AAR: Balkans N. Africa Leg

[Imp]

With the way things are coming in from the North does seem the best option as can screen me from some guns.
A sweeping flank move here though seems out for the forseable future, there are 4 tell tale arty puffs here though.
Smoke should block 4 tanks to far North, they are however nicely set up on the road so can reinforce the village quickly.
Its actually a good place as large clearing there with contact ranges of 150-300m, that will kill my tanks.
Reasonably confident area N of road is devoid of guns apart from some possibly to far North.
The area between the 2 villages is a diffrent matter thats chock full of guns & armour.
Assume further South will be more guns as terrain allows for & the AI seems fairly competent at covering its flanks.
All the troops I can see from N to 200m S of road are running with the exeption of 2 maxims.
Further South can only see 10 & most are ready, there are I am sure a lot not yet detected.
Route maxim near village & pinn the North one but few fire opportunities & more worried about getting away from arty here though quite a few are stuck for the next barrage. HT picks up FOO & wisks him away from it.
Take out BT-7 & T-26 this leaves one T-26 near the road but wrecks & woods make targeting without exposure to ATGs impossible at the moment.
This leaves 2 groups of tanks N+S of 2nd village, using trees to screen 2M3s attack furthest south group reducing it to 1 T-26
2 ATGs get a BT each leaving 2 but unseen squad kills 2 crew.
From N>S
3 tanks head out think only one is vulnerable to fire from the North.
Squads in N woods head for village see a T-26 which M3 takes down then a maxim in the dip that runs in front of woods.
Nothing else seems to be there so 231 & Ht send it running, try driving a truck up so lead squad is on dips edge 350m away from flags.
Units exit woods heading for village & M3 routes a maxim in it.
A problem we have is a maxim behind the central woods depresion but discover units N of road cannot geat a bead on him. MMG in depresion tries & walks into a sniper. M2 & M3 have a go but end up having to commit my sniper ruining plans for him, squad moves up & kills.
Back to the maxim & troops south of road move on at some cost but 76ATGs shoot at them to. Lose quite a few men here as discovering more all the time including another BT.
As ATGs fired tanks take a risk fire at for no effect but kill last T-26 by the road & another near the village, 3 are left.
231 & a couple of squads risk a run for North village getting to within 250m, lots of stuff in field following.
C woods have now nearly left as in the dip including several tanks, its cleared out.
Furthest South having problems not much more than reinforced platoon here, there are 2 tanks but they have to be very carefull so are not helping. At one stage we were outnumbered 2:1 here though slightly better odds now. HQ is playing scout again bless him.
AIT> arty was ok batts are still silent, no vehicles recieved fire.
Maxims are cheesing me off as they keep picking off men, luckily have not come across any yet down South. Most heated exchange was here but numbers vs exp battle is going exp way. My troops get 4 or 5 shots while Soviets usually run after 2.
T8
Smoke came down well in South giving a reasonable screen from fire past the village.
Half wit that I am used rockets up North, its all over the shop, useless.
With the exeption of far South nearly all visible troops are running
Maxim in village & a squad between them only units with fight in.
Tanks & guns are alright arty should hit 76s this go.
231 & M3 sort out maxim & a HT in the depresion gets the squad, ATG takes out BT.
North units continue towards T-35s looking for guns see another T-26, 3 M3s are now heading for.
MMG moving up N of village in truck recieves fire from 76ATGs, they miss but scout finds both in woods near good ambush point, M3s are safe.
Squads are at wood edge & will be able to attack one next turn.
Closing on the village find another squad in it, we are slicing & dicing though now within 100m & units are ready to look down the road, enemy units are fading fast.
In the centre every troop posible moves out of the depresion for a look, find a 3 more squads maxim & AAMG, village tanks get maxim sniper the AA.
Some squads trade fire with enemy squads but mainly ignore fire from as several are now in range of 76s, they are shooting back but 4 crew killed & my ATGs had a go to.
Light armour sits tight & M3s role out one is damaged by a 45ATG but troops in position to see now 4 of them. Tanks are staying put & engaging, light armour engages the ducks back. Result, we lost some men & have a damaged M3 but kill a 76 & all other guns have crews greatly reduced & routed, another BT has shown up.
Down South the lack of vehicle support is showing not to mention we are now outnumbered 3:1 facing more than 15 squads.
Smoke cover is not enough but help is needed so 2 M3s & HT help out, kill last T-26 here to. End up positioned not to bad I think as my squads placed smoke to restrict fire at.
Trying to extract damaged tanks & picking up ATGs, they have been there to long. Same goes for some arty its relocating. Foos have ended up quite far fwd running from expected arty fall.
AIT> Batts kick in but recent move forward means they miss something hits a MMG that was damaged & kills it.
North M3 is fired at by a new ATG which squads kill.
Few other new units pop up in centre & South including a mtr direct firing & damaging HT.
More smoke falls in South making fairly safe there exept M3 recieves fire from centre somewhere near other ATGs, its another 76 but quite where it is elludes me.
This ones fun.

