1st Chronicles Of V Panzer Army DAR

[Cole]

Night falls on Schoenburg which is illuminated by burning tanks and vehicles. Artillery continues throughout the night.

[Cole]

Americans withdrawing from Schoenburg have been yelling that they will be back with fresh and powerful forces.

My Intel Officer believes that the 7th Armored Division is the source of the sounds of approaching armor. Link to the chapter from the official U.S. Amry history HERE

Here's a picture from the Army's history showing the traffic jam caused by the 7th's rush to St. Vith.


A quiet turn for the Germans. Just consolidating and moving up forces for the next push forward.

[Cole]

I have finished reading The Longest Winter and I have to say I'm glad I ordered the book. Alex Kershaw writes in the Stephen Ambrose style, meaning that the book concentrates on personal narratives.

I had always assumed that Allied prisoners of war (U.S and British) were treated relatively well and I'm afraid to say that assumption was somewhat based on shows such as Hogan's Heroes and movies where a multi-racial and multi-cultural group of Allied prisoners band together to beat the Germans in a soccer match. This outlook might of been relevant in the early years of the war but towards the end with the ongoing bombing campaign transport to the camps took forever, food on the way was non-existent, and there was a chance dying under Allied air attack or at the hands of highly agitated guards that had lost loved ones in the bombing raids. Once at the camps the prisoner's diet and medical care was inadequate at best.

While reading up on The Battle of Bulge I was unaware of the total collapse and surrender of the 422nd and 423rd Infantry Regiments. If you open another tab in your browser and go back to the first entry of this DAR their positions are to the east of the yellow objective markers from the woods south of Schlaunbach to Roth. General Manteuffel convinced Hitler that instead of a sustained artillery bombardment infiltration of the American positions followed by a short and sharp bombardment would be preferable. There was some hard fighting the first day but both regiments were soon caught between two pincers passing through Andler and Radschied and soon surrendered. The book explains how the prisoners from these two regiments were demoralized due to this surrender and especially the lack of control from the American leadership in the camp.

From a footnote quoting an unpublished manuscript by Albert Berndt: "In particular, the onus of surrender lay heavily upon the shoulders of Colonel Charles Cavender,........,the senior American officer present in the camp. Throughout his stay in the camp Cavender was distraught and tense. He could think only of the fact that he had capitulated with an intact regiment. .... He lacked firm control over the Americans and his relations with the German Commanding General were not of the Best"

In my game these two regiments put up a good fight and in Schlausenbach inflicted heavy casualties on my Volksgrenadiers and withdrew west in good order.

Von Earl this might be an area to tweak in the scenario. No Campaign Series commander will surrender his units especially as the way things stand now it is probably impossible to quickly surround these regiments. Maybe they start the scenario fixed and with very low morale or even start disrupted? The Germans would be able to surround these units that by being disrupted and fixed simulate them being cut of from communications (when comms where reestablished were told to hold their positions).

I do think the book has an agenda in comparing the long neglected exploits of the I&R Platoon and now they held up the German advance for almost 24 hours versus the surrender of two regiments. The I&R only surrendered once the German paratroopers finally flanked them and used a "close assault".

Some other interesting items from the book was the presence of a Serbian prisoner of war camp next to the American camp. It seems that the Serbians lived under better conditions and it was illegal for the American prisoners to communicate with the Serbs. Some managed to interact with the Serbs and one Serbo-Croatian speaking POW even got some extra food that the Serbs would scrounge out in town while out on assigned jobs and work details.

There was some communications after the war between a veteran of the I&R Platoon and Lt. Col Peiper. The night of 16 December Pieper entered a cafe in Lanzerath and scolded the Colonel CO of the paratroopers about the halt in advance. Peiper was especially frustrated in seeing many officers sleeping and finding out that from the CO down not one commander personally verified the "strong American forces" that were supposedly holding up the advance. The cafe was a mix of German HQ, rest area, and POW station and some of the I&R prisoners witnessed Peipers arrival and outburst.

Pieper was sentenced to death after the war, especially for the Malmedy Massacre but after a few interesting developments (it came out that American Jewish guards would torment Peiper and hold mock executions and then Senator McCarthy "accused Peiper's prosecutors of a witch-hunt". Interesting stuff. His death sentence was commuted to life but with the Cold War heating up many prisoners were released and Peiper left jail in 1956. Peiper's position was that he never ordered prisoners shot but that in the heat of battle, POW's safety could not be guaranteed. Based on his experience with Peiper and his troops in that cafe the I&R Lieutenant believed Peiper and told him so in a letter. The engineers that encountered Peiper's troops over the next couple of days probably would not be so forgiving...

Waiting on Steve's turn. He's advertising that he has some strong forces on the way. My hope is that Kampfgruppe Telkamp has taken him by surprise and that some of the 7th AD that he has been rushing to St. Vith and Schoenburg now how to turn back.

[Cole]

First contact between Shermans of the 7th AD and recon elements of Kampfgruppe Telkamp. The Shermans have the height advantage but I hope I have more in the way of firepower.

