campaign scenario setup help

[valo2000]

hello!

a while ago there was somebody who made the setups for somebodyelse playing a scenario buying the ai units and placing them on the map. i dont rmeebr who did it but if anyone of you wuld like to do it with my campaign let me know it would be more fun then playing the AI purchase and setup.

thanks and greetings

maik

[Ts4EVER]

I was that. What did you have in mind?

[valo2000]

hello!

i thought i send you the setup and you do whatever you feel like with it. you could just buy the ai units but you could also change the map and the victory locations depending on how much time you want to invest. i could do the same for you if your a playing a campaign against the ai.

thanks for your consideration

[Ts4EVER]

Ok lets give it a try, upload the setup to the forums and I will have a look at it.

[valo2000]

thank you!

here you go i made some setup as possible start for my side but you are free to change anything you like.

still everything is quite small but the core will grow bigger later on so things will get more interesting.

i am also playing other nations if the german campaign is too boring for you.

[Mobhack]

I moved this thread to the campaigns sub-forum since it is more on topic here

Andy

[Ts4EVER]

A few more informations would be useful. Is it a long campaign? Do you want to play as Slovakian troops all the way through? How big should the scenarios and maps be? How hard?

[valo2000]

it is a 200 battles campaign :) i was planning to add units from various axis countries as the war goes on. next addition will probably be some german units after the polish campaign is finished.

the maps should fit to the amount of units involved right now i have only a few units so it shouldnt be to big. later on everything gets bigger (maps and scenario size).

Regarding difficulty best would be some intermediate difficulty dont make it to hard.(it should turn into a game of chess where i have to think abut every move)

once again thank you

[Ts4EVER]

Ok so the campaign isn't based on any historical unit or something like that? That makes things easier. But 200 scenarios? That seems like a lot. You would be barely out of Poland after 10...

[valo2000]

most of the time its 3 scenarios in poland maximum 4. ithink this is already the third in poland so it could be the last one for poland. yeah 200 is a lot but i like it like that hehe

this small core scenarios are usually 2 hours or lesslater it gets considerably longer of course.

its only roughly historical accurate yes very roughly

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, lets try it.

After weeks of fighing Polish resistance has all but collapsed. Your group has been tasked with establishing contact with Red Army units advancing from the east. Destroy all Polish forces caught between the two armies.

[valo2000]

great i will try it out this evening!

[valo2000]

Nice map and setup it is much more fun that way.

i didnt do anything smart just moved forward with artillery cover while the armored cars stayed back trying to avoid AT-guns. The russians were first surprised and their tank was hit loosing all its guns.

The conscripts continued slowly supporting the advance of the slovak recce group.

The slovaks advanced over the field south of the village looking for poles hidden in the village. once they were found artillery and vehicle mounted mgs surpressed them and infantry closed in.

The sniper went north looking for targets that he found in the Machinegungroup sending them running back. after some shelling the western half of the river was secured.

now the wheeled units were also entering the village and while advancing on the bridge one got hit by an AT-gun taking it out completely.

once again the infantry moved forward and the remaining artillery ammo was enough to send the demoralized poles running.

the loss of the armored car was compensated by capturing the AT-guns.

After that mission the unit was sent to germany for further training and an infantry company was added to give the recon group the possibility to push trough light blocking positions.

the infantry company has special equipment for these situations (Pioneers and SMG Troops)

the lost armored car was replaced by a captured polish model.

next spring the Kampfgruppe was spearheading the advance into belgium aimed at drawing the french and english troops into the low countries while other fast units pushed through the ardennes.

Here is my next mission an assault agains belgium. feel free to change it into anything you like. What will the next mission bring?

[Ts4EVER]

Ok here it is.

[valo2000]

Belgium May 1940

The KG is advancing into Belgium on a beautiful sunny day as the recon for Heeresgruppe B. As the road splits up into two bypassing a wooded hill the two companies of the KG also split up to find out which road might be more suitable for further advance.
Aerial recon shows blocking positions on both roads. The conditions are perfect for airsupport unfortunately with that good visibility if there is anyone defending the roadblocks he will see the anyone advancing over the open fields from miles away.
In the north the Slovak company spread out advancing rapidly looking to find a way around the barbedwire blocking the road.
South of the big hill separating the 2 roads 2nd Kompanie is also advancing rapidly while spreading out. Maybe the Belgians already retreated and the earthworks visible are not manned many hope.
Realizing that he might be a bit short on engineers for clearing the obstacles on the road the leader of the slovak company requests a platoon from the germans advancing in the south and sends his halftracks to get them. After their bad experience in poland the armored cars decide to stay in cover in case there are any AT-guns.
While the german Stosstrupp runs along the southern road into the woods they see a stuka diving in onto the old castle overwatching the road. The Bombs miss by a few 100 meters and land in the hedgerows around the castle. The pilot must have been unexperienced dropping his bombs too early even while there was no defensive fire obstructing his attack.
Shortly after smoke drops in front of the road blocks but still a machine gun opens up on the german infantry running down the road.
Over the radio Oberstleutnant Hauser the advance groups leader reminds him of that his mission is recon and not head on attacks on machine gun positions.
The SMG Troop of 2nd platoon looses 3 men ( dead 2 injured) while runnig for cover. Meanwhile all support weapons(HMGs,AT-Guns and HTs) open up on the now identified mg nest destroying it.
Encoraged by this success 1st platoons leader Oberleutnant Schwarz decides head on attacks are part of recon missions and he and his men dash onto the trenches in front of them great war style.
In the north things have been quite without any belgians disturbing the advance of the slovaks until some tank-like vehicles appear in the village behind the road block.
The AT-rifle teams make their weapons ready they are all the AT-power this group has.
in the south thinks get more desperate as Schwarz realizes how heavy the position in front of him are fortified. Suddenly heavy weapons opened up and he regretted the outburst of enthusiasm that had led him into that mad charge. the Halftracks supporting him have to retreat as they get pounded by the guns of the bunker in front of him. Since they are out of smoke grenades all he and his men can do is run forward and hope for some smoke shells from the field guns to cover their attack.

Despite the heavy fire Schwarz reaches the trench line and as his platoon get out of the field of fire of the bunker they have time to rest for a few minutes. Now they would have to storm uphill into the castle but since all his squads are at least 30% losses Schwarz decides to stop and take cover on the foot of the hill.
What he doesnt know is, the rest of his company has used the distraction his attack has caused to sneak through the woods and prepare and attack on the defenders of the chateau from behind.
Meanwhile on the northern road there was much less spectacle as the more experienced Slovaks look for a way around the road block. They bypass the engineers on its southern flank exchanging some fire while moving on. The dug inn Belgians will have to come out eventually.
The SP-guns guarding the roadblock in the north are taken out by a sniper and an at rifle fire through theoir open tops.
The 2 tanks patrolling the barbed wire are much harder to kill but at rifle fire keeps them buttoned up and neutralized.
Things get easier as an artillery shell missing its target falls onto the gun tank (37mm) damaging its tracks. Now there is only one mobile machinegun armed tank visible. Oberstleutnant Hauser is pleased with the attack in the north if Voss didn’t succeed in the south at least here he is sure to clear the roadblock and the main body of the 17th infantry division will be able to continue without delays on its way to Antwerpen.
Meanwhile in the south the rookie Stosstrupp manages to exceed Hausers expectations. As Schwarz hears 2nd platoon attacking the Belgians from behind and artillery falling on the chateau on top of the ridge he thinks the moment is right for one last attack. As a Stuka makes its pass on the mortars that bombarded them the last few minutes he orders his men up the hill into the trenches they just cleared. They are met by intense yet imprecise small arms fire from the Belgian infantry in the old castle. Taking cover in the hedges and trenches at the edge of the hill thy just had climbed his men returned fire and under cover from the other squads the MPi zug managed to take the castle clearing out the last stragglers. One of them was the commander of the infantry battalion defending the area. He was captured just as he tried to burn his maps showing the defensive positions of his division. Schwarz thought to himself that might just safe my lower back after the insubordination of attacking this position frontally despite hausers orders to bypass strongpoints and look for the points of least resistance.
The roadblock was taken. The soldiers in the bunker that had made them so much trouble surrendered when they realized that their position was surrounded. Schwarz waved at Hauptmann Voss who was on the opposite hill overwatching the roadblock and entered the castle. Inside waited a pleasant surprise the cellar was full of beer and wine. Schwarz opened a bottle of Belgian beer and sat down in the cold cellar of the castle. What a day he thought to himself and still couldn’t explain how he had made it out this mess alive. well as long as hauser wouldn’t have him shot.
He would leave the mine clearing to 1st platoon his man deserved a rest.
Hauser calls in another strike on the immobilized tank 800 meters away from him. They have shelled it for 10 minutes now wasting many precious rounds of ammunition but havent made a dent in it. He has to make the crew run at least but they remained inside probably deaf by now from all the shells hitting the armor. The 3rd platoon of the Stosstrupp has finally cleared the minefield and barbed wire in front of them and entered the village. The Slovaks are already further down the road not meeting any resistance. The Engineers they have bypassed have left their trenches a few minutes later only to run into the Slovak armored cars. A few burst of machine gun fire make them realize their hopeless situation quite fast and they surrender. Now all that is left is an MG tank driving around aimless on the side of the hill. He has lost contact to his section leader immobilized and was looking for a way to break through and retreat. All he met were the armored cars of the Slovak recon company. For a while the vehicles machine gunned eachother while driving down the hill. Hauser thought to himself I really need some tanks in my unit that is ridiculous. He ordered the HTs to pick up the AT-guns to finish his problem here in the north since he recently heard from Hauptmann Voss and his success clearing the southern roadblock. Voss omitted Schwarz insubordination and just reported heavy causalities and the capture of the Belgian HQ.
Finally the Belgian gun tank exploded after being hit by a 75 mm shell from the field guns. Just in time since the fieldguns run out of ammo afterwards. The Slovaks cleared the village throwing grenades in bunkers overwatching the road.
A huge number of prisoners was taken after the remaining bunkers were surrounded. The last tank was destroyed by AT-Guns that had been transported from the southern road.
As Hauptmann Voss entered the castle he saw the 76mm mortars abandoned by its crew. Seeing the ammunition stored in the bunkers he decided to keep the mortars for his company they might come in handy in the next days. There was not much time to rest after regrouping his man they advanced further down the road to Antwerp.

good fun fortunatly didnt loose any units this time although the fort almost took out one of my halftracks. in the end it just shot of the AAMG easy to repair.

thanks again for doing that the difference between thi andthe generated battles is imense!

[Ts4EVER]

next one

[valo2000]

thanks for the fast work! there are some units with reeinforce 10.

i guess they should appear only from turn 10 on i will leave them idle until that turn because i can move them from turn 1 on something doesnt work mayve reeinforcments only work in scenariosn not in save games.

good night hehe

[Ts4EVER]

Good to know. BTW can you still change the deployment of your forces after starting my changed savegame? Probably not right?

[valo2000]

no i cant change anything that might be a problem in defend or delay missions. we have to thing about what would be the easiest arrangement here.

[wulfir]

Guys - I think you'll be able to get around the problem with the reinforcement units and deployment if you use the scenarios in a user campaign instead of modifying the saves from a generated/long campaign.

valo would have to learn two things:

1)how to add scenarios to a user campaign.
2)to save the game on the last turn of a battle (<-- before it switches to the end screen).

[Ts4EVER]

Yeaht hat is how we did it the first time.

[valo2000]

ok i will save at every end turn then i will look into that user made campaing option. Things really spiraled out of hand in the current battle interesting developments all over the map nice!

[wulfir]

ok i will save at every end turn then i will look into that user made campaing option.

It is only when playing a user made campaign you need to really worry about saving the game.

Maybe it's better to continue what you are doing with this campaign - but if you want to add reinforcement units and the option for the player to deploy/redeploy forces you can set it up as a user made campaign.

[valo2000]

The reeinforcments actually work. its only that they can be attacked before they officially arrive. so as long as they are in a save location no problem.

The setup thing could be solved somehow but is it be possible to use my savegame from the long campaign and continue in a user made campaign?

Otherwise Ts4ever could send me the map with already deployed auxillieries i do the deployment for the core and then he deploys the ai units and sends it back to me. that would be complicated but doable.

Anyway thanks again Ts4ever! If you would like to play a campaign yourself feel free to send me the files so i do some setup. Or anyone else who wants to play like that.

[wulfir]

The setup thing could be solved somehow but is it be possible to use my savegame from the long campaign and continue in a user made campaign?

I think so - but I'm not a 100% sure.

Make the save into a scenario (like you are doing now).
Add the scenario to an empty campaign slot.
Set the core option to FIXED.

You, as the player, would have to manually enter the flow of the campaign (what result leads to the next battle, decide when to switch from one front to the next etc) as well as setting the refitting and aux points. As it is now the game does that for you.

Since you seem to be happy with how things work I don't really see much advantage in switching to a user campaign.

But - if you want you could string together Ts4EVER's modified saves (scenarios), maybe add some text briefings and you'll have a user campaign right there.

[Ts4EVER]

Yes, when I send back the next file, mount it as a first scenario in a fixed core campaign instead.

[valo2000]

will i still be able to attach new units over the course of the campaign? i guess so right? The french sure have a lot of abadoned transports i will also aquire some 105mm guns and lorraine carriers hehe maybe even a flak gun and 2 soumas they abadoned.

[Ts4EVER]

Yes you can still change the core force.

