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El Derjine campaign AAR


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Having recently played this scenario myself, I am really enjoying this read, TheVulture. Great stuff! I also notice that you and I seem to have taken a similar approach to this battle, and you are getting very similar results to mine as well (so far). It's been all I can do reading this far to not post Spoilers (damn mines! lol) or try to click into your screenshots to influence the action, so I haven't posted yet.

At this point I will share my initial reaction to meeting the friendly neighborhood T-90 with you, as I think it fits quite well...:

'The plot, as they say, thickens.' :)

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At this point I will share my initial reaction to meeting the friendly neighborhood T-90 with you, as I think it fits quite well...:

'The plot, as they say, thickens.' :)

It certainly is an interesting wrinkle in the fight. If anyone were to have asked a few turns back what the worst thing that could happen right now was, I'd have suggested some Syrian armour turning up.

Damn you, snake-eye! :D

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It certainly is an interesting wrinkle in the fight. If anyone were to have asked a few turns back what the worst thing that could happen right now was, I'd have suggested some Syrian armour turning up.

Damn you, snake-eye! :D

Hi, The VULTURE, glad to see, that you finally met that tank. If you knew how much I waited for that moment. I was like a kid trying to have a glance at Santa Claus coming through the chimney. I was reading with much attention your AAR and having played sunday the scenario in Author mode, I was wondering how you would react to that threat.

You are doing great, believe me and your guess about the troops fighting against you are even better than the one, an S2 would have achieved.

Keep on going, I have great pleasure in reading your AAR and seeing that things are going the way, I wanted them to go when I did that scenario. I won't say anything else not wanting to spoil anything. BTW, it seems that Wego or Real Time things go slightly the same.That is my analysis of your AAR compare to my numerous scenario testing done.

Cheers

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I forgot to mention two things in my previous post:

First off, I play exclusively in RT. To see that TheVulture's battle is moving along very much like mine has some pertinence to the RT vs. WeGo-discussion going on in another thread. On the other hand, CMSF is so dynamic in so many ways that my overall opinion is that regardless of which play mode you prefer, any two runs through the same battle can be similar or very different. I have found this to be true on the very few occasions when I have replayed scenarios, too. Generally, things turn out rather different every time, but not always...FWIW

Second: Thanks to you, snake_eye, for the very enjoyable EL Derjine campaign. I am currently stalled ahead of battle 3 due to lack of leisure time, but I intend to delve into it ASAP. Hope you will produce another campaign sometime, snake_eye! Love it!

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I forgot to mention two things in my previous post:

First off, I play exclusively in RT. To see that TheVulture's battle is moving along very much like mine has some pertinence to the RT vs. WeGo-discussion going on in another thread.

But then, although friendly forces amount to a company, there has really only been one platoon in play so far, and I'd guess that a platoon can be handled in RT about as well as in WeGo. Now that a second platoon is coming in to play, and they operate in different parts of the battlefield, things get to the phase were focussing on one platoon to the same extent can mean you miss stuff happening to the other. Depending, obviously, on the extent to which one platoon can be left to get on with things without extra management.

One benefit of WeGo that would probably cripple me in real time: since I play only a few turns a day (basically, I'm doing this in my lunch break at work :) ) it means I have plenty of time between turns for ideas to occur to me. So about three hours after that tank turned up, I suddenly remembered I have a harrier hanging around that might be a rather useful anti-tank asset too. If it had taken me three hours to think of that in a real-time game I don't think it would have done me much good...

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Lol yeah, I forgot about my CAS as well :). Got very lucky in the AT department to make up for that, though.

I should maybe also mention that I play RT with probably 30 pauses per minute on average. I know most people think this is crazy, but I find it's the best way to limit the major drawbacks of each play style to a minimum, meaning:

I hate the fact that I can't give my units orders more than once a minute in WeGo. This is compounded by the fact that I'm a blundering fool tactically and my plans rarely survive the first 10 seconds of their execution, never mind contact with the enemy :D.

On the other hand, keeping everything going can be a hassle in RT, so I need a lot of pauses to overview progress throughout the battlefield. I only let time pass when I have found a camera angle that allows me to see everything I feel I need to see on screen at once. Then when anything happens, I hit pause and zoom in to there to address the issue. This way I can control even very large battles relatively well.

The downside to my method is it takes FOREVER :D. I can't get anything reasonable accomplished in a lunch break or such timeframes. Immersion also suffers a little, but control is at a maximum - micro-timesliced-combat is the way I like it best :). Call me crazy...

