split squad, recon, enemy engaged, now what?

[Juardis]

As the subject says, now what do I do? I've read Fionn's AARs and he is a proponent of splitting squads to use as recon. When the enemy is found, he'd engage them until his recon force died or could be reinforced. So what if you're on the defensive. I've sent out a probing force to recon possible attack avenues, I've found the enemy (or shall I say he found me ) and now I'm wondering what to do. Do I

a) retreat and recombine

stay and fight to the death and hopefully call in arty while he's engaging me

c) retreat and stay split for the rest of the battle

d) press the attack if possible

I'm inclined to do either ?) or ?) but I'd like to hear from you guys as to what you do (or would do).

[The ? are for you Havermeyer ]

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Jeff Abbott

[109 Gustav]

Now that your recon is done, your squads are better off whole. I'd try to retreat and recombine, if that's possible. Calling in arty might be effective, because your squads could use the covering fire to retreat safely. IMHO, retreating and staying split isn't a good idea, because your squads are more effective for fighting whole. Go ahead and press the attack, if it looks good, and if you can reinforce easily.

At least, that's my opinion.

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Well my skiff's a twenty dollar boat, And I hope to God she stays afloat

But if somehow my skiff goes down, I'll freeze to death before I drown, And pray my body will be found.

-Salmon fishing in Kodiak, Alaska

[Guest Pillar]

Juardis,

Get on ICQ and load me up (73059786) and I'll help you.

I've had success with these tactics.

[Oompa-Loompa]

I agree with 109 Gustav, recombine if possible...maybe your recon squad can draw some of enemey within CLOSE range of your supporting squads. If my recon squad is far enough ahead of the enemy (i.e. not directly in severe physical danger)I'll sometimes hide my supporting squads until the enemy is in better range/terrain, before I open up

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"Do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal"

Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Guest Pillar]

I wouldn't listen to the advice given here (no offence guys). This is simply because the situation you present is far to vague for a decent evaluation to be made.

One thing you DON'T want to do is reinforce a failed attack. The enemy is just dying for you to come at him head on like that.

My basic strategy in any pbem game is as follows (Fionn influenced):

1) Send forth recon squads throughout the whole map

2) The squads that get slaughtered are to be ignored, while the squads that move forward with little or no resistance get the reinforcement.

There's your breakthrough. Do something to keep his main force occupied (artillery or some sort of support/suppression equipment).

Meanwhile, you should be hitting his soft spots (mortars, FO's, AT Guns). Once you are confident that you have disabled the worst of his AT capability, move your tanks in and win the match.

Adapt the above to meet the situation. For example, sometimes you will have to commit your tanks early because otherwise you would loose your infantry, etc. Normally, this is due to mistakes on your part, but occasionally you get a really good opponent who will throw the balance of things.

[Juardis]

Pillar, I agree with what you're saying. The Russian doctrine is to reinforce success, which basically means press home the attack wherever there's a breakthrough. However, I'm not attacking. I'm defending and that's why I'm a little confused. Perhaps you're saying I should be attacking even though I'm defending (i.e., the best defense is a good offense)? I've generally been of the principal to let the enemy come into my well prepared den, but I'm trying to expand my defensive abilities lest I become too predictable.

As for ICQ, I don't have it, don't know what it is, don't know how to use it, don't know where to get it, etc...

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Jeff Abbott

[Popper]

Jeff,

I find that, with the numerical advantage that the attacker has, the only way to adequately defend is to make certain assumptions about where the enemy will be attacking. Read the terrain and you'll have a better picture of the most *likely* advance path.

On defense, I tend not to use recon squads mainly because an established firebase is a far more important asset in holding ground. Sharpshooters are better at this job anyway and a less expensive alternative to losing a considerable amount of your infantry fp assets.

Additionally, a few MG's with overlapping fields of fire can do wonders when it comes to slowing down an advance. The actual firebase, imho, is best left either behind a significant LOS obstacle or on the reverse slope. This prevents them from getting raped by attacking artillery assets and forces the enemy to commit to attacking your infantry at close range (optimal for your infantry).

I know it is a little counterintuitive (putting your infantry where it can't easily shoot at stuff in front of it), but when the name of the game is to make the most with inferior numbers, you have to think of ways in which your infantry can engage the advancing enemy piecemeal.

Hope this helps.

[Havermeyer]

Are you playing the Free French in this PBEM? I recommend wielding your standard issue white flag, and following it with a few slabs of brie and hunks of crusty bread washed down by a little red wine.

Actually you're playing the Brits, cuz I keep shooting at the bahstahds and they keep running away.