[valo2000]

Oberstleutnant Hauser looked at Town in front of him. All seemed reasonably quite but beeing of the cautios type he ordered his men to get of the bycicles and spread out. They were closing in onto a bridge over the polendamm channel and he was sure there would be some kind of defense around the bridges.
Taking the bridge would allow an attack on Turnhout and from there the way to Antwerp was best developed. If the Bridge would be to heavily defended or destroyed there was also the way around staying north of the Polendamm but that would cost them time.
Better to loose time then men Hauser thought and so he decided to probe both roads.
He sent the Slovaks south round the town through the cornfields in order to get eyes on the bridges.
The 2nd Kompanie would go north of the town securing the area west of it and then either going north or supporting the Slovaks on the bridge. This time he decided to stay with his 2nd Kompanie since their job seemed more complicated.
As they split up to go north and south they already started to receive fire form the town. They couldn’t see if it were French British or Belgian troops but the fire was accurate enough and the enemy didn’t run from the first few shots that was sure. Of course the 2nd Kompanie got the most of it with the always lucky Slovaks meeting little to no resistance on their way to the railway station in the southwest of town.
As they advanced through the fields north of town 2nd Kompanie continually received fire from the edge of town. Also an intense bombardment started almost as in preparation of a counter attack. It looked like they were in for their first meeting with the french. This suspicion was verified by the Slovaks that identified a Panhard armored car in the Town as well as at least one Enemy Tank moving fast towards town but still on the other side of the river.
Leutnant Kovac was getting a bit nervous as he saw how the number of vehicles approaching the bridge grew bigger and bigger. First there were tanks at least 5 of them followed by at least a company of infantry. He told his radio operator to inform HQ and continued on his way to the bridge. Just as the tanks had crossed the bridge he saw airplanes diving in on the column of transports behind them. Their bombs destroyed at least 4 of the trucks blocking the road for the rest of them. In front of them a platoon of tanks advanced over the bridge. The tanks caught the Slovaks in the middle of their advance and they had to jump on the side of the road to hide. The French tanks drove right through their positions into the lead vehicles of a light panzer platoon. An intense short range fight developed with the Slovaks adding their hand grenades and satchel charges to the fire of the panzers 2cm guns. They threw everything they had and it scared the French tankers enough. After a few minutes of heavy fighting two tanks were burning on the dirt road south of the now heavily contested town.
The other three were still on the road after they saw what had happened to their platoon leader and with the Luftwaffe overhead the French didn’t know what to do. It looked like the way into town was cut off. Something in these fields was blowing up their tanks.
The Slovaks were delighted by French inaction had the platoon attacked all together they would have easily destroyed the german panzer 2s and halftracks. Their guns didn’t do much against the French armor. The Slovaks tried now to attack the French tanks but their success had made them careless. One panzer 2 and 2 slovak engineers were lost on a head on assault. The rest of the units decided to try and flank the French to get some side shots. While the French couldn’t decide wether to retreat or attack the they had finished their maneuver and attacked from all sides at the same time.
In the town a company of Panzergrenadiers had arrived smashing into the French position on a broad front. While losses were suffered the French lines were rapidly pushed back and it should only be a matter of time until the whole city would be taken.
Meanwhile Leutnant Kovac had reached the Bridge where he watched the Luftwaffe taking apart the French motorized column as he and his men added their part firing on the first French infantry who tried crossing the bridge. One Stuka dropped a bomb on the vehicles on the bridge damaging it badly. Still it could be crossed by infantry but vehicles would have a hard time from now on. After some time the panzer 2s arrived adding their firepower and ending all ambitions of the french to cross the bridge. Now it was time for Horvath to try and cross carefully he advanced using the debris on the damaged bridge as cover never before in the war had they seen such intense action. At least the worst might be over now he hoped.
In the north Schwarz had it easier this time as he had learned to avoid frontal attacks. His Platoon was held in reserve under the direct command of HQ so he now only commanded the 12 men of his section. They had bypassed the town as the Panzergrenadiers had arrived to take care of buisness. Schwarz happily avoided taking part in the city fighting. On the road north no enemy was in sight they might have it easy this time he thought as he saw French tanks rapidly closing in. They had no other choice but to run for cover in the houses along the road while the French drove by in high speed probably trying to help their comrades in the city to the south. In the town they were already expected with grenade bundles and AT-guns and after a short time all that was left of the attack were 5 burning wrecks and a few captured crewmen.
Behind them came a company of infantry separated from the tanks and without artillery they quickly surrendered to the panzers as they saw that 2nd kompanie already had captured the village where their transports was stationed and cut of any route for retreat and captured their commander. In the west the Slovaks had crossed the bridge finding the remnants of two destroyed artillery batteries and a whole lot of destroyed trucks and abandoned troop carriers. It was a complete disaster for the French.
Since the loot was so immense the Slovaks decided to try and crew one of the abandoned Souma tanks. The decimated engineer squad provided the crewing while the rest of the men split up into the other platoons. Oberleutnant Schwarz’ platoon was also disbanded and used to crew some of the captured guns as well for bringing back to full strength the other units. Schwarz saw himself in command of puny a 12 men platoon.
Hauser let his men rest for the rest of the day. The next day they continued along the road to Antwerp. The birds were singing s they drove through the countryside enjoying another sunny day in may. In the blue sky they a fieseler storch recon plane appeared it turned around passing for an overfly shaking its wings as if it wanted to signal something. Looking back onto the Horizon Leutnant Kovac saw a dustcloud as if a large armoured column was approaching what could it mean? he ordered his men to stop.

[Ts4EVER]

Did you forget to add the savegame?

[valo2000]

here the next scenario file and a map if somebody is interested the red green and blue lines show my dvances the black ones the french counterattacks

[Ts4EVER]

OK let's try this.

[valo2000]

i have no support units this time right? should i buy them myself?

[Ts4EVER]

No. That reminds me, we need a system for support and repair points.

[valo2000]

what do you have in mind regarding points? since i am following my own little story here i dont know if we need a rule for repair points.

support points i would almost like you to decide what support i get as a part of scenario so basically no support points.

also how does it work now. i save at the last turn and then i send you the file?

I will start now a bit i have to be careful i have the feeling i ran into a fench armored division hehehee

[Ts4EVER]

Actually, you dont need to send me the file anymore, I can just keep sending you scenarios. I'd say you finish this one, save at the last turn, then post an aar here. How long do you want to stay in France now? I will make a new scenario and you embed it in the campaign.

[valo2000]

ok i dont know how long it will continue in france. we are still advancing on antwerp. the result of this battle will decide what happens next. if i get trashed the unit will be withdrawn for refitting if not maybe one more battle against the allies capture of antwerp or soemthing like that. then june some lower intensity operations ending the battle of france maybe capturing some village in the provence.

I dont have much room to maneuver (in other words to run) in the current batlle i am a bit scared ehhe

[Ts4EVER]

I hope I didnt overdo it with the attackers, but you seemed to handle the first scenarios very competently even with the smallish core force, so I went up a notch. It is always quite hard to balance defensive scenarios, since you have to give the AI some advantages to offset its relative stupidity, but if you overdo it the player gets simply swamped.

[valo2000]

Hauser told his ordonance "i need the 105er to bombard that northern bridge until it collapses. tell them to fire a few barrages and then relocate"
He would have liked to send engineers with satchel charges there but it was a bridge to far. In the south it was manageable so hes sent one infantry platoon to destroy the bridge. hopefully they would manage in time before the vehicles that were throwing up all the dust he had seen in the distance could cross it. The heavy bridge in the center had they would have to use it themselves later after they had destroyed the allied collumn.

HQ wouldnt be to happy if the enemy decided to stay on the other side of the river after they saw 2 of 3 bridges destroyed and would leave it to the germans to attack over on bridge but Hauser had to think about his unit and minimzing causalities now. later they would surely find a way.

They were quite a bit ahead of the main body so for a few hours they would have to hold here with no reeinforcements in sight.

[valo2000]

The infantry platoon in the south was successful in destroying the wooden bridge there. unfortunately the 105mm guns couldn't damage the northern bridge enough to make it collapse.

here a costly fight developed with a platoon of S-35 tanks heavily damaging my only tank and taking out 2 at rifles and a scout section because they were to aggressive. Must have been the wine and beer they stole from the belgian chateau.

The artillery group also had to take heavy losses as a group of french commandos attaked them in the woods where they were staioned. Since they didnt have any security platoon the results where the loss of the mortar and one infantry gun as well as the flak we just stole from the french.

In the center only a few infantry squads tried to cross the ridge and were easily driven back by the HMG staioned there.

Many french stayed on the western side of the river not knowing where to attack and after taking some losses the moral became to low with the french tanks starting to rout on their own.

Soon the reinforcements will arrive and the french are getting more defensive knowing that they have lost the opportunity for counterattacking. Only some polish infantry still has the motivation to counterattack but since the heavy tanks the french still have stay on the western side this small attack is turned back a few hundred meters after crossing the bridge.

Right know it looks as if the damaged tank can be saved since it only got holes in the hull and the turret is still working.
Its sitting close to the northern bridge hoping no heavy artillery will bombard.

The Morane flight also hasnt done any damge up until now. I expect them to amke at least one more strafing run maybe they manage again to attack their own troops.

Destroying the southern bridge helped a lot since half tha attackers army is sitting in front of it not knowing where to go.

[valo2000]

For the next scenario i thought about some exploiting a breakthrough against maybe an english force attacking soup kitchens and supply dumps hopefully getting a lot of loot or just the preparation of said breakthrough. or whatever you can come up with i will finish this scenario this evening after work.

I doubt the french will manage to cross in numbers and reach or reach the VH in the city but who knows what surprise still awaits me maybe a huge para attack. Nice scenario many surprises! i also like the mix of forces good to see some poles and they actually attack more aggressive then the french regular army.

[Ts4EVER]

You know what, send me the savegame of the last turn. Usually we don't need it, but I have an idea.

[valo2000]

here you go what do you wanna do? use the same map for a counterattack? i crossed the northern bridge and am about to attack the middle bridge. as you see the ai has trouble with destroyed bridges.

[valo2000]

Even while they continued shelling the french couldnt mount another serious attack.

Kovac and the rest of his companies decided to cross the northern bridge encountring only a few stragglers on their way. damaged S-35s were standing along the roadside abadoned by their crew.

One of them had been taken out by french artillery. In the middle 2nd Kompanie also moved forward while the remaining three infantry guns shelled the immobilised s-35 that was bloking the bridge.

HQ would be quite pleased about the open bridges even if the state of the northern wood bridge was only so good because the 105 mm howitzer had failed its mission to destroy it.

[Ts4EVER]

Well since you already crossed the river, there doesnt need to be a second scenario on the map. Instead here is the "grand finale" of the French campaign, after that we go to the next chapter. Personally I would prefer the Balkans over North Africa, since that allows for greater variety.

[valo2000]

sorry if i destroyed your plan there. Do you have some breefing for the next scenario? is it right after the last battle or in june? I was hoping for one or two battles in june attacking into the french heartland but if thats to boring to make for you ok we go directly to the balkans.

After that balkans greece crete then barbarossa then because it gets to cold in russia north africa and then italy? the rest i havent planned yet.

[Ts4EVER]

No Briefing. Just a simple head on engagement in early June with many tanks for you to capture. Think of it as a last British / French offensive.

My plan would be:

April 1941 - May 1941 Balkans and Greece
June 1941 - February 1942 Eastern Front
May 1942 - March 1943 Africa
July 1943 - August 1943 Sicily
September 1943 - February 1944 Italy
June 1944 - August 1944 Normandy
September 1944 - November 1944 Poland
December 1944 - January 1945 Belgium
March 1945 - May 1945 Eastern Front

That way we get a lot of variety in terms of enemies and scenarios, as well as some of the most iconic battles.

[valo2000]

there is a little gab in 1944 february till june but otherwise that looks good to me. just dont make it progress to fast ;)

So after the french counterattack had failed KG Hauser got some work as rear security where they didnt see much action.

The delpleted infanty platoon of Schwarz was filled up a bit now constituting of 3 squads. the slovaks also got a new engineer troop and at rifle team as well as replacements for theri patrol units. the artillery lost couldnt be replaced for now but a platoon of tanks was added to the KG. One Pz 4 one pz 38(t) and 3 Pz 2 would help with enemy tanks and clearing roadblocks.

The tanks were from a veteran unit but the infantry replacements still had to be trained for the recon role.

Now with belgian surrender just a few hours ago a gap in the northern part of the allied line had opened. KG Hauser was sent to see if a way to cut the BEF from the coast was open and to stall any attempts by the English and french to fill the gap in their frontlines. Nothing could be said about the resistance they would face but they were promised reeinforcements and aircover.

In front 2nd Kompanie was a small town. 2nd and third platoon would flank it while 1st platoon together with the HQ units wold advance alonge the road.

The slovaks would cover the northern flank of the operation looking for any resistance on the dirt road that passed a few hundred meters north of the town.

Weather conditions were excelent so anything could be expected. Hauser hoped the allies would be late for battle again and just leave the road to dunkirk open.

[valo2000]

Here the result of the battle. the blue and grren lines show the movements of 1st and 2nd company. the red lines the attack by the BEF in the north and the french in the south. I used mostof the reeinforcments to attack through the middle where the british came down after they had taken the nrothern village. Their tanks were easier to destroy(luckily no matildas around puh).

The french broke through my thin line of defense in the south but tank after tank they were beaten back and finally encircled by the units from the middle and the rest of the southern defense.

The flanking worked in the south althoughit took a bit to long. Due to impacience i lost another armored car the platoon leader unfortunatly.

Now its time for rest and refit. I probably add an infantry company (maybe italian croatian or bulgarian what amkes the most sense i will see). Also i need better AD and AT.

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, next scenario, breaking through the Metaxas Line in Greece.

[valo2000]

thanks for the fast work.

Anyway here a breakdown of my Units so far

HQ

1st Kompanie

HQ Section
1xInfantry section(veteran)

Rifle platoon
3xInfantry section(veteran) 1xengineer section(green)

scout platoon
1xpatrol(destroyed), 1xscout section(veteran)

AT-platoon
2xAT-rifles(1xveteran,1xdestroyed)

Scout car platoon
1xwz.29 polish scout car(veteran),1x S-35 french tank(veteran),1xcrew(veteran),PL destroyed

2nd Kompanie

HQ 1xrifle section

3 rifle platoons including one understrength (-engineer)
3x rifle squads, 1xenginneer squad

MG-platoon
2xHMG Sections (veteran)

Independent Tank platoon

1xPz 4D
1xdamaged Pz 38(t)
3xPz2c(one destroyed)

AT-Gun Battery
2x3.7cm At-guns
1(1) crew

Artillerie Battery
3x7.5cm inf guns
1.7.5cm gun(manned by infantry)
1x10.5cm howitzer(manned by infantry)

Transport platoon
3xAPCs+1 destroyed

For the balkans i will add one bulgarian infantry company with mortars and probably some kind of AD.


Anyway thanks for the metaxas line scenario but i was thinking to branch out a bit before.

What about some scenarions in the desert starting june 1940 with 2 companies of italian infantry more or less including support weapons and tanks. i would add them to the core and use only these units. then when the rest gets to afrika they would fight together. i will see if i can change the nation of the campaign to italian for these fights.

the idea would be to do this till may 1941 then attack through the balkans with the other part of my units. and then after barbarossa they fight together in the desert.

[Ts4EVER]

Good idea. Next stop: British Somaliland. You probably wont need any tanks heavier than the tankettes in the first scenarios.

[valo2000]

cool thanks for going with the idea. I will buy one company of infantry and one of Askari together with a support troop and some Blindaos

andiamo Arribo subito ehehhe

[valo2000]

Colonel Roberto Baggios plan is simple. Fix the enmy with a broad front attack while attacking him on the flank.

He has one company of black shirts and one of Askari. Booth reeinfroced with some regulars.

The recon platoon of the militia company will attack the northern hill and swing south to the village supported by the tanks and the rest of the company who advances through the valley in the centre and then attacks either north to the hill or the village.

the askari company will advance in broad front in the center. acting as diversion.

Baggios colonials are low on moral and experience so it has to be seen if it actually needs a company for the job it would normaly give a platoon.

[valo2000]

btw ithink the date should be 8/1940 here since the attack on somaliland happened at this time according to wikipedia at least.

in february 1941 the italians were already on the defense.

I could pass some nice months until april 1941 fighting there until going to the balkans :)


Is it possible to go back in time after a scenario or will it crash?

On another note why do the Pzgrenadiers have smgs in the platoon leader squad that always confused me. for the game it makes no sense to have the platoon leader in the assault squad.

i know it has nothing to do with the scenario the oob is that way but its strange anyway.

see ya

[Ts4EVER]

ah crap, the date was a mistake on my part. Well it is not so bad, I don't think the oob changes much in that time.

[valo2000]

since we are selecting the units anyway it shouldnt be much of a problem. i checked it out an it is a bug from the program if you play britain against germany in august 1940 it jumps right to february 41 every time.

[Mobhack]

since we are selecting the units anyway it shouldnt be much of a problem. i checked it out an it is a bug from the program if you play britain against germany in august 1940 it jumps right to february 41 every time.

Not a bug - since nothing happened (on land) in that month between the UK and Germany, the game automatically advances the clock until a suitable battle date (arrival of DAK).

Italy v Great Britain will generate Tug Argun at that date.

Andy

[Ts4EVER]

Ahh, so that's the reason. I left the player nation as Germany, because I was afraid it would cause a bug if we switched to Italy in the middle of the campaign. I didn't notice it switched to February automatically. In fact, isn't that a bit strange? Shouldnt I be able to set whatever date I want in the editor to do what ifs and stuff?

[Mobhack]

Ahh, so that's the reason. I left the player nation as Germany, because I was afraid it would cause a bug if we switched to Italy in the middle of the campaign. I didn't notice it switched to February automatically. In fact, isn't that a bit strange? Shouldnt I be able to set whatever date I want in the editor to do what ifs and stuff?

The game is set up to follow the historical WW2 timeline, otherwise it all goes to pot especially in campaigns. We would get end-user "bug" reports for UK v GE in that date if placed in say a generic "Northern Europe" location, and what happens in the months in between fall of Tunisia and Sicily?

So no, what-ifs aren't the focus of the game, though they can be worked around for individually hand-crafted scenarios (even if a Sealion (say) scenario has to have a false date). But there wont be a Sealion scenario presented in the LC - as it did not happen.

Andy

[valo2000]

I am not on the LC anymore we are just stringing together scenarios in a campaign.

Also i just found out that there was a motorised company east afika fighting with the italians in somalia during that period.but that was only one company ok.

Also what about the SMG squad for panzergrenadier platoon leaders doesnt make sense at all does it? This makes you lead the attack with the platoon leaders in front.

Or is it this way because of historical accuracy?

[Ts4EVER]

That is a bit of an abstraction. IRL the Germans had a platoon HQ with a few guys and then three full squads, but that would lead to too many little command squads on the fields. Since the squad is full strength, why not use it to assault? My guess is they have smgs for variety, since the Germans did issue more smgs to mechanised infantry, even though they didn't equip whole squads with them at this point.

[valo2000]

yeah but a platoon leader with smgs is useless if the other guys have rifles. the platoon leader should be i on the back giving support not in the front assaulting with smgs. ina cmpiagn if i buy pzgrenadiers i always change them to have the PL as rifleequipped.


btw thanks again for the setup help!its great fun!!!

[valo2000]

The attack into british somali land started with a small success.
The blocking forces could be pushed back and one 2-Pdr AT-Gun was captured intact.

The british colonial troops were about 2 companies supported by armored cars and at guns and a pair of Gloster Gladiator Bi-planes. They were slightly better trained and equipped then the italians that had more artillery.

In the north the italians attacked with a platoon supported by 5 light tanks. Together with the artillery they quickly took the hill.

in the south the askari and 2 platoons of the CCNN infantry company advanced under cover of 4 75mm guns and supporting direct fire guns. While taking losses they managed to push aside the british without much delay and took the crossroads and village in front of them.

Later their attack was supported by the tanks of the northern attack. Here one Armored car was lost to long range AT-gun fire (of course on the first shot as always).

There were 2 counterattacks one by Armored cars that were quickly destroyed by the tanks since they themselves didnrt have AT-weapons and one by light horse that was stopped by rifle and lmg fire of the italian askaris and colonial troops.

Colonel Baggios task force lost 8 men KIA and 32 WIA while taking over hundred uk prisoners. Unfortunatly the crews of the 3.7 in howitzers managed to destroy there guns before the askaris reached them.

Fortunatly most of the losses could be replaced and the one damaged tankette only had some holes from AT rifle fire.

Now the Italians could continue to the coast aiming to capture the city of Gerisa on the way.

[valo2000]

i tried changing the country to italy and setting the date to august 1940. it works without problems.

[Ts4EVER]

Ok to make this clear: I can now set the date to August 1940 and it will work?

[valo2000]

you have to make the player country italy and it will work. if you stick with germany it will change to february 1941 again.

i made a test scenario with italy against uk 8/1940 and it loads ok.

[Ts4EVER]

Yes but afaik you cannot go "back in time" in campaigns.

[valo2000]

On his way to the coast baggios colloumn gets reeinforced by another company of askari marching in from the west.

[valo2000]

i just tried it out no problem.

[valo2000]

here is my group so far. one 2 pdr got captured. the other 2 at guns i will give away before the next scenario there were just bought so i could at one 2 pdr to my units.

the company of german infantry i will change to askaris and colonials with experience around 55 moral the same

[valo2000]

of course the german and slovak units are not used in somalia only the italians

[Ts4EVER]

OK the scenario is set to august 1940, hope it doesnt screw anything up.
The allies are starting to retreat from somalia, with the elite black watch covering.

[valo2000]

here the plan for this battle. The "regulars" who are best equipped will move forward along the southern flank going for the hills dominating the dried out riverbed.

the 1st askari company will pass through the village on the hill and join them while the second least experienced unit will attack the center hill and then move slowly for the northern hill if possible.

intelligence suggests the uk units are mainly infantry with very few artillery and other guns lets hope so.

unfortunatly this time our artillery is also quite limited so the center hill will be taken without preparation mybe it is not occupied anyway.

Smoke will be dropped on the southern approach while in the north 2nd askari company will show itself in order to attract some attention by uk artillery and counterattacks.

[valo2000]

turn 1-4

All units advance with maximum speed since the uk forces are trying to get away and evacuate. While climbing the centre hill no resistance is met and the support weapons stationed further back prepare to be moved on this hill from where they have excellent field of fire onto the eastern riverbank

turn 5-8
The center hill is taken without any resistance and the support guns mount their trucks in order to get into position. in the north the scouts get attacked by an at rifle return fire and the result is one scout wounded at rifle crew not impressed at all. the scouts retreat and one askari platoon gets read to fire with 27 rifles on the uk 2 man team lets see what that happesn then.

in the south the regular company gets attacke by hmg fire and pops smoke also a british armored car platoon tries a spoiling attack exactly where it bothers the italians the most damn.

turn 9
In the north a Vickers squad fires on the askaris casuing one casaulty. th e askaris retaliate by taking out one at rifleman and sending the other running.

On the southern flank tanks and sniper fire destroy 3 uk vehicles while 2 remain in the dried out river. a uk sniper hits an askari but his location is spotted.

turn 10

the uk sniper hits two more men this time the AT-rifle team from 1st company. the italian sniper fires back but finally the black watch man is shot by askaris who dont like to take snipers prisoner. the last 2 attacking vehicles are also destroyed one 2 pdr portee by small arm fire and one armored car by the 20mm gun of a tankette. ! st company takes further causalities while storming into a vickers mg position which is finally pinned down with brixia mortar fire which forces the hmg crew to retreat and opens up the route to advance further onto the opposite river bank.

on the northern flank a smg squad fires on the askaris who return fire and force the taking out two brits while the other 2 retreat. still somewhere on the other side are 2 vickers hmgs.

[valo2000]

turn 14-22: the black watch have set up machineguns in the few areas that are covered with trees and also about one company of infantry is suspected to be guarding the riverbank. so far about one platoon has been identified and all three companies are fighting to push them back.

Also 4 heavy artillery guns cause causalities but the mortars cant do counterbattery fire since they are busy with supporting the advance. While the italians push closer taking and inflicting losses two mortars batteries also open up fire. the defender is better equipped then the attacker and stil the italains succed pushing back the british infantry more and more. in the south resistnace has collapsed and italians are the owner of the eastern and western riverbank attacking the brits in the flank now it is only a matter of time.

Seeing this the british comander retreats taking with him the artillery and ad guns that would have been lost to the italians otherwise.

final result of the battle was a draw with the italians loosing their sniper in the final bombardment.

44 italians were causalties as opposed to 104 commonwealth troops. A few turns more and the battle would have ended in total defeat for the brits as i was coming with 2 companies from the left flank. i should have made a frontal attack the maneuvering around on the flanks cost me to much time.

At least a 2pdr portee gun was captured even if the 2 pdrs are of very limited use sans he ammo.

[Ts4EVER]

With the British retreating from Somaliland, you have some time to rest and refit until the battle of Keren, starting February 1941.

After you finish this one, please send me the final savegame.

[valo2000]

the rest and refit is urgently needed maybe i can also find some lmg for my askaris but the supply situation is bleak. What we do have is wine though. There might be also some time for safaris.

your almost as fast as the scenario generator only much better thx hehe

[valo2000]

the country swap works prefectly. i know even have italian ranks when adding new units while the german units maintain their german ranks.

[valo2000]

die the italians think of laying mines and barbed wire in keren?

[Ts4EVER]

Dunno, I guess?

[valo2000]

So the italians fortofied themselves heavily with mines and barbed wire.

The only mistake they made was to try a spoiling attack with the tank platoon that didnt meet any enemy until it ran into a 2pdr that destroyed 2 tankettes completely(especially the brixia smoke thrower will be missed)

The indians are getting pounded in the center and in the north the mortars hit them heavily. Only problem is what happens in 5 or so turns when the mortars run out of shells before the indians run out of infantry?

[Ts4EVER]

Well you know you can always retreat to save you core force, I mean it's not important to get only victories in a campaign like this.

[valo2000]

yeah so far everything is stable only problem is the lack of smoke for the askari which makes planning the right moment for retreat important since you have to drop smoke with the mortars for them.

in the south i have a whole company free and i am sending one platoon to scout out counterattack possibilities.

also i have to learn how to defend against planes they really are killers.especially for soft vehicles.

the worst is the loss of the tanks since i dont know if it will be possible to replace them in east africa probably not.

i dont care about the victory levels at all just about a good fight and saving as much of my units as possible

[valo2000]

Finally my mortars ran out of ammo and even an infantry squad is left with only 9 handgrenades and no rifle ammo.

luckily the indians are all retreating now and on the south i have one company counterattacking maybe they will be able to reach the english guns and mortars.

if there wont be any late surprise things are under control right now but a little bit more enemy infantry and they might have broken through since i am low on ammo now

[Ts4EVER]

OK, you have two choices: Either you can continue resisting in this position for another round to buy more time (in which case please send me the last savegame), or you can retreat to the Keren main position, which is better fortified and supported and continue the fight from there.

[valo2000]

so it was a acomplete rout for the indians. while my third company was on the way to overrun the uk gun positions the scenario ended.

so i predicted the result by coin toss and it was decided that we managed to take some of the guns (2x 2pdr,1x4.5 in,2x25pdr guns) before they were destroyed by the crews. also we captured more lmgs for the askaris. With that reeinforcments Colonel Baggio was ordered to hold his current position.

I maybe used a bit to many support points in this scenario since my position already is quite heavily fortified.

[valo2000]

as always the planes have been a big problem i think they caused almost the most causalities. whats hurts most are the 2 burning wrecks of tankettes on the southern hill. if only i could hav cpatured that a13 cs.....

[Ts4EVER]

Next one

[valo2000]

After the defeat of the indian 5th division probing attack there was some time for reftitting and fortifying the positions. ne ammounition stocks were brought from Keren so now the mortars wouls be able to fire without pause. Also the trenches were changed a bit to make defense easier and the recently captured guns were put into position (1x 4.5in 2x25 pdr aND 1x2pdr).

Already the dust kicked up by the coloumns of 5th division trucks can be seen in the distance. time to move into the trenches and ready the guns....

[valo2000]

The indians have brought their best this time. In the not so far distance 3 platoon 1st company sees ghurkas and engineers advancing on the weak spot of the line suppported by the almost impenetrable matilda tanks.

in the north a group of a pair of cruiser tanks runs into the lines no infantry seen yet that might get very interesting very soon i might have to think about some repositioning of my infantry.

