Rinaldi

FINAL TURN REPORT (Turns 95 - 109) As I mentioned a few hours earlier, my opponent had motioned that he was ready to ceasefire. He had the sportsmanship to say that he would attempt to breakout of objectives he could not feasibly hold and spare us both the droll mop-up actions. However, there was still of bit of fighting left to do as I pushed hard in the final turns to secure a victory: I get off on the wrong foot during my final assault on the hamlet/farming community, as I mis-time my waypoints. The scout element and trail element get intertwined, just in time for a MG to open up and drop two men. Frustrated at careless losses so late in the game, I push up a Sherman, blood in my eyes, to put some point blank HE fire downrange and protect the pinned down infantry. Blithely ignoring a panzerfaust shot at them, the tank crew nuzzles through a tree line and begins to systematically HE every enemy in sight: In short order, effective outbound fire ceases, and the surviving infantry of the assault platoons only mop up a handful of Germans in attics, or hiding behind ruined buildings. Back at the main event in the large town, here's the situation: I've had to commit my mortar squad as riflemen (a role they are surprisingly effective at at such close proximity) to re-invigorate the advance through the center of town. This time, resistance crumbles rapidly, and I suffer only a handful of further casualties to small arms fire. Shermans moving with target arcs are able to catch Germans attempting to filter out of buildings and down alleyways, and enemy casualties mount: The village is a war-torn mess, and as buildings collapse to HE fire, riflemen locking down avenues of retreat pick off stunned survivors: At one and the same time, the other attacking platoon (who is also now being buoyed by dismounted halftrack crews, bazookas and the mortar men) attempt to seize the church and the buildings around it at their end of town. They are able to push up to the stone wall, but begin trading fire with Germans who have displaced to the ground floor of the buildings around the church. They can lock down the entire courtyard, and carbine armed troops aren't going to gain fire superiority until the MMGs and tanks are brought up. As they huddle under MG fire, I gun a supporting Sherman tank in - once again in a reckless and frustrated fashion - to try and rescue the pinned down infantry. It does so immediately, and with the Sherman platoon deploying around the courtyard to spray buildings with coax, the pinned infantry are able to secure the courtyard, and systematically take the remaining houses: At this point, my enemy signaled for the ceasefire, and I was more than happy to accept; believing I had at least secured 2 of the 4 objectives (note: The two farming communities are actually the same objective - a previously agreed upon arrangement). The battle is a bloodbath, and before I see the tallyboard, I estimate my losses at nearing 40 percent of my overall force. As is often the case, its a bit better than you initially expect, but its still gory: Alright, far from my finest performance - but let's be honest, my opponent had a lot to do with that. Despite glaring errors with the deployment of his AT guns, and alot of his strong points not truly being able to support one another, he was a stubborn, determined defender. I'm not only satisfied with the "Tactical" rating, but relieved. The number crunch: For Myself: Out of a force of 360 men, I suffer 133 casualties; almost evenly split between KIA or WIAOut of an original force of 25 Medium Tanks and Tank Destroyers, 7 have been destroyed or knocked out. Almost exactly a third.In short, I've lost a third of my overall force deployed.Casualties are particularly high among Officers. One tank platoon leader was made hors d'combat, B company's CO was made hors d'combat, and the company leader of the infantry, as well as one of the platoon leaders were also casualties.The infantry suffered tremendously, unsurprisingly. Even with overwhelming fire support, by the time the attached Infantry company reached the main village in my enemy's rear, the defenders in town effectively outnumbered them. I'd estimate that the bulk of my losses in material and personnel were caused there. Time to practice with some urban scenarios in singleplayer.For Emory: Out of a force of 492 men, Emory has suffered 279 casualties; with almost twice as many killed as wounded. 6 75mm AT guns were knocked out, as well as approximately 6 HMG42s and 3 81mm mortar tubes.My suspicion that he had a full Battalion was on the mark.The 213 survivors are largely spread among a rifle company in the 2nd hamlet, on the other side of the rail embankment, and the bypassed platoon at the second stone bridge. Unsurprisingly, there are a great number of shattered survivors from the PaK and rifle platoons that were hiding in treelinesIts not often a defender outnumbers you. I'd like to think that puts my enormous losses in context.My enemy lacked TRPs and Mines - a godsend for keeping my momentum at a maximum after I got unstuck at the bridgeheads, I feel. A key hole in his defensive plan.___ Thanks for everyone who stuck with the AAR. Forgive the rushed nature of this final report, the last set of turns was a blur; I invite as much questions, discussion and good-natured criticism as you have to offer. I'm also going to try and get my opponent to weigh in on the thread, he told me he plans on reading the AAR in its entirety. I hope to do something similar real soon. I'm quite fond of the battle-group I took, both for what I feel is historically accurate and its relative flexibility. Although I had to put a lot of weight on a small amount of infantry, they managed to do their job against superior enemy infantry. Had I not got sucked into street fighting without a preparatory barrage, I think I could've escaped with far less of a mauled taskforce. It is undoubtedly my single greatest mistake in this battle: my belated artillery strike in the center of town certainly helped, but when you have already taken 40 percent losses in the rifle platoons, its too little too late. On the to-do list is to compile this into a .pdf and compress the .bmps to smaller, manageable .jpegs.

