German LC

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Turn 13

2nd Coy sector

The main reason why I started withdrawing my Pz IIIs was that the EN was flowing north of the road and heading towards 1st Coy sector, and that the Pz IIIs were also beginning to run low on Sabot rounds.



Turn 13

1st Coy sector

To cope with the imminent action, I began pulling some units that were providing security along the road back. J0 platoon flowed back along the road, looking for the cover of trees, followed by the K0 AT Rifle section.

The EN are bringing along T-28s to this sector. Due to their low speed and use of covered terrain for their approach, they are very slow at coming to contact.



Turn 17

By turn 17, we can spot alot more EN infantry spilling out from the cover of forest directly into 1st Coy's sector.

The EN armour fist is still moving forward, but again also, unsupported by accompanying infantry.

K0 AT Rifle section (in blue stars) are moving back to take up new positions.

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Turn 20

This shows the position taken by J0 platoon and K0 AT Rifle section.

I've also repositioned the PzJgr and Pz IIIs to overlook the open area, if the EN tanks choose not to go through the forest.



Turn 23

We can see the EN armour being attrited down. Top left, we destroyed 2-3 tanks. Near the centre, the PzJgr and Pz III destroy another 3 tanks.

I count 5 EN tanks remaining.

The EN infantry is also being attrited by both mortar strikes and long range MG fires.



Turn 26

My planned arty strikes are all landing into the centre mass of the EN infantry.

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Battle was won at Turn 33, after mopping up the EN infantry and picking up the objective flags.



Here's a look at the Pz IIIs and PzJgrs

The PzJgrs are very good for hiding and engaging from the flank. Their size 2 makes them harder to spot, and even harder for the EN to engage.

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Just a hint. If you have software that can save the screenshots as PNG they will display as better images

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This is how the battle unfolded. You can see that the ebb and flow.

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New battle October of 1941

Delay somewhere near Vyazma.

Visibility is 60 and a total of 45 turns. Map is same as before, 80x120. AI is not tank heavy but with Russians, that still means a helluva swarm.

Key terrain features.

2x E-W road, 1 in the North and 1 nearer the bottom half of the map.

1x N-S road, that intersects with both E-W road.

This means I can have quick and fast access to reinforce any portion of my force using the road network.

Very flat terrain, and with the long LOS, it means long weapon systems will dominate (HMGs and ATGs)

Some buildings along the roads will provide hard cover for defending force.

Support units

In consideration of the above. I decided to bring along the following support units.

X0- Air Recon
Y0- Munitions dump
Z0- 3.7cm AA Platoon
AA0- PzJgr team
AB0- SdKfz 10/5 PaK 5cm (Portees with 5cm PaK 38s)
AC0- 5cm PaK 38 ATGs with halftrack support

I think there's very good manuvreability with my AT weapons. The portees have a speed of 19, while the halftracks have speed of 18.

Here's an overview of their deployment.

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Deployment at Arty Park

Fairly standard. I'll position such that both mortar platoons can share the munitions dump.

The 3.7cm AA guns will provide defensive firepower.



1st Coy Sector

1st Coy is the northernmost force, and their main task is to delay EN advance down the northern E-W road. I've attached the PzJgr section with them and most of their firepower is deployed upfront. Upon movement phase, I will push the PzJgr and AT Rifles 300-400m ahead as a speed bump.

In the event that the EN does not push with any armour units here, I will free up the PzJgr to support the other coy sectors. I expect to make this decision by end of Turn 3-4.



3rd Coy Sector

3rd Coy occupies the area just south of 1st Coy. With the expanse of open ground, I have decided to attach the ATG platoon with halftracks. They are currently deployed in dead ground and will move up once we ascertain the EN advance. They are also quite near 1st Coy's E-W road, so if it is required, we can relocate them pretty quickly.



2nd Coy Sector

2nd Coy ended up with the biggest area to cover. They are attached with the Portee-5cm PaK 38, so they have long range AT weapons. The rest of the company is quite dispersed.

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Right after the curtain rises, there was a sustained artillery strikes landing all over 2nd Coy's sector. My advance units, especially the portees had to pull out of the strike zone.

Turn 3

2nd Coy sector

The EN brought alot of heavy (>120mm) artillery and it shows. I've lost 2 of the 3 portees, and it's likely that the EN advance would be concentrated in this zone.



Turn 5

The EN advance is led by their armoured cars. I'm quite sure that my AT Rifles would be able to engage them effectively at close ranges.

We also spotted EN cavalry pushing forward.



Turn 7

The EN force is alot clearer. We spot at least 1 infantry company reinforced with cavalry, supported by a company of assorted T-28s and T-26s.

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Turn 10

Still very much in the same sector, the PzJgrs and ATGs from the other companies are coming on hand to support 2nd Coy.

The EN armoured cars (Yellow pentagons) have all fallen silent to my AT Rifles. In the past 2 turns, my AT Rifles also gave up their advance positions and fell back along the road back to a supporting platoon (N0). 1 of the AT Rifle teams got separated and went to hide up north in the cover of forest.

My remaining portee is now positioned along the EN flank (Top left) as they advance down the road. The Coy Commander is also on hand to direct the PzJgrs coming down the road to support 2nd Coy.



Turn 12

The PzJgrs are nicely positioned in some dead ground, moving forward to engage the EN armour, before ducking back out of sight.

The EN is slowly losing more and more armour units for every objective flag they claim.

Shortly after destroying all the EN armour in this sector, N0 and P0 platoons advanced on a sweep to recapture the objective flags.

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Turn 15

The trailing EN units headed off into 3rd Coy sector. We're not sure at this point, whether they will move further north into 1st Coy sector or will make a blind push through the forest. To cover either eventuality, I deployed the ATGs to cover both areas and with their Coy Commander nearby to provide any further encouragement.



Turn 18

Perhaps our sweeping advance with N0 and P0 platoons was too successful, so the EN tanks were once again heading into 2nd Coy sector.



Turn 22

A couple of EN tanks went through the forest and were destroyed by the ambushing infantry.

Most of them turned south and P0 platoon is now caught in no-man's land, smoking out and hopefully able to extract itself into better position.

My portee and PzJgr are back in familiar positions to attack the EN from the flank once more.



Turn 25

I brought in the ATGs as well and we made short work of the remaining tanks. The PzJgrs were able to move down the N-S road and engage near the intersection.

The EN infantry advance is also starting to stall since all their main firepower is destroyed.