[Ts4EVER]

Wait so the cruiser tanks are manned in your version? I deleted the crew on them and if I start the scenario they are "destroyed". Theyare supposed to be the tanks you knocked out last time.
Maybe this doesnt work in campaigns??

[valo2000]

closer investigation shows that the tanks are just burned out hulls from last battle. the matildas are all to real though

[valo2000]

after a few hours of heavy fighting the ghurkas managed to gain a foothold on the western side of the central hill. since they couldnt do anything to hurt the matildas the italians hat to retreat onto the other side of the hill.

With half their tanks immobilised by tanks and one destroyed as he tried to cross the hill by infantry assault.

3rd company then started a counterattack in the south overruning a mortarteam.

[valo2000]

after advancing a few hundred meters 3rd company is driven back buy fresh indian troops. They retreat to their trenches as it gets dark. As colonel baggio sees that there are new reeinforcments arriving for the attackers and with scouts reporting a move of commonwealth troops tocut of his retreat lines he decides to use the cover of darkness to retreat back to keren. He hopes to escape before the cw units arrive in his back.

[Ts4EVER]

OK, the Keren main position. Note that no reinforcements will reach you in the foreseeable future.

[valo2000]

there is always the question if mymen had enough time to fortify the positions further cause a few extra mines always help hehe

[Ts4EVER]

This time no, there already are fortications.

[valo2000]

ok i think i will restrict support points to 100 for the next scenarios so i rely only on the support units in the scenario the temptation to fill everything with mines and barbed wire is just to big.

So now we reached the formidable defensive terrain at keren. i pitty the attackers here huge losses will surely be taken since they have to advance over a lot of empty space an i have some artillery to make their live miserable.

A full AD platoon is present protecting our guns and they will probably be very busy. Already during the retreat the coloumn was repeatedly attacked by british fighters while our own airforce has been quite absent the last days.

Although we have the high ground the indians have been following closely behind us and so as they arrive we didnt even have time to fully man the trenches closest to the front( the start up line is a bit to far to the east ;) )

The biggest concern are the matilda 2 tanks and until know we still dont have any idea on how to stop them.

[Ts4EVER]

These "forward trenches" are actually Indian.

[valo2000]

oh good to know that would have been some bad surprise for the platoon i set up to take position in the trenches

[valo2000]

After some 40 minuits(9 turns?) of heavy fighting the ghurka companies tashed with storming the italian positions near keren still havent made much headway.

They have taken heavy causalities though and are under constanr artilelry fire. both sides are firing enthusiastically witha ll avaible guns with the cw forces having more firepower while the italians have the advantage of beeing dug in.

Causalities on the italian side so far are 1 dead and 2 wounded askari due to small arms fire. the lack of smoke grenades for the native troops and the limited avaiabilty of lmgs are cause of this.

The itaial tanks try to support but on CV-35 gets stuck in rough terrain while the 2 remaining crawl carefully up the mountain.

In the meantime the 3 rd company and parts of first company are attacking the southern flank of the ghurka attack not meeting any resistance as the scouts of 3rd company are only a few meters away from the cw mortar units. It looks like a complete rout for the attackers again. only tanks can save them now....

The airforce is non existant for booth sides until now but a cw airattack later on is expected.

[valo2000]

After a few minuits more the ghurkas were out of manpower and routed. 3rdcompany managed to destroy the mortarbatteries and take control of the villages on the foot of the hills were the italian positions were.

2 ghurka companies were not enough to assault 3 askari companies.

The battle leaves Colonel Baggios men in the same position as before the attack.

[Ts4EVER]

After their stratagem of outflanking the roadblock through the mountains failed, the British will have to resort to brute strength.

[valo2000]

The Askaris were working on their trenches as the british artillery rounds started firing. Quick everybody jumped onto the nearest foxhole. For almost an hour the rounds kept falling. All the main positions got their fair share of lead. Contact was lost to the gun positions in the south all Colonel Baggio could see was a cloud of smoke and what seemed to be the only survivors of the bombardment running back trying to escape the bombardment.

This time the english tried for real.

[valo2000]

turn 1-6
Heavy bombardment at the beginning takes almost out an AT and an AD-Gun practically there are taken out. Also i advanced with myscouts only to see that ther is no hole in the cw advance one scout team is down to 2 men now looking for a way back home. Attacks all along the front luckily no tanks so far.

[valo2000]

here is the situation after 10 turns. i am slowly pushed back in the center but the regulars there are in open ground and under constant fire so they have a hard time advancing.

in the middle the ghurkas are also crawling forward und mortar fire.

Inthe north the ghurkas are beaten back but still have some fight left and need constant reminders by mortar that they better stay back.

I am thinking about storming forward here but the 3 Matildas that are advancing make me change my mind.

Also in the south 3 more matildas attack. I have nothing to stop them.... maybe they will run on a mine or get stuck in the rough terrain.

If i have to retreat to the trenchlines the cw units will be advancing on rough terrain which will give them better cover so i try to hold on as long as possible before going back.

[Ts4EVER]

BTW you didn't reinforce your units, right?

Anyway, what is the plan after this for the Italian units? IIRC you wanted to put them together with the German troops for Barbarossa, but what about the Askaris? Would be a bit weird to have them in Russia.

[valo2000]

i lost only 7 infantrymen in the battle before and i have to admit i brought the damagedsquads up to strength.... I dont like much fighting with halfstrength infantryunits.

Now i was planning to fill up squads by disbanding units or platoons with high losses and sticking put the survivors in the other units.

I dont replace tanks or gun since i imagine the italians would have trouble sending them to africa at this time.
For exapmle i just lost an anti tank gun to a airplane bomb i count that as a totally destroyed gun and will delete it from the unit rooster.

maybe i will loose in total a platoon in this battle.

For the italians there are two ways now escape by boat but it might be hard to cross the sue canal. or what would be an interesting what if trying to get to libya somehow but i think they are sourrounded by british forces.

i wanted to use them in the desert campaign later on. maybe there could be some scenarios simulating the escape through the sudan....

Anyway next would be the balkans i want to add a company of bulgarians finest

its quite hard to stop the matildas luckily the askari have bomba benzina. that helps a bit with the lack of smoke grenades that hurts them many times

[valo2000]

ok now the italians are couterattacking in the north an in the middle the ghurkas have been beaten third time that is not one of the brightest parts in their units history.

2matildas have been destroyed with gasoline bombs end grendes and a third one was immobilzed and captured. now the askaris are storming down the hills overrunning the mortar and artillerypositions.

in the south things are looking good also since only a few regulars are left advancing maybe here a counterattack is possible soon but the 3rd company is low on ammo and men.

The british galdiators keep harrasing colonel baggios men i still need some better airdefence tactics.

[Ts4EVER]

Maybe we could say that they somehow escaped to the north into one of the desert forts like kufra or giarabub and there the Germans could link up with them eventually.

[valo2000]

As the day ends the Indians couldnt break the thinly held italian lines. The italian counterattack itself had to be repelled by the english guncrews. 2 Platoons of italians supported by tankettes managed to reach the guns after overruning the forward commandpost of the CW troops.

They were stopped by the dugg in gun crews who manged to destroy one tankette with the 25 pdr guns which inspired the other one to retreat. the italian infantry traded shots with the guncrews disabling a few until they ran out of ammo and had to turn back to their lines.

Even though the attack had beaten back the situation of colonel baggios troops is hopeless if they try to hold further on.
English planes rule the skies and resupply cant be expected. Low on ammo and out of atrillery supply the decison to leave keren is the only vailable option.

[valo2000]

so next would be the invasion of yougoslavia for the german/slovak/bulgarian part of my KG it consists of 2 infantry companies a tank platoon, an armored car platoon and a recon group plus some artillerysupply.

[Ts4EVER]

OK Here is the plan: We will do Operation Barbarossa until January 1942. Then you continue with the Italians in the Sahara (battles around Murzuk February and March 1942) and link up with the Afrika Korps eventually, thus uniting the core forces.

[valo2000]

Yes thats a good plan but i would like to have a lttle detour through the balkans and greece maybe evem crete (there is a nice map there) what about one scenario depicting the drive through yougoslavia? the the metaxas line scenario you already madae then some mpre greece then crete and then start of barbarossa?

[Ts4EVER]

Yes thats a good plan but i would like to have a lttle detour through the balkans and greece maybe evem crete (there is a nice map there) what about one scenario depicting the drive through yougoslavia? the the metaxas line scenario you already madae then some mpre greece then crete and then start of barbarossa?


Sorry if I didnt make myself clear: Yes we are doing Balkans first (doing a yugoslavian map right now), after that Barbarossa and then back to Africa/Italians.

[valo2000]

great Thanks!

[Ts4EVER]

Yugoslavia! After this, I will go straight to Greece, mostly because the Yugoslavian TOE is relatively limited in what you can do...

[valo2000]

Yeah one battle is enough thats good. One thing i have vision 70 for 4 battles now i think thats the standard vision when you edit a scenario i think you overlooked that.
Now its time to start!

So after travelling for some days through yugoslavia acting as reserve KG Hauser finally met its bulgarian allies.
With their help they are tasked to secure a bridge and the village on the eastbank of the river.

Also a hill in the south has shown some enemy activity and has to be scouted out.
That will be a job for the bulgarian company. They are to advance slowly straight onto the hill. Losses should be kept as low as possible since this hill is only of low importance. This should show the abbilities of the bulgarian infantry and they will be used according to their performance in this battle in the future.

the main effort will go into the village at the river. The slovaks and behind them the germans and the tanks will move along the road and try to stay out of view from the units on the hill on the eastern bank of the river. they will take the huge buildings on the western bank and then take the bridge.

Then if possible the attack will continue uphill. We hope that the capture of the bridge will trigger a counterattack by the enemy units dug in at the hills

[valo2000]

turn 1-10:

The slovaks and german units advance carefully along the road. The scouts manage to go undetected but one slovak infantry is attacked by a sniper. He misses fortunatly and is then attacked by every machine gun mortar and other gun in the unit. Also the veteran slovak scout manage to surprise some serbian scouts and take them prisoner. Already the bridge is in sight as some artillery starts to drop near the crossroads in the center of the map. it forces some infantry platoons to the ground but doesnt to any damage.

The bulgarians start an attack in the south and meet also some resistance. There really is no shortage of lmg is in the yugoslavian army the have 5 guns per platoon while the germans have only 4 thats an impressive amount of firepower. 1 man is injured by lmg fire but the rest of the company avenges him immediatly sending the sole survivor of the lmg squad runnig for his lines. 2 more infantry squads are detected and attacked also Hauser orders his artillery to support the bulgarian attack with all guns.

He ordered them to wait until the bridge was taken and keep a defensive stance but the bulgarian commander wants his medals.

[Ts4EVER]

BTW do you want to take the Bulgarians into Russia? AFAIK they didn't even enter a state of war with Russia before 1944.

[valo2000]

one company of adventurers it will be then. maybe a secret group of volunteers, maybe just mercenaries. I am also planning to add some croatians(ustasa) they actually fought at the easten front. I have a lot of tanks now so another infantry company should be ok.


Situation at Turn 19

The bulgarians took some causalities and are now at the base of the southern hill. MG and apcs support them.

the slovaks have crossed the bridge and 2 counterattacking tanks were destroyed. no chance for this mixed group. The cavalry tries to swim through the river. Hauser is impressed by the deication to the job still they are easy to shoot while crossing.

The slovak scouts one of them elite now have passed through the village looking for the source of the artillery fire. judging by the smoke clouds there are some positions on the northern hill.

[Ts4EVER]

Update me: Which tanks do you have exactly now in the Germa core force?

[valo2000]

KG Hauser has now

4 APCs spw 251
1 pzspw 222(cm gun and mg)
1 panhard french armored car(2.5 cm gun and mg)
1 polish aromored car mg armed
1 soumoa s-35
1 pz 4b
1 pz 3f+ 5 cm gun
1 pz 38t b
2 pz 2 c light tanks

Also we have
3 at guns
3 at rifles
3 inf guns, 2 mortars 1 105mm howitzer and 75 mm gun

4 mgs and 1 aamg
7 platoons of infantry
2 snipers
4 scouts

2 HQs
1 Com HQ


thats about it

maybe one company of either gebirgsjaeger or croatian regulars will be added soon

[valo2000]

The battle ended with the bulgarians just on top of the southern hill but it remains questionable if they could actually take and hold it with the losses that they took while climbing up.

The slovaks and germans were halfway up.

After all it was not possible to take the hills in the time given. The serbians on the mountains will be left in peace.

If they stay up there they dont harm anyone.

Kg Hauser advances further south stopping on the greek border and waiting for their reeinforcements before they join the attack on the metaxas line.

(should i use the metaxas line battle that you sent meearlier or do you have something else?, i am going to add another infantry company of ustasa)

[Ts4EVER]

No the old metaxas line scenario is too small for your force. I will make a new greek scenario, but probably not the metaxas line.

edit: So the time was too short? Didn't I give you like 30 turns?

[valo2000]

ah 10 truns more would have been good i guess. i was trying to be careful at the beginning so i ended up withall artilery spent and no more turns in the end.....

i will add either gebirgsjaeger or domobroj croatian regulars. i am not sure yet.

see ya tommorow!

[zastava128]

one company of adventurers it will be then. maybe a secret group of volunteers, maybe just mercenaries. I am also planning to add some croatians(ustasa) they actually fought at the easten front. I have a lot of tanks now so another infantry company should be ok.

Just for the record, the Croats on the Eastern Front were directly under the control - and in fact part of - the Wehrmacht, and were armed by the Germans. They used standard German infantry gear (Mauser Kar 98k, MP40, MG34, 8cm mortar) and had some artillery: (10.5cm field howitzer, 3.7cm PaK). They also had a bicycle company.

It's probably best to use German units to represent them.

