Thank you for your assessment of my skills, as a matter of fact I have beaten it ,all be it a minor victory only. And the mg unit placement was based on advice from this forum. Have you read the original post? I have progressed from V2.12 to V3.11 while playing this scenario and the difficulty has increased quite a bit.
for example
Seemed to work in 2.12 now units get shot to pieces quickly by the eagle eyed mg or one shot from a mortar, I dread to think if it was the Panzershreck
Doable in 2.12 after that an mg from across the river can hit the left hand edge of the cross roads. Also in the right hand lane in 2.12 an mg from across the river could get you when you cross the gap after 2.12 lining up on the left of the lane further back from the gap can get you hit too.
All my tries have been from a saved game made under 2.12 so the plan has not changed.