1700 hrs, Turn 120. End of battle. I expected some extra time but apparently the game does not give extra time if there are no contested objectives. The battle ended at the time limit of 2 hours. In the last minute I launched an attack on a HMG position held by 2 men – they were driven away into the field but survived.
Grey indicates destroyed German units. Yellow means alive.
The battle came to its conclusion. I achieved a minor victory 603:371. It feels about right – I inflicted heavy losses on my opponent and advanced more than a kilometer, securing crossings over the river, but a difficult second battle would still await me on the way to the western edge of the map and its outcome was far from certain. I received 275 out of possible 500 points for five objectives (Farine, Hill 312, Harfleur, Bridge and Crossing), my opponent held the remaining three for 225 points (Three intersections, Village centre and Suspected Regimental HQ).
I lost 114 men, 5 tanks and 7 armored cars, which gave my opponent 146 points for casualties – less than my estimate of 194 points. Possible reasons for the discrepancy are that I recovered valuable weapons and equipment from my casualties by giving buddy aid to almost everyone and that my tank crews only suffered light to moderate losses – many were able to bail out from the destroyed vehicles. The casualties had the following causes:
- Small arms: 48
- 2 Pistol, 11 SMG, 11 Rifle, 7 Sniper, 15 LMG, 2 unknown
- HMG: 18
- Mortars: 12
- AT guns: 14
- Infantry guns: 1
- Marders: 11
- Panzerschreck: 1
- Panzerfaust: 3
- Friendly fire: 6
The 5 tanks lost were 3 Sherman Vs and two Fireflies. Two were lost to one AT gun and three to two Marders, plus one was disabled by hit from a Marder. Of the 7 armored cars, two were lost to Panzerschrecks, one to a Panzerfaust, one to an ATG, one to a mortar and two to Marders.
My opponent lost 292 men, 5 tank destroyers and 5 guns, which gave me 328 points – almost exactly as my estimate told me (330 points), but my estimate included only 251 casualties. I do not think buddy aid played a major role there – as far as I know, no Germans survived east of the river and none escaped to the west. Mortars scored 62 kills, tanks scored 111, armored cars scored 10, leaving 109 for infantry (including 3 for the battalion’s sniper). All 5 Marders were knocked out by tanks – three by direct hits and two with area fire, including one accidental kill early in the battle.
Why did I win? From one perspective, Bulletpoint did everything right. He spent his points efficiently and produced a layered, deep defense. He found excellent covered positions for his infantry that were hard or impossible to area fire. He continuously managed to extract his forces from trouble and, under covering fire of his next line of defense, to take them to safety to fight at the next defensible feature. Even the map could be considered favorable for the defender, being narrow, with little room to maneuver, with bocage, villages and hills. And my opponent, again, used the terrain well – I was learning from him all the time. He judged my force composition correctly and his defense had a strong anti-armor aspect – and surprised me with a tank destroyer type that I had underestimated until this battle. So how the heck did I win?
One mistake perhaps was the strength, composition and deployment of his infantry force. Two of his six rifle platoon saw almost no combat on the other side of the river. They would play a role if I aimed for the rearmost objectives, but I did not. So his Panzergrenadiers ended up fighting even more outnumbered than they normally would in a defense. Not that you should cram more infantry forward – that would result mainly in heavier losses – but perhaps two platoons could have been removed and replaced with additional heavy weapons to support the frontline. One Panzerschreck per squad was too much, in the end only two of the 18 schrecks were actually used, and I assume I got a lot of points for killing the tubes. Four Marders placed in the near field proved quite vulnerable – in contrast to the two remaining ones that mostly stayed in distant, well covered positions, enjoying their spotting advantage at long ranges. Perhaps keeping the Marders in the rear and putting some tougher armor up front would have been of better service to my opponent. Heavy mortars (with TRPs?) would be more useful than a pair of infantry guns. Of course, those are just my thoughts when I review the battle in my head. Bulletpoint may see things differently.
On my side, except for a few blunders that resulted in preventable casualties, I advanced slowly – maybe too slowly – but consistently. The combination of mortars and tanks for support with TRPs and armored cars as heavy scouts/bait was effective. So was the mix of scout infantry with Brens that were subsequently inherited by rifle sections – I completely eliminated, and maybe turned around, the firepower advantage of the Panzergrenadiers, by being able to reuse automatic weapons. Having two mortar platoons and 476 rounds of HE was key - I don't think I would get very far with just one platoon. However, I wasted a great amount initially by shelling empty fields – Bulletpoint held the frontline with just two squads and let me spend my mortar ammunition for nothing. I had too many TRPs: they are too effective for how cheap they are and should be regulated in battles. Mortar fire on TRPs opened my way again and again and again. Tanks did an amazing job against positions on hilltops and in villages – I underestimated their effect initially, but they killed about 2/3 of all defenders in Harfleur. Two troops of Churchills with one Firefly added to each troop would serve better that the all-Sherman force though – Churchill VII would shrug off 75mm PaK40 hits and fire back unimpeded. I suspect I would just waltz over my opponent if I had Churchills instead. It probably wouldn't be much fun.
Anyway, these are my thoughts right after the battle. Thanks everyone for following this thread. Biggest thanks to von Kugelpunkt, I mean
@Bulletpoint , whom I hereby invite to come here. Beautiful map (we cratered it a bit and I razed a few buildings, but it still looks good) and an amazing turn rate for 2 months. Sorry for the TRPs. Yes - too many. Two or three would do.
