AXIS AAR--CMPzC Campaign: The Road to Eindhoven--Dommelen Counterattack

[mjkerner]

Minutes 44 - 43 cont.

 

My 105 barrage begins to fall on the Destroyed  Bridge area...a lot of Sturm und Drang, but since he has very little infantry there as far as I can tell, not likely to cause a lot of damage...maybe a lucky but highly unlikely deck/turret roof hit on a Sherman, or into a bren carrier:

 

Repositioning Dahm's Jadg forward while the Murderer's Row of Shermans is clouded in smoke, and moving the two newly-arrived Jagds toward the action.  I want to keep the Jagds back, but I need to get into good firing positions here for the Deelshurk attack:

 

 

I readjust positions in the RA, moving all infantry into the buildings for cover, and moving two of the Paks into positions to cover the road to the Destroyed Bridge and Deelshurk:

 

Uh oh, bad news.  Mortars (and I think a few Sherman rounds from the Destroyed Bridge area) start to fall around the troops crossing the Dommel:

 

Finally, at the end of Minute 43 a Sherman 75mm is discovered on the road from the Destroyed Bridge (crossed at the ford immediately adjacent to the bridge) leading to the RA, most likely to discourage an attack on Deelshurk. Can this be a golden opportunity to eliminate a Sherman venturing too close?

 

At the end of the turn, looking south from Valkenswaard:

 

Edited October 29, 2015 by mjkerner

[mjkerner]

Minutes 42 -41

It was inevitable that Chappy would bring some form of hurt against the men moving on Dommelen across the bridge.  His barrage turns deadly:

 

Four out of five members of the FJ Schule Stab HQ (leader of the Flak units, not the Schule infantry company) go down. Surprisingly, the commander, Thylin, survives unscathed. In total, 8 men are killed or incapacitated, 6 wounded after two minutes under the barrage.  But it's not over yet:

 

Meanwhile, Jaegers move into Valkenswaard and de-truck:

 

Overview of movements in the RA area:

 

More exciting action has occurred in minute 41 and continuing into minute 40...stayed tuned! 

[kohlenklau]

FJ Schule Stab HQ was the boss of the instructors at the Valkenswaard FJ Pioneer School.

 

[mjkerner]

Well, the boss is still kicking... but his staff is decimated. War is Hell, but we must carry the fight to the enemy!

 

Btw, I will get a shot of your CM rendition of the Dommel Bridge.  From memory, yours looks very similar to the real thing.

[kohlenklau]

Very exciting stuff!

[General Jack Ripper]

Figures everything kicks off right after I leave. I figured Chappy would have planned some type of counterattack after you crossed the river. He certainly can't let you cross without any cost. I'll be following along. Good Luck!

[Heinrich505]

mjkerner,

  Yeah!! Jagdpanthers.  Can't have too many of them, muhahaha. 

  Bummer that the paras got caught in the open.  Still, things look promising.  It is always tough to try and put together a push when your troops are arriving piecemeal.

Heinrich505

[mjkerner]

Minute 40/1120 (I'm going to change the headings to the clock time rather than the minutes into the battle)

Trouble and Tension

 Things get real dicey this turn. (@Slim, Chappy is indeed countering my actions!) (@Heinrich, yes, those Jagds will hopefully save the day yet.)

First off, the AT gun setting up in the RA to cover the road to the bridge:  I had a platoon HQ up the road in the church pop smoke into the road to cover the Pak while it deployed. Here is the result!

The smoke didn't cover the entire road and the Sherman managed to put a round right where it hurts!

 

Then, although there was a lull in the mortar barrage at the Dommel Bridge, a Sherman down at the Destroyed Bridge got a bead on one of the HMG teams which wasn't far enough off the road to hide in the tall grass, and several are hit.

I ordered a smoke barrage (5 minute delivery time) at the eastern end of Dommelen to cover the men under fire, hopefully blocking any FO in the Church and any infantry waiting patiently in town for the assault.

 

Mortars are still falling in the southern end of the RA, and manage to bracket a hidden flakwagon and wound one of the crew, but otherwise it is not damaged.

 

The most interesting and worrisome event is that his Firefly in Dommelen is on the move! So much for the idea that it was immobilized last battle. The strange thing is, I assumed he had someone in the church tower (or elsewhere) that would have had eyes on Kramer's Jagd near the bridge, or at least observed it as it was headed in that direction earlier.  But apparently not, since the FF is headed for the eastern edge of town on the northside...potentially right at Kramer! (Look close, I forgot to highlight it in Photoshop.)

