CS Middle East: The Crossroads (West Bank, 5 June 1967) -- DAR vs Berto --

[Crossroads]

IDF End of Turn #27 (of 45) [Day]

So here goes, finally had the time to finish my turn today. Been a super busy weekend with latest alphas being released by Berto. Boy oh boy, is 1.03 going to be something else! 

At Jenin, I decided to go forward and take the two IPs kindly providing me with shelter, finished the turn with Combat Engineers laying out a protective smoke screen there. Continuing to direct all my indirect fire there. Not a happy place!

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At Qabitiya, not much going on, trying to sneak around his tanks while consolidating my infantry. Will take a few turns yet. Meanwhile, my Mortar teams are keeping his tankers fully buttoned up, and decided to call an airstrike on one of his Patton troops that I have several units having a visual with.

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Over to Berto!

[Crossroads]

IDF Turn #28 (of 45) [Day] - Jenin

After a busy week and a half bw both me and Berto, it is back to action. Watching the replay, at Jenin sector, he's moving forward trying to flank my vanguard that dashed towards south. Only to meet my ambushing Shermans and RCLR Jeeps. A couple of burning Pattons witnessed that action, I believe.

Into my turn, and Artillery phase, I hit him quite hard again at the road he's having his troops bivouacing before hitting towards Jenin. They are suffering quite bad there, which is good news to me of course as I finally am on the giving side. I will need to decide if I risk bringing more troop forward, or just weather the storm for a couple of more turns, hitting him hard with my artillery park.

He's really bringing his tanks forward though. I am quite thin on my flank, while I have a pretty much intact Sherman Coy at Jenin. I think I will hold him at bay here. Maybe.

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[Crossroads]

IDF Turn #28 (of 45) [Day] - Qabitiya

Down south, he's got quite a plenty of armor here as well, as I witnessed during the previous turns. He's moving some of it toward the lower right map corner, chasing my pesky mortar units there. Meanwhile, he tentatively moved forward here with a few Pattons as well, only to stray into front of my awaiting Shermans. A couple of burning Pattons more here as well.

It is quite a cat-and-mouse struggle though. My four Shermans are now under his LOS, I can't move anywhere as he's got multiple Pattons targeting the surrounding hexes. I will then stay put as well, using the other Strength 2 Sherman troop firing at his recon and mortar vehicles, leaving the other  Sherman with full AP load to hit if he moves his Pattons into a kill zone. I would, they are well armored, and my Shermans here are sitting targets.

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This is it for now, finishing my turn on Friday I think 

[Sir Slash]

What if I can't wait until Friday? The IDF wants action now.

[Crossroads]

What if I can't wait until Friday? The IDF wants action now.

Ha. The IDF does not comment the speculation that there now seems to be additional smoking tank wrecks out there. 

[Crossroads]

IDF End of Play Turn #28 (of 45) [Day] - Jenin

As seen here, he's still got strong armored formations wondering about the place here.

My eastern flank is not very strong (at all!). but maybe that little ambush that took place during his turn has made him more cautious. Let us hope so.

I am again plotting quite a barrage over his troops deployed here, while my troops are sitting in their bunkers and pillboxes, weathering (most of) his barrage coming my way.

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[Crossroads]

IDF End of Play Turn #28 (of 45) [Day] - Qabitiya

Down south things are way more interesting! It is good to see his Patton troops have taken quite a mauling here, with most of them under strength at this stage. Just don't ask about my Sherman troops (ha!). Here I am plotting my 60mm mortars on his tanks, again to unnerve him, and there's a couple of air strikes there as well, although so far those have been pretty unefficient.

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So what's interesting here, you ask? This! Hammer and Anvil. I am not sure I have the strength to make it to Qabitiya Crossroads, but if I can squeeze his troops between my two echelons, they are finally where I wanted them to be in the first place. The victory conditions with this scenario quite clearly state holding victory objectives is not the key, but taking low losses myself (failing here miserably), and taking out a lot of hostile VPs in return (finally starting to do that atleast).

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The Patton-vs-Sherman score sheet, the one that my propaganda makes all the fuss about, is looking quite nice from my viewpoint now. 44-vs-34 at the moment. 

