AAR: Long Generated Campaign US v Communist

[Hermit]

The enemy was given a sound thrashing in this encounter, but due to the slow progress, we were unable to seize one objective, and one was still being contested when division called off the attack. Apparently bad weather is setting in, and they didn't want to leave us out there exposed, either to the weather, or to enemy counterattacks. We pulled back to our starting positions and are waiting for the go ahead to try again. The Colonel's fitness report might be affected by this one, but so far there hasn't been any talk about replacing him. The brass is always pushing us to attack aggressively, but it's not their butts hanging over the line waiting to get shot! Oh well, at least we know the terrain this time.

[Hermit]

The attack plan this time will have two split drives into the enemy's positions. The southern drive will advance a short distance NW up the dirt road (with the engineers and Sherman flails in front) until a small town is reached. From there, it will split into two branches, one heading west through a tree covered gap between the BIG hill to the south and a smaller one to the north. It will then be in a position to attack the middle objective from the south. The other branch will crest the small hill and advance on enemy positions at the SE portion of the 2nd (or central) BIG hill. Each will comprise a platoon of infantry with 6 tanks in support. Meanwhile, the other three platoons of infantry will crest the southern BIG hill from the east, place smoke, and emplace AT and AA guns on the crest of the hill to fire down onto the valley to the west. Support will be provided by the 1/2 tracks and APC's, as well as the SPAA and infantry tanks. This attack group will then use the divisional armoured infantry to cross the valley and take the next woodline, and prepare an assault on the southern objective.

The northern battalion will use the paved road as long as possible to crest the 3rd (northern) BIG hill, with smoke to screen the descent on the other side. After passing north of a wooded area, they will also split, with 1/2 turning southwest to assist in taking the central objective, and the other continuing west to pass north of and get behind large hill 4, and attack the northern objective from the north. AT and AA guns will be set up behind the smoke as the armoured group passes through, to deal with the bypassed enemy units in the woods and on the reverse of the hill once the smoke clears.

[Hermit]

So far the revised attack plan is progressing well. The southern group "going over the hill" has reached the summit, and begun engaging enemy infantry on the reverse slope with support from the 60mm mortar 1/2 tracks and APC's. Three Su-76 SP Guns were spotted at the base of the hill and pounded with 155mm arty. One blew up, the others were suppressed. We got another one with a 90 mm ATG we were able to emplace on the hilltop under smoke from the infantry. The two destroyed Su-76's are both burning, and they're screening the third from getting a bead on us.

Of the two tank-heavy splits, one encountered three T-34/85's in the wooded gap, and destroyed all three: 1 at close range by a M-103 heavy tank, one by a lucky arty shot suppressing them, and one by flamethrowers from a squad of assault engineers. Their supporting infantry (thankfully NOT equipped with the new recoilless rifles) were pushed out of their entrenchments by the APC's and grunts from the other platoon. The other tank-split is stalled at the base of the small hill by mines and AT guns. After one AT gun was discovered, an overflight by spotter aircraft found several more. (the Colonel forgot to use it last time ) Airstrikes were called in and neutralized 5 of them. Since they are organized into 3-gun platoons, we know there's still one out there undetected.

Up north, the heavies have been the big players so far, knocking out four T-34's that were guarding the base of the BIG hill. Progress is not fast, but it is steady, and we've almost reached the splitting point. All units have successfully made it over the hill, and are ready to move ahead.

Casualties are light so far. Several infantry units have a few men down, and three APC's are immobilized. No vehicles have been destroyed. We've been careful to avoid encounters when possible, and focus on clearing the advance route ONLY.

[Hermit]

The APC's and infantry going "over the hill" have played leapfrog and reached the base of the hill. Several more enemy entrenchments have been discovered when they fired at us, and all were engaged with MG fire from the APC's. The remaining Su-76 was turned into swiss-cheese by one of the Duster's (twin 40mm SPAA) shooting down on it from the hilltop. Having been previously inundated with 155mm artillery rounds, the Su-76 managed to get off two rounds at our advancing troops, without effect, and then its crew hid behind the gun shield, allowing the Duster to roll forward to the crest and rain shells on it from above. Hiding behind their gun-shield was not such an effective defense, since their vehicle was open-topped!

After our suppressing APC's received several inaccurate shots from their recoilless, two of our other APC's dashed forward and overran one of the enemy infantry emplacements, screened by the smoke generated from the massed firepower pinning the enemy troops. We also stumbled across an enemy bunker from the rear while some of our men were manuevering to the north to get a look at the next avenue of approach. Unfortunately, a similar "look-see" to the south was repulsed by an enemy SMG squad that tore up Sgt Kelly's men quite badly. They almost broke and ran, and one of the 1/2-tracks that had recently unloaded its 90mm AT gun had to run over and pick them up. Looks like they'll be out of the fight for today.

Flails, and both mounted and dismounted infantry, plus two tanks continued pushing west through the wooded gap and are just about to the edge of the woods. The heavy's and their support troops are still creeping forward and upward on the dirt road, slowed by mines and caution.

