Grand Campaign (Running AAR)

[Pergite!]

ORIGINAL: johndoesecond

Hey Pergite!

Shouldn't you have exited Peiper's gang by D3 8:00 a.m.?

[:@]

Next time I will make a proper timetable and/or just understand the god damn objectives. I totally missed that KG PEIPER had different exit timings then the rest.

Thanks for the heads up! [:)]

[Pergite!]

D3 0800hrs

There are some small reports that keep the spirits up in this rather bleak situation. In MÜRRINGEN I somehow have managed to trap the entire HQ of V CORPS. 99 DIV HQ have already surrendered as well as a couple of supply bases. Its however to late for this to have some serious impact on my race for the objectives. My problem now is the clock combined with isolated, decimated but still dangerous enemy Bn´s, supported with heavy and deadly artillery.

[vsadek]

Hello Pergite! I am glad you are back in action. [:)]

[Pergite!]

I messed up with my saves last night. I played rather late last night, and did not bother to save, because I noticed that the autosave worked as it should. This was a big mistake since I then just before I went to sleep decided to start a another scenario, just to glimpse on the next battle. I then left the computer on, and the game of course did overwrite my previous autosave.[:@]

I have myself to blame.

The scenario was balancing between a marginal victory to a draw when I left it. I had just started to exit my first units and the last day had just begun, all objectives except two where well secured. Looking at the AAR from the last save, D3 0000 hrs gives some nice numbers regarding losses. I then had a 1:3 ratio in my favour regarding men and a 1:10 ration also in my favour for AFV:s. he enemy got hit quite hard after that so ratios would probably have increased in my favour.
I had certainly reduced the enemy well beyond a effective fighting force, and I must dare say that both the 2nd and 99th divisions would have been out of the war for some time after this battle.

Well, I guess it is time to head to the next battle, Losheim gap
.

[Pergite!]

LOSHEIM GAP


Elements of the 294th Volksgrenadier regiment arrive at their staging area the night before the attack.


The ingame briefing:

Herr General, the great offensive has begun!

Our intelligence has informed us that the 2 American regiments entrenched along the Schee Eifel ridge are green and poorly trained.

The task of your 18th Volksgrenedier Division is to envelope the Schnee Eifel in a two-pronged pincer movement. Advance to Andler and secure the crossing there with the 2 northern regiments (294th and 295th). Secure your line of communication so that the trapped US regiments cannot escape. Advance to Schönberg via Bleialf with your southern regiment (293rd) to complete the encirclement. Do not let any American units slip through the net!

The task of your 62nd Volksgrenedier Division is to advance to Steinebrück and secure the crossing there.

Once the the Our River crossings are secure and the enemy is within our net, advance your corps to the vital Road junction at St. Vith and secure the area.

The Plan

[cristianwj]

Nice AAR!
By the way, the graphic in post #45 is very good!
Could you tell me what the drawing software is?

[Pergite!]

ORIGINAL: cristianwj

Nice AAR!
By the way, the graphic in post #45 is very good!
Could you tell me what the drawing software is?

Thank you!
The graphics are done in Powerpoint from Office 2010.

[nicwb]

Thanks Pergite! - I'm happy to see this AAR is back running !

[Pergite!]

D1 0700hrs

My attack started an hour ago and the sun has slowly begun to rise behind us. In the north it looks like II.Bn of the 295 Grenadier Regt have managed to find a nice gap in the enemy defences to advance through. I.bn of the neighbouring 294 Regt also makes good use of this route and they have together covered over two km during the first hour. They are at the moment quite bunched up, and I am not all that happy about. Hopefully they will be able to form up in better formations soon. They have different way points and will have to part ways within and hour.

Just south of them the I.bn from 295 are engaging what I assessed to be the northern flank of the allied defensive line. While the other units try to advance through to the enemy rear, this unit will seize vital crossroads, preventing the enemy movement to the north, as well posing a general threat in order to draw fire away from my main effort.

ROTH seems to be defended, as expected, and have just revived a volley of mortar rounds as my units are preparing to assault the village.

[Pergite!]

D1 0900hrs

The gap that I had found did not prove to be as empty as I previously had hoped. The terrain in the area is better suited for armoured cavalry than plain infantry, and that is probably why the enemy had decided to deploy lots of M8 cars in it. My only armour was four StugIII:s, I am however already down to three.
My lead units have already expended all their Panzerfausts as well as their PzSchreck rounds. My bn´s are ordered to leapfrog to take turns taking hits, but at this rate the anti armour ordnance will probable become a problem if I keep running in to hard targets.

