1st Chronicles Of V Panzer Army DAR

[Cole]

See my last post and the screen shot of my Panthers rushing to secure the bridge at Burg Reuland. I was afraid that Steve would post infantry and AT guns in the small woods to slow me down. He went one better:



Steve kept the road open and once I fell into the trap American light tanks destroyed one Panther platoon (the two wrecks on the slope half way on the map) and American infantry moved up to block any advance / retreat towards Burg Reuland.

Fortunately the woods are sparse from the hill top and my Panthers had a LOS to the rear of the American tanks. Revenge was taken and a few went up in flames but there are still numerous American forces in the area. I have moved some armor up for support and hopefully they can use op fire to ward off any American armor trying to swarm the Panthers. Infantry support will not be able to arrive before this is over. The panzers need to get out of the ambush themselves.

[Cole]

Back in action. One the plane ride I was reading A Time for Trumpets and saw on a map that the action with the Panthers racing towards Burg Reuland is right on the Belgian / German border. At least the map in the book shows the border not on the river but between Burg Reuland and Heckuscheid (probably just to the east of my panzers).

Steve's second state of his ambush was to disrupt my Panthers in the woods with a combination of tank and close infantry fire. Greyhound scout platoons were sent forward but op fire from my self-propelled guns on the hill slope destroyed two of his platoons. Steve still had armor and halftracks to spare and my Panthers were overrun.

Elsewhere the race is on to Schoenburg. Besides the bridges at Burg Reuland that I won't be able to get to in a while these are the last bridges left that I don't see the red destruction marks on the map.

[Cole]

End of Turn 16.

The end of the 17th of December saw the Germans across the Our River and the front lines formed a semi-circle to the east of St. Vith.

I have yet to advance so far. In fact the semi-circle is forming to the east of Schoenburg and it's vital bridges. I believe that a combination of Steve's tough defense and orders to my regiments not to bypass resistance is slowing me down (don't want any ambush of loaded transport or artillery later). I suspect due to the movement point costs on this map for the hilly terrain and snow maybe 10 turns would better represent a "day". That being said I will keep the 8 turns a day count.

Now the majority of Steve's units are either withdrawing as quickly as possible or are being overtaken and destroyed. The casualty VP totals finally moved into my favor and this turn I have a 200 VP advantage. In order to secure a major victory I will need 6000 VPs so I have a ways to go. Schoenburg will give me 500 VPs and St. Vith will give me 2000 so if I can cross the river tomorrow I should be fine.

One area where Steve's defense is still giving me heartache is on the road to Andler from Auw. The 294th has received help from the Fuhrer Begleit Brigade and the screen shot below shows some much needed help in the form of PZ-IV's. A lot of the wrecks are the ruins of most of the Brigades recon units. I was throwing everything I could up the hill but the defense here has still not cracked.


The action continues with the 116th Division. The American forces that ambushed and destroyed my Panthers on the road to Burg Rueland are now following us back across the border into Germany. Fortunately I have some Panzergrenadiers that are clearing out Americans to the woods in the south and one platoon even destroyed a vanguard platoon of the ubiquitous M8 Greyhound scouts. Besides two companies of Panthers supporting the advance towards Schoenburg I have withdrawn most of the 116th back south to deal with the American counter attack and to help finish mopping up almost a battalion of infantry in the woods to the east.


My heavy artillery and railroad guns have been shelling Schoenburg with indirect fire missions for the past couple of turns and each turn I have seen the satisfying sight of loaded trucks and HQ units moving out of the target hexes. Wishful thinking would be that I'm hitting retreating units but I suspect a hard fight is going to develop here and it might even decided the outcome of the game.

Seeing the results of my indirect fire reminds me of a paragraph I read in A Time For Trumpets on how two German artillery spotters had infiltrated through the woods the night before the battle into Clervaux (off this scenario's map to the south). They holed up "in a room in the rear of the Pharmacie Molitor..." and at daylight were able to direct fire onto targets within the town.

[Cole]

Steve decided to order up some indirect fire missions himself and the barrages were very effective in killing and disrupting quite a few SPs of loaded transport, especially in the 116th's area to the south. His artillery must be close by because of these numerous kills. I might have to start watching the replays using 3D so I can see some of the origination points or smoke of his artillery. My VP advantage is back down to around 50 or 60, mostly due to his artillery.

The approach to Schoenburg is well defended and we are now entering an artillery duel. I need to clear the forests of spotters so I can cross the clear ground without too much destruction. Our armor has dueled back and forth with the Americans getting a little better of the duel due to the height advantage.

Here's the assault gathering on Schoenburg:

[Von Earlmann]

Good stuff here Steve and Scott.....hope you are enjoying the battle........reading this makes me want to play it myself......I had been working on these scenario concepts since around 2000.....glad I finally got around to writing them.......keep the great reports coming!

Earl

[Cole]

Von E,
Thanks for the great scenario. Not only is it fun to play but it has prompted me to study up on the battle and learn some things I didn't know.

