DAR Road to Nijmegen Mission 1 Warning Spoiler Alert

[Hilts]

The time is 13:25 Sunday 17th September 1944....A Perfect Sunday

Ist Platoon Easy Company plus Co HQ have landed on the drop zone to the north east of the villages and flak guns. They have gathered their equipment together and are getting ready to move out.

The first task will be to scout for any enemy activity in the village of Kamp and surrounding farm-steads and then move down the road which offers some cover and hopefully neutralise the flak guns from the rear before moving on to the village of Nicoline.....

[Hilts]

Ist squad moves off the drop zone at pace towards cover.

....and immediately comes under fire from enemy troops in the farmhouse, centre background.

I can see seven men in total but hadn't expected to come under fire in the first minute.....

[Hilts]

More troops are brought up to the hedge-line and the paras open fire on the German troops in the farm compound. One is seen to drop.

The others retreat into and beyond the farm house.

HQ support team advances in an effort to get round the left side of the farm but runs into what seems to be a light mortar stonk. I lose my first casualty only 2 minutes into the battle. I am getting the funny feeling that this mission is not exactly going to be a walk in the park.

Other para teams move up to flank the farm from the right.

These German troops are seen approaching the village of Kamp from the direction of the AA gun entrenchments.

[Seedorf81]

Nice to see another AAR from you.

I've played just two or three turns of this scenario a week ago, but I did exactly what you are doing and lost my first man at the same location.

[Hilts]

Nice to see another AAR from you.

I've played just two or three turns of this scenario a week ago, but I did exactly what you are doing and lost my first man at the same location.

Cheers......I thought it must be mortar fire but I've just found out that it wasn't!

[Hilts]

HQ support team ordered to withdraw pronto but hit with more fire. I thought it was mortar fire originally but it's too quick. It must be fire coming in from the flak guns even though I can't even see them. The AA entrenchments are somewhere centre right background between the two buildings.

I lose four more men....

A scout team advances through the orchard but draws no incoming fire from the farm buildings.

I've almost reached the right flank of the farm.

Enemy troops are seen retreating back from the farm to Kamp village. Moments later this chap was cut down.

[Ithikial_AU]

Interesting approach had a similar idea going into the mission but the plan changed after ten minutes or so. And those flak kill lanes can really surprise you.

[Hilts]

Interesting approach had a similar idea going into the mission but the plan changed after ten minutes or so. And those flak kill lanes can really surprise you.

Yes, plans can change with the arrival of more troops. I'm thinking now just to send one platoon down the road for the guns or possibly try and knock them out with mortars. It depends what arrives......

[Hilts]

Reinforcements have arrived....3rd platoon with a light mortar team.

The scouts reach the farm yard but the buildings appear to be deserted.

German troops have retreated to Kamp and are occupying the three storey building in the background from which they have opened fire. I lose three more men including one from Co. HQ who was caught in crossfire.

The HQ support team all but wiped out by fire from the flak guns.

[Seedorf81]

Your screenies, especially the compelling close-up ones, make me long for an on/off button for the UI.

Just finished this battle, not satisfied with result, curious how you will end up.

Like your AAR-style very much..

[Hilts]

Your screenies, especially the compelling close-up ones, make me long for an on/off button for the UI.

An on/off button for the UI sounds like a splendid idea!

[Hilts]

Men from 3rd platoon anxious to get off the drop zone, sprint for cover.

A view from 3rd platoon lines looking up the slope to the fortified farm of Hendrickshoeve, which stands between them and the village of Nicoline. German troops have been seen in the vicinity of the farm and in the trees to the right.

These guys are giving me a real headache. They occupy the top floor of a three storey house in Kamp village and judging by the amount of lead they are throwing out, they are not short of ammunition.

They have this view of my positions and are doing a good job of pinning me down.

So far I have not returned fire. I am packing the farmhouse with troops and when I have set up the machine guns and made sure that I am not in line of fire from the flak guns I will open up with everything I've got in an effort to shift them from that building.

[Erwin]

May experience is that packing any building can end up losing you a lot of men if the enemy can get one good hit on it.

[Hilts]

May experience is that packing any building can end up losing you a lot of men if the enemy can get one good hit on it.

