Fall of France - Scenario 10 - Hell River

This is a PBEM I played against Matt Ward. His first PBEM game and my first Fall of France Scenario.

Turns: 12 (starting at 1500hr)

Victory Conditions: Germans - Get across the river in good order. French - Stay in good order while demoralizing any Germans that get across the river.

Set-up: Die roll gives me the Grossdeutschland. Matt sets up his forces, all of which begin the scenario disrupted:, along the river. Not knowing what casemates he pulled, this could be problematic for me, since the only thing I really have to fear is his 4 HMG and 1 25mm AT gun. Looking at his set-up, I see two possible crossing points and setup my forces accordingly, one to the West and one to the East, being sure to make use of the vast road network to get all of my units to the rivers edge as quick as possible.

Turns 1-3: Are used to get my forces up to the river and begin using my OBA to soften up the forces in the East part of town where my first crossing attempts will be made. Matt uses this time to recover his units to good order. I'm able to destroy 1 casement and Matt in return for this travesty, destroys my Bufla. I'm also able to get a Leader and an INF unit across and into a town hex on the Eastern river crossing.

Turn 4: River crossings begin in earnest on the Eastern crossing, getting an ENG and an HMG unit across plus two more Leaders. My OBA and DF attacks from across the river are effective, obtaining numerous Demoralizations in the Eastern and Western sections of the river, which Matt fails to recover and is forced to flee away from the river. The ENG's are able to gain a crossing in the West.

Turns 5-6: I start assaulting in the Eastern part of town, gaining a disruption and a demoralization on Matts troops. Matt attempts recovery, and his HMG is forced to flee. More of my troops cross the river in the East and now the West. My armor unfortunatley is stuck in the middle of the river, unable to make its crossing attempt, but one HMG and 2 Leaders get across into the town on the Western edge.

Turns 7-8: All of my forces are across the river on the eastern side. Assaults have netted me 1 more Casemate and an RES unit at a cost of a few disruptions and 1 demoralization. A lucky French HMG burst at my troops still in the river hex to the West demoralized my ENG's, effectively demoralizing my INF, PZ II and Stug. I am able to recover my ENG and INF units to disrupted, but the tanks are forced to flee back across the river. With my Western crossings effectively stalled, my concentration will be turned to rolling up the French flanks to the East.

Turns 9-12: With 2 OBA's not getting firing missions due to communications breakdown, German progress slowed dramatically. German troops were able to destroy a Casemate and the Mortars on the hill and 1 step worth of HMG. The Northern river crossing was completely shut done with French OBA and DF attacks gaining a step loss each on the ENG's and an INF in the River and then demoralizing both of them. The Stug and PzII were eventually able to recover, but too late to be of any use.

Germans pull a minor victory out nonetheless.

Conclusion: A solid 3 out of 5. Getting the French out of the Towns and Entrenchments in the later game turned hazardous. With OBA communications breakdown in effect adds a whole new element to this scenario, and too late did I realize I had the option to use smoke. Not until I was rereading the VP's to tally up after the game was over did I notice this. Would have made for a much different approach to the battle.