Mangus out. Whack the Crip Begins!

TacCovert4

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Mangus if you're reading this, Go AWAY! Despite what the Germans might learn from radio intercepts You would never get this accurate. You can read my running AAR after the battle is over, probably with a beer and a lot of laughs.


To everybody else:

This is the running AAR for mine and mangus's battle, nicknamed "whack the crip" because of my temporarily crippled right hand.



It was a hot and calm day over the north african desert, as Major Hines, Commander of the Veteran 56th battalion of the Black Watch steeled his officers for battle. They had suffered many losses at the hands of Germans, but their will remained unbroken. Placed out far on the southern flank of the British lines, they had been largely ignored, and therefore denied sufficient mechanized and armored support. General Wavell had stripped the brigade headquarters bare of tanks for it's operations, leaving only 4 Aging French Valentines behind. But the supplies had began to flow in again, and with a fresh supply of Lend Lease vehicles, including 4 Stuart and 4 Lee tanks, the 56th could do something more than just swelter in their defenses. The order had come down yesterday from brigade, that the 56th was to seize, at all costs, the village of Abu Sirhee. Reports from the Desert Air Force had said that no Axis forces currently occupied the village but that a battalion strength combined arms force from the DAK was manuevering in the area, ostensibly to take the village. Fuel problems restricted further aerial recon, and the possibility of an airstrike committing to the battle was low. Due to potential German attacks at other portions of the line, Brigade would be unable to provide any artillery support. As Major Hines pored over his maps, he knew his battalion would stand alone, and their victory or defeat would rely his skills.

The battlefield was very open that afternoon. Only a few scrub bushes and rocks disturbed the rolling mounds of sand. In the center stood the village of Abu Sirhee. To the left was a mostly flat plain interrupted only by the crossroads of the North and East roads. Spurs of the east road broke off in the village and ran at angles North and South, giving a force from either direction a solid avenue of manuever. the right was a much different story, however, as a 30 meter ridgeline towered above the terrain and the village below. The East road climbed this ridge and ran along its length until it sloped down and disappeared into the desert floor near the right edge of the field. Major Hines knew that whoever could hold that ridge would hold the village.

As he looked at his captains, he could see the worried looks on their faces. They had been there ever since the last flight of the DAF. No one really knew where the Germans were setting up for their attack, but the converse was also true, meaning the German commander wouldn't know what to expect. But Major Hines had a plan, a plan he thought might just allow the fighting 56th to gain superiority over the well trained tankers of the Afrika Korps.

(In Character)

Gentlemen, the weather is hot today, make sure your men are drinking plenty of water.

We have a grave task to accomplish today, it will not be easy, nor without cost. But I have a plan, that if executed diligently, might just provide us with the tactical superiority we will need against the Kraut armor.

Lieutenant Sommers, I want you to dispatch 1 of your Valentines to the left flank along the northern road. He is to hide along the house with Sergeant Smith's 6 pounder and 1 of Lieutenant Roger's Stuarts. If the Krauts attempt to flank along the northern road they are to cover Sergeant Smith as he drives his jeep up to the crest of the hill and emplaces his 6 pounder. Then they are free to manuever however best suits the situation. But ensure that they know they are the only protection we will have along that flank for some time. Once that is taken care of dispatch a second Valentine under Lieutenant Rogers. He is to protect Lt. Rogers Stuarts as they move into the village. We will cover him from one of the dunes with Sergeant Sanders 6 pounder, and from the ridge once it is secured.

Sergeant Sanders better be on top of his game, or we will be in trouble if the Krauts put their main effort into the center.

