"Devil's Descent" CM:BN AAR - Now with 100% more community participation! -

[Dowly]

Myeah, guess I'm doing "ok". Casualties are starting to mound up, tho.
Think I've lost 10 guys in total and quite a few are wounded.
Also, the damn mortars are pissing me off still, the other one has only 6 grenades
and the other expended all of his during the first mission.

Ah well, at least I got Spurgin's platoon to help out now.

I hope I don't come across any armor, I hate fighting armor as infantry in CM.

[Oberon]

Move westwards. Staying in one place for too long is just asking for trouble.

[Dowly]

"Bridge to Somewhere" (Part 1/2)

0345 6 June 1944, Village S of C CO. DZ

"Bautz, gather up Johnson's boys. We're taking this road together."

***

0430 6 June 1944, W of Village

One of the scouts returned to Evans as the paratroopers made their way down the
road. "Looks like a bridge over a river up ahead, sir," said the scout.

"Good. I think there are a couple of rivers just to the east of Sainte-Mére-Èglise.
We're on the right track!" Evans turned to his platoon commanders. "Ok, boys,
we take this bridge, and we should be in Sainte-Mére-Église in no time."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Mission

Seize the bridge in order to be able to continue your advance westward.

We're trying to get to Sainte-Mére-Èglise, and this bridge is a major choke
point along the road. We need to find a way across the river in order to continue
our advance.


Friendly Forces

The entire company is assembled and ready to seize the bridge.


Enemy Forces

The bridge is likely held by enemy infantry in unknown strength. Be cautious
and expect anything.


3rd Platoon moves along the left flank and cleans up any pockets of Germans
they might encounter. Evans leads the rest of C Company from building to building
towards the bridge.



Both teams send their scouts ahead.


With no threats visible, Spurgin's 1st Platoon is ordered to prepare to move
through the hedgerow and occupy the buildings on the other side.


Meanwhile, the 3rd platoon have more or less secured the first batch of buildings.


Lt. Ford's 2nd platoon is called in, in case they are needed to support 1 Plt.


1st platoon's scouts head through the hedges.


The scouts report no contacts, good enough for me. 1st platoon, move up!

[Dowly]

"Bridge to Somewhere" (Part 2/2)


I pull the troops out of the buildings and give Spurgin's platoon the order to
move in.


3rd platoon is given the task of hitting the Germans' flank.


Under fire from both the 1st platoon and the elements of the 3rd, the first
line of buildings is quickly cleared.


Time to get rid of those pesky Germans on the other side of the river.
1st Platoon's mortar team gets the job.


More Germans fell now that I have a solid line of guns pointed at them.


Things calm down a bit. No time to rest, 2nd and 3rd platoon, move up!


2/2 makes a backdoor into the building, while 2/3 keeps a small group of Germans
pinned down in the trench.


The German(s) in the trench quickly start to retreat, only to be gunned down
on the open field.


Oh wow, I was expecting 6-7 KIA.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Déjà Vu"

0600 6 June 1944, Bridge W of Village

"****," observed Evans. "Where the hell is this ****ing city?" He threw his arms
up in frustration.

"God damn it," concurred Bautz.

The pair had encountered another road sign to Sainte-Mère-Èglise, this time pointing
along the direction they'd just come from.

"****. See if you can find anyone or anything that can tell us where the hell we are!"
barked Evans.

Bautz began barking orders in turn. Over the next few minutes, the scouts of
Company C fanned out and began looking for clues. "The rest of you, get some rest,"
said Evans. Within minutes, most of the company had found a comfortable patch of ground,
and had fallen into a sleep as deep as only soldiers in combat are capable of.

***

0645 6 June 1944

"Sir! I found a local!" reported one of the returning scouts. The GI had a young
farm boy by the hand, whom he brought over to the company command post, such as it was.

"Do you speak English?" asked Evans, slowly and clearly. Without waiting for a
response, he asked, "Where are we?"

The boy shook his head in confusion.

"Here, sir," said Bautz. "I speak a little French."

"Go ahead," said Evans. He moved aside for his XO to begin. Bautz talked for a bit
with the boy. Evans didn't understand any of it, and he began examining his
surroundings, and trying to see anything that could help.

"He says we're at the bridge over the Merderet," reported Bautz.

Evans scratched his head. "The Merderet?" That's well west of Sainte-Mère-Èglise,
he said. "Ask him where we are in relation to the city."

