Operation Hammersmith

[Heinrich505]

@George MC

   I just finished this battle and I wanted to thank you for posting it.  It was quite an exercise, and I'm rather exhausted.  I'm pretty pleased that I got the enemy to surrender for a Total Victory, playing at Elite.  There were about 53 minutes left when the AI caved in, and I was just about to start formulating my assault on the compound that had the victory positions.  I didn't have to make the final assault, thank goodness, which would, of course, have added greatly to my casualty list.  Of course most of them didn't actually surrender, preferring to slink off into the darkness to fight again another day.

Spoilers

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   I didn't change up the set-up, preferring to push forward along the Yellow - Green - White Routes.  The IED setup on the White Route looked daunting, but I figured there might be a way around them, off to the sides.  My initial idea was to seek out a route that might be less defended, and maybe make it deep onto the map for an early assault on Aviemore.  I had plenty of time and figured I would push forward on three lines to see which was easiest.  As it turned out, none were "easiest," but the initial plan did have merit, because as I chewed and battered my way into the city, I was tearing away at the enemy morale, and with all the casualties they were taking, it worked out that the AI surrendered and slunk away before I actually had to assault Aviemore.

   On the left flank, Leftenant Whitesell pushed forward quickly, using the rises and falls of the terrain to get to the river fast.  Having Intel about the bridges being mined, the Scots piled out of their carriers and worked their way across the river, taking up observation positions.  Several Warrior commanders managed to ease their AFVs across the muddy stream, some bogging just a little, but all making it safely. 

   They took up overwatch, and LT Whitesell had scouts push forward towards the sets of buildings.  No one could see any enemy, and it was amazing how strong was their fire discipline.  Then they tried firing some RPGs and the lads opened up on them.  Lance Corporal Borthwick, in the best traditions of the cavalry, saw his mates being shot at and decided to charge across the frigging bridge.  Mind you, I'd sent a unit of engineers over to check the area, and they'd been swarming all over the bridge before this happened, so Borthwick may have felt that it was safe to do so.  BLAMMO!  Well, it wasn't.  His AFV was imobilized.  He was still in the fight though, and poured heavy fire into the buildings, having several RPGs barely miss his sitting duck target.

   Lance Corporal Wright decided that he was not going to try the damn bridge with his Challenger tank, and he attempted to slip his way across the small stream, only to get completely bogged down, and ignominously immobilized.  He wasn't even in any LOS to provide support.  After the battle, his mates provided him with an honorary plaque, featuring a metal engraving of a Challenger tank embedded nose deep into a bog, and given the new title of Lance Corporal "Not Quite Wright."  He blushed a bright red, probably from anger and embarassment, but he took it fairly well, staggering off drunk after the award celebration, clutching his plaque tightly.

   There were some really nasty ambushes that were sprung in this area, especially in the tree-covered ditch.  I took quite a few casualties, and every one of the lads in one squad were wounded lightly, but fighting on.  Several units were rattled, but LT Whitesell was right up in the thick of things, never lagging behind, so that probably kept the men in the fight.

   The going was slow at times, but eventually they made it 2/3s of the way across the map, having caused a lot of casualties, before the enemy surrendered.

 

   In the center, on the Green Route, Leftenant MacGowan fell slightly behind the left and right flank, but this was because of stiff resistance in that area, and no real way to cross the stream except to throw the dice and hope not to get immobilized.  He lost his command AFV in this way, and had to go it on foot from then on.  LT MacGowan tried to get engineers to check the bridges but was told they were all busy.  He had some scouts ease up around the end of the one bridge, but they were killed by enemy fire.  So, the question of the bridge being mined was not answered, and all the AFVs found a way through the muck and didn't get immobilized.  The one Challenger tank they had in support, after hearing what happened to W                                             

[Heinrich505]

...Accidentally managed to submit before I was done.  Doggone, I hate when that happens.

   Shall we crack on, then?  The Challenger tank commander actually slipped over to the right flank and eased past the IED area on the White Route, before driving back over to cover the center.  

   While clearing buildings and moving forward, LT MacGowan's HQ rushed through a courtyard that several squads had already run through, believing it was cleared.  It wasn't, and he lost two of his command staff to a vicious ambush.  The enemy was finally blown away when one of the Spartans pushed their way into the compound and pounded the enemy position at point blank range.  I found that I had to actually take such chances at times, although always doing so while holding my breath and listening for the sound of an RPG being fired.  Sheesh!

   MacGowan was able to provide buddy aid to his fallen HQ members, and then they pushed on up the center.

   His forward scouts found yet another RPG team in a courtyard, and they initially dashed off the roof to safety, as they were rattled, but then they eased back up to the second floor and dusted the enemy fighters down below.  They contributed to the surrender, because right after this turn, the enemy gave up.  

   The Center push was looking straight down the road into the Aviemore compound at game end.  They still had quite a few blocks to go, but the main assault on Aviemore was not going to be from the Center anyway, so they were pushing forward to pin enemy forces to the front while the attack came from the right flank.

 

   On the right flank, things were quite interesting.  I had most of the heavy equipment on this flank, and I also had to figure a way around the IED emplacements.  LT Morris was commanding the engineers, and he sent forward Sgt. MacPherson's unit.  The Sgt. split his 8 men into two teams and they moved forward from the drainage ditch to work the first set of IEDs on the bridge.  Of course the enemy had ranged in artillery on the position.  I had tried to put smoke down on it, but that didn't work well.  The engineers got mauled quite a bit, with Private Middleton the lone survivor of his group of four.  He stayed on the bridge when others rushed to get inside the nearby AFV, and he provided buddy aid to his mates while artillery rounds crashed around him.  

