German Campaign using War Cab

[Imp]

War Cab reports Map width x height so 90 wide 70 deep not so sunny today though soon visibility was 0

How many men!

MISSION DEPLOYMENT
We are tasked with holding the bridge & stopping the advance, in the bottom of the map I added fords to every other hex along the stream to aid the AI crossing, nothing got stuck.

Purposely deployed light on expected main avenue of approach & behind the bridge as expected heavy bombardment, was right just did not think big enough. They were supposed to be supported by units on the elevations to each side but due to the level of dust this never happened till turn 8. North Flank purposely deployed heavy & with halftracks to act as a reaction force.
Shot myself in the foot bought mines to place in front of the bridge then decided that was to much & was going to place a few to screen squads but forgot.

RECAP
We are currently on turn 13 so some screenshots - smoke off its light
Thought I had a deployment save but no.
3 most forward squads & a sniper have perished Company A who were tasked with holding here could well lose 2 complete platoons so things are not going so well this time.

2 StuG's & a platoon of Pz Gren (1 dead) are behind a broken tree line by my mouse cursor at the bottom of the picture.
Top tank attack swung in after meeting resistance - infantry may be following?
The AI formed up truck infantry & tanks here before following the first push by SPGuns & infantry after it eased the front edge of the bombardment which stopped completely on turn 11


Bottom attack was lead by a probe with SPguns one however decided to stop so I sent a squad to find it. My SPmortars & HQ were camped on the flank to avoid the barrage which they did but I had to pull them out.
Company B has had a quite time only one squad has engaged taking out a tank with its AT mine on the second attempt. Tanks & AT teams have engaged the armour attack which has only just commenced.


My squads on the main approach fought valiantly I could not have asked more of them but once the tanks turned up & they ran out of smoke they were overwhelmed.
They received virtually no supporting fire till turn 9 because of the blanket of dust, turn 11 before could really help much. They managed to stall the first push but now the tanks have turned up the AI is moving forward.
I missed an opportunity to place fire missions on the form up area, partly because my arty was only firing every other turn in an effort not to give away their positions. When I did place it missed anyway as the AI remained in place.
Arty is now going full bore as I think positions are known 2 Spitfires made a run around turn 6. Both were hit one downed but not before overflying my artillery park.
We will take up the action next post but I think I made a bad call leaving my arty battery on CB fire. That's habit thought fire missions were to dangerous but I bought 17cm it can do them.
Should have used it to stall the infantry & perhaps damage some armour to give my squads some relief.

[Imp]

Forgot bought 2 ammo dumps & 2 bunkers as support.
1 ammo dump & a bunker were destroyed by the barrage in the first few turns. The other bunker is heavily damaged can only fire one shot a turn & so far has fired twice for no effect.

[Imp]

Position at start of turn 15

Lost contact with my offboard battery so only plotting this turn.
Only 4 or so British batteries opened up on turns 13-14 (now 12) so decided to throw caution to the wind & risk moving a few units.
Mobhack surmised I think correctly that most are general support so long call times.

Really fretted over the underlined units considered pulling them out but I need kills the Brits still have more armour than me. Be a shame to lose them StuG now has 12 kills taking out 3 last turn, the MkIV damaged 2. If the other StuG digs in in time I may be able to pull them out.

StuG advanced to take position to cover the advance & hopefully dig in before the arty starts.
MKIV pulled out heavily damaged its fight is over

Halftrack has tanks inbound so retreated.
The StuG managed a probe killing 2 tanks but now not sure what to do with it as the artillery is inbound. Head for the stream & hope no arty or risk trying to dig in.
AI did a nice combined arms move sending that squad in, if there are more we could be in trouble here all the units I have there are in the screen shot.
Reaction force is looking less & less likely as 2 of the 6 armour units are heavily damaged. The one that pulled out confirmed it cannot shoot if it moves at all.

Down South its been fairly quite which is a worry I think all hell is about to break out, is the AI forming up again?
Pretty confident I can stop this attack with minor losses though so only 1 8cm Mortar is supporting here hoping to lay some suppression.

One of my artillery crew is making a valiant attempt to return to his tubes. I have a horrible feeling I have signed his death warrant & he wont make it in time.

Over turns 13+14 the AI gained little ground & we managed to kill a further 14 units for 2 losses ourselves.
Kill ratio is just over 4:1 in our favour but the AI still outnumber us by 4:1 in terms of men. The AI losses are evenly split between infantry & armour, 31+32 26 of which are tanks. We have managed not to lose any tanks yet though 2 are effectively out of action.
More confident of containing them now when the barrage restarts they probably will have to stop advancing. Only issue is if they can make a run for the VHexes.