Corsaire31 vs Wilhelm Monke AAR

[Corsaire31]

This has been my first game since a couple of years, against Wilhelm Monke, alias Carlos from Ecuador.
It's been a hell of a fun game, and fast returns (we often played 5 to 6 turns a day - or should I say a night for me. The mail exchange has been very friendly and full of nice jokes, just the way I like it...
Since we are now 1 or 2 turns from the end, and nothing will change much now, I will start the AAR from my side, WM can add his version anytime in the middle.

QB 1500 pts large map (I like to have some room) 35+ turns (I like to have time and also forces you to think about managing ammo...)
Played on CM ETO, June 44 early morning, lousy Normandy weather. I play Allied and since it's only June I take average troops to be a little historical.

1 Inf Co + 2 ind Inf Plts
2 M4A3 75
1 Quad .50 HT
2 M3 Scout cars
3 Jeeps MG
Support : 1 81mm mortar obs 6 tubes 210 shots + 1 sniper for observation

 

[Corsaire31]

Here is the map in 2 parts (left and right) There is one big flag in the middle, one small on my right. The black lines are my intended progression, the blue dots are what I spotted and when. The grey dots are where I intend to "smoke" to cover advance.

 

[Corsaire31]

There is only one small hill on my far left, so I position my support there, 81 arty, sniper and 4th plt HQ with 3x 60mm mortars. Since they are important for my strategy, I decide to protect them with 1 ind. plt ( the future will show me it was a good idea...) plus 1 of my Shermans. If nothing shows up there, I intend to move the whole protection stuff towards the middle for the end of game.
I play conservative and decide to grab the small flag on my right if I can and sends there along the right map edge the second ind. plt escorted by the quad .50 HT (and I hope I won't meet tanks this side..lol) lot of woods, not very good tank ground. My second Sherman sits there at the start, hull down covering the road.
The Inf Co is in the middle with the MGs, the jeeps are sent forward to the main flag region for scouting.

(to be continued...)

 

[Corsaire31]

All is quiet for the first 8 turns, advance of troops as planned. On the left, my support takes the hill, on the right my Inf platoon moves along the map edge, with some .50 MGs looking after their security.

On turn 9, I spot on the far left first noise then sight of a tank, my infantry tells me they think it's a Panther... Just to stay on the safe side, my M4A3 pops a smoke on top of the slope and carefully reverses behind some woods.

 

[Corsaire31]

Turn 11 : my sniper tells me he has spotted infantry coming out of the woods on the left (see map) and heading right at him. Announces he's pulling back towards the woods across the road, where an infantry platoon is already setting up for a warm welcome for the visitors...
At the same time, I get from my left successively a good news " Sorry Sir, we misjudged, it's not a Panther..." and a bad news " In fact it's a Tiger..."

" F... hell !!" I shout in the radio... "send a bazooka team towards the top of the hill see if they can get a shot at the f... beast !! And tell the Sherman to stay where it's at before we know where the kitty is going..."

Turn 13 : Preceeding the Tiger, a platoon of grenadiers appear at the hilltop. My infantry squads are positionned in cover on the reverse slope. Poor jerries don't have a chance and are totally executed in a couple of turns. Seeing that, the Tiger puts its blinker on the left and starts heavily heading towards the map center.

In the meantime, my Scout car has been dispatched down the road to help to the warm welcome of the german tourists. Unfortunately, my sniper doesn't make it across the road and is my first casualty.

 

[Corsaire31]

The Tiger - Episode 1

As the grenadiers are out of the way, my zook team makes it to the hilltop around 80 m from the big cat offering its side. First shot is a hit and I can hear the cheers in the radio...

The zook rocket is flying across the short distance...

And bingo !!!

(to be continued)

 

[Corsaire31]

At same turn 13, we spot more infantry popping out of the woods in the center, escorted by a SK251 HT. As soon as they cross the road, I give the order to my 60mm mortars to start shelling them. At least it can scare the s...t out of them and make them think twice...
Turn 15 my guys start hearing some noise across the road. Turn 16 the thing is positively identified as a Marder III.

For a while nothing much happens, my troops keep advancing towards the flags. On the right flank no news, so good news. At turn 20, I send one of my jeeps around the woods right corner. It encounters german infantry lurking in the forest and dies promptly. ( First occurence of the famous "recon by death' doctrine...)
My guys on the left of the main flag are ready to cross an open space, I have to lay smoke for them. The good news is that after some 50 shots, my 60 mortars make a perfect landing on the HT. My guys will see later as they approach the dead vehicle that it was a 251/16 flamethrower. Glad it's out of the way.
Problem for me is that I had to take my scout car out of the road because of the Marder approach, and I don't know where the rest of the german tourists are gone, so I have to leave a couple of squads behind to cover my 2 MGs which are positionned for covering the advance.