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Turn 28

For now I can afford to ignore the tank - I'm going to reposition the whole platoon into the north of the village, leaving a SMAW team in the corner of the mosque under strict orders to only fire if the t-90 starts coming past them and they can get a good flank/rear shot. So the mosque squad hed out, back down the hill and across so they can come back up in to the northern houses. Meanwhile the squad that has been holding down the high street will move up to join the front squad, so we hold the blocking position there where the enemy platoon used to be. I get the MMG down from the top floor of the building it is in, since it is in LoS to the tank, and I don't want it drawing the attention of 120mm HE rounds while firing at infantry.

All of that happens without any trouble. The flanking squad reform in the front house, and engage in some exchanges of fire with the enemy in the rear trenches in the north. An HMG, a rifle squad and some '?' markers are in the area, so I'd guess that my earlier estimate of a platoon being spread around those trenches is more or less right. But soon another platoon HQ is seen rushing to the front, with hints of more men nearby. A little analysis shows that this is not from any of the platoons we've contacted so far (not 100% certain, but it seems very likely).

In the narrow valley, my squad creep forwards and engage any enemy that make it too far up the slope, while the overwatch pound those trying to hide lower down. A third rifle squad puts in an appearance, which means that we have at least two platoons coming up this route. Several enemy are hit, and none get close to escaping from the trap.

Then towards the end of the turn, more trouble appears:

ed2_28A.jpg

Would you believe it never occurred to me to wonder if that lone t-90 was part of a platoon? A few seconds later, another one appears.

ED2_28b.jpg

Okay - 3 of them. That's a whole platoon, isn't it? Please? :) Fortunately none of them has fired at my infantry in that building, although as the turn ends a gun is certainly pointing in that direction. The next few seconds could be ugly. One of the tanks come to a stop in view of my men, while the other continues moving and is lost from sight behind the buildings.

So with the sudden influx of new playmates, here is the latest situation map:

ED2_28d.jpg

The yellow arrow is my overwatch line of fire at the narrow valley. Red arrows are estimates of enemy movements. Blue arrows are roughly my intended movements. As you can see I'm abandoning advancing in the south for now to hold my position in the north. This leaves the southern t-90 completely out of play unless it wanders around into LoS of the javelin / rear shot for the SMAW in the mosque. So I think my southern flank is pretty secure.

Enemy platoons are numbered by which company they are in (my guesses).

It looks like a complete company was defending the village, and of that (1st) company, one platoon has been destroyed (in the location I now hold). One has been badly mauled (bottom right; one squad in the front trench wiped out, HQ down to 1-2 men by the tank, other squad with at least 4 casualties where the platoon marker is). One is largely untouched (northern trenches; 2 or 3 causalties maximum). Ane the one is the mosque is largely guesswork - one squad in the north of the mosque has been driven off, the other two units of the platoon haven't been seen, but I'd have them holding the back of the mosque if I was placing them... One HMG and one MMG have been seen, so there is one more of each yet to be uncovered.

Now it looks like we have a second company coming to reinforce the defence/counterattack. Two platoons coming up the valley aren't going anywhere and will be wiped out well away from the main action. I'd guess the other two platoons are coming in to the north of the village from behind, where the HQ was seen moving.

Which suggests that the third company of the battalion is in the secondary objectives to the rear.

Since we wiped out two enemy platoons in the first mission, then one of those companies is essentially at half strength. I really hope it is the one reinforcing the village, and that actually most of the village reinforcements are just a few patched-up injured stragglers. But I have to assume it is a full company for now.

So, two companies and a platoon of t-90sa tanks. Think it is time to call in that harrier and le it loose on any armour it finds. And the general idea is to hide from the tanks and deal with any infantry incursions at short range until the air power shows up.

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Turn 29

So, it seems that we're getting in to the main part of the battle now.

The first surprise is that the tank I'd thought would just cover the high street decides to go cruising up it instead.

ED2_29a.jpg

That's not good - although it is never a greta idea to get tanks too close to infantry, I still don't fancy my chances if it is sitting 20 feet away facing me.

One of my MMG teams advances into a house to keep the road covered - although with that tank around I might just send them back again. But they uncover an enemy HMG at depressingly short range. Amazingly, no-one is hurt, and one of the enemy crew is killed. But this actions draws a response from over the road:

ED2_29b.jpg

The green circle is where the HMG is, red circle is where the tank vanished behind the house. My MMG draws fire from a platoon HQ and a Syrian MMG in nearby houses. Well, at least we've now seen all but two units of the 1st company (4th platoon HQ, Co. HQ). You can also see the red discs of the dead from the 1st rifle squad of that HQs platoon in the back of the mosque - 5 dead can be seen inside.

