[Lt. Ketch]

Bob, you know that there is no truth in News and no news in Truth. All I get out of the newspaper is the crossword. But that's our USSR papers. If you're reading the German papers, they always say that they're winning. That is not always the case.

Well, I made it through the rest of the battle this morning. Was almost late to work, but the battle is over. It went all the way to the the 57th turn, but the last seven or so turns were very basic. As I mentioned at the beginning of this DAR, there were a lot of mistakes made from the beginning and while no mistakes in the end would have lost me my final standing, they were foolishly, recklessly, and unnecessarily made. I'll give you the run down and then continue thoughts on this battle and my thoughts for the upcomming one.

Let me discribed the assault on the city and other actions from an overarching view rather than from the south up by force. The assault was preceeded by heavy bombardment from 152mm & 122mm off bard, Katyusha rockets, and 120mm mortar. Even after my troops entered the first row of buildings, the bombardment was shifted forward and along avenues of assault. One para scout was too far forward and was lost due to (dabatably) friendly mail. Despite this bombardment, one AT team and two 7.5cm inf guns survived to inflict 4 caualsties total. The AT team, located in the north, was eliminated by a mountain squad, while the two inf guns in the south, who appartently had run out of ammo because they were shooting at me with rifles, were eliminated by a mountain squad and a mountain scout, after taking supressing fire from the southern section of engineers. Beyond that, the only enemy forces seen in the city was a Pz-IIIj that was lurking by the back of the map. After opening up on the southern Kv-1, I dispatched him with a T-34/57 that was redirected from the south E-W road which ran all of 100 meters south of the city. Beyond that small resistance, our troops encountered nothing and were able to take all objective in the city with no further problems.

Just south of the city were three objective in a small cluster of buildings on a road headed off the map. The Support company was able to secure these with no problems despite three suprises. Supported by the two mobile T-34/57s, the Ba-6 ACs, the Ba-20m AOP AC, and the three TDs, one of which lost a gun at some point. Following bombardment by the four 122mm on boards and one 122mm off board, the Ba-6s moved in and took two of the objectives while a rifle squad took the third. The other units started to set up a defenive position and move into supporting roles. It was a good thing too, because two turns after the flags were turned, three Pz-IIIj turned up trying to crash the party. The first two appeared, but were halted just short of the objective by a rifle squad. I moved the 34/57s in place and destoryed the lead panzer with a side shot. Only anticipating the two, the AC with armorments was positioned for a possible rear shot on the remaining tank, but the next turn was fired on by a slow poke third Pz-IIIj. Surviving the encouter (miracle of miracles. I always lose at least one AC at battle), the AC moved to a secure location and the two remaining Panzers were delt with by the 34/57s easily. The increased accuracy of the 57/L71 is very noticiable and appreciated. No wonder the buy screen lists these beasts under "tank hunter" After the brief suprises, no other incident happened.

Now, a report on the northern troops, ground zero, the charge of the light birgade and a frantic dash. As I wrote in my last post, if I was able to secure the city in time, I would turn my efforts artillary to the northern seven objectives clustered around a small village on the Northern E-W road. The only troop in the area were three MotorcycleX3 transports, two of which had Motorcycle sections loaded. Anybody not fimilar with these troops should know that they make very good scouts and even better cannon fodder. I highly recommened them in a support company for getting somewhere quick and finding out what you're up against. In the end, I had all my artillary firing on the village and surrounding hexes with the expection of two or three katyushas and 82mm mortar in my rifle company. My goal was to eradicate anything in my path. The mistake I made was to run my motorcycles through too early. The bombardment last for about 5 turns. I ran my guys through at about turn 3. You can guess what happened. Despite taking three of the seven objectives, we were unable to hold them, due to the fact that all three transports were hit with, again debatibly, friendly incomming mail. I continued bombardment, hoping to discourage the AI from sending troops in to reclaim them, but they got them anyway. In a valanit and underrly useless attempt, I loaded my four T-34/76s with Mounatain infantry and tried to make it up to the objective in time to take them back. I was about 700 meters short when time ran out. After looking at the map, I realized that had I made int much closer, my tanks would likely have been destroyed by the two platoons of infantry that lay between me and my objectives.

Battle overview - I killed just over 350 German infantry in exchange for about 160 of my own, took out at least 7 guns and 6 tanks, only losing one TD, one Gaz AAMG, one Kv-1 (one man of the crew survived) and one imobalized T-34/57. Final score was me at just over double thier score = Marginal Victory.

Thoughts - I'm not at all displeased with how this battle turned out. I made mistakes, and it possibly cost me a decicieve, but with the mistakes made, I'll take the marginal. As many people point out, it's the battle that don't go perfectly that teach you the most. The mistakes I made in the endgame - moving my units too close to my bombardment zones, were stupid and I should have known it when I did it. I'll be more aware of where and when my guns are delivering the mail. The other mistakes, that of bad depolyment and lack of transport, I need to nip in the bud during the buy and deployment phase. A wise man once said,

Originally Posted by PanzerBob

Lesson, should known better, PLANNING and more PLANNING!!!

Granted, the same man also said,

The more complex execution of the mission the more likely your troops well get executed

So, balance is required, but I at least need to make sure I have a basic plan that meets the objectives of the operation.
Although I was disappointed with the quallity of my infantry, they got the job done. It's a long hard road to get them up to vetern status, let alone elite. I was a lot happier about the way I used my tanks, but I'm still learning a few things.

Thoughts for next battle - I probably won't "upgrade" anything as there isn't too much I've seen that is "better" than what I have currently. I've thought about making the TDs flame tanks for close support, but with the German Armor being what it is, I want to keep them in an anti-tank role. They will probably get upgraded when the SU series comes out. I've got to find somethign to do with the HMG and the mortar that supports my rifle company as it's been four battles, and neither one has seen much action. I'm thinking of a transport or something, we'll see. The only addition/upgrade I'm seriously thinking about is either changing two of my 107mm mortars to 120mm or adding a section of 120mm mortars to be used for counter battery. If I add an off map battery, it will be for couterbattery action as well. Other than that, I think my force is balanced and able to adapt to multiple kinds of situations.

I'll post again when I find out what the next battle is and the situation, but until then this is Ketch signing off for now.