Having been able to re-service only 4 out of 7 tanks lost in the first battle, the Israeli commander was ordered to take positions to defend a ridge of hills with a crossroad on the southern hill.
To assist the battalion, a company of reserve infantry and a weapons company(Mortars, ATGMs, HMGs, Snipers) were attached to it.
The plan was simple enough-
Tank companies A and B took good positions on the ridge, from which they were to destroy enemy AFVs as they attacked. D company(mech inf) was deployed to the northern part of the ridge and dug in, prepared to fend off any infantry that passed through the tank fire. The reserve inf company was given the same role along the southern part of the ridge. In the center of the ridge, on a high hill, the weapons company was deployed along with some reservists, allowing it to support the north and south with HMG and sniper fire. Tank company C was held behind the ridge in reserve.
Here the deployment of tanks and reserve infantry on the southern objective(crossroad) can be seen:
As the Israelis finished their preparations, the gunners and commanders in the Tiran-6 tanks started spotting enemy tanks and AFVs approaching. They opened fire at ranges exceeding 3000 meters, wasting ammunition and scoring only a few hits.
The Israeli commander ordered his tankers to stop firing and wait for the enemy to come into more effective range(2-2.5 km). As they waited, the Israelis were amazed by the mass of enemy tanks driving straight towards them and raising plumes of dust.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/2/T3dust.JPG
Engaging the enemy once again, the Israelis hit many Egyptian tanks, and their own losses were minimal at this point. However within a few minutes the sheer number of enemy vehicles caused issues, as some Israeli tanks ran out of ammo and were force to retreat to cover rather than continue the carnage.
This, combined with the loss of a few Israeli tanks, allowed the Egyptians to nearly reach the ridge line, putting them in range of the short range but highly lethal Dragon ATGMs from the weapons company.
However by this time the Israeli commander grew very concerned of his ability to stop the attack, and as Egyptian artillery started raining accurately on his line companies, he ordered C company led by captain Azzam(something has to be done about the Israeli names list) to move forward and bolster the central and northern objectives.
This created somewhat of a mess, with Israeli tanks moving in and out of contact with the enemy at the same time.
C company formed a line on the central objective just as Egyptian tanks were reaching its western slope, and started engaging the enemy. At this point, while they took some tank casualties the Israelis were quite confident, having counted nearly 40 burning Egyptian tanks of different models. At this point Egyptian infantry and combat engineers squads started assaulting the south and north parts of the ridge.
These attempts were at first brushed off by the Israeli infantry and supporting tanks. However the Egyptians used massive ATGM support to destroy several more tanks, and causing the others to seek cover or deploy smoke. At this point the Israeli reservists protecting the southern objective were left with no tank support, and facing what looked like 2 companies of Egyptian infantry.
As the south of the line was falling apart, the Israelis made an attempt to counter attack with tanks but these attempts failed, the tanks taking heavy ATGM fire.
The battalion now had nearly half the tanks it started the battle with, and the Egyptian infantry was still advancing, now supported by additional T-54 and T-62 tanks. The Israelis decided to stop counterattacking and try to regroup their remaining tanks behind the central objective. As some of the tanks could not disengage, others were hit on their way, and one was immobilized in a dune, only a hand full of tanks were gathered, along with some APCs.
The crossroads on the south of the hill were now in Egyptian hands.
What followed was a brutal battle between the Egyptians who continued to try and advance from the southern objective east and north east, and the Israelis who were determined to concede no more ground even at the price of loosing the battalion altogether as fighting force. Egyptian tanks and infantry stormed the central objective from two directions and some T-62 and T-54 tanks were destroyed at point blank range.
A pair of Tiran 6 tanks and two M113s rushed to aid the troops on a hill behind the southern objective, and were able to destroy 2 or 3 companies of infantry as well as many ATGM teams.
As the battle ended the battalion was no longer a fighting force, having lost all but 5 of its tanks, many of its APCs, and dozens of mech-infantry men. The Egyptian side took horrific casualties and could not take most of the objectives. As with the Israeli force, the Egyptian force lost it's abilty to continue fighting after the battle, loosing all of its AFVs(at least 60 tanks, several light AA and SP-ATGM, and 32 APCs), and most of its infantry. The result was a very marginal and bloody Israeli victory:
OKEY- This was the fiercest battle I have ever had with the AI assaulting. I expected a turkey shoot, which it really was when it started. However massive use of ATGMs and Artillery by the AI really did me in. My tanks spent much of the battle hiding or changing positions. I also dident expect such an effective concentration of effort by the AI, which had probably 3-4 inf companies attacking in a very narrow front. This was fun but in all reality ended my campaign, unless I break my own rules and replace at least 20 of my lost tanks...