[Sun] 29 April 2012 (Inv44 LDDK & CiA)

[Spinoza]

SILBERFUCHS
Balota airstrip, 0510 hours
Weather clear and is expected to remain so

Situation:
Kameraden, the allies have landed on this little island. They are apparently planning to use the island as a staging area for their upcoming invasion of France. The Reich does not have a significant presence here, only you and some vehicles. Notice the close proximity of enemy lines before making any hasty plans. You are soldiers of the Fatherland and it is your duty to fight and if necessary to die for the cause. We can only hope you die with honour. Es Lebe Deutschland!

Notes:
The Allies have forward observers in the area so expect mortar fire, also remember that the allies have shown remarkable willingness to call in mortar fire dangerously close to their own positions.The airfield to the north has not seen any allied activity but do not rely on this information. Stay vigilant at all times.

Missions:
We managed to hold on to a little airstrip close to Balota. From here you will attack key targets in the Allied occupied area. The targets are as follows:

1) Move into Chernogorsk, locate the American officer, kill him and confiscate the documents he is carrying. The city has a American garrison and some tanks. Be prepared for heavy house to house fighting. Try to keep your tanks out of the city if possible.

2) Move to Zub, the Americans have set up a radiostation there and are broadcasting propaganda in order to demoralize our troops. Obviously we can not allow this to continue.

3) Finally move to Pusta, the British are using this area for a supply depot. Locate the depot and destroy it.



Chernogorsk: As seen on map
Zub: North of Chernogorsk
Pusta: NE of Cherno.

[Broileri]

Orders for Platoon Commanders of CiA, Folk & ARPS and LDDK for Operation Silberfuchs on 29 April 2012

- CiA, Folk & ARPS and LDDK will form a three-platoon company.
- The company will act as one unless otherwise ordered, with the three platoons always attacking one of the three main objectives simultaneously.
- No platoon will be used as a reserve, but you are encouraged to use a part of your force to watch your back and as a tactical reserve within your platoon.
- We have no support platoon. To minimise fuss, transport as well as medical and materiel support should be organized on platoon level at all times, unless all else fails.
- In order to avoid friendly fire, do not move to the sectors or paths of the other platoons for any reason without asking for and receiving an express acknowledgement from the other platoon's commander. There can be no confusion about where the other platoons or any of their elements are.
- In order to further avoid friendly fire, have your platoon carry plenty of smoke grenades and use them to mark your movement and location especially when in combat.
- When possible, disengage at the latest after taking 50% losses in any engagement, then report and regroup.
- In case you are killed in action, your second-in-command should be ready to immediately take command and report to me.
- The initial plan is bound to change as we go, so there is no need to memorise it, but skim it through nevertheless. Contact me with any comments, questions or suggestions before Sunday afternoon preferably by e-mailing broileri.lddk at gmail.com.

Rules of Engagement: Your platoon is free to return fire at all times. Your platoon is free to engage all suspected enemy targets except when the company is preparing a synchronised attack, in which case the fire command is given by the company commander. Civilian structures used by the enemy can be destroyed at your discretion. Any man guilty of desertion or insubordination is to be shot by an officer or NCO without delay so as not to harm the troops' morale.


1) Attack on Chernogorsk

The company will obtain documents from the American officer's corpse. The company will destroy the garrison in the town in order to eliminate the threat it would otherwise pose to our further advance.

Do not send the Panthers deep into the town but use them to guard the main roads and wait for the enemy tanks to be found or to reveal themselves.

CiA will move on the left, Folk & ARPS in the middle and LDDK on the right.


Phase A:

CiA will move to Hill 14 and its nearest buildings west of Chernogorsk and prepare to provide covering fire.

Folk & ARPS will advance to the area of the petrol station west of Chernogorsk and support LDDK's advance.

LDDK will advance to the factory building west of Chernogorsk.


Phase B:

CiA will support the attack of Folk & ARPS to the factory area SE of Hill 14.

Folk & ARPS will attack the factory area of Chernogorsk.

LDDK will support the attack of Folk & ARPS, then attack the harbour area of Chernogorsk.


Phase C:

CiA will clear the buildings NW of the factory area, and then take the two T-intersections on the NW side of Chernogorsk in order to prevent enemy from escaping or sending reinforcements that way.

Folk & ARPS will clear the factory area and seek the American officer.

LDDK will clear the harbour and the city blocks between the harbour and the factory area and seek the American officer.


Phase D, when the documents have been obtained:

CiA will advance NW to the intersection and hill 29 west of Vysota.

Folk & ARPS will advance to the church north of Chernogorsk and Vysota.

LDDK will clear the eastern buildings of Chernogorsk and advance to Hill 34 east of Chernogorsk.



2) Attack on Zub

The company will destroy the American radio station at Zub. CiA will take point moving north on the western road, followed by Folk & ARPS, while LDDK will secure the eastern road. Finally the company will attack Zub from east and north. In case heavy casualties have been sustained, the plan will be changed and the company will move together.


