The Battle for Hamel Vallee - an AAR

[sburke]

"...What was most terrifying of all was the whistling shriek of the incoming freight. Its soundtrack, tapering like a set of rails, started as a small point of noise and roared down the roadbed always expanding and always headed straight for Joe, Joe holding his breath to see if it was this one that had his bill of lading and only knowing that it hadn’t when it wrecked itself in a crescendo of blast and shock, its acrid burnt powder filling his nostrils, its unbelievably great explosive power lingering in his memory and suggesting shattering annihilation. "Often...these freight trains poured in as if funneled through a Herculean fire hose containing all the tracks in the Chicago yards, all tracks headed for the hole where Joe pressed himself down harder and harder into the alien Norman earth."

From an account Broadsword came across written by the CO of the US regiment in our current battle:

http://www.thomy.us/320/storyofthe320thpdfs/320th%20booklet%20text.pdf

July 16th 1944. GIs taking cover from German artillery fire near the Hamel Manor

This is the beginning of an AAR which will likely be quite long. The battle is now about 45 minutes in and still raging. This scenario is based on an OP layer campaign run by Broadsword for CMBN using the St Lo boardgame. I have been gifted with the privilege to play the German side in any CM games that are generated as well as offering advice on German operational plans. We have had I think 4 battles in this campaign prior to this one most of which had to be called due to OOM issues, but with enough info that we generally knew the outcome.

This one, The battle for Hamel Vallee, was the first under 1.10 and the performance was a whole lot better (thank you BFC!). This was very fortunate as it was the largest battle of the bunch and is the German's last stand before St Lo. It has ended up being a truly epic fight and seemed to be the perfect platform to show off CMBN in all it's glory. No whining about missing features allowed. This AAR is to to show for those of us tired of the nitpicking of issues on the forum that we wanted to showcase just how good this game is. Not that those folks are wrong or that we aren't extremely happy they are part of the community, we just feel those issues need to be seen in the context that the game rocks and while addressing those items may improve upon it, they certainly don't define it. The battle is still going, but our expectation is it should wrap up fairly soon as we have a threshold limit on casualties that once it kicks in determines the effect on the OP layer battle regardless of the actual situation at the CM level. (the interaction is a little more complicated than that but I'll leave that for Broadsword to explain the mechanics - I'm just here for the fight )

The German situation is not good. The briefing is as follows:

Overview

0730 Hours, 16 July 1944

Weather: Clear, ground dry.

Situation:

Our battalion raced to the front yesterday to block an expected major attack by the US 320th Infantry toward our division HQ, SW in Le Mesnil-Rouxelin. Fortunately, our spotters to the south on Hill 122 directed highly effective artillery fire onto the US battalion as it moved onto Hill 108, and stopped them cold. But our artillery is needed elsewhere and they do not have the ammunition to keep the Americans suppressed any longer. The US force brought up assets and replacements overnight, and is expected to attack at any moment. The massive US bombardment that began last night and continued into this morning has disrupted our force, leaving communications and leadership seriously impaired. We must make a firm stand here, because any breakthrough theatens to encircle our Le Carillon line to the W and our line blocking the Saint Lo-Isigny highway to the E, and would leave the door open to Hill 122 (the key to the campaign for Saint-Lo).

Objective

Defend and hold our battalion positions -- an area roughly 280m x 280m W of the D-91 road -- for at least 4 hours.

Friendly Forces

Our primary force is the 518th Battalion/Grenadier-Regiment 916.

Strength: 60% strength.

Fitness: Tired and battleworn: 3rd Company weakened, 1st and 2nd companies unfit.

Supply: Adequate.

Motivation: Normal.

Experience: Veteran

Leadership is poor (-2), due to the disruptive effect of the US bombardment.

Order of battle:

*518 Battalion/Grenadier-Regiment 916/352nd Infantry Division

*4th Company/AG Bn/Panzerjaeger-Abteilung 352 (3 platoons of Stug III)

*3rd battery/I. Falschirmflak Regiment 352 ( 2 x 88mm AT)

*Forward Observer Team

*916th Artillery Battalion (12 x 105mm, offmap, ammo supply adequate)

*Reinforcements: None.

