St Mere Eglise - ROWII

[JonS]

We've been giving the go ahead to discuss the last two scenarios, so herewith my AAR for SME...

St Mere Eglise – German AAR

US Paras: Jon “JonS” Sowden

Germans: Steve Beckman till turn 8, then John “SaPort” Tucker

Weather: Overcast and Wet

Date: 6th June 1944

Turns: 28

Mission: This is simple – defend the town of St Mere Eglise!

Ground: The terrain is largely flat, but with loads of little dips and hollows that will allow concealed routes. About 200m north of the town there is a low ridge running east-west. This ridge will cover the Germans forming up, and provides some limited observation of the first row of buildings. North of St Mere there are a number of wheat fields and patches and stands of bush. These provide covered approaches, especially on the right (east) where the bush comes right up to the edge of town.

The other side of town (left or west) is more open, but there is a long low stonewall baring the approach of wheeled vehicles. This wall extends from beyond left-of-arc to the main N-S road, where it meets houses and a roadblock. This effectively extends the wall to just east of the road.

In addition to the wall, there are enough patches of bocage and forest to severely restrict the freedom of movement of vehicles. On top of this, the ground conditions are wet, making off road movement for vehicles treacherous.

The town itself is a mix of heavy and light buildings, most of which are two stories. There are many trees growing within the town, which again will provide covered routes between buildings.

There are four important locations within the town:

1. The town hall on the eastern side of town,

2. The Rectory near the centre of town,

3. The mayors house on the western side of town, and

4. The main crossroads at the southern edge of town.

This crossroads is felt to be the most important location in town.

Given the ground, and the wet going, I expect the German main-effort will be down the right flank and along the main road.

Forces: I have two under strength companies of paratroopers, totalling 12 squads in 5 platoons. In addition there is a fairly large assortment of support weapons, including MMGs, 60mm mortars, 3 57mm AT guns, and a good fistful of bazookas. I spend quite a long time over groupings and dispositions, and finally come up with the following:

* Bn HQ: HQ plus 1 x sharpshooter plus 1 x M1919 plus 1 x jeep

* * Spt Coy: HQ plus 3 x 60mm

. . . 1 MMG Pn: HQ plus 3 x M1919 teams plus 1 x ‘zook plus sharpshooter

. . . 2 MMG Pn: HQ plus 3 x M1919 teams

. . . 3 AT Pn: HQ plus 1 x ‘zook plus 1 x 57mm plus 1 x MMG

. . . 4 AT Pn: HQ plus 1 x ‘zook plus 1 x 57mm plus 1 x jeep

. . . 5 AT Pn: HQ plus 1 x ‘zook plus 1 x 57mm plus 1 x MMG

* * A Coy: HQ

. . . 6 Pn: HQ plus 2 x Para Sqd plus 1 x M1919 plus 1 x ‘zook plus sharpshooter

. . . 7 Pn: HQ plus 2 x Para Sqd plus 1 x M1919 plus 1 x ‘zook

* * B Coy: HQ plus sharpshooter

. . . 8 Pn: HQ plus 2 x Para Sqd plus 1 x M1919 plus 1 x ‘zook

. . . 9 Pn: HQ plus 2 x Para Sqd plus 1 x M1919 plus 1 x ‘zook

. . . 10 Pn: HQ plus 3 x Para Sqd plus 1 x M1919 plus 1 x ‘zook

A Coy will defend to the left of the main road through St Mere, with 6 Pn forward and 7 Pn back in Coy reserve. Attached are 1 MMG Pn is covering the far left flank and 3 AT Pn.

B Coy will defend to the left of the main road, with 8 Pn forward, 9 Pn in Coy Reserve. 2 MMG Pn covers the far right flank and 4 AT Pn provides some AT oomph. 5 AT Pn is in Bn reserve with 10 Pn, ready to move either left or right.

The three mortars are forward at the first crossroads, with the Coy HQ spotting to give them reasonably good command over likely approaches.

The men are all highly motivated, with good morale and a heavy load of ammunition. My main concern is the lack of any artillery other than the “hip-pocket” 60mm’s. Some reinforcements are expected to wander in at some stage, but probably won’t amount to much.

Execution: It is clear from the map that the Germans will be coming from the North. It is also clear that they will be coming in strength. I anticipate that the main effort will be down the right flank. To that end, the defence is weighted to that flank – total forces are roughly equal on either side of the main road, but unit frontages are shorter on the eastern side of town.

The far western side of town is held by little more than an outpost line. Since the ground in front of St Mere is quite open here, I do not anticipate a major effort by the enemy at this location.

Roughly three-fifths of the battalion are held in reserve, either as a second line, or to move to the scene of the main action. I do not intend to prematurely engage these forces. While all units are carrying large quantities of ammo, I expect usage to be very high during this battle. Having fresh forces with full ammo able to enter the battle late in the fight could offer significant advantages.

My basic intent is to hold positions for around five minutes, then fall back 10-20 metres, and hold the next line. To that end, all units have been split up, to dig extra foxholes. The first few turns will be spent repositioning units into their initial combat positions.

Turn 1: Most of this turn is spent recombining split squads, and moving as many units as practical indoors. This is to avoid the expected artillery fire. More-or-less the whole battalion is hiding, except for the sharpshooters. I expect the first row of houses to receive quite a bit of speculative ‘hate’, so those buildings are mostly empty.

Three “inf?” spotted, all of whom were running. These will no doubt be split squads in the forward screen.

Turn 2: The recombining of squads continues. I can now see four “inf?” units spread more or less evenly across the front. In addition, there is a “PzIV?” and a “halftrack?” moving down the road. Annoyingly, one of my jeeps has bogged, immobilised, and abandoned while moving off road. The off-road going certainly is tricky.

Turn 3: Reinforcements! A pn of glider troops (bigger squads) and a 50-cal arrive on the left flank. They are pretty much in the wrong place there, but I will move them into reserve, freeing up the 10 Pn, currently in Bn reserve.

There is heavy artillery falling on the first row of houses, and a smoke screen is being built up at the crossroads just south of the road block. I can now see a total of 9 “inf?” units, including a HMG.

Turn 4: He’s trying to rush me! Very heavy action this turn – in the centre he loses a SdKfz 251 and a squad to a nicely executed ambush near the roadblock, while I lose 3 men. But, over on the right he will doubtless burst through 2 MMG Pn soon. In total I can now see 23 “inf?” units, plus two “PzIV?” and two halftracks. That is probably all or most of 4 platoons. Since I have six platoons, I expect to see lots more enemy units before this battle is over. The units I have identified so far have been regular with veteran HQs.

Turn 5: The push continues, and it seems heaviest over on the right, so I’m committing the B Coy reserve platoon over there. It looks like five or six platoons are coming at me in this area, and while I’m inflicting more casualties than I’m suffering, there are so many that the first line will be overwhelmed.

The “PzIV?” vehicles are in fact StuGs, and there are five of them. This is a concern, as my handling of AT assets like bazookas I don’t feel to be very strong. In addition, I can now see 31 “inf?” units active, as well as the five eliminated units. The heavy artillery continues to rain down, but is wasted as I have no-one there.

Turn 6: Make that seven Stugs or StuHs. Based on where his armour is being committed, the right flank is definitely the main effort. This means I need to get my reserves over that way, and that I can start thinning out the left flank.

The count of German units is now up to 41.

Interrogation of a prisoner revealed that the German commander was surprised by the presence of the roadblock on the edge of town. The prisoner appears to be genuine, as what he says matches the behaviour of the other forces. It would appear that the first German plan was to blow into the centre of town under cover of artillery and smoke. But the roadblock derailed that, and the thrust down the road seems at a standstill. The StuGs are milling about in some confusion, and I think they fear the presence of mines with the roadblock. I don’t intend letting on that there aren't any.

Turn 7: By bazooka crews continue to shoot like tits, so all the StuGs are alive and kicking. 81mm HE is coming down on the left forward pn (6 Pn), but it is very scattered, and causing me no great concern. On the right numbers and pressure are starting to tell. My first line is buckling, but the reserve pn is in position.

