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This is, so far at least, a great little meeting engagament scenario being played between myself and hirr Leto, a canny opponent if ever there was one.

The reports start at turn four.....unfortunately I lost earlier reports due to a server crash.  But we'll give it a short recap....

The game opened with mobile recon groups from both sides trying to sieze early objectives.  The battlefield is divided into left and right sides by a river (with numerous fords and a couple of bridges, one bridge being right in the middle of the map and forming a crucial objective).  My troops.....panzer grenadiers with Sd251/1 halftracks, two Sd251/10s and two Sd251/9s and a 20mm armed Psw222 armoured car.....had most of the mobile forces on my right.  I threw them down the battlefield to sieze the centre bridge and also attempt a cheeky capture of The Small Arms Factory, a minor objective lying on Leto's sideof the battlefield.  That capture attempt is currently in progress.

A bit of shooting resulted in one Russian halftrack knocked out, with no present loss to the German forces.

However, Russian light armour is now advancing to deal with my over-extending mechanised units.......but racing to their rescue is a very timely arrived Panzer IIIJ platoon.

On the left, I advanced infantry to capture a church, and hold a strategic hill for recon purpose....but my left forces are very weak and they haven't attempted to contest the battlefield.  There are two Russian tanks menacing the field of battle and not much I can do about them while Russian halftracks and infantry move up cautiously.

So off we go..


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Righto...where were we?

Just to recap, here's two views of the right and then the left side of the battle.




On the right, you see the PIIIJ's racing down the highway.  They should be in firing positions by the end of the turn.  Briefly toyed with re-routing two of them to the bridge, where there SHOULD be (doesn't always work out how it looks) a keyhole at the two Russian tanks on Hill 165, and maybe some shots at Russian HTs.  I decided not to as it would involve splitting my tanks and I want to keep the PIII's in a group and get them forward.





Onethe left, just holding...no reinforcements there yet and the troops are thin as thin can be on the ground.  A half squad of infantry is moving up to the bridge.  The Sd251/10 and 9 will try to reverse out of danger.  The Sd251/10 does have two tungsten rounds, so could theoretically penetrate the Stuart, but at that range I think it more likely it would just fire them off uselessly for two misses.  It will probably die before it retreats out of sight....it was lucky to survive a 37mm hit last turn.

The action this turn is at the Small Arms Factory.  I checked lines of sight from my HTs at the factory to Hill 165 with Leto's damnable two light tanks and the Sd251/9 that is racing to help may take some fire this turn.  The HT's at the factory are presently out of sight, but one of them would be visible if the Russians just hunted forward a fraction, so I give it orders to ease up a little closer to the buildings.  Got to be careful here, because doubtless there will be more Russians coming up from the baseline....it would be easy to get hopelessly caught between fires.

I think the Russian infantry inside is pinned, so I order an assault team to run closer, with plenty of fire to maintain the pin. A fire team will move into the factory and sneak up to the top level, and hopefully bring some fire on the Russian HT at the back.  I'm a little unsure about this....I think splitting the squad was a bad move.  But I had my mouse hovering over the split squad button and accidentally clicked it   So rather than restart the orders phase and do all the orders again I just went with the flow.



The incoming fast track is the 251/9 with an area fire order to add some suppression to the hidden Russian infantry.  I added a second fast waypoint to hopefully get it out of sight of the Russians on Hill 165.  I would dearly like to shift those boys....the PIIIs could well be able to see them by the end of this turn.

A plaintive email back from Pete lamenting the failure of his tankers to hit the broad side of a barn Just what I like to see....the first psychological cracks My immediate thought is that my Sd251/10 on the left has survived, and so it proves. The Russkie tankers get off two more shots but miss, and the German halftracks withdraw safely behind a screen of smoke fired by the Sd251/9.

That's pretty much it from the left side for that turn....although two squads of Russian infantry are observed moving up toward the river bridge....they're still a fair way away. In turn the German HMG sets up to overwatch the bridge approaches, and a halfsquad of infantry runs up to just short of the bridge on the left side of the river.

The real action is over on the right. The tricksy Russians are indeed intent on cutting off and flanking the HT's around the Small Arms Factory. Twenty one seconds into the turn and you can see the Sd251/9 has arrived and has temporarily halted while it works through the command delay for the second fast order I gave it last turn....thinking that where I had it stopping was a bit exposed. No less than three Russian light tanks have it targeted....




There is the sound of 20mm fire and 45mm fire....so a mix of T60 and T70s......but both shots miss, and the Sd251/9 moves away out of sight before they get another go. I suspect my HT was exposed only at its very top, more than likely a low percentage shot.

