JVega
Posts: 25
Joined: 5/2/2005
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Hi all. This is my first post ever in these forums and my first AAR ever written for any game, ever.. so have mercy on me, eh? =)
It's written from the point of view of the commanding officer in the field, NOT my view. The character is not supposed to represent me in anyway, I just chose that view to make things interesting. =) The game was a match between me (Jennifer/USA) vs (Dark/Germany), which lasted 10 turns... because I forgot to change the settings from my last 450 point battle versus the AI. Argh! Anyway, I played the game with the intention to write an AAR, and before I noticed the fatal error in my game set up, it was too late, and I had most of the AAR written already. So.. here it is!
btw; if you see any errors in dialogue or from a 'realistic' point of view, please share! I'm always trying to better my writing skills. The exclution of lower ranking soldiers calling the superiour 'sir' was excluded because for the longest while, I wasn't sure if I was gonna have the commander male or female. Anyway:
The Battle of Bamau (by Jennifer Vega)
August, 1945. It's cold and raining. The only light we have is the faint moon light, but even that's not much, considering the heavy rain. It's miserable.
It's just the way I like it.
The small town of Bamau is just down the road. I order the mortars to take position at the bottom of the hill, while I march forth with my rangers. The commands are clear; the raners will take up defensive positions in the city to hold back the Germans. We will fight for every building if we have to and force them into a retreat. Then, we'll charge and take the forest.
In the south, a small cluster of houses half a kilometre away from the town, are our flank guards. Four squads of rangers, keeping a lookout and ready to pounce at the enemy if need be.
The two flamethrower tanks take places in the reserves. I don't want to risk them yet. They'll be handy when we need to torch enemy buildings.
It wasn't comfortable that reports of enemy units coming in before we had even gotten ourselves dug in. A mechanized troop of sorts, followed by two halftracks. They had taken the small patch of forest south-west of the town. I gave command to my rangers to stand by and watch them, but remain undetected. Four squads of rangers are no match to a full army of enemies. We have no real idea how many they are, and I wont risk leaving the city in case they have tanks.
We have anti-tank weaponry, of course, but in the plains we're doomed against tanks. But in the urban territories, we can take them out with point-blank rockets or immobilize them with grenades. Eitherway, we're staying inside of the town and not leaving. Not until we're certain we can take on the Germans on their own turf.
Knowing time is not on my side, I move the machine guns into position, so that they can mow down any one entering from the main road. A secondary machine gun is placed to guard the flank. I send two teams to flank both streets, so that if any tank/truck drives into the city, they get ambushed and destroyed. I do not fear their armored units when in the city.. but I do fear their infantry. I hope they're not packing the SS...
But that thought is knocked clear out of my mind; an artillery barrage hits the town! I count six explosions, but they could very well have been more. The house on the opposite street crumbles messily and smoke rises all over the place. The radio remains silenced though; my troops are well trained. There's no panic.
"Report."
The radio hisses, "No casualties, wounded or killed. I .. can't say the same about the civilians."
I frown and put the radio away, then wave my squad over. We head across the street and duck between the many alleys and buildings, heading over to our troops at the southern edge of town. The Germans know we're here, and that means they're probably on the offense.
I'm proven right just seconds afterwards. The radio starts barking at me; "Men down! Men down! Two mean dead! Pulling back from the edge of the forest! I repeat! Men down! A German vehicle opened machine gun fire upon us!"
"Report! Location!"
"Southern village, left flank!"
"Ranger squads, right flank! Close in if possible, relieve the left flank and open fire! Shoot to kill!"
"Roger!"; the voice of the second squad leader.
I wait, barely breathing. I hear the shooting in the distance. Finally, we hear something;
"Enemy down! I repeat, enemy is down! Single enemy vehicle, armed with a machine gun. We hit it's flank with an anti-tank rocket. It wont be bothering us any more."
"Good job boys!" I grin, "Set up a defensive perimiter. There will be more."
"Also, reporting an enemy sighting in the center forest! It looks like one of the halftracks. Requesting mortar fire upon their location."
"Roger; granted. Contact the mortar squad."
"Roger, over and out."
I whipe a single drop of sweat from my eyebrow. First contact has been made, and I've not even set up my defenes properly yet. My men are still running across the village and setting themselves up. I've already lost two men. I've got a bad feeling about this mission. Real bad.
Good news always bring me up tho'. Gunfire is heard again, both distant and nearby, followed by two radio reports; "An enemy armored car approached and opened fire! We returned fire and hit with an anti-tank rocket right on it's front! The car is out and the crew is dead!" -- "Enemy halftrack entered village on the western road! We hit it's flank with an anti-tank rocket! The halftrack is out, we don't know if the crew is alive or not!"
Good. Good! So far, so good. The death of those two men still rests on my concience but I can't let that distract me.
"Southern squads, head west and try to take over the forest. Keep your guard up! Do not let them flank you!"
- "Roger."
"If you see the enemy, lay low and make them come to you! Make them play your game, don't play theirs."
- "We got it, we know it, you don't have to tell us. Movin' out!"
