The Battle for Hamel Vallee - an AAR

[Newa]

sorry for the stupid question, but how would I go about being able to view them?

[sburke]

sorry for the stupid question, but how would I go about being able to view them?

Not a stupid question at all. Haven't yet decided how to deal with this as it is a lot of files (I think it ends up at about 152) and eats up most of my dropbox allowance. I may end up posting a portion at a time. I am not real thrilled at the thought of sending them money just to allow for temporary posting of the files. We'll update the AAR once we figure out an answer for this. I may just look for a different file sharing site to use for this AAR. After all if it interferes with my ongoing PBEM games, that would be an utter disaster!

[Wicky]

look at adding a 5GB google drive to your cloud storage

[Childress]

Lord above. Big map, hundreds of units- apparently split into teams- taking screenshots, posting....You guys must be spending hours per turn!

[Broadsword56]

Yes, this battle took well over a month, with both of us sending out approximately two turns a day. Loved every minute of it.

[Newa]

Throw all 152 into a .rar and put it on mega upload, or rapid share. I've used rapid share before, took about a minute thirty to upload my file. Really easy.

[Broadsword56]

I'm going to skip the narrative ahead a bit from here, because I think by now it's clear to everyone that the US setpiece attack on those twin orchards in the center, between the two crossroads, was a colossal failure.

Not only did all three US rifle companies suffer over 15-20% casualties within the first 40 minutes of battle; their losses reached to 25-35% when they got hit with airburst artillery during their panicked attempt to fall back to the start line. Just look at that screenshot in the opening post, which was taken in the aftermath of the shelling, and you'll get the idea of what the next dozen or more turns looked like if you happened to be wearing Olive Drab.

Normally, in a one-off CMBN battle, that would be the end of it. But we're in an operational-tactical campaign here. It's July 16, and the Americans have to capture Saint-Lo by the end of July 18 or they lose. This reinforced battalion represents the 35th Infantry division's main effort today. They've thrown the kitchen sink at Hamel Vallee, and the battalion commander is getting heat from above -- telling him to kick in the g** d** door and get on that objective -- NOW!

So, Colonel, what would YOU do now? You can't just break off the Yes, the setpiece frontal attack was probably a bad idea -- and you tried to warn them back at Division that it wouldn't work. But orders are orders, and it's too late for that now.

Time to improvise a way to win -- show those know-it-alls at HQ what a true combat commander is made of.

The company commanders gather around the Colonel as he rolls the map out onto a tree stump...

"We've lost a lot of men but we've hit the Germans hard," says the Colonel. Forced them to engage heavily all along our front. Now it's time to "hit 'em where they ain't."

Instead of slowly feeling our way around to probe for a gap somewhere, we'll make a lightning strike in an entirely new spot.

"We still have our armored reserve -- 8 or 9 Shermans, including a Rhino. The AT platoon has its guns and trucks, so they can join the attack and transport 2/L Company, which has been in battalion reserve. There's also the reserve Engineer platoon with its demo charges and its truck. We've still got four fresh ammo bearer teams from Weapons Company we can reassign as light infantry. And finally we have half a dozen jeeps from the various HQ platoons and support elements we can use for recon"

"So here's where we go in," the Colonel says, stabbing his finger into the map:

"This sunken road gives a short, covered route right into the corner of the objective. Once it's cleared by some infantry scouts we can dash armor right up it and hit the enemy in force before he can react.

"Engineers and the Rhino can blast a parallel route just to the right of the road. That will be the infantry's route, supported by the other half of the tanks so we don't get stuck if the road gets blocked. The sunken road gives the infantry a secure left flank as they advance. And the hedgerow lines help give them cover as they go.

"Once the parallel attacks reach the D-91 highway, there's an orchard complex between the highway and the objective. It's got a series of lateral stone walls that make perfect cover for advancing infantry, and it's open enough to allow supporting fire by tanks.

"The key to this plan will be surprise and speed. There's a cluster of buildings at the right end of Hamel Vallee that has LOS onto our left flank once we reach the highway. The FO will travel with the attack and keep that compound under constant artillery pounding, and hit it with smoke so it's screened. In fact we'll put the entire orchard into an isolation box, with suppresive HE inside it and blocking barrages around it to keep out reinforcements."

"We know the enemy is tired, outnumbered, and doesn't have the transport or the armored punch we've got. We know he's got a lot of men fighting on the wrong end of the battlefield, and no easy or quick way to get them over to Hamel Vallee.

