AAR: Balkans N. Africa Leg

[Imp]

The second leg of the Them Germans Were Good Campaign

Abreviations used
Top = North so NSEW etc
L= Level so L4 hill
C> = Casulties listed as AIs then mine i.e.
C> 4 for 2 always refers to men unless specificly state otherwise.
F> = Formation will be named then abreviated i.e. Mainforce MF>
AIT> What happened in AIs turn.

Sqd = Squad if feeling lazy
Ram = Raempanzer mine clear tank
AC = Armoured Car
JP = JPz1

The Force for Greece
Total inc crews 8 shy of 900 men

The only change to the core is 2 trucks got upgraded to halftracks to help with the rougher terrain. This means we have outrun any support & will be going in on our own on this one.
We have been told some new tanks are available but they are being shipped to N.Africa where we will refit with them.

For all engagements Co A+B have 2 pioneers in place of squads & each Co gets 2 MMg & 2 scouts

Infantry
3 Comp > 40xSquads 6xMMG 6xScouts 2xSnipers
18xTrucks 10xHalftrack 3xMotorbike (so about 2/3rds mobile)

Armour
2x222 4x321(8rad)
14xMkIIIe 2xRaempanzer 6xJPz 1

Arty
4 Each of 8cmMTR 10cmNbwMTR 10cmK18(=1 offboard) 15cmInf How 12 Trucks
2 Foos 223Fu

Other
4xFlak36 mobAA
3x 4.7Pak ATG 3XSdkfz7

Support
None

The Situation
Assault vs Greece 31 turns visibility sunny 59 hexes, Shotgun objectives

The Map has a road running horizontaly 150m in from N & S edges & is 130 hexes wide with level 4 hills over a lot of it rissing to level 7 in the West.
Its about 50% woods 50% open the woods being in 3 major groups, 2 run down the middle E>W & the third is in lower left of map running like so \
These woods are the largest & cover a good portion of the major heights. Note they are not dense woods but rather loads of clumps of trees with 50m gaps in between so LOS could be fun
The North part of the heights is open with decent amounts of rough but at far North more trees & a large village, the road has veered in to about 500m by here
Objectives are spread out from the village mainly along the lower slopes & foothills of the highground meaning a stealthy approach is not possible as highly visible. The most Southern 4-5 are in the trees 2 being on the Southern slope of the hill

Ready for the off
Top force TF> A Co with Ram 2x Mk111 & 3x AC will move down the north road in transport to small wood overlooked by L4 hill smoke dropping on
Bottom Force BF> C Co minus 1 platoon with 4x trucks & 5x MkIII 3x JP are to set off down the South road hopefully to L4 hill
Mid Force MF> The Rest Move out to pass either side of central woods with the Mortars in tow & will decide a course of action dependant on what they find

[Imp]

Forgot map pics, hard to see but hills woods to East are quite varied in height.
North just shows woods will move for at start & hill behind
South shows far side of hill will move for

Will save map to slot 998 if remember in future & post it instead

[Imp]

Cripes that was close a bit of ducking went on there 6 batts of 75mm carried out pre bombardment. Everyone is intact I think But TF> was right on the edge & 4 sqds leapt out of there trucks & one truck is retreating has 1 damage so maybe stuck. CF> Ammo trucks were slightly back from just in case & one is not to happy. Part of this force will be detoring straigt into woods as another lot landed just in front of them. The other 3 are not dangerous & my smoke managed to drop nicely.
I was hoping to place my arty on some rough hexes but nearly all have LOS to Greek area so no, 80mmMTRs are loaded & looking for a nice spot.
BF> Scout on a motorbike (bike from now on) made it to the hill crest line Ok trucks will reach next go
MF> 2 AC are already in plain view of the heights
TF> Truck reached woods & squad jumped out to sniper fire so a man down pops smoke, smoke dropped nicely on hill but missed straight road through woods hes 450m away. Another 250m away a line of 10 wire crosses the road on about row 58. similary placed are 2 more groups at about same row one across centre through woods & open & the other covering the other road.
Arty missed except for truck, still alive but did not run so think his part is over one fired smoke for some reason & my 10cm CB fired, bonus they have the skill to do it but only caused 1 damage so he won't be gone long.
With high vis if AIs having a good day his arty could cause a few problems as rushing around to dodge it while staying hidden is not going to be easy & the trucks die pretty easy.

