Turn 21
A MUCH BETTER TURN!!!
Alpha is still pretty much in the same situation it has been in for a while. One squad is separated and going to try to get the loitering A10. Aside from that, they are still taking fire from a couple of Matilda Is hanging around. They are raking mostly routed squads. Alpha has about seven combat effective squads left. Everyone else is running or just gone.
The enemy tank cluster is starting to break in Bravo's sector, with tanks moving forward in one direction or another. One Matilda II headed alone straight west, so I decided to go after it. I started by peppering anyone around with machine gun, ATG, IG and small arms fire. One of my infantry guns actually destroyed the immobilized A10 with an HE round. Next, I pushed forward a squad in front of the Matilda II. It survived fire from a number of units, so it popped smoke to isolate the tank and peppered it with small arms. Another squad came up and popped more smoke and was going to do the same thing as the last squad. Instead, it ASSAULTED and DESTROYED the Matilda II!!! I didn't expect that, especially after taking the time to pop smoke. Elsewhere in the sector, my surviving Zulu tanks snuggled up closer to the hill to their front to get out of the LOS of a couple of other Matilda IIs. Mortars dropped smoke and HE on the infantry to try to create more isolated and buttoned tanks.
Charlie sector has a couple more enemy Matilda Is that moved in, supported by infantry. My tanks took some shots at them and tried to move in, but the enemy is well supported by infantry. I think there is more fresh infantry around than first thought, since I have been mistaking some British Rifle Sections as shot up squads. Anyhow, they are still being held at bay. One of my tanks took some damage in this area, but it was a new arrival so I still have three fully functional tanks with Charlie.
The southern push has had considerable success. Two platoons of Delta moved out to soak off enemy fire, neutralize enemy infantry and pop some smoke to isolate the area from other enemy units further north. One Delta platoon held fast directly in front of the enemy Matildas. Next, Echo and one engineer squad moved against the Matilda IIs. The lead tank was damaged an routed. Another one moved forward resulting in another attack by the engineers, damaging that tank and the original one. The third tank has also moved up and just to the southeast of the other two damaged tanks. My infantry is all around this one as well. One of the enemy tanks destroyed one of my sand pillboxes at one point, but I don't know which one. Further east on this infantry line, I have another engineer that destroyed a Matilda I with a flame thrower. Mortar fire is still falling on the enemy trailing infantry and did hit the cluster to the west of the engineer wadi. Just south of the wadi were a Matilda I and Matilda II. Foxtrot and Echo started peppering them with small arms, rushed and assaulted the Matilda I. The Matilda II was 50m to the northeast and too far away. The assaults failed and in many cases, didn't happen because my squads panicked but the enemy stopped shooting. One of my tanks pushed up to a position 50m behind both and fired. It destroyed the Matilda II at point blank range from behind. When that worked, I sent another tank up and did the same thing to the Matilda I. There was also a routed Matilda II nearby, so I sent out another tank after it and destroyed that one as well. I was worried I would take AA gun fire doing this, but the chance to dispatch another Matilda II was too much to pass up. The Bofors stayed quiet. My last tank scooted out and destroyed an antitank rifle team spotted while all this was happening. I pushed out one of my light mortar teams to put the torch to an abandoned Vickers tank. Finally, my armored cars pulled back.
Casualties
Friendly: 1xM11/39 tank destroyed. Estimated 15 casualties.
Enemy: 3xMatilda II, 2xMatilda I, 1xA10 and 1xVickers VIb tanks destroyed. Estimated 15 casualties.