Blood & Guts, Tunisia, Fight #11

All,

It's 1310 on 10 April 1943, and another clash of tanks is looming.  Earlier this morning the squad climbed Hill 475 (bottom left, in the picture below) and established an Observation Post (OP).  They subsequently spotted enemy armor moving north to south near Point 33 (off camera to top center right in the photo below) and reported it.  SSG Smith, acting platoon leader for the attached Tank Platoon, led his vehicles north to intercept.  At Point 33, SSG Smith and CPL Grunhard engaged three Panzer 4s, knocking out all three of them, but at the cost of CPL Grunhard's vehicle and crew, which won the Silver Star posthumously.  Now SSG Smith has moved south, rejoining the other two tanks of his platoon (under SGT Ross and SGT Snow, respectively), and they are moving east to engage a pair of panzers moving west.

Overview, north is up.  This is trackless desert, broken only by scrub and looming hills.  The squad's OP is atop the peak at bottom left, while the Shermans are at top left and the panzers at far right.

The troops are all 6mm (1/285) from GHQ, and I'm using the new "What a Tanker!" rules from Too Fat Lardies.  I'm having so much fun, I need to put another order in with GHQ to get some more troops.  I'm going to order a couple 76mm turrets for my Shermans, a pack of M-10 Wolverines, a pack of Stug IIIs with skirts, a pack of Marders, a pack of Panthers, and a single Tiger hull and turret (the separate hull and turrets is why I need to order direct from GHQ), and I figure that could actually take me through the whole rest of the war.  I suppose I should buy some Pz IVHs with skirts, but might just try and get by with the Pz IVGs I'm using in these games.  I played the first two What a Tanker games with my older boy, but he was playing with his little brother so I actually played the next two solo...

The squad (bottom right) looks on; "go get'em, boys!" exhorts CPL Saxon.  From top to bottom: SGT Ross (with one tank kill already), SSG Smith (two tank kills), and SGT Snow (zero tank kills).

And the Germans: Panzer 1 at top, Panzer 2 at bottom.

Time to make the doughnuts!

SSG Smith has spotted dust clouds to the east and charges straight in (far right)...

His tank (bottom center) acquires Panzer 1 (top center left), halts, and fires!  SSG Smith watches the round throw up sand, and decides he'd better button up.

While SGT Snow, surprising in his aggressiveness and impressive in his ability to maneuver, pushes his Sherman up two contour lines to get a better look (bottom right)...

They (bottom left) spot Panzer 2 (top right) and fire.  The round misses, but hits close enough to shake up the crew (actually a non-penetrating hit that cost the Germans one Command Dice).

Panzer 2 acquires SGT Snow's tank (top center), then moves left to cover (at bottom of hill at left), and buttons up, while Panzer 1 (bottom center) acquires SSG Smith's Sherman (center top, with SGT Ross's tank behind them) and returns fire.  The round hits the Sherman's hull, damaging the running gear (-2 pips of movement and permanent -2 Command Dice)!  The Panzer reloads and fires again, but the round ricochets off, though a piece off armor spalls off and hits SSG Smith in the upper back.

With his boss in trouble, SGT Ross pushes his tank up alongside SSG Smith's damaged Sherman (bottom center) and returns fire on Panzer 1 (top center left).  The round skips off, severely shaking the crew (temporary -2 Command Dice).  SGT Ross's tank reloads...

As Panzer 1 (bottom right) holds position and returns fire, missing SSG Smith's tank (top right) but shocking the crew (temporary -1 Command Dice, bringing SSG Smith's vehicle down to three!).  Panzer 2 (left)...

Moves up (bottom center left) and fires on SGT Snow's tank (top center, with SSG Smith and SGT Ross at top right).  The round ricochets off, shocking the crew (temporary -2 Command Dice).  The panzer reloads.

But SGT Snow's boys (left) hold firm and return fire.  The enemy tank is also hit in the hull, damaging the running gear (costing two pips of movement and two Command Dice)!  

SSG Smith's crew (bottom left) is too shook up to do anything (down to only 3 CD, they roll crap and can't even return fire, even though they're already acquired, aimed, and loaded), and they can't even move (I think I rolled three 'acquires')...  SGT Ross pushes his Sherman forward (just ahead of SSG Smith's vehicle, with SGT Snow's at bottom center) and fires on Panzer 1 (top center, with Panzer 2 just below it), missing.  

Panzer 2 (bottom left) fires on SGT Snow's vehicle (top center, with SGT Ross and SSG Smith at top right).  The round misses, but shakes up the crew (another actual non-penetrating hit that temporarily takes away a Command Dice).

SGT Snow's boys (bottom center) continue to stand fast, returning fire but missing.

And then moving up (center bottom) as SSG Smith's crew (far left) finally shakes off the cobwebs enough to return fire on Panzer 1 (top right), missing.

