Wednesday 6 April 2016

Operation Breakout: Attack on Hex GA. US infantry v SS, Max Attrition

After holding onto the Allied fuel dump, the US were given order to head west and attack sector GA, held by SS and regular Heer units...

The mission was Maximum Attrition, the board was a very nice layout courtesy of JustPlay games with a large church, some scattered farm buildings and hedged fields.

Keith Backland was my veteran opponent, with a firepower heavy force consisting of the following:
2nd Lt with 2 Assault rifle wielding sergeants, medic with same, 2 MMG's, 2 x 6 men SS with 3 Assault rifles, 10 Heer Grenadiers with 3 assault rifles, heavy mortar, nebelwerfer, quadflak on hanomag, BMW75 and veteran sniper.

My US force had a regular 2nd Lt +1, 4 x 9 man reg GI's with smg and BAR, 2 x 7 Vet Tough fighters with 2 BAR, Medium howitzer, flamethrower, sniper, Air observer and bazooka team.
Keith deployed his sniper in the church tower, medium mortar and nebelwerfer central behind a small barn, an SS squad behind the church and an MMG central. The US were advancing as 1st wave, but the sniper advanced deployed in a barn and FAO up in the corner out of range of the church tower.
A veteran squad, flamethrower team and regular GI squad advanced up my left, 2 GI squads and the artillery central near snipers barn while the second veteran squad and a regular GI followed the officer up the right by the air officer, who targeted an SS squad. For the German 1st wave, the Quad 38 came on centrally with the second SS running up with the officer and medic towards the church while the grenadiers advanced into the farmyard to cover the German indirect support with an MMG in the field...

The airstrike wasn't another rookie, but the skies were clear. The US artillery the quad directly put only put 2 pins on it while the nebelwerfer didn't hit, but the heavy mortar did, killing 3 crew but the remaining crewmen held his nerve. The german sniper was ineffectual, as was US marksman but the advancing GI's put serious pins on the central MMG and took the team on their right to one man...


Turn 3 saw the airstrike kill 4 SS at the top of the road near the church, as the Quad didn't hinder it, and then the air force went away and never came back. (as skies remained clear). The flamethrower took out the sniper, then ran out of fuel, while the central advance took the officer down to a single 2nd Lt. The Nebelwerfer hit the centre left GI's for six, but they hung on in there, while the heavy mortar failed to hit the zeroed in US howitzer. On the left, the vets and GI advanced on the church

On the right, the US had good choices, with the Vets and officer tucked in behind logs in the farmyard and GIs behind the barn taking the attention of the Heer Grenadiers.

Turn 4 saw the US storm both parts of the church, the vets taking the main hall via window and the GIs take the entry and belltower. The SS counter attack saw 4 GI;s dead and the SS wiped out to a man. The Mortar missed the gun again, and the Neb hit the church but the shell exploded on the roof. The MMG in the centre somehow survived again and the bazooka who had moved up near the sniper went into ambush to try and curtail the BMW 75 which had been nipping up and down the lanes unmolested. 
After drawing more fire from the Heer squad, the flagwaving GI's advanced on the right, the 2nd Lt advanced into the field and killed the MMG sole survivor while the Vets charged up near the Heer determined to get stuck in...

Turn 5 saw the US take the fight to the Germans, with the Vets getting teh first dice and charging the Heer, who fought valiatnly but were outmatched... The 3 remaining vets drew back rather than push on, while the officer and GIs ran up to threaten to flank the centre. This was after the German officer went down under multiple shots from the centre right GI squad, the sniper took out the central MMG. The heavy mortar rolled a third one in a row...The quad ripped up the centre right I squad and took them out, and the BMW raced down the lane to assist on their left...straight into the ambushing bazook, hitting with the required six and sending the side car up in flames...

Turn 6 had the german with 4 units left to the US 8, and the vets charged the mortar (half an inch short). The medic team got taken down by the regulars in the doorway and sniper, while the quad flak demolished the Vets in the main church. The heavy mortar finally killed the howitzer.

Turn 7 came up, the vets assaulted the nebelwerfer and won, to be taken out by the quad flak... There was not much else to be done, and the game finished with a 9-6 victory to the Allies...

German losses

US losses

It was a really good, fun, tough game, only turn 5 swung it for the Allies and the Germans survived a lot of fire in the early turns. Fortunately, the German forces in this sector are short on manpower and despite numerous support units... I wonder where the rest of their troops are?

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