[crewman]

56. Thaon June 9, 07:00 turn 7: Panther BG arrives at Thaon ... deploying around area 1. Allied commander gives order for tank crews not to engage Panthers head on.
Buildings around position 2 get hammered by German MG and tank main gun fire ... followed by smoke and a German infantry advance. Allied infantry at position 3, with two Vickers in crossfire locations, hit'em hard and slow the assault. Panthers move forward along wishbone roads and orchard to help support.
Cromwell partly hidden at corner building at position 3 exchanges fire with Panther, but backs to cover after first rounds miss. Panthers can't get adequate fire at Allied infantry inside buildings without being exposed to possible Allied tankers' lines of sight, but German infantry manages to capture some buildings around area 2.
German infantry moves east out of position 5 hedges, but take HE rounds from waiting 95mm Cromwell and Vickers at area 4 ... and forces their retreat to cover. Panther plows through south hedge at position 5, to take out Cromwell, but support tank was already backing and shot misses.

Allies don't have answers of how to tackle the enormous firepower and armor of so many big Cats, and therefore take defensive stance until something can be figured out.

[crewman]

57. Hermanville June 9, 07:00 turn 7: Allies main objective is to capture area 3. in preparation for this, a Sherman and infantry team deploy behind hedge at position 1, and a second tank with infantry at area 2.
A shell explodes instantly into hedge in front of position 1 Sherman, as the battle begins ... but German tank can not be seen. MG's in buildings open up on Allied infantry in hedge 1, and area 2. Allied infantry moves forward to help sight tank, but are pinned in MG crossfire. Position 1 Sherman takes knock out hit and goes up in smoke, and crew escape north across field ... two are cut down by another MG42 further west.
Allied attack falters and infantry retreat back. Pz IV moves towards area 2 Sherman that is sending fire into building across the road. Pz IV pushes into hedge for line of sight, and destroys Sherman. During this time another Allied tank from across northern field busts into hedge and wins duel with Pz IV after several shots fired.

Simultaneously, Allied infantry move into hedges and field edges from position 4, ahead of Fire Fly ... to clear any AT infantry. Skirmishes break out along route to position 5, but Fire Fly helps infantry with its main gun and MG's. At position 5, Fire Fly takes near miss from Panther waiting on road at position 6 ... but backed out of its sights. Another Pz IV  knocked out near area 3.

Allies send more infantry west from position 4 and capture ground there as time ran out, and probing Allied infantry from postion 7 are hammered as they fall into sights of area 8 German infantry teams.  
Two tanks lost for each side, and infantry losses ... but as is true for most battles, Allies suffer greater losses and wounded.
Area 3 remains in German control, and Allies get pushed out of area 2.

[crewman]

58. Lingevres June 9, 07:00 turn 7: Allies deploy infantry in area 1 hedges and buildings with flame tank for support. Infantry and tank fire into building west of position 2, as infantry team assaults. Assault group gets suppressed and can't advance ... so flame tank moves up launching flames into building. German infantry retreat, while Pz IV seen moving for position from back dirt road. Croc moves for cover directly in front of building and hits remainder of infantry in retreat. Pz IV can't get line of sight without being exposed ... so remains in cover. Another Pz IV moves from west to position 5 to get shot at flame tank, but Croc knocks it out with main gun from position 2.
Infantry continues skirmishes between and around areas 3 and 4, with Vickers at position 6 putting crossfire into infantry in hedge north of position 2.
Fire Fly moves to position 3 to support infantry, but finds fire from yet another Pz IV at position 4 and is destroyed after a few shots.
MG 42 near area 8 lays cover fire for infantry team  moving to position 5, seeking to destroy Vickers. M-10 moves west along road to position 6, helping strengthen Allies' gained ground and puts fire into infantry. M-10 moves further for chance to hit Pz IV, but walks into Tiger's 88 waiting at position 7 ... knocking out M-10 first shot.

[crewman]

59. Merville June 9, 07:00 turn 7: German BG attacks Merville entering from south west.
Allies place 6 pdr ATG's at location 1 and 2 with four of five infantry teams, and a dug in Vickers below position 2 outside of hedge and able to blindside German infantry attempting to cross field.
Position 3 has Bren team dug in ... 4 has 17 pdr ATG and infantry ... 5 has 75 mm howitzer with infantry.

