DAR - Russian Winter Woes

[gila]

Good read Ketch!

[Ramm]

Keep 'em comming Ketch

[PanzerBob]

Well done Lt Ketch, keep us advised I don't think the newspapers at home are being entirely honest!!

Bob out

[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.

[Lt. Ketch]

It's been a while since I posted here and the depressing bit is that i's been a while since I've been able to play this campaign.

I'm currently just finishing up the deployment stage of my next battle, a defence in the snow and trees late 11/41 against the facist horeds (57 turns, 44 vis). I'm going to try to post some screen shots in the next 24 hours or so because the map is a little particular, i.e. hard to describe in great detail and a simple discription isn't adaquate.

I'm also looking for ideas as to a good idea on how to make this work. In inadaquate terms, the map is a terrected landscape with lots and lots of trees bisected about 3/5 of the way up by a road that angles NW. There are some clearings in the north and east (the side I'm defending). The Objectives are along the road and, on a hill about 400 - 500 meters north of the road and on a small hill in the south east cornern of the map.

My forces have changed little from what I listed at the beginning of this thread. The only changes were to three mortars to incorperate a dedicated Counter Battery presense in my forces. The 82mm mortar that was attached to the Rifle + company has been upgraded to a 152mm off board battery and renamed "Off Board CB 1." Two 107mm Mortars have also been upgraded to 120mm mortars and renamed "On Board CB 1 & 2." While this limits my total artillary support by three guns, the 82mm mortar was seldom used in an indirect role and spend most of its time trying to find a good place to fire from but was usally just out of range of where it needed to be. The 107mm were a bit of a loss, but seeing as I found out that mortars make great on board cb support, they probably would have found themselves doing that anyway. Now they have the additional range of the 120mm.

Support forces for this battle consist of 5 ski pioneer platoons (3 squads each), 3 shelter bunkers (SBUNK) (Armed with 1 rifle and space for 40) and 2 bunkers (GBUNK) armed with a 45mm ATG, 2 Maxim HMG and a rifle. While it may seem unusual to select such forces, hear my reasoning. My biggest fears in this battle are tanks and artillery. While the russians have a good selection of ATGs (the 57mm being the prime example of an ATG), the enemy could come through the trees and avoid any open areas where my guns would work. My thought was to use groups of infantry that can move faster then the ATG could that would be able to knock out the tank. The other reason for getting ski pioneers is that, with the exception of my own engineers (6 squads) and my scouts (3 mountain, 2 regular 2 para), my infantry doesn't have anything that can effectivly take out a tank (that makes a remaining 25 squads). Also, as I found out, my infantry can't move vary fast in the snow. The Ski pioneers should solve all of these problems. The bunkers are to deal with the other fear. Seeing as my lagerst squads only have 11 men in them, I can put a whole platoon in the SBUNKs and at least one full squad (or two scounts) in the GBUNKs (carry capacity 12).

My current idea is one of fall back, wear down and counter attack. The reason for this is that I won't know where the enemy is coming from but I do know where he is going. The amount of trees in the area has the high potential of masking the enemy's movements until they are relitivly close to the objectives. That is where the bulk of my forces is currently located, with the SBUNKs being right on top of some of the flags. This way I can fall back all the way to the objectives and take shelter while I call in friendly artillary support very close to my own men. My 107mm mortars and 76 mm inf guns shouldn't (hope, hope) be a threat to any friendlies in the SBUNKs while they are suppressing, routeing and killing any Germans trying to take the flags. The idea is then to counter attack and push back through any objectives they have taken. Think of All quite on the Western Front when it describes the attack on the trenchs. The enemy attacks, do damage and fall back to next trench, frindly artillery hits newly enemy occupied trench, rally and counter attack, clear trench and send them packing.

When I get my screen shots up, I hope that some of you will chime in on ideas, but if I can't I'll give it a try on my own.

Updates to follow.

