Phantom Captain
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Posts posted by Phantom Captain
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My men are very leary of what dangers may be hiding in the Warazyk forest. And to reinforce that fear, a Soviet armored car is spotted scouting along the northern edge of the forest.
Due, once again, to the immensity of the ground and space we have to cross, I don't really have a choice but to thrust my armor out front and let them scout ahead. It's only a matter of time until the rounds start coming in.
Guns are loaded, eyes are open and on hyper alert.
My recon team, 12th SS Wiking, scouts along the left scanning both ahead to the objective as well as keeping eyes on the north end of the forest. One platoon of 5th Kompanie has mounted on two StuGs and one platoon from 3rd Kompanie will support from their halftracks. Additionally, I have broken off one of my Panthers to lead the way through the forest down a very foreboding road. Speed is becoming more and more necessary with every passing minute and I don't have the luxury (or time) to scout as thoroughly as I would like.
Finally, one platoon from 5th Kompanie is staging to attack the Warazyk OP and the rest of 3rd Kompanie and my Panthers are pushing on the right for the final objective.
Who wants to take point eh? One squad from 5th Kompanie, thankfully with the support of the StuG, draws the short straw. However, I have decided to wait for one lone Panther that I am rushing up to lead the way. The stuff of commander's nightmares...
On the right my Panthers continue to move forward waiting for the inevitable.
My one lone Lynx PzII, at the front of the pack, finally has eyes on one Soviet AT gun.
And almost immediately the Soviet gun makes him pay for creeping up alone.
First hit kills the driver, second round kills the commander and loader. Only the gunner escapes traumatized. But now we know where the AT gun(s) are.
In the middle, 5th Kompanie dismounts and takes up a line along the edge of the woods while they wait for the Panther to arrive.
The Panther does arrive and it's fearless crew let the infantry know they will handle whatever lies down that path. The men mount back up on their StuGs to follow the Panther through.
The tension can be cut with a knife.
However, the crew stills feels very much out of their element. This is not prime tank country.
On the right, another platoon from 5th Kompanie are now in position to assault Warazyk.
Artillery is called and the men wait and make ready to make their assault.
In the middle my Panther begins creeping down the forest road.
And out of the gloom, a Valentine is spotted moving through the woods towards the German position. My vet Panther immediately spots him and makes short work of it.
Taking no chances, my Panther lets him have two or three rounds, just to be sure.
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@quakerparrot67 Some really good ones here! Love that first pic of the paras in the mist!
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3 hours ago, ratdeath said:
War, war never changes
First mission done, German Army Total Victory.
12 Men Killed, 24 Men Wounded and 1 Tank Lost.
Soviets lost 171 men and 86 wounded.
Onto the next battle!
Excellent, congrats! I had almost the exact same numbers for that battle. Enjoy the Pripyat Marshes next! Hehehe....
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On 10/16/2022 at 3:23 PM, Bearstronaut said:
I just started Warazyk Forest. I am quite dismayed that I only have 5th Company from the 434th. I only have one squad in the entire company that has more than five soldiers in it. This may be where my campaign ends.
That's rough, luckily for me, my 5th Kompanie has a few more than that, haha! Pics coming shortly...
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On 10/15/2022 at 12:15 PM, Vacillator said:
Sorry for the confusion. 'A Muddy Affair' is a Final Blitzkrieg battle so not in this campaign. Was just commenting on the 'holy' Panther.
Still in the middle of it actually! It's saved for when I need to step away to a different theater, haha! I am the Americans in that one though!
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@quakerparrot67 Very nice! I see you got an image host, haha!
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Smoke is your friend!
Try to use smoke and time it to be able to move your units into position under the cover of it.
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23 minutes ago, Artkin said:
I have noticed this too in my games, I scratched my head for a second and of course totally forgot about it. I always play on Iron.
Same here, always on Iron. I have noticed the same, but playing through Breakthrough to Kovel I have just figured out how to keep them in contact using HQs and 2ICs etc. Pretty much as @chuckdyke has laid out.
I guess some of CM's abstractions just don't bother me as much as long as things work (and yes, not always as one would expect sometimes).
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13 hours ago, Vacillator said:
Sorry for the confusion. 'A Muddy Affair' is a Final Blitzkrieg battle so not in this campaign. Was just commenting on the 'holy' Panther.
Haha! Right after you said it I realized it was FB, I had just played that one!
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4 hours ago, ratdeath said:
I started to play this campaign now
Still on the first mission, lost 1 panther
But I have taken the first occupy objective.
Excellent! Good luck! I hope you enjoy the campaign as much as I have! It's so entirely immersive once you get into it.
Not bad at all. I didn't lose one that mission but 3 or 4 were damaged pretty heavily. Just remember they are core units and you have a long way to go.
It was battle 4 or 5 (I can't remember!) that I lost one of my Crack Panthers. That one really hurt me. Additionally, during the night counterattack at the rail station where I had two immobilized Panthers, commander Fass of one of those Panthers, was killed by one of the first shots of the battle. That one hurt too. But darkness was falling and I had to have those tanks opened up to see what was coming. War is hell.
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My objectives are split, one on the north end of the Warazyk Forest, one on the south end.
5th Kompanie and 4 StuGs arrive first. Soon to be followed by 3rd Kompanie on halftracks, 4 Panthers, mortars and mortar halftracks. I have various machinegun emplacements in foxholes left by the Soviets to cover the Warazyk forest while my men move to their own objectives. 5th Kompanie will move east to take the Approach to Warazyk, while 3 Kompanie will move to take the high ground south of the forest. When my Panthers arrive they will assist.