Lieutenant Jones. Your Lees are the main effort for the ridge. We will cover their approach as best we can from Sergeant Sander's 6 pounder and the remainder of Lt. Sommers Valentines. There is a lot of dead ground between us and the ridge. That means we can operate with near impunity so long as Kraut aircraft steer clear of the area. I want you to start them off concentrated tightly. The smaller the dust cloud we make the fewer tanks our enemy will anticipate. If he only thinks a couple of tanks are headed to the ridge, he might hold back his main effort for another location, giving us numerical superiority. This will be especially true if he's operating any heavy tanks or AT guns in the area. Don't stop and engage targets at long range. Our major advantage is that those Lees have both a sponson mounted 75 and a turretted 37. But the 75 can't manuever effectively and the 37 isn't going to penetrate frontal armor at long range. Your best bet is to halt at the military crest to the ridge and catch the Kraut armor as it comes over, or push hard and catch them in their own dead ground. I'll leave that decision up to your discretion.

I'll divide my tanks just before I crest, to prevent a lucky arty barrage from killing them.

Lt. Sommers, I want you to personally take command of your other 2 Valentines and push them along the far right flank of the ridge. There is potential there to catch the Krauts off guard with a flanking move. If that situation arises, take full advantage of it. Your Valentines have 6 pounder AT guns on them, so go for the long kill if you can get it. Watch out for heavy guns though, we can't afford to lose tanks today.

Yes sir, I'll keep my head down if the Krauts try a new trick on us.

Lt. Rogers. Your Stuart IIs will be instrumental in capturing the village. Use the Valentine from Lt. Sommers to protect you from enemy armor manuevering down the northern spur of the east road. Whatever you do, protect your Stuarts early on. Once the Kraut armor is weakened, we might need them to break out and pursue any halftracks and SP guns they might have left. You'll also be the direct fire asset for Captain James' infantry.

Don't worry captain, my tankers have the eyes of eagles.

Captain James. Brigade didn't give us any trucks for this operation, so most of your infantry will be legging it into the village. There's a draw across the center where they should have protection for about half of their march. Mount up what you can on the Stuarts and the Valentine. You should be able to get about a squad on the infantry tank, but I think you'll be limited to four on the Stuarts. Place emphasis on mounting machine gunners. I cannot express the many times that infantry has been pinned down on approach marches by well place MGs. Brigade only gave us Bren teams, but if they get under cover in the houses of the village, they should be able to hold until our foot infantry arrives.

You're the Major.

Sergeant Norman, your mortars should move up between the village and the crest of the ridge. Keep them together initially, so we can lay down a solid barrage against any advancing halftracks or infantry before our own infantry set up in town.

My boys'll keep the Krauts heads down, sar.

Everybody understand what we need to do?

*Resounding Yes Sirs*

Alright, Get your men ready, We jump off at 1300.
 

TacCovert4

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Major Hines watched anxiously as the reports began to come in from his units. All were advancing steadily, until....

"Sir, Lt. Sommers has taken a casualty. Sgt. Bannister has been killed."

This was a sobering moment for the battalion HQ. They had known they would take losses, but to lose such a plucky tank commander as Sgt. Bannister was a blow. He had survived the battles where the 56th had been mauled beyond recognition. He had pulled himself out of a burning tank during Crusader with nary a scratch. But obviously luck only goes so far.

"What got him"

"Antitank gun on the right flank sir"

An antitank gun that could hurt a valentine at 1000 yards. Only a 75 or an 88 could do that.

"Alert Lt. Jones. Tell him there is a heavy AT gun on the hill 600 yards North East of the crest of the ridge. Don't crest the ridge until you're ready to deal with it."

What other reports Corporal?

"Sir, we have dust clouds heading toward the West objective and the ridge"

How big?

"Small sir, looks like single vehicles, maybe 2 at the most. Our best guess is a recon screen for the main effort"

"You're probably right Corporal, but it could be that the German commander has decided to take a page from our playbook. Tell Sgt. Smith to hold his current line. Repeat, do not advance until we have determined force composition for the enemy on the Left flank."

"Are there any dust clouds in the Village?"

"No sir, whatever the Krauts have planned they're being cautious. The only other dust cloud is heading to the ridge."

"Good, we're at our most vulnerable now. Once Captain James gets his infantry into the village and Sgt. Norman gets his mortars up, we should be able to fight off any company level infantry assault. But we have to get there first."

Major Hines stared out at the East Ridge, and spotted the dust cloud. Was it just a radio car, or a company of Panzer IVs? Only time would tell, but regardless, today was going to be busy.
 

