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AAR-AXIS - Clearing the Niscemi Highway


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The Twenty-Seventh Minute

Finally the T30 takes some punishment. My HMG and mortar score several hits and the T30 takes two casualties... that should hurt. The mortar scored a couple of hits even though it was area firing.. at the end of the turn it still could not spot the halftrack... still, the T30 reversed out of its position, and I think it might have gotten immobilized... not sure though, but if it did then it will be ripe for an attack from the flank by my Pz-III.

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Meanwhile on my left my attack force continued to stream toward its attack position in the KT4 gully...

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...and on my right I now have two Pz-IVs to provide a counter-weight to ND's two Shermans. I am liking this face off more and more actually.. it is keeping a significant part of ND's force away from the Villa and Hill objectives, and with the Shermans positioned so far apart and so far forward in the treeline I might be able to engage them singly and without my panzers being too exposed. The trees are your friends when it comes to tank combat.

I will probably pull the Pz-III out of this position and redeploy it.

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Ah, I remember trying a gridded terrain mod for CMBB once upon a time but it killed the immersion for me, so I got rid of it.

Does the same here - but that's just me :)

I guess that's probably why I moan when people leave the objective-green on in screenies.

Sorry for off-topic, carry on. I'm keen to see if you can pull off a victory here given your rather punishing start.

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Ah, I remember trying a gridded terrain mod for CMBB once upon a time but it killed the immersion for me, so I got rid of it.

Does the same here - but that's just me :)

I guess that's probably why I moan when people leave the objective-green on in screenies.

Well I come from a different point of view. I feel that the gridded terrain gives you information you would have if you were on the ground that is very tough to get from the stock textures.. those little dips that are so important when looking for that perfect hulldown position or when maneuvering and trying to stay out of sight.

Sorry for off-topic, carry on. I'm keen to see if you can pull off a victory here given your rather punishing start.

Me too. I will say that the initial exchanges were preliminary.. and this battle is still anybody's game. I have not engaged at all with any of my main fighting force.

We will see how things work out in the upcoming turns.

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Hello Bil:

I am trying to glean whatever I can from these AARs. One interesting thing for me is how you shut down your initial attack after it had failed. Seems now you are getting everything together for the main attack. That is a good thing for me to note; don't keep pushing when there is little chance of success. Back up and prepare for the second attack using all the information you have gathered. This is probably obvious to many!

Gerry

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Hello Bil:

I am trying to glean whatever I can from these AARs. One interesting thing for me is how you shut down your initial attack after it had failed. Seems now you are getting everything together for the main attack. That is a good thing for me to note; don't keep pushing when there is little chance of success. Back up and prepare for the second attack using all the information you have gathered. This is probably obvious to many!

Gerry

Always notated as "Plan B". :)

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What FOW setting lets you see how many casualties you've caused?

Certainly any FOW setting up to Warrior (at least) lets you see "medic crosses" for any casualties that occur in LOS, even if they're "hidden" inside AFVs. Sometimes you even see "crosses" for casualties that are caused by area fire on unspotted units.

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Bil Hardenberger,

What FOW setting lets you see how many casualties you've caused? Must be most satisfying to actually be able to hit one of your tormentors.

John, we are playing Iron and I can see enemy crosses and hear the screams as his units (when I can see them).. often I can hear the screams of the wounded even if I do not have LOS. SO I just counted crosses, and watched the crew disappear from the vehicle.

Yes, it felt good to give that bastard a little back.

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The Twenty-Eighth Minute

My MGs and Brixia mortar teamed up to finally kill that damned T30. By the way, the Brixia never did spot the beast.. it was area firing and scored hit after hit.. the final blow being an open compartment hit that took out the crew and wasted the vehicle.

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Seems ND saw the writing on the wall for his T30 as this Sherman (one of the two I had suspected but not yet seen) was spotted high tailing it for the Villa. That leaves one Sherman unaccounted for. I need to do an update to my METT-T and post that.

I suspect it is taking the path I have indicated, which probably means it is heading to the location where the T30 just died. Hopefully it will get caught in the artillery firestorm that is about to fall on the Villa.

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This image indicates how I plan to assault the Villa and Hill. The green circle is my 105mm Howitzer impact zone. I will not rush my forces forward until that starts to fall... by the time it finishes I want to be ready to jump into the foxholes on the Hill and into the out buildings on the Villa (smaller buildings to the right of the Villa in this image).

I will keep all of my heavy weapons back in support... one Grille is slated to start engaging the Villa upper floors (where ND has a couple MG teams located) next turn.

The blue circle indicates an incoming enemy artillery round.. mortar probably. As long as ND is focused on my dispersed Italian Infantry Company with his mortars then I am happy.

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The Twenty-Eighth Minute - Part 2

I thought my orders at this point needed another post, so here goes.

