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


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Rhetorical discussion: Maybe there was nobody there for the first 10 minutes and they DID just show up? Was an opportunity missed due to excessive caution?

But you haven't lost a single man and things are going well so far....

 

I now recall I had written up some backstory for that first battle for the Dommel River bridge and it pulled from historical fact that the tanks did indeed just drive forward and on up that first road.

Not so much of a slow paced approach.

Granted in a short while NINE were flaming wrecks...

 

Would Ian's cautious and methodical approach have served them better? 

Or were the Guards units sort of like the Waffen-SS or Marine Corps and their cavalry tradition demanded some mandatory display of boldness?

I honestly wonder...

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The cautious approach is good, there was enemy units at this location on the campaign map, we might have seen the 'famous commander' arrive on the scene, or just reinforcements.

Indeed, I am not regretting my cadence, I am just surprised to not be taking fire yet. Small arms I get but guns and tanks having not fired is surprising.

Rushing around near the enemy lines is a recipe for casualties.

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I like to throw some wild cards in these battles!

I did indeed have an "umpire touch objective" set up that if you had pushed into the village to point X by a certain time T, it would have "triggered a tank panic" of the low morale kriegsmarine defenders who did not yet have any substantial forces on map nor their esteemed leader! You would have won the hex and ended the battle early. Which I thought was a fairly realistic situation to try and lay in the scenario.

:D

Edited by kohlenklau
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Minute 38: Orders
In order to get that smoke screen in place the FO needs to move over so he can get a view of the right area.

 

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Figure 25 Reposition the FO

Minute 38-37:
Not much happening. Here is a look at what contacts there are in town – in this shot you cannot see the AT gun contact which is behind the buidings.

 

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Figure 26 Spotting in the town

Over by the village there are a few more contacts popping up and disappearing. There is quite bit of movement in the village.

 

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Figure 27 Spotting in the village

Minute 37: Orders
The FO has called in the smoke screen. Given that my mortar strike on the village seems to be off target I adjusted the mission – to a slightly smaller circle in nearly the same place. We will see if that corrects things. In the mean time since there is an AT gun moving up to a position in or around the town the Sherman tanks are going to spend some HE in shooting up the town and a few between the buildings. If I can keep that gun from setting up that would be good.

 

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Figure 28 Initial firing into the town

Minute 37-36:
The 4th carrier platoon vehicles are taking MG fire from the village. The driver of the HQ carrier was hit.

Minute 36: Orders
I pulled the carriers back slightly. Once the supporting tanks get here they will have some targets.

Minute 36-35:
Another casualty this time the Bren gunner of the lead section of 4 Platoon.

 

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Figure 29 Infantry casualty

Minute 35: Orders
The tanks have arrived. Lance Corporal Carnegie does his job and directs the tanks towards the infantry. They move along the river and ford in two separate places to get LOF to the village.
 

 

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Figure 30 Tanks have arrived

 

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Good summary - a few screens coming soon but might be tomorrow.  One of my tankers spotted mortar team trying to setup outside of the town.  They will get some HE love ASA quick.  The smoke is still 5min away and one mortar is hitting the village and the other is still firing on the edge of the map - sigh.  I was going to cancel the mission and start over but one mortar team is down to 8 rounds so I'm going to let them go to empty and see which one is which.  If the guys with the ammo are already firing on the town then I don't need to cancel them.

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Minute 35-34:
MG fire from the village caused two more casualties in the Carrier platoon.

 

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Figure 31 Taking fire

Newly arrived troop races forward.

 

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Figure 32 Kicking up dust

Minute 34: Orders
With the tanks arriving soon the carriers tuck themselves along the river bank to get out of the way.

 

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Figure 33 Hide

Minute 34-33:
One tank commander spots a mortar crew running for a ditch by the road.

 

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Figure 34 Well what have we here

Minute 33: Orders
Not much changed – one tank will fire on where the mortar team was last seen.

 

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Figure 35 Fire on mortar
 

 

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Minute 33-32:
Not much happened: tanks moved forward, tanks fired on the town, enemy fired from the village.

Minute 32: Orders
I switched some of the tanks from HE to MG fire on the town because I do not want them running out of ammo when things really start going. The mortar that was firing wide and I canceled last turn is nearly out of HE so I called in smoke in front of the suspected enemy mortar position.

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OK I just watched the next turn and the AT gun is in a great location - almost :)  I have a plan.  It is a bold some might say crazy plan.  @ChappyCanuck you get to lead it :)

 

First of all a full write up will be coming soon with pictures.  The smoke has just started to arrive.  The problem is that the smoke will not stop that AT gun from destroying all my tanks as they support the infantry during the assault to town. This is not good. I can start the assault with the tanks hanging back but that cannot last for too long.  The other tanks on the right cannot get a bead on the At gun.  I had them throw some smoke over there but the only way to really deal with that AT gun is head on with tanks - bad idea or race infantry in the blind spot and take it out close quarters. 

 

That will be the plan and the new assignment for the 4th Carrier group - with assistance from Chappy the 2IC.  Since the barn is blocking my options for directly firing on the AT gun I can also use it to screen an assault on the AT gun too.  Now that the right flank tanks are there I can have them fire directly on the village and keep the village occupants from shooting up the assault on the AT gun and if things really go south they can always drop down the river bank for cover.

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