Russian Training Scenarios

[juan_gigante]

Hmm, I think I'll try 102 a few more times. I must have got pretty lucky beating it without even getting a penetration on any of my tanks. And I know that I've got a lot to learn about taking down an enemy superior tank.

[Erik Springelkamp]

I played 102 twice.

First time I spread out my 3 tanks as wide as possible, and the left one spotted the StuG from its starting position and killed it in two shots. So the rest was mopping up.

The second time I placed the three closer and to the right, but after advancing a bit the spotting by the infantery became confused by the enemy infantery, and one tank was surprised by the StuG. The other two made the racing rush, one of them was killed on the way, but the last one killed the StuG in the flank just like Jason's picture, all for a minor victory.

I now gave 110 two tries, but got so badly shot up (everybody routed) that I surrendered both times. This one will be hard. Even lying low at a distance the squads are quickly routed one by one by the HMG that is still just a sound.

[JasonC]

ekrommen - not necessarily "more careful". Try "more aggressive". Vastly so.

Put one T-34 on the right map edge. On turn 1, fast move down that edge, angling in slightly after the crest, and cutting hard left around the house on that side. Put another T-34 way over on the left but in lowish ground. On turn 1, fast move into the low ground beyond the first rise, cut half right making for the back of the map, then half right again to come along the German edge. Put the command tank behind the little depression just beyond the scattered trees. On turn 1, fast move through the depression and up to the objective house, with last waypoint right behind it (in its "shadow").

Riders aboard all three. Push all the way on fast, stopping only if you have a clear shot at the StuG's backside from under 400m. Otherwise, continue right around it to point blank range. Drop the SMGs with "advance-disembark" orders issued on turn 2, at the end of their rides (in the objective for the command tank, right next to the StuG for the others).

The command tank can shift its waypoint to either side of the house to shoot if the StuG isn't facing it, or can use shoot and scoot after reaching the position, whenever the StuG is turned away.

He might get 1 if he rotates the right way and can track fast enough. He won't get all. Somebody gets a shot right up his tail or broadside, at "can't miss" range. In short, you have to *make him turn*.

[John_d]

Just played through to 110 and its been f***ing hard all the way! :mad: good fun tho and i've learnt alot already

100 ended in disaster most of the time. Just seems to prove how shonky the T34s are when they go head to head with German engineering. Awful ROF and the gunner had obviously left his glasses at home that day cos he couldn't hit anything. Eventually won it with a gun hit, but only after about 12 attempts.

Totally different story when you have a whole platoon of them tho! The trick seems to be (and I'm sure someone has already mentioned this) to use the SMG platoon to spot, then send one tank up the centre into a good hull down position and the other two flanking fairly wide but keeping their front armour facing the enemy. This way whilst the enemy tanks are busy bouncing shots off the front of the centre tank, they are exposing their flanks to the other two. Works a treat. Same tactic for the StuG, but a wider spread needed on the flanking units to take advantage of the slow turning circle.

110 is one of the most frustrating things I've ever seen committed to CM. I take my hat off to you Jason- its made me weep in anger SSSOOO many times! Still haven't even managed to reach the enemy's lines yet Can't seem to get within spotting distance, no matter which route I take towards the objective. Even area fire doesn't seem to work, it just gives away my troops positions. I've tried huge banzai charges (probably the least effective method, btw), sneaking up on the them, overwatch tactics, even sent a troupe of can-can girls up the flanks to distract them from the main attack (hmmmm, maybe somebody should work that into a mod. You could even do a winter '41/'42 version with little ear muffs and furry boots). I hope the point of that particular level was just to demonstrate how naff green russian platoons with untrained NCOS are, rather than to demonstrate how recklessly I would normally use my infantry when I have a whole battalion to play with. I can only hope the lessons get a bit easier from here

Excellent concept and levels, btw, Jason. I'm already looking at CM battles in a whole different light. I'll send the bill for the damage to my property caused by repeated defeat on level 110 to your home address shall I?

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted on any future developments

[JasonC]

Erik - what approach route are you using in 110?

It always helps to reason it out from the end state backward, like solving a maze.

The cover nearest the objective is a scraggly line of shellholes about 80-100m out, right in front of it. Ahead of those is a wooden fence, and ahead of that is a house. There is another house across the road to the left, with a hedge behind it, and some trees to their right.

You can advance one column of guys in the shadow of the house nearest the fence. You could even send them all that way, single file, but it would get a bit crowded at the far end. Instead send the other column to the trees, around or over the hedge, and to the other house. Staying in the shadow of that house as much as possible.