Phase A:

CiA will advance to Nadezhdino.

Folk & ARPS will follow CiA to Nadezhdino and secure the surrounding hills when necessary.

LDDK will advance to Lake Ozerka and secure the surrounding hills when necessary.


Phase B:

CiA will reconnoitre the castle ruins on Zub.

Folk & ARPS will continue north from Nadezhdino, secure the village of Vyshnoye north of Zub and take positions in Vyshnoye and hill 360 on the east side of Vyshnoye.

LDDK will secure the village of Mogilevka east of Zub and prepare to advance towards Zub.


Phase C:

Depending on the level of resistance, either Cia will infiltrate the castle ruins and destroy the radio station or Folk & ARPS will move in from N and NE.

LDDK will advance towards Zub from E and SE, take the buildings 200 metres east of the castle ruins with the support of Folk & ARPS from the north, and then support the attack of CiA or Folk & ARPS into the castle ruins.


3) Attack on Pusta

The company will attack the village of Pusta and destroy the British supply depot. The plan will depend completely on the company's present strength and information provided by LDDK's recon patrol.

Cheers,
Broileri, LDDK

[Broileri]

After-Action Report on Operation Silberfuchs on 29 April 2012

The mission started as planned, with CiA moving towards the western corner of Chernogorsk from northwest, while the platoons of Folk & ARPS and LDDK moved in from southwest. An LDDK recon patrol set out towards Pusta, the third main objective, in order to reconnoitre it thoroughly before the final attack.

The three platoons were soon in contact with the enemy, but were able to advance despite on-going enemy mortar fire and two Sherman tanks. Fighting over the first designated platoon objectives began. The LDDK recon patrol found and destroyed an enemy mortar position in the north.

Fer, commanding the Folk & ARPS platoon, was killed in action, and Draakon took over. Variable, the leader of CiA, was also killed, and Psykoisi, the LDDK platoon leader, burned alive inside his Panther. The casualties were extremely heavy all over, but the objectives were finally reached, and fighting in Chernogorsk calmed down.

LDDK had taken over a tent complex close to the harbour, but the American officer supposedly carrying the important documents had not been found. There was a hotel next to the tents where a number of enemy combatants had holed up and been mostly destroyed. CiA stormed the hotel lobby and the documents were found, which completed the first main objective. At this point, the few remaining men of Folk & ARPS and CiA were satisfied with the mission outcome and retired from the front. The attacking force now consisted of the LDDK platoon of three men lead by stm Scottz, the recon patrol, which had diminished to korpr Ukkapukka and Old Fox, and myself.

The recon patrol saw an opportunity to infiltrate the supply depot in Pusta, and managed to blow it up. Equipped with the remaining Panther, the LDDK platoon regrouped with the recon patrol south of Zub. Recon spotted and eliminated an enemy AT position. The target, a radio mast on top of a tower in the castle ruins, was spotted from the hill to the south. The recon patrol was compromised, managing, however, to disengage. The Panther was destroyed by bazooka at the exact spot from which it could have fired at the radio mast and possibly destroyed it. A final attempt with four remaining men was made, and the final survivor, Old Fox, destroyed the tower and the radio mast with it with a satchel charge, thus completing the final objective.

In retrospect, the assault against Chernogorsk was devastating. Without intelligence of the location of the enemy forces and the sought-after documents, it was necessary to find and destroy the garrison and attempt to take control of the town, but the assault could have been carried out more effectively. Mainly, the company could have concentrated the assault on a particular place in town instead of the whole western side, and tried to push in from that spot in tight order, attacking one city block at a time. However, without any training between the platoons of CiA, Folk & ARPS and LDDK, that would have been an effort in itself. The attack would have slowed down considerably in any case. What made matters worse was that any of the three platoons did not manage to disengage from combat when casualties piled up, which nullified the possibility for any later attempt to alter the strategy.

Information about heavy casualties did not reach high enough levels soon enough in the communication chain of the company, and the platoons may have had too independent objectives, which made it difficult for them to support each other directly. As a result, the company was extremely close to being decimated in the streets of Chernogorsk. That the mission ultimately succeeded was by chance and thanks to the skill and cool-headedness of the recon patrol operating far beyond of what was expected.

The company completed the mission assigned for it. The Fatherland is proud of the blood spilled, and the widows and mothers have been sent some flowers, a form letter, and a ribbon to be carried with honour. The survivor of the CiA-Folk-ARPS-LDDK joint force has been recommended for the Iron Cross with a monthly pension of 300 Reichsmark and farmland in the conquered territories.

Thanks to everyone involved and for Spinoza for providing the mission and organising the event.

[Draakon]

Fer, commanding the Folk & ARPS platoon, was killed in action, and Draakon took over.

