Turns 1-4
Map for context, showing initial movements of enemy and current positions.
MAP!
Well, that's got to have checked his enthusiasm somewhat. Right off the bat we seemed to have a similar idea about covering that road with a long gun, and I was just lucky to get there first... Hmmm that could have gone badly for me, but I suspect Gnarly was simply more cautious of the open ground than I and frankly there was no other way to do it... I suspect Gnarly had his panther on 'Hunt' (I moved at 'Fast') which meant by the time he was cresting my vehicles had come to a full stop... Lucked out on that mate, sorry. The panther wasn't the only thing to go down though - shortly after the Panther bought it Santos and his crew spotted a couple of Kraut infantry (panzergrenadiers?) running along the henge on the eastern side of the road and sent some HE their way, knocking down at least two.... I've put two more at the same spot and some MG fire as well, so hopefully that's convinced him not to pursue any more advances down this road... Then there's the matter of the phantom smoke... Did the first round drop low and light off another vehicle behind the hill? I have no clue... the smoke's died away now and I'm sort of left wondering if it was a graphical error from the burning panther or it really was a second hit... Time will tell. I've ordered a mortar strike from the 81's along the treeline opposite my assault platoon just in case anything comes that way.
Another shot of the burning tank!
Santos' companion tank, the other 76 shermie commanded by Tully, couldn't see much of anything from his spot however, so he's been moved back to a spot hull-down on the edge of my center forest, where hopefully he'll pick up on the StuG's that come along.
Tully's new View
In the middle of town, my advance has gone unhindered. Several half tracks and one of the 75 mm shermies got a bead momentarily on a StuG moving from the east with a squad mounted up, but sadly not long enough to get a round off. That could have really ruined Gnarly's day! Two of the Shermans have taken up overwatch at the elevated copses near the town, while a third has moved in with the troops to support them directly.
More Shermans, hiding like little girls.. note the smoke!
My support platoon moved up likewise unhindered, and spotted a couple of half tracks loaded with infantry moving in down the other end of the crossroads. Sadly the .50 wasn't set up in time to give them a real surprise, but the 60mm mortar got set up in time to put a whole minute of sustained direct fire down on where I hope they alighted... Accurate and sustained mortar fire on a disembark point should shake him up a little more, and hopefully did a bit of damage as well... the .50, once set up, spotted a StuG hiding in the forest and (annoyingly) snapped a few bursts off on the end of turn 4, so it's time for him to relocate somewhere else. This whole time Gnarly's been laying a heavy smoke screen throughout the town, so other than a brief exchange of MG fire from our respective half tracks, there's been no direct contact between our assault sections.
Mortar fire falls on the enemy (I hope)
Initial Appraisal
Well, I think I was much closer to the mark than I was last time! It seems Gnarly's force comprises of some decently heavy armour supported by mechanised infantry, so I'm expecting a force balance roughly similar to mine... What I've seen so far:
-1 Panther - Knocked Out
-2(?) StuGs - the question mark because it is possible that it's the same one twice. One was observed moving between the northern tree line and the forrest (from the panther's point of demise) while another has appeared above it's movement path in the forrest itself... it is possible that it backed in there, but I doubt it managed that unseen.
-2 halftracks loaded with infantry. Standard stuff
-1 squad mounted on the StuG, plus a Panzerschreck team
-1 squad moving on foot down the highway. Got blowed up, at least partially.
Unknown contacts:
-Some kind of heavy armour in the western edge of his main forrest. Probably another StuG? That's where I'd hide my stugs.
-More light track contacts from the south-eastern corner - half tracks moving infantry - potentially a divert from a plan on the highway?
-Some infantry moving in the south-west. I suspect a screening or recon force.
So at this point my guesstimate as to his composition and plan; an assault group of infantry, probably reinforced platoon or depleted company strength (1.5-2 platoons) supported by armour and assault guns - I'm guessing at
least a pair each of the StuGs and Panthers, though possibly as many as 4 of either. If it's less, there may be as much as a company of infantry with or without transport.
The plan? I suspect support by fire from the woods while infantry pincer both ends of the town. The game opened with him laying a heavy smokscreen in the town itself so I'm thinking he wants to get in, occupy as many buildings as possible, and force an urban fight while plinking my tanks before they can help out....
New Plans?
I'm going to shift my 2nd platoon into the village itself ASAP and try and get cover from any assault... it looks like Gnarly wants to contest the objective by hiding in buildings and I don't have the indirect firepower to level his side of things, so a street fight it's going to have to be. I can take advantage of
his smoke screen to get my armour in cover there too, where the shermies 75 can do nasty work to anything inside a damaged building. I have to watch out though - I'm used to this tactic in italy in '43, where ze germanz don't have much in the way of man portable anti-tank weaponry... here they do, with fausts that can reach up to 100 meters in some cases... screening will be tricky and I'm starting to wish I had brought more breech teams! To this end I'm also pulling back elements of 3rd platoon as well, moving them up[ the road under the cover of the Jackson's 90mm gun. Street fights are bloody and one platoon won't cover it in there!
The flanks will be left largely to the mortars and machine gun teams to cover, but if the pressure comes on too hard they've got good lines of retreat towards the town... there's no harm in shrinking my flanks when there's nothing there to really defend, and lots of open ground for him to cover to attack it.
All that said I'm already feeling the distinct lack of infantry here... unless a Tiger 2 shows up, I think I'll regret taking the Jackson over a few more boots on the ground, but we'll see in time...