AXIS : Gustav Line BETA AAR Round Two - Eye of the Elefant

[Michael Emrys]

This is how GreenAsJade wishes the grenade had been thrown!

You'll notice that entrenchment has a particularly generous grenade sump. Apparently they've had a lot of experience with naïve grenade tossers!

Michael

[noob]

As for your comment on my tone, I invite you to revisit what you said in making your initial reply to me. A bit glib and dismissive.

Me, dismissive ?.......whatever :- )

And that "read" I wrote was not the imperative to you, but the past tense for me.

Well i apologise for you giving me the wrong impression :- ) You should of added the "I". then there would of been no confusion.

Maybe one day, when I've figured out how to operate in a CMBN or maybe CMFI (dare I hope Gustav Line) environment, we'll cross swords.

That would be fun, PM me anytime, i'll defend :- )

[c3k]

Credit where it's due: that grenade instructor certainly deserves some kudos for his reactions!

[Bil Hardenberger]

The Thirty First Minute

On Hill 109 my fresh squad dismounts advances and takes out the last remaining member of the mortar team.

They will now proceed to the foxholes, meet up with their scout team (which has been assaulting the mortar team), then spit into two teams for the advance on Hill 126.

The other squad on Hill 109 will mount, resupply and take up the reserve role. I am moving the third and remaining squad up close to Hill 109 so they can support the assault on Hill 126 as well.

The lone scout will continue moving into NAI 3.. so far I have seen no other sign of enemy activity. I need to locate and eliminate the ATG that I know is in this area.

In 1st Platoon, I have one lone soldier, the survivor from the team that got cut up by GaJ's scout team, moving forward to get a peek over the ridge to see what is in front. I love how lonely he looks in this image, very Wyeth.

3rd Platoon continues to move into the Spur and consolidate the Sunken Road line. There are a few enemy contacts still in this area, but I am not sure they are real or just remnants, so I proceed carefully.

A couple halftacks are moving into this area so this Platoon can resupply. In the meantime I will be pushing a few teams forward carefully in order to scout the Spur objective and to try and get a peek at what lies beyond.

However, I do not have to go over the top at this point. In fact, I do not plan on advancing further in this area for the time being, but will take up defensive postions and wait out the results from my left side assault on the S-Ridge.

The situation looks like this.

2nd platoon advances down the S-Ridge towards Hill 126. I have a lot of support moving into the Hill 109 position.. two HMG teams and two fresh mortar teams. These will become my base of fire as I advance on the left, and especially for the attack on Tame itself.

1st Platoon has eyes on the S-Ridge, and the halftracks are firing in support of 2nd Platoon, they are scouting forward with one team.

3rd Platoon consolidates on the Spur objective.

I have a very strong support base for my fire support elements. From these positions I can cover any enemy activity from Tame through the S-Ridge, down the Ridge Road pretty far, and the Spur itself is well covered. I have almost all of my armor assets on my left, which could give GaJ the idea of using his armor (I know he has at least three tanks left, one of which i know is an M10) to attack my 3rd Platoon as indicated by the blue arrows. The Jpz might dissuade him from making that move... but I think I might need to move something else into that area to provide some extra AT support. I will think on it.

[John Kettler]

Michael Emrys,

I couldn't help but notice that. Now, imagine what happens if the thrower loses balance and topples forward--while botching the throw... Am still looking for footage of a German stick grenade throw from prone. I did find a WW II Day "throw a training version" while standing vid. 40 yards from a guy on his second throw!

Meanwhile, there's "You throw like a girl!" Look familiar?

http://www.military.com/video/ammunition-and-explosives/grenades/female-soldier-grenade-toss-fail/2371792239001/

Still looking for a prone German grenade throw, but dig this! German squad tactics in the assault.

noob,

A) Yes, you. Accepted. Economy of speech bites me occasionally. Oops! No confusion? Then what would we talk about? C) Rats! I defend better than I attack. How DID you know?

