Let's Play Combat Mission

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Hi there folks. Decided to bring incline into the playground with some CM AAR's.

Cemetery Hill

It's June 23rd 1941 and Army Group North is pushing through the Baltic States. We'll take part as a little gear of the German war machine.

Our Kampfgruppe has been tasked with taking the village of Lusino. The hill with a church is a pretty important part of the sector. Securing this objective will allow us to push towards the nearby highway and cut the supply lines of the enemy forces to the west of Lusino.

Our force consists of:
1x SPW 251/10 halftrack
3x PSW 222 armored cars
2x Recon platoons (each with attached HMG and 50mm mortar teams)
1x Engineer platoon (6 teams plus flamethrowers)
1x 75 mm infantry gun
1x Anti-tank rifle

Our force is decently armed, although the objective at hand looks pretty daunting. There is no artillery support, which is a pity. Time frame of the battle is pretty short, since we're given 20+ minutes to complete our task. The only decent approach route to our objective is from the north. Forest and trees around the road should give us enough cover from Russian troops.

(Just in case you don't see it: north is to the right on the screenie below)



So, here's the plan. One platoon, infantry gun, mortars and HMG's will move to the south-western edge of the treeline and start probing the enemy defenses. Another platoon will move to the western edge and prepare itself to rush towards the road. Engineer platoon will stay back and wait with commiting itself until we have some clues about enemy defenses.



Let's go!



Our troops spot trenches dug along the road. Both platoons open fire towards the possible enemy locations. Engineers move west in order to provide supporting fire if need be.



Our men rain fire on the enemy positions for a minute. No one replies. Attack group is ordered to advance west, while rest of the force waits for the inevitable return fire from the soviets.

While our infantry advances steadily, two Maxim machineguns open fire at our support group.



We also spot a wooden strongpoint positioned near the church.



Armored cars move to the edge of the treeline in order to support our attack with their guns. Bad move. Two cars loose their crewmen. Crew of the command car bails out. Was it MG or anti-tank rifle? Can't tell, but I need to proceed with caution from now on.



At least a platoon sized-force is spotted in the trenches. We proceed to pound them with everything we have while our infantry proceeds south along the road.



I try to push flamethrower team forward under the covering fire, but it ends shot to pieces.



At the same time our attack group gets under heavy fire from dug-in troops positioned west of the road. One squad panics and runs away, while the other one is ordered to slowly crawl back into its initial position. Our attack is halted.



With nothing to loose, I proceed to pound the trenches, hoping that the troops inside will break and run for their life.



Situation is dire. Our infantry gun is destroyed, which depletes our firepower considerably. My attack group rallies itself, but it's hardly a fighting force with half of its numbers left. Second recon platoon proceeds to move north in order to provide asistance. It's almost out of ammunition, but we have no other choice.





Soviets take losses, but their morale is strong. They'd rather die in the trenches than run away.



I move my armored cars to engage the bunker, but their guns are no match for it.



One of the PSW 222's gets under fire and panics.



Our halftrack is ordered to move forward and finish the bunker. It does the job, but gets under fire from Soviet AT gun.



AT fire knocks the halftrack out. At the same time our infantry platoons gather in order to resume the attack along the road. The soviets seem to be rushing in order to reinforce the trenches, so our troops should face weaker resistance from the woods nearby.





Second platoon rushes forward. Its attack is slowed down by an unexpected minefield.



Still, we manage to keep our boot in the door.



And that's when the time runs out. I score a minor defeat. Didn't make a screen of the final debriefing, but Germans had ~30 wounded and 9 KIA, while soviets had ~40 wounded and 9 KIA. Germans lost a halftrack, armored car and a gun, while soviets lost a mortar and one 45 mm gun.

Here's a screenie of the Soviet defenses in all their beauty.



Even though it was a defeat, I'm happy with my performance. The game ended when I had a clear foothold towards the objective. Soviet defense was getting weaker, with some units either dead or broken. Could've captured the church within next 10 minutes or so.

I think that sending recon teams to sieze the objective was a fucking bad idea, since engineers would have done it much better. I feel that flamethrowers could turn the tide of the battle if they managed to get in range. Looking at the map again, I wonder if charging head on into the enemy trenches wouldn't have been the best tactic in this scenario

Will post more if there's any interest in this kind of LP.

I thought flanking from the right while keeping defenders busy from the cover of the trees would be the obvious choice?

Yeah. It wasn't that easy, though. The hill is actually steeper than it looks, so I had LOS problems when firing from the scattered trees to the east. Woods next to the road weren't much better, since I couldn't get a clear shot at the tree line surrounding the cemetery. That's why my first flanking attempt failed miserably.

Nice LP, but if you could post a few videos that'd be great Are you planning to do Barbarossa to Berlin as well?

This is Barbarossa to Berlin

I was under impression that most folks here prefer picture LPs. Also, the picture ones are kinda a bit easier to make, to be honest.

Sorry, didn't read the whole post

Sure. I find the larger engagements more interesting (eg multiple companies\battalion size) especially with the variety of vehicles\armour.

I wanted to start with something small, might LP a larger scenario in the future.

Pictures is definitely how I prefer'em.

Nope, at least I don't remember playing this one. I bet you don't remember its name?

Oh! I think I played this one! Might LP this scenario if I find it.