[Hermit]

Thanks for the encouragement Rain. I think most of the other members are playing each other, which makes it hard to write these, since they'd be giving away their game strategy. I'm glad you enjoy my drivel.

Final report for this battle:

Friendly light attack helos have made scouting runs deep into enemy territory, locating and then avoiding enemy AA guns. Due to the mobile nature of this encounter, the enemy have not had time to make prepared positions, and the AA is easily suppressed or destroyed by friendly artillery. Since the rest of our force is either in rapid advance mode, or locked in close quarters "push them out" attacks, the arty isn't being used anywhere else, and all of it is available for AA suppression. After being supressed, the hunters become the hunted, and the helos have racked up quite a few AA gun markers for the sides of their fuselages.

Several more enemy tanks were destroyed in their chaotic flight from our advancing main force armor. A T-34 that had been hidden in the smoke around the intense infantry battle for the bocage (surrounding the road blockade) was taken out by an M19 SPAA which absolutely peppered it from the rear as it was fleeing. The entire enemy attack force seemes to be either already destroyed on on the run.

However, the helos spotted a counter-attack of a platoon of IS-1944's, a platoon of T-54-3's, a company of T-34's and a company of mechanized infantry driving west at high speed. They seemed headed for the road, so we set up two of the 90mm AT guns (my earlier assertion of 100mm was an error, due to my days with the Israeli units) in the bocage to either side of the road just were it formed a "Y." We also placed an infanry platoon around it for support. A battery of artillery was targetted about 600 farther down the road toward the enemy. Four Patton tanks hid in woods on either side of the road in case any enemy units broke out into the open country.

Three of the newly arrived enemy tanks were destroyed by the AT guns and infantry at point-blank range. Several smoking hulks of BTR-152 APC's also appeared during the 10 minute artillery barrage, or were dispatched by the waiting Pattons. The enemy counter-attack ground to a halt, and then the enemy literally ran off the battlefield.