Thread: AAR Balkans N. Africa Leg
View Single Post
  #73  
Old March 17th, 2009, 05:25 PM
Imp's Avatar

Imp Imp is offline
General
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Uk
Posts: 3,308
Thanks: 98
Thanked 602 Times in 476 Posts
Imp is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Balkans N. Africa Leg

T11
FF> ATG kills its only target then all vehicles move killing 4 tanks & causing light damage to another, MMGs then hose down both remaining tanks
NF> Units are still getting in position to recieve forces from the NW, they will also have to deal with anything that flanks from the East.
Woods force has no problems Mk4 routes 2 & squads get the other 2, nobody visible in the clearing so move forward slightly.
At the south edge of the woods 2 Pioneers sniper, scout & a supporting MK3 route 2 squads here & move forward to come round the corner of the woods & attack units piling into it, they spot 4 T-26s in the distance. This just leaves MMGs & a couple of MK3s that have just moved over to deal with what comes through the wreck line but think its mainly conscripts so they should be able to hold. Destroyed the tank here to.
SF> The major consideration is the expected air attack a Mk3 takes out the T-28 in the middle but I cannot attack other armour without moving.
Squad on flank moves into woods adj to buttoned T-28 he is unseen but a pinned squad can see him. Another squad tries to get into position against the squad but loses a man to the other T-28 here which there is no way to get position on. Squad decides to assault the first, its a kill & blocks LOS to the squad so unit under fire by T-28 places smoke to let others get in position. All infantry move forward a couple reaching the wreck line & some going towards the mentioned T-28, few shots fired but not many targets concentrating more on leaving the area. Mk3 moves & takes out T-28 but only a couple of others move, going to risk weathering any arty & see if we can get a plane several HTs are mixed in with tanks so hope it targets those & placed some smoke to make trucks easier targets. Yes I know its gamey having suicidal truck drivers but only use this way against air.
AIT> No arty was forthcoming & mine was a bit wayward. The air came in though to very heavy fire, the first made it through taking out a truck but the second was hit 3 times errupting into a ball of flame before it could carry out its run.
FF> Damaged tank did nothing & the other was taken out in a 3 vs 1 battle, sporadic fire at conscripts & regulars moving onto the hill.
NF> East attack was lighter this time with only 5 participants who were repulsed for the loss of a man only one not running.
3 BTs moved adj to the clearing further to the North than I had hoped for, ATG damages one & hit by some arty.
SF> Attack was not great & easily repulsed need some caution when move forward catching runners would be nice & 3 tanks are bolting for friendly lines but it might be prudent to let them go.

T12
FF> 231 kills damaged tank then it & a MK3 move off the hill to see if more units are there as seem to be coming from here, scout is on his way.
have 4 squads on the hill so MMG is given all clear engages routing 2 before units move out sending another packing.
NF> ATG kills only BT it can see others are only visible to a squad, the best option here would be for the whole force to move East but trying means I run into stiff opposition so squads here actually move NW towards expected troops with the aim of expanding our area & limiting arty effects. Scout finds a squad trying to flank & manages to surprise him so we at least have a little space to operate in now, M3 damages one of the BTs.
Next scout & 2 Mk3s coming round the wood have a look.
The units in the clearing have in close proximity 4 squads to NE & 8 or so directly East, further back are 3 Maxims & a few squads most of these are pinned. Slightly South where scout & pioneers are coming from are 7 runners
Further South heading towards wreck line several more ready squads are seen, scout drops smoke to block there line of fire after sniper & Mk3s have a go.
Route 2 maxims & a couple of squads then Pioneers & squads add there fire, its not enough really heavily outnumbered a HT & its passenger come to help.
In the clearing Mk4 routes only target & squad gets one to the NE running & takes up position to recieve the others.
The other 2 squads here go to move East into area thats been fired at but first is down 2 men & routed as turns out hex is more visible than I thought. The remaining squad & Mk4 take up position to recieve visitors as another 4 or 5 squads have come into view. This does not look good where we have been repulsing the attacks there are like 4 squads a hex we are going to run out of shots if most get past pinn status.
MMGs to South move forward & AAMG grabs a ride to try & give some cover over woods.
SF> On the flank getting a bead on the T-28 is not easy but troops find a place 150m away. Several squads move taking on Soviet infantry most is running so only 1 casualty. Take another as attack squad in tanks hex but we have moved forward about 100m, Mk2 moves to the attack hex & kills with first shot.
In the centre we stretch nearly to the central flags but are mainly concentrated just north of South flags.
Furthest North squad is realy a pair of eyes for 2 M3s here & routes a squad before moving up, squads at wreck line enter for a look & this prompts me to throw caution to the wind.
Squads & tanks head into the huge pile of wrecks with little problem, if squad recovers which is doubtfull with amount of wrecks in the area one tank is at risk.
What we can see is about 30 infantry units 4 tanks all running, at 600m or so there are 2 GazAA. the 4 tanks taht make it far enough to see kill 3 of the tanks & fire at Gazs but have no effect. AA sets off in pursuit while all transport here is moving to pick up units, seems a lot of it I suppose because its being mainly sitting things out rather than in use.
AIT> wanted to drop a bit of smoke in centre to cover advanvce against ATG but realise have nothing like enough arty to go round so concentrate on North.
Arty came down mostly at SF old location so no problems otherwise not much to report
FF + SF> some fire for little effect & running tank has vanished from view.
NF> turns out Mk3 could support the clearing group so they repulsed attacks again, think without loss. Nothing else appeared from NW, Mk3 fired at tank causing no damage but it did not return fire probably as was already buttoned, the damaged tank did nothing. T-26s here are still to distant to be worth engaging but need thinking about.