Turns 20 and 21.

Screen shot posted below without comment below of my assault on Schoenburg.

Turn 21 saw disastrous German losses to American artillery fire and not just to those units crossing exposed ground in the assault. The 116th on the road to Burg Reuland suffered 4 and 5 SP losses to infantry platoons caught in barrages. There must be a spotter in the woods with OP fire set to off that is calling in such accurate fire. What is worse is that units muster behind the lines up north with the Schoenburg assault are receiving 2 SP losses for indirect fire (where no American units can possibly spot as the area was cleared a few turns back). I believe Steve's artillery in both sectors are very close to the front lines. No threat of a quick break through so why not?

The Luftwaffe paid a visit and caused an American infantry platoon to retreat from positions overlooking the German assault below. I had called in the air strikes as American armor lurks up there.

The Americans have had some air support in this game and this is another factor that I didn't know about the actual battle. There was some American air support the first couple of days, most assigned to try and locate German columns under the very low cloud cover. Some planes found a column and caused some damage.

[Cole]

Turn 23

Another terrible turn. American M24's destroyed a whole company of PZ-IV's on the NE ridge above Schoenburg (that big bonfire in the screen shot below). These M24s pack a punch but have enough speed to keep them out of trouble.

It is funny because we have a miniature recreation of the actual battle here. Instead of a large semi-circle to the east of St. Vith forming on the 17th we are about to end the day with a smaller semi-circle forming around Schoenburg. I've mentioned before that the movement rates in the snow probably call for more turns to equal a day but I think the main reason my forces are getting knocked around is that Steve is just plain whuppin up on me.

I picked the start of my turn as the screen shot as at least there is some good news in there for me. Steve has left some mortars and howitzers exposed and even though they fought bravely they fought to the end. Same with the lone disrupted M24 hiding in the smoke. Too bad that there is at least a couple of companies remaining in the town.

I did not advance to the tree line on top of the ridge but instead waited for more support to move up the hill. Guarantee that American artillery will paste that tree line next turn (and the turn after).

My forces are also slowly working around to my left.

I'll post on the other sectors next post which will be the recap for this day.

[Cole]

I have found out that the way south is blocked. All the bridges are blown. There is a crossing that my troops and an American rear guard are heading to (ford just north of the Our River label).


To the north the 293rd Regiment has cleared the tree line and have even destroyed a few half tracks that were keeping watch on our advance. There are miles of open hilly ground so until some Tigers come from the south to support the infantry in the open my boys will rest.
Steve must of lost track of my armor or expected it all to go south as he kept four platoons of armor on the hill to the west of the Ambleve River. One platoon was destroyed by panzer op fire last turn and two platoons you can see in the screen shot below we engaged from the hill top by a lone surviving Tiger tank eager to revenge his fallen comrades. 5 American tanks went up in smoke and both platoons were disrupted. On the screen shot my infantry is blocking the road to the north and a platoon that was able to rally was destroyed by panzerfaust op fire while attempting to escape during Steve's turn. The other platoon fled into the woods with a leader. My infantry is in pursuit.
The remaining platoon on the south slope of the hill also fled into the forest.

Schoenburg spends another day in Allied hands. Last turn I almost cleared a lot of his infantry off the hill top but some visible infantry remained. American artillery pounded the tree line but on my in the woods on my left I was fortunate that I had eliminated all the spotters. When Steve began his turn quite a few platoons that held their op fire rushed off the hill top. I am finally King Of The Hill but I did not move to the north edge as he will have quite a reception for me. One platoon sent on a suicidal scout mission to the edge discovered AA guns down there and he has at least a battalion of the M24's inside the town.

[Von Earlmann]

These DARs are great. I have found and corrected some major things in this scenario based upon these reports and screen shots.It will improve the next version greatly.

Thanks again

Earl

[Cole]

Von E,
I'm glad to help improve the scenario. It is a great one and I know I can speak for Steve that we are both enjoying it.
From my point of view I think adjustments should be made in how many turns constitute a day, especially as it pertains to reinforcements.

Schoenburg,
I noticed during the replay that it took the Americans a lot of effort to destroy or make retreat the two infantry platoons I had left exposed on the ridge line. With the exception of my panzers I went all out with my infantry and was able to clear most of the ground to the east of the Our River. I also determined that the bridges in town are blown so a battle for the many fords has begun (red dots on the screen shot below).

Green dot with #1: At least two platoons of M24's were spotted here. I made sure to leave my panzers out of LOS from most hexes on the west side of the river.
#2: Quite a few AA half tracks and I believe a few more platoons of American armor along with engineers.
#3: Site of the AA gun I spotted last turn. Going to be rough for my infantry this turn.
#4: This will be a hex I have to maneuver to get into the LOS of an overwhelming amount of my panzers. Good LOS from here for the Americans.

To the south there are only two fords available. They are designated below with red dots. I plan to cross both fords. Steve obviously has a different idea.