Dealing With Stragglers

[dinsdale]

Something I've not really gotten right since the days of HTTR is how to fully clear out and prevent straggling enemy units infiltrating through my lines. Typically it happens to be a bridge or other objective which suddenly draws the 25 man remnant of a German infantry company to contest the objective control

Similarly, after attacking a village, there will be one half destroyed flak unit sitting in the middle of a crossroads while my companies have moved on to secure the wider area.

How do you folks prevent this from happening? Its not related to the new version, rather something I've failed to deal with for about a decade now.

 

[john connor]

There have been long debates about it, dinsdale, as you may recall, and, indeed, code changes every now and then to try to tweak how likely it was that stragglers appeared after units routed etc (the direction of rout problem). I think it's now much less likely that tiny teams of stragglers end up able to cut your supply lines, but it does still happen and I do end up sending back units to find and neutralise them. How long small units can hold out against a massive onslaught is also moot, and has been debated and complained about. It used to happen that you could see one or two survivors holding up everything, but, again, haven't really seen it for a while, myself. It's not that long though since I read about it in one of Daz's AARs. I have always found that dropping some mortar on small, straggling surviving units does wonders. But post examples, please (with photos)! Be interesting to consider.

 

[dinsdale]

Thanks John, I'm still having some issues, though I'm not sure if they are issues or thats simply the cost of doing business. I find myself taking a couple of battalions and having them constantly hunt stragglers, but its leaving me short on my offensive capability.

 

[Daz]

There are lots of ways of dealing with the stragglers, and it very much depends on the tactical situation at the time as to which method you use.
Taking your original examples:
"Typically it happens to be a bridge or other objective which suddenly draws the 25 man remnant of a German infantry company to contest the objective control."
This situation is best prevented by moving rear echelon, HQ or artillery units onto the objective to guard them, if your front line is being pushed out further by combat units.

"Similarly, after attacking a village, there will be one half destroyed flak unit sitting in the middle of a crossroads while my companies have moved on to secure the wider area."
This can be dealt with by your reserves, or by detaching one of the Coy's from the Bn and sending it back to clear the crossroads.

Another method is to have a designated unit used especially for this role. I sometimes use fast recon units for this task, as they are less likely to become fatigued chasing them around.
Another method is just to leave them where they are, and allow them to try and break out from behind your lines.
I find this method more useful for powerful trapped units, that are not in a position to interdict my MSR's.
Artillery can be especially useful in making life very uncomfortable for trapped enemy units also.

I think some people mistakenly think that the smallest useful unit in the game is a Bn, and try to use a whole Bn to take out a depleted, battered, trapped enemy unit.
A single Coy in good shape is more than adequate to deal with most stragglers, that are usually in pretty poor condition, which is why they become stragglers right?
Economy of force is very important, in the game as well as for real, and even weak units can make use of artillery as a force multiplier to clear out stubborn stragglers.