F&M TERRAIN CHART

I've been refiguring the TEMs for different terrain types and no longer allow a VEGETATION TEM to combine with an EARTHWORK TEM - but I increased the TEM of FOXHOLES etc to compensate. You can have one but not both. Of course, AIRBURST applies even in an EARTHWORK unless you have overhead cover. AFVs don't get the TEM for their location except earthworks. It's complex and I need to make a word document laying it out properly.

F&M AIFT ANALYSIS

I'm quite pleased with this. It shows that - using F&Ms AIFT - the probability of causing an M[FAIL] increases linearly as FP increases until we get to about 8FP, whereupon it starts to plateau out and above 24FP there is very little return for extra FP.

Here again is the AIFT for reference.

And the results chart.

GAVRUS A3 1700

GAVRUS 1600-1700 comments

Lots of action. I've made a point of being more aggressive. Running risks I'd normally not dare to run.

The results are interesting. By pushing in large numbers you can usual get a decision in a area, even though losses might seem high. It is probably better to have high losses and achieve something than have low losses and achieve nothing much, but it's case by case.

At first the British didn't get any heroes, but now there are two manning an ATG and causing enormous trouble. The artillery zeroed in on the orchard is also devastating. Lots of POWs this time too.

More comments later.

A huge artillery mission landed, but did little damage in the end. The heroes were KIA in 0m range fire and the Germans have managed to get themselves organised a bit, though a 2" mortar caused a squad to disappear and a lot of other troops to surrender, though they are not in danger of capture.

Surprising - when I saw the map covered in shell bursts I thought that would be that - but they got away with it.

GAVRUS A3 1600 29th June 1944

GAVRUS A3 Commentary

OK. Trying again. It's tough for the Germans to pass the kind of PMC caused by events like at 1500 when the UK artillery hit with 3 salvos of 5.5" artillery! I've actually changed the rules slightly so they only get one battery of 'thickening fire' when they roll doubles. It's still dangerous.

However, the Germans have recovered and are into the 'big woods' south-west of the bridge and also are getting organised to storm Gavrus itself. Both of the forward observers who were such a problem have been more or less neutralised now. So it's not as unbalanced as I'd thought before. Better deployment of the British helps them to hit back at the Germans too.

GAVRUS A3 PROGRESS

GAVRUS A3

Having made some changes to the way I work smaller HE rounds - which makes the 2" mortars and the StuGs more effective - I've decided to start this game again. Trying some different deployments for the British too. Rearranging the platoons to form 2 bigger sections and a small cadre detachment to man the PIAT and the 2" mortars. 4FP is not really enough to hurt the Germans, and with their 'reluctant' motivation the way to hold them back is to inflict MCs and hope for them to break. In the real battle , the SS troops didn't drive home their attack with any great determination, and it was more a nibbling away at the defences that finally cracked the Highlanders hold on the area.

GAVRUS A2 COMMETARY

I wanted to try this again with the new TEM for prone/heads down. This makes the Germans as they sneak up on 2/ASH a little less vulnerable, but also means it's harder to just shoot the highlanders to death in their foxholes!
So far the Germans are doing quite well, getting some lucky breaks, and 2/ASH are on the ropes. Some big artillery shoots have already hurt the Germans in return and more are still possible. 

It's tempting to deploy the highlanders in 2 bigger stacks per platoon rather than as 3 separate sections. This minimises the lost FP. But I'm not convinced it's better in the long run. The infantry are not there to kill the Germans - they are there to slow them down so the artillery can kill them.

The Germans are doing well. 2ASH have lost Gavrus entirely and are falling back in some disarray. Germans are infiltrating down towards the bridge, and the large woods to the SE of the bridge are becoming untenable. So many Germans are massing up on it, it will be hard to hold them back. Time to fall back and blast the place with HE!

GAVRUS A2 29th June 1944

 

CAMCOR B 1010

CAMERONIANS' CORRIDOR B 0950 and 1000

CAMCOR 0934 and 0940

CAMCOR COMMENTARY

The Cameronians managed to catch up with the barrage in the centre and arrived on the Germans front line just as the barrage passed over - textbook stuff. However, the Germans just managed to hold them back thanks mainly to some unlucky SNAFU DRs and the attack has utterly stalled and been decimated.
The Germans should be able to hold back the British given the probable ratio of casualties. It all depends on a few lucky breaks either way.

CAMERONIANS' CORRIDOR 0820 to 0918 26th June 1944

CAMERONIANS' CORRIDOR B 0820 26th June 1944

10 minutes later the Cameronians have closed up on the creeping barrage and have an almost textbook formation - minus the tanks.

CAMERONIANS' CORRIDOR B 0810 26th June 1944

Retrying CAMCOR with some rule changes. I've beefed up the preparatory bombardment to a 48FP attack - the full FP for 5.5" guns. This offsets the increased TEM for bunkers (+8 vs HE). However, it does make the forward outposts in their foxholes very vulnerable, and in this playing they have suffered a lot of KIA. Another change to help the Scots is I've changed the sniper TH DR to <= 8. This should make sniper fire less deadly to the CAMERONIANS as they stride bravely through the cornfields and pastures.
In this playing, the Cameronians are already 10 minutes late and have made no progress activating their orders. Confusion as the officers try to figure out what to do without the promised tank support.

CAMERONIANS' CORRIDOR 0920 26th June 1944

CAMERONIANS' CORRIDOR 0910 26th June 1944

CAMERONIANS' CORRIDOR 0850 26th June 1944

CAMERONIANS' CORRIDOR - 2012

This is the situation at 0840. The Cameronians press their advance despite the delays suffered by 7th RTR. Resistance so far is limited to sniper fire, which has nevertheless killed several men and wounded 2 officers. German losses so far are quite light. It is remarkable how sparse the Cameronians are - just 8 platoon size groups looking rather forlorn in the misty fields.

Tinkerings...

Been adding bits, changing bits and generally tinkering with F&M's vassal module. In so doing I managed to delete an entire panel of German units - all the AFV wrecks! Arggh! I had to redo them manually and then I couldn't get the labels to stay when the were 'unwrecked'. Since I use this to refresh the AFV counters in scenarios after making changes to the counters and will even be using wrecks plus a layer to signify immobilized AFVs this was a major pain. Silver lining is I managed to work out why this happens, correct it and fix another counter that had the same glitch. So all's well as ends well.