Die Letzte Hoffnung - a campaign DAR

[Erwin]

What is interesting is that Vulture's plan is almost exactly what mine was as well. This may unfortunately indicate that there is only one obviously sensible plan for this scenario - and that limits replayability.

As a general feedback note to all designers, it would enhance your scenarios if there there appear to be at least two potentially good avenues of attack to take.

[TheVulture]

40 Minutes Left

Orders

Although the squad in the tower are running the risk of being targeted by the ATG, I decide to leave them as they are. I'm hoping the ATG won't be able to do much while the mortars are firing, and I want to keep them pinned down while 3rd platoon move in.

1st platoon can't really get anyone else into the firefight in the buildings without badly overcrowding the house, so I just have to hope they can win the firefight. Given that they have already killed three enemies, the odds would seem to be on their side.

I figure now that I'm going to use 2nd platoon to move in to the next row of houses with 1st platoon being the fire base, and then let 2nd platoon take over the advance while 1st platoon become the reserve. So I start moving the squads of 2nd platoon up to shelter behind the row of houses ready to swing around both ends when I am ready.

Action

That last American is quickly killed. Although there are more soldiers in the building, they seem in a hurry to surrender. The dead and captured come from three separate teams, and appear to be all the enemy units that have routed from other buildings earlier.

That amounts to four fire teams in the immediate vicinity of the factory - rather less than I had been expecting. It is begining to look like the defence of the factory comples and private houses is all the responsibility of a single platoon rather than two.

The tower squad find two bodies on the floor the panthers fired at earlier. Since the body down by the fence (my "first blood" kill) is form the same team, it looks as though that was a fire team that routed out of the tower after the panthers targeted it, and the sound contacts were rather misleading. We're up to 12 kills and 5 men captured in this area now, but have lost 7 men in the process, which is rather more than I am happy about.

The tower squad's firing at the ATG draws some fire from the next row of houses, and the enemy platoon HQ reveals itself.

A three man HQ team isn't a highly effective combat unit, and they are badly outgunned; two of them are killed and the third drops out of sight. The red circle shows where the surrendering units are. The tower squad also continue to rake the ATG with fire. One body can be seen near the gun, probably from the mortars. No sign is seen of the ammo team, but they have had more close hits from the mortar shells (and panther tanks).

The ATG starts to turn ominously towards the tower.

If they get it pointing at the tower, those men could be in trouble. Fortunately the gun is turning very slowly, and no doubt the incoming MG fire and mortar rounds don't help. And just as the turn ends and the mortar rounds are complete, the gun is still a fair way from pointing at the tower, and 3rd platoon are just coming in to view.

It looks like the ATG crew have got it exactly wrong: all they've managed is to turn the gun enough so that they can't shoot at either of the threats they face, and 3rd platoon will be able to chew them up from the side with little trouble. If I hadn't sent the squad into the tower, the ATG would still be facing right at 3rd platoon, and they'd have had more trouble. So my little mistake has turned into a happy advantage.

[BletchleyGeek]

40 Minutes Left

The tower squad find two bodies on the floor the panthers fired at earlier. Since the body down by the fence (my "first blood" kill) is form the same team, it looks as though that was a fire team that routed out of the tower after the panthers targeted it, and the sound contacts were rather misleading. We're up to 12 kills and 5 men captured in this area now, but have lost 7 men in the process, which is rather more than I am happy about.

Hmmm, what do you mean by "sound contacts"? Can you tell apart what contacts shown on the UI are visual and which are sound? If so, how?

Thank you, and excellent writing. I'm enjoying this a lot (and learning a couple things as well).

[Erwin]

I found the 81mm mortars to be ineffective in killing ATG's. Most need to be killed through direct fire. Setting up that situation - ie making sure the gun is pointing away from your tanks is the trick.

[TheVulture]

39 Minutes Left

Orders

To take advtange of the ATG being out of position, 3rd platoon are to rush forwards to positions that are definitely in line of sight. One of the squads will area fire on the target position; the other two squads will just engage whatever they see.

1st platoon will now move en masse in to the row of houses, since there are no longer any active defenders in any of them. The HMG will pack up and move up to join them. While it was also serving the job of flank coverage, the two armoured cars making their way through the trees will be taking over that job, and the evidence so far is that there are no enemy units back there anyway. But no reason to take chances, and the PSW 234 cars are just idling otherwise.

