CMBN Montebourg 3: La Grande Hameau

[@slow9573]

I recognize that this video series is 5 years old, but I've been playing this mission on the middle difficulty "warrior" and the first time I played this I lost due to time. I had used quite a bit of howitzer and mortar fire on the entire building area, then decided to lay suppressing fire down in the center while moving all of my forces through the right flank. The left flank saw no action. My casualties were probably 20-30 wounded and a few dead, but I pushed into the center of the compounds and took them house to house while I flanked around the rear like you did towards the end. But I took too long, the enemy never surrendered or fled their positions. Each house was held to the bitter end. I tried the mission again using your idea of ignoring the center and attacking each flank. The left flank was mined to bits by a minefield at the center of the flank but they made it through, and then were bogged down because the enemy had a perfect tripod MG overlooking the road on the left flank. This flank didn't push forward until the last few minutes. Right flank did the exact thing I did previously, only faster. I was able to win, with many losses. 21 dead and 11 wounded. Probably 10 of the dead were from the minefield. But my point here is that the enemy never dislodged from the buildings. They maintained their overlapping fields of fire and held on to the end. Was costly. Edit: was frustrating to see that they only had around 20-30 soldiers holding the area. Perfectly defended on their part.

[@Philhamm]

The picture-in-picture stuff is great and so is the way you present the icons from the HUD as extra information. Loving this series!

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Cheers man! I haven't done picture-in-picture for ages, but bocage makes it hard to show what's going on sometimes so it seemed a good idea to try again. I've got all the presets for it saved now so its a lot easier to add in.

[@dnte666]

Damn son! Your unit cohesion on this mission was immaculate! Perfect movement and timing at every turn 👌 it was beautiful to witness such efficiency. (Also the camera work was the best I’ve seen in any combat mission aar)

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks! It is all against the AI though... things wouldn't go this smoothly against a human being.

[@dnte666]

Usually Hapless still, walking away with only two wounded, even if it’s against the AI, is an accomplishment in it self. Bravo

[@dv6000islame]

Excellent AARs! I enjoy the picture in picture approach where you show an overview of what's happening while showing the up-close action. You keep playing this well, you'll have to change your KZbin handle! You know, you and Josey Wales should go at it sometime, as you both do the most excellent CM AARs and explanations that I've seen. Thanks also for explaining the different units and for your well thought out and well explained tactical analyses. Well done!

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks man! I'm sure Josey Wales and I will play each other at some point, its just a matter of finding the time! Its easy to avoid being Hapless fighting against the AI... not so easy fighting in the multiplayer though.

[@hugokerivel5393]

As a french man, i think you do a really good job at pronouncing the name of these village (even for us, some of them are hard to pronounce)

[@hugokerivel5393]

Oh and btw your videos are awesome, I absolutly love it.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks! That's reassuring ;) Glad you're enjoying the vidoes man.

[@VampiroGaming]

Wow, great execution of the mission. I did not split my engineers, such a great decision. Simple, yet super helpful. Learning a lot from your channel, thanks.

[@cf453]

Good stuff Hapless. Even the basics are a real pleasure. Frequently I forget, and get in the habit of doing things that are too “clever”, or try to do too much with too little. Always good to be reminded.

[@vinnart]

Really enjoying these Hap! Thanks for taking the time and effort it takes into creating these. You have a real talent for making excellent films. Like this shader mod you are using as it really improves the mood of the atmosphere.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Cheers man! The shader is really good at bright sunlight, but I'm doing an overcast game and it looks a bit weird. Needs tweaking a little bit I think.

[@austintatious7209]

nice and simple. A good clean outcome.. am very much looking forward to the next one.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Cheers man!

[@WazGamer]

I almost missed this one. I need another cup of coffee. Ah! EDIT - Brilliant! More, more!

[@usuallyhapless9481]

13 missions left in this campaign I think, so more is coming!

[@WazGamer]

@@usuallyhapless9481 that's great. Your video style is excellent. Beautifully scripted and crafted. Truly informative and entertaining.

[@AcrBlade]

1:30 I suppose it was written in the previous mission that 105s are shared and should be used conservatively. Still, nice little mission and its execution.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Chances are it was the last mission briefing and I've eithre skimmed it or forgotten.

[@freedomordeath89]

you are so lucky boi, my scouts always get a bullet in the head after 3 steps...

[@usuallyhapless9481]

My scouts might have been lucky this time, but it won't last!

[@kevlarburrito6693]

9:40 That's not what enfilade means. To receive enfilade fire is to receive fire from two different directions. This differs from flanking fire in that flanking fire specifically refers to fire received from either side or to the rear and not necessarily from two different locations.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Never heard that definition before. Enfilade fire is fire directed along the long axis of a target, in this case the road is enfildaded (bullets fired from the house will travel along, rather than across it). Units actually crossing the road won't necessarily be under enfilade fire- that would depend on their formation relative to the road- but they would be under flanking fire because the house is shooting at right angles into their direction of movement as they cross. ...Wow, trying to explain this kind of thing makes it sound a lot more complex than it is!

[@kevlarburrito6693]

@@usuallyhapless9481 yeah sort of, though that more so goes back to Napoleonic tactics. The definition I gave is as it was described to me while I was in the military.

[@kevlarburrito6693]

What you have in that situation, is defilade fire from the right flank. Meaning that as your unit enters the roadway it immediately enters the killzone of a unit in hard cover and/or concealment such that it cannot be directly observed and engaged until after it has already opened fire. In armor terms during WW2 this would apply to tanks in hulldown position as well.

[@kevlarburrito6693]

@@usuallyhapless9481 So me not remembering the entirety of that training annoyed me enough to go look it back up. It was training we were conducting on the types of ambushes and ambush formations. It appears we're both correct, though you more so. What I was remembering was "overlapping-enfilade fire" wherein two fire teams hit the lead element from opposite sides perpendicular to the targets direction of travel (think "crossing the T" in terms of how the enemy is approaching a prepared ambush). So you are correct in that it could be considered enfilade fire, however it's enfilade fire receive from a position "in defilade" if that makes sense.

[@Arnechk]

Mr. Lucky guy. I restarted this mission about 10 times - There were mines on the left narrow flank, when i tried the right flank they were there aswell, then i tried the inside two areas and the wheated one has no LOS since its a bit ob a ridge, so after many attempts, I brute forced it through the part with the pond in the middle. Lost some guys by my own mistakes at the end, but i couldn't care less. Still total victory. In the next mission, it was looking good, then a sherman blasted by own squad when suppressing a distant MG. Fuck me.

[@wartsnall7332]

Top notch video again. Just one question, what engine and/or patches are you using at the moment?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

This one was on the last patch (V4.01?). The pixeltruppen did a couple of dumb things, but nothing that resulted in any casualties. From here on out I'm on the most recent patch.

[@wartsnall7332]

@@usuallyhapless9481 Thank for the reply. I had trouble with "gap charging" using both 4.01 and 4.02 so I gave up the campaign after mission 4 or 5, I can't remember which.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

@@wartsnall7332 Yeah. I've seen the AI make some questionable decisions a few times with 4.01... I'll see how it goes in the next mission iwth 4.02