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Kampfgruppe Backe:
Mission: Secure the southern flank and continue
advancing at a walking pace towards the river.
Imperatives: Forward momentum must be conserved
at all costs. I will accept infantry casualties in order to
maintain the pace of the advance as my losses to artillery if I
halt in place for any significant time could, potentially, be far
worse.
Force Structure:
- 6 Veteran SPW 251/1s
- 3 Green Volksgrenadier squads + 1 Vk
platoon HQ.
- 6 Veteran Panzergrenadier squads + 2 PzG
platoon HQs + 1 PzG company HQ
Plan: I will continue the advance towards the
nearby American hilltop positions. The currently committed forces
(1 composite platoon + 2 SPW 251/1s) should be sufficient to
neutralise the opposition, organise and guard prisoners. In the
meantime, to maintain the pace of the advance I will advance the
5 uncommitted Panzergrenadier squads to the next hill line. By
the time they take it the Volksgrenadiers should be ready to run
into the cover provided by the hill and I estimate 2 platoons of
effectives + 4 SPW 251/1s should still remain from Kampfgruppe
Backe. I estimate that I should lose only one platoon of
effectives in clearing the two lines of hills to both enemy
direct and indirect fire.
Action: As the advance towards the American
position continues casualties mount but are still acceptable.
Fortunately it appears that American resistance is being worn
down as yet another machinegun team surrenders to my inexorable
advance.
Click on Image to Enlarge
As you can see in the above picture there is
also evidence of an infantry squad (which I am presuming is a
platoon HQ ) on the hill. I will attempt to shift my advance
northwards and towards this infantry squad next turn.
Let’s talk about bazookas. Let’s
check out the new nominee for luckiest SPW 251/1 crew of the war
also. (No doubt their survival is due in large part to the fact
that the bazooka teams firing on it are, in turn, being fired on
by several half-tracks, infantry squads etc…
Click on Image to Enlarge
Well, looks like it is time for me to
reconsider my threat evaluation of what is on that hill. As you
can see above my initial thought that there was only a single
bazooka team on the hill has been quite graphically disproved.
Two bazooka rounds are heading for my SPW 251/1 at the same time.
GULP !
Click on Image to Enlarge
Two new craters in the ground tell the story of
two more misses… There are still another 30 seconds or so to
go so things aren’t looking good for my plucky SPW 251/1
crew.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Another near miss. And when I say near I mean
near. In the distance you can see the surrendered MG team, an
infantry squad (although since I don’t see any more infantry
units nearby it I’m presuming it’s a platoon HQ)
another MG team and at least one bazooka team.
Click on Image to Enlarge
As the advance continues yet more bazookas are
fired. Again, two bazookas were in flight at the same time just
prior to this picture.
During the 40 seconds which these pictures
cover the SPW 251/1 was fired on seven times by at least two (possibly
more ?) bazooka teams. I’m seriously uneasy about leaving my
SPW 251/1 in position in the middle of this shooting gallery so I’m
going to order it to reverse back fifty or so metres and lay down
suppressive fire again.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Note, I’ve played around with the zoom
function and increased soldier scaling and decreased the number
of trees in order to ensure getting a clear picture showing the
relative locations of Kampfgruppe Backe’s assaulting force
vis a vis the Americans.
As you can see, at the end of the turn the
remaining MG and one of the bazooka teams are suppressed whilst
my forces have closed the distance yet again. Within a minute or
two this position will be mine and, by that time, close to two
platoons of Panzergrenadiers should be in position to push
through this position and on to the next. In the top left hand
corner of the picture you can see that an American unit was
spotted near the clump of trees there. By this time I am unsure
of its exact location but I have a strong suspicion that Martin
has set up an anti-armour ambush hidden by a fold in the ground
in that position. An infantry-led dash should do wonders in
stopping THAT plan ;-). Of course, if the unit setting up there
is a machinegun then leading with infantry will be exactly the
wrong thing to do. Don’t you just love having to make those
kinds of choices?
In Combat Mission, due to the simultaneous
order resolution I can’t carry out the IGO-UGO game cheat of
running one squad all the way down the road to see what fires at
it and then, with complete knowledge of which units are present
and able to fire at it, deciding which of my available units is
most suitable to taking it out and then doing so in that exact
same turn. In CM if you want to scout ahead and have sufficient
time to respond to any resistance encountered you do need to
place the scout far in advance of the main body.
Click on Image to Enlarge
I’ve also ordered the SPW 251/1 which
dropped off my mortar teams to advance on the northern flank of
the American position and pour fire into the bazooka team which
it can spot in the hopes of suppressing it (and providing
transport to my deseated Panzergrenadiers there.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Here the Panzergrenadier platoon from
Kampfgruppe Eberbach advances down the southernmost road to
either:
- support the ongoing assault if it bogs
down or
- bypass the ongoing assault to push onwards
as quickly as possible.
