Airfix Battles: Scenario 2

WE have decided to have another go at the boxed game Airfix Battles, this time playing the second scenario: Rescue The Colonel!/Hunt Down The Colonel!
It is June 7 1944 - the day after the first scenario in which the Germans suffered a comprehensive and very quick defeat (http://timspanton.blogspot.com/2020/04/airfix-battles.html).
This time I have pushed my two wargames tables together so I can make a 7x5 grid of 10in squares, in the centre of which is the badly wounded American Colonel Parker.
I am a captain and attached to me are four veterans armed with sub-machineguns and grenades. Also under my command is a squad of infantry armed with rifles, light-machineguns and two bazookas, and a unit of six crackshot snipers.
My job is to get to Colonel Parker in the centre of the battlefield and hold that square for two consecutive rounds, after which I will be relieved (apparently!).
At the other side of the battlefield is Hauptmann Richard Wald, which is something of a surprise as I could have sworn he died in the bloody ambush that ended scenario one.
Anyway, Hauptmann Wald, as I have agreed to call whoever it is, has attached to him four veterans armed with assault rifles and grenades, eight pioneers armed with sub-machineguns, and a section of four men armed with a pair of MG34 machineguns.
His mission is to find Colonel Parker and see if he has orders or other useful intelligence, which will require the Germans to hold the central square for two consecutive rounds.
The colonel, who is too injured to move, is surrounded by rough terrain.

Overview of the battlefield with a lonely-looking Colonel Parker in the centre. The Americans will enter from the left, the Germans from the right. The playing area consists of 35 10in squares, with some out-of-bounds ground nearest the mantelpiece 

In addition to the set terrain, each player gets two pieces of edge cover - so-called because they go on the edge of two squares - that we place before we start deploying our troops.

Close-up of the centre of the battlefield with the edge cover added

I chose to put mine where they would give cover to riflemen while still letting the riflemen fire well beyond Colonel Parker. Hauptmann Wald put his nearer the colonel and asymmetrically.
Next we deployed our units. I put the snipers in the centre, with the captain and veterans to their left and the infantry squad to their right.
Wald hugged the left of the battlefield (from his viewpoint), with the machinegun section on the extreme left, followed by himself with the veterans and then the pioneers.

The view from the German end of the battlefield

My view of the German deployment

My five command cards are:
1) Dropping lead, which is irrelevant as it only affects vehicles (but it can still be used for giving basic orders).
2) Artillery strike - this seems rather powerful.
3) Lightning strike - allows a unit to move two extra squares and then fire.
4) Fire interrupt - lets a unit fire during the enemy's turn.
5) It ain't so bad interrupt - allows a unit to regain two shot men.
As usual I will write up the battle turn by turn.