Silly After Action Report - Beachhead at Ozereyka Bay

Captain Mihai Licorishcu regarded his German counterpart with polite dislike.  The German for his part saw no particular reason to be polite.

"Are you sure these clowns know what they're doing?"

"You mean the ones stuck out in holes in the snow while your troops managed to get themselves warm billets in the village?  Yes, they know what they're doing.  They're just not entirely sure why."

"The guns must be protected at all costs," replied the German.

"Why?"

"If they get destroyed we lose our deposit."

"So we're basically defending the credit rating of the Greater German Reich."

"And all Germany thanks you.  I'm going for lunch now, I'd invite you to join us but I don't want to."

After teetering on the cusp of victory in our previous scenario I suggested we try this old one from ASL Annual (remember them) 91.  Scenario A26 - Beachhead at Ozereyka Bay.  Here I shall command a small group of Romanians and an even smaller group of Germans attempting to persuade a disturbingly large number of Soviet troops to attack something else.  Dave Wilson will command the vengeance happy Soviets as they attempt to destroy a pair of hire purchase 105mm guns and exit troops off the board into the bargain.

By SSR the guns have to set up on a hill a long way from the exit location which means I have to defend two widely separated areas.  Possibly for this reason I have been given two widely separated forces.  Representing the Romanian team I have nine first line squads with a trio of deeply mediocre officers in "command".  Between them this force can muster two medium machine guns and two lights.  They also get three foxholes.  The German force consists of five second line squads with three much better leaders, a pair of light machine guns and an utterly pointless antitank rifle plus some concealment counters.  Up on the hill are the two 105mm guns whose existence must be preserved at all costs.

Leading the charge for the Soviets Dave has twenty squads, four elite and sixteen first line.  He has four officers led by a 9-1 and a plethora of support weapons with a high rate of fire; a heavy machine gun, two medium machine guns, four light machine guns, two 50mm mortars and an 82mm mortar.  Rolling on as reinforcements are a pair of Stuart tanks that the British bought from the Americans and promptly shipped to their Soviet allies.  The ground is covered in snow and the tears of terrified Romanians.

The set up requirements more or less dictate that the Romanians set up to protect the guns and the Germans set up to defend the exit locations that the Soviets must use.  The Soviets set up in the woods on the right hand side of the board.  In retrospect I have to admit that I botched the set up of the Romanians.  There's a fair amount of snow covered open ground that the Soviets have to cross before they can get to the hill with the guns and I thought it would be clever to position my Romanians to cover that ground.  Given my time again I would abandon the lot and set up a last stand position in the hills.  The Romanians have neither the firepower or the numbers to effectively contest that ground.  Below is the at start set up.

At start; Germans in the warm Romanians in the snow

As you can see with the exception of one lmg squad in a foxhole protecting the guns my Romanians have set up forward although not completely forward.  I was paranoid about his mortars so I set my troops up out of line of sight to grow concealment.  I also set up a pair of squads in crest status in the gullies to act as speed humps.  That sort of worked but it also condemned two squads to an early death so it probably wasn't worth it.  Incidentally you may notice that I said the Romanians have three foxholes but there are only two onboard.  I forgot one.  The Germans huddled snug and warm under their concealment counters in the village and let the Romanians take the strain for the first few turns.

As it turned out "take the strain" was an optimistic phrase, "disintegrate under the strain" might be a little more appropriate.  Thing started off with good news for me when his 82mm mortar turned out not to have any smoke.  Unfortunately it made up for this by having a ridiculous amount of HE which it used to smash and ELR the halfsquad manning one of my mmgs.

End Soviet turn 1

The other, smaller mortars added their two kopecks worth and one of them targeted and eventually took out my other mmg post.  The mortars were definitely the standout weapon on Dave's side.  Not the big one, that would break and malf a repair roll almost immediately as would his hmg.  The small 50mm mortars however brought a literal rain of death down onto my positions.  

Despite mmg woes for the first turn or so it looked like my forward defence strategy was working.  Up at the top end of the map opposite the hill I managed to break a squad or two while his troops moved gingerly into the white open spaces.  At the bottom of the map he moved forward with impunity but my German defenders buffed their nails and called for a second serving of afternoon tea; they would be ready when the time came.  It wasn't really my fault that one of my squads in a gully actually went berserk as a result of a HoB roll.  In their next movement phase they would charge to their deaths against a pair of cheerfully accommodating Soviet squads waiting for them to do just that.

One turn down, only ten more to go

With the Soviets starting to move into the open it was time to wheel up the big guns and then break them.  My forward 105mm took a shot, rolled boxcars and lost all interest in proceedings for several turns.  Down near the village Dave's tanks turned up at the earliest possible moment and raced forward to provide firepower and ten VPs (all he needed to exit) to his troops thereabouts.  My Germans having reluctantly left the stoves and heaters were now deployed in preparation for the coming attack. Dave hadn't progressed very far opposite the hills but that was about to change.  The thin green line of Romanians was about to be shredded.

My gully dwellers are not long for this world

With my forward defenders blown away Dave moved with impunity, only the sheer distance would delay him now as his troops tramped through the snow.  The only good news for me came when my sniper broke his mortar halfsquad at the bottom end of the map.  My sniper would exhibit an unnatural hatred for this guy and would eventually wind up killing him.  Dave's heavy support was reduced to a single 50mm mortar and a pair of heavy machine guns.  It would be enough.

