Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

Turn 49 Allied - north



As you would expect I didn't do much here as I haven't sent many reserves here.

The valiant 2-16th were replaced with the fresh 3-18th.

The 745th Tank Bn made my only ground attack scoring a 15 man loss against the 12th VGD Bn and an amazing 23 man loss (one attack?) against the 3rd PzGD Bn. Unfortunately the 2nd Combat Engineers suffered the return fire.

All the rest of the losses shown on map are artillery attacks.

1st Combat Engineers were shifted north with the 634th TD Bn brought forward as extra cover.

I've also started to bring up up the 1-26th as I think that things are about to get serious in the Hoes Venn. The 1-16th through to the 1-38th are not disrupted so I don't think he'll attempt an assault next turn but after a turn of artillery and ground fire I think he will be ready after that.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 49 Allied Spa



At Stoumont I fell back again. I did consider standing and firing but I've nothing to gain apart from lose a lot of tanks.
The 33rd Engineers also pulled back so that they can garrison Chession if he continues advancing.

At Spa the 3rd Armoured tank battalions again stood and fired at adjacent targets. Then I moved up infantry for support. 2-119th lost some men in doing so. It will take the heat off the tanks and possibly Spa as any artillery will target the infantry.

The 517th also fired, mainly targeting the 62nd VGD Bn which had not withdrawn. (the other VGD Bn had pulled back) The other unit in the hex is a 150th Pz Bde unit but only XX size.

I also decided to advance 105th Combat Engineers and the 3-119th just to see if this would be enough to make him withdraw from south of Spa. They bumped into the recon unit which is lurking in this area. The 119th isn't really in great shape but the opposition is light and he won't know how badly shot up it is.

Apart from that I used artillery on a few stacks and tidied up Spa defenses. I pulled the 526th back. The 1-334th is fresh but the 1-117th and 1-120th although green fatigue are mid range or higher so will quickly go orange.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 49 Allied Chession - Samree



I've pulled back from the 116th Panzer stack as best as possible. 3-117th got away but 2-117th was left behind. Even unluckier was the cannon company of the Regiment which I forgot to limber up last turn. Its toast.

I've positioned the 814th TD in Woods so if he advances over the stream then he will be in Clear and I might get lucky. The 740th Tank Bn I moved south and it took out his Deception/Einheit unit.

40th Tank Bn also pulled north for the possible show down with 116th, leaving 17th Tank Bn to watch the VGD/116th group at Rarmont.

I've also decided to send the 28th Armoured Bde here. It's been sitting twiddling its thmbs so I've decided to use it at last. The 3rd Royal Tank Rgt are a crack B morale unit but the other tank regiments are D's.

At Manhay the 335th engaged the 560th VGD units taking out a few 75mm and some of the grenadiers.

I thought it best to occupy Bra so sent D/40 TNK co to do this. They bumped into another mobile A/A unit which is probably acting as flank guard? No losses were incurred.

Samree is quiet.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 49 Bastogne - Chaumont



After the losses suffered by the 82nd last turn against his armour and artillery I decided to give up the Bertogne area. I've pulled back the 82nd and have sent the two surviving Battalions of the 106th to the rear. (F company of 2-424th still to get away)

My heavy artillery did their best against 2nd SS Panzer's PzIV's in the Clear but only managed 7 fatigue hits. I did better against the 2nd Pz Pioneers. I did not have much artillery for the 26th VGD.

If he pursues me the 82nd will fall back west.

The 101st now have responsibility for Flamierge area.

The 327th Glider Rgt (82nd) are the emergency reserve ready to move north east to La Roche. Interestingly one of the Bn's is the 551st? It must be an independent formation subordinated to this Rgt during this period? Anyone know any history of the Bn?

Down at Chaumont I moved the 1-317th forward and discovered that his 5th FJD Bn was still there? I brought up the 3-318th and moved the 1-501st to cut of his supply.
I then used every artillery piece of the 84th Division to pound the unit, and several of them were stockpiled. He lost 45 men to this hurricane barrage.
If 2nd SS are in the area they will come out with a vengance. Even if they aren't I'll let the unit go. I want the 317th/318th to move south.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 49 Allied - south



Ok last map.

26th Division on their way. Will probably take two turns to get to Magerotte. Might use them for subsidiary drive on Bastogne from there.

I've reversed my armour back to Martelange and started moving some of the 317th/318th. The 702nd Tank and 610th TD (organic units of 80th) are now there plus the 602nd TD which is a XII Corps unit.

The 702nd I actually sent north but it bumped into a 5th FJD Bn at Warnach so I recalled it.

