The British attack finally goes in. 3 Pl is providing the smoke and firebase, everyone else is going right flank, bags of smoke, with 2 Pl left and 1 Pl right.
2Pl realise too late that making a full 2-3 activation move to reach the enemy will lose them dice in the melee, so they stop short in the smoke to await the next turn. 1 Pl has swung nicely wide and sends 2 & 3 Sections against the Gruppe lining the hedge ( a flank guard recently moved up), whilst 1 Section goes in against the rear of the dug-in MG42.
2 & 3 Sections get surprisingly bounced, but inflict a fair amount of damage. A Sect also has a tough time and takes 2 rounds to get the MG42 team (well 1 man) to retreat.
Next turn 2Pl finally goes in, and again take a lot of damage from assaulting the emplaced infantry head on. 2 & 3 Sections are going against the Gruppe lining the hedge, and 1 Section against the weak Gruppe in the house.
1 Section gets bounced - unsurprisingly, but 2 & 3 manage to secure their objective and the German Gruppe is reduce to 1 man, pulls back, and loses it's Big Man.
In the next turn the smoke finally clears.
2 Pl activates first and sends 2 Sect left against the building and 3 Sect right against 1 Pl's opponent. Despite their losses 3 Sect wins out, but 2 Sect is repulsed - although only one man is left in the building (and only 1 shock so OK!). 3 Pl then activates it and pours in all its firepower, which ends up being far more effective than earlier in the game (was I doing something wrong?) and kills the brave bloke!
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| 1 Pl and 2/3 Sections recover in the Orchard whilst 3 Sect/2Pl finishes their work, right |
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| The 3Pl firebase and target house |
A quick regroup and then its time to turn the British focus on the 2nd German Zug, still on a blind in the other house the other side of the T junction. 1 Pl is just about battleworthy (2 men down per section, so only 2 activations each). 2Pl has lost one section and has quite 2 weakened, so they'll join with 3 Pl (which has lost 1/2 section) to provide the firebase. It might be nice to swop 1 & 3 but 1 is in a better position to go right flanking and get right behind any German emplacements. 2Pl can also provide 3Pl with its smoke for the screen.
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| The next objective - the remaining German Zug, still on blind! |
Overall this phase went quite nicely. Juggling men lost and shock seems a pain at times for no real benefit. Also I ended up with quite a few units at 2-3 men, so that meant they had no actions, so could only sit and be assaulted - so I decided to just remove them from the table if they weren't in a good defensive position. I also forgot about the 2" mortar rapid HE fire in the assault - I think that might be needed as its now a pretty even match for the last fight and the Germans can hole up in the buildings if they want. Could be a close run thing which is about right given the ratios.
Aim to finish this week so I can clear the decks for Easter and Rommel.
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