The inauspiciously named Corporal Bignon fires his cumbersome bolt-action elephant gun four times during the course of Turn 7. Three 0.55 calibre armour harmers whizz in the direction of a zealous scout car, while the other outsized bullet attempts to arrest the westward progress of a cavalier Panzer III.
If it hadn’t been for the frantic activities of their two-man ATR team, this would have been have a very quiet sixty seconds for tentative Team France.
The turn is barely one second young when Bignon unleashes his first shot. “Fifty metres short!” bawls his disappointed loader for the benefit of Anglophone spectators who might not have noticed the dirt puff beside the road at E17.
At T+13 the German eight-wheeler disappears behind ruined walls. When it reappears eight seconds later, the prone Corporal tracks it for a few moments then gently squeezes his trigger, subconsciously bracing himself for a camel kick in the right shoulder as he does so.
Merde! Another miss.
When masonry screens the southbound PSW for a second time, Bignon decides to pivot his ATR in the direction of the Panzer III that is making its way invitingly across Mosque Mount. Side-on and moving relatively slowly, the tank is probably fortunate the French Crusader has decided to bide-and-hide rather than shoot-and-scoot this turn. It’s certainly lucky Bignon misses with shot #3 then gets distracted by the peekaboo PSW.
Scouting with admirable/alarming enthusiasm, the AC provokes another (sadly) wayward ATR attack at T+45.
When the action in the French arena freezes, Bignon is under fire but still focused on the task at hand.
The newly relocated mortar team (which also has eyes on the west-facing Panzer), the Crusader, and the infantry squad at I24 are probably best placed to aid him.
The halftrack is stationary circa H11 and there are signs of German infantry in various places in the village.
* * *
An ATR barks in the opening seconds of the British turn too. As the buoyed Tommy Crusader pivots in preparation for a diagonal reversing manoeuvre, its upper hull is plinked by Besa-bothered Axis anti-tankists.
Happily, there’s no damage or follow-up shot.
With MG rounds fizzing past them, the ATR troops wisely opt to put buildings between themselves and their riled prey.
Apart from this brief exchange of lead, the turn is firefight free. An unidentified German infantry unit uses the lull to advance into the village while Churchill’s cousin takes advantage of it to make a hasty exit. What do the out-of-LoS PSW and halftrack get up to this turn? Search me.
The British situation at T+60:
French effectiveness clearly suffering now that alcohol is deemed a performance-enhancer for shooting events.
In hindsight, maybe absinthe was a poor choice of supplement.
TEAM GB DISCUSSION
I don’t have a silly way to allude to the fact that I’m only temporarily British for the purposes of team eligibility this time, except maybe to observe that it’s too late at night for tea, obviously, because it is about 2:30 in the morning as I’m writing this, as opposed to a more sensible time like 9:30 p.m.
The travails of the French antitank team have me happy I followed Oneknown’s advice to keep a lid on our Boys boys, although I will grant that we did luck into a miss from the Panzer and a subsequent hit on the reply. If, as seems wisest, the Crusader handles the PSW, having the AT team healthy and in position with the main body of infantry gives us an excellent chance of dealing with a halftrack in the village, should one appear.
The one that really taught me was CM: Fortress Italy. There are lots of good AT weapons, and lots of long sight lines, but optics are bad so you can’t count on overwatch shots beyond short range.
Currently my plan for the infantry is to get them to surround a building or two, then have some of them take the position while the tank provides suppression. But the tank can’t provide suppression until the PSW is out of our way.
TEAM FRANCE DISCUSSION:
It’s time for a bit of piss and vinegar, lads. I’m not sure there’ll be a better opportunity to take on the Panzer, and the ATR definitely needs some mortar and infantry distractions to help him out.
Speaking of infantry, where’s our commenter comrade? We’re halfway through the match now, so if we want to get some points de victoire we probably do need to be a little less “tentative.”
I am thinking about lobbing a couple HE shells the Panzer’s way, because smoke will take more time and prevent our AT assets from bagging the target.
Infantry has been silent for a while now, that is true…
HE shells sound like an excellent plan.
@Tim: if our infantry commander (RadioactiveRat, I believe) has gone fully MIA, could we maybe pass the baton on to Gobser or Remnant, even temporarily?
Although, maybe I should knock on the PSW’s hatch instead?
But I am a little concerned that I might suppress the ATR
I’m not sure. The infantry aren’t going to provide much more than a distraction, I assume, if they start tossing pebbles at the PSW. So I’m guessing it’s best they don’t engage and immediately give their positions away. With the Panzer not really looking our way, the Crusader could pop back up and take a shot as I understand the PSW guns aren’t particularly threatening to a hull-down cruiser. But you may know better than me on that front.
I’ll let you decide what’s best. Having said a couple of days ago that maybe we should take on the Panzer, I’m having a little re-think. Maybe we should let it remain in blissful ignorance for a turn and focus all fire on the PSW.
@Tim BRITISH GB2 ORDER:
Well, it’s just as well I wasn’t driving the Crusader as I’d probably lost him long ago after going on a do-or-die back-rank cavalry charge excursion down the flanks at high speed, hitting them from out of the dust clouds, sweeping around the back while Jerry has his trousers down with Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. After all, “the trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.” (In other words, our tank ammo is all AP, no HE shells available). And, with still no mortar-spotting info from HQ, Baldrick still can’t do anything as he’s stuck in that support role. Maybe he’ll finally get some target info from HQ before time and turns run out at Christmas, narrated by David Bowie, who knows. It probably won’t be too long before Jerry starts raining his eggs down on Sir Alec Guinness’ bonce from behind the Mosque Mount Chicken Factory, oh well. All quiet on the Cyrenaica front, as they say. No moves.
PS: Wait, is it time for the “Half Time Show” at our Olympiad yet?! Hurrah!! I hear Taylor Swift is doing it, or.. oh no! Not Marlene Dietrich and George Formby again!?
@Tim Orders for FR Mortar team:
Mortar to open fire on PSW
GB 4 orders: Pilot to continue to his destination (south-west wall of the building at J24), once there he’s allowed to catch his breath.
GREAT BRITAIN GB3 ORDER
Crusader and AT team: continue previous orders.
Let’s hope to bag a PSW this 60!
GB1 Order:
HQ: No action
Team at M28: No action
Team at I25 (half of the one at M28, likely a bit out of breath): No action
Team at F27: Continue the FAST order and HIDE, targeting the other half of their team
Team at E25: No action
Team at K24: Remove the last two legs of their movement. Only keep the FAST to K23.
Team at I25 (half of the one at K24, should be somewhat rested): CRAWL to I24. TARGET ARC 160m.
@Tim: Can you let me know which of the split squad at K24/I25 has the Thompson and which has the Bren?