DAR - Snow For The Hungry AXIS PBEM

[Rinaldi]

Been silently enjoying but chiming in to say keep it up and loving it. 

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

On 10/25/2021 at 8:48 AM, Rinaldi said:

Been silently enjoying but chiming in to say keep it up and loving it. 

Excellent, glad you're enjoying it.

We've played another 4 or 5 turns since the last update, I've not had time to post anything over the last few days so I'll try and get something up tonight or tomorrow. It's heating up nicely.

MMM

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Do we know what flavour those '85s' are yet.....I'm quite excited to discover. 

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

1 hour ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Do we know what flavour those '85s' are yet.....I'm quite excited to discover. 

I’ve spotted one solitary T34-85 thus far, I doubt it’s the only tracked vehicle in the AO but he must be keeping them back perhaps as a rapid counterattack force. That is what I would do as the Soviets aren’t very mobile unless riding on armour. 

MMM

[Sgt.Squarehead]

The Soviets don't tend to do solitary tanks....My bet would be a full platoon (I've deliberately not looked at this scenario BTW).

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

Just now, Sgt.Squarehead said:

The Soviets don't tend to do solitary tanks....My bet would be a full platoon (I've deliberately not looked at this scenario BTW).

Agreed. I’ve actually assumed a company in the AO as the 3 tank platoons are not built to operate independently. But we’ll see. I’ve assumed a platoon is on my right flank where I spotted the first one, no idea where the rest are (if there are more). 

MMM

[Sgt.Squarehead]

A whole company?  Scary stuff! 

 

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

I may be completely wrong but I’d rather be wrong by overestimating than think I’ve dealt with all the tanks for 3 times that amount to turn up!

MMM

[Bozowans]

If you have tiger tanks I think it's reasonable to assume he has a big swarm of tanks tucked away somewhere to counter them. He's done a good job at keeping everything hidden. Or maybe he will get a big swarm of tanks loaded down with tank riders as reinforcements at some point.

Very good thread so far. I've been eagerly awaiting each update.

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

3 hours ago, Bozowans said:

If you have tiger tanks I think it's reasonable to assume he has a big swarm of tanks tucked away somewhere to counter them. He's done a good job at keeping everything hidden. Or maybe he will get a big swarm of tanks loaded down with tank riders as reinforcements at some point.

Very good thread so far. I've been eagerly awaiting each update.

That's my fear too, hence why I've left 3rd Kompanie where they are on the right so I will get some warning if a horde of tanks come tearing down to counter-attack or reinforce the objective. The temptation is great to have them join in the assault from the other side of the objective but I will keep them where they are for now at least.

He is doing a good job at keeping things hidden, I've only seen 1 tank and it did a shoot and scoot. Not sure if that was bait or not, I'm not taking it either way.

Glad you're enjoying it.

MMM

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

The Fifty-Second Minute

Objective ROT

Not much exciting happened at the objective this turn, the bombardment continues and the infantry are spotting. There's no fire coming back so it looks like it's having the desired effect. Next turn I'll move 1st Kompanie up, they are ready to go.

Towards the end of the turn the SBF infantry get a spot in the trees outside the objective. An AT Gun contact. It's not firing as far as I can tell so either it's already knocked out from the initial fires or it's suppressed.

Also I spotted something in the trees on the reverse slope at the western end of the objective (bottom of sector A).

It's a knocked out Maxim team. The fires I have been putting onto that reverse slope have paid off it seems.

NAI5

The 251/1 is still suppressing the squad spotted in the trees. I'm bringing up another SPW (a 251/3 in this case) to add to the suppressive fire before advancing the infantry.

KG RECHTS

The sniper is still working his way around the trees and will scamper across some open ground to get a closer look at the buildings next turn. No reaction so far, perhaps he's pulled the forces he had stationed here back and retasked them?

SITMAP

All is going well so far, I'm shifting the StuG's position a bit up at NAI5 to cover the road from a hull-down position in case he decides to try and reinforce down that route.

1st Kompanie will begin its assault on the objective and the SBF forces will be inching forward to see if they can uncover more of his defences. That ATG contact will be getting suppressive fire from a SPW and a few shells from a panzer for luck, I suspect it's knocked out already.

PLAN - PART 2

As promised here's the rest of my plan for the assault. It's quite simple really, once 2nd zug has a toehold I will advance them along the edge of the buildings while 1st zug attacks sectors B and E over the reverse slope, all supported by the SPWs and the HMGs of 4th zug. 2nd zug will not go into the buildings until 1st zug have started their assault, I don't want them facing off against SMG-toting Soviets at that kind of distance if he has anyone in sector B (I assume he does).