One platoon of 5th Kompanie on StuGs, supported by a platoon from 3rd Kompanie on halftracks will move northeast through the forest using a road that bisects the woods to link up with the Nicolussi-Luck and his SS Panzer Wikings already in Kovel.
Almost every squad in every platoon of 5th Kompanie has walking wounded so I decide to load them up on my StuGs to get them forward more rapidly. I have a wide swath of space to cover in a very limited amount of time.
Guarding our left flank and looking for anything that moves on the northern edge of the Warazyk forest, a 50mm Pak 30 hopes to return back some bad news to the Soviets.
The 4 Panthers from 6th Kompanie, 5th Division SS have shown up to assist.
Time is moving very quickly just getting my units into place when Red Army soldiers are heard and then spotted along the southern edge of the Warazyk Forest, apparently preparing to attack my MG emplacements. The men charge their weapons and hold their collective breath.
We have one hour left to complete our mission and a lot of ground to cover. Not to mention, still hardly any contact with the enemy. I know they are out there, just waiting to spring their ambushes on us.
And just for reference, it's snowing and my men are freezing on top of it. The only thing to do is keep moving forward.
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For comparison to the video pic above...
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Check this out!
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The German army says good morning from snowy Ukraine. Time to move out men...
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The mission is to move out from the eastern edge of Kruhel and press towards Kovel. Forward!
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Thanks @Lucky_Strike! I think that's totally it. CM gives us such a richness in the micro-stories/battles that happen it DOES almost feel like we are documenting it like some type of reporter. I can re-watch some turns over and over and over.
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Also, probably not related but relevant to the mortars and the campaign, be very aware of the map sizes too and realize that sometimes your on-map mortars are out of range and must be moved forward.
@MOS:96B2P is correct about the vehicles and tanks also. I always tried to keep HQs and 2IC units etc. close to my mortar positions.
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I just love taking screenshots. It's like a whole niche "photography" thing. CM plays into it so well.
Fallschirmjagers in the snow and on the hunt.
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These are really nice! Thanks, definitely using them.
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With the Red Army running before the muzzles of our guns we quickly strike ahead and touch our last objectives with only a few minutes remaining. All Soviet AT assets have been destroyed and only mopping up of the scattered survivors remains. The battle has ended upon my ceasefire and I have to say this one was TOUGH.
Battle 9 will continue later this cold and now snowy morning of April 4th, 1944...
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Thanks!
You will lose tanks, it can't be avoided. However, at long range the Panther is pretty darn good at shrugging off a lot of what's thrown at them. In this battle, 8, my Panthers have taken a literal beating but I haven't lost one yet. Like I said, I have really been coordinating my infantry with my Panthers and using the infantry as eyes to creep through and then support each other. It's the long range AT guns that keep bouncing stuff off me, but that's exactly why I lead with my Panthers. I've been using the same tactic for both my armor and infantry throughout this campaign which is mostly leading with one element forward, be it a squad with scouts in advance or a lone Panther with the rest of the platoon in line close behind. Both are pretty flexible formations and allow for concentrating firepower where needed pretty rapidly. It's kind of forced in this environment and I think plays into a lot of the German's strengths.
It's a different story for my Lynx tanks and PzIVs of which I have lost one and another with no main gun now, and two of my PzIVs are KIA. Neither can stand that 76mm round like the Panther can! It's an incredible campaign to have to keep changing your tactics from long to close up to long range to close up and then to have to keep adjusting your armor and infantry according to the situation. Both have been instrumental. Lack of close up ATM assets for the Soviets really plays into the Panthers wheelhouse throughout this campaign as they do have to do so much fighting far away and then have to suck it up and move in close too. I do dread the unseen Soviet squad that ambushes my onrushing Panthers with a barrage of grenades and then immobilization. It's happened to me a few times this campaign but sometimes you just have to move forward!
And no, core units are not replaced! It's so excellent, haha! 11th Kompanie was decimated in battle 5 for me and was supposed to come in as support for battle 6 but when they appeared it was about 25 men total. Not much help! But I love that aspect of campaigns and having to really try to preserve those core units. Take care of both your Panthers and your StuGs!!
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Another PzIV is KO'd on the road just before making his run but the rest of the platoon and 1st Kompanie are already on the move. My last two mortar teams, with any ammo left, lay into the patch of woods on the north end of the battlefield where I have finally picked up AT gun contacts and immediately go to work suppressing or destroying those guns. 6th and 7th Kompanie abruptly seize the farm complex and the lead platoon of 1st Kompanie bolts across the bridge! As so many times in battle, just when you feel like you are losing and can't break through the pressure, the tide turns and we literally begin driving the enemy before us.
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Even when you think you are safe, when you move your armor to a spot that you are sure has been covered and is seemingly out of sight of enemy guns, suddenly a white hot flash, and one of my PzIVs explodes killing the entire crew. Not what I needed right now... The burning tank sits right in the road that I am going to use to rush 1st Kompanie up and across the swamp when the time comes. And now, it's just an additional obstacle.
There is a perfect keyhole to a hidden AT gun, even now the StuG in front remains unseen and has actually been in the same spot for the past few minutes. There is a tiny dip in the road and the StuG's lower profile is what has kept it hidden I think. In stunned silence the crew decides to stay exactly where they are.
First mission done, German Army Total Victory. 
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But I have taken the first occupy objective.
CM:BN Screenshot Thread #2
in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Posted
The embedded Combat (Mission) Photographer Digest...
France, 1944.
82nd Airborne
101st Airborne. The Screaming Eagles.