The Americans
Win One
3-24-08
3-24-08
As my friend Phil says, the Guard doesn’t show up at
every battle. In keeping with that maxim, I took the
two weak German infantry companies from the Stalingrad
game we did last month, made them even weaker and set
them up to face an American onslaught.
Ed has enough Americans for 3,000 points. Two big
platoons each of leg and armored infantry, and enough
tanks (17) for a full if mixed tank company (7
lee-grants, 5 shermans, 5 upgraded Stuarts). Plus a
battery of four 105s for the infantry and six Priests
for the armored infantry. A good, solid, strong
force.
I told Ed his Americans would considerably outnumber
the Germans, and that he could be certain that there
were no Tigers around. Also told him he would be
facing German grenadiers – no fallschirmjaeger, panzer
grenadiers, panzer pioneers or even panzer
truppen…just straight up run of the mill line
infantry. That was the good news. The bad was that
he would have to cross a river, fight through forests,
defiles, sunken roads, walled enclosures and a massive
hedgerow just to get to the objective – to take two of
three double-story massive stone ruins at the back end
of the table …oh, and that it would be a narrow table
for the size (seven feet wide) of the forces involved.
In other words, a frontal assault.
Ed took the leg infantry and the tank company, but
bled off a grant platoon to strengthen Bob’s big
armored infantry force (lots of infantry with lots of
halftracks, all with 50cals). Ed kept the two
batteries under his control, and the Americans had P38
lightnings in support.
The Americans did not know what Erik and I had for the
Germasn – 2070 points, which included 135 points of
Stukas. Each of the companies had three weak (4
stand) platoons, an HMG platoon and a two-gun 20mm AA
platoon. One company, the one Erik chose, had a pair
of Stug Ds and a pair of 50mm at guns. The other one,
the one I got, had three Pjk41 AT guns, a pair of 75mm
infantry guns and a mortar platoon. We each cobbled
together a special kampfgruppe platoon using the
seconds in command, thus giving us more units. We
were allowed as per the normal rules to keep
one-quarter of our platoons in ambush. We chose to
keep the guns and Stugs hidden.
Our first German decision was a poor one. Erik put a
platoon out forward of our main line, hoping we’d go
first and get to dig them in. We didn’t, and that
platoon got smashed. First blood to the Yanks.
Our second decision was not much better. Erik sprang
his ambush as Bob was crossing the river. At first
this seemed like a good idea – Yanks in the open and
all that. Erik did brew up a pair of Grants and
gunned down a few infantry, but then the battle
switched to the US favor – just from sheer numbers.
Erik probably should have fallen back, but he stayed
to slug it out…and Bob just overwhelmed him with
firepower. Mortars, 50cals, three Grants and decent
infantry – which took a woods from Erik in hand to
hand fighting.
Ed came across the river too, and my machineguns and
mortars immediately wrecked on of his two big platoons
– which failed morale and fled. Ed halted the other
in the middle of the river crossing and dug in, half
on each bank. He then used his two batteries to
pound, pound, pound my German infantry. Ed’s armor
crossed on the flank unopposed, trepidaciously coming
up on a massive hedgerow that had only two narrow one lane openings.
Ed fully expected it to be bristling with AT guns.
But not a shot was fired. Ed roared through the
openings, braving the horror that a single “1” on the
bogging die could leave a tank helpless and clogging
up the opening. But all of the tanks got through.
Then all hell broke loose. In one turn Ed lost his
entire Stuart platoon. Two shermans brewed up, two
more bailed. Couldn’t ask for a better ambush – but,
then Ed’s shermans remounted! Those three shermans
dueled with my AT guns for three turns, a duel made
more one-sided by the US artillery. Ed knocked out my
AT guns, roared around the ruins, skirting the
objective, to wipe out my mortars. His battery
knocked out my 75s…and by about 9 oclock there wasn’t a single weapon on the table on the german side that could hurt a Sherman or a grant, other than in hand to hand combat.
Still, the Americans had not taken a single objective,
and it was 9pm… we had played probably 8 or 9 turns,
maybe ten. I had said we would go to 930…we did, and at 9:25 german morale broke…
Few German bases survived the battle to run away.
American losses were significant. Ed lost a full leg
infantry platoon (11 bases) and part of another. His
Stuart platoon was gone (5 tanks) and two Shermans
were also destroyed. The Luftwaffe knocked out a 105
and the command and staff sections of that battery.
Bob lost most of one armored rifle platoon, and a few
bases in the other, and two grants were destroyed.
A good, solid, hard fought frontal attack – and the
Americans won it.