Battle starts with 6 pdr knocking out three German half tracks at area 6 ... one after the other. Orchard trees and hedge provide excellent cover for Airborne units. Mortars from both sides pound opposing positions, while German infantry tries advancing north towards orchard from area 6. AB units pin them, but a SPG moves up and sends HE into hedge.  
AB 6 pdr fires but misses and 10.5 cm SPG backs out of sights, but continues firing into other sections of hedge.

German infantry eventually reach southern edge of position 2 hedge and take losses from Vickers, but surviving soldiers remain in hedge undetected by Airborne.
Infantry, ATG, and SPG fire continues from all directions throughout the battle, but German units remain pinned in exposed deployment zone.

[stiener]

Oberst Von Luck ordered a probe into mervile to test the mettle of the british and Canadian Para's after there HASTY retreat from Bavent. the deploy zone for the attack into merville was sketchy at best, but was ordered anyways with the intent on capturing the hedge area to the north of the deploy zone. the paras having set up in force in the immediate area made the probe impossible. we lost 3 H/T's but the para's lost a 6 pdr a/t gun and serious inf losses.

awaiting new orders from the Oberst.

[crewman]

60. Ranville June 9, 07:00 turn 7: Airborne continue efforts to clear German units from north east area, but stubborn resistance anchored in difficult terrain has kept AB units off balance and unable to achieve their objective.

Disturbing silence moves throughout the hedgerows as AB soldiers advance east from position 2 towards area 3. Then moving south, small arms fire erupts into a pair of Bren teams from position 4 hedge. Bren teams fire back but are suppressed, pinned, and crawling for cover.
An AB light tank and Cmd team move quickly east out of position 1 and into hedge west of 4.
Tank fires into position 4 hedge but can't get direct line of sight, so Cmd team assaults their location, but gets hit by MG 42 north of position 6. Bren teams move in and engage hedge unit with close fighting, but attract fire from same MG 42 in southern hedge. Two German half tracks also in area 6. Both sides fire mortars into enemy positions.
Pz IV at position 7 fires at any Allied unit trying to move east from position 5.

Allies fail to gain fire superiority which results in losses and another battle without control of north east area. Germans use terrain to their advantage and put up tough fight.
Airborne -  twelve killed, several wounded ... and Germans only two killed, few wounded.

Some areas are extremely difficult to clear and are costly to achieve success.

[crewman]

Game stability report ... sixty battles into the Grand Campaign, and zero game crashes.

[pvt_Grunt]

[ScnelleMeyer]

Well written reports Crewman.
This last one was really interesting regarding how Steiner has tied his defence together with mutually supporting units.

[crewman]

pvt_Grunt, nice to hear other LSA campaigns were crash free ... thanks for mentioning it.

[crewman]

[mooxe]

[crewman]

hey Mooxe,
interesting to hear of few crashes in H2H TLD and WAR ... thanks for posting that info.
Great that some versions of CC resolved the crash problems

[crewman]

June 9, 15:00 Strategic moves.
Of interest ... Germans move out of Merville, while 27 Armoured Brigade moves in.
Allies arrange Canadian armor to support Brit 8th/3rd at Bennouville for logistic reasons, and 1st Special Service ordered to rest until opportunity for crossing Pegasus bridge.

A German reserve BG arrives at Benouville and Bieville has had a reserve BG for some time, but identity of either is yet to be determined.

Bayeux: Germans swap BG's via Tilly VL again.

[crewman]

61. Bayeux June 9, 15:00 turn 8: Germans move a Battle Group out through Tilly VL and bring in another ... the movement causes deployment of north west corner to favor Germans, and also isolates position 1 VL with neutral ground surrounding.

Allies expect immanent attack at position 1 and 2, but instead nothing. Buildings at area 5 get nailed with tank and MG rounds from area 4, and soon smoke on road reveals enemy intension. Allies send area 2 infantry south and find little opposition, and area 3 infantry run across to area 9 buildings and engage one or two enemy teams.
Smoke seen at area 5 on road and then quickly VL nearby is captured, which prompts M-10 east of building complex to quickly move back to position 6 in a defensive stance. Another M-10 and Vickers take up positions at 7. These three units form a line of defense if Germans advance further.