 

[Corsaire31]

In the meantime, I had received bad news from the left zook team that after a stop due to the shell penetration, the Tiger had started to move again.
" HQ to Sherman 1, get your fingers out of your butt and start following the f... tank, may be you can catch it by the tail! "
"OK, Sir will do and report asap.."

To make things clear, we are now by turn 27 and the situation looks like this :

 

[Corsaire31]

The Tiger _ Episode 2

From the little patches of trees on the left, I hear a shot identified as a 75.
" Sherman 1 reporting Sir, we were aligned right to stick a 75 in this big cat's asshole. At the last second, their sixth sense made them turn left just enough to receive it on the side and the shell broke up !!"
" Dammit ! And what do you do now ?"
"With all respect, Sir, we are taking our ass out of here as fast as we can, the kitty is turning around..."

 

[Corsaire31]

The Tiger - Episode 3

Just in case, I had requested a zook team to hide in the woods and try to catch the beast as it would roll perpendicular to them.
I hear the very familiar sound of the rocket leaving the tube...
" Yes.... we scored a track hit, the damn thing is gonna stay there now..."
Then after 30 seconds : " I can't believe it, Sir, it's still moving..."

(to be continued)

 

[Wilhelm Mohnke]

Dude nice AAR! I must say that Tiger is one though cookie huh? lets see how this one ends...awesome game!

227, AT rifle hits
14, 52 mm hits
11, 76.2 mm hits

None of them penetrated ot disabled the tank, some wheels were destroyed by AT mines even with that damage it manned to advance 60 km off road brewing some
T34's in the process...

 

[Corsaire31]

On the other hand, two thirds of them were lost due to various mechanical failures...

 

[Corsaire31]

Near the flag, my left platoon has made it across the smoke... WM is massing infantry defense in front of them. Good for me because in fact they are the bait, my intention being to assault on the other side with support from my second M4A3...

 

[cillmhor]

Very nice AAR, thanks for sharing.

 

[Corsaire31]

The Tiger - Episode 4

My zook keeps trying from the woods, and scores a new hit, but the monster keeps reversing towards the middle of the map, thus forcing my Sherman 1 to make a long hike around woods to find a new shooting position. Since weather is damp, I don't dare order a fast advance as I am affraid of bogging down. This means my Sherman is out of duty for 5 to 6 turns and can't assist infantry assault.

 

[Corsaire31]

On the right side of the main flag, I order one of the jeeps to scout ahead of Sherman 2. Second occurence of "recon by death"...

For one time in the game, I forget to be careful... Counting the infantry sights since the beginning, I think I have spotted everything, and instead of shelling the flag region prior to the assault, I try to save time by going straight for it... Hard lesson and nasty surprise, my platoon leader dies in the process. Glad I had the good idea to back them up with the Company HQ...

 

[Corsaire31]

On the left my bait platoon is rapidly dispatched with the coming of a second flame HT... I hate those things. My zook team in the house is toasted before being able to shoot at the damn SK251/16..

The Marder which had disappeared comes back in a place where I didn't expect it : a nice patch of soft ground. That was risky from WM, but the surprise is there and my Scout car starts reversing across a patch of trees. Stupid sobs, they should have followed my orders to move forward and hide behind the smoke popped by the Sherman...

Article 1 : The Chief is always right in his decisions.
Article 2 : Even if the Chief is wrong, apply article 1...

(to be continued)

 

[Bert Blitzkrieg]

NIce AAR. Love the way you're stalking that Tiger !

But, killing a Tiger with either a Sherman 75 or a bazooka you need a bit of luck....

 

[Corsaire31]

During a couple of seconds with the Sherman, I was tip top for a straight shoot in the ass, that should have done it, around 200 m away... If only it had kept on running straight forward..lol With the zooks I had no hope of killing but a good track hit and immobilized would have made my day...
The funniest part is that the damn thing took all my attention and altered my whole strategy, when in 37 turns it killed only 3 poor guys with a 50m 88 shot at an infantry squad... A Tiger can turn a game only by being there...

 

[Corsaire31]

OK, here we go..

So the sobs in the Scout car didn't listen to the chief, and after 4 misses from the Marder shooting through a curtain of trees, they run out of luck...

I then have a stupid idea and want to make some points around the flag to compensate for the Tiger, and the right flank being all quiet, I bring the Quad .50 HT down the road, where I think a little slope will hide it. I intend later to try and make some pot shots at infantry around the flag, the 4 x .50 being kind of efficient against them...
Bad choice, there was either Pzfaust or Pzschreck lurking in the woods along the road. The HT didn't even have time to fire one shot in the game... On the other hand it saved (for the moment) my Sherman's butt, because I'm sure the nasty little guys were lining up for this juicy target. I don't have anything more to scout ahead of the tank ( infantry is on the assault, jeep and scout car are dead meat ) so I grab the radio and tell the tank Commander to pop the last smokes for own protection and back out of trouble...