DAR Artkin vs Sgt. Grunt

[Artkin]

I have been enjoying this one a lot. So much that I want to share it. I will show how I dissect this tactical dilemma my way from the beginning. Whether it's right or wrong, this is how I approached this scenario and why.

The location:

We are fighting on the map Summer In The City by The Forger. The map is originally for CMBS, but I've ported it over to CMRT since it's that good. 

Here is the particular section we are fighting over. I start in the East as the German attackers and Sgt. Grunt starts in the West as the Soviet defenders.

The theme is a 1942 battle during the winter months. Forces are around 1700 men per side.

The Soviet force consists of the 2nd Guards Rifle Brigade backed by elements of it's parent formation; 3rd Guards Tank Corps. While this is a motorized brigade, I removed the trucks for the standard infantry squads. While this brigade may look dumb and harmless to the untrained truppen's eye, these badass mot. infantry battalions come with 4 infantry squads per platoon along with snipers totaling around 40 men each. This - when used right - nearly evens the firepower against German platoons. Additionally I expect the Soviets will have substantial armor support in the form of T-34/76. This will probably employed in a counter attacking force somewhere down the line.

The German Force is as follows:

Both panzer companies each have 12 PZIIIG Short barrel, 4 PZIIIM L, 5 PZIV L and 1 PzIIIN stubby. The support company and HQ section add 6 PzIV L and 2 PzIIIN stubby.

Altogether 24 PzIIIG Short, 8 PzIIIM Long, 16PzIV Long, and 4 PzIIIN Stubby. 52 tanks supported by a pioneer and anti-air platoon.

1/14 is fully mechanized with 3 companies of panzergrenadiers supported by a stummel and mortar platoon.

14th pioneer company is a typical motorized pioneer company with one flamethrower per platoon.

14th cannon company has 4 on-map 150mm grille howitzers split between two platoons.

89th Pioneer is in halftracks.

1/288 is stationary and pretty much useless, but is there for moral support.

4/288 has 6 anti aircraft guns

53rd panzerjager is armed with 14 marder II's.

And I have 12 guns of 105mm, and 6 of 150mm off map.

[Artkin]

Terrain Analysis:

I admit I didn't do too much of this, being the scenario designer. On that: I placed all the troops for this one, but it was a while ago... I have forgotten where I placed everything by now.

5th Panzer Divison's native FW-189A1 element was able to snap some photos of the river we will be attempting to cross. The photos didn't come out too well, our field CP has holes in the roof from all the shelling lately.

If that's too hard for your eyes here are some more normal pictures. The first two are the view from my starting location. Left, and then right.

Left:

A sprawl of walls, open ground, and windowless industrial property. If I want to get over the train tracks it will require pioneers to blast through walls. For the most part this looks good for observation, but not really to fight from.

Right:

A sprawl of suburbs on a tall hill. Each house is walled off one way or another. This kind of terrain is ideal for pushing infantry through.

Footbridge:

This map is filled with firing positions. I will have to be extremely cautious if I want to preserve my infantry.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Artkin

[Artkin]

Points of interest:

#1 The highest terrain in the area, this is a valuable position to have units on. This position overwatches every crossing point that we have. It will be essential to either secure or suppress this location if I have any hope of crossing the river intact.

#2 This large area is perfect for hiding a company of infantry in. These houses won't have good LOS on our avenues of approach, but they could be a danger to our forces crossing. It will be important to at least scout this location out. If there are troops there they can be easily hit with 105mm.

#3 A church sits here with a tower that is very tall. If this is occupied then my opponent will be able to see all of the troops I mass in the high suburbs.

#4 This location will probably have to be flattened one way or another. This looks like a great place to defend from. If the first line of buildings are destroyed then it would be easy for my opponent to retreat and hit me when I'm vulnerable again. I will avoid this location for now, I know it will be heavily occupied. The approaches to this crossing site is without cover. Our forces will have to bombard it with artillery and assault it with panzers.