Panzer 1 rallies (regains a temporarily lost Command Dice) and moves up (right, from bottom right, which throws off the aim of SSG Smith and SGT Ross, a good idea in these times when everyone is down on Command Dice)!

Panzer 1 continues pushing forward (center top, with Panzer 2 at far left) as it rallies again and reloads.

But SGT Ross pushes his tank to point blank range (center), and fires on Panzer 1 (top center, with Panzer 2 at top right, SSG Smith at bottom left, and SGT Snow at bottom right)...

KA-BOOM!!! Another German tank sent to the boneyard!  SGT Ross unbuttons to try and find that other panzer as his crew reloads.

But he (center, with SSG Smith at top center right) can only hear the report of the shot as Panzer 2 (far left) fires again at SGT Ross's vehicle (top left), missing!

SGT Snow pushes his vehicle downhill (bottom center), moving within 100 yards of Panzer 2 (top right, with SGT Ross's vehicle at top left), but his crew can't line up a shot.

And Panzer 2 (center bottom left), all alone (Panzer 1 burring at bottom right) and being surrounded (SGT Snow at top left, SGT Ross at center) sees the writing on the wall.  The German tank commander pops smoke...

And heads for home (far right, from left)!  SGT Ross's crew got its second kill of the war, SSG Smith got a Purple Heart, and though SGT Snow's crew didn't get a kill, they did a good job of actually getting in the fight (they missed the last fight with 'mechanical problems') and roughing up Panzer 2.  Of course, if they're gunnery had been a bit better, maybe Panzer 2 wouldn't have gotten away...

In any case, these actions served, along with several other similar actions further south, to blunt the German counterattack.  With that, the battalion would continue pushing north-northeast for another eight days without seeing any resistance stronger than the odd artillery shell.  But on 12 April 1943 the squad would see its last fight of the campaign in North Africa, and it was a real bastard.

V/R,
Jack

Blood & Guts, Tunisia, Fight #10

All,

It's 1220 on 10 April 1943, and following the Platoon Sergeant, SSG Thomas, leading the squad up to an Observation Post atop Hill 475 (off camera to bottom left in the picture below), the acting platoon leader for the battalion's attached Tank Platoon, SSG Smith, is leading CPL Grunhard up near Point 33, an unnamed collection of Arab huts.  The squad's OP had spotted enemy tanks moving north to south, so SSG Smith split the platoon, taking his and CPL Grunhard's tanks up to Point 33, and sending SGT Ross and SGT Snow's tanks further south.  Rolling in from the west, SSG Smith immediately spotted dust clouds from the incoming panzers; he quickly directed his two-tank section to take up hull-down positions on a nearby hill.

Overview, north is up. There's a few hardball roads running through Point 33, and mud huts scattered across the battlefield, as well as a smattering of low hills and scrub.  The two US tanks are at top left, the three panzers at top right.

The troops are all 6mm (1/285) from GHQ, and I'm using the new "What a Tanker!" rules from Too Fat Lardies.  I'm having so much fun, I need to put another order in with GHQ to get some more troops.  I'm going to order a couple 76mm turrets for my Shermans, a pack of M-10 Wolverines, a pack of Stug IIIs with skirts, a pack of Marders, a pack of Panthers, and a single Tiger hull and turret (the separate hull and turrets is why I need to order direct from GHQ), and I figure that could actually take me through the whole rest of the war.  I suppose I should buy some Pz IVHs with skirts, but might just try and get by with the Pz IVGs I'm using in these games.  I played the first two What a Tanker games with my older boy, but he was playing with his little brother so I actually played the next two solo...

The two M4 Shermans, commanded by SSG Smith (bottom) and CPL Grunhard (top), looking to get into hull-down positions on that nearby hill.

The three German Panzer IVGs, moving north (right) to south( left) at speed, blissfully unaware of any nearby Americans on account of the squad having taken out their patrol in the last fight. Let's get to work!

The Yanks push ahead, rather lethargically...

The German tanks push ahead, but their leader, Sgt Kamp (bottom right) slows as he sees something off to the right (top right is where the Americans are raising dust, from behind the hill).

CPL Grunhard pulls his tank forward into some scrub, "CONTACT!!!"

CPL Grunhard's tank (bottom center) has acquired Panzer 2 (top center, with Panzer 3 just right of it, and Sgt Kamp's panzer at top left).  "Target, panzer four at five hundred yards, moving right at 90 degrees, load AP, fire!"  "On the way!"

The round is long (top right), but the loader immediately slams another round into the breech (far left) and the Sherman's 75mm gun roars again!  The round is just short, but close enough to shake the crew up a bit (actually a hit that bounced, -1 Command Dice).

Sgt Kamp (bottom center) looks on as the target, Panzer 2, pushes through (left, from the two shell bursts at bottom center left).  Panzer 3 has acquired CPL Grunhard's tank (top right) and immediately cuts right (left), shudders to a halt, and fires, narrowly missing the Sherman!

