KG Klink in Greece, Fight #5

All,

Afternoon, 11 April 1941

Here we are, continuing Kampfgruppe Klink's campaign in Greece.  The first battle saw Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen Battlegroup take a key mountain crossroads manned by members of the British Royal Engineers supported by Armored Cavalry from New Zealand.  The fight saw the Germans infantry nearly eliminate the Commonwealth battlegroup, which fell back in disarray.  Captain Freitag pressed his advantage, immediately pursuing south down, where it ran into defensive positions manned by the remnants of the New Zealand 21st Infantry Battalion.  1st Schutzen then evicted the NZ 21st Inf Bn from its positions, forcing them to fall back.  The third fight saw 1st Lt Ginter's 2nd Schutzen moving secure a crossing over the D3 bridge, forcing the 27th MG Battalion back.  The fourth fight saw Major Bohm's 2nd Recce Battlegroup push back the Australian 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment after some fierce fighting.  Now we return to Captain Freitag's beleaguered 1st Schutzen Battlegroup, which is defending the B3 bridgehead against attacks by two Allied battlegroups: the British Rangers/9th King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the Royal Engineers/New Zealand Cavalry.

Overview, north is left.  The Germans will be defending the north end of the board, able to deploy anywhere from the left board edge up to the trees at top center and trees at bottom center, while the Commonwealth Battlegroups will enter the board from the right table edge.  The road is improved (at least in terms of 1941 Greece), there is a small hamlet consisting of three stone buildings at center, a few patches of trees scattered about, and a river that is only able to be crossed at the bridge, but the dominant terrain feature is the hilltops dotting the countryside (clockwise from bottom left): Hill 441 (bottom left), Hill 342 (top left), Hill 121 (top right), Hill 116 (bottom right), and Hill 227 (center bottom).

I'm playing with very simple terrain so that I can lay it down and scrape it up as quickly as possible, to get in a lot of games as quickly as possible.

I'm playing solo using Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command, modified a bit.  I've bumped it up a level (using multi-based stands, not individual troops), I simplified fire and melee combat, and morale (5Core concepts, as always), as well as movement (I like dicing for movement, but it significantly slows things down for me).  I changed the CoC Dice so that it represents indirect supporting fires from Higher HQ, and I did away with the Patrol Phase.  I love the Patrol Phase, but it doesn't work for me playing solo, so what I do is designate an attacker and a defender; both sides start completely off table, using their Command Dice to deploy on table (as normal), but where it differs is that I basically give the defender a deployment area of half the table, and he can deploy anywhere in that area, even dug in, so long as it's at least 6" from any attacker.

If you're now wondering, then, why do I still call these rules "Chain of Command," it's because the entire game revolves around the use of Chain of Command's brilliant activation system (command roll/Command Dice), the use of leaders' command initiative, and the 'Force Morale' concept of declining Command Dice and morale to breaking.  To me, that's the heart of the system, and it makes for a fun game.

The opposing forces, with Germans on the left and Commonwealth on the right.

I'm playing these games in 10mm using figures from Pendraken and Minifigs UK, roads from Fat Frank, hills from Warzone, buildings from Crescent Root, rivers from Wargamers Terrain, and trees from Gunner at Signifer.

Battlegroup Freitag (AKA, 1st Schutzen): consists of the CO stand (far left), two rifle platoons (a Platoon Commander and four rifle squads, each), a weapons platoon (Platoon Commander, two MG-34s, and two 80mm mortars), and a platoon of three Stug-IIIs.

Captaing Freitag (Iron Cross 2nd Class)

1st Grenadier Platoon - 1st Lt Tausch (IC1 and 2)

1st Rifle Squad - Cpl Salz

2nd Rifle Squad - SSgt Aust 

3rd Rifle Squad - Sgt Lutz 

4th Rifle Squad - LCpl Steinmezt

2nd Grenadier Platoon - 1st Lt Klugmann (IC1 and 2)

1st Rifle Squad - Cpl Reiswitz

2nd Rifle Squad - Cpl Junker 

3rd Rifle Squad - Sgt Lehmkuhl 

4th Rifle Squad - Cpl Orel 

Weapons Platoon - Sgt Creuzburg
MG1 - Cpl Steinkamp
MG2 - LCpl Moen
Mtr1 - LCpl Hager
Mtr2 - LCpl Schiff

Assault Gun Platoon - Officer Cadet Hinkle 

V2 - Cpl Holdstaat 

V3 - Sgt Wagner 

The Commonwealth force: 

British Rangers and 9th Kings Royal Rifle Corps
Commanding Officer: Major Digsby*
2 x Rifle Platoon (Platoon Commander, three Rifle Sections, a 2" mortar, and a Boyes Anti-Tank Rifle, each)
Tank Platoon (1 x Matilda II, 1 x A10 Cruiser)

Royal Engineers and New Zealand Cavalry

Commanding Officer: Major Butler, R.E.*

Armored Car Platoon from the New Zealand Cavalry (two w/Bren, one with 2-pdr gun)

British Royal Engineer Platoon (Platoon Commander and three Engineer Squads)

Weapons Platoon (Platoon Commander, two Vickers MGs, and two 3" mortars)

*British Rangers/9KRRC is the senior element and thus Major Digsby is the overall force commander.  Yes, I know that early war command relationships on all sides were generally much more marked by rivalry then cooperation, and that would be fun to simulate, but I didn't penalize the Commonwealth forces by doing that in this game.

