Fought At Hof Corridor
2433 days 21 hours 42 minutes ago
Battle Report
Hassle in Hof
100 POINTS
West German
Oberst Hunts
VS
Warsaw Pact
Jerremey
It was early on the morning of 20 August when the 143rd PZgrenadiers got the word to move forward to a defensive line to stop the push of and enemy unit that was spotted heading their way. The enemy appeared to have two companies of T-64 tanks, a BMP-2 motorized rifle company, some BMP recon and two platoons of ADA missile carriers. It was reported through the chain of command that a Kompanie from the 6th Leopard 1 Panzer battalion would come to support the 143rd but due to road congestion it looked like neither friendly unit would make it to the defensive line with more than half of their companies. Such is the fog of war that prevent plans from working perfectly. The order came down to prepare to defend and that there would be NO RETREAT today for the Bundeswehr.
The German forces would be split in the middle by the highway so the Infantry set up on the right supported by all of the Gepards and their lovely guns while the Leopard 2s ad both Jaguar platoons covered the left side high speed avenues of approach.
As the battle comenced (turn 1) the Panzergrenadiers saw some BMP recon and T-64s pushing on the right side straight at them with nothing reported on the left. It seemed as if the enemy did not have their ful force in the attack and got no reserves to assist them. There was no exchange of fire since it was too dark and the enemy seemed to disapear behind a hill.
It was a suprise to the infantry when they heard fire and an explosion to their front. It seems that the platoon of Leopard 2s moved up upon spotting the T-64s and fired at them over the mine fields that the engineers put to the front. Gotta love those engineers and their mines. It seems that the Leo 2s had trouble getting through some woods so only one made it up to engage the enemy, but that one tank got two hits killing one tank and bailing another.
(Turn 2) The enemy realized they were flanked and pushed farther to the right and came upon a mine field. Lucky for them they had mine plows. Not so lucky for us. The enemy was still pushing forward with no additional support and halted due to the mine field and did not yet seem to see us in the dark. It appeared that our Milan teams could see the T-64s so they engaged the tanks. While they were shooting we hear a platoon of Jaguar 2s moving to the right behind our infantry sinceterre was no action on the left. Shortly after that move the Leopard 2 platoon fired again and killed a baied out T-64 that was stuck by another mine field. The Milan teams seem to need a little more training as they were only able tobail one mine clearing T-64. So far we were holding and it looked like we still had a few hours until sunrise.
(Turn 3) The enemy T-64s saw our Milan teams and opened up on them with main gun rounds. There must have been just enough slope to the ground to prevent the depression of their gun tubes because all of the fire went over the heads of our dug in infantry teams which was much appreciated. Unfortunately, one of the T-64s cleared the mine field and continued to fire our infantry but was still unable to get the fire low enough to hit anyone. On the left side there was a report of additional T-64 tanks rolling forward so it apeared that some enemy reserves finally arrived but as yet were not in the fray. When our lines were able to muster up the fortitude to raise up in their foxholes they bruoght some missle fire on the enemy T-64s and were able to kill one tank and bail another. I guess the Milan gunners learn quickly, especially if they wnt to live. It seemed as if the enemy push on the right was stalling. Our platoon leader said that a Panzergrenadier platoon of the 6th Panzerkompanie had made it to the lines on the left and would hold the houses along the road. It would seem the gods of war were smiling on us today.
(Turn 4) The enemy T-64s finally made a push forward and were driving down on our forward infantry platoons. Things were starting to look a bit dicy as our Milan teams were now too close to the T-64s to even shoot at them and that made the platoon leader a bit nervous. We did not think that our Panzerschreks could even penetrate those T-64s but we would have to give it a shot.
(Turn 4) Out on the left flank we heard that a BMP company dashed foward to the woods and was preparing to push forward on that flank. At least more of our forces were moving forward and a Leopard 1 platoon pushed up on the right behind our lines. The enemy also charged forward with a second T-64 company into the center where our other mine fields were set to hold them.