Up north, the heavy tanks destroyed another suppressed T-34 at close range in the woods, and pushed farther southwest to get a view of the back-slope of the BIG hill they crossed earlier, and to eventually engage the enemy T-34's blocking the open area to the southwest, which the main group will have to cross when it splits. The main group also continues to creep forward, using the woods as a shield to the south as they work their way toward the designated split point. So far they are still on schedule, with more than an hour left to reach their objective.

[Hermit]

Extended combat since my last report makes this one necessarily longer:

The "over the hill" troops stumbled into a mine belt as they advanced across the open ground to the west of the hill. As APC's rolled forward to discharge their engineer passengers, more enemy squads on the flanks opened up, causing a few casualties. Our AT and AA guns on the reverse slope of the hill responded with a fusilade , as well as 3 MG teams positioned in the enemies' former positions for this very purpose. Farther to the west, heavy artillery fire kept the two enemy tanks and AA guns on the low objective hill both screened and suppressed. Two flail tanks from the previously split group to the north peeled off to the SW and joined the mine-clearing operations here, after making a breach in their own sector. Once through the mine belt, the APC's and supporting tanks continued to move forward. One platoon of armoured infantry has dismounted within 100 meters of the objective, into much-cratered terrain and under cover of smoke. Artillery was rolled back farther to continue pounding enemy infantry and a tank destoyer (SU-76M) seen by observer aircraft behind the objective area. (On its second circuit, this plane was lost to enemy AA fire. The status of the pilot is unknown). An infantry assault is planned on the armor after crossing the intervening ground. Hopefully friendly fire won't disrupt that plan. Several enemy infantry squads also opened fire on our APC's from the orchard to the NW.

The scouts and a few infantry squads decided sufficient progress was being made toward the objectives, so they moved farther down around the south side of the hill and discovered four T-34 tanks hidden in emplacements. After snipers took out one of the defending infantry squads, and an airstrike suppressed another squad and two of the tanks, one of the scouts was able to make an assault upon and destroy one of the tanks. Another was knocked out by fire from three 75mm recoilless rifle teams that were loaned from the divisional armored infantry company. The remaining two tanks appear to be unapproachable at the moment. They will be watched in case they abandon their positions to make a counter-attack after we take the objective. The enemy responded to our AT and AA guns on the hill with a formidable barrage of 60 mm mortar fire, which caused four casualties to one gun team, and caused two others to abandon their guns and flee. There might have to be some disciplinary actions issued following this battle for cowardice under fire!

At the split group in the center, the heavy tanks continued to be blocked by the mines, rugged terrain, and enemy armor in and around the NE of the town. Flails and engineers breached a mine belt in the woods just to the west, and then most of them circled back to the north, flanking the town. By now, it was covered in smoke, and engineers from both our own troops and from division were able to both destroy the two enemy tanks in the town and clear the mines from the roadway. The two heavy tanks slowly worked their way forward in the woods to the east of the town, destroying a bunker and two enemy squads in the process. Main force tanks cleared the village surroundings and headed northwest along the south footing of the big hill, toward the objective area on the west slope of the hill. Two AA guns that opened fire on the APC's were destroyed by cannon and MG fire from the tanks.

In the far north, the battalion finally reached its split point, and 1/2 the force peeled off to the SW. Several enemy squads were entrenched in a large open area almost a kilometer square. It was bordered by a thin woodline on all sides, with a small village in the middle of the western edge. T-34's near the woodline on the north side were able to cover the whole area with guns. Travelling down the northern edge, engineers and 75mm RR were able to take out these four vehicles, after they had been supressed with artillery. Two more T-34's guarding the woodline from the north had to be taken out from long range by overwhelming fire from main force tanks, which allowed the infantry to approach. After those tanks were cleared, the remaining 1/2 of the force pushed west and is girding the northern foot of the big hill which screens the northern objective. That force also intercepted and destroyed three T-34's that were heading east at high speed down the road, presumably to aid their comrades. Clean-up operations are well underway in the open area by the other 1/2 force.

With about 45 minutes left on our timetable, we seem in a good position to seize all our objectives, possibly with time to spare on all but the northern-most. More caution will now be permitted to the southern-most units, with corresponding permission to spread out and seek enemy units, as well as the best positions to absorb a counter-attack.

[Hermit]

For those of you who are actually following my campaign story, would maps of the overall picture or specific action be helpful, or do you really even care for them?

If so, can someone assist me in how to create them? I sent a PM to RERomaine since he did them in his AAR (and even included annotations), but any other help would be appreciated. I'm running on a Win98SE platform.

In that vein, is there any way to capture a picture of the whole map at once, even if its not displayable on the screen because it is too large?

[Imp]

For me your descriptions are generaly good enough, if you wanted could post a picture of deployment & plan at the start of the battle. Dont really think it needs more than that unless somebody does something truly heroic & you want to show it.
Rays look like he uses paintnet which is a free download & you can use any number of screen capture utilities.
If you think it will effect your writing style leave it you have a good little following so unless a lot of people ask why bother.

