Turn 23 ended on a cliff edge. The Comment Commanders’ most valuable (?) armoured asset – a late-war Sherman – seemed seconds away from an unpleasant encounter with an unidentified German heavyweight. In this sixty-second instalment of intricate WEGO wargaming, the mysterious tank reveals itself and expectorates a couple of 88mm rounds.
For the first half of the turn, Pyle’s Sherman looks the likeliest recipient of any emissions from the Grey Eminence.
In fact it’s Lieutenant Costner (the US infantry HQ team) and Corporal Lincoln (Costner’s bazooka team), both of whom backtrack this turn, who end up IDing the groundshaker and grappling with it first.
Circa T+40, Lincoln kneels, loads and levels his drainpipe, and launches a 60mm AT rocket into the upper hull of the frond-framed Panzer Something.
The detonation sends Zimmerit fragments flying…
…and prompts the attacked AFV to employ its Nahverteidigungswaffe, but achieves little else.
Two seconds after the (thankfully) ineffective grenade blast, Lincoln has his fillings loosened by an 88mm crater maker.
The near miss doesn’t prevent the dirt-spattered zookist from firing one of his two remaining rockets at what he now knows to be a (gulp) King Tiger.
Damn, another inconsequential hit!
A moment before the clock stops, the plucky tank hunter is mauled again This time the deafening near miss sows understandable panic.
The encastled Corporal Whitehand also looses two AT rockets this sixty. Arriving at a familiar lofty vantage point not long after the Panzer IV has veered off the main road between bridge and village and buttoned up after a nearby spotting round explosion (Tuck is in the process of retasking the off-map 25-pounder battery), he begins taking MG fire from the SE almost immediately.
The incoming probably plays a role in this (^) miss.
However, it doesn’t stop him hitting his mark with his second try.
‘Side upper hull hit. No serious damage.’ Seriously!?
The Brits beyond the rail bridge might not have any tanks to deal with, but denuded by earlier scraps, running short on ammo, and facing two, four-man Sicherung squads (?) in the woods close to the castle entrance, their eastward advance is in serious danger of stalling. There’s eighteen seconds on the clock when one of Venison’s lads groans and hugs a tree trunk for support.
Twenty seconds later, taking SMG fire from two directions, the same Tommy unit loses another man. Lieutenant Merry’s HQ unit also suffers a casualty this turn. The Lieutenant is on his tod from here-on.
Happily, it’s not all bad news south of the Schloss. Between them, Forester’s teams and the Churchill neutralise a three-man Volkssturm unit that fails to withdraw with sufficient haste, and send another battered remnant (indicated by a Balkenkreuz in the above image) haring towards the eastern map edge.
The situation at the start of Turn 25:
Although Sherwood’s men failed to eliminate the German flamethrower this turn, their assault, supported by Spencer’s halftrack, did dislodge it and reduce it to a single arsonist. Shanley and Olander remain at full strength. Tuck’s bombardment is thirty seconds away.
He might be ‘taking cover’ and ‘shaken’, but Whitehand remains biddable.
Turn 25 orders here, please. Commenters are cordially invited to suggest moves for the following eight unit groups. First come, first served. A maximum of one unit group per commenter (Ignore this limit if order execution – usually Monday morning at 0700 GMT – is less than 24 hours away).
(See screenshots for unit locations)
– Merry’s men (Lieutenant Merry + Sergeant Venison’s rifle squad + Corporal Fletcher’s M5A1 halftrack)
– Marian’s men (Lieutenant Marian + 3 x rifle squads + PIAT team + 3 inch mortar team)
– Captain Hood (Six-man company HQ + arty spotter Lieutenant Tuck)
– Sergeant Bowman’s Archer TD
– Sergeant Johns’ Churchill VIII
– Sergeant Pyle’s Sherman
– Lieutenant Costner’s platoon (2 split inf squads + bazooka team + 1 HT)
– 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.