Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

Turn 47 south



No turn from Michael. Here is the situation in the south. Apartfrom the far south he has not been very active? I guess he is waiting on me making some moves? Maybe I should start being a bit more positive.

Night.

[Plain Ian]

Here is another map of the southern front. Its from book The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge by Hugh M Cole. It looks like a West Point military map?

I was curious to see what the 'real' rail line to Ettelbruck looked like. I'll maybe use it and plot my opponents moves onto it for comparison. I can see what a difference using 5th FJD and the Panzer Lehr makes to things.......



I'll leave it up just now but I'll try to trim it a bit so there is less reduction. The turn is back so I'll look at it soon and post results.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 48 German - Total Points/Losses


Turn 48 German - Turn Losses


Bit of a shock to see losses in infantry higher than last turn! His email suggested that he didn't do much this turn. I watched the replay and he was right. He didn't make that many attacks and moves.

However I lost 270 men from ONE unit up at Monschau that was assaulted but couldn't retreat, because it only had Marsh hexes or a fully stacked hex to retreat into. I should have put the motorised unit 'On Foot' to allow it to retreat........

Maps to follow.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 48 German - north



KG A/KG B concentrated on the 2-16th/2-18th. Plus he used quite a bit of artillery. I did mange some return fire and counter artillery fire against his units but the 2-18th will have to be withdrawn.

KG C - a strong group of 12th VGD has moved up (3 Battalions) A fresh 12th VGD Bn starts off at 560 men so with a stacking limit of 1400 then these Batallions are about 465 men each. No ground fire as he didn't have any MP's left just some artillery. The 1-16th and 1-47th have about 150 Fatigue each.

KG D is a small group from 12th SS. Return fire caught 7 men moving into the hex but artillery fire brought down on the 1-38th racked up 16 casualties. This unit also has Fatigue sitting at 150.

KG E - F were brought up. Artillery and ground fire used against the 535th AAA destroying it. In the replay I saw a motorised Flak unit moving up the road from Monschau but it has obviously stopped short of the Swamp hex.
The 2-393rd was assaulted by one or more of these groups. The 2-393rd held the hex because it couldn't retreat. It lost 270 men in the assault. The Germans took no casualties and probably very little fatigue loss. The 277th VGD unit arrived after the assault and didn't take part.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 48 German Spa



No time for on map casualties apart from the assault. Map a bit quick.

North of Franchorchamps KG Knittel and 62nd VGD follow up 3-517th and inflict casualties on the 517th and 1-119th mostly by artillery. I think return fire took about 10 from these two groups.

A slight surprise at Spa. His armour swung 90 degrees north and moved against 743rd tanks. (brown trouser time for the M4 boys) He moved a a 75mm A/T unit into the hex which allowed his tanks to move ZOC to ZOC. A Pioneer unit was Disrupted in this move. (KG B) Composition of the group looks strange but this is standard operating procedure for Michael. He sticks A/T guns next to my armour knowing that I will run away. However with King Tigers in the hex this looks a bit silly as they will force me to run away anyway.....plus his A/T guns are in T mode?

Now facing Spa is KG A which is all infantry. I don't think there is 1400's worth stacked here?

At La Gleze another surprise. He fired at 31st Tank Bn (-2 tanks and Disruption) then assaulted. He inflicted a further 4 tank losses on the 31st Tank Bn but lost 7 men and 2 vehicles. It looks like one of his Panther company's was Disrupted.

Further south his 116th followed up my infantry (D) and at Rarmont his 560th held its position and spotted for artillery against the 48th.

[Plain Ian]

German Turn 48 Granmenil - Bastogne



The 2-335th received some artillery but remained ok until it was hit by modest ground fire (-3 men) and Disrupted. This is not good news as the the enemy group KG A has been reinforced with a 9th SS unit.

80th AB AAA received fire from KG C losing 3 guns but inflicting loses of 2 guns and 3 men in return. German SS Pioneers moved in (B) and fired taking out a 4th gun. Artillery hit back taking out 2 attackers.

The 3-505th came under very heavy artillery fire (-19 men) then came under fire from massed armour (-10) from the 2nd Panzer AND 10TH SS PANZER!

The 1st and 2nd Bn's of 504th at Longchamps came under severe pressure from 26th VGD (4 Bn's) supported by 2nd Panzer Panthers with heavy artillery. 40 men were lost between both units. No return fire on the enemy.

The introduction of 10SS at Compogne is interesting. It probably means the SS Recon unit in the south is 10th SS. I'm not sure what my response is to this.

9th SS is clearly operating north of the Ourthe River, possibly with the objective of La Roche.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 48 German - south



Not much happened in the south. Group A I think was reinforced with Pioneers? (maybe they were there last turn?)

He pushed out Group B and it got hit by my tanks, lost 5 men and the Pz Lehr XXX unit Disrupted. Not sure why he did this as its Clear terrain with Improved.

Thats all that happened. It seems he has the terrain and is happy to dig in.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 48 Allied - south



My reply in the south.

A - I used artillery against his 5th FJD Bn and pulled back my armour out of contact.

B - The 25th Cav targeted the Pz Lehr Flak guns and I used artillery on the Pioneers.

C - I moved D/35 TNK to see if he had anything north of the river. Answer was yep and I lost 2 M5's. I then moved the 8th Tank Bn up and two salvos took out 47 men.

I'm happy with the line I've got more or less so will dig in here and wait for more reinforcements.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 48 Allied - Magerotte - Martelange



I went to move the 1-317th up and it bumped into a 5th FJD Bn losing 24 men in quick order. I back pedaled and came out of T mode. The enemy unit was just out of patrol range of the 2-318th.

I debated whether to pull back 3-317th and 2-318th but left them there. Instead I moved forward another Bn of the 317th and the 1-501st Para Bn. I've also brought up the 610th TD Bn and free'd up the 702nd Tank Bn making it ready to move as well. Probably not necessary as I think he will just back out.....I hope.


The SS Recon unit is from the 10th.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 48 Allied La Roche - Flamierge



A - the FBB units weer no longer showing on my patrols from Flamierge so I have moved forward the 307th Engineers.

B - I've begun pulling out the 82nd from the Flamierge area and sending them north. The 508th is on the road and the 325th is also ready. I've indicated that 325th will move east or north east but it might be better to send it west then north to La Roche.

C - I didn't fire with the 1-504th/2-504th but used artillery against the 26th VGD units. Each VGD Bn received at least 6 casualties. Artillery against his Panthers did not do much.

D - the 80th A/B AAA unit spotted for artillery against the enemy SS units then fell back.

Still not keen defending the Bertogne area. I have an Engineer unit positioned now to blow the bridge south of Ortho.