A trick to look for shadows is to put a waypoint on a location, then a rotate to command. Put the end of the rotate to command on the expected location of the shooter you want cover from. Now, pick up the waypoint (not the end, the middle movement one) and drag it, until the purple line runs through a building (or other LOS blocker). That location, you now know, is a shadow of that shooter position.

I said "column" above. That means two squads, or squad HQ and squad in that order, going over the same exact route. If the way is covered, the later guys won't be seen. If it isn't and the lead guy draws fire, the others will be OK and can change direction slightly. Maintain proper interval - that means 26m to avoid any suppression from a shot aimed at the next unit.

You can use "move to contact" before you think fire is likely, to save fatigue. If shot they will stop, and you can advance the next turn if not pinned.

You can get more cover from a house by staying behind it rather than inside it. One squad can go inside. For the larger ones, one squad can go at a corner and the HQ (only) can go in a diagonally opposite (back) corner. Another can go "out back", nestled behind the house, using it as an LOS block instead of 25% exposure.

You should be able to get your platoon to those positions fully intact. If anybody got shot in the meantime and is a bit scared, rest and wait and rally once reaching the safety of the houses. Either way, you jump off from that position in good order - the only issue is how much time you have.

Since from that point on you want spots, give all your regular squads 250m covered arcs over the objective area. That trains their eyes in that direction and means they will shoot if they see something. The HQ you can give a 100m covered arc if you like - its firepower mostly comes from the SMG and it is a bit of a waste to fire from farther out.

The next part is the hard part, obviously. You have to get somebody into one of those shellholes, and do so with heads up to spot, rather than perpetually pinned.

Here you must use the famous "short advance" drill. Meaning units with good morale get a waypoint 40-50m away. Staying more than 25m from each other. One moving while another is in its command delay, to stagger which one is moving at any given time.

You can pause behind the fence for modest cover. But they won't stay there long - if hit there they will sideways sneak, often backwards, which is bad. You need to push to the shellholes. The HQ has to go too, though it can be 30m or so behind and move out second in any given minute (padded with one pause e.g.). Anyone pinned goes stationary trying to rally. Don't let two units head for the same shellhole.

Expect pain. Some units will lose 1-3 men, some will panic, some will sideways sneak. Keep them in hand by keeping the HQ in command range and zeroing out nonsensical "sneaks". Sneaks toward the shellholes you can keep. Get somebody, anybody, pinned or not, sneaking or not, into one of those shellholes beyond the fence. And try not to have the rest of them scattered to the winds when it happens.

Next, have the guy who made a shellhole go stationary, rotating to the likely enemy shooter position. He can area fire if you like, you aren't likely to run out of ammo at this point. Move others to draw fire away from the front guys and help them rally, or get another spotter into another shellhole if the fire stays on the first.

At some point you will pick him up. Meaning, the sound contact will "resolve" to a full spot. Everybody stops where they are and pulls triggers for all they are worth. Keep it up 2-3 minutes. You will see his head go down. When his head goes down and only then, keep firing with anybody in the shellholes and advance others into the other shellholes. His slackened fire should help all your men rally (maybe one routed unit doesn't, too far gone - s'ok).

When all are rallied (that are going to) and firing from the shellhole line, advance a single squad to grenade range. Use 2 bounds if you like. Make for cover near him but not right on top of him. When they get within 35m they will throw grenades, and their SMGs will become FP monsters. They won't stand it and will stay down forever.

It feels impossible pushing that last bit into the shellholes. It feels like it is taking forever, like you can't lay a glove on him, like you will never have enough rallied men to hurt him. But one guy close enough and not pinned, gets the spot. Firing makes him duck, just once. And that is all she wrote. The rest is an avalanche a lone MG can't possibly stop.

[Zimorodok]

JasonC: I would DEFINATELY host them. Just send them to zimorodok@zimorodok.org if you so desire.

respectfully yours

Zimorodok.

Originally posted by junk2drive:

Once upon a time there was a website with step by step and screenshots of how to advance for CMBB. I can't seem to find it anymore.

Maybe Zimorodok's site has room. Gyrene has a site with a forum.

[John Kettler]

JasonC and fellow Russian trainees,

Got everything installed okay and played RusTrain100. Flowed forward like water using Hunt and Cover Armor commands. Very important to get down to ground level in order to read terrain contours!