I have of course ordered in my FJ units into the fray as well. I had hoped that they would bypass the fighting and seize terrain further west, but they will probably also bring well needed AT assets to bear on the enemy along their route.




A section belonging to the 2coy/294regt advances in cover, flanking the prepared fighting positions of a platoon M8 armoured cars.

[Pergite!]

Day 1 1100hrs

The advance is going well. The enemy M8´s have either withdrawn or been disposed of. My losses are lower than expected, especially since speed or tempo at the moment has priority over security. I have received additional StuG´s as part of reinforcements and they are a welcomed addition.

Along the northern axis I have formed a temporary KG consisting of two bn´s and an engineer coy. They are tasked to from the north secure the ANDLER crossing which is a vital objective. They are supported by roughly 20 StuG´s and additional units that are ordered to reach the southern bridgehead of the crossing. My fingers are crossed that the defenders will fail to destroy the bridge before I have it secured.

On the southern axis the advance has gone smooth. I have protected my flank and in the process managed to stop two breakthrough attempts to the south. My units are leapfrogging ahead and are making good progress.

The enemy has started to pull out, realising that he soon otherwise will be encircled. Some units have been spotted trying to move north ahead of my advance. To prevent this I have been rather generous with fire support in my effort to interdict any movement. I have also started to move in along the front in order to seek contact with the enemy and tie him up again.



Men of the IIIBn 86 Werfer Rgt pushes their launcher into place. The relative short range of these systems forces them to redeploy further west as the advance continues.

[jhdeerslayer]

Enjoying this sir. Especially since my first scenario was Loshiem and I totally lost as the German's. I think the Move w/ Attack option is your friend in these types of scenarios.

[Pergite!]

D1 1300hrs

The advance along the northern axis is going very slow. The enemy defences are well placed along vital road junctions and river crossings and I have begun to take heavy losses in some units. As soon as my units halts after their advance has stalled they start to take heavy artillery fire, which probably accounts for the majority of my casualties.
The enemy has also turned out the be a lot more aggressive that I had hoped for. More enemy movement seems to be to going to the north, into my flank, than west out of the pocket I am trying to create.

Along my southern axis the advance is going as good as expected. My lead elements has broken through the enemy defences and have the vital objective in STEINBRÜCK in sight. I was wise to put some extra effort in protecting my northern flank, which effectively have stopped the enemy from escaping. I am however now beginning to worry about my southern flank as well.
I have a tendency to consider the edge of the map as the end of the world. The problem is that its probable that the enemy could receive some serious reinforcements along that edge. It is hard to tell what lies beyond that map edge, so a bigger operational map would really have been helpful as part of the briefing.

[Pergite!]

D1 1700hrs

The sun has started to set, and it is time to assess if its best to dig in, or just keep the advance going all through the night. The southern pincer movement has gone pretty well. I have opened the road to STEINEBRÜCK which is a vital objective. Two decimated enemy companies is pretty much what stands between me and the bridge.

In the north my advance have however stalled. Accurate from several M8´s and M5´s have prevented my StuGs (which is pretty much what I have in armour) to cross OUR into MANDEFELT. The 249 Gren Regt have however been able to bypass that crossing and now threatens to encircle MANDEFELT from the rear. The FJ:s will keep the pressure on the village from the east, while I now try to send the remaining StuGs around towards the enemy rear. The grenadiers are however ordered to continue on to the ANDLER crossing.

My fire support has exclusively been given to breakthrough units to keep the momentum going. This has however amounted in some losses in my units that has served as blocking forces, protecting flanks and generally containing the enemy inside the sack I am creating.

If I would wish for something to make the fight easier, it would have been mechanized and armoured units. It is just too difficult to try to outmanoeuvre a motorized enemy while on foot. I will have to wait until noon on day 2 before I get what I wish for.

[Pergite!]

This AAR project has been on hold for over a month now, and seems to have stalled just like the german offensive in 1944. Hopefully I will be able to take it up again sometime in the future when real life slows down to a more comfortable pace.

Thanks for watching!

[gabeeg]

I hope you do come back to it when you get a chance, I have really enjoyed your AARs.

[Pergite!]

Thank you!

The little gaming time ("me time") I get at the moment, is too exclusive to share with everybody else [;)]