AAR: Balkans N. Africa Leg

[Imp]

Quiet game so far so summary of my path to the current balls up.
SF> Alls fine here they are poised to move to level 2 of Pos AA Local, 3 MkIIIs supporting broke cover a while back & are nearly with them. ATGs loaded up & are on the way to as are the mortars that have just set out. They have lost 2-3 men can see a routed squad & have killed 2 Vickers HMG & 2 ATR.
MF> Strange one this all was fine while we stuck to the plan but a minor deviation has lead to total disaster, this was about as long as any plan has ever lasted as it turns out I was amazingly lucky.
Half the force hides while rest progressed behind the smoke between the North Pos AA Loc & the olive groves (orchard). As the smoke clears tanks exchanged ineffectual shots before managing to enter little valley & move behind the ridge line for cover. bit of thought needed here due to soft sand but we move onto the hill & take out 2 Vals for 2 men, a good trade. Then we move on finally finding the other 2Pdr, it dies along with the other 2 Vals & the area is clear. A MkII was damaged in the exchange & artys getting heavier finally accounting for a few men stationary 231 destroyed HT & a few trucks all told.
This part of the force is to head SE round & over the hill.
The rest of the MF now breaks cover to go NE round the hill following the train track, it takes fire from A25Pdr at range which misses & those SIGs direct fire some smoke to cover. This force is currently working its way down the railway & level1 part of the hill with troops out front looking for that gun. Mine clearers are here as we have not hit any yet.

Now it all goes tits up & the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of my HQ, The tanks he was shadowing raced on while he plodded forward to find himself facing a squad 200m away. He is not detected so sits & waits turning his range down. This squad is a few 100m South of the olive grove but towards the West end of it, well back from my force. On reflection HQ should have backtracked but things are easy with hindsight my force after all is just coming round the hill.
Find a squad on the corner of the hill & take him out then we deviate from the plan deciding to head back to our lines. I expect that squad to have company & Mr HQ should spot any firers so we move out. Turns out there are 6 of them so far one off by himself to the South another mid way & 4 in a group by my HQ, one with an ATR. Attacking dug in units at range is never a sensible option you will lose & we do indeed lose a few men getting into position but HTs are ready to mount an offensive that should get half of them.
Well that was the idea but we are sitting in a minefield & going nowhere, the mineclearers are going north & worst of all I had avoided this driving into it on the way back to my lines. I can't now abort as have to see what my vehicles are sitting on, I take heavy loses to his fire & a few to troops that discover vehicles are on mines. Moving into mine hexes while under fire does not seem to be a good tactic, someone will become vertically challenged & launch himself skyward, chucking smoke grenades to cover, the first real exchange & boy did we mess up.

[Imp]

SF> Moves onto L2 seems to be 3 squads here & we dig out the closest one, the 2 squads furthest North find a FOO kill 1 man.
My thoughts are they could work over to MF problem as a sniper chimed in over there to. As this force has not hit any mines yet I am begining to think they may follow the railway so in view of this the MF is bugging out under cover of smoke & heading up the hill. Rams are on the way to help clear mines under vehicles but the area is bound to be hit with arty so not staying to fight on his terms, HQ pulled back & will keep watch.
A sniper & MMG along with stuck tanks are systematicaly working over the Brits & have nearly killed one squad, as out of range will do 1 at a time & planes are coming in to as no AA in the area
Turns out have to be a bit careful as tanks on hill are now recieving fire from a 2Pdr around the furthest NW trench near the oasis.
This is a fine mess I have got in trying to pick a path across the hill out of LOS of guns without getting stuck.
If I can make it to the copse of trees on the hill troops could unload & get close enough to find the gun, could be a big ask though.
As always more arty would help as could lay smoke.

[Imp]

MF> Planes attack & 2 nearest squads to HQ are routed with LOS to others obscured so he has moved to SMG range & is blazing away, not sure this is entirely sensible but as he caused the problem only seems fair that he sorts it out.
Looks like arty has done its job as a crew is spotted near 25Pdr local so vehicles break cover & we roll forward. Troops have made it on to the highest part of the hill but forces on its South face are not doing so well. There are at least 2 ATGs one is seen but a HT is damaged, somehow it is still mobile with 4D from two hits. Other HTs & AC are pinned down & MKIIIs are reversing up the slope to keep front facing ATGs.
A bit further & we are clear of the soft sand for a while at least, need to bring arty up as its working at max range.

