Falaise

Späher (Scouts). 
 

Much appreciated, thanks so much. Sadly I feel more like the hunted than hunter at present - as you'll see. 
1809-1810
On the right flank
Spotting rounds from my mortars begin to range in on the Pak43, and though these spotting rounds land well behind target, given the accuracy of the barrage on the Pak40 a moment ago, I'm quite confident that this fire mission will ultimately be on target. Whether it has effect, is another matter. The Lieutenant calling in on the Pak43 also reports another notable contact, yet another Panther spotted all the way on the left. A Panther in hiding, among the Orchard on Farm 002's land. 

On the left flank
C Coy of The Rifles advance through the copse of trees and prepares to advance to contact.

While the Battlegroup's assigned FOO hauls bottom to the OP I identified in my previous post:

I am anticipating a bit of an affray developing in the next 10 to 15 minutes for Farm 001 and, perhaps, even Objective TOM proper if Draper decides to push elements forward into the dead ground in support of Farm 001's garrison. In anticipation of escalation of violence, I am moving No. 9 Troop/C Sqn of the Dragoons, which is in a support by fire position on the right, to the left of the Squadron's positions. This will improve their field of fire in support of the dismounts. 
This is pretty much a soft admission that I am committed to COA1 at this point, the terrain is really just too good here viz-a-viz the large forces I need to put through this area, in contrast to the much congested COA2. In any event, I can still shift a troop to the right with relative haste if I need to. 

1810-1811
The lead section of C Coy cross the first part of the river without incident, with the dismounted scouts covering their right flank. These infantrymen draw fire, briefly, from an extremely optimistic Landser without incident. 


The Cromwells and Firefly of No 9 Troop begin their move to their new position, bumping gently over the rougher ground as they move - as always - in masked terrain as much as possible.
 

1812-1813
On the left
The scout section begins to identify enemy fighting positions, likely the same that gave them that first bloody nose earlier. These positions are fairly spread out and appear to form a picquet line. Not too surprising. 2" HE, smoke and Bren-gun fire will be placed on them to conduct a recce by fire as soon as practicable. 
No. 8 Platoon, part of C Coy, begins to take MG fire as they cross the first water obstacle. This platoon was the trail element of the company and now that James is likely alert to the movement of men, they are getting a naturally hotter reception. The fire is not on target and the platoon is in defilade before it can inflict any harm. 

The real dilemma is how to get up and over the raised road, seen in the background above, that separates these two tributaries of the river. This pseudo-causeway presents a fairly small, but extremely exposed, bit of ground to cross. The MG fire is well beyond range that even an entire company of small arms can effectively suppress (in fact it would be about as effective as spitting straight up in the air), so I will put my hope in 2" smoke and section-level smoke grenades to obscure as much as possible. 
On the right
A Dingo slips past the north village and begins to ford the water obstacle...no booms of cannons or the sharp crack of a high velocity gun. So far, so good, right? 

Then suddenly there is a slight impact in a tree forward of the ford - a rifle grenade, most likely? The only nearby structure is a Barn, and the likely source of the rifle grenade. The overwatching Daimler II is ordered to spray it down briefly, whilst the Dingo carries on fording. 
Further behind this lead pair of armoured cars is the Troop leader, motoring forward in his own Daimler II. As he moves, he spots - astonishingly - a Puma in west village (the same one, I suspect, that had a brush with death earlier). He takes a shot on the gallop, harming nothing save the big blue sky.

He takes no return fire and, in any event, carries on without further incident this turn. Two cruisers follow up behind him, with a trailing third remaining in overwatch in the hope that Puma makes a third appearance. 
A slow burn on this one guys, I do apologise for that - but I also think you'll appreciate that much more than me dashing myself to pieces mindlessly. The heat does turn up, I assure you. 

The Eighty-Sixth Minute
KG Leino -  Die Mitte
2 Zug's HQ Trupp cross over to Jean's position to offer encouragement and perhaps temper his murderous intent some. They draw fire from the trees.

Jean was not going to miss hearing those shots. His pulse quickens slightly, then his training kicks in and he becomes as cold as the frozen tundra around him, waiting.

Then he spies his prey, the HQ team that were seen moving into position a short while ago. He steadies his breath, takes dead aim, squeezes the trigger...and the turn ends.

Meanwhile on the right 1 Zug are starting to probe forward and THQ has arrived on station to assist.

KG Koskela - die Links
The StuG moves over onto the paved highway. A risk, but a calculated one as I've only seen infantry in the woods and they are some way behind the lead elements and this will allow him to move more quickly and reduce the risk of immobilisation.

Speaking of which, back at the immobilised SPW it's quiet. Too quiet.

