Tonci87

Turn 7 5.7.1942 10:00 Historical map: Soviet Troops counterattacked towards Malyshevo from the forest to the north of Shilovo and smashed German covering force So, in real life the Soviets managed to gain momentum for a serious counterattack, we managed to prevent such a desaster for now. However a new Soviet force has entered the battlefield, the practice battalion of the 232 Rifle Division. The Soviets are throwing fresh recruits into the meat-grinder. Our operational map. As you can see I moved some stuff around. I managed to get one fresh AT gun platoon and one tank platoon into Shilovo. More tanks are on their way, currently in Trushkino and the marsh south of it. Troops that have suffered heavy losses have been pulled back from the frontline. I think I should again hold my ground and let the Soviets bang their heads into my defenses one more time. While their infantry formations near Shilovo have taken a harsh beating the arrival of new recruits could give them enough strenght to fight their way into Shilovo. After all you don´t need very skilled soldiers for a human wave attack, just a lot of them. What will the Soviets do? Will they assault Shilvo again? And more importantly, what will their tanks do? Will they shift north? Are more on the way? They are trying again. Their tank companies are attacking Shilovo with the support from Stupins AT rifle squad, Kozhushkos two depleted rifle squads, Gavrilovs depleted Artillery battery and possibly two more unknown units. The forest up north is also under attack again, and I fear that they won´t cancel the attack this time. The good news is that we have clear weather for the Luftwaffe to deliver some bombs. The next battle for Shilov will be up first.

If the child was misstreated in it´s old family and now has people who actually care about it then nobody should give a shit if it is with a homosexual couple. I bet the child doesn´t.

Yeah the french military is no joke, if they get the green light (wich they actually might after these events) they will make damn sure that every single person who was involved in the planning of these attacks will pay for it.

Again I have to notice that the ordinary police in Paris is quite ill prepared to deal with something like this. Honestly I expected they would get better training after what happened early on in the year. Props to that one guy who didn´t run away. That is bravery to turn around and stand your ground when all your colleagues run away.