1st platoon HQ is still doing buddy aid, so the platoon is out of command, but I'm not anticipating them getting into a situation where that will matter too much.

2nd platoon will continue to reposition out of the factory ready to take over the advance.

Action

The action against the ATG works flawlessly. The gun continues to turn the wrong way as the tower squad keep it engaged, but long before it is a threat to anything, a whole platoon appears on its flank and opens fire. Three bodies can be seen near the gun: apparently the mortars had some effect. A fourth man pops up and is shot during the turn.

By the end of the turn another man is seen cowering in a foxhole. Given that he has just been shelled by mortars for a few minutes and is outnumbered 36:1, it is hardly surprising that he doesn't fire back but just stays down and hopes to stay alive.

1st platoon move into the row of houses to secure the men who surrendered last turn. Yet another American team is seen in one of the other nearby houses, prompting another short-lived firefight.

One enemy soldier is killed and the rest run for the back door. The morale of these troops isn't the highest. This firing does prompt more response from other US teams scattered around the place. One of the houses up on the hill (behind the ATG area) fires off a rifle grenade which falls short into the open ground.

Another team pops up near the US platoon HQ. All the units seen so far (aside from the two ATGs) are from the same platoon. If it is a 3 squad platoon with all squads split in to 3 teams, then I've seen 7-8 of those teams, and only two are still fighting. So there might be one more team I haven't yet seen, and the meaningful resistance on this half of the map is down to around one squad in strength. There is probably also an ammo team for the first ATG that was destroyed, and whatever crew survived. There may be other weapons teams in the area, although I'd have through they'd have been positioned somewhere useful to the defence and I'd have been fired on by them by now.

The red arrow is the direction of retreat of the nearby squad; the orange circle indicates the icons of the surrendering troops.

[TheVulture]

Hmmm, what do you mean by "sound contacts"? Can you tell apart what contacts shown on the UI are visual and which are sound? If so, how?

Thank you, and excellent writing. I'm enjoying this a lot (and learning a couple things as well).

You can't really tell which are sound contacts. I just tend to refer to all markers that pop up without me seeing the unit in question as sound contacts, even though some of them might just be movement that has been spotted. In game terms there isn't much difference.

It would be nice if there was some way of distinguishing sound / sight contacts from 'last spotted position' icons though.

[BletchleyGeek]

You can't really tell which are sound contacts. I just tend to refer to all markers that pop up without me seeing the unit in question as sound contacts, even though some of them might just be movement that has been spotted. In game terms there isn't much difference.

It would be nice if there was some way of distinguishing sound / sight contacts from 'last spotted position' icons though.

Yes, it would be nice. Just wondered if you had found out how to figure that out. Though, as you say, in game terms, there's not really any difference.

[Moon]

MILSketch - it also does a nice line in adding NATO symbols to maps too : it is specifically for adding military overlays to maps. Very handy bit of software IMHO.

The link is in our Weblinks section:

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_weblinks&catid=166&Itemid=23

[TheVulture]

38 Minutes Left

Orders

One squad from 3rd platoon will make an 'assault' move on the ATG position. Normally I avoid the assault command since its downsides outweigh its benefits, but in this case the downsides don't come in to play, and it maximises my available firepower bearing on the gun crew.

In the factory complex, 1st platoon and the HMG team will finish spreading out in the houses to form a base of fire (the light blue line). Each squad is split into two, with one team on each floor. The platoon HQ is still busy with first aid duties.

2nd platoon are nestled up behind the houses (and in the tower). One of the squads will move right to see if it can catch the routing US units from the houses on the right (red arrow is the fleeing units, dark blue arrow is the 2nd platoon squad movement).

You can also see the end waypoints on the PSW recon cars and the second HMG team moving in to the area. At the top (above the tower) you can just see the assault move of 3rd platoon. Once they have dealt with the ATG, I will be able to attack the private homes from two directions. Things appear to be coming together nicely.

[TheVulture]

Action

The lead team assaulting the ATG charge across the road and into the shell holes left by the mortars. The bazooka carrier for the assaulting squad is one of the first across. He spots the remaining crew man from the gun, and calmly draws a pistol and shoots him.

The gun now shows up as abandoned, all the crew apparently being dead. The bodies of the ammo bearer team are found in their foxholes too.

