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Rinaldi

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Everything posted by Rinaldi

  1. Alright, did a quick once over, looks like the AAR has survived the transition to the new forums. I've gotten another set of about 3 turns built up, and will send you all an update hopefully tomorrow night or the day after. I'll tell you this much: the town is eating more of my men alive, but the bodycount for the Germans is through the roof, I think we'll be seeing an end to this battle soon. EDIT: Well, mostly - quotes evidently didn't carry over, which looks like we're playing a very silly game of broken telephone. Question: If I compile this into a .pdf/word document (with obviously compressed .jpegs) would anyone be interested in that?
  2. Units not under fire and in the same action space will clear them and gather their ammo and weapons. Its called "buddy aid" and ensures WIA persons aren't killed at the end. Doesn't immediately bring them back into action
  3. Welcome back. Good update, hopefully with the IS in a good position you can pay some enemy losses back with interest.
  4. Great read so far, were those 152s the enemy? I thought he was playing the US. Losing that many men so quickly is always a bad feeling but you have plenty of match left.
  5. Turns 65-71 (Part Two): Although the center of town is becoming a bloodbath, I'm confident the balance of casualties will go my way. Asides, this is an objective, so I'm going to have to suck it up. Let's head over to the right hook, where as you'll remember I just had a nasty meeting with a HMG. At the start of the turn set I didn't have a positive ID on it, and chose to wait for supporting armor to arrive. Well, they have, and here's how I'm going to try and find and kill that HMG: Supporting armor lobs HE into town as the Platoon leader and a few fire-teams break to the right. Smoke is popped so I can cross the dirt road without taking fire from any potential secondary positions: Then the Platoon HQ gets a spot on the HMG from its over watch position, and nails the gunner - nice shooting. That should keep the HMG team's heads down while I hunt towards it down the treeline with an assault team. A two man scout team stays with a tank and watches the wheat-field at the right edge of the map, ready to open up on any attempts by my enemy to displace. On the left, by that little farm, its time to exact revenge for my Forward Observer. Its all over in seconds for the Germans in the farm, and the little platoon attack (supported by the Command tank of the taskforce commander) clears the objective without a single loss: The balance of the platoon opens fire at the manor from the treeline, throwing in MMG fire, 60mm and HE fire to the mix, while the Platoon NCO takes a small fireteam around the rear of the manor, wiping out the HMG team as they cower on the ground floor. That went faster than I could've hoped. Now its time to get these boys back on tracks and gunning to link up with the armor I have moving towards the final two objectives.
  6. That...about sums it up, actually. I'm going to break down the action around the town into three parts, the attack on the manor (my left), the attack towards the town center, and the right-hook.: Turns 65- 71 (Part One): The platoon and its supporting armor is attacking the left-edge of town, using these treelines to move laterally. Base of fire is the MG squad and a rifle squad. I intend to strike towards the circled corner, as that's roughly the center of town. As the movement is made, small arms fire opens up on my shifting MG squad, and I get a spot on enemies firing from the Barn. As I suspected, Emory is defending away from the edge of town and from ground floors. The two rifle squads are creeping up on this barn from the flank, checking every building ("pausing" for 5 seconds outside each building) and picking their way up the street: Unfortunately as this is happening, a second position opens up on my MG squad. Although one team is able to get set up and return fire (to no great effect), the other team takes a casualty from MG42 fire. At the end of the turn, they actually begin to panic and crawl away, and suffer 3 more casualties, effectively making that team CI. I'm already off to a bad start, but I'm loathe to pull out of town now when I can outflank this position soon. As my squads push up the streets, I am able to get into a position to trade fire with what I believe is an HQ unit in the barn. It looks like he has a platoon spread out in these cluster of houses. Unfortunately, this firefight barely goes my way as well, although I'm able to eventually kill everyone in the barn, the entire Platoon HQ is killed or wounded by yet another position. Oh boy....what a headache. Now that I have an entire German platoon ID'd and trapped in these houses, I'm going to bring up Shermans and hit them at point-blank. Its time to end this nonsense before I waste a platoon in house-to-house fighting.
  7. What are the chances that he's opting to play defensively and has no intention of crossing the river? You said you're somewhat familiar with him, how's his usual play-style?
  8. Doesn't Russia have a mind numbing amount of obsolete models in storage anyways? That's quick cash for the stuff in working condition; and its not like the Ukrainian tank fleet is really at tip-top at the moment.
  9. Ah yeah, guess who got impatient and roared into town without indirect prep fire? I smelled the blood in the water so to speak, but as my next report will show he's got some sting left.
  10. I do yes, a platoon of 81mms (off map) and two sections of 105 M7s. Both have seen moderate use, and observers on the high ground have been hitting the farms on the left with 105mm. If the fight in the town stalls out I'm going to pull back and create a killbox with all batteries. EDIT: All my artillery usage captured on camera: Posts 6, 34, 51, and 58
  11. I'm surprised her MOH wasn't recalled; at the time of the Civil War it was essentially one of the only medals the US had. It was handed out like confetti; volunteers who renewed their contracts so they could take part in the Gettysburg campaign were given MOHs, for example. They were later recalled in the early 1900s as a board decided to make the MOH what we know it as today.
