[Hermit]

The snow has made slow going, and as expected we've been forced to stick to the roads for the most part with the heavy tanks. The armored infantry companies have been sent out ahead as scouts to locate the enemy, accompanied by the engineers and divisional Sherman Flails to clear mines.

Matters have been complicated by the lack of medium caliber artillery. Using our own big guns leaves the terrain in ruins, and further slows progress, while the 60mm mortars on the half-tracks that are integral to the armored infantry companies aren't nearly effective enough against the entrenched enemy infantry. We'll have to update our tactics manual to be sure to bring some medium artillery on all assault missions from now on.

Scouting shows that the enemy has a large number of T-34's, and several JS tanks, many in blocking positions on the two roads. The large, rough-sloped hills also make ideal firing posts for the enemy. The only thing that appears helpful in this engagement is the limited visibility. An overcast and light snowfall has limited the range of sight to just less than a kilometer, about 900 meters I'd say.

After about an hour and a half of trudging forward, with some vicious firefights along the way, we're about 3/4 of the way to our objectives. Enemy resistance is increasing, and some of the enemy infantry has started moving forward out of their foxholes to get into better positions to block our progress. About 1/3 of the enemy troops have a new recoilles rifle that is quite dangerous. Although inaccurate past 200 meters, it is still a threat out to 300 meters, and forces our vehicles to standoff and suppress most of the time. It's made it much more difficult to dislodge the enemy infantry from their entrenchments, coupled with the lack of medium artillery support. Several M75 APC's have fallen prey to recoilless teams, which, unlike the infantry squads that also carry them, are almost impossible to spot until its too late. One of the Sherman Flames had both its MG's knocked out, and a Patton was immobilized, but so far our armor has avoided serious problems.

The M103's have been aquitting themselves very well. Although their ponderous bulk has made slow going, they have been able to ram through three enemy blocking positions with brute force. At more than 200 or 300 meters, the 85mm gun on the enemy T-34's is not able to penetrate their thick frontal armor, and their own 120mm gun is devastating to the enemy tanks as far away as they can be seen in this weather. As expected, ammo supply is a problem, but so far an effective tactic is to have them stop just short of exposing themselves, make an estimated range adjustment based upon scouting reports, then slowly roll forward to spot the enemy tank. Sometimes they take 4 or 5 hits from the enemy tanks that become visible, but one by one the 103's take them out. One of the 103's had its MG shot away, but other than that they are almost invulnerable at long range. Afterwards, the ammo vehicles come up and reload them while the engineers move forward to check/clear mines for the next surge.

While this tactic has been successful in minimizing casualties, the timetable has suffered badly, and division is now pressing the Colonel about his ability to seize the objectives as planned...