Quote:
Originally Posted by Oberon
If they were Stormtroopers the Amis would have just walked away unharmed.  |
That's a very good point.
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Getting Rolling" (Part 4/4)
Mortars barrage the dairy farm as I assemble my troops to attack.
Third ATG is eliminated (the '?' mark I ordered mortars on earlier)
With no visible AT threats, I move the Panzer IVs to the east side of the farm and have them fire at the buildings for the time it takes 2. Platoon to get there.
No resistance is met as 2. Plt enters the farm.
Majority of the farm looks to be abandoned, so I order one Panzer IV to guard the yard while the infantry starts to clear the buildings.
Room..
..by room.
Their defences fall apart and they begin to retreat.
With not much luck.
Wow. That was a long one. Played too carefully maybe, but I didn't want to risk my armor as I really didn't need to use them.
----------------------------------------
"Decisions"
0600, 7 August 1944, Road E of Brouains
"Bad news, sir," reported Major Klein. "Our scouts took small arms fire pushing
down the main road. Then we sent them into the village called Brouains to the west,
and they took fire there as well. The Amis appear to be well dug-in along both routes."
"Not ideal," understated von Magsburg. "Any intel on either route? We're going to
need to attack down one of them."
"We have some aerial photographs taken a few weeks ago." Major Klein handed von Magsburg
a photograph with some lines drawn in blue grease pencil. "Route A takes us through the
forest to the north. The road itself is the main road and it's paved, unlike Route B,
a gravel road that takes us through the town of Brouains. The problem is that the terrain
to either side is heavily wooded, making some perfect ambush spots. If the Amis are dug in
there as deeply as they seem to be, it'll be a knife fight in those woods. Of course, Brouains
will mean urban combat, which is no picnic either."
The company and tank platoon commanders had gathered around the battalion officers during the
discussion. The calm, collected, and experienced commander of 1. Kompanie, Hauptmann Leifheim,
took a long look at the map and said, "I'd want to stay out of the woods if I were you, Oberstleutnant.
We can't use our tanks very well unless the enemy is out in the open."
Lt. Peters, the dour and somewhat shy commander of the Panzer IV platoon, replied, "But they could
be equally useless in the town. I say go on the better-Route A."
The young, aggressive commander of 2. Kompanie, Hauptmann Wohnhas piped up. "Why not just drive
up both routes and kill all the bastards?"
Taken somewhat aback by Wohnhas' apparent bloodthirstiness, von Magsburg paused for a second.
"Well, I suppose that's an option." Regaining his composure, he looked at the map again.
"The first decision we need to make is whether or not to split our forces. Thoughts?"
Wohnhas replied, "You already know what I want to do."
Leifheim declared, "I disagree with splitting up. Our doctrine for armored units emphasizes
concentrated, powerful, single thrusts."
Klein spoke up next. "However, take a look at the map. There's a crossroads just to the west
of Brouains that is an absolutely key position for anyone trying to control the road to Chérence-
le-Roussel; it's sure to be defended strongly. If we can launch two thrusts, each of which
is strong enough to overwhelm the forces in front of them, we could hit the enemy at the crossroads
from two sides."
Von Magsburg looked to Peters, who simply shrugged. Von Magsburg then looked to Behn, who replied,
"It's your call, sir."
Von Magsburg nodded while thinking to himself. "All right, here's what we'll do..."
1) Keep the Kampfgruppe concentrated
2) Split up the Kampfgruppe and attack Brouains as well as the road to the north
