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Cpl_Clegg -> RE: A Newbie's Perspective-First Long Campaign:Germany Sept '39 (2/18/2005 8:17:31 AM)
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Col. Rittenhaus allowed himself a slight smile as the runner delivered the news of the enemy's defeat. "Send word to the line commanders, tell them well done. Ask them to join me when they have seen to their men." "Jawohl, Herr Kommander" the runner snapped a smart salute and clicked his heels sharply before spinning and taking off. The Polish rout had been absolute, and sorely beaten they crept back towards their lines to count their dead and lick their wounds. There would be no valiant sally from the keep to drive the inaders back, this time. The road to Warsaw was open now, and the last of the battered Polish army was all that stood between the Wehrmacht and victory. As the guns fell silent, and the dead were carried away the Colonel wondered how many days of fire lay ahead down that road. Days like today, when men rent their furies upon each other in the deadly dance of war. When the earth heaved and shook with the thunder of the guns, and when the skies grew dark and heavy with the oily smoke of battle. And when the grass ran red with the blood of young warriors, and innocence was forerver lost. The evening drew around the land as men busied thenselves among the hilltops, and the day slowly slipped into soft autumn twilight. The roar of gunfire gave way to the sound of laughter and singing again, as the soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 316th Infanterie Regiment toasted their success. Their commander listened to their revelry, and allowed his men their merriment. All had proved their courage today, and each had earned his fun. The Colonel turned and left them, his mind on the task ahead. "The way is long and hard" he thought "and there will be many days of hardship and sorrow, and days of blood and fire, but tonight we celebrate victory. Tonight we sleep with glory".
So my first battle turned out pretty well, despite some hairy moments and the men of 2nd Battallion, 316 Infanterie Regiment beat the Polish attackers in ten turns flat with very few casualties. My initial deployment put 2 platoons of Infantry out the left flank just below the extreme edge of a series of long forested ridges and hilltops, with MG's and mortars, light pillboxes and MG bunkers behind them on the ridgeline. I had pretty much the same in the centre, the fortifications just behind 3 platoons of Infantry on the hilltop right in the middle of my lines. To the front of my left flank and my centre was a long stretch of open ground which met a river at the limit of the enemies deployment zone. Just behind my units here was the main three groups of objective hexes and was where I figured the enemy would concentrate his attack. The right flank was a hilly area with rough ground infront of it which met a river not far from the limit of my deployment. Along here I grouped one platoon of Infantry, dug in on the hill with my engineers and 4 AT guns behind them. I had 2 MG bunkers here also to chew up then enemies squads before they got too close. The right flank was less favourable terrain for the enemy to attack so I didn't worry too much about it, instead concentrating my firepower on the left and centre positions. I kept my Armor slightly back from my main position, out of sight but close enough if needed. I reckoned the AI would roll straight for the main hex groups and the rear ones would be safe for positioning my arty and my AO HQ unit. This turned out to be completely wrong as right on turn one my rear hex area was shelled by an intense bombardment from the enemies 100mm howitzers, suppressing my own batteries for the next two turns. It wasn't a major concern since I had intended to keep my arty quiet until the Polish units had almost reached my lines. I moved nothing on turn one, I just awaited the AI's initial attack. After the Polish move I could see a couple of armor units way off in the distance on my right flank, no visible infantry yet and no bombardment either. This quickly changed and turned into a major assault on my right, lots of Infantry in company strength with Engineer platoons supported by mixed tank units and Cavalry. There was a similar if slightly smaller force approaching the bridge that crossed the river in the centre of the map. I began to panic at that stage, having placed most of my force on the left to protect the valuable objective hexes. I'd been counting on the AI to mount an attack there, and left my right flank weaker as a result. At this stage I still hadn't fired a shot at the enemy, and he was edging closer to my weaker flank in large numbers. If his armor could dodge the heavy pillbox rounds, and it eventually did when it got closer, and suppress my Infantry enough there was a good chance he could force my units back and opening a gap for his infantry to exploit. I studied things a bit before planning my next move and decided to let my AT guns have a pop at the armor as it came into range and see how they fared against the lightly armored W37's and as the Polish moved up they knocked out 4 of them before they fired a single shot at my troops, with the pillboxes having similar results in the centre. As his infantry approached they drew murderous fire from my MG's and bunkers, causing many casualites among his squads. I picked my targets and took down 3 platoon HQ's and one of his supporting 46mm GL teams with crossfirng MG's. I was off to a pretty good start, although having made the mistake to picking the wrong flank to concentrate my defences my units were performing well and keeping the enemy pinned. His big guns pounded my front positions, and my troops started to feel the suppression rising. Two squads from the centre bolted from their position with light casualties, and the rest lay pinned in their foxholes. His Infantry units were still 5-6 hexes from my own lines, so I had at most two turns to rally my boys and get em back to their position. I decided to lay a smokescreen three hexes in front of the centre and right flank to reduce the accuracy of the enemy batteries by blocking his line of sight, but it also had the added advantage of allowing me to ambush his units as they emerged from the smoke right into some concentrated rifle, mortar and machine gun fire. At this point Regiment managed to direct 4 Henschel strike planes our way to bolster our defences, so we could expect them to arrive within a couple of turns.
