>>788501
"Sir, are you Major Stanley, 5th RTR?"

"Yes, Captain, and you are?" You say, quirking your brow at him.

"Captain Dyas, Regimental Adjutant for the 4th County of London, sir." He's still stiff and snappy in his response to a superior, seems he's as fresh to combat as the rest of his regiment.

"Well Captain Dyas, I was about to return to my Squadron, do you need something?"

"Yes, sir. Major Brown's been seriously wounded and with the Lieutenant Colonel and Major Corbyn cut off on the highground, and Major Carr killed in the ambush, you're now the senior acting officer in Villers-Bocage. Brigade Group HQ wants you to take charge for the moment and give an advisory on our next course of action." You can tell even through the formal delivery that it pains him to hand over command to an officer from another Regiment, but he seems willing to swallow his pride and get on with things regardless.

> "Very well, Captain, I want a report on our forces as they stand, where are we and what do we have to work with."
> "Alright, mount up Captain, I want to see our frontlines myself."
> "No thanks, Captain, I have my own troops to worry about, get me a line to Brigade and we'll sort this out."
> Other

>>788503
>> "Very well, Captain, I want a report on our forces as they stand, where are we and what do we have to work with."
Danon,you may want to give the link on Twitter too.

>>788520
It's possible I forgot to do that, done now.

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> "Very well, Captain, I want a report on our forces as they stand, where are we and what do we have to work with."

"Yes, sir! Do you have a map I can use?" You nod and clamber back into your cupola, fishing out a map of Villers-Bocage and spreading it across the opened hatch at an angle. Captain Dyas pulls himself up onto the tank and positions himself behind you, leaning forward to point out locations on the map. "Firstly, we've lost almost the entirety of the Regimental HQ at the eastern end of the town, along with three Stuarts from the Recce Troop, B Squadron lost two tanks destroyed and another 3 immobilised but is otherwise at fighting strength, and C Squadron is also down two tanks, one Cromwell which sheared its suspension off when it ran into another tank and another which threw a track trying move through a house's yard." Good that means their fighting strength is still mostly intact, though without much of command structure left to control it. "Major Carr moved B Squadron North of the main road into defensive positions here, while C is has secured the railway station to the South and is forming a defensive line between there and the road. The main problem is many crews scattered at the beginning of the attack and most tanks are still running on 4 or 3 man crews, we're working on rounding up the missing men but it'll take time."

"What about A Squadron at Point 213?" You ask, pointing to the high ground North East of the village.

"A disaster, the entirety of A Squadron is confined within a single field at the moment after an attack from at least 4 Tigers hit them from the South and East. Lord Cranle- er, the Lieutenant Colonel is also there, he moved forward to meet with their CO just prior to the ambush. The Tigers were driven off with 17 pounder fire about 15 minutes ago, but A Squadron is still unable to move for fear of them and they've now lost 5 tanks, including their two rearmost vehicles, making any retreat difficult."

"And the infantry?" You ask, tracing a finger along the road headed towards Point 213, where A Coy, 1st Rifle Brigade was parked when the attack began.

(1/2)
Sorry about the late update, had to get some stuff done around the house.

>>788906
(2/2)

"They're mostly strung out along the road to Point 213, hiding and scattered. Almost all of the Company's half-tracks and carriers are destroyed or abandoned, we're trying to make contact with them and bring them back into town to regroup, but it's slow work and many of them were injured during the Tiger's attack, we can barely scrape together a Platoon of them, mostly North of the road and with maybe one 6-pounder AT gun and a couple of PIATs for AT work, as well as some troops from their rear and supply elements which are still mostly intact."

"Very well, how about artillery and supporting arms?"

"5th RHA are now in position to support us with 25-pounder gunfire from Amayé-sur-Seulles, and we've also set up an aid and ammunition resupply station in the town centre to assist and further operations."

"Good work Captain, you seem to have done a decent job cleaning up this mess." You think for a moment, before turning back to the Captain "What's the enemy disposition?"

"What we know so far? At least four Tigers, they seem to have come from just South of the road to Hill 213, but without reconnaissance we won't be able to ascertain their true strength, and the men are in no state for that." You scratch your chin, staring at the map and considering your options.

