Rinaldi

Yes, some shots from the weeds would definitely help us help you, here.

A quiet set of turns, the building calm before the storm I should hope. 1806-1807 The stonk on the Pak40 goes in, blissfully on target. Rounds straddle the trench, hopefully injuring the crew or forcing them to hide. A direct hit is likely in its future as the barrage is ongoing as the turn ends. While the artillery goes in the remaining three cruisers from 10 Troop, C Squadron 5RIDG (which has been forward supporting C Coy of the Rifles) shifts left and coils up near the copse of trees. My intention is to move them into overwatch positions among the trees if the need arises. They are liaising with the Companies 2IC who remains mounted in a halftrack. The scouts, for their part, have begun to ford the second little tributary and probe towards Farm 001. Overall, there's very little to report on the right this turn, asides from the fact that the German mortar barrage continues to hammer that offensive piece of French terrain. I am, naturally, perfectly content for my opponent to expend indirect ammo in that way. 1807-1808 The lead dismounted scouts are ambushed as they push up to a raised dirt road, losing (inevitably) a Bren gunner. He is killed outright by a MG at point blank range, situated in the reverse slope of the raised road. They do not actually spot the offending MG and therefore automatically continue with the pre-planned "hunt" waypoint given to them. This promptly gets the section leader shot; wounded by a rifle. The third able man reports possible contact - but from a different direction and location than expected. There seems to be more enemy contact further to the right, in addition to the MG to the front. Draper has evidently outposted the immediate vicinity of Farm 001. The surviving man crawls back to the rest of the section. In fact, this turn I detect similar outposts on the extreme right flank as well. I am not sure if these were already known due to pre-battle intel or some intensely lucky scanning by the armoured car crews, but in any event Draper clearly has units forward of the water obstacle across the entire area of operations. I am speculating that most of these are squad-sized tripwires at best, rather than forward fighting positions. 1808-1809 On the right "OAK" is reached and touched by an armoured car without incident. I think the time has arrived to slowly start applying some actual combat power from my massive tactical reserve. I've identified a good OP for the battlegroup's FOO to bring some supportive fires down on the area in and around Obj "TOM". This will help support the movement of dismounted C Company, surely, and more importantly help organise smoke missions to facilitate a crossing by the heavier units. Below you can see the selected position, with the mortar stonk still falling on the Pak40s fighting position still on going in the distance. I'm hopeful that Pak40 is toast, which means we now are dealing with two ATGs known to me from starting intel on the left flank: one in TOM and the other on Hill 204.1. From the above position we can put down some speculating fires on the area to try and stir up some movement and determine the status of the enemy guns, if possible.

Going to require a source on that.

Good show. Looked like a close run thing, you did mention to me that the AI plan seemed quite good all things considered, did that opinion survive the end of the scenario? Also, did Frosty survive his little personal action near the end?

"It was such a nice thread" clucked Ethel, 89 "what a shame what happened to it."

Very kind words, thank you. I think posting an entire thread for my own blog would be a bit presumptuous.

Thanks for the patience, it has been a bit of a crazy week and a half back for me and I didn't have the time to type this all up. Let's get back into it. Last update, we were engaging a Puma which had made a sudden appearance... 1803-1804 All the action is on the right this turn. The Puma reverses a few feet, just so that the OP can still see it but not the Cromwell, who does not fire a second time. This Puma is soon joined in the west village by a Panther, but the position the big cat takes makes it no immediate threat. Enemy artillery fire begins to fall on my right rear at this point, impacting along the muddy riverbed the armoured cars used to move forward. I don't recall seeing any spotting rounds so it seems self-evident that there's a reference point in this dead ground. Right idea, wrong timing from my opponent here; he's punching empty air. 1804-1805 More movement is reported on either flank this turn. More Panthers are spotted moving along a road behind Farm 002, and again in front of Hill 206.5. OBJ Tom is being built up into quite the Hornet's nest. Likewise, an OP spots a single German moving through west village, armed with just a pistol - someone of import, perhaps? For all the weaponry facing me, I don't believe Draper really has a clear idea of what is going on. The recce have continued to push up without further incident. 1805-1806 The call for fire is finally approved on the Pak43. Another 'fire for effect' is satisfyingly called on the Pak40 - and I strongly suspect and worry the mission on this latter AT position shall be off target. On the left, C Coy of the Rifles is preparing to ford the first of the two smaller river tributaries and has begun to dismount in anticipation of that. Their harbour is the treeline in which the carrier section had earlier established an OP/LP, you will recall. On the right, the lead armoured cars have pushed up practically to the edge of the north village, which we know from our starting intel is occupied, without event. The west village continues to play host to its two dangerous armoured guests, but neither have pushed forward into threatening positions this turn either. I think it's time for a SITREP. I think a picture is starting to firm up of Draper's defensive disposition and his intention re: the Panthers. It appears that "THORN" - the sandy ford on the left - is being dominated by fires from high ground near Farm 001 and 002, and the adjacent orchard. I'm a bit surprised so far, as none of my movement - if he can see it - has really suggested "I'm heading there now!" but given that he has a Pak40 covering the stone bridge leading to Farm 001, he likely feels confident he has this much better route covered. Anti-tank guns are like good and bad things, they tend to come in threes, and so far we've identified two Pak40s that can fire into the area leading up to Farm 001. Contrary to some, and I put this mildly, strange beliefs, anti-tank guns are tough to spot at range and tougher to kill when placed in fortifications and we know for a fact the Pak40 on Hill 204.1 has survived a considerable barrage already. I dare to hope the Pak43 on OBJ DICK will be knocked out, but that is equally doubtful given it is entrenched and in a good position. At this point I think its safe to say Draper has evenly distributed his defences. This makes selecting a course of action a bit frustrating. I've been able to bring up the entirety of the C Company tactical group, less the loss of that unfortunately exposed Cromwell, up to a position where they can get into action. So I am starting to lean towards COA1, the left flank. By contrast, B Company team remains stuck behind Hill 207.8, with the trailing Firefly. I'm well aware that trying to move over that ground once more risks fire from the Pak43. Every shot it gets will help it get on target and its only a matter of time before it strikes a fully loaded HT. The movement will only result as well in these infantry being dumped in front of a Panther (possibly more) in west village. So things appear, for now, a bit stuck. I will press forward on the right with what I have up there, but there's only so much they can do without infantry. At the very least, and despite the massive risk it poses, I want to test the fordability of the river in front of the west village. I should be able to do this while remaining out of sight of the Panther.

