Losheim Gap AAR - completed

[adek670]

Guys,

A quick one which is probably an obvious but!

When coordinating Artillery fire, I generally aim to gain maximum effect from the blast radius - ensuring that my rounds land on multiple targets rather than individual units. I have found that you can 'shepherd' units into a tight proximity and the let them have it with heavy mortars/artillery and rockets.

Ade

[adek670]

Day 2 1030hrs - sit-rep

2nd Bn 294 Gren Regt supported by 3 FJD should take and hold Manderfeld by the end of the day. Lack of anti-tank ammo has slowed down the inf advance, however using the Vee formation, I have found that the L/R flank move past the objective enabling better arcs of fire onto the objective. I am awaiting 2 Bty 74 Flak Bn to move to a position south of Manderfeld where it will be able to harass enemy units arriving on the road SW of the objective and providing supporting fire onto the objective itsel.

295 Gren Regt have consolidated their control of Auw and are starting to push out towards Wischied. Realistically these units are too fatigued for an assault towards Andler, however their role is to maintain contact with enemy units which will allow 18 VGD (who will arrive between 1300 and 1400 to conduct a passage through lines onto Andler during the night.

293 Gren Regt have been in heavy contact from the onset and are pretty much in need of reinforcements. They have successfully taken Radscheid and are forming up a defensive line from 88 corner SW towards Grosslangenfeld. Support in the SW of their position has been provided by 2nd Bn 190 Gren Regt from the SE and 2nd Bn 164 Gren Regt who are conducting an attacking move towards the West of Winterscheid - this to hamper lines of supply.

190 Regt Main - Probing NW towards Steinebruck. 183 Gren Regt will conduct a passge through lines towards Steinebruck during the night and also advance and hold Burg Reulance.


506 Panzer Bn - ETA 1300 - 1600hrs in Kehr. They will provided much needed armour support. With good anti-armor range they will act as overwatch around the areas NE of Verschneid.

[adek670]

Day 2 1700hrs

[adek670]

Day 3 0700hrs.

Ok, some good work by my troops over night.

Starting from the top.

294 Gren Regt were joined by 3 Tigers from 506 Pz det. Captured and held Manderfeld overnight. 1st Bn moved south under cover of darkness to support the assault on Andler. With Artillery fire suppressing the enemy, the bridge was taken and the town objective seized. Engineers from 1 Coy 1818 Pion Bn have unprimed the bridge. It was a pretty tough throughout the night move so Day 3 will be pretty much establishing a defensive position and resting the troops. Regt HQ will move to Andler. Supporting Artillery will move firebase to a location west of Auw.


295 Gren Regt held Auw overnight with 1Bn providing the bulk of troops on the assault of Andler. The will most likely rest for the majority of Day 3 although their mission will be to start the move south towards Schonberg.

293 Gren Regt held Radsheld overnight and will advance NW towards Schonberg - most likely for a late afternoon move on the bridge itself. I need these guys to recover mostly during the day.

164 Gren Regt have a good position around Steinbruck supporting them has been the 190th and elements of the 183rd. They similarly should successfully take the objective by the afternoon.

183 Gren Regt are pretty much still fresh and 2nd Bn will most likely move to the South Perimeter Objective during the day - I would aim for them to create a defensive perimeter there during Day 3.

Other factors.

I am expecting the opposing forces to move back towards the river (middle of the map) throughout the day. There remains some extremely powerful units and with the right mix of force are capable of an assault onto any of my gains thus far. Small delaying actions will be necessary to slow the reorg.


Artillery keeping up with my advancing troops has been a godsend.

[Major SNAFU_M]

Reaper,

What program do you use to annotate your screen shots with?

[DerGrenadier]

ORIGINAL: Major SNAFU

Reaper,

What program do you use to annotate your screen shots with?

Could be Snagit. I use Snagit and it looks familiar

[Phoenix100]

Enjoying it, Ade. Many thanks for posting. I think you're still going to end up with a more or less historical result! Which is how it should be, maybe.

Dave's advice about Rgt attack FUPs very interesting. I always do Bn level, myself. I used to use Move with Attack checked all the time, because it used to be the case that actual attacks took ages to go in, but at Bn level they are now quite quick, so I hardly ever use Move with Attack checked now, as I don't like leaving so many decisions to the AI!! I'm afraid I 'micro-manage' a lot more than you. So, for example - as Daz has pointed out - (1) on a Move order your wheeled units will always lead (because they have wheels), which is no good where the DBE (ha!!) units have only feet, so I detach all these AT/flak and mortar units and send them where I want on a different schedule, so they don't act as crappy advance guards, (2) you are frustrated that your Bn mortar assets don't do things - I always detach them now and give them orders directly during crucial phases (essential if you want them to do a prelim bombard, which they don't do at all presently, I believe). As things settle down I will re-attach them and let the AI do it.