Turn 8: My bloody ‘zooks couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn! This turn they fired over a dozen rounds for no hits. The attack on the right continues, with heavy casualties.

Note: This was Beckmans last turn, as Real Life™ intervened. SaPort took over.

Turn 9: Yehaa! Finally some success against the StuGs. I KO one, and immobilise another while it is pointing in a useless direction. In addition, a third gets bogged and immobilised back near the roadblock, so that too is out of the picture. Only four to worry about now…

The German commander seems to be pushing slightly further to the right, trying to get around my forces.

Turns 10-12: 2 MMG Pn is overwhelmed and eliminated, as is 8 Pn except for six men who manage to make it back across the east-west road.

Unfortunately, they are now trapped in a building. The rear wall is to an adjacent building, so they cannot get back through there. All the other exits are covered by fire, so they will have to make a heroic last stand where they are. They are crack troops, and still have plenty of ammo, so they should give a good account of themselves.

The Germans are across the east west road, and my ‘frontline’ on the right flank is now the Townhall. There has been a little action on the left flank, and 6 Pn has pulled back from its exposed forward-most positions, but is still holding more or less where they started.

By using lots of ‘reverse slope’ defence I’ve managed to slow down the German advance. I’m holding at the rear of houses, and behind buildings, and waiting for them to come to me.

Turns 12-15: The front lines don’t change much, but there is quite a lot of action. 6 Pn pulls back slightly to the three houses NW of the lateral road. 1 MMG Pn is thinned out even further, and is now down to the Pn HQ, a sharpshooter, and a single MMG. The rest have been sent into the gap between 3 AT Pn and 7 Pn.

There is a heavy fight going on over at the Townhall, and SaPort is trying to storm it. His losses will be high here, but he will take the buildings, simply because he has the numbers to do it. There is a StuG at the crossroads just south of the roadblock, and it and a mate are happily shelling the building that 7 Pn are in. This building is about to collapse now.

Turns 16-20: 7 Pn had to pull out of the house they were in, and to do so had to move out into the open. As a result they suffered some casualties, but it wasn’t too bad. By the end of turn 20 they are still holding the next house back.

The forces holding out around the Townhall have had rather less success though. They have been forced out, and are pulling back with heavy losses, leapfrogging from house to house, in a SE direction towards the Crossroads (staying NE of the road).

The reinforcement pn haven’t moved from their positions N of the crossroads, but are now laying suppressive fire onto the German forces around the Townhall to slow down their movement.

6 Pn have been the recipients of some very heavy calibre artillery fire (150mm), and this has cost them numerous casualties. The have pulled back across the road to 3 AT Pn and the Rectory.

The Germans seem to have a very generous supply of artillery, and combined with their numerous StuGs/StuHs, they are slowly forcing me back under a blanket of HE. Still, I have had some success – another StuG has been knocked out on the left flank, so he is down to three now.

Turns 21-25: Further success against the evil StuGs at the end of turn 25 – one of my ‘zooks got one that was nosing forward down the main road. That leaves just a StuH on either flank, but they are causing terrible damage with their direct fire.

7 Pn have withdrawn 3 houses, and are now by the ‘S’ bend in the main road. The reserve pn has had to pull back across the main road, as a StuH on the right near the Townhall was blasting them with direct fire. This means that I now have a fairly strong concentration just NW of the Crossroads.

Due to losses and the high expenditure of ammunition I have many crews and crew-served weapons without ammo. These have all pulled back to buildings on the south side of the crossroads (along with the reinforcing 50cal). In the last few turns I have started moving these guys backwards and forwards between buildings in the hope that the Germans will see them and think I have more strength here than I really do. This seems to have worked, because the 150mm artillery is falling on them now, and has wounded many of them. Dammit.

Around the Rectory I am down to the 57mm AT gun and one squad with a single man left in it – all that remains of the valiant 6 Pn. The Germans are in the two buildings just north of the rectory, so both those units will be gone soon. There are two MMGs in the church, but they are low on ammo. I need to get some forces across to the Mayors House to secure that.

The forces that have been pulling back from the Townhall are now in their last positions. There are just nine men left – all that remains from the five platoons committed on this flank! They are about 60 metres NE of the Crossroads, in some scattered trees around a single foxhole. To their rear is open ground too risky to cross, so they will have to stand and fight where they are. All of them are desperately low on ammo, but their morale remains high (although global morale is down to 25% now).

Turn 26-28: The Germans push in towards the Crossroads from all directions and my defenders are squeezed into the last building NW of it. I remain here in just sufficient strength to deny them clear control of thois key location.

The Rectory falls, but the Mayors house remains secure. Heavy calibre continues falling until the last, and continues to inflict casualties on my meagre remaining defenders.

Conclusion: The final score is 48-44 to the Germans, though its noted as a draw. He controls the Townhall and the Rectory, while I have the Mayors House. The Crossroads is controlled by neither of us.

Axis Attacker . . . . . . . . . Allied Defender

277 casualties (79 KIA) . . 273 casualties (61 KIA)

4 Vehicles knocked out . . . 1 Vehicle knocked out (the jeep that bogged)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 mortar knocked out

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 guns knocked out

Men OK: 170 . . . . . . . . . . Men OK: 60

Score: 48 . . . . . . . . . . . . Score: 44

Global Morale: 37% . . . . . . Global Morale: 13%

The town of St. Mere-Eglise is a mess. 140 corpses fill the streets and back yards, while the cries of over four hundred wounded men fill the air. Fires are breaking out in several places and over a dozen buildings have been demolished, including the picturesque Church and Rectory. About a dozen more have suffered varying degrees of damage, some of it severe. The German attack has very nearly been successful, and unless the lead elements of 4th Inf Div can get inland from the beaches quickly the town will be back in German hands. The forces that are left to me are clearly insufficient to hold out much longer. On the credit side, the Germans have lost heavily in their infantry units, and are showing signs of faltering in their attack. Whichever side can reinforce this benighted town the quickest will hold it.

Comments: This was a very intense battle, and the designer gets a big “well done!”. I knew from the beginning that I would probably be forced to slowly withdraw through the town, and my initial dispositions were laid out with that in mind. I also foresaw that the main effort would be down my right flank, but despite that I was, in the end, unable to contain that thrust. On the left I did better against the generally lighter attacks, and was still more or less in control of that part of town at the end.

The map was a nice one, and the attention paid to the layout of the town was very nice. In particular, the variation of elevations – rather than a uniform flat topology within the built-up area – allowed for numerous covered and semi-covered routes.

The forces seemed about even, and the final result would tend to confirm that. Throughout the second half of this game I was hanging out for more reinforcements – maybe a few M4s arriving from the beach, or at least some more airborne forces with a 75mm or 81mm spotter. Knowing a little about the battle that this scenario was based upon, I felt that I would be expected to be able to hold the town, and when that didn’t happen I felt I was ‘losing’, which was a bit hard on morale. Still, I don’t think SaPort found it an easy advance!

Thanks SaPort – good game.

[ October 02, 2002, 09:55 PM: Message edited by: JonS ]

[Breakthrough]

Could someone send me that scenario? Better still someone who wants to play it PBEM as Germans. Thanks. :cool:

[JonS]

It hasn't been released yet - should be in a week or so. I think you'll enjoy it :cool:

[Holien]

Hi,

Nice AAR.

Mine is missing the scores at the end. I will edit it when at home later today.

Set-up

The map is not one of my favourites in the tourney, a tad bland and does not convey the feeling of St Mere Eglise. I am lucky enough to have travelled some of Normandy and there is something missing in the map. Anyway that negative comment aside a map alone does not make a game and I have an interesting challenge to hand.

I am equipped with 5 Stug III’s and a couple of StuH42’s. There are also three ½ tracks and 7 platoons of Infantry of mixed calibre. I decide to risk right flank all or nothing approach. It is very risky as the ground is wet and I have a lot of ground to cover before hitting roads again.

I decide on this approach, as it should throw the defender off balance if he has relied on me using the roads. In fact once the game starts the defender comments on bogging in vehicles and I hope he has gone along with that view. I also prey to my god of luck for minimal bogs.