SF> We lose a man in exchange for the FOO & now have 4 squads & 2 tanks on the hill facing 5 Brits, 2 more squads can give covering fire but several are trying to move on undetected as I feel that those AA guns could soon join the party. One does firing at MKIII which is fine by me, 2 squads are now out of there holes C>5 for 1. Another AAgun is seen & I have no idea what the AI is trying to achieve with its arty especially considering lots of my force must be vissible.

[Imp]

Tanks are free of mines & HQ moves ever forward the 4 squads nearest him are all running & one is dead.
My sniper tried hiding & is now moving slowly towards the enemy sniper in the hopes that when it opens up he will be close enough to see it, a poor squad is none to happy at being volunteered as its target.

Main force now has split objectives so N+S
MFS>Found 2 ATGs the second being close enough to be a threat to nearest MkIII so infantry poped smoke, I want a word with whoever refited my tanks the guns are great & the extra armour helps but some tea leaf has had it away with my dischargers
Despite the ATGs not having HE they still got a man.

MFN> Heading down rail unmolested & units on the hill are now 500m from the sunken bunker entrance when bike swerves to no avail as a bunker with 25Pdr & Vickers takes a dislike to him. Any further aproach at level 2 or higher is now out & of course the sand means risking bog or going for a scenic drive, Pioneers are reasonably near if I can figure out a way to get them there.

SF> Squads moving round the side towards the AA discover & engage a new squad while MMGs & ATG reduce one AAGuns crew to3
Squads going round the other side find a 3in Mtr & all squads on the hill are now running.
We lost 2 men moving onto flag due to mines & a couple to fire but should control the hill next go.
AIT> Arty is getting better but still mainly firing at no mans land & another AA gun opened up, unfortunatly my tank was distracted by an ATR & gave it a side shot resulting in early retirement

[Imp]

Despite my best intentions HQ is charging on there are now 2 of 6 sqauds left, the hunt for the sniper is on with 2 squads further SE looking for with the sniper
SF> They are getting hammered by arty now & lost people to it. My ATGs are never going to improve they seem to act as a magnet in every game for it.
No direct fire losses only 1 squad remains & 2 guns are hurting badly. The 3rd gun & mortar are out for the count. There are more mortars not far away but it will be a while before we get there as the area is littered with mines, 300m deep so far pioneers are on overtime, heading SE as seem less dense that way
MFN> Smoke has just come down in front of the bunker & a second 25Pdr was found & destroyed without loss. Tanks & a few grunts are now heading SE down tracks in the little valley towards the unknown facilities. I have been expecting contact but so far nothing though I think we are being observed from the way arty fell last turn, the rest are making there way round the bunker.
MFS> Take out both ATGs & seems clear, as time is marching on they will jump in HT they can either move towards the oasis or come over the hill forming a pincer move on the facilities. Either way unloading unobserved is not a realistic option & the hope was that the SF would be the pincer for the oasis attack but they are going to be late so a decissive move on the facilities may be my best option.

Work is busy at last so reports will probably slow down as I have to eat, more to the point have a shopping spree to pay for so it could be beans on toast for a while. What price vanity? A #@%£#$% lot I can tell you.
__________________________________
There are more atoms in a glass of water than there are glasses of water in all the worlds oceans
99.999....% Of an atom consists of nothing, its totally empty so the Universe only just exists.
If you could remove this space the entire human race would fit in a grapefruit.
If you could harness this power the atom bomb would look like a matchstick
The probability of things like our eco system & the building blocks for life being so efficient without being designed is so small that they must have been.
Therefore if you are a religious man science is probably the best proof of a God or at least a grand design.
Welcome to the test tube you could be in it.

