Tenth battle ( Stop enemy Counterattack ( SB delay) - 45 turn - visibility 66 )
Pre-battle:
This time there wasn't reinforcements, so we must fight which what we had. One of the infantry companies was badly damage, it was at 40% more or less. The other two companies had only some casualties.
The recon force was also badly damage, just one team was at 100%, all others were missing or understrength. At least we had our 3 snipers.
We had all our AT-guns but some of them had some crew missing. Tanks were at 100%, they had few usage in the previous battle. Artillery was also at 100%.
After a general review we can say that battalion was at 70%, being infantry the weaker part, but we must keep in mind that they plus artillery were the core of the fighting force because all other weapons were really obsolete and near useless versus latest enemy armor.
Battle plan:
Map was snow, the north area was clear dominated by two small hills, the objective farther north was on the top of one, the center objective was next to the hills in front of a tiny line of trees.
At the south there was a road in east-west direction, near the west border it crosses a forest, the victory objective was set on a small hill next to the road, all the area was forest. Another road cross the map diagonally from north-west to south-east. Finally the north-east map edge was crossed by an iced river.
The north area will be covered by AT-guns, because its poor performance they were ordered to hold the fire until the enemy was at 400m. Also HMG will provide fire cover vs infantry. Finally company C will be deployed in a reverse slope position at the hills, a one section will be deployed into the line of trees.
Company B will take positions into the forest ready to ambush forces which try to use the road, also it will deploy a section at the border of the forest objective.
Company A was to damage to fight so it was deployed at the rear and will be engaged only if the situation become critical.
Engineers will be divided into two groups ready to support the weakest area.
Tanks deployed at the north will be the reserve.
Go:
The enemy was detected early on, at the north a medium sized armor group fast advance directly to us, the worst was the confirmation that many T-34 tanks were part of the group. AA guns were used in AT role, the idea was pin the tanks and led time to heavy artillery to plot the position and fire.
At the south road some enemy tanks were detected also, infantry took positions into the forest at the road border to ambush them. Through the center area huge infantry groups were detected, many were sky troops with good mobility, 75 mm artillery and mortars were plotted over them.
The enemy north group returned fire to our AA guns, surprising it was to accurate, it destroyed our guns or forced crew to abandon them, btw artillery was able to immobilize one T-34.
At the south road more and more enemy vehicles were coming, our squads were lucky destroying few of them but when they wanted to break the contact and withdraw to a new position they couldn't because they were under fire all the time. Even worst T-34 were seen into this group also.
Heavy artillery was called, rounds started to fall over them but nothing seems to be able to stop them, our men were decisive engaged, pinned and overwhelm. The next few minutes were the worst of the battalion history, company B just ceased to exist.
At the north, after losing the AA guns, defenders hold the fire and led enemy to reach the objective, then opened fire. After some shots our AT-guns were able to knock the T-34, a total of 6 were destroyed. At least the north flank seemed secure.
Things always can go worse, after the annihilation of the C company the enemy armor force turned to the north against the objective, at same time enemy infantry was reaching the forest border and for our desperation they were supported by M3 Lee tanks.
Engineers squads were sent to reinforce the south flank, also tank reserve were committed, even the company A which was half depleted from the previous battle was sent to reinforce the objective. The shock between attackers armor and our defenders were brutal. Our men close assault the tanks again and again, enemy artillery started to fire a rain of fire despite hitting their own forces, we also fired our largest guns over them with also some friendly casualties, soviets had heavy losses but their numbers were so huge that they pushed our infantry out of the forest. Our tanks had token positions at the forest border, there were many smoke from grenades, fire, explosions, etc. When an enemy tank showed their nose out of the forest our tanks fired all at same time, to destroy a single T-34 were needed 16 hitting shots from us, Two of our tanks were immobilized because artillery fire, one of them has to be abandoned since it was so exposed. A third one had their main gun damage, also crews had some casualties. It looked like they were to break our lines definitively.
At the north and center objective enemy infantry started to arrive, both objective were defended by a single infantry company. Enemy size might be a battalion. Mortars and a two 75mm guns shift his fire over the new problem. Snipers did a good job, also HMG provided a good fire power. Our men were able to delay the enemy, two AT-guns were send to the south to try to help stopping the enemy.
It looked like enemy was losing their force at the south objective, many tanks were now smoking trash, they still had a huge number of infantry but they got suppressed by our artillery. After the huge losses enemy moral seemed to fall, some units begin to route. We were able to reorganize something similar to a defensive line with the incoming engineers and a few infantry squads from the A company, but all of them had several casualties and got suppressed easily even by forest fire.
At the north and center objective our men advanced recovering the victory hexes which was under enemy control, there were still many enemy infantry squads trying to advance, our remaining tanks which were still operative were sent to help dealing with enemy infantry, one of them was lost due a enemy long range shot, we were forced to take cover. Fortunately crew survived with only one casualty.
There was still more surprises ready to do his appearance, some slow T-28 tanks were reaching the front line now, at the north and center they were destroyed by AT-teams and infantry because AT-guns were suppressed or destroyed by enemy artillery. At the south more T-28 were detected but looking the panorama they retreated without attacking.
A last try was done by soviets, a small group of 6 T-60 with infantry support tried to assault the central objective. But we had enough time to rally a pair AT-guns so they were destroyed with the help of our infantry and AT-teams.
Marginal victory for us !!
Detail of the south objective at the end of the fight.
Post Battle thoughts:
We win, but which has been the price ?
Obviously my plan was flawed, in previous battles I had really bad experiences when forced to fight in open field. When I took a look of the map I was really worried about the north area, it was a big zone cleared of any obstacle, protection, etc. I though that I will hard time to defend it. That's why almost all AT-gun were there.
Also previously I had really good results using infantry in forest using close combat to destroy tanks, obviously I overestimated the possibilities of B company.
Even when it had to be clear that the south flank were in danger I still was fearing my north flank and those T-34 approaching. When I realized that the main attack were at the south and that there were so few troops to deal with it, was too late.
The disaster only could be avoided with the sacrifice of invaluable resources.
Only 18 men of about 140 of the company B are alive, Company A and C also have had big losses, many squads are reduced to 3-4 men, all AA guns are lost, most of the AT-guns are lost, just 2 snipers are left from the recon company. Tanks are the only group which survived with few losses but it is because the very conservative use which we have done because they huge limitations, I want to remember that they are Pz.Kpfw. 35(t) light tanks.
I feel like all the work to raise the experience, train our men, etc has been lost in a single battle. Yeah !! we have won but we have paid a big price for our victory, perhaps too big.