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IChristie -> AAR (Alpha Testing) (2/16/2003 12:52:31 PM)
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Hi Guys,
I had been working on testing the second map in the game, just kind of playing around with different scenarios. I ended up having so much fun with this one that I just had to share it.
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CAVEATS
This is still an alpha version of the game so please don't get too concerned if its still rough around the edges.
Please forgive the tactical stupidity of this particular engagement, I was pretty much trying to get a US Tank Bn into close quarters with some Soviet tanks to see what would happen. I have tried to come up with a plausible story about how it might happen...
My apologies to Byron13 (and anyone else from that world) if I have butchered the terminology etc too badly
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Enjoy!
ic
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0600 26/11/89 - Near Rotenfels, FRG
B Company 2 Battalion
LARIAT ADVANCE! Two words I never want to hear again. Looks like there's no danger of that. This time they were spoken in earnest. Can it really be two days ago? Seems like two weeks. In the last two days it feels like I've seen half of the FRG! We'd been in Corps reserve until last night. The situation must have been fluid 'cause we've occupied three different positions in that time but we haven't seen any action yet. Then last night we got new orders.
Move south and to cover the flank of the Corps area.
It was supposed to be a quiet sector but just before dusk last night Ivan hit the Cav screen hard and Corps is afraid they may be trying an end run. The enemy strength is unclear as the screening force evaporated at about midnight and there hasn't been any really good recon since. OUr orders are to move to an area South of Rotenfels and take up covering positions while a main defensive position is organized. If they old man said it once, he said it a hundred times at the O-Group last night. DO NOT BECOME DECISIVELY ENGAGED. "Our job is not to defeat the whole friggin' soviet army boys, just punch 'em hard, nail 'em down, call for help and get the H*** out."
So right now we're coming up on the typical little German city of Rotenfels on the Etter river. Our new positions are just south of town where the road turns south. Immediately to our front a small stream enters the Etter just west of town. The recon platoon is stopped just this side of the bridge. I can see Lt. Brown thinking it over in his head. We went over this part at the O-Group too.
"Clear the town, sir?"
"Yes, Brown"
"Are they giving us some grunts, sir?"
"Nope"
"That's nuts, sir!"
"Nevertheless, you're going to do it Brown. And what's more, you're going to like it!"
Aparently Corps has a bug up their butt about spetnatz units mining strategic junctions and every inch of this route has to be driven over so that we know the route is clear for the eventual counter attack. So now, the recon guys have to drive right through town and A Company has to provide cover while they do. Really stupid work for an M1. I don't like the feel of it.
Once they're part way through my outfit will move through town to help cover them on the other side. Bn HQ is one bound behind us with the mortars and C and D company's are back up the road another km and a half
0645 26/11/89
The Recon guys have been picking their way through town for almost an hour now, They're just about out the southern edge, A company is closing up with them to provide overwatch out the other side and we're gunning it down the road to back them up.
0652 26/11/89
"CONTACT, WAIT OUT"
The sound of gunfire erupts from the SE. Before the contact report is even completed the engagment is over. Seems the recon guys and A company nearly ran right over Ivan's Combat Recce Patrol on the southern edge of town. The carnage was brutal and next thing you know the Russians are guests at their own BBQ.
As Capt Tom Kronk in A Company reports
"SITREP, Enemy destroyed continuing with tasking"
you can hear the cheering in his tank in the background. Not a good idea to relax too soon. Before the last shot is even fired the Russian artillery is already landing in the village. The Recon guys get a pretty good pasting and lose a bradley mobility killed. Brown sounds a little shook up as he calls it in. The intensity of the barrage goes on building for 15 minutes and pretty soon Ivan is searching the whole town and we're weaving our way through debris and shellholes as the 122mm round burst all around us.
0700 26/11/89
Back at the Western end of town the old man has obviously decided he doesn't want to put his head any further into the noose. He orders the recon guys to take up a position of observation on the road south while A company moves E and takes up firing positions over the fields to the South. He orders us to take up similar positions to the west of the main road on the southern edge of town. He sends C company down the West side of the creek as security in case IVan thinks about going around Rotenfels to the south.
0715
As we emerge south of town I get my first good look at the fields rolling away to the south towards the village of Etternach which is about 2000m distant. The area is low and wet forming a narrow neck about 3500m wide between the Etter on the east and the stream on the west. Once past Etternach the ground starts to rise again to the south. There a several tree lines around the low lying fields so even though the area is flat out view is restricted to about 1500 - 2000m. It's not a great spot to defend. Too bad! 'Cause the road is crawling with Russian vehicles. As we pull up into position the lead company is deploying form line of march only 1500m direct to our front.
"Gunner - Target! Tank, 1500m, engage!"
