A Strong Response - DAR

[Ratzki]

Finally my HQ and one squad make it to the safety of the trees. I still have my other two squads in command, but they have some open ground left to cover. The enemy fire has started to fall off, so they might be able to make it across now. I have just about used the Withdraw command exclusively, except for this platoon. Once they started taking lots of fire, I started to alternate between Run and Withdraw, using the Run command on the squad that seemed to be taking the most enemy fire.
The good news is that it looks like I should make it to safety with about half my platoon. I checked the Kills/Hits button and see that this platoon has killed 11 enemy infantry, while they have only had 14 men killed across the platoon. I know I have come out on the losing end at the moment, but they caused quite a delay in the enemy advance and are still alive to fight again if needed. If I would have left them in place, I doubt if I would have faired better as they would have been badly outnumbered and probably surrounded and finished off by the Russians.

Here, it looks like the early few turns are paying off as the enemy seems reluctant to advance too far. It looks like if he uses the Contact command, the Russian squads are always in LOS so they stop after a short distance or do not move at all. I think that the thought of getting ambushed again like in the first few turns have slowed him up a fair bit and he keeps on stopping to mop up my Tank Hunter teams and any other squads that he might run across. I would like to say that this was in the plans, but it is just good luck on my part as again it slows him down and I think worries him about getting into another bad firefight with what must be my hidden troops.
My men are on short arcs to maximize the potential damage that they can cause, as well as I want to try to catch the Russian squads as they cross the road in the open. I have placed a mine here on the road as well, this should be enough to stop any mad enemy rush across the road.
Again, the plan is to bloody his nose then fade away towards my flag just out of LOS. At this point I do not think that this game is winnable for the Russian side, but I have been suprised by this cagey opponent in the past, so I am leaving nothing to chance.