TCP / IP AAR: view 1 armoured shoot'em up

[jtcm]

Unteroffizier Baer is told: keep your Panzer IV here, in the wood next to your companion, and watch out if any

Tommies come towards the village. We're soon going to find out if the village is clear, and if so, Division will be moving some heavy stuff up.

So Baer waits. Esch is in his tank next to him but Esch never talks, so Baer looks ahead. On the map you could see where the road leads through the village but here you can only see the plain dotted with trees and outlying farm houses, the isolated chapel, the village with its church. In France at least the roads were well defined: tall poplars or wide plane trees, lining them for kilometer aafter shady kilometer.

To Baer's left the Hetzer is moving into place in a stand of trees, on a hill, and a PzIV to keep it company; in ths middle the is a dip in the land, shielded by some woods, and the light armour, a Lynx and a Puma, have hidden. These start inching forward. Nothing much happens. Baer stares out. he looks through his binoculars and sees nothing. The Lynx and the Puma have each gone to a side of the woods that gave them cover, and Baer watches them. They report nothing.

"Panzer". Esch spots it first, the Sherman roaring across their field of vision. He drops down in the turret, and turns to engage. "I'm hit' "Bail out !" Esch's Panzer is knocked out, by an armoured car firing 40 mm, good shooting. Baer concentrates on the Sherman, which has starting inflecting its course to present its thicker front armour. "Tank, 12h30, behind the stone wall, engage". His crew is experienced, working snappily through the standard procedure, and the Sherman soon brews up.

What now ? How many more Shermans ? The light armour is gone: the last thing heard from the Lynx was that it had seen the Sherman and was preparing to take it under flanking fire; the Lynx is now dead. The Puma also does not respond. On Baer's left, the Hetzer and the PzIV have moved forward, towards the crest of their hill, to engage whatever might come forward. No one thinks of falling back yet, even though reports are filtering back to division: movement made to contact, armour. The Tommies obviously want this village too.

British tanks surge forward: they have filtered past and through the village, using it for cover, one of them speeds towards the Hetzer and the Pz-IV. Baer spots it and detroys it, before his surprised comrades can react. The Hetzer is soon destroyed by a flank shot, the PzIV tries to move forward to a hull down position but is destroyed by a British Heavy tank. Baer orders his crew to engage the British tanks, which are speeding forward: he stops one as it is manoeuvering past the dip in which the Lynx and puma had sheltered before reconnoitering the village. The other has come so far forward it is abreast of Baer's position. "Tank, nine o'clock": Baer destroys this one too.

His spirits are up: "Move out !", he shouts. The British Armoured Car is still in front of him: he disposes of it quickly, as he moves into the village. Something is spotted on his left: he moves towards it. A Challenger tank, at a range of 120m, point blank. "Keep moving !" The Challenger is on the top of a hill, its 76 mm gun pointing directly at Baer's PzIV. The range is now about 80 m. Surely Baer's men cannot miss ? But the British tankers get their shot in first, and Baer's men bail out.

*****

Well that's one version of what happened. Allied minor victory. I hope my opponent doesn;t mind me posting this. It was good fun but confusing: view 1 only, no scrolling, only scoping.