The 2nd Armored Campaign

[Gregor]

Turn 4:

Its only Turn 4 and the losses on both sides are steep. The Germans have only 2900 men in total and have lost close to 500 at the start of my 4th turn. That is 1/6 of the troops, and the scenario is 23 turns long. I might have been too aggressive, but hope for the best. The American losses are less, and they have more than 4400 troops in total, even though about 1500 are reinforcements about half way trough. Much of the troops are also fixed at the start of the scenario so local superiority should be possible to achieve. I decide that the only option now is to continue the high pressure.

There are a number of units that could be surrounded and destroyed.  The first picture shows disrupted units highlighted. The 25pt VP location has the potential to be surrounded. If the last undisrupted unit in the field north of it is disrupted and assaulted out of its supporting position the VP location could be totally surrounded. The improved position just south of the hill is also ready for a surrounding maneuver. I will concentrate fire on those 3 positions.



As this second picture shows I have managed to disrupt and push him out of the fields and isolate the VP location too. Due to artillery and StuG and other support fire I am also able to disrupt all units at the VP location. That opens up for assaults, and below you see the result of the first one. 71 men is either taken out or surrenders. I did assault many times in a row and each time half of the reminding soldiers surrendered.
 





This is the end shot of the turn.  Did not disrupt the southern position and left it un-surrounded as my frontal troops was not suitable to hold their own there and I did fear being surrounded in return if I tried. As you can see the Americans suffered 300 men while the Germans less than 100 shifting the balance of the forces towards the Germans and also punching a hole in the line. Also notice the StuGs behind the line for supportive fire. They should be held behind a screen of infantry as infantry in close combat with armor eat fast trough them due to the modern AT weapons used by them by this time in the war.
 
Another useful thing to note is Ricks use of smoke. It was to enable the evacuation of some guns that were too close to the line and they couldn’t get to cover and ended within sight in travel mode. If not employed smoke the guns would die from artillery. The good news for me is that he only have 2 smoke for the whole scenario and that he have used one already.

PS: Seems like the shaded areas shows badly on the screenshots, I will try to remember to turn that off for later pictures. At least from where we are currently in the game.