Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

Turn 76 Allied -  Mersch



Well the attacks I planned went resonably well. I used my tanks (735th) to assault his disrupted 75mm A/T unit at A and it lost 3 and was pushed out onto the 352nd VGD unit at B. Two hits from my artillery eliminated it. I then used what artillery I had left against the 352nd unit (-7) and also used up one of my air attacks. It got through but was a measly -8 man loss. The 10th/11th Tnk were used to try and disrupt his unit and I managed 25 more losses. I pressed the button and the 2-10th leapt forward.....and was repulsed. He obviously wasn't disrupted to start with. I can't remember his losses but I lost 35 men and the 2-10th is now yellow fatigued.

A bit disappointed but thats life. I then threw in my second air bomber (carpet) and it actually hit the target I wanted, but losses were low because he is in Forest/TRENCH.

I've brought up the 1-11th and thrown forward the 3-10th.

55th Engineers have reached the river but are in view of his forces. The 249th is coming up.

The last Tank unit of 10th Armoured (3rd Bn) is just about in line and I've deployed the 61st Arm Inf north of Mersch.

The 3-11th was ferried to safety but I'll need a bridge to get my motorised units over. 

Artillery just off map hit and destroyed a StuG unit which was digging in north of the river. (Indragnir says it was 212th VGD)

[Plain Ian]

Turn 76 Allied - north



The assault against the 326th worked but it was costly. I lost 27 men and 1 tank and he lost 35. Before the assault I used artillery but I cannot remember what casualties I inflicted. Once I had pushed him back I used some more artillery as he is now on Marsh which gives a +10% defensive effect. 

I moved two Bn's of the 395th up but the 2-395th disrupted when fired at. I considered falling back with the units to the south but I opted to stay and fire and use artillery. The results were not fantastic and hindsight ws to prove that I woulfd have been better falling back.

In the far south I started a small offensive with 1st Division. He has two 12th SS Pioneer units (A rated but only 195 men unis at full strength) and a depleted 150th Pz Bde unit. [XX].

[Plain Ian]

Turn 77 German- north



Ok lets look at Indragnirs turn and what he did in the north. 

The power of the werfer was unleashed again plus he showed me how to time an assault. It reminded me of the ACW series where the aim is to get 1,000 men stacked in a hex and unleash an unstoppable melee. In that game the Rebs can do this as their units are usually smaller and you can stack them up. The Union forces are larger regiments so its more difficult to do this........in this game he is the Rebels with his small nimble VGD Bn's and I'm the boys in blue with my 5-600 man lumbering battalions. 

In the north he focussed on the 1-395th and ignored my stack with the tank. (741st) He also left his disrupted units still adjacent to my tanks even though they are in poor terrain? His werfers hit hard killing 31 in two blasts (-14,-17) plus artillery added another -2.  The 1-395th is in Woods. (-30%) Ground fire from adjacent units ended in a pretty even combat.

The 2-23rd and 3-39th were not so lucky. Werfers took out 74 men in two blast (-37 per fire) then artillery added another -9. Ground fire added another 20 casualties although my srtillery did hit a tank in reply.  He then assaulted with his 4 VG Bn's and scored an unbelievable 90/524 result. Both my units had been disrupted before the assault so retreat was automatic....but there was nowhere to retreat to because of stacking rules. 
The 2-23rd had 636 men but is now down to 239. (-384) The 3-39th went from 480 to 230. (-250) He suffered 90 losses but wasn’t disrupted.....marvellous. 

In the south the 2-18th got hit by 3 blasts and lost 42 men. Again its in woods supposed to be protected by -30%. My only consolation was that the reinforcing Pioneer unit triggered fire killing -12. 
In the south he now has all 3 Pioneer units of the 12th SS plus the small 150th Pz Bde unit. 

