TURN: 35 OF 60	SCENARIO NAME: Going to Town

Fionn Kelly - Germans vs. Americans - Martin Turewicz

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The End-Game:

As Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV finally works its way clear of the scattered trees (Slowing down and the effects of terrain are truly cumulative in Combat Mission. Thus, while a Pz IV is slowed by passing through trees and is also slowed by snow it is almost halted by having to traverse trees and snow at the same time. It has taken close to two minutes to simply back up about 20 meters, although it must be admitted that a lot of this time was spent in carefully rotating the hull of the tank to face southwards again I have ordered the vehicle crews and the two remaining panzergrenadiers on the western bank to dash forward towards the three houses facing the west bank in which I can spy bazooka teams.

This turn at least two bazookas have been launched at Wiesenhofer, both of which have missed but not by much.

This is a very good picture to illustrate some of the FOW. If you look closely you will see that the infantryman in this picture is depicted as carrying a rifle BUT has just fired a bazooka. Is this a bug? Nope, it’s another great little example of FOW. I hadn’t gotten a clear enough view of the enemy inside that house to identify exactly what type of unit they were. All I knew was that a small number of enemy were there. Of course my hyper-suspicious mind assumed it was a bazooka team BUT the game continues to display the weapon as a rifle until your men get a closer look. Of course, once the German infantry saw the bazooka hit the ground they realized that this unit was a bazooka team and the visual depiction of the unit changed.

Obviously this advance is a sacrificial ploy but, at worst, it risks only five men’s deaths whilst, at best, I may clear the outer houses of bazooka teams thus allowing my blustering usage of Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV to pay a dividend. It is quite clear to me that the instant Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV is destroyed is the instant that I must sue for peace so I am willing to suffer to preserve it until I have captured the blockhouse. Once the blockhouse is in my hands Wiesenhofer’s Pz IV loses much of its importance and I intend to attempt to utilize it to destroy the immobilized Sherman.

My timing has been fortuitous. As my sacrificial pawns rush up the slope towards the nearest houses the first elements of the volksgrenadier platoon, which recently lost its leader, is crossing the river and the infantry elements of Kampfgruppe Vossen are cresting the hill. This ensures that I will have a strong firebase and a strong second wave of attackers.

Here we can see the remnants of Kampfgruppe Vossen cresting the hill and rushing towards the river. Even though the American units appear as small as ants at this distance the American HMGs and MMGs are already bringing effective fire to bear on these survivors.

As my forces are moving up to and across the river both surviving half-tracks came under bazooka fire from the blockhouse. Fortunately for me both bazooka shells missed. Martin must be getting pretty desperate if he’s leaving bazookas in exposed positions to pick off my vehicle with incredibly low probability shots. One thing I’d like to draw attention to is the fact that both platoons of infantry ran out of the back of the blockhouse about 20 seconds into the turn while the bazooka team was left there for the entire turn. It spent the last 40 seconds being the only unit holding the blockhouse.

My two 251/1s sweep around to the south of the town in an effort to add their firepower to the cauldron there. I want to use them to keep the GI’s heads down so I can get my infantry into some better cover in the nearest houses.

And now, I’d like to touch on perhaps the most important development this turn: the US abandonment of the blockhouse. Martin has nothing to fear from my battered forces but it looks like my sensitivity to casualties is considerably less than his and that my brazen usage of armor has paid off. My aim now is to get into the blockhouse with as few further casualties as possible. Once I have gained the blockhouse I will see what I can do about the remaining Sherman and then re-assess the situation.

It seems to me that Martin is looking to pull his forces back into a tighter circle just in front of the apartment complex with a view to falling back into the apartment buildings if I continue to press him strongly. I doubt that I will since I have so few combat-capable infantry available that I would be hard-pressed to stop any counter-attack Martin would mount. With this in mind I am intending to continue acting aggressively and brazenly in the hope of convincing Martin that my forces are far stronger than they really are so that he won’t counter-attack the blockhouse position once I take it.

Each of the colored red circles denotes the positions of one of Martin’s remaining 6 platoons (not that they are all at full strength of course ;-) ). As you can see Martin has, by withdrawing, created a situation in which only TWO platoons are facing southward and firing at my attacking force. Probably he expects a major assault to come in from the west. Well, while I will certainly make a demonstration there to keep his attention I’m going to disappoint him unfortunately. This is my chance to take the blockhouse quickly and cheaply and once Vossen’s volksgrenadiers are across the river I intend to make my move. His redeployment is a mistake but he will realize that soon and probably redeployed his MGs in the apartment complex to make up for the loss of those two platoons of infantry which he previously had ALSO had firing at my southern assault force. I am going to order my tank forward quickly to dissuade any re-occupation of the blockhouse.