"All units 2, this is 29 enemy tanks, 1500m south, engage!"
The words aren't even out of my mouth before the T-80's start to disappear in puffs of smoke and dirt. In less than 10 minutes it's all over for Ivan. The whole company is a smoking ruin. For good measure I get the mortar guys to hit the remnants just to make their day really miserable. No time to relax though as a whole herd of BMP's suddenly appears off to the left on the main road. We jockey and repeat the performance on them. The back up into the trees in a hurry but not before leaving 6 or 7 burning vehicles behind.
The company net erupts as the guys start whooping it up.
"All units, this is 29, put a lid on it. That won't be the last of them. Get into cover and watch your zones"
0730
Sure enough, over on the left in the recon and A company position, more arty starts falling. Judging by the rising column of smoke and dust, things are getting hot over there. We get our share as well, but nothing too severe. Mind you I'm getting a pretty good headache from the constant hammering of hot shrapnel on steel. SOme of the concussions actually shake the tank pretty good as well. I really start to get worried when they start dropping smoke all across our left front. In between salvos we can hear A LOT of vehicle noise, but visibility is down to 1000m in the clear. The thermal sights help but the trees along the road mask most of the vehicles. After a few fruitless shots, I order the platoons to hold their fire until we have decent targets.
0735
The shelling next door continues to intensify. The whole SE part of town is nothing but a mass of bright flashes and rolling clouds of smoke and debris. Tom Kronk obviously decides that discretion is the better part of valour and orders Alpha to pull back. I'm guessing that he figured with that much hardware landing on his head and with visibility of about 1500m there was no way he could avoid getting "decisively engaged" so he headed back to the centre of town. I guess I'll never know what he was thinking, 'cause I never saw him again.
0745
When Brown sees A Company pulling pole, he wastes no time getting out himself. Unfortunately his sitrep is garbled, so we didn't even know we were all alone.
0800
The first Russian Tank bn completes their deployment from line of March and drive straight into the SE edge of town.
0815
They roll right over the original A company position and into town. It's not clear what happened next but according to the recon guys, Alpha company had got themselves into a total snarl trying negotiate the center of town in when they got hit by the barrage. Next thing anybody knew there were T-80's and BMP's everywhere and the they were in a knife fight. They called down our own artillery... then things got really confusing!
I first realized that Alpha company was no longer in position when they started calling for arty at grid references behind our own positions. From the sound of the radio traffic, I could tell that things were not going well. Ivan was stonking us pretty good as well, so figured it ws time to skedaddle. I gave the platoons the order to retire to our RV point on the West edge of town near the bridge. I spent a hair raising 20 minutes picking my way through the ruins of town as the artiller kepy plastering the whole place.
0845
Things did not sound good over on Alpha's front. At one point the sitreps stopped all together then Tom's Company First Sgt came on the line to report that they were taking heavy fire. I figured that could not be good news for Tom.
Miraculously I managed to get the whole company out of the town and regrouped. As we were coming up to the RV point I saw the HQ group headed west at high speed. The whole town was one big cloud of dust and smoke there was no way to tell what was going on. I saw one of the Recon Bradleys tear out of a side street and down the main road, before disappearing in a cloud of dust as a building collapsed right on it. I didn't see if they got out or not.
0900
Orders were coming thick and fast now from the old man. He told the recon platoon to get back into town and reestablish contact with Alpha company. Alpha wasn't answering the phone any more and that didn't bode well. I was told to get back up the road to the west and take up a position in reserve where we could get some more ammo and a fuel top up. We also needed to assess our damage. All the tanks were still running but after almost 2 hours of continuous shelling we had a lot of minor damage.
Meanwhile Delta was told to move forward to the W side of the creek and cover recon and Alpha (if they were still around) as they withdrew from Rotenfels.
Charlie was ordered to move west up the ridge to the W of the Creek and continue to protect against an attempt to bypass the city to the south.
0915
The radio orders were barely complete when Charlie company when "CONTACT, Wait OUt" crackled in my head phones again. This time it was Charlie company. It seems a company of tanks tried to cross the creek just in front of their position. They got caught in the soft ground and Charlie made mincemeat of them in short order. Still I knew from bitter experience over the last few hours - not to get cocky. Ivan was clearly happy to scarifice whole companies doing "recce by death". If Charlie didn't disengage quickly they were going to be looking at whole lot more trouble!
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Here's a couple of screen shots of the situation at 0930. First a zoomed in look with the grid off. (note the alpha version smoke effects ;))
[IMG]http://www.militarygameronline.com/closecombatian/FPGScreen0001.jpg[/IMG]
And the same situation with the map zoomed out and the grid turned on
[IMG]http://www.militarygameronline.com/closecombatian/FPGScreen0004.jpg[/IMG]
.... more to follow, over
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