Armored Ambush - Ready!

[Wild Bill Wilder]

The first of my two newest scenarios, called "Amored Ambush" is now available for downloading at the Boots N Tracks site.

You can grab it here.

http://www.militarygameronline.com/combatmission/

A number of other battles can also be found there. The Site is maintained by Raider Team Captain Kevin Kinscherf.

Here is the summary of the battle:

Title: Armored Ambush

Type: UK attack vs German Defend

Date: July 18, 1944

Location: Emeiville, Normandy

Weather: Clear

Terrain: Dry

Turns: 25

Author: Wild Bill Wilder

Wild Bill's Raiders

bwilder@bellsouth.net

The Scenario:

This scenario depicts the hard fighting to take the ground southwest of Cagny by the British Guards Armored Division.

The History:

After six weeks of hard fighting, the city of Caen and the surrounding vicinity was still putting up stiff resistance. The struggle had been costly for both sides, especially in men.

General Montgomery now proposed an operation that would utilize the three armored divisions under his command. They were the Guards, the 7th, and the 11th Armored Divisions.

Against this formidable force of over 700 tanks Rommel had prepared well his defenses in five separate layers. Each layer had a buffer zone of infantry backed by armored mobile forces with well hidden antitank guns behind them. The German defenses had a depth of nearly seven miles, a few miles more than what the British anticipated.

After a devastating carpet-bombing executed by most of the aircraft of the British Bomber Command, the advance of the tanks began. It was a long and difficult process. The attackers were bound on the right by continuing resistance of the Germans in the southern end of Caen. To their left the high ground of Troarn, heavily wooded, precluded any armor entering in strength.

Thus the British tanks found themselves wedged into a narrow line of advance with little room for maneuver. This was an ideal defensive situation and the Germans took full advantage of it.

After reaching the town of Demouville, the three British armored divisions moved in different directions. The 11th Armored moved to the southwest; the Guards to the southeast, and the 7th following the first two divisions and pressing on to Bergebous Ridge.

After suffering serious losses at Cagny, the Guards Division turned to the left and moved toward Vimont further to the south and to link up with the British 3rd Division covering the left flank of the advance.

Though suffering terribly at the hands of the British carpet bombing, enough tanks of the 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion were able to get moving and provided an additional bitter surprise to the weary British tankers.

For the Guards, this was their first major engagement in World War II. It would be a costly one. In fact, all three divisions met with disaster. The Guards lost nearly half their tank strength in a period of two days.

By the end of the first day of action in Operation Goodwood, British tank losses were in the hundreds, a very high price to pay for a small bit of ground gained.

The only plus of the entire operation was that the Germans too had suffered irreplaceable losses and were forced to begin a retreat from the area.

[Bigdog]

Hey WB the down load link seems to be down on you page would you mind sending me Armor Ambush? Thanks

[ 10-10-2001: Message edited by: Bigdog ]

[Wild Bill Wilder]

On the way, Big DOg. SOrry, been out of town for a few days...WB

[Ales Dvorak]

WB

same here please.Thanks

Ales

[manchildstein (ii)]

spoiler:

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after opening it up and choosing allies i saw the map and made a quick strategy.

the two large flags delineate a line marking the corner to the german left or southeast.

there is a town slightly forward but still to the back or german side of the map. it is on the south or german left. a road runs diagonally from there in a ne direction. the first flag is in the town. the other flag is along the road.

there is a grove of trees with woods patches leading diagonally from the allied left at the front of the board to the german left near the town near the back on the allied right.

i decided to send a 'platoon' of infantry up through that and see what might be there. by the way, i split both platoons - center and left - up into half squads.

the 2nd platoon of infantry went straight for the town on the north or allied left, nearest the jumpoff points.

i saw that there was no flag there, but figured the mass of my armor would skirt in and to the north or left of the town in an effort to effect an armored rush around the back of the board running north-south.

the tanks in the red zone were set up as close as they could be to the white zone on their left.

so on turn one the platoon on the right went over the slight hill and into the tree grove across the road. their supporting mg and mortar took up positions on that slight rise, covering from behind as the squads and hq went forward. the piat waited in a jeep.

the platoon on the left moved up toward and into the town on the left as tanks moved hard left behind them and to the clearing on the north side of the near town.

i figured that the platoon of infantry in the middle could look for opposition while the platoon the left cleared the town and tanks would use the town as cover by sitting n-nw of it and using its profile as a shield against incoming german fire from the se.

soon the near town was cleared and the tanks continued to probe the left - stuarts and bren carriers in the lead while the heavier tanks followed.

