Umpire AAR Thanksgiving CPX

[John F Monahan]

I set up the German leg Infantry Battalion (-) in El Alemain. The Germans players did not see it until the CPX started. Placement of the AT Ditches and minefields was less than optimal. This represented an isolated outpost.

The exact units were not known to the players until the start of the CPX. They knew, in a general sense, what Battalions they would have, but not exact size or equipment. This simulated the uncertainty of unit strengths in North Africa due to the logistical issues.

The Germans had the more difficult situation. A good combined arms force ( 1 panzer, 1 recon and one motorized infantry battalions) and a mission to resupply El Alemain. They were, however, a farther distance at setup. And the motorized infantry battalion disappeared about turn 20. The Germans had a large variety of equipment.

The UK Player had a tank brigade of three tank battalions and a support (motorized infantry) battalion. Few equipment types but lots of tanks. They were close to El Alemain, their objective to capture. They had four mine rollers.

Neither player had much offboard artillery. I set one minute game and realtime turns with few breaks.

The UK forces had no problem clearing El Alemain, much more quickly than I would have thought.

The German advance was halting. The recon battalion stopped to engage a few UK armoured cars. By the time they got to El Alemain, the Brits were defending. This reduced the technical advantage of the German tanks. The Germans then attacked into town and were badly shot up by short range shots by the Brit tanks.

The scenario really highlighted the vast diversity of equipment available in WWII.

There will be another CPX over the Holidays. A Soviet attack in 1942. Any volunteers to be CDRs ?

The 779 map, the saved game files and my original .tac files are at ftp://www.usa-bayern.com/tacops and soon at www.tacopshq.com