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Allied AAR - CMPzC Campaign: The Road to Eindhoven - Dommelen Battle (hex 1, 6)


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2nd Battle of Dommelin

Minutes 40-37

     The FOO in the church bell tower was busy adjusting fire from the town of Valkenswaard to the area between Dommelin and the bridge, where he could see large numbers of Germans advancing. He was getting a little nervous - his sole route of escape was the jeep parked seven stories below. It would be a mad scramble, carrying that damn heavy radio set down seven flights of stairs and then jumping into the jeep. It would be a matter of timing. He knew his role was crucial in helping to damage the impact of these paratroopers, so staying ti the last moment was critical.

     Suddenly, he heard the Firefly gun its engine far below him. He watched as the up-gunned tank manoeuvred amongst the houses and trees, creeping slowly towards the paratroopers. The FOO saw the lone Jagdpanther across the bridge, but with the arty shells starting to fall, he guessed that the Firefly commander was using that to screen his move forward. The observer was both startled and surprised to hear the belch of the Firefly's gun. The round lanced out towards the Jadgpanther and struck it on the sloped front hull, deflecting off harmlessly.

 

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The FOO next heard the very loud retort from the Jagdpanther, and the Firelfy was rocked and then exploded into a flaming shroud.

 

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     Three crew members managed to crawl out of that, how he didn't know. The young tank commander was not one of them.

     But to his delight, the FOO watched the impact of his skills. The 25lber shells came splashing down where the paratroopers had just marched. For two to three minutes the shells came down, and he hoped he managed some pay back for the Firefly commander.

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He couldn't see much from the explosions and smoke, but he did see one flammenwerfer crew crumple under the guns' impact.

 

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       Meanwhile, back near the destroyed bridge, Cpl Newton heard a contact report of two more Jagdpanthers speeding along the streets of Valkenswaard. OK, so that makes three of those monsters, plus the one near Dommelin. Time to withdraw.  The smoke cannisters were deployed, and then Newton ordered his driver to reverse back to the turret down location near the ford at the destroyed bridge. As the tank moved backwards, a large 88mm round slammed into a tree to their front left.  "Jagdpanther! Faster, faster!"  Fortunately, that monster was a little slower to reload, and Newton and his crew breathed a sigh of relief as their tank nestled down the steep slope near the bridge.

 

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A loud explosion sounded about 100 meters to the right of Newton, and he witnessed the unfortunate demise of a bren carrier....a victim of one of the newly arrived Jagdpanthers

 

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Above:  proof that a large calibre weapon has penetration power as it moves through the bren carrier like a hot knife through butter. 

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Turn 4A is coming up and the allies can flex some muscle. There are 2 full companies of engineers, another full company of Irish Guards with a 5 tank Sherman troop and some Stuarts. All now backed by TWO 8-gun batteries of 25 pounders. AND the RAF is arriving in force.... purple smoke!

 

 

Edited by kohlenklau
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@nathangun

Yes! A huge map and extended time period (2 hours) with preplanned reinforcements to enter on map based on movements of offmap units being ordered there.

Multiple players per side doing the save file renaming technique before a "tail end charlie", designated team's last man to enter his moves, pushes the big red button.

Edited by kohlenklau
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Here is the operational picture, more or less. Except the one Rifle Coy has moved up from the bridge hex....

If Nathan wants it, the next battle map could be a huge map that covers what you see now in "Dommelen Part Deux" plus towards the east to that mined area and on to the north for all of Valkenswaard. :D Engineers could march in at some time T, Stuarts also. Clear the mines. Attack and take the built up areas. Run the huns out of town!

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I can do either way. It is up to Nathan and where he decides to go with what units. :D

There are pluses and minuses to the 2 methods. 

A. Multiple players on one huge map. Takes a bit to get used to the saving the of file name. Requires coordination. But it is kind of cool to see it all mesh. It is more dynamic. It decreases the effect of the map edge being the end of the world. Takes some thought to make it all click.

or

B. The usual one player vs one player on a map. Easier to ping pong the files back and forth. Some compartmentalized portion of the overall operation can be fought out cleanly.

But you have the map edge and it is less realistic to have no effect from some enemy unit that is SUPPOSED to be right over there. Easier to write!

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I have enjoyed the San Leonardo multi battle - both watching and filling in when Stonecutter went on vaca. Two people on one side works great I think. Three people starts to stretch the response time for files, but if everyone is committed to being prompt it can work fine as well. But no more than 3 per side for sure.

The coordination for multi battles is fun, but can be frustrating as we have discovered as well. I guess that is the "real life" element of miscommunication.  Overall it includes more players in what is going on, instead of waiting in queue for your next singular battle.

In conclusion, I enjoy both, but in a campaign I enjoy the new twist of multi player battles more.

 

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2nd Battle of Dommelin

Minutes 37-30

     Lt Nathan sat nervously in his immobilised tank. Basically, he and his crew were a sitting duck right now for one of those Jagdpanthers. Yet, he was determined to keep engaging those paras who were approaching Dommelin with HE rounds while they lasted. The crew are not impressed. And then, Nathan broke out into a fearful sweat. Approximately a thousand meters away, and following the river along its banks, he spotted the approaching thing he feared. 

     "Gunner, engage AFV, 1 o'clock, 1000 meters!"  The first shot missed, but the second and succeeding shots struck the metal giant on the front sloping hull, deflecting off. At that range, Nathan was hoping for a gun hit.

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Above:  Hah, take that! We ruined your paint job!

