DAR Fluidwill vs Herr Oberst in (*Spoiler*) HSG EW Tooth and Nail

[fluidwill]

Setup and Planning
Away from the public bravado of the MB my heart sinks as I view the battlefield, my forces, HO’s message and my turns available.
The scene;
My Soviet spearhead is tasked with wresting control of small German village from the rearguard of the Gross Deutschland Div.
I have some recon troops;
2 Armoured cars
1 Recon Platoon (2 squads)
112.7mm HMG
1 82mm Mortar
1 LMG
1 Spare HQ
A handful of lend-lease Scout Cars
2 Trucks
1 Halftrack with the Quad .50cal HMG’s
And a follow on force of;
7 T34/85’s
2 Platoons SMG/LMG
1 Sniper
2 Tank hunter’s
2 LMG’s
1 Company CO

The troops are vet’s so have half a chance of going toe to toe with Germanys’ finest. I can expect some more infantry and some assault guns to turn up during the battle. Nothing in my briefing really about the opposition except that they have the finest equipment Germany can provide which in the spring of 1945 means pretty good kit.
I don’t like the map, I’m hemmed in on both sides by wooded hills and have only 20+ turns to reach the 3 flags at the far end of the village.
Here’s the plan view:

There is a ridge just in front of the village which will shield my setup from enemy eyes and provide a nice over watch position. Assuming time issues will prevent flanking on either side I’m faced with punching straight down the road or over the ridge. Neither strikes me as particularly attractive.
I decide on the following plan;

As I’m light on firepower I decide the job of the on map forces is to find, fix and maybe destroy HO’s defences. The reinforcements promised will be the killer blow when they turn up, wether they go down the road or over the ridge will depend on what happens in the mean time. To start with I will occupy the ridge, loop left and right with an infantry platoon (Recce troops off to the right) this will keep HO honest and provide good eyeballs into his position. They will as far as possible avoid combat and concentrate on flanking. The final inf platoon will infiltrate from the ridge into the left hand side of the village. An AC will poke its nose round the corner of the road whilst the other and the scout cars will pop up on the ridge. The T34’s will sprint to just behind the ridge, drop off their inf and form up so they can breast the ridge all together. The HMG and mortar will take up over watch positions in the Pines at the road end of the ridge and the .50cal halftrack will skulk for now. It’s delicate but late in the game that firepower may well be decisive.

I’ve played HO a lot so expect him to bring units at me, he does a great line in forward defence, advancing from defensive positions to disrupt your attack backed up with fiendishly well placed AT assets and well placed ambushes. Also it turns out he HAS played the scen before so I’m unlikely to surprise him much – great.