BFTB AAR: Race for the Meuse

[Deathtreader]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

I'm very sorry there has been no progress on this for so long. I am still struggling with getting functional internet service to my home.

I have gone back and force wrapped the text on all posts to make them easier to read with the limited time I have to do so from my connection at work.

Eventually, I will get new service at home and pick this up again.

Hopefully everyone will not have lost interest by then.

Hey, no worries.......... as someone else said "we'll still be here".

Rob.

[Rebel Yell]

HansBolter, wherefore art thou?  [;)]
 
Hows that connection coming?

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Rebel Yell

HansBolter, wherefore art thou?  [;)]

Hows that connection coming?

Well, I have been silent here for a while. I still don't have a connection at home yet. I decided to go cold turkey on the internat at home for a while. I've actually made some progress on my military modeling pursuits.....

However, in the interest of satisfying the few fans looking in on this thread I captured another days worth of screenshots last night, loaded them onto a flash drive and plan to stay late after work this evening to use this connection to update the thread.

The action gets hot and heavy as the Americans make a concerted push at Stavelot and I expand the bridgehead near Werbomont. So, hang on till this evening and some progress will apppear!

[flintlock]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

So, hang on till this evening and some progress will apppear!

We'll bust out the popcorn in anticipation.

[HansBolter]

3 hours later (9 minutes after the candid screenshot) Eastern Sector

The pressure is on at Stavelot. The 1.2 Motorised Infanterie Kompanie is returning to help in the town after flushing
out the enemy infantry company that was threatening to cross the Ambleve and wreak havoc on my supply line.
There are two enemy companies in the town taking very heavy fire from the defenders. An Ami engineer company
is running around behind my lines but I have nothing to spare to deal with it. A pair of enemy flak companies on the
track in the woods are putting heavy fire on the 15.2 Motorised infanterie Kompany, but the FJ ios holding tough. An assult
gun company is infiltrating........I am hard pressed here and things will get much, much worse before they get better.

Day 4 0800 Eastern Sector:

[HansBolter]

Same time Western Sector:

Once again I gave up the minor, side show effort at Chenaux to send units down to the woods to hunt for the units there
that was discovered by Jupp Diefenthal's schutze abteilung as it raced for the bridgehead (look back a few screenshots)
leaving only the pioner zug (platoon) facing the Amis at Chenaux to hold ground while the other units went on a futile
wild goose chase through the woods. Whatever that unit was in the woods it is nowhere to be found now and the units
tasked with finding it are now being ordered back to Chenaux. I almosty never let anyone rest in reserve!

Not much has changed at the bridgehead. I have ordered a couple of units to attack the Amis just south of the objective
bridge to create a little breathing space.

Day 4 0800 Western Sector:

[HansBolter]

Same time at the bridgehead:

This morning seems like a fine time to expand the bridgehead perimeter. Many of the Ami paratroopers are
escaping the woods to the north (can't blame them as they must be in a bit of disarry after their division HQ surrendered [:D]).

Jupp Diefenthal's schutze abteilung and von Westernhagen's tigers will finish securing Chevron and Neuville to the right side of the woods.
Poetschke's panzer abteilung to the west of the woods will push north and secure the road. The two actions combined will almost complete
the surrond of the woods, but many fish have already escaped the net.

The II.2 Motorised Infanterie Albteilung and the Aufklarungs Abteilung will drive to secure the unnamed town northwest of Oufny. One tiger
kompanie with one attached aufklarungs kompany will drive into the mass of enemy infantry in the woods west of Oufny.

Day 4 0800 Bridgehead:

[HansBolter]

3 hours later at Stavelot:

Things have stabilised a bit here as the Amis gave up that last push into the town. The I.2 Motorised
Infanterie Kompany made it back into the town. The apparent enemy flak on the track in the woods
turned out to be a flak and a pak (remember things are not always what the may seem at first report), but the
15.2 Motorised Infanterie Kompany finally made it intoa a defensible postion in the woods after being shot up heavily
during it's move across open ground to get to the position.

The enemy engineer in my rear is visible as a ghost outline and the assault gun (most likey M10s) that was infiltrating in the last screen shot has disappeared into the nether regions of my rear area........hoo boy!

Day 4 1108 Stavelot:

[HansBolter]

Same time middle sector:

Finished with the wild goose chase in the woods I have sent the pioneers back to Chenaux with an flak kompanie in support.
I actually have control of the objective! This side show for a minor objective has been on again, off again all game long!

Actually, if you noticed in the last screenshot, one of the pioneers took over blocking duty at track into the woods near Rahier
while the flak there participated in the goose chase through the woods. The flak had orders to return to the blocking position so
the pioner there could rejoin the attack at Chenaux.

