somewhere inland from Omaha... gentle hillocks interspersed with woodland... the central belt of which has a small village and forests to the North and South...
German orders are to stop the Green boys breaking out from Omaha... at all costs.
After Goblins rather clever initial bombardment and smoke screening of his arty batteries the Germans are on the move, apart from the one halftrack that took a direct hit from his mortars that is...
Germans made contact with a small force of US Airborne in the northern woodland heights followed by the sighting of US armor also in the North but closer to the village. Despite my usual recon problems (breakdowns) we have also discovered the US combat engineers have been busy laying mines on the approach roads (or was it one of ours we forgot about?)
It's dusk, visibility is at 10 and it's going to be a bad night... for Goblin
Its an even worse night for that scout car and flame halftrack. Thats why they teach you not to go into trees full of airborne. Forget the lesson, and the airborne reteach it!:mad:
It IS quite open ground, which does not bode well for the US. Still, Uncle Sam gave us some good stuff, we just gotta use it correctly!
The north hill, a fairly large hill, with tree covered rough areas, plus some regular trees, has more shells hitting it than it has men on it! The Germans are coming up one side, and the 101st up the other, and both called for arty! THUMP!THUMP!THUMP! BOOOM!! CRACK! CRACK! BOOOM!! THUMP!THUMP!THUMP!
hellcat smoked (literally) a couple of my 3"ATG's, so they can't see a darn thing!
There are starting to be more and more Fritzy MC's everywhere.
Goblin has had a group of 3 tanks sitting near the VHs on the northern hill for the first few rounds... now there's only 1 left :p (that I know of!)... the fight on these heights is intense already and much of it is burning...
in the South Goblin has airborne scattered amongst the trees and they're playing havoc with my motorcycles, taking out a unit in one go and remaining unspotted...
where most of his forces are I have no idea... there's a lot of 60mm raining down on me in the central strip so he can't be too far away...
"Jones!", cried the Lieutenant as tracers raced off into the dark from the .30 nearby. "Get me HQ on the- sh*t!". Jones is down, lifeless. The sharp CRACK of a grenade goes off nearby. The Lieutenant feels for the radio on Jones' body, and comes up with it. A fireball blossoms in the night, as a Sherman goes up less than 50 yards away.
"This is Easy 2 Actual, requesting immediate permission to withdraw!" Some yelling and a Garand firing rapidly puctuate his plea. "Enemy mechanized infantry-" BOOM! "-present in strength! They are supported by Panzer IV's!" Tracer fire goes by again, this time incoming. He hunkers lower in the gathering darkness.
"Easy 2 Actual, reinforcements inbound, hold your position." The calm, cheery sounding voice grates the Lieutenants nerves.
"HQ, 2 Actual, we have enemy infantry on our flanks-" Tatatatat! CRACK! "- and its my belief that we cannot hold this ground!" A second Sherman 76 explodes nearby, and there is a flurry of small arms fire that follows. Wounded stream past, dazed looking.
"Stand by, Easy 2." The monotonal voice replies. 'My a$$ I'll stand by', thinks the Lieutenant. "Carver!" he yells. "Sir!" A veteran Sgt crawls up to him in the gloom. "Get the platoon falling back immediately." The Sgt glances at the radio, unsure. The Lieutenant calmly empties his Tommygun into the radio.
"I cannot reach HQ due to a radio malfunction, Sergeant. Its my call." , he says. BOOM! BOOM! The Sgt grins, "Yessir!". He turns to move the men out. On the way, he thinks to himself, 'Maybe this guy DOES know his a$$ from a four-deuce after all!'
"Second platoon, fall back!" They sound of rifle and MG fire follow them into the dark....
the battle for slaughterhouse hill continues apace... I did manage to lose a panther to a wolverine as well as some halftracks elsewhere. I can now see shermans and wolverines in the South and Central sectors. It looks like we're cooking now!
My 101st boys fought hard, and gave back some of what they got earlier (with the help of ALOT of my arty!). I killed a PzIV with a 76mm round out of a Sherman from the platoon that was blasted on the hill. Paybacks, baby!
well the last couple of turns have been interesting... slaughterhouse hill (the tree covered heights in the northern central strip) is still burning and drawing a lot of artillery fire. I don't know what forces Goblin still has in amongst those trees or what shape they're in.