Tanks are mean machines. During the deployment of my tropps I can´t fail to notice that Shilovo has seen better days. Many houses are damaged or destroyed, rubble litters the streets. Gaping craters and trenches provide positions to defend from. I suspect this battle will only make it look worse. My main defense force is in the town and I intend to keep Shilovo at all costs. A secondary force is up north in the forest and will try to hold their ground or, if the pressure becomes too great, fight a retreat towards Shilovo and Trushkino. A small observation force north of Trushkino is making sure that the Soviets can´t simply take the road into nothern Shilovo. I do have quite a lot of forces but some of them, including my LiG Battery, are out of ammo or very close to it. What will help me in this fight is the quite large number of artillery spotters I have. They will be able to call in a hellish rain of explosives on any enemy attacking Shilovo. I also have two air target spotters who will be able to call in Stukas once the fog clears up. My main fighting force in Shilovo consists of the divisional combat pioneers. They are more or less like your everyday infantry with the notable addition of a shitload of satchel charges. Something that is very usefull in house to house close quarters fighting or in the case of Soviet tanks rolling up into the town. Speaking of tanks, I do have three 5cm Pak38 AT guns that I split up to cover the main street, the north flank of Shilovo and the approach from the bridge down south. I simply have to hold my ground until the fog clears up, the Stukas I will be able to call in then might just be what it takes to tip the balance in my favour. A quick look at the town. As you can see the visibility is quite shit. I hope it clears up soon so that I can call in the bombers. Every larger opening in the town is littered with foxholes and trenches. Both my men and the Soviets have been very busy digging. The soviets don´t fuck around. They immediatelly open up the attack with a few T34s and infantry. I count at least 5 tanks driving into attack positions. Here we go, they are driving up towards the town, accompanied by infantry (my men can hear the tanks but can´t see the infantry yet). I plan on letting the tanks get into the town where my pioneers can ambush them. Simultaneously Soviet infantry is attacking up north in the forest. Damn, the Soviets are using Molotovs against my trenches. The Tanks are almost within my first positions. By now I count at least 8! T34s. I might have a huge problem here..... The AT gun on main street is greeting the first Soviet tank. The first T34 is down, killed by the AT gun. Confused Soviet tankers are shooting into buildings at point blank range. By now the enemy is also attacking with large numbers of infantry from the east, south and north. The pressure is too much for my combat pioneers. Panic begins to spread. My losses are horrible! My plan to ambush the tanks between the buildings didn´t work as well as I hoped. There are simply too man tanks! They are shooting at point blank into the buildings or simply drive into them, crushing the defenders under the debris. At least my AT guns have managed to get two more T34s. After I call in a shitton of artillery onto the enemy infantry the Soviets offer a ceasefire. With so many Soviet T34s still around I have no choice but to accept. At least I get to keep Shilovo. I easily could have lost it. A quick count reveals that the Soviets attacked me with two tank companies. 17!!!! Tanks in total. Thankfully they didn´t commit them all to the attack at the same time. To my suprise the bridges down south have been destroyed. I have no idea how that happened. I don´t know if that is a problem or a blessing. For now it will prevent the Soviets from attacking me from the direction of Yakovlevka where they are still concentrating troops but in the future it might also prevent me from attacking that village. A few fords are now the only ways to cross the river. Let´s take a look at the enemy tanks. This tank got disabled in the marsh south of the town by our AT gun. One hit damaged the gun and another one took off a track. I don´t know if the Soviets will be able to repair this one since technically it is in an area controlled by me. I guess this is one less tank for them. Sadly my southern AT gun didn´t survive the encounter with all those tanks.... This one got disabled on the eastern outskirts of the village, I don´t know by what though. As you can see the driver got killed and it lost a track. The crew didn´t abandon it though, two guys are still inside manning the turret, one of them is wounded. This tank got shot into the side by the main street AT gun loosing a track in the process. That together with Satchel charges beeing thrown at it persuaded the crew to get out. In hindsight a really bad idea. Another tank that got shot at by the main street AT gun (those guys are heroes) It lost a track, got shot into the turret and the fuel tank. It is understandable why the crew abandoned it. A Satchel charge thrown out of that building destroyed one of this tanks tracks. This T34 had a lot of stuff thrown at it. My main street AT gun shot it into the side, rupturing two of its fuel tanks but sadly not setting them on fire. Satchel charges damaged it´s gun. All in all the Soviets lost three tanks that have been completelly disabled. Three more are so damaged that they will either have to be abandoned or will take a long time to repair. However, they still have at least 11 fully functional T34s in this area.... I have lost one AT gun, another one (main street) has expended all it´s armor piercing ammo. I also lost a lot of brave combat pioneers and one halftrack. Up north my men in the forest have managed to defend themselves against an infantry platoon but also took some losses. I really need to get my tanks into the fight as soon as possible because I won´t be able to hold on against another attack like this..... Let´s take a look at the Operational Map. The first noticable thing is that the enemy has cancelled the attack on the forest. That is very good! Now we can also see those two tank companies in the area. What I need to do now is to swap out the defenders that are very low on ammo or manpower for fresh units. I also need to get some tanks into the town. The Soviets still have a lot of them and their T34s are superior to my Panzer III and Panzer II. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

It seems it isn´t possible to report posts any more. Is that only on my end?

How does the app connect to the Game? Internet connection?

I´d just like to point out that all the surveillance and security present in France (and there is a lot more of that than for example in Germany), was again not able to prevent this attack. Keep that in mind when politicians across europe will cry for more surveillance. Maybe all those ressources should be spend elsewhere.

France has closed its borders.....

My condolences to the victims and their families.... again Paris has a terrible day....

Mack has a go at a Review Great as always.

Basically why I´ll play it in a year or so.

Ahoi, very important. Also very important máte úžasné prsa :p

Well, maybe this is a good time for me to finally finish Fallout 3 and NV :D (I do have to finish X-COM and GTOS first though....) So many games, so little time......

