Olboeter's Escape - Schwerpunkt SP109 from Volume 10.

My latest mission against Jeff DeYoung placed me as the defense in this scenario, involving Polish soldiers outfitted with British gear against a mixed force of German SS in 1944, trying to pull back from France. As I love the historical element of the game, I will include the write up that is attached to this scenario.

Coudehard, France, 20 August 1944: The Falaise Pocket was closing and rapidly becoming a death trap for German units. Elements of the German Seventh Army streamed toward the very small bottleneck that remained open near the crossroads village of Coudehard. Here, SS Sturmbannfuhrer Erich Olboeter led a mixed force of Panther and Tiger tanks, SS Panzergrenadiers, and flak panzers, in an attack to break the encirclement. Olboeter's mission was to seize Coudehard in an effort to hold open the Coudehard-Boisjos road, enabling other German units to escape. Joined by elements of Fallschrimjager Division 3, the Germans made progress until they reached a wooded area on the edge of a pasture southwest of the village, and the surrounding high ground held by determined elements of the Polish 1st Armored Division. Sturmbannfuhrer Olboeter, standing in the commander's hatch of his Panther, signaled Untersharfurher Leo Freund to follow. Olboeter's Panther moved out but did not get far before being immobilized, forcing Olboeter to bailout. Untersharfuhrer Freund was about to advance when Polish fire struck the warhead of a panzerfaust lying on the edge of the ditch in which his squad was taking cover. The resulting explosion blew apart one of his comrades, spattering Freund and the surviving squad members with the soldier's blood and chunks of flesh. Enraged, Freund and his men surged forward into the enemy, past burning vehicles and through the Polish infantry position. Fighting rages until 1500 hours when the SS finally cleared the village. The German success was short-lived. The gap was later closed again, forcing many Germans to abandon their equipment and infiltrate through the trap on foot. Olboeter escaped this time, but was badly burned in a partisan ambush eleven days later. He died on the operating table in Charleville on September 1, while having his legs amputated.

The Poles are facing a tough task, trying to contain a heavily armored column of SS. It's kind of like bathing a rabid 200 pound cat while being IN the bathtub at the same time - naked. It just isn't going to go well, and success will always be vaguely defined. Fortunately, I had a good two weeks to prepare, of which all but five hours was completely squandered by me. Finally, the night before, I loaded up VASL and started working on my defense.

The write-up in the Schwerpunkt magazine helped tremendously, but I tried not to follow the rationale too exactly, since Jeff was sure to be aware of the same recommendations. The Poles have seven tanks at their disposal, but only two of them are really worthwhile. Two Sherman V(C) models up gunned by the British with a 17 pound cannon (equivalent to 75LL in game turns). As is with all Shermans, the armor rating was pathetic, especially against gorillas like the Panther and Tiger that will shortly be swooping in on my position. The Poles also get five normal Shermans, useful for little more than killing thin skinned halftracks, creating smoke, and keeping crew turnover very high in the European theater of operations. God help the Allied tanker in WW II. I don't know how they climbed into these death traps without soiling themselves.

Advantages to the Poles were found in the setup and terrain. Per scenario rules, the Poles were permitted to set up two squads and one Sherman hidden in place, looking for those surprise flank and rear shots on tanks as they rolled past. Fortunately, the Poles had a number of 'Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank', or PIATs. (Scroll down from the link). The PIAT is essentially a spring loaded bazooka-type weapon that fires a shaped charge. Ironically, the Kill Number in game terms is identical for a PIAT and a Sherman, but of course the Sherman has a bit more range. Go rent A Bridge Too Far to see the dramatization of a PIAT in use.

Finally, the Poles have 80 mm artillery they can call in to help keep the Germans at bay. The artillery ended up being the MVP for me, but more on that later.

As for the armor face off, the two up gunned Shermans (termed Fireflys) were the only things that could take on the Panther and Tiger from the front, and even that was a dicey proposition. If memory serves, the kill number of the Firefly was 23, while the frontal Tiger armor is something like 18, leaving a 5 or less on two dice to effect a kill. Forget about a normal Sherman. Oh, and the Tiger will pretty much kill any variant of Sherman on any hit. You begin to see the problem.

The Germans also have lesser panzers, various flakwagons, and a Whirlwind - essentially a quad mounted anti-aircraft gun treads that can mow down trees. He also gets a 9-2 armored leader to command the mechanized horde, meaning he has a great chance of ventilating my tanks from very long range while not even stopping to aim.

The German goal is defined thus - accumulate 95 victory points in a combination of exiting German units through a narrow corridor defined in the scenario (escape the pocket), kill Poles for points, and control the village buildings at the exit point (holding the pocket open). Sounds like fun, for him.

My insanely devious set-up session went long into the night, as I tried to think like Jeff DeYoung. This led to an uncontrollable desire to make foam 3D maps, so I had to pull back a bit and try to think like Jeff thinking about the scenario. As the Schwerpunkt magazine suggests, there are three primary approaches to the objective: one up the middle over open ground, one to the north passing through a narrow wooded road, and one to the south also through wooded road into the village. The north approach is the most direct, while the south approach still comes under the view of a large hill mass on the north side. Obviously, the hill mass is the best place for the Fireflys, so they took the hill and had a nice over watch position over the entire map. Unfortunately, the southern approach was also screened heavily by in-season Orchards (it is August after all), leaving many blind spots for his armor to pick their way along the approach. The northern route was also under the Firefly guns, particularly where the road exited the woods. I backed up the northern approach with two hidden squads armed with PIATs, covering the road exit, and also sighted the .50 caliber machine gun on the hill to cover the same northern approach. Finally, the hill was home to my radio observer, ready to call in the artillery to pound the escape route, the village and either the north or south approach.

My hidden Sherman was placed in the forest, guarding a back door hex that would give the northern force access to the center in case I backed him up in the woods. I thought that he might try to loop around at some point, and a hidden Sherman would get a point blank shot at a passing vehicle, from the rear. The rest of my forces went into the village to cover the building, and my two anti-tank pieces were deployed hidden to fire on any vehicle on the verge of exiting the map, again from the rear since he would have to drive by to exit. The southern approach was screened lightly with a few dummy tank counters, a few armored carriers to give the impression of more tanks, and one Sherman that was actually deployed to race into the center of the map to get rear shots at passing tanks. I really didn't think the southern route was viable due to the time limits of the scenario.

I finished my setup and hit the sack by midnight, ready for a 9 AM slaughter in Grand Rapids. To be continued later tonight....