Bautz began his stumbling conversation in French again. After a while, he turned
back to Evans. "I think he said we're northwest of Sainte-Mère-Èglise. He said
we should go back through the town we came in from, go a bit to the east, and we
should hit a big highway from there that we should take south straight into the city."

Evans nodded. "That must be the road that Spurgin found."

The boy spoke up again. Bautz had to ask him to repeat a few things, but he got
the gist of it and returned to Evans. "He says the Krauts have been uprooting and
either destroying or turning road signs around. That's probably why we ended up over here."

"Well, ****. Nothing more for it now. Let's head back." He approached the boy.
"Thank you," he said slowly. He gave the boy one of his rock-hard chocolate bars.
The boy seemed to appreciate it anyway.

[Oberon]

Sound tactic, we did the same during the invasion scare. Road signs were moved or taken down, railway station signs painted over or removed, heck we even built 'dummy towns' which had lights on at night to confuse bombers.

Still, at least these guys made it down with their guns and mostly in the target area rather than scattered all over the French countryside like their compatriots in the 101st.

[Dowly]

Yes, guns are good.

------

"Déjà Vu" (Part 1/2)

Mission

Retake the town. In particular, seize the church and the eastern exit.
Destroy the German forces in the town.

Desired endstate: no Germans left in town, and our company prepared to re-orient
ourselves and figure out how to get into Sainte-Mère-Èglise.


Friendly Forces

The entirety of C Company is on hand.


Enemy Forces

It is likely that enemy forces in the village are mostly infantry.
However, now that the invasion has begun in earnest, all guarantees are off.


I start this one by purely scouting with the 1st Platoon.


The immediate area to the front looks clear, so 3rd Platoon starts to scout out
the right flank.


3rd Platoon begins to take fire from the church, but it seems to be only a small
group of Germans in there.


Small group of easily scared Germans.


2nd Platoon start their advance along the right side of the street. Their goal
is to secure the church and get troops up that tower.


A German MG42 team opens up on Jenkins' 1/2, no casualties however.
Need to get a mortar team to take care of that.


1/2 assaults the church, which appears to be abandoned.


Meanwhile, 1st Platoon punches a hole through the hedges. They should be able
to give good covering fire from inside of those buildings.

[Hottentot]

Awesome read and great pictures. The only downside it that they make me wish the series would revisit the Eastern front...

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Hottentot

The only downside it that they make me wish the series would revisit the Eastern front...

Only if they hire the same amazing voice actors to do the Finnish voices!!

[Dowly]

"Déjà Vu" (Part 2/2)


2/1 rushes to the buildings under fire, fortunately they take no casualties.


On the right flank, 3rd Platoon starts it's advance eastward after making sure
there's no Germans in any of the buildings. 2nd Platoon's 1st squad is seen
climbing the church tower in the background.


Ok.. Bad idea!


3rd platoon quickly forces the Germans on the right flank to concentrate on
something more important than a single squad in a church; their own survival.


Jenkins' squad suffered quite heavily in their attempt to climb the tower.




Back on the right flank, 3rd platoon goes for the brute force approach.


Someone's about to have a VERY bad day.


2/2 heads over to the church to help out Jenkins.


They try to climb the tower together, hoping to reach the wounded and get them treated.


But the Germans have other plans.


3rd platoon's turn to save the day, once again.


Rifle grenade in yo face!!


And that's why you are not the 1st squad, Johnson.


He soon realized that a rifle might be a more appropriate tool for the situation.


Suddenly, it got very quiet. Not a single shot rang for the remainder of the turns.


Bull, I'm calling win on this one.

[Oberon]

Aaah, the deadly field binoculars, a fearsome weapon.

[Dowly]

"Stem the Tide"

0730 6 June 1944, Village S of C CO. DZ

"****, I didn't think we'd need to clear this goddamn village twice," spat Bautz.

"Neither did I." The two men tried to shut out the cries of the wounded from the
second assault on the town. Ford and Johnson approached; Ford came from the fields
to the north, while Johnson came from the church. "What do you have for me, boys?"

Ford spoke up. "We found a crashed glider just to the north. Poor bastards were
shot to pieces by the Germans as they exited. Still, we got plenty of ammo from
them. With your permission, sir, I'll have the company take turns grabbing ammo."

Evans nodded, Ford went about his duties, and Johnson reported in.
"Found a ladder in one of the barns. I think we may be able to use it to get into
the church tower."