Here come the German infantry....



Thirty eight seconds into the turn and the assault is in full swing......both the Sd251/9 and the more exposed 251/1 have moved up to point blank range. Although I thought the second Russian squad was pinned, it is up and firing again...this could get a bit nasty and I'm checking the HT waiting for a "shocked" or a molotov or grenade attack...



but seconds later, before they can do any damage, the advancing German assault team kills the last man. That was kind of fragile....either a half squad or maybe an LMG team. The fire team is now on the top floor of the building and is sneaking into position at the corner.

If you have been watching carefully, you will see that the left hand Sd251/1 has eased back a trifle....that is because there are two more Russian light tanks, charging full speed toward the Small Arms factory from the top of the map....coming left to right down a road which then turns down toward the Factory buildings. That makes at least seven T60/70 pincering them from two directions, and the German HT's would indeed be in deep trouble without the PIIIs coming to save them. The Sd251/1 reversed a little all on its own initiative the instant one of them came into sight. This would have been a good thing except that it finishes the turn in sight of one of the Russian light tanks coming from the river, and gets a burst of machinegun fire for its troubles.

You can also see that the Russkie halftrack at the back is now gone.....it has reversed out the back, but unhappily for it has ended right in the LOS of the German PIII travelling slowly along the right side rail embankment.



One shot, one miss......well, what can you expect from a tank on "fast" at long range? What I was hoping was that the PIII would do the decent thing and machinegun it, but the two MGs in the PIII remain stubbornly silent. Odds are the HT can get out of sight before I can get a decent bead on him, but we'll have a go next turn.

Finally, about 45 seconds into the turn, the lead PIIIs are getting into position. Cresting a small rise, two of the PIIIs find themselves looking at a number of the Russian light tanks....the lead PIII draws a bead on a T70 to the left, while the second PIII targets one of the light tanks moving right to left on the road behind the Small Arms Factory....





A hit! Guaranteed to drive Leto's into paroxysyms of depression...the veteran german crew slams a 50mm AP into the Russkie tank. They fire a second 50mm round before the replay ends, which bounces harmlessly off the turret front....definitely a T70 then; that 60mm of turret front can stop quite a bit.

Watching the stricken T70 very very closely a couple of times, it definitely loses way when hit compared to the other light tanks around it. Looks like a kill to me, so I'm going to take the chance and switch targets if there's one in view.

One concern here....the T70s etc are going to fire back from two angles...could easily find myself losing a PIII or two from side shots. That will be something to think about in the orders phase. For now tho, pretty happy...didn't lose the Sd251/10 that I had expected to lose, cleaned the Russian infantry out of the Small Arms Factory, and hopefully got a kill on a T70.

I like that map. What is that AFV that is driving straight down the rail-road tracks?

btw, what time frame is this?

That's a  PIIIJ...the fifth member of the PIII platoon.  They all have the long 50mm guns and 50+20 of frontal armour.

This is March 1943......

The map is very, very good. Recommend the scenario highly.

Agreed that does look like an interesting map to play on... I like ripping maps from scenarios and fighting Quick Battles over them... so much better than computer generated abominations..!

Reinforcements! Exce........oh crap



What the hell am I going to do with a bunch of 20mm armoured cars!?! There's not a chance in hell that they'll penetrate a T70 or a Stuart, and the terrain on the left is very open.



Gallantly, I decide to hide them for the moment, clumped together with the Sd251/9 &10. If anything does come after them, at least there's a bit of safety in 20mm hail fire. I can also get some coverage over the woods leading to the central bridge without exposing my ACs to the tanks on Hill 165. At least the AA quad 20mm will be useful in this role if some Soviet aircraft should happen by.

The infantry can move forward to thebridge. You know, I'm not at all sure that Leto has actually reached or garrisoned the Grainery as yet. If I actually had some decent reinforcements, I would be highly tempted to move forward and probe it. This would be dumb, given the overall strategy is to draw him forward on the left. But I'm still tempted nonetheless.

I'm also very tempted to break up the infantry platoon and have it partly strengthen the Hill 161 garrison. But, again, splitting platoons is dumb unless you absolutely have to. Secondly, as mentioned, I don't see an attack developing imminently from the Grainery direction, meaning Hill 161 should be safe for the moment.

Next is the main battleground. Deciding to bring everything into play, the orders go like this...



Both the PIIIs on the left road branch get their hunt orders repositioned to send them over the rise and into combat, and in both instances get changed to "Fast". No point getting there too late.