Plenty of those Pattons still around, no room for getting complacent. At all! 

Over to Berto!

[Crossroads]

Gained some 100VPs on him this turn. Nice! Still heavily on the Major Loss territory here though, so lots of work ahead. 

[Crossroads]

Turn #29 (of 45) [Day] - Jenin

Things are certainly heating up again 

He's got some 20 Pattons trying to flank Jenin from East, I've got like half a dozen shot-out Shermans and RCLR Jeeps to stop him. Not terribly worried, yet(!), as tanks are pretty useless in cities so no way he can storm Jenin objectives by them alone.

On another development, there's Jordanian Pattons heading towards Kafr Dan (remember that town?), so there seems like an endless supply of Jordanian armor in my sector. I've knocked out some 45 Pattons at this stage, but that hasn't stopped Berto from pushing forward, not a good sign.

Here's Jenin at the end of enemy turn replay.

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[Crossroads]

Turn #29 (of 45) [Day] - Qabitiya

Qabitiya sector seems to have calmed down a bit, it seems. Berto seems to be happy to have contained my force, while I am mostly interested in deploying my troops towards North and Jenin. Here's Qabitiay sector at the end of enemy turn replay:

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That's it for today, finishing my turn and reporting tomorrow!

[Crossroads]

IDF EOP Turn #29 (of 45) [Day]

Not much to add, nicked a few kills here and there, but it is becoming obvious that is quite a formidable Jordanese counter attack in play. As observed in the replay, not only have they hordes of armor in key sectors, they've got a detachment going towards Kafr Dan as well

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As seen in the overall picture, my Mech Bde continues to be hopelessly out of place. If it wasn't for the bravery of the 9th Infantry, this battle would have been over many turns ago!

Over to Berto 

[Crossroads]

IDF EOP Turn #30 (of 45) [Day]

To speed up things a bit, I move straight to a turn overview. Turn #30, into last third of the battle it is! 

Enemy turn replay so them cautiously advancing, with some duels against my troops firing at Op Fire at advancing enemies. Taken by surprise, they lose a few more Pattons (those are the one I am counting right), making the situation 35 Shermans knocked out, vs a total of 49 burning Pattons. 1 Sherman vs 4 Pattons during the enemy turn, got quite lucky there.

During my turn I move cautiously about, always leading with my infantry, to absorb the enemy Op Fire in turn. I take a few losses, but crucially, many enemy tanks expire some of their Action Points so I have a few chances to move in. The special accolades go to my Tank Coy at Jenin, who knock out a full SP3 Patton troop, while they bleed elsewhere too. I lose an additional Sherman, vs 7 more Pattons knocked out, quite a turn! What is best is my two isolated Sherman troops finally are able to break out from the pocket (pictured in the Unit List here). I will need them badly, so glad to see that happening! Did not expect that, really, had the letters written already...  O:-)

What else is great is I am for the first time able to move to Minor Loss territory. Given the terrible battle plan I put together that feels like a Major Victory at this stage. Berto is definitively feeling the pain of being on the move here, as this terrain is really terrible for advancing forces. Plenty of places to ambush all around.

Here's the butcher's bill at this stage. My hammer and anvil are still far apart as you can see, but looking at the positives I have had plenty of time to soften the enemy pocket with my artillery. They begin to be quite shot out there at this stage.

Got to love these longer scenarios, I was as good as defeated a while ago. Still feels like walking on a wire though, so many Pattons all around, with just some shot-out Sherman troops here and there to counter them...

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This is it, back over to Berto!

[Crossroads]

IDF EOP Turn #31 (of 45) [Day]

Again, to keep things moving, just a quick End-of-Play report from the trenches!

Battle Replay: As expected, I lost a 1SP Sherman I had left in enemy LOS due to running out of Action Points. Got lucky this time, as two or three of them scored retreats only, to fight another day.

