CMBN - Flowers of the Forest AAR

[Stonecutter]

This is my first AAR so I have included my battle estimate and plan at the start to provide some type of baseline for comparison with how things actually worked out. I still have a lot of bugs to work out with respect to getting good screenshots, writing a compelling narrative and cutting it down to a more manageable size but hopefully you will enjoy the AAR in spite of its flaws.

Battle Estimate and Plan

SITUATION ENEMY:

Infantry: 2 x dismounted companies with a mix of green and regular troops and normal leadership modifiers. A scout platoon with similar experience/modifiers. 12+ carriers, most of which are Bren variants.

*The Bren carriers provide good protection vs small arms, excellent speed & mobility along with a lot of extra MG firepower.

*Potentially, almost an entire company could be mounted in carriers.

Armour: A full Churchill tank squadron (18 tanks) with a mix 6-lbers and 75mm variants along with 2 x 95mm heavy support tanks. Crews are a mix of regular and veterans.

*At nearly 40 tons, the Churchills have far more protection than the Mk IV.

*The extra protection & weight makes the Churchills very slow, limiting their mobility.

*Firepower of the Churchills is ample to take out a Mk IV but its most impressive feature is the ammo load of 80+ main gun rounds and nearly 10,000 rounds of 7.92mm for the 2 x MGs.

Artillery: Heavy support consisting of 4 x 25 lbers and 6 x 81mm mortars with the latter split into 3 missions of 2 tubes each. The FOO & HQ units provide reasonable response time for the mortars but the 25lbers are much slower to bring onto target. There is sufficient ammo to conduct preparatory bombardment and still have enough for in-contact fire missions. Furthermore, the infantry also carries 9 x integral 2” mortars. While the 2” has limited lethality, it is able to provide very targeted smoke screens with 1-2 minutes.

Reinforcements: None, all British forces are present from the beginning.


SITUATION FRIENDLY

Infantry: 1 x dismounted COY with regular/vet experience & positive leadership modifiers.
Mechanized scout platoon of 2 sections, regular experience and mostly negative modifiers. Support platoon with 4 x MG34 HMGs (regular experience) and 2 x snipers (veteran & crack).

*3 x Panzershreks and normal dose of MP40s, MG42s and panzerfausts in the COY.

*7 x SPW 251 half-tracks for scouts. These are purely battle taxis as experience has proven that small arms fire will take them out and kill the passengers easily. On the plus side, they all have AP ammo to enhance all other infantry based MGs.

Armour: 1 x Mk IV panzer COY (14 tanks) with regular crews.

*Mk IV’s offer little protection against any British AT weapons due to thin armour.

*Good speed and mobility, especially compared to the Churchills.

*The 75mm L48 guns are good but likely unable to penetrate at long (600m+) ranges.

2 x Tigers arrive mid-way through the battle and have the ability to take out all enemy tanks at long ranges while surviving most hits over the frontal arc.

Artillery: Zero to start! Rockets and 81mm arrive as reinforcements.

Reinforcements: 25-30 minutes (nebelwerfers rocket battery) , 45-50 minutes (81mm mortars) and 50-60 minutes – 2 x Tiger tanks!

GROUND & MISSION

Ground: Total frontage to be covered is 1300m – a large area for limited infantry. The top half (where the British deploy) is open wheat and grass. The middle area is filled with hedgerows that severely block LOS and channel the approaching British forces into two routes on either the left or right sides. The railway goes from lower left to middle right and is bordered by hedges on each side except at the two gaps mentioned above. South of the rail line has a mix of orchards, open fields and two built up areas. Conditions are wet so bogging is problematic.

Deployment: There is wide latitude for deploying the infantry COY & support platoon at the start. However, the panzer COY & scouts are on the far, upper right in the open fields must be moved if they are to be useful in the battle.

Mission: Victory points (VP) are roughly evenly spread between destruction of enemy forces and 3 built up areas. British victory conditions are similar but include 2 touch objectives worth ~25% of VPs.

Time: The battle last two hours so there is no time pressure on the attacking British except to exploit the initial numerical superiority before reinforcements arrive. For the German forces, the goal must be to delay as much as possible

KEY DEDUCTIONS

1) British numerical superiority in armour and infantry at start increases the need to minimize losses and avoid becoming decisively engaged too soon.

2) British artillery dominance presents a large risk of preparatory fire inflicting heavy casualties and multiplying their advantage to a catastrophic level. Consequently, likely defensive positions along the hedges must be avoided initially and manned only at the last moment when contact is imminent.

3) The LOS and protection offered by hedges will allow identification of British main effort and movement of forces while denying the British knowledge of German deployment and movement.

4) Tank engagements – Should be restricted to under 500m to increase chance of penetration/kill. The panzers must only engage with clear information from infantry and use a “Shoot & Scoot” approach to avoid return fire.

5) Qualitative and weapon advantages of German infantry can only be exploited if enemy tanks are limited in their ability to provide suppressing fire.

British Courses of Action (COA)

COA#1 (left flank)
Most likely as closest to British deployment area. The series of hedgerows will slow down the advance but once south of the hedges and into the open field by the orchard, the British can quickly seize both Manor 1 and the touch objective.

COA#2 (right flank)
Less likely than COA#1 as it would require an entire redeployment of forces of nearly a kilometre, thereby consuming time. However, a flanking force using this route would provide a serious envelopment threat and could quickly break into the rear area. Furthermore, a fast moving flanking force could engage the Panzer COY and Scouts before they are able to seek cover behind the hedges.




German Battle Plan

1) Maintain Defensive Position 1 (DP1) as vital ground as it covers both enemy COA’s, has quick access to all other DPs for reinforcement or countermoves and a potential withdrawal route if things do not go well.
2) Sacrifice the left flank as the hedges should provide sufficient delay and any infantry used to defend them would be easily outflanked and destroyed.
3) “Rescue” the Panzer COY and Scouts ASAP by moving at max speed to DP1
4) Establish DP1A, 1B & 1C once COA#1 is confirmed and preparatory fire is over.
5) As enemy advances, leap frog back to DP1C and hold as long as possible.

And, if things go pear-shaped?

1) Withdraw and establish defence south of the rail line with remaining forces.
2) Panzers to occupy DP2A & 2D to provide flanking fire into KZ’s. Infantry to defend DP2B & 2C.
3) Hopefully, drop the rocket artillery on Manor 1 just after the British have taken it !