"So by attacking there quickly and in strength, we force the enemy to stretch his defenses across the entire AO. And he'll be having to move and react to us this time, instead of sitting in his positions and waiting for us to come to him."

[General Lee Irked]

Jebus cripes I hate that you guys have me so totally immersed in this AAR. Every time there is a lull in your postings I get the AAR delirium tremens.

[sburke]

Well we will try to fix that. In the background we are still working through the implications of this battle at the OP layer.

I'm gonna backtrack a little as there are a couple tales that need to be told prior to jumping ahead to the last phase of the battle.

For one the story of 1st platoon 2nd Company. If you recall 3rd platoon 3rd Company had been battered by the artillery barrage

leaving 3rd Company short of a good reserve. It's 2nd platoon was having to help cover the center now leaving 1st platoon alone

defending the left flank of the center crossroads.

We left off at about 28 minutes into the battle. Approx 5 minutes later 1st Platoon 2nd Company was ordered forward to tie in

to 3rd Company's right flank assisting the first platoon and extending the frontage as American units had been spotted doing

some apparent recon work

3rd Company defensive positions 35 minutes into the battle

1st pltn 3rd company positions. The platoon had been taking direct MG and tank gun fire ever since it had taken out the American

Sherman at the crossroads.

1st platoon 2nd company moving forward

Edited September 17, 2017 by sburke

[sburke]

It would take the platoon 7 minutes to finally reach the designated area and it urgently needed to take up position.

American infantry had eliminated the MG position covering the field across the hwy

and an American Stuart had rushed onto the hwy and driven the few units left covering the road from their position.

This section of the hwy was uncovered and wide open for US infantry to push through.

An At unit was immediately ordered forward to dispatch the Stuart while MG teams started setting up to cover the expected American attack.

Here the platoon has just started moving in, note the battle in the wheatfield is still raging. We'll return to that in a bit.

[sburke]

The platoon began to settle into position allowing 3rd Company units to pass through it's lines while it moved forward.

At this moment disaster struck. Until now for the most part the German infantry had been in foxholes during American artillery strikes.

This barrage caught 1st Platoon in the open.

[sburke]

Losses to the platoon had been heavy including the HQ section. The hwy was wide open, the AT team dispatched to eliminate the Stuart

was wiped out.

After several minutes the mortar stonk eventually halted and the squad leaders took stock of their situation. Losses were heavy, but only

one squad was a total loss. The second AT team was then dispatched along with an infantry team as security from 3rd platoon

2nd Company in a more circuitous route to come in at the head of the road.

It would take 5 minutes for the team to work itself over across the road and settle in. The assistant immediately took American infantry under

fire in the roadway. (A few German mortar rounds called in previously had driven them to take cover on the hwy.)

This is one for the few times I actually ordered a target. I didn't want to take the chance it would get distracted by the GIs in the road.

The Shrek gunner would waste 3 rounds on this Stuart, but got the job done. There would be no uber tank guys from this (in fact we

had none through the game).

The Inf team would further batter this crew making sure they would not be coming back.

[sburke]

The next events for 1st Platoon Second Company tie into the American plan to change the axis of attack so we will come back to their tale

in a bit.

Back to the Wheatfield. 2nd Platoon 1st Company units cut off would eventually break and be eliminated in the wheatfield some times

exacting additional cost to the American units asigned to that task.

The Americans then made plans to continue the advance into the main line of defense for 1st Company. The first push came when

a Sherman drove through a hedgerow.

It would come under fire immediately from the StuH

A Sherman however is a lot tougher than a Stuart and the Sherman shrugs off the first round returning fire and attempting to reverse

back through the breach

Unfortunately a Stuart attempting to follow it through held up the Sherman forcing it to continue to trade rounds with the StuH

It was eventually immobilized, but the StuH could not seem to land a killing round and was itself at risk.

[sburke]

The decision was made to pull the armored units back and assign it to my tried and true AT gunners.

The first round went high, but once again the Armored units seemed unable to uncover the threat.

The next round would finish the threat.

[sburke]

The final phase of the fight on the left flank would be a combined armor infantry push down the left road. The Americans found they

actually had good cover from the hedgerows on the right side of the road and concealment from the wheatfield and slope from my

1st Company positions. They had uncovered a gap and quickly thrust units into it.

The German units closest to the road come under fire from the American tanks as they try to repel infantry that has snuck up

through the wheatfield.

