Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

Its probably not clear on the maps but Boevange could be a 2 hex village/town? Or it could be that one of the villages does not have a label? The hex containing the German armoured force is a village as well as the RUBBLED village to its NE on the map.



The attempt to RUBBLE failed. I guess I need a lot more artillery than I had available.

Any artillery I had which could not target the armour was used against the Spotted unit north of Boevange. 5 guns were knocked out, hopefully Werfers.

The cut off units were rescued by 8th Tank Bn (CCB 4AD) which rolled up in T mode and ‘dismounted’ to allow the retreat. German Pioneers opposite just watched.

(A)


35th Tank Bn and 51st Armed Inf Bn (CCA 4AD) moved up to join 704th TD Bn.

(B)


B/811 TD dug in. ©

53rd Armed Inf Bn moved up. (CCR 4AD) (D)

(E) and (F) I fell back and grouped in these two hexes. (E) is Woods hex abd should give some protection. It will also limit his advance from Boevange a bit. (F) is Clear but has TRENCH so gives some protection.

(E)


(F)


Any unit which didn’t fall back Fired. All told he lost about 95 men but I lost about 25. One interesting result was against his Disrupted Pz Lehr Stug unit in (Blue A) which BROKE and retreated when fired at by 11th Tank Bn. This was the group that assaulted last turn and had 2 Pz Lehr Disrupted infantry units. That assualt must have been more costly to him than I realised.

(G)


(H)


Next turn we will see how many tanks I lose.

[Plain Ian]

Supply uses motorized movement. Compared to snow/frozen conditions, soft conditions have a lower movement cost modifier (200% compared to 250% in Moscow '42), but mud has a very high movement cost multiplier of 400% so he'll notice that in the local supply values (as will you).

Thanks for your thoughts on supply.



Here is how it looks at the moment for me with SNOW and Marsh hexes being treated as Clear terrain. This is the supply over view from the start of my turn 41. Worst unit is showing 82 and is the M5 Lt Tank unit of 3AD?
Now I’m not sure which way supply is traced....from unit back to supply source......from supply source to unit.......but there are at least 3 Wood hexes between the unit and SPA/Major road which is how I would trace supply for this unit to nearest ‘source’.
It would be interesting to change the weather file and see what the supply would be.

However if weather is Soft or Mud next turn then this could help me. His best supply route using motorised movement is the secondary road from the south through Franchochamp. I suppose supply received by a unit one hex off the road in Woods might be still ok, so he can advance 2-3 abreast the road.
But all I need to do is get a zoc across the road to increase his trace? Interesting.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 41 Allied – SPA

Since I’m talking about this area I might as well show map of my moves here.



I’ve fallen back with my armour (E) and left my infantry (F) to weather a turn of King Tiger fire.

I still have reserves of 3rd AD in this area ( C ) and I moved some units (A) closer to SPA to put them within command range. (you can see units have orange labels) Unfortunately Einheits have disrupted this move!!! They are also active at La Geize as well. Grrr.

I’ve also withdrawn the 814th TD Bn (B) from this area and will send it south.....if it can get there. This unit belongs to 7th AD and it is well out with its command range. I think a test is done at midnight to check for Low Fuel so best if it sets out now.

I’ve pulled the M5 Lt Tank Co back into woods and brought the Engineer unit (30th Div) up from La Gleize. (G) The Engineers are a B rated unit and I may need them at Spa.

Lastly I peppered both enemy hexes with artillery. Heavy artillery (155mm) killed a tank from the Peiper group and 19 men from 3rd FJD plus 4 men from the 7th Army Pioneer group.

I’ve also added the supply route for Peiper. If weather turns bad I may try to advance. The Paras are top grade units which would have been a better choice for defending SPA from the south but they will be ideal for a sortie south.........

[ComradeP]

Assuming motorized movement penalty is 250% and forest costs 90 MP to move into (using Moscow '42 values), and with the supply value drop being 0.02 x movement cost per hex starting from the supply source, a single woods hex would result in a 4.5 point local supply value drop compared to a hex closer to the supply source. I'm not sure if the system rounds down, it tends to round most values down I believe.

[Plain Ian]

This is the big picture in the north. V and VII Corps.



V Corps is basically retreating. There was no pressure last turn but my aim is to get most of my units into the Hoess Venn for safety. This will mean giving up Monschau. (500 VP)

No sign of 12th SS last turn? Let us see where it turns up before I make any guesses. It could be still at Elsenborn.

1st Infantry will block the road to Jalhay/Vervier. I’ve moved 26th Rgt up from Spa where it was resting. Its still yellow/moderate fatigue.....but then this is still better than 70% of the units in V Corps.