reinforcements arrived and the infantry platoon was sent on foot to back up the infantry now clearing the left town.

a 4.2" spotter arrived. and debarked its halftrack.

the reinforcement tanks moved up and left.

the southernmost tanks of the early armored thrust were through the town on the left.

as tanks from the reinforcement group moved to catch up with the lead elements, stuarts and brens approached the town on the far left, at the back of the mapboard.

the two halftracks, after unloading the 4.2" spotter, moved their support units to the hillside where the mortar and vickers originally set up.

after dropping their passengers, the halftracks moved up the middle in order to catch up with the infantry platoon who were now fighting a slew of germans closer to the town.

a 3rd reinforcement group arrived and those 4 armored vehicles moved up the right-center and into the trees, joining the two m5 halftracks and the infantry platoon. there were a firefly, a bren, and two shermans.

the 4.2" was calling in area fire on some armor by then being spotted in the main town on the allied right; the lynchpin of the german defense. by now my lead armor was east of the southern town on the opposite side of the board. that mass of armor in the se now charged for the hills e-ne of the main town; they charged for position in the tree groves almost directly behind the focal point of the german defense - se of a point between the two victory flags.

two tigers were spotted in the e-ne. the first allied armored charge was underway.

from the start i'd figured, 'keep all of the armor in one place, and keep it moving.'

the two platoons - 4 squads - of infantry weren't enough to screen the attack so masses of fast-moving armor would have to do. this would serve the dual purpose of keeping all of my firepower concentrated while avoiding sitting so long that artillery might hit the tightly-packed tanks.

earlier, the arrival of the 3rd platoon in the 1st reinforcement group had done nothing to deter my intention of attacking around the north. the reinforcment infantry was seen as 'starch' for the infantry leaving the town on the left and toward the center, while the newly-arriving armor was used to increase the mass - mass at the critical point - on the far left.

anyway, when the first charge went off those 2 tigers smoked about 3 stuarts and 2 brens - the lead elements of the charge. the followup shermans got to the tigers though.

the brens and stuarts running around behind had gotten the tigers turned around so that when the shermans arrived from the opposite side, they were getting rear and side shots at the tigers.

by now a nashorn was picking off some of my straggler tanks at an alarming rate, there as they moved south in the field just west of the northeast town.

by now i knew there was no resistance in that rear town. however, as the armor curled around and cut south it came across a decent infantry picket line at about the same time as those tigers.

one thing going in the attack's favor was that the moves were all 'through' the german lines. this allowed the tanks to blast and machinegun away while on the move and end up in a spot in the german rear, free for the moment of fire.

the german infantry buckled. there were 2 or 3 pzks in a nest but they were too far forward. by the time my tanks swept through they were 200 meters behind that nest.

the nashorn went silent as all the tanks in its los were either killed or moved out of its los.

the remaining allied tanks closed around the town.

on the allied right, one m5 halftrack moved directly south in advance of 2 shermans in another extreme flanking movement. the idea was to try and get the 2 tanks and the halftrack behind the germans on the south.

the halftrack ran south across the front or west of the main town and found a nicely placed german at gun but got away unscathed, eventually ending up on the allied right at the rear or se of the map. the gun position having been revealed, the shermans changed direction and hunted straight into the town. the center platoon had lost another 4 men but was clearing the west side of the town. it seems the mass of german infantry was along that line where my tanks had crashed through further north.

all during this time the 4.2" spotter had dropped 72 rounds in and around an intersection in the rear of the main town; the only town remaining in german hands; the town with the flag.

the 2nd allied tank rush was coming into effect and for awhile it was disheartening for the brits. finally, a firefly and the 2 recalled shermans hunted straight up the gut into the edge of the town while the armor from the left thrust infiltrated from all directions.

the timing could have been better, but the attack was definitely from all sides.

in the end i won 58-42.

apparently in the 3rd reinforcement group there is a 25 lbr FO so you might want to watch for that. mine rode the bren it was in, all the way into the firefight as the bren charged an AT gun. at the end of the turn there was this shaken FO sitting out there in the middle of harm's way. if i'd known about that i might have really softened the town up with artillery before having gone in.

as it was it took me 22 of the 25 turns.

positives:

+first tank charge on the left in particular was successful. despite fair numbers of enemy infantry, the charge hit them off balance - on their right - and inflicted a lot of casualties.

