Geography is Destiny

• Quick Battle
• 600pt Meeting Engagement
• Mech Inf vs. Mech Inf
• Played as allies

Setting

A bomb scarred square of land with a central depression and a high, bare hill on my side of the battlefield. Small clumps of trees are scattered around most of the map. Some houses still stand here and there, others have been reduced to rubble. A road enters from my left corner of the map and runs diagonally to the opposite corner. It forks in the center of the map, heading toward the far edge before also bending off to the right. Our objectives are a thick patch of woods to the left of the central depression and the fork in the road.

Setup

I have selected a mechanized infantry company with two Maxim MGs. They will be supported by two 76mm regimental guns, an extra SMG, and three lend-lease M5 halftracks and a jeep. The vehicles were chosen to allow an entire vehicle mounted platoon to provide high mobility with extra firepower. I considered using them as a fast mobile reserve but I think in a meeting engagement they will be better used to rush troops forward to the objective where they will play a defensive roll. I can then move the halftracks back to reload with another platoon. The guns and a Maxim will set up in what cover is available on top of the hill. They should provide pretty potent fire to anywhere on the map if they survive long.

Action

Enemy vehicles are immediately spotted by my overwatch group on the hill. Two AA Vehicles? and two Halftracks? are taken out in the first three minutes. Enemy infantry is moving toward the forest objective on the left. There is not a well covered approach to my side of those woods so I order my halftracks behind the scattered trees that overlook the crossroads. Lt. Glebov's 1st platoon will dismount there, cross the road, and enter the forest on foot.

Between hitting vehicles the 76s and Maxims (I moved the second one up after only a minute) fire at any infantry that emerges into the open, causing some to retreat.

The vehicles are rushed back to pick up Lt. Mamajonov's 2nd platoon, which is moving forward on foot to meet them.

Lt. Glebov's men start across the road during the fifth minute. They are exposed briefly as they cross the road and are fired on from a distance. Most of the men dash forward toward the cover I had ordered them to, but Ser. Nikolaev and his squad, fresh from basic training, are too scared to move and drop to the ground right where they are. They are pinned in place for a few minutes by sporadic gunfire before eventually crawling back to a bombed out house to hide in the rubble.

I had ordered one of the 76mm guns to fire smoke to cover the advance across the road but he was distracted by other infantry targets and failed to fire the smoke rounds. So I cancelled his targeting and ordered smoke again, but he just ignored the order and kept firing on enemy infantry. I'm not happy with him. In the future I will have to be more clear in giving my orders (perhaps a narrow covered arc to keep him focused on what I want).

When Lt. Mamajonov and his platoon dismount from the vehicles around six and a half minutes into the battle I order them through the scattered trees to the craters and wrecked buildings overlooking the crossroads. These are just past the trees they dismounted behind and are right on the edge of a hill that slopes down to the road. From here they also have a good view of the patch of woods the enemy is using as a jumping off point. It is opposite the forest objective and they are moving men forward through the tree cover and then dashing across the clear toward the objective area.

In that objective area Lt. Glebov and the two squads still with him are moving toward the forward edge of the woods. The meet a few enemy squads there but one at a time, so they are able to beat them with local numerical superiority.

The vehicles are again pulling back but at seven minutes into the battle I grab Efr. (corporal) Mikushev and tell him to move his halftrack back to the clearing the road passes through to provide some support with his machine gun.

At about ten minutes the vehicles are back near the main hill and Lt. Mansurov and two squads from his 3rd platoon (who had been kept back as reserves and to protect the overwatch group) are mounting up to move forward. I want more fire support forward because Lt. Glebov's men in the forest are using up their ammo. One squad will remain behind along with the independent SMG team to protect the guns and Maxims.

All this time the enemy has primarily been sending lone squads across the clearing toward the forest objective. As they emerge from the clearing my Maxims open fire on them from the hill. Sometimes they go to the ground and retreat. The smarter ones realize that if they get a little farther forward they have defilade from the Maxims. They don't, however, have defilade from Leytenants Glebov and Mamajonov. None make it across. Most eventually crawl back.

With Lt. Mansurov's men coming forward Lt Mamajonov makes room for them by moving his men down the hill crater by crater toward the crossroads. They come under fire as they advance but by moving only one at a time their comrades provide covering fire and nobody is lost.

At about fifteen minutes Lt. Manusrov is dismounting his men. They move toward the rubble evacuated by Lt. Mamajonov. I keep one of the halftracks behind to join the other in providing fire support, and order the third back, along with the jeep. They will keep an eye out on my right flank.

As they drive back something explodes right next to the jeep. A German mortar team has set up far to the left and is firing. My biggest worry was that artillery would be a problem for my overwatch group on top of the hill, but so far I have encountered none. I hurriedly order both 76s and the Maxim with line-of-sight to fire on that team. He must be green, because instead of firing on the hill he aims for Lt. Mamajonov's platoon in the craters after taking his potshot at my jeep. Under heavy fire he begins to retreat. A good shot knocks the mortar out and the surviving men abandon it and crawl toward the trees.

Twenty minutes in a machine gun sets up in some far trees and makes himself a real pain. For the remainder of the battle he will set up in some trees and open fire. I will focus a lot of fire on him which will suppress but not kill him, causing him to displace to a new patch of trees where the story starts all over again. He primarily picks on one of my halftracks. He will ricochet some bullets off the front of the vehicle and they will back up a bit. It's on the forward face of a hill, though, so retreating doesn't help. Eventually a lucky shot hits the engine and leaves the halftrack a flaming wreck. Later that same machine gun opens fire on the other halftrack. This time he hits one of Efr. Mikushev's men right away causing the others to abandon the vehicle. At one point I try to suppress him by dumping the rest of my smoke on his location but it doesn't prove very effective.

For the rest of the battle the situation stays basically the same. I have troops in the forest, in the craters near the crossroads, and in the rubble behind them, and guns back on the hill. The Germans have troops in a couple patches of trees that they occasionally push forward, only to retreat under fire. A couple fairly persistent Lieutenants attempt to cross the clear but never successfully.

A little beyond thirty minutes I notice that Ser. Nikolaev's squad, who panicked early in the battle, has collected themselves. They still have full ammunition and everyone else is running low so I order them slowly forward to help out. They're pretty rattled, though, and beyond the reassuring reach of their Lt. so when a couple shots go their way again, they immediately hit the deck and crawl back away.

My men are low on ammo all over and I assume the enemy is too as firing thins out. At minute thirty seven the battle is over.

Conclusion

Geography is destiny. I didn't win this one because of good tactical decisions, I won because of that huge hill. From there I had an excellent view of the enemy's whole side of the battlefield. His vehicles were out of the fight before it really began, and his infantry was continuously punished with machine gun fire and high explosives. My only real worry was artillery and what little he had was ineffectively used.

I'm glad I pushed troops forward quickly with the halftracks. It helped to be in good positions and make the enemy come to me.

In the end I had a total victory, with 84% of the victory points and an overwhelming casualty imbalance in my favor. The in-game estimate had been 95% until I lost the two halftracks. It probably would have been better to back them into cover until I found a way to deal with that machine gun.