Good luck with it!

With smaller scenarios you can easily give the on-map boss a single command (or perhaps a few, as things progress) and watch what happens. It's interesting. Often you will get a draw. Hardly ever a win. Mostly, things will bog down. Bigger scenarios and things will bog down pretty quick, mainly, I think, due to the fact that we don't have sequential tasking yet, so can't give multiple targets, so the boss concentrates everything and bottlenecks quickly appear. Certainly I would agree with Wodin and Daz, et al, that this is ideally a Bn level sim. Occassionally, if you have space and time you could let regiment decide, but you've seen the results of that already.

[adek670]

Hi,

I just use PowerPoint. I find it a really easy programme to manipulate the graphics. I take a screenshot then copy it onto a new slide - resize and the edit away.

I am up to 1200hrs on day 4 and making some good progress. I will upload my AARs soonest.

Phoenix - I am gaining much more success by detaching the artillery and mortars - I find this by far the easiest way to coordinate pre-bombardments.

I am using with AT rounds to provide overwatch and in this scenario every bit of AT helps.

Anyway, hoping to finish the scenario by PM tomorrow.

Ade

[wodin]

Reaper first thing I do at the start of a scenario is detach all the arty units above coy level...and create firebases..

What size screen do you have..as you seem to see alot of real estate!! I have a 19inch screen and it is a hindrance..

[adek670]

Hi,

I have a prolite B2776HDS.

Its a 27-inch LCD

Great for games like this - I run it in the native resolution of 1920 x 1080

Ade

[wodin]

Lucky..one day..one day..

The struggle I have with my screen is what makes me wonder why people want more IOS wargames..and considering there saying the ten inch tablet is on the way out for the seven inch..even less screen room.

[adek670]

I know what you mean.

With this screen I can watch movies and play some wargames in windowed mode - like war in the east.

Actually, do you know if it is possible to run BFTB in windowed mode?

Ade

[wodin]

Not..I presume it would be fine..

[adek670]

so,

are there any command lines to force it to go to windowed mode - tried -w and it didn't work

Ade

[Arjuna]

It doesn't run in windowed mode.

[adek670]

Day 3 1200hrs

Main effort for the remainder of day 3 is to retain control of the objectives seized thus far and create an avenue of approach for reinforcing troops to approach the Schonberg bridge.

294 and 295 Gren Regt are pretty beat up after the mornings bombardments from the allied artillery and have been pressed hard from the South and West. My Troops occupy a good position in the vicinity of the bridge and south of the river at Verschnied - this will be my main route for reinforcing troops as they arrive in theatre so I need security from Andler to Weckerath.

293 Gren Regt occupy the area around Bleialf and with support from the 190th are adopting a defensive posture in order to recover prior to a move on the Schonberg bridge on day 4.

162 and 164 supported by elements of 183 and 190 Gren Regt are pushing back to enemy trying to retake the Steinebruck bridge. The role likewise will be to maintain a defensive posture and recover.

183 Gren Reg 2 Bn has moved to a position south of objective "South Perimeter" and will attack this objective during the night.

keeping both the Regt HQs and supporting artillery as close to the advance as possible is helping tremendously at the moment. I am playing with realistic delay and the less distance between the HQ and Bns is vital to getting orders to the Bns within a sensible timeframe. Artillery continue to provide supressing fire in support of all my attacks

[adek670]

Day 3 1700hrs

Across all flanks it has mainly been a defensive operation - not a lot has changed on the map.

[adek670]

Day 4 - 0001hrs

The main objective is now to advance towards the Schonberg bridge during the night.

On the West of the map, I have managed to move 1 Bn 164 Regt around the side of the enemy troops at the steinebruck bridge in order to put pressure on the enemy rear echelon and supply lines.

I have troops in blocking positions along the river - allows troops to advance south - I am expecting reinforcements late morning of Day 4 - these I hope will have a clear line of advance South from Andler.

2nd Bn 293 Gren Regt will also move NW towards Schonberg in order to disrupte reinforcing troops from the East and South.

I hope to isolate the troops on the bridge and then bombard with as much artillery as is in range.

[adek670]

Day 4 - 0700hrs.

Quick morning sit-rep. My troops managed to defend well and also force themselves into a defensive screen blocking the enemy reinforcements from the East and South.

Now awaiting the reinforcements.

[adek670]

day 4 - 0815hrs - Reinforcements have arrived.

Elements of my main reinforcments have started to arrive - Fuhrer-Begliet Bde

As shown on the map, this will be their man route of advance, following the road through Weckarath and then forming up at Andler for the attack south onto the bridge.

Today will be about throwing my forces forward as forcibly as possible in order break the enemy's will to defend the bridge.