Chinese Farm 1: "A Most Terrible Night" Narrative AAR

[bootlegger267]

Turn 21 cont...The Israeli infantry had been fighting for over 5 hours. Exhausted, low on supplies, and suffeering many casualties, they now faced a solid wall of enemy soldiers in well fortified positions. Each gain was offset by the fact that the Egyptian's fell back upon other units...

[bootlegger267]

turn 21 cont...

Sharon..."Reschef, move your vehicles that are west of Lexicon out of the area. They are in the way."

Reschef..."Acknowledged. My infantry are exhausted. There are still enemy tanks at the Farm. My tanks near Amir can not break through."

Sharon..."Erez's Bde in moving up Lexicon now. He sent a tank company up Tirtur to make sure it was safe. You will have relief soon."

Adan..."My forces north of Turtir have met heavy resistance. Tanks, RPG's, missiles...."

Sharon..."Is there a problem with Tirtur?"

Adan..."No, I am giving you information."

Southern Command..."Is Akavish clear?"

Adan...Yes...I have given that problem to my number 1. The soft ones can move freely."

[bootlegger267]

Egyptian Turn 21...Seeing that the Israeli's were trying to split his defense, the Egyptian 16th Inf Div Cdr launches his own attack to do the same to his enemy...

[bootlegger267]

Israeli Turn 22..Reschef's armor holds short of Amir as it fights off a Bn of enemy tanks...

[bootlegger267]

Turn 22 cont..The carnage of battle was spread out before them as they advanced up the road. Some 50 vehicles, enemy and friendly, lay burning/smoldering along a 4km stretch of Lexicon.

The Engineers overpower the two T62's that appeared out of the Farm.

[Crossroads]

Brutal, just brutal...

[bootlegger267]

Turn 22 cont...Nir's forces contain the counter-attack as the rest of the Israeli line holds their fire to regroup/resupply

[nelmsm1]

I think this is a harder struggle than portrayed in your book recommendation.

[bootlegger267]

ORIGINAL: nelmsm1

I think this is a harder struggle than portrayed in your book recommendation.

I find it amazing that although you can never replicate a historical battle in total, this scenario is coming pretty close. It is only about 6 hours into the fight and Ltc Mitzner's Armored Bn did in fact make it to about where I am in regards to Amir, and was then met with a brutal counter attack. (He would lose most of his tanks)

The Israeli's did not clear the Chinese Farm position until 2 days later, (because the Egyptian's pulled back) and I can see why. The Israeli's just did not have the Infantry forces to deal with such a masterful, fully occupied defensive position. The failure to identify this is a discussion still occurring to this day. Air recon photo's showing the extensive position have emerged and why they never made it to Southern Command has caused much argument within the IDF..

Nir's Bde from Adan's 162nd Division never really engaged the enemy as he saw how deep the defense was. I found that out when I hit the wire....

The Para Bn from Matt's Bde took massive casualties as they crossed the open ground trying to penetrate Tirtur from the east. (I had multiple half tracks destroyed in the initial approach)

I keep getting surprised by the AI, both in its aggressiveness, use of artillery, and its constant shifting of forces (especially at the Chinese Farm)

It's a great scenario...

[bootlegger267]

Egyptian turn 22..With heavy tank fire covering their move, an Egyptian armor force closes the Israeli positions south of Amir.

[bootlegger267]

Turn 22 cont...Nir's lead elements come under withering RPG, missile and tank fire....

[bootlegger267]

End Turn 22...Southern Command Hq's...Elazar, Gonen , Bar Lev, and now Moshe Dayan, stood in front of the map posted by the intelligence officer. "What does Sharon say?" asked Dayan. "Sharon has his own objectives" replied Gonen. "Do not put personal gripes into this discussion" said Elazar..."I'm not...he has given us nothing but excuses and refuses to answer direct questions." shouted Gonen. "I ask again, what does he say?" repeated Dayan.