[Imp]

Situation normal, apart from in the South all are running.
North misjudge LOS for 76 & it kills truck & scouts, another 45ATG fires at M3s & is killed by squaud & MMG, about 6 runners left now, M3s attack tanks T-26 brews up.
Now the fun begins as move on woods & village, a couple of men entering woods find trees are transparent here to.
Near the 76 find 3 squads a maxim & another maxim running, 4 squads & 2 HTs send them running killing both maxims, they then engage 76 followed by 231 & Ram who kill it. Care is needed as found another 45ATG slightly back from & the other 76 is out of reach to.
At the village 2 squads & M3 deal with 2 found squads there.
First squad to look down the road finds a 45ATG just past the crossroads, he has a go but is routed, there are two of them, 2 other squads & MMG take over followed by 2 M3s, finaly get one & other runs. The crossroads has a clump of trees in its SW corner then a little gap, centre squads recieve fire from 3 squads in woods SE of the crossroads M2 persuades one to run.
In the centre the hunt is on for the 76 tanks can only move towards the North till I can find it.
Start recieving fire frm the South village another 2 AAMG, 37AA & 2 squads are found here. tanks engage at range with some success but its still enough to stall the move forward. Fire from crossroads area means some troops are caught in a crossfire, I have to smoke in places.
Down South things are still not going well ignoring the scouts we have advanced all of 100m in the last few turns. Anticipated relief is now not fothcoming due to the hidden 76 & scout smokes M3 to protect it.At least the 2 M3s & Ht are now playing a more active part but its heavy going, some arty is going to help as men are getting a bit short on the ground.
Apart from the Ht here most of my light armour South of the road is in hiding
AIT> Most arty has stopped, my batterys reputation is tarnished it had been doing good CB service but since coming to the Eatern front it has failed abismaly to get a lock, giving up.
Main things tide finaly turned down South, combination of vehicles 2 MMG now giving support & a bit of arty made a diffrence.
Big moment up North not sure how lead tank survived unscathed as he was ganged up on. Tanks fired at him & another 45ATG had a go before squads forced to run. Of much more concern was another 76 in the woods somewhere near the other possibly, looks like the flank move has stalled again.

[Imp]

Smoke blocks LOS from centre to crossroads, hunt for ATGs goes first.
Near village find 2 76s & 45 to go with 2 already there, they are pinned as dropped arty.
Get all but one to route status, it does not have a view out of the local area though. If they recover Ram 231 & HT are targets.
Move into the village proper having trouble with a couple of new squads but one of my squads has made it to the N>S road, lots of runners
2 tanks move to take on squads SE of croosroads, squad has to help as find another but control the area.
There is smoke on the E>W road 100m past the crossroads, lead squad enters more runners kill 3 of, get MMG here by taxi then in exitment to kill em move 231 a bit further. It dies to a 37AA at the side of the road asked for that.
Central guys can't find thier gun(s) but kill an AAMG a 2 more squads appear by the village. Vehicles still carefull but taxis break cover to pick up guys near the road, we need to get a shift on runners now have a good head start.
South again does not go to well but only one more squad joins in. For some reason this turn my rally attempts have gone to pot, think out of those tried only 1 managed it.
North, freed up from ATGs move on MMG & squads routing another 45 then M3s take out all but one T-35
AIT> No arty that turn but if anything went to Soviets.
N found another 45 number 6 hes pinned
ATGs in wood killed or routed 45 & 76 but a new one showed up to NE so lost 231 & HT
Road they routed MMG & killed his truck.
Centre we won here a few runners taken out & found & routed 76ATG
South think we did slightly better but 2 of my squads are now half squads, its getting critical.
T11
NF> Route ATG & another they find then destroy a mortar & last T-35
Village 2 squads kill closest 76 others are moving toward the other down the road. Have taken several flags & starting to cross into woods now, but a bit of a firefight is going on which we win, cannot pussue runners down E>W road due to AAgun. Some tanks & taxis that loaded last go head into woods South of the road to get position on AAgun & they kill the 76.
Continue moving forward in space between woods & South village recieve more fire from village & to East a sniper, decide tanks can risk coming out but we lose several men over the next bit.
South village has a line of trees running / just behind & smoke screen is nearly gone, scout moves through it & requests help.
Sniper routes 2 maxims bfore scout pops smoke as apart from runners there are 2 squads here & a T-26.
Squad enters village from the North its full of AA, he manages to route one, next squad fails but find excluding excluding runners.
2 squads E of village covering road, 2 more in it & 3 AA guns.
Each AA gun is positioned so attacking one gives another track hits, squads manage to silence one at some cost allowing 2 M3s that can reach to take on others. Other squads have to draw fire to allow trucks to close safely. Its all a bit hairy & some smoke is dropped but 2 AAguns are killed & squads routed.
In the process though 2 more AAguns take part. As I said lost a few men here.
The exitment in the village means the only support SF gets is an ATG & one squad at range, however I think morale has gone, another squad joins in but they are folding. HQ decides its time to break cover & is closing, so does 223Fu who so far has stayed out of things, tanks move forward to better firing positions.
AIT> arty returns, have outrun most of it but units near South village & clearing North of take a couple of solid hits.
No more ATGs up North but AI is on the move. M3 destroys T-26 by North village & one is engaged at the other village.
Sniper is found & destroyed by a huge volley from M3s
In the village 1 squad is in critical shape but killed 4 AAgun crew
South, we are moving no further here they have started heading for village & flags outnumbered by more than 3:1 again.
T12
First squad to try his luck vs 76 is routed, second does little better but Pioneer places a DC killing it outright.
North group finaly start to become a flanking force & head forward.
Around the village & its woods the race is on to see if we can catch the runners before they exit. 2 M3s get the AAgun routed then Ht drives up squad finnishing it.
Little moment then as M3 heads down the road straight into the arms of 3 T-26s, range 100m but all are moving, get him some help another M3 but first 2 flaks Z fire on 2 of them, kill without taking a hit. Take all flags here.
Rally seems to have returned to normal so most units can clear arty however some end up possibly heading into it at the village.
Its all getting a bit worrying round here 2/3rds of my force is to the North chasing units.
To the South do what we can but its more a case of hanging on, 3 more squads appear & while i do manage to get all 3 ATGs helping the odds here are now becoming silly.
Tanks just North of village turn NE & head for it & a bit of fighting kills AA guns & T-26 who only fired once, combination of move & low experience I think means few shots. Would explain earlier tank exchange.
Now the reason for heading into arty, squad & scout make it to far side of village recieving fire from over a dozen squads meaning they cannot place smoke.
Scouts position is critical 4 squads within 100m, manage to reduce this to 1 but still dont think its enough & expect more armour to come to villages defence.
The only good thing so long as it misses my scout is rocket had reloaded & is about to fire here
AIT> Oh hell arty missed in town just but SF has been stuck for a while so arty is coming down on them & the ATGs & theres more. To the South of the depresion 6 T-26s & 2 T-28s have shown up. More may have made it into the depression. A few more squads appeared to. One of my squads in the village is critical but scout survives. Lots of blood was spilt on both sides but we did get the upper hand. Should have left 223Fu alone AAgun somewhere in S woods killed him, no survivors.
At least the North is now a done deal its becoming a case of can I transfer help quick enough.