Really? Take a look at this. http://images.eurogamer.net/2013/articles//a/1/7/9/2/9/3/2/2.bmp.jpg/EG11/resize/600x-1/quality/80/format/jpg Do you see that door texture? Could be straight out of OFP if you ask me. I would mind a bad texture here and there, but the other technical issues it has, together with the fact that they are still using the same old engine with all its numerous problems (Savegame bloating anyone?) Is really telling me to wait until they patch it as much as they are willing to and the community does the rest. It´s just going to be bloody hard to avoid spoilers for the next year or so.....

That´s why you don´t play Bethesda games on release. So far they have always been a bugridden mess the community needs to fix. I´ll wait a year.

That is much cheaper than what I paid for it (28,51€ in a Steam sale) at 7,39€ it´s basically a steal! Just look at this and by the way, this is the Shilovo DLC trailer here (the thing I´m currently playing) It gives you a glimpse of the things to come

They know how it´s done comrade :D

So, one bunch of stupid and corrupted crooks replaced another one, business as usual.

TURN 6 5.7.1942 06:00 We still control Shilovo. We have made it through the night. New intel is coming in. According to reconnaissance the Soviets are concentrating a great number of tanks on the south-western outskirt of Voronezh along the Voronezh-Malyshevo roadway. It looks as if they plan to attack down that road Historical: At 08:31 an order from the Headquarters of 24Pz Div was sent to 24 Pz Reg: „Great number of enemy tanks is located in the forest within the positions of 26 Inf Reg, send all long barreled tanks to attack immediately!“ Let´s look at the historical map. In my case the German 21 Inf Reg has managed to advance into Shilovo and the forest north of it and consequently the Soviet 2/498 Rifle Reg is a bit to the east. My 26th Inf Reg has also advanced up to the treelines on the plains. The other parts of this map are accurate. The Soviet 687 Rifle Reg, 141 RD is still south of the river, the 3/498 Rifle Reg is east of Shilovo together with the 2/498 Rifle Reg and the 1/425 Arty Reg. You´ll notice that a new force has entered the battlefield. The 441 Tank battalion of the 110 Tank Brigade and it looks as if they plan to attack across the fields. Let´s take a look at the Operational Map A few things have changed. The Soviets have captured the east end of Shilovo and I have lost a few platoons in the process. But take a look to the west.The crossing over the Don has finally been established and most of my Tanks and mechanised units are finally available. And, maybe even more important, five trucks full of precious ammo! It will take some time to distribute that, and it won´t be enough for everybody, but if I can survive the Soviet tank assault I´ll be able to go onto the offensive again. Now I need to reorganise and reposition my troops. Now it looks like this. I will receive more reinforcements in a later turn, heavier tanks for example. Again I will not attack but simply defend against the Soviet offensive. Lets see what they do. OK, the enemy is assaulting Shilovo and the forest north of it. I think I might be loosing those fights since some troops there are out of ammo. Especially the forest fight most likely won´t go well. Because of that I will fight the Shilovo defense first. Depending on what the enemy throws at me I might be able to hold them off there.

