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ComradeP -> RE: 7th Panzer 97 battle long campaign AAR (5/15/2011 2:59:40 PM)
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FNG has started a 1st Panzer 96 long campaign AAR that fans of a more "historical" war (with core losses) might appreciate more than my "play every battle as if it's a puzzle" AAR.
His tactics will also probably be a bit different as he has a better core (tanks with 50mm or 75mm guns, although 11 tanks total instead of 12) to start with, although he will probably also face tougher resistance. For example: I have yet to encounter a 76.2mm AT gun, whilst he encountered one in his first battle.
It seems that, as a general rule of thumb, if you get significant support of some kind, it will mean the battle will be more difficult than normal. Of course, the late 1941 battles will probably feature less reinforcements or none at all.
Battle 4 was easier than I had expected based on the briefing, primarily because I could see the on-map Soviet tanks at the start, so those were all gone by turn 4. Another legendary victory without losses, in this case primarily because the Soviets didn't have anything that could realistically touch my Panzer 38(t)E's at medium range.
All battles seem to follow the same order of events thus far: find and eliminate the enemy's mobile elements/find and eliminate the enemy AT guns and then massacre the enemy infantry which is essentially powerless against tanks. Even later in the war, I don't expect that to change much as the Soviets lagged behind in developing ranged infantry held AT weapons. In 1944, an attack at close range with tanks on German infantry would be met with a hail of Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck fire, but all the Soviets would have would be RPG-43's and RPG-6's to throw with and perhaps a Lend-Lease Bazooka if they're lucky. It's quite a big difference.
According to the briefing, I should try to achieve victory before turn 22. I believe the battle ended at turn 19.
It seems I forgot to take a screenshot of the setup phase.
All my tanks were concentrated on the road in the western part of the map. There was a large dried up riverbed or gully on the eastern part of the map that I would have had to move through, and attacking through that would have heavily favoured the Soviets, so I decided to flank their positions. The briefing mentioned minefields being present, and it seemed likely to me that those would probably be concentrated in the eastern part of the map. There were 6 T-26 M33's in a field north of my starting position, as well as a BA-10M.
[image]http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/654/battle4turn4.jpg[/image]
I ordered my tanks to simply advance in the direction of the enemy, figuring that the chance that the T-26's would get a penetrating hit was minimal, and the chance that my tanks would be able to score hits whilst moving was still good. In the screenshots, my spearhead is moving towards the wrecked T-26's.
You can see the objectives I need to capture in the background as well as the large dried up riverbed or gully I mentioned.
My Panzer 38(t)E's were ordered to move to the woods you can see on the left, whilst my Panzer IIB's were ordered to remove the Soviet infantry hiding in the woods in the direction of the perspective the screenshot was taken from (a bit to the left of the camera).
[image]http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/4326/battle4turn15.jpg[/image]
The screenshot's probably a bit unclear, but you might be able to see the Panzer IIB's on the left and the Panzer 38(t)E's moving towards the second objective on the right. I ended up turning the two HQ tanks around to guard the first flag as there were Rifle units north of it that were trying to recapture it.
Aside from the T-26's, the only AT weapon on the map was a single AT gun at the third flag. The end game review also included a BT-5, but that wasn't on the map when the battle ended, perhaps it was a reinforcement unit.
[image]http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/2554/battle4end.jpg[/image]
The end battle screen, looking from the third flag towards the other side of the map where my PanzerIIB's are.
Kills, awards and medals in the campaign thus far:
Core:
1/1/2-6 PzG /1 Close Combat Bar (Bronze) and War Merit Cross 2nd Class.
/2 Infantry Assault Badge (Bronze), Close Combat Bar (Bronze).
/3: nothing.
Transports: /1 Veteran Driver
/2 Veteran Driver.
/3 nothing.
1/1-37 Aufklaerung/1: Veteran Driver
/2: Wound Badge (Black)
HQ 3/2-25 Panzer Regiment/1: War Merit Cross 2nd Class, War Merit Cross 1st Class and Iron Cross 2nd Class, killed 10 Rifle squads, 3 50mm mortar teams, 3 Maxim crews, 1 45mm AT gun crew, 1 BT-7, 2 BA-10M's, 1 DShK 39 crew and 1 BT-5.
/2: Wound Badge (Black), killed 12 Rifle squads, 1 76mm infantry gun crew, 1 Maxim crew, 1 50mm mortar team, 1 AT Rifle squad, 1 BA-10M, 2 BT-7's and 1 BT-5.
2/3/2-25 Panzer Regiment/1: War Merit Cross 2nd Class and Veteran Driver, killed 6 Rifle squads, 1 45mm AT gun crew, 1 50mm mortar crew and 2 T-26 M33's.
/2: Iron Cross 2nd Class and War Merit Cross 2nd Class, killed 13 Rifle squads, 3 T-26 M39's, 1 76mm infantry gun crew, 2 Maxim crews, 1 BT-7, 1 45mm AT gun crew, 1 AT Rifle squad, 1 BA-10M and 2 T-26 M33's.
/3: Wound Badge (Black), Veteran Driver and Iron Cross 2nd Class, killed 6 Rifle squads, 2 Maxim crews, 1 BT-7, 2 45mm AT gun crews, 1 BT-7M and 1 DShK crew.
/4: War Merit Cross 2nd Class, Wound Badge (Black), Iron Cross 2nd Class and Panzer Assault Badge (Silver), killed 1 T-26 M39, 9 Rifle squads, 1 76mm infantry gun crew, 2 BT-7's, 2 Maxim crews, 1 AT Rifle squad, 3 45mm AT gun crews, 1 T-26 M33 and 2 DShK crews.
/5: Wound Badge (Black), Iron Cross 2nd Class and Panzer Assault Badge (Silver), killed 7 Rifle squads, 1 BA-6, 1 AT Rifle squad and 3 Maxim crews.
1/3/2-25 Panzer Regiment /1: Iron Cross 2nd Class, killed 10 Rifle squads and 1 50mm mortar crew.
/2: War Merit Cross 2nd Class, killed 6 Rifle squads and 1 50mm mortar crew.
/3: Iron Cross 2nd Class and War Merit Cross 2nd Class, killed 8 Rifle squad and 1 Maxim crew.
/4: War Merit Cross 2nd Class, Veteran Driver and Iron Cross 2nd Class, killed 7 Rifle squads, 2 Sniper teams.
/5: Iron Cross 2nd Class, Veteran Driver and War Merit Cross 2nd Class, killed 8 Rifle squads and 1 Sniper team.
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Battle 5 includes reinforcements of Panzer IVD's and the Luftwaffe seems to have been to that part of the Soviet Union before as there are 2 T-34 wrecks on the map. I am told to expect "very heavy resistance", so I'm going to make a cautious guess that I'll need those HEAT rounds on the Panzer IVD's again.
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