That's the plan at least, but I reserve the right to be flexible and change it should the situation warrant it

MMM

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

The Fifty-Third Minute

Objective ROT

1st Kompanie begin their assault. It will take a few minutes to get to the objective but they are now in range and should start spotting enemy positions if they haven't already been vacated due to the incoming fires.

We get two infantry contacts in the buildings in sector C and a confirmed spot on the ATG in the trees from the SBF infantry. It is indeed knocked out but worryingly it is not a 45mm gun, it's the 76mm ZiS-3 model. Good job I guessed correctly as these things will have no trouble penetrating my armour at these kinds of distances. If he has one, then he's bound to have more. I'll need to be very careful with my panzers.

KT4 (formerly NAI5)

Not much to report, the two SPWs on the left of the image below have LOS and are plastering the area with fire as the infantry move up. The AT rifle team soldier off to the right is still there but he's on a reverse slope so we can't target him. The 251/17 in the bottom right will be area firing next turn to see if we can take him out. The StuG has repositioned into a hull-down position covering the highway.

KG RECHTS

At least one of his tanks is still there. It moves up as the sniper begins crossing the open ground and then fires. It doesn't end well for the sniper.

He is killed outright.

He did his job though, I know that at least one tank is still guarding that approach and he hasn't, as yet, re-tasked it.

SITMAP

The assault continues. I've marked the new infantry positions on the objective and updated the ATG to dead. I'm now fairly confident that the western end of the objective (bottom on the image) is fairly empty.

MMM

[MOS:96B2P]

17 hours ago, Monty's Mighty Moustache said:

The Fifty-Second Minute

Objective ROT

Not much exciting happened at the objective this turn, the bombardment continues and the infantry are spotting. There's no fire coming back so it looks like it's having the desired effect. Next turn I'll move 1st Kompanie up, they are ready to go.

Towards the end of the turn the SBF infantry get a spot in the trees outside the objective. An AT Gun contact. It's not firing as far as I can tell so either it's already knocked out from the initial fires or it's suppressed.

Also I spotted something in the trees on the reverse slope at the western end of the objective (bottom of sector A).

It's a knocked out Maxim team. The fires I have been putting onto that reverse slope have paid off it seems.

NAI5

The 251/1 is still suppressing the squad spotted in the trees. I'm bringing up another SPW (a 251/3 in this case) to add to the suppressive fire before advancing the infantry.

KG RECHTS

The sniper is still working his way around the trees and will scamper across some open ground to get a closer look at the buildings next turn. No reaction so far, perhaps he's pulled the forces he had stationed here back and retasked them?

SITMAP

All is going well so far, I'm shifting the StuG's position a bit up at NAI5 to cover the road from a hull-down position in case he decides to try and reinforce down that route.

1st Kompanie will begin its assault on the objective and the SBF forces will be inching forward to see if they can uncover more of his defences. That ATG contact will be getting suppressive fire from a SPW and a few shells from a panzer for luck, I suspect it's knocked out already.

PLAN - PART 2

As promised here's the rest of my plan for the assault. It's quite simple really, once 2nd zug has a toehold I will advance them along the edge of the buildings while 1st zug attacks sectors B and E over the reverse slope, all supported by the SPWs and the HMGs of 4th zug. 2nd zug will not go into the buildings until 1st zug have started their assault, I don't want them facing off against SMG-toting Soviets at that kind of distance if he has anyone in sector B (I assume he does).

That's the plan at least, but I reserve the right to be flexible and change it should the situation warrant it

MMM

+1.  Interesting to see how this plays out.

[George MC]

Fascinating watching this develop. 

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

The Fifty-Fourth Minute

Objective ROT

A fair bit happened this turn so I'll break it up to show what happened with each force.

SBF - The Panzers

The Tigers move up to get some fire on the buildings in sector C and to more effectively cover the road between that sector and sector A and B. The Panthers are continuing to pour MG fire onto the reverse slope.

The right-most Tiger suddenly takes fire. It looks like it's coming from the reverse slope, which considering the amount of fire going in there is kinda amazing.

It takes two shots to the hull this turn and that damage the optics and the radio, but do not penetrate.

We soon get a ATG sound contact on the reverse slope. This is so far back that my fires are obviously not affecting it enough, the Tigers will rectify the situation next turn. Strange place to site a gun, a few metres over the edge of a reverse slope where it would either be pretty much wiped out by any infantry coming over or would have problems engaging any armour that screamed over the hill at such short ranges.

