warspite1
Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008 From: England Status: offline
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Turn 155 - Axis Turn (in real time) 11th March 1942 More bombardments - the Germans are really targeting the coastal road area. But then it stops. No further attacks to exploit. So let's see what happened. 1 + 5. This was a bit of a bonus as the 94th HAA Regt. held its position thanks to the intervention of some Royal Horse Artillery and their South African counterparts. The AA unit was almost eliminated but they at least cost the enemy 14 squads, 7 machine guns, a mortar, 3 trucks and 5 Italian tanks! The follow-up attack finished off the plucky defenders but they took another haul of Italians - 5 squads, 11 machine guns, 2 mortars, an anti-tank gun and an AA gun. 2, 6 + 8. This bombardment against my artillery costs 12 squads, 10 machine guns, 4 mortars and 13 trucks - but the biggest issue is the loss of more than a quarter of the 18 25-pounders. Pleasingly the defenders replied with counter-battery fire, costing the enemy 8 large calibre guns. There were two follow-up attacks that cost another 7 25-pounders - but the Italians lost a similar number of artillery pieces and a He-111 bomber. 3. This was the attack against the company of the 3/2nd Punjab Regiment. The Indians were almost wiped out - unsurprisingly as the Italians employed 13 artillery regiments - but managed to retreat. And they took with them 16 rifle/machine-gun squads, 15 machine guns, 2 mortars, 1 AT and 2 AA guns. 4. This was the destruction of two batteries of AA from the 25th LAA and 74th HAA Regts. 8 AA guns were lost - but again its pleasing to see that 20 squads of various types were taken with them. 7. Ahh so that explains the missing infantry. We agreed I would make no move on Turn 153 (while we sorted the Mersha Matruh issue). But when there was the mix up and this extended to 154 I hadn't noticed the withdrawal of the South Staffs Bn. This left an AA unit on its own which retreated presumably in RBC. So I now have the same problem in the hex to the north where there is no infantry defending there either That is a big problem. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now but just get on with it. 9 + 10. Two bombardments against the hex to the south of the missing infantry. 22 artillery regiments in the first bombardment and 24 in the second. The Rajputana Rifles and the AA support started with 53 rifle squads.... they end with 37... 11. This final, and relatively ineffective bombardment was against my most exposed unit - another of the 3/2nd Punjab Bn. companies.
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< Message edited by warspite1 -- 3/18/2018 9:00:17 AM >
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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805
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