Section Leaders:
Fionn Kelly & Madmatt

 

 

The Sunken Lane

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German Commander - Fionn Kelly

NOTE: SPOILER INFORMATION. This After Action Report contains detailed information regarding units and  terrain disposition to a scenario that may be included in the release version of Combat Mission. If you wish to play this game Blind or partake in a Double Blind match then READ NO FURTHER!!!!

 

Graphics Note: While the events in this AAR were played on a very recent Beta Build of Combat Mission. The graphics, at that time, were not finalized. For Final Graphics please view the POTD Feature which runs daily here and various features on the CMHQ-Annex site.

 

Turn 16:

 

Thought Processes:

 

1.                  Well, damn it all I’m going to go and start attacking again. I’m sick to death of waiting for the 2nd reinforcing company to show up on my right flank.

 

2.                  Bil’s attack on my right flank is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for. I’m going to launch Sehmel and Bertram at Bil’s spearhead and support weapons respectively, annihilate these forces and then bring Sehmel and Bertram into reserve to strike at the 2nd company.

 

3.                  Bil’s 1st reinforcing company has been whittled down to the size of a platoon. I’m going to pull Wittenberg’s men back and abandon the panicked squad to its fate

 

4.                  I’m doing well, in fact I’m doing extremely well but the knowledge that Bil can bring a 5 or 6 to 1 local superiority to bear on any portion of my line he chooses is weighing heavily on my mind. I am resigning myself to the thought of Bil staging a breakthrough on my left flank (which is where I expect him to commit his 2nd reinforcing company) and just hoping that I can wipe out his attack on my right flank quickly enough to shuffle Sehmel and Bertram to my left flank and attack Bil’s breakthrough in the flank and rear. If I can do that I can bottle him up and attrit him into nothingness.

 

 

Orders:

 

I order Wittenberg’s platoon to pull back immediately. 16 of his men are still alive and responding to orders. In his immediate vicinity are about 11 panicked Germans. I would like to save them but, given that I expect the imminent commitment of Bil’s second reinforcing company on this flank I must, with sadness, abandon them to their fates.

 

Bertram is ordered to rush forward to the next few clumps of trees. I’m only going to run into support weapons teams here so I can afford to spread out a little and commit only one squad to each tree clump.

 

Sehmel’s men on my right are ordered to move into position to strike at the enemy infantry as they crest the ridgeline. I intend to use them to charge the enemy breakthrough next turn and want to get them into position this turn.

 

 

Action Phase:

 


Well, one of Wittenberg’s squads gets hung up on the bocage as it retreats and gets left a little behind. This wouldn’t be hugely dangerous normally but given the fact that I expect Bil’s second company to be only seconds behind me the fact that half of Wittenberg’s survivors are stuck in the danger area is worrying.

 


By the end of the turn I can see that my assumption regarding the committal of the 2nd company was correct. The first platoon of the 2nd company can be seen at the edge of the wheat field here. They cut down the squad which was late in leaving its positions and the panicked squad of Wittenberg’s platoon. Wittenberg’s platoon is now reduced to a total of 8 men. Four in the HQ team and four survivors of one of its squads. The counter-attack achieved its purpose but has wrecked one of my reserve platoons.

 


This shot shows off the dispersed nature of Bertram’s attack. They haven’t suffered a single casualty this turn and have inflicted roughly ten. One of his squads has also captured a survivor from a Vicker MMG team it overran and another is engaged in a fight with a Company HQ and a 2 inch mortar team. Looks like I’m ripping into Bil’s soft underbelly.

 


Sehmel is in position roughly 50 metres from the British breakthrough. Bil is using infantry to screen the flanks of his tanks as they transit. He’s conducting this attack well and has obviously taken the lessons taught him earlier to heart. I’m not sure if this attack will succeed or not but next turn I’m going to advance half-way to the British positions. If things look to be proceeding well then I can continue the attack. If Bil puts up too much resistance I can fall back and constitute a “threat in being”.

 

 

I’m down to 1 full-strength platoon and two half-strength platoons. I have roughly 1/3rd of the infantry combat strength with which I started ( but all my heavy weapons teams) and am facing roughly 5 platoons equivalent of enemy forces.

 

Overall I’ve faced down 12 platoons worth of enemy infantry + 1 platoon of heavy weapons + 9 tanks with only 6 platoons of my own forces. I’ve lost 4 platoons of my own infantry but wiped out 7 of his infantry platoons, the heavy weapons platoon and 4 tanks. It is an awesome total but it looks like it mightn’t be enough. Even if it proves to be enough it will still be a VERY close run thing.

 

Only four turns to go until the arrival of my reinforcements though. Once they arrive I’ll be able to push Bil off the map. My aim now is to minimize losses at this stage so that my reinforcing company will have as many survivors of the initial defending force as possible to swap stories with.

 

I WILL win the game. It’s just a matter of will I be able to win without having to rely on my reinforcements or will I have to rely on them to win. At this moment in time it has become something of a personal challenge to defeat Bil’s forces without having to rely on my reinforcements.