SBF - The Panzergrenadiers

I'm moving the weapons zug up to get some fire on the eastern end of the objective. One section is covering the movement of the other.

The MG was recovered from the team that took a casualty a few turns ago. The other team that took 2 casualties are still being attended to.

My advanced troops take a casualty, it was the same infantry squad that I spotted in sector C that took him out. I'll bring the rest of the squad up to recombine with this lone landser and step up the fire on sector C as he's clearly not suppressed enough.

Towards the end of the turn we get a spot on a rifleman retreating across the road towards sector C. I assume this is one of the squads that was pulling out of sector A a couple of turns ago. He makes it across.

1 Kompanie

1 Kompanie advance on the objective. Their start and end positions are shown below.

The skirmish line get a spot on the ATG on the reverse slope, it's a 45mm gun, that will explain why it didn't penetrate the Tiger. So he has a mix of calibers, interesting. That could mean he has at least 2 platoons of guns in the AO, one 45mm and one 76mm.

KT4

Not much happened on the left flank, the fire continues to go into the treeline and the infantry are moving up as we clearly have fire superiority.

KG RECHTS

Now the sniper is down I have lost the armour contact but I assume he will have pulled it back to it's start position. I'm convinced he has an OP in the farm buildings, I might bring one of the SPWs online and give them a burst of fire.

SITMAP

Things are going well, I am starting to get ahead of myself and formulating plans for after the objective is taken but we'll see how it goes first. The emergence of another ATG is interesting, I'll have to assume he has more defending this objective. I haven't seen any other heavy weapons yet, they must be out there somewhere.

At KT4 I am going to advance the scouts a bit and see if they can get a spot on the treeline off to the right, I would expect something to be lurking in there.

MMM

[ratdeath]

Your DAR inspired me to take a lot of screenshots and crop them for my QB against the AI in CMFB! Lots of fun to take the time and follow the action for good pictures.

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

42 minutes ago, ratdeath said:

Your DAR inspired me to take a lot of screenshots and crop them for my QB against the AI in CMFB! Lots of fun to take the time and follow the action for good pictures.

I must admit one thing I didn't anticipate when starting this was how good it is to have a record of what happened, when and why to look back on. Especially with battles this large as they can take a while PBEM.

MMM

[Sgt.Squarehead]

It does feel like he's trying to set a 'Tar-Baby-Trap', let you get all tangled up unpicking his defences then smash into a flank with all of his armour.

Those little 45mm AT Guns have a cannister round IIRC.....They can utterly wreck an infantry unit's day at short range!

[Bozowans]

5 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

It does feel like he's trying to set a 'Tar-Baby-Trap', let you get all tangled up unpicking his defences then smash into a flank with all of his armour.

Those little 45mm AT Guns have a cannister round IIRC.....They can utterly wreck an infantry unit's day at short range!

That's probably what I would do in his position. 

I wouldnt want to face those german tanks out on the open plain like that. I'd just hunker down and try to harass the advance whenever possible and try to get the attackers to string themselves out a bit. 

That T-34 on the far right is holding up the advance over there. If I was him i would keep that tank there and hold onto those woods as long as I can, then as the german advance gets strung out along the road up and through the village, I could hit them with concentrated flanking fire from the woods. I dont know how well you could see from those woods in the blizzard though.

I just know that it's hard for germans to clear Soviets out of the woods. So if he could force you to have to go into the woods in order to deal with him, that's good for him.

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

13 hours ago, Bozowans said:

That's probably what I would do in his position. 

I wouldnt want to face those german tanks out on the open plain like that. I'd just hunker down and try to harass the advance whenever possible and try to get the attackers to string themselves out a bit. 

That T-34 on the far right is holding up the advance over there. If I was him i would keep that tank there and hold onto those woods as long as I can, then as the german advance gets strung out along the road up and through the village, I could hit them with concentrated flanking fire from the woods. I dont know how well you could see from those woods in the blizzard though.

I just know that it's hard for germans to clear Soviets out of the woods. So if he could force you to have to go into the woods in order to deal with him, that's good for him.

I did the same to him in our last PBEM where he was the attacking Germans. I got a company of T-34s as reinforcements and smashed them into his left flank when he was tied down attacking and it proved decisive. Hopefully he doesn’t have the same idea

The road to the objective is not visible from the tree line at KT4, thankfully. The small force I have over there should give me warning if he moves anything out of the trees to get into range. At least that’s the hope.

I have no plans to go into the woods if I can help it, that’s why I decided on taking objective ROT first as it is the only one not in the woods. I assumed it would be heavily defended and I’d need a significant force to take it which is why I am not really pushing on the other flanks, I don’t have that much infantry and don’t want to lose too many performing holding actions. Having him know I have troops there is enough for me at the moment. 