On the Left flank I leave one reduced platoon to defend the woods. They will not move and try and lure any defenders into an ambush. Down the road I will move another reduced platoon (2 squads) and gently probe his defences. I will withdraw if any heavy contact is made. This force is to help protect my flank and keep the defender guessing.

The visibility is poor and part of the reason for my approach is that I do not want too many close gunfights in woods. The American Airborne have a great FP and their superior morale and training will decimate my men.

By advancing in the open I will stand a better chance of spotting him sooner and on a broad front stand a chance of reaching cover of the buildings. I use the TRP’s to target areas where he might station forward defences, which might try and stop me getting into the town.

The right flank I hold back the vehicles out of sight in case he gets any forward OP’s or AT guns. I send a screen ahead to clear any hiding places. Followed by my main strike force of 5 platoons. My battle winners are the two platoons of Sturmgruppe some of whom are crack. To win this I need to over power his infantry en-mass and I will have to risk the wrath of his artillery and any TRP’s I stumble on.

With the infantry spearheading the assault I intend to take the two small flags on the right and then push onto the main crossroads and the big flag.

The Reality

The first few turns go without any encounters. My men push forward and clear the woods and scattered trees. My tanks start moving forward and of course start to bog. The first unit with a thrown track is a ½ track and the passengers jump out and start walking.

On the left an American ½ squad is sent forward to probe my lines. He is spotted by my troops near the road and they open up on him. I hope he sends some men through the woods as I have a surprise for him.

This gives me an indication about the player. He is either restless or used to a fluid game and is seeking an opportunity to flank me. This should prove interesting, as I might be able to draw him into some ambushes.

The fourth turn in I get two new platoons and a CO HQ near the road to the rear. These will be useful and I move them up the road to counter any advances he makes in that area. I have a lot of infantry at my command and this could indicate he has a lot as well, or that it is a walk over game and he is in trouble. Who knows? And when I see him I shall ask him.

The next few turns I realise the full enormity of my task and the failure of tanks on muddy ground. I lose two stugs and a ½ track to the mud and a ½ track to mortar fire. I still do not have my Stugs in view of his men yet and I start using the move fast command.

On the right flank I lose a full squad and a ½ squad to an ambush as I try to move into the buildings. My following forces pull back. The whole edge of the town has Americans in the buildings. The one area that does not is just to the right of the road running into the town.

I send my Stum Grp into the heavy building which is empty. This is the crack I need from which I can divide his defences. I move all units into this direction so that I can gain an ascendency in fire power. I only wish I had placed my TRP’s in better positions.

In this area I ID a light AT gun which will be a 57mm. He also has at least a platoon in this area and some of them are not yet in the cover of buildings. This will be his down fall if he does not get into better cover.

On my left flank he probes my defences as I have not sent any men forward. My two green squads get chewed to bits by two squads of American Paras and I need to pull them out. If I did not have two platoons of troops moving into that area I would be very worried about zooka teams sneaking up on my stuck Stugs.

So far I am doing badly and he is on target to repluse me. My gamble on stuck Stugs is failing and my placement of TRP’s is poor to say the least. My opponent is an aggressive player and if he is not careful I will catch him out by getting him too confident. I have not lost the game but at this stage I need to start getting some victories. I need my men in Heavy buildings and I need to isolate his defences. I have lost in the region of 20 to 25 men for maybe 5 of his.

The left flank I shall try and pull back and ambush his squads. This should then leave this flank open.

In the middle I shall try and push my troops through his center and split his forces. My Arty is being slow to respond and my 150mm is a game winner but I need to be on target and this is going to be hard to achieve. My 81mm spotter is a minute away from ruining the American mortars spotted just behind some heavy buildings.

The next turn I thank the god of war that no more vehicles bog and they make slow progress towards the town. 18 turns to go and I am miles away from any flags.

My men rush into the heavy building and try to supress the AT gun which is attempting to knock down the building, but to no avail. A 150 round lands near his gathered troops and I hope he does not take it as a sign to bug out. I have 59seconds to go before the full effect lands near him. My spotter shifts fire closer to his platoon clustered in the light woods. Please stay there just a bit longer. He fails to move his men into the cover of the nearby buildings.

On the left flank I manage to extract my two reduced green squads. They are both unhappy but at least they are not all dead. I see some more infantry moving in that area and I would guess he has a platoon moving my way. I hope that he is eager to push on and will run into my two platoons. However, he will certainly know that I have rushed one platoon there and could well know that I have two in the woods. The next turn will see if he is too eager or a sensible player. If he sits still that will cause me more of a problem.

On the far right my squads are pulled back from the frey and I hope that he starts moving his men over to the main action. The ones that I pulled away I start sneaking them towards the main action. I hope that this will confuse him and he will lose track of where they really are.

My 81mm spotter starts dropping rounds on the mortars and does not appear to have knocked them out. He is using smoke and I would guess is now out of ammo. He is moving some more forces to the main thrust and I will continue dropping rounds in that area as there are some light buildings and the rounds will have some limited effect.

My Tanks continue their slow progress forward. It will be maybe another turn before they are in sight. I hear some truck sounds and can only guess he has a jeep or two to move his men around with. I lose yet more men and I can only hope that my 150 shells will start to even the score up. I will be ready to rush into the void (if one is created) and then exploit this towards the main flag.

The next few pages cover a blistering number of turns done during the weekend and I make no attempt to note what turn the action happens.

Well on the left flank he charges after my fleeing green squads and runs into my two platoons. After a couple of turns he losses the melee and a whole Para platoon is lying in a heap with the last two men being hunted down in the woods. One of the squads was Elite and this with the Crack HQ has to hurt. I now send my remaining men, (I took quite a few losses) down the left flank which I guess is now wide open. This is going to cause him serious problems if he has no reserve.

While this melee is being played out my two squads and HQ unit near the road move forward into the woods to sneak a look into the town. He has no troops there but my men are seen and a couple of light mortars open up on me. I move the men out of harms way and hide biding my time.

In the middle I have my men occupy the large heavy building and use this as a firebase. He sees this as a big threat and moves men from the left and right and middle to try and contain me. This is great as his men are out in the open and light buildings. My 150 rounds start falling on his men on the left and after a few turns he bugs out. This coincides with my gains in the woods and I guess he is rushing them back to plug the gap.

His men in the two heavy buildings in front come under fire from my Sturm groups and a vicious battle is fought. I manage to switch my 150 spotter to these two buildings and again I am sure he is not too happy with these rounds landing near by. I manage to get my Stugs up into view and they lend their weight of fire on these defenders.

My reserve platoons move forward into the void on the left and pursue the men that left the light buildings. I move into the buildings running down the main road into the town. He has left these defended by a CO HQ and a platoon HQ. These are no match for my 13 man Sturm group and soon succumb. On the far left my men push forward and over run a 3-man MMG squad and a HQ unit that had been sent over to help them out.

I soon see why he had done this as I come upon a jeep and 57mm AT gun trying to flee my men. He nearly makes it but a manage to pop the jeeps wheels and the gun soon falls prey. On the far left he has nothing to stop me. I hear some noises to my right and I soon discover he has three squads out in the lightwoods. My two green squads and Crack Co HQ engage these, which have recovered from their fight against the Paras in the woods.

I also have a reduced platoon behind him and this helps dent a few men. I do not understand why he is not using the Heavy building. My two squad platoon near the road moves forward and takes out a lone MMG squad. These 3 men squads are easy to take out if they have no support. I move this platoon into the stone building behind his platoon in the light trees. As I do this he pulls his squads back into the building and I will lose one squad that I sent into the building at the same time. While this is a pain I do get a positive ID on what he has in there and I see a HQ unit and two reduced squads. This will help me deal with this platoon.

Meanwhile on the far left I send forward my remaining squads on a long and wide arc to come behind any defenders at the main flag at the crossroads.

On the far right things go quiet and I get an ID that shows that he has pulled out some of the squads from the front line of the buildings. It is now time to move my reduced platoon on the far right and cause him more trouble. This platoon (1 full squad and a ½ squad with HQ unit) occupiers a Heavy building with no resistance. There is a MMG unit across the road from them and a potential infantry unit a few houses down on the same side as them. I send the ½ squad across the road and with support from the full squad they take out the MMG.