Let's get it on!  As always, the attacker goes first, giving the defenders time and space to determine where and how to deploy.  The game begins with the New Zealand Cavalry's armored cars pushing north up the road and crossing the bridge, as the British Rangers' tank platoon comes in behind them and 9KRRC's 1st Rifle Platoon next to them.

The NZ armored cars are pushing north at full speed leaving the B3 bridge in the dust as they pull even with Hill 227 (left top)!  The Rangers' tanks near the bridge as 1st Rifle Plt pushes into the trees.

The NZ Armored Cars push up Hill 227 and secure the village!

*Good grief, the Allies have gotten three straight phases and now they are seriously restricting the German defenders' deployment area.

As the NZ Armored Cars secure the village on Hill 227 (top right), 1st Rifle Plt nears the bridge and Major Digsby brings on 2nd Rifle Plt.

The Allies get a fourth straight phase, and here they make their fatal mistake: rather than have the NZ Armored Car Plt sit tight in the village atop Hill 227 and get their infantry over the bridge, they push downslope and reach the base of Hill 441.

As the Rangers' tanks get over the bridge and 1st Rifle pushes right up to it.

But finally Captain Freitag's Landser decide (are able) to show themselves, and they begin on Hill 441, where Sgt Creuzburg's Weapons Platoon is dug-in.

His machine gunners immediately open fire on the Kiwi armored car platoon...

The last armored car in line has its crew killed, the second is immobilized (crew suppressed), while the lead vehicle (the Platoon Commander) is pinned!!!

The German 80mm mortars (bottom left) begin pounding the B3 bridge (top right)...

A Rifle Section is knocked out, the 2" mortar team is suppressed, and the Plt Commander is pinned down!

s Officer Cadet Distler brings his platoon of Stug IIIDs into the fight, below Hill 227, near the river.

All three Stugs open fire on the bridge, hoping to catch the heavily armored (but lightly gunned) British tanks in the flank...

And they do!  The Matilda II is immobilized on the bridge and the crew bails out, blocking the bridge to vehicle traffic, as one rifle section is pinned (far left) and another is suppressed (right)!!!

Further down Hill 441, Captain Freitag brings on Lt Klugmann's 2nd Grenadier Platoon (right), with an eye towards bum-rushing the NZ armored cars (left top center) and re-taking Hill 227 (top center).

The Brits received their first CoC dice and Major Digsby immediately calls on a nearby battery of 25-pdrs to pound Hill 441 (top left), as the A10 Cruiser pushes north up the road (right top center) to put Hill 227 between it and the German Stugs (bottom left).

The NZ Armored Car Platoon's leader falls back onto Hill 227 (right, from explosion at left), preserving himself by putting some distance between himself and the German infantry, and getting some over from the German machine guns, but he left the suppressed vehicle all by its lonesome.

*As unsavory as this may seem, it's an important tactical decision for the Allied commander, who is trying to dodge the huge hit to Command Dice and Force Morale that will come with having a unit wiped out and having a leader killed.

With the remaining British tank out of their line of sight (you can just see him behind the hill at top left center), the Stugs (bottom center) resume firing on the bridge, pounding the 9KRRC's 1st Rifle Platoon mercilessly...

A second rifle section is knocked out, and the third is suppressed (far left).

But disaster strikes for the Allies: while the armored car platoon leader (top center) may have escaped the infantry (far right) and the MGs (bottom right), they didn't get away from the German mortars (bottom left)...

A flurry of 80mm HE shells rain down on the New Zealand platoon commander's vehicle, wrecking it and forcing the crew to flee!!!

*Just lost some of those Command Dice and Force Morale we were talking about, and it's almost assured that another is hit is coming as there is still a suppressed armored car down in the draw between Hill 227 and Hill 441, just waiting to be knocked out.

And there they go: Captain Freitag leads Lt Klugmann and his rifle platoon down the slope, though they don't quite manage to reach the suppressed armored car (center), opening up the possibility of its crew rallying and either abandoning the vehicle to escape, or manning their Bren gun and driving the exposed German infantry back.

The Germans are looking to finish off the Commonwealth attack by breaking them, so they take a gamble and bring in Lt Tausch's 1st Grenadier Platoon in the east, up near the river.