+center platoon fought well, finding a soft spot in the german infantry setup, and allowing a minimum number of AFVs to move up in support yet have a major impact on the battle from those positions. the center armored group's only loss was a bren carrier from the 3rd reinforcements. the 2 m5 halftracks from the 2nd reinforcement, and the 3 tanks of the 3rd reinforcement; all of these survived the battle. the only vehicle to survive the (main) thrust from the left was a lone sherman or cromwell.

so in the end there were something like 4 tanks and 2 m5 halftracks - plus the main part of 3 platoons totalling 6 squads.

+once the german armor was gone, the german infantry line was surrounded on one side by the advancing two british platoons which had gone through the town on the north; on the other side were the remaining 4 allied tanks - 3 shermans and a sherman firefly. there were also 2 m5 halftracks. these mowed the germans down from the other side for a few turns before the ai had decided it'd had enough and quit.

+casualty numbers were 'good'

+german minefield on south or allied right totally bypassed. i didn't know the mines were there until after the game.

negatives:

-lost 22 tanks

German:American

Casualties 133(38):56(17)

Captured 29:0

Guns Destroyed 3:0

Pillboxes knocked out 1:0

Vehicles destroyed 8:22

men ok 11:164

i suppose 8 for 22 isn't that bad, especially if you throw in 3 guns destroyed.

by the way, this scenario is really good. i would highly recommend it.

it's one of those where you have to get creative with your tanks because you don't have enough infantry to do the main fighting while your AFVs sit back behind them and blast away.

yeah this is a good scenario... really fast and liquid.

andy

[mike8g]

For all those who suffer the broken link problem:

It seems to be a incompatibility issue between the server and your browser (especially Netscape).

This is the download syntax from the page:

http://www.militarygamer.net/combatmission/armored ambushcm.zip

(There's a SPACE in the scenario name)

This is the ONLY version in which the server accepts the download call: http://www.militarygamer.net/combatmission/armored%20ambushcm.zip

(No space, but a %20 instead)

And that's the key to the problem.

Netscape uses the syntax from the page and sends it to the server, with an error as the result since the server expects a %20.

IE takes the syntax from the page, converts the SPACE into a %20 and sends this changed call to the server.

WWB, to solve this problem you should not use spaces within file names on that server.

For all those who get an error, there's a simple workaround:

- Copy the link into memory

- open a new browser window (or use the current, doesn't matter)

- paste the link into the browser window (do NOT press ENTER)

- replace the space(s) within the link with a %20

- press ENTER

Marcus

[ 10-13-2001: Message edited by: mike8g ]

[Ales Dvorak]

Mike8g thanks.

[British Tommy]

Hey Wild Bill!

I downloaded your new scenario and started playing right away. Im on turn 2 ( the map looks good by the way! ). I noticed something odd in front of the red set up zone! . There was a lone piat unit in ( I think ) some bushes or scattered trees. Was he suppose to be there as a recon unit or was it an error??

[Wild Bill Wilder]

Hey there, Tommy!

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Cpl Ferris is indeed a recon unit ahead of the force but not too far. I equipped him for dealing with any German advance armor to shake them up a bit.

I don't usually do that, but in this case it proved to create an interesting situation or two in the testing.

Eyes with a bite can help.

Wild Bill

[arax3]

Wild Bill: The key word in "game." Video soldiers do not die; video tanks do not "brew" their video crews, etc. Do not confuse IRL with this wonderful game, just enjoy it!! P.S. Don't throw away your other games. I too have boxes of AH games and shelves full of SSI games,etc. Thank Goodness for them all. Larry

[jwxspoon]

I played this scenario from both sides against the AI, and won both times, narrowly as the British and decisively as the Germans. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenario.

Thanks Wild Bill!

JW

[Jack Trap]

Hey Wild Bill,

Did you intend for an easier back-door approach? Because I sure found one. Playing Allied and using all default settings, including unit position, I was able to secure an axis surrender on turn 21, while keeping more than 1/2 of my armour alive and 2/3's of my infantry embarked throughout the game.

Suffice to say the AI does not re-adjust well to flank attacks. Thanks for sharing your creative skills, I'm really looking forward to the unbalanced battles to come in the Nordic series (or wannabee, in my case).

[Ligur]

I just finished an abysmal game playing the Germans. It was one of those late nights you want to play fast.

Scenario: Good, fluid and fast. I will play this again, so should you.

Spoilers.

