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Kampfgruppe Student:
The situation has worsened this turn. Last turn
a green, pattern ’45 rifle squad was all but annihilated
thanks to the enemy’s artillery. This turn another one of my
squads has been condemned to death.
As the veteran Fallschirmjaeger squad anchoring
my southern defensive line staged its sham withdrawal
increasingly heavier calibre artillery began to fall. One almost-direct
hit seems to have shaken the Fallschirmjaeger unit so severely
that they ran back into the house from whence they came to seek
shelter. Of course, with my luck it was only to be 3 seconds more
before an artillery hit DEMOLISHED the house. (seen below)
Click on Image to Enlarge
Thoroughly confused and out of control by this
stage due to the constant near misses and heavy casualties being
incurred the Fallschirmjaeger squad sprinted forwards towards the
nearest cover. Unfortunately for them the nearest cover was the
treeline just metres to their south, but in direct LOS of the
enemy. As the turn ends an entire enemy platoon and supporting
forces are concentrating on annihilating this small, befuddled
portion of my defences.
During this debacle it seems that an enemy tank
spotted my flamethrower team as direct fire high explosive shells
began to impact around it. Deciding to stand up and move to a
safer position the flamethrower team was spotted and annihilated
in seconds.
So, within 60 seconds a Fallschirmjaeger squad,
a flamethrower team and most probably my MG team have all been
destroyed or rendered combat ineffective.
The moral of my southern flank’s collapse
appears to be: DON’T shift forces JUST as an enemy barrage
hits you.
In the centre things go better. My
fallschirmjaeger pioneer platoon has redeployed without casualty
and is now in place to withstand a central enemy incursion.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Given the loss of approximately 1/3rd
of my total firepower due to the debacles on my flanks it is
unlikely that I can hold such an extended front and I am
considering shrinking my perimeter and withdrawing both
fallschirmjaeger platoons towards the apartment block complex at
the very west of the village and attempting to hold out there
until the relief force can break through.
On the northern flank Schreiber’s squad is
the focus of all the enemy’s attention. One headless chicken
is still running around up there in panic. The only good thing
that can be said about that flank is that the remainder of my
rifle platoon is now in place to defend the strategic
northernmost house and does not appear to have been spotted and
identified and that by concentrating on Schreiber’s ill-fated
squad the American northern advance has been delayed by another
turn.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Overall I think that the American commander’s
strategy is to incit my forces to reveal their location by short
probing movements and then, once they open fire, pound them with
artillery until such time as I am forced to shorten my lines due
to losses.
I expect he will only advance once his
artillery has routed me entirely from my first line of defence.
Since I gain nothing by allowing his artillery to annihilate my
forces whilst his infantry are at extreme range and my forces are
so depleted I think I will withdraw my forces a little to create
a shorter, and thus more defensible, line.
Also by enticing his infantry forward I hope to
catch one platoon in my 210mm rocket barrage which should be
arriving anytime now AND I hope to ensure that his forces and
mine are fighting at such close range that he would not dare call
in artillery for fear of hitting his own units.
Relief Forces:
Kampfgruppe Carius:
Kampfgruppe Carius’ Puma and attendant
infantry platoons continue to make slow progress down the
northernmost road. Whilst I would prefer them to make quicker
progress I know that they would only fall into the enemy trap and
be defeated if they do so. Better to be slow, methodical and sure
but with Kampfgruppe Student desparate for every man it can get
such a methodical, resource-conserving advance is a difficult
thing to discipline oneself to do.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Carius’ StuG III has bogged down and
whilst thus immobilised Carius’ driver is shot and killed. I
have no idea who or what killed Carius’ driver as I saw no
tracers or shells arcing towards the StuG. This is not all that
uncommon in Combat Mission. Anti-tank ambushes are horrible
experiences since often half of your column is destroyed before
the exact location of the anti-tank guns is established. Street
fighting is the same. In a test scenario I once marched a company
of Shermans through a town. Only after the 5th Sherman
had been knocked out by Panzerschreck or Panzerfaust fire was any
tentative guess made at the location of the firing German teams.
Twenty seconds later with all but 3 of the 15 tanks destroyed the
German ambush positions were well-known but by then it was too
late. In under a minute 15 American tanks were wiped out due to
carefully sited ambushes.
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After only a little work Carius manages to free
his StuG again and it continues to move slowly forward searching
for enemy targets. As can be seen in the below picture of the
newly re-mobilised StuG the machinegun which it turns out had
fired at the StuG had turned its attention to the nearby infantry
and suppressed them in turn.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Kampfgruppe Eberbach:
Well, progress here is, again slow but sure…
I’ve searched the captured American soldiers and have found
them to be "regular" soldiers. This means that most of
my forces will have an experience advantage compared to the
Americans which could become vital in the infantry versus
infantry fighting which is sure to follow soon. One other
intriguing piece of information is that the American infantry
squads did not have any bazookas or other anti-tank weapons. This
is of importance since it has major implications for my anti-infantry
tactics. If I only need to worry about anti-tank fire from
bazooka teams and can approach infantry teams with impunity in my
half-tracks I will be able to use this to my advantage.
Click on Image to Enlarge
As my infantry forces advance slowly through
the clearing (they are tremendously slowed by the snow) the enemy’s
artillery barrage begins to pick up. As this squad advances on
either side of the path two artillery shells land within metres
of them causing a casualty and both squads to be shaken.
Click on Image to Enlarge
In fact both half-squads were so shocked by the
blasts that they ran for cover. In Combat Mission squads look for
the nearest cover to them when they are shaken and this often
results in the best-planned advances of mice and men going
horribly astray.
Click on Image to Enlarge
In this case one squad ran into the trees to
the left whilst the other ran towards the house to the right.
Suddenly what was a well-coordinated advance down a road has
resulted in two half-squads laying over 50 metres apart in shock
and just having suffered yet another casualty. No longer can one
have the certainty of knowing that everything will go relatively
according to plan. Units act in their own self-interest in Combat
Mission as opposed to the mindless automatons we are used to from
the more traditional hex-based IGO-UGO games.
At the end of the turn you can see, in the shot
below, that my forces in the clearing are widely, widely
scattered. My machinegunner is still in position at the far
entrance whilst my vehicles have outstripped most of their
infantry support and must now wait for it to catch up and clear
the road ahead.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Kampfgruppe von Kelly:
There is little to be said about Kampfgruppe
von Kelly. I have organised the first platoon of effectives and
mobilised their half-tracks and posted them near the bottleneck
ready to burst forth at the beginning of next turn.
Here is a shot of the clearing clearly showing
my Panther advancing slowly towards the village and my SPW 251/1s
organising for a rush down towards the southern flank, where
Eberbach will exit the forest.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Overall I am happy with my progress to date. I
have suffered very few relief force casualties and that is in
keeping with my goal of getting a STRONG relief force to the
village. It might take me 30 minutes to get to the village but I
intend to arrive in strength and not in a desperately weakened
state.
I do wish that events in Carius’ and
Eberbach’s sectors would accelerate but clearing a forest
takes time. There is no way to avoid this so I suppose that price
must be paid.
I am now planning on a slow, methodical advance.
I seriously doubt that I will arrive at the village quickly and
without loss so I would rather arrive a bit later than
anticipated but with light losses than quickly but with massive
losses. My view is that I must be a combat-capable force when I
do arrive.
The enemy’s artillery has been extremely
active and accurate again this turn and this worries me also. I
fear what it can do to me on these narrow paths and in the
village. I’d be much happier if neither of us had any
artillery on call since it can, with an unfortunate shot, halt an
entire axis of my advance.
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