Block Busting in Bobriusk - Combat Mission Red Thunder - AAR, Part 1 - A Long Left Flank

I always imagined that I would eventually grew old and that war memories, no matter how horrifying, would fade away.

I can remember my men's faces and the cries for help obliterated by the sounds of inbound rounds of artillery. The first ones to go were the AT gun crew. With no overhead protection, they disappeared into the tall grass, never to walk among the living again.

This is a continuation of a series of blog posts regarding this great scenario. Spoiler alert.

The Russians advanced forward, infantry in front, tanks in the back. The first wave of Soviets dismounts suffered terribly to my infantry shooting from the buildings. As always, for a minute battle appeared to be going our way.

It took only the Soviet tanks catching up with the infantry to show the true reach of our perilous deployment. Too many of my men up in the front of the buildings, liable for incoming Russian fire. The first HE tank round from one of the Russian tanks knocked out a full German squad in building B.

I will never know if they were forced by my infantry fires from building A or if it was planned before hand. But the Russians leaned on and tried to push through my left flank. The amount of fire from the few men I had in building B started to peak up. Fortunately, these German infantry men were shooting at an angle.

The StuG joined the carnage, firing from the back of our sector.

Building A started to shape like a horrible mess for the very reason that I mentioned before. The Russian tanks firing at the building at almost point blank. I started moving my landsers back, all within building A. In the picture above, a key weapon system (heavy machine gun) is quite suppressed and can't come up to deploy.

With the renewed interest of the Russians in our left flank, I order my second AT gun to re-deploy into a better position.

The Russian tanks entertain the possibilities that would come out of demolishing building A with their HE rounds. The amount of Russian fire on that building is soul killing.

But building A does not fall yet. The only part of the enemy attack with some prospect of success is in our left flank.

The first hint of Russian armor shows up there, and my StuG takes care of it.

To be continued,

Cheers,