SG2 WW2 AAR

Battle of Deja Ville (The town we've all seen before)

Date: Sometime in 1944
Place: Deja Ville, Eastern Front 
Objectives: The Germans want to capture Deja Ville to secure a line of
retreat from the oncoming Red Horde. The Soviets want to secure Deja
Ville
to cutoff one further line of retreat. Meeting engagement as both forces
race to control the town. 

Forces:

Soviet:
Russian Guards Infantry Company (3 platoons of infantry, one heavy MG
platoon with 4 Maxims)
4 x T34/85
1 x SU85
1 x SU152
2 x White Scout Car
3 x Truck/Towed 45mm AT gun

German:
Wermacht Infantry Company (3 platoons of infantry, 1 large section of
pioneers with flamethrowers)
4 x Stug-III
1 x Sd-250 Halftrack with flamethrower (x3)
2 x Sd-250 Halftrack with short 75mm Howitzer
2 x Truck+PAK-40 75mm AT Gun

Setup:
10x6 board (1" = 10m) (1/72nd WW2 figs/vehicles)
Town starts about 24-30" from each side and fills the middle of the
board
Crossroads in the town divides town down the middle and Russians advance
from one short edge of the board, Germans from the other. River on
German
side of town dividing town into about 2/3rds on Soviet side, though the
Germans can probably arrive at the town 1 turn earlier. 

Play of the game: 

Germans and Soviets race onto the board hell bent for leather. Soviets
occupy large factory on their side of the map. Germans occupy some
houses at
their side of town. Vehicles start to get in position to fire on the
middle
of town down the length of the axial road, but other lines of fire are
mostly blocked. 

Germans race PAK-40 across the bridge over the river (the only place for
vehicles to cross) and set it up pointing down the road towards the
Soviets.
They then try to follow with a Stug, which pans out badly. The Stug is
smoked at about 450m by an 85mm AP from the lead T-34. It blows up,
blocking
the bridge!!!!!

German infantry wades the river, and seizes more than half of the town,
but
the Soviets dig in in the remaining third. The Reds send a platoon with
tank
support out to advance through an orchard on the right of their axis of
advance into the town, and another platoon with support from a T-34, the
AT
guns, the heavy machine gun platoon, and the two assault guns to force
the
open left side of the board relative to their axis of advance. 

The Germans meanwhile are frantic. They've started to take a beating in
the
front lines of houses from massed infantry small arms fire and close in
HE
from Russian armour - they don't have tanks to back them up! German's
call
in an artillery prime mover (half tracked) from off-board and hook
cables to
the burning Stug carcass to drag it back across the bridge to clear the
advance. The one weapon across the bridge, the PAK-40, claims a White
Scout
car which daringly tried to dart across the main road about 400m out. 

The Soviet move through the orchard on the German left forces them to
scramble to get infantry in position to block. Otherwise, their line
would
be turned from that end and any hope of victory would evaporate. On the
German right, the large soviet force with heavy machine gun support
moving
against the town was to be held by a platoon of infantry with a fair
number
of green squads with no tank support. Fortunately, they were dug into a
thick woods line near that edge of town and the Soviets couldn't bring a
lot
of firepower to bear on them without rolling tanks and other vehicles
into
the woodsline and well within the 60-80m range of the Panzerfausts and
well
within the 120-160m range of the Panzershrecks. 

The German artillery half tracks obtained positions with restricted but
somewhat useful fire lines and fired from the German side of the river
at
the centre Soviet platoon covering the advances on the flanks.
Casualties
were enough to force some withdrawal and a reduction of pressure in the
centre. By this time, the Germans had already combat lossed two entire
infantry sections. 

The Germans also scored a coup when a T-34 with a green commander
decided to
use his 85mm gun to fire HE to whack infantry squads thus allowing a
Stug
with a long 75mm gun to sneak out from behind a building across the
river
and nuke the T-34. Obviously, the lesson about tanks being present to
engage
other tanks was lost (permanently) on that Russky. 

The Germans finally dragged the burnt Stug hulk off the bridge, allowing
another Stug to run the gauntlet (just narrowly being missed by a T-34
overwatching from the cover of the dead White Scout car on the central
road.
With a Stug and a PAK-40 in the centre of town, and their infantry
pretty
well set to block turning actions (reinforced by the arrival of the
Pioneer
section with flamethrowers), the Germans felt they had a reasonable
chance
of holding the centre of town. The Soviet thrust from the German right
with
the SU-152, SU-85, and a T-34 would certainly be powerful, but it meant
HTH
infantry fighting, and the Germans had more veteran soldiers. The
Germans
blunted the infantry based thrust on their left through the orchard with
several volleys of infantry and APSW fire from vehicles which
annihilated
one Russian infantry section and sent the entire platoon on that flank
withdrawing to seek a new line of advance. 

At this point, we ran one final turn which saw the Russians take several
key
points in the town, including one of the two churches, but the Germans
fortified their remaining positions. It also saw a green German squad
blunder out of a woodsline into an unforseen Russian squad of veterans.
Apparently, despite being nominally on overwatch, the Russians were into
the
vodka. They blew a TL1 test to fire on the Greens first (and several
other
vehicles blew observation rolls to engage) and hence took some wounds
from
the gutsy squad of Green Wermacht soldiers. This action threw a small
monkey
wrench into the advance on the right side of the German lines, despite
the
Russian's superior armour support. 

The end result - a draw. Neither side could boot the other out of town
without some good luck in infantry close assaults or with some key
anti-tank
shots. A fun game. With artillery and smoke, it would have been even
better.

As it was Deja Ville ended up contested. The Germans could retreat
through
it, but it would require the commitment of at least an additional
company of
infantry to ensure the town was taken. The Russians could have taken the
town, but more armour or artillery and at least another company of
infantry
would be required to deny the Germans the chance to retreat here. 

------------------------------------------
Thomas R. S. Barclay
Voice: (613) 722-3232 ext 349
e-mail: tomb@bitheads.com

2001: To the New Millenium! The next thousand years
are MINE. 
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