Hamm caught one enemy Plt before they got out of the draw and destroyed it and he had given Sepp's Infantry enough time to reoccupy their positions.  2nd and 3rd Pz Co's had setup up a kill zone and were engaging a dismounted Russian Infantry Co.  Immelmann reported that he had finally advanced to Ref Pt 65 but enemy armor was still in his area.

The Russian Infantry had turned their advance towards Ref Pt 65 and enemy armor again pushed Immelmann back, but this time the trail that led to Hamm's rear area's was undefended and enemy units were approaching his support units.  Immelmann had reported taking heavy casualties during the last Russian attack.

Maj Hamm got word back to the rear area for those units to move out towards the SE. 2nd and 3rd Pz had broken up the Russian Infantry advance but Immelmann radioed back that his unit was in no shape to continue attacking and was setting up defensive positions until Hamm or Sepp could relieve his forces.

Elements of 2nd and 3rd Pz finally arrive at Ref Pt 65 to reinforce what remained of Immelmann and Ascher's units and immediately engage 2 enemy Infantry Plt's and light armor.  Hamm's Lt Pz Plt's decimate the enemy transports and Infantry trying to escape in any direction.  Knowing there was still enemy armor roving in and around his rear area,  Maj Hamm requested from his friend Jocheim send out forces to try and discover their location within the woods and fields.

After 2 hours of continuous fighting, Maj Hamm called all his forces and ordered them to consolidate their positions.  His units were spent, ammo was low, and the follow on forces of the Division were approaching.  He informed Div sion Hq's that there were still some small elements of enemy armor in the vicinity but he neither had the ammo or fuel to continue to hunt them down.  He had effectively destroyed the enemy's offensive capability and did not want to press his gains until he could reorganize his forces.

His forces pulled from the front line after their successfull engagement east of Orsha at the head of the Division advance, Maj Hamm took stock of his Battalion. 1st Pz Co was still without a Lt Pz Plt and understrength even with the arrival of 2 replacement Pz's and their crews. 2nd Pz's Lt Plt only contained one operational Pz, but was nearly at full strength with Pz III's.  Only his 3rd Pz Co., with their heavy Pz IV's was close to 100 percent strength.  

As the Division raced east towards Smolensk as part of the 2nd Panzer Armee, Maj Hamm was given the mission to screen its exposed left flank. What concerned him was intelligence reports of large enemy armor formations moving south.  The Divisions' current position in the advance afforded him good terrain to screen from.  

Besides his Bn, Maj Hamm was given the Infantry Co's of Cpt's Immelmann and Sepp, the AT Co of Cpt Asher, a Pz Jagd Co, Joheim's 105mm Artillery Co, and a Co of 150mm guns. 

Looking at his map, it showed him terrain that contained high ground to the south, a river with steep banks that traversed east/west, old trenches and Improved Positions left by the Russian's, and most important, 4 major 

roads that crossed these natural obstacles with bridges.  He highlighted these on his map........

With his Co Cdr's around him, Maj Hamm lays his map on the hood of his command vehicle with his plan to defend the Division's flank.

Again, Hamm's Pz's will be the mobile reserve but also have resposibility for defending the two bridges that cross the river between Ref Pt's 50 and 60.  Here the terrain is open with long range visability and good for manuever.  To give him ampel warning of any advancing enemy, he orders the Lt Pz's of 3rd Co to occupy a finger of high ground at Ref Pt 150 that affords good visability to the NW.

The majority of the bridges that cross the trenches and river are located in a box of constrictive terrain aprroxamately 2km long by 1km deep in the center of his position.  This area is assigned to Cpt Ascher, who is put in overall command of the AT forces. Ascher will deploy his forces in depth, forming two lines of defense to slow down any advance and cause as much destruction as possible to the enemy.

Cpt Sepp is assigned the right flank of the position. Hamm realizes that this is the most difficult mission as the one bridge in Sepp's sector has thick woods to its front affording the enemy a covered approach to the bridge. With limited forces, Sepp positions 2 Plt's at the exit from the woods and 2 Plt's at the bridge, and uses his transports as OP's to his front.

Immelmann's Co forms the last line of defense.  One Plt is set to the north of the bridge over the river using the swamps and marshes to its front as a natural obstacle.  The other 3 Plt's defend the heavy bridge due south of Ref Pt 60.

It wasn't long before over a Bn of Russian armor descended upon the German defenses.  Maj Hamm's radio came alive with reports of enemy tanks moving along two axis on either side of the large bend in the river. Ascher's AT units started to engage at long range to slow down and break up the attack....

Ascher's AT units open fire in earnest against the advancing Russian armor and take a heavy toll on the eastern column.  Sepp orders his transport screen to the IP to the east. As Maj Hamm listened to the transmissions of his Cdr's, he orders his 1st and 3rd Pz Co's forward to reinforce the AT position and destroy the western enemy armor column.

A Plt of Russian tanks finds a seam in the German forward defenses and gets behind the AT line. Then, in the blink of an eye, one of Ascher's Plt's is destroyed by the combined fires of 10 Russian tanks...