In Schoenburg there is a nasty position manned by two batteries of AA guns and two Quad .50 caliber trucks. These trucks must have had some armor added by Steve's engineers because they are darn hard to kill. Screen shot next post of this nest of badness next to the ford.

Another suicidal advance by the 116th further south at the Burg Rueland ford.
We managed to make a platoon retreat and the other is disrupted. Hoping Steve's Shermans still don't remain on the west bank hill side.

[Cole]

Ambush from American HMG platoons and also a tank unit (believe tank destroyer platoon) in the 293rd Volksgrenadier AOR. Don't know if they are the remnants of the original defense or (hopefully) reinforcements rushed to the area.



The Battle of the Schoenburg Fords is over (unless Steve's tanks want to continue to debate the point) and the positions filled with AA guns were overrun along with another position 250 meters west filled with AT guns and disrupted engineers. At least three American tank platoons are located on the main road 500 meters west out of LOS of my lead panzers.



Kampfgruppe Telkamp has laid smoke and advanced up the hill. At least two tank platoons await them.

[Von Earlmann]

Quick note on the American surrender and possible fixes.I have struggled with this myself.Of course the debate rages as to wether they should have surrendered and in fact many of them refused the order and worked their way back west.Most everyone agrees they should have retreated earlier but, the thot was with the 9th and 7th armored comimg the Americans would counterattack which they actually did do and which according to the DAR they did also.The major problem was that the 106th Division commander lost control of the whole situation ( he actually had a nervous breakdown) and so there was confusion every where.I have tried to simulate this with the game engine and still keep the scenario fun for the American side. Everyone knows what actually happened trying to give both sides other options is what makes for interesting scenario design. Just my opinion here tho :-). Currently playing the newest version with von Manstien as my CO against the mercans of kernelt and reddog.Currently in turn 4 and already my co is concerned that some of my troops are not enthusiastic enough on the advance.I have visited the sector and speed up is in progress :-)......thanks for all the input guys it has been invaluable to follow along and be able to fix the problems.

Earl

[von Manstein]

From the book that I've read I've notice that from 422 and 423 regiments of 106 infantry division in Schnee Eifel encirclement only 190 men break through to American forces. Rest was captured, wounded or dead.

[Cole]

Earl,

I agree that it is probably best to leave the two regiments alone unless one really wants to try and recreate the historical situation as close as possible. Another subject for a later day but I do think there is room for "uneven" historical games. Just base the VP hexes on the actual result.

Von M,

If I could play this again I would not push forward so fast in all sectors (as I did here). I would definitely not try and bypass any resistance (as the Germans did to good effect capturing the two regiments) and keep my unbroken line. I would just hold in some areas and concentrate in others.

293rd VG has finished mopping up the remnants of the ambushing force and has also forced a mortar platoon to flee out of the woods and half way up a hill to the west, leaving half their equipment behind. No sign of the American tanks that are lurking on that hill.

West of Schoenburg a Panther and PZ-IV platoon remained in LOS of some Shermans. The Shermans opened fire and took out a panzer but return fire from the Panther destroyed at least 4 of the enemy tanks. Some large tank destroyers joined the fray and killed 3 PZ-IVs and two Panthers. The American tanks retreated into a smoke field laid by engineers. I spent my turn clearing American infantry from LOS. I did not have enough armored forces to clear the infantry and then go hunting the American tanks. Fortunately they are located in a small hamlet half way up the hill and all of my armor is now on the hill top.

More German infantry pour forward to contest the ford north of Steinebruck. The Americans hold the fords in force. The one open hex directly in front of the improved position can only be spotted from that position. This turn I have risked two Engineer platoons and two other infantry platoons but could not make the Americans retreat. Expecting heavy losses from artillery this next turn. Once my infantry along this ridge are able to survive the American turn my artillery will be able to make them pay.

No action further south at the Burg Rueland Ford. I'll just let the Americans there listen to the sounds of my forces destroying the Americans near Schoenburg.

Kampfgruppe Telkamp advances up the hill. Panthers are taking a risk and exposing themselves to American armored reaction this turn. They spotted and destroyed two jeep sections that were spotting and blocking.

[von Manstein]

Yes, it isn’t a simulation of history but a game that give us players chance to check what if I was there as a commander and how my plan would work. Only reinforcement should came like it was.

[Von Earlmann]

The other point to remember is that even thos the regiments were surrounded,they fought for a few days and tried a few breakouts which did infact tie down numerous German forces to keep them pinned.Al of this along with clogged roads lead to a significant delay in the capture of St. Vith. St. Vith was actually considered more important than Bastogne as there were fewer ways around this town whereas Bastogne was quite bypassable.Delays here allowed for the 82nd airborne to move into position along the Salm River and the 3rd armored Div to move in support........speed Generals is of the essence.........and the Germans quickly found that the Ardennes of Dec 1944 was far different than the Ardennes of May 1940.....I at least got that part right.........of course I compromised with snow terrain as opposed to mud for playability.But, who knows what the next version will bring :-)

Earl

It ain't finished yet...........LOL