[Mobryan]

one thing to watch out for with the pioneers: It seems like any engineer type I've used for open combat has a serious rally problem. If they can stay fairly hidden, use scouts to locate unsupported tanks, hex in, blast 'em and split, they seem to do fine, but once they get pinned, you'll play hell getting them broke loose again. I've tried lots of different variations on that theme, and I'm still trying to work out the bugs


Matt

[Lt. Ketch]

Originally Posted by Mobryan

one thing to watch out for with the pioneers: It seems like any engineer type I've used for open combat has a serious rally problem. If they can stay fairly hidden, use scouts to locate unsupported tanks, hex in, blast 'em and split, they seem to do fine, but once they get pinned, you'll play hell getting them broke loose again. I've tried lots of different variations on that theme, and I'm still trying to work out the bugs


Matt

Thanks for the tip. I've got one platoon backed up with three KV-1s (1941s) and another by a bunker and half a company of Mountain troops. The others, while not having what I would call "equivical" support, are covered my other units so I hope that I'll be able to cover thier escapes well.

[Lt. Ketch]

Alright. Here are the screen shots I promised. I'm sorry if they aren't the best. This is my first time posting shots.

This first one is of the overall view of the objectives that I'm defending. As you can see, three are three clusters of varing size along the road (designated ROAD W, C and E from west to east), one on a hill north of the road (designated HILL N) and one in the far south (designatd HILL S). I'm not going to lable the maps since I think they are clutterd enough as it is And I don't want to have to re-upload them (go ahead and call me lazy), but I will continue to refer to them as such during th DAR. While there are clearings, they only boarder the objectives on one side, the HILL objectives on the north and the south for the ROAD objectives. I'm afraid the enemy will be able to make ample use of the forests to move his troops.

This next shot is of HILL N and ROAD C. You can see the Mountain Company encircilly the open area to the north of HILL N. There is a Ski platoon in the NW covering a gun bunker (GBUNK) that is trained on the objectives. Directly south of HILL N is an engineer platoon (non-ski) to cover any attemp to come at HILL N from the south. In the trench around HILL N is a half platoon of mountain with the other half located in the Shelter Bunker (SBUNK) directly behind them. The vichicles located due East are the platoon of T-34/76s that will act as support and counter attack. The sandbags NE of the open area are Zis-30s with 57mm guns trained in the clearing if any armour comes through. The field in the NE corner beyond them is covered by four 122mm howitzers and two more Zis-30s. Along the road, waiting in ambush are a ski platoon and ROAD C is held by a platoon of rifle infantry, two units in the trenchs across the road, the other two in the SBUNK directly behind the trench. Those trenchs in the field is where I stuck a platoon while during an early stage of deployment. I can't make them go away. Any ideas?

This next shot shows ROAD W, what I'm calling the sacrifical objective. Since this objective is so close to the deployment line and I will have little idea of what is attacking and in what numbers before it will most likely surcome of being overrun, I'm going to give it to the Germans. As you can see, I've mined the road (very left hex) as well as some of the hexes amoung the buildings. I will probably change at least two mines onto the road after I post this. I will also have the location targeted with Indirect fire, so when the flags flip, the mail comes in. You can see the Engineers and Ski platoon that are also in the last picture as well as units that are covering the road and in position to counter attack. These units include the platoon of T-34/57s, a platoon of rilfes and a platoon of engineers. There is also the company commander and the HMG of the Rifles + company covering the road. The Transport seen in the very bottom, just off center is one of the two scouts armed with stachel charges for quick mobility against possible armour. They will also be involved in the counter attack. If all goes according to plan (which it never does, but you still have to plan) the enemy will overrunn ROAD W, stall and be stoped at ROAD C and then we'll push flank their position at ROAD W and cut off any troops on the road. It things don't go to plan, it is possible that everybody will die. Ah, but what are risks for if not to take.

Shot number Four shows HILL S and it's contingency of guards. The vichels in the very front, next to the deployment line are my BA-6 ACs. They are going to try to spot the enemy without getting killed, which sums up their purpose in life very will. If possible they will harrass rear elements of the advance, but will not enter the enemy's rear where they could easily fall pray to ATGs, AAA, and such. The forward Infantry units are Ski Pioneers that are there to enact a fighting retreat through the forest, back towards HILL S or the units located to the north of them (which are the counter attack forces of ROAD W seen in the prvious picture.) The AFVs lcoated in the more open area are Kv-1s (1941). I'm depending on their tougher armour and more plentiful ammunition to seriously stall any incursion in this area untill artillery, help or both arrive to stop the enemy. The objective itselv is protected by a platoon of rifles, again, half in the trenches and half in the SBUNK. My platoon of 76mms are located just east of HILL S with at least two of the guns covering the area around and partally on the hill. These will fire directly if needed.

