Rinaldi
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Posts posted by Rinaldi
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Saw your post at the ks blog about using 'withdraw' forward to have AI smoke and leapfrog into the attack...pure eureka moment for me. Thanks for that.
The mission looks phenomenal, its definitely on top of the list to play next. Downloaded.
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Fantastic news!
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The Advance Resumes (Turns 60 – 65)
By the 60th turn the formations are assembled and ready to begin advancing. This leaves an hour and a half to secure Moncourt; and I suspect it will take between 10 and 15 minutes to advance to attack positions and fully establish a base of fire.
It took about an hour to secure Ley – albeit that was with some tactical mistakes. While I believe time is going to start being a factor I certainly don’t feel a crunch just yet. At any rate, hurrying will simply lead to excessive casualties and fail two objectives instead of just one. So, smooth is fast, and the attack will begin when all elements are in position.
It’s worth looking at the formations as they move across the valley floor; a Company team in close formation is a formidable sight. However, reasonable direction must be given to prevent it from becoming a total, vulnerable mess. Both Team Leach and Team Spencer are in narrow and deep formations. Team Leach is the larger of the two due to HQ/37th ‘tagging along’ and the graphic below shows how concentrated they are just prior to starting the attack.
You’ll notice that they no longer have a tank platoon in reserve: A sure sign of the mission and total losses suffered by the Battalion in the fighting for the high ground. This takes away greatly from the flexibility of the formation, but there’s little that can be done without diminishing its fire power.
The formation will naturally lengthen out as they begin moving: I have no idea what’s in front of me and there are a few potential ambush positions between Ley and the intended base of fire, so it would be prudent to have the carriers following at great interval. Below you see Team Leach moving out:
While the formation is still quite compact, the tanks are about 45 seconds travel time ahead of the halftracks, creating what I hope to be enough safety room in the unlikely event of strong and unexpected contact. In even more uncertain terrain and circumstances I would be moving the armor a full minute ahead of the main formation.
By the 65th turn all units are well and truly moving. They will begin a marching fire on Moncourt the moment they get close enough for it to be feasible.
Timed fires are organized by the two battalion level forward observers as the formations advance. The fire plan will be much the same as it was for Ley, with two batteries firing general, the third firing air burst. The barrage will be more intense and will only lift, however, when Team Spencer is in an assault position. The barrage is set to begin after ten minutes. Timing will be key here. The hope is to be lifting the barrage as my mounted infantry dismount close to town. The risk of fratricide is incredibly high.
More to follow - and sorry for the delay!
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10 hours ago, user1000 said:
What would be an example of real life conscript US soldiers in WW2? I would say directly after the beach landings. At that point isn't it when the draftees really started to flood into action?
This again
- are you sure you read the manual?
" Conscript: draftees with little training "
Fully concur with Combatinman, this thread is re-hashing the obvious. I'm only here for Our Lord Protector's banter.
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7 hours ago, Warts 'n' all said:
I attempted to volunteer for service in WW2, but the army rejected me on the ridiculous grounds that I'd been dead for nigh on 300 years. They got some chap called Lord Gort to take my place, and we all know how that turned out. In the meantime I can assure people that the working class oik who writes my letters has indeed read the manual.
Did you remind them that you were the Lord Protector? This is scandalous. Remind them that you gave Ireland the gift of fire at Drogheda; and let them draw their own inferences from there.
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Yes, I also wonder where Mord is. He disappered not too long after I registered this account but from what little I saw/read of him, he was a cool dude. Hope he's well.
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2 hours ago, user1000 said:
Not true man. The Germans had been there since 1940.. No training could prepare them for the bocage country. Look man, you basically had kids right out of highschool versus veteran German soldiers, that had been fighting and gaining experience against the Soviets long before the normandy landings. Take a look at the officer deaths on the first couple of weeks after landing very high, some instance whole units had to be replaced. The education costs lives in that area.
Good God where do we even begin with this? Max Hastings, is that you?