Where they (bottom left) immediately open fire on the bridge, hoping to knock out the 9KRRC's 1st Rifle Platoon...

And it's a catastrophe!  The Platoon Commander is killed and the 2" mortar and ATR team both run (far right, from the bridge), while the suppressed rifle section on the north end of the bridge surrenders (far left)!!!

*Losing another Platoon Commander and his platoon is a heavy blow in terms of combat power, Combat Dice, and Force Morale, but somehow the Allies don't break!

Although they are severely letdown when their artillery fire mission comes down long (most of it landing off table to the left) and manages only to suppress a single German machine gun team on Hill 441.

The Rangers' Cruiser cuts hard right and opens fire on 1st Gren Plt, but doesn't hit a damn thing!

As Major Digsby leads 2nd Rifle up to the bridge, where they halt and open fire on 1st Gren Plt (top right)...

Suppressing one German rifle squad (bottom left), which Lt Tausch immediately rallies, before sending 1st Squad off to stalk the British tank (at right edge of trees, bottom right).

As the rest of the German 1st Gren Plt returns fire on the 9KRRC 2nd Rifle Plt (top right, knocking out their ATR team and suppressing their 2" mortar team.

And Officer Cadet Distler's Stugs add their 75mm guns to the fire against 9KRRC's 2nd Rifle Plt (top center left), though it's largely ineffective, managing only to pin Major Digsby, one rifle section, and the Platoon Commander.

And the pounding is merciless: the German mortars (far left) get in on the action, firing on the British Rifle Platoon (top right)...

*As I type this, I realize the Germans took their eye off the prize: if you look at center, you see the German CO and 2nd Grenadier Platoon a couple inches away from the last New Zealand armored car, which is still suppressed.  If the Germans would have just close assaulted that armored car they almost assuredly would have knocked it out, which would have knocked the entire NZ A/C Plt out, which almost assuredly have broken the Allied Force Morale...

Well, maybe not so merciless: the 80mm HE rounds go long (bottom center), not hitting anything.

The British Cruiser spots 1st Gren Platoon's 1st Squad creeping up on them and opens fire, but again fails to hit anything!

*Yeah, that's it for the Brits this turn, they're down to only two Command Dice and one was a 5 (CoC).

Lt Tausch's 1st Gren Plt (bottom left) continues to fire on 9KRRC's 2nd Rifle Plt (top right), and they knock out a rifle section.

Cpl Salz leads 1st Squad out of the treeline to close assault the Cruiser!!!

But the British tankers gun them down!  Cpl Salz was badly wounded and is out for the remainder of the campaign in Greece.

*For goodness sake, only hit on a 6 on 1D6, and got them...

As Officer Cadet Distler's Stugs (bottom right) continue to pound the bridge...

Major Digsby goes down in a hail of shrapnel, breaking Allied morale and causing the rest of the force run.  Here you can see 9KRRC's 2nd Rifle Plt running for the hills...

The Cruiser pops smoke to cover its withdrawal...

But it gets to the bridge and finds it blocked by the disabled Matilda II, which it cannot push out of the way.

So the crew abandons the tank (top right) and darts over the bridge to safety (bottom left).

A pretty significant win for Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen.  The Royal Engineers/New Zealand Cavalry battlegroup is disbanded and its survivors are absorbed into the British Rangers/9KRRC battlegroup, which falls back two squares (B5, from B3).  Captain Freitag, even though his mission is to maintain the B3 bridgehead, pursues, but does not become engaged (B4, from B3), a bit wary of having the 21st NZ Inf Bn and Brit Rangers/9KRRC in front of it AND the NZ 27th MG Bn on its left flank, and thinking maybe they should have stayed at the bridge.

Man, that was a lot different than I expected.  With the way the Allies were pushing so fast straight up the center, I figured the Germans were going to have a much rougher time, and I'll be pondering that last push by the armored cars to get on Hill 441 to the end of my days.  What if they'd actually gotten up the slope (and thus closed it to German deployment), or what if they'd simply have stayed atop Hill 227, in the village, and pushed forward more troops, quicker, across the bridge.  I will say the Allies were severely disadvantaged by being relatively immobile; the foot infantry move super slow, but their tanks do, too.  It was tough spot, zooming the armored cars forward to screw up German defensive deployment, but having to catch up the tanks and infantry, and how many activations it sucks up just trying to get them to the bridge, much less over it.  Because of that, the Allies never even got their platoon of engineers on the board.  C'est la guerre...

Casualties:

German losses: 10 casualties (yeah, that's it, ten casualties, all from the 1st Grenadier Platoon, mostly from the one squad that was knocked out)

Commonwealth losses: 45 casualties, 10 captured, two armored cars destroyed and one captured, two tanks captured

Characters:

Cpl Salz was badly wounded and is out for the remainder of the campaign in Greece

Awards:

None

Next up are the map moves for Turns five and six.

V/R,

Jack