von Marwitz
Forum Guru
FrF87 Mormal Forest - AAR
My opponent and I agreed to play this scenario just three years ago and he sent me his defensive setup. Yesterday, after mere three years of contemplation about my offensive setup, updating the original VASL file, some changes of the defensive setup and some to mine again, we did indeed play it...
Set in France in May 1940, you know the basic deal. Germans pushing, French holding. The Germans need to Control two out of three victory locations at game end. Time is tight with 5.5 Turns. The Infantry Forces are very similar: Both sides have 14 squads, half Elite, half 1st line. Both hat an ART piece, both an ATG. Both sides have only light SW, where a HMG on the French side and a FT on the German side stand out. The French get four R-35 tanks, one of which the (L) version, two of which arrive as reinforcements. The Germans get five half tracks, three of which SPW251/10s with a 37L Gun and an inherent removable ATR. On top, the Germans get one Stuka with Bombs while the Turn of arrival can be selected by them. The Stuka will only be there for a single Turn. So while the 'numbers' are almost identical for both sides, the Germans have a slight edge in quality (i.e. a 468 is better than a 458. A 105 ART better than a 75 ART, etc.).
While the Germans have a slight edge in quality, their task seems quite daunting nevertheless. The map is basically divided in three areas: West of the Woods (top), the Woods, and East of the Woods (bottom). Two VC lie in the Woods, one in the small village in the East (bottom). The village consists of stone buildings and consequently, the French will be difficult to root out there, especially since the Germans is unlikely to concenrate all of his forces on it. Pushing head on through the woods and to expect to arrive on time on the VC locations in the woods appears illusionary as it will be easy for the French to stage a fall-back defence in this case. Even less quickly will the Germans progress towards the VC Locations through the woods would they not concentrate their forces to do so.
The basic dilemma for the Germans is the following: With their halftracks, they can theoretically reach both the village VC Location in the village or even the VC Location in the back of the woods quickly. But they will do so only with part of their Infantry force. And, more importantly, if they want to do it quickly, they will have to hazard substantial risks that might bring their hopes to a premature end early in the game. The French ART, the ATG and both at-start R-35s are perfectly capable to kill the German halftracks and their passengers outright. When the halftracks move, this is not trivial to pull off (+2 moving, +1 small, possibly red TH numbers for the French tanks and the same have to be BU with their One Man Turrets), but it is very much possible as well. Even the French HMG, which will very likely sit in the Steeple Location to threaten the German ART piece which may not emplace and will very likely sit on the Level 2 hill, can pose a serious threat to the German halftracks, especially firing down at them should they pass ADJACENT to the Steeple. The Germans do not know where the the HIP French ART and ATG is located. That will make stopping and unloading a German halftrack a nerve racking business. If the German halftracks push far into the French backfield, they will also have to deal with the French reinforcing platoon of an R-35 and R-35(L). That is if the halftracks do arrive there in the first place. It is well thinkable, that an audacious German push with the halftracks might see like three of them dead - or none. This is not exactly a gamble that you base your battle plan on.
But what if you don't?
If you don't reach a French VC Location with a 'lightning' strike, then the French might not be foreced to fall back to counter that. And you may find yourself pressed for time - hard.
The difficult decisions for the French are basically to decide on how many Pouilous to assign to the village and where to place their Guns and tanks. They want to scare the Germans witless about losing their halftracks early and to set up in a way that will cost the German time.
That said, I believe that the French have a definite edge in this scenario if they set up a competent defence. This assessment seems to be supported by ROAR which lists 29 German victories against 46 French ones (as of February 2021). Nevertheless, the scenario has been awarded a high Excitement Rating with 6.65 (out of 9).
I played the Germans in this one.
Situation at Game Start:
The first glance at the defensive setup of my opponent showed me that he knew what he was doing:
A 'firm wall' of bodies across the Woods. I have fought through the bd42 in both directions in several scenarios and know that it is slow businiess. It would be the same here.