Deciding, somewhat belatedly that my initial defensive plan had been a work of idiocy I attempted to pull back the tattered ruins of my Romanians in the hopes of making a last stand on the hill.  Most of them didn't make it.  Most of those who did were broken.

This is the end of Axis turn 3.  There are eight more to go for crying out loud

Dave's tanks rolled up to provide unnecessary fire support to his troops aiming for the village and dissuade me from any ideas of a gallant last stand.  It is fair to state that I had no such ideas.  Skulking, keeping concealment and only taking the most tempting of shots would be the order of the day.  Pity I didn't consider doing that with the Romanians.

Dave's tanks arrive, as if he needed more firepower

 It is fair to say that the well organised Romanian fighting withdrawal didn't happen.  Except bizarrely in the centre where a Romanian squad and conscript halfsquad managed to hop up onto the hill.  Dave got a little greedy and a squad and a half into CC with them rather than just blow them away in the next fire phase.  These magnificent heroes fought for three full turns despite the fact that Dave reinforced the melee with two further squads and an 8-1 leader.  At one point they were pretty much the only thing preventing the Soviets swarming over the hill.

Things are getting worse quickly

 Things then got slightly better and considerably worse for me.  Dave had rolled his tanks forward to support his troops as they moved into the village and I saw an opportunity and my rearmost (and currently only working) 105mm took a shot and smashed up a Stuart.  Hope filled my breast, perhaps things weren't completely hopeless after all.  To prove me wrong Dave positioned both mmgs with an 8-1 and at a range of sixteen hexes went on a rate tear that broke the crew of the surviving gun and sent them yelping for cover.  Meanwhile such of his forces as weren't locked in melee mounted the hill with only a single Romanian squad and lmg to stop them.

At this point there didn't seem to be much reason to carry on.  Both guns were out of action, there were precisely two unbroken Romanian squads left and one of them was in melee.  There seemed to be nothing to stop Dave sweeping the hill and then simply swarming the village defenders from all sides.  I decided to play one more turn and hope for a miracle.  If divine intervention hadn't occurred by the end of the turn I would concede the game.

The gods alone can save me

The trouble with relying on divine intervention is the sort of gods I tend to associate with.  Loki, Anrita and Dolos may be fun to drink with but asking for their help isn't the best use of available time.

So, I got my divine intervention.  I repaired the forward gun and my surviving Romanian squad managed to break a Soviet unit that had clearly forgotten their existence.  My other gun crew self rallied and reclaimed their weapon.  I plonked an acquisition counter down on his mortar unit and looked forward to a long, grim defence of the hill.  Meanwhile with one of his tanks destroyed Dave was hastening slowly in the village, gradually building up a force to push me out of position.

So much for divine intervention

 

In response to my divine intervention Dave's 50mm mortar gained a critical hit on the forward gun which wiped out gun and crew both.  Dave needed to capture or destroy both 105mm guns.  He was halfway there.  In the village he had forced his way into the building near the large woods (although my guys right at the bottom continued to hang tough.  The destruction of one of his tanks had imposed a little circumspection on Dave but he was gradually working his way forward, very soon I would run out of places to skulk to.  His troops on the hill (apart from those still locked in melee) pushed forwards and the writing it would appear was on the wall.  What I really needed was some more divine intervention.

 

With victory in sight Dave's forces pushed forward across the hill towards my remaining gun.  He even finally managed to win the close combat.  Down in the village he had taken a couple of losses (and the ability of his supposedly elite soldiers to break light machine guns was impressive) but nevertheless he was working around my rather skimpy defenders.

Russians everywhere

Have you ever seen a 105mm gun go on a rate tear?  In my next fire phase I got two critical hits and five total effective shots from my surviving 105 and literally did not stop until it had run out of things to shoot at.  Dave's forces were swept from the exposed parts of the hill with horrific casualties.  That one fire phase alone prolonged the game by at least a turn.  With my surviving Germans so far holding their own in the village for a brief, crazy moment I dared to think about victory.

 

 

Well the 105 justified the purchase price

Which turned out to be foolish because Dave obviously knew a few dodgy gods of his own.  Digging deep into his personal reserves of courage he picked up what was left of his forces on the hill (including his two mmgs now released from melee) and challenged me once again.  I was fully expecting to lose the gun but the time taken meant his troops on the hill would not be able to dash for the exit.  Down in the village I was confident.  I had lost some troops but the survivors still barred the way to the exit locations and snuggled confidently under their concealment counters.  Then Dave's surviving Stuart scored a critical hit on my 9-1,lmg squad combo and wiped them out.  Suddenly the exit was wide open and all Dave had to do was stroll off.  At this point I conceded.  In all fairness without a couple of pieces of outrageous luck the game would have ended a couple of turns earlier.  I don't think the upfront defence is the way to go with the Romanians and I paid the price for trying it.  Many thanks to Dave for the game.  In the next scenario I am attacking and hopefully showing more competence than I did on the defence.

 

Major Licorishcu stumbled down the road, in the distance he could hear the sound of a tank engine.  He was about to hasten his pace when he encountered the irritating German officer from earlier.  He had a handful of torn up papers and was patting his pockets.

 

"Oh there you are," have you got a cigarette lighter?

 

Licorishcu passed one over.  With obviously relief the German set fire to the papers.

 

"Thanks, right let's get out of here."

"Secret documents?" asked Licorishcu.

 

"No, the hire purchase contract for those guns."