McIvan's View - Clash at Pavlograd - McIvan v [hirr]Leto

[McIvan]

The major decision this turn is whether or not to slug it out with the T34s. I was encouraged by the way a couple of them backed away from the fight toward the end of last turn, thinking (this turns out to be completely wrong) it was Russian "tank cowardice"....if they do that their accuracy will go all to pot - hopefully! It's still pretty close range. On the negative side, there are three T70s and a T60 that Pete can choose to bring to the fight if he wants to....that could get ugly pretty quick.

Nevertheless, my PIII's need to be at this range if they want to have a chance of penetrating the T34 armour, so I decide to stand and fight....for a turn anyway.




My top two PIIIs are vulnerable at this point to a side hit.....doesn't matter what the angle is, a 76mm AP will probably go through 30mm of armour easily. Hopefully they can rotate a bit before being hit. You can also see the Russian light tanks lying low in the centre and right of the picture....one T60 and two T70s.




You can see that the right hand T34 is on a rise, the second has retreated back down it. The right hand T34 is in a personal duel with my PIII on the road branch behind its knocked out brethren. The T34 on the left is being targeted by both PIIIs on the top rise....it was also being targeted by the third PIII, but I switched because last turn it bounced a tungsten round off the turret front. There's no point in shooting at the front of a T34 unless its pointed at you more or less...otherwise the combined vertical and horizontal angles of the turret slope and the angle from your tank to theirs will defeat the round.

Over at the Small Arms Factory, I decide to bring the 251/9 into firing position at the corner, looking toward the house behind which a T70 is cowering from last turn.




Thats an overhead look at the orders and a over-view of the situation. You can see the PIII on the railway embankment has changed back to fast...it got itself too close to the track and was inching along. It's out of the fight where it is, no good at all.

If the enemy T70 stays where it is, I will order the 251/9 to area fire 75mm HE into the house.....I bet I can get it right next to the T70 and with luck will damage it or even knock it out. Killing tanks with area fire is fun, if you can pull it off, and it really annoys your opponent.

If it moves out, then the 251/9 should have a chance of nailing it, especially if it is trying to get flank shots on my PIIIs...hopefully it will have a specific target arc that lets the 251/9 have a shot unhindered. if not then I'll probably lose the 251/9, but thats life.

Briefly toyed with the idea of running a half squad all the way to the house to assault the tank, but my boys are still slightly tired from cleaning out the factory and its a fair way.

On the left I decide to hook the armoured cars and the 251/9 (for some heavier 75mm backup) left around the Grainery end of things. Quite possibly nothing much will come of this, but I may get a chance to take down some halftracks OR, if Pete can see them moving, give pause to any plans Pete might have.



You can see the red stars indicating the last known position of Pete's halftracks behind the Grainery, and the tracks my infantry are taking up to the bridge.
A delicate tracery of vehicle balletics trying to keep everything flowing efficiently....



I've already sent the turn off to Pete, so too late now, but I'm already nervous about a bad turn for my PIIIs....if I lose them then the Russian light tanks will tear through my halftracks and there won't be much I can do about it. It might have been better to pull them back and await further reinforcements....ie hopefully something armed with a long 75mm. But, hell, war is risk :)