Reconnaissance Before Pontecorvo - Page 2

Concealed German MMG Section opens up on No.3 Platoon.

Unfortunately we were 'sprung', and a Section of German MMGs opened up at long range... No.3 Platoon got caught in the open and took heavy fire - one Rifle Section was eliminated, and the other and the PC were both pinned.

German MG Section's view up the valley as they gun down the Canadian No.3 Platoon.

However some sharp work by Ben with the dice soon recovered the situation. The No.3 Platoon PC co-ordinated the crossfire of his two remaining Rifle Sections on the German MG Section, successfully suppressing it. This was followed up with the first Mortar OP (FO) safely moving up along the ridge to observe the MG position, free from the risk of being gunned down by the MGs! A desultory exchange of fire saw a second crossfire (against the German Rifle Section) fail and the forward Canadian Rifle Section in the copse then get pinned by the German Section's fire. By this stage it was 0730 and an hour had passed since the operation began. The Canadian Mortar OP called up his section and dropped the mortar bombs right on target - Suppressing the already Suppressed MMG Section - eliminating them from the battle. However the Canadian PC (or rather Ben) promptly followed up with a third crossfire which suppressed the original German Rifle Section! With continued dice rolling like the last couple of initiatives it was a cinch for the PC to rally himself, and his adjacent Rifle Section, and then complete the move up the valley to assault the now suppressed Germans!

In with the bayonet - the PC leads one Section in, while the other (pinned) Section looks on.

With the German Section easily overrun and it's position occupied it was time to take stock. No.3 Platoon had taken casualties, and some thought needed to be given to it's next objective, focus therefore switched back to No.1 Platoon on the other side of the ridge, who began conducting Recon By Fire (RBF) on the closest potential enemy positions - and immediately spotted another German position across the Pontecorvo Road.

A German Rifle Section is located across the Pontecorvo Road.

By this stage Ben had also brought up the other Mortar OP, and the CC, and they were in the Orchard behind No.1 Platoon on the North side of the ridge. The picture below gives an overview of how things had progressed in the first hour of the morning...

The situation at Pontecorvo 0630-0730.

Further RBF, this time by No.3 Platoon, confirmed one orchard to the South as empty and to the West located an entrenched German Rifle Section and their PC in another copse (lower centre in the photo above). No.3 Platoon then concentrated their fire on the Western German position, while No.1 Platoon fired at the North-Western position across the Pontecorvo Road. No.3 Platoon were also further assisted by the first Mortar OP team moving up to support them in their copse, and bringing effective fire to bear on the nearby Germans despite their entrenchments. Together they inflicted multiple suppressions and eliminated another German position. So far the Canadians had successfully identified 3 German positions, and also eliminated 3 German Sections (2 Rifle & 1 MMG) towards their Victory Conditions, with the loss of only 1 Rifle Section.

German Rifle Section and PC discovered by RBF - they are entrenched (we
forgot to put the entrenchment on the table for this photo). They were soon
targeted by mortar fire and the 2 Rifle Sections of No.3 Platoon.

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