Enemy Forces

*3rd Battalion, 320th Infantry, 35th "Santa Fe" Infantry Division. This unit is fully trained to "regular" experience, rested, and fully manned, giving them a 3:1 superiority in personnel. But the unit has never seen combat. They moved into our sector yesterday and are believed to be lightly entrenched.

*Enemy assets participating in the attack will include an Engineer platoon, and mixed armor in company or more strength. They will no doubt continue to have massive amounts of off-map medium artillery to use throughout the battle.

Plan

*Defend and hold at all costs. Do not reveal positions until enemy main units are within 300 yards. Allow penetrations but channel these into prepared kill zones and terrain favorable to our defenses. Use multiple lines and defenses in depth to wear out and stall the enemy attack. Preserve the Stugs as a mobile counterattack force to ambush enemy armor, but beware of the Shermans' superior mobility and ability to traverse turrets. Use indirect artillery only against known and spotted targets.

My infantry battalion has been rushed into the line to stop an American breakthrough. Upon arrival in it's position with no time to dig in properly it was promptly hit by a heavy American artillery barrage. As a result the unit has has been rated as poor in terms of fitness which seriously impacts the staying power of my infantry. The position itself is also not great, it is the reverse slope of a hill (108) with the Americans on top. The only upside is the hill slopes away behind my position offering concealed movement capability as I shift units. I have also been given badly needed armored support in the form of 7 StuGs, an StuH 42 and 4 Marder IIIs along with a couple AT guns and supporting artillery fire from battalion and regimental mortars as well as divisional 105 mm artillery. My FOs have also had time to at least register a number of trp locations to aid my defense. This is it, a stand and/or die defense. I love these desperation battles!

As the battle has not yet concluded, a review of set up and defense plans is still to be determined. However the true star of this battle is the map. There are a handful of folks who are true "map grogs' and I have the good fortune to have one as an opponent. Different mappers have different concepts. Some like creating unique battle situations, some create them to fit the requirements of a fair HTH battle to put opponents on equal footing and some are what I consider the simulation mappers. They want to create historical battles as true as possible to actual conditions. Broadsword is one of those and as you will see, the maps are outstanding. I also have the good fortune to have an opponent who likes to play CM with the view that it is a simulation engine not just a game. We play it to try to appreciate and understand what it was like to be there. In a sense we are historians who use the game to better understand the history. As we have fought about a half dozen battles we have some appreciation for each others capabilites, but over the past year we have both adapted to each others play and learned new tactics. On a side note, we do not have any set rules but the briefing and intent precludes a set up zone bombardment and I never like them anyway. Too easy to waste valuable artillery. On the other hand I expect pre planned bombardments from the Americans. No attacker should have to forego the opportunity to suppress the defense, it is one of the few advantages they have at start. Note the briefing also defines this as a prepared assault and not a hasty attack.

For those who haven't tried but think you may be interested in PBEM I have only this to say. Selecting a PBEM opponent is very important to how much you will enjoy the experience. If you are clear about what your own vision is of what you want to get out of it and find a like minded opponent I can't recommend it enough. My debt of gratitude to Broadsword continues to grow the longer we play. Personally I feel I got more than my money's worth in CMBN even without the modding community, but Broadsword has easily increased the value of this game for me 10 fold. Watching my opponent successfully employ real world tactics is an absolute pleasure. Defeating them by doing something gamey would likely bother me more than Broadsword. I would have deprived both of us of what we most desire to see in the game. End result, we don't define rules, we simply try to apply what we understand from what we have studied.

One conclusion I have personally come to is, any game has to have some amount of trade off decisions by the developer. You can't simulate everything especially things that are pure chance or based on human emotional reactions. Those trade offs represent decisions that make the game behave in such a way that you believe they accurately represent the average result in a given situation. I can't say that the decisions BFC made are going to be the best options given any terrain conditions, force structure or battlefield but my experience in this battle is I think they did a really damn good job in their decision making in CMBN. I know some folks might disagree, but our units performed about as well as we'd have expected and from everything we have read, we felt this battle showed all the difficulties inherent in attacking in hedgerow country. Tactical issues that we have read about (for ex trying to maintain an attack tempo behind a rolling barrage) played out almost exactly as many of the stories we have read. Combined arms tactics worked when we were able to apply them, but we also learned how hard that skill can be to employ and how even a minor disruption for a planned attack can have serious consequences. My AT teams were able to function, I don't think we really noticed any uber spotting by tanks (if anything we found armor to be highly vulnerable on the attack), tank commanders were suicidal to remain exposed for long around infantry, fox holes did provide a high degree of survivability from artillery etc etc. In short, the game engine worked and worked well - thanks BFC.

So sit back and enjoy the tale of a ferocious fight on the morning of July 16th on hill 108 in Normandy. Hopefully this AAR will provide you with even a small taste of how intense this battle was for us and for those of you on the fence about PBEM, some idea of what you might be missing.

To begin let's take a battlefield tour.

[sburke]

"Terrain, weather, trivialities – everything concerned with the period in which [a soldier] undergoes his baptism of fire – burns

into his heart and brain, some things confusedly, some things graphically, but all things unforgettably..."To a vet of St. Lo a

remembrance of juiceless unripe apples, abandoned combat packs, a jug of the white-lightning Calvados, a dead GI still standing

behind a hedgerow, Spring onions plucked gingerly from a booby-trapped garden, a ransacked peasant’s bedroom, a bevy of bees

kibitzing over a can of 10-in1 jelly, may cause the complete picture of Normandy to unreel in his mind. "Again he will see vividly

the dense green foliage of the hedges; the bright petite fields and orchards checkering Purple Heart Hill [Hill 108]; the sunken

roads, foxhole-ridden."

From the same account quoted in the introduction

For those interested in the mechanics of mapmaking Broadsword has provide the materials used including a google earth link.

This is the actual Op layer battle from St Lo.

Map with Google earth locator with game board map overlay to locate terrain

Google earth overview of map area

Topo map of battle area.

Dropbox link for google earth locator

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30964082/Hamel%20Vallee%20Battle%20Area%20July%2016%2C%201944.kmz

[sburke]

Now into the actual map screenshots

For orientation the American attack largely jumps off from the area in the top left corner of the map from the hotel over to the center

crossroads. All of this area is covered in orchard and some locations have very good visibility down to the Wheatfield.

Overhead view

The German positions are roughly everything below hwy 91. If you look closely you can see the orange dots of the TRPs. The German defense

is partly premised on being able to stall the allied advance along Hwy 91 long enough to hit the Americans with artillery while exposed

in the confines of the roadway. Most of the hwy is bordered on both sides by hedgerow making it very difficult for an attacker to avoid

getting momentarily stalled on the hwy while preparing to breach into the fields on the opposite side. The key for them is to maintain

momentum, the key for me is to make them too cautious to use the Rhino fitted tanks in that manner.

This is the view from the American jump off position at the hotel note visibility does not extend very far past the first field. This will become

a factor in how well American armor can support the attack while not becoming victom to German AT guns.

The German BN HQ was well to the rear in what was thought to be a likely stronghold fallback position when 1st Co was forced back.

View from BN HQs

Part of the difficulty for the German position is the lack of roadways for lateral movement. With no demo charges the German armor

was forced to fight separate battles as there would be no shifting of units from one side to the other.

View from Hamel Manor looking down hwy 91

This is a lateral view along hwy 91 from Hamel manor towards the hotel. Again note the TRP well within the German lines. The German FOs

were not placed in the front lines. The inital battle would be covered using a number of TRPs. As the troops fell back they would

retreat towards the FOs.

[sburke]

The Wheatfield, the left road and crossroads and the orchard adjoining the left crossroads would be the scene of a vicious

struggle that would involve 2nd and 3rd platoons of 1st Company. 2nd platoon would be decimated, but the stubborn defense

would unhinge the initial allied battle plan. Late in the battle it was revealed that the allied plan was to have a

rolling barrage with the infantry following closely behind. That plan was disrupted by my forward units slowing the

American advance and causing it to lose the advantages of the bombardment. By the time US units had hit the German

skirmish line, the landser had recovered and were waiting. In addition the StuGs of the PJ Bn announced their presence by

beginning to take out allied tanks before they could even begin to join up with the infantry.

This is a view from the approx location of 1st Co HQ towards hill 108. Note the road becomes an effective barrier to German

unit lateral movement. Any reinforcement would have to be planned as coming from deep in the German rear area. As the

fitness level of German units was rated as poor this meant making sure the Germans had a system to move men quickly to

reinforce the defense. The trucks from the AT units and Co kubelwagens would play an important if not critical role in

this battle. I normally use quick as a standard move order. In this battle that was basically denied me, they would simply become exhausted.

Views from 1st Co HKL position into Wheatfield. This position was manned by elements of 1st platoon, and the CO MG sect.

They would be joined by reinforcements from the HW company, the PJ BN and retreating elements of 2nd Platoon. Though the

expectation was this would be a temporary position followed by a withdrawal back towards the manor and BN HQ, the defense

here held better than expected. The field would be littered by dead and wounded from both sides and mulitple American

tanks.

View from the wheatfield to American position at Hotel on hill 108. This would be the view of the first StuG to join

the defense. It would proceed to destroy 2 Stuarts almost immediately upon taking position. Eventually the Americans

would force their way into the orchard to the left of this position cutting off 2nd platoon from being able to withdrawal.

[sburke]

Views from hotel towards the wheatfield. The wheatfield contributed a much higher level of concealment for infantry than

either of us expected. The elimination of units from 2nd platoon cut off by the American advance would contribute to the

casualty count for both sides and provide some dramatic moments (one of which was documented in comic book style in the

screenshot thread. http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1357669&postcount=345)

View from hill 108 Orchard to Wheatfield

The German defense included a number of lightly manned foward OPs. This is the view from the position of 1st Co sniper

Nell towards where the first American assault units will come into view. The US engineers would be held up here for a few

critical turns while mortar harassment fire would be called down on one of the few TRPs located in the American zone.

Meanwhile the first platoon units behind this position would be shifted out of what had now become a vulnerable position.

It had not been expected that this would be the launching point of the American attack. Score one to the Americans for

surprise.

[sburke]

View from outpost position of 3rd Platoon 1st Co. into the Orchard on hill 108. This team would eliminate two separate American

recon units making a major contribution to disrupting the American timetable, it would then execute a succesful withdrawal from it's

exposed position and continue to contribute to a stubborn defense of the position on hwy 91. This platoon and an MG sect

positioned behind the bloody orchard would end up forming a classic L ambush of an American force that would advance

into the orchard to try to flank 2nd Platoon in the wheatfield.

American view as they would enter the orchard. Note foxhole from one of 3rd platoons original positions. Also note the

slope of the ground. The German defense was premised on holding Hamel manor. The manor and adjoining fields are on high

ground overlooking the wheatfield. The loss of that position would compromise the entire German defense. For the Germans

this fed expectation the Allied attack would originate on the right flank or center.

Hwy 91 where it passes behind the bloody orchard and runs through the left crossroads. Again note the slope of the

terrain. This section of Hwy 91 would become a bitter experience for the GIs of 35th Division. It would also be found to

be shockingly vulnerable to the BN assault guns deep in the German defense line.

The 3rd platoon team was postioned near where the wall along the road terminates. It would eliminate

one recon unit in the orchard out of sight of this view and then crawl over to the wall to ambush another unit.

They did use a bit of overkill launching a PF into the recon team. Still it was quite effective.

Hill 108 orchard, where attacks into bloody orchard would originate from.

[sburke]

This would be the left flank of the American attack and the scene of repeated thrusts by Infantry and armor trying to force

the Germans back away from Hwy 91 and exposing the flank of the manor position. This view is from the American side. The

dirt road leading down and away here would be the lair of another StuG which would maul the first attempts by American

armor to suport the GIs trying to take this position. The inital defense of hwy 91 would be the responsibility of 3rd pltn

1st Co. positioned to the right of this view. When it eventually fell back responsibility for

the crossroads would be assumed by 1st and 3rd platoons 3rd Co.

View from the center crossroads. You can begin to see this is effectively the crest of a slope with observation down

towards the wheatfield.

Another view of the dirt road. Beyond that tree line is Hamel manor.

View from Hamel manor towards the hotel. Note the crossroads and TRPs in the German defense zone.

Our tour will be briefly delayed. Significant troop movements have been noted and it seems the axis of the American attack may change.

That would require more map information for areas I was not expecting to cover.

I will work at cleaning up the screenshots more. I was deliberately including the details of the units to show morale, C&C state etc and

may still include that periodically, but I need to work on my cropping and get rid of the compass.

[LongLeftFlank]

Ooh, ooh, now tell the waiting masses about the REALLY good part -- how your landser aren't just heavily outnumbered in the standard Normandy pattern, but also start shell-shocked from the horrific US pregame barrage, with their C3 all ripped to hell and with badly depleted ammo (including for the all-important 81mm mortars). And they're facing the American hordes on a god awful patch of ground where the fields all run athwart the likely axes of attack and the slopes are so gradual that you can forget about your superior ranged weapons because your standard engagement opening range is under 50 yards. Oh, and did I mention the low ammo?

[Broadsword56]

Ooh, ooh, now tell the waiting masses about the REALLY good part -- how your landser aren't just heavily outnumbered in the standard Normandy pattern, but also start shell-shocked from the horrific US pregame barrage, with their C3 all ripped to hell and with badly depleted ammo (including for the all-important 81mm mortars). And they're facing the American hordes on a god awful patch of ground where the fields all run athwart the likely axes of attack and the slopes are so gradual that you can forget about your superior ranged weapons because your standard engagement opening range is under 50 yards. Oh, and did I mention the low ammo?

Well, LLF, I think you told it pretty well.

But given all that, y'all may be surprised at how the battle's first hour plays out. Either I'm one heckuva lousy US commander, or the Germans aren't in as imbalanced a situation as it looks on paper...

[sburke]

Well, LLF, I think you told it pretty well.

But given all that, y'all may be surprised at how the battle's first hour plays out. Either I'm one heckuva lousy US commander, or the Germans aren't in as imbalanced a situation as it looks on paper...

Or the game does play out astoundingly accurately and shows how the German army was able to last so long before collapse. I think most of us would never consider trying to play this battle as a normal scenario as the German situation at first looks horrendously bad. But just as in real life, mortars (with trps), machine guns and a few well placed armored units prove to be a helluva a lot harder to defeat than the classic- "3-1 odds is the magic number" would have us believe. The terrain here has been a huge force multiplier. As to that engagement distance, well I'll let the battle speak for itself, but I think we can confidently say that this terrain showed some very unpredictable LOF and the line of smoke pyres sometimes deep in the allied position will speak volumes.

[c3k]

sburke: well written, and nicely complimentary without crossing the line into rabid fanboyism. FWIW, I agree that the many cries for relatively minor improvements often obscure how great the underlying game actually is.

LLF and BS: thanks, as well.

That mapwork is amazing.

I'm waiting to find out what happens.

Ken

[sburke]

sburke: well written, and nicely complimentary without crossing the line into rabid fanboyism. FWIW, I agree that the many cries for relatively minor improvements often obscure how great the underlying game actually is.

LLF and BS: thanks, as well.

That mapwork is amazing.

I'm waiting to find out what happens.

Ken

Just to be really clear in case anyone else misses it. I really do appreciate that folks nitpick the game as I am sure BFC does. Who wouldn't want a mass of people to examine every minute particle of their product to help improve it (and for free ). It is more an issue that it seems that is all that is on the forum and a person new to the product is not going to necessarily understand that what it really reflects is a level of devotion to make it the best product it can be. We wanted to show those same folks just how damn good it is and why folks care so much.

[sburke]

The battle is still raging so it is somewhat presumptive of me to discuss the deployment and it's effectiveness, but I thought it

would be interesting to see my perceptions now versus what they might be by the time the battle is over. Hell my entire defense could collapse. To provide perspective though, our casualty threshold for the Germans is 35%, for the Americans it is 45%. My current casualty rate 45 minutes into the battle is approx. 22%. I do not know the American casualty rate but I have reason to believe it is quite high. I count probably a dozen tanks destroyed and the battlefield is littered with American casualties and those are only the ones I can see.

KG Lang planned the defense focusing on the main fight taking place around Hamel Manor. With that in mind 1st Co was given a far larger share of frontage and in some of the worst terrain. In fact the inital attack would fall on their zone forcing 1st Co to carry far more than it's share of the fight and therefore casualties.

I have cropped pictures to retain the details of the unit commanders. As you review the unit positions, note the condition of the units and C&C status. My radio net is functional however the platoons themselves are a different matter. Visibility issues and restrictive terrain would mean many units fighting relatively isolated. Despite this the defense has been surprisingly tough. The Battalion is well spread out and despite a very heavy bombardment, casualties at least from the preplanned bombardment were minimal. All units had hide orders and were in foxholes so they were pretty much eating dirt.

The Battalion position was planned in depth with foxholes dug not just in initial positions but also fall back positions. Considering the state of the battalion it was fully expected we would be driven back and forces were positioned so that the Americans would constantly have to overcome fresh previously unspotted defensive positions. The MG sections of the heavy weapons company were my deep reserve and many of them would eventually be dispatched via my battle taxis (Kubelwagens and trucks) to bolster 1st Co. Note how deep the StuG BN units were for the most part positioned. Their role was to be a constantly moving reserve to hit the American armor whenever it threatened my infantry and to keep the American advance off balance. Also the AT guns were positioned to be so deep they would be outside the area of expected intial American bombardment and able to contribute to the late battle. The Marders are on my right as I expected them to be particularly vulnerable. Once spotted they could be taken out by artillery. My right side has more limited long range visibility from the American positions. As it wasn't till late that the Americans shifted to the right this was fortuitous.

Major Lang, the Commander of KG Lang the morning of July 16th. Note the injury from the previous evenings bombardment. (gotta love our modders).

Advance OP position 1/1/3rd Pltn. The center crossroads is out of the field of view to the left.

This team would account for one of the many American TC casualties.

Edited September 17, 2017 by sburke

[sburke]

1st Co was given responsibility for just under half the Battalion's frontage. However it's half of

the battlefield was accessible to all the PJ BN units. This would turn out to be very fortunate.

1st Pltn would be positioned with one squad in reserve on my far left flank oriented towards the left

crossroads. When the American attack kicked off to their left it was essentially behind them. The

two teams in the field with the Co sniper immediately displaced to re align behind the next hedgerow

facing the unexpected attack.

2nd Platoon had the single most exposed position of any unit and would pay the price. The Platn HQ

and forward units being virtually annihilated. It would however fight stubbornly from these

positions almost singlehandedly holding up the entire initial American advance.

3rd Pltn would also play a critical role in disrupting the American advance. The team on hwy 91

would cause significant casualties to the advance units moving up on Hwy 91 before pulling back to

join the rest of the platoon in what became essentially a fortified position stopping the Americans

cold. One of it's AT units would lob a round into a Stuart as well deterring US armor units from

moving forward. Eventually it would fallback to the next hedgerow aligning some of it's units to

cover it's left flank catching the Americans advancing into the orchard between it and 2nd Platoon.

[sburke]

2nd Co was positioned on the right flank holding the Hamel manor itself. As it happened the Company was completely uninvolved in

most of the battle and at one point was earmarked for a possible counterattack into the American right flank. This was

cancelled when US units were spotted shifting over towards the Company positions.

1st Pltn was positioned as a reserve to reinforce 3rd Co if needed or it's parent Company. It would eventually move forward

to support 1st Pltn 3rd Co and would get caught in a sudden American artillery barrage. Though hurt badly it would contribute

to stopping the American attempt to flank 1st Pltn 3rd Co positions including accounting for a Stuart threatening to break into a positon

weakened by that same artillery barrage. The Americans did not know it, but the position had been severly dislocated. Due to the

efforts of this platoon, they were unable to capitalize on the moment.

2nd Pltn was to cover the roadway and wheatfield on the far right flank.

3rd Pltn was positioned as the advance unit covering 3rd Company's flank.

[sburke]

3rd Company was positioned to defend the central crossroads and the sunken road leading to the manor.

1st pltn would occupy the center position and act as the advance trip wire for the Co. They would be pulled into the fight for the center

crossroads and suffer badly. Their AT unit however would account for the first Sherman kill by a Shrek team.

2nd Pltn would act as the company reserve

3rd pltn would carry primary responsibility for interdicting the center crossroads and would withstand an incredible amount of firepower

stalling the Allied advance cold.

[Frankster65]

Love the AAR! One thing though, your initial pics seem to be gone. For me anyway, it says "images deleted or moved". Not sure if anyone else sees this.

[poesel]

Love the AAR! One thing though, your initial pics seem to be gone. For me anyway, it says "images deleted or moved". Not sure if anyone else sees this.

Me too - no pictures on posts 2-7

[sburke]

aaarrgh. Photobucket. It was bothering me with these popups and I paid attention to them instead of their potential impact. Will fix today either by recreating the original folder or restarting the thread.