(Runs off to take the Bil Hardenberger "Grind Your Foe to Quarks" series of online lessons)

Regards,

John Kettler

[Bil Hardenberger]

The Thirty Second Minute

1st Squad takes to the foxholes on Hill 109 while 3rd Squad mounts to resupply.

The two halftracks are area firing on Hill 126 to suppress whatever GaJ might have on that hill.. if anything.

In the background one two tank section starts to move up to Hill 109. This section will work along with the two mortars that I am bringing up for fire support.

By the way... 2nd Platoon lost a total of one man capturing Hill 109.

The 1st platoon scout moves forward.. note the dead comrade in the background. he has a Panzer Faust which I will attempt to retrieve with this scout.

On my right 3rd Platoon has cleared the Sunken road... it is empty and doesn't appear to hold any mines or anything else. It is very quiet... GaJ has nothing on this side of the ridge from what I can tell.

Here is a rare view of some of my rear support units. Note part of the Pioneer Platoon mounted on the trucks along the road.

One final note... I have no eyes on any of GaJs troops any longer, excepting for the bunkers but I am ignoring those for now. I am surprised at the lack of a real defense here.. I expected him to have a rear slope defense of some sort on the rear slope of Hill 109.. but nothing.. he had precious little on the Spur to hold that line.

Where can he be? I know his armor was mainly in the towns of Tame and S. Maria Infante.. are they still there? I don't know but I believe they might be. I have killed one ATG... spotted and area fired on another (which must be hurting or KOed.. my mortar fire landed right on top of it's known position)... a third I believe is between Hills 126 and 128 is receiving spotting rounds now...

But he MUST have more than 4 tanks and 3 or 4 ATGs...

What is known?

I know there is an AA gun of some sort out there... he has a couple of bunkers... but where are the rest of his forces? Well the options are becoming quite limited... he either is holed up in the towns, or in a rear slope defense behind the Spur... or perhaps in the woods between Tame and S. Maria Infante... or a combination of all of these.. but he can't be too many other places.

All I can do at this point is keep pushing.. eventually he will have to come out and fight.

[Alan8325]

I am surprised at the lack of a real defense here..

Reminds me of an arm wrestling match where the bigger guy says "are you trying yet?"

[Baneman]

I must admit that your use of the War Movie mode for your screenshots has been steadily winning me over.

That last shot of the mortar team and trucks may have pushed me over the edge from my original "meh" stance on it when it was first shown to now thinking that it looks rather good.

BFC win again. They're good at that

[MikeyD]

I was about to post the same comment about 'war movie mode', myself. Which is especially unusual because its blowing out the color on my art!

[John Kettler]

Bil,

Your Landsers must be singing your praises--except for that GiK (Gefallen im Krieg). Your guys do, though need a refresher on foxholes, or are they only half finished?

Freyberg,

Considering how you look here, you haven't aged a bit!

Baneman,

I really like that last shot, too.

MikeyD,

Which art did you do? What will "war movie mode' look like when the sunlight's wan and sickly, the sky leaden, the ground covered with mud or snow? Hmm.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Freyberg]

Excellent newsreel - and appropriately hilarious in tone

[Bil Hardenberger]

The Thirty Third Minute

Hill 126 doesn't appear to be defended at first glance...

...however, GaJ has moved an M10 into view of my Hill 109 force... one of my Pz-IVs spots him and fires... this round falls short, but he was cuing up another right at turn end. I hate that.

This M10 is not hunting Pz-IVs however... it appears to be hunting halftracks. With any luck it can't spot my Pz-IV yet.

I will be moving the second Pz-IV into a hull down position in case my first falls to the M10.

Regardless, even though my tank is on an open slope and exposed I will stand my ground and fire until either the M10 is dead, it withdraws, or my Pz-IV falls. I have learned that to retreat in such a circumstance more often than not ends in losing your tank.

Good move and good placement GaJ. I have no clue whether this is the same M10 I identified in S. Maria Infante many turns ago.. or another one altogether.

