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Cemetary Hill. Help!! SPOILERS


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How the hell do you breach that line of defense? I moved the recon platoons w/ the MGs, 75mm gun, and all my AFVs to the edge of the tree line to tie down the defenders in the trenches; which I was able too do. When I tried to sneak the sappers around the back, they got pinned down by troops in the cemetary. The toon HQ was wiped out in the fight, and the whole (oversized IMHO) toon broke. Damn! Anyone had sucess with this one?

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Try playing Gefechtsaufklaerung a few times first. This and Cemetary Hill are very similar, with C.H. having approx twice the forces of G. Once you can win G. handily, you might have more success with C.H.

Either way, its a tough fight. Think suppression, concealed/covered appraoches, concentration, and flanking.

Regards

JonS

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It was the first battle that I played when I got CMBB (not on purpose, just chose one). I got waxed. I played it again this afternoon to see if things had changed. I made it to the trenches, and almost got to the church, but then it was over.

No offense to the scenario designer, but this scenario is so one sided, that I decided to play as the russians and try something. I let everyone stay where they were, and I did not touch a thing, outside of shooting mortars. I killed the AI. I never even had to do anything! smile.gif

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That is one tough nut to crack...but I am sure that it can be done. The trick, I'm sure, is to concentrate ALL of your offensive resources on a narrow front where the fewest defenders can fire, while supressing them.

I saw some folks griping about the difficulty of this scenario, and I thought...Yea! sure. My skill and luck will give me victory quickly...it always seems to.

Well, I almost got my ass handed to me, but after I lost about 1/4 the effective strength of my infantry and saw how weary and thin the rest were spread, I simply pulled out. (that is, aborted the scenario to try at a later time...there was studying that I needed to do).

spoilers...

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If you attack frontally...you will die. If you attack at sort of a 45 degree angle where the russian left flank starts to curve...you will die.

I think the secret is to get ALL of your resources into that wheat field, use the mechanized forces to duke it out with any gun in LOS (which may be costly) and then supress the forces in the woods with mortars and any remaining vehicles while ALL of your infantry leap frogs and penetrates the wood. After that, its straight into the church FIRST, and use that as a firing position on the trenches.

I don't have the time to try this out. No matter what you do, the attack will be difficult and costly. One thing I am sure of, you MUST focus your attack. Usual rules of "fix n' flank" are out due to the compactness of the Russian force...you cannot "fix" anyone really, so it is best to avoid where the Russians are strongest, that is the trench line and building area.

I look forward to being able to test this.

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Flank them.

I just finished my second run through ten minutes ago and pulled out a 70/30 victory.

First step was to cross the brush on the far right to the woods along the road. I placed everything on the far, FAR right, and them lead with my armored cars. The crossing was opposed, but a platoon and an AT gun were quickly destroyed, at the cost of about five infantry and one armored car.

With the flank secure, I was able to push all my infantry accross the road with no further losses. I shifed my mortar, MGs, and IG along the woods to the left, so that their line of sight took in more and more of the village to keep pace with my advance.

No point going blow by blow with the rest, I just worked my way up the road, using the trees on either side and the buildings for cover. I lost one more armored car to a mortar, but otherwise my support weapons survived the remainder of the battle.

It was close at the end, but I managed to rush two battered platoons into the church on round 22 and gun down the last defenders.

I took 69 infantry casualties and inflicted 102. Considering I was attacking a numerically superior force over less than ideal terrain, I was pleased.

I think both Cemetery Hill and Gefechtsaufklaerung were intended to be a crash course in how you have to use infantry in BB to survive. Both are small and likely to be played first, which I'm sure is intentional.

Anyway, the scenario is a tough transition from BO, but it's doable, and worth doing.

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Okay I read all the hype so i tried this battle for myself. I thought I'd try an outflanking maneuver to the left and extreme right. I got into the trenches and a few buildings. Problem was not so much as getting KIA's but rather running out of ammo as many of my support weapons and infantry did (do infantry attack with bayonets when they run out of ammo???).

Anyway, I'm sure eventually anyone can succeed in beating this battle, as I've read a few have.

My only gripe is that it takes place in June 1941 at the BEGINNING of Barbarossa, and so the Germans should be much better equipped. Where are the Stukas in this battle? IMHO, surely no German commander in June 1941 would attempt a frontal attack on a fixed position of superior forces this ealry in the campaign without air support and MUCH more artillery and a tank or two.

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I just completed my first go at this battle. I got a total victory as the Germans(84-16; sustained 30 casualties, inflicted 91).

There were a few keys to the battle: 1.)Placement of the infantry gun is critical. I placed it at one of the zig-zag corners of the placement zone so as to have LOS to as much of the town and trenchline as possible. I also placed one of the MG34's close by. These were under command of the coy commander, who also spotted for the two 50mm mortars. 2.)I laid a base of fire from the front inside the treeline(I snuck one of the recon platoons up to within ~20m of the treeline, in hindsight it may have worked better to use the pioneers as they have more ammo.) 3.)I flanked from from the right edge with one of the recon platoons and the pioneers. Once again it was critical to use as much firepower to suppress and overwatch the advance of the infantry. I was able to move up an AC which promptly drew fire from an ATG. The next turn I opened up with everything I had to take out the gun, before it did any damage. I was lucky there. 4.)Once I was able to get a recon platoon and the pioneers into the woods astride the road on the German right, I then rolled up the Russian line continuing to use my infantry gun, an MG, two armored cars, and one recon platoon to lay the base of fire to pin and suppress the enemy in and around the town. Also, by this time, I had loaded one of the flamethrower teams into the halftrack and used the HT to transport it on pace with the rest of the advancing infantry. I then positioned it so as to torch the church to prevent Ivan from using it as a strongpoint. Also by this time, I had leveled all of the front buildings with my infantry gun, the rubble providing excellent cover for my advancing infantry. I then advanced my remaining infantry platoon into the trenches using smoke to protect the advance from the one MG bunker that could fire into the line of advance. The battle ended around turn 24.

This battle does an excellent job of demonstrating the need for suppression and bounding overwatch. One of the trickiest elements is managing ammo. It was a balancing act providing enough covering fire while maintaining enough ammo to bring the assault home. When it was all done, I don't think I had a unit with more than 3-4 ammo count. For me, the infantry gun was the difference maker, chalking up 20 casualties. Excellent battle!

After getting my tail handed to me in a couple of other battles against the AI (Balkovzy Surprise as the Germans and Borisovka Station as the Russians), it was nice to get a hard-fought victory.

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