  12. Now we're talking. What everyone's been waiting for, and I won't have to breathe through my mouth to try and understand what the hell is going on.
  13. Thanks. Yes I hope the maneuvering actually serves a purpose in the end...Emory is one of the staunchest defenders I've played against, and almost always mangles me in urban environments. I suspect he has nothing in the exposed buildings and is defending from the ground floors, two simple steps you can take to minimize support fire. Which means I'll have to drive tanks into the city to support the lightly armed rifle squads.
  14. Turns 54 - 64 Another large update; the advance is on! The taskforce has largely been concentrated - save for a few units (the M18 platoon remains on the hill, a single tank and a squad remains on the first objective to score OCCUPY points) - and is now advancing on either side of the road leading towards my enemy's rear. As I stated before, the plan is to hit the town from the high ground over-looking it and try to force past it at least a platoon of tanks and infantry. How much more I choose to bypass is dependent on how much resistance there is. For the sake of a fight and your entertainment, I'm sincerely hoping my opponent didn't just deploy on a broad front and has something in depth here. "B" Company team, personally led by the TF CO is in the best position to get into the town, and while "A" Company team hammers the town wildly with HE the 1st platoon dismounts and move in bounds through the tree-line. A platoon of tanks operates with them, while 2nd Platoon, with the FOOB and a tank platoon, strike past the town. The third platoon (A company team) is moving along a secondary road to conduct a right-hook. This platoon was the one that just finished hammering the enemy in the orchard, and is down a Halftrack and has taken moderate losses. If they have to fight hard to get a toe-hold they will end up being combat ineffective by the end of the match. They will not be in position to hit the town immediately. You can see the evolution of the movement here: Several things happen near the end of these minutes of play; firstly as I cross the road with the intent to bypass, my tanks move through unscathed, the FOOB (moving in the middle of the column) isn't so lucky. A farm a few hundred meters from the town erupts in MG fire, and the Jeep doesn't survive the ambush. I'm able, thankfully, to cancel the following Infantry's movement orders. They, along with the TF CO's command tank (which is all that I can spare) will crush this little pocket of resistance. I'm not turning around the other tank platoon, I'm going to push them into the enemy rear unsupported and try to cause some confusion; infantry will link up soon I hope. The right-hook hits resistance as well: As they turn off the dirt road to get to their dismount position, the lead halftrack is enfiladed and a single casualty is caused before the infantry dismount into the high grass and cower. I'm going to lose this half track, almost certainly, but the squad will escape. The rest of the platoon dismounts further back and begins heading right to find that HMG and silence it. A reserve platoon of tanks following in the rear of the A company team will move right to co-operate with this flank. Obviously my enemy is holding the town, though I am not sure in what strength. Firepower will still be lobbed into the town as I pick my way through the village from either end. I also expect the next few turns to be loud, as well as a neat little platoon action to develop around that farm, should be an exciting set of turns coming up The initial movements on video:
  15. Actually I agree in whole with your Eastern Front assessment sburke. (Which you've edited out and reposted below) Bil isn't incorrect, the failure to drive to Moscow and instead getting caught up with the encirclement of Kiev was a war-losing move. The flip-side is that, even if they hadn't suffered from target-fixation, it (probably) wouldn't have mattered, Operation Typhoon was doomed to failure, as JSj notes. If Stalingrad and the even earlier 1941 counteroffensives show, STAVKA had an almost superhuman ability to raise and equip strategic reserves anywhere the Germans were poised to strike. Couple this with the RKKA slowly but surely recovering their operational awareness from the 1930s with truly poor military intelligence on the part of the Germans, and the Soviets had the German's number quite early on. Taking the railhub would've mattered very little, in the words of the Bulgarian ambassador - "Even if you retreat to the Urals, you will win in the end." The military importance of Moscow had been greatly decreased since the evacuation of an already potent industry (supplemented in ever increasing numbers by material aid from the United States) and government further East, and its only true value at that point was as a communications hub. EDIT: The main sticking point is that, even if the drive to Moscow was conducted earlier, it was still going to be conducted by deeply eroded mobile units low in material and tuckered-out by high tempo operations. Its doubtful they had the striking power to once again encircle and destroy the Moscow Front group even if they launched their offensive a full month earlier. Ayy lmao
  16. Thanks, I think with those PAKs destroyed I'll have freedom to maneuver in his rear now, which was always the goal. Challenging is good, I'd be upset if I was reporting a cake-walk. Hopefully though I can move faster than he can intercept with surviving AT teams now though.