   Having his entire squad killed or wounded, and having attended to many of the wounded himself, he would have been excused to sit back and let the battle go on without him.  But, he ended up in one of the Enforcer AFVs, working the machine gun, as he was not one to leave a fight that was still ongoing.  He also had to satisfy some pay-back.  On the last turn before the enemy decided to quit, one diehard launched an RPG that hit his Enforcer AFV, blowing up the AFV.  The driver was wounded and managed to escape, but Middleton's fate was unknown.  He probably joined his mates as KIA.

   The push down the White Route was quite successful.  At the end, I had troops ready to turn off the route and head towards Aviemore.  The lads made it down almost to the end of the map and would be assaulting Aviemore from the White Route.

   Leftenant Schaw, reportedly from the lowlands Clan Schaw, moved his group forward with care and deliberation.  His HQ was right up in the middle of things, keeping the men in command control pretty much the whole way down the route.  

   As they got past the first IED area and approached the second one, LT Schaw gave hand signals to Lance Corporal Waters' squad to check forward and left.  Waters had two lads dash forward as scouts, but they took some light fire from the left.  They made it to the next line of buildings and held up there, peering through windows to clear the building as much as they could.

   Because of the light fire from the left, the advance was held up and Waters took the remaining four men with him and rushed to the wall that surrounded a large apartment complex.  He had some supporting fire from a Spartan, and when he thought it was okay, he and his four men rushed through the wall opening towards the building where the fire had supposedly come from.  

   It was a frigging ambush, and Waters and two of his lads went down.  Denny and McDonald were the two survivors, and they dashed out of the line of fire and ran completely around the complex, stopping on the back side to catch their breath.  At this point, LT Schaw was trying to figure out who to send over there for support, as he had a full squad well forward in the drainage ditch, and only engineers nearby.

   Denny made things easier for Schaw.  I wasn't sure if the lads were foaming a little, perhaps approaching berserker status, but then things got very quiet and cold, so cold, in fact, that I could swear I could see their breath.  There was a glint of steel, and if they had broadswords, it would have been entirely appropriate.  I think the glint came off bayonets, but I can't be sure.  

   Denny and McDonald said nothing after that, but acting in perfect synchronicity, the two of them proceeded to clear all the apartments leading up to the ones where the enemy ambush had been sprung.  Then they charged into an adjacent room and dispatched everyone in one of the ambush rooms.  There was an enemy HQ unit there that never had a chance to surrender.  

   Next, the two coldly and efficiently dispatched every enemy in the other ambush room.  Together, they accounted for 7 enemy casualties.  They cleared an entire block of apartments by themselves, and afterwards, provided buddy aid to their own.  Waters was badly wounded but sent to the rear.  The other two lads were gone and only provided ammo to collect.  Denny and McDonald then joined the other two lads that had scouted forward and continued the advance, with grim looks of determination. 

 

   This was a brutal battle, but it was fun to work.  I had a lot of cool toys to play with, and the Challengers were great for blowing up walls and providing alternative openings that the enemy wasn't expecting.  In the center attack, there was a compound that looked really hard to enter.  I had the Challenger blow another entrance in a wall, and this totally messed up the ambush the enemy had planned.  The tank and Spartans then proceeded to blast the enemy with no losses to my infantry.

   There are likely other approaches to take, but moving on-line and chewing up the enemy was probably the best way to avoid a costly assault at the end.  I used the choppers extensively during the daylight, and they shot up a lot of things that I didn't see.  

   It is a big battle, and you have to manage a lot of assets, but you get to see so many really cool things as the troops work their way forward.  I'd highly recommend the battle.  Thanks for putting this together for us, George.  

Heinrich505     

[Erwin]

Nice AAR.  Thanks...  (George makes great scenarios!)

[Heinrich505]

Thanks Erwin.  You are so right.  George makes amazing scenarios! 

[Ultradave]

Yes, maybe it's just me but he always seems to have a surprise in store - something from an unexpected quarter that didn't occur to me. Always a challenge.

[Heinrich505]

Ultradave,

   I concur.  There is always some sort of twist that comes at you from left field.  It's some sort of magic that he weaves into the scenario.  If you are doing things that are doctrinally sound, you can weather it fairly well, but if you aren't preparing for it, then it's a wild scramble to adjust.  Always a challenge.

Heinrich505

[George MC]

Another brilliant AAR thanks @Heinrich505 I like the wee vignettes with key characters you weave through the narrative, help to make it real. Really pleased that you enjoyed it. 
 

oh and thank you for the comments all - nice to know people appreciate the stuff I make. Thank you all

[Combatintman]

15 hours ago, George MC said:

Another brilliant AAR thanks @Heinrich505 I like the wee vignettes with key characters you weave through the narrative, help to make it real. Really pleased that you enjoyed it. 
 

oh and thank you for the comments all - nice to know people appreciate the stuff I make. Thank you all

You are the gift that keeps on giving mate 

[Heinrich505]

GeorgeMC,

   Thanks for the kind words.  I'm glad you like the storytelling.  I think it adds another dimension to the battle.

Heinrich505