Author	Schoenwulf
Method	Solo
Victor	Draw
Play Date	2021-09-05
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF009

Battle: On the afternoon of May 13, 1940, units from General von Radlmeier’s 4th Panzer Division were moving west about 4 miles past Hannut when they encountered elements of the French 3rd Division Légère Méchanique. At 1330 hours, a French Somua destroyed a German Opel Blitz pulling a 75mm IG on the north flank. However, the primary German schwerpunkt was the small village on the French south flank, which endured a strong artillery barrage before the German combined arms force hit. By 1530, the Germans had a strong foothold on the village, and a major armor battle had begun spreading southwest from there. The German 88mm, which had set up on the east central ridge, fired with deadly accuracy and eliminated a Somua group from the north village, but French OBA dispatched it shortly thereafter. The long-awaited German reinforcements that had been promised by General Hoepner finally arrived at 1730 hours but still needed to make their way to the front lines. As twilight approached, two German Panzer II groups and a motorcycle platoon had broken through the French front line. They disrupted the French troops, but the French still hung on to some of the east villages. The Germans finally took the targeted schwerpunkt, but well behind schedule at 1945 hours. As darkness fell, both sides were exhausted from a hard day of battle with neither side achieving its goals.

Analysis: This scenario is a 4-map, 30-turn scenario with VP’s based on enemy unit elimination and town hex control. The Germans have a large number of units and can either advance across a broad front or develop one or two schwerpunkts. So, the French need to cover the front initially and are best set up in towns or dug in (stay out of the woods) because the Germans have brutal OBA for the first four turns. The Germans need to identify French positions early so that they can use their OBA to weaken areas of French strength. Hence, the French are best set up a bit back from the German point of entry on the east edge; that way, they can avoid artillery barrages as they can’t be sighted for a while in limiting terrain. Both sides have pretty good mobility with plenty of armor units. With the OOB in this scenario, it can’t help but turn into a major armor furball, and it did about 10 turns in. Then it becomes a question of maneuvering to get enfilade shots on the enemy. In this way, the scenario provides a good representation of the actual battle as described by historians. By the halfway point in the game, the French were in a strong position due to the strength and FP of their armor and AT units. The Germans need to get flanking shots to add to their armor FP, but they were unable to successfully penetrate the French defense, which was separated just enough to catch the German tanks. A remarkable shot by French OBA that took out the German 88 was also key, as the other German AT units must be very fortunate to get a hit on the French armor with its strength of 3 or 4. In the last 7-8 turns, the Germans pushed to break through to the west and gain control of some unoccupied town hexes that were worth 2 VP’s each. The final result of the battle was a draw; the Germans had 97 VP’s (55 French steps lost and 21 town hexes controlled) while the French had 96 VP’s (54 Germans steps lost and 21 town hexes controlled). The French ended up losing 11 tanks to the German 9; however, the remaining German tanks had taken 8 more step losses than the French ones. The scenario was well balanced and interesting from the standpoint of defending against a very large force with a group of well armored defenders.