Scenario DaSv2 - Holding Action

[Koen]

Refreshing: mainly a battle between AFV's and infantry (and few or even none tanks).

And therefore slow moving and more intense.

Good for immersion: neighbouring units (computer-controlled)

+ enough radiomessages as well coming from those units: always cool.

Nice touch: French names for the companies.

And first time in SB ever that I received a message about troops surrendering !

Well, this scenario is indeed about the German breakthrough at Sedan, so lots of units being overwhelmed.

I added a rar-file with some rare pictures of a tankcrew, surrendering on May 17th 1940: they manned a heavy French tank (of the Somua type, IIRC), called "Bourrasque". The French gave each individual tank a name.

After running havoc in the German rear, Bourrasque was stopped by Germans of a "1st Panzer Regiment", and out of munition & fuel, and being hit several times, the crew surrendered.

You can actually see German infantry standing on the tank, ordering the wounded crew to come out, which they do. Poor tired guys.

But MY units did not surrender !

We followed up the orders and deployed on the spots as indicated in the briefing:

* M113 & infantry forward in the forest along the road (+ sentry further up)

* CV90 on hill in the rear, to catch anyone coming out of the forest.

We won this battle - but only because we were very lucky !

And we also paid a too high price: many, many lifes were lost - this should not have happened. Who did start this bloody war ?!

We received early on the "Monte Carlo"-order, that is to retreat to the city in the North, Tyran, and defend it.

So we prepared to do this, but, as our battle position looked so advantageous, we decided to first give a bloody nose at the enemy there, and then only retreat.

Things became hairy though, as the neighbouring units were forced to retreat early on, while we remained in place.

Here already we were lucky (and reckless too), that nobody of the Red attackers in the other sectors turned & caught us in the flank.

What happened:

* Our sentries had to retreat rather quick - I should position them in more advantageous position - not so easy.

* A confusing fight happened in the forest. I'm afraid I sacrificed all M113 infantry there - IMHO that's good enough to be disgracefully demoted as Lieutenant.

But they stopped almost half of the advancing enemy LAV's there.

* The CV90's too easily stopped the ones that got through.

But we were lucky:

In the AAR it was visible that the Germans unloaded most of their infantry at the entrance of the forest. And they remained there ! If they would have adavanced as well, it would have been a totally different story. Would have been very difficult to manage.

In the next version of SB, this current bug of troops unloading and then not reloading again in their AFV will be solved - so scenario will become more difficult.

Furthermore: the German Leo's did not advance into the forest ?

-> Why would that be ? Maybe the losses that the Germans were taking there, discouraged them to do so ?

Question: "DaS" stands for Death at Sedan ?

Conclusion: nice scenario, that I will replay.

THX for your efforts, Lt. George,

Koen

Gembloux - Blitzkrieg.rar

[Froggy]

It's a Renault B1bis, not a Somua S35

[Koen]

Renault B1bis: ah yes, indeed.

NB You saw the pictures before, Froggy ?

It's part of a site describing in detail what happened to various French tankunits in those days.

Rgds,

K

[Froggy]

I saw them before the site was re-designed. It's one of my references about french tanks

[LtGeorge]

Glad you enjoyed the scenario!

The orders for the red units that dump their infantry at the entrance to the woods is to proceed at "slow, engage" - in the past this would mean the infantry would proceed ahead of their vehicle. Slow, but most appropriate for this scenario. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be that organized. The route also has a retreat order if they take heavy losses. I think that the retreat order should be removed - that may help them move forward.

The Leos don't enter the forest. I tried to position the waypoint so that one will be looking straight down the road, but being tank crews and seeing a slugger brewing up in the woods in front of them, they know better than to enter. Again, if you encounter one, blow smoke right away. If you see him and he doesn't see you, either aim low or for the turret ring.

I tried to increase immersion with the neighboring units, but I find that I usually either pay no attention or miss the messages flowing around (of course I wrote them and know that they don't really tell you what to do). They are given messages to pull back, but the scenario design leaves them there - too pinned down. They'll start complaining at heavy losses and give their good-byes as the last of them are taken out. But you don't have to worry about the flanks here - they won't bug you in the center.

I liked the idea of making a scenario that gets off tanks for awhile and gives some time in the CV90. I've also been disenchanted with large-scale command over blue forces. Here, you have two platoons to work with, so hopefully the time in the map is reduced and you have more time in the turret.

[Koen]

Glad you enjoyed the scenario!

I did.

But also, since I'm Belgian, I'm interested in the Blitzkrieg, and even more the battle for the Flavion Gap, the first tankbattle in WWII.

So if you have any follow-up scenario's, I'll have a look at them

The Leos don't enter the forest. I tried to position the waypoint so that one will be looking straight down the road, but being tank crews and seeing a slugger brewing up in the woods in front of them, they know better than to enter.

Very Good to see some real-life-behaviour in an SB-scenario !

I've also been disenchanted with large-scale command over blue forces. Here, you have two platoons to work with, so hopefully the time in the map is reduced and you have more time in the turret.

Yes, another strong point of your scenario: not too many units to handle - always fun.

Rgds,

Koen

[Koen]

I replayed the scenario: all units were positioned on the hills north of the forest & none in the forest.

Again it was the "Monte Carlo"-order.

And what happened: not too much.

Hardly any enemies showed up at the northern edge of the forest, maybe some 5-6 AFV's. AAR showed that the others didn't really advance and nor did the eny tanks, after which the scenario ended automatically at 30 min.

Any idea what could be the reason for this ?

But was still fun to be there: the tension, the waiting, then scouting ahead with a lone CV90 - not a boring mission.

Rgds,

K

[LtGeorge]

The scenario design expects the player to hold ground in the woods. If you stand farther back (to the north), the scenario is more of a flop. There would have to be some work to have the scenario sense that blue is further up and pass through the woods and attack further on, but red's cohesion by that point would be minimal.

The other scenarios I did along this line didn't work well - the historical scenario is that of defending against a river crossing. If you ask the AI to attack over bridges, it will be its own worst enemy. Future scenarios should probably avoid defending the river itself and instead try to contain/counterattack bridgeheads.