Date : February 4th 1943
A description of scenario 10 : Commando School from the GMT Games board game Combat Commander : Europe
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Setup
Lt. Schrader perused the map in his makeshift command center. A reconnaissance report had revealed the locations of the Russian commandos in the town; a Russian HMG, weapons team, squad and leader were deployed in a small building close to the edge of town (K5) as the lynchpin of the defense. A squad, weapons team and a leader were hidden in a building over by the lake (J6) Another Russian squad was in the same building (I6). These units were covering the road on the far side of the lake . On the Russian left flank there was a lone squad holed up in a building isolated from his leaders. This seemed to be the weak point of the Russian defense offering a route to bypass the Russian HMG, rendering it ineffective unless it fell back.
Schrader positioned Sgt. Esser and one squad with an HMG forward to a building where they could see the isolated Russian squad, but they themselves could not be seen by the Russian HMG(M3). Sgt. Bierman was sent to the extreme right flank with the two squads of Pioneers, armed to the teeth with a flamethrower and a satchel charge. Their initial position was also out of site of the rather deadly looking Russian HMG.
The German HMG was to suppress the lone Russian squad on the German right flank while Biermann and his pioneers moved in for the kill. Then the pioneers would move further into the town turning the Russian flank and prompting a Russian withdrawal. Smoke would be deployed to provide cover from the Russian HMG. The pioneer squads would have a corridor open to exit the map should they so desire, bagging a few objectives along the way.
Schrader himself stayed in reserve with three squads. There he could threaten the left flank if the Russians moved to the right to counter the pioneers, and block any move the Russians might make off the map.
The stage was set, and all awaited Schraders signal. Esser and the HMG team settled in with their sites set on the lonely Russian squad. All they needed was the fire command.
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Initial PositionsAchtung!
Schrader gave the signal and Biermann and the pioneers moved off up the right flank. They used smoke grenades to cover their progress from the Russian HMG and cautiously moved toward the house occupied by the Russian squad. The German HMG started laying down covering fire and succeeded in breaking the Russian commando squad. With the Russian squad broken the Pioneers moved in on the building occupied by the Russian squad. Now they were completely screened from the Russian HMG and ready to bring their weapons to bear.
The pioneers swiftly dispatched the Russian squad, using the flamethrower and firepower. To counter this potential breakthrough the Russian HMG and accompanying units withdrew into the trees behind its start position so that they could set their sights on the pioneers and cover the terrain the pioneers would have to cross if they attempted a fast exit up the German right flank. Not wishing to risk running that gauntlet the pioneers moved back out of the building they had just taken, to await further developments.
The withdrawal of the Russian HMG brought it into the line of fire of the German HMG commanded by Esser. The German HMG was ensconced in a building, the Russian in the slightly less effective cover of the trees. A machine gun duel ensued, the German gunners eventually getting the better of the situation, killing the Russian leader and driving the Russian HMG to withdraw further into the woods, A Russian hero did pop up to replace the fallen leader.
Move Out!
The forced withdrawal of the Russian HMG allowed Schrader to move up in the center in relative safety and take residence in the building at M5. This allowed them to target the Russian squads in the building complex near the lake, around J6. Some good shooting there, combined with sniper activity that wounded the Russian leader quickly had the Russians in trouble. At one point it looked like by sheer firepower alone the Russians in the building in the center would be eliminated. However the broken squads recovered and total collapse of the Russian center was avoided, but Russian leader was eliminated.
Taking advantage of the temporary suppression in the Russian center and with the breakout of the Pioneers hindered by the repositioning of the Russian HMG, Schrader started moving off up the left flank on the far side of the lake. However they ran into wire at a choke point and were in some disarray as some opportunity fire from the Russians on the other side of the lake was rather effective. Temporarily Schrader pulled his troops back , but shortly thereafter he tried again with just one squad, half gambit to distract and half serious attempt.
At this point time was moving along and although the Russians has suffered one squad and two leaders as casualties the Germans had not really made any major inroads on Russian territory ; the pioneers were a little overawed by the power of the Russian HMG stack and on the left flank Schrader was doggedly making slow progress on the left flank through mines, wire and opportunity fire. The victory point track was a few points in the Russians favor. The German secret objective gave the Russians one more VP as they held 3 objectives to the German 2. The key to victory seemed to be to push harder to get squads off the map (exit points doubled). Probably anticipating this, to block Schrader on the German left, the Russians moved the Russian HMG and squad further back. The HMG ended up toward objective 3 at the far end of the lake, leaving the Russian Hero and one squad alone in the woods at I4, near the pioneers who had been keeping a low profile up to this point because of the HMG.
The Machine Gun is Gone!
With the Russian HMG gone, the emboldened pioneers , still armed with a flamethrower, moved in on the isolated Hero and squad. However the pioneer squad carrying the flamethrower was targeted and suppressed, on the road outside the building and so could not bring the lethal flammenwerfer to bear. The satchel charge was ineffective and so a short stalemate in this little corner of the battlefield ensued. Time had reached the first sudden death roll, but the battle did not end. If it had ended at that point, it would probably have been a Russian victory.
 Heroic Action
This local stalemate was broken by the arrival of Dietel a German hero. He grabbed the flamethrower from the suppressed pioneer squad and squirted flame repeatedly until the Russian squad was eliminated. Some Russian walking wounded had shown up just to the rear of the pioneers. Dietel jumped up, hoisting the 50lbs of flamethrower as if it was some sort of toy, raced over to the walking wounded and eliminated them.
Another walking wounded event (for the Germans) caused a very surprised wounded Russian leader to appear out of nowhere in amongst the German HMG position, where a brief melee ensued. The wounded Russian leader did manage to ambush the German leader, Esser, but he could not overcome the squad and he did not survive the melee.
This flurry of Russian casualties moved the VP track into positive German territory just in time as a third sudden death roll ended the game.
It turned out that the Russian secret objective , and a second secret objective he had been given during the battle awarded 4 VPs to objective 4, which was firmly in German hands, turning a close German victory into a fairly comfortable one. Schrader surveyed the battle ground with a grim satisfaction. It had been close, but his men had carried the day and suffered no casualties. The Russian propaganda machine would try and paint a closer picture, but he knew the truth. :)
Russian After Action Report
The battle hung in the balance until the last roll of the last turn. Early on both heroic comrade commanders lost their lives fighting for the Motherland, and Russian units were thereafter handicapped by being without leaders for most of the battle. Unknown to the Axis enemy, the Russian original Secret Objective, as well as a random Secret Objective drawn as an event, provided points for Objective 4, unapproachably deep behind Axis lines. So, the Russians needed to hold their victory point advantage to at least four, or they would lose. The game needed to end on the first sudden death roll. However, such things were not to be.
The turning point in the battle occurred when the Axis Hero was handed the flamethrower, and given several consecutive fire and the move orders, to annihilate two Russian units. The elimination points for these victories pushed the Russian VP total down, so final objective scoring (net 4 points to the Axis), gave the Axis the victory. |