Edit: I just had a view of my tank's spots... they are blocked by the dust kicked up by the round that fell short... that's good. That means he can't spot me either. Both of my Pz-IVs in this section should have good spotting possibilities when that dust cloud clears. Exciting, no?

[MikeyD]

MikeyD, Which art did you do?

Well, I didn't do the uniforms or the M10.

[Bil Hardenberger]

The Thirty Fourth Minute

It was kind of anti-climactic.. GaJ reversed his M10 at the beginning of this turn... I was sort of hoping for a show down.

I do believe I will be getting a showdown soon anyway.. as my units on the Tits saw this driving from the Hill 172 area over towards the position the M10 spotted last turn is. I think he got a little careless when he planned this movement.. he did not mask it's movement as well as he did the previous M10.

I now have identified three of the four tanks that GaJ has shown me so far... and they have all turned out to the M10s. I guess it makes sense for him to purchase a platoon of M10s to bring their more effective gun against my Elefant. The big question is though... does he have more armor that he is hiding in a hollow somewhere?

One of the halftracks that I have bringing some support mortars to the Hill 109 force stopped this turn to drop off an HQ team so I can recover the kubelwagen that my scout left behind.

Leading to Hill 126 I have two teams that make up the pointy end of my spear at the moment.. top, one team is within stone throwing distance of the hill itself.. no enemy spotted yet. Bottom, this is the scout from the kubelwagen that has performed exemplary all game. It is very close to going over the top of the ridge to give me a spot at what lies beyond.

Back on the Spur, my teams are close enough to be able to finally do a battle damage assessment (BDA) on the ATG I killed very early in the game. Happy to see what looks like a full crew of casualties.

[Bil Hardenberger]

GaJ is taking his time with this next one. Been over 24 hours now.

[John Kettler]

Bil,

That's because he's conducting a relief in place. No, not that kind! Seriously, I'd say he got some serious thinking to do about the next phase of the battle, seeing as how he's running out of map. 'Ware the cornered badger! As for you, "Let your drills be bloody battles and your battles be bloody drills."

Regards,

John Kettler

[Bil Hardenberger]

The Thirty Fifth Minute

GaJ is doing the M10 dance again... the M10 that popped over the ridge a few turns ago has now backed away and has emplaced itself in front of a building... my panzers spotted it during its movement but couldn't get a shot off in time. They do have LOS to that piece of ground so I am hoping he either moves it some more so they can get a good spot, or leaves it there so I can have some mortars fire at it.

I have lost sight of the second M10.

A spotting round falls on the area between Hills 109 and 126. I am well dispersed in that area now.. and will be moving the halftracks next turn as well.

[Bil Hardenberger]

The Thirty Sixth Minute

Note: sorry, its early here.. and I forgot to use movie mode for this series of shots.

GaJ has moved his second M10 into the woods next to the first. This is going to get interesting. It doesn't look like they are spotting anything yet.. and my panzer section cannot get a good spot either. I am however, maneuvering on these two TDs with my other Pz-IV section...

...one Brummbar and the Elefant are also repositioning forward in order to get better angles on the M10s.

Behind the Hill 126 ridge it seems GaJ has placed at least one more tank of some sort. I expect there is more there as well.

On the Spur one of my scout teams takes a casualty from another Thompson wielding team.

[Bil Hardenberger]

The Thirty Seventh Minute

On Hill 126 my lead team comes into contact with the first defenders... this enemy team causes one casualty before falling to my automatic weapons.

So GaJ intends to defend this piece of ground. Good. Well, I am going to bypass whatever he has on the reverse slope, grab the Hill then proceed on to Tame.

Arrayed against GaJ's two M10s on the center ridge I now have a Brummbar and two mortars, which rushed across the open space to set up on a ridge overlooking the M10 positions.

