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Orders phase
Three minutes of combat passed and I lost two
tanks and a bunch of infantry. Can you tell that I am not happy?
But I seriously hope that this turn will bring
the first shock to the Germans when they encounter my 76mm Jumbo.
With its super-heavy front armor, the poor little StuG that just
appeared at the end of last turn has no chance - and since
everything went so easy for Fionn so far, I do not expect it to
back off right away... its only chance to survive.
Although at first I wished I had placed the
Jumbo a little bit more to the right to be able to look straight
down the road (the farmhouse is now in between the Jumbo and the
Panther), I am happy I did what I did. Since now I can take my
time to get rid of the StuG and then take on the Panther. And
even a Panther should be fairly easy prey for the Jumbo.
Click on Image to Enlarge
CM's interface is very easy. But it still
tells you everything you need to know. My Jumbo is hull down
relative to the StuG and if it indeed is a StuG, I have an
excellent chance of blowing it to hell...
Should all this work out, then I will have much
less worries about my southern flank, which is close to
collapsing.
Talking about the southern flank... with the MG
team gone, I order the remaining squad to run back. Although they
have not been harmed yet, I expect them not to last long against
such an overwhelming force in the clearing. By running away the
Germans might think that they panicked and who knows... run into
my ambush? :) BTW - since the squad is not in command (its
platoon HQ is on the other side of the board), it will take 33
seconds into the next action phase before these guys will
actually start moving. Had they been in command (i.e. with an HQ
unit closeby), they would have followed the order much sooner,
maybe within 10 seconds. So a delay between issuing the order and
seeing it done is one of the disadvantages of being out of
command in CM. In this particular case the longer delay might
mean that my squad gets hammered way before they actually receive
my order to withdraw... let's see...
Not much else to do here (northern flank still
waiting in ambush), so I concentrate on the town. Since the
opposition in the town seems to be stronger than I anticipated, I
order the third platoon to cross the river and approach from the
south. At the same time, I send the 2nd platoon (in
the center) forward into better firing positions (they are at the
base of the hill now and cannot see into town). The 1st
platoon remains where it is and is going to provide a base of
fire for the others.
I also order the half-platoon on the southern
hill to hold it and exchange fire with the Germans. Not much else
I can do there right now until the 3rd platoon crosses
the river. Based on what happens, I will later decide where to
start the main attack to break through the German defensive ring.
I was playing with the idea to use my 105mm
artillery on the town, but then decided against it. I feel that
it would be a waste of an important resource if I fired the
artillery on the heavy stone buildings in the town. Sure, there
would be some German casualties. But I feel that the 105mm can be
used much more effectively on the advancing columns in the east.
First, however, I am going to try to locate Fionn's Schwerpunkt....
and then hammer on it.
Action phase
Do you know that feeling when you think you
have hit rock bottom and it can only get better from there
However, the situation only gets worse? Oh boy... the bad luck is
developing into a real streak!
To make it short: the 76mm Jumbo, the backbone
of my defense in the east - gone with the wind! Before it could
even fire one shot, the StuG placed two rounds right on target -
one bounced off the front hull... but the other was right on
target! It must have hit a critical spot, like the turret mount
or the upper hull - frankly said - a one in a million shot!
Click on Image to Enlarge
The red line shows how the first round from
the StuG ricochets off the Jumbos front armor. If you look hard
you'll notice the round in the red circle. And yes - the ricochet
landed somewhere to the right and exploded... as said before, CM
tracks every round!
But there is no time to be shocked - in the
east, the rifle squad exchanged a few shots with the German
infantry, but soon faced overwhelming fire from the halftracks,
Grenadiers and a tank. Left alone in the woods, it decided that
it was too much and all twelve men surrendered. Damn!
Shortly after that the 81mm mortars came in and
shelled the clearing. However, since I lost both the MG team and
the rifle squad to the Germans, I will never know how effective
the fire was.
Click on Image to Enlarge
My 81mm mortars are shelling the clearing.
Notice that since I lost both the MG team and the squad there,
all the previously spotted units turned into generic German
markers.
So much for the bad news in the east. Fionns
column is happily advancing in the center and south flank, but
seems to have stalled in the north. The "halftrack" I
still see on the northern road didn't move further... I assume
that he is advancing with his infantry forward to clear the road
from any possible ambushes. Good - it'll cost him time.
But finally there are some good news, as well.
The attack on the town is showing first results, as apparently
some of his infantry in the town is breaking under the heavy HMG,
tank and mortar fire.
Click on Image to Enlarge
The German infantry squad is running out of
the stone building under heavy MG and tank fire. I saw the German
squad taking at least two casualties during the action replay (the
soldiers kind of jerk back when hit and you hear the screams in
German, too).
That is good news, because it actually means
that the other advancing platoons are making good progress with
little incoming enemy fire. 2nd platoon in the center
made it already to the last treeline in front of the town, and so
is in great firing positions.
Click on Image to Enlarge
The last treeline - from here 2nd
platoon has good firing positions on the town to support any
flanking assaults.
In the meantime, 3rd platoon also
moved out and except for some inaccurate MG fire from the town.
It's making good progress across the river.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Move out! With bullets and mortar rounds
whizzing overhead, the platoon is racing for the frozen river.
Click on Image to Enlarge
A mortarman at work - shelling the German
positions in town to cover the approach of the rifle platoons.
Even in the south things are going fine. Once
in position on the edge of the woods on the southern hill, the
half-platoon is doing well against the Germans. In fact, it seems
like some of the German teams already started breaking for the
back.
Click on Image to Enlarge
A look from the southern hill down on the
town - some mortar rounds are exploding in the back and you can
see infantry running through the streets - panicked?
The progress around the town sort of eases the
pain of seeing my MLR in the east crumbling away. Although my
Shermans are gone and the southern flank is shaking, the Germans
still have to cross that wide open space and face several
bazookas and two hidden Shermans in order to relieve the town.
And the town is the key - if I manage to take it on time, even
ifI lose all my Shermans, the difficult terrain will aid me in
defending the victory locations.
Still - somewhere in the back of my mind a
desperate voice is crying - where are the reinforcements? :(
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