1) Most of the units facing Allied landings on D-Actual had next to no experience on the Eastern Front and those that did were normally cadred (re: 1.SS NCOs and Junior Officers placed with the otherwise green 12.SS) a practice common to all belligerents that helped give practical touches to otherwise abstract training. Most of the German units were as 'inexperienced' as the Allies landing across from them - the 12.SS and the 3rd Canadian Infantry divisions were going into battle for the first time and both were able to beat the absolute tar out of one another. This is what happens when you have two well trained and motivated units battle with one another, irrespective of terrain or experience.
1a) The statement 'nothing could prepare them for bocage country' works both ways - the Germans had planned to stop the Allies anywhere but in the bocage country. Without delving into the Rommel-Rundstedt debate in great detail, needless to say niether of them expected or prepared to fight in broken country. One wanted to defeat them on the beaches, the other wanted to destroy them in the interior. Niether plan worked. The compromise between them worked even less. The Germans had all the advantadges of the defender multiplied so much more so - and for all their veterancy and 'offensive spirit' when they rode into the bocage in the counterattack they suffered as poorly if not more so than the Allies. If anything, late operations like Luttich suggest that, offensively, the Germans learned very few lessons in tactical approaches to attacking in bocage.
2) The Americans had been fighting and gaining experience against the Germans since well before the Normandy landings as well...the statement that Kasserine was the best thing to ever have happened to the US Army isn't hyperbole.
3) Officer deaths for the Germans were equally atrocious - they lost several general officers before the end of the first week of fighting alone. The erosion of experience based on Junior officer deaths is a dubious claim at best - men promoted from the ranks had practical experience in bocage fighting and often learned hard lessons from the deaths and injuries of their predecessors.
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On topic now:
I agree with IICptMillerII. The increase in self preservation is a welcome benefit - and I've found it no easier to exploit. The AI rarely make poor choices, and its better than their previous habit of fleeing an arbitrary amount of meters to go face down in a field. At least now they seek new, feasible cover. To punish them breaking positions you still have to maneuver. Overall, its a vast improvement. My current match has a lot of poorly motivated, poorly trained enemy troops who have clung to positions for much longer than the doomsayers suggest they would with 4.0 AI, and those that did fall back, fell back right across the street, into new cover. Where they then menaced me all over again. Top marks, frankly. Much more entertaining than walking into a building to see 9 corpses heaped in a corner from HE fire.
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40 minutes ago, John Kettler said:
Haven't done more than skim the beginning, as far as reading (been up all night), but I confess myself baffled by your"airburst artillery" diagram. Did Fuze, MT get added under 4.0, and I missed the memo? If not, then you have VT well before it ever saw ground combat. Please explain. Pretty cool you're doing Arracourt, which I first got exposed to in AH's The General. Here's that blast from the past.
Hey John, glad to see its caught your interest. You'll be happy to hear you've missed nothing viz. artillery - the timed fires are possible in the deployment phase and on anything that has been pre-registered via TRP. This would, like in reality, allow for timed fuses due to foreknowledge of ETA. It also would imply that the technical fire data has already been confirmed, as to my knowledge, setting time fuzes 'at the gun' was a rarity prior to VT and woefully inaccurate when done so.
The ability to do this with pre-registered fires has been around since at least 3.0, as can be seen here - though you'll notice it is not fully reliable.
Thanks for the .pdfs - we actually had the first one provided to us by one of the team members. I can certainly see Arracourt giving people a lot of mileage in old table-tops and hex based games.
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On 2/11/2017 at 0:02 PM, hank24 said:
Great AAR, Rinaldi, I love to see this, battalion operation with long movement axes, hull-down positions in rolling terrain, and long range fire. This is real tank combat.
Keep it up!
Thanks hank, these types of missions are right up my alley - its part of the reason why I decided to make it to begin with. A lot of others have said it on the forum but it's worth repeating, the best missions to make are the ones you'd want to play yourself.
Scheme of Maneuver – Approaching and Assaulting Moncourt (Turns 41-44):
Re-assembly to the South of Ley has begun, with C/37th remaining to outpost the now secured high ground and act as Battalion reserve. The assault guns will remain concentrated under HQ/37th and HQ/10th will establish a CP in Ley.
Assembly and re-organizing will however take some time. This is an excellent opportunity to analyze the terrain around our next objective of Moncourt and draft a tentative scheme of maneuver. True to my promise, I will attempt to keep it as near as possible to what the Americans did in reality; and I can immediately see the wisdom in their choices.
