Jess' Beyond the Beachhead PBEM scenario

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 9:08 am

Originally posted by M4 Jess
hmmm shall we give him ...a.......few Tigers?

Jess~Trouble maker

If we're being democratic about this, I say, "No!" That wouldn't really be fair to my poor GIs would it?;)

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 10:42 am

I think the German armor is either running away or massing for a big counter attack. Everything except for PzIIIm's have disappeared on me.

The PzIIIm's are proving to be very fragile. I've immobilized a couple of them and one had its suspension damaged by my 60mm mortar barrage that was a random hit (i.e. I didn't target the hex where it was hiding.).

Other than that, I've got about a companies worth of grenadiers on the run. The problem is that they rally and set up in/behind the bocage, so I have to bump into them to find them unless I can overwhelm them and make them disperse (very hard to do in bocage country).

No sign of any more big katz...yet.

CPT Shoe · Post by **CPT Shoe** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 6:26 am

Get the feeling that I am reinforcing failures.

My little local counterattacks are coming at a cost that I cannot bear. A one for one trade a panther for a light tank..totaly unacceptable

I am on a string of bad luck that is absolutely unbelieveable!!

I think I managed to kill some US recon when the road wheels fell off my disintegrating PZ III and accidentaly rolled over them. I would rate this battle as my weakest showing in the series. Luck be damned, it has to get better from here!

This is like a Monty Python skit where I am lying at Rbrunsman's feet sans arms and legs yelling at him "Is that all you got, It's just a flesh wound...Hit me again!"

To top it all off, I just recently lost the family name to Nike

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 2:26 am

Things should start to go better for you since I switched to H2H.fr. Now my "*" is gone so I can't tell where your ambushes are set up. Although, if I just figure you have a bunker, a platoon of grenadiers or a tank set up every 400 yards, I shouldn't be too far off the mark. There are Germans everywhere!:eek:

In one field I finally pushed through, I stumbled upon 3 bunkers right next to each other in the middle on the field. Luckily it was with a scout and not my armor (I'm not making that mistake any more) so I'll be able to bypass them for the most part. But what that is going to do is funnel me into killing zones if I'm not very careful.

I think I could push through to all the east edge high value VHs in this scenario, but not in the time allowed. Fast advances and careful advances are mutually exclusive endeavors.

In the South that is mostly farmland, I killed a Kompanie Commander as well as several Nashorns and grenadier squads. I've also thoroughly disrupted whatever defending grenadiers are left down there too. But, like I said, as I crush one defensive line I seem to run right into the next. I hope that arrival of that Kompanie Commander heralded the end of all that infantry.

In the north along the only road to the east, things are getting pretty tight. I can't advance very far each turn because the road is blocked and there are woods and bocage everywhere else. The 120mm mortars are really slowing me down too.

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Tue Jul 22, 2003 3:07 am

As the Forum seemed to be down over the weekend, we will skip forward a few turns (it was a busy weekend in Normandy):

GD Nashorns in the south were a pain in the butt, but I think I got all of them. As for the AT & MG bunkers, I just smoke 'em and bypass them. The main concern now is that there are real katz arriving up north. Two PzIVjs jumped on me and killed 2 M4s before I could even blink. I'll have to be more careful now.

I also recall bumping into 88s and quad 20mm AAA behind the German main line of resistance.

CPT Shoe · Post by **CPT Shoe** » Tue Jul 22, 2003 1:12 pm

The Americans have done it now.

I can no longer contain them along our river lines. Although we still maintain our blocking position along the main east west road to St. Clair (Thanks to some timely arriving PZ-IVs). To the south it is nothing but chaos! The American has broken through the main line of defense and discovered that our forces were a mere candy coating over a gooey chocolate center. I would have thought our Nashorns would have performed better than they did. How sweet it must be to have free run over the boccage to the south hampered by only an occasional grenadier squad who has been rallied off of the massive rout to St. Clair.

How lonely it is on the German side as I sit grimly by the fire, burning the last of my personal papers less they fall into the enemies hands.

Curse you, you damned American!:mad:

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 9:59 am

Those PzIVjs won't be a problem any more: Lay on some 105s, then some 60mm then waltz up and pump a couple 76mm rounds into their flanks and bye-bye Panzer! The north is clear of heavy weapons now, so, of course, I'm very nervous about some hidden AT guns in the small village I'm about ready to approach. There isn't anything but a zugtrupp and a heavily damaged grenadier squad that I can see up there.

In the middle ground one of my MG squads poked its nose through some bocage and nearly had its nose shot off my a cross fire of 20mm AAA on the other side.

I hope that squad gets a chance to retreat away from that threat. That was definitely not the way to go boys!

In the south, the only thing I ran into was a Sdkfz 7 hiding in some woods. I wonder what he was doing in there? He won't be reporting back to HQ.