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OOC:

In the first turn, I got hit with what has to be the world's luckiest shot. Sgt. Kenny Bannister got hit at over 800 yards, on the first shot. By 2 seconds in, the gun on that Val VIII was damaged and inoperable. This has hiccupped my attempts to cover the right flank, but has let me know that the Krauts have a very potent AT gun on that hill. My only regret is that I never got a chance to fire at it.

Right Situation: My Lees are advancing tightly, I'm hoping that Mangus will underestimate my armored strength. I'm halting them under the crest of the hill and splitting them up with about 75 meters between them for security. My infantry is 2 turns away from being in the town on foot, and my mounted troops, MGs mostly, are 1 turn away. The Stuarts are going to halt in a little piece of dead ground inside the village near the road junction. I checked and this will provide protection from whatever AT gun is on that hilltop. My plan is to let whatever mechanized or armored force is currently heading to the ridge get there before I attack it with all 8 guns from my Lees and the 3 remaining 6 pounders of my AT and Val groups.

Left Situation: my Val VIII and Stuart are sitting at idle behind the house, with covering arcs around the corners just for kicks. The 6 pounder is moving forward under its own propulsion to the reverse crest of the hill it's on. I decided to do this without the jeep because the jeep would immediately alert mangus to my presence, and I'd rather him not know I was there until I start shooting. When that fight starts, I'll try to smash whatever armor he's moved up on that flank (and I suspect it will be armor not mech, due to the terrain being very ideal for tanks) with the 6 pounder, while I move my Val around the side of the hill to join in with his 6 pounder. Once it gets started, I might even move my jeep to the center to manuever the AT gun there to a more advantageous position.

My fears: That Mangus has bought either A: A crapload of 88s or 75s. B: Several of the elite German armored vehicles. I have (IIRC) an airstrike of anit-armor aircraft coming in sometime, but if he's got a Tiger, or several PzIVs with the long 75, I'm going to be in for a serious fight on the ridge. I bought the Lees because for their price they had the best protection and firepower of the availible armor, but for every one I lose, I lose 2 AT weapons instead of 1.

Suprises: I'm hoping my tight formation works, and that mangus crests the ridge without a solid knowledge of how much armor I have.

I'm hoping that mangus believes my Stuarts are a recon screen as opposed to the vanguard for the infantry.

I'm hoping that mangus wil be a bit slow moving his forces into the village so my troops can reach their pre-determined defensive positions. I only have a couple of platoons, so a serious assault is out of the question. I'm betting on AFV support and a rapid advance setting me up for a fierce defensive fight, which I can win. I have practiced this against the computer on a regular basis to the point where it has reached an art form. Now I get to see if it works on humans too.

I'm hoping that my airstrike (which I swore I bought, but will confirm tonight) will hit whatever armor he has heading to the ridge. If it only shocks his tanks, or bends one gun, or kills only one, it would have been worth it, as it was cheaper than an effective AT gun.

And lastly I hope to lure him into a false sense of security on the left, so that my very small force on that flank can not only hold, but smash that flank with the 6 pounder's assistance and open the east road on that side of the village for me to flank his line.

Suggestions: Do any of you have any suggestions, comments, or notations of experience that might clue me into things that will drive my enemy up the wall? Please, I relish and encourage dialogue. It's no fun writing a novel AAR if no one wants dialogue. I am not a great CMAK player, so feel free to make what otherwise might be considered stupid questions or suggestions. I will still do the IC AAR for each turn, even if we have some OOC dialogue.
 

TacCovert4

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To give an update. I've had some problems, well, lots of them, that have affected my CMAK, but here's what has happened (some screenies later).

The massive smoke barrage on the hill slightly west of the village turned out to be cover for his advancing forces, not the hoax I anticipated. Go figure.

None of his tanks have even attempted to crest the hill east of town, leaving my platoon of Lees unmolested, and possibly undiscovered.

A PzIVG attempted to engage my stuarts, but was taken out by fire from 2 different 6 pounder AT guns (one ValIII and one AT emplacement).