Initial encounter was basically head-on, with my static shot (had LOS end of earlier turn) being the opening shot on the hulldown advancing Panzer. Missed the first shot but hit him hard enough with the second that he popped smoke and backed out of LOS. I worked right a bit as before but with a couple of short Reverse commands interspersed, and caught the Panzer moving toward the VL, aspect nearly perpendicular. A round through the turret side did the deed, with a Death Clock round to be sure. 100% Allied victory at end of Turn 5, with 4 AP rounds expended.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Runyan99]

I won 102 on the second try with the same tactics, sort of.

I again spread out my three tanks wide, but gave the infantry a 1 minute head start.

The StuG began to pepper my infantry with MG fire. My tanks would engage, then back up on their own, usually without firing. Eventually, the StuG got a hit and caused a Gun Damaged on the middle tank.

Then my leftmost tank engaged under a direct target order from me, and was knocked out. That left my rightmost tank, while the StuG was hiding behind a house.

So, I did the Fast Move attack. My T-34 drove right up and engaged the StuG. Due to a bad cover arc on my part, it didn't see the target right away. At a range of 35 meters (!) my tank fired twice, and got two ricochets against the frontal armor. For some reason, the StuG didn't fire, and then the crew abandoned the vehicle. They might have been down a man, due to an earlier partial penetration. I don't know.

In any case, it was an unispiring victory. And, I don't like the charge attack at all, even in cases where I know there is nothing else lying in wait to engage a recklessly charging tank. It just seems more foolish than any kind of 'tactic'.

[HeinzBaby]

I'm enjoying these training senarios immensely JC.

With the 3 100 series I had my 34's un-bottoned, armour arc's with plts hunting in packs (close formations). Shoot & Scoot (Q) key commands when contact was made.

I was surprised that the Pz III's abandoned so readily rather than getting KO'ed, there was alot of ricocheting exchange fire until I worked around to the flanks.

These gems will keep me going throu Xmas.

Thanks to the Hosts as well, Cheers

[Other Means]

In QB's against human opponents T34 charge tactics have left me with nothing to show but burning tanks. And I've tried about 100 times.

You're going into territory where you have no idea about ATG's, infantry, mines, AT teams or anything else. The Germans have organic infantry AT and your opponent can buy more 80mm front StuG's than you can tanks.

T34's are hopeless at shooting on the move, if they have to acquire targets they do it slower than Axis tanks and the ROF is slower so you have to risk more to achieve fire superiority. If you keep your TC's unbuttoned your opponent will have a sniper to kill them, and then they are basically just big Dinky toys.

And you will be out pacing your infantry because any Axis tank will be able to keep them penned back down to grenade range, so you WON'T be able to set useful covered arcs.

IMHO, the only way to beat Axis armor is to make them come to you. Use the T34's to win the infantry war until he's forced to bring his armor forward. Keep behind cover and you have all the ammo you need to pound down his MG's, even before they're resolved from sound contacts. Then when he brings his armour to challenge either mass, split or hide. The Axis player usually leads with his StuG's as before the T34/85 they will shrug most things off and kill everything in return. Now you can try to turn them, or have light flak try to M-kill him.

But for the love of god, don't go rushing to his back line to try and get an angle, there's people who will kill you there.

[JasonC]

You have to know the tactic and you will sometimes need to use it.

In 101, with a pair of turreted opponents, it won't work very well. Against a single unturreted one, it works quite reliably.

Mobility is one of the great strengths of the T-34, and any attempt to use them without making use of it at times is selling them short.

Sure, the best counter to superior armor is improved shooters that can kill them from the front. See the later AT scenarios - 321 and 322 - to see how a static defense kills numerous (rather than single) attacking StuGs or Tigers.

[John_d]

OK, I've given up on 110 now after never even coming close to winning. However, 111 and 112 were no problem at all. Unless I'm missing something, I think the point here is that without proper backup and support, individual platoons of low grade infantry are near useless. I'm sure it is possible to win 110, but I would be extremely suprised if anyone managed to do it first time, without prior knowledge of the map and enemy positions (gamey in these circumstances, but not if you have a company at your command as in 111 and 112- you would send recon ahead first to scout the area out a bit). Begining to see the importance of proper spotting and area fire. Getting better as guessing where the enemy might be too.

So far so good! On to 200!

[Erik Springelkamp]

First time in 110 I approached in a straight line, curious how a 'box' in open ground would behave.

They were routed as soon as they had crossed the road.