As 1st platoon spread out, another surrendering American soldier is found in the end house. The also come under fire from the next house along (big red circle in the picture below). Events follow the usual drill, with ineffectual fire from the US team, a withering response from the German platoon, a casualty or two for the Americans, and the rest of the men turning and running.

The unit marker floating behind those houses (on the red line) confuses me for a while, since there are no men anywhere near it. In fact the only troops I can see are surrendering. Eventually I figure out that the surrendering soldier in the nearest house (small red circle) is visible, which means I can see his unit icon. But this is drawn at the centre of his unit. So the fact that I can see that soldier with his hands up near me tells me almost exactly where the rest of his squad that ran away are, even though they are over 100 metres distant.

Eventually the fleeing portion of that unit are spotted anyway by the 1st platoon HQ, which has just about finished doing first aid. I'll probably send the recon cars down that way to hunt the surivors.

1st platoon are also engaged in fighting the other two fire teams in the area. Both of those don't hang around for long before making a run for it.

Red arrows are the movements of those two units retreating. The red circle is where the platoon HQ was, although the one suriving member of that has probably run off as well. The green circle is the ATG that was destroyed by a panther round at the start; the faded contact marker near it is therefore very likely to be the ammo bearer team for that gun. By my reckoning there may be one more team from the platoon not yet seen. Note the pre-battle intelligence contact marker in the bottom right of the picture, which is in the trees just behind the AT gun and 3rd platoon. That would be my best guess for the position of that last team, although obviously it may be some completely different unit with the last team somewhere I haven't seen yet.

At any rate, it looks as though the next row of houses is now cleared of enemy forces, so 2nd platoon will soon begin their push into those.

[TheVulture]

37 Minutes Left

Orders

With the first of the pumas having cleared the trees, it is to set off down the gravel forecourt to hunt down the fleeing soldiers (red circle is their approximate location). The second puma is sent along with it, but is still moving slowly through the trees and might not get there this turn.

2nd platoon get to do the rest of the maneouvering. One squad and the HMG team move into the individual houses to the right of the fire base to graciously accept the surrenders of the troops there, and to get more eyes looking out in the direction of advance. One of the squads will make a run across to the next row of houses.

3rd platoon will advance into the foxholes of the AT gun team. I don't want to advance them any further for now, since the pre-battle intel suggests possible defenders ahead, and advancing towards a stationary team in a forest (at night) is about as succesful as doing so in a factory, and leads to bad things happening. So I want to clear the path ahead of them with 2nd platoon which can sweep in from behind.

Action

The lead puma scoots down the forecourt, and spots the two American troops when they break and run back in the other direction. Their little tip-toe through the tulips is cut short as the puma's MG cuts them both down.

The surrendering troops are duly rounded up, and the point squad of 2nd platoon crosses the open area safely into the next row of houses. Since they mark the edge of the first objective, I think I can now safely say that phase 1 of the plan is complete: the factory complex has been cleared of enemies and my men are now positioning for phase two: the clearing of the trees and private houses in the centre.

The lead squad do spot the last man of the US platoon HQ hiding by a tree. Nearby the knocked out AT gun can be seen. There are probably a variety of straggling US survivors in the area from various units, so I'm going to get the rest of 2nd platoon up to join them quickly.

[TheVulture]

36 Minutes Left

Orders

Since there are potentially quite a lot of American soldiers in the 'private houses' area, I'm going to rush the resh of 2nd platoon up to join the lead squad as quickly as possible. Both he HMG teams are going to move up with them too. I want to make sure I have fire superiority in the area.

The second puma car is going to move up to join the first one to provide a but of flank security on my right side. Everyone else is just sitting around at the moment waiting for the right moment to co-ordinate movements.

Whilst giving the orders, I noticed the unhappy day one of the American teams had:

This was the team that got the action started by firing at the panther tank platoon, and getting a devastating response. Two guys dead in the tower. The rest ran down to the courtyard, where they were the sound contact 1st platoon picked up and then started shooting at. One more guy killed there, and they ran into the nearby buildings. At some point my advance across the courtyard panicked them again and they ran further back, just in time to bump in to a different unit and get one more man killed before the lone survivor surrendered. Their best efforts to run away and hide just kept running them in to more of my units. Hint guys: try retreating away from the line of advance not across it.

[TheVulture]

Action

It turns out that the ATG crew of the destroyed gun decided to stick around in the same spot - just in case the gun magically started working again. They open fire on my point squad and hit one man.