[Imp]

Nothing happened in turn 2 all arty stopped.
Next go TF> lost a man to scouts working its way through the woods then took him down with help & a couple of units are in position to check for mines on hill just in from the wire.
BF> Moved onto hill in force & another sniper took a shot from the NW somewhere making me think no one is guarding the wire as no fire was recieved from
MF> Some smoke coming down here but its a bit of a farce AC are about 200m from wire checking for LOS so trucks can move up & unload safely, yeah right.
because of the way hills slope even in woods there is nowhere safe anything like near the wire.
AIT its all quite sniper refused to fire & lost contact with my offboard, dropped some on first sniper area
Turn4
So Ram moves up to find first sniper but cant see him till in same hex it fires & manages to hit its self !!! Combination of that & a grenade means MKIII has to take over & kills. Lose a man discovering squad to North of road then 222 finds another surviving attack & spots a 3rd. Also find a scout & cav scout just South of road. Getting in position is hard in these woods but manage to take out a squad, I can only get a bead on one other without moving adjacent but no more casulties. These Greek are not well equiped, 3 rifles & a grenade but point blank thats still going to hurt.
BF> have less luck finding the other sniper but have located 2 scouts 1 behind wire other near the sniper, there is another there to somewhere C> 1 for 2
MF> in the centre decided to trade a few loses for time but even driving up to restricted view unloads had problems. More by luck than anything ended up C> 4 for 3. There are 2 squads in woods just in front of wire ( route through not sensible) & 2 squad & 2 scouts in the Northern middle woods. Some of these squads are better equiped, have LMGs. Tanks are not realy in position to give support as did not want them finding mines ATGs.
A small group running down South side of middle woods has not run into trouble yet. About now a desire for a bit more arty hits me as not enough to make a full front push easy, certainly need some in the woods. My batts still gone walkies but it should land on a scout.
AIT> Luck was with me I think C> 3 for none 2 to the sniper & found another squad arty was supposed to land where I think he is but missed, no AI arty but can see a mine on North road.
Greeks should be happy with performance so far.

[curious123]

nice AAR's i' i like your style.
what rout will you choose after N.Africa?

[Imp]

Curious cheers & have no idea never played it before but thinking quick stop N.Africa Eastern Front Italy D Day then back to Eastern at the end to save Berlin see what it offers me

Firstly reported wrong AIT last go casulies were none for 3, 2 to his sniper, so pretty much trading blows so far judges decision giving round 1 to the Greeks time to see if we can redeem ourselves.

TF> Arty pinned some manage to force sqds North of road out of foxholes. Move up following using them as mine detectors & find another sniper.
South of road 222 continues its charmed life & finds scout, sqd moves to engage & finds 2 cav scouts behind wire & another squad is found in the woods. Manage to dig out 2 scouts killing one then spend a full 10 mins trying to figure out how to deal with the rest. Guys in wood are on a reverse slope have possible mines & units behind wire have nice covering fields of fire. Trying to move on units this side of wire is just finding more on the other side another Cav sct, not searched well but some units risk the hill as will need to at least calm these guys down to make further progress. Pop a bit of smoke C> about 7 for 2

BF> 1 scout is routed by arty MKIII is on form & kills other then 2 tanks move to 100m of suspected sniper location, squad moves draws his fire tanks fire then MMG tank moves adjacent & relieves his missery. Find another scout & tank forces him out of hole. This was a bit easier only 2 scouts left both routed & hurting so risk loading into few trucks & heading for the woods. Ignoring road & wire area as leads to open hill.