The field of conflict is huge, the immediate probing action is playing out on 1/3 of the map or less, and far from the bulk of the objective flags. Is it a kraut feint or merely the prelude to greater hostilities on this side of the map?

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"Two World Wars and One World Cup, do da, do da!"

--British Hooligan, sung to Camptown Races

[Guest Pillar]

Juardis,

On the defensive you want to set up outpost defences which you can use to make multiple ambushes, gradually falling back to your main line each time.

On the other hand, if your outpost squads are successfull you may want to consider a counterattack into the enemy depths.

It's a bit late for this, but if you can create the appearence of a front line BEFORE your real front line, that's always a plus. Hopefully the enemy will use his artillery on your outposts instead of the real line.

[Spacewrangler]

Before you even get your boys near the enemy, have an artillery spotter where he can see the prospective point of contact (where you think you will engage the enemy, based on terrain, instinct, proximity to a victory flag, etc.).

The trick is to have your artillery spotter ALREADY spotting the point of contact as your boys move forward. If nobody's there, you can call off the barrage(remember, it takes two full turns to call in the wrath of God, should be plenty of time to find out if the enemy's around or not...anyway chances are they enemy is there) but the best scenario is you spot the enemy near you. Now, all you have to do is adjust your artillery fire accordingly (this should hopefully only take 30-45 more seconds depending on how much you have to adjust your fire) and God will show up a full turn or two EARLIER than if you only started targetting when you first made contact.

The key is to anticipate with your artillery put the markers down before you need them, worst comes to worse, you call it off and retarget as needed. Shaving off 2 minutes of a barrage makes a world of difference.

[Guest Pillar]

Spacewrangler is right. You should call your artillery in on the first turn.

[Guest Michael emrys]

I agree with the previous two posts. Spacewrangler says it about as plainly as it can be put. Artillery is a many splendored thing, but you have to use it in order to get any use out of it. My personal feeling is that its best use is before your infantry makes contact, to get the enemy into the mood to surrender or run away. If you can kill a few of them into the process, so much the better, but that's not a necessity.

I had a disagreement with Fionn over this one time. He uses his artillery for destruction, so he likes to have his FOs right up front where they can do accurate spotting. But I say it's not worth the risk of losing them and all those beautiful shots they pack.

Michael

[CavScout]

My question would be what was the purpose for the recon in the first place? This will tell you what to do if and when contact is made.

Being on defense, you could use scouts to determine where the main enemy attack was comming from. If you had a mobile reserve or other mobile units they could be shift to protected this area, i.e. reinforce your defense where it mattered.

Again, it really depends on what you wanted you recon units to find.

Cav

[Henri]

Since you are on the defensive, you need to have a plan, and you r recon should fit that plan; if yhour plan is to fight a stationary battle, the purpose of recon is to determine where the attack is coming from. On the other hand, if you are planning a possible counterattack, then recon should identify enemy strengths and weaknesses (be forewarned that a pre-emptive counter-offensive Fionn-style is not for the tactics-challenged )

The Fionn-style recon you have done is more appropriate for an advancing platoon, which is probably not your case. But now that you have done it, use it to the best advantage.

On the defensive your most critical choice is whether to fight a holding action or a flexible defence; the latter is difficult and can be suicidal if the terrain behind you is not suitable for defence (open terrain for instance). in a flexible defence, you might deploy your infantry in two parallel lines, and after one line absorbs the first contact, it withdraws behind the other one. This wears down the enemy and maintains your strength. However timing can be critical, and because of teh one-minute delay between orders, you can find your units retreating too late and being cut down by the advancing enemy.

At this level of advice, tghe best advice is probably to try to guess the enemy lines of advance, to prepare killing zones with crossfire at probable spots, to use your artillery as suggested, and to be ready for anything.

Henri

[PeterNZer]

I think the others are wrong =)

I've never ever had any sucess backing trooops out of a firefight, they always get their asses shot off and end up breaking.

As i see it you have one split platoon of brits forward that has met one, (or more) gerry platoon. My tactic here is to use the superior numbers of allied soldiers and try and surround the enemy.

Cutting into them from two directions at once, even with split squads is VERY painful and i've done very well with a split platoon of allies vs' full platoon of axis.

If I were you I'd let them hold there and do two things

1) the half squads which aren't being shot at move to the enemy platoons flanks or rear and then shoot up the squads.

2) use the info you've gained "ah, he's got stuff over there". Now make sure you have good LOS to the avenues of advance in that area, call in arty if need be, move any reserves to create an ambush there.

Now, if you're facing SMG squads or anything, you're fooked I wouldn't bother trying to rescue them, they'll just get cut down and die anyway, and won't be of any use to you later on. Rather, let them die fighting and take some jerries with them.

PeterNZ