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[Plain Ian]

Turn 56 Werbomont



OK the optimism of my moves in turn 55 quickly drained away. You can see he quickly reinforced his Panther group E and the odds have shortened. Plus in the south the 18th VGD has joined the 560th and is sitting in woods/TRENCH.

From north to south -

18th VGD Hetzers came out even with the 31st Tank Bn at 1 each.
The 3rd RTR lost an M4 to his 18th VGD.
The 38th Arm Inf was hit by werfers and disrupted.
The 638th was also hit by artillery and lost 6 M18's (defense factor 4) then lost a further 6 to his Panthers. My return fire was pretty weak and the best I got was probably one fatigue hit.
The 40th Tank Bn lost 2 tanks to his 75mm but did get one in return.
The 17th Tank Bn was attacked by another 18th VGD unit but was unscathed.
The 771st was not so lucky and lost 2. 



Well my hopes of an epic tank battle were looking slim. 

The 740th did take out a couple of Sturm panzers but lost a tank to his mobile AA guns?
3rd Tank Bn struggled against his Hetzers and I thougth I'd use the M5's against his disrupted 75mm but ended up getting hit by artillery and disrupting.
The 3rd RTR had a fiasco against his VGD's and lost 3 tanksalthough 2 were from artillery.

Every attack I had launched to date had been hit by MULTIPLE werfer attacks? Never seen this as bad before. I was so fed up I targeted the spotted unit and took 3 guns off it. Hopefully werfers!

His main armour group I couldn't really touch. By this time I thought the AI would fire every time I fired. However I decided to fire then fall back with both the 638th and the 814th. The 814th lost 2 M36's and took afew fatigue hits (werfer fire) but did manage a Panther! Hooray. The 638th had a charmed life and hit a JGD PzIV and retired unscathed.
I had 14 Fireflies of C squadron 3rd RTR and I tried using them against his PzIV's but missed. I then skedaddled with C/3rd RTR. 

In the south I uncovered another group at Bra and there was minor actions down here.

I would say Round 1 to Cesar. I've brought in the 334th and used some light units at Bra. The 638th TD has a fatigue of 102 and 22 M18's left. If its not dug in and in woods its pretty useless.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 56 Grandmenil



No action from Cesar this turn in this area so map shows the position at the end of Allied Turn 56.

Spt/2HCR meets an 9th SS Recon unit but luckily suffers no loss. 

The other 9th Recon unit at Samree is treated to heavy artillry and I knock out one armoured car. 

I went to move the 1-333rd south to take up position in the woods to watch the road from Houffalize but the Germans have beat me to it. I lost 1 man but I 'dis mounted' and was able to fire. He lost 50 men in one shot but it could have been worse if I had artillery left to use. 

However I became slightly nervous and decided to recall the 2HCR unit at Regne but this met a Flak unit on the the Samree road. This was one of the by passed units which I had lost track of.

Alarm bells were pressed and the 2-333rd was also pulled back from Fraiture. 

I'm probably over reacting but I don't want to lose any unit IF the the 9th SS is out there. I realise his units are just as trapped as mine and he is just trying to get them out, but I can't risk becoming isolated as I don't have units available to keep a loc to my Baraque units.

I was able to pull down a disrupted M5 unit and the 1-335th of the 30th Division as they have movement left.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 56 Bastogne

German Turn



Artillery fire in this are was reduced. Most of the damage came from his two armoured groups.The 3-506th suffered the worst. He is still persistent to dig in in the Woods hex NE of Flamierge? Patrols show a force of 3 Bn's? of 26th VGD behind his Panther/Hetzer group in the north of this map?


Allied Turn



A lot of ordinance expended but not much to show for it. As usual I used heavies on armour and everythiing else on his Pioneers. Pioneers must have disrupted as the Dig In sign disappeared. Anyone know why Hetzers are untouchable? I can kill PzIV's in woods far easier never mind this StuG in Clear? Isn't it an upgrade of a 1939 Czech tank? Maybe PzC should have more than 2 factors Soft and Hard as I'm pretty sure a hard factor of 17 is fine for tank on tank but not for artillery v tank?

Just to compound things I thought my paratroopers would make amends and take out the StuG/Hetzers. 27 men less I realised my lesson. 

I moved up my only tank unit to support the 3-506th which I may pull back next turn

[Plain Ian]

Turn 56 Sibret 


German Turn


The 818th came under fire from his armour. Its in Clear terrain and disrupted. I lost 2 tanks. 

Allied Turn


I returned the favour but with losses to both the 818th and 725th Tank Bn. However the enemy tank unit has dropped below 10 and is now showing [X]. 

