Tempe Gorge Crisis - Allied Side - Hold At All Costs

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This a report of my playing of Tempe Gorge Crisis from the allied side. I used 'regular' order delays and historical weather. This is not one of those flowery DARs (During the Action Reports)! No sir! This is a true AFTER Action Report. Meaning I didn't write it until all the action was over. Tempe Gorge Crisis was my first playing of a COTA scenario. I was inspired to tackle this scenario first, even before the tutorial, because of MarkShot's excellent writeup from the axis viewpoint. Mark says, in response to a question, that the allies do have a shot at victory despite his apparent trouncing of them. Well there's a challenge if ever I saw one. I didn't read through Mark's presentation of the allied side but I did re-read the axis considerations...

Planning

So apparently I'm seriously outnumbered and my forces are mostly on foot, while my enemy will be practicing for the Indy 500. Not a good combination. I do have a good river line to hold and I like the defensive terrain on the right flank. I have to hold the Tempe river crossings until noon tomorrow and the forward objectives until 6pm.

I do know that the tanks will be coming down from the right and that the infantry is coming from the north. I have to get on my positions ASAP and dig in. So there's no fancy movement schedule. Get to the closest defensive objective by the fastest method possible.

I break Allen Force into three main components:

- 21 NZ battalion with an attached 2-pdr troop will hold a defile on the right flank.

- 2/2 AU battalion will hold the left flank river crossing at Parapotamos Ford. I don't expect a big effort there.

- The remainder of the force (2/3 infantry, the other 2-pdr troop and the engineers) will hold the river crossings at Tempe. Since I don't have a feel for how effective it will be, the artillery is left attached to ALF HQ and I expect those units to stay pretty much where they start.


Day One and First Night - Git Thar Fustest With The Mostest

All the units make it to their defensive positions without interference and start digging in. Surprisingly the left flank units are the first to sight enemy units. Though they are not directly assaulted. Several grey companies are seen moving across our front toward Kouphalades Ferry. Long range direct fire and some artillery appears to discourage this enterprise. As the morning moves on more enemy forces appear the whole front, from Tempe to Kouphalades Ferry. Limited probes take place and are repulsed. Very little activity on the right flank.

By midday two things concern me...

Firstly I have no reserves. Everyone is on the front line. In addition to the poor position this places me in, I have also uncovered three VP objectives.

Secondly enemy units seem to be gravitating toward the unguarded crossing point between Tempe and Parapotamos Ford. Plus I'm not 100% sure that no enemy units have crossed at Kouphalades Ferry.

I re-plan a little and pull back two companies, one from each of the Australian battalions. 2/2 sends C company to cover Makrykhorion and 2/3 sends D company back to hold Evangelismos. A-troop 4 Field Artillery regiment moves to cover the VP objective SE of Makrykhorion. Yes I know that's a violation of the protection of artillery units rule, but if the enemy is that far in my rear I'm dead anyway and it's actually a better position than the one they're in now.

Moving on, we finally begin to see some movement on the right flank but no serious effort is being made here yet. The pressure, however, is building at Tempe and at Parapotamos Ford. Incoming artillery is hitting both locations. 2/3 is also receiving direct fire from enemy units around Tempe. At least one unit moves across the river at the unguarded crossing. Artillery fire routs this unit. The fighting continues through dusk and only nightfall brings relief to the Australian infantry.

The New Zealanders, however, finally get their licks in. 3 Panzer regiment makes several thrusts along the road. They're still somewhat piecemeal though and with the assistance of artillery we hold our ground. Eventually B-company, which is on the road, pulls back from it's position. During the night it will make several attempts to re-occupy the but eventually I decide it's had enough and order it back to defend in the woods. Once I did that, battalion decided that someone needed to be on road and so A-company pushed off the hill. For the remainder of the night, and into the day, A-company engaged in fire-fights with enemy units along the road but never occupied it's intended position. Worryingly some enemy units are spotted moving along the trails and possibly up into the hills. Happily one enemy unit surrenders (a light tank unit?) and one is destroyed (the PzJag unit) during the action on the river road. The PzJag unit is forced into routing away from friendly lines when A-company cuts the road behind it.

The screenshot shows the 21 NZ positions at dusk...

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Day Two - The Hammer Falls

Everyone knows what's coming now, right? The German force, rested overnight and assembled, asserts it's control over the field. By now I am determined to hold the bridges as long as I can but I'm starting to think about withdrawal. Before dawn I slightly adjusted the defensive perimeters of all three groups. I also order the engineer unit which had been wandering around somewhat under the control of ALF HQ, into a fixed defensive position in Tempe, minimum depth and width.

First heavy contact of the day begins east of Tempe along the approaches to the crossing point left unguarded. D-company 2/3 is observing this build up and putting it's own integrated mortars into action as well as calling in artillery support from 25-pounders and 3-inch mortar platoons. As more and more units appear I take personal control of the 25-pounder batteries as they seem to be firing on enemy units not directly involved. Heavy fire into the area around the crossing suppresses unit after unit, forcing some to pull-back but there's more force here than I can handle and gradually they are pushing forwards. In retaliation indirect fire is falling on the defenders at Tempe and Parapotamos Ford. The 2/2 Mortar platoon is down to just one tube.

