Allied AAR: Clearing the Niscemi Highway

[MikeyD]

At first I thought Bill might be using a truck as a 'staked goat' to lure the Sherman forward so it could be dealt with. Then I read the Axis AAR. Bummer dude.

[ChrisND]

TURN 35

Not a good turn for me. The turn immediately kicks off with my stricken Sherman taking another penetrating hit from a Panzer IV. It still doesn't kill the Sherman, but the hit wounds another crewmember. Next turn I expect the crew to try to dismount, which puts them between a rock and a hard place because there is a heavy artillery strike landing all around them.

Bil's artillery and Grille continue to pound the Villa, causing plenty of casualties among the hapless paratroopers.

The worst blow however, is the loss of one of my southern Shermans in the overwatch. An unseen enemy (probably a Panzer IV) KO's the Sherman in one hit.

There is WAY too much concentrated fire directed at the villa for me to do anything with my reserves. My Sherman creeping around the eastern edge of the hill is having problems gaining LOS on any enemy units because of smoke and dust from the battle drifting in front of him, although he does kill another soft vehicle in the gulley - an empty Kubelwagon. For now, Bil has almost free run to approach the villa from the highway as he sees fit.

[Hister]

Finally some luck on the Bil's side! Sorry ND - I'm cheering for his troops!

[sburke]

hang in there ND, the fat lady ain't sung yet.

[ChrisND]

TURNS 36-37

The smoke and dust is now very thick and heavy across the defenses at the villa, preventing most fighting, and a period of relative uneasy calm settles in for these two turns as my defenders collect themselves and recover their morale somewhat. Artillery still falls on the hill, but it is spaced apart more and less accurate now. My damaged Sherman has now recovered enough to give me control of it again. It has found itself in the walled yard of the villa, where the western side of the tall wall was obliterated in the artillery attack. This may be a fortuitous position, as it looks like from here the wall shields my tank from the Panzer IV positions, yet gives me a clear shot at the Grille's location. Bil may be in a rude surprise when the smoke clears...

Elsewhere, my FO team have recovered their wits and joined the Operations team at the northeast corner of the villa. They call in a 105mm fire mission, danger close, stretching from the Castelletti Hill objective to the Orchards objective. Time to FFE is seven minutes. With any luck, those infantry Bil is rushing in under cover smoke are going to get a face-full of artillery soon. The pack howitzer busily lobs shells into Italian targets reoccupying the Orchards objective. The pack howitzer has been through hell, with most of their ammo bearers dead and half the gun crew wounded.

My remaining southern overwatch Sherman has finally spotted at least one of the Panzer IVs in the western woods. He shoots repeatedly, but fails to score a hit because the Panzer IVs are in very good cover. I'm also edging a bazooka team closer to see if I can score a hit. I'd really like to neutralize those Panzers, they are denying me any ability to maneuver to the west of the Villa.

EDIT: Correction on that Sherman shooting at Panzer IVs, he has not spotted them, he is firing smoke shells in front of their position to help the bazooka team get closer, I'd forgotten I gave that order...

[snake_eye]

@ND

Having a look at your situation shot, I have noticed that the vineyards present on the right rear slope of the Villa are not shown.

Players should be aware that Infantry and particularly tanks are not able to move and therefore deploy easily in vineyards. They are a deterrent in CMFI, almost like barbed wires in reality!

I might anticipate, but I think that these vineyards might give some troubles to Bil.

I can’t wait to see the effect of your barrage. Hope it won’t be a last ditch. Looks like you still have 2 X T30 guns, besides the howitzer and the 3 X Shermans.

The forces on the left will be able to have flank fire drawn on the enemy once he comes up and eventually alongside the Villa summit.

Good show and great AAR ND

BTW :

I have posted 2 posts about the problems encountered with the vineyards. That is for the graphic and the memory having adverse effect on the frame rate. You will read how I was finally able to play a good scenario having quite a lot of vineyards.

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=106196

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=106256

An appeal to scenario designer: Avoid, for the time being, has much as you can to put too many vineyards into your map, unless you want a majority of player to be unable to play it.

Cheer

[ChrisND]

TURN 38

Bil continues to whittle away my forces while pushing closer to the hill under cover of smoke. Major Rand of the Operations team is incapacitated by an artillery round. The Panzers tucked away in the west continue to be a nuisance, they knock out the last howitzer and score a track hit on the Sherman in front of the villa, immobilizing it. However, this Sherman has now spotted them and began firing. No hits this turn though.

Bil is rushing his tanks straight up to the villa. There are at least three on the northern slope now, including a Pz IVG that looks like it is headed straight for the eastern Sherman. It's going to be a point-blank range firefight.

Artillery still prevents me from moving my infantry much at all. Bil's artillery is now erratically pounding the entire north half of the hill, making it hard to predict where is safe to move. However, I have to address his tanks. On the east of the villa, to counter the Pz IVG moving up the hill, I am moving a bazooka team who has been hiding in the villa to get a potshot on the Panzer IV. With all the smoke floating around, I'm counting on getting at least one shot at decently close range before he can react. At the same time, I'm slightly repositioning the Sherman to meet this Pz IV. If it maintains its current course and heading, it will run into the Sherman at close range with the Sherman partially hulldown. Between these two assets, I hope I can kill it.

Those Panzers in the western woods need to die. They are tying down my entire western flank, and starting to inflict casualties as well. My response is three-fold: the immobilized Sherman in front of the villa is already firing on them. I am also running up my bazooka team sitting in the orchards. I'm not entirely sure if the Panzer IV will be able to see them or not, but even if he does, he'll be forced to deal with either the bazooka team or the Sherman, giving the other a chance to nail him. Finally, my remaining Sherman in the southern overwatch is moving forward to flank and attack this woods at close range.

[ChrisND]

TURN 39

Nothing conclusive this turn happens with the Pz IV tanks, as I lose sight of both of them due to drifting smoke. The Grille wipes out my FO team with a shot to the villa. My artillery response is now crippled, probably gone. I really need that ****ing smoke to clear so I can shoot the damn thing, which should thankfully happen in a turn or two. German infantry are spotted on the Castelletti Hill objective, where they are mopping up the remnants of the pack howitzer. On the western front my bazooka team and Sherman close in on the Panzer IVs in the woods.

[Heinrich505]

ND,

Really intense action. Your screenshots are great. You are right - this is coming right down to point-blank knuckle-busting fighting in the smoke.

Are you letting your tanks choose targets or are you choosing for them? You might thin the weaker enemy tanks out by shooting at them first....except for the doggone smoke. Just curious on this point.

Keep up the fight. It is getting even more intense. Great AAR.

Heinrich505

[John Kettler]

ND,

Are those shots of Bil's armor up close based on what you can actually see? If so, most impressive. I just told Bil "I would NOT want to be in that villa!" and this confirms it. Love the shot of the Sherman firing. As for your unfortunate FOs, the problem with a magnificent field of view is that the other side can read a map, too. Maybe this is the German version of M10s routinely sniping church steeples using HE to remove them as FO posts.

Regards,

John Kettler

[ChrisND]

TURN 40

The smoke finally starts to clear up this turn, allowing me to see what Bil has been up to on the roads. I spot more trucks of infantry, a Grille parked in the open, and a Panzer IVG racing down the dirt road that runs parallel to the highway. My immobilized Sherman sitting in front of the villa spots the Panzer IV and KO's it in one shot. Huzzah! The Grille returns fire but misses, the shell slamming into the villa behind the Sherman and causing casualties to the infantry there. Meanwhile, what is left of my paratroopers in the west wing of the villa trade small arms fire with Bil's Luftwaffe troops on Castelletti Hill.

Elsewhere, my bazooka team has successfully closed with and spotted the Pz IV to the west. The Panzer IV spots them as well. The turn ends as the bazookaman shoulder his zook and takes aim, while the Panzer IV turret slews to them...

(in the picture below, the Renault is dead.)

[ChrisND]

Are you letting your tanks choose targets or are you choosing for them? You might thin the weaker enemy tanks out by shooting at them first....except for the doggone smoke. Just curious on this point.

I almost always let them choose their own targets. Until this last turn it wasn't a matter of picking what to shoot at, it was finding anything to shoot at all. Bil's placed his western panzers exceedingly well, making them very hard to spot, and the smoke screen to the east was also very well done, denying me a chance to spot anything with my tanks.

[InsanePerson42]

I often like to give my tanks area targets at AFV's they haven't spotted if I know one is there(some other unit spots it). This does of course depend on my tank having LOS though.

[Baneman]

Great atmospheric screenshot of the bazooka team and the looming PzIV !

[Heinrich505]

Arrrggghhhh, a cliff-hanger.

+1 to Baneman - a really great screenshot.

Heinrich505

[sburke]

Arrrggghhhh, a cliff-hanger.

+1 to Baneman - a really great screenshot.

Heinrich505

Arrgghhh a cliff hanger with no screenshots. Man I hate coming to the PRC. I can't see squat in images.

[c3k]

Ditto: your screenshots are very well chosen.

C'mon, more!!!

[ChrisND]

TURN 41

The bazooka takes aim... fires... and the round slams into the ground, in front of the Panzer IV. German infantry appear out of the woods around the Panzer IV and engage my bazooka team, both of which are killed by rifle fire. The flanking Sherman approaches, but still can't see anything. It beggars belief how well Bil has managed to place these Panzers. They are completely invisible from everywhere but a very narrow angle.

At the villa, nothing much happens other than artillery falling on the hill. They have to run out of ammo sooner or later, right? The Grille, invisible once again (the Grilles have Romulan technology! Shields up!), fires again and hits the forward immobilized Sherman. The shot hits the AA .50cal machine gun, destroying it but leaving the rest of the tank intact.

Smoke continues to lazily drift in front of my eastern-most Sherman, keeping him out of the fight.

[Boche]

awwwwww sucks about that bazooka team! they never work when you need them to...

[Andrew H.]

The shot hits the AA .50cal machine gun, destroying it but leaving the rest of the tank intact.

The men in that Sherman are entering medal of honor territory!

[ChrisND]

TURN 42

To the west, my Sherman on the flanking move still hasn't spotted anything to his immediate front, but it does promptly spot and destroy a Panzer IIIM hiding behind the woods at the Castelletti Hill objective. Unwisely, it also turn its hull in that direction, exposing its side to the Panzer IVs lurking very nearby. In the last ten seconds of the turn, the lurking Panzer IV that I have been trying so hard to kill rushes the Sherman, getting off one snap shot that goes high and just misses the Sherman. At point-blank range! The Panzer IV was moving in woods, so I imagine the ground wasn't very even and it threw off the shot. A good thing too, because it would have been a flank shot and my Sherman would have been finished. Just as the turn ends, the Sherman, although it hasn't spotted the Panzer IV yet, instinctively slews its turret toward the source...

To the east there is nothing but bad news. Apparently the Germans have traveled into the future and gotten hold of thermal optics, because the Grille shoots through the smoke and kills my Sherman that had been patiently waiting for the smoke to clear. Something then kills the bazooka team through the smoke. I now have zero anti-armor assets on the very eastern edge of the map, where, judging by the contact icons moving, is where Bil is moving his tanks. All I've got is another bazooka team in the villa, and the immobilized Sherman. I've also got one T30, but it has run out of HEAT rounds. In the likely event they aren't stopped, they're going to roll up everything I've got behind the villa. I'm going to have to move my reserve into the defense at the villa now. If they stay in place they are likely to be overrun by tanks.

[ChrisND]

Bil is back from vacation and this battle is starting up again!

