Mobile Defense-Soviet Operation AAR(CMBB)

[liuzg150181]

This is my first Operation I played,so pardon me for my amatuerish tactical level(along with this lacklustre AAR)~~~ :laugh:

As I loved Soviet's WW2 equipment,i chose the Soviet side,though partly due to the fact that it is easier. The background of the operation is that the Soviets had captured Minsk and is pursuing to the Vistual river while the Germans attempted to hold them back until their own force is rallied again. It consists of 6 continuous battles,with Soviet assaulting the numerically inferior German forces~~~

First and second battles were really walkover,though I lost a tank or two while entering a small town,by the end of the two battles the German's combat amoured vehicle,including halftracks,were virtually wiped out.

Now,here comes the interesting part.After amassing large number of tanks,halftracks and infantry units together with some jeeps and recon cars i became really cocky and launched an all-out frontal maneuvour. As there are gentle slopes and few trees the line of sight towards the is rather obstructed,and on the way there lies a Panther and two King Tiger tanks! To make matter worse there are two artillery units aiding the two powerful tanks.........

I had to retreat my formations and passively observed them in order to find and exploit their defense weakness. At the same time I sent a few T-34/M43 tanks and 5 halftracks to supress or even annihilate the enemy artillery at the edge. Unfortunately there is another Panther tank, and with the aid of artillery fires it destroyed two of my tanks. My halftracks ,though unscalded,had to do a big rounndabout to get to the enemy's artilley~~~

Meanwhile,the initial Panther tank moved forward,and within my other tank formation's arc of armour it met its end. As I saw it if I were to wait until the next battle the enemy would accumulate force with the two tiger tanks and make my moves more difficult. Thus I decided it is time for massive tanks wave attack,at least one of the King Tiger tanks must be bumped off! By fast moving towards points very near to the two tiger tanks while keeping them within the arc of armour i was hoping that it would destroy one of them at point-blank range.

The Tiger tanks are sure tough, everytime they got hit the hit just bounced off,but fortunately three of the T-34 variant tanks got near a King Tiger tank and behind them is a wave of T-34(M43 & 85),T-70 and two IS-2 tanks (CMBB-AAR1.JPG). By the next turn the Tiger tank was finished,but I lost ten tanks or so in the process(like what the kill ratio of King Tiger tank in reality.....,see CMBB-AAR2.JPG). Fortunately, the Soviet air-support,though ineffectively in killing enemy targets,threw in smoke bombs and the surviving IS-2,T-70 and T-34(of each type) retreated safely to the back.

However the surviving King Tgier tank turned back and took notice the halftracks that were meant to silence the atillery unit. Two of my halftracks were smashed to pieces and the rest have to retreat. All this it remained stalemate until the end of the battle........

To be continued.......

 

[Palantir]

Nicely done & to the point.
Looking forward to the next installment. :thumup:

 

[liuzg150181]

After the miserable third battle,however,it seemed that by the fourth battle the table had been turned and Lady Luck is smiling at me. Apart from the fact that I got a hefty reinforcement of eight T-34/85 and four IS-2 tanks, the weather is on my side-it is now raining! The much reduced visibility meant that my tanks could reach near the King Tiger tank at point-blank range and blast it off! On top of that there was an additional offspot mortar spotter at disposal,expanding my tactical means.

I wised up a little after the previous disastrous battle,instead of rushing through I sent two half-squads to scout the front. Transporting them at a point with the scout car,they were left to sneak about surveying the nearby area. Also the mortar spotter was moved to frontline so that smokescreen could be dispensed as quickly as possible. Out of the sudden,my recon half-squad,together with the spotter,were being fired at by a Panther tank! Leaving no other choice I had to move my troops into the offensive while the half-squad and the spotter had to take cover in the midst of the abandoned tanks left behind from previous battle.

The offensive is being led by two prongs of tank formations,the central main one consisting of the powerful IS-2 tanks and T34 tanks,while the secondary one consisting of a few T-34/85 tanks and one KV-85 tank,moved along near the edge of the battleground as flanking force. Since it is urgent I had to fast-move those tanks to their destinations,while the halftrack and infantry units followed behind to clear the area of hidden units.

The secondary tank formation immediately caught the enemy Panther tank offguard and promptly destroyed it,while the King Tiger tank finally moved forward within the visibility range. The spotter was ordered to fire smokescreen around that tank so as to allow my tanks to maneuvour near it,at the same time crippling its visibility so that it cant fire at my approaching main tank formation. Unfortunately,time had passed and the much needed smokescreen hadnt arrived. At the same time, the two previous artillery units were within sight and fire range,so I ordered the tanks to decimate them before they had the chance to decimate my tanks. Managing only to inflict minor damage to my tanks, the two artillery units went kaputt, but even by that time the smokescreen I demanded was non-existent.........

