Panzer Grenadier: Airborne Introductory Edition

Scenario 13 – Crossroads Defense

6 June 1944

Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 505th Regiment occupied Ste. Mere-Eglise in the early morning hours of D-Day. North of the town, in the village of Neuville-au-Plain, Lt. Turner B. Turnbull’s 3rd Platoon of Company D, reinforced with 2 57mm anti-tank guns, took up defensive positions. Attacked by a reinforced German company, Turnbull’s platoon was the only obstacle in the path of the northern wing of the two German forces attempting to retake Ste. Mere-Eglise.

Game Length: 18 turns

First Turn: 1030

German OOB

The Germans start with only 1 unit and leader on the board, with the others entering randomly. They have a small force of GREN, with HMG, ENG and 81mm mortar support.

American OOB

The Americans have only a platoon and a half of PARA with some immobile AT guns. They also get one platoon of reinforcements randomly late in the game.

Victory Conditions

The Germans have to take Neuville-au-Plain and exit units from the board. The Americans have to stop them or kill off a bunch of Germans.

Deployment and Turns 1-3

The Americans set up both PARA in 0506 with a 9-0-1 2nd LT. The 57mm AT gun and a 10-1-1 1st LT set up in Neuville-au-Plain (0604).

The Germans start a GREN and an 8-1-1 LT in 0509.

This is pretty straightforward scenario, the Germans need to take that town and have numerical superiority and roughly equal troop strength. However, they also need enough units to make sure that 2 can bypass the town, or that they eliminate the Americans early enough that they can just waltz off the map.

On turn 1, an 81mm mortar and 2 GREN platoons arrive. On turn 2 the Engineers and HMG join the party. The Germans start moving to 0607, using cover to mask their advance on the town. The US responds by sending the reduced PARA to 0604. Both German leaders from the reinforcements arrive on turn 3, allowing a general advance to start (1 leader stays behind to direct future reinforcements). The US pulls the full strength platoon back to 0604 and sends the reduced strength platoon to 0804 to help protect against an end-run.

Turns 4-6

No German reinforcements arrive on turn 4 and the attack force closes on the town. The ENG and an 8-0-0 LT are disrupted by opportunity fire. Turn 5 also sees no German reinforcements. Fire from 0604 against the approaching Germans results in an M which all the Germans pass. The Germans return fire and demoralize the 2nd LT and disrupt the PARA. Worried about losing the town, the US recalls the reduced strength PARA and 1st LT to 0604. The German mortar, ineffective to this point, limbers for movement. On turn 6, the US attempts to recover, and the 2nd LT decides that he’s had enough of this war and deserts! The PARA recovers, and the reduced strength PARA disrupts a GREN at the same time.

The Germans then assault the town with 2 x GREN and the ENG. This puts the defending PARA on the 9 column and the Germans on the 18. The US rolls a 2 for an M, the Germans a 4 for a step loss. The US eliminates the 57mm. Everybody passes morale.

Turns 7 – 9

The assault continues on turn 7 with the US now on the 9 column and the Germans on 18. The Germans roll a 5 for a step loss and the US rolls a 1 for a step loss. The Germans reduce a GREN, the LT leading the attack is disrupted, and one of the full strength GREN is demoralized. The US eliminates the reduced strength PARA, and everyone passes morale. The last 2 German units enter the board.

There is a small let-up in the action on turn 8, as the Germans recover from the morale hits. The Demoralized GREN recovers to Disrupted, the reduced strength GREN retreats. It is replaced by a full strength GREN which promptly assaults. Both sides are now on the 9 column. The Germans miss, but the US gets an M1 results which disrupts the GREN and ENG. This leads to a lull on turn 9 as the Germans recover from disruption.

Turns 10-12

A reduced strength GREN and the 81mm mortar exit the map at 0501, so the Germans just have to take 0604 to win the game, and they have everything in their favor; Time, numbers and equivalent morale (at least for full strength units). However, the gods of luck do not smile upon them on turn 10, as they roll a 3 on the 18 column for an M2, while the Americans roll another 6 for another German step loss. Both US units are disrupted but recover. The Germans reduce another GREN platoon, and all units pass morale.

On turn 11, the Germans replace the reduced strength GREN with a full strength one and attack again, this time they get an M1 while the Americans get an M2, disrupting a German LT, ENG and GREN. The US reinforcements show up on turn 11 and heads to 0702. On turn 12 it dashes to 0704 surviving opportunity fire from the Germans as it crosses open ground. Meanwhile, there is no assault as the Germans recover from the turn 11 disruptions.

Turns 13-15

The Germans grab the initiative on turn 13 and fire at the potential reinforcements but miss. The PARA enters 0604, and now the assault has the Germans on the 18 column and the US on the 13 column. Plus there are now 4 US steps to eject, and only 6 turns left. Both sides roll a 1 on turn 13, a miss for the US, and an M result for the Germans that the Americans shrug off. Things don’t change much on turn 14, with the US rolling a 1 again. The Germans improve to 3 and get an M1 which demoralizes a PARA which quickly recovers to disrupted.

On turn 15, the US has the initiative and the now disrupted PARA recovers to full strength, so we’re back on an 18-13 assault. Both sides get an M2. All of the US units pass, while the Germans have an LT and GREN demoralized and another GREN disrupted.

Turns 16-18

The German LT flees, and the other units recover on turn 16. The German CAPT comes to town to lead the troops, but there is no assault. Things are suddenly looking bleak for the Germans. The Germans assault on turn 17, even though one GREN is still disrupted, so both sides are on the 13 column. Both roll 3s for M1 results. The net result is the disruption of a 9-1-0 1st LT who does not recover. The final assault happens on turn 18. The Germans roll a 4 for an M2, the US rolls a 2 for an M. The German ENG is disrupted. However, BOTH PARA units roll lousy and are demoralized. If the fail their recovery rolls, the Germans will win when they flee! The first one flees! The second one rolls a 4 and recovers to disrupted, remaining in town and earning the US a draw.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun little scenario that swung both ways. The Germans got their reinforcements a little earlier faster than expected, which helped them make an early assault on the town. The assaults were effective and the Americans were hanging on by a thread. And the seeming German superiority encouraged me to send 2 weak units off board early. Then the luck changed to favor the US, as their reinforcement entered on the 1st available turn and survived German opportunity fire to reinforce the town. In retrospect, having even those 2 weak units still on board to channel the reinforcement or at least get more shots at it would have helped the Germans, and I got overconfident.

The die rolls and great PARA morale really helped keep the town in American hands until the reinforcements arrived, and lousy German die rolls kept them in the game. Still, on turn 18 the Germans finally got a decent result and almost seized victory from the jaws of defeat.

This is a nicely replayable scenario, probably playing in 30 minutes to an hour when one isn’t busy writing down everything that happened.

Historical Conclusion

Turnbull’s platoon was reduced to 16 men before being forced from Neuville-au-Plain late in the afternoon. By preventing the German northern attack force from reaching Ste. Mere-Eglise, they had allowed the defenders to deal with the southern force. The pivotal crossroads was held and the Germans had to be content with occupying the ground between Ste. Mere-Eglise and Utah beachhead.