Things go badly for my team though, and one man is shot, while another suffers a minor wound. They are rather outgunned, and none of my other units can support them immediately.

Back in the narrow valley, a fourth enemy squad is seen making its way towards the kill zone. I've decided to bring one of the LAVs up to support the kill zone again, since I'm slightly worried that the sheer numbers of enemy might enable them to get some guys through and mess life up. I chose a position where I am 95% certain that no enemy tank has a prayer of seeing me before being lit up by a javelin.

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Turn 30

Not liking the position of that HMG, I bring my reserve MMG from this platoon (currently loitering in the trenches west of the village) in to the house looking down the high street. They have a bit of an exposed run, but I gamble that the HMG is sufficiently suppressed that it won't be suicide. And indeed, they get away with it; there is incoming fire, but only one minor injury is suffered. They then set up and just hammer the HMG building, and by the end of the turn the reservists have had enough and head back towards their comrades.

ED2_30f.jpg

The troublesome tank meanwhile scoots out of its hiding place around the back of the mosque, out to the south of the village. The SMAW team holding the mosque (now feeling rather exposed and lonely) miss a chance at a lovely shot at the rear (damned cover arc was set on the assumption that their only chance of a shot was the other tank coming around the mosque).

ED2_30a.jpg

I try to get my MMG team that is in trouble to hide and get away from the front wall, but one more man is hit as they scramble for cover. Only one man left now.

I've started moving my second platoon up towards the field. The tentative plan is to use the squads to provide security to get the SMAW team up for a side shot on the northern t-90. But in case that wasn't enough bad news already this turn, I see what appear to be several enemy units pouring in to the enemy end of the field. One of them is IDed as the battalion HQ - seems like an odd place to set up a command post, but there you go.

ED2_30g.jpg

To make things worse, my furthest forward unit in that platoon is a lonely SMAW team in one of the ditches, who might just get overrun before I can cover them.

Just when the situation is starting to look a little desperate, the first good news for some time arrives. The javelin team pick up the t-90 that made the dash through the village. Through high magnification binoculars, this can be seen:

ED2_30b.jpg

Not the biggest target. Thankfully with the javelin CLU targetting it is a pretty big target, and I hear the comforting whooosh of a javelin launch. Sometimes you are too grateful to complain about the insta-kill javelin.

ED2_30d.jpg

Needless to say, there is only a burning wreck left with one terrified (and slightly crispy) crewman sprinting for his life.

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Turn 31

The enemy counterattack is rather nicely planned, with some armour steadying the south flank, while a tank provides overwatch in the north to support the infantry attempting to use the field to flank my position - very much what I did to them. The downside (for them) is that I've cut off two platoons from getting involved by closing off the end of the narrow valley, and have my second platoon moving up in to the field, so even if I do take some losses, I'll certainly push them back again.

Forgot to mention that my 1st platoon HQ called in an air strike back in turn 29 or 30. 6 minutes until delivery. I gave it an area target that covered all the tank positions; ideally I'd like it to drop a very large bomb on the northern t-90 which would more or less take out 2+ platoons of nearby infantry in trenches too. But I won't hold my breath.

Now I'm trying to solidify a few very shaky areas in my position.

ED2_31b.jpg

Firstly I pull one squad back to the second floor of the house behind it. This gives a nice view over most of the field, whilst being hidden from the t-90. This should give my exposed SMAW team enough cover to keep them alive. Secondly, I bring the final squad of the 1st platoon into the house with the MMG; it too is not in sight of any tanks, so they can hit the two enemy units with relative impunity.

From 2nd platoon, I also get the tired boys running - one squad and one MMG will make all haste to the cross trench in front of the SMAW team, who will hold position and try not to die. The rest of the platoon (minus the squad blocking the valley) are following behind more slowly.

Something else I forgot to mention: I've sent the .50 cal humvee to recon the alternative route across the river - there is a ford a way east of the dam that I decided intially wasn't worth the trouble. But now I'm thinking it might provide a way of getting the ATGM humvee in position for a sneaky rear shot at a tank - I believe there is a large open slope that the enemy aren't covering which allows me in to their flank. But it's a fair way around. The .50 cal humvee is leading the way on the grounds that it is more expendable than the ATGM humvee, given my very limited AT assets.