I nod to my self. The defenses are ready. When the Germans come a knockin', we'll be ready. I retreat with my own squad back across the street and park in the building next to the machine gun nest. Now it's to dig down and get ready. In the distance I hear artillery fire, and then reports from the right flank being temporarily pinned down. I grit my teeth; that means the left flank has to slow down. I cross my fingers and hope that no enemies come in contact with them now.
I wait...
and I wait...
Finally, a report; "We're pulling back! They're battering us with a steady artillery barrage! We can't remain! I repeat, we're pulling back! Rest of you, go on without us!"
"What!? You son of a--, left flank! Report!"
- "We're right at the targets. We'll take them on your command."
"The Germans will spot you once you take the edges of the forest, I bet... even if they don't, the chance is to great. You have to be ready for them."
- "With all due respect, we were born ready."
"And you're gonna die ready tonight unless you shut up and do as I tell you! Wait for the rest of the right flank to make a rearguard, and then report to me! Then, and only then, will you move in and take those targets! I cannot risk losing my southern flank before the Germans have diverted their attention fully onto the city, you hear me!?"
- "Alright, alright! We're holding our positions and setting up guard until they get here."
He grumble to my self. Commanding a company of rangers is a love-hate relationship. In my humble opinion, they're the best of the best. They do their job and they do it right. But for me, some one that hasn't proven herself yet, their respect is a rarity. Some one will end up dead before too long because of this.
A couple of minutes pass, before I get another report; "Right flank in place. Left flank has green light."
"Right!", I reply, "Left flank, go go go!"
- "Roger! Moving out!"
Again, there's silence, until reports come back to me that the forest hill is ours, which effectively makes the north/south road our property. Well, it would... if the German's hadn't dropped that damn half-track right next to it. It's obvious we have to deal with that halftrack before we can make any other kind of advances.
"Flame squadron, report."
- "Flame squadron, in reserve."
"I need you two to move out. Take the western road out and head for the center hill. We spotted an enemy halftrack there and I need you to destroy it and occupy the hill."
- "Uhh.. roger. Won't we get infantry support?"
"No. If things get hairy, pull back immediately. Do not put yourselves in unnessisary danger. I'd like to have you around if the Germans assault."
- "Roger that, moving out."
I put the radio away again and sigh heavily. It isn't until I take a good look out the window when I realize my error; the horizon is red. It's dawning. ****.
I grab the radio again, "Flame squadron! Stop! Pull back and take your place in the reserves again! Dawn is here and we cannot risk having you out in case they have tanks!"
- "Roger. Thank God. Moving back to reserves as we speak."
"Right. The rest of you, dig in the best you can. We'll hold this town until HQ says otherwise. May God have mercy on us all if they're packing howitzers."
-----Technical-----
Right, the battle was fairly short because I was stupid enough to forget to increase the turn ammount. We got 10 turns, when we could've done with up to 20 or 30!
Anyway, my plan was pretty simple. First I'd set up a southern flank with four squads of Rangers. These guys are sneaky bastards and pack anti-tank weapons in every squad, which means that planting them in a forest next to a road and close to a victory point, means they get to really piss off the Germans. :) We saw an example of this when a halftrack and an armored car were destroyed next to the small village. I was hoping for further battles when I took the forested hill, but no such luck thanks to the turns. I had plans of moving one of the two squads (the "Left flank" of the south flank) over the ridge and place them in a forest alongside of it, so I'd know of the Germans before they'd have a clue about me, AND I'd be able to ambush them. :)
The main plan wise, I didn't think I could take Dark on head to head. I'm not too sure about my skills in SP:WaW yet, so I decided that even if this was a meeting engagement, I would try and force him to play it on my terms. I immediately took Bamau, flooded it with my troops, set up guards alongside of the road and put them into ambush positions. I also placed four squads of soldiers on the edge of town. That way I was hoping I could exchange fire with Dark before he'd have the luxury of using Bamau's buildings for cover. If he'd push me out of the edge of town, I'd fall back, set up a new round of ambushes and wait... if he'd push me back again, I'd repeat until either he'd run out of soldiers (assaulting a town is extremely hard on you casualty wise) or I'd run out of moral and would have to fall back.
To help me with this plan, I had two tanks in reserves, each equipped with a flamethrower. Should the Germans gain the upper hand and my rangers would need support, I'd have two tanks to torch with. Furthermore, the tanks STILL had their tank guns, so if the Germans would show up with tanks as well, I could actually have a fighting chance.
The downside was that this was all very expensive, and the only piece of artillery I got was a tiny mortar squad that came with my ranger company. The most it did was pin down his halftrack on the hill... I don't think I damaged it at all.
Once I had taken the hill with my southern flank, and realized he wasn't too eager to attack the town, I steamed out my flame-tanks at his center hill. My plan was to destroy his halftrack, grab the victory points and then fall back. My hopes were that this would make him fall back from the right-most flag to retake the center, and then would try and assault the 'undefended' southern flank of my village. Of course it wasn't undefended.. my soldiers were just hiding right behind the front walls. :)
BUt that didn't go, because the time run out. So .. we excused ourselves with the 'dawn' issue.
Anyway, that was FUN! The next battle has already begun; a 12000 point slugfest! We're barely on the 2nd turn and already things are looking grim for both sides. Anyway.. I hoped you enjoyed!
-Jenn
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