The Crossroads -- 6/5/67 - DAR (no Crossroads)

[berto]

TURN #31

Are those Israeli Shermans still hiding out at hex 34,49 (yellow circle)? Let's go look. Ferrets advance up slope. Nothing. Evidently, the Shermans have slipped away. The Ferrets go as far as hex 34,48 (blue circle), where they stop.

A sigh of relief. I can move more freely now. To the east, more Ferrets climb the ridge. Hidden Israeli mech infantry (turquoise circle) opfire at the approaching Ferrets, forcing them back (magenta circle).

A kilometer or two to the west, a squad of Pattons moves northward. Shots ring out. Israeli Shermans (green circle) opfire at the Pattons (magenta circle), but without effect.

Ah, so they went that a way. I've found the Shermans, two of them anyway.

[berto]

TURN #31

The forward Pattons fire at the Shermans, but miss.

Three more Pattons (green circle) join the attack, fire, and inflict a hit, also a disruption (red circle).



Two more Pattons (green circle) advance, fire, and destroy the second Sherman (red circle)!



There are still two more Shermans out there. Where might they be?

[berto]

TURN #31

I send forth a single Patton up Hill 402, ahead of the Ferrets. A shot rings out. Darn! He got the Patton (red circle). But at least now I know where his other two Shermans are (green circle).



That stack of Pattons to the west (green circle): One squad fires again, and misses. A second squad fires again, and misses. A third squad fires again, and hits. Two Shermans eliminated!





No more enemy Shermans on my right, I now believe.

[berto]

TURN #31

After my Side B (Jordanian) move (Side B is this scenario's second side), the situation at the end of Turn 31, the center (with my disrupted units yellow highlighted):



In the center, I carefully maneuver my forces around and outside the enemy's LOS. Crossroads holds the high, fortified ground south of Jenin. Equally concerning, I know he has more Shermans somewhere within that yellow circle. Fault me for being timid here -- I know he's got some HQs, arty etc. in the vicinity (magenta circle) -- but I'm reluctant to blitz his center left just yet.

Crossroads' far left is on the verge of collapse. Indeed, it's conceivable I might engulf his entire left flank and bag the lot of them.

On my far left, the recce units are close at hand. Next turn I strike!

Crossroads Total VPs: 268, still within Major Defeat.

[berto]

TURN #32

For a change, Turn 32's opening Israeli artillery barrage isn't too bad, with most of the enemy shells falling on empty hexes.

Then ... such intense action!

Israeli mech infantry (turquoise circle) attack the Pattons in the village east of Jenin, scoring 1 SP hit. Israeli Shermans (green circle) show up to finish the job (red circle). Strike one Patton squad!

[berto]

TURN #32

South of Jenin, a fierce struggle ensues as Crossroads attacks my salient on the right (yellow circle).

Enemy tanks and mech infantry (top two green circles) combine to drive a Patton back, then again (magenta circle). Thankfully, without SP loss, but that Patton is now disrupted.

If it's not clear by now, the Jordanians are much slower to undisrupt, if ever, than the Israelis. (Due to the Adaptive A/I settings.) So Jordanian disruptions are a much bigger deal.

A squad of Pattons (lower green circle) fires on some fleeing enemy mortars (lower magenta circle), scoring 4 SP hits.

Shermans (turquoise circle) materialize from out of nowhere to obliterate my scout Ferrets (red circle).

What a surprise. My opponent has more tanks on his left flank than I imagined!

[berto]

TURN #32

Shermans based at Jenin dart southward, fire, and destroy a Jordanian unit (of ?) at hex 30,40 (lower red circle), then dart back into hiding once again.

Applying the same tactic, another squad of Shermans darts southward, fires on some Jordanian APCs at hex 31,39 (upper red circle), destroying them also. And just the same, these Shermans too withdraw out of visibility.

[berto]

TURN #32

A bit further to the east, my Pattons (green circle) destroy a Sherman (red circle).



More Israeli Shermans (turquoise circle) appear from out of nowhere to fire at one of my Pattons (yellow circle), without effect.

I take note of the Shermans. Again, quite unexpected!



Subsequent shots force the Patton to retreat northeastward. But at least it survives, undisrupted. Then the Shermans here too withdraw from view.

A master class in tank tactics from the master, Crossroads!

[berto]

TURN #32

My opponent's moves concluded, Jordanian artillery begins to fire, occasionally drift ... in one instance slamming its kindred. Slammed by friendly fire! [:(]

[berto]

TURN #32

After the Israeli first phase moves, and following the Jordanian artillery fire, Jenin and southward at the beginning of Turn 32, second Side B (Jordanian) phase, with Jordanian disruptions highlighted in yellow:



Oh my, could the picture be any more confusing?

A complicated fight in the center (large yellow circle). Who's cutting off whom?

Crossroads has an edge in that fight, because he has more and better infantry -- the fearsome Israeli mech infantry -- at hand than I do, and much of my infantry in the vicinity are disrupted.