One of the two lead light tanks is a T60, which the 20mm of my AC can penetrate, so both the AC and the Sd251/10 get orders to hunt. Hopefully the Russians will either be in reverse and/or targetted firmly on the PIIIs, giving the German light armour a chance to get a shot or two in.

Last we have the Small Arms Factory.


Time to get the halftracks out from the front, as the Russkie light armour is likely to tear them a new one. The Sd251/9 hooks round the side, hoping to catch the Russkie HT on top of the embankment if it reverses course again. The German infantry proceed through the buildings, with the HQ moving up to support its squads.

Back a ways the PIII on the railway embankment has been changed to hunt orders....thats still reasonably fast, and I might as well take the Russian HT being offered. Also, I suspect it has a good chance to get LOS to any number of targets as it proceeds.

Some of my infantry on the PIIIs is a bit exposed, due to me forgetting to give them disembark orders last turn, but hopefully the Russian tanks will be too tied up getting the hell out and/or shooting back to have much time to shred the German infantry.

Mmm.....this could be very tasty. But what's this? The percentage counter shows 73:2 at the bottom....practically no change for the Germans and I've definitely lost something. But what? Hitting the play button with trepidation, we watch the action unfold.

Down by the riverside, almost immediately the Psw222 gets a phaser lock, and lets loose a burst of 20mm...


The shells go straight and true, smacking home through the T60's front turret...which proceeds to take no notice of it whatsoever, reversing back out of the line of sight of my PIII's to the right. The PIII's promptly retarget on the T70s behind the Small Arms Factory, which leaves the now hunting Psw222 to the tender mercies of the T60s all on its lonesome.



Two bursts of 20mm later and the Psw222 explodes in a fireball, without getting off a shot in return. The only fortunate thing about it is that the adjacent Sd251/10 survives, for now at least. It moves up the bank with the two additional PIIIs close behind.

Meanwhile, the PIII's on the rise are hammering away at the T70s behind the factory...



One of the T70s attempts to duke it out. After a couple of misses, two 50mm AP slam into the T70 and after a short while the Russian crew abandon.

However, the second T70 is moving fast. My veteran PIII fires five times in a row...hitting with the 4th shot for a partial turret penetration, but the T70 shows no effects and races out of sight, hiding behind a Russian house.



Over at the Small Arms Factory, you can see that the halftracks and infantry have repositioned. The Russian halftrack has gone down the eastern side of the railway embankment and my PIII lost track of it after a second missed shot...it's bearing a charmed life so far.

Not sure whether you can see it, but the yellow box is where the surviving T70 ended up.

Getting back to the REAL action, things decide to go from bad to worse for the Germans.  Let's see....I got five Panzer IIIs.  So did I really imagine the only thing the Russians get was a bunch of T70s?  Ermmm, well...its possible I didn't give the matter quite enough thought.

From across the river, three T34/M43 models (70mm turret fronts) come racing down the road to the river bank....pause...and acquire my precious crack PIII instantly.  At the same time the T60s acquire my Sd251/10, which has fired twice at close range for two misses.  Grrr!!




My crack PIII is dead before it knows what happened.....one shot, one kill   At the same time, the T60s start filling my Sd251/10 full of 20mm AP....but it gets a third shot off before it goes down, and this one hits and kills one of the T60s in return.



The turn finishes with the surviving PIIIs hunting forward a bit and acquiring the T34s, while two surviving T70s cower behind a wheat hill, the surviving T60 stays out of sight (and of course there is the other T70 behind the Small Arms Factory).

Although one PIII fires three rounds at the T34s, only one round hits and, although precious tungsten ammo, simply bounces off the tough Russian tank's turret.

Nice to see there is a bit of "tank cower" by the T34s...pity they couldn't have done that BEFORE they blew the crap out of my crack PIII    It will be tough work getting through their armour with the PIIIs...really need the T34 to be shooting at the PIII to ensure that the turret is square on, otherwise the German shells will just bounce.



Finally, a look at the left.



The 20mm armoured cars are all behind hill 161, the infantry are on foot well behind, excepting the HQ.

Things to note during this turn are:
(a) No less than four Russian halftracks head crosscountry into the outskirts of the Grainery area.  They might be the targets my armoured cars have been waiting for;
(b) the Stuart retreated down the back of Hill 165, I expect that it is going to head left and ride shotgun for the halftracks moving up to the Grainery, which would be a short and sad end to my armoured cars if it caught them.
(c ) One Russian infantry squad has sneaked to the southernmost edge of the left bank woods above the bridge.
(d) A further Russian infantry squad moved up through the area occupied by the T34s.