Meanwhile I send forward my HMG units, which have been providing support, and the HQ unit. These engage the lone infantry unit in the houses on the front row. This unit is soon over come and turns out to be a 4 man HQ unit. He has robbed this defence line of all infantry squads to try and plug the middle. Excellent I continue to move along the row of houses to ensure that they are clear. I see a Zooka man scurrying back towards his rear and come across another MMG unit. This is reduced to one man and surrenders.

The main action is now in the centre and over the course of a few turns his resistance breaks and he pulls his men back to the Church. This is now in sight of my Stuhs and is levelled. I also mange to drop some 150 rounds around his fleeing men and I see a HQ fall.

I have been lucky so far and managed to get two Stugs onto the roads and both Stuhs are still running and not too far from the roads. I have a ½ track knocked out and two in mud accompanied by three other Stugs. As long as he does not get any Zooka teams behind me I am happy to trade the stuck Stugs for the progress so far.

A 150mm round knocked out the 57-mm AT gun at the centre of the action and I discover that I also knocked out a Jeep as well. As I push my men forward after his retreating Americans I see another AT gun which has fallen prey to my Artillery and I am pleased that the Green spotter is doing so well. He is moved forward to help keep the pressure up and has a minute delay as long as I keep it within the re-calc range and can see the location.

My men moving up the main street encounter a MMG unit and a CO HQ and these are soon over come. I see sightings in the distance of units being pulled back beyond the main flag. I have a feeling that he is bugging out en masse and will venture my units forward at a faster rate. I will also detach some Sturm units to deal with his platoon that is cut off.

He is either weaker than I expected or thinks I am stronger and that he can not delay me enough to help his cause. If he does bug off the map then the platoon left behind could be captured and this will help my VP total no end. This is going far better than I had expected after the first contact which saw me lose so many men for so little. The 150 spotter has helped no end and my opponent’s lack of use of Heavy cover has helped me sap his units.

Before I see the next turn I get intelligence that Frunze is far from happy with this game and it helps confirm that he might be in a bug out mode to try and minimise points loss. This IMO is a bad move as if he can contest some flags or make a final stand in the last few turns this will serve him better than retreating everything and causing Auto surrender. Anyway I await the next turn.

The next turn and the rest that follow show that Frunze is bugging out big time and exiting units from the map as fast as possible. The platoon on my left flank is run off the side of the map when they could have done some serious damage to my depleted units in that area. To his front I had a single man in the CO HQ and a 3 and 4 man Green Squad. In the building next to him was a 6 man green squad and a HQ unit which would have been mincemeat if he had knocked on the door. The Regular unit that was in the same building as him was spared as his men ran out and one guy in the unit thanked his lucky stars and cursed his commander for sending him into a hornet’s nest.

Around the crossroads with the Major flag only his slow moving units remained (2 Zooka Teams, and 2 MMG’s) and these were soon throwing up their hands. I captured four men in that area. On the right a 50 Cal machine gun tried to get away but with the weight of the weapon stood no chance and was soon wiped out.

The final turns of the game offered no challenge as his men were running off the map. I await the end of the game to see why he did this and what he really had left. I know he could have made a stand with one platoon and I have a feeling he had at least two others and this if handled well might have made the difference.

I think the 150mm artillery and the loss of his platoon on the left flank broke his personal morale and this won the day. Just waiting to see by how many points. The final turn I get to see the map and he has no units left on it and I have all the flags and a tactical victory.

Result a Tactical victory to the Germans.

Germans Allied

182 (56) 206 (58)

1 Mortars

5 Captured

3 Guns

1 Vehicles 1 Vehicle

Men OK

265 122

Score

69 31

I have cut and pasted the actual AAR here and the results. The AAR is written turn by turn and tries and shows my thought process...

H

[ October 04, 2002, 03:32 AM: Message edited by: Holien ]

[CombinedArms]

Thanks Holien and JonS for the excellent and very detailed AARs. I was particularly interested to learn from Holien that the Axis was free to set up anywhere and that Holien concentrated on the Axis right in order to achieve surprise (based on the theory that the Allied commander would expect an attack down the road on the Axis left center). My opponent, Scheer, came down that road with some of his armor while his infantry came in massive force through the woods on the extreme Axis left (Allied right). I wasn't sure if that

concentration was a choice or imposed by the designer--now I see that it was a choice.

Scheer seemed to have a strong fear of bogging and this led to some difficulty in coordinating the infantry attack with sufficient armored support, which helped me to achieve a victory in the game. Holien also raises the point that player morale can be as important as on-board troop morale in the success or failure of a game.

[ October 03, 2002, 09:13 AM: Message edited by: CombinedArms ]

[Heavy Drop]

My condensed AAR. Maybe add a couple of items for thought pertinent to play as the Allied Commander.

Saint Mere Eglise AAR

Heavy Drop (Allied) vs. Redeker & BigX (Axis)

First Impressions:

As the Allied player I was immediately perplexed at the disparity between the map size, dispersion of VLs and the quaint hodgepodge collection of an airborne infantry battalion that was suppose to ‘hold until relieved’ (love that movie).

There was too much frontage for any type of linear defense, and too small a force for mutually supporting defense in depth of all the VLs. I saw it as one of those scenarios were you need to make up your mind in the beginning – fight or flight. Since I ‘didn’t get dressed up for nutin’ (love that movie too), my short listed courses of action all recommended stay and fight.

The Allied player must decide early on if he is going to concentrate forces, attempt to hold one (maybe two) key locations, or deploy to contest more area. Good intelligence on the enemy and own mission statement would normally drive that decision.

Courses of Action:

A. I first tinkered with establishing a defense that really abandoned the village, except for the southern (bottom) VL, and formed a strong point anchored salient that extended out and southward to the map edge. This would have (hopefully) allowed me to execute the GT HOOD maneuver if/when it became obvious the enemy was too strong a force.

B. The one I finally decided on created strong points (four of them) centered on major intersections and groupings of hard buildings. The major drawback was that each pretty much had to stand on its own. The 3 AT guns were placed independently, and with only 2 Jeeps, mobility was going to be a constant challenge.

Scenario Design Comments:

Map: Well done map. How true is it to the 1944 Ste. Mere Eglise? I believe that the map probably causes as much concern for the Axis as well as the Allies in as far as initial setup and the first couple of movement phases are concerned. Observation, or lack of it, was a critical factor for both sides in the beginning.

Forces: The Allies are well aware from the briefing that they don’t have enough, what they have has been degraded, and the only reinforcements that might show up will be stragglers. They do, however, seem to have accumulated every machine gun and bazooka team in the regiment. The machine guns look impressive but, as we all know, don’t really add up to a split squad’s effectiveness in this game. The bazookas can be a different story. Although not good for much else, when properly employed they will take a toll on enemy vehicles.

The airborne squads are all of good quality but still suffer from the bane of the American soldier in urban combat at the time – long-range rifles, albeit semi-auto, in a short-range battle. This would prove decisive in the up coming assaults by SMG squads. Add to this their lack of indirect fire support – except that provided by organic 60mm mortars – and you have some of what attracts young men to join elite military organizations. Sarcasm, it’s ugly I know.

As mentioned earlier, this boiled down to the Allied player recognizing how much he could chew and not biting off too much. Something I recognized but ‘gamed’ away.

Axis: The number, type, and quality of the Axis forces, IMHO, were more than adequate for the task they were given (at least, they beat the crap out of me). The artillery was murderous and constant (someone should check the basic load/CSR for German artillery for this battle) and seemed to follow my troops like angry bees. The armored support was also impressive but obviously constrained by the terrain and the horde of Allied bazooka teams available. It was, however, the Axis infantry that ruled the day. Unfortunately for me, my opponents (Redeker, BigX) were extremely adept at attacking and sustaining the momentum. When allowed to close with my troops they were extremely effective – did I mention there were a lot of them.

Summary:

I really enjoyed this scenario. Although I played it poorly – against superior opponents – I always had the sense that ‘yeah, that is realistic.’ I didn’t like it much but I do understand the realities of most airborne insertions. Leave the plan on the plane. You’ll just have to improvise a new one on the ground anyway.