"Right. Let's take a whack at it."

Johnson motioned toward the church. "Sure thing, sir. Lead the way."

***

"Seems safe, sir," shouted the young private who had been sent up to test the ladder.

"Right, I'm coming up," replied Evans. Upon reaching the top of the bell tower,
Evans raised his binoculars to his eyes. As he looked to the south, he could see
the city of Sainte-Mère-Èglise. "Looks good, boys, I can see the city."
Evans then began scanning the terrain to see if he could tell how to get there.
He saw a large highway running north to south, and then he saw the trucks moving
down that road at high speed. With a sigh, Evans climbed down the ladder.
"Well, I gave you the good news," he said to his assembled lieutenants.
"The bad news is, the Krauts are sending a ****load of guys down the road."

"****ing great," moaned Bautz. "Well, what do we do?"

"Sir!" cried Blaes. "I got the radio working."

"Well," replied Evans, "maybe we'll get our answer here. See if you can reach
battalion. Or maybe the 505th."

Blaes fiddled with the radio for a bit, and then reported, "Sir, I've got 2/505
on the horn."

Evans picked up the radio receiver. "Captain Evans, commanding officer, Company C,
1st Battalion, 508th PIR, whom am I speaking to?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Parkinson, CO of 2/505," came the response.
"What's your position, Captain?"

"I'm holed up in a village north of Sainte-Mère-Èglise. I've got my whole company
on hand, but we've taken some casualties. I take it you all need help down there?"

"Hell yes we do, Captain. Krauts are sending a ****load of infantry down the
highway to the north. See if you can do something about it. My men are holding
the north bridge to the town, but they're badly outnumbered."

"Yes, sir. I'll do what I can. Hope to see you in a couple of hours."

"So do I, Captain. Parkinson out."

Evans assembled his company. "All right, everyone! Listen up! The Krauts are
sending a lot of guys down the highway from the north to Sainte-Mère-Èglise.
We need to help the 505th out and get into the city ourselves. We're going to
ambush the Krauts on the road, try to kill as many as we can, and then link
up with the 505th at the northern bridge to the town."

As the ment set to work preparing to move out and gathering supplies from the
glider, only the officers remained with Evans. "Sounds good, sir," said Spurgin.
"But do you know where we're going to ambush them Jerries?"

Evans smiled. "I saw an excellent spot from the church tower, actually. You'll see."

-------

Weekend break!

[Dowly]

"Stem the Tide" (Part 1/2)

Mission

Destroy as many German forces as possible and then fall back before taking too
many casualties.

This is a good ambush point to kill as many Germans as possible. However, more
important is the survival of the company. Fall back if the inevitable German
counterattack is too dangerous.


Friendly Forces

We have the entirety of C Company available. We have been resupplied from
glider drops.


Enemy Forces

The enemy forces moving to attack Sainte-Mère-Èglise seem to consist of truck-
borne infantry supported by a handful of armored vehicles.


I'm kinda starting to run out of guys here, but this should do it. 3 plt, HQ and
1 plt can shoot anything that comes down the road, while 2 plt covers the
left flank.


Two trucks come racing down the road. The first one almost gets to the exit
point(the green bit on the ground), but fortunately 3 plt manages to stop it.


The second truck is ambushed by 1 plt just after it crosses the bridge.


The next wave of Germans seems to stop at the hedgeline instead of coming
down the road. Clever girls.


Luckily I got those freshly supplied mortars, so Evans calls in one of them
to rain on the hedgeline.


Reaaally could use that mortar strike right about now!!


Bwahahahahaa-


-ahaahaAHAHAHA!!! MORE!! MORE!!!!


Take that!


And that! Giving up alrea-

[Oberon]

[CCIP]

Good work so far Dowly, especially with Deja Vu! You did somewhat better on that one than I did - that was the one that had me pulling my hair out, cause it sure was a costly one retaking the town. TBH I would've kept a platoon in there to see what would happen, I suspect it would've been possible to keep the Germans at bay.

I kept quiet cause I didn't wanna spoil the Stug surprise for you. I am also gonna keep quiet now cause I don't wanna keep spoiling it, but keep it up!

[Dowly]

Deja Vu was PITA, but I'd play 3 of them in a row with no resupplies rather
than go against not one, but two StuGs. And not just any StuGs, but StuG IIIGs!