The last picture is a large perspective of the far norhtern aspect of the battle field. Since this includes several large areas with few trees, I feel that the enemy by try to use it as a path for mech forces including AFVs and mounted infantry. For this propose I have placed the other GBUNK in the NE courner of the far northern space along with my BM-20 FO vichiel. Their task will be to "discourage" any travel along this route. In the event that the enemy persests or nutralizes my assets, a Platoon of Ski pioneers awaits them in the trees between the open spaces and as prviously stated, the field is covered both by 122mm howiters and Zis-30 TDs with 57mm guns (One of the best ATGs you could ask for. There is also the T-34/76s that could arrive there quickly. The trick here will be to know when to start committing what units where. The three blips in the Center North part as a daring move to put a AOP behind enemy lines to direct accurate counter battery fire. The team is all on foot and consits of 2 para scouts and the AOP. If their mission is successful, I hope to neutralize all of the enmey artillary assets on the board. If it is not, then I hope to at least blow some stuff up before they go.


My other assets (Gaz-AAMG, ammo trucks, Gaz and konsomolets transports) are placed in positions that they will quickly be able to provide support for their respective elements. The AAMGs are in the center with decent fields of fire (I'm really hoping the enemy doesn't have air assets), the Ammo trucks are by the 122mm howiters and 120mm CB mortars and the trucks and Konsomolets are positioned along likely routes for routing infantry.

This is what I currently have planned. Units will fall back as nesissary in order to stall the enemy until their unit types and numbers are known. Friendly artillery will be used to disrupt the attacks as my units retreat, and will also be used to prep for armoured counter attacks. If nesissary, units will fall all the way back to the SBUNKs and take cover while heavy artillary lands around them. Then, when the enemy is sufficently supressed, or ideally running, they will come out to counter attack and push them back. ROAD W will be retaken if possible in the time allowed, but since I have 59 turns to work with, I don't think that will be the biggest of my problems. Any thoughts or suggestions about this plan, deployment or the chances of success of my ideas are gladly welcome and asked for.

Let me know what you think!

[Lt. Ketch]

I figured I better post here as it's been a couple of days since I played this camp and I'll be gone for another couple of days. I kept my wife up a while ago to get to turn 28 or so. She finally rolled over and told me to turn it off because the fan on my laptop was too loud.

Since nobody chimed in, I went a head with my plan. Within the first 15 turns or so, I realized my plan was flawed, as always. Granted, this time I don't think it was a flawed as last time, but it still cost me at least a full platoon of core. The two flaws: 1. I didn't have enough artillary that could fire fast enough and with enough ammo to stall the assualt that came rummbleing up the hill, and 2. Russian infantry get pinned easily meaning it's hard to pull back and take up a new position.

From turn 2 I got a taste of what I was up against. Several units had LOS into areas of clear terrian beyond the trees. I watched the equvalent of at least two companies of armour come towards the trees, but I suspect that there is a lot more than I first saw. The majority of the enemy AFVs were Pz 38t with the 37mm pop gun, but there was also a whole bunch of Pz IIc (or CII, can't remember right now) and a group of Pz IIIhs as well. Most seemed to be headed towards the road, but a platoon of P 38t and Flamepanzers were seen swinging north. We lost sight with the majority of the enemy's units when they hit the tree line just west of HILL N and ROAD W. The first units seen in the engament area were AC, three near HILL N by the GBUNK and four skimmed the sountern edge of ROAD W and entered the field in between ROAD W and ROAD C. I had all unit hold fire in an attempt to lure any heavier units into the killing grounds. Of the three ACs by HILL N, only one moved out of the trees. I let him come all the way across the field and into the trees on the other side where I had my T-34/76s ambush him there. The ACs in the south had unknowningly driven under the guns of my T-34/57 platoon. Needless to say, there were no survivers after two turns. .

This destruction of enemy forces helped boost moral, but was only a very small beginning to the onslaught that was to come. My two forward AC intercepted a large force of Pzs with mounted infantry in the field just west of ROAD W. They were able to destory one Pz 38t and hose the troops off of a couple of tanks before beating a quick retreat to back up the ski troops that would have to face the majority of the foe. However, at that point the enemy had found what it considered a weak point in my defences. The Mountain platoon located due West of HILL N came under heavy attack by Pz 38ts and IIcs. Three of the four squads were wiped out completely with only two tanks being destroyed and an additional one immobilized. The remaining squad (the HQ) dropped back to the trenches as I moved my T-34/76 platoon up to ambush posistions just south of the trenches, supported by the marines and ski troops. The troops guarding HILL N are currently (Turn 28) responsible for the destruction of approximatly 70% of all enemy forces eliminated. But I'm getting ahead of myslef.

