| AAR- Defence of Mariemburg |
| Written by Stu |
| Monday, 10 November 2008 18:44 |
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During the weekend the Allied forces began a strong push in the south resulting in the noticeable bulge still visible on the map. It began with securing Mariemburg, and the determined counterattack against that same town created a two and a half hour window that also allowed for the captures of Rocroi, Couvin, and Philipville. Of course, I can’t take credit for any of those captures as I spent those two hours with dozens of allied players desperately trying to hold off that attack against Mariemburg. With a battle as large as that, it’s always hard to remember what happened. Of course, I can look at my CS&R and find I spent 159 minutes in town, recaptured 5 control points, killed 11 soldiers, anti-tank guns, and aircraft, and lost 10 KIA myself. But CS&R only gives us a glimpse of what really happened. Those 10 sorties, of the nearly half a million by players this campaign, were some of the most dynamic of my career. After the successful taking of the town, most players despawned aside from a group using the town as a flak trap after the Luftwaffe’s heavy presence during the earlier battle. A flight of HE 111’s approached and laid a carpet of high explosives across town destroying or diverting the attention of the anti-aircraft gunners from the following Ju52. The paratroopers dropped and the battle began all over. In just few minutes Allied infantry would scramble, and German Opels and Panzers would begin to approach from the five nearby German brigades. The town proved to be an interesting defensive situation, it’s western and southern approaches were largely open ground which forced most of the German forces into the heavy grass and bushes of the north, and the rolling hills to the east. Although severely limited in their approaches, it would only take a single German soldier to turn the tide, as the town contained 3 spawnable depots for them. Although largely successful at stopping early infantry attacks, the brigade’s anti-tank capabilities were depleted from when they initially took the town but good communication between the few guns and sappers in town, plus a quickly shifted brigade by the then officer-in-command Cometus were able to keep the Panzers at bay. Although unable to come close to the town, the German control of the countryside was equally as strong preventing successful attacks against mobile spawn points. Infantry numbers in town dwindled and German infantry took one spawnable, then another… within 5 minutes they had taken 3 depots and the city flag. I had spent much of the battle approving and updating marks as one of three men defending the bunker, but marks would do us no good in a city over run by infantry. I took my light machinegun into the attic of a building at the end of the main road and peered through a small hole at the German forces out in the open, moving guns into places and maneuvering down the road. I opened up. I saw the dust kick up on the ground, I saw the sparks against the shield of the anti-tank gun, I saw the red puffs from the nearby soldiers. With a single clip I had eliminated one gun and four infantrymen. The remaining infantry scattered and for the next two minutes I kept a steady fire to keep the street clear until our own infantry could start driving in from the army base. I knew it was a death sentence to keep that kind of sustained fire and the executioner turned out to be Timmy41, a well placed HE round into the attic was all it took. At the same time though, French infantry had pushed forward and in quick succession they swept across all four flags and although the fight would continue allied control wouldn’t be checked again. I had seen numerous acts of courage from both sides during the battle. Redrose7 killed a German sniper with a 40mm anti-aircraft gun, Berlock2 and Nemesis 1 kept up strafing runs across town in Bf110s, Shatzen brought down 5 french soldiers in 5 minutes as a German rifleman, and all did it under the ubiquitous green tag of the recruit. Even a new player can help decide a battle. Submitted by ''Stu" We publish after action reports written by players. If you would like to submit a report or are interested in becoming an official WWIIOL War Correspondent, contact MOTORMOUTH.
Comments (1)
1
Friday, 14 November 2008 17:46
rancor
Nicely written AAR - I can smell the blood - sounds like an epic fight! S!
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