T13
FF> Scout moves out & finds a company coming our way just north of the hill. Also on the hill in the woods to the East can see a platoon of conscripts.
while moving to engage find a sniper & 223Fu kills him before heading for low ground. Of the 6 squads on the hill we route 5 of them.
NF> Mk3 Takes out both BTs they missed even at 100m, I have come to the conclusion not as much escaped the FF as I thought so send my squads into the woods finding nothing. Pushing forward in the centre is to dangerous as trees block view so decide to outflank AIs flankers & approach from both sides.
Leave 2 squads holding the clearing while others head North, scouts lose a man but route 2 squads & think we now outflank them in the woods.
In the open takes 2 Mk3s to route the maxim, sniper HT & Mk4 from clearing support sqauds as they recieve fire but move forward agresivly losing a couple of men in the process. Scout at South end has to place more smoke to cover fire from squads further South & a squad has a little look here as well, bringing up MMGs.
The situation is as follows
In woods I have 4 squads 3 tanks & a scout + 2 squads enroute vs about 20 squads.
Coming round from the South 2 each of Scout, Pioneer, Squad, Mk3 + sniper & HT facing about 12 squads 3 maxims & have to keep HT safe from T-26s that are inbound.
I also have 2 MMGs & Mk3s enroute but have discovered a mixed bag of 15 or more regulars & conscripts approaching from slightly South hence the reason I had to smoke them out of the current fight. A squad & M3 from the centre have moved to engage.
So including units 6 units enroute I have 26 vs 50, making a forcefull move to gain 100m was not that easy & pulling off encirclement is questionable.
SF> The situation here is not a lot better the one plus being nearly everyone is running but now they are getting distance from the carnage recovery is becoming more likely. This is when more arty would be handy to keep them running but that would just be boring.
On the flank chasing through the woods we have a bit over half a dozen units chasing more than twice that.
In the middle every move reveals more men & things like MMG are still trying to catch up & I need everything I can muster. So far 8 tanks & same number of infantry have made it through the mess along with a HT & ATG. concentrated on killing both Gazs & found & hurt that tank again along with killing a couple of squads. So all we seem to be facing is 50 or so infantry & thats the ones I have seen, sharing the love to keep this lot running is not going to be that easy even when the MMGs turn up. Its a good thing his armour is nearly gone all I have to do now is clean up 8 or 9 companies of infantry & I have just realised some of them will be leaving the reach of half my arty.
I want a battle against KVs & T-34s but if the next is an advance or assault I am going to load a city map, the sheer numbers should cause me problems & have not had one yet.
AIT> I will give you the highlights as it looks like a mad 10 minutes is on the cards.
More arty fell the new stuff is hitting my mortars, ones routed & 2 trucks are gone.
We won the exchange but not by much especialy in the North though losses on either side were not that high considering the amount of fire.
More units turned up virtualy everywhere exept the FF, NF has started engaging T-26s but missed.
The major fun was in the North as it turns out my outflank failed as conscripts are coming through the woods, engaging them point blank is not good some have Molotovs.
2 maybe 3 more tanks appeared from the NW one of my squads running but another getting a kill.
The MMGs & 2 Mk3s moving in support nearly got overwhelmed, have a FOO here to & he was using his SMG to hold them back.
Even so everyone ran out of shots & a conscript killed men in nearby scouts, close call anymore of them & I would have had no answer.
I need to figure out a way to encircle & kill off some pretty quick or this is going to become costly.
Reply With Quote