As at tribute to my late friend and colleague John Hanlon who was an Officer in the 502d PIR who dropped into Normandy as a staff officer at the Regimental HQ and ended up commanding the 1st Battallion of the 502d during the Battle of the Buldge. I'm going to play all of the scenarios from Airborne and the B.o.B. that feature the 502d. Any of the PzGrenHq members who would like to know more about "Long John" can contact me via my E-mail address.

TO THE SCENARIO: The Axis set up 1 Gren, 1 105 Battery 1LT (10-1-2) dug in in hex 0605. 1 Gren, 1HMG (reduced) 1 Capt. (10-0-1) and 1wagon in hex 0803. 1 81mm mortar platoon and 1 Lt (7-0-0) dug in at 0802. The Allies start at 0608 and manuver into the hedgerows north of 0605 suffering a disruption on the forced march. Meanwhile the axis sent the wagon down to pickup the 105 Battery to move it out of harm's way to 0803. The move is successful but the Allies end up adjecent to 0605 with their 11am reenforcements. The Allies get the better of the subsequent exchange of fire. The Axis end up loosing a Gren step and having the HMG disrupted. The Artillery failed to activate (for the 2ed time!). The Axis Gren activates and decides to fall back to the foxhole line in 0605. At 1130 the Allies were set to threaten both 0604 and 0803 threatening the newly established battery position which had no infantry protecting it. The Allied force was poised for and assault but they failed to activate and in the following activation the Axis were able to get a Gren platoon into the position before the Allies could assault. Then the Battery fired disrupting and demorlizing the Allied assault force. From this point on the Allies were never again in a position where they could make an assault under favorable circumstances. They missed key activations and failed to recover needed units. During all this the Axis 105 battery were pounding Allied units. The allies lost another 3 steps to a combination of direct and bombardment fire. The Allies had finally captured 0604 at 1415 with the help of the reenformement group coming up from the beaches. At 1445 the Allies made a last ditch assault on 0803. The assault was a failure with the Allies loosing one step putting the Allies over the loss limit. Axis victory. This was a really good scenario. Both sides have their problems and strengths. It could go either way. The Axis came up with exceptional leadership in this scenario which I think in the long run made the difference. This was the first PzGren scenario that I ever played. It was the one that got me hooked on the system. It still stands up as one of the best.