[Imp]

North we are out of the trees & just mowing down runners, the odd one has rallied but nothing to worry about. Should get most runners going down the road I think, picking up anyone I can & transfering unit cohesion be damned.
At the village tanks trying to move to engage enemy armour get stuck in the fight there. Still over 2 comp of Soviets south of the village & the scout is living dangerously finding more & 3 AAguns but hes now out of smoke, have engaged to little effect. The sniper is doing a great job though of keeping the scout safe
Far South most units dont fire smoking & trying to clear arty. Reposition 1 ATG trying to move others might lose the trucks so did not load just near.
A couple of tanks might get armour targets next go.
AIT> To my joy find I have plotted all 3 rockets in the vicinity of the AAguns, let fly & thats that but another one has turned up. My arty is mainly hitting just South of village should all be running now so can support South from behind once sort out tanks. M3 gets a T-28. Most arty missed managed to clear it just.
HTs are taking direct fire from artilery now all but 2 tanks have vanished.
T14
Killing arty pieces 4 left by the looks of it but the big question is where did the tanks go. At the depresion so think they are in the woods heading for SF. They have also come underattack by maxims but slowly getting reinforced. The village is ours as we are aproaching equal numbers & the road nearby is chock full of trafic. Next go we will probably outnumber him everywhere.
AIT> They are still putting up a fight one particulary hardy squad killed 3 of my men despite the fact he was taking fire from 2M3s 2 squads & a HT, the tanks headed back for the depresion all fire exchanged missed. Its looking like my South force is out of the woods now they just held on without losing a squad.

[Imp]

SF> is accepting losses to save 2 squads reduced to 4 & 5 men but has help now, tanks die easily as greatly outnumbered its just a case of keeping guys in trouble alive & taking the last flag. There are still more soviet squads turning up though.
T16
Hurt troops are withdrawn if they can avoid arty will survive. Have a minor moment when thought I had missed a tank but realise there are another 4 or so, still have a lot of armour here now so they succumb quickly. All arty stops
T-17
Never a dull moment HT has kittens as 3 BT-7 arrive as reinforcements, only armour near is a Ram & M2 but they get one a piece then squad unloads from HT walks up to & kills the other. The fun continues as units going after 122s start recieving fire from them, manage to destroy one but HQ has joined in as well & the few tanks here dealt with BT-7s or moved there in case more turn up. The good news is in South scout has made it to where new squads keep apearing & think thats about it. Taking last flag next go & it turns out moved arty just in time, one was hit but will be moved next turn.
T20
Its all over I think a couple of units escaped but there is not a Soviet unit left on the map.
Men 164>1893
Guns 1?>64
AFV 4>43
Score 6507>889
Marginal
Thats 3 marginal 8 decisive so far, paying the price for not playing for a long time as wish I had not upgraded all my tanks. Germany did not have the better equipment at the start of the war but it certainly does now. Apart from the odd ATGs you do not need to look after your armour much which could become boring.