Without the backing of smokescreen, I had little choice but to bite the bullet and charge in with the mass of tanks I had. Fortunately the visibility is low(due to the rainy weather) for the King Tiger tank to aim accurately, but still it managed to utterly destroy two or three of my tanks,once again proving itself to be the behemoth of the battlefield. With the coverage of the line of trees and the remnants of the tanks, I attempted to retreat the rest of the tanks,while they kept firing at the enemy tank as fire supression. As I retreated I discovered two halftracks whose presence was oblivious to me,partly due to my hindsight,partly due to the chaotic situation. Since they were within my IS-2's firing range(albeit the turret need to turn around),I might as well do so to demoralise the enemy. :devious:

As soon as my IS-2 unit had gotten rid of one of the halftracks,something miraculously happened. Firstly, the King Tiger tank started to retreat back(CMBB-AAR3),an event which I had unforeseen. And to compound the surprise,the King Tiger tank was smitten and burst into flames(CMBB-AAR4 & CMBB-AAR5)! As I rewinded the turn and observed the turn of event carefully, this marvelous act was in fact performed by a T34/43 tank from the secondary prong which I intended to use to flank the enemy tank,but not to smash it into pieces(and deemed unable to previously)! By this time I pondered over the military maxim that the only predictable thing about war is its unpredictability,how true~~~

After a few uneventful turns the battle is over, but one thing is certain: I had struck the Achille's foot of the enemy and it would and could never put up a tough fight like the third one for the rest of the operation.......

To be continue........the final episode!
So stay tune~~~

 

[liuzg150181]

Nicely done & to the point.
Looking forward to the next installment. :thumup:

Thx,this is my first AAR report,for a writer nothing is as good as encouragements from readers~~~

The last part should be ready within a day or two, not as long as the previous ones but i shall spice it up a little bit more......

 

[Neilm85uk]

Hi,

Enjoyed reading that. I look forward to the final exciting installment.

N.

 

[The Purist]

Is this in CMBB or did you pick it up elsewhere?

 

[liuzg150181]

Is this in CMBB or did you pick it up elsewhere?

Yup,it is CMBB,where else in the CM series could you play as the Soviets?

 

[liuzg150181]

The finale.......
It is now the fifth battle, and as I looked at the sky I realised it is now dusk. The next battle,which is also the last, I couldnt help but to ask myself: Would the Prince of Darkness be my ally or be my enemy in the next battle? Only time would tell, for even a thousand-mile journey starts from the first step,and it is time to march the soldiers forward..........

Confident that I had already devestated my opponent, I marched my troops together w/o conducting a recon like in the previous battle. Despite the seemingly calm atmosphere, and the mesmerising sunset,one could still feel the imminent counterattacks by the enemy lurking somewhere. Soldiers were ordered to fire at any emerged threats,be it big or small. The small town in front had a church,and besides it lies a cemetery,wonder whose 'burial ground' would it be?

As the troops were approaching the town a German jeep(kubbelwagon) was being discovered. One of my tanks turned it turret and fired at it-the jeep became the first casaulty of the battlefield. Almost at the same time a sound of infantry squad was being heard within a small patch of forest. I dispatched my some of my infantry units and halftracks to fire at the location to suppress the enemy. At this moment at the area where my tanks had amassed an enemy vehicle,it was the renowned German tank destroyer-the Nashorn! :surprise:

The Nashorn was concealed behind a line of trees thus making it a rather hard target to destroy. Fortunately the mass of tank at my disposal managed to fire at it simultanously while travelling,and it was knocked out eventually while scratching few of my tanks superficially. But what luck,there was another Nashorn coming from the side of my tank formation,and my tanks had to turn their turrets around to fire at it. Nevertheless once again it was gotten rid of while hurting my tanks only as much as a pinch,close shave~~~ :whist:

As some of my tanks approached the 'serene' town I ordered them to fire at it. It was not due to my sadism nor my craving for destruction that I made such order, but rather it was meant to suppress any infantry hiding inside the building and better still to smoke them out(CMR-AAR6). After a while it seemed there was no one at all in the town. I sent my tanks in looking for surviving enemy units as final confirmation.

Meanwhile as the rest of the units were scouting for the remaining enemy infantry units hiding around. The enemy infantry unit previous mentioned was eliminated,and my infantry took a rest to pose for a short photo-taking session (CMBB-AAR7). Soon after this a few more enemy infantry units(including the Nashorn crews) were uncovered and the units had to do the clean-up. As soon the last enemy infantry unit was about to be eliminated, my infantry units who took posed just now were being hit by mortar shells!
However,though there were casualties and some got panic and even routed,this didnt turn the tide for eventually the apparent last enemy unit was annihilated. As I pressed the 'go' button once more,the battle and the operation had ended(without the need for the last battle) and I had obtained MINOR VICTORY(CMBB-AAR8).

As the whole operation had ended and I had emerged as the victor,I finally got the time and mood to appreciate and admire the beautiful sunset of CMBB(CMBB-AAR9)......

THE END.

 

[liuzg150181]

Thanks for the support,it is rather encouraging to such an extent that I try my best to write the best AAR I could for the leisure of the CM series community here~~~

As gratitude I reenacted the Soviet tank rush mentioned in the third battle(though not the same as the one in my AAR) and saved it as a movie :
http://liuzg150181.castpost.com/CMBB1.wmv

 

[liuzg150181]

Regarding the wmv file which i had provided if it redirects you to the main site you can right-click on it and save the file.

 

[The Purist]

Yup,it is CMBB,where else in the CM series could you play as the Soviets?

Well,..perhaps you picked it up at the website where many new scenarios and battles stored,...there is a link around here somewhere for it. But, if its in BB there is no need for me to look far.

 

[liuzg150181]

Well,..perhaps you picked it up at the website where many new scenarios and battles stored,...there is a link around here somewhere for it. But, if its in BB there is no need for me to look far.

Oic,but I dont see the need to have such a mod unless it is for 'what if' scenario like 'Cold War gets hot' or something like that~~~
Or maybe CMAK have better graphics thus a Soviet mods for it?