The Airborne section-level mortars never have HE in any event, if I recall correctly.

Apologies for the lack of an update; I intend to have one out this week. Thanks for the patience!

Excellent update and a belated Happy New Year.

From my latest blog post, read it here: https://rinaldiaars.blogspot.com/2022/01/encountering-unexpected-resistance-one.html

Was a weekend warrior once many moons and waist widths ago. Enjoyed the work, loved the regiment; detested the wider culture.

Some shots from a singleplayer run through of Feierabend. I'd highly recommend it. Read about it here: https://rinaldiaars.blogspot.com/2022/01/feierabend-aar.html I tried something a bit more narrative, because I forgot I cannot write creatively to save my life.

ITT

Thank you both, glad you enjoyed it. I hope to get a few more blog posts out before I return to England later in January.

Excellent BDA. It's often worse than it looks until you zoom in and count heads and ammo. It's clear you've given your opponent a bloody nose as well and your main striking power remains intact. I think what's clear here is that he doesn't have an actual actionable reserve. As far as I am concerned in these conditions a platoon of T-34s is not much of a reserve at all unless extremely carefully handled. Then again, he can try and pull them all back and concentrate...

It's been causing me a headache!

In truth I don't think it would make for too interesting a scenario, but I'm happy to share. Find it here: https://mega.nz/file/SpwQRD6A#7kTU23eUzciUTyyARU76ZYAGXb1nNAiB9B7b6m0S-Wc

Blatantly borrowing from @Bil Hardenberger's blog to practice some scenario creation and pound the podium a bit...some screens: Read it here: https://rinaldiaars.blogspot.com/2021/12/combat-mission-as-visual-aid-bringing.html

Ratio lmao

I certainly hope so, knowledge is supposed to be power after all. Fortifications may frustrate that idea somewhat! Yes, that's correct. I've been sticking to the two sections of 3" I have and husbanding the heavier stuff for now. I don't have hard and fast rules, I generally use harass/long when I'm denying an area or am trying to destroy a fixed target with a weapon that is prone to heavy/rapid barrel heating (e.g: Soviet 152s). Slower rates of fire generally keep accuracy high with those kinds of weapons. I've been using medium/quick and light/shorts thus far, so they've been fairly heavy point fires. This mission profile is based on the facts that the 3" don't heat up fast, keep a fairly small dispersion, have relatively small bombs, and the enemy is dug in, etc. I generally take 3" on map myself when I have the chance, and for much the same reason as you. There's also always the chance for direct-lay fire, especially with combat on this scale and you can never go wrong with that. Alas, the arty is all off map on my end.

