A Strong Response - DAR

[Ratzki]

Finally my HQ and one squad make it to the safety of the trees. I still have my other two squads in command, but they have some open ground left to cover. The enemy fire has started to fall off, so they might be able to make it across now. I have just about used the Withdraw command exclusively, except for this platoon. Once they started taking lots of fire, I started to alternate between Run and Withdraw, using the Run command on the squad that seemed to be taking the most enemy fire.
The good news is that it looks like I should make it to safety with about half my platoon. I checked the Kills/Hits button and see that this platoon has killed 11 enemy infantry, while they have only had 14 men killed across the platoon. I know I have come out on the losing end at the moment, but they caused quite a delay in the enemy advance and are still alive to fight again if needed. If I would have left them in place, I doubt if I would have faired better as they would have been badly outnumbered and probably surrounded and finished off by the Russians.

Here, it looks like the early few turns are paying off as the enemy seems reluctant to advance too far. It looks like if he uses the Contact command, the Russian squads are always in LOS so they stop after a short distance or do not move at all. I think that the thought of getting ambushed again like in the first few turns have slowed him up a fair bit and he keeps on stopping to mop up my Tank Hunter teams and any other squads that he might run across. I would like to say that this was in the plans, but it is just good luck on my part as again it slows him down and I think worries him about getting into another bad firefight with what must be my hidden troops.
My men are on short arcs to maximize the potential damage that they can cause, as well as I want to try to catch the Russian squads as they cross the road in the open. I have placed a mine here on the road as well, this should be enough to stop any mad enemy rush across the road.
Again, the plan is to bloody his nose then fade away towards my flag just out of LOS. At this point I do not think that this game is winnable for the Russian side, but I have been suprised by this cagey opponent in the past, so I am leaving nothing to chance.

[Ratzki]

Compared to most of the other turns from this battle. Things seem to have settled down a little bit. The time is continuing to tick off the game clock, and this is now a serious factor for the Russian side.
The Russians look like they are just testing the waters here and send out a squad to see how prepared my defence is. My guys send him back to his own lines quickly. If the Russians have smoke, they might be able to make it across but I do have MG's out wide with one and a half platoons in the centre to rebuff if this should happen. I will just have to wait and see.

Over here, the Russians gather up for what must be a assult across the road to the large flag. Not much shooting going on. My guys are on hide and have very short acrs on them. The Russian tanks are still comming this way but My ATR's and AT gun cannot get LOS to any of them.
I have targeted the road, just on the Russian side with my 122mm FO. I only have 24 HE rounds, but they will start to fall at the end of the next turn. If the Russians are there, then it is just luck on my part. If not, the falling HE should keep them from crossing here and again, eat up more time as he waits it out or goes around the barrage.
It is now turn 25 out of 28+, I do not think that I will lose this battle now. The tenacity of my enemy is showing through, even though I have not been in too much trouble throughout the battle, I have needed some luck and good breaks to be in the position that I am in. Yes, I have had a plan from the start and was able to carry it out alot of the time, there were often points that I was sweating pretty badly and if only he knew how close he had come to rolloing up my defences early on.

[Ratzki]

The Russians make their move, and what looks to be about one and a half platoons make their way toward my men. I have had ample time to get ready, but time is not on the Russian side. I am unable to target his tanks, I do not know if any Russian tanks will be able to get LOS to my squads untill the shooting starts. I have the arcs set at 30m and am hoping that the mines will take a toll as well.


Close to the end of the turn, my men start firing. The Russians are able to get a couple squads to my side of the road through some fierce fire from my men. I do not know if the mines do any real damage as there is just too much going on with grenades falling as well as the lead flying around. With about 10 seconds left in the turn, my 122mm HE starts to land. It is very close to my men as well as the enemy and some of my squads go Pinned along with the Russian squads.
It looks like he is making a run around my first line of defences and is going to try to cross the road closer to the large flag with some of his men. I am in position here too. I will have to wait to see how that turn out.
I know know that his tanks are able to see the ATRs and are targetting my ATR teams now. I will be on the losing end of this for sure.


The Russians make an effort to cross the open field and put pressure on my guys protecting the mine crossing area. You can see the amount of fire that is going on over here just from the targetting lines pointed at my HQ. If my guys cannot get back to the woods, I do not think that the Russians will do any better crossing this field with no smoke or large HE to help them.

[enigma6584]

Nail biting to say the least. I can only imagine the amount of lead flying around that field. Excellent stuff.

[Ratzki]

My men open fire on the exposed Russian Squads, with the heavy 122mm shells landing, they quickly scatter and head for cover. Soon thyere is little happening here as most enemy squads go heads down and wait for the barrage to stop. I do not have very much ammo for my 122mm FO, so it will not last long. Another delay for the Russian side who must now bw feeling that the end has come. I can see lots of contact markers but few men, but I imagine that the HE is hitting more then I know.


Russian fire over here is still heavy, I think that my two squads out in the field are done for. They are starting to Panic, but hold on as they are still in command. How long they can keep this up, I don't know, but I can't think that it will be for long with all the fire that they are taking.

[Ratzki]

As the game winds down, the last of my 122mm HE lands on target. I have Paniced a couple of my own Squads, but the Russians appear to have suffered worse.


My two trapped squads are still trapped and now they are getting shot up good. On the whole I have taken about 75% casualties with this platoon. I think that if I had gotten out of there one turn earlier, I might have been able to make it to safety with most of my squads intact. I can't prove it, but I think that it would have made a difference.
I also manage to turn back the few Russian squads that try to cross the open fields. They prove to be a huge barrier for the Russians as well as my own men, all you have to do is look at my shot up platoon.


Out of the blue, my one squad rallies and I intercept a lonely Russian squad slinking through the woods towards my large flag. I thought that the enemy would move more of his men this way, but I think that time was not on his side, more then anything that I did.


What looks to be a last effort, the Russian tanks rumble toward my positions down the road. They to end up backing off. Without any infantry support, they would have been vulnerable to my squads.


The game is over.


I would like to thank my opponant for the good game. I would also like to take more credit in the win, but alot was just just good luck on my part. He put up a good fight and is skilled and plays a tough game. I look forward to playing another against him any time.

[enigma6584]

Excellent DAR! Congratulations on the win.

[Ratzki]

Thanks, glad that you enjoyed it.

[Bert Blitzkrieg]

Thanks, glad that you enjoyed it.

Great AAR. It's been a long time since I saw one in which so much effort was put.

Can you remember how much casualties that 122mm barrage made ? Was it the decisive blow for your opponents efforts ?

[Ratzki]

I don't think that I really had a decisive blow at any time in the game. I just seemed to have the chances to nibble away all through the battle. I would say that the122mm did not cause that many casualties, but with the fire from my squads, it did make the enemy retreat out of the area in a hurry. With only 195 casualties according to the endscreen, I only reduced his total troop count by 1/3 or so. I would not call this a bloodbath, but it appeared that I did manage to Route and Break alot of his squads along the way, and this was probably more effective, specially at the start when I was short of men and trying to buy time more then anything.
If anything was the real game breaker for me, it was the Anti Tank Rifles; the Russian squads just did not seem to be able to pick up their locations. I think that this kept the enemy tanks out of the battle for most of the turns. With hind-sight being 20/20, I would say that if the Russians would have pushed hard at the start, when he first encountered my men in ambush, he would have collapsed my main defence and I would have been scrambling to try to stop his advance. But that little delay he had let me re-organize and fall back out of his tank's LOS. Had I been playing the Russians, I probably would have done the same, the thought of moving through the woods and getting ambushed all the way would have played heavy on my mind as well.