At about the same time that HILL N was being attacked, two platoons worth of Pz IIIhs with a platoon of Pz 38ts started to advance up the clear area to the west of HILL S. I had my Kv-1s hold fire untill the enemy was about 100m in front of my ski troop screen and then opened up, destorying almost all of the units. The Ski pioneers were also responsible for 3 or 4 kills between the three squads. Two of the Pz 38ts tried to slip around the southern flank, but were destroyed when one of the Kv-1s repositioned and saw them. However, two of them made it through and stormed HILL S. More on them later.

While these assaults were happening, the enemy's artillary was busy, most of the time hitting nothing. Jerry was packing 17cm guns, at least three batteries of them off board and multiple 82mm mortars, probably 6 - 8 tubes total. He also has at least four 10.5 cm guns in an off board battery. The opening barrages, didn't hit anytying and put smoke in unnessisary locations. As the battle has shifted, he has used a good chunk of guns in CB roles on my artillary, but so far only one gun was abandoned and has since been recrewed. My own CB efforts have been lacking. My advance AOP and Para Scout party in the north has located three 82mm mortars but despite CB fire from my 120mm mortars, they haven't been seriously disadvantaged. My para scouts are going to see to them personally. My off board CB has done nothing. I'm a little ticked, but I understand that the majority of the enemy's off board is probably out of range (as it's 17cm and mines 152mm.) My own efforts to stall the enemy with my artillary have proven fairly worthless, however they have been effective in slowing some units in the south and drawing enemy CB fire, which they have been able to survive quite well.

As I moved out of the first 10 turns or so, it was apparent that the enemy was concentrating on HILL N. An insane number of AFVs of all kinds were coming from the field where they were spotted by my ACs, up the road through ROAD W and entering the trees to the SW of HILL N. The marine engineers and T-34/76s have faced platoon after platoon of tanks, destorying two to five AFVs every turn. The GBUNK to the NW of HILL N has also proven usefull in immobalizing and destroying about 6 AFVs and a MMG that was riding on one of the tanks. The Zis-30s to the NE of HILL N have also taken out 3 or 4 AFVs to date. The infantry in the trenches began to fight off enemy infantry squads around turn 18 and 20, showing that the infantry was finilly catching up. I moved my T-34/57 platoon up into the wreckage of the unless ACs and they have been able to provide some fire against units moving between ROAD W and the trees west of HILL N as well as two lucky shots against tanks on HILL S. Around turn 25 I also started the counter attack against ROAD W. To date, there may be as many as 60 enemy AFVs lying in ruin to the SW of HILL N and infantry has started moving aginst the objectives, but are being beaten back by my own units in the trenchs. The counter attack encountered resestance when a marine squad was almost decimated by an enemy ambush, but artillary and armoured support are inbound.

A brief conflict NW of HILL N is of interest. As menioned, two Flamepanzers (FP) were spotted moving NW in the early stages of the battle. They emerged on the backside of the GBUNK, not far from the ski pioneers that were screening the area. Two of the ski squads were unseen, but one drew fire from the FPs mmg. I retreated him back and had him take cover in the GBUNK One of the FPs moved close and, how you say "Nuked the ever living crap" out of the bunker with its flamethrower. Happily, the bunker only sustained weapon damage, and the squad that took shelter was able to bail out and destroyed the FP. The success of this opperation was mainly due to the fact that the FP had expanded all of its flamethrower ammo on the buncker. The other two squads, however, were unable to to destory the remaining FP leaving themselves vulerable. I feared the worst when I hit the end turn button, but happily, the AI had targeted the area for 10.5cm bombardment. While my squads were only lightly supressed from the barrage, the FP was destoryed by friendly fire. HE and Flamethrowers! That's what I call a BBQ!

