Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

Turn 54 Allied - Bastogne and south



At Bastogne I rested most units and just used artillery on the Pioneers and the 26th VGD. I then pulled back my exposed 3-508th and stuck a spare Engineer unit in. (it is decent quality though as its a C morale)

At Sibret the 1-104th despite bring disrupted fired on the FBB. I also used the 818th TD Bn but it lost an M10 to retrn fire. The 735th Tnk Bn (Low Ammo) stacked with 1-104th was set to dig in.

I have a ridiculous amount of firepower stacked up here with the 26th Divison. Getting it into play will be difficult. Keeping it there will be harder as they are D morale. If I had known the weather would freeze I could have kept them in the south and maybe used them to replace 4th Armoured. It wouldn't have been easy as the roads/bridges down there are awful.



All artillery fire here in the south. I hit the 352nd VGD with some (-22) but used everything else against his spotted units. I didn't really have much choice as only the 4th armoured Divisional artillery and 2 Corps artillery units could target the 352nd.

I've listed my front line units. Only 51st Arm Inf left in line. I should have pulled it out but took the chance of leaving to try and recover fatigue.

[ComradeP]

Artillery parameters

So the Germans are better spotters and hit harder in return fire during US turns? 

This is kind of counterintuitive to what I would have expected in a Bulge game? US artillery was very effectve during the battle and I assumed the parameters supported this but thats not what I saw when I looked at the parameters? I just wanted to confirm I was reading them right.

Yes, it's counterintuitive in a way, but it might be a balancing decision to cope with a worse supply situation and being likely to lose artillery to counterbattery fire.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 55 German

Losses 


Well Cesar switched to counterbattery as well this turn and took a steady toll of my guns. Admittedly I made it easy for him as 12 of the guns were in the front line in T mode. They had been stuck in the Swamp all day and I thought it was safe to move them..........nope. Unfortunately they were 155mm. 

I also lost 6 'infantry guns', the whole unit. I haven't lost whole units since the early days of the battle.

These small 6 gun units are urprisingly hard hitting on occasions , sometimes better results than 12 x 105mm? 

My infantry losses were down and his were up slightly. Due to his switching to counterbattery plus he also limited his fire attacks. He did make one assault though!

There was an awful lot of movement going on. His email said that after reorganising he should ready for resuming the attack?

Victory Points (last 3 turns)


Back up to 12301 but I should be able to bring it down in my turn.

[ComradeP]

I also lost 6 'infantry guns', the whole unit. I haven't lost whole units since the early days of the battle.

These small 6 gun units are urprisingly hard hitting on occasions , sometimes better results than 12 x 105mm?

They were closer to being an extra battalion of howitzers (3x6) than true infantry guns, as they were fairly big and had no gunshield which made using them for direct fire missions dangerous.

It does give the Americans a significant boost in firepower. Numerous infantry support weapons were perhaps the only real edge a typical German infantry division had over its American counterpart (comparing organic TOE's, excluding attached units) as the American infantry division was fairly limited in support assets without all the typical attachments. The HA and SA ratings of the cannon companies are identical to those of the medium artillery 105mm's.

Smaller units giving better results is probably due to die roll variation: the difference between killing 2 and 3 men is small, and it usually takes a certain "step" up in terms of capabilities from unit size or SA values to get significantly different results with artillery units.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 55 German - north



One quick map I'm afraid. Dawn brings the Vols Grenadiers. NO sign of 12th SS infantry or tanks? Enemy received some opportunity fire when they advanced.

Heavy artillery brought down and the 2-38th received the worst of it. Sustained Werfer attacks. Its now Max fatigue. The 186th FA was also caught and obliterated. Being in T mode meant it had no chance. 

I have a few 'fresh' units to put into the line in the south. None really for the north west. Group B are the best units I have up here. I've just noticed that 613th TD must be outside command range of V Corps? Willl have to move HQ back. (I was trying to keep V Corps within range of 1st Army)

A lot of units recovered fatigue this turn, some in hexes where other units were badly hit. For example the 1-16th recoverd 10 men and fatigue went down -12. If he had spread out his artillery just a little he could have prvented this?

In the south near Brouch he brought up 2 new 12th VGD units which triggered good defensive fire from my tanks. (the 745th Tank Bn, I forgot to label them) In fact I think he actually fired with these units? Anyway he made sure that when the A/T unit rolled up I had fired 3 times. He pulled back the other 12th VGD unit to allow the PAK forward. There was an artillery attempt on the 745th (4 barrages at least) but it failed with only one fatigue hit landed. It doesn't matter as I'll pull the 745th back after I use a little artillery on the PAK. (it won't hurt them much)

And that was that......

[Plain Ian]

I also lost 6 'infantry guns', the whole unit. I haven't lost whole units since the early days of the battle.

These small 6 gun units are urprisingly hard hitting on occasions , sometimes better results than 12 x 105mm?