MF> Units running down South of middle woods are still having a quite day & will include with BF as in their area, its their missing platoon & 3 tanks anyway.
Smoke dropped just behind the wire so this went easy dug out now 3 sqds in front of it with only 1 man surviving so gained 100m. The rest did not go so well though with no gain for the loss of a man, think area is mine free.
AIT> still no arty & went well mainly due to fact my squads have LMGs C>7 for 1

[Imp]

TF> 222 turns snipers foxhole into his grave other vehicles get shots at what they can & all enemy are pinned, squads have a bit of fun then pioneer loses 2 men trying to sneak up but the woods are cleared & Greeks are impaled on barbed wire losing a couple more men. Found a couple of mines & cav LMG plus scout has sighted St Et HMG, they look a bit nasty but sniper thinks hes hard enough pins & MMG team say what the hell & route him, squad moves on LMG turfs out & discovers more man down time to call it a day here.

MF> This goes pretty easy a squad manages to walk upto so risk a HT kill everyone for a man including another sniper, more vehicles risk a run to a narrow depresion that runs West ending in a few trees about 500m from nearest flags. Going on foot been pushing my luck with mines, one squad is working his way round South end of wire to see if anyone is there, my mortars are near here.

BF> Tank took out remains of scout squad the other & found another cav sct routed, just occured to me managing to hit them better as size 2 hence I always buy dismountable variety. Now its slow going some tanks in a line following in from wire, short on transport here & no HTs. Troops running down woods tried moving to tanks to & truck took ATR hit man down but found a depresion, so on foot it is then.
Sorry to keep saying but top 2 forces are just past wire & 3rd is in line with it & apart from few mines mentioned nothing so far, something could go bang any moment & I would rather it be the grunts this time.

AIT> I seem slightly outgunned on the arty front ten or more mortars 65 & 75 mountain guns opened up, pretty sure these are not the 6 batts that went earlier.
4 mortars are being targeted lost a truck another running & 2 ATGs perished.
Sporadic fire no results then mobelwagon on North hill is damaged as an ATG opens up. I realy must stop putting these guys in harms way

[Imp]

TF> All originals cleared then squad on hill recieced fire from another sniper at 400m so MkIII covered it & damaged mobelwagon with smoke dis.

Now the problem ATG is 25mm & will not be alone, tanks can risk taking damage in support of troops but every other vehicle can die. Not to mention several of those mountain guns could well be on the moutain & go to direct fire mode.
I can proceed a bit further down the road in cover & have a couple of units near to check as mines would make sense & think AI likes to stick on road.
Otherwise I have run out of cover its wide open, even the woods slightly South are 90% visible to units on the heights as intermitent & varying heights. I probably need to work my way to North village & come down map top of mountain.
The MF the depression seems fine & mine free but leads to the point of the V that forms the heights. Fire will come from everywhere so am thinking have to go North clear anything in woods & link with TF so at least I have a solid fire base. Means his arty has solid targets to though. BF again is going to have to come in on flank to at least restrict fire on. Limited arty I have must be careful not to waste smoke & forces might have to go individualy. Need speed for best use of smoke but mines could then catch me out.
Having a think before continue with this turn limited arty & high vis against what I am thinking is a gun & troop defence means might well pay a high price in Greece as I actualy have to get close enough to find them & not get shelled out of existence in the process.

[PanzerBob]

The Balkans can be a mixed bag and Dug In Greeks are no walk in the park. Good Luck Commander!

Bob out

[Imp]

Finding that out Bob the term complacency kills comes to mind as thought this will be a pushover compared to the French. As it turns out the map & amount of snipers etc has sent me another curve ball & the original plan was somewhat flawed.
As doing most while working needed a few minutes uninterupted to look at, wanted a plan that is not slow & boring but does not just sacrifice men.
Will add turn numbers