CMPzC Bulge '44 Crossroads Operation - Allied HQ

[noob]

The first thing I have to consider when setting up my defence, is which of the two Axis battle groups is the most dangerous, KG 1, or KG2 ?

Given the terrain KG 1 has to navigate, I regard it as the least of the two threats.

Therefore, My plan is to use my 3 x 6 gun Priest batteries, each with over 400 rounds, to create a wall of artillery, for as long as I think necessary. That should stop his infantry moving along the red route for long enough to force a change of direction. If they do this, it will take time, which Is my objective in this delaying action.

To create the artillery wall, I have placed my FO and an XO with a LOS to the two crossroads. Because I am the defender, I cannot use the pre planned barrage function, therefore, I will have to wait until my first move turn to set the artillery strikes.

To delay KG 1 long enough for the artillery to start, I have placed an M10, and two 30 cal's, in foxholes, looking down the suspected Axis approach route.

To get some eyes on the yellow Axis approach route, I send an M20 to the end of the road to drop off a bazooka team.

I would love to post more, but I have to go out now, so watch this space.

[noob]

I move a two man team to the road that runs parallel to the south edge, this allows them a LOS up the road, thus giving me an early warning if KG 1 decides to go down the green route.

I also place an M20 with a hull down LOS on the crossroads. This vehicle will reverse down the road once the artillery starts falling.

Now I have to deploy for KG 2. The Axis have three choices of route. The blue being the most direct route, but the most exposed. The red route takes the Axis onto higher ground, the green lower.

If my opponent chooses the red route, the line of march is bisected by two fire lanes running at right angles. I have these covered with armour, AC's, MG's and mortars.

[noob]

When playing CM battles, I always like to try and infiltrate the rear area of my opponents forces with two man AT teams. This is because I very rarely have success using them head on, so surprise is always necessary to add to their effectiveness, and they make great scouts if there are no targets available. Therefore I put two AT teams , one Crack, one Veteran, in a jeep, and then drive it up a covered route to the map edge. The teams will then disembark, and proceed to move cautiously through the forest, to try and get a LOS on the enemy.

On my left, I send a three, and four man rifle team with binoculars to establish a LOS on KG 2's possible approach routes. There is also a two man bazooka team which will remain where it is for now. I decide not to give the rifle teams a cover arc, as I want them to engage any targets so they are noticed. This will hopefully make my opponent more cautious when moving into the area, thus slowing him down.

If my opponent moves his armour onto the ridge line indicated by the blue arrow, I have set four M10's with a LOS to the area. I am hoping my concealment will give me an edge in a one sided shoot out. I intend to relocate them as soon as they reveal their positions.

My AA guns and the bulk of the foxholes have been placed with only a LOS to both the village, and the edge of the forest. This is to force the Axis armour to have to move in close to engage them, thus giving them a better chance of being effective. This position represents my last line of defence.

Finally, I position my Parachute Infantry in such as way as to be out of any possible artillery target areas, and to be reasonably equidistant to the three possible routes of attack, and my Co HQ in a foxhole with a decent LOS to possible enemy positions or routes of march.

[

[noob]

The Turn 1 video gives me my first contact with the enemy.

A lone PzIV and an MG42 team appear around the same time artillery drops in the forest on my left. The location of the artillery drop indicates that my opponent might want to occupy that area at some point, so I need to get a HQ unit to get a LOS to that unit from a safe distance.

It is interesting to see it is buttoned. I would have had it unbuttoned myself. Is that an indicator that my opponent is overly cautious? I hope so.

The rifle team on my left make contact with some Axis infantry and some sound contact of tanks. The infantry are identified as a mortar team in the process of firing, and an MG42 team.

In a few seconds, the sound contacts are confirmed as tanks, and again, they are buttoned.

Right at the end of the turn, the rifle team take some shots at the tank and are spotted. This is ok as I want him to know I have units in that area, however I would of preferred to be spotted by infantry, not tanks. I hope I can relocate without taking a hit. The enemy unit in the picture is the MG42 team. I am surprised that my opponent is not leading with scout teams armed predominantly with SMG's. Maybe he is a novice.