That's a thought. Although with the exception of the Gun he manhandled into a position to fire at my infantry's HQ, all his guns that he displaced a little bit had been marked already. Concealment of a heavy weapon matters little when the last known position is making its rounds on the Battalion net. What it accomplished in that context was keeping them out of harm's way from artillery.

Cheers Heinrich, glad you're enjoying the action. I certainly hope he is running out of Anti-tank weaponry, there might not be enough trees left on the map to absorb it all! A turn report tonight hopefully, we're quite far ahead from the last report now, I only need to edit the screenshots. A quick update as well: my opponent has offered a ceasefire - a good sign I think. I'll finish securing these two objectives before I even consider it however.

1941 IIRC

Turns 89-96: M18s provide supporting fire as the Engineer platoon (background, distance), after concentrating, pushes into fire positions. Buoyed by my success with those 2 PAK guns, I push up a tank from the supporting platoon of armor up along the road, about 30m in front of the covering weapons teams. Then I cash in all my luck at once: From the side of the road, some form of headquarter's unit emerges, and fires a panzerfaust. The Commander was in the midst of buttoning up amidst fire from a k98 and that is the only logical explanation for why he is not dead or suffering from very painful neck and face wounds. The tank, gloriously, survives the faust, but the .50 is out of action. I expect to have nothing but rotten luck for my next PBEM as a result of this little incident. Vengeance is immediate: The HMG, pinned by long range .50 cal fire, is knocked out by the Task force commander personally (pictured, inset): The mortar team gets a spot on what looks like a rifle-pit forward of the farm objective, and put a few rounds down-range. No enemy were seen in it, but I have the ammo: With the HMG knocked out and scouts pushing up to the treeline it was spotted in, the M18s move forward to better help anchor the flank of this attack: The planned attack for this objective, the dotted line is a planned position - the M18s and the engineers will continue their passive role of protecting the flank of the assault and generally conducting recon-by-fire of the tree lines forward of the objective. The foxhole I spotted makes me believe that he hasn't been able to pull back his outposts into the actual objective proper. If I can continue to keep whatever he has along the river-bank from moving, taking the objectives will be easy. Scout teams from the rifle platoon are basically in the objective now, with no fire - I believe he's holed up in a select few buildings, which will make HEing him a lot easier once I get IDs: What's happening back in the main town, deep in my enemy's rear? The artillery shellacking ended at the beginning of this turn set - not for a lack of ammo, but fatigue. I actually consider this a blessing in disguise, as I now have about 100 rounds left between the two 105 sections - a good emergency reserve for either the hamlets or specific places in town proper. With armor on high ground on either flank of the town, I hope to be able to better support the infantry platoon pushing back in. The decision pays off early, as the recently displaced armor platoon jockey for good firing positions, the unbuttoned leaders come under MG fire from buildings to their front (inset), they all button up safely and I've begun HEing positions. I'm unsure why my opponent is so keen to fire on unbuttoned commanders - perhaps now he's just trying to maximize losses and be an annoyance, but all it does in this case is give me some intel: Things seem to be shaping up, and I'm not taking furious amounts of fire. I'm hoping that the last 40 minutes or so of the battle can be described more as a mop-up than a firefight, but we'll see...