Sorry, we are experiencing technical difficulties. You will be returned to our originally planned broadcast shortly. In the meantime, please enjoy our hold music - Zamfir performs the greatest hits from Titanic on the pan flute.

[sburke]

Whew, fixed. Thanks for the heads up. You will now be returned to our regularly scheduled broadcast. Next up - Where the Iron Crosses Grow, the battle begins.

Damn I love that bandage on Major Langs head LOL, I couldn't have planned that. I believe I have Mord to thank for that. I'll be loading your portraits tonight. And that's Aris nicely banged up Kublewagen. Take a bow guys, and the rest of you modders. Unfortunately you won't hear the sound files etc.

[ridethe415]

No whining about missing features allowed. This AAR is to to show for those of us tired of the nitpicking of issues on the forum that we wanted to showcase just how good this game is.

+++++

I admire the effort it must have taken to put this together. As well as your detailed writing, very well done. I am looking forward to reading about the actual battle.

[Praetori]

I must say after reading the initial deployment that I'm quite curious.

It's an intriguing method to deploy the actual platoons in-depth instead of handling it on company level.

Could we please hear something on your reasoning behind this because it seems to have been very effective?

Also the American commander seems to have made quite an excellent job in finding your troop dispositions. As the initial attacks (as far as I've seen from the text) seem to have been directed with at least some precision at 1st Company's weakest spot namely the terrain held by 2nd platoon, correct?

Edit: Awesome job btw. Although I don't have the time to play right now my fingers are itching. Astounding AAR so far.

[sburke]

I must say after reading the initial deployment that I'm quite curious.

It's an intriguing method to deploy the actual platoons in-depth instead of handling it on company level.

Could we please hear something on your reasoning behind this because it seems to have been very effective?

Also the American commander seems to have made quite an excellent job in finding your troop dispositions. As the initial attacks (as far as I've seen from the text) seem to have been directed with at least some precision at 1st Company's weakest spot namely the terrain held by 2nd platoon, correct?

Experimental mostly. I expected I would have to fall back (and was prepared to concede the entire left side if necessary. My orders were to hold the area around the manor, I'll post a screenie showing the objective location tonight). With this organization i figured the platoons would be falling back on themselves and in a sense bringing the platoon leaders closer to their now rattled troops hopefully giving them a much needed boost. If instead I'd left one platoon for the others to fall back on they would be spread laterally and likely would get split apart. Not sure it really panned out that way in the chaos of the battle but as we go into it in the AAR I will try to pay attention to that and see if there is anything to the theory. Probably not. I found that I had to really re consider my battle plan. Things I would normally have done were simply not possible with units in this state.

Broadsword will have to speak to that, but I do know a rolling barrage was pre planned which would imply the battle plan was put into place before even the first turn. I expect until my sniper opened fire on the advancing engineers the Americans only saw some very empty fields. We also found the wheatfield gives a lot more concealment than expected so even once spotted if the infantry went to ground there, they simply vanished.

Right now we are deciding how to proceed. We think we would like this to be more interactive so it looks like we will wait till the battle wraps up to begin. That way Broadsword can answer your question directly.

[JonS]

It's an intriguing method to deploy the actual platoons in-depth instead of handling it on company level.

2-up, 1 in depth works at every level from squads (two teams forward, one back 10-15m) to platoons (two squads forward, one back 10-30m) to company (two platoons forward, one back about 50m) to battalion (two companys forward, one back about 100m) to regiment (two battalions forward, one back about 500m, and possibly covering the full regimental frontage) to divisions (two regiments forward, one in depth, providing a reserve for the divisional main effort or depth to a defensive position), through corps, and - where possible - right up to armies. It's kind of like a fractal - you can zoom in or zoom out, but the pattern is always the same.

This isn't the greatest depection, but it conveys the general idea:

[sburke]

As defined in the briefing, KG Lang is tasked with holding a position astride the main road through this sector.

The manor is technically not within the objective area, but is a key to keeping a grip on it.

With the way we play we also view the objective as the "intent" of our instructions, not necessarily the letter. There won't be any jeep rushes. There is no "vp" associated per se. The question will be who dominates the position and who's unit is capable of further action. The acceptable casualty percentages help define at the end of the day who is left holding the ground.