As Maj Hamm and the 3rd Pz Co pull into an ambush position, he orders the 1st Pz Co to take up positions on the high ground to his south.  He also radios to the 2nd Pz to start moving north.  "Sir, Cpt Ascher is reporting that over 15 Russian tanks are destroyed and burning in the valley" reported the Sgt. "Another report sir....Cpt Jocheim reports destroying 4 of the 5 enemy tanks that broke through the line."  Feeling that the situation on his right flank was under control, Hamm awaited the Russian armor approaching from the north.....

As the Pz's of 3rd Co opened fire on the enemy Infantry, Eric was screaming at his commander. "Sir! Cpt Ascher is reporting 10 enemy tanks have bypassed his position and are heading south!"  That lead Russian Plt had radioed back to his comrades and told them the location of the seam in his defenses.....

At about the same time some 30 Russian tanks appeared.....Hamm was in trouble...

Russian armor were swarming Maj Hamm just as he ordered 1st Pz to head SE to deal with the penetration on his right flank. The Pz IV's low velocity cannons proved ineffective against this new Russian tank and Hamm ordered the Pz's off the finger of high ground before they got seriously engaged. With the 2nd Pz rapidly approaching the fight, Hamm hoped to even the odds a bit.  Hamm knew that Ascher's AT screen was still intact in this sector and should be able to slow down this batch of Russian's.  

The two AT Plt's on the right flank were still taking the remaining Russian armor under fire and the ground to their front was litered with burning vehicles...

The Russian armor descended the high ground, bypassed the JadgPz Plt, and 2nd Pz Co attempted to slow them down by long range fires but only stopped some as the enemy tanks occupied the high ground that 1st Pz had just left. The Russian's were going for the Division's flank and rear areas and their lead elements were close to breaking through on the right flank.

Maj Hamm watched as 2nd Pz closed the range and opened fire on the exposed enemy armor Plt. Along with fires from Ascher's JagdPz's 3 enemy tanks lay burning.  The Cdr of 2nd Pz realized he would be exposed in his current position, pulled back and also covered the Bn Hq's.  The left flank elements of Ascher's AT line opened fire on those enemy tanks that had just taken up positions at Ref Pt 60 and caused them to scatter.

Jocheim's K18 150mm guns turned their tubes on the lead Russian tanks and tore through their light armor, adding to the carnage. Even still, the enemy posed a serious threat as some 7 tanks remained on the high ground near Ref Pt 60.

Receiving reports from all his Commanders, Hamm listened as each reported their status.  Cpt Ascher reported that the Russian's were massing for another push on the right flank. Large Infantry formations were seen advancing down the road in the center, but more importantly, the tanks at Ref Pt 60 had not continued forward.

While using the 3rd Pz Co to deal with the advancing Russian Infantry, Maj Hamm ordered the 2nd Pz to swing around and gain a position south of Ref Pt 60. The Russian tanks there were preventing him from closing on the bulk of enemy Infantry.  The weakened 1st Pz along with Asher's left flank AT elements continue to engage those same tanks, destroying one, but losing the remaining Jadg Pz to return fire. "Jocheim, lay some fire along that trail and try to slow down those bastards." ordered Hamm into his microphone...

The Russian's continue to push armor on the Hamm's right flank and the advancing Infantry have made it off the high grounds and are now dangerously close to the center unts of Asher's AT line. 

"Hamm, Asher here, I have another Co of Jadg Pz's coming...where do you want them?" came the call over the radio. "Get them to Ref Pt 40 and I can make a decision once they get there" replies Hamm as he rode along with 2 Plt's from 3rd Pz to intercept the Russian Infantry pouring off the high ground. Asher's forces repelled the last enemy attempt to break through his lines on the center/right, which led Hamm to order his 1st Pz to join the 2nd to force the issue at Ref Pt 60.

"Sir, Cpt Immelmann reports that his forces on the far right close assaulted that last enemy tank and the area to his rear is now clear".....

"Major Hamm,  Cpt Asher is reporting that enemy armor has gotten past his positions on the right and they are headed for Ref Pt 40! He's also under heavy attack in the center! He just lost another AT Plt!"  "Damn!" Hamm whispered under his breath. He thought he had this fight under control......And now he was getting reports of an enemy mounted force at Ref Pt 50...

Reports came in from 1st Pz that the Russian tanks at Ref Pt 40 had moved off the high ground. Hamm ordered them to head for Ref Pt 40 and to be prepared to engage an advancing column of enemy armor heading south.  He also ordered Asher's arriving force to replace the departing 1st Pz and assist 2nd Pz in destroying these annoying Russian tanks that refused to die..

"Jocheim, I need you let loose with your artillery on the following grids..." transmitted Hamm as he read off the numbers...

...and the damn Campaign Bug has struck.  I was able to get around it once before by doing a System Restore, but not this time......damn...it was just getting good ....thanks to all that were following.

Bottlegger267

Maybe you can send the last save to Jason and he can do something?

Sorry for you.

A pity. 

Wow, all that time and energy. I'm really sorry to hear about that.

I do hope you find a fix.  

I'm going to scrounge around and see if I can find what's up.  Earlier in the thread, a few had warned me about this.  Pisses me off!

Bootlegger267