[Imp]

HQ group have destroyed all 6 original squads & found another one, closing in on the sniper but have a nasty feeling my HQ has ended up as the nearest guy.
Pretty sure my sniper walked straight through mines without noticing, my squad has lost a couple of men & arty is falling around MMG now.
SF> A scout & platoon followed runners navigating through the minefield & are now in position to go for the mortars one of which direct fired at extreme range killing a truck with its first shot, thought it was safe enough. Passage SE turned out to be free of mines so good call & now moving towards oasis. All resistance has been dealt with easily arty being the only problem. Mortars have moved up to a depression with oasis in range, delayed due to arty.
MF> Pioneer is in position to assault bunkers, there are 3 of them.
South force came over the hill & lost a 231 to 3 BoforsAA just SW of most SW building, Some tanks are continuing East but the rest are moving towards the oasis & smoke is scheduled to drop next go. They are a bit over 500m from the wall but no fire has been forthcoming.
North group have also been taking fire from the bofors but tanks have dealt with, 1 abandoned others dead.
Most units are still in the valley but near paved part now & engaging units in nearest building & trenches along the back. A few units climbed level 1 area North of buildings finding 2 squads in these trenches, one is running. Casulties light so far but then so is the resistance, sort of expected more slow game this.

[Imp]

Mines here are causing problems again but have a good idea on snipers position, decide to move MMG as arty is after him & has furthest distance but the sniper kills 4 men, should have risked the arty he still might get hit. It has given away his location though so my sniper takes him out, the other squad is routed & HQ moves towards but is seen by a new squad, smoke as think there are more & HQ is way out in front with just a tank near him, tank & HQ are close to rise to L1 now.
SF> Keeps moving forward but begining to wonder if mortars are safe arty round here is not good & now its falling dangerously close to mortars, could easily have seen trucks drive into the dip. One enemy mortar is down & heading for the next as through the mines now, there are a lot of them.
MFS> An A9 I think slightly East of the guesthouse takes down a HT, luckily it had just unloaded & its about time something fired.
MFN> There are about 10 tanks here so they were slowly rolling forward along the pavement area taking out the enemy when one finds a mine, Ram moves to the front risking ATRs & squads head forward, they find a squad tucked behind the first building just behind the mines. Getting a LOS to him is very hard as the burning wreck blocks most views, but I want to save the crew. Only one hex on this side of mines has a shot so risk HTs running around South building. 2 Make it unload & engage him. In AIs turn its enough he only gets one shot at the crew & it survives but my HTs were lucky they to are by mines. Lost a few men here but Brits only have 2 happy squads now as the armour is just throwing out huge amounts of firepower.
These bunkers are going to need a concerted effort redirected several squads to help. Pioneer hit 3 times with sprengladung but failed to damage it. Killed 1 of 12 men so he is getting ready with the flame to route & then mass assault the thing, could take a while.
T27
HQ lose a man as 2 more squads are found, one jumps straight out of his hole to sniper fire & HQ digs the other one out but if anything we are outgunned here, the other tank & squad are stuck behind mines. RAM is on the way reckon its 2 turns away AA units to but slowly as they have to hide from Mortars.
SF> is just running forward use of trucks is to dangerous & other forces heading for the oasis have entered trees near zigzag trench, HT are trying to hide or free themselves up to head for the rest of the MF to help with transfer of forces.
MF> Pioneer got a bunker but used 3 flame shots in the process, a MkIII managed to make it to another hard due to sand & trenches & fired APCR I think at point blank. Damaged it was not realy expecting that.
By the buildings mines have virtualy stopped progress a pioneer is helping the Ram, squads have entered the Southern buildings. Another squad is seen hiding behind a building & we manage to kill a few more men but finding locations with sight to targets is a problem. Bit of a stalemate at present armour cannot get in position to engage, scout tries to make a move through building on a squad but loses 2 men. 4 of my 6 scouts are now hurt & so just trying to survive & a motorbike is sitting by crew to wisk it away when it rallies.
Vehicles on level1 are waiting for squads to overtake & check for mines.
If anything sums this battle up its mines, mines & more bloody mines, getting fed up of the things.
AIT> Arty has stopped & squad behind first building leaves his hole. HQ survives without further loss as only attacked by one squad the other near him moved on the MkIII trying to assault but paid heavily & is now running. Risking air coming in here but its very close to my tank & could turn nasty. Already had one close call here when lost contact with a few turns back & could not adjust run. Luckily found new squad that turn & it attacked that but living dangerously.
AI has not been doing a very good job with its arty this game for some reason its all over the shop & never seems to fire for more than 2 turns before relocating.