Stukas had their Jerichos removed well before 1944, but hey if you want it, its your game.

Chris...jury duty isn't an event, its a pain in the rear haha. Thanks for the share @Raptorx7; its looking good.

No worries, I'm hoping the AAR will generate discussion like this in the post-mortem. I'll have a lot of introspection to do about my own actions in this battle as well come the end of it. Another turn set hopefully within the next couple of days.

I was hoping to address this in the post-mortem, but since you've put it to an issue ("Why does it seem like ATGs are ineffective?")... I'm not sure generally if you've found ATGs to be ineffective, but I have to disagree with the presumption that they are. There's a lot of mistakes that have been made by my enemy here with regards to his ATGs that is less a reflection of the equipment than it is how he was using them. Now, I'm not denying they were in clever positions (most were), nor that he wasn't being dynamic with them (shifting them even locally) . However, he broke a lot of basic rules that I use to guide my own usage of ATGs: Poor fire discipline. Think back, how many ATGs knocked out were done so bloodlessly because Emory so far has opened fire with them at excessive ranges (1.1km!) or for apparently no reason at all. With PAK-40s I generally set a target armor arc no greater than 500m. Evidently he either did not do that, or threw that out the window to engage prematurely.His PaK fronts were not in true contact with any supporting infantry. I think you're probably referring to that PaK section I knocked out on my right. I was able to advance on their flank with armor and engage them. Given how frustratingly well he's handled his Panzerschrecks, even lacing an ATG platoon with a single platoon of Infantry or a HMG section probably would've either resulted in the loss of several Shermans, or a sharp rebuff. I've been able to generally isolate his PaK guns; and its largely his own fault. The flip-side of course is that you'd be creating a juicer target for artillery but....you have to break eggs to make omelettes. If I was in his shoes, I would've myself taken largely his load-out, with perhaps less a company but with a small mobile reserve of StuGs. The two PaK platoons were well placed, but unprotected and poorly handled compared to everything else he had. When you stall out trying to pick apart a PaK-front, you make yourself insanely vulnerable to artillery or counterattacks. He's dismounted, so he wasn't too capable of the latter, but even a handful of TRPs could've ruined my day.Couple them even with a handful of mines. If you can't physically protect your PaK-Front with a corresponding unit of infantry, create safety distance artificially if possible. AP mines only cost 150 for ten, for example. No prime-movers? Even an Opel Blitz would've created a far more dynamic situation for me, I think.Having just survived a PBEM of "Breaking the Panzers", I put my victory almost completely on my ability to hold my fire with 6pdrs, separate infantry and armor via artillery, and be able to displace them via prime-movers (in this case, Llyods) in between attacks.

