Script: Company Challenge 2- German Grenadier 44b Company (Patreon)

Welcome back to Combat Mission for Normandy, where we are going to put the German Grenadiers through our company challenge scenario. The background and methodology for this are in the first video, featuring CMBN’s US Rifle company, I’ll leave a link to that in the description if you want to see how this works.

44b Grenadiers

The German Grenadiers in their 44b type organisation clock in at 705 points, using the system from the Combat Mission force selector, putting them second in our list after the Americans at 761. So we should expect the Germans to perform a little worse.

And we can back that supposition up by comparing the tables of organisation and equipment. The Germans have 119 men in total, the Americans have 160. The Germans have 9 men to a squad, the Americans have 12. The standard German rifleman is running around with a bolt action Kar98k, his American counterpart has the semi-automatic Garand. The Germans have a machinegun section with 2 GPMGs, the Americans have 2 MMGs plus three light mortars.

But at the same time, there are some areas where the Germans may have a technical advantage. Each squad has an MG34 or MG42 GPMG- the same as in the machinegun section just in the light role without the tripod. Each platoon also has an attached Panzershreck team which has an 88mm rocket that is larger and more powerful than the 66mm rockets of the American bazooka.

The question is: how are these differences going to manifest when facing the same tactical problem?

Plan

In terms of raw firepower, the big deal with the German Grenadiers are those squad level machineguns. Squads break down into two very distinct components: a base of fire and an assault element, unlike the Americans where the fire teams are relatively even in firepower terms.

This means that I want to concentrate machineguns rather than mass riflemen in order to win firefights. But I only have 3 machineguns per platoon, so I’m not as confident in the ability of individual platoons to act independently.

The map presents three basic approaches- left, centre and right- which are effectively separate corridors thanks to the bocage. If I put a platoon down each corridor and they run into trouble, they’re on their own. And with most of each platoon’s firepower been distributed across the three machinegunners, casualties amongst them will dramatically cut into entire platoon’s firepower, at least until someone takes over.

To help offset this then, I want to make sure I can feed more MGs into the fight. So instead of attacking left and right, then expanding into the centre like I did with the more flexible Americans, my plan here is to punch a flank and roll the objective up from there.

3rd Platoon is going to attack up the right, with 2nd Platoon behind it ready to feed in more MGs as necessary. Meanwhile, the MG section is going to man the centre hedgerow with 1st Platoon in order to fix any enemy troops opposite them and make sure they’re vulnerable to 3rd and 2nd Platoon coming up the flank. If there are no enemy there or they’re destroyed, 1st Platoon and the MGs can relocate up the right to support the attack.

I’m planning to keep the mortars close to hand to lubricate the flanking attack as necessary, instead of indulging in a preparatory bombardment.

Kick Off

Starting the game off immediately reveals two spots on the right. An enemy HMG at the far end of the centre corridor and some kind of infantry contact opposite 3rd platoon.

They don’t open fire, but moving up is still somewhat complex. I want to ensure I’m keeping 3 MGs on-line at all times, so I’m only moving one squad forward at once, replacing it in the backline with one of 2nd Platoon’s. The resultant movement is sort of caterpillar or concertina-like: it feels slow, though I’m not sure it’s actually slower than my advance as the Americans. I’m prioritising caution over speed before I make contact.

First Contact

Speaking of which, it’s not until turn 7, with the last of 3rd Platoon getting into position, that the first contact erupts. As well as the enemy infantry in the right centre, there’s a second tripod mounted MG further towards the map edge.

They get some rifle shots and a few bursts off, then in the next turn I’m able to get stuck in with my own. Through a mix of targeted and area fire, I’m able to win the firefight and force the enemy’s heads down over the next couple of turns.

This is where things get interesting. Now that I have my base of fire all set up, I need to take elements out of it in order to advance and clear the enemy positions. With the Americans, it didn’t really matter who I picked because they have a very even distribution of firepower across each squad’s three fire teams.

The German grenadiers only have two fire teams, so I can only detach a single element to go in for the assault: either an assault team, with 4-5 men, including the squad leader and his submachinegun, or a two man scout team with considerably less firepower. The plus side is that because the MGs aren’t going forward, the base of fire isn’t going to be compromised no matter which I pick.

I ultimately went for both: on the left, I detached a scout team to send along the dividing bocage and close with the centre-right contact. On the right, I split off an assault team to punch up the map edge and assault the enemy HMG team.

The scouts, supported by some area fire from the MG section and 1st Platoon in the centre corridor, make it all the way to the kink in the bocage without running into trouble. It looks like the enemy contact they’re aimed at falls back under all the suppressive fire and, unlike in the American playthrough, there are no defenders in the kink or the copse.

The scouts also received no fire from the enemy MG team, which should have been able to mow them down from the flank without difficulty. It looks like they’ve also fled under the sustained attention of the base of fire.

But that’s no consolation for the assault team heading up the map edge. There’s another enemy contact in depth, up on the top floor of the White House. They’re able to cover the far right in defilade to my base of fire: meaning, at least from this angle, I can only engage them by going into their killzone.