Events in the field unfold as I hoped. The SMAW team survive, and slow lead enemy squad down enough for the building squad to reposition and kill them all. Then the SMAW's own colleagues show up and secure the flank.

In the valley, six men try to break out. The LAV does a fine job of stopping them, with the blocking squad instantly cutting down anyone who gets too far.

In the village the news is less good. The squad move up to help the MMG and do indeed cause havoc in the platoon HQ. But... I left them with a target arc from an earlier point which just happens to include the HQ, but not the enemy MMG, which proceeds to ventilate the building. Two more men down.

My first platoon hasn't had any disasters, but the loss of a man or two here and there, plus their slight depletion from the first misson, is leaving them increasingly worn down. Throw in minor injuries as well, and possibly only half the platoon are actually at full health, and their ammo situation isn't great either. They are definietly looking like being a reserve unit for the rest of the fight, once the village is clear.

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Turn 32

The squad relieveing the beleagured MMG do a fine job once their target arc is removed, immediately gaining fire superiority and killing numerous men from both enemy units. Only one survivor from the HQ squad manages to get away, crawling around the corner. Why does he get away?

ED2_32a.jpg

There is the minor distraction of the incoming tank. Juding from the movement from the enemy platoons in the north trenches, the tank is spearheading a charge in to town through the buildings.

You can see the SMAW team with a perfect flank shot that don't fire because I gave them a tiny covered arc, so they wouldn't take unwanted shots and draw the attention of the other tank. The foremost squad also have a perfect flank shot at 20m range, and a few LAWs and AT3s left, but don't fire because they too have a covered arc that was set in haste to get them away from the other end of the building, to avoid being shot by this very tank.

Sometimes WeGo is very frustrating :)

So naturally, the only people who do fire at the tank are the squad who just dealt with the HQ and MMG - and they insist on using small arms fire at the front of the vehicle, thus alerting it the fact they are they. It hoses the building with MG fire (one more man down), and rotates its gun and chassis to face them, For the third time, I end the turn with a tank a few seconds away from potentially blasting my men with its main gun.

In the field, an HMG team is seen moving forward, and dealt with severely. After two men fall, they others turn tail and head back the way they came, but none of them get as far as the wall around the edge of the field. That flank is pretty solid now, and 2nd platoon have moved their units up into good positions to control the field. Now that the tank has moved, they can make ground here.

Another welcome bonus is the harrier checking in and performing its first fly past looking for targets.

One of the other problems with WeGo is that since I can only give orders every 60 seconds, when I do get the chance I have a tendency to tinker with things that ought to be left alone. The firefight earlier was very unusual for me - I left the guys in place for several minutes and resisted the temptation to advance since I figured on waiting for support.

But in the valley, I give in to my inclinations, and hunt the blocking squad forwards, since I'm sure there are men cowering in the valley. It turns out there are.

ED2_32b.jpg

More to the point, it turns out that we are in their grenade range. The lead marine is hit, and the rest of the Syrians push back out of the line of fire. I promise next time I will just wait for them to come to me...

Just for the curious, here is the killzone now:

ED2_32c.jpg

There are probably a few bodies I can't see, and I know at least 2 men have routed. Most of this has been done by the overwatch back on the ridge.

One further item of note: just as the turn ends the southern tank also begins to turn. I'm pretty sure it can't have seen anyone to target, so I wonder if it is going to make a move too.

My first platoon is not in a happy situation right now.

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"One of the other problems with WeGo is that since I can only give orders every 60 seconds, when I do get the chance I have a tendency to tinker with things that ought to be left alone."

A tendency many of us suffer from, that and trying to rush things along. I have now put a sign on my monitor for when I am playing CMSF which says, "Be Patient". It helps.

As an aside, when I played this mission one of the tanks rolled into the village too. It was met by volley after volley of rifle grenades (none ordered by me) from three sections. Much to my amazement it didn't turn its massive gun on any of them, rather it backed out - straight into the LOS of my newly arrived Javelin team.

Good luck, and I hope the Harrier does its thing and without killing too many of your troops in the process.

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Turn 33

I order my men to get the hell out of the house , not only because of the tank, but because of the incoming harrier. The prospect of a 1000 lb bomb landing 30 meters away is not a happy one. The rest of the platoon are also repositioned to put significant cover between them and the tank in case of incoming bombs. The frontmost squad will shift back to the field side of the house away from the tank.

The tank appears to lose sight of my men for a few moments. My men start to move out of the house. Third time lucky... but for the Syrians:

ED2_33a.jpg

The blast kills five men. The survivors, 4 injured men from the squad and the lone (also injured) survivor of the MMG team make it out the back door and away from the tank.

Oh crap, as they say in France.

At the same time, the enemy are rushing forwards back towards the village. The front squad shift back over to the field side of the house, and realise that the distraction of the tank has left them in a dangerous position.

ED2_33b.jpg

Two MG teams are coming in close, while several other units are still positioned in the trenches. The closest team is cut down, and several more enemy casualties are caused, but at least some men got in to the buildings at the end of the village. More are seen heading south-east past the tank into the mosque area.

My ATGM humvee has got as far as the other side of the river, and I figure there is a semi-keyhole position on a ridge there that might just give line of sight to the southern tank for a free shot, so I send them hunting forwards to see what they can see. In a fit of bad timing, this is just as the tank starts to move forwards as well. The enemy vehicle does indeed come into the view of the humvee

ED2_33c.jpg

Missile away. But the path of the tank has now made it a frontal shot, and with the threat of being spotted, the humvee hits reverse to break contact. This doesn't do the accuracy of the TOW missile any favours.

ED2_33d.jpg

The tank then continues forwards past its burning friend, into the sights of the javelin team. Sure enough, they step up to the mark and launch.

ED2_33e.jpg

Another beautiful hit.

Then the damn thing continues to move, clearly still very much alive. It looks like the javelin hit was too far forward, and the combination of Kontakt-5 ERA and the heavy frontal armour was enough to defeat the missile.

I take back everything I ever said about javelins being overpowered.

Events in the narrow valley don't even go my way. I leave my squad where they are, but one man crawls forwards to help the injured marine. The Syrians in the valley spot him, and in the hail of fire he is also hit. An HQ squad is also seen down there. The position is now such that my men aren't using the ridge very well, so only one or two can engage, and are outgunned, while the Syrians are stuck far enough back in the valley that the overwatch can't hit them.

So I've managed to mess up my blocking position, seen my last javelin fail, wasted a TOW missile and had 6 men killed, whilst the Syrians flood the south of the village. I'd say it's all gone a bit tits up.

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Turn 34

Time for a little bit of tactical withdrawl. The javelin team, all ammo expended, are sent down from the hill. The SMAW team in the mosque, in their rather isolated position, are now rather too exposed to the enemy charging in that direction for my tastes, so I get them out of there and back to the edge of the hill. There is a slim chance they'll get a flank shot on the southern t-90, but mostly they are getting the hell out. The rest of the first platoon are just sitting tight this turn, hoping that neither the tank nor the air support get them, and that they don't get overrun.

Second platoon on the other hand have a lot of moving to do. The valley squad will back up to their previous position so that the Syrians can be engaged at the top of the slope, where the overwatch can hit them. The field squad will continue to advance through the trenches to protect the flank of the first platoon. The third squad have been held in reserve so they can go wherever things really start to fall apart, and I've decided that the mosque flank is getting very iffy, so I sent them over towards trenches in that direction; if the SMAW team are right and trouble is coming their way, I need some infantry over there to regain the ground.

And what do you know - I'm right. Just as we leave via the front door, the Syrian's come through the back:

ED2_34b.jpg

An MMG team charges in and heads up to the roof. This isn't great since I now have 2 FOs, a SMAW and a sniper team rather trapped. In decent cover, but still pinned down. Forunately the cavalry are charging in to the rescue.

ED2_34c.jpg

In the middle of the village, everyone breathes a sigh of relief as the tank turns and heads back out of the village.

ED2_34a.jpg

I'd guess that the plan was to roll in, disrupt me and cover the reinforcements getting in to position in the village. Which it has done to some extent, but I am mightily pleased to see the tank rolling out along the road.

Even more so when the harrier pilot announces he is starting his attack run. As the turn ends, the sound of the jet passing overhead is heard, bomb already on the way.

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Turn 35

Well, I've got to open with this thing of beauty:

ED2_35a.jpg

The pilot does his job to perfection. One tank scattered over the landscape, and I'll wager that the men in the nearby trenches are none to happy either. Terrible timing to leave the relative cover of the buildings by that tank commander.

The infantry he was supporting are none too pleased either. With the tank leaving, I get a relatively intact squad back into the house of disaster to regain control of the street and start shipping the casualties to the rear. They are in time to spot a Syrian platoon moving in to the house behind where the tank was. With it no longer there however, they are sitting targets, and take a rather fearful beating. Virtually all the men are killed.