Second time I started on the right, crossing the road safely, moving up the house safely and then taking on a box with the front on the wooden fence.

When I moved the backward squads forward beyond the wooden fence to releave the pressure on the point guys it was all over: one by one they were panicking, and starting to run around like headless chickens, even towards the enemey lines.

They ended up scattered in different houses, even the one far on the left. The damage was done while all were initially just pinned, in command. But maybe the distance between them was a little bit too small, so the enemy was getting 'two for the price of one'.

This evening I will exeriment a bit more with larger distances between the squads (maybe I should install a gridded grass mod, because it is much work to measure distances) and covered arcs for observers.

[John_d]

Having now given 200 a go, I have a few questions.

1)How the hell do u spot and destroy units in trenches? Especially machine guns. They simply suppress and break anything that comes within spotting range

2) Is there any way of preventing enemy AT guns from spotting your tanks? My T-34s are crippling slow to respond to any kind of threat and the AT guns always get the first (and often second) shot in before my tanks even react. Combined with the fact that the aiming is rubbish on them, even when stationary, any head to head battle between my T-34s and AT guns always ends badly for me. I hate using T-34s generally, btw, and I've never had a good word to say about them

3) Why do my overwatch units never respond fast enough? I have this problem all the time in CMBB, although not in CMBO. Units will happily sit and watch the rest of their platoon get shot to pieces, despite being able to see the shooter. Why?

4)What is the point of the hull-down command? It never works. All that seems to happen is that my tanks just stop at some random point where they can't see anything. And sit there.

5) How do make the best use of shoot and scoot? I can't seem to find a use for it with Russian tanks cos they're so bad at aiming on the run

6) ATR. Why bother?

7) Is there any tried and tested tacic to get enemy units to reliably give away their EXACT positions without me loosing half of my men and/or watching them run in terror in the wrong direction?

Thanks

[John_d]

oh and,

8) Is it generally better attack hard down one route or spread your troops a bit and attack over a wider area?

[Runyan99]

Originally posted by John_d:

Unless I'm missing something, I think the point here is that without proper backup and support, individual platoons of low grade infantry are near useless. I'm sure it is possible to win 110, but I would be extremely suprised if anyone managed to do it first time, without prior knowledge of the map and enemy positions...

I agree totally. I think assaulting that entrenched MG position over open ground is DUMB, and if you are the type of lieutenant that thinks such attacks are a good idea, then you are probabaly the type of lieutenant who was probably shot in the back under mysterious circumstances.

Wait for support of some kind. Mortar, tank, something, or find a way to go around the position. THAT's good tactics.

[JasonC]

No, sorry, you are just wrong. It is a standard task infantry needs to be able to perform. Regulars with decent leadership on a typical map will do it in a walk. It is harder with poorly led greens in quite open terrain, yes, and this test is meant to show you how unpromising the set up can be, and still win. Single MGs die to properly handled platoons, period. Infantry has to be able to win ugly, to weather fire and yes even panic, and still eventually prevail.

When you know how to do this, everything else with infantry is easier. Sure, most of the time you will have - company depth and command flexibility; heavy weapons support; cover; etc. But you will also usually face much stiffer opposition. When you have five units to one, you should be able to succeed without any of those things. If you know how to do that, you will not fail to cash in other advantages when you have them.

[Runyan99]

Originally posted by JasonC:

No, sorry, you are just wrong. It is a standard task infantry needs to be able to perform. Regulars with decent leadership on a typical map will do it in a walk. It is harder with poorly led greens in quite open terrain, yes, and this test is meant to show you how unpromising the set up can be, and still win.

As a strictly wargame excersise, I can understand that. But if it is a 'standard task' then the excercise should allow you to do it with Regulars on a typical map. Not greens on an open map. Doing so entails a very high risk of failure, and 25-50 percent casualties, and that is poor leadership in my book. I wouldn't make this attack in a CM operation, a CMC battle, or in real life. It's not smart.

I don't object to the CM excercise. But I object to your apparent opinion this this is something that a green infantry platoon should or would attempt on their own. Only with a Commissar's pistol at my back....

[Runyan99]

To break it down further. Your recommended tactics are to take 50 guys, and advance in column about 225 meters (!) from the last house to the enemy trench, over open ground, directly into the fire of a machinegun, with only a few shell holes and a wood fence in between for cover. HAH!

That's brilliant.

