Despite all the advantages the Allies had in this scenario they would have to wipe out the Axis in order to gain the victory conditions, which they did at 0645, but it was not easy. The Axis chose to set up on the east hill overlooking the airfield. This would force the allies into a prolonged approach. With the cold weather and the forced march variable it figured that the Allied advance would become strung out. It would also force the Allies to cross the airfield to approach the Axis foxhole postions. Hopefully by then the sun would be up and the Axis would have plenty of targets coming across the airfield.

The Allies entered the west edge following a rolling barrage of naval fire. No contact was made so they continued on. Along the way east some units failed activation checks, several became mired. But the Allies were ready for this and had leaders in position to scoop up stragglers. As the Allies followed the rolling barrage finally the Axis foxhole line was hit. This caused a couple of step losses and a slew of disruptions and demorlizations. The Allies took advantage and quickly crossed the airfield to the Axis line to be in a position to assault on the next turn, and it was still dark! The allies had plotted for their Naval fire to "walk" back and forth across the east hill so they had to be careful not to get caught in their own fire. Over the next several hours the Allies conducted assaults on Axis positons on the East hill. Both sides had their ups and downs during this period. Allied on board Artillery ran out of ammo at 0330 via special event. A key moment came at 0430 when naval fire knocked out the Axis mortar. This went a long was toward the Allied victory as the Allied condition for victory is to have a five hex wide corridor free of Axis direct and BOMBARDMENT fire. Then Allied naval fire hit a friendly platoon which had failed it's activation check. Fortunatly for the Allies no step loss was incured. Once the Axis mortar was knocked out the Allies had only two more Axis positions to reduce. Both were within five hexes of the airfield so had to be eliminated to fulfil the Allied victory conditions. This the Allies did by 0645. The battleship guns were the difference in this game. Just two rounds of naval fire so destroyed the Axis power to resist that after that only fantastic luck could have reversed the situation. But despite that the Axis remained a formitable foe, bleeding step losses from Allied assaulting units and delaying the inevitable for many turns. Because of the high Axis morale they would recover when just about anyone else would be eliminated on a double demoralization roll. Another tough win for the Allies. Rating 3.

An update on Lt. O'bannon. He is still alive. I'm not sure why. He has looked elimination in the face on several occasions. Here are some of his stats to date. Keep in mind he is still a 8-0-1 leader with the rifle skill as he was at the start of this scenario set. He has been in assault 12 times. He had been under direct or bombardment fire 40 times. He had passed 16 morale checks. He had failed 8 morale checks. He had recovered 8 times. He had credited with 12 enemy steps eliminated. He currently had 8 saved leadership points. He had been on the verge before of gaining some skill or a morale boost but lost all saved points when he became demoralized and disrupted several times.