Turns 80 -88: Movement towards the hills on the opposite side of town continues at pace, but enemy harassing fire becomes more accurate as well. I'm not too worried about losing a Sherman to this shelling, but hell; better safe than sorry. This maneuvering Sherman has a close call: That's okay though, because I'm about to return the favor in kind. As the movement to the high ground completes, the first rounds for the barrage land in the center of town, scoring direct hits on some buildings: That about sums up what's happening in the town proper, my opponent hasn't made any attempts to displace (that I can see) or try to filter out of town. He seems content to sit in the kettle, and I'm more than content to let it boil for now - so let's shift over to the farming communities where we left off with a PaK gun firing at....something. I once again get this creeping feeling that something is not right, and halt the little wrap-around attack I planned with the two Shermans. I'm letting the weapons teams of the attached infantry take the little copse of trees first before I move them into a potential attack position. Seems like my sixth sense was on the money, because as the weapon teams take positions they get a spot on a second PaK gun. A sharp exchange of fire happens, but the surprised Germans can't compete with carbines, thompsons and grenades at close quarters, and most of the crew is promptly killed: The PaK I originally heard at this point becomes a "?" marker for the M18s on the hill - perhaps because the XO of the Armored Infantry is withing screaming distance of the Tank Destroyer's HQ. No matter, the M18s get some target practice and destroy this PaK gun at 600m before it can even get a shot off in self defense. As the turn ends, I take a single casualty....among the Engineers at the base of the hill. I wasn't expecting that, but they quickly get a spot on the enemy: A HMG position has deployed in front of them at the perimeter of the objective. My engineers have been sitting here for almost 30 minutes, so I'm surprised this HMG has managed to crawl up into a firing position unseen. I'm going to pull the Engineers back into a bit better cover and move up the M18s; they should be able to get line of sight on this HMG from their position on the hill. I can also now move them into far better firing positions as I'm fairly sure that these two PaKs were the last he had (the total of confirmed PaKs knocked out being at 6). Once this HMG has been taken care of I may push the Engineers up to at least spray the treeline in front of them with fire and confuse my opponent as to where and how I'll be hitting this objective.

Well the difference between 1944 and 1942-43, right? Although I'm curious as to why they haven't given at least a handful of close-assault equipment to the infantry. Do the Soviets have something for close-assaulting tanks or are they just as helpless if attacked unsupported?

Ugh, built up terrain like that gives me the heebie-jeebies. You're a braver soul than I for fighting in that. The feigned retreat on the right is a good idea, I'm curious to see if he will take the bait.

Orchards tend to be deceptively frustrating resistance nests. The sparse nature still provides half-decent cover, and more importantly a masked route of retreat. I wouldn't stick around after the initial fusillade if I can avoid it however.

Of course, but remember I have Patton breathing down my neck. I feel like a bad skipper in Silent Hunter - "Be more aggressive!" Perhaps I can channel my inner c3k for the home stretch. I just got the Fire-For-Effect kick back for one of the sections. My opponent has hinted that if he takes any more significant casualties in his intact platoon with nothing to show for it that he might surrender or ask for a ceasefire, but I still have 45 minutes to grab objectives before I listen to any cries for mercy

A narrow escape for this Russian crewman. Grim victory. A Ukrainian squad takes cover near a Russian body during mop-up operations.