[Broadsword56]

Enjoying the show.

Can you turn on trees for your screenshots, please?

Those bare trunks spoil the immersion factor.

[noob]

Enjoying the show.

Can you turn on trees for your screenshots, please?

Those bare trunks spoil the immersion factor.

I'm glad you are enjoying it so far, I will turn on the trees.

[noob]

Turn 1 orders are as follows:

The PzIV that appeared on my right is well placed. It has a LOS to some mortars, a 30 Cal, and an M20 AC. These are ordered to pull back into the woods. The position of the PzIV could indicate an attack coming from the area where the artillery fell. I'm a little annoyed that the foxholes the mortars and MG are vacating are wasted. In hindsight I put them too far forward. Placed further back, and that tank would have to move into the LOS of my M10. Therefore, I move a 30 Cal to a position just forward of my M10. Kudos to my opponent for the position of that tank.

On my front left, I order one rifle team to fall back, as it has been spotted by a tank. The other rifle team is close to a position that will allow it to observe the Axis extreme right flank for to ascertain the end of the Axis line. The Bazooka team are ordered to move into the woods to possibly infiltrate the flank and rear of the Axis formation.

On my front right, I disembark the two bazooka teams, and send them into the forest. I want them to get an overwatch on the Axis position, but not to engage.

I decide to move an M20 down the road toward the infiltrating bazooka teams. The M20 contains an M10 XO team, which gives me artillery options if my bazooka teams achieve an unnoticed overwatch on the enemy rear.

The last movement order is given to a bazooka team to move down a road to observe a possible enemy approach route.

[noob]

The final act of turn 1 is to set up my artillery wall, this is designed to deter KG 1 from advancing the most direct route. The FO will set up two strikes with two 6 x Priests. These will be area fire targets of no more than 230m diameter. The reason for this restriction is explained here: https://sites.google.com/site/cmpzch2hoperations/home/combat-mission/cm-off-map-fire-restrictions

The third strike will be one battery of Priests.

I set all the artillery strikes to Emergency, six tubes, Maximum length. Emergency is used to remove the spotting round warning, and to introduce a level of inaccuracy, as I want my wall to be as long as possible. The FO's two strikes will take 6 minutes to start falling. Hopefully, that will either fall on the advancing Axis forces, or fall in front, thus stalling them. When they change direction, they should move into the third strike, which is timed for 11 minutes.

[noob]

Turn 2 video.

The riflemen, front feft, make a sharp exit after attracting a PzIV. Will they make it intact ?

[noob]

The answer to the original question is no. Quite a touching image I think. The plus side to all this, is that now my opponents imagination has something to latch onto, I'm hoping he thinks I'm stronger there than I am, and slows down.

They end the turn somewhat worse for wear.

[noob]

Now to the next area of action.

My bazooka team have reached the end of the road, and will now disembark, and then quick move half way up the road to get a LOS to the map edge.

As they start move into the road they start to recieve small arms fire, Now I'm thinking I should of ordered them to hunt up the road.

I see that the unit firing at me is some sort of light vehicle, a half track maybe ?

[noob]

That's no half track, It's a Kubelwagen with teeth.

However, as it reverses, it reveals it has company.

[

And even more company.

Fortunately, the presence of two Stug's has persuaded my men to retreat.

Unfortunately, one mans retreat is permanent.

[noob]

The last new enemy sighting is on the other road I expected KG 1 to move down. The sighting is an armour contact, which means KG 1 is split into two columns.

On the other side of the battlefield, I have confirmation of four PzIV's.

More smoke appears, this time on one of the fire lanes I have set up, that could mean I may have some targets to shoot at soon.

Axis mortar rounds start falling at one end of the road my M20 is on.

