Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

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RedDevil
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Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

I have played this scenario a while ago, but while waiting for the patch I thought I could do an AAR, so here you are. I should be able to post all the AAR in the next couple of days. Unfortunately since I was not planning an AAR I only had some notes that I made to myself while playing (I normally write down when I stop playing what I want to do next in case I can only continue after some days).

The Briefing

The situation is pretty grim as the briefing explains. The airfield is lost, the Black Watch and the 2nd/4th Australian dislodged and now Iraklion itself is under threat. Cherry on the pie, in the morning the Germans are flying in reinforcements. My mission is to re-take the airport or cause maximum damage while the Germans try to exit the map. Also, I will need to protect the port of Iraklion and Khrisoply which are the only escape routes to leave Crete.

I can count on 3 British Battalions, one Australian, 3 Greek regiments (no mortars :( ), one artillery regiment without artillery (!) and other support units. This leaves me with only the 234th Medium battery, rather powerful but certainly not enough. Late in the game I will also receive 3 Matilda Mk II as reinforcements. Basically my OOB is as follows:

* please bear with me while I try to figure out how to embed a pic [:D]

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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

The plan


The initial intel suggests that the enemy forces are forming a perimeter around the airfield plus some more scattered units just South of Iraklion. I am a bit worried for my forces around the airport as they will be easily cut off from the supply.
Now, since every time I try to guess what the AI will do I get it wrong, this time I will not bother and go straight to my plan.

I do not expect to be able to regain control of the airfield (maybe I will have a chance towards the end of the scenario) so I will try to prevent my enemy from scoring points by harass the airport area. I will also try to hold for as long as possible the exit objective and delay the advance towards it. I think the situation will be relaxed in the city. If the enemy decides to force their way to the exit through the city I will try to use the two creeks as defensive lines.
Finally in order to gain some victory points from destroying the enemy I will try to strike from the side as they move towards the exit.
In summary my 100 VP will come from
35 from destroy the enemy
20 for Iraklion on completion
20 for Khrisoply on completion
25 from the exit objective
...Let's see how it goes.



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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

From Day 1 05:00 to Day 1: 13:17 – part 1

As discussed in the introduction I am trying to get my foot in the door around the airfield. Note that the Black Watch has been cornered and is now trying to cross again the river to regroup.


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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

From Day 1 05:00 to Day 1: 13:17 – part 2

In the Centre the scattered units south of Iraklion turned up to be a full battalion of fallschirmjaeger, including support units. They are heading straight to the coast but luckily, not only the 7th Greek regiment is in a good defensive position, but the 2 nd Battalion York and Lancs is in the perfect place for an attack from the flank. Great stuff. Unfortunately I decided to re-position my only arty which can be seen travelling through Iraklion in the screenshot. Shame, I would have really needed it now.


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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

From Day 1 13:17 to Day 1 20:13


I think I managed to contain the assault on the objectives, but in a turn of events a battalion of fallschirmjaeger appeared to be moving in the city from the Airfield. My defensive line across the creek is not really doing great, I hope they will be able to dig in during the night. On the other hand the attack doesn't seem a major one and actually I may even decide to try to regain some terrain in order to protect the Khrisoply objective.

Around the airfield some reinforcements have definitely landed, not so sure how many since I have only seen a couple of AT and infantry coys, however it is not going too well and the Black Watch is not disengaging quickly enough.


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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

From Day 1 20:13 to Day 2 06:45 – Part 1

My intention of keeping the Germans busy around the airport area is working well. Actually too well judging from the number of units committed by the German player in the area. I am still trying to get the Black Watch out of harms way. The 2nd/4th Australian Regiment is also in a rather bad shape and I am considering withdrawing it as well. There is now definitely a strong presence of mountain infantry, I hope they will start to make their way to the exit as soon as possible.



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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

From Day 1 20:13 to Day 2 06:45 – Part 2

In the centre I managed to pocket a number of enemies. I will try to trap them while the arty is raining on them all that it has got. If I can encircle them I might be able to score a considerable number of VPs.


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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

From Day 2 06:45 to Day 2 11:29

I am trying to destroy in detail the units in the pocket I have created, so I ordered a max aggro sweep (line formation) of my valiant greek units.
This could be the last offensive action in a while considering the fast approach from the east of what looks like at least 1 (maybe 2) battalions of German mountain infantry. Also (low right corner of the screen) I was forced withdrawing my 2nd/4th Australian Regiment who was taking a royal battering on the 134.02 hill.


