L.Tankersley Posted June 30, 2000 Share Posted June 30, 2000 I have completed the Team DeSobry Operation as the Americans, successfully defending the Noville road to Bastogne against the Germans and scoring a Tactical Victory. Final stats: German losses were 415 infantry (215 kia), 15 captured, 1 gun and 47 vehicles knocked out, 370 men ok. US losses were 120 (67 kia), 33 vehicles knocked out, 470 men ok. I surmise that perhaps the % of men KIA'ed is raised in battles with severe weather? The star of the operation from my perspective was one of the M4A3 75mm Shermans - this tank caused 17 infantry casualties, captured 2 infantry, and killed 1 StuG III, 2 PzIVH, 2 PzVG and 1 Wespe before succumbing in the second battle to a point-blank shot from a Panther (I think it was a Panther...). Well, actually, the tank was nice, but in truth the _real_ star was the US artillery arm. I got a lot of mileage out of the 105mm artillery, and when the 155mm observer showed up for the 5th battle, I was in hog heaven. Not many rounds for the 155s, but then again you don't need many. In the night battles you can't see more than about 50m in the falling snow, so there's no way the observers can actually SEE a target. But that's all right -- I just called in fire missions on the wooded areas on the approaches to the town and enjoyed the fireworks. One minor disappointment - there really wasn't much infantry combat in this operation (this playing, anyway). The Germans never really closed with me except for the last few turns of the night battles, and battle #5 (where I started with only a toehold in the town). In that one there was some small-arms fire exchanged in the final turns, but nothing decisive. ------------------ Leland J. Tankersley [This message has been edited by L.Tankersley (edited 06-30-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Bill Wilder Posted June 30, 2000 Share Posted June 30, 2000 Your stunning defenses kept them at bay, Leland. Not many enjoy running through artillery barrages One remedy for those wanting more aggressive Germans. Open the operation in the editor. Increase their fanaticism by 50%, save it and then get ready for some real hard close in fighting Nice AAR, Leland. Did the crew survive on that Sherman or were they awarded citations posthumously? WB = ------------------ Wild Bill Lead Tester/Designer Combat Mission-Beyond Overlord billw@matrixgames.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.Tankersley Posted June 30, 2000 Author Share Posted June 30, 2000 IIRC 3 of the crew survived, quickly crawling into a nearby building. After the carnage of the first battle, I think I had 2 Shermans and a Stuart remaining of my original tanks. Also a couple armored cars, and the reinforcing M-10 platoon. In battle #2, as I have detailed elsewhere my setup area was at the rear of the town (I now suspect an unseen flank penetration by the Germans pushed me back so far) and initially I was afraid the Germans would be set up in town and coming at me for some vicious night combat. But it seems that most of the town was no-man's-land. After a few turns I started pushing forward, and my troops were arriving at the forward edge of town just about the time I started getting sound contacts. It took a few more turns before I sighted anything, but then things got busy fast. It seemed like every turn 3 or 4 more vehicles would emerge from the darkness into the midst of my front defenses. Very soon on the first side-street knocked-out vehicles were bumper-to-bumper. Rifle grenades and demo charges were flying out of buildings and gettings lots of point-blank kills. The M4A3 was on my left, and moved up about even with the front buildings and kept popping vehicles in the side as they came through the first line of buildings. Eventually got killed when more Germans showed up from the flank. In the next night battle (#4), I moved out smartly to assume defensive positions but no substantial attack materialized. However, at one point a German halftrack appeared in the rear of the town, knocking out the jeep that was carrying Maj. DeSobry around. It must have come in from the flank and just drove into the middle of town. It wasn't long before the crew surrendered, though. I suppose that the battle length is kept small to put some pressure on the attacker and also keep the operation length manageable? Might be interesting to lengthen the battles a bit -- in battle #6 I never actually spotted any German forces. I just dug in more or less where I started and amused myself calling in artillery until the battle ended. BTW, here's a tip for folks playing as the Americans: behind the town, there is a wooded area. Much of this is on a fairly substantial hill (I didn't really notice this until battle #3; it can sometimes be hard to make elevations out from the higher views, especially with snow on the ground). This is a nice place to park a TD or two in hull-down positions - good LOS to the flanks. ------------------ Leland J. Tankersley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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