On the right our motivated Gepards pushed up to help the infantry in hopes of tearing open the sides of the enemy tanks. This would prove to be a mistake, even if it did clutter up the battlefied eventually with their burning hulks. There was much firing from both sides but it seems as if the prolonged combat was wearing on the marksmanship of both sides.
(Turn 5) Now that the sun was up it seemed to be the signal for the Soviets to push forward on all sides as that is what they did. On the right side the T-64s assaulted into our 1st Mech platoon and drove them back as they were unable to muster the motivation to couterattack. On the left side the BMPs pushed through the woods and prepared to drive towrd the houses in the south. In the center the second T-64 company moved tothe mine fields and began firing on our Leo2s. It seems liek all the enemy missiles and tank rounds were hiting our big tanks. Thankfully our Leo 2s seem blessed as everything bounced off of them. It did not go well for our gunners with their return fire as we were not able to kill anything to our front.The above picture is actually from turn 6 but I did not get one of all of the forces before they were hit in turn five. Sorry about that.
(Turn 6) With the sun rising things were heating up all over the field. On the right side the T-64s tried to shoot up our forces with cross fore from two companies and killed 3 Gepards. Onthe left side We lost a Leopard 2 to the T-64s and we were starting to get woried about losing one of our big guns. Fortunately when we returned fir things were looking up. Our Jaguar 1 platoon killed 3 BMP-2s and bailed out the rifle troops inside. Our remaining Leopard 2s hit two T-64s, killing one and bailing another one. We were still holding but it was getting messy with all of the burning vehicles.
(Turn 7) On the right the T-64s moved farther into our rear to try and kill our jaguar 2 platoon and the BMP recon platoon moved up to attack our infantry.
On the right the enemy killed one of our Jaguar 2s but our supporting platoon of Leopard 1s moved up to halt the enemy advance in hopes of taking a few out of the fight. Fortunately the Leo1s must have have some blessed gunners as they were able to kill two T-64s to halt the advance. It appeared that the last remaining T-64 lost his nerve and decided to run home for some R&R
(Turn 8) The enemy is able to kill some additional Gepards in the center but the remainder hold fast while additional German forces maneuver around the battlefield. My Jaguar 2s kill an additional T-64 and some Milan teams manage to get a tank kill as well. By now the enemy is running out of vehicles and his motorised rifle company seems to want to stay in the hills and not advance on their objectives. The enemy fires away at my last Leopard 2 and he survives all of the fire, but decides to head back to the rear for some additional ammo and fuel. Things are turning in our favor.
(Turn 9) And the battle continues. If I had just placed one minefield a 1/4 inch farther from the objective I would have won this battle at the end of turn six, but the mine plow of one tank was just on the 8 inch line to force us to keep fighting it out. By this point the two remaining T-64s continued to shoot and pass their morale test to stay and fight. Thankfully they were not able to inflict any additional pain on my forces. The Leopard 1s repositioned on the high ground to bring fire to bear on the remaining tanks. With concentrated fire from both a full LEO1 platoon and a Jaguar 1 platoon our forces were able to kill off the last two T-64s leaving only the Battalion commander and some infantry still in the fight. It was fortunate that none of the remaning forces were close enough to the objectives to give the West Germans the win. A 4 to 3 victory for NATO.
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West German
Oberst HuntsWins
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The CDs work great to show the full size mine field. I need to paint them up like mine fields.
Very nice battle report 🙂
Fine rep, nice pics, only this CD…errrr.
Good job.
These battles bring back memories of my time in Germany in the 1980s when I trained with the Germans and participated in several REFORGERs. Good times.
Nice report. Don’t see how the Pact can win this one. Great game.
Great AAR… Great Day for NATO. I do Ike how you formatted your report and very detailed.
Nice paint job and story telling.
He was motivated but terrain and mine fields cramped his style considerably. Well, that and lots of long range fire.
Nice story telling with the pictures and captions! Good to see this, almost as good as seeing a West German victory! All too rare in my readings.
Another great report! Apparently the Soviet commander in that sector needs some ‘motivation.’