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  #1  
Old August 5th, 2013, 03:47 AM

Taskforce Taskforce is offline
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Default Australian AAR - *What if* scenario

This is a *what if* AAR, that assumes that the large supply of American tanks never took place, thus the massproduction of the Australian AC1, AC3 and AC4 started, leading to Australia being able to deplay a large taskforce to Italy in October 1944. Of cause, being so far away from the Australian mainland, replacing losses isn't easy and is time consuming. Thus the taskforce will have to be used with a great deal of thought in order to reduce losses as much as possible.

The taskforce consists of:

-Staff: HQ + Lloyd Carrier (8 men)
-2/7th AR: 44 AC4, 6 AC3 & 4 carrier (ammo) (258 men)
-112th AT-R: 12 6-pounder AT-guns, 12 Lloyd Carrier & 2 Lloyd Carrier (ammo) (88 men)
-67th AA-R: 12 20 mm Polsten AA-guns, 12 Lloyd Carrier & 2 Lloyd Carrier (ammo) (100 men)
-23rd/21st IR: A, B & C companies + inf AT, support HMG company & 4 Lloyd Carrier (542 men)
-16th FR: 24 25-pounder artillery pieces (144 men)

Thus it is a formidable fighting force, armed with no less than 44 17-pounder tanks, 12 6-pounder AT-guns, 12 20 mm AA-guns and 24 25-pounder artillery pieces supported by nine Vickers HMG sections and a lot of infantry.

This AAR series will consist of up to 10 battles.

Cheers, Taskforce

Last edited by Taskforce; August 23rd, 2013 at 02:19 AM..
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  #2  
Old August 11th, 2013, 06:40 AM

Taskforce Taskforce is offline
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Default Re: Australian AAR - *What if* scenario

The first battle was meeting engagement against the RSI in the high terrain in northern Italy. Lots of hills and lots of forest, making both the advancement of troops and tactics difficult.

Support units came from the USA and consisted of 4 "Jumbo" tanks, 2 "Hellcats" and 2 P-51D Mustangs (32 men).




Despite of fierce Italian opposition the battle ended with a superior Austrailan decisive victory. The point when the balance of the battle could have shifted was when masses of Italian infantry, supported by many tanks, were charging the hill with the centre flag group, held only by a handful tanks. At first the could only fend off the enemy with their main guns and mashine guns, but later on the Australien artillery and infantry could join in and help defend the hill.

Losses:
-Italy: 79 tanks and armoured vehicles, 4 other vehicles, 2 howitzers, 2 anti-tank guns, 5 mortar positions & close to 1.000 men in total
-USA: 1 M18 Hellcat & 5 men
-Austraila:
--2/7th AR: 3 AC4 Sentinel, 1 Lloyd Carrier & 15 men in total
--23rd/21st IR: 19 men in total

The M18 Hellcat was destroyed by artillery, the Lloyd Carrier by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the three AC4 Sentinels by Italian tanks and tank destroyers.

Captured equipment:
-1 75 mm PaK 97 and 1 howitzer could be captured intact by the Australian troops.

Replacements:
-2/7th AR: The crew losses in the damaged tanks were replaced by the replacement manpower shipped to Europe, but the three destroyed AC4 Sentinels with surviving crews will have to wait a month or so for replacement tanks to arrive from Austraila. The destroyed Lloyd Carrier was easily replaced with a new one from the reserves.
-23rd/21st IR: The 19 infantrymen killed in action were well within the replaement manpower limit shipped to Europe to replace losses, thus the losses were completely replaced.

Cheers, Taskforce
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  #3  
Old August 20th, 2013, 02:45 AM

Taskforce Taskforce is offline
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Default Re: Australian AAR - *What if* scenario

During the second battle for the Australian taskforce the experienced German troops were there to stop them form capturing the terrain. Again lots of hills and lots of forests, making both advancing, fighting and spotting the enemy difficult.

Support units came from Great Britain and consisted of 4 "Archer" tank destroyers, 4 Thunderbolt II and 3 B-25 Mitchell (38 men).




It was clear from the very beginning that this was gonna be a both difficult and hard battle. As excepted the Germans made good use of their able Panther tanks, although it proved possible to destroy these with some ease with the 17-pounder guns of the AC4 Sentinel tanks. However, with the Sentinel tanks lacking the same level of armour protection as the Panther tanks, losses proved relative high - 6 Sentinel tanks were lost to the German tanks alone and a further 4 lost to other causes. Also, the 67th Anti-Aircraft Regiment was able to get its first "kill", shooting down one of the Messerschmitt Bf 109s.

