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[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn -the south Mersch



Well 5th Division marched on but didn't get far. I flew 2 air recons which showed he has set up a strong infantry and PAK line. (alough he knows the 5th is a Motorised unit?) I tried a carpet comb but it missed. I hope these are 352nd and not 212th units. 212th is B morale and 352nd is C/D's I think?

I pushed the M4 tank battalion up to Mersch in T mode and unlimbered and it didn't receive any fire. The rerst of the Division will have to fight its way forward. I tried to check los and I'm optomistic that he won't be able to see my artillery even if visibility jumps to 5 hexes........

10th Armoured occupied Mersch and started rushing units forward. D/3 TNK has moved up to  hills south of Bissen to see what it can see when visibility improves next turn.

55th Engineers at Boevange dug rather than build a bridge. 

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied6am Dawn -the south Bigonville - Pratz



I have more 4th Armoured units over the river now but have not made any moves. I'll wait for daylight. 

I spread my artillery around. The 277th was sitting in clear terrain so it was easy to get kills against it. I decided to keep my tanks/TD's next to his Pz Lehr infantry and fire. I think his Panthes will pay me a visit next turn.

The 702nd Tnk Bn lost 4 tanks during Indragnir's turn so it was nice to see them get a bit of revenge. They fired once, killed a Pz IV then fell back unscathed.

5th Rangers will get pounded next turn but the 19th Tnk Bn is positioned to allow them to fall back. 

Behind the 702nd just off map are two Bn's of 4th Inf Div digging in, and I have another Bn (2-8th) racing north.

37th Tnk Bn moved up to support 4th Combat Engineers and 1-12th.

With Normal weather his motorised units will have a lot of movement. If visibility is 4-5 then he gets first move and will pick and chose where to attack. 

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn -Warnach



Fortune smiled and good weather plus undisruptions meant that i could pull all my unist out of the Warnach bulge this turn. The only losses were to the 101st Combat Engineers who had to go into T mode adjacent to his units and lost almost 100 men. Most of my units fell back one hex but still had enough MP's to T mode to safety...all be it temporary safety. 

Once clear I tried a few Carpet bombings but they were intercepted!!!! Getting really annoyed with this mod. The 3 hex protection hexes in the south was bad enough but giving the allied player bombers which get intercepted is just stupid! I'd rather get less bombers and zero German interception chances! I realise that the inteceptions can be construed as SNAFU's but I must average 30-50% interceptions per turn? I think he had two mission this turn (why?) and only 1 of his got intercepted!

At Hollange I decided to take a chance against his 15th Pz Gr recon unit and use my engineers for an assault since they had miraculously undisrupted. My bombers were intercepted ....barrage balloons....and my artillery didn't do any damage but I pressed the button and it worked. 1 man lost versus 2 armoured cars and I threw him out. I then advanced the 2-328th into the woods for support (it took heavy losses) and the 1-318th as well. (although this is in clear terrain) 

I suspect that the 2nd SS and 15th Pz Gr Div are about to reverse direction and swing north west. You poke a bear and it just gets mad. I would guess the Fuhrer grenadiers Bde will halt and form a defensive line at Warnach along the woods line. Of course he may want to block the main road south so may keep coming and of course he still has Panzer Lehr pushing west just south of me.

Hopefully he won't pursue me over the river?

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn -Bertogne



I pulled back my disrupted and heavily fatigued 2-505th and reinforced with the fresh French 1st Lt Bn. 

In the south I pushed Engineers back intot he front line and moved 307th Engineers and HQ north. 

150th Bde of 53rd Welsh is assembling behind the 101st front lines. 

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn -Nadrin



There is a minor skirmish developing here. I've pushed the other French Bn up to support the AAA unit. I then cheekily pushed the K/3-424th forward to isolate his 2nd Panzer motorised unit. This unit only has two companies and is heavily fatigued and is in clear terrain. It will be wrecked. I also pushed the 2-325th forward to pin his other units.

He should be able to restore supply to his unit easily though as 2nd Pz is an elite A unit and pretty mobile. 

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn -Manhay - Samree



With daylight looming and probably 4-5 hex visibility I've reorganised things. 

Will try to get some General Engineers into Samree and try RUBBLE clearing. You never know......

2-290th will move into Samree and the 1-289th and 2-289th will move south to join the other Bn of the Regiment. No point in keeping them here.

I've moved HQ's and Lt Tank units into high ground to see as much as possible. 

Both TD units pulled back in case his 9th SS armoured Death Star moves there way. The 275th Eng and 3-290th are sitting in clear terrain and they will probably attract his armour when he spots them.....I think they are hidden though at the minute. Not much I can do about this except dig in and possibly retreat them back to the woods if he does come steaming in. 