Interestingly Indragnir says that US units routing (mass surrendering?) was a common occurence of the Bulge campaign. That possibly is correct. I know what happened to the 106th. When reading accounts of the Bulge its usually the heroic small unit actions where a hadful of men hold off larger units that jump out.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 77 German - Spa - Grandmenil



Sorry but the map is a bit high level and without a lot of detail. I've just highlighted the main details.

At Spa he launched two assaults? Both against my tank stacks. An easy task it seems for good morale units against tank units. 

A - My 2-33rd and 38th Cav Recce were assaulted. He has a 12th SS Bn and a KG Hansen Bn here. I'm not sure if it was both or just one. I think both these units are A morale and of course neither was disrupted. My units weren't disrupted and only gained moderate fatigue. 

B his FJD unit hit the 2-32nd and 3-33rd. Again fatigure loss was pretty low but I can't keep losing tanks like this every turn. I'm not sure he can afford to lose 30 men per turn but he does have plenty units to rotate in and out.

Further south it was relatively quiet. Werfers did hit Chession but he used most of his artillery 'searching out' my units digging in.  I did lose an M4 to long range 75mm fire.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 77 German - Grandmenil - Flamierge



This was a pretty quiet sector. e feels confident to rest and save his artillery I think. Possibly his artillery is somewhere else? Who knows? 

My 1-289th lost 20 men against his 9th SS so I think I will give up here. I'm moving up Paras anyway.

At Bertogne he pulled back his 15th PGD units (I must have hurt them last turn) and he has set his 26th VGD units to digging. (3 Bn's) I'm not sure whats happening here?

Down by Flamierge he goes for my 17pdr unit again but this time commits a lot more. he gets 4 more guns and the unit is now disrupted with 7 guns and fatigure 177. (I've put the label on the hex above by mistake)

And thats it for this sector........come and get me big boy?

[Plain Ian]

Turn 77 German - Magerotte - Redange



He has shifted away from Wifield and attacked further north. The disrupted 1-101st was hit by two SS Bn's and was pushed back. Indragnir commented that this is almost 1300 men so he was disappointed with the results. (-12/-41) His 2nd SS Panther Bn has moved up to join the attack.

Martelange was quiet with just some long range sniping which did not cause much casualties.

The bad news is that he has launched a major attack with the the 212th VGD supported by Panzer Lehr armour and also has thrown in the the 5th FJD. His intention is clear. He wants to swamp me with units and cause as much casualties as possible, plus make sure that 5th division cannot be rescued. He might also be trying to cut off 10th Armoured south of the river? 

Fierce werfer fire hit the 1-12th (-50) and the 10th Arm Inf (-40) whilst 212th VGD units moved south to cut off the units.

Further south he tried an assault against 25th Cav (-13/-2 Greyhounds) then pushed another 5th FJD stack forward which hit my 53rd Arm Inf unit digging in. He hit this B morale unit with artillery and then assaulted and pushed it back. (-25-/-44) he then moved up a stack against my tank unit in the open (8th Tank Bn B Morale 43 M4's) and assaulted this. (-13/-1 M4) 

All in all a pretty punishing turn. My units are pinned by the 5th FJD none of which are disrupted from their assaults. (B rated units which start off on 16th December at 85% TOE = 700 men ie supermen) These are the anvil. The hammer is coming down from the north with the 212th VGD (B rated unit so its as good as the 1st US Infantry Div?) and Pz Lehr. 

I think I'm stuffed here so I'm considering waving the white flag. 

I'll leave the south until tomorrow night. Its even worse.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 77 German - Pratz close up



A closer look at the situation at the end of his turn. The 212th has surged forward with armoured support from the Pz Lehr. The main armoured unit is the Panther Bn [XX]. He has also brought forward his anti tank guns including an 88mm unit. This is bad news for my planned air strikes in this area. I have 3 normal and 3 carpet bombing missions. Carpet bombers are normallly safe from A/A fire but the 88mm will reach them. So on top of 2 interceptions I'm expecting to lose 1 aircraft at least and suffer fatigue.