The Landsers pile out of their now useless vehicle and start moving towards 1 Zug's vehicles. P2 is reversing to come give some fire support.

The woods are still quiet.

The SPW crew grab some ammo and a faust and hop out too and await their ride (the reversing 251/17).

They watch the treeline with anticipation, or is it fear?

Their ride is almost here.

Still they watch the trees for any signs of movement that could spell instant death.

But none comes.
2 Zug link up with the remainder of their Kompanie but they aren't out of harm's way yet!

KG Perala - das Rechts
2/1 continue to push through the scrub, nothing to report and no reaction that I can see.
T1 is on the way to join them.

SITMAP

On the left I may have got away with it, but we'll not know until next turn.
In the middle Jean is about to open up on that HQ team and 1 Zug are probing towards the trees from KT1. I'm thinking of putting the HQ Tiger to good use and area firing his T34s' positions to see if I can drive him out. We'll see what the infantry uncover first.
On the right the way does indeed appear to be clear. The forces are gathering to start moving up to join the scouts.
MMM

Bonus Update - BDA and The Next Phase of Battle
As promised here's a breakdown of my remaining infantry strength. Note the armour and vehicles are not included, I've lost no armour thus far and only three SPWs, two destroyed and one immobilised, 2/2 has suffered two of those SPW losses though and is down to one running vehicle.
I'll break it down by company.
1 Kompanie
The assault element. I think I got off quite lightly as I expected them to be more or less wiped out taking the objective. I lost (by my reckoning) 14 men: 5 from 1 Zug, 7 from 2 Zug (they were tasked with gaining the foothold) and 2 from the weapons Zug.
The remaining strength is shown below. Whilst I "only" lost 14 men that obviously hits hard when I didn't have that many to start with. Morale across the board is pretty good considering.

2 Kompanie
After the disaster on the left 1 Zug was more or less wiped out. 2 Zug helped with the SBF in the attack on the objective and took six casualties and lost two SPWs (one destroyed, one immobilised).

3 Kompanie
These guys took some casualties in the initial recon phase but are my strongest unit as they pulled flank security during the attack.

BDA on Objective ROT
I only saw maybe the remainders of a platoon retreating from the objective but he may well have been pulling them back long before I saw any. I think not though given the amount of casualties remaining in the buildings. I count maybe 2 platoons destroyed/captured not to mention the destruction of 3 x ATGs, 1 x AA gun, 3 x MG teams and 4 HQ teams. I'm confident given the mix of weapons and teams that it was a cavalry squadron defending the objective and if the ones who retreated are not badly mauled they will probably not be all that enthusiastic to carry on the fight.
What next?
OK so what are my plans? Well initially my plan was to capture the objective and then reorient and smash down the highway, grab objective SCHWARZ and then wheel right towards BLAU. In conjunction with this an attack would be launched down AoA4 towards GRAU to get him fighting in more than one direction.
I misjudged the amount of time it would take to capture ROT and it will take time to move additional forces over to the left given the restrictions to vehicular movement so I am going to have to modify the plan a bit.
A reminder of the identified avenues of approach on this map:

OK so where do I think he's defending? I am reasonably confident that he has a regiment of cavalry as per the briefing and a company of T34s in the AO.
A reminder of the template for a cavalry regiment:
1 x recon platoon 1 x sapper platoon 4 x cavalry squadrons each w/ 3 platoons, 1 MG platoon, 1 SMG platoon, 1 AT Rifle platoon 1 x mortar squadron 1 x infantry gun battery 1 x AT company That gives a total of 583 men, 4 x 45mm AT guns, 4 x 76mm infantry guns, 3 x 82m mortars, 12 x AT rifles, 8 x MMGs.
I've identified 4 x 45mm guns, two of which are knocked out, destroyed 4 x AT rifles teams and also spotted 1 x 76mm field gun and that does not appear in the TO&E for a cavalry regiment, also the presence of the 61-K tells me this is a reinforced regiment. I can't rely on there not being any more AT guns out there based on this template.
I can only hope that he is not at full strength as the thought of facing 3 more squadrons with what I have left does not fill me with hope. I've plotted where I suspect he will have set his forces (only numbered the squadrons and tank platoons as the squadrons will likely be supplemented by the sappers, recon and infantry gun batteries) up on the map and numbered them and added the FEBA. Let's go through each of the numbered items in turn.