In the West (top) he coaxed the maxiumum out of a little: If I were to make a run for it to hook around the western extension of his 'Woods-Chain Defence), I would have to expose myself to -2 shots by the two tanks and likely more. If anyone of my Landsers would break, they could reach the woods, but the units in 42Q4 and R8 could run up to keep them under DM and likely eliminate them for FtR rather quickly if coorporating with some French from the frontline falling back to close the trap. If I tried a rush with the halftracks towards the far north of board 42, his two tanks would get shots at my ht's with a 6TH (+1 BU, +2 moving, +1 small) for a 41.7% chance and in case of a hit a 58.3% chance to at least Shock or Immobilize them. If I were to chose that approach, I counted to lose one ht to the tanks. Of more concern to me were the HIP Guns. I was almost certain that most likely the 75 ART would be HIP in the conspciously 'empty' hex of 42U3. The halftracks would be obliged to pass it up at very close range, the TH chances were better than for the French tanks and in case of a hit, a kill would almost be assured, likely with no surviors. Even if I did not take that approach, a Gun in 42U3 could then be pushed to 42V4 to guard the 'backdoor' of the woods and to cover on VC Location. So for a Gun in 42U3, I chalked off a second half-track. The Level 1 units in 42Y1 sure looked like a French squad with LMG, which also had certain chances to take out a half-track. After having 'lost' 2-3 halftracks, I might have unloaded some German Infantry in 42AA5 in the best of cases or beyond the Wall close Y6, where it might be subject to French Fire again. My surviving half-tracks would then be followed by the two French tanks (provided they passed their non-Platoon Movement TC) and sandwiched be the two other French tanks entering in French Turn 2. Whatever German forces finally arrived and unloaded close to 42Y6 would likely not be stong enough to hold out by itself for long. So a push here seemed quite a reckless gamble that needed some luck on my part to have a reasonable chance of success. It appears that my opponent had read my mind like a book and gambled a bit himself to this end: As it turned out later, the 'certain' Gun in 42U3 was not there and the Squad+LMG in Level 1 of 42V1 was merely a half-squad with the two OB-designated Dummy counters posing as a MG. So the masterful double-mindgames of my opponent paid off and he deterred me from attacking that flank by 'holding it firmly' with the barest minimum of his units.
In the East (bottom) a wall of bodies held the stone building front of the village. The HMG sat almost certainly in the Steeple as this was the perfect spot for good LOS all over the place, for shooting down into halftracks attempting a mad push along the adjacent road. And the fire from the Steeple would not be inhibited by SMOKE against the very likely German ART position in one of the two Level 2 Locations. With a ROF of 3 and the ART not being Emplaced by SSR, chances of at least temporarily neutralizing its crew from there were very reasonable. One French Leader would sit at Ground Level in 63T6 where he could rally any French squad routing back from the 'village-frontline'. I supspected the ATG in 63Q4 facing to the south (left) and was right and wrong as we will soon see. 63T1 just screamed: "I am the French 60mm MTR!". From there it could attack the likely German ART position on the Level 2 hill and the edge of the Woods from 42N10 to P9.
In short: I could not see a single flaw in the French setup.
So it was with some dark foreboding that I set up my German attackers.
What to do?
The 'Western Dash' I had discarded as too risky - though had I known the French bluff, might had been my best chance. With this option ruled out, it seemed doubtful whether I would reach the VC Location in 42Y6. So I would have to go for the VC Location in 42U8 and 63T6.
Theoretically, I could 'put everything into the Woods' and attack heads on with a flanking force to prevent some of the French from the village to reinforce the Woods. But as I have fought through the bd42 repeatedly in other scenarios, I was not confident about the time schedule for this working out.