But for the real fun, that Mangus will learn about in a couple of hours:

Major Hines began to panick as a second Panzer IV rolled around the east side of the hill (the one west of town). His Valentines and AT gun had done well to kill the first one of these, but with only 1 Val had a line on this tank, and the Stuarts would never penetrate. The Germans seemed confounded, however, at the number of targets, and took shots at 2 different Stuarts and the Val, hitting none. The return fire was ineffective, smoke from the barrage, and bad positioning kept the Panzer safe.

But just as the dreaded interloper pulled back behind the hill, probably to regroup, Major Hines heared a dull buzzing roar coming in from the south. He looked up just in time to see the roundels on a Hawker Hurricane as it dove towards the German lines at over 200 miles per hour. The first bomb hit too high on the hill, killing some infantry, but missing the panzer, but the Desert Air Force was not to be denied, for the second bomb landed right behind the tank's tracks, ripping a gaping hole in the engine compartment and killing the panzer once and for all.

Lt. Rogers let out a whoop from the cupola of his Stuart as the Panzer went up in a cloud of dust. The German halftrack moving up the hill was running away to a better hiding spot, but as he watched the Hurricane Circle, he knew that in just minutes that halftrack could join its brother.

Lt. Jones was starting to worry. Capt. James mortars were near to their setup zone, and his Lees were all idling at the military crest of the ridge, protected from that kraut AT gun, but otherwise not involved in the battle. If Jerry had just thrown away two of the best tanks in his inventory in what ended up amounting to a glorified probe of Lt. Rogers position in town, what would the Ridge Runners catch when Major Hines orders them to advance over the crest and engage the AT gunners and unknown amounts of infantry and armor on the other side. He quickly composed a fire mission request and had it run over to Sgt. Norman, to be used if the order to crest the ridge was given. 2 inch mortars would fire a full salvo into the bowl, to cover the Lee's advance.



Will the Desert Air Force keep the Jerries in limbo?

Will Lt. Jones get his anticipated orders?

Will Lt. Rogers and Capt. James be able to hold off the increasing Kraut attacks?
 

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Update

Turn ?_?


The Good:

Mangus has not been able to penetrate beyond his smoke screen with either infantry or tanks. My Stuarts are well stocked with ammo and in optimum semi-hull down defense positions.

My infantry is making their final dash to the forward defense lines.

The Bad:

My Lees made their assault over the hill, only to be hit by what has to be a 75 or 88 and a long 75ed Panzer 4. 3 Lees lost, with no appreciable damage to either weapons system.

The Ugly:

Mangus will forever and always hate the Air Force! From my intel, he has lost a second tank and at least 1 halftrack to my Hurricane. And I may yet have a strafe or two left.

The Plan:

I have sent my jeep on a fast run down the road to recon the possibility of German Armor on the left. If there is none, my Stuart and Valentine on that flank will increase to breaching speed from hunt and race across the desert to begin an enveloping manuever of what seems to be the majority of his infantry.

I'm very glad that Mangus has wasted the vast majority of his artillery power on something as singularly useless as a long range smoke screen. Now, since he was relying on smoke to cover his troops, his troops will be getting more exposed to my withering fire combination of 15 MGs (12 on the stuarts) 4 37mms, 1 6 pounder, and 2 infantry platoons. If he had gone with as much of a salvo barrage of the village as he did a smoke barrage of the hill, I'd be in some serious crap, but the key to warfare is not making the right moves, it is capitalizing on your enemy's mistakes.

As his infantry has reached 200 meters from my stuarts and no AT hits have been registered, I'm assuming that he did not purchase any infantryborne AT weapons. This will allow my left flank to close up on his right and begin to shred his mass formations.

My surviving Lee has been withdrawn from the ridge and is manuevering to a better reverse slope position to protect against a possible attack by that PZ4. My remaining right flank Valentine has been ordered to a reverse slope position on the ridge, so I can bring a solid firepower combination against any incursions.