1. Cavalry squadron + AT guns
Given the amount of contacts I've seen in the treeline along with Maxim MGs and 45m ATGs I'm confident that it's a squadron guarding the highway. Strange to see the ATGs not guarding the actual road though, I would have made sure that they were covering the approach instead of the ground to the right.
2. Cavalry squadron + AT guns + AA gun
The one that was holding the objective. I feel they may have retreated into the woods to the East of the objective as that's what I would do as I would want eyes on what I was up to. I also suspect that that is where he pulled his remaining two T34s back to from the objective.
3. Cavalry squadron
Not an actual objective so it could be less than a squadron but as it's the smallest organic unit I'd expect the whole lot of them to be in there. I've spotted AT rifle teams too which leads me to believe he has a squadron in there supported by tanks. Likely they don't have any AT guns, I'd expect them to be kept further back.
4. Cavalry squadron + ATGs
One squadron back at GRAU but they are probably lining the treeline at objective BLAU too so could be thinly spread. The treeline at BLAU is the perfect place to set up some AT defences.
5. T34 Platoon 1
The one that was on ROT. I saw them retreating in the direction of the trees to the East so I will assume for now that they are guarding AoA5 and 6. They are down to 2 tanks, although they could have been reinforced. I need to locate them.
6. T34 Platoon 2
I know there are at least two T34s guarding AoA4 at KT4. I've seen no sign of the third member of the platoon.
7. T34 Platoon 3
I have no idea where these tanks are located. I knocked one out on AoA1 and if I were him I'd pull the remainder back and guard the approach to BLAU from SCHWARZ so that's where I've placed them.
Of course all this needs to be confirmed  So my plan is to split my forces into Kampfgruppen and recon in force up AoA1 and AoA4. If the forces are laid out as above then AoA 5/6, whilst being tree-lined and having a few pinch points may well be open for an attack straight into GRAU. As I don't have time to gather my forces on one axis I think the best bet at this time is to attack across a broad front and make him defend attacks from different directions. It's about all I have time for.
Kampfgruppen
KG Leino
These are the forces on ROT at the moment. They will try and get eyes on where T34 platoon 1 has gone and guard against a counterattack. If he does not counterattack then they will launch a holding attack of their own and exploit any success that comes of it, but I'm not expecting much.
This KG consists of:
1 Ko. THQ T2 KG Koskela
This KG will push up AoA1 and see what is guarding it. They will be using travelling overwatch with the StuG out front closely followed by the Panthers and 2 Ko. in its SPWs. This is an armour heavy formation as they simply don't have many infantry left.
2 Ko. P1 P2 StuG 1 KG Perala
This KG will push up AoA4 and try and bypass the tanks at KT4 and get behind them for an assault on GRAU. They will consist of:
3 Ko. T1 StuG 2 If I do attack with KG Koskela and manage to punch through it will give him a dilemma as to what to do with the forces at the farm on KT4 as they could get behind these forces. With the attack coming up AoA4 too it will be interesting to see how aggressive he wants to get, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We're still very much in recon mode, scouting up AoA1 and AoA4 and trying to get eyes into the trees beyond ROT.
Should be fun and of course I choose to remain as flexible as I can, these probably will change.
MMM

Who did this?



Will he get a mention in dispatches?
 

@KuliYour pictures are really beautiful!!
On the other hand put a space between each image
it's a shame that such beautiful photos are presented in a single block
I also love that of CMFB bravo 👏

Greetings from Latvia.

uh
yes it's 302 instead of 502
my old mind is omnibilized by German heavy tank battalions
 
I forgot to specify the church is St Pierre de Caen
with the pun of course 😉

I agree with you @Bulletpoint @Erwin
even if i today in Normandy the churches have this appearance it is because they are regularly cleaned
at the time, 600 years of chimney smoke had clogged the stone
However all my attempts to smear them have failed
because some part washed by the rain was clear while the other protected from the wind and the rain was dark. If I can made something realistic I will put it online
before and after scrubbing

@Warts 'n' all the tower is called 502 (01) you have to make sure it is present. You can in your z file make a zzzz folder and put the mods, there it will take priority over the others

I have frozen fingers while playing!
C'est beau 🥰

I finished the scenario
the map is really great
I didn't know about this battle, I looked at what happened in real life: big battle.
it turns out that I have on several occasions crossed the battlefield without knowing what had happened
I had my first tank losses in the area of the cemetery as it happened in real life.
It's very easy for the Germans, I think you should add anti-tank guns to rebalance, there were some in 1945
In any case very beautiful, and a vast map allowing the maneuver, I love

Bravo M. Falaise le tailleur de pierre! Merci beaucoup.

Those are great churches, Falaise. Superb work.

Here is a church pack in Caen stone and brick numbered 301 (00) and (01); 302 (00) and (01); 303 (00) and (01)
attention!!
 for technical reasons the numbering is different. This it replaces the old ones
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3kkc9g57fzffdha/AACZYbHjE8-zWwOhO62NSS1pa?dl=0


*  did you know guys !