They were closer to being an extra battalion of howitzers (3x6) than true infantry guns, as they were fairly big and had no gunshield which made using them for direct fire missions dangerous.

It does give the Americans a significant boost in firepower. Numerous infantry support weapons were perhaps the only real edge a typical German infantry division had over its American counterpart (comparing organic TOE's, excluding attached units) as the American infantry division was fairly limited in support assets without all the typical attachments. The HA and SA ratings of the cannon companies are identical to those of the medium artillery 105mm's.

Smaller units giving better results is probably due to die roll variation: the difference between killing 2 and 3 men is small, and it usually takes a certain "step" up in terms of capabilities from unit size or SA values to get significantly different results with artillery units.

Yes I hadn't looked too closely at the stats for these units but you are right. Heres a unit from the 318th 80th Div stacked with Divisional artillery. For some reason the artillery in the south manages to stockpile better than those in the north.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 55 German Spa



Not really much action to see. Some artillery against the 517th and his infantry at Spa attacked my adjacent units. (1-120th) 

Apart from that he continues to dig. His tactic of dividing to dig worked as KG Hansen [C] is now in a TRENCH 

I see he has reinforced certain hexes[B] and [C] with 3rd FJD units and of course his KG Peiper Pz IV unit has moved up to support Group [I].

His Pioneer group [D] have also divided and are digging in. (Clear terrain) 

He obviously intends to stay and use his Spa force to wear away at me. 

It looks like show time for my 1-32nd and 2-32nd (both B morale) versus his PzIV's. I might need to bring up all of the 334th Rgt as well. 

9th Inf Div HQ arrives 10 am from the north with armour and artillery, and its last Regiment (60th) arrives 12 noon. These are destined for V Corps but we'll see. 

The 75th Division should have came on now (6am) from the east but hasn't appeared. It has a long journey to the front.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 55 German Chession - Samree




A good A Morale artillery unit was wiped out with counterbattery fire and some M5's and British armoured cars were lost.

The 48th Armoured Infantry also lost heavily to artillery fire. The 17th Tank Bn is still disrupted I notice. 

A nice assult by Cesar in the south with his 560th VGD unit pushed my M5 unit back. Losses were even, he lost 3 men I lost 3 M5's. (not sure what emoticon thingie to put in here.....) His Broken 75mm ATG unit was probably able to withdraw a hex.

His HQ did not move? The SS recon unit south of the 771st has wisely moved away. Unfortunately the 771st has gone Low Ammo!!!! I sometimes wonder why I bother spending a lot of time trying to keep things in command. Its always usually a front line unit that get hit by Low Fuel/Ammot too. It reminds of a boardgame where your opponent gets to pick the units which are  hit by OOS, of course he picks the advanced spearhead units. (GDW's Third World War?)

Artillery also hit and disrupted the AC/2HCR unit taking out 3 Daimlers. (def strength 3) The unit recovered from disruption however. 

The 3-333rd at Samree did not recover from Disruption. However the 2 x 105mm Divisional FA Bn's behind it did set up (only 1 turn), and the Cannon/333 howitzer also set up. So I may be able to bombard his blocking 9th SS recon to bits....or give it a headache.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 55 German - Bastogne



Pretty quiet. 

The 2nd SS Pz IV unit was withdrawn.

The 26th VGD Hetzer? reappeared and triggered quite a bit of defensive fire moving and firing. No hits were made. Then he rolled in a Panther unit of 2nd Pz Div. 2-505th was moderately hit by direct fire and also some artillery.

The 1-502nd continued to receive attention from his other 2nd Pz Div stack. fatigue now 88. 

I note that the 26th VGD unit that he used to put a zoc on the road is now digging in.

Counterbattery continued and was quite effective. 5 guns lost and the 740th was the worst hit. Its an 8" Howitzer unit, I think there are only 3-4 of these in Bulge? Will check. Stats are quite impressive and its long range (18) but the results are usually pretty dismal, probably because there are only 6 guns and the rate of fire will be pretty low. 

I'll probably put together a picture showing all Bulge artillery for comparison. German as well.

[Plain Ian]

German Turn 55 - Magerotte



Well the FBB have dug in to TRENCH level and the disrupted FBB unit recovered. (A) The Pioneer unit is still digging in I see. (B) 

He fired with both sets of units then rolled in some FBB self propelled guns. (JagdPz IV's?)


The 818th was ok but the 1-104th continued to take steady losses. It has 719 men and a fatigue of 58 so sounds healthy. However its disrupted and morale E.

The 735th Tank Bn has recoverd from Ammo Low (yipee) so I'll probably take it off digging now. Just as well as they now have armour sitting adjacent. So 38 x M4's Morale C versus ? x JagdpzIV's Morale A? Just as well the 818th (30xM10's) is there to fire first. 

And thats the last map as there was no action anywhere further south.........time to do turn.