It may all go disastrously wrong of course, but finding out is why it’s fun.

MMM

[Bil Hardenberger]

@Monty's Mighty Moustache, this is a very well done DAR!  I am very happy to see you take the care and time to craft us something so exquisite.  From your initial analysis to your detailed play by play with your atmospheric screen shots... very well done.  Feels familiar somehow too.   

Happy that you are using my floating icons. 

I'll be watching you.

Thanks for the entertainment, Bil

Edited October 31, 2021 by Bil Hardenberger

[Artkin]

It's a good thing for you that he has ZIS-3. They can't penetrate a Tiger I's front at any distance. Even point blank.

Edited October 31, 2021 by Artkin

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

7 hours ago, Bil Hardenberger said:

@Monty's Mighty Moustache, this is a very well done DAR!  I am very happy to see you take the care and time to craft us something so exquisite.  From your initial analysis to your detailed play by play with your atmospheric screen shots... very well done.  Feels familiar somehow too.   

Happy that you are using my floating icons. 

I'll be watching you.

Thanks for the entertainment, Bil

Thanks @Bil Hardenberger, I must admit I have "borrowed" some ideas from your excellent AARs. It is the sincerest form of flattery afterall  I like the simplicity of your floating icons too, I use them across all the games for which they are available.

Next update should be up tomorrow.

MMM

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

5 hours ago, Artkin said:

It's a good thing for you that he has ZIS-3. They can't penetrate a Tiger I's front at any distance. Even point blank.

Any movements by the armour will be led by the Tigers for this very reason, I don't trust the Panther Gs with their iffy armour to take that job on.

MMM

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

The Fifty-Fifth Minute

Objective ROT

SBF Position

The 45mm ATG is still up and firing, luckily it only gets a couple of shots off and hits trees.

The rightmost Tiger is area firing on the ATG's position (it has a tentative contact).

A SPW that was up on the firing line gets a tentative spot on the ATG too and reverses whilst spraying the area with fire. I know a lot of people complain about some of the things that the TacAI does in the game but to me this type of stuff is what makes this game so good.

The weight of fire eventually suppresses the ATG team an then they are "seen" running away. The gun is abandoned and I hope they keep running as off to the view 3 Kompanie are waiting to mow down any runners.

2nd zug are tending to their wounds. 1st squad now only has 3 guys still in the fight so I'll be bringing A team up to join this guy.

The MG covering MG section moves up to provide supporting fires deeper into the objective. I'm still not getting much if any fire on the buildings on the other side of the objective. 

At the end of the turn we get another spot. This is the same place where the squad that ran across the road a turn or two ago originated for. It could be a split-squad but I'm going to assume he's keeping them together and this is the other squad I spotted retreating back from sector A a few turns ago. He doesn't run but does get suppressed pretty quickly.

The Assault Element - 1 Kompanie

The forces continue to advance, the SPWs are providing cover while the landsers move up. I'm still moving on line at the moment, if anything pops up in sector B or E then I'll drop the infantry down to near the stream and use sector A as cover.

The weapons zug (4 zug) move up and start to dismount.

One of 2nd zug's SPWs spots the ATG on the reverse slope and reverses away (before it was knocked out). I'll move him back up now that gun is out of commission.

The latest SITMAP for the objective.

KT4

Another SPW moves up to get fire on the treeline as there have been sporadic shots coming from there.

We get a spot on someone still alive in there. I identified this as an infantry squad initially, but it's another AT rifle team. We get a spot on the dead AT rifleman this time.

His mate gets dispatched too. I know there is a HQ unit and another squad sized unit in here so I'm going to assume he still has a platoon of infantry in there. I really don't want to get sucked into the woods so I'll continue to fire from a safe distance and see if I can break them. They must be pretty close to it by now.

The scouts get a spot in the trees off to the right, it's a Maxim team. He's turning towards my forces so I'm going to have to bring up some bigger guns to fire on him, I also doubt he's alone so I'd expect at least a section of two, perhaps a platoon of four.

KG RECHTS

Still no movement. I am shuffling my forces around a bit as they are a bit too bunched up but until something happens on this flank with 3 Kompanie I'm not going to report on them.

SITMAP

At KT4 I'll bring a SPW up to where the scouts are to fire on the Maxim team as I'm confident whatever is in the trees to their front is pretty well suppressed.

On the objective the attack continues.

MMM

Edited November 1, 2021 by Monty's Mighty Moustache