At Sainlez I finally moved up the 3-318th and lost 8 men to an unexpected 5th FJD unit? Unfortunately for the enemy i had plenty of artillery available (all of the 30th Div in fact) and he suffered quite badly. 

I started to move the 328th up to support the 318th and it also ran into unexpected enemy. 

So Cesar has drawn a line here and will defend it. However I'm optomistic as I have numbers here so I can't see him standing too long.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 56 Bigonville



No movement in this area during German turn and the FBB 88mm unit [XX] sat quietly and did not fire. In my turn I fired with adjacent infantry/engineers and brought up the 702nd Tnk Bn again. Results shown on the map.

I've moved the D/702 TNK forward so it can cut the road east next turn.

The 602nd TD Bn (XII Corps asset) has ben moved south where it is needed.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 56 south

German Turn



He only made one move in the south and that was to bring forward a 5th FJD Bn. It had a brief firfight with the 25th Cav (1 tank) then called down artillery on the cavalry unit. (2 more tanks) 

Whether this is a probe ahead of the main attack I don't know? 

AlliedTurn



Well he got his reaction. I started bringing forward the rested units of CCA 9th Armd Div (B/60th B/811th 3rd FA Bn 17th Tnk) and also started moving some 4th Infantry units towards the river. The XII Corps TD unit (602nd) was also brought down. Bit of a scratch force as apart from 17th Tnk (35 M4's) and the 602nd (35 M10's) the rest of these units are pretty weak. However they can begin digging at Redange/Ell/Attert. 

I also reorganised the defenses at Boevange. 

The 5th FJD unit was hit by 4th Armoured artillery, then 4th Infantry artillery after I swopped the 25th Cav (10th AD) with the 2-22nd (4th ID). Probably not a good idea as the 2-22nd was digging in and will now get pulverised with artillery. 

We will see what happens next turn.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 56 Losses



A good turn for the US in terma of losses in men. A lot of armour lost but I can replace these I hope and of course I have plenty of armour to start with. Of course events at Webermont show how easy it is to lose armour especially weak TD units.

Turn losses by phase



Victory Point track



VP level is on a downward trend ever so slightly though. However Cesar hasn't started his game yet!

VP Loss Dialogue

[Plain Ian]

Turn 57 German

Losses


Victory Points


Well losses for the turn don't look bad but watching the replay was quite a bruisiing experience. 

US tank losses were quite low at 7, and I guess 4-500 men is an 'acceptable' turn loss. The 15 guns to counterbattery were quite unnerving to watch. 

Yet again I lost another 6 gun Regimental Battery because it was caught in Clear terrain. I also lost a a few 155mm because they were just too close to the front line. In Forest/TRENCH but still vulnerable.

Roughly 70-80% of losses in men were due to artillery. (guesstimate) One unit got caught in T mode and he had plenty of artillery to use and another unit actually lost 55 men to two Werfer attacks? (30+25) 

Tank losses were due to mainly tank on tank.....or rather Super german tank on puny US tank. King Tiger versus M4. No brainer. Hetzer versus M4.....um no brainer.
If there is a Fantasy Tank League then I guess everyone wants to pick 11 Hetzers....they can't lose.

Anyway thats my moaning finished. I can see why Cesar thinks he can get a draw. I think I may be outmatched here.

[Plain Ian]

Is there a bunker probabilty for the scenario (in the parameter data dialog)?

Good question. I thought no, but look at this map of the Bastogne area. See the hex with the 299th Engineers?



Yep the 299th somehow managed to build a Bunker in 1 turn??? I think it was 1? It might have been 2. It was accidental as I didn't mean to build a Bunker, I just forgot that I was already at TRENCH level. 

So good news is that I will be able to keep this hex that Cesar is a bit manic about. The bad news is that the German can start building Bunkers as well. As if TRENCHES in Forests with A Morale troops wasn't bad enough. Shheee. Of course the Germans don't need Bunkers. They can park a Panther unit in Clear terrain and it is as good as a Bunker. Stack A got hit by at least 7-8 artillery and not even a Fatigue hit? 

I've filled in my losses for this area and also shown the terrain for the Germans as its difficult to see this in the maps. I've also decided to stop calling the tree Woods and call them Forest..........
Stack G is sitting in Clear and tempting.

So the 705th TD is in the pefect place for moving into a Bunker this turn. The 3-506th can fall back and I'll think about whether to move a unit in to replace it or not.

Oh and I'll also get all those General Engineers building Bunkers. US Engineers are super actaully. Wait until I show you one which built a bridge in ONE turn..........tomorrow night.

[Ricky B]

Bunkers don't help vehicle/tank units so there isn't any advantage of a Bunker hex when it comes to the 705th.