The 1-12th and Combat Engineers will have to fall back one hex to the woods occupied by 704th TD and 51st Arm Inf. I'll have to get them into woods further back or hidden from his los. Any infantry unit caught in the open is going to be werfered to death. In fact any unit left in open terrain is going to be bombarded and assaulted. Thats what the 212th is there fore.  6 battalions of Stosstruppen. 

In the south against the 5th FJD things are worse. He actually pushed forward and was surprised to find my 53rd Armoured infantry. However that did not stop him and he assaulted and he won. The 25th Cav is in atight spot with its back to the river. I think Pratz is Werfer City (5 hexes) so if I leave the 53rs there its going to get clobbered. I might move the 8th Tnk Bn in here. I will see what I can juggle. Whatever happens he will assault anything he can in order to trap units. 

All I can do is see how much damage I can inflict with my artillery against his units in the open terrain and try to pik the best targets for my air. I can't see may units I can hold position and fire with or fire and fall back with.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 77 German - Mersch



Artillery here was relatively light. The disruption in the 352nd has kept this back but the 276th VGD appears to be getting ready to rush me. What else. Where can I go and no where to retreat to.

Indragnir says 9th Panzer Division is at Waldbilling 17 hexes away. The 79th is at Ettelbruck. Marvellous. I hope my engineers can build a bridge in 1 turn. Unfortunately I doubt if they can build it where they are because its in his los. In fact the whole river line is in his los apart from the small village A. Its academic anyway. Building a bridge in an area where he has artillery is one thing. Trying to get units in T mode over it when he has a panzer Divsion and 2 VGD'd next to it is another thing. 

I'm glad that we are playing an Alternate version of history and not trying to recreate the real battle. maybe thats why its an alt scenario<g>. Funnily enough my favourite science fiction writers I enjoyed when I was younger were Isaac Asimov and Philip K Dick. Brilliant stories. II variety and of course......The Man in the High Castle. Marvellous.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 77 VP/Losses



Total losses at ens of the turn. The VP's are starting to nudge back to the 12,500 level. 



Phase losses above. I've managed to inflict considerable losses on him this turn. One carpet bombing inflicted 80 men. Just under half of his gun losses are 75mm A/T guns and probably half of his vehicle losses are tanks/assault guns.



Turn losses above. Again I've managed to outscore him in men again. US artillery starting to have an effect at last, but only because I'm finding more targets in Clear terrain........because he is still attacking me.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 77 Allied - Mersch



I've decided to go down fighting here rather than withdraw off the map. I have ferried one unit (3-11th) back over the river but I've halted the unit just now. The 55th Engineers have started a bridge. Its in the wrong place and is probably too late but its the best I can do.

10th and 11th Tank Bn's managed to disrupt his 352nd Bn from 2 hexes then I moved up 1-11th and 735th Tank Bn for an assault. (losing 12 men) The assault went in and I pushed him back but it illustrates why you shouldn't use tanks in forests as I lost 2 tanks. 

I then made a general advance with most of the 5th Division. Casualties were moderate as I'm in Clear terrain. 

The 5th Division HQ was hit by counterbattery fire when an artillery unit stacked with it fired. 

The situation is still pretty dire. 9th Panzer will be here next turn and he has 2 Divisions of VGD to throw at me. In fact I think the VGD could win this battle on their own. He will be assaulting at every opportunity to push me back and inflict further casualties due to over stacking. Thats why I've pushed out. If he undisrupts this turn then there will be heavy battles. 

Looking at the map I realise I've made a mistake that Indragnir will exploit. I should have moved the D/753 TNK company a hex further rather than leave it in the Forest to begin digging next turn. Indragnire will disrupt the 2-11th and assault. If the 2-11th retreats the wrong way....which it will....then the 1-11th/735th Tank Bn are cut off and I will have big problems restoring a link. 

Of course the 2-11th might fall back to hex A.......yeah right.