1st Chronicles Of V Panzer Army DAR

[Cole]

Three groups of American jeeps had climbed up the hillside to the east of St. Vith to reconnoiter the forest edge. My artillery destroyed two units and the jeeps that can been seen on the screen shot was soon quickly dispatched by fire from the woods.



Close view of the brawl between Kampfgruppe Telkamp, the 293rd Volksgrenadiers against Engineers and armor of the 4th Armored Division. Oberstrumfuhrer Telkamp has left his headquarters unit and has moved forward to the front lines in order to help rally badly needed panzer platoons.



One of my little pleasures in this game is to destroy Steve's jeeps and Greyhounds along with other hapless recon units that Steve keeps sending in an attempt to find the rear of Kampfgruppe Telkamp. Most of the time I have left a rear guard and sometimes I've been lucky to have a Panther in transit from one side of the map to the other. This is one of those times....



Here's the situation to the SE of St. Vith after my turn:

[Cole]

That's about it for me. After reviewing the Allied turn and the overwhelming amount of Allied armor available even Hitler would conclude the game is up. I'll play out the last few turns so we can see the final dispositions of all sides and will post the final screen shot and postmortem then.

More later in my final post but, as always, good gaming from Tiger 88 and a great scenario from Von E.

[Cole]

A great scenario against a great opponent.

Early on in this DAR I mentioned the rapidity the American Engineers blew the bridges as opposed to the historical paralysis of the 106th Division after the German artillery bombardment started and the subsequent surrounding and surrender of the almost intact 422nd and 423rd Regiments. I believe Von Earlmann has fixed many of the American units for the first ten turns to simulate the slow response by the Americans to the German assault.

In our game the 422nd and 423rd caused extensive casualties and bought much needed time for the defense. By the time I reached the Our River the only way across the river was across heavily guarded fords.

I might of fared better if I had forgone the assault on Schoenburg and moved the majority of my forces around the open spaces of the map on the north side. By the time the 7th AD arrived on the scene my forces were in no condition to take them on.

Screen shot of front lines by St. Vith:


The screen shot below was a real surprise. The Americans were able to continue to guard the approaches Vielsam with a strong force. I had thought that Steve would of moved most units to St. Vith:



Thanks Von Earlmann for a great game. I know Steve enjoyed it as he's already started 2nd Chronicles with another opponent that couldn't wait for the Von E Experience. I can't wait to continue on with the 5th Panzer Army's Chronicles and hope to do better down by Luxembourg. If anyone reading this is interested in playing 2nd Chronicles as the Americans please drop me a line.

[general_solomon]

Cole : once again a really nice DAR. I trying to not finish it all at one time.

I enjoy DAR's with lots of screens.

VAR are even better.

keep up the good work. you mentioned Hugh Cole, is he related to you?

[Cole]

Thanks again for the good word.

No relation. Hugh Cole's book was one of the first that came up after an online search.

[bibbo]

Wow. This looks great. Can I sign up to play.

[Cole]

Wow. This looks great. Can I sign up to play.

Man I'm sorry I missed your comment. Sent you a message.

[Crinius]

This looks great. Where can i download this scenario?

[Cole]

Here's the link to VE's thread in which he has his final version of Chronicles 1.
Major changes from the version of the scenario that is described in this AAR.

https://www.theblitz.club/message_boards...?tid=53100

American Engineers are fixed for a few turns so they don't rush back to the river to blow bridges right away. The two front line infantry regiments start disrupted to simulate the confusion after the initial German bombardment. Also the scenario starts the first 8 turns in darkness. I've also heard from an opponent that has played both versions that the American OOB is a little weaker.

Here's another link to some more Earlmann goodness....

https://www.theblitz.club/message_boards...?tid=48580

[Crinius]

Thanks a bunch mate.