Also coming against the M10s is my other Pz-IV section. Obviously GaJ has seen them as he is sending this bazooka team to intercept them. Note the shoulder patch.. this is the second Ranger team I have seen in the game so far. The first was on Hill 109 (the mortar team I think).. so GaJ has bought some Rangers. I have a soft spot for Rangers.. but I'm afraid I won't be taking it easy on them.

This bazooka team is still a long way off.. not yet a threat. Don't worry.. I am clearing the way for my panzers with an infantry screen.

Back on the Spur my Pioneer Platoon is finally getting sent into action. I believe GaJ has shifted A LOT of his firepower to my left to deal with my armor and infantry assaulting the S-Ridge. So I plan on assaulting around the Spur with my Pioneer Platoon, a mortar in support and the Jpz-IV which is re positioning. With any luck I'll catch him shorthanded on the reverse slope of the Spur. They will drive on to the Observation Point objective as well in order to dominate the valley leading to S. Maria Infante.

[Michael Emrys]

I have a question of a somewhat peripheral nature. Is this map included with the now released module? Is so, what is its ID number? I would like to set it up so that I can more easily follow the action.

Michael

[Endymion]

I have a question of a somewhat peripheral nature. Is this map included with the now released module? Is so, what is its ID number? I would like to set it up so that I can more easily follow the action.

You beat me to it, wanted to ask the same thing since I bought GL yesterday and was looking for this map in the available ones but could not find it...

[Hister]

probably not since Bil hasn't finished it in time.

[Bil Hardenberger]

I do not know... I don't have the version you guys have so I have no clue what is included or not.

PM me with your email addresses and I'll happily send it to whomever is interested.

Bil

[Bil Hardenberger]

The Thirty Eighth Minute

Damn GaJ and his ESP! Right before my area fire from my Brummbar and mortars starts to impact he bugged out both M10s. They skedaddled right over the Ridge Road and out of sight. Good thing too, my Elefant will be in place next turn as well.

You know.. I don't think they ever even fired a round.. why didn't he do some area fire with them at least? He must have been too worried about my panzers.

GaJ is totally abandoning the left side of the road.. several infantry contacts, including one MMG team, fell back in the face of my relentless Pz-IV advance and they too (the one's I could see at least) ran right over the Ridge Road.

With all this combat power rushing over the Ridge Road he must have an inkling of my Pioneer Platoon's advance.. though how he could have seen them last turn, unless he still has something near the Spur, I have no clue.

Back on the Hill 126 ridge... my lone scout now has what could be either a halftrack or a light tank contact (they use the same UI icon)... That's okay. I'm not coming over that ridge and if GaJ wants to use that vehicle or his tank (possible M10?) that is also in this area he is going to have to come to me. I do not need to engage these forces in order to capture Hill 126.

Also, now that his M10s have abandoned their position in the center I can now move my panzer section (and now Elefant) into the positions I had originally planned for them (overseeing the Hill 126 and Tame advance). They will also close the backdoor on this ridge and hopefully keep GaJ from coming over the ridge and causing havoc amongst my infantry.. of course I have a lot of mortar overwatch on this area and that would be foolish of him anyway.

This image clearly shows the objective for Hill 126.. most of it is on the forward slope. My forward team will be on it next turn. I have started an artillery barrage and I am firing several mortars into the rear slope area near Hill 126. Hopefully they will cause some damage. I still have not located the ATG that I know is in this area somewhere. I think it is sitting on the other side of the Hill.. hopefully under my now falling artillery.

Near the Spur.. while my infantry team throws smoke and performs buddy aid (position marked in red) I now have two halftracks working together to clear the tip of the spur of enemy units. I suspect GaJ has one or two units still in this area. the casualty I took last turn could not have come from the fire from where I know there is enemy activity.. it had to come from lower down the spur. At least that's what it looks like to me.

Regardless, all of the enemy repositioning this turn is making me second guess my plan to commit the Pioneer Platoon. I need to think on this a bit more before throwing them into a situation that could be too costly and foolish.

[Hister]

What a suspense!