But the Jagdpanther did not respond back, and in a strange fashion, it began to reverse and disappear out of sight down by the river.  Nathan couldn't believe his luck...did he scare the beast? Injure it? In any case he bought himself some time as he ordered his gunner to recommence engaging the advancing fallschirmjager in the far distance.

     Major Morningwood was getting tired of this hide and seek stuff. He had five other Shermans surrounding him at the back of the woods.  They were waiting. He knew the importance of these two troops for the future, but waiting did nothing right now. It was time to try something else, so he ordered the first troop to go around back of the woods and face the other side towards Dommelin. The three tanks reversed through the woods, turned, and moved cautiously out the other side. When they halted, one of the tank commanders could see a 20mm AA Flak gun mounted on a truck. He proceeded to engage it quickly.

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The first round flew wildly overhead, but the second round landed true:

 

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At least one of the crew fell off the truck, dead. The truck reversed out of sight.....it was only damaged. But Morningwood was pleased to hear that a kubelwagon and another truck nearby were destroyed by the near misses on the Flak truck.

 

     Back in Deelshurk, one of the 6 lber ATGs at the edge of the small town saw another AA Flak truck at the edge of Valkenswaard. As the crew prepared to engage it, they were spotted by the enemy AA crew, who then proceeded to engage them. The 20mm explosive rounds raked the demolished house where the ATG was hiding. The ATG crew were protected and hid behind the remaining shell of the house, but unfortunately a lucky burst from the Flak truck struck home, and the ATG crew perished to a man.

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     The battle is now at the halfway point.  Enemy paras are advancing on Dommelin, but they have been engaged repeatedly by two Shermans at long range (one of them Lt Nathan) and by two 81mm mortars who are running short of ammo. A 25lber mission is being spotted there now, so hopefully that will wound and slow them some more.  in the center, one Jagdpanther (the one Nathan engaged) and more paras are slowly moving south, following the bends of the river. And on the right, at Valkenswaard, three Jagdpanthers and two Flak trucks have been taking pot shots at just about everything. Currently, another 25lber mission is impacting on those Germans. Below is a snap shot of the current situation:

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2nd Battle of Dommelin

Minutes 30-23

     Lt Nathan and his crew sat nervously in their immobilised tank. They had been successful and lucky so far, but that panzer was out there somewhere. Three minutes later, Nathan saw the same beast that he had previously peppered with 75mm shells. This time, it's flank was presented. He knew he had to be quick.

     "Gunner traverse left! Panzer, 900 meters, 11 o'clock!"

     "No problem, sir! He ain't hard to spot."

     Once again the gun belched smoke as the round sped on its way. Nathan saw the impact on the road wheels of the panzer...but no kill. Seconds later his gunner fired again but the round deflected off harmlessly. Nathan knew he could kill this thing, maybe on the next shot. He peered again through his binos and....

     Capt Chappy saw Nathan's tank engaging the Jagdpanther far out to the front of him. Suddenly, the streak of a large round going from right to left impacted with a large bang on Nathan's tank.  Where did that come from???? Chappy immediately noticed two things: firstly, one of the three Jagdpanthers on the right had surprised Nathan and had opened fire on him, and secondly, no one had emerged from Nathan's tank...and it was burning. A horrible fate for his crew.

 

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     Chappy next noticed the armoured car to his left scramble into some trees that lined a track. It began to fire, the small shells hitting the panzers to the right, in an effort to distract them. As the armoured car sped off, it seemed it would escape the sites of the panzers, when disaster struck.

 

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     Like Nathan's crew, no one survived the giant, lethal blast of the 88mm shell. The armoured car sat there, burning.

     On the far left, Lt Kuderian's tank troop (the ones who previously engaged the 20mm Flak truck) noticed some German paras advancing towards the farmstead between Dommelin and themselves. Kuderian was quick to issue fire orders to his troop, and soon they were engaging the paras running across the open field.

 

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     Kuderian noticed with satisfaction that many paras had fallen, dead or gravely wounded. Others were hunkered down, and others were trying to run away.  But his guns kept belching death at the paratroopers...

 

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Above:  Kuderian's handiwork....I counted 4 crosses during the last minute, but there are definitely more German casualties than that...and more to follow

     Back at Deelshurk town, Capt Ian glanced through his binoculars. He could see the three Jadgpanthers. They had been alone for several minutes, but now he noticed something new. Some paras were racing ahead in an effort to gain intelligence on his men's positions in the town.

     "Sniper, take them out."   Ian didn't have to wait long....a loud crack sounded to his right, and through his binoculars he noticed the head of the leading para split open.

 

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     Enough of this sh#t. Sgt Houston, commander of the remaining Sherman Firefly, heard the demise of Lt Nathan over the radio net. Houston's tank, and another beside him, were located on the far right side of the battlefield, hidden behind a farm building and a line of trees. Here they were safe....but they were not contributing. And his friends were dying. Houston ordered his tank and the Sherman to his right to advance slowly forward, past the barn, and snuggle in amongst some trees near the wheatfield. If he could catch a panzer in the flank at this range he would be successful.

     As they crawled forward, Houston noticed a 20mm Flak Truck on the edge of Valkenswaard. Change of plan. Houston's gunner engaged the flak truck, but the round was high and impacted against the building behind it.  As his loader was replacing the fired shell, Houston noticed with horror that a Jagdpanther suddenly appeared to his front...front on. He quickly ordered both tanks to engage...and engage they did.

 

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     Both Shermans fired simultaneously. The smaller round landed just in front of the panzer, while the larger Firefly round impacted on the tree directly above the panzer. he noticed the crew commander duck inside the panzer, lucky to be alive, yet buying Houston more time....what would happen next?

 

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