Back to Pete goes the turn replay, and we await the next orders phase.  Not quite sure what I'm going to do as yet.

Casualties Tally so far...

German
1 x Psw222
1 x Sd251/10
1 x PIIIJ
                                                              
Russian
2 x T70 light tanks
1 x T60 light tank
1 x halftrack
flamethrower team and either an infantry halfsquad or a LMG team

Pretty even   In fact with the crack PIII gone, you'd have to say the Russians have come out of it pretty well.

The major decision this turn is whether or not to slug it out with the T34s. I was encouraged by the way a couple of them backed away from the fight toward the end of last turn, thinking (this turns out to be completely wrong) it was Russian "tank cowardice"....if they do that their accuracy will go all to pot - hopefully! It's still pretty close range. On the negative side, there are three T70s and a T60 that Pete can choose to bring to the fight if he wants to....that could get ugly pretty quick.

Nevertheless, my PIII's need to be at this range if they want to have a chance of penetrating the T34 armour, so I decide to stand and fight....for a turn anyway.




My top two PIIIs are vulnerable at this point to a side hit.....doesn't matter what the angle is, a 76mm AP will probably go through 30mm of armour easily. Hopefully they can rotate a bit before being hit. You can also see the Russian light tanks lying low in the centre and right of the picture....one T60 and two T70s.




You can see that the right hand T34 is on a rise, the second has retreated back down it. The right hand T34 is in a personal duel with my PIII on the road branch behind its knocked out brethren. The T34 on the left is being targeted by both PIIIs on the top rise....it was also being targeted by the third PIII, but I switched because last turn it bounced a tungsten round off the turret front. There's no point in shooting at the front of a T34 unless its pointed at you more or less...otherwise the combined vertical and horizontal angles of the turret slope and the angle from your tank to theirs will defeat the round.

Over at the Small Arms Factory, I decide to bring the 251/9 into firing position at the corner, looking toward the house behind which a T70 is cowering from last turn.




Thats an overhead look at the orders and a over-view of the situation. You can see the PIII on the railway embankment has changed back to fast...it got itself too close to the track and was inching along. It's out of the fight where it is, no good at all.

If the enemy T70 stays where it is, I will order the 251/9 to area fire 75mm HE into the house.....I bet I can get it right next to the T70 and with luck will damage it or even knock it out. Killing tanks with area fire is fun, if you can pull it off, and it really annoys your opponent.

If it moves out, then the 251/9 should have a chance of nailing it, especially if it is trying to get flank shots on my PIIIs...hopefully it will have a specific target arc that lets the 251/9 have a shot unhindered. if not then I'll probably lose the 251/9, but thats life.

Briefly toyed with the idea of running a half squad all the way to the house to assault the tank, but my boys are still slightly tired from cleaning out the factory and its a fair way.

On the left I decide to hook the armoured cars and the 251/9 (for some heavier 75mm backup) left around the Grainery end of things. Quite possibly nothing much will come of this, but I may get a chance to take down some halftracks OR, if Pete can see them moving, give pause to any plans Pete might have.



You can see the red stars indicating the last known position of Pete's halftracks behind the Grainery, and the tracks my infantry are taking up to the bridge.
A delicate tracery of vehicle balletics trying to keep everything flowing efficiently....



I've already sent the turn off to Pete, so too late now, but I'm already nervous about a bad turn for my PIIIs....if I lose them then the Russian light tanks will tear through my halftracks and there won't be much I can do about it. It might have been better to pull them back and await further reinforcements....ie hopefully something armed with a long 75mm. But, hell, war is risk

Right! Will this be a disaster for the upstanding tankers of the Heer? Will we be P three-less by the end?

The opening moves don't look like favourable omens to me....only 5 seconds into the turn and all three T34's have fired, for two hits...versus one shot (a miss) in return, as the PIIIJ's ponderously turn their turrets. Even the bailing out crack PIII gets a bit of T60 20mm for good measure. This is not good.....I had not thought that the T34 at the bottom of the little hillock could see my PIII, but it clearly can.




But maybe not such a bad omen at all.....it's not everyday that a 76mm penetration results in a "no effect"...I was right to be worried about the prospect of a side hit, no matter what the angle. And, if you recognise your telltale descriptions, you will realise that the hit on the PIII on the left is an HE shell. A T34 firing HE in preference to Ap at this range? Unlikely....so the alternate explanation is that Pete's T34s have stuff all AP...or, at least, THAT particular one has stuff all HE. It continues to fire HE through the turn, hitting my PIII twice more for no serious damage. With AP I suspect I might have been another PIII down.

BTW I've changed unit scale to +3 instead of my normal +2 to help in visibility.

Twelve seconds in...



Both PIIIs on the right have just fired their first shots, both tungsten. One misses, but the other slams home through the turret front of the target T34!

On the left my PIII misses its second shot in a row, as does one of the T34s, but is hit for the second time in return by the HE firing T34. No damage from the HE...whew!

The T60 has switched to the already bailing out Sd251/10 and knocks it out for good to remove any doubt.

The veteran PIIIs swiftly reload and fire off a second set of tungsten....



....one of which chunks through the T34's turret again, and with this the metal beast is knocked out. Both the PIII's slowly move forward, hoping to acquire the T34s pummeling their compatriot

At the same time, the left PIII finally gets a hit, but the shell simply breaks up...just ordinary AP shot. The T34 then commences to roll backwards a trifle down the hill, taking a another hit from the PIII a few seconds later, but again the 50mm AP simply bounces off the tough Russian's hull.

A third time he hits, and watches the projectile bounce skyward in absolute frustration. The Russians fire back with two rounds of HE, both hitting a crest slightly forward of the PIII, but having the incidental result of killing a Mg34LMG crewmember and sending the survivor routing rearwards.

The forward hunt of the right two PIIIs has an unexpected result as one picks up the T60, now scurrying backwards to the cover of a hut...



....but not quite fast enough.



A second round of 50mm AP and the Russian light tank is knocked out.

Contrary to what I had thought would happen, neither PIII picks up the T34s, leaving their comrade to the T34's tender mercies. The stalwart German tankers bounce a fourth round of the T34's hull....HIT THE TURRET, DAMMIT!!!

Oooop..I didn't mean for the Russians to do it...but happily it is the Russkies turn to see a round bounce.

My PIII bounces its fifth hit of a Russian, and takes an HE round full in the turret in reply...no serious damage.



A sixth hit bounces off Pete's T34, this time from the turret...grrrr!!! An HE round impacts the PIII's gun...no serious damage. Clearly there is some kind of "no result" forcefield surrounding these two tanks. The HE firing T34 has really found the range, whereas its compatriot at the bottom of the rise has only hit the once...probably only seeing a low percentage hit view of the topmost portion of the PIII. Eleven seconds to go!

My PIII finally decides discretion is the better part of valour, and retreats a bit. Both Russian tanks fire one last time, and I take another gun hit, again for no damage. The PIII's shot misses in return and 60 secs comes to an end.

Phew! I can't complain about that, very lucky I feel to have my PIIIs intact and un-gun-damaged. Although conversely I do feel a bit unlucky to have scored six hits in turn without result. I bet Pete is hoping the retreat of the PIII meant no functioning gun.

Although my other two PIIIs failed to pick up the remaining T34s and help out, I was pretty happy that they took out a T34 and a bonus T60. I was also pretty happy that Pete didn't bring his T70's out to play...that could have really complicated things.

It is pretty plain that my PIIIs have no real chance against a T34M43 except using tungsten through the turret front. If I can, I'll disengage from the T34s with my leftmost PIII...just not worth the risk. The other two can duel while the tungsten lasts.

Elsewhere...

Over by the right of the Small Arms Factory, the Sd 251/9 eases into position to cover the T70 cowering behind the light house. The T70 will get some HE wake up calls next turn.

On the left...



The armoured cars have gone all over the place and I didn't give sufficient pause to allow my Pz grenadier platoon commander time to get of...sigh, now he's stuck all to buggery over the left away from his troops. Pity he has such an inept overall commander. Meanwhile the Stuart briefly appears, as predicted, following the Russian HTs into the rear of the Grainery, along with another Russian HT or possibly one of those lend-lease scout cars. I dunno how interested I am about duelling the Stuart with armoured cars. What I have suddenly become quite interested in is sneaking a car or two across the river if at all possible, because there quite seriously is a good shot at some Russian HTs from a keyhole position down by the river, if I could only get something there. Not the PIIIs....they're way too heavily engaged. But to get across the river means going over the bridge in front of the church (too exposed) OR a ford behind the woods to the right of the church, where my Sd251/1 is presently holed up...little bit to the right of the lower right corner of the picture. Fords and wheeled vehicles. And they'll probably take some fire from the T70 on Hill 165. Hmmmmmmm. Maybe something else will come up on the right side as reinforcements.

The HMG on hill 161 spots and guns down a Russian squad....three bursts and the Russians sprawl to the ground with an audible shout of pain. Good HMG! (pats crew and gives them a bone).

On to the orders.....