So this left me with splitting up the German forces. Some 5 squad equivalents would push through the Woods heads on. I was not expecting to make a breakthrough there but rather to bind French forces and to make some headway in the hope of later sandwiching French forces after my other Germans would have taken the village and would be coming into the woods from there. The second German group consisting of 8 squad equivalents an all 5 halftracks would make a push for the village - or beyond. I could not make up my mind until the end of whether I should just recklessly push right through the village with all the halftracks towards the northern (right) part of the central woods or rather attack the village itself. For quite some time, I agonized where to place the German 105 ART piece (the only German asset which could fire SMOKE). Despite the Gun being disallowed to Emplace and being certain that it would be in the beads of both the French MTR and the HMG in the Steeple, I set it up on the Level 2 hill nevertheless. There is hardly any other good place for it to be found. I was sure that the manning crew would break earlier or later but hoped to get it back in time to blast either the central woods or some French tanks later in the game. In the event, for unknown reasons, I selected the wrong hex for the 105 ART piece. It should have set up in 63I3 because (only) from there it would have had LOS to 63Q4 where I suspected the French ATG. I would rue this mistake later... My own ATG I set up in the I2 building. There it would be safe from Airbursts by the French MTR and it could attack what I suspected to be the French MTR position. With the same intention, I set up a German HS in the building as the Spotter for my own 50mm MTR in 63H2. The plan behind this was to take out the French MTR I suspected in 63T1. I saw the taking out of the French MTR as the prerequisite to bring my 105 ART piece into the game effectively. Both SPW 251/1 set up fully laden with Infantry which I intended to either rush into the village to unload them in S9 and R9 or to push right through the village beyond. The three SPW251/10 I set up at a range of 13 hexes from the Steeple to prevent any HMG TK attacks against them.
Finally, I decided to base my Turn 1 movements on whether I would have SMOKE with my 105 ART or not. If so, then I would attack the village itself as the HMG would be hindered firing below 2nd Level and because my 37L Halftracks would be hindered firing in. If I would not have SMOKE for 63T6, then I would fire all three halftracks and the 105 ART at the Steeple Location in the hope of some lucky hit taking out or at least temporarily neutralizing the French HMG. During my MPh, two previously deployed HS would move beneath the two non-loaded SPW 251/10 to do so at the start of German Turn 2, which would then rush off towards the village being able to dispense 3 HS with 3 ATRs there.
So much for my battle plan.
Let's see how long it lasted...
Situation at the End of German Turn 1:
I began my German Turn 1 with some Deployment attempts two of which were successful, while one of them failed.
The 105 ART found a SMOKE round with which brought down in 63T6, where it would hinder any shooting of the suspected French HMG there below Level 2. Despite lowered ROF due to Spotted Fire, my 50mm MTR in 63H2 went on a ROF tear which first unconcealed, then broke, and at last killed the French HS manning the MTR (as suspected) in 63T1 - an important small success. With no other target outside Stone Buildings, my ATG aquired 42T10.
With SMOKE down, the shots for my SPW 251/10 vs. the Steeple would be hindered and there would be an immediate assault with all halftracks into the direction of the village. But first, I moved my units in the woods. The French duly held their fire, all that happened was the Germans malfing a LMG in Advancing Fire.
Then I began the German assault towards the village. First I moved some Infantry to draw some fire and to get an idea of some of the French disposition. In the event, one of my squads was broken and only a French HS in 63O5 and a 457 in 63R7 were revealed. With some preponderance, the first SPW 251/1 carrying 1.5 squad-equivalents moved off and safely arrived in Bypass of 63S9, where it unloaded and was fired on by the 457 in R7, which luckily did not harm the German Infantry. I was somewhat relieved, because this halftrack had surely been a juicy target but no French fire had occurred. Maybe the French ATG was not in 63Q4 as I had suspected. The second SPW 251/1 with a 8-1 and 468+LMG moved off with the intention to unload in Bypass or 63R9. Alas, it never made it - the French ATG was indeed in 63Q4 as I had supected, but alas its CA did not face towards 63O4 but in the 'right' direction. It hit and killed my halftrack with no survivors and kept ROF. That was a serious setback, because now my toehold in the village would be very weak with regard to Infantry. For some moments I pondered what to do now with the remaining three SPW 251/10s. For sure, the ATG was set to take out another. But on the other hand I could not see how this might change in the immediate future, so I made a dash for it with all three of them and escaped the French ATG despite another ROF shot. However, within the village and with not much friendly Infantry cover, there were not many good places to go for my brittle OT halftracks. For the time being, I tried to keep them out of LOS of the French suspected French HMG as well as possible.