With CPL Grunhard's Sherman under fire (top left), SSG Smith pushes his tank right (far left top), where he spots Sgt Kamp's panzer (far right top, with Panzer 3 at right and Panzer 2 at bottom right), just as the veteran German commander pulls to a halt and fires, missing SSG Smith's vehicle.

Panzer 2's commander rallies his boys and pushes forward, not making it very far in some soft sand (bottom left), as Panzer 3 reloads (center bottom) and sends another round at CPL Grunhard's tank, but being hull-down is really paying off as another round misses!  Sgt Kamp has his tank reload and push up to the cover of a nearby hill (far right).

CPL Grunhard (bottom center left) orders his gunner to fire on Panzer  3 (top center, with Sgt Kamp's tank behind the hill at top left and Panzer 2 behind the buildings at top center right), and the 75mm armor piercing round slams into the German tank, damaging its optics.

CPL Grunhard then pushes his tank down, off the shelf (far left), as SSG Smith's tank (bottom left) fires, reloads, and fires again at Sgt Kamp's panzer (top right), missing twice!!!

With his subordinate perhaps being overly aggressive (top left), SSG Smith follows suit, directing his tank forward, but it doesn't make it very far as the driver had to be very careful moving down the steep slope (center).

Panzer 2 moves up on left (far right), while SSG Smith's tank reloads and dashes right (center left) to meet him.  Panzer 3 reloads and creeps forward (far right), while Sgt Kamp pivots right and zooms around the flank, taking up position to use the hill as cover (top center right).

With Sgt Kamp's panzer (top left) concerned more with SSG Smith's Sherman (off camera to right) and out of the fight with CPL Grunhard's tank (bottom center), the American Corporal focuses on Panzer 3.  The Sherman shakes to a halt, "Fire!!!"

And Panzer 3 is no more!!!  CPL Grunhard's Sherman reloads.

Not exactly sure what happened, but hearing bits and pieces of what sounded like bad news from Panzer 3 (far left, burning just below the buildings), Sgt Kamp dashes his panzer forward (center right), where they acquire and fire on CPL Grunhard's Sherman (top right, with SSG Smith's tank at the crossroads at top left).  The 75mm armor-piercing round misses, and the German crew reloads!

They fire again, but this time the round ricochets off the front glacis of the Sherman!

And while Sgt Kamp's panzer (top right, behind some scrub, just left of the hill) is engaging CPL Grunhard's Sherman (top left), Panzer 2 zooms onto the scene (bottom left), turns, and fires on the Corporal's tank.  The round bounces off the side of the Sherman's turret and the crew reloads and fires again...

But the round is short, throwing sand and debris over CPL Grunhard's battle-scarred Sherman!!!

Totally unfazed, CPL Grunhard pushes his Sherman forward (far left, from the hellstorm at bottom left), straight at Sgt Kamp's panzer (top left, just below the hill, with Panzer 2 at top right and SSG Smith's Sherman at far right).  The Sherman's 75mm gun roars, but the round misses, throwing up a tall cascade of desert sand!  As the crew reloads, CPL Grunhard is incredulous that his gunner missed a tank at 150 yards.  "Fire, and don't miss this time!!!"  CRACK!

BOOM!!!!  Sgt Kamp's tank goes up in flames, CPL Grunhard's second victim of the day!

And while CPL Grunhard's tank (bottom left) is busy brewing up Germans (far left and top center left), SSG Smith's tank hauls ass right (far right), looking to get on Panzer 2's (top center right) flank.  The turret swivels...

And the Sherman fires at point blank range at the German's side armor, but the round bounces into the sky!!!

The commander of Panzer 2 (bottom right) is in an impossible situation, with Amerikaner tanks to both sides (CPL Grunhard at top center, SSG Smith at bottom left).  His gunner is already lined up on CPL Grunhard's tank, so they fire...

Blasting CPL Grunhard and his crew straight to hell...

With CPL Grunhard's tank ablaze (top left), Panzer 2 pushes forward (center, from the white puff just right of it) and swings its turret left, towards SSG Smith's tank (bottom left)...

But it's no use: SSG Smith pushes his tank forward, getting on the German's rear, and fires...

Knocking out the third German tank.

With panzers burning at top center, far right, and bottom left, SSG Smith orders his tank north (center left), to check CPL Grunhard's tank (top left) for survivors...

But there are none.  CPL Grunhard and his crew racked up two kills, and each man is awarded the Silver Star for gallantry, albeit posthumously.  But there's no time to mourn; the battalion net comes over the radio, warning of more German tanks pushing south, east of Point 33.  SSG Smith radios SGT Ross and SGT Snow to make sure they received the alert, then turns his tank and dashes south to meet them.

For the next game of What a Tanker, coming right up!

V/R,
Jack