Only at the very end, when more then half of us were killed, before hand it was Stranglove who took over.

Some comments from my side as well. I was the tank commander/driver of the FOLK & ARPS platoon (a panther), so my experience in this mission was different then do the infantry. From what I managed to gather, hear and remember, everything went okay for the platoon until the point where our infantry forces decided to split up as per pre-mission briefing&planning. Our platoon moved towards a gas station just west from Chernogorsk, with the Panther in the lead and 2 german half-tracks behind. After we reached the gas station, the infantry dismounted and went towards NEish, trough the woods. There, they would continue East until they reached a small power substation of sorts. There, they would split up. The panther still remained on the road, a little bit actually moved up, but was still in bad position to see the infantry.

While the infantry indeed was moving towards the substation, head was already engaging some infantry targets near the railway station between us and FOLK & ARPS first objective, which was a factory complex. Also, a sherman decided to stroll around there for a moment, before going towards the harbor. Head managed to only shoot it once or twice, but I believe it was all misses.

Now, when the infantry decided to split up, they got engaged by a sherman, which took down some of our men. Me and head couldn't see it trough the trees, but apparently LDDK panther at some point destroyed it. Alas, at that point I already had heard that there were some casualties. I believe a half-track was also pissing about, but IIRC that problem got taken care fast as well.

The real problem, as well as where most of our people died was when an enemy Stuart decided to go pass the over watch position of CIA at Hill 14 and engage our people. That's where Fer and most of the northern troops died. At the same time, I got yelled for a moment, why me & head weren't engaging that darn panzy tank. We couldn't see it, so I heard in horror how people died. While that was happening, southern force moved towards the railway station and got friendly fired by LDDK panther. Took some casualties even. Then, I got the announcement that Fer was dead and thus Stranglove took over.

Our panther moved up towards the railway station and halfway there we saw the darn bugger (the enemy Stuart). But the pesky thing decided to evade due west and have the woods to cover him. Fortunately for us, the driver was drunk and crashed into a tree after which head shot an AP round at it and the crew burned alive. Then MrWeed yelled over comms, saying Strang was down and only 3 (or 2) guys were alive on the southern side and the northern side was down to 1 or 2 as well. Then, an enemy P-38 started flying over the city, swooping down and doing some strafing runs, hurting the LDDK panther and some CIA and the renaming FOLK & ARPS infantry. So at that point, we regrouped with the CIA dudes, helping them out towards their obj 2, while me and head also tried to keep the factory complex clean of any yankees. Once we reached obj 2 (a gas station on the east side of chernogorsk), only 3 guys were still left alive in CIA and 1 guy from ARPS. Me and heads morale was so low at that point that we gave the panther over to CIA and went home.

[fer]

Oh noes, a partial transcript of my radio communication with comrade Spinoza has been leaked:

Spinoza: [words to the effect of: WTF happend to your platoon, Unteroffizier?]

Fer: I'm afraid the very simple answer is that my platoon sustained massive casualties on the approach to the factory zone, and was effectively destroyed very early on in the mission. It's a huge shame, because we had put in a lot of hours preparing a detailed plan for clearing the factory complex, complete with pre-planned routes and rehearsals for all element leaders. I don't think we have ever done that before in Folk, and it was mortifying not to put it into practice! The more detailed explanation for why we disintegrated so early is more complicated, and involves a variety of excuses factors:

1. Our platoon was at least 10 players below anticipated strength. That in itself should not have been an issue, but it was, as I'll explain:

2. Our plan required 4 fireteams, split into 2 squads, but in the event these were so under-strength that even a single casualty would cause a fireteam to drop out of the fight. I should have scrapped our plan for lack of numbers and adapted it, or devised a new one with fewer, full-strength fireteams.

3. We had not fully understood and briefed for the INV44 medical system, and as a consequence lost several men needlessly.

4. During the initial advance CoyCO asked us to pause because we were getting too far ahead of LDDK Plt. That wasn't necessarily a problem, as we needed to dress our line - but whilst static in the woods we came under particularly effective mortar and tank fire. Our issues with the medical system made this situation particularly costly, although it's fair to say that CoyCO gave us permission to resume our advance when we so requested.

5. I failed to order our platoon's panzer to support us as closely as it could have, because I was wary of enemy AT. As a consequence, quite a few of our men were killed in the outskirts by American light tanks. I myself died at this point, when a light tank drove onto my position.

6. I failed to give adequate consideration to the approach to the town in my planning. All our rehearsals had made the assumption that our entire force would be intact at the edge of the factory complex - this proved to be completely false in the event.

These issues were largely ones of organisation and tactics, and the bottom line is that we attempted to assault too large a front with too few men, and compounded the issue by failing to maximise the support on offer from our panzer. As the PltCO, I'll take responsibility here!

Naturally, there is only one thing for me to do now ...