Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am Weather Normal Visibility 3 hexes

Turn back. Total VP's and losses below.



Break down of losses below.



50% of the losses in men were in the Warnach - Hollange area. The north was probably the lightest with about 50. The south probably came about 100. 

Tank losses were quite heavy. 

7 M4's
4 M10's
3 M36's
1 Greyhound
9 M7 Priests

I did receive 8 replacements this turn one of them a Firefly...yipeee.

All in all another sobering turn. It was so easy for him and I think he could keep this up turn after turn. The only good news was that his infantry losses were higher than the previous turn. The 2 vehicle losses he suffered were armoured car losses I think.

I do have a lot of allied air power this turn. 5 bomber, 2 carpet bombers and a recon. Given that I seem to lose 50% to interception and can expect heavy AA fire I'm hoping for one decent bombing attack......gotta stay upbeat here.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am - the north



My small moves seems to have stirred things up. Its a bit hard to tell as Indragnir's email says that he has a plan and I am doing what he expected. He wants me on clear terrain. Hmmmm. Well yes I will get there but not quickly as it takes a long time to drive through woods. Anyway here is what i saw and the results of his moves.

The 1-23rd received most of the artillery fire although he did pick out the 2nd Combat Engineers (he hates engineers....) and the 2-18th. (not dug in) The 2nd Combat also came under Tiger fire.....growl!

Movement: Well a small [X] Army level StuG appeared to allow the Corps HQ to fall back, I think this came from the stack next to his King Tigers. 4 VG Bn's appeared just south of the 1-23rd.

In the south 3 VG Bn's definitely moved away (not the same ones) and I saw at least another one move which might be pulling back. He also shuffled a few other units in the south, probably to free up the 12th SS Recon unit and also to form a proper line.

The movement and placement of the 3 VG Bn's was interesting. They weren't dug in so had moved there probably in anticipation of an attack by me? The 5th FJD is dug in but it has been there all night.  

No point in analysing this to death. I'll just get on with making my moves. I'll probably use artillery to hammer the VG unit and StuG in clear terrain and also the VG Pioneer unit (the green one which I forgot to label and is the 277th) 

[Plain Ian]

I fiddled about with Jisons excellent mod to make new markers for the AAR. I'll probably play about more with them. Its something I've never really explored until now. I had hoped that there was a transparent layer or colour in PzC so that I could take advantage of the 'Special Markers on Top' function in the game....but it doesn't work. That would be a nice addition to the game. 

So I've moded Jison mod to show Trench and Improved but still leave terrain visible.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am - Spa



Its the usual unit selection for Indragnir. His aim is to secure the town hex south west of Spa.


Main points.

More 12th SS units are being fed into the battle. My tanks caught a 12th SS infantry unit in T mode from 2 hexes and inflicted 6 casualties.

His tanks did well against my armour and took out 2. His Jagd PzIV unit [X] did take a Disruption hit though. He then launched an assault using infantry against them. I think it was his 1st SS unit (KG Sandig) which lost 35 men but killed a further 2. He has commented that using infantry with a Hard attack value of 7 is a good option. (even the VGD units have a hard attack value of 7 so you have to be wary sometimes leaving armour alone.)

At Spa he rotated fresh unit into the town and continued his attacks on the 3-29th.

The 3-120th was the worst hit. Artillery and fire from the 3rd FJD. His aim obviously is to push me away from his two trapped armour units in the Swamp here.

Infantry losses to infantry were minimised however as he decided to counterbattery my 400th FA Bn. I had moved this last turn as I thought visibility would be 2 hexes. I fired then moved into dead ground. Naively thinking that this would keep me safe from spotting. Wrong. 15 artillery rounds later I was 9 M7’s down. I think artillery should have similar restrictions to ground fire and air attacks. I think Panzer battles puts a limit on the amount of artillery brought to bear on one hex.
Having said that I will return the favour........