A Sherman and Stuart back up the American infantry along with fire from the immobilized Stuart which is out of LOF from my

AT resources in 1st Company's position.

The StuGs in the center fields adjust position to eliminate the threat. First target is the immobile Stuart.

The Stuart gets in the first shot, but the StuG just shrugs it off. (is that pronounced Shrug?)

The Stuart is then eliminated.

[sburke]

The next target is the Sherman. An MG team takes it under fire threatening the TC.

Once again the Americans get off first shot.

But the PJ Bn, in this case once again represented by Stager, continues it's attrition of American armor.

[sburke]

One last item just cause I have to show it before we continue. At one point the Stuh spotted a Stuart in the orchard on hill 108

and began firing rounds off. Accuracy wasn't it's strong suit and it fired several high.

Then all of a sudden one round apparently runs into something.

I had no idea what I'd hit and my suspicions were all over the map. I would not get an answer till the battle was over.

[Bradley Dick]

Then all of a sudden one round apparently runs into something.

I was shooting rounds at random buildings trying to recon by fire and hopefully kill some tank crews. Several of the rounds went through a barn completely and had a noticeable metallic thunk of impacting something armored on the other side. My tank can't see this thing being hit, of course, and continues to area fire. Probably the most shot up tank in the history of Combat Mission. For about a minute and a half, nothing but continuous shells smashing into and eventually burning mystery tank.

[sburke]

At this point I really wasn't sure what to expect. My line at the center crossroads seemed to be holding. The threat on my left which had

begun to feel critical seemed to have hit it's highwater mark. My PJ Bn with the exception of one immobile unit was intact and probably

outnumbered the enemy Armor remaining in my left. My concern now is I have not accounted for a good portion of the American medium tanks.

I also have no clear idea of how much damage has been done to the American infantry. 1st and 3rd Companies are feeling the strain of

sustained combat. Reserves are thin. 2nd Company had thrown in all it could without completely stripping my right flank.

It was now that the struggle for battlefield intelligence would reap probably it's greatest reward.

The marksman for 2nd Co. had been moving to check on US movement on my right flank. Eventually he spots US recon teams moving

across the front.

Initially the GIs go prone, but then they begin to move forward again. Molex hits them before they can even stand

The first GI goes down and the rest of the team drops for cover.

The security detail with the AT team would join in

[sburke]

Molek would then reposition and in doing so get a critical piece of info.

And of course he can't pass up an opportunity

And scores one more TC hit

More importantly he uncovers what has become of the rest of the American Armor

With the info obtained by our recon marksman it is now clear the Americans have decided to try my right flank.

Next up - 2nd Company at the center of the storm.

[Broadsword56]

Wow. I think it's fair to say this is one of those times when an individual soldier (Molek) altered the course of history.

I can only wonder how things would have played out if Molek had arrived at his first scouting position just one turn later -- or even 30 seconds later, at a moment when my patrol happened to be prone on a listening halt, with weapons ready?

Or if the GIs in that patrol had been fitter and I'd been able to push them along their patrol route a little faster?

Losing tactical surprise just then cost me at least half the value of my Plan B for attack. When I saw the man in the patrol get hit ( and it was a dramatic sniper shot -- a single report of a rifle, and the sight of the American literally blown off his feet) I knew I had to keep my recon screen in place at that little orchard, otherwise Germans would be able to get LOS into my attack column on the march. I thought I'd succeeded, until I heard those rounds plink off one of the tanks.

It was too late to call off the attack, though. I just ordered all units to speed up and knew I needed to get the attack launched before the Germans could act on the information they now had about it.

[sburke]

Wow. I think it's fair to say this is one of those times when an individual soldier (Molek) altered the course of history.

I can only wonder how things would have played out if Molek had arrived at his first scouting position just one turn later -- or even 30 seconds later, at a moment when my patrol happened to be prone on a listening halt, with weapons ready?

Or if the GIs in that patrol had been fitter and I'd been able to push them along their patrol route a little faster?

Losing tactical surprise just then cost me at least half the value of my Plan B for attack. When I saw the man in the patrol get hit ( and it was a dramatic sniper shot -- a single report of a rifle, and the sight of the American literally blown off his feet) I knew I had to keep my recon screen in place at that little orchard, otherwise Germans would be able to get LOS into my attack column on the march. I thought I'd succeeded, until I heard those rounds plink off one of the tanks.

It was too late to call off the attack, though. I just ordered all units to speed up and knew I needed to get the attack launched before the Germans could act on the information they now had about it.