Matters in the south, however, have not been so happy. First, HILL S. As previously mentioned, two Pz 38ts stormed Hill south, taking one objective before my troops even knew they were there. Unfortuanity, the only troops stationed there are a rifle platoon, and consiquently have only F-1 gernades, rifles and LMG - hardly effective weapons for taking out German armour. (Now don't me wrong, I've taken out Pz IVcs with F-1 hand gernades, But it took over five squads over 4 turns to fianaly get the blighter.) Since all other assets were over 800m of hard terrain away and tied up at the moment, I tried to have my squads route the crews of the tanks. Unfortainitly, the reverse happened. Over the next six turns or so one squad after another was routed, sustaining upwards of 75% causalties, luckly, nobody has been dispersed or eliminated. The saving grace came when I moved the T-34/57 platoon up the terreced hills to support HILL N. The tank company HQ was the first to be able to spot the assailents on HILL S and after two turns of lobbing shells at one of the tanks, took it out (>1300m with ~30% chance to hit!). Two turns later, a T-34/57 was able to spot the other tank and after three turns of lobbing shells, destoyed it with no survivers (>1400m and ~18% chance to hit!) Never say persistance gets you nowhere. Now I just have to rally one of the squads and get them to take back the objectives.

To the West of HILL S, misfourtian fell on my Kv-1 platoon. A second wave of Pz IIIhs appeared and was able to penitrate furter into the line. Two tanks sliped throught the gap between the Ski pioneers screen and began to move into the trees. In an attempt to destory them, I had a ski unit fire on both tanks multiple times in an effort to button them so a Kv-1 could slip behind and deliver two rear shots. The ski trooper was unsuccessful and both Pzs fired as soon as my tank came into view. The Pz IIIh only has a 50mm gun which at medium and long range is fairly useless against the Kv-1 1941's hull armour. However at 50m and 100m respectivly, armour is nearly irrelavent. The first two shots blew all the guns off of the Kv, also causing it to button up and freeze. One their next turn, they smoked the tank (no survivers), pinned the ski troops and faded into the trees. I had dispatched the scouts in the konsomolets a turn or so earlier in case there were able to slip trough and the turn after they smoked my tank, I located one and was able to dispatach it with one of the remaining Kvs. The other has yet to be found. We've also determined that Infantry in strength is moving against the troops in the south. The ACs have been redeployed and are helping to suppress the offending squads with their MMGs, but plans are being made to retreat in the face of the enemy and plot artillary in their path.

Overall, I am not too displeased with the way the battle is going. I am confident that I have destoryed the majority of the enemy's armour and will be able to fight the German infantry to a standstill, if not an outright win. In comparision, all but one of my AFVs are fit and able to do battle with the incoming infantry (the one being the dead Kv). I am still worried about the trees and the close quarters that it will mean for my infantry, but I'm pretty sure that the enemy artillary is running out of ammo where as mine are currently being re supplied and should be able to provide deceant covering fire.

I'll try to get back to this as soon as I can, but as I'll be out of town untill next week and Gila and I are trying to kill each other in Sicily, it might be slow going for the Russian War Machine.

[Lt. Ketch]

I just got back from a wedding in Tulsa OK and my family and I are glad to be home. Why do I mention this? For the simple reason that because of this trip, my alarm clock was set an hour early, which meant that I not only got to play my PBEM game against Gila (who is down one tank now) but that I also got to play nine or so turns of this campaign.

As it turns out, I was mistaken when I last reported on what turn I was on. I only got to turn 22 not 28 "or so." In any event. The battle came to a rather sudden end on turn 29. But let me give you a run down.

In the south, I was able to rally units of the rifle platoon gaurding HILL S and retake the objectives there, and even get a couple of them back into the trenches. The search for the missing PZ IIIh ended when a Ski squad was attacked by a german infantry squad behind my lines. In an attempt to locate and destroy this vagrent, another Ski squad stummbled on the missing Pz. It turns out that he never moved after routing the ski troop and destroying my Kv-1. Units were moved against him and he was destoryed in short order. The ACs and Ski platoons hanging out by the Pz graveyard were able to route multiple squads that tried to come around and trough the wreckage. Two 76mm on board guns assisted in pinning the enemy, so the tin cans and cruchies could send them packing. My ACs (BA-6s) showed themselves to be exellent fighters and will be rewarded for their efforts. (I.e. I may up grade them into something with more armour).

