Corporal Whitehand ends turn 2 surrounded by armour. Fortunately for him the close-range stuff is bipedal, medieval, and empty, and the more distant specimens are currently unaware rogue American POWs are at large in the castle.
The second-storey room on the eastern side of the Schloss that Whitehand enters early in the sixty served as the castle’s museum in happier times. From its narrow east-facing window the inquisitive USAAF airman and his loader have an excellent view of the village of Nottingheim. They can make out the swans rippling the pond… the cat hunting near the hayrick… the halftrack and the Jagdpanzer idling beside the inn. 220 and 240 metres away respectively, both targets are beyond the effective range of the Americans’ pilfered Panzerschreck.
Although no other Allied units set eyes on foes this turn, advancing towards the rail bridge Corporal Fletcher’s halftrack and Sergeant Venison’s rifle squad espy a thought-provoking barbed wire barrier circa 3, 3, 4.
Impassable to wheeled vehicles, the obstruction doesn’t appear to completely block the eastern end of the bridge. It may be possible for vehicles such as the Daimler and HT to manoeuvre around its southern end.
Aware that he’s probably filling the sight of an expectant ‘88’, Corporal Much doesn’t linger long at the bend in the road at 26, 4, 5. The Humber’s hurried inspection of undergrowth on the far bank of the Bogen fails to reveal any muzzles, helmets, or disturbed earth.
Talking of disturbed earth, there’s likely to be plenty of it close to the two-storey building at 36, 3, 2 in a few minutes time. When turn 2 ends, Tuck’s first arty bombardment of the game is just sixty seconds (one turn) away from commencing.
The situation at the start of turn 3:
From his new position in the woods, Captain Hood has a good view of the eastern end of the rail bridge. He can see the cottage, the barbed wire, the clearing where an enemy HT may well lurk, and much of the north-south road across the river.
Venison and Fletcher’s view of the barbed wire and rail bridge cottage (3, 3, 5) is obscured by a finger of riverside conifers. Scarlet has more extensive line-of-sight. The commander of the AC can make out the end of the destroyed train, but can’t see the cottage or into the HT clearing. Hemmed in by forest, Lieutenant Merry can’t even see Venison at present.
Turn 3 orders here, please. Commenters are cordially invited to suggest moves for the following units (First come, first served. A maximum of one unit/unit group per commenter. I’ll try to execute the turn as quickly as possible after all orders are in.)
(See screenshots for unit locations)
****anyone****
– Corporal Much’s Humber scout car
– Corporal Fletcher’s M5A1 halftrack + Sergeant Venison’s rifle squad + Lieutenant Merry (Four-man platoon HQ, Venison’s boss)
****subscribers only****
– Captain Hood (Six-man company HQ) and Lieutenant Tuck (Two-man spotter team for a battery of 25-pounders. 120 rounds)
– Sergeant Scarlet’s Daimler armoured car
– Captain Dale’s party (Six POWs armed with pilfered rifles and pistols) + Corporal Whitehand’s team (Two POWs armed with a pilfered Panzerschreck)
Please start all order comments with ‘ORDER’ and any later revision comments with ‘REVISED ORDER’. This will help me distinguish firm instructions from suggestions and advice.
Hooray! I haven’t got anyone killed yet! (and the nasty scary tank is miles away from the Humber)
Honestly though, I’m a bit stumped as to what the Humber should get up to next.
We could use the artillery as a distraction and zoom across the bridge while the enemy has their head down, but I think driving straight at a possible 88 doesn’t sound like a good idea.
We could hold it in reserve to dash across the bridge to hold the other end *after* other units have successfully eliminated the enemy there.
We could also reverse course, and head over to the rail bridge with everyone else.
The one I’m not sure about is that I don’t know if it’s possible for an AFV to sneak through wooded areas. It might be possible to get to 27, 1, 4 without getting in view of the suspected 88, and then maybe our scout car could do some actual scouting.
@Tim: Can our artillery fire smoke rounds as well as HE? I would love to belay our saturation fire on a hardened building if it means we might be able to cross the bridge unmolested by an 88.
It looks like Tuck is still within command range of Hood? So Hood could spot for some arty around the rail bridge if we wanted to cover a crossing.