Battle: On D-Day, the 3rd platoon of the US 82nd Airborne D/3/505 Regiment held a key junction in Neuville-au-Plain north of Ste. Mere-Eglise. Elements of the 729th German Infantry Regiment advanced on the junction in mid-morning and opened fire at 1045. The Americans had a forward spotter in the woods, who was quickly overrun, and an infantry/artillery group holding the junction. By noon, the Germans were assaulting the troops at the junction, which they controlled by 1330. The only remaining American platoon was blocking the road south from the junction, but they were forced to withdraw by 1430, ceding the ground to the advancing Germans.

Analysis: This is an 18-turn daylight scenario with a small number of units for either side. In contrast to some of the other scenarios in the “Introductory Edition” that have a large number of turns with multiple unit types, this is truly an introductory scenario. Victory is achieved by hex control for both sides and a step-loss condition for the Americans or a unit exit condition for the Germans. The Americans have very few units with a small chance for reinforcements later in the scenario. In this case, those did not come until Turn 13. Meanwhile, the Germans received two additional units on the first turn and had all of their units before the Americans had any support. Hence, the Germans were able to storm the junction with relative impunity. Once they controlled that, exiting two steps proved relatively easy as the Americans only had a single unit for op fire. The end result was a German victory with the loss of a single step, as contrasted with four steps lost by the Americans.