Indeed, the French HMG popped up in the Steeple Location as I had anticipated, but it had held its fire vs. the halftracks in favor of shooting at my 105 ART breaking its crew.
This pretty much ended German Turn 1 after some advances.
Situation at the end of French Turn 1:
In French Turn 1 I neither managed to repair my LMG in the central Woods nor to self rally my Gun Crew. Only the French HS, the ATG and the squad in 63R7 prep fired to no effect.
On the western flank (top), the French moved off with all they had, both tanks succeeding in their non-Platoon Movement TCs.
In the central woods, just as I had expected, the French pulled off the 'delay-game' putting two hexes distance between themselves and my Germans. This would mean if I wanted to fire at them, I would need to use non-Assault Movement to get ADJACENT and then expose myself to Point Blank Fire. An effective standard operating procedure if you have time and room to do so - and the French had both.
In the village, the French wanted to move his HMG from the Steeple to Ground level, but due to the SMOKE, he could only reach 1st Level, later to advance out of the SMOKE into 1st Level of 63T5 becoming CX in the process. From 63R4, my opponent CX'ed a HS and moved it into 63V5 with the intention to harass my halftrack in CC. But unlikely as it was, the halftrack broke the HS with its AAMG. The French 8-0 Leader also moved from the Ground Level of the Steeple to V5 later to rout with the broken HS back to 63X3, leaving the remaining French infantry in the village to fend for themselves without a Leader.
To be continued in a subsequent post...
von Marwitz
My opponent and I agreed to play this scenario just three years ago and he sent me his defensive setup. Yesterday, after mere three years of contemplation about my offensive setup, updating the original VASL file, some changes of the defensive setup and some to mine again, we did indeed play it...
Set in France in May 1940, you know the basic deal. Germans pushing, French holding. The Germans need to Control two out of three victory locations at game end. Time is tight with 5.5 Turns. The Infantry Forces are very similar: Both sides have 14 squads, half Elite, half 1st line. Both hat an ART piece, both an ATG. Both sides have only light SW, where a HMG on the French side and a FT on the German side stand out. The French get four R-35 tanks, one of which the (L) version, two of which arrive as reinforcements. The Germans get five half tracks, three of which SPW251/10s with a 37L Gun and an inherent removable ATR. On top, the Germans get one Stuka with Bombs while the Turn of arrival can be selected by them. The Stuka will only be there for a single Turn. So while the 'numbers' are almost identical for both sides, the Germans have a slight edge in quality (i.e. a 468 is better than a 458. A 105 ART better than a 75 ART, etc.).
While the Germans have a slight edge in quality, their task seems quite daunting nevertheless. The map is basically divided in three areas: West of the Woods (top), the Woods, and East of the Woods (bottom). Two VC lie in the Woods, one in the small village in the East (bottom). The village consists of stone buildings and consequently, the French will be difficult to root out there, especially since the Germans is unlikely to concenrate all of his forces on it. Pushing head on through the woods and to expect to arrive on time on the VC locations in the woods appears illusionary as it will be easy for the French to stage a fall-back defence in this case. Even less quickly will the Germans progress towards the VC Locations through the woods would they not concentrate their forces to do so.
