Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	bugmaster@aol.com
Play Date	2022-09-24
Language	English
Scenario	AAAD026

This was another, extended 4-session play-through with the hard-fighting and conscientious, bugmaster, as the defending American Commander of most of Combat Command A of the US 1st Armored Division. Wisely, my opponent set up around on the highest (40-meter) crests of the Djebel Ksiara hill mass on Map 77. I played the Commander of Battle Group Schutte of the famed 21st Panzer Division, charged with taking this lonely hill. We played without the FOW, but with the smoke/illum, consolidation, and excess initiative optional rules.

The initial session (game turns 1-4) featured a three-column German movement to contact. The left hook was made up of halftracks, a pair of HMG platoons and 2 infantry units; the center column marched up the wadi in the center of Map 78 with the bulk of the infantry; and the far right combined-arms column was spearheaded by a company of tanks & APCs followed by mortar units and the field artillery contingent. In action, the left flank feint did their job as decoys & skirmishers and mostly diverted opportunity fire, bombardments and AT fire from the other two columns. As the session ended, the only step losses was an overeager SPW 251 platoon that got too close the two American AT gun positions on the djebel’s twin summits. The right flank approach of the German armor began to enter the eastern margin of the large wadi on Map 77, where they intended to establish base of fire positions for the eventual close assault on the djebel.

Two weeks later, we resumed the game, and the second session (game turns 5-7) included a continuation of the three-column German movement to contact. In the gathering dusk, the small left prong of the 3 German columns closed in on the exposed 81mm mortar platoons atop the western prominence of Djebel Ksiara. Which they then close assaulted and cleared at the cost of a section of infantry and a SPW 231 platoon be the end of game turn 7. The central column slowly made its way north out of the wadi and began closing on the opposite edge of the djebel in the face of increasingly accurate American direct and OBA fire. The right flank column was led by the German armor that went wide and began encircling the US defensive positions to the north of the j-shaped djebel. The US M6 was eliminated by long-range AT fire under illumination. The balance of the right flank column began deploying supporting artillery and APCs in the bi-level wadi on Map 77 for the coming attack on the eastern margins of the objective djebel. At the end of the session, step losses were: 3 for the Americans, and 2 (both SPW 251 halftracks) for the German side. The victory points totaled: 13 for the US and 11 for the Afrika Korps.

The 3rd session (game turns 8-10) included a series of fiercely contested German close assaults on both 20-meter contour edges of the American positions on Djebel Ksiara. These resulted in increased casualties for both sides as the Afrika Korps’ vise began tightening in the nighttime gloom. German armor captured a pair of US truck platoons on their way up the western portion of the djebel where they reinforced the remaining infantry formations on that flank. Initiative levels fell for both sides in the bitter fighting on the hilltop. By the end of the session, step losses were: 9 for the Americans, and 6 for the German side. The victory points totals were: 16 for the US and 24 for the Afrika Korps.

A month later, we resumed the fourth session (game turns 11-14 ) of this historically-accurate, but critically unbalanced scenario. A series of nighttime German close assaults on both flanks of the remaining US-held hilltop positions on Djebel Ksiara continued. These attacks were stubbornly contested and were very costly for both sides. In time, the German combined arms left flank attack slowly gained ground and reduced the Allied footprint on the djebel. The last of the American AT guns were eliminated by OBA and close range direct fire on turns 12 and 14, but not before another Axis SPW platoon was hit and eliminated. The right flank German column managed to hold on to the end of the game in the face on a considerable amount of accurate US direct, OBA and opportunity fire.

At the end of this final session, step losses were: 18 for the Americans, and 12 for the German side. The victory points totals were: 21 for the US and 37 for the Afrika Korps, resulting in a German Major Victory. I am not sure that it would be possible for the US force to win this historically accurate scenario as written, but it was fun to play with a dynamic opponent, and hence, rates a 4, IMHO.