Night time Shilovo defense So now we have to defend Shilovo against another attack by the Soviets, this time with much less troops and ammo. As you can see I´m concentrating my entire defense on the town itself, I simply don´t have the manpower or the ammunition to go for a defense in depht. The enemy can attack me from basically every direction. They can move into Karla 2 and then attack the nothern side, go for an assault through the marsh to the east of the town or try to cross the bridge to the south. I think that most of the really fresh and therefore dangerous troops are south of the river wich is good because there are only two places where they can cross: The Bridge south of the town: It is quite far away from the town but I hope I will still be able to spot troops moving across. Maybe I should position one expendable unit there.... Yeah, I´ll do that. Bauer has the honour. He is a platoon commander but his quad only has three men and is almost out of ammo. He will guard the bridge and then haul ass back to the town if he spots something. I can´t simply blow up the bridge because I need it to advance towards Yakovlevka and Tavrovo. I´ve set up my 5cm Pak38 AT gun and one MG42 to guard the bridge. The Ford: This ford is shallow enough that infantry and vehicles can pass through it. It is almost 2km away from the town and behind enemy lines. There is nothing I can do to stop them from using it. One last look at the town before the lights are turned off. I´m sure the church tower will once again be very usefull in directing my mortar fire. The moon is still high in the sky, visibility is decent. The AT gun is in a well concealed position, aiming towards the bridge. The Soviets are punding Greta 1, the area just east of Shilovo, with artillery. This tells me a few things: The Soviets seem to think that I will try to hold that area, they are overestimating my forces. They have an artillery spotter... This is where they will attack (most likely). Parallel they are also shooting up flares above the east end of the town. This means they have at least two artillery spotters.... My men are inside the houses, the Soviets won´t spot them before I order them to open fire. Soviet Infantry has davanced over the bridges, Bauer couldn´t run away fast enough. They are on my side of the river now. The MG42 is putting some pressure on them. I´m also pulling up one of my halftracks to assist with its MG. Oh damn, the Soviets are attacking from the east. Their rifleman are spread out n a long line and cautiously advancing towards the town, I will let them come just a bit closer before I open fire. My guys open up. The Soviets didn´t stand a chance out in the open like that. I estimate that my men cut down two rifle squads with no losses on my side. Enemy movement to the south of the town. I keep calling in flares to illuminate targets for my men. Friend and foe keep shooting flares towards enemy positions to mark them. It´s basically daylight interupted by brief darkness on the battlefield. I mean, look at this! The large Artillery flares give so much illumination! The flares in Arma 3 are a joke. The enemy is now attacking from the north as well. I´m facing attacks from three sides now and ammo is critical. This isn´t good. To make things worse the Soviets have set up some kind of artillery gun somewhere that keeps punding my positions. Large scale infantry assault from the east. It is time for a Nebelwerfer barrage. The Nebelwerfer barrage wipes out the a portion of the attacking force and panics the rest. The enemy aborts the attack and offers a ceasefire. I accept because by now some squads are out of ammo and one of my Halftracks was immobilized. This is the halftrack that was immobilised. It actually survived a lot of punishment by Soviet AT rifles, the driver did die though. I´m really glad that the Soviets offered that ceasefire. My Nebelwerfer just saved my ass. Look at this: The Soviets were just about to bring a whole platoon over that bridge that they have held in reserve until now. Good thing they didn´t know that I have expended all my available Nebelwerfer salvos... Although the Soviets did capture Greta 1, which gives them a foothold in Shilovo, I still consider this battle to be a success. I didn´t loose Shilovo after all. I also discoverd that the Soviet brought some 122mm howitzers to the battlefield. Those were the guns pounding away at my positions. They will be trouble later on.

Like past experiences have shwn such agreements, especially if they have been so secretive as these ones, are only beneficial for the parties who had enough money to lobby for them. The big corporations essentially. Everybody else, including the participating states and especially the consumers, usually loose in the long term.