Since I’m not aware of the designer’s intent I have to assume my plight is the effect he was hoping to achieve. For that, I offer my thanks and gratitude for all his hard work. Very well done indeed. I place this scenario as my second favorite of the five.

[Holien]

My morale nearly broke at one time (personal) and that was when I realised that I had wasted all the TRP's through extremely poor placement.

As with JK the delay on the 150m spotter was crap.

I was lucky that my opponent decided that he would move his troops into trying to oust me. I had my Arty spotter up close. (keep them close or they are wasted. )

This meant he walked into a trap and was hammered. After a few turns of this 150 falling on him he thought the situation was a no hoper and bugged out.

Lucky for me...

H

[Vadr]

Ste. Mere Eglise AAR - Chuck "vadr" Grimes (German)

Setup -

Looks like a straightforward combined-arms assault on the town. Accordingly, I've devised a relatively straightforward attack plan; I'm going to hit the town with a hard left.

The majority of my Infantry and armor begin between the main North-South road and the east edge of the map. The Two StuH 42s begin in scattered trees (hidden) with good fields of fire into the town. All other armor is hidden behind woods. I left that one platoon mounted on the StG IIIs and put the PL and an MG42 in one halftrack with them.

The advance will be down the east side of the map with the StuH42s lending fire support. 2 StG III's will cover the N-S road in an attempt to seal off the west side of town from the east. I have some MG's and the 105 FO set to go into position on the moderate high ground in the center of my setup area. The TPs are set mostly on the east side of the town, again with an eye to interdicting any attempt to by my opponent from reinforcing the east side of his defense from the west.

I've stationed my weakest Infantry platoon and two empty Half-tracks on the west side of the map. Their job will be to make an obvious and noisy advance to contact, again with an eye to making the enemy hold some of his western forces in position.

If all goes according to plan, I'll break in on the east side of town and get to shoot the Allies up piecemeal as they counterattack. I hope to be able to drive from east to west late in the game to capture a 3rd Victory Flag. It's possible my right-flank ruse could be converted into an attempt to snatch a flag if he leaves his rear unguarded in response to my attack on his right

I'm worried about bogging in the wet ground, and I expect the Airborne to have AT guns and possibly even some armor in support.

Turns 1-15

Things go pretty much as expected; I advanced 3 platoons to draw his fire and then started pounding the buildings with the Stuh 42s and STG IIIs. I'm reasonably pleased with the rate of progress, it isn't easy to pry American airborne troops out of a town.

The big question is; how much force does he have? My opponent has pulled back skillfully thus far but he *is* giving ground and he *is* suffering casualties. I'm hoping I can crack the perimeter and grab some flags, but if he's defending in depth or won't let me pin him down and kill him this could be a real race by the last turn.

In an interesting development he's run some Infantry out into the center of the map. Looks like he wants to harass my advance on the right. I'm hoping that means he took the bait over there. I'd much rather fight him in the open than in heavy buildings.

Turn 20 -

I have thrown him out of the apartment buildings on my left but the fighting is vicious and at close quarters in the woods immediately behind. I've had more success in the center, the troops are driving along the road. It has taken FAR longer than I anticipated to get my armor to the roads. Now I must gamble a little and drive my assault guns deep into his rear to try and get the situation more fluid. I'm not going to win going hand to hand with american paratroopers. I should be able to run 2 assault guns down the center road to the far rear VL, and I'm going to swing 2 more and a halftrack along the left, trying to get him turned 90 degress from his former position. His bazooka team placement should prove interesting, I've already knocked out two AT guns...

Turn 22 -

Well my plan to drive 2 Assault Guns up the middle has fallen apart. He uncovered a third AT gun to kill one and the other bogged. I still have several pieces of armor available and all of it is on the roads now, so I'm still hoping to drive into his rear and disorganize his resistance. I think he may finally be running out of Infantry and I still have one fresh Sturmgruppe Platoon to commit. I may have found a hole in the center. I'm going to attempt to rush a squad and a leader into it, might get a cheap flag.

Turn 23 -

Did I say I had all my armor on roads? Nooooo, I had one last Stg III that was about 10 feet from a road but of course bogged (dammit). We'll see if he gets unstuck. I'm not sure it matters however. My arty was devastating this turn (thank goodness for TRPs), knocking out that 3rd AT gun and killing a bunch of Infantry besides. He's still got some die-hard holdouts in a heavy building along the main road (a squad and a half or so) but resistance on my left has pretty much collapsed. He's started pulling his Infantry off the line on his left to reinforce his right, exactly as planned. He had the decoy force stopped cold over there. Things are looking pretty good for me, I'd say I'm a lock on 3 flags at this point.

Turn 28 -

Well, the plan has thus far worked out as drawn-up. My attack is now moving east to west, and the front line has bent 90 degrees from at start. I own one flag, I have armor around a second and I should own it after this turn, and I'm massing troops for a charge on the 3rd one. he has begun pulling troops from his left to reinforce his center (now his right) but I have the halftracks in interdicton positions now to put a stop to that. It's been bloody, but looks pretty good at this point.

Conclusion -

I'm writing this last paragraph late, but I got a moderate victory and scored more points as the Germans than anyone else in tourney III, according to the 9/17 results. I owned two victory flags at the end, with one in contested status.

I thought it was a good scenario, but the German attacker must be fairly experienced/competent. A novice on the attack will get pretty handily shot up (as proven in the tournament scores). An excellent combined-arms exercise from the German standpoint. I had fun playing this one.

[Frunze]

This is the one scenario where I really got whupped (by Holien.) The 150mmm was decisive. I concentrated my forces too much to try to contain and possibly wipe out his initial salient, and the arty hurt me bad. Even squads in heavy buildings could be hurt if a shell landed close to the outer wall.

The other major factor in my decision to withdraw off-map, rather than try to hold one VL, was the StuGs. They hadn't really come into play in a big way, but they were about to. I'd lost all three AT guns - artillery being a major factor here, as well as my overambitious push up the right flank.

My initial deployments were too focused on a possible push down the center road, and I left one gap that Holien found, as described in his AAR. My initial plan did correctly involved gradually falling back from one line of buildings to the next, with MGs already in place at the next - but I didn't actually do that.

On the bright side, once I decided to retreat, I got most of my remaining forces off, except some MGs and zooks that got killed or captured delaying pursuit. Nobody left to autosurrender at the end. Even got the mortars off. And the casualty ratio wasn't actually that horrible.

[Redwolf]

The short version of my German attack:

Basically I made a very detailed fireplan for the 150mm FO and placed the TRPs very precisely to have impact zones with minimal but useful overlapping.

I kept all StuGs on the road, except for the very last turns when they either got around the roadblock or the position was to be considered final for the game. I had to divert soem of my infantry to the left where enemy platoons were striking with high firepower, but otherwise I moved down the road to the center crossing fine.

I lost one or two StuGs sniffing to the right where bazookas hung out, so I dropped the idea of going there, I would have had enough points anyway.

However, I went through three opponents in this game. And the last one was sneaky and got large bodies of troops behind me, killing the StuGs behind my infantry screen and my Schrecks and everything else non-frontline I parked there in the last turns. Congratulations (seriously).

[tabpub]

Ste Mere Eglise

Or

Wave at your enemy with one hand, just make

sure you have the roll of quarters in the other

Here we are tasked with counterattacking a large town held by “elite” American paratroopers in presumably reinforced company strength, if not more. We have 2 reinforced companies; one is a Sturmkompanie and the other is a leg infantry variety.

The Sturmkompanie is basically Reg/Vet, while the leg trends Green/Reg. Good platoon CO’s in general , with about 4-5 company CO’s to coordinate/assist. In addition we have about 3 HT’s and 7 Stg’s for support! 2 of them are the howitzer variety. And last, but definitely not least, we have artillery support. One is a veteran 8cm mortar battery w/about 150 shots; not bad. The other is, wow, a 150 rocket w/ 150 shots! He is green, but we have 4 TRP’s, so placed right, that will counter balance his greenness.