The Caen stone was used to build monuments everywhere in france but also elsewhere

   UK

        Tower of London (89,200 concrete blocks delivered by 75 ships in 127811)

        LondonTowerBridge

        St. Paul's Cathedral in London

        Westminster Abbey

        Canterbury Cathedral

        OxfordCastle

        Durham Cathedral

        Rochester Cathedral

        Chichester Cathedral

        Norwich Catholic Cathedral

        BuckinghamPalace

        EtonCollege
    In Belgium

        RoyalPalace of Brussels
    In Germany

        Cologne Cathedral (decor elements)
    In the USA

        St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York

        Elements of interior decoration of buildings (e.g. New York customs chimney).

        Washington National Cathedral (main altar)

        St. Andrew's Cathedral Honolulu12
    In Canada

        Osgoode Hall Atrium

Here is a church pack in Caen stone and brick numbered 301 (00) and (01); 302 (00) and (01); 303 (00) and (01)
attention!!
 for technical reasons the numbering is different. This it replaces the old ones
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3kkc9g57fzffdha/AACZYbHjE8-zWwOhO62NSS1pa?dl=0


*  did you know guys !

The Caen stone was used to build monuments everywhere in france but also elsewhere

   UK

        Tower of London (89,200 concrete blocks delivered by 75 ships in 127811)

        LondonTowerBridge

        St. Paul's Cathedral in London

        Westminster Abbey

        Canterbury Cathedral

        OxfordCastle

        Durham Cathedral

        Rochester Cathedral

        Chichester Cathedral

        Norwich Catholic Cathedral

        BuckinghamPalace

        EtonCollege
    In Belgium

        RoyalPalace of Brussels
    In Germany

        Cologne Cathedral (decor elements)
    In the USA

        St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York

        Elements of interior decoration of buildings (e.g. New York customs chimney).

        Washington National Cathedral (main altar)

        St. Andrew's Cathedral Honolulu12
    In Canada

        Osgoode Hall Atrium

Here is a church pack in Caen stone and brick numbered 301 (00) and (01); 302 (00) and (01); 303 (00) and (01)
attention!!
 for technical reasons the numbering is different. This it replaces the old ones
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3kkc9g57fzffdha/AACZYbHjE8-zWwOhO62NSS1pa?dl=0


*  did you know guys !

The Caen stone was used to build monuments everywhere in france but also elsewhere

   UK

        Tower of London (89,200 concrete blocks delivered by 75 ships in 127811)

        LondonTowerBridge

        St. Paul's Cathedral in London

        Westminster Abbey

        Canterbury Cathedral

        OxfordCastle

        Durham Cathedral

        Rochester Cathedral

        Chichester Cathedral

        Norwich Catholic Cathedral

        BuckinghamPalace

        EtonCollege
    In Belgium

        RoyalPalace of Brussels
    In Germany

        Cologne Cathedral (decor elements)
    In the USA

        St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York

        Elements of interior decoration of buildings (e.g. New York customs chimney).

        Washington National Cathedral (main altar)

        St. Andrew's Cathedral Honolulu12
    In Canada

        Osgoode Hall Atrium

yes it's Phil
But I think you're right I'm sending the file with the passport back to Phil and we'll see what's next
Thank you Tim

Knock knock knockin' on heaven's door

Those stonemasons really did get everywhere. 

Here is a church pack in Caen stone and brick numbered 301 (00) and (01); 302 (00) and (01); 303 (00) and (01)
attention!!
 for technical reasons the numbering is different. This it replaces the old ones
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3kkc9g57fzffdha/AACZYbHjE8-zWwOhO62NSS1pa?dl=0


*  did you know guys !

The Caen stone was used to build monuments everywhere in france but also elsewhere

   UK

        Tower of London (89,200 concrete blocks delivered by 75 ships in 127811)

        LondonTowerBridge

        St. Paul's Cathedral in London

        Westminster Abbey

        Canterbury Cathedral

        OxfordCastle

        Durham Cathedral

        Rochester Cathedral

        Chichester Cathedral

        Norwich Catholic Cathedral

        BuckinghamPalace

        EtonCollege
    In Belgium

        RoyalPalace of Brussels
    In Germany

        Cologne Cathedral (decor elements)
    In the USA

        St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York

        Elements of interior decoration of buildings (e.g. New York customs chimney).

        Washington National Cathedral (main altar)

        St. Andrew's Cathedral Honolulu12
    In Canada

        Osgoode Hall Atrium

I have frozen fingers while playing!
C'est beau 🥰