All I can say is, “No such luck.” The Russians kept fighting the good fight last night but the Wehrmacht’s 71st Division now has their PT gear on and are tagging stone hexes in the center sector. It has not been without cost to the Germans though. The SAN, booby traps, and inopportune cr@ppy DRs have chipped into the German OoB pretty well. I missed a CC last turn when a 4-6-7 went in to the cellar in my OBA observer’s location. I ambushed them but didn’t succeed in the Hth attack. Melee. Crazy b@stard!
My guys recovered the .50 cal in W32 and it served us pretty well last night. I also rallied my bubbas in Z19 and S38.C. The Germans score 2 stukas. There wasn’t much prep fire in the south aside from smoke hits in V30 and AA22 (this drifted to the NW later), they just started moving. The Germans were able to sufficiently get guys across the AA hexrow, even with some sneaky geometry by my 76L in CC38 tagging AA27.
FFE:C came down which was nice for it’s continued use as a 12FP minefield but it didn’t do anything special even when Dr.D mistakenly ran a HS into it. The best thing that happened in first fire was a pin check that a 10-2 rolled an “11” and mortal wound dr on. In DF our SAN killed a hero in U13 which was nice. Brian moved the StuG III B in T29 to S31 during movement. I’d been waiting patiently for something like that. My HIP 45LL in Z34 nailed in with a side hull hit that knocked it out and killed the crew. A little after that we got a Hot SAN that broke an 8-3-8 in U12 that died for FTR. I had a 4-5-8 die for FTR in Z29.
A few interesting things happened in CC this turn. In O45 Dr. D jumped my concealed 4-4-7 and killed him in normal cc w/-1 for the 8-1 leader. The revealed my dummies in P44 too. The jig is up down there. Dr. D also jumped my KV-1 in Y22. Both fanatic 5-4-8s try for ATMMs. One succeeds and he rolled 6,6 on the attack which CR’s him. My 7-0 observer in V20 died in a 6:1 attack, nothing back at 1:4.
I’ll sum up R5 quickly. 80mm OBA - gone. I didn’t do much effective until AF. I broke the 76L in CC38 on a smoke shot attempt. I shuffled some guys around to cover more terrain I figured the 71st division would have to move thru. I tried to move south from Z20 to Z21 and get in the building using the Germans own drifting smoke as cover. The stuka attack on me failed but the auto-pin hosed me in my mission. I also tried launching a little offensive moving a 4-5-8/ATR from Y19 to X18. I was lucky all that happened to this guys was that he broke.
It looked to me like the .50 cal in W32 was hosed for LOS to anything decent so I declared opportunity fire. Once Dr. D’s stack in X29 fired me up I knew I had LOS. I passed whatever MC I had to and in AF I unleashed on them. My first shot was typical stuff, the 9-1 leader HOBs to BH and becomes heroic but one squad breaks. The next shot is a 1MC which Dr. D hosed. Being heroic he takes a wound dr.”5” he’s dead. By the time the 1MC and LLMC at -2 were over there were no Germans left in the hex. I had no juice in cc, the Germans took out the KV-1. Scenario end dr…4. Chins up, back to the fight.
We almost called it a night at this point (IIRC it was like 1115pm) but gave in to more play with a target end time of 0000. Yeah, right. End time 1245.
I rallied the 4-5-8 who broke in X18 last turn in Z19 with the Commissar. I didn’t fix the 76L – that hurts b/c I need every swinging… I think I box-carred a rally DR on a 2-3-7 in Z20. German prep wasn;t particularly effective but movement was. They are well into the 2L buildings and Specialist’s House now. My only decent DF was a 9-1/LMG/4-5-8 shot that stunned an Sd Kfz 10/5 in EE23. No CC.
While I’m watching helplessly and drinking a glass of water as Dr. D moves toward FF28 Mike Sprague says, They’re not Nazis, they’re nihilists. They’re harmless!” I lose it and spray water on the board b/c I couldn’t contain the laugh. Not too messy but that was freakin’ funny!
So, R6 on Tuesday. Here’s the death toll:
German losses: 1.5x8-3-8, 2x5-4-8, 10.5x4-6-7, 2x4-4-7, 1x1-2-7, 10-2, 2x9-2, 9-1, 8-0, Stug IIIB
Russian losses: .5xNKVD, .5x6-2-8, 9x4-5-8, 6x4-4-7, 2x2-2-8, 6+1, 8-1, 8-0, 9-2, 9-0, 7-0, KV-1 M42
Pics tomorrow, in sha Allah.