The counterattack on ROAD W was a success, but had the battle gone longer, its questionable how well we would have held out. As my troops moved north and took the objectives, a platoon of infnatry and two Pz (1 38b(t), 1 IIIh) were discovered. The tanks were dispatached in short order. The first routed by a flamethrower close assualt and destroyed at long range by a Kv-1. the other taken out by a rear shot (it was running from the carnage around HILL N) by a T-34/57. Artillary was called in (107 mortar and 122 howitzer) by the HQ of the Tank Company to break up the enemy line. My squads stacked up and popped smoke to make the enemy come to them. All known squads were routed by concentrated fire. One thing I can say about my troops. They may not be able to shoot the straightest, but they can throw a lot of ammunition down range.

The action around HILL N was both interesting and somewhat perdicatable. The only AFVs left in the north from the last post were a pair of ACs (222s I think.) I was able to damage both of them to some extent with my Zis-30s, and then close assaulted one with my mountain scouts, first immobilizing then destorying it. The scout took the consiqence of his actions and spend the rest of the battle running for cover (by the end with only one man left.) The other was dispatched by fire from the Zis-30s on the following turn. The infantry became heavier, but barible. Due to the wreckage and smoke, they have to get close to me before they can fire and close is about the only way my guys can hit anything. The GBUNK to the Northwest of HILL N did draw fire from a platoons worth of enemy soldiers, but was able to pin most of them down with the help of the Mountain sniper and ski troops also in the NW. Again, the success of these actions is due to the fact that the battle ended so suddenly. Had it continued for another 5-10 turns, it is probable that we would have been overrun.

A brief report on my para scouts and AOP behind enemy lines. They were able to destory two of the three mortars located near their position. Overall, I am please with their actions. Had I been figting a human, I think they might have drawn off a portion, however small of the assualt division that was approaching my troops. As it is, they got back there + blew stuff up + lived to return to me = mission accomplished!

Other than these conflicts, there was little of subtlty. The enemy's CB fire destoryed two of my ammo trucks, but didn't damage anything else. Now, let me tell you of the resaults of the battle, what was waiting for me, and some thoughts about the whole mess.

Results USSR Germany
Men 94 450
AFV 1 86
Artillary 0 2
Soft 2 0
Score ~4000 ~200

Decisive Victory!

One of my favoriate parts is to look at the map and enemy roster after a battle. The center of the map, not 300 meters from my most western troops gaurding HILL N was covered in at least two to three companyies worth of infantry and tank destoryers. It turns out the AI formations ran into the BC0 formation. The only way I would have stood a chance is if I nuked the crap out of their ranks before they ever got to me. They would have run me out of ammo faster then I would care to think. The only way I understand that the game ended 30 turns early is that the points they had in their AFVs that I had destoryed so vastly out weighed the points they had in their battle ready units that point wise it was statisticly "too difficult" to continue. I know the AI pulls out when the ratio of destroyed/routed to healthy gets to a certain point. (Or at least it considers pulling out when it gets to that point.) I've just never had it pull out 30 turns early. I'm not complaining at this point though.

Thoughts. My defence was flawed, as I mentioned in my last post. If I had to do it again, I would have been a more supported defence. When it came time for some units to fall back, they could not because they were on their own and consiquently wiped out for my error. Adapting a "protect the objective" stance, as oppoed to a "which way is the enemy going to come so I can kill him" stance, helped in many ways, but I forgot that goal half way through deployment, so I had some units sitting out on the edges of thinks that I could have used in a other locations and would have needed had the battle not ended early. The terrain made things interesting and it was kind of fun to try to track down the enemy in some spots. Overall, my troops performed better this battle then the ones previous (something that every general hopes for) and I was pleased with their successes. Special recognition must be given to the valient tankers and troops who stood against the onslaught of german armour, destorying over 60 AFVs with very little help. If you were to look closely at the kill to killers ratio each unit in the T-34/76 and marine platoons killed an average over 10 AFVs each in the space of only about 5 turns. The support troops (Ski troops and bunkers) did well for their service and I will look forward to serving with such troop again.

What the future holds is unseen. I'm having thoughts of reducing my force size by a platoon or two, but at the same time, I am pleased with their progress and use. I still need to be better at using my entire force as there were units that never moved, who's help would have been usefull. I feel good about the majority of this action and tenitivly look forward to another defend action. Upgrades after this will most likely be limited to the ACs and possibly Off Board CB 1, but I am unsure. Time and need will tell.

Ketch out.