Allied AAR: TRtE Mini Battle 2 – take the bridge

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 11-10: Moving On
Sgt Jameson finishes off the MG team before moving up behind his infantry escort.


Figure 21: Finish off MG

The FO team moves forward to verify that the AT Gun is really out of action. This will be a good place for them to hunker down and wait for follow on forces.


Figure 22: Verify AT Gun

Lt McDougal and Stg Jameson update each other as they watch the artillery fall on the next phase line.


Figure 23: Artillery


Minute 10: Orders
New arrivals appear on map this turn. Lt Jeremy’s tank and the rest of Lt McDougal’s platoon. The plan does not change except now there will be a full section on each side of the road with one section hanging back. The new arrivals hurry to catch up.

 

Figure 24: Orders

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Something odd is happening with the special tank mode for Black SOD.  It turns out I was missing Aris's Sherman V mod so when I first saw Lt Jerremy's tank it looked odd.  I could see the Black SOD but the turret was vanilla.  I checked and discovered that I did not have Aris's Sherman V mod installed - I missed it some how.  So I picked it up and put it in the right place.  When I fire up the game I see the Black SOD tank looking like Aris intended but now no more Black SOS name.  WTF (why the face :-) I worked before.  I have this setup thusly:

 

Data / z / v / Aris Sherman V

   sherman-v-hull.bmp

   sherman-v-track.bmp

   sherman-v-turret.bmp

   sherman-v-wheels.bmp

 

Data / z / zzzspecial

    it-mile-sign6 [holland valkenswaard].bmp

    it-mile-sign9 [holland valkenswaard].bmp

    junk7.mdr

    junk8.mdr

    sherman-v-hull [valkenswaard].bmp

 

So why would the special Black Sod version show up before I added Aris's Sherman V mod but stop working once it is there?  Any one have any ideas?

[kohlenklau]

It works fine for me. Same files you have. Not sure...

 

Great job on the AAR Ian. Thanks! 

[Bud Backer]

Some of those pictures look pretty dark. I'll continue the pictures with the artificial lights on from this point on.

Yay!!

[Frankster65]

Great AAR!  Going to enjoy this.  Nice, methodical, careful recon to objective.  That is the way to do it.

[kohlenklau]

Anyone interested to discuss or hear about the "pre-staged save file" scenario creation is cordially invited to this thread:

http://community.bat...aphed-scenario/

[A Canadian Cat]

Great AAR!  Going to enjoy this.  Nice, methodical, careful recon to objective.  That is the way to do it.

Thanks. We shall see if I succeed. One thing I know for sure is that if Bil has a surprise in store for me he will make it count. Proceeding with caution...

[A Canadian Cat]

It works fine for me. Same files you have. Not sure...

Bummer. What on earth is going on here then? I'll poke around and see if I have other versions of the files somewhere.

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 10-09:
Nothing new happened here.  No new contacts and my men lost their solid contact on the MG team beyond the bridge. So, there was not shooting just moving.  Lt Douglas now has one squad on each side of the road and one in reserve.  Both tanks have move up.  No one is near the burning tank.
The barrage on phase line Squirrel ends this turn as well.  I can now move as far as that.  I am sure that by then I will see more contacts.
 

Minute 09: Orders
Now that everyone is formed up and ready moving begins.  The squads on each side of the road leap frog teams forward and out of sync with each other.  Most of the men are spotting most of the time.  The tanks stay close but back enough to prevent enemy infantry assaults.
 

Figure 25: Orders

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 09-08:
It was a quiet turn with no new contacts and no artillery in the air.  The lead infantry makes it to the place where the assault faltered the day before.

 

Lance Corporal Graham carefully made lead his team forward to some bushes in the ditch next to the disabled tank.  This is as far as we got yesterday.  He was not actually here yesterday they were the reserve company yesterday.  But not today!  Brad Graham was pretty new to the platoon but already liked Lt McDougal and he had heard the stories about him.  He also knew the drill: they had to protect the tanks as much as the tanks protected them.  Once his team was settled into the ditch he directed them to watch forward so he could have a closer look at the tank.  It was not good.  The tracks were blown off but nothing else seemed wrong.  There was no way he could make a closer inspection, it just was not safe enough but he suspected the road was mined.  He pulled back a bit to pass his suspicions back.  He knew Lt McDougal would be close – he always was - and he would tell the tanks and figure out what to do.
 
 

Figure 26: Checking the destroyed tank

Minute 08: Orders
With two more minutes before the last artillery arrives my men need to cover some distance to get to into position so that they can assault the bridge after the last barrage ends.

Movement is simple standard leap frogging along the sides of the road with the tanks pausing to let the infantry get further ahead before hunting forward. I don’t need to act on my suspicion that the road is mined yet.  We will see if anyone get a positive ID on any mines once more infantry are up in the area.

 

Figure 27: Orders

 

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 08-07:
Just more moving up.  Nothing happened, the scouts report nothing going on at the front.

