Section Leaders:
Fionn Kelly & Madmatt

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German Movies for Turns 13-End

German Commander - Fionn Kelly

German AAR: Turns 13 to End

Turn 13: Unlucky for some GIs

I’m just going to sketch the outlines of this and the following turns since, really, everything has been decided by this stage and all I am doing is mopping up the forces which I’ve already crushed by the application of completely excessive firepower.

On my right the StuHs advance to roughly 60 metres from enemy-held woods. I can see at least seven American infantry markers in those woods but all of the enemy must be hiding or panicked since only one or two of those units are even bothering to fire back. Suits me fine though. I allow my 81mm mortar rounds to continue dropping onto them, causing some casualties and suppression and allow my StuHs to engage any targets they can see. In the meanwhile I begin moving the accompanying infantry forward via the foxholes. While the tanks cover the move the infantry will close. I estimate that on the entire reverse slope of this hill less than half a platoon of enemy are still able and willing to resist. This position will be taken. My slowness is merely a reflection of the fact that I don’t want to suffer too many infantry casualties and am thus willing to swap my customary dash in for guaranteed lower casualty rates.

In the centre I mostly just pound the enemy with fire from my StuHs. One of my half-squads advances to close-assault an enemy half-squad sheltering in the rubble of the building I brought down around its ears. Normally this would be a simple task but this time the one survivor lays down an awesome pattern of fire and manages to kill three of my men. I like that this sort of unpredictability is modeled. He’ll die in the end but those three casualties are losses which weren’t essential and as such I regret them. I should have simply shelled the survivor into oblivion. Ah well.

Ever since the humiliation of having some of my Panzergrenadiers surrender to the enemy I’ve wanted a little old-fashioned vengeance on those who did the capturing. My time has come… I sent one King Tiger forward and also moved my own Bn HQ command group forward. The enemy infantry wisely surrendered to my King Tiger, knowing that with such a behemoth less than a dozen metres from their position their lifespan was going to be extremely limited unless they immediately gave way. I’ve taken five prisoners. This will be the first installment on my “payback is a bitch” tour of Gary’s lines.

This is a very important picture. It shows one well-organized, fresh platoon and one Panther have made it into the enemy’s flank AND that his flank is clear for about 100 metres or so. This force will, now, wheel inwards and I’ll begin rolling up his flank. Once rolling up begins it takes a major miracle for any opponent to survive. Their room for manoeuvre becomes more and more limited, fire is coming from unplanned for directions and they begin to experience a palpable sense of hopelessness. All in all it isn’t a nice situation to find oneself in I’d imagine

Turn 14

On my left the StuHs clank slowly forward, never letting Gary a single instant of peace in which to redress his ranks, create a cohesive defence or, more importantly, any free psychological energy with which to even consider the possibilities for a counter-attack. My idea here is to deliver so many hammer blows so quickly that the opponent spends so long reeling from the very violence of the assault that he forgets to  consider all his options.

At the end of the turn one of my own 81mm mortar shells lands near the Tiger II and damages its gun. That brave tank is now immobilized and incapable of fighting on with only a single MG. Still, since the crew is Elite that is exactly what it decides to do.

 I’ll give this one more turn of artillery and StuH direct fire before committing the reserve infantry platoon to hand to hand fighting in the wooded areas. That platoon is still at roughly 80% strength so it is in good shape to quickly and cheaply push through the panickers and malingerers in the woods.

After that I’ll have to redress my lines for a turn and then move on to the hill and wooded area from which the enemy Jackson appeared. There are probably some more infantry there which need killing.

Who needs finesse anyway?

Again, brute strength and simplicity of concept is my favored approach. Why get involved in close-in fighting in woods which favors the numerically superior American troops? Simply send in 3 StuH42s and a King Tiger to blast the Amis to pieces. I am confident of having destroyed all bazooka teams in this area and thus allowed my StuHs to close to extremely close range. 

Note that, when possible, my StuHs remain unbuttoned even though they are within 40 or 50 metres of the enemy forces. I believe in remaining unbuttoned under virtually all circumstances, except a VT artillery barrage.

I believe that the enemy forces here could benefit from another turn of “seasoning” before I commit my infantry so I’ll pound them with impunity for a bit more. Poor Gary must be just about ready to tear his hair out by now since he really has absolutely no reply to anything going on on the left flank or the central hill. I feel sorry for him. That won’t cause me to go easy on him though since I think a defeat like this can be an important learning experience. I’m quite sure he won’t make some of the more obvious mistakes from this game again and, since that is so, it was a worthwhile learning experience in my opinion.

There was a nice little zook ambush on the right flank. Unfortunately for the zook team I plotted half my platoon to run directly into the trees it was hiding in. It got off one shot at the Panther which narrowly missed  but was quickly cut down by return fire.

In the background of this shot you can see my King Tiger charging forwards towards the Jumbo. I think it is about time to discuss surrender terms but I want to destroy the Jumbo before calling for Gary’s surrender. With the Jumbo gone he will know there is absolutely no chance at all of halting my forces and will be more likely to accede to my call, in my opinion.

Turn 15:The end is upon us

Knocke’s Elite Tiger crests the hill a mere twenty metres from the enemy Sherman Jumbo and quickly polishes it off with a single AP round. Elsewhere I just continue to knock the stuffing out of Gary’s forward troops with DF HE.

After this turn’s movie is seen I ask for Gary’s surrender. Realizing the hopelessness of his situation he accedes. I was, to put it mildly, surprised at the figures in the end-game screen. Let’s just say that I had lost track of the number of casualties I’d been inflicting.

Tomorrow I’ll unveil the end-game screen and discuss the game, the tactics and lessons to be learnt.