|
RE: Defending The Westwall : An End Of Series Review
Well, as one of the 3 American commanders in the Westwall Campaign, and definitely the most inexperienced one, I can say that I learned a lot from the beating I took in the one battle I participated in - Hucheln Town (Westwall #9 or, according to my book, Invasion of Germany #39).
This battle was my third PG game and second skype game against Vince after St. Vith: First Probe and it was my first exposure to playing combined arms against an entrenched defender. Looking back on it now, I know that there were several moves made that hurt my chances to attain even a chance at victory. In no particular order:
1. Exposing my loaded M3s to the town and potential AT attack.
2. Spreading the forces over the entire front, giving German OP the opportunity to provide adequate firepower on any point of my attack.
3. Worrying too much about the AT Guns and not focusing OBA on reducing GREN and HMG units.
In the early stages, I had a leader and platoon of Engineers wiped out as the 75/41 drilled it with an OpFire AT shot. I should have dismounted the units and grouped them in formation on either one side or another of the town. I can't remember off-hand where more AT fire was, I think it was on the North End, but I probably could have focused my attack by swinging around the south and even possibly on the western side (around back). This would have narrowed the firepower that could have been brought to bear but then I was also battling the mud and there would be several shots of OP before I was even in position to assault. Also, spreading out my attack casued my leaders, INF and HMG units to get separated with Morale issues to the point where I couldn't bring some units forward anymore because there was no leader to order them forward. Finally, I did focus too hard on trying to eliminate the AT Guns. I think that first shot that destroyed my Engineers and Leader was a psychological blow that I never recovered from. From that point until nearly the end of the game, I was consumed with the urge to destroy those AT guns, wasting OBA and On-board fire on those instead of trying turn after turn to destroy the men defending the town. Had I been able to reduce even 1 or 2 units, an overloaded attack on the weakened position could have broken the defense.
With all that being said, I don't know if there was a way for me to dismantle the German defenders enough for victory in this one. Vince had a pretty solid setup and had bracketed Hucheln Town with Entrenchments and strong points, and given that the troops had to slog through the mud, it would have taken at least two turns to get in position to assault (3 for HMGs!).
It might be interesting to fight this one again having gotten several more battles under my belt and a little more experience with using combined arms - especially to see if I can improve on the 5 - 33 step loss casualty rate!
[/align]
|
