Witch's Cauldron - West German

[MikeJ19]

Overview

Not much has changed. Soviets are still in RINTELN, but have not managed to get much more into the town.

Enemy

The Soviets have lost over 60% of their force so far, but continue to drive West.

The Soviets lost a bunch of tanks in RINTELN, and are now down to about three companies – but only a half dozen tanks.

To the East of the city, most of the Soviet units did not move.

The MRR continues to take a beating, both along the A2 and along the obstacle belt.

A significant portion of the Soviet artillery has been destroyed.

Friendly

The Inf Coy along the A2 is doing well. They have stopped at a couple of companies cold with minimal casualties.

The Pz Coy in the centre is down to four Leopards. They are in a good position to continue inflicting losses on Soviet units heading to RINTELN.

The two AT Pls are almost in position. The PG Inf Coy is moving rapidly towards RINTELN.

[MikeJ19]

Overview

Not much has changed. Soviets are still in RINTELN, but have not managed to get much more into the town.

Enemy

The Soviets have lost almost 70% of their force so far, but continue to drive West.

The Soviets lost a bunch of tanks in RINTELN, and are now down to about three companies – but only a half dozen tanks.

To the East of the city, some tanks are now moving West

The MRR continues to take a beating, both along the A2 and along the obstacle belt.

A significant portion of the Soviet artillery has been destroyed.

Friendly

The Inf Coy along the A2 is doing well. They have stopped at a couple of companies cold with minimal casualties.

The Pz Coy in the centre is down to four Leopards. They are in a good position to continue inflicting losses on Soviet units heading to RINTELN.

I shot down two Soviet jets as well.

The two AT Pls are in position. The PG Inf Coy is moving rapidly towards RINTELN. They will be in RINTELN shortly and attacking the Northern edges of both bridges. My two M109 troops are going after the tanks in RINTELN.

[MikeJ19]

Overview

At about 0910, I was told that the Soviets had suffered 70% casualties. I decided to play on.

Enemy

The Soviets have lost over 70% of their force so far, but continue to drive West.

The Soviets lost a bunch of tanks in RINTELN. I think the original force has been destroyed, but another company is somewhere in the East end of the city.

To the East of the city, some tanks are now moving West.

The MRR continues to take a beating, both along the A2 and along the obstacle belt. Although, they did maul on Marder Pl.

A significant portion of the Soviet artillery has been destroyed.

Friendly

The Inf Coy along the A2 is holding on. An MRB hit the lead Pl and pushed it back.

The Pz Coy in the centre is down to four Leopards. They are in a good position to continue inflicting losses on Soviet units heading to RINTELN.

I shot down another two Soviet jets.

I have secured the North end of one bridge and have two platoons heading for the other bridge.

Another Marder Coy arrives in 21 minutes.

[MikeJ19]

Overview

I have secured the North end of both bridges , but lost a VP location in the North

Enemy

The Soviets did not do too much over the last 20 minutes, except grabbing the VP location along the A2.

They still have two close to full TCs left to try and capture the bridges. The remnants of the MRR are still pushing West along the A2.

Friendly

The Inf Coy along the A2 lost the rest of a pl. However, they should be fine to hold off the Soviets.

The Pz Coy in the middle was fairly quiet.

The PG Coy secured the North end of both bridges.

The final Marder Coy has arrived and the second Pz coy arrives in 9 minutes. The last Inf Coy is about 39 minutes out.

Thoughts

There is lots of time left.

I would like to recapture the VP location along the A2, secure the southern edges of the two bridges and destroy the rest of the Soviet tanks.

I think I have time and the resources to do all of that. Just need to think through the plan.

[MikeJ19]

Plan

Three companies currently in the fight will remain in their locations (for the most part).

The soon to arrive Pz Coy will secure the South side of the bridges and provide fire support into ENGERN.

The PG Coy (M113) will become the reserve for the formation.

The recently arrived PG Coy (Marder) will attack and seize the VP location just North of the A2.

Marder Coy planning:

I looked how to do this attack – there are three basic options, attack straight along the A2, from the North and from the South.

The A2 route is very direct and clear from enemy observation/fire for the most part. But the attack would have to cross the river. (60 minutes for the attackers to arrive at the Obj)

The Northern approach is a lot longer with multiple rivers to cross, including right before the Objective. (75 minutes for the attackers to arrive at the Obj)

The Southern approach is long and goes across the flank of the Soviet forces heading towards the bridges. It does not, however, require a river crossing. (120 minutes for the attackers to arrive at the Obj)

Given the current alignment of forces, I think that the A2 approach is the best. It is direct and does not expose the Coy to earlier attacks.

Studying the map a little more, one pl could swing South across the forested hill and then attack North along the L442.

[MikeJ19]

Overview

The Soviets are in trouble. They have less than 20% of their force left. I have now got all my units and am ready to end this battle.

As you can see, it has started to rain and the visibility has dropped. I think that this helps me.

Enemy

The Soviets continue to push towards the bridges. Over the last 40 minutes they have taken significant losses in that push.

Friendly

The attack on the VP location has been planned and the coy is moving forward to launch their attack.

The M113 PG Coy is heading towards the South side – into a hide as the reserve.

The newly arrived Pz Coy will be given orders to secure the southern end of the two main bridges.

[MikeJ19]

Not much has changed except the rain stopped and more of the Soviet force has been destroyed.

My Coy attack in the North is about to go in on an empty objective.

Also, the Pz Coy is about 20 minutes away from securing the South end of the bridges.

[CapnDarwin]

Looks like a hard fought win for the West German forces.

[MikeJ19]

Jim,

True enough, not sure why I am dragging it out to the end. However, it is fun to see my units move along unimpeded.

Have a good day,

[MikeJ19]

Well, I did not end up playing it all the way through. After securing the key VP locations and not having any Soviet units in view, I decided to end it.

Here is my After Action Report:

What did I do right?

My overall plan was good. I fought the Soviets for the most part in the open terrain to the East of RINTELN.

Getting the first reinforcing company into RINTELN quickly with support from the South shore ensured the victory.

Not over reacting to the Soviet push into RINTELN was important. I did not try to move units that were in contact into new positions or to attack the Soviets. Letting them stay in place was a better approach

What could I improve on?

Remembering that the Soviets usually attack early and with lots of firepower. I should have selected option 1 – delay with the Inf dug in in RINTELN. As I got lucky that my Pz Coy was able to take out so much of the TB.

Managing resupply – there were a couple of times when my units should have resupplied earlier.