This AAR is about a PBEM that is a revenge set in the WW2 era of the first PBEM set in 85
found there
(so you can understand some references in the AARs, my nickname in this battle is Sanctuary, the nickname of my opponent is Sputnik Monroe)
Here is the report from my friend view, i post for him as he is not registered here, in the second post of this thread, there is the detailled AAR from my point of view of the same PBEM.
The USA and the USSR are fighting over a country in 1945
Random Generated battle, 1000 Battle Points on a 100x100 map for 19 turns.
Battle map
Screenshot there
Pre-battle phase.
For the purchase of equipment I picked,
1. A platoon of four M36 Jackson tank destroyers. For about the same price I could have had a section of two T26 Pershing’s. However in the end I decided it would be better to have four 90mm cannons on four lightly armored vehicles than two 90mm’s on two heavily armored tanks.
2. A company of mountain troops. I decided to spend extra on them for their morale and experience bonus compared to normal troops. I also think they get a lower penalty on movement on rough terrain. The disposition of the company is 3xInfantry platoons and a support platoon with machine guns and a 60MM mortar section.
3. A platoon of five Jeeps towing quad .50s for antiaircraft defense.
4. Two Spotter planes
5. A bazooka platoon. This includes five bazooka sections, (Two men with one bazooka per section)
Turn One:
My Jackson Platoon is advancing towards the northern victory cluster. Riding on top of the four Jacksons is a platoon of Mountain troops and the Bazooka platoon. Meanwhile the mountain troop’s support platoon is advancing down the road on foot. After the Jackson tank destroyers drop off the first platoon I’ll send two of them back to pick up the support platoon and bring them up to support the first platoon. I have also sent along one of the quad .50 towing jeeps along with the Jacksons.
To the south I have my other two mountain troop platoons advancing towards the southern victory cluster along the road. My HQ is advancing with them.
The other four Quad .50 towing jeeps are positioned atop a few hills in the rear.
I have ordered my two observation planes to do some recon. They should arrive in three turns.
Turn Two:
My teams have all continued along their routes. I do see some smoke or dust in a single hex near the north of the map. Could be vehicle driving very fast or likely the Soviet mortar that fired a smoke screen in the opening of the battle.
Turn Three:
Contact has been made with the enemy. Three Josef Stalin II tanks and Soviet Guards. The tanks and a platoon of Guards are locked in battle with my tank destroyers, Bazooka platoon and infantry platoon at the northern victory cluster. Meanwhile another platoon of guards is further south about to take the center victory cluster.
The ISII is a powerful tank though I have destroyed one of them so far, I attribute this to the short range at which my Jackson fired from (300 yards). I’m thankful I chose 90MM equipped Jackson TDs instead of 75 or 76MM equipped Sherman tanks or Hellcats.
My two spotter planes are already proving valuable. All the units that are spotted have been spotted by them. If it were not for my spotter planes I’d only know the location of one tank and maybe one squad of infantry.
I’m a little worried about these Soviet Guards as they have captured German Panzerfaust.
My plan for the ISII tanks is to pull off the road and let all my bazookas position along the side. Hopefully the ISIIs will advance and get shot in the side from 50 yards by my bazookas.
Turn Four:
An uneventful turn. I moved my troops and TDs into position or continued them towards their objectives.
My tank destroyers have moved into positions which I am feeling kind of secure with. Two of them are on top of a hill with a good view of the area directly north of the northern victory cluster. Hopefully some more JSIIs will show up in that area to be quickly destroyed.
My bazooka platoon has fanned out into the village that contains the north victory cluster. Two mistakes were made unfortunately. Mistake one was that a bazooka section ran across three victory flags, Sanctuary will surely notice that they have turned and likely fire a artillery barrage there. Mistake two was that I accidentally moved another bazooka section out into the middle of the street. I thought they had enough movement to get across but they didn’t. I don’t hold much hope for them I’m sure they will be mowed down in the middle of the street this turn.
Turn Five through seven:
Combat has broken out in the northern village victory flag zone. I’ve lost a Bazooka section so far and several soviets lie dead in a building that has been consumed by flames. I expect it was a nasty surprise for the soviet squad that occupied the building, they opened fire and then were fired upon by no less that five bazookas.
One of my tank destroyers has also destroyed some 160MM mortars that were on a near by hill.
I haven’t been able to get my 60MM mortar section to fire. Their fire mission seems to keep canceling it’s self. I believe this is do to them dropping in and out of contact with the chain of command. Do to this I’m moving them up closer to the line where they can fire directly upon any soviets who try to rush the large hill my tank destroyers control.