However they seem to have forgotten that they have chosen to stay in the one position they know can be seen and hit by my panthers (which haven't moved). One of them does indeed spot the gun crew. The first shot is slightly too high, going mere inches over the head of one of the crew. The second shot is just a few inches lower.

The first guy is unsurprisingly killed. A panther main gun round in the face will do that more often than not. The second guy is relatively lucky in that the shell must have passed millimetres over his shoulder, although I don't think he will be completely unaffected by the experience. But he lives to fight another day. The crew almost immediately turn and run like hell.

My lead squad also get some unwanted attention from up on the crest of the hill.

A bazooka team fires, and the round falls short. The sound is the same one I heard for the earlier explosions I attributed to rifle grenades, so they may well have been bazooka shots too. I suspect I've been rather lucky that all of them have missed so far. This bazooka team misses with another shot during the turn. A bazooka hit on a squad in a building can cause a lot of casualties, so I'm starting to get nervous now.

As the ATG crew start to run, one of the infantry squads that routed out of that row of houses is seen joining them in running for the cover of the woods. The ammo team for the gun hangs around though and engages in a firefight with my lead squad, although by this point the rest of 2nd platoon are starting to arrive and things are about to get a lot worse for the defenders.

In another bit of unplanned serendipity, my puma armoured car just happens to have line of sight to where the ammo team is and somehow spots them through the trees. The 50mm gun fires.

This breaks the nerve of the rest of the ammo team, and they join the general flight for the trees. One more man drops from the crowd of fleeing units. The bazooka guy up on the hill is also hit at the end of the turn, which means that just about all effective opposition in this area is now broken. I think I got rather lucky on the whole with a few bazooka misses, and a few unplanned pieces of effective support fire from my vehicles. I'm not looking forward to hunting down the fleeing troops in the trees though. My best options are either to leave them and try and force auto-surrender, or send the armoured cars in to hunt them down (because the cars aren't going to take serious damage from wild bursts of small arms fire - unlike my infantry - and because I can heartlessly afford to lose the armoured cars...)

[Erwin]

Be good if you could tell us your (cumulative) casualties at each time stage.

[TheVulture]

Be good if you could tell us your (cumulative) casualties at each time stage.

Going from memory, at this point 1st platoon has lost 3 men (one from the HQ, two others from a single squad), 2nd platoon has lost 5 (the 4 in the factory and the one a turn ago), and of course the panther.

So, 8 men, one panther tank. Which isn't awful, but is high enough to worry me.

[TheVulture]

35 Minutes Left

Orders

1st platoon is going to swing around to guard the right flank alongside the recon vehicles, and also to secure the surrender of the any American troops still in the process of giving themselves up in the area. I vaguely anticipate sending them around the right flank in the future (where the arrows indicate), but haven't really decided yet. But I am going to put them in position to be ready to do that should it be necesary.

2nd platoon will continue to set up in the row of houses. Since the defence has fallen apart fairly quickly, I am going to push the left most squad forwards into one of the private houses. Since I am somewhat worried about the possibility of a US team lurking in the edge of the trees on the left, the squad will loop around through a slightly safe route.

I also decide to bring the rest of the recon cars out of hiding. They can be quite useful in semi-secure areas now to clean up staggling US soldiers.

Action

In one sense the turn is fairly uneventful. Plenty happens, but nothing unexpected. 2nd platoon shoot at anything that moves, causing a few casualties. All the US units in the area are now either running for the trees or eliminated. The defence has collapsed remarkably quickly in this area.

[TheVulture]

34 Minutes Left

Orders

The only orders given this turn are to push another squad from 2nd platoon a bit further forwards. Although I think this area is essentially secure, there is no point risking things by rushing everyone up in one go. Overwatch is still important.

Action

A relatively quiet turn once again. No-one shoots in our direction. My uncommitted troops move around a bit. Occasional enemy movement is seen and dealt with in a harsh manner.

[TheVulture]

33 Minutes Left

Orders

Since the lead units of 2nd platoon have reached their positions safely, the rest of the platoon will join them. I want to get a squad into the top house, since I remain convinced from pre-battle intelligence that there is an enemy unit lurking somewhere near the edge of the trees. The advance route uses the house as cover from that direction; going straight up to the dirt track to the house looks rather risky to me.