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I think the hit % of my Tigers was close to 15%, they really had problems getting the first OR the second shot on target. I lost 1 Tiger to a Firelfy, one to unknown sudden brew-up (I have no clue, I had infantry screening so it could not have been a PIAT IMHO... it just blew!) 2 to the Cromwell and 1 in a face off with a Sherman II. My Tiger couldn't hit it to the side despite two attempts and it destroyd my tiger with the first shot on the turret. Infact only one Tiger took 2 ricochets from a Stuart, otherwise they were all destroyed from the front with the first shot =P

The Cromwell accident was really disheartening. You know, the one that sports the dreaded British 95mm Gun. The Close Suppor Tank. I had two Tigers waiting on some trees, with a line of sight to a road, so as to get side shots at any vehicle that drives by. The Cromwell did, from 300 meters or so. Both my Tigers missed their first shots. The Cromwell stops for a while... Then swiwels the fast turret it has and takes both Tigers out with one shot, while I miss yet another shot.

Bad luck? I just suck? Dunno. Ended in a draw.

[Wild Bill Wilder]

Lady Luck can make a talented commander look foolish, Ligur. History itself attests to that. I won't bore you with examples you already know.

Often historically a battle refought might have ended entirely different from the first time.

So it is in a scenario. A "crack" unit can still miss and pay dearly for it. The success can hinge on one platoon or even one tank.

The suspense of this kind of thing is both exciting and occasionally frustrating.

That is why we do this. As someone once said, "winning all the time is as boring as losing all the time."

Good reports gentlemen. I compliment you on the detail...excellent AARs.

Wild Bill

[Cameroon]

Having played a couple of times (at least once as Allied and twice as the Germans) I figured I'd post my comments.

spoilers

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I found playing as the Germans vs the AI to be a rather straightforward win. The AI advances with armor in the forward town (sometimes leaving a squad mounted and never ever moved) which is easy pickings for the AT and panzershreck to get a couple. My first game vs the AI gave me 4 tanks (firefly, cromwell and two shermans) at that location.

After that, keeping my own armor back for ambush shots proved a consistent, easy method for taking out all the allied armor (with minimal losses of my own). In fact, I moved most of my infantry into the city to fire from the buildings on any enemy infantry that got too close. Very little ever did, they were quite powerfully suppressed by the Tigers' firepower.

In the end I lost one Tiger, Nashorn and StuG (IIRC) as well as one ATG. Infantry casualities were very light.

I played as the allies against my brother (a newcomer and 12 ) so there was less to discuss tactically from that side. However, Ligur you may feel better about losing your Tigers when you hear how he lost one of his. One of my Stuarts popped a Tiger from the front (damned weak points! ). And imagine losing Panther Gs to M8 Greyhounds (a recent me vs AI battle, one M8 recorded 3 Panther G kills).

I tend to agree with Jack Trap on the "back-door" approach. Though against a human opponent such a tactic will probably work less effectively.

End comment? I thoroughly enjoy this scenario. While the German Tigers provide an air of superiority there is always the tense moments when those Fireflies get off some shots. And if those Tigers go, likely so does the town. Of course, as the Allies it seems you have overwhelming odds... and then you start losing armor

As an oddity, in the last few turns against my brother (before they automatically surrendered) a seeming random set of arty/mortars dropped in the middle of one of the open spaces. There was NO infantry anywhere near the spot, but I couldn't figure out who fired the rounds.

[Wild Bill Wilder]

Very insightful, Cameroon! Thanks for the nice replay.

I read of an M-8 that actually did knock out a Panther at close range.

The gunner panicked and sent the 37mm round ricocheting off the pavement and into the underside of the Panther, penetrating it and igniting rounds in the turret.

Wonder who was more shocked, the Panther crew or the M-8 Crew?

Somehow I see the American crewman carefully explaining his poise and deadly aim in taking out that Panther !

WB

[Cameroon]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Wild Bill Wilder:

I read of an M-8 that actually did knock out a Panther at close range.

The gunner panicked and sent the 37mm round ricocheting off the pavement and into the underside of the Panther, penetrating it and igniting rounds in the turret.

Wonder who was more shocked, the Panther crew or the M-8 Crew?

Somehow I see the American crewman carefully explaining his poise and deadly aim in taking out that Panther !

WB<hr></blockquote>

Just to add to the incredible odds of these M8 shots, they were somewhere between 450 - 500 meters.

And I have to agree on the crew's reaction "Why yes, sir, I noticed that I had a possible weak point shot and..."

