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ORIGINAL: molotov_billy

More damnit! I need to know what happens on day 3......

Markshot - you too! Where's your AAR?

In the main forum sticked ... Mini-Guide. I plan to try to do such a thread for each game release. But they tend to be a lot of work, and besides its a scenario spoiler. Of course, anyone who wants a spoiler may always request my personal scenario notes for the ones I have played via email.

ORIGINAL: molotov_billy

More damnit! I need to know what happens on day 3......

Markshot - you too! Where's your AAR?

OK, OK it's coming ! [:)]

I'm going to post some tonight, I've been so busy this week with a new job, did not have much quality time to spend with COTA [:D]

D3 - 6h00

The night has been generally quiet but extremely uncomfortable: heavy rain has been falling without interruption and as I write this, heavy rain is still continuing. We are wet over our ears. Alos, the tactical situation is far from being rosy this morning. The main problems I am facing on Day 3 are:

• Fatigue: during the night, there has been much noise in the area of 1st and 4th Bn, where reduced but continuous enemy activity has prevented the troops of getting as much sleep as they could. 2nd and 3rd Bn sectors have been a bit more quiet, but they were so tired (close or over 50% fatigue) that they are still not in top shape this morning. In fact, all battalion commanders are reporting to me still over 25 to 30% fatigue on average. Hmmm. This means we could be well over 50 or 60% again at the end of this day and make Day 4 a wasted day.
• Supply: supply lines of 2nd and 3rd Bn are shaky at best (see screenshot). The supply line to the sole SEP is not also entirely secure. On top of that, you can see in the unit info box that almost half of the units are completely out of basics. No rations, no water, nothing. This is because the first round of supplies covered less than I though yesterday night.

So after thinking it through, I decided to wait until the end of this morning to launch new attacks. There's no point launching tired troops with no basics into fighting all day long. This can only aggravate our problems. It's better to consolidate and build up our energies, so I instructed everybody to try to rest as much as possible this morning and keep their positions. Hopefully we can be down under 20% fatigue on average and then keep this afternoon and evening for offensive operations. I will however ask 4th Bn to move east closer to 2nd and 3rd Bn to fill the gaps and try to secure their threatened supply lines.

I made no secret to the battalion commanders of what remains our main immediate objective: capture, hold and clean up Khrisoply today, so that tomorrow we could envision capturing the airfield. But I am really starting to have serious doubts about the airfield. Just keeping and holding Iraklion and Khrisoply will take most of my forces, I don't see how I could attack and secure the airfield with what I have.

D3 - 12h00

High noon in Crete, and the rain is still pouring heavy on us. It's been like that all morning and this weather has prevented the Luftwaffe from doing any airstrikes.

Regarding fatigue, only 1st Bn and 2nd Bn managed to rest this morning. The 4th Bn had to move to fill the gaps in the supply lines while the 3rd retreated under constant enemy pressure. Overall, no great reduction of fatigue.

Supply-wise, we succeeded in reestablishing lines with 10th Coy which was cut off at 6h00, but as you can see on the screenshot we have 5 threatened lines where the distribution of supply has been disrupted. Still, the basic supplies situation is better than it was because quite a few units got resupplied this morning. Also, the supply base got an important load delivered from the SEP. And most of our artillery units have been supplied enough to support attacks for the rest of the day.

So we cannot wait anymore to start offensive operations now, especially that since 10h00, 3rd Bn has slowly lost ground due to small but repeated counterattacks from Australian forces. We need to get on the move again.

Today's plan of attack to capture and secure Khrisoply is the following:

• 1st Bn will attack in a NNE direction, just north of the Khrisoply objective. I suspect many enemy units could still be stationed there, near the sea.
• 4th and 2nd Bn will attack, under the leadership of 4th Bn HQ, on the right flank of 1st Bn on a NE direction, and will pass the objective a bit.
• Finally, 3rd Bn will attack straight to the north unto the objective (this way, 3rd Bn should also be able to secure their lines of supply).
• Meanwhile, I am going to move inside Iraklion all regimental units still outside it (the base, the AT coy, the heavy mortar coy, and the 2nd Bn mortar platoon). This will help to keep Iraklion fully under our control.

This is probably going to be the thoughest day so far, and all battalion commanders know it.

D3 - 15h00

The assault is under way since about 90 minutes now. To my great surprise, it's the combination of 4th Bn and 2nd Bn which is making the most progress. 1st Bn has been stopped early by entrenched enemy units. However, our guns have now managed to get these units out of their holes so 1st Bn should make some progress in the next hour or so.