I am curious to see what the combat effectiveness is like of 1. Ko. Would I have done anything differently? Hmm...I'm not so sure. Hindsight is 20-20, doubly so when you're in the peanut gallery of a DAR. I thought your terrain analysis was excellent and the scheme you built around it equally so, but I wonder if you could've accounted for the weather a bit more. In your initial scheme you said: "I said I was going to stick to German doctrine as much as possible so while this map is screaming out for a command-push style attack I'm still going to do some aufklarung and try and find the schwerpunkt that I can then mass my forces and attack, hopefully causing some confusion and panic along the way.' Your latest SITREP: Hm, looks like you got spread out over time and got nickel and dimed. I think your initial instincts were correct, this map is screaming out for a command push-style attack. With the omniscience of hindsight, I think that's even more apparent. His anti-tank gun defences have been anaemic organic 45mms and while the T-34 is always a threat, you have a decent little concentration of firepower yourself. With how atrocious visibility is in these types of blizzard conditions you probably could've leaned in on one axis with the majority of your force and been in and among him before he could've reacted. The snow preventing reliable enfilading fires that would otherwise be devastating in better visibility. Your overall force is, ultimately, quite small as well, which may also have pushed me towards a more aggressive and concentrated push. I always understand the sentiment to probe around and sniff out a weakness, and I think the instinct to do that only becomes more compelling when facing a human opponent. That being said, I do think the rarely-recommended violence of action would have been really appropriate here. Certainly would've been very Teutonic. As I said though, hindsight...

1800-1801 The OP established by the crew from the immobilised armoured car continues to show itself valuable. They have identified yet another Panther moving east (my left), near point 205.2. Undoubtedly, this cat is moving to take up a battle position in anticipation of parrying a thrust on that flank. I believe it is not too great a leap of logic that the Cromwell I lost last turn has prompted this movement. I am happy for him to run his assets all over his interior lines in penny-packets in reaction to every move I make - asides from providing me with great intel it may provide me with some opportunities as the distance closes. This same OP (and, more alarmingly, a tank!) spot...the monster. A Pak-43, a dedicated 88mm anti-tank gun, a rare beastie. It's sat in a trench right on the forward edge of Obj "TOM", near a hedge. I am not sure what allowed us to spot it, I hadn't taken any fire this turn from that location. My best guess is that this was the culprit opening fire a few turns ago on the cruiser tanks snaking their way forward on the right. If so, that was a very costly break in fire discipline on Draper's part. Sadly, the OP doesn't have permission to call for fires; but one of the platoon leaders from the trailing vehicles will likely be aware of this gun soon and will set up an observation post to direct fires. The cruiser tank who spotted it is, I presume, in mortal peril and is ordered to fall back into better cover during the command phase. 1801-1802 More Panthers this turn - 3, all moving behind point 205.2. They are tracked for some time before sight is lost of them in some trees. They are clearly heading towards Obj "TOM." What their final position will be is, at this time, a mystery to me. The carrier section's dismounts have waded the first tributary with nary a shot fired. Farm 001 and its environs remains silent. On the right, No. 6 Platoon's commander from B Coy has gotten word of the Pak43 and has dismounted to call for some fires on it. He should be in position next turn. Comments: It's taking a while for this superb intel being gathered by the dismounted armoured car crew to disseminate across the formation. This isn't surprising given how tenuous their C2 links is presently with their section leader and platoon leader. I desperately want to firm up that C2 link, but cannot risk moving the section or troop leader, or really spare them as they are covering the movement of the vulnerable Dingoes are present time. I'd love to start using my intel advantage to start nipping at the Panther's heels, or trying to organise co-ordinated direct fires on the known AT positions, but patience is the by-word for now. Draper's fire discipline has, so far in my view, been pretty poor. I know that target arcs can be a double-edged sword, as @IanL is fond of saying, but I really can't stress their importance enough. He's given away a lot for, so far, very little return. All as a result of dicey engagements at extended range. 1802-1803 C Company, on the left, begins motoring up to the woods (the same one the carrier leader set an OP up in) to debus and begin fording the river. I keep them light and do not take any further ammo or the PIATs, confident that the remaining three tanks can effectively protect them for now. The column is a bit strung out so there are still half tracks filing in even now. The Panthers continue their laborious movements up towards Obj TOM, and we catch fleeting glimpses of them as they move through and behind a small tree line. On the right, a Cruiser in cover near point 193.1 suddenly spots a Puma in the West village. It takes a shot and misses, low. The Puma appears unaware. As the turn ends, it is aiming a follow-up shot; range is 675m. Further behind, near point 207.8, No. 6 Platoon's leader has called for fire on the Pak43's position - ETA 8 minutes. Notice he does, in fact, have the ? contact on the position - once word reaches the regimental HQ it rapidly spreads out to both the tankers and infantrymen, as the Colonels are grouped together presently in a command post. *** Bahahaha

Very sorry to hear all that, glad to read that it isn't anything terrible though. I hope it doesn't dampen your Christmas!

Nope, just a standard Pak-40, looking larger than life as it appears to be on the lip of the trench. Watch this space though, its big brother may have made an appearance a few turns later Yes the recurring theme of this match is seeking masked terrain. I will likely break things down in detail once the match is actually over and do a bit of a debrief but suffice to say that asides from the occasional nickel and dime my opponent has had trouble actually identifying much of anything. In fact he said to me just last night that he doesn't have nearly enough information on my units and movements that he'd like.