Author	plloyd1010 (United States)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	United States
Participants	Col. Sonichu
Play Date	2022-09-20
Language	English
Scenario	ElsR006

This scenario is simplistic in its problem. The Americans are trying to hold onto as much of the villages as possible while extracting the heaviest price they can. There is massive artillery on the American side, but it must be pre-plotted in 1 hour blocks. This good for the Americans in the turn at the top of the hour, but less so for the later 3 turns. With the pre-plotting requirement, we added a special rule that the Americans could not pass until all artillery strikes had been executed. This meant that I was wishing for a FoW roll to come before some of my artillery.

The Germans came down the road, a little faster than I anticipated, harassed by my artillery. They came out in front of the larger village and immediately engaged my troops. This cause a bit of a traffic jam. After a couple of turns, a little less than ½ of the German was able side-slip toward the smaller village. This force also attacked as soon as it was assembled.

A lodgment was quickly gained in each village as American artillery on and around the Germans. Sometimes American friendly-fire was as detrimental as the actual strikes, despite have a 3 column in the American’s favor. Still, the Germans suffered greatly when the plotting was correct. The 644th TD Batt executed its function quite well, destroying both JdPz and StuG with out loss. The 741st Tank Batt had more problems. One step of Shermans was lost defending the smaller village while another platoon was functionally pinned supporting the larger village. In both villages the German assault was coming to close to succeeding.

The German effort in the small village nearly succeeded. Demoralization and disruptions had nearly won the first town hex. A 9-1-1 captain should have been a great help in rallying retreating American, but he seems to have been born under a black ice cloud. When he was involved, units didn’t seem rally very often. Fortunately, artillery was causing adequate disruption in the German ranks and some how the Americans held on.

When the German reinforcements arrived, the situation was still dicey with the Americans. There were still the 2 contested town hexes. The Germans were threatening to widen the assault in the large village. American artillery was again the salvation, largely breaking-up the grenadier company while the M18’s took out a PzIV. The remaining PzIV’s headed toward small village, with the M18’s following cautiously behind.

A couple other points of drama occurred. A reduced infantry platoon from the small village made a run through some idling German officers. The incursion was largely successful, but the LT leading them panicked under fire. The infantry were then leaderless, but we figured there must be an NPC in there. I dubbed him Sgt. Grumpy due to the platoon’s ability to sustain against repeated artillery and tank fire. Sgt. Grumpy eventually made it back to the village. The M18’s lost one of their steps to American artillery fire (the FoW roll never came), and another when the Germans won the initiative. One of the M18’s then made one of famous drives through the German leadership again.

The game ended with a stalemate in both villages. The M18’s and PzIV’s taking position on opposites sides of the close battle happening in the small village. The German attack is spent. The Americans in the large village are holding but have little reserve. The small village is in good shape apart for the German tanks lurking outside.