This mission was played at the same night and the same players.
But this time the players jumped in on the German side and took over a company of Leopard 1s

Mission played on 192300Boct13

Number of players 13.

Player Units:
-1x GE tank company +/- <Leo1A5 and Fuchs APC> (lead by 12ALFA)
-1x VersorgungsGruppe (lead by Kingtiger)

The remains of the US company(all in all 6 tanks as we assumed that one could have been salvaged and repaired) where controlled by me.
Brun had the remaining M901ITV, while Hedgehog was still command of the artillery.
He had 1 battery of M109s and one Battalion of LARS(we used the BM-21 as proxy for this) rocket artillery at his command.

The Plan was "simple".
IOT do their job, Red would have to push on to the northwest and cut of the Jäger-Battalion. This would widen the breach in the NATO lines and crush the Flank of the German units.

To deny this, I wanted to use the gap east of COPPENBRÜGGE as a choke point.


I planned to battle in 4 Phases:
-1st: the germans would send 2 patrols south to est. contact...and the lead RED to the north
-2nd: the Leopards fall back and get ready for a counterattack just northwest of COPPENBRÜGGE while the
infantry denies the enemy access into the north of COPPENBRÜGGE. At this time US tanks on the ridges south of BRÜNNINGHAUSEN would engage and bind RED frontaly
-3rd: Artillery interdicts enemy follow on forces with FASCAM east of COPPENBRÜGGE and flattens the stopped force with a Bn size fire-strike from the LARS (light-artillery-rocket-system). German and US tanks counterattack and wipe out all enemy forces north of the minefields.

So for RED that would be:
-one company neutralized in phase one and 2
-one company killed by FASCAM and LARS
-one company(+ a bit more) killed by the counterattack.

So with this, and the losses in mission one, the RED Regiment would be down to less then 40% and with that out of the fight.

Sounds good? If it had only happened that way

btw: thats "LARS"

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leichtes_Artillerieraketensystem

As they say: "No plan survives 1st contact."

Mine lasted a bit longer.


As the Leopards rolled south, they found the enemy and (I think) Tacbat scored the 1st kill of the day:


Also with the enemy spotted at the ridges north of HEMMENDORF, our artillery and mortar started their work.

However, red pushed on fast, and the Leopards (to be used as standing patrols) let them come too close.


And REDs artillerists where not lazy either


Soon the enemy found its mark, and the Leopards where hitting them, but they where also taking heavy losses:

Finally the US units (in this case played only by Brun and me) started to engage. This provided some cover for the Leopards who have been in contact for too long.



The ridgeline provided a good overview and my alternative positions. So the M1 could engage over a long time and then dodge enemy counter fire:




But well, many tankies survived 'cos of superior armour ;-)




The engagement dragged on as the Leopards could not disengage, we took to many losses, and the enemy to few.



By the planned phase 2, we where down to 4 Leopards and 4 M1s....the ITV was lost.
German Engineers and Infantry had taken heavy losses in artillery fires and the fierce enemy assault:

Excellent report. Thanks for posting.

Great post!

OK, lets get to the point.
The last mapshot show the German company down to 4 tanks and a few APC. The US units where down to 4 tanks too.
That's not enough for a counterattack...so that was the point where I started to panic

A plan B needed to be implemented, and fast.

I called in the interdiction fire early in the hope to at least stop the enemy advance:


All units that where left where now engaging the enemy to destroy those allready north of the minefield.
Hedgehog (our FO/FSO) was extremely lucky! The enemy sabot round punched right through his M113...but failed to hit something important.

Classic "brown trousers moment"

The remains of the german infantry fought bravely,





But at the end they where spotted and destroyed:


The Enemy follow on forces where stopped by the mines and started to fall back. Hedgehog got an eye on them and called in artillery fire:




Meanwhile on our left flank, an enemy BMP platoon tried to sneak in. There where reported and I moved a section to counter them. I got much closer then I'd like it in a defensive battle.



But five round later, this thread was eliminated.

While the germans on the right engaged the trapped RED tanks from flanking positions:

Whits the stragglers knocked out, and enemy detachment with BMPs and troops remained at COPPENBRÜGGE.

The M1s managed to fire from the ridged into their flank, while the 2 remaining German tanks and APC tried to reastablish contact inside COPPENBRÜGGE.



These small movements where all that was left of my planned "glorious" counterattack.

Hedgehog assisted by holding the enemy down using the rocket artillery:




At the end we had destroyed all combat vehicles north of the minefields, but the enemy still had soldiers in COPPENBRÜGGE.





The US/GE task force was down to 4 operational tanks in total. The enemy regiment was beaten back, but we failed to destroy their second Battalion so they where still in the fight.
All they need to do is fall back, regroup and strike again...while we have basically nothing to stop them.

To sum it up: we achieved a "minor victory" but a tactical loss

Great AAR!