Day 4 1108 at Chenaux:

[HansBolter]

Same time at the bridgehead:

Here are the results of my orders at daybreak to make a minor expansion/consolidation of the bridgehead.

von Westernhagen's tiger abteilung (less one kompanie) have driven to the unnamed town northwest of Neuville
while Diefenthal's schutze abteilung is pressing the handful of Ami units still in the woods.

Poetschke's I.1 Panzer Abteilung has reached the road and along with the tigers have almost completed the surround
of the woods. The II.2 Motorised Infanterie Abteilung has reached it's objective but the Aufklarungs abteilung has been
held up in it's attempt to drive past the Amis in the woods west of Oufny. The lone detached tiger kompanie with the attached
aufklarungs komnpanie have made no progress in their efforts to drive the Amis back into the woods. The paratroopers
in those woods are putting up a stiff fight as can be seen by the four German units with yellow backgrounds on the
strength numbers (denoting they are taking fire).

The panzer and motorised infanterie kompanies sent to push the Amis away from the objective bridge to teh south have
succeeded and KG Peiper HQ has come up to the bh from it's former position at Chauveheid.

It's still early in the day and now is the time to give orders for the drive to Werbomont!
The next screenshot will highlight those orders.

Day 4 1108 bridgehead:

[HansBolter]

Same time at the bridgehead:

New orders. As can be seen by the pink background on the task box many units are now
processing new orders (remember I play with Painfully Realistic Orders Delays).

Defienthal's schutze abteilung will continue to chew away at the paratroopers caught in the woods.
von Westernhagen's tigers though will drive on to Werbomont ignoring the mass of paratroopers to
the north in the woods along the ridgeline (ghost unit outlines that represent the bulk of the escapees
from the woods by Chevron).

Poetschke's 1.1 Panzer Abteilung will join the tigers on the drive to Werbomont. The II.2 Motorised Infanterie
Abteilung in the unnmaed town north of Oufny will rpovide the infantry dertachment for the Webermont push.
The aufklarungs abteilung will complete it's original order to drive to the town north of Oufny. The detached tiger
kompanie and the attached aufklarungs kompanie will doggedly continue to bludgeon the paratroopers in the
woods west of Oufny.

The detached panzer and motorised infanterie kompanie south of the objective bridge will continue their push to Picheux-blau.

Note that the highlighted units consist of 2268 men with 180 AFVs and 39 guns....a formidable force!

Day 4 1108 bridgehead:

[HansBolter]

3 hours later eastern sector:

Satvelot is fairly secure (the lull before the storm) with one enemy mech inafntry still loitering around
east of the town and one infantry (engineer?) company stil in my rear.

Chenaux!!! The 9.1 Pioner Kompanie has crossed the Ambleve in the face of heavy fire (although with
the number of American units present I have lost control of the objective)! The flak kompanie is
covering the town's rear as an Ami engineer trys to cut me off.

Day 4 1405 hours eastern sector:

[HansBolter]

Same time southeastern sector:

This is an area I haven't shown much of before. There are two very minor (.5 VP each) bridge objectives down here
that become active late in the game. Prior to them becoming active I had to Flieger flak units blockin crossroads south
of Basse-Bodeux and Trois Ponts. Instead of sending them to the objective bridges I sent two 88 kompanies that entered
with KG Sandig. These three 88s have indirect fire capability and it was a mistake to send them to the far south objectives
placing them out of range of the main effort at the bridgehead. One of them has already switched positions with the Flieger flak
and the other is in the process of carrying out new orders to so the same. It is currently firing in support of the units at Chenaux
which is seen as the long grey line leading off map to the north.

Day 4 1405 southeastern sector:

[HansBolter]

Same time at the bridgehead:

Poetscke's I.1 Panzer Abteilung and the II.2 Motorised Infanterie Kompanie are driving into Werbomont
taking fire from the Americans south of the town while von Westernhagen's tigers are lagging about a
kilometer behind down the road. The aufklarungs Abteilung (KG Knittle) has ginally gotten past the woods to the
town formerly heald by the II.2, but it;s mortars are still getting shot up pretty badly.

The detached tiger, joined by the independent 5.2 Motorised Infanterie Kompanie is finally making some headway
against the paras in the woods west of Oufny but the aufklarungs kompanie attached to theh tigers (3.1) is still
holding back under heavy fire.

The paras in the woods west of Chevron started making a push for the bridge and Diefenthal's abteilung is now hard
pressed to handle them since the panzers have all run off to Werboment. I have also given up the surround of the woods
with my drive for other, more important objectives.

