[Hermit]

The battle went well for us in terms of equipment, but there were unexpectedly high casualties in our infantry teams. Poor tactics on the commander's part were partially responsible for these losses, as it was assumed enemy units would be (a) easier to spot while not-entrenched, and (b) less responsive after shelling. The lighter 60 mm mortars and 105mm howitzers, as opposed to 81mm mortars and 155 mm howitzers, definitely had less suppression effect on the enemy units. While our troops did destroy many good quality enemy tanks in the woods, they took a beating while doing so. Several infantry units were reduced to 1/2 strength or less, and only their high morale kept them from disbanding completely.

The final attack ended up have three prongs. The northern prong was manuevered to intercept Russian heavy tanks that were spotted moving south from the northern battle area once some of our objectives were taken. The enemy had at least six IS-II and four IS-III tanks, and this was the first time we encountered IS-III's. They have THICK armor. This prong of units did NOT take the northern objective, but rather was defensive only. It was comprised of 10 of Battalion A's twelve main force tanks, with six lying in ambush in a woodline watching the dirt road that angled down SE through a narrow gap in the woodlands. A town just to the NE straddling the road provided cover for the four others. As the Russian tanks came down the road, the first group would fire upon the enemy vehicles with incredible courage, as their rounds would usually miss on the first shot, and even when they hit they had very little chance of penetrating the enemy armor. However, they did attract the enemy's attention, and as the enemy tanks turned to face them, the other four would push out from behind the town and take flank and rear shots at them. We succeeded in killing nine of the enemy juggernauts, with one IS-III retreating behind the hulks of his comrades.

The middle prong, composed of all the dismounted infantry from Bn A, plus the two remaining main force tanks and all the support tanks, pushed east through a large wooded area in front of the middle objective. In the eastern edge of this woods we encountered a company of enemy T-54-3 tanks with a few infantry support. This was the subject of intense combat, with a few infantry skirmishes and MANY infantry assaults on the enemy armor. As mentioned above, the enemy armor was not sufficiently suppressed, and unfortunately our boys took alot of unnecessary casualties. Some tactical training will be conducted by divisional instructors prior to our next engagement! After pushing through the edge of the woods, we encountered the enemy's main defensive line, with two or three tanks companies and many supporting infantry in the 400meter gap from the woods to the objective area. After our mauling in the woods, we knew it would be a suicidal attack plan to charge them with only our rolling barrage as support. The barrage smoke was allowed to clear while we hunkered down and regrouped in the woods. Then I saw a beautiful thing: eight P-47's came boiling down on the enemy tank concentration like angry hornets, guns and rockets blazing. Five enemy tanks were destroyed, and many others suppressed by the hail of bullets and rockets. We saw one aircraft get hit by flak, but that Thunderbolt lived up to its reputation for toughness and was able to get enough altitude back to limp home. That was followed by a massed barrage of 155mm artillery, which caused most of the enemy vehicles to completely shut down. Our tanks rolled forward and destroyed four more enemy tanks that were not hidden by all the smoke. Only one enemy tank returned fire, thankfully missing his target. Our infantry then ran forward with a yell, and all the enemy tanks that didn't flee were quickly overrun. Objective secured!! We also stumbled across several AA and AT guns that had been upset or suppressed by the artillery barrage, and we rendered them all useless for good measure. Then we turned north, and after minimal skirmishes, also occupied the northern objective.

In the south, Bn B traversed the SE running dirt road, where a Sherman Flame and a Sherman Flail were destroyed by enemy infantry AT weapons. Both crews survived with minimal casualties, and after some unremarkable combined arms skirmishes, the southern objective was also taken. With the area secure, an intense search for the hostages was undertaken. While we did not locate the errant general and his staff, we did rescue the hostages from a remote farm and they have been returned to German soil to prepare for their trip back to the US.