Turn 7. Things are heating up. The tank symbol in the woods turns out to be an M10, which parks right in the middle of the opening in the hedgerow. At a range of 220 meters, the PaK crew - led by Unteroffizier Prevo - take their time to aim, but the execution is flawless. A hit through the gun shield puts another enemy AFV out of action before it could fire a shot. Surviving crew is seen exiting.
It is a short-lived victory though. U.S. infantry is swarming the place and the gun quickly gets under fire from multiple directions. Prevo's team lose a man and the rest abandon the gun in panic.
I also replay the few last turns to take count of the U.S. infantry in this sector. I wrote last time 1-2 squads advancing, 2 covering - well the truth is more like 1 squad advancing (+ 5 scouts, of which 2 were taken out by the sniper) and 1 squad + 60mm mortar covering. This means that 6-7 infantry squads are hiding in the "Arrow" of woods.
The weak center begins to concern me again. So far the greatest threat I perceived - artillery - has not materialized. Instead, a group of three scouts - probably the weapons HQ support team that captured Soldat Fritz at the AT gun earlier - makes a mad dash across the road to the buildings of the "Cluster". The MG covering the crossroads gets two, but the third reaches relative safety of a building. This reveals a serious hole in my plan: I thought that intense MG fire at short range will prevent U.S. infantry from crossing the road here, but my opponent apparently chose highly motivated troops. They absorb the casualties and keep going.
I must prevent my opponent from gaining significant foothold at the "Cluster". I am therefore repositioning my defenses and deploying more MGs to cover the crossroads. Until they deploy, I will shell the crossroads with medium mortar fire.