Agreed but my men should be out of LOS from the AA guns and I have not seen any enemy armour around yet plus, it's the only cover I've got!

[Hilts]

2nd Platoon arrives on the drop zone and takes two casualties from enemy fire. E Company is now complete.

1st Platoon men in the farmhouse finally open fire on enemy troops occupying Kamp village.

A number of casualties are seen and the enemy appear to be abandoning the buildings under the hail of bullets.

1st Platoon's MMG sets up behind a hedge to the right of the farmhouse and opens fire on retreating German troops.

[Hilts]

More reinforcements arrive! 2nd Platoon (F company) lands in the cornfield south-west of Hendrickshoeve farm and less than half a click from their objective of Nicoline village. They move off at pace toward the village whilst coming under sporadic fire from the vicinity of the farm on the right.

These enemy troops are fleeing from Kamp village and were spotted by 1st platoon's MMG set up behind the hedge.

Three were cut down as they tried to get across the road.

2nd Platoon (E company) skirt to the right of the farm to avoid fire from the flak guns and approach Kamp village from the south. Their objective will be to take the village and then move on towards the flak guns.

[Paper Tiger]

Nice pics there, Hilts. You know how to take a screenshot to do the map justice. Thanks. I'm enjoying reading your progress with this.

[Hilts]

Nice pics there, Hilts. You know how to take a screenshot to do the map justice. Thanks. I'm enjoying reading your progress with this.

Thanks mate. If you're the designer you've made a cracking job of the map.

[Hilts]

More reinforcements arrive on the drop zone, 1st Platoon (F Company) complete with Co HQ. I'm building up quite a sizeable force though four more men were lost this turn.

Forward observers in the farmhouse spot this machine gun nest beyond the flak guns, from a bedroom window. They call for a light mortar strike to try and neutralise it. ETA 3 mins.

Forward elements almost reach the village of Kamp.

A flak gun crew spots my troops in the farmhouse (centre background) and opens fire killing two men.

Enemy troops (Hendrickshoeve sector) open fire on 2nd Platoon F Co as they run for cover. No casualties to report and I am currently trying to zero in a mortar strike on this position , which should give these guys something to think about......

[Hilts]

2nd Platoon (E.Co) advances in haste toward Kamp. Sporadic fire coming in from the building on the left with the red roof otherwise the houses seem deserted. Must secure Kamp and then press on towards those flak guns. 1st Platoon will support.

2nd Platoon (F.Co) reaches the hedge-line (2 casualties) and pauses to rest before advancing on Nicoline. Mortar team engages enemy troops on the ridge at Hendrickshoeve. Several shells land right on their positions.

There is a German HMG somewhere in the trees to the right of Hendrickshoeve farm, throwing out an awful lot of lead! Mortar team brought up to set about bombarding that area.

These are the dispositions after 14 minutes. F Company will advance and take Nicoline and then push on from there as ordered. 1st and 2nd Platoons (E. Co) will take Kamp then assault the guns. 3rd Platoon (E.Co) will tie down German troops at Hendrickshoeve and then await orders.....

[Hilts]

2nd Platoon (F.Co) arrives on the drop-zone. Fox company is now complete and there are no more reinforcements to come. I also have air support in the form of two Spitfires but the off map mortars that were supposed to show up didn't arrive!

Mortar shells start landing on German positions in the trees to the right of the Hendrickshoeve.

.....with the result that German troops abandon their positions and withdraw into the farm-house.

2nd. Platoon (E.Co) has reached the north east end of Kamp village. They occupy and secure the empty buildings.

A view down the main road leading to the flak guns. No sign of the enemy here.

[Hilts]

Most of the action at the moment is taking place in Kamp village as American troops engage in house to house fighting to clear the village.

A team from 3rd squad 2nd Platoon E Co advances through an orchard in Kamp village, on the way toward the flak guns.

They run into an ambush and grenade attack....

Three of the four are killed. Only Woods. the leader survives and he manages to retreat, unscathed.

A scout team moves into a house vacated by the Germans and immediately gets into a firefight with enemy troops across the Square. There are more Germans in Kamp than I originally thought......

[Erwin]

Don't read if you are playing the first battle and doing ok...

I was reading this thread after I played the first battle...