I have strong armoured assets not too distant, but I must be careful of the enemy tanks. They are out there, but where? You don't see them, I don't see them. But I know they are there.

Some irresistibly juicy targets: three Israeli mortar batteries loaded up on trucks (lower magenta circle). Without exposing my tanks to enemy ambush, I must try to take out those mortars if at all possible. What a prize they would be!

Up north, Jordanian artillery fire forced an Israeli infantry platoon out of its IP (upper magenta circle). A foretaste of the impending Jordanian surprise attack northwest of Jenin!

[berto]

I would lie if I said I wasn't quite worried right about now.

One obvious worry is: In the center, how do I counteract the enemy infantry in the preceding screenshot (yellow circle)? Even under the best of circumstances, Jordanian infantry is no match for Israeli infantry. But these are far from best circumstances. The Jordanian infantry I do have nearby is largely disrupted, and at reduced morale. At least my opponent's infantry here is out in the open. Maybe I can target my artillery effectively for a change.

Another worry is supply aka "combat efficiency". I am not certain, but I think I lost a battalion HQ in the preceding phase. It doesn't appear to be a tank regiment HQ, but the loss of any HQ is bad enough. More to the point, with Crossroads' attack on my center right, he has cut the most direct supply path to my armoured force southeast of Jenin. Not to mention that the armour in my northwest strike force are far from their HQ also.

Of course, my opponent has a few things to worry about too.

A tense fight, this.

[berto]

The "irresistibly juicy targets": Three lightly armoured trucks (yellow circle), loaded with mortars I believe.



I have tanks (lower turquoise circles) well positioned to blast those trucks, and even some Ferrets (upper turquoise circle) nearby, if really needed.

Let's see if I can pull this off...

[berto]

TURN #32

I got the first one!

[berto]

TURN #32

And a second one!



With APs expended such that it can no longer fire, 1st Troop moves down slope, out of enemy LOS, to the village one hex to the north. I move up 2nd Troop to take its place.

[berto]

TURN #32

I got all three!



And with that, Crossroads' Total VPs sank from 305 (in the Minor Defeat range) back down to 269 (Major Defeat).

[berto]

TURN #32

My armoured infantry duke it out with a squad or so of Israeli mech infantry. Easy, right? [8|]

1st Platoon steps up, fires, and misses.

4th Troop (turquoise circle) advances, fires, and scores a retreat (magenta circle). But what I really want is to eliminate the enemy nuisance.

Knowing the risk, but taking it anyway, I order a unit of APCs to the top of the hill. Israeli tanks (green circle) appear suddenly down slope, fire, and destroy the APCs (red circle)! [:(]

Anyway, I now know where some enemy tanks are operating, but for such intelligence I paid dearly.

[berto]

TURN #32

East of Jenin:

Not wanting to fight Israeli mech infantry at close range, I withdraw my stack of Pattons upslope to orchard hex 39,35. Israeli Shermans (turquoise circle) suddenly appear, fire, score 2 SP hits, and a disruption (magenta circle). Drat!

A second squad of Israeli Shermans shows up, fires, and misses.

The much anticipated showdown!

[berto]

TURN #32

Okay, so I lost a couple of Pattons. But my tanks are now in excellent position to return the favor.

A troop of Pattons (green circle) fires right back, scores a reduction (1 SP? 2 SPs?), and a retreat (magenta circle).

[berto]

TURN #32

A second troop of Pattons (green circle) fires, and (red circle) ... Shermans Eliminated! All three of them!

At the cost of two Pattons, we have just destroyed 4 or 5 enemy Shermans. Excellent!



All the more excellent, because I have tanks to waste, while my opponent doesn't. With even losses both sides, the ratio of my tanks to his tanks grows more and more in my favor. How much more so when I get the better of the exchange, like I have done so here.

I have just dealt my opponent a grievous blow. Doubtless he still has some tanks lurking around Jenin. But not enough, I expect, to fend me off here to the east, much less the swarm of Pattons etc. soon to descend on him from the northwest.

[berto]

TURN #32

After my Side B (Jordanian) move (Side B is this scenario's second side), the situation at the end of Turn 32, the center and southward (with my disrupted units yellow highlighted):



Crossroads' entire left wing (large blue circle) is virtually cut off, with his supply lines back to higher HQs broken, or nearly so. It occurs to me that the fight in the center (yellow circle) is Crossroads' desperate attempt to clear a path for his forces back to Jenin.

At this point, I am not confident I can retake Jenin. Jenin and vicinity are a complex of urban area and fortifications. I would most likely suffer much greater casualties attempting to retake Jenin than trying rather to pick off his units at the periphery, and to go after his rear guard.

Rather than commit -- and possibly lose -- my remaining good infantry to the fight in the center (yellow circle), maybe I should part, back away, and let him pass?

As for my own "cut off" forces southeast of Jenin. If I let him slip, that in itself will fix my own supply issues.

In his most recent e-mail communication, my opponent wrote: "Quite the battle, this one!" Indeed it is.