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am - Mersch



5th Division sitting ducks. 1-2nd was hit by a few artillery and lost heavily as it was sitting in clear. 735th Tank Bn also hit losing 2 tanks to long range 75mm and also another tank to the VGD stack adjacent. 

My tanks (10/11th Bn's) did do some damage to his firing units.

The 55th Engineers came under some artillery fire but did manage to dig a TRENCH.

North of Boevange over the river he has a stack of artillery sitting clearly visible?? Indragnir gambled on poorer visibility I think. It doesn'y matter as I'm not going to waste too much artillery on them. Now if I had werfers I'd give them a few blasts. 

I think the 5th Division is sitting in a POW camp. I have no choice but to slog on.....but I think the 9th Panzer will be arriving in a few hours.

Edit 24th Feb: Indragnir say he plans to attack the cut off 5th with 2 VGD's and the 9th Panzer. 9th Panzer he says has "57 panthers, 28 mkIv, 14 Tiger and 20 pzjg II. It's quite strong."

I think I might have to give in here and stop the game.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am - Pratz - Boevange



Werfers in action. Twos blasts and the 51st Arm Inf loses 53 men. God knows how many he combined to fire?

Mos of the 5th FJD remains tucked except those two units he has kept out in the open as spotters. Loos like an Army level SuG is digging in over the river as well also for observation. 

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am - Hollange - Bigonville



Pz lehr infantry assaulted and easily pushed back the 602nd. He lost 4 men and took out 2 tank destroyers.

At Bigonville he has brought up infantry. Artillery and tank fire hit the 5th Rangers trying to hold the line.

The Fuhrer Grenadiers have moved south to hold the river line. His Panthers easily killed 2 M10's with one shot from 2 hexes.

The valiant 158th of Hollange were easily pushed out. he brought up everything. SS panthers, SS Infantry and a few Bn's of the 15th Pz Gr Div. The actual assault was by only one Bn of the 15th Pz Gr and was 27/37 so the assault was in fact quite cosly. Howver in total the 158th lost 70 men which on reflection was quite good I suppose. 

The two supporting units 2-328th and 1-318th were also hit but they at least did their job in allowing the 158th to fall back. 

The 610th was easily outgunned and beaten badly by Panthers and stugs losing 3 M36's. Admittedly they were in TRENCH clear terrain.

American tank destroyers appear to be the panzerfausts of the allies....except you don't even get the one shot before you throw them away.....

A few battalions of his 15th have taken stiff losses in this counter attack but  most of his armour just rolls back and forward and is unstoppable?

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am - Flamierge - Magerotte



The 3-501st pays the price for advancing. It loses heavily to 2nd SS infantry fire and then SS armour. 

Stack B looks to be his Fuhrer Grenadier armour. So it looks like he is keeping quite a bit armour here in this area for protection. It can easily move north to cover any moves by me. It is obviously a good area for deploying armour but unfortunately I don't have any here. Duh! 

At Flamierge his 26th continue their attrition battle with the 1-502nd. He has always wanted this hex for his defensive line.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am - Nadrin



He is still pushing from Bertogne with 26th VGD and 15th Pz Gr D. The 2nd Lt French Battalion lost 15 men and disrupted. C'est la vie. 

At nadrin the 325th gets a bloody nose. His 3 (2?) Bns of 2nd Pz inflict 63 losses with 3 blasts then artillery and Pioneers add another 32. 

Advancing one Battalion like that against elite units was pretty stupid. Once the bridge is repaired I'll need to get armour down here. Until then I will have to rely on artillery (although there is always easier targets) and attempt to bypass him to the east. 

[Plain Ian]

Turn 74 German 24th Dec 8 am - Samree - Manhay



This area was actually fairly quiet. Too quiet really. I saw a lot of movement and his armour did back off from Manhay? A fair bit of artillery did fall on Manhay and the two 17 pdr units there but no losses were incurred. 

I think he is shifting things to Odeigne.