After much nail-biting throughout the turn, it ends with neither side firing. My Jagd has an LOS on it, but not an LOF! The commander can apparently see it, but not the gunner.  Scheisse! Frantically, I set Armor Arcs for the Jagd, the AT gun back in Valkenswaard, and the flakwagon approaching the Dommel Bridge.  Who is going to see whom first? At this range, his 76mm can tear right through the Jagd.  Damn, I spent most of yesterday, last night, and this morning worrying about it. (A touch of the flu kept me otherwise occupied and unable to report to you loyal followers, lol.)

Kramer's arc:

 

The Pak's arc:

 

Flakwagon's arc:

 

Stayed tuned!

 

 

Edited October 30, 2015 by mjkerner

[General Jack Ripper]

Damn, I spent most of yesterday, last night, and this morning worrying about it.

I know exactly what you mean!

The Gunner on your JagdPanther says "Aiming", so I assume he's drawing a bead on the offending tank at this very moment.

Think positive thoughts! Clear out those negative waves! Let your tank destroyers destroy those tanks! That's what they're here for!

[mjkerner]

Lol, Slim, you know...I never even looked at the Gunner's actions.  I do recall looking at the Commander's...go figure.  I think it was the flu! Yeah, the flu, that's the ticket!

[mjkerner]

Yeah, Baby!

Er... Minute 39/1121

We're gonna take this nice and slow, savoring it like a fine wine, or better yet, a beautiful women in a red silk dress...

 

First, the preliminaries. More pummeling at the Bridge:

 

Then, the armor engages in a dance of death:

First honors: "Gentlemen of Britain, fire first!"

From his view:

 

Sweat breaking on Kramer's brow, he bellows "Feuer!"

It looks good... 

...but over the top by inches, cutting through the trees, its heat brushing the TC's cheek.

 

The Firefly returns fire, and scores a hit!  It bounces off the gun mantle...at this range it could have, should have, ripped right through. Pucker factor through the roof, Kramer and his crew have no time to relax their sphincters!

Before:

After:

 

Kramer's crew are not new to this business, quickly and determinedly reloading, aiming, "Feuer!"

Looking good...

 

...AND THE MONEY SHOT(S)

 

Whew, I need a cigarette!

 

[kohlenklau]

FCUKIGN AAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!

That moment can turn the battle to you. Go big grey!

[kohlenklau]

[General Jack Ripper]

Okay, now that is just the most perfect shot I've ever seen!

[Bil Hardenberger]

You got very lucky on that exchange it could have gone either way.. but the gods were on your side it seems, good job!  Knocking out a Firefly is no small thing.

[mjkerner]

Minutes 39 - 38; Time:1121 - 1122

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Dommel Bridge area continues to be pummeled mercilessly.  The barrage (which may be actually two barrages, appears to be linear.  I know it is not usually wise to try to move when one is falling in and around you, the lead platoon from the 10th Fliegerhorst is going to make a dash for the woods, because it appears that the barrage (or the second one) is moving toward my line of march toward Dommelen.  

Since the beginning of the battle, I have not seen one iota of evidence (sound or visual contacts) of any infantry in Dommelen, or for that matter, retreating from it. (They could have bugged out behind the row houses on the western edge of the town, but then again, there is some open area between there and the woods south of town that should have revealed such a move.) Chappy's an excellent commander, and there are no doubt at least some infantry in the area, but I have to assume they are only small, harassing parties. Still, there could be a company of infantry in Dommelen, building complex, and surrounding woods.  So, it remains a dicey proposition.  Still, if they are in there, they no longer have armor protection.  It all appears to be over in the Deelshurk area. 

There has been a lot of activity of carriers and trucks moving from the far southern area of the map toward the vicinity of Deelshurk.  Although the Brits should have started with the only the on-map forces at the end of the last battle, there were some engineers in an adjacent Operational Hex, and Kohlenklau, being a renown SBG (Sneaky Bastige Gamemaster), just may have allowed small units near the scene of action to reinforce the Dommelen and Deelshurk Operational Hexes before the battle. Having sweated out dealing with the Firefly in Dommelen, I shifted my focus to the Deelshurk area, and on planning my assault.  But a review of the last several turns, and developments this turn, have me reassessing Chappy's moves and motives there.  He definitely is making a stand, reinforcing the area with the rest of his armor (I identified the 2nd Firefly and 6 of the 7 75mm Shermies in the area, or heading to it.  I need to take out as much of this armor as I can before the balloon goes up and my men move out.

 

 

I'm moving my Jagds into positions to gain LOS/LOF on the areas where his tanks are congregating or have been spotted on overwatch. The 3 Jagds in the RA can better coordinate with each other and hopefully overwhelm individual groupings of his armor.  The armor odds are 2-1 against me, but he only has one Firefly left (well, I have not seen any evidence of a 3rd one yet), and at distance, I think that about evens the score.  He has sent his Firefly and two Shermans to hide behind a barn way over on my left (facing south, that is), and I can't get a bead on any of them as of yet.  I plan on blasting the barn with a few 88 shells and some AA fire, hoping to collapse it, giving the Jagds LOF to them, and eliminating them from long range. We'll see.