*********************************************

You can send all your airborne up the open farmland slope slope (and away from the AA guns and villages etc which can be ignored. I think they are a red herring.) Then orient the airborne to the right and attack towards the major objective - the village out of which Co F is supposed to exit.

Co. E can easily deal with any defenders along the way and enters the main (Co F exit) objective village taking any enemy defences, bunkers etc from the rear. It is extremely easy to exit all of Co F without casualties while Co E mops up. You can use the central farmhouse for Co E's FO who can bring down 81mm mortar fire on the AA guns. (I found the Spirfire strafers to be pretty useless. You wait about 13 minutes for them after calling for a strike, and then they have little effect on the AA guns, HMG's or anything else.)

I suffered a total of about 15 WIA and KIA (all from Co E) for maybe 90 enemy casualties plus the AA guns and all of Co F exited with no casualties. However, that still only gave me a Minor Victory.

I had played this mission b4, suffered about 3 times as many friendly casualties and CF'd without knocking out all the AA guns just to see the result - which also gave me a Minor Victory(!) So, the scenario is rather easy, but the scoring for what I thought was a really good win the 2nd time seems rather harsh.

[YankeeDog]

***SPOILERS***

You can send all your airborne up the open farmland slope slope (and away from the AA guns and villages etc which can be ignored. [sNIP]

(I found the Spirfire strafers to be pretty useless. You wait about 13 minutes for them after calling for a strike, and then they have little effect on the AA guns, HMG's or anything else.) [sNIP]

Interesting. I'll have to try that strategy sometime, as it's almost the exact opposite of what I have done. I've played through this one twice now, and used basically the same strategy both times -- I quickly booted the enemy out of the farmhouse directly in front the starting positions and then put my FO there to direct Air Support and mortars. Then I hooked most of E Co to the right, while the FO directed the Spitfires in on the AAA guns and infantry in their vicinity. The pilots did yeoman's work for me both times, taking out something like 2/3 of the AAA guns and much of the infantry in their vicinity. I used a little 60mm mortar to soften up what the planes missed, and then one platoon of E Co was able to clean up the rest of the enemy on the right.

Once this is done, the rest of the battle goes pretty easy -- the remaining enemy is outflanked, caught in a classic "L" shaped kill sac between E Company and F Company. Won total victory by German surrender both times, and by the time the Germans surrendered I was in the process of exiting F Company -- I had enough turns to get most if not all of the F Company off the map if I needed to.

I think it's a pretty easy mission if you do good terrain analysis -- you have good intel on the location of the enemy from the start and there's a fair amount of dead ground the German AAA guns and HMGs can't reach. Also, I'm important to note where the windows are in the buildings; the enemy can't shoot out of walls that have no windows.

You can either advance up the left and avoid the guns entirely as Erwin did, or use the covered route up the right to close with the guns and enemy in the trenches, then take them out. I don't think the Spitfires are really needed, but if the pilots do their job well they can certainly make things easier. Either way, you have the time and firepower to pick apart the enemy defense piecemeal.

[Erwin]

******SPOILERS********

My strategy will win the location objectives (also destroying the bunker and trench system in the main Victory Objective village) and get Co F off the map with zero, or close to it, casualties. (I wish the briefing was clearer re the importance of Co F suffering minimal or zero casualties and also if they should keep most of their ammo unused. I only used Co F's MMG and one of their 60mm mortars. Otherwise Co F was not in any action at all. Not sure I got (m)any victory points for that accomplishment. (Perhaps my effort to conserve ammo was wasted?)

But, even with minimal Co E casualties, I was unable to get better than a Minor Win. So, the scoring system does require one to kill the Germans in the village next to the AAA guns in order to get a better level of win.

Using the central farmhouse building to spot from, I repeatedly tried to use the aircraft for point targets as well as area targets on the AAA guns as well as an HMG in foxholes, but results were disappointing. The aircraft preferred to repeatedly shoot up the (already) KIA trucks around the AAA guns. I had to use the 81mm mortars to kill the guns - which worked fine.

BTW: I didn't read anything in the briefing re ammo resupply. Am a bit concerned if I have to play with the same units later in the campaign if they will have no 60mm or 81mm ammo in their next mission.

Anyone know if our units are resupplied between missions??