ED2_35c.jpg

My squad also spot the last remaining t-90 heading backwards, presumably also having done his job of forcing a channel for the infantry to advance. An AT3 is fired off in the brief window of opportunity, but only hits the ground half way to the target.

The cavalry squad rushing to the defence of the mosque reach the trench, and succeed in killing one of the MG crew, and forcing the last man to withdraw (the third man was killed earlier as they crossed the village).

ED2_35b.jpg

With the withdrawl of the last tank, I think we'll be able to regain control of the corner position soon.

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Turn 36

In the last picture of last turn you can see the squad advancing up the field, broken in to teams, with MMG and SMAW teams reinforcing. They continue to bound up the trenches, with 1st platoon providing overwatch, to the last cross-trench in the field. The enemy don't seem to have noticed them there yet. The first squad up spots the final t-90 through the scrub.

ED2_36b.jpg

One man shoulders his AT3 and fires.

ED2_36c.jpg

Luck is back on my side - it's a hit on the side of the turret which sets the tank ablaze. The top hatch opens as the crew start to bail out when there is another mighty explosion: the fire set off some of the HE shells stacked in the turret.

One tank platoon dealt with.

In the valley, my pullback had the expected effect. After a minute or so of waiting, the Syrians resume their charge up the slope, right back in to the original kill zone. The effect is much the same as before, with the overwatch and the close ambush squad cutting their progress off very effectively.

ED2_36f.jpg

In the village, the rather battered first platoon hold their positions, securing the street, cutting off the routes in and out of the mosque, and patching up their fallen comrades. With the tanks gone, the upper floors of buildings are again available for use for spotting and bringing more firepower to bear. The platoon HQ spotted a distant recoilless rifle last turn up on one of the secondary objectives about 450m away, so a sniper is brought up to try and engage the crew. Unfortunately all the engage is the wrong end of an RPG-7, as that long suspected squad at the back of the mosque finally reveals itself exactly where I imagined:

ED2_36a.jpg

The security man of the sniper team goes down injured.

As the rest of the field squad fill up the trench, they start to engage the nearby defenders; the 4th platoon that were originally in the northern trenches behind the village (now reinforced to some extent by the influx of another company, who have a lot of MG and RPG teams). As the turn ends, the closest squad are driven out of their trench and make a run for the road.

ED2_36e.jpg

And, ominously, the harrier begins its second run, now with no tanks to hit. I'm now a little concerned that with only infantry targets, and the closeness of some of my men to the danger zone, that we may be in danger of a friendly fire incident. I think it may be time to abort the bombing misison.

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After how bad things were getting a few minutes back, I think this one has turned around again now. All tanks are out of the equation. Of the two companies of enemy that have attempted to defend the village, I'd guess the effective fighting force left is less than two platoons in strength, and mostly in a variety of under-strength squads of questionable morale.

Five more minutes, and I think the village will be secured.

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Turns 37-38

It is probably no great surprise that things quiten down a little now...

ED2_37a.jpg

... mostly.

I call off the harrier, but too late to stop him dropping another bomb. I swear there must be 20-30 enemy in the trenches to the east, and no more than 1 where the bomb landed. Amazingly none of my men are hurt by this. It leaves a nice crater though.

ED2_37b.jpg

I order a team in the front house squad upstairs to suppress the squad in the rear of the mosque. They mostly do this, despite losing a man to enemy fire. 1st platoon is now looking at around 20 casualties, and another 8 or 9 yellow injuries.

Second platoon continue to be the glory hounds, leveraging first platoon's problems into their success. The field squad continue to whittle away at the defenders in the trenches. The squad now charged with taking the mosque re-occupy the corner room, and proceed to put smoke grenades into the courtyard. Then, with the cover of the smoke and the suppressive fire from 1st platoon (which cost them a man), they gain the main building of the mosque, ready to pount the enemy position.

ED2_38a.jpg

The short range area fire will allow the rest of the squad to advance through the building and clear out the enemy.

The final squad of 2nd platoon are being relieved of their valley blocking duties; the reserve platoon has moved a squad up so that this squad can move up to guard the flank of the field unit - there are hints of enemy movement to their left, so I want to get some eyes on the dead ground in that direction.

After taking the mosque, I intend to push forwards through the village with the units there, and wait in the last row of houses until the trenches are clear.

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