  17. Its almost undoubtedly redundant, and I'm sure they're not showing us manual input for the simple reason that it won't wow civilians towards which such demonstrations are made. I continue to seriously doubt the Armata being in service, limited or otherwise, anytime soon; as Russia has had such a glorious track record for such things (AN-94 anyone, ayy lmao) but don't confuse my doubt about its readiness as doubt about its good design.
  18. Digging the idea of demonstrating loudly with the StuG, a little bit of deception goes a long way.
  19. Back on the topic of the T series, to tie in with the .gif of the firing Armata:
  20. Yeah, the hit on the rivet line is probably what caused the crew casualty too. I'll take 2 PaKs for a single loss any day though.
  21. Turns 46 - 53 (Part Two): I have a second option, however. Forward and to the left of this tank platoon, the first echelon has deployed on the high ground and is in a prime position to out flank this AT gun. Just off to the right you can see the smoke popped from my tank's emergency mortars to mask their retreat; I don't think my opponent can stop this much firepower suddenly appearing onto his flank, and its a much better option than mindlessly trying to charge the ATG frontally. So with two platoons (2/B, 3/B) in a sort-of wedge, I advance in platoons. As they rumble out of the tree-line the lead Sherman bounces a shot from a different location. Multiple guns, great. Luckily the rest of the Shermans who had been alternatively hunting and moving, take up firing positions in the treeline. As a second and third strike force the exposed Sherman to dismount (1 crew casualty, tank intact), the remaining Shermans immediately engage the two identified PaK guns (insets) to good effect from excellent cover. They quickly knock out both, and I'm able to have the dismounted crew remounted safe and sound (only minor damage to tracks and optics) by the end of the 53rd turn. It wasn't pretty but it worked, and I plan on filling the vacuum with the entirety of the second company team. The plan now is to continue to move 2/B and 3/B in line with the two attached platoons of Armored Infantry moving a good 150m back towards the town. The remainder of Company A and their attached 3rd platoon of infantry will form the reserve to either strike past the town and into the enemy rear (if resistance is light), or react to further flank threats. With the Engineers back at the center bridgehead watching the farms, I should be able to sweep right up his rear and capture the majority of objectives as well as destroy the majority of his forces. A video of the "Pak Attack" was filmed so you could see the above set of turns play out fluidly, enjoy:
  22. Turns 46 - 53 (Part One): I'm going to post a large chunk of the battle, as the action is rather fluid as the once separate Company teams of the Battalion begin to be able to maneuver closer together. My thought process for modifying from the original pincer of the town is based on just how much I know him to have well forward, I'm hoping that he has very little in depth, and would like to (1) link up with the bogged-down company-team and (2) help outflank the suspected PaK gun keeping them bottled up. I'm hoping that once the balance of the task force is advancing together I can overwhelm whatever he has in the town, if anything. I can't imagine it being greater than a company....and wold be shocked if it was less than a platoon. We left off on my right, where I had just taken a panzerschreck. Despite me clearly being one with nature and the tree absorbing the shot, I decide that until I get a fix on the origin of fire I'm too exposed, and decide to pull back the tank. Bad move: A second shot hits the tank as it begins to back up, knocking it out, the entire crew bails out completely unscathed however. If I have to lose a tank I'd rather lose it with no crew casualties, so I'll gracefully accept the loss my 4th tank. The Panzerschreck exposes itself momentarily to my advancing infantry after its second shot, but to my chagrin is able to displace. My opponent has been able to be locally mobile to great effect this battle and this is yet another example. The two fireteams giving chase follow the AT team about 30m into the woods, hunting in regular intervals, but my cautious pace in the woods allows it to slip away. I doubt he'll risk a second shot, and I'm about to outpace those woods; so I refuse to allow him to tie down any forces. As for the suspected PaK gun, despite its last known position being under observation for quite some time, I haven't been able to confirm that its been knocked out or that it has moved - which I greatly suspect it has. I've decided that between the treeline and the hill I can risk pushing an entire tank platoon up in line to try and find and engage it. As the tank platoon (1/A by the by, I've been spotty with actual subunits thus far - apologies) comes into their firing positions, they take an incoming round, which harmlessly impacts once again into trees: The culprit is spotted, and I immediately feel a sharp headache developing. I'm not sure if this was by blind accident by my opponent, or by design, but his PAK has displaced into an infuriatingly good position: From my tank commander's eyes, they can just barely see the top of the gunshield, but evidently it has line of sight to be able to fire on my own tanks. I can only engage with the commander's .50s - I'm fighting a losing battle with a gun in the textbook definition of defilade, and wisely choose to pull back. Even with smoke, mindlessly moving forward even in sections to get into HE range is going to cost me probably two tanks, and lord knows what else he might have there.
  23. Ah we've switched from Guderian regurgitation to Clausewitz regurgitation. I do find it interesting that a line of argument that is basically screaming 'kill the enemy no matter the context' has chosen to quote a man who believed Defense was the superior form of warfare, or that war is basically a radical expansion of diplomacy. One can hear, but that doesn't mean one can listen... "Glantz in one hand, PPSh in the other" - I found a new name for this thread.
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