[JasonC]

If you do it correctly you will KO as many men as you lose, and succeed reliably. If you haven't done so yet, then you have something to learn here. Also, you only need to advance far enough to get a spot, which is much less than 225 meters from the last strong cover. Once you have a spot, firepower will provide all the cover you need.

[Runyan99]

ok, to be fair.

On the third try, I won, took 2 casualties, KIA or wounded 4 of the Germans, and took the last prisoner.

Your tactics did work. Apparently, the wood fence is more cover than I gave it credit for.

On the other hand, the MG is out of command. I wonder if an in-command MG in a normal scenario would fold so easily. I doubt it.

EDIT -

oh, and in Real Life, if the Germans are on the ball enough to use the telescpopic sight on the MG42, they wont have to stick their necks up above the trench, and they will care much less about suppressive fire. They will just sit there and shoot Russians as long as they have ammo.

[ November 30, 2005, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: Runyan99 ]

[JasonC]

It will. Once you spot them it is all over. A platoon has enough firepower to put them heads down. It only takes a single duck, because all the attackers rally once the fire pauses, and that means they all fire, and that means the defender stays heads down.

No, what the defense needs is another shooter, one not yet discovered and therefore not yet suppressed, who can open up as the attackers send someone closer. The same logic of spreading the pain around and taking the heat off the guys already in trouble, works for defenders too, if they have enough depth.

The reason for 111 is to show that such a second shooter - often out of range of spots from the troops attacking the original objective - can be dealt with too, but only with the resources of a company. Meaning heavy weapons to area fire or occasionally smoke somebody, command flexibility to shift a point of attack, etc.

Such a company can still be stopped, when there is so little cover and the attackers aren't high quality, if the defenders have enough shooters. Enough meaning not an MG or two, but full platoons as well. Preferably in locations that unveil only after the attackers commit, from farther back etc. A platoon caught in the open by a full platoon ambush, rather than one MG, can indeed be scattered or shot down.

And that is part of what you get in 112. But the attacker has a counter to that, too, if he has artillery and "reads" the defense well enough to use it correctly.

Against the full platoon and two MGs, greens over open ground succeed in 15 minutes with a loss of only 12 men - when they have artillery to walk in behind, use their heavy weapons correctly, in addition to the approach tactics learned in 110.

The whole thing is a chain of escalation, of threat and counter. Which only makes sense if you know the first rung. Which is how much a full platoon of infantry can do, when handled with stubborn persistence to spotting range, and relying on fire dominance after that (rather than impatient rushing to bayonet range e.g.).

[Christian Knudsen]

Having lost 110 several times before I pulled it off, I realise now that this exercise is about two things:

1. Reconnaisance by death. Not the ideal way to do things, but sometimes the only option. Incidentally, infantry section and platoon commanders are still trained to do this as a last option for locating the enemy, right after speculative fire.

2. Winning the firefight. The point is that once the enemy is located, you MUST get his head down in order to start approaching his position for the assault.

Still it must be remembered that this is an exercise designed to show how to maneuver unsupported infantry to the point where the enemy can be reliably located without losing too many troops, and as such one can, as a new platoon commander be assured that you won't have to take that MG out by yourself. Of course the reasons for this are not too morale-boosting:

a. Any tripod-mounted MG would most definitely NOT let you get to within 250m of a forward slope position before firing. Expect to be engaged between 600-800 meters, depending on the effective ranges of the supporting infantry (see .

b. No HMG would be sited without some more infantry (and likely other supporting arms) to back it up. Expect at a bare minimum a platoon.

So Runyan99, you are right, in that you wouldn't likely see this situation as platoon leader, and JasonC, you are right in that it is possible to locate the enemy, win the firefight, and successfully assault an enemy trench with poorly-led green Russian troops.

PS - Am greatly enjoying these scenarios thus far. Was very chuffed when I finally won 102 without changing the Russian start locations - Great job, JasonC!

[JasonC]

ChristianK - The MG opening at 600m will not help. One, in steppe or the like, you can advance without being easily spotted that far away. If you have approach cover in places (brush, wheat, rocky e.g.) you can get closer still by tacking on a few minutes of sneak after the advances. (Short advance *and hide*, runs the drill, beyond spotting range).

But even if the HMG does see and fire at much longer range, the approach drill still works. The drill is short advances by anybody above "pinned" morale state. That means bounds as short as 30m sometimes, 50m typically, as long as 70m if the fire is light. Stopping even right in the open if the range is long.