I've also began freeing up the 319th Rgt with 4th Division units.

I'm still going to make main attack along the Grevils road but will have to shield/attack Warnach.

In the far south I've finally pulled out most of CCA 9th Armoured and will send them north to meet rest of Division at Neufchateau.

There was no action in the far south. Plan will be to keep the 4th Armoured here to shield the 4th Infantry and 10th Armoured to allow them to recover. Of course this assumes he will keep his Pz Lehr here?

[Plain Ian]

Michael is on holiday at the moment and won't be back until the 11th of August. I'll see if I can find something Bulge related to post in the meantime.

[Plain Ian]

Still waiting so I'd thought I'd post this war map again. It shows the German 7th Army attacks 16th-19th Dec 1944.

I've copied the main attacks thrusts by each Division onto the PzC map with the start up positions for the alt scenario. I've also copied (very roughly) the US positions 19th Dec and the unit designations.



Historically it looks like the 109th Rgt 28th Division fell back sw and took up a holding position from Grossbraus to Ettelbruck. CCA 9th Armoured held the position to their right. Interestingly the original map above shows 89th Recon (-), but the alt scenario does not have an 89th Recon unit for CCA 9th Armoured? From Waldbilling to Consdorf we see various Task Forces from 10th Armoured.

German attack lines look reasonable when converted to the PzC map and the starting positions of the German units. From memory I think his attacks did come from these areas. However in my game the 5th FJD did not make any major thrusts west as shown but instead followed the axis of attack of the 352nd VGD. And of course he brought the Pz Lehr Div down to support both these Divisions. In my game the 109th Rgt 28th Division fled west towards Bastogne. It was the 10th Armoured that filled the gap at Ettelbruck and tried to halt the deluge.

I still think bringing the Pz Lehr down to support the attack on Diekirch (500 VP's) and then drive through to Ettelbruck is a smart move for any German player. Any German players out there do this?

[Plain Ian]

Turn 50 German 2pm 21st Dec (Mud)

Turn Points have jumped to over 1200. He has captured Spa! (1,000 VP) However a Draw is still showing.



Turn losses in men are lower than the previous turn and the 6 lost tanks were all M5's. His losses were 122 men and 1 vehicle? Happy with this as going by previous turns I should be able to add another 2-300 casualties to this?



Half of my casualties in men happened in the north at Elsenborn so lets look at this area first.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 50 German 2pm 21st Dec (Mud)




A
First surprise was a mobile Flak unit suddenly appearing on the road. He didn't travel up the road so must have moved it via the woods. He obviously wants to see what I have here.

B
The 2-395th was assaulted by his 12th SS armour and thrown back on the two armour units behind it. Despite the overwhelming use of armour my losses were reasonable as at least 10 were lost to fire before the assault. Replay showed no loss results for the assault?

C-F
The 12th SS and 12th VGD hammered away at my defensive line along with the usual artillery support. However I've been lucky and no units were Disrupted.

The 1-38th were hit pretty badly losing 17 men to 2 Werfer bursts alone.
The 2-39th has been tipped into Orange Fatigue and the 3-38th which avoided things is clinging onto Green Fatigue at Fat 95.

I noticed that he pulled back a few Disrupted units (277th and 12th SS). My return fire and artillery support was not the best but reasonable considering the fatigue of my defenders.

G
The fresh 3-18th received a welcome baptism of fire as it arrived on the battlefield. It lost 42 men (down from 763 to 721) and its fatigue has jumped to 35. At least half its losses were from ground fire from the German group opposite. Not sure what size the 3rd PGD units are but they could be 3-400 men each? I may pull back and see if he follows? My Local Supply level will go up from 92 to 95 if I do. His will surely take a drop? Plus I will receive support fire from adjacent units.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 50 German 2pm 21st Dec (Mud) Situation in the north

Ok before showing the anti climatic battle of Spa, here's a quick map of the general situation in the north. Colour indicates 'health'.

The 3rd Armoured Division's last HQ Rgt arrived last turn along with 2 of its tank Bn's, the Divisional Engineers and the last Arm'd Inf Bn of the 36th Rgt. (2-36th) I cleared the road so they can have an easy run into Spa.

Behind Spa I have a few Bn's of 30th Division which are in reasonable condition and a Bn of the 334th Rgt 84th Division which is fresh. Just off map to the west are the other two Bn's of this Rgt.

The situation in the east at Elsenborn is not looking great but I think he has no serious plans to advance here.



Ok so lets look at what happened at Spa this turn.