1. The setup. The ground is not good. I am worried about the cross country mobility of these Stugs. Experience shows that they tend to bog, especially in wheat and scattered trees. In addition, the area on the right is a BIT too open for an advance in my opinion. The left provides wood cover almost all the way to the town.

The plan forms. Unlike a lot of situations we find ourselves in normally, we are up against paras. Their lack of long range AT firepower puts them at a disadvantage. So, we will show him the armor, all of it. I will place the Stugs on the rise in the road in my deployment area. They can see the tops of many of the buildings, especially the row on the left front of the town. They will fire into these buildings and level them with the assistance of the rockets. (Think “Ambleve” when you think about leveling something.)

A trp will be placed in that area. The others will go: just back of the first crossroad; along the crossing road about 150-200m from the crossroad; and back by the crossroad in the middle of town. I think these are likely “strongpoints” that rockets could soften up, or places where I might need “insta-smoke” from the mortars. After the row of buildings go down, the Stugs will go right down the road with the infantry in accompaniment. I will be quite obvious about it, because I want to draw EVERYTHING I can to the center. Not only to have an arty target; but, to keep the attention there from my left. The left is the real push for entry.

2. Details…. Ok, armor down the gut with 2 leg platoons beating bushes along the road. The right is open over the fields, so I just have to watch it, not have a “presence” there. The other 3 leg platoons lead thru the woods and fields on the left to seek the enemy and pin him. 4 HMG’s sit in the scattered woods on my baseline to overwatch the 2nd stories of the houses; along with 2 HT’s that will bring them forward quickly when we have gained entry. The real punch is the Sturmkompanie. These units will backstop the line infantry and when they find the enemy, close and destroy. One platoon will be in the center to stiffen that advance and be general reserve. The other two will advance on the left and break thru the enemy decisively.

3. The proof… well, other than his fantastic bazookas, which were drawn to the center also, it went well enough. The Stugs did draw every thing in sight, but paid the cost. 4 were knocked out on the road by some amazing zooks. They were swarming like flies and his other infantry were keeping the rifle squads busy. One of the Stuh42’s was immob’d on turn 3 by a mortar round. This left me with 2 operational tanks to break in with. The infantry had to do the job and they did. In the center, I had drawn so much that I had to commit the Sturm platoon to balance the situation. When 2 more rifle platoons arrived, they were committed to the center and we were able to crack the nut there about 16 minutes in or so. This generated one of my favorite scenes in CMBO. He had a full para squad on one side of a house shooting at a HMG in a house 80m in front of it. I had infiltrated down the road on the other side of the house. 1 hq and a squad doubled back into the house, took the para by the butt, while the 42 chewed from the front. 1 min later, no para squad and no casualties for me.

Meanwhile, on the left, the 3 lead platoons find 2 american platoons in the woods and wrecked buildings. The Amis shoot them up a bit, but then the Sturmgruppen move up, and kill a para platoon in 1 min. Now the 3 rifle platoons tie up the Americans in the rubble, while the Sturmies move into the town. Resistance is met in the first street that is enough to halt the advance. But, the stubborn rifles root the paras out of the rubble (with a little MG and HE assistance) and move on to hit the resistance facing the Sturmgruppen. His left flank collapsing and the center being ground down by rifle squads supported by the 2 operational Stugs, the American attempted to break contact, but it was too late.

4. Is in the pudding. Having just reviewed the end of battle, I had never noticed exactly how devastating this attack was. I had suffered 189 casualties and 6 vehicles (4 Stugs, 2 tracks), but he had suffered 284 casualties plus the 49 men captured. About 84% of his men were killed or wounded! In fact, of the 49 captured, only 1 was a combat paratrooper! The rest were HQ, MG’s and crews. He literally did die to the man in the line units. I do regret the high losses in my AFV’s; those points were valuable. But, those losses may have been the seed of the American defeat. They may have made him overconfident to the point that he tried to slug it out on the front edge of town too long. I have not had the opportunity to interrogate the Major yet (he was one of the captured), but I believe that with the high quality of troop present that an ambush, retire, ambush again policy might have been in order. Troops of this level of expertise should be able to retire quickly after inflicting heavy losses on troops moving across streets and open areas. By being fixed in place, he lost the “initiative” and allowed me to dictate the tempo. I shall have to try this one myself from the other side to test this philosophy.

Final Score Axis 69

Allies 31

Rob Davidson “Tabpub”

[Cpl Carrot]

Originally posted by redwolf:

However, I went through three opponents in this game. And the last one was sneaky and got large bodies of troops behind me, killing the StuGs behind my infantry screen and my Schrecks and everything else non-frontline I parked there in the last turns. Congratulations (seriously).

I just finished what Jazza had started. That platoon + zook went up the middle and around. They turned out to be more effective than I thought they would be, nailing a StuG and a StuH plus a horde of support units.

The highlight for me was the AT gun that had to travel (by jeep) across half the map and setup in time to nail a StuG. My zooks could not seem to hit a barn door.

[John Kettler]

German players who won this meatgrinder? How incredibly refreshing! Those needing to learn how not to win are directed to my AAR on the RoW II AAR thread.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Spanish Bombs]

Originally posted by John Kettler:

German players who won this meatgrinder? How incredibly refreshing! Those needing to learn how not to win are directed to my AAR on the RoW II AAR thread.

Regards,

John Kettler

And what an interesting read that AAR is, John. Especially having lived through the battle from the other side - the exasperation expressed within the AAR echoes and reminds me of the emails we traded while playing it.

Meanwhile, my AARs are inaccessible due to a computer gremlin, but I hope to have that cleared up in the next 24 hours or so, so I can add them to these threads.

[CuznJG14]

Salute to the Designers! A very enjoyable scenario

This is amongst my first AAR's, So please excuse the brevity and lack of technical detail

A big S! to my opponent Easy V

I started with ~2 Companys of infantry... I basically set up 1 on the

right flank and 1 on the left flank...The Middle was covered by HQ and a few MG Teams. I split all my squads into 6 man

teams to get some more covering fire when needed...plus this allowed me to

keep fully 1/2 of my men as reserve in hiding...

I also set up 3 57mm AT guns...1 in the center, 1 on each flank.. they had narrow but long fields of fire... Good for AT guns

I positioned my MG teams in high windows with clear fields of fire.. I had

also kept a few MG teams in reserve.

the initial assault on my right flank actually killed off my front line troops!

If I had'nt kept 1/2 of my men as reserves you would have taken my right

flank for sure...

I also used my 60mm mortar teams in an indirect fire role for the first time

to great effect!

I never knew this could be done BTW

I recieved a Platoon of Crack Glider troops about turn 5 and I was able to

shore up my center with those troopers... without them my opponent would have gotten

a good foothold in town.

My Bazooka teams really did a great job as well! I lost 1/2 of my teams but

the survivors did a great job.

The Germans seemed to have alot of green troops... bad juju for attacking under

fire.

really took alot of shifting and moving to keep them in check... 1 or 2 times

I thought My opponent would gain a foothold in town and start feeding troopers into

the buildings..

That would have spelled the end for the 101st

Clever shifting of fire teams prevented that!

I think if my opponent had not attempted to attack in 3 Directions simultaneously he would have progressed further.

As it stood his flank attacks were cut down to a man without reaching 25 yards of town, but his center attack reached town.

My troops, though battle toughened, were spread thin.

If I was the germans I would have attacked thru the right Flank under Smoke, with my main thrust.

I'd keep the allies heads down with my STuG's, Set up a toe hold in town, and feed my troops in thru that breach.

The town may have been assaulted this way quite successfully..with the StuG's standing out of bazooka range Pulverizing the town and the German Arty laying down a withering barrage on the areas yet to be taken.

All in all a GREAT Map

[Redwolf]

My short battle report from above misses the fact that I think this is a great scenario.

I only think the CMBo modeling of the StuG III makes movement on the ground unrealistically hard. I think the scenario would be more realistic and slightly more enjoyable when using the CMBO StuG IV.

[Holien]

Hi Redwolf,

I thought the Germans got more armour than necessary and that might have been due to the nature of the ground?

It would be interesting hearing how the designer made his decision on the amount of armour.