The battles for the south and centre flag groups were over pretty quickly, but the north flag group proved to be more challenging, A company of the 23rd/21st Infantry Regiment losing about two thirds of its total manpower. But with the artillery support and attacks made by the RAF, the enemy was also finally defeated here as well, giving the Austrailian taskforce a marginal victory.

Losses:
-Germany: 52 tanks and armoured vehicles, 2 120 mm mortar positions, 1 Messerschmitt Bf 109 & a little more than 650 men in total
-Great Britain: 1 Archer & 4 men
-Austraila:
--2/7th AR: 9 AC4 Sentinel, 1 AC3 Sentinel & 43 men in total
--23rd/21st IR: 142 men in total

The Archer was destroyed by artillery, 3 AC4 by the Messerschmitt Bf 109, 1 AC4 by a German Pak and the other 6 Australian tanks lost by German tanks.

Captured equipment:
-2 120 mm mortar positions could be captured intact by the Australian troops.

Replacements:
-2/7th AR: The arrival of the cargo and troop transport ships from Australia both the destroyed Sentinel tanks and the tank soldiers could be fully replaced. It also made the build up of a small combat losses reserve - 8 AC4 and 4 AC3 strong - possible.
-23rd/21st IR: With the arrival of the cargo and troop transport ships from Australia the 142 men killed in combat could be fully replaced.

Cheers, Taskforce
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  #4  
Old September 5th, 2013, 05:01 AM

Taskforce Taskforce is offline
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Default Re: Australian AAR - *What if* scenario

The rugged terrain of northern Italy is beginning to become home soil for the soldiers of the Austrailan taskforce. Again the mission was to advance and capture the terrain before the troops of the RSI could do so.

Support units came from Great Britain and consisted of 3 Churchill tanks and 4 RAF Spitfire firgher-bombers (19 men).




Right from the start B company of the 23rd/21st IR got cought in the Italian artillery and mortar fire and took heavy losses. The same story repeated itself at the north and south flag groups, but with the difference that the Australians could capture these early on and then went on to hold them without much difficulties. The battle for the centre flag group was repeatedly assaulted by masses of infantry and got badly beaten by the Italian artillery and mortars, resulting in several damaged and immobilised tanks, but despite of this the flags were held until the very end of the battle. Despite suffering pretty heavy losses, the battle ended up being a decisive victory for the Australians. Three of the supporting RAF Spitfires were badly damaged during the battle, but none was shot down. The 112th AT-R also scored their first "kill" during this battle destroying an Italian tank destroyer.

Losses:
-RSI: 80 tanks and armoured vehicles, 9 120 mm mortar positions, 2 soft vehicles & almost 1.200 men in total
-Great Britain: No casualties suffered
-Austraila:
--2/7th AR: 3 AC4 Sentinel, 1 Lloyd Carrier & 14 men in total
--112th AT-R: 1 6-pounder anti-tank gun & 5 men in total
--23rd/21st IR: 194 men in total

The 3 AC4 were destroyed by enemy tanks & the Lloyd carrier and the anti-tank gun by enemy artillery.

Captured equipment:
-2 81 mm mortar positions, 1 Wespe and 5 Semovente CA 20 anti-aircraft vehicles could be captured intact by the Australian troops.

4 of the Semovente CA 20 were put into service by the 67th AA-R, the Italian 20 mm anti-aircraft guns replace by the 20 mm Polsten anti-aircraft guns.

Replacements:
-2/7th AR: The destroyed AC4 were completely replaced with the ones recently shipped to Italy from Australia, leaving a further 5 AC4 and 4 AC3 Sentinel tanks in the reserves. The tank soldiers were also replaced.
112th AT-R: No replacements for the destroyed 6-pounder anti-tank gun with crew could be given to the unit at this time.
-23rd/21st IR: Only parts of the 194 men killed in action could be replaced with fresh manpower. None of the Vickers machine guns could be replaced at this time.

Future battles:
Intel says that Germany is planning a large scale assault in an important sector in northern Italy. The Austrailian taskforce is sent in to try to stop them and, thanks to their very impressive combat record, is promised more support than normal, including two entire artillery regiments.

Cheers, Taskforce
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  #5  
Old September 20th, 2013, 03:18 PM

Taskforce Taskforce is offline
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Default Re: Australian AAR - *What if* scenario

The expected German assault was in an important front sector, which had to be held - what ever the price in terms of men and equipment. A victory in this area could be of great importance in pushing the German forces further north.

Support units came from Great Britain and consisted of 2 artillery regiments, 4 17-pounder anti-tank guns, 5 M10 17-pounder and 8 Typhoon IB fighter-bombers (345 men). Also a very large number of mines were made available for the Australian taskforce in their effort to hold the lines.




