Big Red One, scenario #41: El Guettar

First let me state the errata, the Germans enter from the eastern edge of the map, NOT the western edge and the American M3/76s should be listed as M3/75s halftracks

An interesting looking scenario, the Germans have three objectives; control of hill 336, more American step losses then German and exiting 10 or more steps off the western edge of the map. Dawn isn’t until 0630 hours, so the Germans have a few turns to rush the American positions, as this scenario starts at 0545 hours. The Americans do NOT have armor efficiency as it is before 1944, just a reminder.

The Germans approach both Hill 336 in the north and the smaller hill on the south and run into a brick wall with dug-in American units and minefields. The Recon PzII led the way and would pay for it with a step loss. The Germans made a good attempt for Hill 336 but were losing too many steps/units, so it was pounded with artillery and air-support but went on to conquered the smaller less defended southern hill, which also opened the road west.

Once the Germans realized Hill 366 wasn’t going to be possible even after wearing it down a bit, they settled for going after 2 out of 3 victory objectives. This decision was made after a German air attack with a factor of 24 rolled a 2 on the dice giving the American a 3X, three step loss. In fact the Germans had air-support was 3 times as much as the Americans has through this scenario.

The Germans racing their weaker armor units off the western edge of the map but setup some of their stronger armor to ambush the American reinforcements of M10s, which they activated perfectly to destroy both M10 units, which further sealed the deal in step losses.

The Game ended early, as the Germans weren’t strong enough in Infantry to take the battered Hill 336 so that left it in a standoff, as the American had lost too much strength to go into any counter-attacking. The Germans had lost 25 steps and two leaders while the Americans had lost 34 steps and two leader and the Germans had exited 10 or more steps off the western edge of the map, getting two out of three victory objectives for a Minor Victory and Hill 336 remained in American hands but I am sure they would of had to withdraw at a later time.

A fun scenario.