29, Let's Go! Campaign - Mission 4: The Radar Station at Cardonville

Having successfully cleared one flank in the previous mission, the plucky GIs of the 175th are now tasked with clearing the other flank, in the next installment of the TooFatLardies' 29, Let's Go! campaign.

As in the last mission, both the US attackers and the German defenders come from different companies within their respective formations, so both sides start with full strength platoons (although the US have much more support, as usual).

The Set-Up:
Despite, the name there is no radar station on the board(!) - it is just "off-screen", top-left.  The buildings are at the eastern edge of the village of Cardonville.

The battlefield.

Another view.

And an overhead.  The US will approach from the East (right).

The Battle:

The US advance in 3 colums, with supporting armour.

Another view.

Quiet?  Too quiet.  The GIs cross the empty field cautiously, advancing by rushes, but do not encounter anything...until suddenly they are opened up on by a small cannon! (bottom-left)

A German FOO at the edge of the orchard waits to call in a mortar strike if the US advance down the main road...

As the US advance through the southern orchard, they are spotted and fired upon by a German section...

Four GIs become casualties

An MG42(left)  opens up on US infantry moving through the central orchard, and they are spotted by the FOO team too (top)

The remainder of the lead US squad are in the building but hold their fire, watching the advancing German section

The unfortunate US infantry in the centre orchard are pinned by a combination of MG42 and mortar fire - and spot a Pak40 too!

The central orchard is not a comfortable bit of real estate for the GIs at the minute - they are currently more frightened than hurt, however

One of the Shermans trundles down the road to lend some fire support

Concentrated fire from the second Sherman and the US infantry are making life literally impossible for the German section to the south

The Pak40 settle the argument as to whether the tank or anti-tank gun is more effective...

another view

Some of the US infantry manage to silence the gun immediately afterwards, however!

The MG42 team are killed and this flank is cleared; the remainder of the Germans retreat!

Losses:
US: 1 x Sherman, 4 x KIA, 8 x WIA
Germans: 6 x KIA, 13 x WIA (all POWs)

Game Notes:
Although the US did accomplish their mission, the Germans fought well in this scenario.  By my reckoning the US have lost 5 tanks in the campaign so far!  What did for the Germans in this scenario is that they didn't generate early enough in force, so the US troops managed to get quite far into the position before being seriously threatened.  The US were pretty lucky not to lose anyone to the mortar bombardment too, although the unlucky squad did spend most of its time burrowed in the dirt.  Regardless, the balance of these factors meant that the German platoon collapsed quicker than the US one.  The cumulative morale loss factor of each lost element is the basic currency of this game: once a platoon has lost 5-6 elements, then it is pretty much done.  The usual way I play is to consider each side as a single 'large' platoon, although an argument could be made that the infantry and armour especially should be considered different platoons.  I am unsure as to which is best, but at the moment I naturally have concluded that considering it as a single large platoon is more realistic than not (otherwise losses of tanks would have little morale effect on the infantry and vice-versa).

And, by way of contrast to all the above, here is the Lardies' own version!

As ever, WRG 1925-50 Armour & Infantry rules, Baccus 6mm figures, Leven buildings.