Every tank, anti-tank gun and mine had to be carefully placed to make the most use of the terrain and the limited force that was to counter the German onslaught. All guns had to hold their fire until the enemy was well within range and could be destroyed in order to avoid detection for as long as possible. The battle was without a doubt going to be a very hard one and a total loss had meant the break up of the entire taskforce, since there would have been no way to replace the losses suffered, since the resources hadn’t been sufficient to do so in such a short time.

Luckily for the Australian taskforce the careful planning had paid off and the battle, although bloody and costly in terms of men and equipment, ended victoriously for the Australians and a total defeat for the German attackers. It was mainly thanks to the massive artillery support and the Royal Air Force, since their barrage and air attacks meant that a lot of the enemy units were either pinned down or stopped in their tracks, and this bought the Australian taskforce valuable time to re-deploy and re-distribute their resources. Two massive German armoured assaults were shot to pieces by the concentration of tanks and anti-tank guns and the infantry in its tracks stopped by the artillery and fighter-bombers. For the first time all the ranks of the taskforce, including the artillery, suffered losses and equipment damage.

Maybe the greatest loss during the battle was the loss of the experienced company commander of the second tank company, killed along with his entire crew by a lucky hit fired from the sole surviving crew member of a damaged Panther tank, itself destroyed just a minute afterwards.

This battle took all the energy and fighting spirit the Australian taskforce could bring up, but in the end it paid off and ended in a decisive victory.

Losses:
-Germany: 183 tanks and armoured vehicles, 6 120 mm mortar positions, 3 anti-aircraft guns, 9 soft vehicles & almost 1.700 men in total
-Great Britain: 2 17-pounder anti-tank guns, 1 Typhoon IB and 89 men in total.
-Austraila:
--2/7th AR: 7 AC4 Sentinel, 2 AC3 Sentinel & 45 men in total
--112th AT-R: 3 6-pounder anti-tank gun, 1 Lloyd Carrier & 21 men in total
--67th AA-R: 1 anti-aircraft gun, 2 Lloyd Carrier & 15 men in total
--23rd/21st IR: 120 men in total
--16th FR: 8 men in total

The tanks were all destroyed by enemy tanks, but most of the other losses were mainly due to the enemy artillery.

Captured equipment:
-9 Panther G and 4 PzKpfw IV H could be captured intact by the Australian troops.

The captured Panther tanks were put into service with the 2/7th AR, 3 in each company. The captured PzKpfw IV tanks were “traded in” for more captured Panther tank ammunition and spare parts.

Replacements:
-2/7th AR: With the capture of the Panther tanks, given to the most experienced platoon commanders, the fleet of available AC4 tanks could be expanded, leading to the AC3’s being phased out in favour of the AC4, mainly due to its superior anti-tank assets. In the end all tank crews except for the 4 ones killed in action were replaced, leaving the regiment with 6 AC4 in reserve.
-112th AT-R: None of the anti-tank guns could be replaced at this time.
-67th AA-R: The destroyed anti-aircraft gun couldn’t be replaced at this time.
-23rd/21st IR: Most of the soldiers lost in combat were replaced, however none of the infantry companies were completely replaced with fresh troops. The machine guns were also replaced.
-16th FR: The artillery men lost in combat were completely replaced.

Cheers, Taskforce
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  #6  
Old November 3rd, 2013, 04:14 PM

Taskforce Taskforce is offline
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Default Re: Australian AAR - *What if* scenario

I'm pausing the AAR here for several months at least to come. The reason is my family life and being very busy with all that it includes. I'm not uninstalling the game and thereby ending the AAR, just taking a long break from it.

If you want to leave some comments, feel free to do so.

I'm a frequent visitor to this forum so I'll answer any questions when my time allows it.

Cheers, Taskforce
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  #7  
Old June 7th, 2014, 12:31 PM

dimovski dimovski is offline
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Default Re: Australian AAR - *What if* scenario

Hi!

Cool AAR you had/have going there! (Sorry if this is necroposting, but AFAIK the author did say it's going to go on)

I've got some questions tho:
1)Troop density. With 200x160 hexes big map (I assume you're playing with that) - you'd have each of your tank approx. 3-4 hexes - so 150 to 200m - away from each other - so I'm curious how you play with such a high amount of troops? I mean it's kinda weird to just place a whole company on a road and have it advance like that - or even just advance in a line over the whole map! I acctually had a feeling 20 tanks is too crowded for a 200x160 map

2)Capturing equipment. How does it work? Savegame edit, or manual OOB addition? I couldn't find any captured Panthers/Mk IVs in the Australian OOB :/

3)Could you break the figures on destroyed enemy tanks down? Like: "50 Mk Vs, 20 Mk VIs and 100 Mk IVs have been destroyed in this battle"

4)How does the AI play with 170 tanks in a single battle? Do some ridicoules stacks on single hexes happen or can the AI handle it?
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