TURN 43

This turn is a good one for me. Today I get some payback!

On the western side of the map, the Sherman and Panzer IV have confronted each other point blank. If you don't recall from the previous turn, the Panzer IV attempted to rush the Sherman's flank at close range.

The Panzer IV shoots while still in motion, the shot going high and barely missing the Sherman.

The Sherman slews its turret automatically to the general area of the source, a very nice AI touch that I didn't know existed. Although it hadn't spotted the Panzer IV yet, it knew enough to point its turret in the general area.

While the Panzer IV reloads, the Sherman makes the spot after a few seconds. It hits! A penetration to the hull! The Sherman pumps another round into the stunned Panzer IV, also gaining a penetration which brews the tank, forcing the crew to bail. The accompanying Panzergrenadiers quickly scatter, melting back into the woods and away from confrontation.

At the Villa, my troops continue to pile into the buildings. A quick recap, in the previous turn Bil, had started sending his panzers in a wide flank around the Villa hill, after my Sherman protecting that flank was destroyed. There is now a serious danger of my reserve troops behind the villa being overrun in the open, so I am sending all of them into the rear of the villa. My two anti-tank assets in that area are a bazooka team, which I'm sending to the rear outside a building corner, positioned to get an ambush flank shot on any Panzers that round the bend, and my plucky Sherman in front of the Villa that has taken a beating and kept ticking.

The men in the western wing of the Villa trade small arms fire with Panzergrenadiers that have taken the Castelletti Hill objective. The artillery bombardment of the hill has stopped, giving the Villa defenders a reprieve. My damaged Sherman finally spots the Grille far to the front, and fires a shot. It goes high and misses. The Grille, apparently not having spotted the Sherman, fires a shot at the front of the villa. There is no one alive left there, so it does nothing. The Sherman reloads, aims... and BAM! hits the Grille! It catches fires and the crew bails! No mighty explosion yet, but the thing is on fire, so I imagine it's going to get explodey soon.

This turn has really altered the tactical landscape. With the Panzer IV to the west dead, I can now maneuver my infantry platoon that I had been holding in the orchards. I will break down my new movements into two sections: west, and Villa.

West:

My infantry platoon hiding in the orchards can spring into action. They are at almost full strength, having lost only about four men. I am sending part of one squad to recover the bazooka laying out in the field. I am sending a two-man scout team to man the .50 cal MG on the halftrack that is with them. The halftrack will then move onto the highway and begin suppressing fire on Bil's infantry on the Villa hill.

The rest of the platoon, having been moved to the very back of the orchard in case the Sherman failed, will now move back to the front of the orchard, with the intent of counter-attacking the Orchards objective in the center of the map from the flank. As far as I can tell, the defenses in that area are only protected by what is left of Bil's Italian force. They should be brittle and ill-equipped to deal with a full strength American infantry platoon.

At the Orchards objective, this platoon will throw a big wrench in Bil's attack on the Villa. They will be able to fire down on the attackers at the Villa hill, and threaten his base of fire further to the north.

To assist this advance, my remaining T30 HMC, which lacks HEAT ammo but still has HE, will move to the south-western corner of the villa, where it has an excellent view of the hill and Orchard objective and should be able to shell with impunity unless Bil moves some armor out of the way to attack it.

I'm going to let the Sherman stay where it is for now, and it shell HE on Bil's troops moving towards the Villa. That should stop his infantry advance cold.

Villa:

My plan here stays the same, since Bil is still flanking with his Panzers around the hill. I've got my crippled Sherman point in there general direction, and my bazooka team is set up in ambush. If they round the corner, I should get a point-blank shot off at their flank.

[Michael Emrys]

Yay! Glad to see the Americans get a break for once.

Michael

[GerryCMBB]

My God, poor Bil. I hoped he enjoyed his vacation.

Gerry

[MikeyD]

Ack, I almost missed this. 3am and I gobbled up the turn 43 narrative as a late night snack before hitting the hay.