Matt's Soviet Punch AAR

[themattcurtis]

Over the next few days I'm going to be playing the game's three German scenarios in order and this is my first in a (hopefully worthwhile) series of AARs. Keep in mind I'm a newb, and don't claim to be all that hot at battlefield tactics -- so feel free to point at any errors in my decision making

"Soviet Punch" depicts a Soviet attack on the German town of Westerbruck -- an assault countered by the 23rd Panzer Battalion and a company of mechanized infantry. My troops can call on some 107mm mortars and a battery of legit SP arty, as well (which is off-board). Four flights of second line fighter bombers are available. My settings include:

Limited Staff
Individual Sighting
No Auto Re-supply
High EW
Doctrine set during deployment
Staff can request arty

Here is an operational map showing the line of defense HQ is expecting.

[themattcurtis]

The first screenshot shows my thoughts on deployment.

Battalion's 3rd company straddles the east-west road leading into Westerbruck. 1st Company heads to the wooded high ground to the north and is stationed in echelon. Its orders will be kept on "Screen" in the hope that its crews can bloody any advancing Soviets by taking advantage of the surprise offered by the terrain -- then fade back to the line at Westerbruck itself. Echelon because I'm hoping that as a platoon falls back, pursuers will fall inside the gun sights of the next unit, and so on.....

2nd Company sprints South, and occupies high ground that allows it to direct enfilading fire on any units attempt to push through all those open fields east of Westerbruck. Look at my operational map. That line drawn by command gives a general idea of 2nd Company's field of fire.

The mechanized infantry, chugging along in their US surplus APCs, is stationed in woods directly to 2nd Company's north. One platoon is on the forest's eastern edge so that it can observe Soviet movements way back towards their suspected starting point.

The first shots are traded at about 0900, when Soviet artillery begins to land around my HQ. NICE [:D] The feature is a pain, but it's a good lesson on watching your radio traffic. My plan saw a lot of individual movement orders to my platoons, even if their report parameters should keep them quiet (company commanders report on reaching their objectives and movement delays, their subordinates on enemy sighting and movement delays).

No casualties yet, just a lot of Westerbruck's quaint brick homes being pounded to dust. But this continues throughout the game, and the staff quickly becomes disheartened and exhausted as they're routinely forced to pull up stakes and shoot to another patch of ground.

First Contact comes when 1st company kills 2 BMPs and a T-80 pushing through the northern highground. My staff also wallops a handful of IFVs when my mech infantry outpost spots an armored unit pushing west along that network of roads in the middle of the map.

I'm feeling good about myself until 1st Platoon is swamped by multiple Russian units. The first boys must have been recon, the follow ups FSE. Regardless, my panzer crews manage to drop another T-80 and an infantry fighting vehicle, but ATGMs reduce two of my Leopard IIs to scrap. And they're still coming. We hurriedly call in some air support, while 1st platoon begins to displace.

[themattcurtis]

1st Company's 1st platoon bites the big weenie -- polished off by ATGMs even as it attempts to disengage. But still, my air strike results in three secondary explosions (Russian air defense drops one of the fast movers). BMPs and T-80s continue to bum rush the company's position, losing several hulls in exchange for two more Leopard IIs.

I can only attach one screenshot per post, so I won't plunk in any image of the jet photo, but here's something that's a little encouraging. My artillery now takes a HUGE toll on the Russians this turn. My mech infantry outpost spots a concentration of armor on a road far to the east, and I call down my first "Neutralize" barrage from my offboard artillery. Seven secondary explosions result, even though I lose sight of the vehicles before the fast movers arrive. My staff goes to work as well, and before its over, I've killed 20+ vehicles over the next 30 minutes (according to staff reports) without suffering any losses in return.

The screenshots shows how 1st Company has been driven back (and reduced, as another platoon lost two Leopards during the previous turn's fighting).

One more thing -- in my screenshots, it looks like unit labels are all screwy. During the game, I used the Command Tree to make sure all the panzers were grouped properly, and the game played just fine, but some of the screenshots are strange. Dunno why....

[themattcurtis]

The Russians push into the northern fringes of Westerbruck, wrapping around the left flank of my battered 1st company -- but are soon obliterated in bitter fighting with 3rd company. A handful of BMPs and T-80s burn amidst the city's rubble strewn streets.

When a Forward Security Element stumbles into 3rd Company's line along the main road leading into town, we manage to kill a number of tanks and IFVs, then scream for air support. The Russians took enough of a pounding, however, that they withdraw to the east before the jets can really do anything constructive. We see a few explosions bloom in the distance, but we lose another jet for our efforts. Everyone in town is on "Hold" orders now, and the 1st Company boys are definitely looking the worse for wear, as the Reds have edged into Westerbruck a few times, only to be beaten back.

Down south, 2nd Company earns its pay in spades. The mech infantry outpost spies a mechanized company and my dismounted panzergrenadiers unload with their Dragon medium anti-tank missiles before the unit is destroyed en masse by return fire (I set their range at 1500m, the fight took place at 1000m). But when that company pushes west, it's spanked by more point blank fire from the surviving infantry hidden in those woods -- then mauled by 2nd Company, which eventually kills a full company of self-propelled 120mm mortars.

The Russians will make a number of probes along this route, and the result is always the same. 2nd Company kills a ton of Soviet assets without being targeted by a single shot in return.

See the screenshot.

Up north -- MY HQ is dead!! I've died as Russian artillery has finally caught up on me. My radio traffic has been relatively light since I got my troops in line, but I was never able to shake off the IF fire being dumped on my head, and in seconds the 23rd Battalion's HQ is flaming wreckage.

[themattcurtis]

You'll see my line bent in a lot of places -- since I wanted to allow my guys to fade back and don't really care for "stand and die" orders.

If I could post more than one screenshot per post, I'd keep going in more detail. But suffice to say, the Russians keep pounding on that main E-W axis into Westerbruck. At one point, my 3rd company is going toe-to-toe with an FSE, mechanized company and batch of SP 120mm mortars. The same steps are repeated again and again....DF from my Dug In grunts kills a bunch of Reds, air strikes are called down, and my onboard mortars and HQ run like hell from Russian artillery. To the far north, the emphasis has shifted from the remnants of 1st Company to the point that those fellas can pull back and grab some much needed rest.

[themattcurtis]

The game ends pretty abruptly -- with a Decisive Victory!

I ended up losing two platoons of tanks (all 1st Company), a platoon of mechanized infantry, my poor HQ and three jets -- reportedly down by Russian air defense units. Those four flights, along with my mortars and a single battery of SP guns, constituted my fire support.

Russian losses are summarized below -- I killed 120+ of their vehicles while maintaining 86 percent of my line strength.

Overall, a lot of fun The Russians chased my HQ like mad and their counterbattery fire drove my mortar crews nuts. They nearly established a foothold in Westerbruck on a few occasions, and the game is VERY atmospheric. Sorry if the AAR is sparse. I'm desperately writing from my notes before the family wakes up.

Thanks for bearing with me

[Real and Simulated Wars]

Awesome report Matt!
I've learned a lot from it. Was it before the patch?
Cheers,

[themattcurtis]

Yup. v1.00