In honor of the 80th Anniversary of the Tobruk battles!

[kohlenklau]

In a CMRT forum thread it was so funny that a couple guys mentioned Tobruk. AND another recent thread on map size had me recollect a crash of the game when I was testing a CMFI Afrika Mod Tobruk defenses map with like 220 strands of barbed wire...

AND it was recently Easter...

So, please, in the honor of those fine men it seems fitting to offer, upon the 80th anniversary of the battles, if you so desire, download this CMFI scenario "Tobruk Digger Easter Rev III" and the mods folder for some cool stuff to see in the scenario and a readme txt file.

kohlenklau's TOBRUK DIGGER EASTER DOWNLOAD

Oh, and here is the briefing for the above scenario. PLAY ONLY AS HUMAN ALLIES VS AXIS AI!

It is early morning on a day of Easter weekend in April 1941. The mild temperatures of the night are over and as the greatcoats come off here in the desert the temperature will now slowly climb until it is warm soon and eventually even hot later in the afternoon. The khamsin winds blow strong from the southeast reducing visibility. You are in a concrete Italian-built strongpoint on the so called "Red Line" outer ring of defenses around Tobruk, Libya. Your strongpoint, designated R33, is integrated with anti-tank ditches, barbed wire and minefields.
^
Defend R33 and your sector from enemy incursion. (The enemy has hidden touch objectives worth various points.)
^
In this battle your initial focus is 3 Section, 10 Platoon, D Coy, 2/17 Australian Battalion, 20th Australian Brigade, 9th Australian Division. Section Leader: Corporal "Blue" Donnelson. Also assigned to R33 is a Vickers HMG. A D Coy Forward Observer is in the company area and has a radio link to the battalion mortars and the Royal Horse Artillery 25-pounders. Your platoon leader is inspecting the other strongpoints in the platoon sector and should be along shortly.
^
Machine-Gun Battalion 8 is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gustav Ponath. Though reduced in numbers from the 1200 that arrived a month ago at Tripoli to about 300 now, they are well equipped, experienced and highly motivated opponents. Their goal is to penetrate the defenses and create a hole for the tanks of the 5th Panzer Regiment.
^
Your score on this battle determines the follow on battle. Achieve an extremely difficult Total Victory by keeping the Germans from touching anywhere on your side of the wire and the next battle would be on the same map with their renewed efforts to breach the wire. Anything less than a Total Victory and the next battle will assume the axis have successfully penetrated into the Tobruk defenses and be on a different map. However, a "player feedback battle" will open after this current battle concludes to more accurately branch off as the story continues. Note that the spirit of your defense and success in eliminating the enemy will be of great assistance in future battles.

[Vergeltungswaffe]

This looks fun.

Looking forward to seeing Bluey and his diggers put up a bonzer defense.

[Erwin]

Thanks koh.  I so miss CM1's CMAK - so this will be fun.

[Blazing 88's]

Thanks you minstrel of modding madness!

Have any German vs AI planned as well? Please! 

[Vacillator]

Thanks @kohlenklau, downloaded and just need to find the time.  Loving your work as always .

[Vergeltungswaffe]

Finally had time to play this one.

Spoilers ahead:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

This is a great tiny scenario.  I enjoy platoon size action.

You basically start with a squad in 3 sections and a Vickers MG.

I left the troops in their starting positions except the one section that is behind the trench/foxholes. I moved them up into the trench.

After a few minutes, we could see the first German's approaching. It gives you an appreciation for what a tough nut to crack Tobruk was. No real cover. Without smoke and serious artillery, it would be very hard to make much of a penetration.

But the defense here is sparse, so I was concerned about making sure no one got through the wire, per the briefing.

As soon as I saw infantry in LOS without any prep arty, I went ahead and gave the Vickers a full map 360 covered arc. They went on the be the stars of the show, getting 14 of the 16 casualites we caused:

The MG boys did a good job of running Germans to ground and taking out quite a few, but I was watching their ammo go down knowing there was a lot of time left for the assault to continue.

As this continued, my squad boys started to take casualties. We finally ID'ed a sniper that must have been Maj. König from Enemy at the Gates, as he nailed 7 of the total 11 casualties we took.

The Vickers boys kept his head down a bit, but I didn't have the ammo to fire at over 500m that much with other squads poking about much closer.

The Platoon leader showed up and he managed to get to the strongpoint in the center without a problem.

The FO showed up and it took half the mortar boys ammo, but they finally unloaded the rest on the snipers position. I hoped he was down, for the count, but I'd find out later that he was still in it and got a couple more.

Later still, we got the reinforcement sections and they advanced towards the strongpoint, but took a few casualties from German MG fire that I never could spot due to range. I was really glad to see the Bren section as they could replace the Vickers if they ran dry. They didn't end up needing to though.

As time drew to a close, a breach unit managed to get one guy close enough to blast the wire despite Bluey's boys blazing away with their Enfields.

He starting crawling towards the touch area on our side of the wire and on literally the last turn, one of the boys put paid to him with a .303:

Got a complete victory, but only by the skin of our teeth:

A lot of fun. Well done @kohlenklau!

Edited April 15, 2021 by Vergeltungswaffe
pictures were too small

[kohlenklau]

@Vergeltungswaffe Thanks for the great review! From the screenies, it looks like you didn't have the mods loaded. I did put them in the dropbox didn't I?

 

[Vergeltungswaffe]

22 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

@Vergeltungswaffe Thanks for the great review! From the screenies, it looks like you didn't have the mods loaded. I did put them in the dropbox didn't I?

 

You did, but I played it at work (it's good to own the company) and I had been busy right up until I started it, so I didn't realize I hadn't put the mods in until I had finished.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Vergeltungswaffe

[kohlenklau]

Did you tell your secretary, "Hold all my calls!"...?

You missed the Australian slouch hat guys and a more deserty looking German. Should have been terrain differences too. 

[Vergeltungswaffe]

Something like that.

I never play 1 player scenario's twice, but I'm going to do this again with the mods just because I screwed that part up.

[chocice]

I played this the other evening, great little scenario, thank you!