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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by Arjuna »

RedDevil,
 
Nice work. I like your graphics too.
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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

Thanks Arjuna,

The graphics is courtesy of the wonderful GIMP. It takes a while to figure out how it works but it is well worth the effort (and it is opensource too!). Next time I will make sure the size of the images is more manageable so that you don't need to scroll horizontally on a 1280x1024 display. For this time only please bear with me.

Anyway, let's see if I can wrap this AAR up.

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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

From Day 2 11:37 to Day3 07:41

Decided to abandon Khrisoply and defend behind a creek running in the city. The attack on the Iraklion pocket was not quite as successful as I hoped: most of the German units escaped somehow although I am sure they will not pose a threat again. On the defensive line the 2nd York and Lancs battalion is taking position. The Germans are driving a wedge into Iraklion and I am not totally convinced I can stop them although for the second time in the game, I have a battallion in the perfect position for an attack from the flank (in this case the Royal Leicestershire and plenty of artillery rounds to make them regret setting foot on Crete.

I kicked myself for remembering too late the activation of the exit objective at 08:00 of Day 2. An engineer coy is running to it, but it will still take some time: I am wasting Victory Points.
Finally I think it is time to move the 3 rd Greek Infantry regiment in their delaying position on the way towards the exit.

The 2nd/4th Australians after giving another try during the late afternoon of Day2 to take position on the 134.02 hill are now ordered to make a wide manoeuvre that will take them to the East of the airport behind the road bridge (basically the starting position of the Black Watch. From there, they may be in the position to probe the German rearguard during day 4 or 5. The Black Watch found some enemies on their way East where they should have regrouped and are now in a very, very bad shape.



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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

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From Day 3 01:05 to Day 3 18:30


Probably thanks to the half encirclement, the Germans gave up their attack to Iraklion. Good, because I think my defensive line was way too thin. Actually I decided to exploit this retreat to advance a bit with the 2 nd York and Lancs Battalion. The arty unit (which is 250 men strong) is spearheading my bid to re-conquer Khrisoply. I highlighted in this screeshot the fatigue level to show how mortar units get totally knackered since they keep performing fire missions even when ordered to rest. This is a big problem when you want your battalion to advance. I would really like in the future not to have to detach the mortars to place them under my command in order to make them rest.
Another strange problem, not highlighted in this pic is that the 2RL are out of supplies even if the B.GR (almost in the same position) is not.




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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

From Day 3 18:30 to Day 4 09:42


During the night of day 3 I was able to advance by about 200 m and create a good defensive line from the objective in Khrisoply down to the edge of the village. I would like to forward this line so that I can protect the objective victory point from infiltrations, but since all the units are nicely dug in I have to think about it.
I have noticed that there is still quite a strong presence of Germans around the airport area, in particular where a couple of Black Watch coys tried to escape. The briefing suggested that the Germans needed to exit at least two infantry battalions and my only reinforcement (three Matilda Mk II) are eagerly waiting for the passage within their range to increase my “Destroy the enemy” victory points.



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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

Day 4 09:47 to Day 5 07:05

Day 4 has been a very bad day. One of the days you may want to replay to get things right. First I lost all my forces to the East of the airfield i.e. The Black Watch Regiment and the 2 nd/4 th Australians. Having been without resupply for 3 days it was bound to happen but it hurts anyway.
The other mistake was made in the centre of the map where I decided to go again for the magic 134.02 hill, this time with the 2nd Royal Leicestershire Regiment: not a good move. This hill is a bit of an obsession of mine :)
There are luckily some positive aspects of the morning of the last day of the battle:
1.I am still holding the exit objective an no enemy is in sight.
2.I am holding the Khrisoply objective rather firmly
3.I have infiltrated my 7th artillery in the airport area (hopefully denying the Germans victory points)
Here's the screenshot.




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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

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From Day 5 07:05 to Day 5 22:00

The end at last!
Attached a screenshot of the final situation.

Surprisingly the German did not try to exit the map at all. They instead decided to mount a last minute attack on Iraklion. My “obsession” with 134.02 is clearly shared by the enemy AI who dedicated what appear to be two full battalions for its defence.
I managed to deny the airfield objective by settling the Yorks and Lancs battalion in the barracks area, something I tried without success at the beginning of the scenario.



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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by RedDevil »

After action:
I have won a decisive victory however I have to say that this was more down to the poor playing from the AI than from my own skills. I made a number of bad mistakes and still I haven't been punished. Probably with the more aggressive AI delivered in the Patch things will be different. The resupply status of the German paras may also have contributed to my success.

It was great fun as always.

Cheers,

RedDevil


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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by Arjuna »

Well it will be interesting to see how this scenario replays with the code mods for the patch. [:)]
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RE: Iraklion Airfield Falls AAR (Allies)

Post by Vance »

Nice AAR, well written.
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