H

[Jack Trap]

OK so this is the one game in all ten "unbalanced" tournament games in which I felt like I knew what I was doing. Moral of the story?...... Nine out of ten times I don't know what I'm doing.

AAR for Scenario: St. Mere-Englise

Jack Trap reporting as Axis commander.

Outcome: Jack Trap major victory 80-20

Right off, I noticed that this battle was directly inspired by the historic one fought during Operation Overlord. I am by no means a history buff, but since there was more than just honor at stake (namely a case of fine wine) I did a little research in the US Army archives. I gleaned from these archives that the smaller un-armored American force prevailed, in part, due to a surprise flank attack on an Axis convoy. It seemed that there were lessons here for me: one, to extensively recon my eastern and western flanks before proceeding into the town and two, to provide an infantry escort for my non-turreted armor consisting of five StuG’s and two Stu’s.

My plan boiled down to three basic moves. First to comprehensively sweep the entire northern side of the map up to the edge of the town of St. Mere-Englise . Second, to seize the central entry point- the first northern intersection of two dirt roads and roll my armor in to join the infantry during the assault of the city. Finally, to move a superior combined fighting force along the eastern side of the town to the southern-central victory flag and if time and forces remained to continue to push both southward and westward against the remaining defending forces.

This plan would, if successful, keep much of my armor on the roads. Due to the wet conditions combined with the poor psi rating of most of my armor, it was clear that the roads must be controlled early and used extensively. I had to assume that this was an issue my Allied counterpart was aware of; therefore I positioned one 1/2 track and a Stug off to the western side away from the dirt road to drive around and make lots of noise. These units were not going to make contact at first, but simply to make their presence known- I wanted my enemies AT attention split and not solely focused on the all-important town entry point.

I advanced my forces according to plan. Around turn #4, using the TRP’s, I targeting the 81 mm mortars spotter on the town entry point. At the same time I targeted an obvious overlook position of the entry point with the 150 mm spotter. Soon after I rushed in infantry and found both positions unoccupied. As I progressed my forces to the northern edge of town, several Allied mg’s made their presence known. Theses positions were quickly turned to rubble with the Stu’s and StuG’s providing support.

By the end of turn #8, my infantry controlled the northern edge of St. Mere-Englise as well as the town entry point- a 1/2 track had successfully skirted the road block and was at the intersection unscathed. During this part of the assault, small enemy positions were identified, isolated and dispatched quickly. It was now time to move my armored units into the town via the route made clear by the 1/2 track. My infantry continued it’s wide-net southern push, but now at a leisurely pace, allowing the armor to catch up.

With a combination of armor, infantry and artillery, I was successful in pushing the defending forces southward through the middle part of the game. The Sturmgruppe platoons were particularly effective in the building to building guns fights. My infantry forces that had spread a wide net in approaching the town now came together to concentrate on Allied strong holds within the buildings designated with a victory flag. By turn #12, my infantry was joined by six AFV’s now in the city: two 1/2 tracks, three Stugs and a Stu. By turn #14, the eastern VL has taken along with some prisoners.

During the city fighting, I discovered that my opponent did not withdraw his infantry when that numbers began to stack heavily against him. These veteran and crack Allied infantry stuck in the fight longer than I expected. For this I suffered many casualties but was able to overwhelm and capture many of his units. Right before the end of the game I had captured four units with a total of twelve men.

By turn #18, all the AFV’s of the main battle group had passed into the town via the path first used by the 1/2 track. At this time two vehicles were immobile in the wet ground; a 1/2 track and a Stu. Other than the western flank diversionary Stug, all of my other AFV’s were engaging the enemy in the town. All three allied AT guns had been positioned in the western-central region of the map. Unfortunately for them, this was the target of a prolonged 150 mm artillery bombardment. This combined with the honorable work of my infantry, all three 57 mm AT guns were knocked out before they could cause any harm to my armor.

The final phase of the battle went well. By turn #23, I had secured the southern-central victory flag. I deemed my forces adequate to continue to advance on enemy positions. I now had effectively closed off much of the enemies corridor of retreat (not that he was using it). I still had 60 or so of the 150 mm spotter rounds and they were targeted on the area still under Allied control. Thus having the enemy pretty well pinned, I finally advanced my western diversionary forces southward with an additional rifle platoon joining them from my central battle group.

On turn #26, the remaining Allied units auto surrendered increasing my captured tally to 60 men. My casualties: 167 to the Allied: 273. I did not lose a single vehicle during the battle- a feat I have never before achieved. Having suffer two auto-surrenders in the previous “unbalanced” NW tournament, it was nice to be on the other side of that experience for a change.

Thank you Bimmer, for a good fight. Thanks to Treeburst for all his effort in making this tournament possible. I found this battle to be very enjoyable and well designed.

[von Lucke]

As the Elite / Crack American paras, I felt pretty confident about defending St.Mere Eglise. (Strangely enough, I'd been in other defensive city fights using paras in a few other PBEM battles). I wasn't too worried about my lack of arty, and I was actually rather pleased to have so many bazooka teams and three 57mm ATG's.

Boy, did the Capt put a clamper on my enthusiasm! He conducted an almost text-book German-style schwerepunkt assault strait into my right flank. All I could do was fall back from one line of buildings to the next (luckily I'd used half-squads to position foxholes in between). Unfortunately for me, the Capt got wise to my elastic defense, and started dropping arty behind me --- right as I began to fall back to the Major VL. Oh, the horror!

My bazookas couldn't hit the broad-side of a StuG at point-blank range! It was pathetic the way the Capt swatted them down. (I did manage to take out three of his StuG's --- and one more bogged).

I did get a little payback on my left flank when he sent in a platoon to probe my defenses there: I pinned them down with some LMG fire, and then counter-attacked; eventually wiping them out to a man.

But the inexhorable weight of his main attack pushed me all the way back to the main victory flag. I pinched in from my left, and brought my reserves in to play for a last stand at the crossroads, eventually achieving a Draw.

I must say, I was surprised to be hit with sturmtruppen, and even more suprised when I saw a few Crack German units in the mix. But overall, I'd say this was my favorite scenario: Very well designed --- and well fought by the Capt!

[ October 05, 2002, 01:05 PM: Message edited by: von Lucke ]

[Redwolf]

Originally posted by Holien:

Hi Redwolf,

I thought the Germans got more armour than necessary and that might have been due to the nature of the ground?

It would be interesting hearing how the designer made his decision on the amount of armour.

Hi, Holien,

There are two aspects to consider here and both have two sides.

For historical accuracy, the designer should use what has been historically been used. However, in most cases reports don't bother with details of which StuG exactly was used. The other aspect of historical accuracy is the representation of the StuG IIIG on soft ground in CMBO. The CMBO model is only soley based on the ground pressure. I am convinced that this model is not doing justice to some AFVs in CMBO, in special to the StuG III which has a pretty high-end torsion bar suspension. I have never seen a report that the StuG IV would have a substancial advantage over the StuG III when going through difficult ground. As the StuG was a typical Ostfront weapon I am sure this would have surfaced somewhere.

The other aspect is play balance, where as you say the designer might choose to give fewer vehicles in exchange for the better going in the difficult ground conditions. I gained the impression that this already great scenario could be made better (as in gameplay) by doing so. I studied speed and bog probablity of CMBO vehicles and as the German player it was clear to me that going anywhere but on the road would be a substancial risk of losing the scenario without the enemy's help

So, overall, I think in doubt the StuG IV would be the better choice. And that is even when it is confirmed that the historical force had StuG IIIs, if you follow my finding that the StuG IV is actually the more accurate representation of a StuG III in CMBO.

[Juha Ahoniemi]

ROWII:The Boots & Tracks Brawl

Tournament 1, section 4

St Mere Eglise - AAR by Juha Ahoniemi

Juha Ahoniemi (allied) vs. Diceman (Axis)

This one is interesting, basing on reality. On the negative side, it gives me somekind of pressure to not rewrite history and let those goddamn krauts take this town. It won't be easy since enemy will have BIG guns. Lots of them!

As I examine the map, it seems to favor my defenders. Enemy tanks will have a hard time since there is a big risk to bog and get immobilized because of the wet ground. There are four VL's which of one is big 300 point flag.It is located in the middle of the town. The rest, little 100 point flags are located nearer to the front, two on the left (from my point of view) and one on the right.