Turns 72-79 (Part Two): Note: I will have a video done of the action in the town and over the last few turns hopefully before the weekend is over. This can get confusing to follow, so I'll let a quick video show what I can't describe. My intuition with regards to my unsupported tank platoon proves true. They take a panzerschreck shot from a treeline at the edge of the hamlet; it misses by a wide margin. The Shermans retreat behind a smoke screen. Their infantry support arrive soon after however, kicking up dust: Back in town, I'm continuing my methodical HE-a-palooza, and the enemy body count is rising: Then it all goes wrong, despite having infantry no more than 10 feet away, a panzerschreck team lurking around a corner gets a shot on the Platoon HQ's tank, knocking it out: Belatedly, its infantry support downs both members of the team as they try to displace. Despite losing the Sherman, I decide to push an assault team up to a house that should allow me to lock down the little intersection I had originally intended to push this platoon towards. I'm able to get into the house without incident, but immediately upon entering, the fireteam exchanges fire with German riflemen in a building just across the street. The exchange of fire intensifies as other positions all along the street-front also open up on my fireteam. In a brief 15 seconds, I have killed/wounded 3 of the enemy, and suffered 3 killed or wounded myself. Here's the problem with that little trade off: I've already buried the better part of a platoon in the rubble sweeping down the street, and yet judging by the firestorm this fireteam started, its clear that whatever is holding the intersection is the beginnings of a second platoon. I'm bleeding tanks, I'm bleeding men,and the defenders outnumber me. Can I secure this objective if I pressed on? Undoubtedly, but it would be an even worse bloodbath than it already is. Its time to pull back and create a kill box. I have about 200 rounds left of 105mm between the two sections, its time to create some collateral: I'm also going to push up to the opposite high ground another tank platoon, so that when I push back into the town center I can now HE from multiple angles. The right-hook will stop where it is until the barrage lifts; and will harass with their 60mm and supporting tanks the riflemen taking potshots at them outside of the killbox. Let's end by looking at the situation in front (rather, behind) the first Hamlet, here's the plan to attack: I have about 50 minutes to secure these two objectives, so I'll be moving forward cautiously with scout teams before the tanks press up into good firing positions. A sharp 'crack' of a PaK (this would be the missing 6th gun) just over the slope of the hill gives away its position. That'll have to be dealt with first before I can deploy my tanks into good firing positions. Again...I'm not sure what its firing at, but this little unmasking is going to get it hit in the rear by a tank section. Once that PaK is knocked out, the M18s can support by direct fire any advance on the hamlet from the high ground: The next few turns may be the difference between a total victory or a minor one. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous; because I'm attacking with more firepower, but a lot less manpower into these hamlets. All it takes is one good burst of MG fire and my attacking platoon will be sapped of its fighting strength...

I'll gladly compile it into a .pdf then when its all said and done. Turns 72-79 (Part one): The battle inside the town rages. An attempt to panzerscheck from an orchard on the outskirts of town is thwarted by the Sherman platoons on the high ground: Moments later however, a second attempt is made by another team, this time they get a shot off - drat. The hit, which barely hits the lower hull, forces a dismount and this team is able to displace before return fire cuts them down. Meanwhile the right hook closes on that HMG position. Frustratingly, they do not toss a grenade, and return fire instantly kills one of the assualt team members. However at 30m they can't compete with the M1s and all of the HMG team is killed save for one German, which flees through the hail of fire: My enemy begins hammering the high ground with what I believe to be 105mm howitzers, once again the barrage (which is quite heavy) is quite late, and hits where I had been almost 8 minutes ago: In the center of town, I'm comfortable enough now to bring in my supporting platoon of armor up close. The plan is brutal and simple, HE a building thoroughly, storm it and kill any survivors. Rinse and repeat. The first few blocks fall like this without much incident, but as part two will reveal this success is short-lived As I push on either side of the road coming in from my left, my overwatching armor continues to shellack the center of town with HE: The situation deep in my enemy's rear has seen me pushing forward with an unsupported tank platoon, as I dealt with a pesky HMG in their rear. Now that the problem has been resolved, the infantry is back on tracks and ready to speed towards this vulnerable tank platoon. In the mean time, the Tank platoon itself has probed the first hamlet objective from the high ground. They've confirmed for me that my previous artillery (called in from the seized hill) did indeed knock out a PaK gun, and shoot up the farm for a bit. I'm too vulnerable to risk unbuttoning and I have no desire to sit there on the hill while the enemy potentially filters up some AT, so they will pull back into the reverse slope and await the infantry: Its clear my enemy is on the back pedal, but I have to be careful to not self-destruct on his last, powerful positions. Its become increasingly evident that the town is held in great strength. I'm kicking myself for not hammering it with artillery before entering, but live and learn. Part two to follow soon.

Not underestimating your opponent, but at the same time not being intimidated by them is not an easy balance to strike. Love your mentality. Can't wait to see the result of these next moves.

A proper blood bath on the right, but it seems to be going well enough on your left. Will you be able to reinforce success there, so to speak?

I'm with you. I think doing a traditional AAR is far less stressful than trying to get a balanced audio commentary, or to get a damned mic to co operate. Taking out that Firefly early will be an absolute windfall for you - assuming its the only one he has. Good luck.

lmfao... I have no words except 'step back.' How's this: I don't care what you had in mind, then; but my point is no less relevant. PS: Even phones have spell-check, J-H-C.