 

These are the crossing points:

Our forces will advance to contact and the regimental commander will make a decision on how to proceed over the bridges when our forces have achieved overwhelming fire superiority.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Artkin

[Artkin]

My starting forces are:

1st Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Panzergrenadier Regiment:

 

Panzer platoon, Support Company, 2nd Battalion, 31st Panzer Regiment

+

Recon platoon, Support Company, 2nd Battalion, 31st Panzer Regiment:

1st platoon, 3rd Company, 89th Panzer Pioneer Battalion:

 

This powerful initial force's objective is to scout the bridges, and engage the enemy by establishing long range base of fire positions on our side of the river.

Pioneers will be essential in navigating the terrain. Tall stone walls dominate this side of the river, providing cover, but also forces my troops into mouseholes. The pioneers will mitigate that by blowing alternate paths for both my infantry and armored vehicles. As I will find out, the tall walls severely constrict traffic, forcing them down obvious routes which will be highly defended.

Plenty of reinforcements are on their way but are bogged down in traffic.

[Artkin]

My plan:

So this is where I can really enjoy myself now that the stage is set and preliminary stuff is out of the way.

The left side of my spawn is all commercial property. There isn't a lot of cover, it's mostly open. There are some tall buildings which could make for good observation hides, but with the thick haze looming over the city, it wouldn't make sense. They are too far away. I expect to find the largest concentrations of my enemy around the bridgeheads, so this serves me little use.

 

 

Instead of leaving this side of the map completely undefended, I opt to send my 89th Panzer Pioneers into the complex. To do so, they will have to blow a wall. Their plan is to search the buildings, then slowly proceed to the bridges. The Panzer platoon from II/Pz.Rgt.31 will remain on call to support the pioneers if needed, since they lack any sort of heavy firepower aside from plentiful MG's. They should be fine, since our attack generally carries the element of surprise. Light infantry is all that we expect to face for the first few hundred meters.

 

 

The right side of our starting position is where we will send the main attack. 1st Company Panzergrenadiers will penetrate into the thick suburbs and attempt to push their way to the river. In doing so, they will capture the Tall Suburbs. From here I will generally be able to look over the river into my enemy's positions. Considering the height, the suburbs would be a suitable location to move my forward observers, higher HQ's, and fire support elements. Though the height difference is marginal, windows from second story homes prove as capable observation hideouts.

 

(View from the High Suburbs to the Soviet positions on the other side of the river)

The plan to secure these High Suburbs is threefold. Blue, Teal, and finally Green.

1st Company Panzergrenadiers will initiate Blue from our jumping off position (Spawn). They will carefully enter suburbs from the low hedges. A small base of fire will sit themselves there as the rest of the platoons initiate Blue.

Teal will be our first real fighting position. I plan to send one platoon into teal, which will provide the beginning framework for my advance through the High Suburbs.

After Teal is secure, the buildings are tall enough to provide covering fire most of the way to position Green. A second platoon will advance to Green.

My third platoon will be held reserved, with not much for them to do here. I don't want to cluster my men up too much for the both their and the game's sake.

 

I will come to find out sending mechanized troops through an environment like this is very restricting.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Artkin

[Suzuya]

Looking forward to the next part of this, huge MP AARs are always a treat and the force selection for this one sounds great, hope the little undergunned Pz3's can show off a bit and knock out some T34s with a heat round.

[Artkin]

On 9/5/2022 at 6:20 AM, Suzuya said:

Looking forward to the next part of this, huge MP AARs are always a treat and the force selection for this one sounds great, hope the little undergunned Pz3's can show off a bit and knock out some T34s with a heat round.

Thank you for the kind words. Your words have rejuvenated my desire to proceed with this. Things have taken an interesting turn in this game, as I have picked up a partner to share the load with me. Naturally with that the pace has slowed down, but we have also ran into some small quirky dropbox issues. I will update this soon, but not before this weekend.

[Bubba883XL]

nice!