[Ts4EVER]

Greece number 1

[valo2000]

Kalimera! a nice map you made there i guess i will try some flanking with these boats. (and i suspect its a traaaaaap)

i just noticed their are 3 scout cars lost in the mountains i guess you forgot to place them on the map.

Also am i attacking along the road or from wherever i want?

[Ts4EVER]

Attack from the road please.

[valo2000]

here is the situation after half an hour of battle. so far nos erioous resistance has been seen. there were some artillery exchanges and a little spoiling attack by the british that was easily defeated. the aircraft are finding their targets and the axis troops are advancing steadily.

The slovaks landing in the south was unopposed and they might manage to cut of the road and take the artillery. A few 25 pdrs will certainly come in handy.

i couldnt ressit from letting the gebirgsjaeger attack from the mountains. they had the heaviest causalities so far due to artillery and mines butmanaged to take the hill overlooking the western side of the road.

We need better ad capabilities for sure.

[valo2000]

nicemap and nice scenario i like the houses and the ridgelines and the possibility for naval attack

[valo2000]

That last hill was full of australians and so losses were way to high. Kg Hauser managed to take control of the area. 2 AFV were lost but at least one bren carier and many guns were captured.

I lost 25 men and 54 injured or mia most of them infantry so i have to reorganize my units into 3 understrength infantry companies.

the battle on top of the hill was just out of control and in the fog and the fire from the burning vehicles it was impossible to command.

Only about 100 of the defenders were taken as prisoner were taken which shows how hard the fight was.

[Ts4EVER]

The fighting retreat of the New Zealanders goes on. This time they selected a chokepoint guarded by the old castle Platamon as the position of their rearguard.

[valo2000]

the map looks interestin again. but there are no objectives? Is this on purpose?

[Ts4EVER]

aww crap that's what happens when you map too early in the morning....

[Ts4EVER]

Fixed version.

[valo2000]

After the last Hauser was sure he needed to teach his men better AD drills 3 Spaehwagen and one sdkfz 231 had been destroyed by the hurricanes. Also the infantry had suffered losses.

Voss' company had become a bit disorganised in the new zealanders position and the confusion had caused unnecessary causalities.

The bulgarians had fought bravely but didnt have much impact on the battle the same was the case for the gebirgsjaeger. Basically all the hard work had been done by the veteran units while the green troops had caused mainly distractions.

the Tanks had been cautios up until the end when one light tank charged into the last remeining 2 pdr gun and was destroyed.
They managed to destroy the enemy AFVs.
The same was the case for the armored car platoon.
Lukac lost his second armored car but fortunatly there were no losses to the crew.
He know drives the carrier that had been abadoned by
the kiwis after it had been imobilised on the road. They also installed an AAMG on it.

In Voss company the platoon with the heaviest losses (unlucky Leutnant schwarzs platoon) was used to man the captured guns. one 2 pdr one 40mm aagun and 25 pdr were taken the rest had to be left for following units since KG Hauser is low on Infantry and cant afford sending mire men to arty duty.

[valo2000]

yeah and heavy losses like in the last scenario is caused by to much beer while playing hehe. Now i am a bit low on pioneers for mine clearing....

[valo2000]

thanks for the fast fix!

[valo2000]

Here is the plan. The elite units will advance along the beach and then take the city cutting of the troops in the castle from the rest of the NZ units.

the rest will slowly advance and try to keep the attention of the new zealanders away from the units on the beach.

Although time is scarce Hauser urges his men to advance carefully since they had to fight another day.

[valo2000]

The situation after 2 hours of fighting is relativelygood. 2 platoons of NZ tanks have been destroyed for the loss of Hauptmann Urbans Pz 4 to an AT-gun. The enemy artillery has been poundeda bit by the SiGs and is less active now. mainly mortar fire now.

Horvaz and his Slovaks reached the city and are now fighting house to house whith as much arty help as possible but often the rounds drop quite close.

In the center the bulgarians hold a thin skirmish line preparing the ground for the all out attack onthe castle once the rest of the KG is in position to attack from behind. They are in a bit weak position in open ground with almost a company of cruiser tanks advancing on them.

The croats will try to tkae the monastary that has been a thorn in the side of our advance for a long time causing the loss of urbans Panzer 4 and harrasing the infantry wih machine gun fire.
Lets see what they can do here the enemy might be to strong.

everything is going more or less to plan and i hope the resistance in town will not be to heavy since the KG cant afford more losses and stay effective.

[valo2000]

after 24 turns (how man minutes was a turn i forgot)there is still fighting all over the area. the kiwi tanks are rushing back and forth trying to push back the attackers in the city and in front of the castle. They are down to 2 running vehicles now and the city is full of german/slovak infantry. The artillery positions are taken by german infantry and armored cars.

Soon the castle will be totally cut of from retreat.

The croatians are attacking the monastery in the south where they discovered an 2 AT-Guns and a MG-position. The next few minutes will see the end of the battle.

German Grenadiers and Gebirgsjaeger are scaling the eastern walls of the castle with mortarfire covering their advance.
The bulgarians are advancing carefully from the north while the new zealanders still control the road and the area west of the castle.

note: left is north on this map i guess.

Great fight! what will happen after this position is taken? were we fast enough? can we stay on the heel of the allies or will they have time to dug in again?

[Ts4EVER]

It was the last rear guard. Next stop: Crete. I already did the scenario last weekend.

Your Kampfgruppe is one of the first to land amphibically with heavy weapons. More paratroopers are still being flown in and the landing zones are far from secure.

[valo2000]

As the sun went down the fighting also ended.

Many Guns were captured and one A10 CS surrendered with the tank completely intact as the crew saw they were surrounded by german infantry with flame throwers and satchel charges.

The surrender of the remaining NZ forces realising their retreat was cut off was only a matter of time.

After this fight what was left of KG Hauser continued south following the german advance through greece. The following weeks were quite and the main duty was guarding prisoners as the greek and cw forces that couldnt evacuate surrendered.

After reaching the southern tip of the Peloponnese there were a few weeks of rest and refit as well as training for the new mission: KG Hauser was to take part in the Invasion of crete.

[Ts4EVER]

BTW please do not change the paradrop zones.

[valo2000]

The paras and the regular army troops have different commanders no chance for KG Hausers commander to change the drop zones of course. it will be interesting to see how good they are able to coordinate their efforts.

[valo2000]

this is the situation starting turn 1:

1st Kompanie andthe slovaks will move into the city the most important target. Oberleutnant schwarz and hie 3 replacement sections will be reserve.

The gebirgsjaeger will support the para landing on the hill the croatians will be reserve.

the bulgarians are alone on the southern flank they will support the few paras landing there. once on the hill it will be maaybe ncessary to advance more since the terrain is not easy to hold and there might be artillery fire.

The objectives far to the east will be tken by sneaking along the beach if possible bythe slovaks and the armored car platoon.

the tank platoon the apc and the armored car platoon are all one vehicle short there will be noresupplies until this batlle is won so we have to look to capture some cw equipment other then guns....

[valo2000]

After all paradrops are done the center hill is secured. the PAWs are getting inposition to take out some matildas that have been spotted far away.

most enemy AD has been destroyed by artillery and machinegun fire only one gun remains in the southern part of the battelfield.

The slovaks and first company are entering the harbour town enganging in house to house fighting with some greek infantry. So far things go smooth since we have the city surrrounded from all sides and there are only few dead spots for the enemy to hide in.

the gebirgsjaegers have reached the top of the center hill and are now looking for a new mission maybe they will advance on the easternmost hills were 2 3 inch mortars have been spotted.

the bulgarians are clearing the western hillside of the southern hill that seems to be defended by no more then a greek infatry platoon.

The british reeinforcments are arriving contnously from the west and we try to hold them back with artillery and mg fire. they are taking heavy losses but are still advancing partially covered by the smoke that was dropped to cover the paratroopers landing.

Apart from the 2 matildas spotted things seem to be under control its just a matter of time until this area is secured.

[valo2000]

the british reeinforcments never had a chance to reach any of their objectives. they were destroyed on the road by axis airpower and artillery.

Many trucks and even one matilda tank were captured after it was immobilised by artillery and the crew dismounted. this makes it possible to bring the apc platoon back to strength as well as the tank platoon that now consists of a p2,3,38 an A10 and a matilda 2.

Also one of the Fallschirmjaegerplatoons stays in the KG since the company command was lost while the glider carrying it crashed.

[Ts4EVER]

After the succesful airborne operation, the Allies are beginning to evacuate the island. While most forces stream towards the ports in the south, some retreat into the mountains to make their stand there.

[valo2000]

oh no sounds like a painful battle ahead. KG Hauser is the lucky bunch that was choosen to keep the forces dug in in the mountains busy and if possible force them to surrender by kinetic action.

In this Battle they are reinforced by a platoon of paratroopers.

[valo2000]

as they advance along the sothern coast of crete in order to intercept the anzac and greek forces trying to flee the island KG Hauser men also observe some groups of the enemy moving into position on the hills and mountains. The gebirgsajeger,croats and the fallschirmjaeger are dispatched to deal with them while the slovaks bulgarians and first company advance further along the coast.

the weather is good and air support is avaible in the form of 4 stuka divebombers. Enemy artillery and AD hasnt been scouted out yet so we dont know how much resistance we face.

the last battle hasnt seen much artillery so there might still be a number of guns avaible to the enemy.

The terrain is difficult so it might not be possible to occupy all the high ground in short time.more important is the captureof the harbour and the coastal road before the allies can escape.

[valo2000]

Here some views from the battle. one shows the slovaks advancing into the harnour aided by all the heavier guns of the artillery and the other one shows the progress in the mountains.

the gebirgsjaeger have taken the first peak and are now continuing the advance on the second objective. they had lots of direct fire support from the mortar units and machine guns. to the north one sniper keeps harrasing the falschirmjaeger who will have to rush him soon. and to the south one can see the bulgarians advancing on the second mountain objective.

[valo2000]

So after 4 hours of fighting the harbour was taken cutting of the retreating anzac units which then had to surrender. the main part of the fighting was done by the slovaks who earned themselves a place in the reserve in the next battles. its time another unit can proove its skills.

In the process the ANZAC commander was taken prisoner along with some of his staff.

The fighting in the mountins was till ongoing with a platoon worth of commandos sniping at the bulgarians and gebirgsjaeger. they will probably melt away in the night we might get a artisan problem in this area.

Otherwise losses were acceptable even if the end abit to high because the troops had a bit more then their allowed ration of slibovica which led to unnecessary heroism and causalities.

Nice mix of units and once again a good scenario. I can only repeat how much more fun that is then the usual log campaign.

now we could return to colonel baggio and his men fighting the british in the desert while KG Hauser prepares for the next missions (i hear they are planned to take part in the invasion of moldavia [along with the a romanian infantry group])

[Ts4EVER]

Let's do one last crete mission first (already made it over the weekend). The last evacuation port is in Chora Sphakion.

About the plan after this, I think we should go straight into Barbarossa and then link up with the Italians in Africa 1942 (already have some nice plans for this). I would also be careful about expanding the core force too much, especially with more infantry units. Otherwise battles will become too large and in my experience the larger the battle, the less special and memorable it becomes.

[valo2000]

So the fighting in crete continued for KG HAUSER.

The men were exhausted from the previous days of heavy fighting but HQ ordered them to do one last task taking the port of Chora Sphakion. Intelligence reports were non existant (Hint hint ;)) So !st company who would be leading the attack this time prepared to move slowly and carefully.

I am travelling the next months so it might me take some time to finish that scenario just so you know. i hope i will find the time to play at least a few turns each day.

[valo2000]

But the Barbarossa attack will go through moldova? If yes i will change the nationality to romania to get romanian ranks for the new units. Otherwise i will use Hungarians

[Ts4EVER]

Yeah, I mean no Italians until after Barbarossa. Where exactly it takes place is up to you.
By ;) do you mean I should write more detailed briefings?

[valo2000]

yes it would be nice to have some kind of mission description and maybe some small intelligence report that can of course be not 100 % accurate.

You can be as eloquent as your time permits :)

[valo2000]

after marching through the mountains in the hot days of May KG hauser reaches one of the last harbours the allies control. Again its theri mission to cut off retreating anzac and greek forces by capturing the cityon the coast.

the main attack will go in from the south were the distance to the coast is the shortest whichmeans there is less ground to place defenses on. also the approach is a bit protected.

the bulgarians and the fallschirmjaeger will move slowly through the hills adding pressure on the flanks while the 1st company with the help of the gebirgsjaeger and the slovaks as reserve will be the main effort.

This is a chance for K-Plt of Oberleutnant Schwarz to proove itself. its the econd time it was rebuild with fresh recruits after its men were used to man the captured guns after heavy losses made the platoon ineffective in combat.

the weather is fine with a clear sky giving perfect opportunity for air attack. As the stukas dive in they are met by heavy defense fire. one is damaged but all manage to drop their bombs achieving no visible results other then a few destroyed buildings. There seems to be at least one platoon of 20mm gns as well as some 40mm guns in town.

[valo2000]

here is the map

[Ts4EVER]

Merry Christmas!

[valo2000]

and merry christmas to you too!

[valo2000]

turn 18: the 1st kompanie hastaken the church in the south of the city with the help of tanks and armored cars.
Just in time to intercept a company of anzac infantry that promptly gets taken prisoner.

in the north a armored group counterattacks but after a few minuits all that is left of the attack is a single matilda 2 tank.
the bulgarians and the fallschirmjager have reached the outskirts of the city and start to engage the uk infantry defending from the buildings situated along the coastline. They will fix them in place while the 1st kompanie and tanks roll up their souther flanks everything is going to plan.

The luftwaffe is down to 2 planes with 2 shot down and 2 damaged. They are sent to attack suspected mortar positins but the 20mm guns on a hill north of the harbour make it difficult to find the target.

[valo2000]

after 27 turns the battle is over. The S-35 was lost but fortunatly the one matilda 2 counterattacking could be immobilised and its crew surrendered leaving us with another working Matilda tank. Also the Falsschirmjaeger lost their scouts but they were replaced by some local volunteers.


Now with crete pacified. KG Hauser is transfered to to Romania where it is refited and the 37mm AT-Guns are turned in for STUGs.

