In this scenario a mixed force of US infantry and paras supported by two M4s have to clear an area of German units around the village of Ste.Mere-Eglise. The US appear to have sufficient forces to undertake the task; 6.5 Para platoons, 1.5 Para HMGs, 1 81mm mortar, and two M4’s plus plenty of good leaders. Also infantry support (who can’t activate for a couple of turns); 6 Infantry platoons, 2 infantry HMGs, lots of good leaders and some OBA. Quite a formidable force! The German’s have 9.5 grenadiers, 2.4 HMGs, a couple of 81mm mortars, a 75mm infantry gun, 75mm ATG and a little OBA. Also quite a significant defensive force.

The German commander considered his options; either set up a forwards defence based on the villages and immediate surrounding area, or spread out the defence over the entire area that needs to be cleared, realising the US troops have only 19 turns to clear a relatively area. The German commander choose to spread out his defence therefore making the US also spread out their attacking forces.

The battle started with the Paras, with tank support, quickly clearing the minimal German forces in and around the village in 0803. A second stronger German defensive line around the village in 0604 and hedgerow 0404 and 0504 held up the US advance for sometime, including a German direct fire roll of ‘2’ which blew a hole in the gathering US forces. The US sent a few forces towards the Germans defending the area around 0401 and 0302 but these failed to make much progress.

The US infantry forces skirted around the woods in 1105 and 1106 and began to engage the Germans defending beyond this area. Good German positioning made it difficult to make sufficiently large fire groups to allow progress, despite all the US artillery supporting this axis of attack. The German major with a combat modifier of ‘2’, HMG and grenadier made quite a mess of the US forces who tried to flank the Germans that were dug in in 0806 and 0906.

The US finally managed to punch a hole in the German defence line based around the Hedgerow 0404 and 0594, and with tanks support moved on to the village in 0604. The increasingly desperate US infantry attacking the area around the 0807 area were not making any progress and some desperate advancing caused quite a few casualties. The village in 0604 was just about the fall to a combined arms assault when the Germans focuses all their artillery and available firepower on a stack of demoralised units in 0808 and with some poor US morale rolls the US was forces over the 8 steps there were allowed to take.

An interesting scenario seems hard on the US but maybe the US player spread his forces to thin – rarely did the US HMGs, tanks and artillery work in conjunction with each other.