If you look carefully you can see that only two
squads and one HQ team are present in this picture. The other
squad, which was split up into two separate half-squads for
scouting purposes has halted at the bend in the road some 100
metres back and has recombined. It will run forwards as quickly
as possible next turn to catch up with this platoon and bring it
back to full strength.
Click on Image to Enlarge
In this picture you can see both knocked out
SPW 251/1s and two more SPW 251/1s which have advanced down the
road and will crest the hill next turn to add even more fire
support to my attack on the hill.
Click on Image to Enlarge
As you can see I am also rushing a detached
Volksgrenadier squad down the road in an attempt to catch up with
its platoon and strengthen it. My forces became quite
disorganised during the bombardment of the forest exit as I
pushed everything which was through the bottleneck forward at
maximum speed and those to the east of the bottleneck were
trapped by the destruction of the SPW 251/1. This separated my
forces and the results of this are still being felt scenario-wide.
Kampfgruppe Vossen:
Force Structure:
- 1 veteran Puma
- 2 green platoons of Volksgrenadiers ( 6 VG
squads + 2 VG pln HQs + 1 VG Cmpy HQ )
As the infantry of Kampfgruppe Vossen continue
to push forwards they do not come under fire from the expected
infantry ambush but, rather, come under fire from a 75mm armed
Sherman which is hidden behind the multi-storey building in the
centre of the map and an infantry unit in the house to its north.
It only causes one casualty but scatters my forces.
Well, there is no pressing need to rush these
forces forward so I think I can afford to halt them in place and
let my central Panzergrenadier assault clear this platoon-sized
defensive position. Once this position is cleared it looks like
there is nothing stopping me advancing for 500+ metres to the
position of my now-stranded Panzergrenadier squad just short of
the bridge.
Kampfgruppe von Kelly:
Kampfgruppe von Kelly has:
- 4 veteran SPW 251/1s
- 2 veteran PzG squads + 1 veteran PzG HQ
squad
- 1 green VG platoon ( 3 VG squads, 1 VG
platoon HQ)
- 1 x 210mm rocket FO
- 1 x 105mm tube FO
- 1 x veteran Panther G
- 1 veteran StuG III (late)
- 2 regular Pz IV H
Click on Image to Enlarge
In this slightly zoomed picture (thus the
American flag on the bridge looks MUCH closer than it actually is
so estimations of distance in this picture should be considered
suspect) you can see the crux of Kamfgruppe von Kelly’s
advance strategy. Have tanks lay down a strong base of fire, dash
forward with HTs and conduct a close assault with dismounted
infantry.
Click on Image to Enlarge
By the end of the turn 2 PZ IV Hs are in
position to support the assault on the American platoon’s
defensive position with direct fire and my VG platoon is rushing
forward as quickly as possible also.
That tactical AI took the opportunity afforded
by some clear LOS to hurl a few HE shells at the enemy position
to my south which, no doubt, has helped the assault there proceed
more smoothly. In the next turn these tanks will re-orient and
engage the infantry platoon’s positions directly. I aim to
so utterly suppress the enemy that my infantry can advance and
close assault them with minimal casualties. Now it’s time
for MY version of materielschlacht ;-).
Click on Image to Enlarge
At the end of the turn both squads of
Panzergrenadiers are closing on the enemy positions. As soon as
they reach 100 metres they will jump out and race to the wall and
use their devastating close-range firepower to maximum effect.
That American platoon will, by next turn, be
targetted by 4 tanks firing HE shells into their midst, an 81mm
mortar barrage, 4 HTs and 2 squads of Panzergrenadiers. I hope
that this veritable cacophony of fire will help reduce my
casualties during the assault.
Kampfgruppe Student:
If Kampfgruppe Student can hold out for just a
few more minutes I may be in a position to bring long-range
machinegun and tank main gun fire to bear on the Americans as
they assault. That would be nice since it will whittle down his
forces but I’m not going to plan for it. With only two
companies of American infantry in the town I can’t afford to
push hard and take losses to just get a few long-range licks in
with machinegun fire. I need to conserve my core force which is
only two companies in strength itself.
For the Student story I will refer you to
Martin’s AAR. I’m quite sure he is dwelling, with
loving attention, on each and every panicked German unit in the
town. Suffice it to say that it really doesn’t look good and
that I’m half-tempted to wish for a "surrender all
village defenders button" so as to save at least some of
their lives… That assumes, of course, that I can recapture
the town and liberate at least some of the defenders.
Conclusion:
I’m still fighting to attain the wall
phaseline… The town will fall but if I take the wall line
with little further loss I should be able to reach the river in
good order and conduct a deliberate assault with 2 of my
companies versus 2 American companies. The Americans DO have the
advantage but it is not so much of an advantage that they are
assured of victory. Far from it actually. So long as American
reinforcements or artillery do not tip the balance even more into
their favour this should be a close fight.
Even if I am not able to fully clear the town I
do hope to gain a foothold sufficient to reclaim control of the
bridge.
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