H2H-**Aachen-West Wall 1944 - The Matrix Games version of West Front

**AACHEN-WEST WALL 1944 [H2H/ALLIED] [HISB] [BZ] Fog of War. Suitable for Human as Allied player vs. Axis AI. Suitable for multiplayer PBEM games. This is a large scale recreation of the Aachen Border area and the Western Wall battles during October of 1944. While the units are strictly historical I've reset the positions to allow the Axis player(s) to defend an intact Western Wall. The Axis player should study the map and consider his engineer units. The three weeks prior to this fight between August and September were later described by German commanders as "The Void". As Axis positions in France fell, the Allies also landed on the Mediterreanean coast of Southern France, causing a hasty withdrawal towards the border and the West Wall. This scenario is balanced for gameplay. I made a hypothetical assumption that the Ardennes Axis offensive did not strip this area of much of it's strength. As the first fight on German soil, this fight was quite brutal. There are elements of several German Divisions in the scenario, in total representing the LXXXI Korps which maintained operational command in this area. The 246th VGD occupies the city of Aachen. Along the Scharnhorst and Schill Lines to the north and south the 12th Infantry, 275th Luftwaffe (this is a created division to represent the numerous scattered Luftwaffe ground troops that were in this area), the 353rd Infantry, and the 183rd VGD. Further to the east you will see the 49th Division and elements of the 9th Panzer as well as the 116th Panzer Division. These units are reinforcements for the most part. The last units to join the fray on the German side will be elements of three task forces and two different SS divisions. Kampfgruppe Diefenthal, the SS Panzer Brigade 108, and Mobile Regiment "Von Fritschen" all come in later as well as units from the 1st SS Pz Korps and the 12th SS Division. The Allies had two reinforced infantry Corps that fought here. The VII Corps to the south, and the XIX Corps to the North. These two units were heavily reinforced and in reality were "jumbo" Corps. They possessed the two largest armored divisions we had in Europe, the 2nd Heavy Armored and the 3rd Heavy Armored. The infantry Divisions included the Big Red One, along with the 29th and 30th Infantry Divisions, and the new, relatively untested 9th Division. The 9th would eventually be bled dry in the Hurtgen, the northernmost part of which is represented on this map. It is not a part of this scenario and shown as trackless forest. The weather had been bad for several weeks in this area, making many of the rivers impassable due to the flooded terrain. The Bridge Engineers and other marine elements will have to facilitate the crossing of the Würm and other rivers. To simulate the rapid pace of the Allied advance to this area their ammo availability is reduced with respect to the Germans. By this time the American "Red Ball Express" was stretched to it's limits, and the deuce and a halfs were burning more gas getting supplies across France then they were delivering to the front line. Allied armor was also suffering after a long run, and their armored divisions were not at full availability. 3 Congressional Medal of Honor winners were here, two of which died during the bitter struggle for the Ravlesburg-Crucifix Hill-Verlautenheidener Ridge areas east of Aachen. The fight for Aachen itself was a bitter one, with the Allies eventually resorting to self propelled 155mm guns to mouse hole and penetrate the reinforced German positions throughout the city. "Knock 'em all down" was the regimental commander's order when the Germans refused to surrender the town. Aachen held historic significance for the Axis as it was/is the site of Charlemagne's crypt. The city of Aachen, besides being the first German city of any size to be surrounded and attacked by the Allies, was also the seat of the "First Reich" as it were. The 246th VGD had effectively rendered much of the urban area into a reinforced bunker complex. Some intense early fighting included German units popping up behind advancing Yanks using underground sewers, and the use of deadly immobile tank turrets located strategically at some street intersections known as Pantherturms. The Americans had become more adept at fighting the Germans by this time of the war, but had not encountered significant urban combat, making this a deadly learning experience for them. Allied engineers loaded up trolley cars with time delayed explosives at one point and launched their "V -13" vengeance weapons as they called them down the city rails towards the German front lines further into the center of the city. Both Germans and Americans had concentrated heavy artillery in this area, and the Allied advance towards the wall will have to weather this fire. Some veterans of Normandy from the Big Red One claimed the shelling they underwent advancing towards the Schill line and Stohlberg Corridor east of Aachen was worse than anything they got on D Day. In order to recreate the "Dragons Teeth" and overall nature of the Scharnhorst and Schill lines Western Wall I used a mix of high walls and other in game obstacles. The Western Wall was not a high wall of concrete and bunkers like the Atlantic Wall for the most part. It was predominately a double lined (Schanrnorst Line to the west and Schill Line to the east) in depth system of mixed defenses including extensive minefields. It consisted of layered bunkers and pillboxes designed to slow invaders long enough for reinforcements to arrive. It was a lethal area with pre registered heavy artillery to assign to it's depth including two rail guns and a quantity of captured Russian artillery that was used in static defensive formations. I have used some of the new Veteran and Green Allied units to represent the difference between units like the Big Red One Division fighting alongside the 9th Infantry Division. The Americans dedicated a lot of air support to this area, represented here with on map planes and P47 Thunderbolt ground support air strikes. Please open and review the READ ME file for recommended ROE's and more in depth information about this battle. As always, questions, comments and well meant abuse are solicited. email me at [email protected]