[noob]

Turn 2 orders are as follows:

The two Stug menace is forcing me to redeploy an M10 to fire up the road the Stugs will have to move down if they do not want to navigate the forest. The forward most M20 has been ordered to reverse back down the road, it will have to run the gauntlet of mortar rounds tha are falling on the dog leg. The other M20 has been ordered to move forward, and then go for cover in the forest.

I also add 30Cal, mortar, and M20 to get a LOS up the road. The XO team in the M20 will be able to set an artillery strike next turn. I also move an infantry platoon across, to set up a screen to warn against enemy infantry.

Given the location and weight of the Axis contacts in that area, I am convinced that his forces are weighted toward the right side of the road my FO is observing. Therefore, I can shift one platoon across to the right, which will free up another platoon to act as a reserve.

To finish the moves in that sector, I order the two mortar teams, and LMG team to move to the vicinity of the M10. This is to maintain a LOS to possible enemy approach routes, outside the LOS of the PzIV.

[noob]

Nothing much to report as far as the rest of the battle is concerned. The rifle team that was shot at by the PzIV's are pinned and tiring, so they will remain where they are. The other rifle team is observing the enemy right. The bazooka team continues to move to the map edge.

The bazooka teams moving on the Axis left are moving to their positions. The Jeep that transported them now removes itself from the area. It has a special mission, that is to pick up an M10 XO whose M20 is immobilised. The Jeep has a radio, so that will allow the XO to maintain contact with the armour. The AT rifle team have nearly reached their destination. Once they arrive, I will have eyes on the road that runs parallel to the southern map edge.

There is a quite a decent smoke screen developing, which means something is going to happen soon. I take the opportunity to set some 150mm artillery targets. One 150m diameter area fire circle in the forest where the Axis artillery is falling, and one on the forest near the PzIV. I am hoping to bottle up any units in that forest with fire coming from the LMG's and mortars I have looking down the lane shown with a red dotted line. I have also targeted the outlying buildings with a 75m diameter area fire circle. These strikes are all going to take 11 minutes.

I now await the video for turn 2.

[noob]

I have found a solution to my dislike for writing CM AAR's, and it is Google Drive. I have uploaded the last Allied movie turn a folder in my Google Drive. This file is downloadable, and perfectly safe. The password is rawsthorne. I will post all my Allied movie turns, and announce their availability in a new post.

File 008 is available here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Ab6QkVaB6ObGQzRERDNGtTRGM/edit?usp=sharing

The movie starts from where the AAR left off. If anyone wants to post any screenshots from the movie on this thread, they may, as long as they state clearly which turn it is from.

[noob]

Apologies to everyone, I forgot to make the folder containing file 008 open to the public, so here it is: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6Ab6QkVaB6OTW4wWHRNTkRJYXM&usp=sharing

[George MC]

Downloaded the turn and it played fine for me.

[Broadsword56]

Just curious: How would posting the turn on Google Drive be different from, say, Dropbox?

[noob]

Just curious: How would posting the turn on Google Drive be different from, say, Dropbox?

Google drive allows the general public access to the contents of a folder on the drive, without the host having to give individual permission to every person that wants access to the folder. Dropbox used to allow the creation of public folders, but stopped that a while back.

[noob]

Downloaded the turn and it played fine for me.

Excellent, thanks for testing it.

[noob]

Baraque de Fraiture movie Turn 010 is available here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6Ab6QkVaB6OTW4wWHRNTkRJYXM&usp=sharing

Password: rawsthorne

[noob]

Baraque de Fraiture movie Turn 012 is available here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6Ab6QkVaB6OTW4wWHRNTkRJYXM&usp=sharing

Password: rawsthorne

[noob]

Baraque de Fraiture movie Turn 014 is available here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6Ab6QkVaB6OTW4wWHRNTkRJYXM&usp=sharing

Password: rawsthorne

[mjkerner]

Noob, I get nothing when I try to click on any of the icons or names on any of the links(all showing 4 items/iconc of Baraque de Fraiture) ??