I am hunting one Sherman this turn.. I have every infantry unit (except my OP) with a visual on this Sherman to open fire. I am hoping that fire, which will of course be harmless, will force the Sherman to button up.

My two Pz-IVs on this flank are rushing forward, they have very tight covered arcs so their focus will be tight, 15 second pauses at the waypoint and then will pull back.

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On my left, now that I know the Sherman might be coming I am taking up hull down positions with my Pz-IVs all of which will be in good positions to cover the entire hill in front of and to the side of the Villa.

My Pz III that was moving slowly through the gully I am pulling back and also putting into a hull down position.

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I took a closer look at that incoming artillery round and by following its trajectory you can see the area I expect it to land. I find this enlightening because I had a German Platoon in that general area for several turns. I thought they were out of sight, but evidently ND can spot better from that Villa than I expected. If that's the case, he must also know that they have moved on (in the direction of the red arrows).

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Just to clarify my ignorance...So the 15-second pause will allow either/both of the Pz-IVs to make visual contact with the Sherman?

Well if they spot that should be enough time for each tank to get off one round before they pull back.

Great AAR, by the way!! I cheered when that first T-30 went down...

Thanks I am enjoying writing it. I also gave a little cheer... that bastard caused me a lot of pain.

Bil

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"I took a closer look at that incoming artillery round and by following its trajectory you can see the area I expect it to land. I find this enlightening because I had a German Platoon in that general area for several turns. I thought they were out of sight, but evidently ND can spot better from that Villa than I expected. If that's the case, he must also know that they have moved on (in the direction of the red arrows). "

I am finding that my infantry in the scenarios, in the woods, is being spotted further away than I had expected--in your case, there would appear to have been a lot of woods in between.

That causes me trouble as the attacker. I expect to be able to maneuver, at the distance your men were maneuving at, without having to crawl/hunt and wear themselves out.

On the other hand, large metal AFVs seem suprisingly hard to see at times.

(I write this liking BFC and CM2--I am just looking at those difficult spotting coding issues--which, I would think, unlike armor width and angle, probably don't have an easy reference book to refer to.)

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Well, the undergrowth makes a big difference. Trees on grass are like a well tended orchard. I know that every time I pass an apple orchard during apple season, and I see it filled with families with baskets, I think what a tempting 81mm target they make. :)

Check the way the terrain slopes on this map, and the spacing on those trees. It is not out of the question that multiple sightings have occurred.

Ken

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Well, the undergrowth makes a big difference. Trees on grass are like a well tended orchard. I know that every time I pass an apple orchard during apple season, and I see it filled with families with baskets, I think what a tempting 81mm target they make.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but my expectation is that viewed from superior height the crowns of the trees, if growing sufficiently close together, are going to block or at least impede LOS to the ground beneath them. At least that's how it seems to be in the real world.

That said, I acknowledge that all bets are off if the trees are too far apart, too scrawny, or have shed their leaves due to the season or other environmental conditions.

Michael

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The Twenty-Ninth Minute

On my right my Pz-IVs crept forward but never spotted the Sherman before they pulled back.. I don't think the Sherman caught sight of them either though.

The third Sherman that I spotted moving towards the Villa last turn failed to show this turn, but the watch goes on, and now my Pz-IVs are almost all in position to properly greet it. I do have two medium tank FOW icons now on the backside of the Villa.. so I think there might be two Shermans heading to the Villa.

This is interesting... a nice neat line of artillery has started to fall within the green area outlined here. Sure looks like a linear impact zone to me, most of which will fall on empty ground. I do need to evacuate the little treeline that I have my HMGs set up in though. These started to fall right at the end of the turn so I can expect the majority of the rounds to start falling next turn.

The blue circles indicate round impacts.

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One of my Grilles starts to pummel the Villa top floor... the HMG team stationed there disappeared from view as my rounds begin to hit. From the size of the explosions I would say that there had to have been some casualties.

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Bil Hardenberger,

Love the camouflage on the Grille, I think. Hard to see in the shade. Grille in DF seems more likely to me than the Priest, especially given this monstrosity which I have seen in street fighting footage.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sturmpanzer_I

Granted, its protection against small arms fire is more comprehensive than for what you have there.

Regards,

John Kettler

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I love HE chuckers like the Grille, just love em. I know that it's not historically accurate, yet I still get that warm and fuzzy feeling when my Wespe gets LOS on a troublesome MG or rifle squad and just splats them with HE. It's not the same as doing it with a tank, I think since SP guns like this are not intended for this role and fare badly against incoming fire. That's one area where the Priest has a helping hand in the form of a .50 cal machine gun. Getting a burst off with that keeps their heads down while the main weapon is sighted.

Loving this AAR Bill, holding my breath with anticipation!

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