The assault team loses a man, then goes to ground a little short of their objective hedgerow. Getting any suppressive fire on the White House proves very difficult- it’s just about possible from the far end of my base of fire and although it’s patchy, the depth contact seems to disappear.

Regardless, the assault team pops smoke to get out of trouble. The enemy MG team they were after have gone, leaving some casualties behind, so at least the way is clear.

Moving Up

Capitalising on this, 3rd Platoon resumes the advance. Moving 1st Squad up on the left of the corridor to meet up with their detached scouts is easy enough and gives me a foothold in the copse I can exploit when 2nd Squad comes up. With 3rd squad’s assault team down a man and up on the right, I decide to push their MG team up the same route to bring them back together.

It looks like the enemy is no longer covering that angle, I’ve brought a tripod-mounted MG from the MG section up to take over in the firing line and by getting an MG up on that flank I should be able to get some fire into the farm complex itself.

This is a bad idea. The enemy have not left the White House and, in fact, seem to have brought an MG of their own into the fight. The team’s MG42 gunner is sniped from one of the upper windows, then the team loses two more men to bursts of MG fire when they go to ground in the open.

My HMG team can’t quite see the enemy well enough to shut them down, nor can it target the White House itself due to awkward CM LOS.

The Centre Compound

That squarely pushes me to ignore the far right and direct efforts closer to the centre, at least for now. There are some enemy contacts in the central compound: the HMG team at the far end that got spotted at the start of the game and a panzershreck team that must have fallen back from the area fire earlier.

I put the bulk of 1st Squad up against the bocage where they can enfilade the MG team, but they come under fire from more enemy troops in the barns. I had already sent the scouts down the outside of the centre hedgerow so they could frag what was left of the MG team, supported by fire from my backline. Getting close enough to polish them off is tricky due to the enemy in the buildings, but they get some grenades in that seem to do the job.

Dealing with the barns is slightly trickier, although I’m able to bring 2nd Squad up to add their fire. I’ve also brought the Platoon HQ and Antitank team up, so I run the panzershreck over to the scouts and start putting rockets into the buildings. This quickly makes the enemy reassess their situation and within a few minutes, the centre compound is secure.

The Right Hook

The question is where to go from there. 2nd Platoon is coming up and 1st Platoon ready to follow. I’m not keen on trying to chew my way through the farm buildings in the centre, even though that’s where I’ve made the most progress and I certainly don’t have time to switch flank now. I need to neutralise the White House and any other enemy positions covering the road, then punch across and hook round to roll up the right flank.

And the White House remains a problem. I’ve been able to get more fire on it from my forward infantry elements on the right and dared to try and punch one of the HMG teams up the map edge to get a better angle on it. And again- with annoying predictability- ends in disaster.

So ultimately I’m going to have to just smoke the road up and tackle the White House from another angle. The Company HQ is in position on the right to call in a smoke mission from the 81s, but that will take them 8 minutes and I’m not sure I can afford to wait now that we’re past the halfway mark.

So 1st Squad 3rd Platoon moves up to the road next to the centre compound and chucks a smoke grenade. This isn’t a fantastic effort and all the men who expose themselves to the White House past the corner of the wall get shot, but it’s enough to cover 3rd Squad’s battered assault team as they leg it up their field and cross the road.

The field beyond isn’t exactly a safe place- there’s a gateway in hedgerow allowing potential enfilade from one of the farm buildings and there’s a broken enemy team in there that I’ve driven off with suppressive fire, but they’ve made it.

With more smoke, I punch a squad from 3rd Platoon across. There’s a bit of friction with the enemy team lurking in the field, but they ultimately either surrender or run, allowing me to pivot left and start thinking about sorting the White House out.

Centre Bloodbath

To help with that, I’m going to need to fix them to their front. That means edging forwards into those central buildings with the bulk of 3rd Platoon. Doing this on a relatively narrow front- I didn’t send anyone into the Barns at the same time- proves to be another miscalculation. Although the entirety of 2nd Squad enters the building opposite the White House unopposed, they quickly start getting cut down by enemy troops in the building next to them.

They take a lot of casualties very quickly and decide they’d rather be elsewhere. They were also attracting some fire from the White House and the only reason this isn’t decisive is because I’ve simultaneously brought the platoon Panzershreck up and started hitting the White House with rockets.

Crumble-Point

It is enough to distract the White House defenders from my right hook though. There’s a complication when one of the outbuildings turns out to have a HMG team in it and it looks for a turn or two like things are hanging in the balance. But the scales suddenly shift in my favour, my troops storm the building and take the enemy MG team prisoner.

By now the mortar smoke has come in and I’m able to push the bulk of 2nd Platoon across the road. There’s no resistance as they start clearing the objective area from the right.

The White House has finally been neutralised and cleared, the enemy team in the house opposite bowing out after being sandwiched between 2nd and 3rd Platoons.

The enemy’s flank has clearly collapsed and with 7 minutes left on the clock, it looks like I have a clear run through the objective area.

Roll-Up

It’s not quite over yet though: there might not be any visible enemies around, but they haven’t surrendered.