[Heinrich505]

Mjkerner,

  Damn that was close.  Jagdpanthers Rule!

  There was plenty of tension with that encounter.  Your lads got the shot that counted.  Usually my Jagdpanthers take a hit like that and the freaking gun is toast.  Glad to see that Kramer’s crew are still in the fight.

  Okay, so maybe it is time to break out the Lederhosen, but it is probably still a bit early for any Schuhplattler dancing.

  Intense action.  The screenshots are great.

Heinrich505

[mjkerner]

Holy smoke, This thread is almost off the first page!  Time to get back at it.  We've progressed all the way down to Minute 30/1130.  Mostly a lot of movement and maneuvering, but some interesting armor exchanges, with more bombardment on my troops slowly making their way to Dommelen. I'm working on pictorial and video updates, atm!

[kohlenklau]

Just get those 2 baby mortars up there and firing and watch his entire force turn and run!  

[mjkerner]

Minute 37 / 1123 Hours

Sorry for the long delay in reporting. Let's catch up...

In Valkenswaard, Jagdpantherkommandant Winiiholt (lower left in the picture above) moved into position to cover the house hiding the Shermans to the south, and the road leading to the Destroyed Bridge, the actual "Road to Eindhoven" itself.  Once in position, it spotted 2 bren carriers and made fast work of them:

He fires and hits the first one,

Then destroys the second carrier.  Not bad shooting, considering he's rated as a Regular/-2 Leadership.

 

Meanwhile, over on the Dommel, Jagdpantherkommandant Kramer (Regular/0) duels with an audaciously brave Sherman crew near the Destroyed Bridge.  Even though Kramer is the slowest of gunfighters...he gets off only one shot (a miss) to the Sherman's five (all hits), he only loses some paint and zimmerit.  The slow rate of fire has me concerned, since it is not clear to me whether his crew is having trouble spotting the target, or are just slow. At least, no damage has been done.

Here are the first two return shots from the Sherman, showing the path of the ricochets:

 

I have video of this encounter, showing all five shots, which needs editing.  I hope to have it up later, along with a synopsis of all the action for the last 15 minutes (taking us to Minute 24).

That's all for now. 

[mjkerner]

Here's a quick and dirty Windows Movie Maker vid of the Sherman firing 5 times at Kramer's Jagd (no reply) without effect. Pretty boring, actually, but a real morale booster to know it can take a lot of punishment from a 75mm at about 1000 meters.

 

Edited November 16, 2015 by mjkerner

[Heinrich505]

Mjkerner,

  I never get tired of seeing Jagdpanthers in action.  Nice clip.  You are right, they should be firing back, but something is interfering with their vision.  Perhaps if you back them off and then slightly adjust them to hunt forward you might get a spot.  With my luck, one of those 5 ricochet shots would have been a gun mantle that put my 88 out of action. 

  Nice action.  Following with interest.

   Heinrich505

[General Jack Ripper]

Is the JagdPanther Commander blind? Stupid? Is his name Mueller?

[kohlenklau]

Maybe he wears Fanta Bottle glasses?

[mjkerner]

Don't worry guys, Kramer redeems himself later.

And Heinrich, more action videos coming up.  

 

Minute 36 - 30/1124 - 1130 Hours:

 

In general,more movement and maneuver, and preparing to assault Deelshurk, which I have since abandoned unless and until I can winkle out and destroy a good number of Shermans.

 

In addition to more punishment dished out to the men headed for Dommelen, a Flakwagon, truck, and kubel on the near side of the bridge are hit.  The AA gun is out of commision, but I'm sure with some minor maintenance, it will be fixed and ready to go next turn (hint, hint to Phil).  The wagon is still mobile with most of the gun crew OK, but the explosion, which hit the gun shield and one crewman, also sent shards into the kubel, taking out one of the two-man flamethrower team and putting a hole through the radiator. The round passed through the shield and through the truck, knocking it out too. 

From Valkenswaard, my men spotted a 6pdr AT gun in Deelshurk.  Combined fire from a flakwagon and one of the Jagds over several minutes took it out before it could do any damage.

Another flakwagon kept up fire on the house hiding the Firefly and another Sherman hoping, with the help from a Jagd (which never materialized due to the difficulty of getting LOS/LOF on either of them), to knock it down and be able to see and target them.

During these turns, I was able to identify all of his armor, the original ones and a newcomer to the field, a spiffy, cute little 40mm Daimler A/C. Wish I had one!  But I can't, so I want to kill it.

 

 

Things heat up some in the next 5 minutes.  Coming soon.