The country between the two towns consists of more gentle and subtle slopes than what we saw around Ley, and facilitates much more open sightlines. A muddy ditch bisects the route of advance, and will necessarily mean that horizontal communications between the two maneuver teams will be poor.
The two maneuver teams (named, respectively, after the tank company commanders) will be “Leach” consisting of B/37th and C/10th and “Spencer” consisting of A/37th and A/10th. Spencer, just like at Ley, will be tasked with the assault into the town proper. However, I am less than satisfied with the more traditional method of dismounting in dead ground then moving in to assault. Given the open terrain and the firepower at my disposal I feel all this does is over-expose my infantry to hostile fire. With how successful the close dismount in Ley was on a small scale, I’m likely going to repeat the feat with the entirety of A/10th for Moncourt.
Above is close-up of the final approach to Moncourt that Team Spencer would take. The terrain slopes generally upwards to Moncourt, allowing for the team to move quite close to the town before being truly exposed to fire from it – this should help facilitate a rapid dismount even more. A/37th can walk the halftracks onto town with close ranged fire, hopefully aided greatly by the same crushing indirect fire we opened the battle with at Ley.
Team Leach will be in a position to support at range, adding to the general weight of fire and hoped-for shock effect. From their support-by-fire position they can also, should disaster visit Team Spencer, advance into town quite easily themselves, as a hill to the South-East of Moncourt could allow me to break line of sight and hook into town.
Above is a close-up of the intended position for Team Leach. It will provide excellent hull-down for the armor and allow for the halftracks to add their fire in relative safety. My only concerns are the excessive range (just short of 2km) and the questionable ability to fully cover Team Spencer’s approach. However, it’s the best position I was able to pick out that is at a stand-off distance.
The attack will once again be characterized by marching fire and direct, no-nonsense maneuvering.
The town itself (pictured below) is much less claustrophobic than Ley and should prove much less of a problem in terms of house-to-house fighting once I establish a toe-hold. The presence of a wooded hill to the South and numerous orchards offer potential positions that both could enfilade and dominate movement in town proper, however. Careful timing and thorough area fire needs to be observed if I want to avoid my thin-skinned halftracks becoming target practice.
Turns 45 – 47
The next few turns will naturally be slow and generally uneventful as everyone moves back to Ley to assemble. However, there is the issue of the previously spotted Panzer IV along the Ley-Moncourt road. I had ignored it and chose not to engage, since it seemed oblivious and we were rapidly moving past its potential field of fire. Now, with the goal of assembly, it could prove to be a legitimate threat.
A tank section from A/37th, aware of its rough position due to radio traffic, establish a battle position in Ley from which to engage the Panzer IV. They spot it by the end of the first turn. At excessive range, its unsurprising that it takes a while for either Sherman to find an effective firing solution. The first shot is high, the second and third bounce off the Panzer IV’s hull armor, but the fourth finds its mark with a clean turret penetration.
The Panzer, ostensibly in an ambush position, was buttoned up and oblivious to its danger, by the time it had an inkling of where it was being assailed from, it was too late.
I suspect the next few turns will be quiet and uneventful, and will most likely not report on them whatsoever. We will pick up once Team Leach begins entering its intended battle position, unless any more potential ambushes intervene on the movement towards Moncourt.
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10 minutes ago, cool breeze said:
Thank you for the thorough reply JK, that's just the sort of thing I was looking for!
I would be very careful about taking anything forwarded by Suvorov as substantiated fact.
He has a notoriously poor reputation as both a historian and author. His "Icebreaker" being almost universally panned by historians. He routinely made claims in the face of reality and when challenged to substantiate them falls back on "secret sources" and gossip from his time as a GRU member.
Time has only further eroded his reputation, as the ever opening Soviet Archives continue to not produce any of these so called secret sources.
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7 hours ago, antaress73 said:
Using infantry to screen tanks Will prevent huge losses to tanks near built up areas (grosnyy style) but you Will still lose some tanks. Losing 10-15 tanks out of a hundred is okay . This is what's happening to the Turks.
