Guest J Pender Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Battle Reconnaissance (Gefechtsaufklarung) Armored Car Patrols: The Panzer division dispatches armored vehicles and numerous automatic weapons. The armored reconnaissance unit is fast and has a wide radius of action. Armored car patrols normally are composed of three armored reconnaissance cars, one of which is equipped with a radio. An artillery observer often accompanies the patrol so that in an emergency fire can be brought down quickly. This type of patrol usually is organized for missions lasting one to two days. Tasks are defined clearly, and nothing is allowed to interfere with the patrol’s main objective. If enemy forces are met, action is to be avoided unless the force is so weak that it can be destroyed without diverting the patrol from its main task. If enemy action is anticipated, the patrol is reinforced with self-propelled guns and occasionally tanks. Engineers and motorcyclists are often attached to the patrol to deal with road blocks and demolition. While scouting a woods, a favorite German ruse is to drive the leading car toward its edge, halt briefly to observe, and then drive off rapidly, hoping to draw fire that will disclose the enemy positions. At road blocks, the leading car opens fire. If fire is not returned, men dismount and go forward to attach tow ropes to the road block. If necessary the patrol dismounts and proceeds on foot. A patrol is never split up, but in open country distances between cars may be as much as 200 to 300 yards. After reading the above passage I decided to try a reconnaissance quick battle. A 600 pt probe scenario with Axis on the attack, clear, day. I chose a large map with gentle slopes, heavy trees in a farm land setting. I used Axis Mechanized of high quality and Allied combined arms regular quality with full FOW. My force elements: PSW 234/2 50mm Unteroffizier Wollak (Patrol leader) PSW 234/2 50mm Unteroffizier Griess PSW 234/1 20mm Unteroffizier Lamp Grenadier 1/2 sqd Unteroffizier Graf Grenadier 1/2 sqd Obergerfreiter Kunze 120mm spoter Aug 24th 1944 I received orders to take my recon group forward and conduct a reconnaissance patrol of a small farm village, we were to identify any enemy units in the area of the village and occupy it if possible. I studied my map and decided against approaching via the road leading into the village due to the possibility of mines and the long mostly unobstructed view of it from the village. We approached the village from the West via the tree lined grain fields. Our approach was covered by the terrain until we were within 400 meters of the town, at this point I disembarked our FO who took up position in some woods directly to the front of the town. I kept all the vehicles behind cover and sent a team of Grenadiers forward across an open field to check the woods on the other side for enemy activity. Unt Graf and his 5 man team set up the squads LMG and took up position to cover Obg Kunze and his men as they crossed the field. After Obg Kunze and his men successfully crossed I took up a mostly hull down covering position and ordered the cars of Unt Griess and Lamp to hunt across the field. When they had taken up firing positions on the other side I directed my driver to cross the field. While crossing I saw some enemy light armor on the move 200 meters to my right. unfortunately I lost sight of them when they passed behind a building and some woods. When I came alongside Unt Griess and Lamp I showed them were I thought the armor would be spotted next, we faced our vehicles in that direction, unbuttoned and waited. While we waited I ordered the inf teams to take up position in the woods to our left to protect against enemy inf approaching from that direction. Then before I knew what had happened the cars of Unt Lamp and Griess had been hit and put out of action. Unt Lamp was killed instantly when an AP round penetrated the front of his turret, one of his drivers was severely wounded by MG fire while running from the shot up car. Unt Graf and his assistant were both wounded by splinters when their car was penetrated by AP shot. I saw the muzzle flash of the canon that knocked out Unt Grafs car, it was from a light tank (Stuart) hidden in some trees. I put the tank in my sites and fired away ordering my driver to reverse to cover. Before my driver started moving we were able to get off two rounds, the second finding its mark penetrating the turret of the American tank. After reversing behind some cover I contacted our FO to see if he knew where and what was the source of the fire that put Unt Wollaks car out of action, he said the fire came from an armored car partially hidden behind a house. I directed the FO to call in a fire mission from his 120mm mortars. After about 2 minutes the mortar fire was impacting on the target area, I ordered my driver to slowly move forward in hope of getting off a shot at the American car while it was distracted/blinded/ terrorized by the incoming strike. After 2 minutes of slowly creeping forward I still had not visually located the American car, fortunately after 11/2 minutes the mortars did and that was the last armor we encountered during our patrol. With two cars out of action and approximately 1 minute of mortar fire available I decided to make a last very cautious advance toward the village. With all other units hidden I ordered Unt Graf to sneak forward across the next field into a small section of woods just 75 meters from the center of the village. Unt Graf and his men crossed the field unnoticed but just as the reached the far side of the woods they had just entered they were taken under fire by .30 and .50 cal mgs. less 75 meters away. Knowing he was in a bad spot Unt Graf ordered his men to brake contact fall back deeper into woods and hide. The FO had a good view of the 2 enemy mg nests and called in our remaining fire mission. As soon as Unt Graf and his team came under fire Obg Kunze set out with his team to take up a position were he could provide cover fire for his trapped comrades. I ordered the hatches closed on the car then I directed my driver to slowly work forward so we could take the .30 cal under fire. Finally the mortars began to strike and combined with the fire of the 2 Grenadire teams and the HE / MG rounds from my car we were able to put out of action the .50 cal and rout the .30 cal team with 2 casualties. During the firefight Grenadier Fusilier Wiltz was severely wounded when fire from the .50 cal struck him in shoulder nearly separating his left arm from his body. It was time to pull out. With no enemy in sight I was tempted to make another advance into the village but I decided against it, I was out of Mortar fire missions, 2 of the cars were out of action, 5 of the men were casualties and my dear friend Unt Lamp was dead. No we had done enough I ordered the patrol to pull back. Unteroffizier Hans Wollak The small size of my forces made it easier to follow the progress of the individual units combine this with playing at mostly level 1 using the units point of view made this a very tense yet enjoyable mini battle. Take care John Pender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henri Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 I would like to know whcih document you are quoting. It is interesting to note that the document explicitely contradicts those on tis forum who have been claiming that recon patrols never purposely drew fire in order to spot enemy positions. It would bve easier to read if you removed the extra paragraph marks ^p. here is how it can be done in a few seconds with Word: 1) Bring up the search and replace screen. Tell it to replace all double return marks (^p^p) with some unused character like # (this ensures preserving lines between paragraphs). 2) Now tell it to replace all ^p with a space. 3) Now tell it to replace all # with ^p^p. Presto, you have a document with paragraphs separated and no extra ends of line. Henri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cwhit21 Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Very enjoyable story.One question in QBs what is the setup for a probe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J Pender Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Hello Henri, I got the text from The U.S. War Department Handbook on German Military Forces (pg 211) Take care John Pender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J Pender Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Hello Cwhit21, I am glad you enjoyed the AAR. "One question in QBs what is the setup for a probe" Im not sure I understand your question. For my next recon QB I plan to add a full 251/1 equiped Grenadier platoon to suport the armored cars as well as a 250/1 to transport the FO. Take care John Pender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlh1138 Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Mr. Pender, I also enjoyed your AAR - my question - I've not yet actually sent up a game like that. Once its set up and saved, could it be sent to someone else (like me ) who could then play it? Thx, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ksak Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Enjoyed reading your AAR. When well done like yours they add another whole dimension to the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt.Tom Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Great AAR, I would love to read more if you have any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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