The MG does not in fact have the ammo to keep it up forever. Even 85 shots will go in 15 minutes. If they hit different men every minute, lots of units are rallying for lots of minutes, and the result is a lot of fp absorbed without lasting effect. If instead they concentrate on one unit until it runs, and keep their ammo to effective ranges, they can typically rout a squad, but not stop the advance. Indeed, if they concentrate on one unit the others can make 70m a minute and close from effective range (or themselves being spotted in steppe or brush cover) to spotting distance in 5-10 minutes.

Intuition seems to be that one has to rush to minimize time exposed to the MG fire. But that intuition is wrong. Doubling the length of time exposed does not double the losses. It doubles the rally, and keeps the range long for a high portion of the shots.

Indeed, if the defender spends most of his ammo firing at 500m to 300m, then by the time the attackers get to 150m, they have a huge edge in ammo remaining. Along with typical attacker odds, more than enough to counteract the cover differential. One side fires at high exposure but long range, the other side fires at low exposure but short range, over their whole ammo loads. Six of one, half dozen of the other. And numbers therefore tell.

A full defense has the additional problem, that only a small portion of the defenders are stealthy long range shooters with high ammo, suitable for suppressing fire at range. The attackers move up whole companies, and a few MGs try to stop them. At 500m ranges, they simply can't. They can and do cause delay and pain. They might hit a man a minute overall. But 15 minutes later, the attackers will accumulate in whatever cover there is, at small arms range from the defense.

Large bodies of infantry approaching this way can be stopped by armor hosing them with MG fire with impunity. They can be stopped by very heavy and sustained artillery fire, routing large numbers of them. They can be stopped by multiple high caliber direct fire HE pieces, if those can't be countered by the attacker's own overwatch weapons. Once they do close, attackers can be outshot by whole platoons of infantry at small arms range, if they arrive too ragged and piecemeal. But just MGs and the like, will only delay and prolonge the advance, not halt it.

Too many CM players have the impression that infantry simple cannot advance over open ground, or into fire. This is not the case. It can, it did, and it does in CM. It takes modest losses doing it and it suffers temporary panic at times, enough to rattle the cautious and get them to give up. But that is intimidation, not capacity. If an aggressively led infantry formation persists in advancing, it will close.

Not charging - that will always fail. Not on line and walk straight in, that will fail against a prepared defense. But packet movement from scrap of cover to scrap of cover, by whole companies and battalions, prolonged and pushed only as hard as the men will stand (or a little less), is something much more powerful than futile charges.

It creeps firepower in, it comes to stay, it acts as a ratchet terrain-wise. Rally power gets the men through fire. All of them scared white at times, but all of them getting chances to "breath" in their scrap of cover while somebody else takes his turn.

And eventually - not even that long in real time terms, it just seems long when the defenders are firing and the attackers aren't yet - it accumulates pools of manpower in cover just shy of the enemy. From which large amounts of firepower emerge. That fire melts defenders nearby. Gradually, the whole thing washes over the defenders.

To be sure, overwatch fire makes all of it easier. It turns spots into kills. But the infantry bring enough themselves, to overwhelm vanilla infantry and MGs, if they can get attacker numbers to cover at spotting range.

Defenders really want obstacles too, as part of their defenses, because a few MGs alone will not in fact keep determined attackers out. And lines in depth, to fall back to once the attackers do accumulate on one's immediate front. And artillery (or mines, or both), to counter local attacker concentration with something that enemy numbers make no impression on.

[John Kettler]

JasonC and troops,

Played RusTrain 101 to a bloodless for me Total Victory. Tactics were basically as before, with the infantry screen thrown out ahead and the left tank advancing using Fast. Ran into a Panzer to right front and commenced firing on the move via Cover Armor arc. At ~400m range, switched to fire from halt as HQ and right tank were advanced into range. Spangs for left tank and Panzer. Once my comrades

were in range, they opened up, getting partial front penetrations. Meanwhile, I executed a Fast right fishhook and nailed the Panzer at ~200m range (frontal weak spot), forcing abandonment. This maneuver exposed another Panzer to view, but it wasn't targetable, leading me to Fast move then Hunt the other two forward. These two basically beat the Panzer to pieces frontally in a truly exciting ~300m duel between my center and right tank, the second of which somehow bogged, and the Panzer. Ricochets galore on both sides. Before the left tank could get a shootable LOS, the other Panzer was an abandoned carcass. Killed the Panzers, took 6 POWs, and had a tank and infantry on the objective.

Regards,

John Kettler