CMPzC Normandy '44 Caen Operation - Allied HQ

[kensal]

Turn 29 completed

I can see two broken AT guns this turn so I am hopeful that I've dealt with that threat. A Coy moving East encounters this platoon radioman armed with a K98. He doesn't flinch, facing 10-12 men from A Coy but the result is inevitable. Hitler didn't deserve that guy.

[kensal]

Turn 29 completed

C Coy is now along the hedge line facing into the Alamo in some force.

There are dead and wounded Germans on the other side and one man still resisting, but he must be unaware that C Coy are on the other side of the hedge he is running towards.

[kensal]

Turn 29 completed

I now have a view over the main trench in the Alamo and there a further dead and wounded Germans scattered around. They must be victims of the mortars.

[kensal]

Turn 29 completed

Orders for next turn - basically tighten the net and bring the remaining German units under fire. How many Germans are left - can't be many and they are running out of hiding places

[kensal]

Turn 30 completed.

The Glens job is nearly done but we take 6 casualties this turn, 3 as a result of my impatience and 3 from two bizarre decisions by the pixel people.

Firstly my bad

A Coy's mortar team rushes forward past where the heroic German rifleman got it last turn, to get to the hedge line. Fire support is behind them and putting area fire on to the hedge, but there is a German team on the other side and all 3 are cut down.

[kensal]

Turn 30 completed

I feel particularly bad about these three because in reality it was a completely unnecessary move. Two more sections were arriving into houses flanking the German team's position, resulting in this

[kensal]

Turn 30 completed

Had I been more circumspect and waited for 30 seconds before rushing forward, the German team would have been taken out by the flanking sections and the mortar team would still be in action.

Elsewhere, A Coy's platoon to the north side of the Alamo rushes forward men into the two houses overlooking the Alamo, to put fire down on the trenches, and allow C Coy to advance from the other side of the Alamo and surround the Germans. They do this but as a result of my careless (according to the boss!) 3 of them are hit.

So, they have orders to move into the houses. You would think that they would take the doors facing the road, away from the enemy, but no, they decide to take the doors on the other side of the houses, by going through a gap in the hedge line ....

As you can see the trench has a fair number of Germans still fighting (although there are also numerous dead and wounded lying in the hedge lines, in the trenches and in the field)

The Germans lay into the section moving into the house, hitting two

Another party moves round the other house, again ignoring the door on the safe side. One of them is hit

[kensal]

Turn 30 completed

The Germans are closely hemmed in now and are taking casualties too and more are surrendering

An overhead shot to finish off this post. C Coy at the bottom of the picture is going to move through the orchard ahead and will take up positions along the hedge line and will engage the Alamo from the East. A Coy is going to continue putting fire into the trench from the houses to the north (the right of the map) and the hedge line to the west (top) and bring more sections from the south (left of the map). The Germans have nowhere to go and if they don't surrender ...

[kensal]

Noob reckons that the troops going through the wrong door is because I didn't put a way point just in front of the safe doors - I simply directed them straight into the houses. I am sure he is right and that is another lesson learned..

I wonder if the Germans will fight to the bitter end here - these guys are 716ID not 12SS.

[kensal]

Turn 31 completed

That's virtually it. The defenders take at least 6 casualties this turn and more have surrendered (or tried to surrender). The trench in the Alamo seems to be the only remaining pocket of resistance but even there the only visible occupant has surrendered. There may be one or two survivors in the trench who have not surrendered but they cowering from the weight of fire into it. So I have turned off all targeted fire, to give them the opportunity to do that meerkat thing. We manage to get through the turn without any casualties. There are 27 visible German casualties in these fields. All the visible German units in the lower screenshot have surrendered.

[kensal]

Turn 32 completed

The last resistance in the Alamo is snuffed out. Several Germans surrender but one numpty at the end of the trench cannot resist having a pop. All he achieves is his own death and the death of two of his comrades who had surrendered, hit in the crossfire

[kensal]

Buron is ours!

However I am a bit disappointed by our casualty figures, higher than I expected: 63 in total and two stuarts (the crew casualties are within the 63). A high proportion of dead to wounded. I reckon about 10 of these casualties were from friendly fire.

The Germans took 82 casualties in total, including prisoners.

Credit to Ian and his team - they extracted a higher price from our attack than should have been taken given the disparity in numbers and the quality of their troops.

The Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Highlanders now await the response of the 12SS Pz, elements of which have been spotted moving up from Caen. A hurried defence needs to be organised and Shermans called in from 27 Canadian Armoured.

[noob]

The Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Highlanders now await the response of the 12SS Pz, elements of which have been spotted moving up from Caen. A hurried defence needs to be organised and Shermans called in from 27 Canadian Armoured.

