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 6:

Thought Processes:

Left Flank:  

1.                  Giesey’s platoon is advancing well and will surely run into several MMGs as they attempt to pull back from the recon squad which Bil will have noticed last turn as it opened fire on his forces.

2.                  Bil has three tanks in close attendance to these support units. Once the extent of my attack becomes obvious he will have three choices. He can either pull them back to support his left flank ( a move which will put me in some jeopardy since a platoon of infantry simply can’t hope to stop a concentrated tank attack like that. Even if every Panzerfaust hit I actually wouldn’t have enough to destroy all his tanks.. This is a depressing thought as I contemplate this possibility ), he can charge them into the midst of my counter-attack and accept 1, or possibly two tanks lost in return for stopping my counter-attack dead and saving his support units OR he can pull the tanks back to the cross-roads,  gather his surviving infantry there and create a strong-point which I’ll either have to reduce at great cost to myself or which I’ll have to work around ( thus greatly reducing my freedom of maneuvre). This strong-point could then be used to form a strong base from which to launch his own counter-attack once his reserves arrive. I’d probably charge my tanks into the infantry since I’d figure that such aggressive behaviour would throw my German opponent off balance and restore a semblance of psychological balance but I think that Bil will be so rattled by losses that a wholesale retreat is most likely.

Centre:  

3.                  I’m going to push Bertram’s platoon down Bil’s throat.  I want to use it to kill a few British troops who ran away from the wheatfield on my right and into the woods and am contemplating having this platoon charge to the crossroads in order to secure this pivotal terrain for myself. I’d LOVE to greet Bil’s retreating tanks with a few Panzerfausts here. That’d actually make my day.

Right flank:  

4.                  I know I really shouldn’t risk my troops for little gain but I want to keep rattling Bil and so I’m going to put infantry in position close to his tanks with a view to making him afraid of making a “daring thrust” since a “daring thrust” could totally sunder my lines right now.

Summary:  

5.                  I don’t expect much action to occur this turn… I’ll kill a couple of MG and mortar teams, shoot up his tanks a little and generally let him know I’m still around while I maneuvre my forces into better positions to hold his eventual attack on my right flank. (I only have 1 platoon on-line there and I would like to put another platoon in position to help them hold.)

Orders Phase:

Giesey’s platoon is ordered to continue pushing along the road. The men are all tired or weary now and suffering a loss in combat effectiveness as a result but I can’t afford to give them time to rest. I need to keep the pressure on and convince Bil to retreat hastily.

This shot shows one of Bil’s Fireflies. This tank was the vehicle nearest Giesey’s platoon and it would appear that Bil has ordered it to close with Giesey and destroy him and his platoon. Unfortunately for Bil a Firefly’s anti-personnel capability is quite minimal and, unsupported as it is by the Sherman 75s he couldn’t be offering me a better or easier target. At the end of a turn a Panzerfaust misses but I am confident that this Firefly will be dead by next turn. His Sherman 75s are too far away to help defend it properly and it simply can’t fight off hordes of infantry in this type of terrain all by itself.

Giesey’s platoon’s dispersed formation can be seen quite easily here as can the remnants of infantry squads and MG teams trying to retreat away from his counter-attacking force. By the end of the turn two entire MMG teams ( 12 men in total) are cut down for the loss of four Panzergrenadieren.

Bertram’s platoon is ordered to push forward about twenty metres down the sunken lane. As they do so they run into three survivors of a British squad and dispatch them in a matter of seconds.

 
On my right flank I take advantage of a little-known feature of DF in CM. A unit on the top of a ridge is highly likely to be virtually invulnerable to DF HE since all “overs” will sail far overhead and into the distance and any “shorts” will land down slope of it and it will be protected by the very topography of the hill or slope. Here we see a platoon HQ unit close-assaulting a Sherman (you can see one of it’s grenades sailing towards the Sherman in this pic).

And in this picture you can see a HE shell fired at less than 20 metres range sailing right over the heads of my intrepid platoon HQ. This Sherman actually didn’t manage a single hit on the Platoon HQ during the entire turn. Chalk one up to in-depth knowledge of topography and the behavior of HE.

  By the end of the turn I can see the first British units sprinting towards the ridgeline. Bil has shifted his attack quite quickly and I can expect hand to hand fighting within the next three turns. This won’t be as easy as my initial ambush slaughter. Holding the line this time is going to cost me dearly.