Bounce the Bogen: Turn 26

The closest Allied Armoured Recovery Vehicle to Nottingheim is over twenty miles away. If the churning caterpillars of the Churchill VIII don’t grip something solid in the next turn or two, Sergeant Johns and his crew have a long, frustrating wait ahead of them.

Happily, apart from the bogging of the British slow-coach south of the castle, this turn goes extremely well for the Comment Commanders.

^ This T+60 screenshot shows what happens when a cavalier King Tiger exposes its left flank at close range to an on-the-hunt M4A3(76)W.

Having established LOS to the German heavyweight via a short north-easterly move, Pyle’s tank basically had one chance.

If the Sherman’s gunner had missed with his first shot, the Panzer VIB – which was in the process of rotating its hulking Henschel turret when slain – would almost certainly have prevented a second.

Just as cheering as the KT’s demise was the table-turning close to the castle entrance. Amazingly, only one of the Tommy infantrymen involved in this desperate woodland ding-dong fell during the turn. The sole casualty – one of Forester’s ‘B’ team – was cut down while attempting to distance himself from the enemy halftrack and the security squad beyond the castle approach road.

That nine-man Sicherung squad that stormed across said road last turn, and appeared to be on the verge of decimating the depleted British force south of the Schloss? Like the four-man unit it attempted to bolster, it was comprehensively dismantled by Limey grit, bullets, bayonets, and Mills bombs.

First ‘Fighting’ Forester dislodged the smaller threat (note the incoming stick grenade).

Then, working together, Hood, Venison, and Forester reduced the larger one to five fleeing irrelevances.

Yes, the battle for what’s left of the castle gates is far from over (in the closing seconds of the turn another unidentified ‘Infantry Squad?’ pops out of the feathery pine re-gen in 21,3,2) but, with the help of recently arrived reinforcements (Fletcher’s HT delivers half of its passengers – Greenwood ‘A’ – before the clock stops) – things look much brighter for the Allies in this region of the battlefield.

Turn 26’s other notable incidents and developments include…

(all of the following images were snapped at T+60)

…Corporal Whitehand, perhaps fearful of 75 mm reprisals, failing to have another go at the Panzer IVJ.

…Corporal Carlson getting distracted by innocuous German stragglers.

…Marian’s ‘tired’ PIAT team puffing and panting.

…a ‘tired’ Tuck (26 rounds remaining) scratching his latest barrage and moving up.

…Corporal Spencer’s driver putting pedal to metal.

…and Corporal Lincoln (now commandable again) counting his lucky stars.