Aachen - West Wall Battle

[Jason Petho]

Success! There was excellent progress in the Aachen Municipal Forest and it has finally been cleared of Germans. This will give the southern flank a fairly substantial boost in artillery and infantry to help push along the corridor and break through the Schill Line in the south. The city fighting in Aachen proper left a lot to be desired this turn, but with the fall of a few kew positions in the city last turn, I am able to maneuver some infantry towards where it is needed. There is still progress in the north and center, with a potential breech of the Schill Line coming soon, but the advances have slowed to a snails pace as I clean up some stubborn German pockets. I'm grateful this is only against the AI. HA!

[Jason Petho]

We went over the latest news about the Campaign Series Vietnam and Middle East Updates and then returned to Aachen. Well, I cursed a lot during this turn, so prepare yourself for that. The fighting in Aachen is going well, quite well even, as I'm making good progress to clear the city. I would venture to guess around 65% has been captured. To the north, well, I ran into Tigers and Panthers and all my direct fire had decided to glance off the armour. Otherwise the Germans were getting some amazing shots, making me cringe and wince often. It's a fight, a good one, but a nasty one!

[Jason Petho]

We went over the latest Campaign Series news and went over a quick run down of what is going on behind the scenes. Then we dove back into Aachen and all the violence associated to that. The German artillery was BRUTAL this turn, I winced a lot and cursed even more. On the bright side, Aachen has nearly fallen which will provide an excellent jumping off point for advances in the south. In the north, well, I have run into Tigers and Panthers and they are going to cost me in some pretty nasty fighting. It's close range at the moment, until I run out of tanks in that sector. There are minor breakthroughs in the middle though, which offers encouragement until I run into the hidden anti-tank guns. Exciting times!

[Jason Petho]

Another session of intense combat all over the map, including running into some nasty ambushes. The battlefield is slowly becoming littered with burning American tanks. On the bright side, we're getting a few swipes of our own! Aachen is 98% secured and we're about the flank the southern positions. I'm hoping I find some of the blasted artillery that's been a thorn in our rears. I did spend the first bit going over the expectations and future plans. Feel free to chime in your thoughts, I would love to hear!

[Dan Caviness]

Hello Jason:

There are some issues with the Axis artillery available for the Aachen West Wall scenario.
While I can defend their presence, because they were there, I may have overcooked it a bit.
The Germans even had two rail guns chime in from time to time.
But while their artillery was massive, the same late war issues plaguing them everywhere was starting to reduce it's effectiveness. Artillery men and AA men in the Wehrmacht by this point of the war were mostly teenagers and old men pressed into service.

That artillery is certainly the most bestusus weapon the Germans had in this fight.
Historically, the shelling many of them got here was worse than D Day.
Their words, not mine.

Two of the four Yank Medal Of Honor winners during the Battle of Aachen did it by crawling through that artillery fire to directly assault pillboxes and/or bunkers that housed artillery. One paid with his life for the Honor. Both knew the German artillery was killing them.

I see you've conquered Aachen handily.
It's not a sea of rubble, so you can use the roads.
By the end of this battle, Aachen was very much indeed a sea of rubble.
Which was a given, as any town or village or city the Germans made a serious stand in was going to be demolished.

Yank engineers inside the city of Aachen, fighting house to house using the "mousehole" technique decided they wanted to project some firepower. Germans kept coming up behind them through the sewer lines in the city. The engineers were fighting both ahead and behind their positions. They had an Aachen trolley car available, parked on the tracks.

They proceeded to pack it with over a ton of explosives, lit the fuse, and sent the trolley car down the hill towards the German bunker complex that was deviling them. They designated this the "V-113 vengeance weapon". The Germans who survived came out and surrendered.

Surprisingly, this type of warfare never really caught on, the paucity of trolley cars available no doubt effecting it's popularity.

Regards,

Old Man Dan

[Jason Petho]

I'm definitely ok with the artillery being overcooked, I do have to watch for it, that's for sure.

The fighting in Aachen went smoother than I thought. The way the defensive positions were located, they were enough space to get around and isolate the various positions before pounding them into submission. Taking a bunker is tedious, but would have been utterly brutal and bloody had there been a triangle of bunkers in a few neighbouring hexes, all supporting each other.

It seems I'm running out of time though, although I'm feeling more confident in the south about a potential breakthrough. I'll have to see how it looks on Wednesday. I will have to see if I can hunt down that blasted artillery though. Hahaha.

It's a heck of a lot of fun and I appreciate you making this!!

Jason Petho

[Jason Petho]

After going over what was new and what I was working on the past few days for Cold War, we dove back into Aachen. It didn't start off that well as I lost 15 or so tanks during the German turn. What a mess. On the other hand, Aachen has been cleared and we're pushing through into the rear. I took the opportunity before I started tonight to do some of the tedious moving, so most of the session is talking about the action or conducting action. Some battles were in my favour, but others were not. One good thing is it seems I have some an armoured task for as reinforcements precisely where I needed it for a break through. I hope anyway, ha!

[Jason Petho]

We did a quick overview of what the team has been working on and then returned our attention to Aachen. In the north, my attack has stalled due to the presence of the big cats. I am making progress up there, but the fighting is rough. The center is seeing a breakthrough and I decided to be overly aggressive in one sector, we shall see if it pans out or I leave a bunch of burning hulks. Aachen has fallen completely and we are pushing east towards the Schill line in that sector. The most interesting part was I think I found a hole in the southeast to dive into the rear of the Germans. Unfortunately, our adventure into the Hurtgen was short lived and now I need to screen that very vulnerable flank.