[Hermit]

to Imp: OK, will do (or don't, as the case may be).

Significant progress has been made in the south. The dismounted armoured infantry platoon around the objective area was joined by another. Creeping forward under heavy smoke, through the cratered landscape, two squads were able to get within striking distance of the enemy IS2 heavy tank, which was hull-down in its emplacement on the lip of the small hill. The first squad was spotted and the big turret rotated in their direction. Then came the blast of HE from its 122mm main gun, and a ripple of MG fire at point-blank range. Two men went down, and the rest beat a hasty retreat. However, this distraction allowed the second squad to inch close enough that it was able to place a bazooka round in the side of the tank's turret from very close. At first we weren't sure it had been effective, since the tank didn't blow up or even shudder. Then the hatch popped open and one of the crewman jumped out. His face was blackened, and all they saw was his wide eyes, desperately looking around for cover. Our guys cut him down and waited for the next one, but that was all. The momentary silence was kind of ethereal. Then the ground to their front began heaving to the impact of our artillery, falling dangerously close. Everyone hunkered down as the shells kept falling. Much small-arms and vehicle MG fire was exchanged in the area, with a few casualties on both sides, but fortunately more were inflicted on the enemy despite their entrenchments.

Units in the central and northern area saw little action, moving forward slowly in the center, wary of both mines and infantry AT weapons. The split units in the north are attempting to rendezvous to make the passage through the wooded terrain on the west slope of the BIG hill and up to the objective area from the back side.

[Hermit]

The dismounted infantry continues to inch forward in the south, with some of the transport vehicles maneuvering around farther to the south to suppress the flanking fire, as they have no visibility to the front, and would be succeptible to AT weapons at close range anyway. One more enemy Su-76M was found when it blew up after an artillery salvo landed to the rear of objective area. One of our own M75 APC's was destroyed by an undetected RCL team. It was the last thing they'll ever do

Another AA gun was taken out in the center when it was seen by approaching vehicles, after firing at a spotter plane. Both the center and northern units advanced another few hundred meters toward the objective with little action.

The aforementioned spotter plane sighted a whole field of enemy infantry emplacements in a large open area to the SW of the other open area, and east of the large hill shielding the center objective. Northern units that had intended to link back up with the advancing units have been redirected southbound to place these enemy positions in a hammer-n-anvil move with the heavy units now being directed to move NE from the center sector. A lone IS-2M and a T-34 on the east slope of the central objective's screening hill are the only known threats in this area. The plan is to screen them until our heavy tanks are in a good position to engage them from medium range, and eliminate this threat. Then, placing the northern battalion AA and AT guns on the perimeter woods to provide more suppression, some support tanks and a platoon of infantry each from the central and northern units will crush the enemy infantry units like bugs!

[Hermit]

Some northern units continue to advance toward the objective, and the others are getting in place for the hammer-n-anvil maneuver.

Most central units are beginning the climb up the SW side of the big hill toward the objective. A Sherman observation tank was straggling behind and was unexpectedly hit twice by large caliber rounds. After the first hit, the crew began frantically searching for the source of the shells. Just at the edge of their vision, the commander saw the muzzle flash of what appeared to be an enemy AT gun. From that range, almost a kilometer, it must have taken a few ranging shots before scoring a hit, but they flew by unnoticed. It is strongly suspected to be a 76mm, as a 100mm shell would almost certainly have penetrated, even from that range. There is now a large gouge in the front armor; one of the shells must have almost made it through.

Meanwhile, the heavy tanks and two Pershings continued northeast to be the hammer on the enemy infantry fieldworks.

Once again, most of the hot action is in the south. Small arms and MG fire from vehicles is making the air thick with lead. Dismounted infantry continues its slow advance. Two more enemy squads eliminated, and two more forced back from their dug-in positions. Others are being heavily suppressed. There was almost no return fire on our advancing grunts. We also noticed several enemy squads leave their entrenchments and move up from the rear to intercept our advance.

Back on the BIG hill that we crossed in the beginning, there is stil sporadic fighting with enemy flanking squads. As one of the forward observers was sneaking down the southern side of the hill for a better view, he stumbled on some loose rocks, and the noise and movement disclosed his location. An enemy squad across the ravine on another low hill opened fire and one man is down. We couldn't even spot them at first, until one of our snipers looked with his scope. He wasn't able to get a shot off, as his own movement would have placed him in danger of the same fate. One of the 1/2 tracks serving as a tow vehicle for the AT guns ran down to pick up the survivor and lend support, and wandered into view of one of the two remaining T-34's. The 1/2 track narrowly missed eating an 85mm slug. After making a sharp turn to avoid further tank fire, the 1/2 track hasn't made it to the rescue yet. Hopefully our remaining observer man won't also get hit.

As a final bit of bad luck, another 1/2 track that was sent to pick up a 90mm AT gun from a disabled 1/2 track was itself de-tracked when it ran over a big rock. So much for roadside assistance when you need it.