Turn Eight:
The contest in the north has turned into an out and out street fight. I’m a little worried about my southern flank in the village. I have no idea where the second of the remaining two ISIIs has disappeared to. I have this nagging fear that it is likely circling around through the south where it will come up from behind and cause some trouble. I should probably have my spotter planes fly some missions to keep an eye on that area.
Meanwhile the cloud of smoke obscuring the main street in the village is fading. I have a Jackson waiting for it to clear so he can fire at the ISII positioned at the opposite end of the street. The range is about 200 yards, when the smoke clears the tank that fires first will be the victor as there is no surviving a 90MM US or 122MM Soviet tank shell at that close of distance.
My other two teams have now reached the middle and southern victory clusters.
Turn Nine:
The smoke cleared and the ISII fired first. I have three tank destroyers left.
The infantry have been in a pitched battle that is hard to really describe in this after action report. There is a lot going on at the moment.
Meanwhile my mid map force is almost to the middle victory cluster.
The southern most force has nearly finished deploying around the southern victory cluster.
Turn Ten:
The village is still being fought over, the ebb and flow is pretty even. I do worry that he has more troops than I do.
Turn Eleven:
The village is still being fought over as the death toll rises each round for both sides. The village is the conflict, who ever wins in the village will win the scenario.
My spotter planes have located the other ISII driving down a dirt road. Unfortunately the spotter plane was hit by small arms fire and is now out for the rest of the battle.
My troops in the center are nearing the central victory cluster still. Two items of note have occurred there this turn. First thing worth mentioning is that two of the flags have turned over to soviet control. What he has there I do not know. Hopefully it’s nothing my platoon of infantry can’t handle. Secondly the quad .50 towing jeep that was moving up with them has broke down on some rough terrain. Next time I’ll think twice about driving a jeep up a forested hill full of rough terrain.
Turn Twelve:
This isn’t going so well. My troops are not killing nearly enough Russians. The commander of Charlie squad has been running away and refuses to rally. My machine gun section didn’t manage to kill a single man before they lost five of their own and routed. Some squads are fighting well in the village, but the rest I am very disappointed in.
At the end of the turn a rocket barrage wiped out two of my AA jeeps that just moved into the area. It also appears one of my Jackson tank destroyers has been immobilized. I wont be able to tell for certain until next turn.
The one ISII has driven up and is killing my one truly effective squad. There is a bazooka section with them but the ISII shrugs off bazookas from the front at 50 yards. I have two other bazooka sections that hopefully can get behind it at get some rear hits. This is an unlikely case though as the town is now inundated with Soviet troops.
The soviet troops are legion in number and thus far seem to be superior to my mountain troops.
Turn Thirteen:
The northern village is going to fall to the Soviets. All I can do is kill as many as I can and hope for a marginal victory. Likely a draw is the best I can hope for.
The mid map cluster is completely under soviet control. My infantry platoon is only 200 yards away. Hopefully I can take the hill with them.
Turn fourteen and Turn Fifteen:
Things haven’t gotten much better for what is left of my troops in the village. The soviets will have those victory flags within 2 turns.
As for the middle force I spotted a rifle squad and routed them. My spotter plane flew over and spotted nothing else so I believed that the soviet rifle squad I just routed was the only enemy presence. I was wrong. I sent one of my squads in pursuit of the routed soviet squad, which was a terrible move as they were jumped by a second soviet squad.
I have been very careless this battle it seems.
Turn Sixteen:
My middle force is not doing well at all. Half of them including the command squad have been routed already.
Turn Seventeen:
My middle force has lost an entire squad and the platoon leaders squad is at half strength. They are not fighting well at all. I can't believe these are mountain troops. Rumour has it they are all drunk on moonshine distilled from tank fuel.
Turn Eighteen:
The village has been taken. I have lost his battle I am sure.
My only hope is a draw, and that’s only possible if I can some how manage to snag one or two of the middle flags on the last turn. I don’t think my middle force can achieve that.
Turn Nineteen:
This is it the final turn. My troops simply opened fire and hoped to score some more kills. I could not take a flag this turn.
Conclusion:
The battle is over and it scores the battle as a draw. I find this unbelievable as Sanctuary has around 1,600 points to my pathetic few hundred points.
I lost one more Jackson on the final round and some more troops were mowed down. While it says it was a draw I see it as a resounding defeat for the Americans.
I'll recomend to high command that the surviving Mountain troops from center group and northern group be reasigned to menial non important post in Alaska or Utah. Their performance this battle was legendary. They exhibited the marksmenship of cross eyed old ladies while showing the courage of an eight year school girl at an insect zoo.
The southern force will be given the benifit of the doubt and will be allowed to stay within the Mountain troops. They never saw combat but at least hey achieved their objectives.