At 7am it's clear that the enemy strength cannot be resisted. The artillery batteries are nearing exhaustion and D-company in Evanglismos is starting to take some serious fire. Although 21 NZ battalion is still holding the river line, if the Australians pull back then they'll be cutoff. I order 21 NZ battalion to pull back (I used a 'Delay' order, see below). I hope they'll be back in Tempe by 11am. It doesn't work out that way.

Several things go wrong here. Firstly the New Zealanders do delay the enemy on the right, at the expense of making progress toward Tempe. A 'Withdrawl' order would probably have been better. By 10am they've moved only a few hundred meters. In addition the attached 2-pdr troop has chosen a path which will actually route it into the heart of the enemy concentration. By the time I realize what's happening to the AT guns it's too late. The hour plus delay in issuing new direct orders to pull back prevents any realistic chance of retreat. The unit gets pinned on the hillside and wobbles back and forth between heading toward the possible safety of Tempe and the illusory safety of the woods it just left. They will surrender early on day 3.

The expanding german bridgehead is also now a real threat. The artillery is no longer keeping them in check. There's no enemy movement towards Parapotamos or Kouphalades Ferry. So at around 8am 2/2 battalion is ordered to abandon it's covering mission and move slightly east to contain the bridgehead with their right flank anchored by D coy 2/3 in Evanglismos. Although they do engage the enemy they never reach the intended blocking position , the tired squaddies just can't move fast enough. The mobile germans are expanding too fast. Carefully, but fast.

Finally 10:30 am arrives. 10:30 was my self imposed cut-off time for withdrawl from the bridges. I figure that it will take Allen Force HQ an hour to propogate the orders and so they should be moving around 11:30. 21NZ is hopelessly behind schedule. I reattach them, and any other detached units, to Allen Force HQ and order a general withdrawl order. 2/2 is kept under direct control.

Allen Force abandons the bridges on schedule just after 11:30am and begins to move south along the road. Progress is painfully slow and in the early afternoon the bridgehead explodes. 2/2 is pushed away from it's movement to a blocking position and D-company withdraws from Evanglismos under fire from both east and west. East?! you say. Yep, in a major surprise the 112 recon unit appears on the trail east of town having just marched through the hills overnight. They didn't really influence the fighting much but they were a shock.

With the german occupation of Evanglismos the road south is now cut for two thirds of Allen Force. The arriving tank company is thrown into the fray against the 112 recon battalion but they make no headway. In fact they take heavy direct and indirect fire and are quickly routed. The remains of Allen force attempt to pass east of the town but make little progress, stifled by the terrain, exhaustion and enemy fire. The germans seem content with holding the town and make no serious attempt to move south. I know there's nothing there except the exhausted 2/2 battalion now less it's mortar platoon, disbanded after it lost it's last tube. Fortunately the germans don't have the same information I do.

The day draws to a close with 2/2 south of Evanglismos and withdrawing, but the rest of the brigade (not counting the artillery or supply units) is pinned down east of the town. Some german units are starting to probe southwards. Night is a blessed relief.

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Second Night and Day Three - The Cauldron

The exit point at Larissa opens at midnight and we still have some way to go to get there. Hopefully as night falls we'll stop taking fire from the enemy and they'll let us leave in peace. Hah! Everyone is ordered to move to Larissa by the fastest route possible. For the northern most units it is painfully slow as the main road is pretty much controlled by the Germans so they have to use the tracks. Repeated contact is made with strong enemy forces, many of whom are south of the withdrawing units. By dawn I can see they're not going to make it as they begin to take heavy irect fire from units in and around Evangelismos. At this point they are effectively cut-off. The best thing to do is to limit casualties and so I order them to pull back into the hills.

The base unit and the two 25-pounder batteries make it to Larissa and withdraw before daylight. The 2/2 battalion is only half way there at dawn and is totally exhausted and they keep stopping to rest. It will be touch and go for them. There's nothing more I can do to influence the battle so I click the maximum speed button and let history take it's course.

I watch balefully as what remains of the once proud brigade is forced into a pocket on hillside and relentlessly pounded by every weapon the germans have. The screenshot shows where they wound up. Looks like the Stalag for them...

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Victory

The only question now is: Will holding the bridges and getting the artillery units off map be enough to secure victory? Or will the Germans land a slew of points at the end? It's obvious that the 2/2 Infantry won't make it in time to exit at Larissa, their fatigue is through the roof.

Apparently it was, just after noon I get a nice message from Gen Wavell congratulating me on my splendid victory! Too bad about the guys on the hillside.

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So What Did I Learn?

Although the computer does a pretty good job of controlling subordinates it does need some help. For example when setting up the 21 NZ infantry battalion position on the right flank the AI didn't really position the companies individually to take advantage of the terrain. Furthermore the attached 2-pdr troop was located with battalion HQ in a position where it couldn't see the road at all (see the screenshot from day one). I should have deployed the AT troop myself and paid more attention to this battalions defensive settings (fontage, facing, aggro etc).

The foot units moved a LOT slower than expected. I don't think that Allen Force can hold the river crossings until noon on day 2 and then get to the exit point 24 hours later. I should probably have ordered a withdrawal sooner than I did. Even though ALF had a road all the way to the Evangelinos choke point the Germans were faster and got there first, even though they had to go cross-country.

Happy with my performance and very pleased with the game. This is the first time I can recall watching the AI in a computer wargame and thinking to myself "That's exactly what I would have done!". The appearance of the 112 recon unit in the rear of ALF was a surprise not because it was possible (I knew THAT) but because it was done.

[Arjuna]

Nice AAR.[:)]