Also There is not Much you can do against well hidden infiltrated ATGM teams sniping from 3-4km. You Will lose tanks good Tactics or not. Thats where tech comes in It can prevent normally unavoidable losses some of the Times but it wont save you from bad Tactics or deployment.APS would have saved those tanks and revealed the launcher so it can be destroyed by Return fire.
People want no losses . Thats just not possible against a well-equipped and semi to fully competent enemy.
That's true as well, we may have been quick to judge the Turkish Army in how it tactically handled the situation. The more important thing to look for now is to see if this mistake repeats itself (as it so often has for the Syrians) - which would speak volumes about the quality or lack thereof in the Turkish army.
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4 hours ago, Barkhorn1x said:
Rinaldi; Can you tell us which German unit the 37th AB is up against?
I can, to an extent. The Panzer IVs were the remaining 'runners' of both the 2113 (113th Pz.Bde) and the 2111th (111th Pz.Bde) Panzer Abteilungs, concentrated into a battlegroup with a few added elements. Sources are pretty vague and nebulous as to the exact strength of the unit, but all suggest no larger than a reinforced Company, and those that hazard numbers give us between 15-19 - so it checks out.
The infantry is another matter, we have no exact idea, but it is likely to have been members of the 2113th PanzerGrenadier regiment in about Battalion (-) strength sprinkled through the valley and ostensibly facing West. Moncourt had been seized and established as an HQ for the 113th brigade, so this is at best an educated guess on my part. The 111th did the bulk of the attacking that day, which further reinforces my belief, but it very well could have been members of the 2111th regiment defending the area, we'll never know for certain.
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On 2/7/2017 at 6:18 PM, Barkhorn1x said:
Great AAR. Great info. So how does one acquire this community-driven package?
I see @Ithikial_AU already addressed this. Thanks, however, for the praise. Hopefully it will keep your appetite whet as we work away.
5 hours ago, MOS:96B2P said:Very interesting AAR. I really like how you are demonstrating the game mechanics in action with this AAR. IMO explaining how the game actually "works" is a very useful tool of the forum. Thanks for doing this.
Cheers @MOS:96B2P - I usually leave the explanation of technical details to others whom do it much better in their AARs, but felt this was worth putting in.
Now, time for a large update; I was going to keep the handful of turns at a time formula but figured it would be cruel to leave anyone in suspense over the attack on Hills 241 and 260, so here it is, the battle for the high ground:
Turns 28-30:
4/A/10 and 2/A/10 stack up and prepare to push into Ley, by the 30th turn they are exchanging fire with stragglers using the bushes and hedges separating yards as cover. It is at present nothing serious, and I sincerely hope the lackluster fire continues rather than the fierce volume of fire encountered after the initial successful dismount into town.
Final orders are given to all elements of the 37th (on ‘pause’ until the time to move arrives) on Mannecourt Hill. The advance’s start has been frustrated somewhat by the frustratingly bad sight lines for the 81mm moratrs. This is remedied by displacing them forward a bit more, and they are just setting up in their new positions as the Turn 30 ends. Their new position also allows for direct-observe fire on parts of Hill 241 which could greatly expedite the pace of the attack. The forward observers from the Mortar Platoon and the attached 94th AFAB parties are already straining every nerve to re-establish contact with the enemy positions.
Turns 31-33:
In Ley, the action is rapidly resembling a ‘mop-up’ as the lead two man teams for each platoon find themselves more than capable of engaging and destroying lone German infantry found hiding in houses. 2/A/10th begins engaging what few coherent groups of enemy are left in the row houses, and after a brief exchange of fire in which the Germans clearly come off the worse, they attempt to fall back – right into 4/A/10th’s waiting arms.
Spraying every house for 30 seconds or so before they move a bit further often prompts a response from the Germans – depending on their stomach for the fight – to either return fire or retreat. In the case of the former, they are often overwhelmed by concentrated return fire, in the case of the latter…the slaughter is prodigious:
While 2/A/10 suffers two fatalities over the course of these actions, the fight in Ley is essentially over and no longer worth following too closely – at least for now. Let’s turn our attentions back to the concurrent action on the high ground.
Enemy indirect fire begins ranging in on the assembly area of B/37th, and likewise my own tubes begin firing in earnest on Hill 260. The rounds are generally on target within a minute or so and the HE spotting rounds are swapped for WP. One of the tubes can be seen firing on the ? contact of the ATG, the dust plume from the spotting rounds clearly visible across the gentle rise of the hill. The 81mms are in a superb position of defilade.By the end of the 33rd turn the show is ready to start; and the Assault Guns have, like the mortars, found the range:
Turns 34-36:
The attack begins with C/37th’s remnants (7 effectives) and B/37th (13 effectives if we lump in Abrams) pushing up. The Assault Guns and 81mms continue a steady rate of HE and WP fire on known and suspected positions. By the end of the first turn B/37th has elements over the crest of Mannecourt Hill and not taking heavy fire – a good sign!
C/37th in the meanwhile has re-established contact with the remaining Panzer IVs and a firefight between the armor develops once more. The initial volleys are inaccurate and indecisive, the only hit being scored by either side being a harmless hit against a Sherman’s glacis at approximately 1400m.B/37th begins transiting into the valley, firing as they move, adding to the weight of fire. The reserve platoon of B/37th halts in the treeline at the crest of the hill to provide overwatch, with the plan that they will follow shortly and ‘sweep’ Hill 260 as previously planned. Sure enough, within moments of entering the treeline Abrams personally spots a second, unmasked ATG on Hill 260. The entire platoon and himself open fire on it as Leach (B/37th’s CO) takes the balance of the platoon at a dash into dead ground. The ATG is able to claim two tanks before being spotted and overwhelmed by fire. The crew safely bail.
Between the maneuvering elements, the Germans now find their previously concentrated fire split; and the results are telling. These two ATGs on Hill 260 certainly were enfilading C/37th on its first attempt across the crest of Mannecourt Hill, and without their added punch the firefight with the Panzer IVs now goes wholly C/37th’s way. By the end of the set of turns C/37th has found a good firing solution and is able to KO two Panzers – at no losses to themselves. The situation on the Hills can be seen below in detail, so a reader can orient themselves. Also pictured is C/37th’s two knockout hits.
For a loss of two further Shermans, we can claim two enemy Panzers knocked out and two ATGs possibly KO’d or about to be KO’d. The attack is going splendidly and I believe I can confidently say will be over within the next several minutes. B/37th will quickly re-assemble before cresting the slope of Hill 241 to destroy any remaining Panzers (which by my estimates, there should be no more than 2 remaining) while Abrams and the covering platoon make sure Hill 260 is devoid of any further nasty surprises.Turns 37-41:
The reserve platoon of B/37th, having covered the movement of the Company to dead ground, now begin bounding in two-tank sections towards Hill 260. Naturally, they fire as they move the entire time on the anti-tank gun’s positions. The masking fires that had been obscuring Hill 260 begin to dissipate, and Lt. Col. Abram’s is able to discern that one of the two anti-tank guns is indeed still active. He takes it under fire and personally knocks the crew out from his position, the anti-tank gun is unable to cause any damage to the tank platoon climbing the slope. Hill 260 is confirmed clear shortly thereafter, with the other anti-tank gun confirmed knocked out.
C/37th continues to exchange fire for the first minutes with a remaining pair of Panzer IVs, but they quickly call it quits and reverse out of sight just behind the crest of Hill 241. Their escape is only transitory as the balance of B/37th, now organized in the valley between the two hills, begins its left hook up and over the crest of Hill 241.
The rest of B/37th finish their sweep of Hill 241 at around the same time, knocking out the two fugitive Panzer IVs in an utterly one sided engagement, firing as they move at a slow and steady speed. In these final actions no further friendly armor is lost.
Halftracks – likely prime movers for the Paks - are spotted attempting to escape, and are also taken under fire at range and destroyed. It is safe to say that the “Battle for the High Ground” has ended, and a considerable and formidable enemy force has been overwhelmed. C/37th, or at least elements of it, will outpost Mannecourt Hill while B/37th returns to Ley to re-assemble for the renewed push South. Ley is in the process of being mopped up and it is more than safe to begin concentrating South of it. The only potential risk to this is the previously spotted Panzer IV along the Ley-Moncourt road that I chose not to engage. Now it would be prudent to put fire down, even at excessive range, to drive it off. That however, can wait until the next report.
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Ha, fair play then @IMHO. At least you defend yourself stoutly. I just do not believe Georgia is remotely analgous towards the situation in the Ukraine, frankly. To me, this is all the written-word equivalent of tossing sand in someone's eye and frankly, IMHO, I think you realize that too. Especially given that my response was in relation to the fact that you asserted the Ukraine hadn't been under Kremlin pressure or influence - not even remotely related to Georgia. But, because I fear my post got lost in translation, I'll bite...
In the former's case at the very least you can say that South Ossetia was, and had been, de-facto autonmous from Georgia for an extended period of time. The rest of who did what first is irrelevant to me personally in that situation. Georgia acted foolishly, impetously even, and things proceeded predictably.
The Donbass, and certainly Crimea, are not analgous. While I've previously stated there might be an argument for self-determination present I don't believe a bunch of fractious groups of unemployed cab drivers can really make it with too bold an assertion. Its clear the Donbass is as much an annoyance to Putin as it is to the rest of the international community
Russia's duplicity with its eagerness to overtly 'protect "Russian minorities"' in something they want versus something they don't goes a far and long way to showing how they act consistently in bad faith.
This of course, is much ignoring the obvious counter-points that if the Donbass wanted to be free and autonomous they could've tried legal and constitutional recourses first, instead of starting a shooting war like oppurtunists. The reality is they wanted to be Russia, and Russia doesn't want an albatross around their neck. So now they've dreamnt up these half-arsed 'semi-autonomous regions' - not even a dubiously conducted plebiscite like in the Crimea. Sloppy
Unless you want to count less than a company (+) of armed rebels storming a council chamber and declaring an independant state. All this, of course, after hijacking a peaceful assembly that hardly numbered past one or two thousand, depending on whom you ask. The DNR was born in violent and illegal circumstances, and its legality is questionable from top to bottom. Its hardly a symbol of opressed vox populi by that nasty, dastardly government in Kiev
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46 minutes ago, IMHO said:
You may want to message Haiduk to stop being a Russian state-owned medium
Has Ukraine considered setting up a Ministry of Truth? To coordinate "search and mood-clean" operations Since Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defence Mr. Igor Pavlovsky in an interview to Ukrainian TV proudly said that Ukrainian forces are finally pushing DNR "meter by meter, step by step" after so many months of calm you seem to have a Ministry of Peace already :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
So far all you've presented is civil strife and dubious claims of self-determination. You've followed this up by raising the specter of 'ethnic cleansing will come' without a shred of clear evidence or a sign of clear intent asides from "The Ukranians don't like Russia all too much at present." Soon you will be expressing concerns for the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia, I am sure. So, regurgitating the propaganda you claim to despise, and alarmism. Charming.
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5 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:
Huh? Russian influence NEVER CEASED. Ukraine was never, ever allowed to be independent of Moscow's ultimate control. This whole war is about maintaining that control. Control which Russia has realized was slipping even before Maidan and at risk of diminishing very suddenly, which is why it plotted the war in Ukraine long before it happened. It is why we (myself and a few others) accurately predicted this war several years before it happened. We didn't come up with the backstory by accident.
Haha, I laughed at his first bulletpoint, loudly enough to draw raised eyebrows from the legal assistants in the cubicles outside. I've finally seen 'alternative facts' in the wild!
Thank you for responding to this bald-faced obtuseness.
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Was going through old PMs on lunch and noticed an old exchange with @Bud Backer - and it occured to me I haven't seen hide nor hair of him in a while. I know he had some health issues in the family that pulled him away but its been a while. I hope everything's alright.
Anyone speak to him recently?
Edit: He has a whole slew of posts in January...how did I miss that!? Well regardless - how's everything Bud?
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10 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:
The original CMFI TO&E was put into place years ago and (for coding reasons that have since changed) was kept totally separate from CMBN's TO&E... Unfortunately, CMFI was not brought into compliance until now...
The point of all this is for you guys to have consistent TO&E from game to game instead of having X unit be portrayed correctly in one game and incorrectly in another, they are now all the same (presuming we've patched all games)...
Oh ho, now I never knew that. This may finally put to bed the binocular discussion we've beaten to death over in the CMBN forum, and explain the discrepencies between the two games.
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Prioritizing the bridge is a good use of the air support. I still believe your artillery is better put to use in harassing airburst fires on the ford, which should discourage movement.
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First the BRM gets a kill now the T-64 manages to do something without turning into a Burning Man. I'm impressed. Keep it up. I think at the knife fighting range around the ford you'll nullify the vast majority of the Russian's advantadges. They'll have to stop for artillery - and even that short pause plays into your hand, as you're buying time.
What do you intend to do when reinforcements arrive, move to counterattack penetrations or reinforce the line and occupy the town?
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Turns 25-27:
The next set of turns are a period of consolidation and assembly for the finishing phases of the attack on Ley and the preparation for a renewed drive on the high ground. It is therefore an excellent interlude to look at the situation and my plans therein.
The balance of the 37th are now in position and in formation; ready to advance. The Scheme of Maneuver I have settled on will involve an attack oriented towards the base of Hill 260 by B/37th and Lt. Col Abrams. C/37th will move to the crest of Mannecourt Hill and engage by fire the Panzer IVs whom are still in position. This movement will be preceded by HE fire on Hill 260 and masking fires on both Hill 241 and Hill 260. Assault Guns, 1 from both companies and the HQ section are concentrated under Major Hunter, the XO of the Battalion, in addition to the 81mm platoon. A visualization of B/37th’s intended movements are illustrated below. Some errata: The frontage is actually for all elements and actually extends past the edges of the picture, I only realized how misleading it looks after I uploaded it. B/37th's frontage is about 250m.
An interesting aside, and a wonderful showcase of C2 in action as aforementioned. The entire Battalion is now aware of the presence of an ATG on Hill 260 after the info was delivered via runner to Lt. Col Abrams. The appropriately titled image shows the initial spread of the info by the surviving tank crew members reporting it to Abrams. A minute later, he shared their (now dated) ? contact icon. A minute or so later, most of the Officers in the two companies were aware of it. The balance of tanks in the two assault companies were made aware of it in less than two minutes’ time. Most engagements ultimately come down to whom see whom first, so any scrap of information or rumor is something a commander should claw for.
In Ley, 2/A/10th have arrived and have begun assembling to aid 4/A/10th in their efforts to clear the enemy out. The 3rd Platoon is still clearing the handful of casualties caused by the indirect fire and will not be needed for the attack, hopefully. The scheme of maneuver:
Tank 1 helps cut the main road, with the weapons teams and a squad from 4/A/10th. The balance of the 4th Platoon advances through the backyards on the left, clearing out the Germans from the row houses as encountered. A tank will accompany them. 2/A/10 will advance on the right, both through backyards and down the main road.
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Hedgerow fighting is one of those situations where you always learn some new tip or trick. I'm taking notes
and enjoying learning at another's expense this time around.
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I have found that when given a specific target order the AR or Bren gunner will 'pour it on' in my on going fighting for the AAR. As for infantry falling back under heavy fire - I'd much rather they do that than take a loss - then get rattled and fall back every time they see an enemy. That's simply the realm of opinion.
Given that in my on going AAR the Germans are almost all greenhorns they had been clinging to their positions and fighting rather well; the routing ones pick better cover than they did in V3 too. Before you'd have AI just cowering in an open field, now they seek craters or new buildings. In at least a few instances I could see the AI were trying to get back into positions that were selected for them in the plan. This is all behavior I've never seen before.
I do agree that sometimes they choose to fall back even though they're in the best possible cover that they could be in and are not panicking. I've seen it a handful of times, enough to annoy me. Not enough to break the game - but I hope to see a hotfix type patch soon based on this collective observation.
- are you sure you read the manual?
Russia's duplicity with its eagerness to overtly 'protect "Russian minorities"' in something they want versus something they don't goes a far and long way to showing how they act consistently in bad faith.
Unless you want to count less than a company (+) of armed rebels storming a council chamber and declaring an independant state. All this, of course, after hijacking a peaceful assembly that hardly numbered past one or two thousand, depending on whom you ask. The DNR was born in violent and illegal circumstances, and its legality is questionable from top to bottom. Its hardly a symbol of opressed vox populi by that nasty, dastardly government in Kiev
Why is it........?
in Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg
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Ciao bella