[Imp]

Quite day so here you go.
Missed the location but meeting vis 51 turns 31
Map open ground is mainly high grass & a large level 2 hill in the middle.
A strip of woods runs over it from the bottom left to top right corner. It gets a bit sparse with a couple of small gaps my side of halfway point on the map.
1.5Km South at the base of the hill are more woods, this clearing as it heads East opens up to 2Km with a clump of trees in the middle like so ---O
So trees all round it & a clump in the middle.
Flags are on the clump & further forward in top & bottom row of trees.
The bit to the North is mainly open but probably will not come into play.
Map included.

Force
Decide if anything should downgrade make a few changes for no real reason
Swap 2 MkII for MkIVf1 as main roll is infantry.
Swap 1 231 for 251/10HT plan to swap all 3 & buy enough HT so 1 company is equiped with in next battle or 2
The Plan
Each company is heading for a set of flags.
ATGs most MMG & half of the armour is heading down the centre to crest the hill.
The group going for North flags should hopefully be screened by woods for a while & have a reasonable amount of armour with them.
Hope is they can move to get flank shots depending on what Soviets come at me with or act as a firefight force.
Start
No pre bombard so start the race for objectives.
By the end of turn 2 I can see half a dozen BT-7s heading for S flags & a mix of BT-7s & T-28s heading between central & S flags.
Have some units on the hill & grass does some funny things with LOS, move 1 hex & you are hidden the next back in view using speed of 231s to find hidy spots. Unload in a few places time to see if I have judged it right think range is to great for them to try firing.
T3 They don't fire & nor do I keep closing range for the turkey shoot. N & S made good speed trucks within 400m of flags, have to pop smoke in 2 places in South to protect taxis as could be in LOS when he moves. In the centre several troops unloaded but have found one area can stay loaded for a good distance.
Can see a lot of Soviet cruiser tanks heading for C & S flags details next go as can probably start picking off. They will start taking S flags this turn.
T4
The majority of tanks are BT-s 2 through 7, Also some T-28 & T-26 & 3 BA-10 armored cars some have left my sight.
NF> Squads & Pioneers are entering woods, tanks are still moving to position & 4 are going NE as lone squad on sentry duty there reports a dozen tanks heading down. Coming from the East mainly towards S & C flags are 40 plus tanks. 231s have ended up here & could end up engaging at about 500m when they move to level 1
CF> Move to position should be able to start engaging shortly range still generaly 1.5km
SF> They have taken some flags, can't see as in woods but 4 or 5 BTs, squads & Pioneers head in for ambush. 3 M3s Ram & 251/10 are here along with a MkII who kills a BT-7 at 500m
No arty plotted yet & AA is in position, taxis retreating but trying to guess arty fall.
AIT> Yeah gads there are a lot of them can now see 17 flanking to the North my view is not good here.
231 damaged a BT-8 but only expected a couple 6 made level 1.
They took central flag & from what I can see main push is between centre & South flags but I cannot see much to the North East as woods block
At S flag Pioneers have killed & forced abandonment of 2 BTs, bit of fire here to but it missed.
T5
SF> We move forward 100m as low exp seeing squads in woods moving 1 hex should be hard for tanks is my theory.
It holds 2 BT-7s die to a squad & 2 Pioneers then M3 & M2 both get a BA-6 trying to come round the left flank.
CF> Holding central hill majority of force is still on level 2 but a few have moved to level 1.
A BA-10 made it to level 1 & several tanks are just over 1km away so open up.
Kill a BA-10, 3 BTs, T-28 & immob another with a flank shot. T-28s have riders squad & maxim
I have 10 M3 here & 2ATGs one in position half the M3s move forward but have to be careful about flank shots from the North now.
NF> Squads take 2 flags & 231s kill a BT-8 & damage a BT-2, not sure its wise to leave them here they are having trouble penetrating at 500m
& tanks & ATG here are not quite in position.
FF> (Flank force far North) 3 tanks enter LOS hoping to tempt in my direction as we took flags.
AIT> Well luckily the fire improved a bit BA-10 took about 10 shots to hit but still mainly missing.
CF> got BA-10 eventualy plus 5 or 6 BTs & rider unloaded.
SF> only got 2 targets but missed
NF> 231s somehow survived & damaged 2 BTs, squads in wood slightly North of flags engaged cavalry & smoke dropped near 231s is blocking ATGs fire lane.
FF> Lots of smoke dropped here & they are charging on Westward