At Manhay I've hung on in the woods around the town. I've got 24 A/T guns of 59th Rgt in Manhay to annoy him. Good hard attack valaues and 3 hex range but 12 gun units won't do much damage. These will probably attract every bit of artillery he has in the area though. The annoying thing is I have two fresh units (1-291st and 2-291st) but they are struggling to recover from disruption.

I'm expecting Indragnir to be aggressive here. He has plenty of armour and good SS infantry and will want to use them. 

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn - Stoumont - Bra



I'm getting ready for the lights switching on here as well. I've moved most units into woods and moved some artillery out of los if it is a 5 hex visbility turn.

I pulled back the 24th Cav as I didn't want to leave them with their backs against a swamp hex. 

I didn't assault his Pioneers but moved the 740th back to cover my disrupted units. (1st Bn/38th Arm) I've started to pull the 29th Armoured Bde south. The 2nd FFY are fighting down at Manhay and the HQ does not have a large command range. I will probably use them at Bra to replace the 17th and 40 Tank Bn's. 
However I will hold them here a turn to see if his Panthers come out to play. 
The elite 509th Paras are holding the crossroads with 24 more A/T guns of the 59th AT Rgt. There are 24 British M10's of the 73rd Rgt moving up to support them. I think its about to rain HE when he sees the anti tank guns....

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn - the north

There was no real movement at Spa but plenty of fighting. I'll post that map tomorrow night. In the north I made one assault and used plenty of artillery. I'll post the map without labels. I'll delete post and post it with labels tomorrow night. The 1-23rd pushed back two Bn's of the 326th and it looks like he is using a Corps HQ as a backstop? However if the 12th SS are in reserve at Robertville I'm pretty sure they can race back. Normal weather means motorised units can move pretty large distances along major roads.



Night.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn - Spa



The war of attrition continues. I am not really getting any sense of who is winning at the moment. I think he may have some new units to bring to the party (12th SS?) but he is mostly rotating units in and out of the front like me.

At Spa he definitely has the upper hand with a large elite infantry force occupying the main VP Town hex, and his King Tigers south of this hex holding the flanks. He is gradually levering me away from the town hex south west the VP Spa hex. I did think about giving up this town hex, but I’ve decided to hold on a bit longer. I pulled out the disrupted 2-36th and inserted the 3-36th. Luckily it triggered no opportunity fire.

I appear to be doing better against his flanks.

East of Spa I had a good turn against his 12th SS armour group killing 4 tanks (one with artillery) and losing none. However it will be a different story when his Panthers show up. My 3 armoured units are still in reasonable condition with 84 runners. (average of 28 each) The 743rd is medium fatigued (125) and will probably have to retire next turn if targeted.

I finally pulled out the 23rd Armoured Engineers (3rd Arm’d) and will put in the 15th Combat Engineers. (9th Div)

I am starting to feed the 517th back into the line so I am confident of holding this sector, and maybe advancing once the 1st Division starts moving.

South of Spa its a mixed story. I moved my armour out of the los of his King Tigers this turn. His 5th FJD undisrupted last turn, and I did not make enough disrupting (or is it disruptive?) attacks on them this turn. In fact my 1-20th disrupted itself when it was hit by heavy artillery and return fire. He will assault this unit. Hopefully the AI will pick a sensible retreat path, although I have left room in both of the friendly occupied hexes behind it just in case.

If his assaulting unit(s) disrupt in the assault I may assault back with the 2-117th and 3-33rd.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 73 Allied 6am Dawn - the north



After an artillery bombardment to disrupt the 326th VGD unit digging in, I assaulted both of them with the 1-23rd. (2nd Div) It wasn’t a cheap victory as I lost 30 men to his 17. (552 men v 800?)

The advance revealed another disrupted unit and a Corps HQ? He obviously expected the assault and the HQ could be the only unit he had to protect the disrupted unit. (we all do this)

I managed to land a few devastating artillery rounds on the VGD unit in clear terrain stacked with the HQ.

Further south I held back 1-26th (1st Div) from assault and used it to fire only. It performed poorly and was well beaten by return fire and artillery fire.

I had the choice of moving up the 1-39th to support either hex and decided to go with the 1-26th.

Everywhere else I’ve gone with a general advance of all units with reasonable fatigue levels.

The 47th Rgt is going south to support the 1st Division. There is only one road in the swamp so its going to be tricky.

I’ve no idea what he will do with his armour. As you can see I have collected all my armour together, but it is not a great area for deploying and moving armour. I'm a bit wary of being trapped against the swamp hexes.