[Ligur]

Muahahaha! I tried the scenario for the second time (as Germans) and now my uber-tanks acted like the Tigers they are, even soaking some hits from Shermans on their frontal armor. I altered my tactic a bit, by keeping my armor closer to the town and, remembering the horrors of my last try, made absolutely sure any approaching vehicle was facing two or three guns. Ambushing the Cromwell early on also helped. By avoiding some of the duels I had the last time out I lost only one Tiger to a Firefly, but indeed, the crews had summoned some of the accuracy that was lost before and in general the allied armor was annihilated in a series of big god-damn explosions. Respect the Nashorn too, I love how the round speeds towards a target. A firing Nashorn sure looks like it means business. The most hilarious event of this outing was an allied artillery round falling INSIDE one of my Nashorns, causing a spectacular explosion. No wonder the whole crew was instantly dead. Another "huh?" level event happened when a Tiger with a veteran crew rolled to 75 meters of a Sherman that was pounding the living hell out of my bunker, fired three times, missing each shot, and then had the Sherman disable its gun.

My Infantry mainly smoked cigarettes and watched the show, counting the pillars of oily smoke and playing some cards. A few guys even saw panicky looking troopers soldiering in the trees and shot a few, but I think it was a leizurely 25 minutes for a firefight for the company (excluding the forward position ATG, disabled after a few killed tanks. The crew survived with no casualties, though). A sneaky Shreck crew possibly enjoyed firing a parked Sherman three times, penetrating with two rounds and destroying it with the last, without the tank crew ever realizing where the rounds were coming from. "Ja!"

Well, as Wild Bill stated above, winning every time, or losing every time, is not fun. Lady Luck was with me this time, or maybe Lady Luck just handed even cards. My tactic and deployment was not THAT different but the end result was, totally.

[Wild Bill Wilder]

Kill 'em all, Warriors! :eek:

Who wants bloodless battles?

Good comeback, my Ligur! That kind of determination and flexibility has got to be the road to victory!

WB

[ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: Wild Bill Wilder ]</p>

[Tomb]

Have to say I enjoyed this battle . I played as the brits and it went to 23 turns the result was all german AFVs killed (8) and I lost just 12 vehicles of which only 4 were tanks which broke down into 1x stuart 2x sheman 1x 17pdr sherman the other eight vehicles were halftracks/jeeps/bren carriers/trucks …

strategy was not subtle..straight down the middle through the woods with everything I had… with the max number of gun tubes I had

difference was probally the tactics in that my tanks are not supported by infantry ..they support the infantry..a subtle but crucial distinction ..so basically the infantry led the way if it was clear the supporting halftracks..jeeps…brens came up and if still clear the tanks came up…

the first bren gun carrier died to a hidden AT gun but it not survive the cross fire from flanking tank maneovers basically a flanking tank would fire as the gun turned the tank would retreat and a second tank on a flank would advance and take over on the newly exposed flank the stuart was perfect for this due to its speed and rate of fire and tendency to reverse as the threat gun turned to face it , the next anti tank gun was stumbled over by the skirmish line infantry ..they soon killed it with the crew surrendering..the third anti tank gun nailed a half track giving its postion away..i could not flank it so dropped a smoke shell in front of it …formed up most of my tanks ..as the smoke cleared it fired 1 shot and missed…most of the return fire also missed from the tanks but I only needed 1 hit which a few tanks scored for a bit of overkill..

a tiger blasted one of the scouting half tracks giving it position away and was picked off by the alternate flanking tank method this time using 17pdr shermans ..by now my advancing infantry had got near the woods overlooking the road supported by massive tank support which basically slaughted the german inf spotted by my own inf …a solid wall of HE and MG fire swept any german inf spotted into oblivion…a stug attemted to give support and died under a hail of AP then the german inf slaughter continued by now several tigers were spotted and went down to flanking tanks again but not before a 2x sherman and a fire fly died ..the sherman will retreat but got hit before it could reverse out..the firefly kept missing and did not retreat and died…a second 17pdr sherman finaly got into postion after a reckless charge through the woods and nailed the tiger ..now the range was point blank at the town edge and the surviving german units (tiger, nashorn etc) were destoyed as soon as spotted but not before a stuart charged right pass a tiger while his buddy fired a 37mm ineffectually at the tiger one stuart died before a torrent of sherman AP shells took the tiger out from very close range ..a final dash with half tracks and brens and jeeps to secure all the flags backed up by just about every brit tank firing at the shattered german infantry brought the game to an end…never got to use my arty spotters much since the battle was too fluid …

I felt nervous about taking on hidden tigers and hidden AT guns but the war gods were with me in this battle as I had very light casualties while the germans were simply butcherd… the german AI defense was disjointed..the attack was not, a large factor in this battle.

Next I will try as the germans but the surprise will have gone since I know what the allied force consists of

Fun scenario all the same

Tomb