> Get on the horn to Brigade and ready B and C Squadrons to advance, you need to strike back while the iron is hot and regain the initiative before the Krauts can reinforce, even if the units aren't ready.
> Hold the line, try and reconstitute 4 CLY's units as well as you can, the recce the enemy positions and make a more informed decision.
> Pull 4 CLY back into Villers-Bocage, the Germans wouldn't have attacked unless they had the numbers to back it up, you should draw them into an ambush while you await reinforcements.
> Let 4 CLY consolidate but request that your A Squadron, 5RTR be moved down from Le Mesnil to undertake offensive actions. B Squadron will have to move into their positions and C Squadron will secure Tracy alone.
> Other

>>788913
>> Pull 4 CLY back into Villers-Bocage, the Germans wouldn't have attacked unless they had the numbers to back it up, you should draw them into an ambush while you await reinforcements.
>Other
Try to mount any kind of recce.

File: villers-bocage tacmap.png (3.21 MB, 1600x1137)

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> Pull 4 CLY back into Villers-Bocage, the Germans wouldn't have attacked unless they had the numbers to back it up, you should draw them into an ambush while you await reinforcements.
> Other

Hmm, this isn't a terrible position, but there's no way the Germans would be this aggressive with just a handful of tanks, and against any concerted attack your current front would crumble. Even though it would mean abandoning A Squadron to its fate, along with most of the Rifle Brigade company, you should pull back into the town proper and set up an ambush for the main German attack when it comes.

"Captain, we'll pull back from our forward positions until we can reconnoitre the enemy more thoroughly. Setting up an ambush closer to the village centre will give us a far better position against any impending German attack. Use vehicles from B Squadron while C Squadron takes up positions just West of the Railway station they can use the field between it and the village as a kill zone. We'll also call up the chain and get them to bring up the 1/7th Queen's from the Infantry Brigade, that way we can deal with German infantry." You glance at the map again and add "And whether they're up for it or not, get some recce patrols out into the ground between 213 and the town, use whatever infantry you can gather up as well as the Stuarts."

"Yes, sir, I'll see to it personally." The Captain seems to take your decision in stride and salutes before running off towards his own Cromwell and mounting up. Good, for a moment you were afraid he'd make a scene of things, but you're not going to risk the whole Brigade Group trying to rescue A Squadron from a mess of their own making.

"Cooper, get me a line to Brigade, the Queen's Battalion should already be on its way here, but I want to know how far off they are." Cooper nods and disappears into the turret to tune the radio. "Everyone else mount up too, we're going to be back in it soon enough." Your crew grumbles a bit as they toss out the dregs of their cooling tea and stow everything away again. Gunfire can be heard again to the east, this time small arms fire mixed in with the sound of tank guns.

"Line's up sir, got Brigade on the horn."

"Thank you Lieutenant, once I'm done patch me back into 4 CLY's net, I want to know what that gunfire is." you say, putting your headset back on and keying the transmitter "Brigade, this is Major Stanley, I'm pulling 4 CLY back into the town over, requesting infantry support to assist in holding, over."

"Confirmed Major, a Battalion of Queen's is rolling down the road just now, should be with you in 15. They're bringing a Major Dupont and command staff with them, he'll be taking over 4 CLY from here on, give him what you know, then you can head back to your Squadron once the hand-over's done." Well, that was a short stint of a command. "Anything else to report?"

>>789375
"Affirmative Brigade, report will follow." You relay the various positions and dispositions of your forces, giving them much the same report as Captain Dyas gave you, but amended with your new positions further back into the town. By the time you're done, elements of 4 CLY have begun responding your orders, the aid station is pulled down as quickly as it was set up, ready to shift to a safer part of town and the first tanks are starting to roll back into the square, though they seem slow to actually pick ambush positions. Well, you've only got a short time left in command, you could just wait the 10 or so minutes for the 1/7th and Dupont to arrive and get back to your unit or try to chase up on your orders.

> Organise elements of B Squadron into the defence of the town centre while you wait.
> Head to the West end of town and help direct the 1/7th into town.
> Head East to find Captain Dyas and see how those recce patrols are getting underway, and what that gunfire's about.
> Other

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Well, we're looking pretty dead in here unfortunately, so I'll end the run for today. I will be back next week at the same time to give it another shot, so I hope to catch a few more of you then. As usual I'll be around if people show up later with questions or the like.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Danontg
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Tankies%20Quest

>>789387
>> Head East to find Captain Dyas and see how those recce patrols are getting underway, and what that gunfire's about.

You're running way too late for this poor euranon. But have a vote for next time.

>>789375
>> Head East to find Captain Dyas and see how those recce patrols are getting underway, and what that gunfire's about.
Sorry i can't join further this morning since. y'know. Family and whatnot, but here a vote for next session.