I set up quite flexible defense: on the left MG's, sharpshooter and some HQ's in buildings and squads in woods and foxholes. All are, and will be hiding until they can smell bad enemy breath. Only some decoys will try to draw some arty and panzer fire. There is a great place in the middle to defend: heavy buildings attached to each other. That means no-go for panzers (buildings and woods leave very little room to manouver) and infantry must come through open ground. My troops can also run quickly in cover to possible critical points of the front. Later my reinforcements did just that as I moved those glider squads to the middle area too. Without them I might have been in trouble in middle-left.

The right side might be under heavy push, and I considered that when I made my setup: Again, the front buildings will get only "skeleton" crew, to stall the enemy and draw fire. Main defending force is behind the front buildings, and they will eventually withdraw to the big heavy building near the VL. The outer right flank is defended by some MG's and a couple of squads, in flexible places to withdraw if necessary. If the enemy is going to try to sneak in the edge he's gonna have a nasty surprise. I don't like edge-huggers!

One more thing that must be mentioned: the leaders. Wow! I used them to max - every single guy of my force was in command range and gained significant boosts! I also placed my mortars in the front-middle, where one HQ served as their eyes - upstairs. The key was to hide - and show up when it was most unpleasant for the attacker.

First minutes were silent as enemy was approaching cautiously. I welcomed him with my sharpshooters.

In the beginning I made a mistake - My AT-guns were hiding but had ambush markers. So the middle-one of them killed a HT and showed itself. It was destroyed pretty soon, and immediately I canceled other ambushes. Let the tanks come closer, I will get certain - and more costing for my enemy - kills.

My "baits" seemed to work on the left: very heavy arty started to fall. First the arty landed in the middle-right however. Enemy used those big craters as foxholes and made I performed some cotrolled stalling. Then the big guns turned their eyes to left (apparently my mg and sharpshooters were annoying ) It took its toll, of course, but my losses weren't dramatical. On the middle-left enemy was testing my defences. A few squads and a panzerschreck rushed towards my hidden paratroopers. They got near the wall and were butchered like cattle. Ugly. My men maintained their positions for a while and then withdrawed to safety to the building behind them.

On the right was maybe my "finest hour": Stalling enemy enough to get my guys into that big heavy building (in which I brought my .50 reinforcement, too). Not a single enemy was able even to think running across the open ground leading to that building (and VL) . My men were in good cover and panzers trying to approach via the road were KO'ed by zook and my AT-gun which showed itself when the kill was certain. That gun survived to the very end of the battle. Heavy casualties for enemy at this sector.

In the middle the enemy apparently had forgot/didn't know that when buildings are attached to each other, You can't move directly from house to house. His HQ unit came running from the house and came to open ground and then headed to next house - and died. His attack from the middle was done!

But inthe middle-left were the most vicious firefights. Many sturmgruppes and other squads were pushing hard. But they were up against the leader that could be compared to higher spiritual beings - Lieutenant Colonel Ed Krause! He gave to my men unbeliavable bonuses, my AT-gun including. But even with those (believe me I took the full advantage of those bonuses!) I had to reinforce those guys with glider squads from the middle where I had first positioned them after their arrival as reinforcements, and with some men which survived from the heavy arty on the left. The left sector was a quiet one. My mg's and sharpshooters were enough to defend this sector and I was able to send help where it was needed most.

Several enemy tanks were immobilized in the wet ground - But I don't know which one they would have served more, my enemy's war efforts or my point total!

As a defender there wasn't room to make any brilliant manouvers, but good placing and decent effort brought victory for me in this battle.

AFTER ACTION REPORT:

Axis Attacker:

226 casualties (69KIA)

6 vehicles knocked out

Men ok:221

Score:35

Allied Defender:

171 casualties (47KIA)

2 guns destroyed

1 vehicle knocked out

Men OK:162

Score: 65

Allied tactical victory.

Note to designer - I think this was well balanced scenario although the wet ground was a ramdom factor. 3 of my enemy's StuGs and one StuH were immobilized, the StuH was able to take part to combat before that though. I thin I would have enjoyed more as the attacker.

[Stixx]

G'Day guys!

Sorry for the late reply but i was the one to inflict that piece of misery on you, as the designer of St. Mere-Eglise.

I've read all your AAR's and must say thankyou to all the participants, there is some great reading there and it seems like most people enjoyed this scenario.

I'll give you a little back ground info on the scenario, it may help you understand why i did one thing or another.

First of all it seems the German commander needed to be slightly more skilled than the Allied one to get a victory in this scenario. I'm sorry if that is so, i did try to make as balanced as possible but for the most part is does seem adequetley balanced.

Let it be known that when i first submitted S.M-G for playtesting (It was playtested numerous times) that the Alied player won every single time!, the reason for this? Simple, i had recreated the historical forces as close as possible and the historical result was that the Krauts didn't make it past the first line of houses.

So after recieving reports of heavily Allied biased forces i started tweaking it, reducing allied strength, tinkering with axis strength. I really did not want to do this simply because i wanted it to be as historical as possible.

I knew i could of made the ground "dry" and that would of helped the Axis with their armor mobility but that is not historical either.

While i'm on the point of armor, Redwolf you queryed my use of the StuG IIIG and so you should because i did too!

This is the only refernce i could fine to the Axis armor

and one company of the 709th Antitank Battalion with ten self-propelled 75-mm. guns

So that makes things quiet simple it was Marder's that attaked S.M-E.

Then you read first hand reports of Allied paratroopers who where there and they say they where rolled with TANKS! Big chuncky ones

So anyway, i decided to stay with the marder's, like i said much more "historical" but after playtesting everyone complained! "The marder's are to weak, not enough HE, they weren't there, etc"

So.... A few of the guys suggested using StuG's, i put them in, ran a few tests, got it playtested a few more times and the results were very promising. It seemed that with changing the SP guns to StuG's i didn't need to down size the Allies any more. I didn't need to load up the Axis with excess infantry etc, it was a rather large trade off. It was more important to have the scenario balanced than it was to have it historically accurate (For the tournament atleast).

I also had to change some of the terrain layout to make it more "attacker friendly", again i hated doing it but it had to be done...

Well that is about it for now guys. It will be posted at Boots & Tracks and the scenario depot within the next week i would say.

Going by these AAR's i think i will tweak the force balance in the Allies favor a little, any direct suggestions or other comments would be appreciated.

Stix

[Kanonier Reichmann]

My personal opinion Stixx is as redwold suggested. Simply substitute the 75mm armed Stug III's with Stug IV's and I reckon you'll have alot of happy campers. Otherwise it was an excellent scenario with a great map to boot.

Regards

Jim R.

[ October 08, 2002, 12:29 AM: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]

[Holien]

Hi Stixx,

Thanks for the input on the design process.

It was a tough game for the attacker and I would not tinker too much.

Pretty well balanced (as far as they ever can be.)

On the map front I just did not the feel for a French Town and St Mere.

I am not sure what is missing (maybe my imagination) and if I can dig up some maps I will cross check with the map.

I presume you used a map to design the town?

The woods seem too dense and perhaps more sparse orchard type effect might be the way?

Anyway until I track down a map I am talking out my botty and just going on feel and not reality.

So please do not take offence.

The map aside the battle for me tunred out to be a very intense affair and as the intial attack went in and got murdered I was very very worried.

Thxs for the experience.

H

[Stixx]

Kanonier Reichmann, that is a good suggestion, i may do that simply for balance more than anything.

Holien, i'm glad you likes it mate. I could not find high quality maps of the town but i did manage to find a couple, also i found a photo of the town that was helpful. It looked over the main town centre down towards the one road leading in to the city, it was helpful in the design process.

The town itself is much longer than the CM map portray's but is dominated by the same large buildings and basic elevation changes as represented on the CM map. There are no orchards etc in the vacinity of the town, the main route in to town is actually VERY open. I had to add extra areas of trees to help the attacker.

Trying to have a balanced scenario that is historically acurate is almost impossible i tryed to find a balance between the two.

Stix