"He says Tirtur is open, yet Bren's Bde is having a hard time advancing between kilometer 42 and 54. He says he has secured Matzmed yet he must pull back from the canal because of enemy presence. He says Lexicon is clear yet enemy tanks magically appear on the road." says Gonen.

"How did we not know the Egyptian's had substantial forces at the Farm?" asked Elazar. "From what I know, Brom's recce was south of Akavish. He was able to get to the lake without opposition. Aerial recon, which took heavy loses to their SAMS, did not show the defensive positions at the Farm" said Bar-Lev.

"So where do we stand in regards to crossing?" asked Dayan. "It's still too early to say. Reschef is just short of Amir. If he can break through, the Egyptian bridge is an option. Sharon has the Alligators holding about 2km's east of Matzmed. He believes he can get across but..." says Bar-Lev. "But what?" asks Elazar. "It will be opposed if he can't get artillery support" says Gonen.

"If we dedicate the artillery to him, the forces now fighting east of the canal will suffer" answers Bar-Lev.

Dayan..."Give it to him."

The plan.....

[bootlegger267]

Israeli turn 23..

Reschef..."1, what is your status?"

1...."We beat them off, but we must pull back. We are taking fire from the Farm besides to our front"

Reschef..."How bad and can you hold?"

1..."Bad enough but we'll hold"

Along the eastern bank of the canal, tanks and engineers overrun a unit of enemy bridging equipment.

[bootlegger267]

Turn 23 cont...Nir's tanks continue to push back the Egyptian armor, and along with Matt's Para's, gain more space between Tirtur and the enemy.

The fight in the trenches continue, but the Israeli's are now content to hold their gains...

Adan..."Nir, can you break them?"

Nir..."Yes..but it will take time. There are more of them than us."

Adan...Is Tirtur open in your area?"

Nir..."Yes, for now. Later, I could not tell you."

[bootlegger267]

Egyptian turn 23...The enemy artillery continues to cause casualties all along the staging areas around Matzmed. When the artillery lifted, the Egyptian's conducted a direct fire attack upon Reshef's armor from the north and east. A lone enemy tank emerged from Amir but 5 more tanks appeared from the SE closing to within 500m of Reshef's right flank....

[bootlegger267]

Turn 23 cont...Nir's lead elements run into a wall of missile and tank fire. An Egyptian 2 platoons of BRDM-2's get lost and find themselves looking down the barrels of Nir's tanks.

Nir..."I have at least a company of dug in enemy tanks to my front and they have what seems like unlimited missiles and rockets"

Adan..."Loses?"

Nir..."I don't know how, but only a few so far."

[bootlegger267]

Israeli turn 24... Over an hour into the battle that was for Amir, the Israeli and Egyptian armor traded shots, with the Israeli's forcing the Egyptian's back, but not into retreat. There was over a Bn's worth of enemy armor in the area and Reschef's tanks held them off. Erez's tanks begin to arrive in sector...The Egyptian's retreat out of Amir, but the Israeli's can not advance...

[Veloz]

TU; floja la IAQ..flojita...tirando a mala

[bootlegger267]

Turn 24 cont...The infantry were exhausted. Plt's were reduced to squads, ammo was running low. Only around The Farm did the Israeli's continue to push. The rest of the line was ordered to hold the ground that was gained at such a high cost.

[bootlegger267]

Turn 24 cont...The BRDM-2's that had wandered into Nir's armor were quickly destroyed. The burning vehicles lit up the around them as their missiles cooked off, some flying in all directions.

They continued to pound at the tanks that were to his north, when the call came over the command net...

Adan..."Nir, command has another mission and you are the nearest force to carry it out."

Nir.."I'm in the middle of a fight here."

Adan..."Not for your tanks, your Infantry"

Nir..I have a reduced Co just beginning to clear the positions on my right. I can't just pull them out."

Adan...You'll have to. It's important... They need to head up Kaspi Road towards Televizia"

Nir..."and do what!?"

Adan..."Get eye's on the enemy artillery. It's causing much damage....