Attack Assault battles

[DRG]

Originally Posted by PanzerBob

Ah Dysentery, having been there done that with the benefits of modern medicine to clear it up, it boggles my mind at the resolve the men can muster to be able to fight though that horrible affection throughout history without modern cures!!

Bob out

....and the thing is it was common in armies, it was in the Canadian army in Normandy and AFAIK all the rest too, but if it's mentioned at all it's usually a line or two and anyone whos had it or even something close to it knows just how that affects everything you do. Toss "people trying to kill you" into the mix and "living hell" only just scratches the surface.

But as I say.... it's usually something mentioned in histories, if it's even mentioned at all, as an off hand remark which I find interesting.

People who look for more "realism" in wargames don't usually consider that crapping your brains out in a trench filled with a foot of cold water during an artillery barrage qualifies........ and in the case of Agincourt nobody wants to dwell long on the thought of what it must have been like to be a knight , in full armour, with dysentry, fighting for his life.


Don

[hoplitis]

Well, as it seems the phrase "scared sh*tless" has a an additional medical component to it, when it comes to long military operations!

[RERomine]

Defending against 6:1 odds didn't turn out to be Custer's Last Stand or Rorke's Drift. I would more describe it as the Alamo.

Final results were a draw. My force was pretty much wiped out and I lost all of the flags, but did enough damage to come close to even winning. If I had been able to hold on to one set of seven flags, I would have won. As it was, I started losing the last set around turn 45 of a 50 turn battle. This was all done with a reasonably realistic force.

I've attached a screen print of the score page if anyone wants to look and I can attach the saves from my start and the last turn if anyone wants to see the battle field and get a feel for what kind of defense I used. It gives you a perspective on what you can stand up against. I had the German force, by the way

[gila]

Against 6-1 odds a draw would suffice as to leave the opponent battered and licking wounds.
Germans faced those odds in many a battle against the ruskies.
In my book,
You won the battle!
In underestimating the countless men russia could sacrifice..
Germany lost the war.

[PanzerBob]

......also do not forget your 6:1 odds were in the numbers, if I read this correctly, the odds are also modified by many other factors icluding your abilties to Command!

Bob out

[RERomine]

Originally Posted by PanzerBob

......also do not forget your 6:1 odds were in the numbers, if I read this correctly, the odds are also modified by many other factors icluding your abilties to Command!

Bob out

The odds were based on points alone. My German force was slightly more experienced so that probably shift force odds even farther off, plus I spent a lot of points on defense obstacles (wire, mines and fire trenches). I didn't have any of those nice toys the Germans had in 1944. My only ATGs were 50mm and I had no armor to support my three dismounted mech infantry companies. Panzerfausts were handy against the American tanks, however.

I looked at what I was going up against and there was a lot. It looks like five dismounted rifle companies, one engineer company, two armored infantry companies, ten tank companies, one tank destroyer company and lots of artillery and recon units. Company count runs better than 6 to 1, but 170+ tanks weren't the best in the world for an assault. I destroyed 103 of those and could have done more, but ran out of ATGs and panzerfausts. About two platoons of American infantry were destroyed and many others shot up. It's very difficult to tell what damage I did there.

[PanzerBob]

That is most certainly what I was alluding to. The 1:6 odds in numbers alone start being modified as soon as you start building your defenses, and deciding on where best to place your troops and what tactics are to be used. Of course the enemy may level this with his own tactics and specialized equipment etc. If this battle was studied from every aspect, a truer picture of the odds could possibly emerge, however there is always the X factors, the Fog of War, the Unforeseen.

Bob out

[Charles22]

RERomine: Excuse me for not reading the whole thread first, but this wasn't from a long campaign was it? Oh nevermind, I scanned around a bit and found it was not.