Also a company of Romanian infantry is added to the command. They will help pathfinding while the battalion will guard the border with moldavia.

[Ts4EVER]

Operation Barbarossa has begun!
Our forces have already broken through the Russian lines, now it is your job to exploit through and destroy reinforcing Soviet forces. The enemy consists of infantry divisions supported by some tank brigades. So far the Soviets have not put up strong resistance.

[valo2000]

After the invasion of moldavia has started and the first defensive lines have been broken KG Hauser is sent in for reconaissance in force meaning they should advance as far as possible. The weather is great and air support is present. As always we advance in broad line looking for the way with the weakest resistance. The romanians will take the village in the south the bulgarians slovaks and 1st kompanie will advance along the center and take blocking positions in case of a counterattack.


Meanwhile the Gebirgsjaeger with the help of the tanks platoon are moving along the northern flank trying to sneak around the flank.

[valo2000]

Situation after turn 17:

In the south the fallschirmjaeger have taken the small village while the roamians are advancing over the field.

In the center the crossroad with the little settlement has been taken and the slovaks move on to the big city in the east where most of the enemy artillery has been detected and is under sonstant attack of atrillery and luftwaffe units. so far they have managed to silence most of the russian guns.

In the north the gebirgsjaeger keep advancing over the field with the tanks following. A few squads of enemy infantry have been detected.

Now suddenly the russians are moving forward to counterattack and since KG Hausers units are advancing some chaotic fighting is expected. Since their artiller is more or less silenced i dont expect them to be able to do much in the end in a few turns they will be running back.

[valo2000]

Back to work back to play hehe

The advance was problrmfree in the centre and north and KG Hauser could take city and its artillery positions where many guns were captured.

In the south the russians managed a breakthrough through the recently captured village by pushing aside the falschirmjaegers who had to flee leaving some of theri comrades behind since the supporting stugs had not enough ammunition do take out all the attacking russians. one stug was also lost in the defence of this village.

luckily the one matilda from the recon group (haha) could take out some of the t-26 but here were still 10 russian tanks attacking when the scenario ended.

my explanation here is after loosing contact to their commanding offcers the confused russian tankers decided to turn back to their rear instaed of continuing theri advance even though they had already reched the rear of the german positions which were hastily retreating there artillery and trying to form some kind of defense. luckily for them the russians retreated on theri own.

the woods still hold a strong presence of russian infantry which might lead to some partisam problems later on.

All in all the operation was succesful and the advance can be continued. Care has to be taken to avoid future disatrous counterattacks by russian tank brigades

[Ts4EVER]

Nice to see you are back. I got so bored I made two scenarios in advance :D

Anyway:

After several uncoordinated counter attacks, the Russian units in our sector retreated into the local marshes. Your Kampfgruppe is tasked with securing the road through these swamps, cutting apart the enemy pocket. The Russian forces are reported to be a chaotic assortment of conscripts and surviving tank brigade forces.
To help you navigate the swampy terrain some cavalry was assigned to your unit.

[valo2000]

So we are tasked to continue the advance through some swamplands.

The enemy seems to be retreating but we always have to be on the lookout for counterattacks. There are 2 possible ways to pass thisarea and our main effort will be along the northern line. here the terrain is favourable and there is some room for manuever.

The road further south seems to be perfect for beeing attacked from the flanks ven though the enmy would have to be in the swamps where it would be ahrd forhim to fight.

The cavalry and the bulgarinas will go along this road to see if they can advnce without meeting to much resistance. If they make it good if not we can concentrate on the northrn approach and they will just fix the enemy. Hopefully the commander of the bulgarian forces will adhere to his orders and advance carefully in order to conserve his forces.

in the north we have most of the tanks and 2 full infantry companies with the slovaks scouting. They do most of the fighting in these types of attacks anyway since there is seldom the possibility to commit more then one platoon directly to the attack. They should also conserve their manpower but lets se what ivan thinks about that. HQ expects us to move forward rapidly so we have a bit of a problem here.

[valo2000]

After some 22 turns (how much time was a turn again) the cavalry scouts have been able to close in to the westernmost objective in the south they just might be able to take it on schedule if there are no defenses there.

In the north the Slovaks have taken some heavy losses rushing into some Russian positions (the engineers lost 4 men ) they can not scout in assault missions until reinforcements have arrived now since the engineer platoon is to weak.

Even though progress is made and the Russian forces are only a speed bump. A thorn in the side was a kv-1 sitting in the swamplands. He destroyed the Russian mortar team hitting the mortars straight on. the surviving crew will be distributed into the rifle squads as well on a 45mm gun that was recently captured.

After destroying the mortars this KV-1 became a top priority for the troops in the area and after a few minutes a troop of Bulgarian engineers destroyed it with a flamethrower. This step should have been taken much earlier.

The artillerymen have taken their first losses for a long time to the russian 120mm mortars. we hope to capture one or two of them to use the ourselves. Very potent weapons. After some counterbatteryfire russian artilleyactivity has ceased completely and what is left of them in this sector is a lonely desorienter t-28 who manages to drver aound in the swamps without getting stuck while my men drop artillery shells on it without any success.

On to moskow!!


by the way ould you be interested to do the same for an allied unit? I would start in poland then flee gloriously to france north africa etc. what do you think ? :)

[Ts4EVER]

Let's rather do one project at a time. BTW it wasn't clear from the text, are you done with this mission?

[valo2000]

Almost, 5 turns left i should finish it this evening. I guess i will reach all VH at least almost if there are anymore surprises.

Ok we stick to this story for now. You know i have already plans to continue it in SPMBT if you are interested but thats waaaaaay in the future (Remants of the unit will continue as mercenaries in hot spots all over the world)

[valo2000]

As the sun was going down Hausers men were still fighting in the two villages that had been his objectives for the day.

booth were heavily defended and he had to report to Divison HQ that they had not been able to advance as fast as planned. They had made substantial gains though and they had crossed the swamplands.

His losses were acceptable but the speed of the advance cost him in men and material they would not be able to contiue that way much longer...

[Ts4EVER]

Shortly before the Kampfgruppe was to be pulled out of the line for a well deserved rest, an alarming message reached the commander:
The pocket around the swamp land had been closed, but the link was weak, with the infantry holding it all but exhausted. The Russians had apparently noticed this and started a breakout attempt aimed at the weakest part of the front. Ivan is throwing the heaviest tanks he has into the attack. Your unit is to bolster the defenses and hold off the attack. Several heavy at guns are also on the way to assist you in knocking out the 50 ton monsters.

[Ts4EVER]

About the WinSPMBT suggestion from earlier: theoretically I am down, however, I do not have the same kind of knowledge and expertise about modern weapons and conflicts, so practically it might be a problem.

[valo2000]

there is still a lot of ww2 left to fight. We will see what to do when the war is over :)

[valo2000]

After resting just 2 days KG Hauser is thrown back into the line. The mission today is preventing a breakout of a trapped russian tank brigade.

Before reaching the blocking line established by an infantry company Hauser orders his men to spread out a bit. The bulgarians and romanians andvance on the flanks while the gebirgsjaeger and the 1st kompanie try to help out the defenders in the city.

The mobile units will advance along the road to see from where the russians are coming and what they are bringing to the party. Hopefully they can also spoil the attack a bit.

As the sun is coming up katyusha rockets start falling around the entrance of the city causing some causalities among the units in the first line. Hauser orders his men to advance carefully and stay of the road....

[valo2000]

Thirty minutes later with the sun now fully up the fields and woods laying below the railroadtracks are full with russian tankwrecks of all kinds and the many dead and wounded infantrymen that tried to break out of the kessel here.

The cavalryattack in the north is turned back and the bulgarians prepare to move forward and counterattack.

In the center the KV-1 and 2 are burning hulks thanks to 5 cm and 8.8 cm guns. the gebirgsjaegers are getting ready to counterattack here too.

In the south the russian attack never really started as the rumanians are crossing the bridge encoutering some KVs. luckily the heavy FLAK guns are covering them.

Only bad surprise was the high ammo capacity of the katyushas. hauser didnt decide to counterbattery them because he didnt believe the russians would have prepared ammo dumps for the rocketartillery but he was very wrong. This enede the war for the rumanians HMG -group leaving them without most of their heavy weapons for now after loosing the mortars in the last action.

There is still fighting all over the place but it looks like KG Hauser managed to stregthen the german lines enough to stop the russian breakthrough. Now its time for counterattack!

[valo2000]

all bridges are missing one part so its impossible to cross the river rapidly. is this done on purpose or just a glitch?

[Ts4EVER]

That is probably a glitch... hmm will have to look out for that in the future.

[valo2000]

after one hour of intense fighting the russians have collapsed on the whole front. KG Hauser is now advancing in the center and south moving to eliminate the Kessel totally. at least 30 burning tank hulls lie around the road while the russians are taken prisoners by the dozens especially the conscript units are happy to escape the slaughter.

there are still 13 turns left but i dont expect anything to happen besides mopping up

[Ts4EVER]

Can you give me a short overview over your forces at this point and how damaged they are etc?

[valo2000]

here you have my save game from turn 20 the whole kg is attacking with the slovaks and the fallschirmjaeger in reserve since they took some causalities

[valo2000]

i have 2 infantry companies at almost full strength and 2 that have lost maybe 10 men in total the rumanaians lost tehr mg s and mortars.

then i have two platoons that have one or two halfstregth squads and one tank platoon as well as an armored car platoon w one matilda slowely following the armored cars.

also i have 2 of 3 stugs up and running. rater inefective vehicles with the low ammo and ****ty mg. then 7 guns of small to medium size as well as 2 at guns and some machine guns and flak.

transport is done by 3 halftracks and a truck(the american truck represents a captured bedfod with aamg mounted)

i will try if i can somwhow incorporate a flight of messerschmitts into my core probably impossible but we shall see maybe some hexediting can do the trick.

[Ts4EVER]

Even though casualties are mounting, your unit is back on the advance, without time for refitting or to take in replacements. Our next objective is a bridge over a major river. The Bolshevists are wiring it for detonation. It has been suggested to form a small, mobile task force to seize the bridge before they can destroy it. (On turn 6 several explosives will spawn on the bridge, which will then be blown by the Russians, destroying it)

If this coup de main fails, we still have access to barge carriers and some assault pioneers. This should help us to conquer the heigh ground on the other side of the river.

Spare your core forces, the road to Moscow seems longer and longer...

[valo2000]

After the surrender of the russians KG Hauser was given one afternoon rest and refit (ammonition) before starting on a night march to the front that already had moved a few kilometers further east during the day. HQ had a special mission for them was the rumor.....

[Ts4EVER]

Btw, in case you didn't notice, but I am kind off trying to make your core force a bit smaller, especially in the infantry department. IMO once we reach north africa and add the Italians to the mix, things might get out of hand, battle size wise.

[valo2000]

they made me travel at work so i will not be able to play until next week. i am stuck in the planning for this mission looking for a way to advance fast and safely. next sunday i should get the first few turns in. The whole mission setup is very interesting!

the italians lost most of there artillery and askaris on the way sto libya i havent decided if they managed to bring the tanks probably only the crews made it and they will get new tanks(or the italian equivalent to it) from comando surpremo in tripolis.

[valo2000]

After marching through most of the night after a short rest for refuelling and ammo supply KG Hauser reached the bridge they were supposed to take. Quickly a plan was made up to reach it as fast as possible using artillery bomardments of the city on the western bank of the river. After a few minuits and destroying the sc in outs and tank on the way the gebirgsajeger companies first men reached the bridge.


There are 4 ammo dumps representing charges. i refrain from cheating and making the crews run away and i will take the probabale beating hehehe

[valo2000]

here is a map of the situation on the end of turn 6 i will se i fhte russians manage to set of the charges on the bridge.

the german units and the tanks are in the city the allies are moving to the harbourlike structures further north in anticipation of the pioneers and theri barges

[Ts4EVER]

Yeah don't worry, even if the charges blow up in your face, you can still win the map. Just wanted to put a little twist on river crossing maps (I did a similar thing on my Za Rodinu! campaign).

[valo2000]

i appreciate that as i said many times before its much much better then playing a generated campaign!

[valo2000]

The first scouts of 1st kompanie made it on the bridge and cut the wires of the demolition charges (i take the crews out hope that is alright). one charge is left but its well in reach. it looks like the russians didnt manage to blow the bridge. so now it is time for everybody to cross the bridge. the pioneers are also arriving and will add their boats to the mix.

[valo2000]

Report to HQ KG Hauser:

The bridge has been saaved form demolition and both riverbanks are secured. leading units are advancing along the road and encountering only little resistance. Strong enemy forces are suspected in the woody hills north and south overwatching the road.

The bulgarian and romanian companies are crossing the river in barges with the objective of taking the northern hill wehile the gebirgsjagerkompanie moves on the southern hill. The panzer forces provide coveringfire and attack any armored treat. So far only to enemy tanks have been spotted and destroyed but surely there is some mobile reserve somewhere.

We expect to advance on time. its not propabale that all the hills can be secured on this same day but at least they can be neutralised regarding theri overwatch position on the road.

[valo2000]

As the sun reached its highest point KG Hausers troops had stormed the hills. A small counterattack by russian light tanks had been easily destroyed and only the AAG behind the norther hill could put up some serious resistance. the rest was just overhelmed by the numbers of the infantry and the artillery barrages.

The Sturmpioniere suffered because there SMGs were not suited for this open country fight but once they closed in they made the enemy pay. One armored car and 2 flame tanks were lost to russian guns in the final stage of storming the hills. Luckily the crew of the armored car escaped unharmed the flametank crews were not so lucky...

Otherwise causalities were low with only one dead and a few injured.

[Ts4EVER]

Our next objective is a major industrial city. The Russians fortified the town heavily, including minefields, dug-in tanks and a huge anti tanks trench. We are tasked with leading the northern shoulder of the attack.

