Silly After Action Report - Part 4 How the Hell Did That Happen

Ivan and I hooked up for the final part of what is rapidly becoming a minor early war epic.  We left our previous night's gaming with me starting to feel cautiously optimistic about my chances.  Ivan was finally poised to capture the buildings he needed in the north but it had taken him a while and I appeared to be holding solidly in the centre.  Then I went through a turn and a half of hell.

Ivan had obviously decided the time had come for desperate measures and he had come up with a new tactic.  This tactic consisted of simply rushing towards me on the assumption that I couldn't possibly hurt him while doing so.  He was correct.  It is true that down in the south west I managed to destroy the tank Ivan had left guarding the road but it return Ivan managed to kill a tank of mine and then break a squad with his squad/lmg combo and any hopes I had of a flanking attack died.  Up in the north he squeezed more men into the melee for the 40mm which I now lost all hope of winning (accurately) and brought forward the rest of his force to challenge me in the south.

Things don't look too bad at the moment, this will change

 

For my part I pulled some of my centre troops back to reinforce my rear threatened by his southern flankers (because the centre was holding so well).  This proved to be an astute move although it didn't look like it when his flankers rolled up to the rearmost victory building and hopped out of their halftrack in a hail of defensive fire that did absolutely nothing.  Meanwhile the remains of his tank force mobbed the centre buildings and his remaining infantry raced in that direction as well.

 

"Didn't you shoot at them?" you ask. "What with them all CXed, and non assault moving in the open."

Yes I did shoot at them.  For two full fire phases I shot at them without gaining a single result which left the last couple of turns with tanks sleazing my building defenders and infiltrating to the rear and infantry running all over the place.

 

Looking worse, just wait



 

To add insult to injury up in the north his few remaining troops responded to a critical hit from a 47mm gun by going berserk and charging madly for a tank.  Naturally they ripped the tank to pieces with their bare hands, naturally I didn't hurt him in return.  Then another squad jumped my little 47mm SP gun but somehow managed to only immobilise it and was then blown away by my 75mm gun.  Encouraged by this success I followed up with a boxcarred intensive fire shot against an MMG unit.

 

Feeling the need for some extra firepower I rolled my pair of machine gun tanks forward to bolster my remaining defenders although such bolstering was minimised by my prompt breaking of one of said machine guns.  In the southwest I rolled my surviving tank forward (after a convenient sniper broke his lmg team) and charged for the church.  I had mistakenly thought the tank could control the building location and thus give me another victory location.  Sadly no as Ivan pointed out with gentle malice.  Still the presence of my tank there gave a little hope if I could get troops there.

 

 

And wait



 

In the centre the gun truck which had held so proudly and for so long finally succumbed to vengeance crazed infantry pouring down from the north but it mattered not for his work was done.  I had pretty much given up hopes of actually hurting Ivan's remaining troops and stared hollow eyed at the ruin of my defences.  Ivan had jumped a half squad into CC with my squad in the building behind the hill and had taken advantage of my congenital inability to actually hurt anybody by racing troops into the centre of my position.  He also moved squads into another building I occupied without punishment.  Things looked bleak until finally Ivan pushed his luck too far.  Unloading a halftrack full of troops in full view of my other gun truck I finally managed to score a result and break the bastards.  I followed this up by pinning the troops he hoped to use to reinforce his half squad in melee.  Somehow I had survived if only just although I was pretty sure I was doomed anyway.

 

Yep, definitely doomed.





With fear and trembling I approached the last turn.  I had a couple of tricks up my sleeve although it would require luck of Ivanesque proportions.  I would need to race infantry through -2 fire modifiers to reach their destinations.  In the north literally the only unit I had left was the crew of the 75mm gun I had recently broken.  I charged them towards the building until recently occupied by my 40mm gun.  They were killed on the way.  In the south I self rallied a squad and charged it forward to join my tank in the church, it was broken on the way.

OK then, screw it.  My heavy machine gun team in the centre managed to break the forces he had in the street.  I then pushed a squad out to occupy the only hex of the building not contested by Germans, regardless of what else happened the building would remain mine.  In the east my rearguard team who had been so wretched at stopping the loss of the rear building pulled back and reinforced the CC raging in another victory building giving me 2-1 odds.  This proved to be just enough.

At the end of the day I held two victory buildings outright and two more were in dispute.  This means Ivan fell one short of his eight from eleven targets.  After two and a half turns of impending defeat suddenly I had won.  I must apologise to Ivan for my increasingly hysterical self pitying ranting.  It's bad enough when you moan self pityingly about losing.  Moaning self pityingly and then actually winning is even worse.  I would promise Ivan that I'll improve but I think we both know I'd be lying.

I've won, somehow

Hauptmann von Kummerbund walked around the battered remnants of the assault force speaking words of encouragement to the dispirited soldiers now hunkered down around the swamp that housed von Kattelrussler's headquarters.  Junior Officer sat with his head in his hands while a medic wrapped a bandage around a nasty leg wound. 

"Well done lads," said von Kummerbund.  "You did everything mortal men could do.  There's no disgrace in this."

A tank lurched to a halt beside him narrowly avoiding Junior Officer who was sprayed with mud.  The hatch opened and von Kattelrussler leapt out also narrowly avoiding Junior Officer who broke down and began to sob.

"Well that was a disgrace," said von Kattelrussler cheerfully.  "Honestly when I say 'drive the tanks into the buildings' I expect my orders to be obeyed." 
He took a step forward and promptly tripped over Junior Officer who let out a loud scream.  "Dear god, who left that lying there?  Not to worry.  Onward and upward hey von Kummerbund?  Scrape up whatever bits of tank you can find and prepare to renew the attack.  There are plenty more small, unimportant villages to die for and we need to be ready."  He waved a bandaged finger, "I'm just off to recommend myself for a wound decoration."  Von Kattelrussler turned on his heel, tripped over Junior Officer again and strode off through the swamp.

A gefreiter (the same one from the previous scenario but it's not important) stared after the retreating figure of the oberst. 
"He closed his finger in the breech block of the tank gun while leading the attack.  Then he had them drive him back to the first aid post for attention."

"Is that why the PzIV was recalled?"

The gefreiter nodded.  Von Kummerbund rolled his eyes.  It was going to be a very long war.