Forest defense This is my setup. I´m concentrating much of my force in the town, especially the artillery and mortars. I will have two divisional (offmap) Nebelwerfer batterys standing by to assist. I have set up infantry platoons along the edge of the valley that leads into the forest, maybe the enemy will try to advance through there. My plan is to ambush the advancing enemy and then keep falling back from position to position to the town. There my troops will make a stand. Even if they have tanks their usefullness will be greatly reduced between the buildings. One squad up north will observe the road leading to the crossraods to warn me if the enemy tries to simply drive around the forest to attack Shilovo from the rear. One glimpse of the battlefield before I go into the Initial orders pahse and everything turns pitch black. The picture is taken above Shilovo looking to the north. In the centre you can see the valley that leads into the forest. I expect the main enemy assault to happen through that, or along the road you can see on the right side. I have one spotter for a light field howitzer artillery battery, they can assist with illumination flares to help me spot the enemy. The problem is that some of my infantry squads are almost out of ammo.... Oh god thank you, there is a full moon in the sky so it actually isn´t as dark as I thought it would be. I can see something. My men are waiting in ambush positions, well concealed. First contact, Soviet infantry is moving through a ditch east of Shilovo, it looks as if they want to get to Shilovos south side. My men are holding fire to not give away their positions yet. One of my Artillery spotter halftracks is racing towards the south side to use it´s MG against the Soviets if it has to. The lights give it away, but right now speed is more important. Telephone cable carriers are working hard to establish telephone lines between the local command posts. This is it, the Soviets are moving up through a ditch just east of the town, not a hundred meters away from my concealed men. And they are advancing right towards an MG42 position..... I order my men to open up and suddenly tracers fill the air. The Soviets are shooting flare pistols towards my men to indicate their positions to other Soviet units. A Soviet Maxim MG from opens up on my men from far away. When the MG42 opens up its just like a stream of light racing towards the enemy. The effect is devastating. My observers in the church tower are directing the fire from my mortars onto the enemy that is in the marsh to the south. That together with the MG on my halftrack has stoped the attack from that direction before it even started properly. This is turning into a desaster for the Soviets Realizing that his attacks from the south and east have been quite unfortunate the Soviet commanders orders troops up the valley and into the forest. They run straight into my prepared positions and are swiftly cut down. I order my artillery spotter to call in a few flares. As you can see the flares fired from the big guns illuminate a huge area. At 02:45 the enemy aborts the attack and offers a ceasefire. Since many of my men are dangerously close to running out of ammo I`m happy to accept that. Turns out the Soviets didn´t bring any tanks to this party. They have paid with many lives for this failed attack. However, the night isn´t over yet! The enemy has planed one more attack on Shilovo for this round and this one will be MUCH more dangerous for me, especially now that my men have so little ammo left. I didn´t use up my Nebelwerfer salvos in this fight, maybe they will save me in the next one.

TURN 4 4.07.1942 22:00 The offensive is developing successfully. German infantry, to the extent of two infantry regiments, occupied hills to the south of Voronezh. Historical: By 19:45 neither German artillery nor tanks managed to cross the Don. At 20:20 German foreground was 5km to the south of Voronezh. By the end of the day, a report was sent to the army headquarters telling that infantry was controlling the forest to the north-east of Malyshevo. Tanks were still on the opposite bank of the river Don. (Yeah, I´m actually slightly ahead of the historic events) Night has fallen and it´s raining. Visibility is miserable. I think I won´t plan an attack and wait for the Soviets to commit their forces. Now that I have captured Shilovo I can hold my position and wait for my tanks to finally cross the river. Let´s see what the Soviets will do. TURN 5 5.07.1942 02:00 The Soviets didn´t attack yet, however reconnaisance detected Soviet infantry advancing towards Shilovo. It seems they were just waiting for reinforcements. I expect their attack to happen now or at dawn. The map shows us that the Soviets have brought up the 687 Rifle Regiment, from the 141 Rifle Division, just south of Yakovlevka. I have positioned a few reserve units along the river Voronezh to guard against a possible crossing attempt. Again I will do nothing and see how they act. I´m not interested in fighting at night because that gives the attacker an advantage because his troops will be spotted only when they have almost reached the defenders. At least the rain has ceased. I will continue to wait, get my men some sleep and continue digging in. I don´t have the man- or firepower to keep pushing like I did to reach Shilovo, especially not with an unknown number of Soviet tanks around. If the Soviets delay the attack untill sundawn they will find my men dug in and ready. Let´s see what they do. Damn it, they are attacking. The forest to the north of Shilovo and the east end of the town are their targets. I will fight the forest battle first and basically just try to hold, or at least buy some time. If they send in tanks along with infantry this will be extremelly difficult. If the Soviets play this well they might be able to kick me out of Shilovo this turn. That would suck, I only captured it a few hours ago. The forest battle will put us against Gavrilovs AT gun battery wich has only one gun left in it, and at least 4, possibly 6, unknown units. I have 7 more or less depleted infantry platoons. My AT weapons are one squad armed with 7,92mm AT rifles (completely useless against a T34) and one single 5cm Pak38 AT gun. If they bring tanks, wich I suppose they will, I won´t have any other choice than to retreat or try to disable them with artillery. Well, my soldiers do have AT grenades I think (if they didn´t use them up on trenches/houses in previous fights)....... Next up: Forest fight in pitch black darkness.