[valo2000]

uff that will be a big battle. Probably quite bloody. i have 305 units now with auxillieries. do you know what that means for the russiantroops? will they get all their units?

btw regarding the last scenario: the Ammo dumps were not attacked by the at-guns that were in range or any other unit. Just so you want to use that again in a scenario. The tank on the western bank of the river was destroyed before the ammo dumps appeared so had no chance to destroy one of them.

[Ts4EVER]

Hmmm dunno. What is the maxlimit of units again?

[valo2000]

ah its all cool 500 units per side are allowed

[Ts4EVER]

Yeah that should be more than enough.

[valo2000]

After a week of unchecked advance following the armies spearheads KG Hauser has to take some heavily fortified positions. the countryside is open and without much cover only some empty fields can be used. the soviets are firmly entrenched and it looks like a tough job ahead. Fortunatly there is a lot of suppport from the corps artillery units and the luftwaffe. The plan is to attack on the flanks to avoid crossfire and then move into the city. the central trenches will beleft for the sower advancing romanian and bulgarian troops to take.

hopefully the russians will then already be in retreat when they see that their flanks are occupied by german troops.

First in on the north will be the slovaks and the fallschirmjaeger. Their kjob is to take the northernmos trench. then the regulars will take the trenches next to it and the gebirgsjaeger will move into the city. The slovaks, fallschirmjaeger and the regulars will then support the bulgarians and romanians in their attack on the center.

The southern sector has a simmilar attack plan. First the small village has to be taken. From there untis will then advance into the city and support the central attack.

[valo2000]

people i am thining on how to add a spanish and a hungarian contingen to the KG. What would you suggest? just more infantry might be boring any special ideas here?

sorry ts4ever but the core mightstill get a little bit bigger jsut a tiny bit :)

[valo2000]

After advancing as planned the southern forces run into the first defenders ofthe village in front of the city. one pioniere zug runs onto a mine in its halftracks and is essentially out of the fight with many injured men and only 3 left in fighting condition. various mines have been spotted and the job now is to get through fast enough before the russian artillery starts pounding the minefield.

the russian airforce is also pressent with 2 planes spotted so far attacking in the south leading to lots of noise and one causality to the infantry there.

In the north things are still quite as the slovaks reach the anti tank ditch and prepare to take the northern mos position. strong enemy presence is confirmed and the luftwaffe will try to take out a t34 in the trenches. the romanians and bulgarians advance in the center ready to put pressure on there after the flanking attacks are in full progress.

[valo2000]

Luckily the advance in the south can move forward quickly without russian artillery stopping them. Still about 20 men are put out of the battle due to some sneaky field craft from the soviets. suddenly huge explosions everywhere in the city and one flamingo tank is lost. They are not of much use anyway with the low amount of ammunition and little armor. Still interesting to use them since i never choose them for battle.

nothing beats the infantry squad in versatility and survivability hehe.

So losses are a bit to high but the first objective is in reach. I still have to find a way to deal with the boobytraps and fourgasse. engineers should be able disable them somehow. in the nroth the slovaks have passed the anti tank ditch and are approaching the trenches that are most north. 1st kompanie is getting in position to take the trenches south of it in order to let the gebirgsjaeger thtough to the railway station in the east.

The Luftwaffe is doing great work decimating the 2 mortarcrews and taking out tanks. So far everything goes according to plan.

[valo2000]

Now we have turn 17 so about 1 hour into the battle losses to russian airattack have bbeen heavy 3 halftracks and quite a few infantrymen. the luftwaffe on the other hand knocked out some tanks and mortars.

the southern attack is going great and the biggest danger are the german 15 cm guns falling short on the fast advancing infantry. The commander of these units really pushes his men to the limit and while the advance is fast and steady the he might stop him soon.

The slovaks and the fallschirmjaegr managed to take the northernmos trenches and are now waiting for the gebirgsjaeger to move through. losses here were about 10 men.

the rumanians bulgarians and the regular infantry are almost in position for frontal assaults of the central trenches but are waiting for the southern and northern flankers to move in no need for haste.

russian artillery is sporadic and falls generally on old positions i have far more losses to my own artillery so far.....

If there is no big counterattack coming the situation is well in control it wil be importnat to see how well the rusiians are dugged in in their second line of defense

[valo2000]

here some snapshots from the battlefield in the north one t34 was captured intact after the crew abandoned it due to a grenade rain from the slvak infantry trying to take it out. it will be a welcome addition to the scout group with its hig speed and firepower.

meanwhile in the center the southern group is close to capture the vheavily defended russian HQ building in the city ready to take the trenches from behind while the rumanoans and bulgraians are passing through the mines taking the trenches with a frontal assault. the disorganized russians try to escape to the south running inot more german troops

[valo2000]

Here is the last part of the battle the gebirgsjaeger and fallschirmjaeger taking the train station north of the city.

The paratroops there didnt resist at all after beeing bombarded by several turns with rockets and regular artillery of all calibers.

Unfortunatly also the whole trainstation was in ruins but the tracks should be ready again in a few days.

losses were high at 93 men WIA 6 MIA and 35 KIA but more then 600 russian soldiers were captured and the city was taken.

Most dangerous was the artillery the russians aswell as our own unfortunatly. Then came the flame weapons that were almot all eaten by scouting engineers cripplingmy engineer force. Thats why a zug of Leutnant schwarzs "lucky" platoon will be retrained as engineeers.

Many troops distinguished themselves as bunkerbusters since there was also quite a lot of opportunity for that.

Big thx to the air support which destroyed at east half of the t34 dug in behind the trenches. the artilllery tried to destroy some later but couldnt dent their armor so the infantry had to throw grenades at them until the crew got scared and gave up. This way 2 t 34 were captured in running condition and will be added to our tank group.

Also a platoon of hungarian infantry joined the ranks that had lost contact to their unit. For the time beeing they will form a recon company together with the slovaks and fallschirmjaeger as organizational unit. For now their main mission will be rearguard though.

Hauser is hoping for a little rest since almost all his platoonshave taken losses and need refit lets see if he gets it.

[Ts4EVER]

Rest? There is no rest in Russia, although the advance has slowed considerably due to all the mud. Roads have turned into quagmires and with Moscow appearing on the horizont, the Soviets are becoming desperate. Just as your unit is supposed to be pulled out of the front, worrying news arrive from one of the neighbouring infantry divisions: One of their companies has advanced to far and is threatened by encirclement. You will have to find your way to them in the middle of the night and help them stem the tide.
The situation is completely confused, with the darkness and the forest conspiring against us by hiding large Soviet forces, ready to spring their traps.

[valo2000]

As the messenger with the orders for the night reached Hauser the KG had just stopped for the night. Men were preparing dinner and settling down to repair damaged equipment or justfall asleep on the spot tired from the heavyfighting of the last days and the following march further east.

Once again he would have to rally them and maike them march out.He looked at his thinned out battalion and asked himself how he could organise them to push back the russians and save the threatened company in all this rain and mud and bad visibility.

[valo2000]

With th rain stopping and the sun going down Hausers men are closing in onto the frontline. the whole KG is spread out with the bulgarians and the romanians guarding the front while the slovaks and germans will ride along the road in order to secure the crossroads between the others divisions infantry and their artilleriesupport. Since they will be in front there flanks will be exposed to the expected russian attack from the north and south. but hopefully they will be able to hold these of long enough for the units advancing through the woods to attack the russians in theri flank. it will be flanking everywhere.

Obergefreiter Steinwho had his armored car shot away under him has now command of an almost new T-34 the latest model only the paint is scratched a bit by bullets and handgrenades. He and his crew feel much safer in this heavily armored tank compared to their armored car before.

1st kompanie has been restructured to have all zuege at full strength eliminating two of them to fill up the rest until reeinforcments arrive.

with the clowds moving away and the moon shining visibilty is just below 400m so the iar fighters stay grounded.

[valo2000]

So everything worked out as planned and after half an hour there was a huge amount of burning russian tanks around the area behind the belaegured infantry company which itself was counterattacking at its front.

KG Hausers Scouts entered the village and contact was made. It was short and intense ight fighting with a nasty surprise of 7 T-34 breaking into the rear area town where the divisonal artillery was stationed. They ran right into 2 platoons of german regulars which gave them all they had at hand (mainly grenades and a feew satchel charges. Major Urbandts tank (a captured A10 cruiser tank with a howitzer for cs) was destroyed but he managed to get out of it in time. Luckily one T34 was captured intact after its crew surrendered it in the city so this will be urbandts new ride. A t34 fresh of the factoy the latest model :). Hopefully it will serve him better.

Thx to the low visibillity the tanks could move more freely which really hurt the rssian infantry trying the encirclement.

the captured T-34 got a few kills especially as the russian tankers were quite confused meeting it in the centre town mistaking it for one of their own.

To make the confusion on the battlefield complete a captured german tank has been spotted in the north with russian markings.

The pictures show the moment of KG Hauser linking up with the frontline company and the aftermath of the russian attack from the south in the town

[valo2000]

and so it ended as quickly as it began with the russian units in total rout. 3 tanks were captured a t-26 a t-34 and a pz-38 was recaptured that tank has quite a story already. It shhould be no problem to get it running again we have to see what can be done with the t-34 and the t-26. there arecertainly a lot of spare parts laying around the battlefield.

[valo2000]

As morning comes the unit settles down in the field north and south of the embattled town as well as in the town itself. The next morning the general of the divison whose copmpany was saved and thx personally Oberst Hauser for the work of his men. He also takes with him the captured t-34.....

luckily enough it is possible to get the pz 38t and the t 26 running and kg hausers tank platoons are full strength again even though the composition of the unit wouldnt fit to the official guidelines.

Planes fly overhead and a sunny autumn day passes as the infantry works on improving their AT capabilities building molotovcocktails.

So far no news on a new mission and so the unit gets a little rest watching other units pass by on the road pursuing the retreating russians.

[Ts4EVER]

The first snow was actually a welcome sight, since it meant an end to the horrible mud season. Now however, with temperatures approaching -30 degrees, you begin to feel differently. Still, the war can be won this winter, with Moscow being tantalizingly close.
Enemy forces are dug in on a ridge in front of their capital. According to prisoners, you can actually see the spires of the Kremlin from this position. You are to mount a recoinassance in force together with some motorcycle troops.

[valo2000]

With the harsh conditions it was an amazing luck that all vehicles got up and running that morning of the attack. This fact made Hauser more confidend hic recoinassance in force could be succesfull. The last months had been easy on them following the advance of the other units and mainly receiving prisoners to be send to the rear.

Now with the other units exhausted this KG was one of the few fresh units avaiable to throw into the final attacl on moscow. It was quite hard to advance under these weather conditions even without the russians taking the occasional shot at them and all the unit was basically roadbound if it wantedto advance at any significant pace.

with the weather clearing up for the first time in days it was the chance to take the ridge that blocked the way to the moscow. Its planned to attack on a broad front and overhelm the enmy with surprise since there isnt much support from division hq like last time. It was just not possible to prepare an attack in that short time and half the ammo was frozen anyway.

the first few munits already bring an end to the Kradschuetzens mission to find the enemy wh has positioned itself in the villages and trees next to the road sniping on any advancing unit.

The KG has to change into attacking formation while it is still spread along the road as it was usual on themarch to the front.

Quickly the snipers are taken out by the armored vehicles but now the infantry has to move forward since there might be AT guns lurking in the woods on the side of the road.

[valo2000]

after some 20min the first roadblocks are cleared and in the north the troops are close to have eyes on the trenches that are todays objective. speed is important since russian artillery is.....

in the south the fighters spotted a t34 company attacking so the southern group will move into a defensive stance untilthese vehicles are taken out.

How they are going to do that remains an open question though it might come down to hurling handgrenades and profanity at them. It will be easier forthe bulgarians since they speak a language similar to russian and all they have is handgrenades....

[Ts4EVER]

BTW, can you give me a rundown of your forces again, including the Italians (which we will revisit soon)?

[valo2000]

ok i ll will do it completely:

HQ KG Hauser

1st mixed company

HQ Squad

Infantry platoon (Slovak)
3xInf
1xPioneers

2xScouts
1xSniper
2xATRifles

Recce Platoon
Commander w/o vehicle(soon t34 maybe since 2 have been catured recently)
1xMatilda
1XT-34
1xBren carrier

Fallschirmjaeger Platoon
3xFallschirmjaeger
1xPioniere
1xScouts
1xSniper

Hungarian Platoon
2xInfantry
1xengineer
1xscouts

2.Kompanie

Kmp_HQ

3xplatoons
3x infantry
1xPioniere

mgplatoon
2xmg34

Transportzug
3xAPCS
1xTruck

Pzjgdzug
1xt-26
2xstug3e

ind Pzjgzug
2x2pdratgun
1xvickershmg

1.Artillerybatterie
3x75mminfgun
105mm howitzer
75mm gun
40mm boforsflak

2.Artbat
3x25pdr
40mmboforsflak

Ind PzKmp(5 tanks....)
2xpz38t
matildaII
pz2c
pz3f

3.Kmp(bulgarian)
HQ

scoutplatoon
2xscouts
sniper
atrifle

3xInfplatoons
3xinf
1xpioneers

mgplatoon
2xmgs

mortarplatoon
2xmortar
aamg

4.Kmp Gebirgsjaeger

HQ

3InFplatoons
3xgebirgsjaeger
1xPioniere

wpnssquad
1xsniper
1atrifle

scoutplatoon
2xscouts

1xmg

Mortarplatoon
3xmortar
1xaamg

5.Kmp Romanian

HQ
mortarsquad
Mgsquad

4xinfplatoons
2infsquads
1xengineer/scout/Infantry

1xsniper

Gunplatoon
ATgun
Infgun

2xIAR.80 fighters

i am still not clear what made it from the itaians to northafrica

probably one infantrycompany, one tkplatoon(3 tanks,italian....),
2xmortars,Atgun(s),2 trucks and some aaguns and mgs.

meanwhile itlooks toughto take the ridges in time while the russians are counterattacking looks like an objective to far i am just not so fast in the snow.