Bad news I'm afraid. As you will know by now CMPzC is constantly evolving, and I have had to make a change that affects your dispositions for the next battle. I have been trying to come up with a one size fits all solution to how the CM maps relate to the PzC VL hex areas, and I have decided this is impossible, especially in the case of this operation, where two VL's are within spitting distance of each other.

Therefore, I have decided to crop the Caen Map to 3500 x 3500m. This allows both VL's to occupy the same map, plus it reduces the potential for artillery to dominate the battle, and it also allows the PzIV to operate at maximum ranges, where it is superior to the Sherman. Terrain is another consideration when creating CM maps i.e. open terrain operations need big maps, closed terrain would only need small maps.

The picture below shows the hex area containing the VL's. All the attacker has to do to trigger a CM battle is to move to a hex adjacent to the hex area (the half hexes), not the occupied hex, and declare his intention to move further, this will trigger the CM battle. Unfortunately, because your armour is on a half hex, it cannot enter the battle until the next PzC turn, so all you will have to fight this forthcoming battle will be the SDGH battaluion, and the Stuarts, plus the 24 gun artillery battery. I will write up the new system in the guide later on.

[kensal]

Ok, we've got probably a company of Pz IVs to our south. To the south-east is a motorised infantry battalion, which may be to far away to conduct an assault this turn (I can't remember how many PzC movement points get used up crossing an open hex (6?). We haven't seen any other forces - the question therefore is whether the Germans have infantry forces close enough to mount a proper counterattack this turn. I very much that Ian's team will try to force their way back into Buron with just armour, knowing that we have a battalion with Stuarts in support (which would take out his Pz IVs from flank shots and piats).

If he cannot counterattack this turn, we can resume the offensive towards Autie next turn.

[noob]

I'm shutting this operation down. The reason is because of the way the VL's are set up. The VL locations will draw all the units quite quickly into a mega CM battle, which reduces the operational element to almost nothing, which is not what I intended. So, given how predictable the operational moves will be, I might as well just set up a mega CM battle, with all of both sides units deployed, and dispense with the PzC part.

In conclusion, my experiences with this particular PzC scenario, and also the Bulge one, have taught me that one cannot just use any old PzC scenario, one has to select one which will create CM battles with the most intriguing operational consequences. So, with that in mind, I am going to concentrate on creating a CMPzC Market Garden operation, as that has more potential for really interesting strategic situations than this operation.

Apologies for anyone following this, but I cannot put precious time into something that is not satisfying me.

[Rastamon]

Noob - That's unfortunate. I was looking forward to finally have one of these play out. Although, I agree with the need to have a more diverse set of objectives.

I really think you should at least give Kampfgruppe Baneman a chance to retake the town. One last battle before MG shows up.

I guess Kensal and Baneman could go ahead and play it out regardless. ;-)

[noob]

Noob - That's unfortunate. I was looking forward to finally have one of these play out. Although, I agree with the need to have a more diverse set of objectives.

I'm glad you see my point about the objectives, they are everything. Like a CM battle designer, setting up an operation is like being a movie producer, you need to imagine how the big picture will play out, and will it be interesting, i.e. create tension, so choosing the right PzC scenario is essential, given the work one has to put in.

[kensal]

Noob, your point being that there is no operational restriction on two infantry and one tank brigade from the allied side and similar German forces all piling into Buron and Authie, whereas in real life those forces had to advance along / protect several miles of front.

Is the answer to that one of two things:

A. Restricting the PzC element to a smaller area with more limited forces; or

B. having more VLs within the operational area, to ensure that each sides forces have to advance across / protect the entire operational area, with the proviso that this would involve several CM players on each side and potentially simultaneous CM battles - which is perhaps probably too difficult to organise.

[noob]

Noob, your point being that there is no operational restriction on two infantry and one tank brigade from the allied side and similar German forces all piling into Buron and Authie, whereas in real life those forces had to advance along / protect several miles of front.

Yes. If I had maps for other areas of the Caen map, I could of created a more extended front, but given the maps have to be at least 2 x 2km, with the major terrain feature in the centre, I only had the Caen map to play with. I could of fudged a map as a possible solution, but with CMMG on the horizon, complete with master maps, and tweaked engine, it seemed more reasonable to shut down Caen, and put all my time into MG. Once I have the game, I can look at the maps available, and then match them up with a suitable PzC scenario.

Is the answer to that one of two things:

B. having more VLs within the operational area, to ensure that each sides forces have to advance across / protect the entire operational area, with the proviso that this would involve several CM players on each side and potentially simultaneous CM battles - which is perhaps probably too difficult to organise.

This is the answer. There has to be at least two VL's, that are far enough removed from each other to create two distinct areas of combat, but still have an impact on each other. This is where Market Garden is perfect, one force conducting an Alamo defence, another trying to come to the rescue. But whatever I decide to do, I have to really think through the PzC scenario, before committing to another operation.