Turn 4 brought more casualties among our centre Infantry units, but they held their ground and rallied reasonably well, just barely holding off the Polish attack. On the right flank, two of the pillboxes just behind my centre position destroyed another platoon of enemy tanks, this time 3 TKS units and a Vickers 3jw. Their infantry was drawing nearer despite heavy fire from my MG's, their weight of numbers keeping their attack going. After the AI moved my smoke rounds arrived, all pretty much on target. This bought me some time to reduce suppression and get my units back into place to ambush the advancing enemy next turn. The smokescreen fell right in front of the attacking Infantry, and I followed this up with a call for all batteries to open fire on the enemy next turn. My ambush worked, and every Polish squad that appeared was cut to pieces in seconds and either pushed back or destroyed. The Polish first wave was ineffective, the Infantry pinned under heavy fire with high casualites and their armor lying in smoking ruins across the battlefield. Despite their initial retreat, my units were holding on extremely well and had suffered pretty light casualties among the squads. The AI was at this stage sending in his second wave, this time with heavier tanks, 7-TP's, TKS and Vickers units and they rumbled ever nearer. My arty bombarded the crap out of the retreating Infantry, and generally gave them a hard time as they fled routed. My air arrived and was immediately put to work strafing the enemy, inflicting heavy casualties and knocking out three enemy tanks when they attacked on the following turn. His second wave arrived at the centre of my lines, enveloping the end of the ridge despite constant and heavy fire from pretty much everything I had that could shoot at them. My units were pinned down, and his reserve armor was escaping the big guns of my pillboxes and AT guns and beginning to harass my Infantry. The right flank looked about the same, with tanks hosing my units with cannon and MG fire. His baterries added their voice to the debate once again with suppressing fire on my hilltop positions. About 2-3 tank platoons with a mixed company of Infantry and Engineers had hit the centre, with almost the same simultaneously hitting the right flank and it looked like they were beginning to force a break in my lines, despite the initial attrition. It was time to bring the full weight of my firepower to bear, and my Panzers rumbled their way to aid my beleagured troops. My arty fired non stop, causing further mayhem and the air strikes continued unabated. On the Polish move on turn 8, his tanks held their ground and tried to take out my fixed fortifications instead of ripping through my Infantry. Had they done this, bypassed the strongpoints and taken the high ground it would have been possible to beat back my own armor advancing from around the flanks of his attack. I was lucky the AI didn't fully exploit this as I would have done, but he did bring up his infantry further to support his tank units attack. This proved equally fruitless, as my Panzer 35(t)'s completely flanked his units destroying every last one along with my AT guns and pillboxes guns, and driving off his Infantry with Ib's in support despite losing 3 of the heavier tanks to mechanical problems. My Infantry units rallied and joined in the move and brushed aside his weak follow up counterattack easily to completely break Polish force morale and win the day by the end of turn 9.
Everything said and done I was completely chuffed with the performance of my units and the way I handled them. I learned some valuable lessons about artillery support and the effective use of AT guns and fixed fortifications. These units proved invaluable and instrumental in the defeat of the attacking enemy. My infantry were pressed hard during the battle but for the most part held their ground until the Armor could hit the enemy at the flanks and devastate the Polish tanks and their Infantry. All in all, it was a good first battle and I'm pleased with the result. It's given me a great boost to my confidence and fired my blood for further action. So it's time to rest a refit my units, throw in some upgrades and get on to the next battle.
Final Score and Casualty list:
Germany:5398-Decisive Victory
Poland:87-Crushing Defeat
German Casualties:27 men
Polish Casualties:637 men, 2 artillery, 57 afv's
Weather:Clear
Vis in hexes:59
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