[Ts4EVER]

Hmmmm. I wonder if you shouldn't leave the Romanians and Hungarians on the Eastern Front. We can revisit them later for a huge final battle ;)

[valo2000]

Well the romanians will probably stay at the beautiful eastern front (my condolences) one platoon of them might go to the dessert just as observers. The hungarian marines beeing marines are just made for these kind of expeditionary missions...(its just a platoon anyway 4 units..)

I aslo have to think about the bulgarians but probably they will happily join in the expedition to the african dessert.

(its hard to leave core units...)

But reports about moving the KG to the mediterranian theater are just rumours for now maybe produced by wishful thinking as the soldiers are freezing in the russian winter.
So far they have managed to crawl into the first trenches in the north that were empty to their surprise.

Some counterattacks from north and south were repulsed the most serious one in the south by a company of t-34 tanks which was taken out by panzergrenades and a lot of heavy insults accompanied by satchel charges heand grenades and whatever was on the hand of the bulgarian engineering troops. one section under Milenov destroyed 3 Tanks using flame throwers gernades and satchel charges. they earned themselves an extra ration of slibovitza or probably vodka here and some shiny metal peaces to hang on the uniform.

Appart from the destruction of some enemy units the reconaissance showed only weak defences and KG Hauser sits now entrenched in the northern Ridgeline and was moving into the center one when the operation was delared over by HQ.

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, the big finale in Russia...

So close and yet so far... the frozen terrain and strong Russian counterattacks finally stopped the great offensive before Moscow could be taken. What's more, the Russians brought in reserves from Siberia and forced us to withdraw. Now our front is under attack at several points. Not even the thought of service in warmer areas can lift the spirits of your men, as you are tasked with holding a quiet part of the front, along a major river. Only occasional sniping and the nightly attacks of those blasted biplanes attest to the presence of the Bolsheviks.
Recently the river has frozen over. This gives you an idea: You will not leave the Ostfront without a final feat of heroism. Radio intelligence confirms that there is a Russian command post in a major school building in a village behind the lines. You will pick a special force of platoon strength from your infantry, let them sneak through the lines in the night and take out that post. The rest of your force will hold the western bank of the river against similar Russian incursions. You have three bunkers at your disposal which you can place whereever you like.

[valo2000]

HQ was a bit unclear with their objective description i see which buildings are important for me to hold but which building should i raid with my "lucky" raidingparty?

Maybe you could add someobjective hexes?

And some hexes are called tramlines trenhces hole? i guess they are supposed to be ice what happened there?

btw thx for all the inventive mission :)

[Ts4EVER]

Sadly, this is all the intelligence HQ is able to provide.

About the ice issue: I have no idea why, but whenever I place ice in the editor, it comes out as that... I will try to get it sorted out.

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, here is a fixed version. I also added a map text of the suspected command post.

[valo2000]

Report from KG Hauser to division HQ:

russian probing attacks during the early night turned out to be main push to cross the river on the whole front. so far the line is holding all units have been ordered to the river bank to combine their firepower for the short range fighting in the night.

northern bridge has been taken out by soviet heavy artillery taking down one of their own tanks with them. crashing the ice beneath it.

use of the frosen river has also been dangerous to our tanks with the captured t-26 and its crew gone while they advanced to far on the ice.

another captured t-34 received a hit in the turret rendering the main gun an cmg useless for this night.

main russian armor attacks are going on on the northern and southern end of our sector. in the north a company of t34 could be destroyed (one left) in the south 3 kv41 have almost crossed the FROZEN river.the enigineers are waitng with bombs and molotov cocktails. heavier guns are needed for this kind of target then what our panzers have.

our own little raiding party has fought its way to the school building where it appears a general and his staff have been trapped as they came forward to observe the attack. hopefully they can be captured before they receive reeinforcments.

The whole situation is quite chaotically as can be expected during a night attack. meanwhile some sectors are very quite. the bulgarian company sppent the night just watching the fireworks around them with nobody contesting their area of control

[Ts4EVER]

Sorry for misleading you a bit, but I wanted to achieve an actual surprise offensive for once ;)

[valo2000]

a few minuits later the whole mess is cooling down the russians have taken their bloody nose lost some 20 tanks and now it has come down to infantry laying on the ice sniping at our trenches while the heavy artillery continues to disturb Major hausers sleep.

Maybe there will be a second wave of tanks otherwise its more or less over for tonight.

One KV-1 was immobilised and the halftracks are getting ready to tow it up the riverbank to see if it canbe used :)))))

it will be a good replacement for the t-26 that went down to the bottom of the river.

The raidparty in the north is meanwhile looking for the russian artilley maybe they can catch some katyuhsha batteries :)

[valo2000]

After 1 hour the whole western riverbank was heavily devastaed by the russian artillery while the river itself has filled with dead and wounded russian soldiers. KG Hausers lost a few men to shrapnel wounds and frostbite but the rest gotthrough this night unharmed.

The raid platoon returned to lines with valuable intelligence and some prisosners from the russian Divison commander.

In the morning snow started falling again extinguishing the fires started from the artillery and covering the fallen. Around midnight almost all traces of the attack were gone only the destroyed tanks were proof of the nights fighting and dying.

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, the next scenario is in Africa and will feature the Italians only.

You unit caused quite a stir after somehow escaping from East Africa (even though you had to leave you faithful Askaris behind). Now you have a relatively boring assignment: guarding the southern flank of the Italians and German Africa Korps.
While Rommel is preparing his next offensive, you are sitting in an ex-Osmani fort at the edge of the Sahara desert, watching out for the occasional British or Gaullist raiding force from Sudan. You have some motorized vehicles for patrols into the desert.
Today a scout plane spotted French forces at a nearby oasis, probably preparing an assault on your fort. Counter attack and destroy them.

[valo2000]

the italians are an overstrength infantry company now. The Askaris decided to stay in their homeland and in the dire situations of the escape from east africa there was nothing much their commanders could do to make them stay. also fuel and vehicles were scarce so many of the heavyweapons had to be ditched.

[valo2000]

With the news from the recon plane coming in colonel baggio rders the rests of his once so glorious Cassadores de Africa to mount up and destroy the french in their base. He knows the men that made it so far through the dessert will easily defeat this green French units. They might not have the newest weapons but they have tons of experience fighting in the desert.

As the sun come up the trucks leave. what a relieve to be able to drive in a truck thinks corporal Vicari after having lugged that stupid AT rifle through half of africa he is eager to but some bullets in a bren carrier.

The map is quite open with a ridge seperating the french and italian basses. the plan is to disembark and use the cover of the rough terrain for an ambush if the french already are on the move.

Preserving the transport is of utmost importance nobody here wants to be on foot again after the march from east africa

[valo2000]

Colonel Baggio was really pleased with the radios they had here this gave him a perfect overview of the situation. His mortars and the gun were shelling the oasis. The spotter plane found some machinegun positions and mortars that were badly camoflagued and promptly a bren carrier and a mg team were destroyed.

The french were surprised while taking there breakfast and cursed their bad reconaissance while they jumped for cover in the trees.

Il Cassadore de Africa were climbing a ridge a few hundred meters away from theoasis getting ready for the galant and honorful stormattaque. one of the soldiers in the camici nere fitted a breastplate he still had from his grandfather and the askaris(one platoon had stayed with the unit expecting huge loot in hte northern african cities) were getting their talismans ready it surely would be a beautiful charge.

meanwhile tenienete ferrari was sniping at a bren carrier sitting in the dessert. while it got shelled by artillery it was a race who could destroy it first.

The french crew had trouble getting it to run and was already jumping out abandoning it in the dessert.

[valo2000]

Teniente Ferrari wasted about 15 rounds of 37mm ammo on that bren carrier filling it with holes making all but the brave driver run away. hef inally got it running and drove away fast. Ferrari then saw the french infantry running away from their assembly point in the oasis they realy had been surprised and now tried to get out of the bombardment. unfortunatly for them they ran straight into the italian machine guns waiting for them on the ridge.

It was a pretty one sided afair.

meanwhile ten. moretti saw the feench exiting the oasis nd couldnt resist. He adjusted the feather on his cap and started running downhill screaming obscenities at the french the rest of his platoon followed his charge dreaming of the glory they would bring for the italian empire in africa taking this oasis.

Major de Lucca saw this lack of discipline froma few hundred meters behind the ridge he and the platoon of regular infantry that carried most of the heavy weapons still had to get up the ridge since they had been at the back of the colloumn. He just hopped these stupid black shirts would get themselves killed since they were actual quite good soldiers if they werent drunk or starting heroic charges into enemy machine guns.

Maybe this attack would make the french rout completely or it might cost him half his company...

[valo2000]

While he was adjusting the artillery fire Colonel Baggio heard the crew of the AT-Gun guarding the western side of the fort firing. What had happened he quickly sent an orderly to investigate.

As it turned out some jeeps had been spotted driving towards the fort at highspeed. appaently they had heard the news of the fighting and where hoping to take the fort in an coup de grace while its infantry was out attacking the oasis.

Baggio quickly ordered soem jeeps with machine guns to drive back to help defending the fort.

Meanwhile the italian militiamen continued their glorious charge one en stumbled and fell next to moretti who quickly hit the ground as he saw bullets impacting next to him. The vickers guns had found them. luckily this was only a short episode in the otherwise glorious charge. They ran and shot while the french ran and didnt shot back.

[valo2000]

Lombardi kicked in the door of the little mud hutoverlooking the oasis. traces of ashes showed where the french commander has burnt secret documents before escaping. They had left the wine though. quickly he and his men checked the building and after securing the area they investigated the food and drink stocks left behind.

There was still some fighting north of the oasis but basically all the french had been taken prisoners or had fled into the sahar dessert. probably they would come back the next days begging for water without their transports they are lost out here.

At the italain base colonel baggio had assembled his artillery troops to fire on the motorized attack from the north. They destroyed the lead jeeps and men looking like bedouins could be seen jumping out. it must be some special unit or maybe some local auxillaries he thought. quickly these units was turned back after they realised the defnses of the fort were well organised. they left a pair of burning jeeps taking with them their dead and wounded.

as the sun reached its highest point fighting had stopped everywhere. The few french troops still fighting surrendered after they saw the last bren carrier destroyed by grenades. there was just nothing they could do here anymore other the surrender.

Quickly the askari stripped them of any valuables they were carrying while the rest of the italians refreshed themselves in the oasis lake the fighting had made them thirsty.

[valo2000]

beautiful little scenario!

[Ts4EVER]

Thanks!

After this successful operation you are transferred north into a special task force of mixed nationality, which just came back from the Russian front. The unit is still in a process of refitting and preparing for Rommel's next offensive.

4 months later, on the 26th of May, the long awaited offensive against the British Gazala position finally kicks of. Due to the length of the front line, the Allies are organised in a bunch of "boxes", defensive positions scattered throughout the desert, supported by artillery, tanks and dug-in anti-tank guns. It is your task to take one of them, thus opening the path to Tobruk.

[valo2000]

ok i just wrote some text that got lost we have 5 infantry company and one understrength tank company in total. mst of the romanians and bulgarians disapeared from the unit.

[valo2000]

several new pieces of equipment have been delivered to the unit on its mission on the spearhead of the advance. KG Hauser/Baggio has now the questionabe honor to go wherever there is trouble.
Especially because they are now linked to the famous Cassadore di africa that are a legend in italia for their march to italian north africa from abyssinia.

[valo2000]

half an hour into the attack the dessert already has cost the KG 2 halftracks and around 20 men. The RAF attacked and left its mark even though the FlAK also left its mark on the RAF dmaaging all of the planes and shooting down in flames 3 of them. 2 tanks have been immolbilised nad now the infantry is rechingthe trenches of the british troops.

The hill is hold by infantry and at least 2 companies of tanks which is quite problematic since KG hauser only has one tank company. So far all taht can be done is throw smoke into the line of sight of the english tankers.

it might be up to the infantry again to stuff the tank guns with grenades...

[Ts4EVER]

Hmm I kind of feared this would happen... the desert is tank county. I will probably give you auxiliary tanks in future tank heavy scenarios.

[valo2000]

The problem were mainly the raf airplanes. i am now on the hill and might just be able to take everything in time if i dont run out of smoke rounds and artillery. i think i have enough tanks i just need to able to get them close enough to do damage. and of course another tank platoon should fit in well.

Now The flak guns have been ordered forward. I have 2 88mm guns they might do the trick.

[valo2000]

S o after one hour of bloody fighting the battle ended. losses were unusually high in equipment and men. 2 Tanks got dmaged but can be repaired. 3 HT were destroyed by air attack. completey torn apart by 20mm bullets.

Also there were some men injured in the artillery and ad units but most of them will be able to return to duty soon.

like always the infantry was hit the worst but they also won the battle. the tanks and infantry garding the ridge were disabled by them using all kinds of impovised at weapons, flamethrowers and explosives. 3 valentine tanks and one grant were captured more or less intact. Also a huge number of trucks and guns were captured that might replace the destroyed halftracks until further replacements arrive.

lessons learned here are that the airdefense has to be taken more seariously and that the tanks have to act more aggresive to minimise losses to the infantry.

Now the men of the KG take a rest on the ridgeline at least for a few hours until further orders arrive.

[valo2000]

as the panzers fill up their tanks and the infantry munitions up it looks poising to continue the attack into the nemy rear now that the box is taken.

[Ts4EVER]

After the breakthrough, British tank forces hastily counter attack. A swirling armor battle develops in the open desert.

[valo2000]

Many weapons were captured but for now none of the guns could taken with the unit as they had to advance further on. Hauser and Baggio decided on leaving a little covering force to organize the incorporation of the captured equipment and crews for them.

only Teniente Ferrari and his crew got a new ride.one of the grant tanks could be put into running condition. their own tank had been heavily dmaged bya bomb and its gun had been taken out of comission. Also some of the trucks were started since 3 transports had been lost to air attack.

The infantry was reorganized to have 3 full strength squads in each platoon at least therest of the men went as replacments to the artillery or into the reserve guarding the captured equipment.

temperatures had become almost ubearable as the unit moved onwards into the breach they had created the day before. still many of the veterans were still frozen inside from the russian winter and the burning sun and allied air units were easier in them then freezing cold and russian tanks.