Minute 07: Orders
More moving forward.  The final barrage starts in about a minute.  We are way way behind.  I need to pick up the pace but not at the expense of getting ambushed.  Sgt Jameson’s tank will veer to the left off the road.  I just have a feeling there are mines there, no real evidence but worry.
 

Figure 28: Orders
 

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 07-06:
The last barrage beings as the turn began.  Soon it will be a rush to get to the bridge.
 

Figure 29 Final Barrage
 

Minute 06: Orders
Lt. Jeremy’s tank moves up behind Sgt Jameson’s and the infantry move up.
 

Figure 30 Orders

 

 

[A Canadian Cat]

I am a little behind on my write up.  But I am not behind on my play.  I'll try to catch up - right after I send Bil the next turn.

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 06-05:
It was a totally uneventful turn.  The infantry moved up along the side of the road and the tanks followed along.

Minute 05: Orders

Captain Ferguson Arrives.  One more tank arrives.  Lt Jeremy’s CO wants to be closer to the pointy end today so he is starting out early.   Several of the tanks in Captain Ferguson’s company had mechanical breakdown problems during the drive yesterday and are still being worked on in the rear.  So Lt Jeremy’s platoon is operating at only two tanks until others become available.  Captain Ferguson assigned himself to help out with the bridge mission even if it’s just in a backup role.

 

The orders are more moving up and Captain Ferguson will catch up.
 

Figure 31 Orders

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 05-04:
Everybody moves up.  The final barrage ends.  Is it just me or was that the wimpiest series of artillery barrages in history.
 

Figure 32 Moving Up
 
Just as the turn ends something happens at the bridge.  There is an explosion that cannot be from the artillery.  The Germans have begun the demolition process! Also as the turn ends Lance Corporal and his team notice some movement at the bend in the road.  He signals back for fire support. 
 

Figure 33 Something is happening
 

Minute 04: Orders
The right hand section moves into the woods on the right.  From there they can cover the advance on the bridge or assault the barn near it.  The left hand section has a contact to fire upon.  Stg Jameson will join in.
 

Figure 34 Orders

 

 

[kohlenklau]

That explosion represented the Germans successfully detonating the bridge explosives. The bridge is gone.

[A Canadian Cat]

Oh, I figured it had to do so that but though maybe to succeed there had to be more. Ah well.

Wow that was a short time window and clearly I was not in a position to stop it.

[nathangun]

Excellent AAR IanL, pity we didn't get the bridge intact.

[Heinrich505]

IanL,

 

  Will you keep the same characters from this unit in the following battles?  We are starting to become attached to them.

 

Heinrich505

[A Canadian Cat]

Cool, as for the characters.  That is up to the man behind the curtain.  He specifically named the tank commanders Sgt. Lameson, Lt Jeremy and Cpt Ferguson.  I just picked up the name generated by the game for Lt McDougal and Lance Corporal Graham (I made up their first names).  So everyone could have their names set by @kohlenklau in future battles except for Lance Corporal Graham because you cannot name team leaders only top level leaders.  I don't know if you can name section leaders or not.  So, if you can he could get promoted I suppose.  Although it is hard to see where a promotion would come from after my failure to take the bridge.

 

 

@kohlenklau, what do you think?  I assume you where planning to preserve the tank commanders can you add Lt McDougal to the mix too?

[A Canadian Cat]

I still have a couple of more turns to post...

[kohlenklau]

Yepper, we got Graham in there <as a squad leader> but it looks like Ian almost killed the poor ba$tard with tank HE fire...

 

And we got Capt Chappy. His 2ic is Lt Leslie. Pioneer section is lead by Sgt Nathan and a tank commander is Lt Kuderian.

Heinrich is...on the other side as a Flak Zug Fuhrer! Sorry... :-(

[A Canadian Cat]

Cool

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 04-03:
At first Lance Corporal Graham gets fire from his section Bren team.  Soon that is joined by two more machine guns and finally the loud boom of the Sherman 75.  Several rounds later and there is no more contact at the bend in the road.

 

At the end of the turn Lt Jeremy’s tank starts taking fire from the right.  The infantry in the woods identify it as coming from the house on the other side of the bridge.
 

Figure 35 Some resistance
 

Minute 03: Orders
With the barrage over and things happening at the bridge we need to move as fast as possible, but no faster. Captain Ferguson will swing right and along with the infantry already there target that house on the other side of the river. The left hand section will move to the bend in the road followed by Sgt Jameson’s tank with Lt Jeremy right behind him.  The reserve section will also move up to the bend in the road.  Depending on which way Lt. Douglas decides to assault one section will stay in reserve.

 
Figure 36 Orders

 

 

[A Canadian Cat]

As you can see I posted this before I knew what had happened at the bridge.  To be fair the men do not have eyes on the bridge yet so they don't know either.  I have a few minutes to write up and I just sent what I think is the last turn to Bil.