[Imp]

SF> M3 kills 2 BTs at 30m another is buttoned for some reason so 251/10 engages at 200m & kills, all but one M3 move forward.
There are 11 Bts on L1 1O of them near the 231s but recent smoke means they can only see one, some of the others will enter ATGs LOS at 200m range. 231s kill BT-8 but one is damaged so they head off to join FF
CF> manage to kill 3 tanks on L1 & damage another, 2 tanks move to achieve this.
ATG gets T-28 & a BT the other kills immobile T-28, M3s kill another 5 BTs & 3 tanks move up as does the infantry.
NF> take all flags & use quite a bit of Z fire moving forward there is a MkIV in woods with the squads & we route 4 cavalry.
FF> One M3 fires but only damages the others move SW to intercept, a scout & MMG are en route.
AIT> I plot some arty behind cavalry, AI fires a bit more smoke & some arty hits CF & SF 76s & Mtrs no batts.
Kill 9 BTs coming for the hill 2 make it 2 level 2, one destroyed the other runs. Pioneer in South gets another coming through the woods.
2 more cav are routed in woods, squad on the flank can see a cav unit 200m away.
Can now see a couple of squads at 500m between N & C flags
T7
FF> Destroy a BT but most are still moving to position, bit worried here trying to extract 2 platoons to assist one each from NF + CF, another MMG is on the way & 2 Northern ATGs are loading up. M4 heading there & hopefully free some M3s next turn. My fault considered a reserve & NF was going to be but decided to head straight into woods as intel was sketchy round here.
SF> Continue moving forward adj to flags now, find a BA10 & 251/10 kills. Squad checking for flank move finds 2 tanks & losses a man before placing smoke. Ram & M2 move to cover likely path of one & M3 destroys the other. The other 2 M3s are in position to move to woods edge.
CF> 10 tanks made it to level 1 again most at North end & SF has noticed a squad near level 1, Kill 5 then have to move to find targets, get another 3 for a total of 8 inc one T-28. The majority of tanks & all squads move partly to avoid arty but also working slightly NE
Tanks coming from the East look severly depleted now I can only see about 20, there are more but wrecks are blocking view esp in the North.
Can see GazAA trucks in the distance & arty tell tales several fairly near the map edge. decide to CB them poor morale should get them off the map.
NF> get a bit ambitious pushing forward lose 3 men as turns out a ready squad was among the pinned lot. they lost about 6 men & can see 6 runners & 1 ready
AIT> Right that was a lot of artillery aimed mainly at SF & south of CF, most infantry got hit, tanks moved so it missed the majority of them.
2 IL6s did a pass on SF as well & my AA is covering the others, lost a HT & 2nd immobile. Facing air for first time & sending armour out from my umbrella is probably not sensible so need to rethink SF as they were going to try & flank.
CF> only got 2-3 tanks here as most moved but only 4 end on L1, I think though this is because focus has shifted to the South.
SF> Mk2 hits for no effect Ram did not get a target. M3 on the flank engaged 4 tanks at 400m killing a T-28 so ex rider here, one has vanished.
NF> not sure think more cav squads turned up a scout definetly did. Repulsed attack causing reasonable damage but run out of shots in one area resulting in scout losing 2 men.
FF> B@#%£ I think they have turned back so all but one tank is out of position, 231 will check it out but lone tank is facing 5 at between 300-500m & only damaged one. They seem to be heading SE to cut through woods towards N flags, another cav sqd has turned up fire was exchanged but for no effect.
My squads in woods could have cavalry coming from North as well. Hmmm