My mortars will reach their overwatch in a turn. Now I wish I had some 3 inchers, as the 2 inchers will not reach that AT gun on my right flank. But any infantry manuevering from about halfway of the town, down into the bowl, and on the ridge can be brought under the full firepower of 4-6 mortars. I believe that I can stop whatever foot borne forces he wants to bring into battle for at least 1 turn, maybe 2 with mortar fire alone. I also have 2 MGs with the mortars, and will be siting them to fire into the bowl and across the front of the village.

The assumptions:

From how little he's manuevered his armor since his first loss, and counting the 2 losses from the plane, I'm assuming that his armored strength is down to 50%. However, with German AT guns overwatching his start line, I do not feel that an attempt to ride over his remaining forces will be possible. My own armor is at 75% strength, and fully half of that is Stuarts. My intentions are to hold my current positions and begin a left hook.
 

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Given the time to rethink my plans and to study the enemy's dispositions, mostly Mangus's fault as he didn't send me a new turn for a while, I've decided to slightly alter my plan.


The mortars will continue to manuever to their current location, however, I'm scouting a suitable position closer to town for them in about 8 turns if nothing develops. I should have hit more infantry when my Lees made their assault, so I think Mangus has put too many of his eggs on my left, as I did on his left.

For some reason, Mangus has an overarching fear of my Stuarts. I should have noticed this from the first armored engagement, but I didn't even consider it. He has not attempted to breach my lines with armor since he lost the first tank to Valentine fire. But he would have never gotten a good look at the Val that killed him, so it probably looked like a short 37mm can kill at PzIV. Hilarious. Had he taken the 4 tanks I know about and rammed straight for the village, nothing, not my Vals or my airpower could have stopped him. Instead he keeps following what is nothing more than vanilla Allied tactics from 1940.

My Kamikaze Jeep has not noticed anything his right, which is disturbing, but unremarkable, as that flank is indefensible for either of us. My change here is that I plan not to launch a halfhearted left hook with 2 tanks. Instead I plan to stiffen that flank with those 2 tanks and make him attack me.

So far, I have established a pattern for Mangus's manuevers. Artillery of some sort fires on the location he wishes to manuever infantry to, then about 3-4 turns later the infantry arrives. Not a bad tactic, but somewhat predictable. So I can figure that he'll launch his heaviest artillery at the town before he makes his final assault. As no one uses med-heavy tanks for scout cars, I'm assuming this attack will be made by infantry, with possible HT support. To counter this, my infantry will disperse more into the heaviest availible structures, and I'm working on backstop locations for my Stuarts should artillery fire commence. I have not yet decided if the stuarts will retreat or advance out of the village bowl into the unknown.

As I proved that M3 lees are highly vulnerable to long 75s, I must be prepared for an engagement with his now emboldened left flank. To do this, I will form a nexus of resistance based around the more immobile mortar positions and consisting of my remaining lee in the center with a Val on either side. I'm expecting him to come charging over that ridge in the next couple of turns and can think of no better reception than 3 6pounders, a 75, and at least 1 37mm.
 

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You asked for advice

When playing Mangus2000, one should always taunt :blab: him with words like(done in a french accent) "your mother was a lady of the night" .etc. To get him to attack, where you do want him to fall into a trap.....Have your men throw their empty beer kegs and bottles :drink: in front of their trenches or foxholes. Good luck.;) :smoke:
 

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Sitrep.

I have implemented my plans as stated. However, all is fairly quiet on the African Front. Some dust has been noticed in the vicinity of the last known location of that PzIV, and I am rotating my armor and AT assets on that flank to reduce Time to Target when it appears. If I get it right, my 6 pounder might be able to get a belly shot, my best chance at a frontal kill.
 

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Sitrep

The TtT tourney really hurt mine and Mangus's game, and we just got back to it at the end of last week. Everything is roughly the same at the moment, though attrittion is starting to rack up on my infantry. My choice to concentrate on large numbers of armored vehicles hasn't been regretted yet, as they allowed me to set up a defense in the village. The net result is that while Mangus is pounding the village from a distant hill with a 75mm gun, and one of his surviving halftracks has moved up and is raking buildings with MG fire, I'm still in a far better position than he.

