionally, to improve my defenses in the south, I detach one squad from the westernmost platoon all the way to the map edge. Although out of command, it can provide some lethal crossfire from there with its Browining Automatic Rifle...

One squad is ordered to move to the western map edge to creat a cross fire...

Overall, it's not looking too bad. 4 rifle platoons are opposing three German platoons in the south. I have much better cover in the town, but the attackers have reserves and armor, which I don't. It's not looking great (not even good), but I think it's still not over yet...

An overview shot across the town. My defenses form a distincive V with three, then two, then one platoon in depth. Unfortunately, the enemy is also approaching from the east (the left) so that I cannot deploy my full force against the German assault in the south.

Action phase

I can see the Germans moving forward, three platoons now. While two platoons halt in a few shellcraters, a third platoon is moving up. My guys in town are pumping round after round into the woods, but I cannot positively identify any broken units. I can see several prone squads, but am not sure if they were pinned or simply went for cover.

The pressure on my forward platoon in the corner building is increasing, though, as both the halftracks and the Panzer are spraying the house with MG fire and HE rounds. Several squads look for cover, but overall none of them breaks.

Sgt. Ham's squad, low on ammo and with casualties, is taking cover against some MG fire from the enemy halftracks by the bridge.

Meanwhile, the detached squad reaches the western edge of town and is in position to bring on some flanking fire on the Germans, should they move down the slope into town. The squad has a couple of BARs and some rifles - not awesome (I'd trade them all of two MG42s :-)), but enough to maybe cause some confusion in the German lines.

From this house on the western egde of the map, my squad has a good field of fire on the German attackers.

Talking about the German attackers - I take my time to look across the map to spot any unforeseen surprises (like a reserve company popping up in the rear or something ;-)) but discover none. I can see that one platoon is shifting from the northern end towards the bridge (probably it realized that running head on against the Sherman is futile) and I can see that several infantry teams are now by the enemy Panzer (which is, by the way, pivoting south again). So far, no surprises. It seems that what I see is all the Germans can muster for the assault... good.

Tha halftracks have reached the other side of the bridge and the tank is rotating south again after mopping up. At the same time, infantry teams (most likely vehicle crews) and some infantry squads are moving forward into the open.

You know what - I'd give a couple of squads if Fionns Panzer would bog down right where it is now ;-)