The 1.1 panzer and the 2.1 motorised infanterie south of the objective bridge have driven to Picheux-blau but have accomplished
little as the American units slipped into the woods on either flank.

Music pop up rears it's head again [:D].

Day 4 1405 hours Bridgehead:

[HansBolter]

3 hours later Eastern Sector:

Here we are at dusk and we see the beginnings of the next big Ami push for Stavelot.
This will have me biting my nails to the bone before the night is over!

On top of that tanks have appeared on the road leading south to Trois Ponts. Very early in the battle
some Ami tanks came down that road while I had a tiger kompanie there. They got a severe bloody
nose and it has been quiet on that road ever since. The tigers are long gone to the vanguard and I
am wondering how I am going to stop those tanks.

And if that isn't enough the Americans came down out of Stoumont in force and literally blew me back
from my fledgling bridgehead at Cheneux. the 9.1 Pioner is reeling in rout mode, but so is the American battalion HQ.

Thing are NOT looking good on this half of the map!

Day 4 1700 hours Eastern Sector:

[HansBolter]

Same time Bridgehead:

The expansion of the bridgehead made me realize that I don't have sufficent force here to do everything i would like.

The main objective of the scenario is to exit a substabtial combined arms force. It will take most of what is visible here
to fulfill that objective which leads me to the conclusion that I cannot afford to start exiting units until KG Hansen arrives.
This is the last reinforcement in the form of an entire motorised infantry regiment with attached artillery. They do not start
arriving until 0430 on day 5. So, in the mean time I will work on the second most important objective of destroying the enemy.

Not being happy with the loss of the surround of the woods next to Chevron, I detached another tiger kompanie and sent them
back from Werbomont to a position north of the woods. Diefenthal's abteilung is still heavily engaged with the Amis in the woods there
and has at least pushed them back away from the bridge.

The detached tiger and it's attached aufklarungs kompanie are still trading blows with the paras in the woods west of Oufny.
Part of KG Knittle is moving west from the unnamed town north of Oufny to guard against the paras in the woods fighting the tigers
making a move to the north to sever my supply road to Werbomont. von Westernhagen with only one tiger kompanie left under
command is holding Werbomont while the other two abteilungs attack to the north and south of Werbomont, but it is a mistake to
ignore the ghost outlines in the woods between Werbomont and the map exit point.

I let up on the effort south of the objective bridge and a para unit is moving up in the gap between the woods while another is routing
from fire from the 2.1 Motorised Infanterie Kompanie.

Day 4 1700 hours Bridgehead:

[HansBolter]

2 hours later Eastern Sector:

Fully dark now so the building mass north of Stavelot cannot really be appreciated.

Two enemy units in the woods are bypassing the FJ.

There are two ghost outlines on the road leading south to Trois Ponts and I have moved the pak back over
here to help the flak hold off the tanks, but am not confident and will feel the need to add a real line unit here soon.

Cheneux has quieted down now that the Amis have pushed me back from the river and I no longer control the objective.

Day 4 1900 Eastern Sector:

[Rebel Yell]

Great stuff.  Thanks for taking the time to give us another taste.

[HansBolter]

Same time Stavelot flank:

With all the pressure building and not enough units to screen thsi flank properly I finally decide to relinquish
control of the crossroads in the woods. The FJ now has orders to displace to a fall back screen line.

There are FIVE surrender/destroyed crosses in those woods around the FJ! Three in a tight group within it's unit footprint,
one just east of the footprint and another, very hard to see directly on top of the kilometer grid line north of the crossroads.
Note the personnel strength of the FJ! I meant to catch the screenshot with the strehgth bar highlighted....it reads 98%!
These guys are without a doubt the toughest bastards on the battlefield! They held the crossroads for several days under
very heavy pressure and hardly lost a man.[8D]

Day 4 1900 hours FJ highlight:

[HansBolter]

Same time Western Sector:

My plans to attack to the north and south of Werbomont were put on hold and both abteilungs have been
redirected back to the western edge of the town where it meets the woods to deal with the Amis building up there.

Things are realitively quiet over the rest of the area. The schutze abteilung is still solidly entrenched in the Chevron/Neuville town complex.
There are still a handful of enemy units surrounded in the woods nest to Chevron.

The tiger and aufklarungs kompanies have finally driven into the woods west of Ougny, mostly because the
paras finally decided to quit the fight there.

The Amis south of the objective bridge where I am very thin with only the 2.1 Motorised Infanterie Kompanie and the
KG Peiper HQ holding the line have not yet put any real pressure on me.

Status quo as Cheneux.

Day 4 1900 hours Western Sector: