Subject: CC3 AAR - Outskirts of Moscow (Long) Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 20:14:57 GMT From: gheverlyred@redbellsouth.net (Gary Heverly) Organization: Delete "red" in email address Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical References: 1 Here is an after action report for the 3rd game in the Road to Moscow Operation in the historical campaign. This one is more interesting than the first posted AAR. Also, I was inspired to write AARs when I read an Across The Rhine AAR a few years ago written by Henri Arsenault.... Diary of Hauptfeldwebel Schmidt - ??/11/41 , Outside Moscow It's the fourth day the Kampfgruppe has been on the offensive in Operation Typhoon - the drive to Moscow. We completed the last campaign with an additional 80mm Mortar team and a StuGIIIC, the assault gun was a Birthday present from my father-in-law, General B.I.G. Cheese. Battalion HQ provided a 50mm AT team a few days after this operation began, so I reorganized the Kampfgruppe accordingly: HQ - K00 - Platoon Leader - Hauptfeldwebel Schmidt (1st Sgt.) A Squad - A01-RC (Recon); A02-RL (Light Infantry) B Squad - B01-MG (MG Inf); B02-RL C Squad - C01-MG; C02-RL D Section - D01-MT50 (50mm Mortar Team); D02-MT80 E Section - E01-AT50 (50mm Pak 38 AT Gun) F Section - F01-StuGIIIC A Squad will be the most experienced of my squads, serving as Recon and Additional Assault force on the Offense, and Reserve on the Defense. C Squad will consist of the least experienced teams and used as a Reserve during Offensive manuevers and a Secondary Defense Squad. B Squad will be the primary Offense and Defense Squads. D Squad will be all mortar support teams, E Section will be at AT support teams, F Section will be all armored units and K will be all command teams. (Incidently, the teams in A,B,and C may change from battle to battle, depending on casualties) Battle Briefing: Enemy Forces: Elements of the 5th Army supported by artillery and armor. Armored units could include KV1, KV2, and T-34. Friendly Forces: Kampfgruppe Schmidt Support Units: None (naturally) Mission: Kampfgruppe Schmidt is to secure the roads in the operational area to ensure safe passage of the Panzers on their drive to Moscow. The primary mission is to take the transit point to Moscow with minimum casualties. Neutralizing opposition is secondary and only necessary to accomplish the mission. Map View (picture a map as a 10x10 square) of major terrain features: Ridge at 1 Easting 10 Diagonal to 3 Easting 2. Trees on said ridge from 2 Northing to 5 Northing Ford (Obj) grid 0201 Trees and Ridge 0 Northing 5 to 5 Northing 5. Ivan StrongPoint with Emplacements around grid 0504 Town Area located within 6 Easting to 8 Easting and 4 Northing to 10 Northing Moscow Exit Road grid 0807 Gun Emplacement grid 0406 Battle Plan: The Kampfgruppe assault elements will advance to along 1 Northing to an assembly area at grid 0105. The support elements will set up LOS from the Ford to West of the Ivan Strongpoint. C Squad will cover the Kampfgruppe right flank on the ridge near grid 0404. Recon team will stay 30m from main assault team and move to cover the left flank. When the team is in position, they will conduct a flank attack (Flankenangriff) on Ivan Strongpoint. The StuGIIIC will advance to the road just east of the Ford and provide direct fire support to the assault when needed. After the assault is completed, C Squad will advance to Ivan Strongpoint and the assault elements will move along 4 Northing to the town and take the portion of the town near the exit transit point to Moscow. Additional parts of the town will be taken if they can provide protection for enemy units that could threaten the safety of passage. The StugIIIC will advance to Ivan Strongpoint and provide direct fire support. Initial Setup: D - near grid 0303 (Mortars provide artillery support for assault elements) B+ = B+A02 - around grid 0202 (Kampfgruppe assault elements) C - near grid 0304 (Kampfgruppe reserve and right flank protection) A01-RC - grid 0201 (Recon and left flank protection) E01-AT50 Northwest of Ford at grid 0201 (Primary role is to protect the StuGIII from Russian armor and infantry units) F01-StuGIIIC - grid 0203 (Primary role is to suppress infantry near the road west of Ivan Strongpoint) After Action Report: I advanced the recon elements of the assault group east toward the assembly area. I also moved the MG team just northwest of the ford to provide protection for both the recon team and the AT gun that I moved onto the island northeast of the ford. In preparation for the advance along 1 Northing, I advanced the remaining assault teams and the StuGIIIC to just west of the Ford. Soon after I advanced A01-RL west of the ford, mortar fire rained on the troops in the area near the ford...shifting from east of the ford to west. Apparently, these troops were in LOS of the Russians! When one member of the MG team was killed, both the recon and MG team ran east. The MG team took up a defensive position in a destroyed house east of the ford. I got an LOS on the Russians, who were just west of Ivan and moving west. Both mortar teams fired on the exposed Russian troops, using the MG team as the OP. During this chaos, I advanced the remaining members of the assault team east (er, rather they ran)...wounding a few soldiers in the process. While the recon team was moving east, they encountered a Russian Light Infantry team near grid 0501 and a firefight ensued. I shifted the mortar fire onto this team and had the StuG provide direct fire support. When the Russians were throughly suppressed, I set the mortars in defend mode and advanced the assault teams to force this Russian team to surrender. Oh, so to make life more interesting, a KV2 was lurking just North of Ivan. Then I got a major surprise... Russian Infantry were attempting to outflank me on the right. C Squad, which up to this point was sitting tight along the ridge at grid 0405, opened fire on this new threat. When I figured this was a small team, I moved C02-RL south to assault these troops, but the unit was KIA. In preparation for the assault on Ivan Strongpoint, I moved the StuG to the road near the ford and had it open fire on the remaining infantry west of Ivan Strongpoint. They were all still attempting to move west. I advanced the assault group south with the recon team further east and south of the main group. Lo and behold, the KV2 is moving north along the west side of the ridge. Both the AT gun and StuG open fire on the KV. The turret on the KV moves toward the StuG. By this time, the Russian infantry are all but out of this fight, so I moved the assault team to take out the KV2 (I figure as long as the tank is distracted, I have a good shot at taking it out with two infantry teams). BAAMM!, StuG is damaged. To save the StuG, I reverse it into the creek just north of the ford. Fortunately, the AT gun is still firing and takes out the KV2 on a side shot (the KV2 was moving up the slope of the ridge). As the tank crew is pouring out of the tank, my assault team takes them all prisoners. The Russians fall back to Moscow. Final Analysis: The enemy appeared to consist of at least an AT Team, 3 or 4 Light Infantry teams, one or two mortars, and a KV2. I really didn't expect a counterattack so soon (3 min)... I expected to have at least 5 min before the AI would begin moving out of the entrenchments. "Protecting the flanks." If I didn't protect the flank, the mortars would have been threatened on the right flank by the AT team. With C squad in place, I could pin a larger Russian group down using the mortars and MG team while the rifle team close assaults. Additionally, if I didn't use the recon team in the left flank, I could have lost a few men from the assault team due to ambush. "Using the mortar teams to suppress." Mortars are great when you want to pin enemy troops and manuever assault teams to take them prisoner."Attack in strength" The reinforced assault squad is working well. I can generally attack one unit from two or three directions. "Didn't use smoke to cover the advance" The Russian mortar attack caused a great deal of confusion and a few casualties. IF I used smoke to cover my advance across 1 Northing to the assembly area, I probably won't have lost my troops so soon. "Anticipate possible enemy actions" Frankly, I wasn't expecting a counterattack so soon. Thank goodness I had a strong right flank and center. If I was up against NI (Natural Intelligence), the weaknesses could have stalled the attack, since the enemy would probably use similar tactics to mine. Assessment of AI: From my perspective, the Russian infantry were attempting to set up an ambush in the north near grid 0105 while attempting to outflank me in the south. The AI tactics are better than CC2 with the AI at least is coordinating some infantry attacks. I do find that they go on the offensive far too quickly in most games. If they sat tight using cover and kill lanes, I'd have a much more difficult time. Oh, I'm also finding that the tankers still don't like to coordinate their attacks with the infantry. Even when I attacked the infantry with direct fire, the KV2 hardly moved at all. On the otherhand, that could be the nature of the KV2 on a ridge in the snow...a T-34 may be a different story. Final Tally at Veteran: Side Killed Wounded Prisoner German Leader 0 0 0 German Inf 1 2 0 Russian Leader 0 1 4 Russian Inf 9 9 11