Meanwhile several sherman dozers have been sited heading towards the central sector, two have been burned up and there are also wolverines roaming around too. His airborne troopers are leading his advance and popping up all over my front in Goblin's usual well concealed manner, we continue to flush them out wherever possible.
Slaughterhouse hill aside (as that microbattle has taken on a dimension of its own) I'm not sure where or when Goblin's main punch is going to come from... or whether he's waiting for me to hit him hard instead. This really feels like his force are tentatively breaking out while ours are rushing to meet him. Maybe he's waiting for reinforcements? His arty continues to pound away at any armour he sees and that has left me with several routed units in exposed positions. Worse still I have suffered from an inordinate amount of breakdowns 'on the way to the front' or 'right at the front' with my recon units. A result of not wishing to bunch up during set up. I'm hoping for some repairs! I really should change my handle to 'immobiliser' or something...
We remain able to fight along the whole front, while gently probing the gaps while holding onto a reserve. I'm sure some surprises are coming... airdrop? infiltration? reinforcements?
stay tuned
Got a coupla halfracks and infantry squads that ambushed my airborne on Slaughterhouse Hill. They had gotten BEHIND me and ambushed a squad that was retreating! How they got there is anyones guess! Kudos hellcat:) .
2 more sherman dozers bite the dust and more wolverines spotted. I am certain there is still a significant pocket of Goblin's airborne vanguard on slaughterhouse hill and intend to flush them out before they can receive armor support. My breakdowns continue at roughly 2 per turn and nothing has managed to fix itself yet. Thankfully two of my PzJ's managed to rally this turn. Fighting has now developed along the whole front and there are few gaps left to probe. I'm bringing up the heavy stuff...
Finished off the last of that ambush on The Hill. Engineers!
Shootout in the south with some Kraut infantry, spotted a few more just north of that, near a large orchard. Drew an imaginary line between the two, and dropped an 8 inch battery in the orchard. Massive casualties! Thanks goodness those are my guns! Lots of screams from the orchard in the dark. We might have to hit them again, to ease their suffering....
well despite Goblin's shelling and the usual 2 breakdowns (with still nothing fixed) we managed to nail two more tanks approaching the front. Unfortunately I've lost sight of two others who will no doubt give me a surprise or two... Slaughterhouse hill is as evil as ever...
I dropped another 8 inch battery into that orchard. FJ's in the orchard are giving me big ones! Just in case, I threw in a battery of 155's, and some 155mm rounds from my SP guns. There is also a Panther lurking near there, along with CS vehicle of some type. The only thing thats gonna grow there now is Fire Blossoms. That, and the casualty count. Heck of a lot more screaming. If the Screaming Eagles think its too much screaming, it is!:)
woohoo! American crews are still bailing out of their tanks all over... my cackles died down and turned to anguish however as I brought my reinforcements on only for them to be ambushed in style by some hollywood ranger unit that tore up several infantry units and smoked one of my halftracks with a long 75! why you Goblin!!!!
My Hollywood Ranger squad now has four kills, and DARES you to come back into those trees!
My 8's and 155's are still working that orchard, and a large farm field just south of it, with good results. I have sighted a Brummbaer, escorted by tanks, not to mention that just south of SH Hill, there is a Panther! I have directed most of my tubes to these threats.
A lot has happened, we have played several turns. There is alot of fighting in the orchard and farmfield areas, and SH Hill. The Hill!! One of the Kraut engineering squads may have single-handedly won the game for hellcat! It took out 4 of my few remaining tanks! Goodness, I hit it with recon, then tanks, and it just would not be surpressed.
More heavy German armor is showing up, and I will be hard-pressed to stop it. We are airborne however, and will try.
two more US tanks down... although I got a pzjageriv shot out from under me! Slaughterhouse hill is mostly in German hands now and fighting has now broken out in the South. Those damned airborne are still everywhere and fighting tooth and nail. It's lethal to advance without infantry support and my rear areas are still ranger infested although only one seems to have been 'hollywood' ranger calibre. I'm still suffering a crippling amount of immobilisations and Goblin's mines also take a toll. I have also spotted AT guns out there on the ridges surrounding his VH area... Almost all forces are now being committed to this push now...
I have sighted a Brummbaer, escorted by tanks, not to mention that just south of SH Hill, there is a Panther! I have directed most of my tubes to these threats.