He's referring to Russian comms-warfare and E-Warfare. Which I will tell you pointblank is just plain more matured than anything the United States or Canada has to offer. If comms went dark for an extended length of time, a lot of us would have trouble coping. IIRC the campaigns have generally captured the mutual impotency of fixed-wing air support; the Russians having a sizable strategic air net to hamper NATO but a laughable and aging fleet of their own. If 2008 is any indication (hint: It is), the Russians are able to punch holes in comms, completely disrupt or hijack civilian media (a key route of information flow) and had great success in jamming communications. We're a bit behind on the game in that spectrum, we think we can defend our e-net if it comes under attack, but we're not really capable of jamming in return to the same degree.

We're in total agreement here. The only rule we play with is, like you said, no pre-planned artillery for the defender - and that's only for QBs. I remember doing a Shockforce PBEM of a pre-made scenario where the Defender got strong intel about the attacker's deployment (to simulate radio intercept + indigenous sympathies). My opponent asked if he was allowed to do spoiling fire. I replied that the scenario designer clearly intended for it, so all bets are off. One of the more memorable matches.

To put it mildly they often are, yes. At least you have crisp looking images, and didn't bring out the GIMP. Still, I'm growing fond of my own half-assed top-down styles. I haven't been able to grab screenshots yet, but I decided it was time to do a head count based on the latest set of turns (it turns out this town is simply crawling with Germans). Here are some musings as I inch past the halfway mark of the battle: My enemy has an entire battalion on the field, I'm convinced. The platoons destroyed earlier at either crossing were from the same company. If I had to estimate his losses, they are nearing 50 percent; as I've destroyed a mortar battery, the better part of an Anti-tank battery (1 PAK still unaccounted for) and the better part of two rifle companies.He has a company in the town, or what is left of it. Two tired platoons of infantry, even with tank support, aren't going to dig them out and both platoons are nearing combat ineffectiveness. Its time to make a killbox in the center of town with artillery and bypass for more seizeable objectives. Although I'm pulling out of town, the buildings I've secured have all had upwards of a fireteam killed completely within them. I reckon he has two platoons left at fighting strength.He most likely has spread between the two farming communities a company.At the bypassed ford, he has a platoon - which means if I can turn around and seize it with ease if necessary.I'm nearing 30 percent casualties myself, damn it all. I'm going to have to push him for a surrender if I want a total victory now. I'm hoping the artillery box will break his spirit of resistance. Of the original 25 AFVs (not including M20s), I am down to 19. I'm actually not to upset over this, as I've accounted for 5 PAK guns and God knows how many enemy infantry. As per the historical loadout as well, this was a 2-1 split for the Battalion. My logic is like this, tanks formed the majority of the force, were expected to do the majority of fighting, and therefore take the brunt of the losses.Off the top of my head: 133 men of the original 194 infantry are still in action.This means that I'm nearing the 30 percent casualty threshold for my entire force.I have him essentially cut apart and trapped in 3 pockets, and my blind rushing has made me rebound with totally avoidable losses. I've advanced almost 2km into his rear, and he has nowhere to go. Now's the time to slow down.HE. Everything. I've been sparing with my use, and most of the remaining armor has on average 44 HE rounds left - I intend to not repeat my mistakes in the city, and level every building in the two hamlets before I move in the supporting platoon of infantry. The less actual fighting against a cohesive force my infantry have to do at this point, the better.I clearly need to work on how to attack urban areas, I'm out of practice. I'm satisfied with how I've handled a defense in depth over the open ground, however.

Thanks. I'm not too worried, I'm sure the issue will be resolved. Enough talk however; talk is cheap. A little preview from the next reports; you expressed concern for the isolated tank platoon a few posts ago MOS, well here's what they've been doing: Making noise and confirming PAK kills