The basic dilemma for the Germans is the following: With their halftracks, they can theoretically reach both the village VC Location in the village or even the VC Location in the back of the woods quickly. But they will do so only with part of their Infantry force. And, more importantly, if they want to do it quickly, they will have to hazard substantial risks that might bring their hopes to a premature end early in the game. The French ART, the ATG and both at-start R-35s are perfectly capable to kill the German halftracks and their passengers outright. When the halftracks move, this is not trivial to pull off (+2 moving, +1 small, possibly red TH numbers for the French tanks and the same have to be BU with their One Man Turrets), but it is very much possible as well. Even the French HMG, which will very likely sit in the Steeple Location to threaten the German ART piece which may not emplace and will very likely sit on the Level 2 hill, can pose a serious threat to the German halftracks, especially firing down at them should they pass ADJACENT to the Steeple. The Germans do not know where the the HIP French ART and ATG is located. That will make stopping and unloading a German halftrack a nerve racking business. If the German halftracks push far into the French backfield, they will also have to deal with the French reinforcing platoon of an R-35 and R-35(L). That is if the halftracks do arrive there in the first place. It is well thinkable, that an audacious German push with the halftracks might see like three of them dead - or none. This is not exactly a gamble that you base your battle plan on.
But what if you don't?
If you don't reach a French VC Location with a 'lightning' strike, then the French might not be foreced to fall back to counter that. And you may find yourself pressed for time - hard.
The difficult decisions for the French are basically to decide on how many Pouilous to assign to the village and where to place their Guns and tanks. They want to scare the Germans witless about losing their halftracks early and to set up in a way that will cost the German time.
That said, I believe that the French have a definite edge in this scenario if they set up a competent defence. This assessment seems to be supported by ROAR which lists 29 German victories against 46 French ones (as of February 2021). Nevertheless, the scenario has been awarded a high Excitement Rating with 6.65 (out of 9).
I played the Germans in this one.
Situation at Game Start:
The first glance at the defensive setup of my opponent showed me that he knew what he was doing:
A 'firm wall' of bodies across the Woods. I have fought through the bd42 in both directions in several scenarios and know that it is slow businiess. It would be the same here.
In the West (top) he coaxed the maxiumum out of a little: If I were to make a run for it to hook around the western extension of his 'Woods-Chain Defence), I would have to expose myself to -2 shots by the two tanks and likely more. If anyone of my Landsers would break, they could reach the woods, but the units in 42Q4 and R8 could run up to keep them under DM and likely eliminate them for FtR rather quickly if coorporating with some French from the frontline falling back to close the trap. If I tried a rush with the halftracks towards the far north of board 42, his two tanks would get shots at my ht's with a 6TH (+1 BU, +2 moving, +1 small) for a 41.7% chance and in case of a hit a 58.3% chance to at least Shock or Immobilize them. If I were to chose that approach, I counted to lose one ht to the tanks. Of more concern to me were the HIP Guns. I was almost certain that most likely the 75 ART would be HIP in the conspciously 'empty' hex of 42U3. The halftracks would be obliged to pass it up at very close range, the TH chances were better than for the French tanks and in case of a hit, a kill would almost be assured, likely with no surviors. Even if I did not take that approach, a Gun in 42U3 could then be pushed to 42V4 to guard the 'backdoor' of the woods and to cover on VC Location. So for a Gun in 42U3, I chalked off a second half-track. The Level 1 units in 42Y1 sure looked like a French squad with LMG, which also had certain chances to take out a half-track. After having 'lost' 2-3 halftracks, I might have unloaded some German Infantry in 42AA5 in the best of cases or beyond the Wall close Y6, where it might be subject to French Fire again. My surviving half-tracks would then be followed by the two French tanks (provided they passed their non-Platoon Movement TC) and sandwiched be the two other French tanks entering in French Turn 2. Whatever German forces finally arrived and unloaded close to 42Y6 would likely not be stong enough to hold out by itself for long. So a push here seemed quite a reckless gamble that needed some luck on my part to have a reasonable chance of success. It appears that my opponent had read my mind like a book and gambled a bit himself to this end: As it turned out later, the 'certain' Gun in 42U3 was not there and the Squad+LMG in Level 1 of 42V1 was merely a half-squad with the two OB-designated Dummy counters posing as a MG. So the masterful double-mindgames of my opponent paid off and he deterred me from attacking that flank by 'holding it firmly' with the barest minimum of his units.
