On January 18, 1943, a German counterattack by units from Battle Groups Stolz (BGS) and Weber (BGW) caught the French troops of the 7e Régiment de Tirailleurs Marocains and 3e Régiment Etranger d’Infanterie late in the day just north of Oum-el-Abouab. The Germans advanced from both the north and the east against French positions established in the woods on both sides of the central trail & in the wadi south of town, with a primary concentration of troops in the town itself. BGS advanced from the east through the southern wadi and the central valley, while BGW advanced along the trail. By 1700 hours, BGS had circumvented the minefield and placed three Hanomags carrying infantry in the wadi south of town. They assaulted the southwest corner of Oum-el-Abouab at nightfall and were repelled quickly by the Legionnaires. BGW was working its way through the central minefields and taking fire from a combined forces group that consisted of two AT units, and both motorcycle and infantry platoons being directed by Sergeant Mossier. That group ended up receiving the Croix de Guerre for their resistance in beating back repeated assaults from both German and Italian units; the first assault occurred at 1730, and they were under continuous attack for three hours until finally giving ground. By 1845, BGW had moved both armor and foot units to the northwest of town, and BGS was southwest ready to pounce. Through a series of assaults, the Germans eliminated the last elements of the Legionnaire platoon from the south side of town. Thus, the town was secured by 2015, and a perimeter established by 2030. Sgt. Mossier had moved south through cover and gathered a small force of Legionnaires to attempt a breakthrough from the southeast wadi at 2045, but met overwhelming resistance from the German Panzers and retreated resulting in a German victory.

This scenario ended being a much closer contest than one might assume looking at the overwhelming Axis firepower. The only element that helps the French is the opportunity to set up in well-protected positions. The town benefit of -2DF, BF and Assualt is a tremendous asset, but is countered somewhat by the combined APC/unit combos that the Axis can put together. In this particular play, the French benefited from FOW rolls on the first six turns (!) and three thereafter, while the Axis was fortunate that four of six minefields were easily passable (two decoys and two 1’s). The FOW rolls slowed the advance of the Axis over the rough terrain, and all the units did not even reach the board until the fifth turn. The setup for the French worked fairly well, as the minefields forced the Axis into combined fire situations. The only thing for the Axis to remember is that all town and village hexes, so be sure to take control of the small village in the southeast corner of Map 87 while BGS advances. The final results of this play were 26 French steps lost to a single Axis one, and an Axis victory gained with one turn remaining.

The French set up with the mines blocking the main route from the north into the town backed by two Legion platoons and the AA on the high ground. Two understrength infantry companies covered the axis of advance from the east on the high ground to delay the enemy coming from that direction. The French mined the bridge to block the eastern road.

The large German force out of the north attempted to come down the toad but the French Motorcycle platoon conducted an adequate delay, and some Fog-of-War roll slowed the Germans as well. The initial main effort was the eastern German-Italian force that skirted around the south flank. The French southern-most company delayed the German infantry, but the Panzer IIIs and the Italians slipped around the flank and attacked the southern part of Oum-el-Abouab. The eastern French infantry pulled back to reinforce weak defense in the southern part of the town, but the southern-most company stayed put and held off a while German infantry company for most of the evening. As darkness fell the Italians with German tank support entered the town while the northern German force arrived, dismounted the trucks and assembled to attack west around the mines using the wadi for cover. The Tiger tank platoon and halftracks suppressed the ridge force while the German/Italian tank infantry-force hit the Frech on the west, east and south sides of the town. The French put up a valiant fight but at 1930 hours the defense collapsed and by 2000 hours Oum-el-Abouab was secured, the French force was annihilated and the Axis suffered little casualties.

Author	CavDo (France)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany, Italy
Participants	treadasaurusrex
Play Date	2025-05-01
Language	English
Scenario	LCDT008

Others, who are better writers have described this unbalanced fight in Tunisia. I gave the T-Rex a real fight, and for about 6 turns, things really looked up for the Free France, inspite of bad die rolls, until the senior leader decapitation happened and Axis flanking maneuvers resulted in many pinned 7 demoralized units. In the end, the French infantry formations were just too weak to prevail in heavy combined arms fighting.

It was fun to play, but the 3, I give it is probably a better reflection of my patient and cunning opponent. Probably better to play as a solitaire episode. Little chance for the French to hold off the charing Axis formations.