There is a bit of moving around 1st platoon and the two puma cars there as they fan out to make sure the flank is secure. The other three PSW cars are out of the trees now and I move them up to join 2nd platoon, with the idea of using them as a fire base to assault the dairy. The second FO who has been sitting around for the whole battle is sent back to his jeep to keep him more mobile - he might be needed urgently at the business end of the battle soon.

Action

My paranoia is justified. As a squad move in to the top house, they do indeed spot a unit just where intel said it would be. It turns out to be an ATG platoon HQ.

I'm pretty sure that advancing 3rd platoon through the trees towards these guys would have cost me several men. Instead two of the enemy are killed quickly, and the third hits the dirt. A third ATG is seen in the bocage. This is the ideal way to approach an ATG dug in to bocage: from the rear where it has no cover and can't shoot at you.

Paranoia would have been a useful quality elsewhere on the battlefield. Pre-battle intelligence did also mention anti-tank mines. When I saw roadblocks around the front ATG position I figured that they'd be backed up by mines off the side of the road to funnel vehicles into the ATG kill zone, so I stupidly discounted the idea of mines elsewhere.

The puma sets off two mines and is completely destroyed, with the loss of all crew. That's why you send recon through an area first, before you send the tanks in. In a near disaster, the second recon vehicle in the convoy is only saved by having to stop and go around the destroyed puma, and so doesn't quite make it into the minefield before the turn ends.

Once more, occasional movement is seen from broken units, which are totally outgunned and just trying to get away. The whole defending platoon we have encountered is now down to three or four men running for their lives. The only combat effective unit in the area now is the recently spotted ATG and its implied ammo team.

[Erwin]

For what it's worth I had a Panther drive over those mines. But, while it had damage to the tracks it survived and it was able to reverse out and still be useful elsewhere.

So, once again it shows that in a battle situation recon vehicles are not tough enuff to survive and should be left back, or only give covering fire from safe positions at best.

[TheVulture]

32 Minutes Left

Orders

I want to get some men up to the wall at the crest of the ridge to engage the AT gun to make sure it is outgunned and finished off quickly. That will also free up 3rd platoon to start to advance. Since I anticipate some response from the dairy area, I send the whole of 2nd platoon with both HMG teams up to the wall. The two PSW 234/1 cars are also given an indirect route to drive up to the walls avoiding the mines.

Since the woods where the enemy have been fleeing to are accessible to vehicles, I move my two Puma cars forward to the edge of the woods, with the intention of sending them in soon, or maybe just moving them up to fire on the dairy and have 1st platoon screen them.

Action

Things start off well: my men reach the wall and a small scale turkey shoot starts. Several stragglers and member of the AT squad are killed, and the AT platoon HQ surrenders.

After that things start to go downhill. The response from the dairy is somewhat more effective than I had hoped for.

Most of a platoon is firing in my direction, with better cover. And those American platoons are larger than my panzergrenadier ones. I lose three men in the course of the turn, and desperately need to get some heavier firepower in to the fight. I do have my HMGs deployed which will help, but overkill is usually the best course of action.

Unfortunately my armoured cars are all being perverse. The pumas, ordered to go forwards a few metres, decide they can't fit through the gap and take a detour around the edge of a hedge.

It's not a fatal problem (for them) but will slow them down by a minute or two before they can help in the fight. The two PSW 234/1 cars already are going the long way around to avoid the mines. Having driven repeatedly through trees, undergrowth and soft ground and made it to gravel and tarmac roads, one of them naturally bogs on the five square inches of muddy ground left to traverse as it turns a corner.

Is this karmic payback for suggesting that these recon vehicles were more expendable? Contrary little buggers. I don't yet know if the car will become immobilised, but it will at the least mean that the support that 2nd platoon needs is delayed on all sides.

[TheVulture]

31 Minutes Left

Orders

Getting everyone possible involved in the firefight as soon as possible is the most important thing right now. I take a few small risks to do so. 3rd platoon will charge to the bocage to get into the battle. The ATG is just the other side of the hedge from where they are running to, which could prove a bad idea, but I am counting on the two squads within 40 metres firing at their rear to keep the crew busy.

On the other flank, I sort out the orders of the PSW 234 cars to make more sense of their new paths, and start to push 1st platoon up on the right side.

In the centre the other cars will hopefully get into position, or close to, and 2nd platoon will do their best to out-shoot the enemy. There aren't really any orders I can give to make that happen: everyone already has plenty of targets to shoot at.