One of the great aspects of the game, there are a number of what if moments where this could have swung either way. Part of the reason for doing this AAR is to show how much FOW there is in the game. Okay yeah I can click on a unit and know it is A team 3rd squad of some unit. But I was very much in the dark about the state of US units and US plans at this point. Molek identified the Americans forming up and that there were at least 3 Shermans and an indeterminate amount of infantry. How much infantry and armor however I did not know. My 2nd Company had lost 1st platoon to support the center and that unit had been mauled by artillery. Any other reserve had a lot of ground to cover to get here and as it turned out that route would be exceedingly dangerous. The American artillery plan would put up a steel curtain blocking what units I could pull together. I had no StuGs. Only 3 marders and a pak 40.

Once again the Germans were facing another battle where it would be difficult to reinforce and my PJ force was nowhere near as strong as the forces the American had just fought. Nervous? You bet your a** I was! And my situation would get worse soon.

[Broadsword56]

Now I'm getting as excited reading the AAR as everyone else -- and I was there!

Only just now did the FOW lift a bit more and did I learn the Germans had only 3 Marders and a Pak40 to oppose my new flank attack!

I'm glad Molek saw only 3 tanks -- but I would have loved to hear your reaction if you'd seen then just how much armor was coming at you on that flank.

Glad to know my "steel curtain" of artillery really did work close to plan to isolate the attack area. I only wish my smoke plan had worked as intended too -- but more on that later.

[sburke]

Now I'm getting as excited reading the AAR as everyone else -- and I was there!

Only just now did the FOW lift a bit more and did I learn the Germans had only 3 Marders and a Pak40 to oppose my new flank attack!

I'm glad Molek saw only 3 tanks -- but I would have loved to hear your reaction if you'd seen then just how much armor was coming at you on that flank.

Glad to know my "steel curtain" of artillery really did work close to plan to isolate the attack area. I only wish my smoke plan had worked as intended too -- but more on that later.

I think you will get an answer to that over the next few turns. You saw my reaction, but probably did not connect the sequence of events to get the intent. Let's just say, I had decided I needed to take fairly drastic action that could have really bad implications for my forces. I will have all that up tonight.

For other readers, some items to keep in mind for your assessment of what could happen here. There is plenty of time left. From my view the Americans are under no pressure to rush anything. Again the force facing me is of indeterminate strength and my right flank even though I had originally expected it to be a focal point of the battle, was now stripped of a good portion of it's strength and I had only in the course of the battle realized it wasn't simply difficult to move my armored units, it was impossible to do so through my rear area. There are no breaks, roads or paths through from the central map to the manor and I have no demo teams. I could just hear the chatter over the radios as 2nd Company was calling in the scout reports and Commander Lang is yelling at the PJ Bn commander to move his units only to be told "But sir, the engineers we needed to clear a path were never sent."

Movie stuff or what? and then the intermittent sounds of battle that had been slowly dying down, the occasional MG burst and even rarer tank gun round firing, are suddenly over shadowed by the sound of incoming artillery...and a lot of it. Lang looks to his aide and says "get me the PJ commander on the radio again". The slump of his shoulders and fatalistic look in his eye is not a good sign. It reminds his aide of days on the Ost front.

[Broadsword56]

But there was time pressure -- of a sort -- that weighed heavily on American actions at this point, even though the Germans would not have known about it.

Despite all the hours remaining on the clock, my casualty ticker was getting close to the end. According to our op-tac campaign rules, a battalion on the attack loses one of its two steps if its combined losses (KIA + WIA + POW) hit 40% or more (and if the battalion was already reduced and had only 1 step left, it's eliminated).

That disastrous frontal attack in the center had already pushed US casualties up to around 30%. And with each passing turn, the mortar shells, snipers and brewed tanks in ther sectors of the battlefield were costing the Americans a slow but steady additional loss of lives. It's one thing to attack and fail to gain the objective -- but it's far worse to fail at the objective AND have the battalion weakened for the remainder of the campaign.

That meant the American armored flank attack -- for all its apparent boldness -- had an exceedingly thin margin for error. I knew I'd be forced to break off the attack if it hit any significant resistance and began to take any real casualties. Or, even if my flank attack went well, I realized I'd have to break it off anyway if it took so long that my losses elsewhere on the battlefield got too high in the meantime. So it was really a longshot gamble that had to pay off immediately, or not at all...