Allies initial thought is to move units from north west around to support defense of area 6 and 7, but instead, take initiative to test German strength at positions 8, 9, and 10 ... since part of the German force is attacking south east corner.

Three area 1 infantry teams and Vickers run across pavement into area 8, but stay to the west side of buildings to avoid fire from other side of road ... while simultaneously area 2 infantry assaults towards 9 with flank support from position 3 units.
Out numbered Germans lose close quarters fighting and Allies take over areas 8 and 9. A Sherman from area 2 advances to position 10 behind cover of a previously destroyed tank, and German tank at position 11 is unable to do anything about it. Sherman fires into position 11 infantry and forces their retreat further south in building.
Position 9 Vickers and two infantry teams engage opposing infantry across street in area 12 buildings, taking heavy fire, but hold ground as each side takes losses.
Allies call artillery to position 12, during which time a Cmd and Rifle team advance and capture position 11 Tilly VL ... and also persuades German tank there to reverse further south.
Sensing that German units had partly withdrawn their attack towards area 6 ... Allies send Vickers from position 7 and capture VL near position 5, in a brave but dangerous move. Time runs out as German tank seen maneuvering north of position 5, but not close enough to enter sights of M-10's.

[crewman]

June 9, 15:00 Campaign Debrief ... after Bayeux battle

[stiener]

GC Debrief.......
from what ive seen over the years one has to take the losses posted there with a grain of salt. especially the tank losses. don't no how the PC counts stuff ???
theres no way the allies have lost 81 tanks. maybe 60... even that is high IMO. the german tank loss is a little high i think too.

it is a fairly good representation of whats going on overall. [ altho not right now ] the germans have to get 3 to 1 in tank losses to be effective and hold on. I know im not getting that as german at this point. crewmans fighting style is telling in this case.

[stiener]

Bayeux......
Oberst Steiner ordered a different attack at Bayeux this battle. his veteran panzer grenadiers attacked to the right, with a large holding force at areas 8,9, and 10. Our superior panzer grenadiers were able to hold the Russian wave attacks of the Brit infantry. the allied body's are stacking up. Oberst steiner is now in a position to turn the allied flank and cut him off from the beaches.
hard fighing in the meat grinder of Bayeux......another little Stalingrad or Ortona. Herr Crewman is a feisty and ruthless commander.

[crewman]

62. Bieville June 9, 15:00 turn 8: Allies again push infantry into buildings east of position 8, but advance stalls before VL due to concentration of enemy infantry supported by two Pz IV's behind on street. Fighting there continues on and off throughout battle.

88 at position 3 exchanges fire with Sherman at 2. Position 4 Vickers sends bullets at 88 ... while MG 42 in building at area 8 suppresses and picks off 17 pdr crew at position 1.
88 takes out Vickers, but remaining crew of 17 pdr swings gun and destroys 88. Moments later, MG 42 forces 17 pdr crew to abandon gun.

Infanty with M-10 and Sherman fight at area 6 while monitoring HT and Pz iV roaming area 7.

Area 5 Pz IV knocks out Sherman at 2 ... and M-10 is destroyed at other location.
Another M-10 proceeds to area 3 nearing end of battle, and spots Pz IV approaching. M-10 doesn't get first shot and is knocked out.

Tough high cost fight for Allies, with little ground gained.

[crewman]

63. Benouville June 9, 15:00 turn 8: Two Shermans and infantry secure area 1 and fight ongoing skirmishes with German infantry in hedges further west and Pz IV moving in and out to support their defense.
Allied infantry assaults building at position 3, drawing fire from Pz IV's in field at area 5 ... Fire Fly moves to area 3 to get shot but is knocked out. Piat group moves across from position 4 to get hedge shot, and M-10 moves into area 6 for same. Area 2 Sherman moves to 3 and destroys Pz IV, and spots another German tank moving near area 7.
Heavy infantry fighting with tank support at area 3 and between areas 4 and 5 results in losses for both sides and Sherman knocked out.

Supply through Pegasus remains open