Probing the left-hand compound from the centre reveals an intact enemy team in one of the barns and nets me two casualties. I’m not inclined to try and brute force my way through on such a narrow front. I’m going to have to deal with that position from the rear… providing I don’t run out of time.

It’s not until the 38 minute mark that 2nd Platoon has made its way along the back of the objective to a point where they make contact. The lead team getting up into the attic of the second-to-last building spots the enemy antitank gun set up to cover the centre-left corridor.

They immediately take it under fire and- with very little time left on the clock- I surge the rest of the platoon forward to join in. One squad leapfrogs to the final building and storms it- finding a broken soldier on the ground floor who must have fled all the way across from the right. He’s quickly dealt with and the anti-tank gun driven off with loss.

The last potential spanner in the works is an enemy contact icon in the last field on the left that might be contesting the objective area. The only free unit I have on hand is 2nd Platoon’s HQ, which rounds the corner through a gap in the bocage and reveals that the enemy unit is their other panzershreck team.

They fumble the attack, getting pinned when a rocket comes their way, but they did at least confirm that the enemy unit was outside the objective.

Endex

Quantitative

With that, the timer runs out and the game ends.

The enemy haven’t surrendered, but it’s a total victory for our grenadiers nonetheless.

Overall, they took 25 casualties out of 119, which is 21% in raw numbers, or 16% combat power according to Combat Mission. And they inflicted 43 casualties on the enemy out of a total of 60, making for 71% raw and 73% combat power.

They also ticked all the boxes for securing the objectives and staying above the thresholds for ammo expenditure and condition.

Which is a bit weird. Condition is very difficult to judge, but it is possible to calculate how much ammunition is used. It’s time-consuming, because I’ve got to add all the values together at the start and end of the battle, but it’s doable. It’s certainly not perfect- I’m making a raw round count here rather than calculating units of fire, which are a bit different.

This means that there’s no kind of weighting to balance out different ammunition types with different functions: a single 7.92mm rifle round and a single 88mm Panzershreck rocket both count as one round in a raw count when they’re not exactly comparable. On top of this, trying to consolidate all the ammo expenditure into a single figure gives a result that is massively skewed by the huge quantity of rifle ammunition about.

But, in this context that’s a good enough impression of ammunition expenditure and I am keeping the counts by type for granularity.

All told, at the end of their battle the Germans had 62.7% of their ammunition remaining and the US rifle company from the last video had 69.11% remaining.

Both of those figures are obviously below the 70% threshold from the parameter objective, so I’m not sure what’s going on there or if Combat Mission has a different way of working it out, but I suspect this is going to be much more useful anyway.

Overall, in terms of the data then, I think the performance of the German 44B Grenadiers lines up with what we’d expect from the points cost. They’re slightly cheaper than the American Rifle 44 company and they performed slightly worse: they sustained slightly more losses, inflicted slightly fewer casualties and expended 10% more ammunition, but still secured a total victory.

Qualitative

Qualitatively, on the other hand, we obviously have a lot more nuance. The firefights in this battle were very different to the ones when I fought through as the Americans.

The weight of fire of all units will naturally vary throughout a firefight. Individual soldiers will spot or lose sight of the enemy, become suppressed, need to reload or become casualties.

The Americans have distributed firepower: they build weight of fire by massing semi-auto rifles. If one soldier in a squad stops shooting, for whatever reason, the squad still has 11 other men putting out fire.

The Germans have concentrated firepower: their weight of fire is dependent on the squad machinegunner. If that one soldier is not in the fight for whatever reason, the firepower of the German squad is dramatically reduced.

So firefights are somewhat pulsed by the input of the machinegun. Squads can put down a lot fire, but with peaks and troughs, rather than at a consistent level. To get that consistency, you need to have multiple squads engaging the same target, which obviously starts to cut into your flexibility. Or, you do what some other German squad organisations do and put two MGs in each squad.

But while the MG is the critical firepower element, it’s not necessarily the decisive element. In terms of the offence, like in this battle, chances are the MG will be using its tremendous firepower to suppress rather than kill. It’s down to the rest of the squad to close with and destroy the enemy.

In terms of other weapons, the tripod-mounted HMGs of the MG section didn’t have that much to do, but obviously everything about the squad level MGs also applies to them. They are literally the same weapons in the German army.

That leaves the Panzershrecks, which were really useful against enemy troops in buildings. Naturally putting an 88mm antitank rocket into a position is going to ruin someone’s day, but at the same time it’s interesting to consider the ability of Panzershrecks to effectively suppress enemy-held buildings in a way that allows the machineguns to get a boost or headstart in winning the firefight.

Conclusion

So, that’s the German Grenadier 44b Company. Pretty much slotted in exactly where I was expecting behind the Americans with a very different kind of feel and firefight dynamic.

Next up we have the British and Commonwealth Rifle Company which occupies a kind of awkward middle ground between the two at a noticeably lower points cost. In theory, it should be significantly more difficult.

Hope you all enjoyed this one and found it useful and interesting, if you’d like to watch these videos early and support the channel you can do so via Patreon and Youtube memberships. Whether you do or not, thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.