VII Corps is giving ground where attacked at Spa/La Gleize/Basse-Bodeux. Everything is falling back towards Webomont. 3rd Armoured are immediate reserves with 84th Division as back up reserve.

It was planned to use 84th to fill in the gap in the south and link up at La Roche with XVIII Corps. Instead 334th Rgt has been pulled back north and 335th is heading to Webomont.

I may have to reverse these decisions as I have a feeling that La Roche is about to get hot? Looking at the map its obvious that La Roche must be his next objective and I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the destination for II SS Pz Corps. I suppose this objective is more of a 5th Pz Army objective rather than 6th SS Pz Army objective but I guess the German can switch his SS Divisions to a 5th Panzer Army Corps?

Reinforcing success sounds great in military theory but they sure haven’t tried doing this in the middle of the Ardennes and using the roads here AND 350 men road stacking limits!

I’ve spent hours working out how to get units from A to B in the most efficient way, getting fatigued units out of the way and trying to push good units forward. It isn’t easy. So if I have fresh forces this would be my option.

I really hope that this is true because II SS turning up at Verviers would be unstoppable.

Will do the south map and stop havering.

[Plain Ian]

Assuming motorized movement penalty is 250% and forest costs 90 MP to move into (using Moscow '42 values), and with the supply value drop being 0.02 x movement cost per hex starting from the supply source, a single woods hex would result in a 4.5 point local supply value drop compared to a hex closer to the supply source. I'm not sure if the system rounds down, it tends to round most values down I believe.

Good information about supply drop. Swamp/Marsh are 0 MP hexes on the Parameter table for motorised so no supply trace across them. But all he has to do is stay close to the roads.

Forest is 90 MP in Bulge. Snow weather is 200% which I now see is the same as Soft. Mud however is 400%! So that means 7.2 point drop for every Wood hex further away from supply. He starts off at 75 unlike the Americans at 95.

Time to read up on supply.

[Plain Ian]

Over view Map - South



I guess most people looking at this will be saying..."where are all the Germans?". Or "are the Americans fighting invisible Germans?"

Not a lot to see apart from at Bastonge and in the far south. Between these two points both sides have been happy to leave things quiet, mainly because we both probably did not have many troops to commit here or were not keen to commit and then not be able to disengage.

With the arrival of 80th Division I thought I could use these troops to fill in this gap. I also hoped to ensure that the road north from Attert could be secured all the way up to Martelange. Thus shortening the current route which has to go via Neufchateau/Recogne. (See Blue route on map)

However, as has happened in the north I am now having second thoughts and may have to use some of these troops as I'm not sure the 4th Armoured alone can stop the Germans.

In the meantime the 501st which I've finally maged to get released from Attert has arrived south of Martelange and may do the job here.

Other points to note -

28th Div recovering at Recogne
9th Arm Div (CCB/CCR) recovering at St Hubert.
82nd/101st still frightening away 2nd Panzer and friends.

Night.

[ComradeP]

Swamp/Marsh are 0 MP hexes on the Parameter table for motorised so no supply trace across them.

Those hexes have a cost of 50 MP's for supply, which is somewhat odd as it is less costly than forest and some other terrain types, but I guess that was done to make sure units in large swamp areas like the Pripyat can still have reasonable supply values provided they stay close to roads.

-

What is that broken unit near Wiltz?

[Plain Ian]

Swamp/Marsh are 0 MP hexes on the Parameter table for motorised so no supply trace across them.

Those hexes have a cost of 50 MP's for supply, which is somewhat odd as it is less costly than forest and some other terrain types, but I guess that was done to make sure units in large swamp areas like the Pripyat can still have reasonable supply values provided they stay close to roads.

-

What is that broken unit near Wiltz?

Good eyesight. That's a unit from the 28th Division which probably started off near Wiltz/Drauffelt. I think it was Broken on the 2nd day of the battle, which makes it the 17th December or 3 days ago in game time. If this unit does recover then I'll leave it in the woods and not use it.

I think I may have had a few units return from Broken in the game although I haven't really kept track of these units. Just checked and I currently have 3 Broken units up north by Monschau and 2 in the far south.

I thought I was going to be cut off in the south so I was going to ask my opponent if I could withdraw off map. It never quite reached that stage.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 42 Results



Turn 42 received and posted back. Best results so far for US. German losses in men outstripped the US losses. Most of these occurred in the US Turn as you would expect from an IGO-UGO game where the defensive fire is chronically poor.

Michaels moves as the German player also contributed to this as he left a lot of units exposed to artillery and offensive fire. I'll post these shortly. Strange play. I think he is considering moving onto the defensive? His emails suggest that he thinks that I have considerable forces and strong defensive lines in place now.