D3 - 17h00

I think we are slowly getting there. I admire my tired, covered in mud, and totally drenched to the bones Fallschirmjaeger (yes, the heavy rain has been non-stopped for 16 hours now). They are aggressively and stubbornly continue to attack and push on. 1st Bn is on the march, in spite of determined resistance in front of them. Considering the good progress made by 4th & 2nd Bn, I order them to change directions and attack due north to tear right through the remaining enemy units that have their backs to the sea now.

D3 - 17h20

The rain has finally stopped ! The Luftwaffe has radioed me their are resuming air strikes at once.

D3 - 20h08

Sunset has come, and the night is just an hour away. As you can see, the last 3 hours were the most fruitful. We kicked out the enemy north of Khrisoply, are occupying this area and the enemy is withdrawing east towards the airfield.

But Khrisoply is still not in our hands. Although I have well more than 1,000 men in Khrisoply, there are too many enemy units still scattered around the prevent full control of the objective.

I don't think I am going to accomplish more, so I will probably order everybody do dig up for the night at 21h00. But I am going to let this attack run its course for another hour or so.

Notice that some enemy companies are now isolated between Iraklion and Khrisoply, near the sea.

Great AAR, good to see you're having fun with the game!

D3 - 22h14

Ja ! Major Gericke from 4th Bn HQ radio to me that Khrisoply is secure, repeat, Khrisoply is secure ! I am very happy about that. I order all battalions to stay put for the night. Fatigue is currently at 50% on average, and since we've got both objectives, the Fallschirmjaeger deserve a good night of sleep.

D4 - 6h45

We have been slowly losing ground north of Khrisoply since 5h00, when the enemy launched into a counter attack with 6 or 7 companies into the lines of 4th Bn and 2nd Bn. Hope of getting some more rest are dashed now. After radio-conference with battalion commanders, the plan for today will be to consolidate our grip on Khrisoply, which is weak at this moment. We need to push back the enemy further east to secure the area and that will require us to stand our ground and counterattack the enemy. So I order the following:

• 1st Bn, which is much more in shape than Kampgruppe Gericke (the new name of 4th + 2nd Bn command) since they were behind the front lines and have not been exposed to enemy harassing fire and counterattacks of the night, will attack due east through the Kampgruppe Gericke (KGG) lines.
• KGG will only attack if 1st Bn's offensive stalls, otherwise they will continue to rest since their level of fatigue is quite high (more than 50% on average). It will also give more time to supplies to reach them this morning.
• At the same time, I order Coy Osius, Braun and 1st AT Coy/7th Bn (a formation called Kampgruppe Braun) to move northeast of Iraklion and attack later any enemy units trapped between Iraklion and Khrisoply. It should not be too hard since the lines of supply of these enemy units are most likely cut since a while, so surrender should be their only option.

D4 - 12h00

The 1st Bn offensive to kick out the enemy out of Khrisoply is a resounding success, as you can judge by the picture below. 3rd Coy has even reached Silamianos River. All enemy units have retreated NE, out of Khrisoply's perimeter. We now control Khrisoply firmly again, and I do not intend to let it get out of our hands again now. The 1st Bn troops were wisely assisted by many Luftwaffe airstrikes as well as almost continuous artillery bombardment on the Allied forces. Meanwhile, Kampgruppe Braun has managed to get the surrender of 2 enemy companies still running inside Iraklion. More to come during the day, as we are sweeping the whole city. On its side, Kampgruppe Gericke got his overall fatigue level down by almost 20% down since it is now behind the front lines of 1st Bn.

All of this is very good news, but I am now reaching a very difficult decision point. What about the airfield ? The enemy seems to be in a rout in front of 1st Bn. Should I give them it all, and try to punch through to reach the airfield today, at the risk of messing all my supply lines and thinning Khrisoply defense lines ?... Or should I rather consolidate Khrisoply and make sure it is not going to fall again into the enemy's hands ?

Any ideas are very much welcome

Great AAR!! Love the Diary style of writing[:)]. As to your dilemma, I'd keep attacking the routed guys and pound the crap out the unbroken guys with arty and air.But it must be said, I'm too aggressive for my own good some times[:D]. Also how much time do you have left?If you've got plenty it might be wise to consolidate first..,.

What a truly great AAR. Well written. Written in such a way that it sucked me in. Please can we have more like this? [:)]

Thanks guys for your comments !

The rest - and final end - of the AAR is slow to come now since I am moving to a new house this weekend so I have been very busy packing stuff and getting all details taken care of...

Don't worry I'll finish it next week, I'm not happy these days by not having my daily COTA ration ! [:)]

And by the way and under a suggestion of MarkShot, me and Yakstock are in contact to start a two-sides AAR soon...that should be interesting enough [:D]

I definitely want ring side seats for this one.

Gary, you better put Ugo in his place. The honor of the Beta Team is at stake here!

Go, Yakstock, go!

[:D]