In the East (bottom) a wall of bodies held the stone building front of the village. The HMG sat almost certainly in the Steeple as this was the perfect spot for good LOS all over the place, for shooting down into halftracks attempting a mad push along the adjacent road. And the fire from the Steeple would not be inhibited by SMOKE against the very likely German ART position in one of the two Level 2 Locations. With a ROF of 3 and the ART not being Emplaced by SSR, chances of at least temporarily neutralizing its crew from there were very reasonable. One French Leader would sit at Ground Level in 63T6 where he could rally any French squad routing back from the 'village-frontline'. I supspected the ATG in 63Q4 facing to the south (left) and was right and wrong as we will soon see. 63T1 just screamed: "I am the French 60mm MTR!". From there it could attack the likely German ART position on the Level 2 hill and the edge of the Woods from 42N10 to P9.
In short: I could not see a single flaw in the French setup.
So it was with some dark foreboding that I set up my German attackers.
What to do?
The 'Western Dash' I had discarded as too risky - though had I known the French bluff, might had been my best chance. With this option ruled out, it seemed doubtful whether I would reach the VC Location in 42Y6. So I would have to go for the VC Location in 42U8 and 63T6.
Theoretically, I could 'put everything into the Woods' and attack heads on with a flanking force to prevent some of the French from the village to reinforce the Woods. But as I have fought through the bd42 repeatedly in other scenarios, I was not confident about the time schedule for this working out.
So this left me with splitting up the German forces. Some 5 squad equivalents would push through the Woods heads on. I was not expecting to make a breakthrough there but rather to bind French forces and to make some headway in the hope of later sandwiching French forces after my other Germans would have taken the village and would be coming into the woods from there. The second German group consisting of 8 squad equivalents an all 5 halftracks would make a push for the village - or beyond. I could not make up my mind until the end of whether I should just recklessly push right through the village with all the halftracks towards the northern (right) part of the central woods or rather attack the village itself. For quite some time, I agonized where to place the German 105 ART piece (the only German asset which could fire SMOKE). Despite the Gun being disallowed to Emplace and being certain that it would be in the beads of both the French MTR and the HMG in the Steeple, I set it up on the Level 2 hill nevertheless. There is hardly any other good place for it to be found. I was sure that the manning crew would break earlier or later but hoped to get it back in time to blast either the central woods or some French tanks later in the game. In the event, for unknown reasons, I selected the wrong hex for the 105 ART piece. It should have set up in 63I3 because (only) from there it would have had LOS to 63Q4 where I suspected the French ATG. I would rue this mistake later... My own ATG I set up in the I2 building. There it would be safe from Airbursts by the French MTR and it could attack what I suspected to be the French MTR position. With the same intention, I set up a German HS in the building as the Spotter for my own 50mm MTR in 63H2. The plan behind this was to take out the French MTR I suspected in 63T1. I saw the taking out of the French MTR as the prerequisite to bring my 105 ART piece into the game effectively. Both SPW 251/1 set up fully laden with Infantry which I intended to either rush into the village to unload them in S9 and R9 or to push right through the village beyond. The three SPW251/10 I set up at a range of 13 hexes from the Steeple to prevent any HMG TK attacks against them.
Finally, I decided to base my Turn 1 movements on whether I would have SMOKE with my 105 ART or not. If so, then I would attack the village itself as the HMG would be hindered firing below 2nd Level and because my 37L Halftracks would be hindered firing in. If I would not have SMOKE for 63T6, then I would fire all three halftracks and the 105 ART at the Steeple Location in the hope of some lucky hit taking out or at least temporarily neutralizing the French HMG. During my MPh, two previously deployed HS would move beneath the two non-loaded SPW 251/10 to do so at the start of German Turn 2, which would then rush off towards the village being able to dispense 3 HS with 3 ATRs there.