Artillery Phase: I have a habit of placing mortars on top of enemy tanks in a hope of hitting a lucky disable every now and then. I recall it is a 3% or 4% chance to have a shrapnel hitting the tank commander, or jamming a turret, or what not. One disable this time! Nice  O:-)

At this stage the score went to 298VP so just 2 points under a Minor Loss which is my renewed target out of this game. The ever so important Pattons-vs-Shermans score stands at 57-37. as both sides lost two tanks in this phase.

Carefully, then...

Friendly Phase: Not much going on here as you can see. My forward infantry reported a sighting of enemy Divisional HQ at Qabitiay Xroads, before being hit and retreated out of sight. There was a Bde HQ further up that unpaved road there, so this time around plotted a lot of artillery on top of that area. Would be a lucky break to hit something there so why not try.

Then, recon-by-death. I run out of patience to lead with my infantry once they were out of action points, and went ahead and moved one of my 2SP Twin-AA halftracks forward. Disaster, as a single Patton eliminated them, a loss of 10VP. Ouch! 

However, as the situation develops, I am well positioned to continue move back north with my infantry, with Shermans in close support just behind them. My grand Hammer-and-Anvil goal of encircling the whole area is now readjusted to encircle their pincer that has reached out just a bit too much to the Northeast by now. Encircle, destroy, consolidate all forces to Jenin for what I hope at that stage is a Minor Loss indeed. Let us see.

Here's the end-of-play screenshot:

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That's it, back over to Berto!

[Crossroads]

IDF EOP Turn #32 (of 45) [Day]

Here#s anohter End-of-Play report from the trenches!

Battle Replay: It is never a good sign receiving the PBEM email with comments like "Ah, that's much better." And so it was, my two Strength 2 Shermans at my very most rearguard did not survive their break out of pocket further than this. There's so many Patton troops in hot pursuit of the remnants of my Mech Bde I just hope they survive their hammer move towards the anvil of my awaiting troops at Jenin. I did knock a couple of Pattons with Op Fire here and there, but this was a costly turn in that sense.

Artillery Phase: My unspotted artillery on enemy HQs did not score any casualties, but was well worth it I guess. Other, plotted targets saw quite a few scores again, so the action for the friendly turn #32 beging with 282 Victory Points, and some ground to make towards Minor Loss threshold at 300 VP again.

Carefully does it again...

Friendly Phase: Quite a few Patton troops still at loose west of Jenin, I am spreading my infantry to find them out. I did find quite a few, and knocked four Pattons out with a loss of one friendly track. I am well positioned to attack them again come next turn. I always lead with my infantry, as there's no sense to drive blind into their gunsights with my few precious Shermans remaining. It is working. So far 

Here's the end-of-play screenshot. As you can see, Jordanian Pattons are consolidating a noose around my Mech Bde who, I guess I don't know which at this stage, are either retreating or advancing towards Jenin and North at this stage. Bit of both I guess.

Not much plan left. Mop up the Jordanian pocket west of Jenin (hopefully), and retreat them into safety of Jenin (hopefully).

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Back over to Berto!  :)

[Crossroads]

IDF Turn #33 (of 45) [Day]

Disaster time! 

Battle Replay: See those three halftrack troops there, a click southwest from Hill 361. That's my Bn HQs providing support to my Mech Bde combat troops. I was carefully maneuvering them out of harms way, ensuring there's no hostiles in any hexes they have a LOS to. Well there were no SPOTTED hostiles anywhere. The prowling Patton troop or three could not believe their luck having the soft skinned vehicles parked in their gunsights... Up in smoke. What a disaster, the whole Mech Bde will probably spend rest of the battle in Low Combat Efficiency, cut out from their Battalion Nets and communication  >:(

I also found out the enemy pincer east of Jenin is stronger than what I expected, I mean, look at all those Pattons there! I order my tankers to enagage them at zero range, from ambushing positions, but I don't expect them to live to see the end of the day...

What else. Oh yes, he's got another pincer northwest of Jenin, but I am not going to worry about it. Yet.

Artillery Phase: Nothing much to report from artillery come this turn, but this is truly turning into a target rich environment again.

So here we stand, before the Friendly Move. Some ground to cover. Oh well, fix those bayonets, in we go!

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Quite a comeback to be made! 

To be continued...