Dan Weaver Posted June 27, 2000 Share Posted June 27, 2000 Today I won Drive to Mortain with a major Allied victory after 3 battles. The results: Allied 109 casualties (45 KIA) 3 mortars destroyed 15 vehicles knocked out (love them dime-a-dozen Shermans!) Axis 154 casualties (72 KIA) 10 captured 2 mortars destroyed 8 guns destroyed 1 vehicle knocked out After the first half of the first battle I kept well away from the road, using my tanks to bulldoze through bocage, which saved me a lot of grief and kept me out of ambushes. Infantry can get through bocage (they take about a turn) but they need cover while they do it. Artillery caused many of my casualties, and I've now learned to keep units moving through the objective. As always, combined arms were the best solution to the numerous Nazi anti-tank guns. While reading about the real-life drive to Mortain, which stalled and resulted in heavy casualties, I noticed that the officer who ordered the attack stipulated that the 737th stick to the road. Dumb idea! If I'd attacked on a one-tank front I would have gotten creamed. Dan [This message has been edited by Dan Weaver (edited 06-27-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdog Posted June 28, 2000 Share Posted June 28, 2000 *****SPOILER***** I played the scenario as Axis, I won total victory in 5th battle. It was great rolling battle I took heavy loses in the 1st battle (lost all my PZ SRKS in opening ambush) but re-grouped & slowly wore Allies down. The key to a Axis victory is placing your AT guns (my 88s rocked) with great LOS on probable tank & half track routs. Keep your MK4 in reserve coveing your flank ( he even killed 1 M4 & 2 half tracks). The Arty was also key in slowing down Allies, protect those spotters! By turn 5 I was able to counter attack & mop up the last of Allied armor & infantry. Your right about the road it is a death trap for Allies. Axis 224 casualities (109KIA) Most in 1st 2 battles 2 captured 3 mortars destroyed 9 guns destroyed 2 vehicales knocked out Allies 382 casualities (177KIA) 19 captured 3 mortars destroyed 39 vehicales knocked out Big Dog [This message has been edited by Bigdog (edited 06-28-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Imperator Posted June 30, 2000 Share Posted June 30, 2000 *** AXIS SPOILERS *** Just finished this operation a few minutes ago. The AI is a slow learner. In the first battle, it sent all its vehicles straight down the road. In anticipation of this I had placed a couple of 88s on the side of the road, where they killed half a dozen apiece before being knocked out. By the end of the second battle, I had destroyed nearly all the enemy vehicles and shifted my focus to advancing my infantry. The 20s in overwatch positions helped greatly; whenever the enemy popped up to fire, they'd send a barrage his way. I tried to use my armor in the attack, but it was ineffective and I moved it back to the high ground. A lucky artillery round killed all my mortars. My artillery took so long to arrive that I was reduced to blindly targetting wide areas in the hope of causing as much disruption as possible. In the third battle the AI spent most of its time trying to cross a particular ford. Each time they crossed, my guns opened fire, and back they went. I took advantage of the confusion to send a platoon over the ford at my far left, and snuck them around to the enemy's favorite ford. There they trapped a couple platoons between flak and rifles. In the fourth battle, all the AI had left was infantry and a single Jumbo Sherman that took an 88 in the turret on the first turn. My forward limit during the setup phase was just far enough forward that I could place troops on the other side of the river. I advanced a single platoon through those woods and moved the rest forward from bocage to bocage, until near the end of the battle the AI surrendered and I won a total victory. Not too difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boz Posted June 30, 2000 Share Posted June 30, 2000 I'm on the on the third battle of this operation now. My armor was decimated on the first, but since then, though still having my armor stick to the road, I have infantry out on the wings humping through the bocage, spotting and engaging axis units before the armor passes. It's slow going but seems to be working so far. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmer Posted December 26, 2000 Share Posted December 26, 2000 I know this is an old thread, but I just finished this operation and I figured I'd add my experience. I played as the Americans, and basically planned to stick to the road as much as possible due to the damp conditions. I set up my Jumbo in the lead, with a full 5-tank platoon behind it, followed by halftrack mounted infantry and the rest of the tanks bringing up the rear. Once I made contact (some infantry and a PzIV) I dismounted the infantry and moved it forward to make sure the tanks weren't going to get popped by an infantry ambush. This worked - I didn't lose a single tank to infantry. I supported this move with preemptive blasting of any area that looked like it might conceal an ambush. As I was finishing up the first battle German arty started landing on my halftracks, and disabled several in one turn. My Jumbo bought it early in the second battle, followed closely by my Stuart and Sherman 76, all to AT guns. However, I started to move more quickly and resistance seemed to be weakening. Pesky 88s continued to chew up my tanks. The third battle saw little resistance to my infantry advance, but tanks continued to die for flanking AT guns. Even those 20mm FlaK guns mobility-killed a Sherman. By the fourth battle I was heading up the big hill. The battle started out with me spotting the JgdPz IV on the slope ahead. I ran every exposed vehicle into cover and started moving infantry forward slowly. When it got to the point that I had to bring my armor up, I dropped a 155 barrage around the JgdPz, which got it moving. A Marder appeared next o it, both moving left to right across the hill 800m from my position. I ran two Shermans into hull-down positions and started plinking. Both German vehicles turned and started firing. The Marder was quickly dispatched, and there was a long duel between the two Shermans the JgdPz wherein at least 4 rounds bounced off the German vehicle and 2 off one of the Shermans(!) before two successive penetrations knocked out the JgdPz. I let loose with every bit of artillery I had on the buildings on the hill, and by the time I moved up to take them there wasn't much left. I was down to 6 servicable Shermans and 8 tracks by the end, but my casualties were only about 95 men total, whereas the Germans took over 250. Allied tactical victory after the fourth battle. Fantastic operation - my compliments to the author. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 Thank you ------------------ "An hour has 60 minutes, each minute in action has a thousand dangers." - Karl-Heinz Gauch, CO 1st Panzerspähkompanie, 12th SS Panzerdivision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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