CPT Shoe · Post by **CPT Shoe** » Sat Jul 26, 2003 7:17 am

Not a happy day!

Rbrunsman just took away my playtoys, and I was just getting around to putting them to use.

I think this is my worst showing of the series! Things are in disarray everywhere, I have no defense left, and the terrain still crawls with American Armor!

At least my mortars are still pumping out rounds (for the moment)

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Sat Jul 26, 2003 12:09 pm

As I suspected, I lost that MG team to the 20mm AAA. Oh, well, it could have been worse.

I stumbled upon an immobilized PzIV as I pushed through the smoke on the road up north. It did some serious damage to my squad but no major harm done. The rest was mopping up grenadier squads in that area (so far anyway). I just know there are AT guns waiting for me to bring my tanks through the smoke because there is a little hamlet there with perfect hiding places for guns.

In the south, I managed to make little headway through the bocage and reach the beginnings of the road system that is in the east of the map and I routed a few squads and captured a VH there.

Everywhere else is strangely quiet...

CPT Shoe · Post by **CPT Shoe** » Sat Jul 26, 2003 7:01 pm

Strangely quite, because I am getting crushed!!

Pz-V gets some revenge, but is in a bad way now with my old friend the Engineer Tank.

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:25 pm

Up north along the road, I got the immobilized PzIVj and another PzIVj that rudely killed one of my M4s, plus a couple squads.

In the south, I found a lurking PzIVj moving along a North-South road that I am trying to take control of. It took out a couple of my recon jeeps, but I finally got it with an M105. The bad newsf or me was that when I tried to move from the hex I was in, I set off a mine and destroyed the M105. Now, I'm in the predicament of having to move my other M105 off of the same mined hex.

I probed into St Claire with an M20 recon vehicle and took fire from a 75mm AT gun. While retreating from the town, I took fire from a grenadier squad MG42 and it killed me.

As the turn ended, the German's mortar fire has switched from HE to smoke.

I can only see how this would help me, unless there is a massive counter attack on the way.

M4Jess · Post by **M4Jess** » Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:35 pm

#4 is a river crossing......with rafts!:eek:

heehee

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Sun Jul 27, 2003 11:13 am

I assume that's me doing the crossing? If so, it could be payback time for CPT Shoe.

CPT Shoe · Post by **CPT Shoe** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 4:25 am

I hope I manage to play that river crossing better than I played this one. Definitely not the quantity of Rbrunsman's hardware that I had hoped to see laying smoking on the field of battle. I am still chipping away at his combat power, but it is for a lost cause.

M4Jess · Post by **M4Jess** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 4:54 am

Originally posted by CPT Shoe
I hope I manage to play that river crossing better than I played this one. Definitely not the quantity of Rbrunsman's hardware that I had hoped to see laying smoking on the field of battle. I am still chipping away at his combat power, but it is for a lost cause.

Now if I was the Germans......:p

come on Shoe!

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 5:24 am

I've finally reached the mortars that have been giving me trouble. I got 2 of them and there's another park just the other side of some bocage from me.

I located an 88, luckily it was with a squad and not an M4 since it was only 100 yards away when I spotted it.

The mines, that I thought I had passed by now have been giving me trouble. One lost last turn and this turn I had one immobilized and lost another.

I'm not sure I can reach all the VHs before the time is up but rest assured, I'll make a valiant (read: foolhardy) effort to take them all!

CPT Shoe · Post by **CPT Shoe** » Sun Aug 03, 2003 9:09 pm

American tanks roam freely, and the German armor is destroyed. A few hardy Grenadiers still await along the route to St. Clair, but their morale is shot, and despair runs as freely as the Americans across our fronts. In our hasty retreat to safety (wherever that can be found??) it appears that a few mines may have tumbled off the trucks. There is a sick sort of laughter that eminates from my soldiers whenever an American vehicle unluckily finds one, but it cannot be called humor, and the sound can only be replicated by those who have faced the ugly beast of defeat.

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 11:04 pm

I'm taking out mortars now.

I got a little greedy and tried to dash through the LOS of an AT gun with the expected results: scratch one light tank.

No major resistance seen except a few FJs appearing now and then.

CPT Shoe · Post by **CPT Shoe** » Sun Aug 10, 2003 5:28 pm

There is no major resistance, cause I have very little remaining with which to resist with!

I will let you have your satisfaction of mopping up the remaining V-hexes and then I will wave my little white flag.

Hope I can at least hurt the American on the next fight.

From what I am hearing it sounds like I might get to have a little fun...

rbrunsman · Post by **rbrunsman** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 9:42 pm

There are still a few AT guns and AAA hidden in the villages and woods, so I have to be careful, but there doesn't appear to be any AFVs left. We shall see if one last ambush is being prepared by the crafty Germans.

Jess' Beyond the Beachhead PBEM scenario

What turn is it?