A few notes of minor mistakes that have culminated in my opponent's current predicament. (One is best evaluated by his enemies)

1. Extremely potent Mortar Barrage was wasted in a masking move for his leg infantry. He should have either saved it for HE later on, or used his smoke at the last second to mask his final approach. As it were, he simply alerted me to the location of the bulk of his infantry.

2. Armor Dispersement. Both times I faced Mangus's armor with my own, it was in a horribly lopsided battle in his favor. His armor outguns all of mine, and outarmors the vast majority (Vals being excepted). He also has superior AT guns emplaced in far better locations. However, instead of rolling right over me, his tank would hunted forward until contact was made, then fired a shot. They recieved a terrific return fire from multiple light guns plus 2 6 pounders. This forced it out of action. The second time, the tank was forced to withdraw, and was hit with an admittedly lucky 500 lb bomb from my hurricane. The Third time I met his armor, I was overwhelmed by fire both from his tank and from his AT gun. This shows that had he used all three known tanks in a single push, he could have rolled right over my much weaker armored force, without significant loss to himself.

3. Lack of Mobility. From intel, I understand that he had several halftracks, most now destroyed. At least one of these was strafed and destroyed near the edge of the map. Had he used these vehicles to race his infantry forward, he would have been able to take up overwatch on the ridge and maybe even the village before even my own armor arrived. The halftracks would have died, but they would have deposited a squad apiece on the ridge, or mgs and mortars, which would have caused a lot of casualties for my forces.

Most of these problems can be attributed to both a lack of experience in desert operations, and a lack of experience in both the attack and defense advantages of mobile warfare.

My plans are to currently hold my positions, while bringing up fresh squads from the Bowl area to the Rim area. I also intend to bring up the mortars to the edge of the ridge in order to silence an MG that has been particularly troublesome, and to take out a couple of infantry squads noticed on the other side. I will start to worry about ammo expenditures in a few turns, as my Stuarts have been firing their MGs continously since about turn 3. They are the keystone to my defense, as their hull down dispositons in the bowl allow them to rake any advance with both MG and HE fire. I am also carefully tracking the movements of the IV on my right flank, as I must be ready to deal with him. I am moving my remaining right flank Val to a more central location to strengthen the anti armor phalanx. If the situation permits or if changes require it, my remaining Lee from the ridge can be brought into the village to assist the Stuarts as they run out of ammo.

One of his 75s has LOS into the village and is systematically destroying the outlying houses. He does not have LOS to my Stuarts however, and Rubble does make for decent cover. I am moving troops out of those buildings in his LOS and detailing a 6 pounder to my rear to suppress that gun.

On my left flank, my jeep has run off the map at my orders, to prevent its destruction, however, he did precisely locate the other AT gun, and I have moved my two tanks on that flank away from LOS. They're pretty well trapped where they are until I get rid of one of those AT guns, but they are preventing his infantry from manuevering on the left side of the Rim for a flank attack so they are in good position. I may run the Val to the Right flank in a turn or two so that I will be ready to deal with that troublesome IV once and for all. The key on the Left will be to hold and force his right flank to crumble. The terrain is too open and too easily covered by that AT gun to make it a good location for armored movement.

Thanks,

Tac
 

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And now, the End Has Come!

Since the last post, Mangus ran his tank on the ridge area forward. It was suppressed by a Val.

Mangus Emailed me stating that any further pushes by his forces would be fruitless, and offered a ceasefire. I accepted his terms, knowing that I could not advance further myself without incurring hideous losses to his AT guns. I also lost a Stuart to one of his 75s. It manuevered right into LOS against my orders.

I did prepare a "Mad Minute" a la Gen. Moore, just in case he needed convincing to call that ceasefire. And he did. The next turn consisted of everything I had firing at least in his general direction, most on the ground around his remaining forces. This evidently convinced him of my unmitigated superiority, and he up and surrendered. I left the engagement with a major victory, having earned a minor or tactical one in blood, and the last jump in psy ops.
 
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