Action

On the left flank, 3rd platoon's charge into action works as planned. The ATG surrenders before my men reach the hedge, and they can concentrate on firing at the dairy defenders.

In the centre, my PSW gets unbogged just as the other car tries to get around it, and the ensuing confusion slows both cars down somewhat. But they get sorted out eventually. 2nd platoon do much better this turn; they take no casualties, and seem to be putting out more firepower than the enemy. Return fire from the dairy slackens as we gain superiority, and then one by one the enemy teams start to abandon their positions and retreat into the depths of the building. This inevitably snowballs as the remaining defenders are outgunned by an ever increasing amount and break for cover.

After the panic of last turn, things have swung back my way. While very few, if any, of the men in the dairy were hit, I have at least driven them from their forward positions which gives me control over the approach to the dairy, and can take the time to set my attack up rather than having to react to what is going on. For a control-freak commander, this is good.

[TheVulture]

30 Minutes Left

Orders

As the battle enters phase 3 - the assault on the dairy - here is the current situation map

In the centre is my fire base, consisting of 2nd platoon, 2 PSW 234/1s and the two HMGs of the support platoon. They will hold still for now and provide overwatch.

On the left flank, 3rd platoon will advance behind the bocage and in to the dairy from the west side. This is probably the most dangerous task, since with the defenders driven out of their forward positions they will probably end up in various housing sections with unpredictable locations and avenues of fire. I will try to be as cautious as possible with this group.

On the right flank, 1st platoon and the two remaining pumas will advance through the trees to get rid of the ATG crew and other unit stragglers than ran off to hide in there. Once the woods are clear, 1st platoon will attempt to enter the dairy through the front door. I may bring on the engineers to create an alternative doorway. The pumas will lurk near the woods as extra fire support.

I've seen 7 US teams in the building so far, so the defence is almost certainly a single platoon.

The attack plan isn't the most radical or creative, but then why try to do something unusual when the obvious should work adequately. My only real challenge is minimising casualties, but I have half an hour to be cautious and shoot the crap out of everything.

The more specific orders for this turn are unexciting: sit around to make sure that there are no more enemy shooting at us, and 1st platoon move to the edge of the woods.

Action

Action? Barely any. A few desoltory shots from my units at the last known locations of some enemies, but I suspect my men and just going through the motions and their heart isn't really in it. A few enemy units complete their surrenders (the paperwork takes ages...) and are whisked off the map.

[TheVulture]

29 Minutes Left

Orders

The 3rd platoon advance up the left begins; one squad and the HQ head down to the end of the hedge (I'm putting the HQ with the lead unit rather than the overwatching portion of the platoon just to make sure they stay in good C&C).

On the right 1st platoon fan out and advance through the woods, trailing the scout car which is following a 'hunt' command ahead of them. I'm really hoping that none of the lurking Americans has any decent anti-tank weapons.

Action

One American team which had been hiding behind the bocage and flushed out by the HMGs has spent a turn or two running around in circles in the ploughed field west of the dairy. As 3rd platoon approach the one survivor of this unit throws up his hands and surrenders. All that I can say about that is at least it saves me a bit of ammo. My men make it to the end of the bocage without incident. The rest of the platoon will follow shortly before I try to move in to any buildings

On the right, the recon car rumbles between the trees. A sound contact is picked up by the accompanying infantry, which appears to be just ahead of the car. It jumps around a fair bit, but appears to be moving to stay ahead of the car. At a guess, this is the ATG crew who have spotted the vehicle and are trying to get away. But they are rapidly running out of places to hide.

[TheVulture]

28 Minutes Left

Orders

On the left, the rest of 3rd platoon will move down to the end of the hedge. Getting in to the buildings is going to be the high risk portion of this stage, so I want as many people ready to return fire around as possible.

On the right, the scout car continues to lead 1st platoon through the trees. The scout car is effectively acting as a beater here: it is unlikely to spot much itself, but should provoke movement from the hiding units which my infantry can then deal with.

Action

None. Not a sausage. Units slowly amble around and fail to make contact with anything. The only American in sight is still the one man kneeling in a field. He has been there for about three minutes now. No-one has come close enough to trigger a full surrender. He is probably in full view of most of his platoon who are still prepared to resist inside the dairy. I wonder that they haven't shot him themselves to be honest.

[Erwin]

Casualties so far?