So much for my battle plan.
Let's see how long it lasted...
Situation at the End of German Turn 1:
I began my German Turn 1 with some Deployment attempts two of which were successful, while one of them failed.
The 105 ART found a SMOKE round with which brought down in 63T6, where it would hinder any shooting of the suspected French HMG there below Level 2. Despite lowered ROF due to Spotted Fire, my 50mm MTR in 63H2 went on a ROF tear which first unconcealed, then broke, and at last killed the French HS manning the MTR (as suspected) in 63T1 - an important small success. With no other target outside Stone Buildings, my ATG aquired 42T10.
With SMOKE down, the shots for my SPW 251/10 vs. the Steeple would be hindered and there would be an immediate assault with all halftracks into the direction of the village. But first, I moved my units in the woods. The French duly held their fire, all that happened was the Germans malfing a LMG in Advancing Fire.
Then I began the German assault towards the village. First I moved some Infantry to draw some fire and to get an idea of some of the French disposition. In the event, one of my squads was broken and only a French HS in 63O5 and a 457 in 63R7 were revealed. With some preponderance, the first SPW 251/1 carrying 1.5 squad-equivalents moved off and safely arrived in Bypass of 63S9, where it unloaded and was fired on by the 457 in R7, which luckily did not harm the German Infantry. I was somewhat relieved, because this halftrack had surely been a juicy target but no French fire had occurred. Maybe the French ATG was not in 63Q4 as I had suspected. The second SPW 251/1 with a 8-1 and 468+LMG moved off with the intention to unload in Bypass or 63R9. Alas, it never made it - the French ATG was indeed in 63Q4 as I had supected, but alas its CA did not face towards 63O4 but in the 'right' direction. It hit and killed my halftrack with no survivors and kept ROF. That was a serious setback, because now my toehold in the village would be very weak with regard to Infantry. For some moments I pondered what to do now with the remaining three SPW 251/10s. For sure, the ATG was set to take out another. But on the other hand I could not see how this might change in the immediate future, so I made a dash for it with all three of them and escaped the French ATG despite another ROF shot. However, within the village and with not much friendly Infantry cover, there were not many good places to go for my brittle OT halftracks. For the time being, I tried to keep them out of LOS of the French suspected French HMG as well as possible.
Indeed, the French HMG popped up in the Steeple Location as I had anticipated, but it had held its fire vs. the halftracks in favor of shooting at my 105 ART breaking its crew.
This pretty much ended German Turn 1 after some advances.
Situation at the end of French Turn 1:
In French Turn 1 I neither managed to repair my LMG in the central Woods nor to self rally my Gun Crew. Only the French HS, the ATG and the squad in 63R7 prep fired to no effect.
On the western flank (top), the French moved off with all they had, both tanks succeeding in their non-Platoon Movement TCs.
In the central woods, just as I had expected, the French pulled off the 'delay-game' putting two hexes distance between themselves and my Germans. This would mean if I wanted to fire at them, I would need to use non-Assault Movement to get ADJACENT and then expose myself to Point Blank Fire. An effective standard operating procedure if you have time and room to do so - and the French had both.
In the village, the French wanted to move his HMG from the Steeple to Ground level, but due to the SMOKE, he could only reach 1st Level, later to advance out of the SMOKE into 1st Level of 63T5 becoming CX in the process. From 63R4, my opponent CX'ed a HS and moved it into 63V5 with the intention to harass my halftrack in CC. But unlikely as it was, the halftrack broke the HS with its AAMG. The French 8-0 Leader also moved from the Ground Level of the Steeple to V5 later to rout with the broken HS back to 63X3, leaving the remaining French infantry in the village to fend for themselves without a Leader.
To be continued in a subsequent post...
von Marwitz
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