Perhaps it was the German entry choice, perhaps the unusual tenacity of the French, or maybe it was the higher-than-normal percentage of FOW-shortened turns. But the Germans, though making mincemeat out of the French defenders, were still several Board 29 town hexes shy of victory at the end.

The French started most of their troops in towns, with a few dug in at other places (the crossroads near the center of Board 29, a couple of spots adjacent to towns) and also in the woods in the southeast portion of the map, in the general area of the foot bridge. Under cover of darkness, the Germans spent the first few turns bringing eveyone on, digging some troops in along the southern stretch of river and at the extreme northern end, crossing as much as they could over the foot bridge, and emplacing the guns in the ridge-top village, while some INF/HMG mixes and the Panzers were further north along the steep ridge.

As the skies lightened and both sides could spot further for artillery - and as the eastern-river Germans could see further, enabling secure artillery activation (avoiding the communication troubles), the big guns also got into the action. Meanwhile the Germans belatedly began moving their panzers over to the river, where engineers were in place ready to help them cross. The PZ-IV got over immediately, but it was not until late in the game that the PZ-II crossed, and the PZ-III never got there.

Even with but one tank platoon, the German hordes made steady progress, grinding the French into powder (much of this done via assaults.) Meanwhile, Germn artillery pounded the five-hex town on the northern portion of Board 29, as did 2-hex range DF from a mixture of INF and HMG units. But French artillery was able to interfere time and time again with the German advance. And in one stretch, of perhaps a turn and a half duration, the French repeatedly passed morale checks with flying colors while the Germans kept getting DR'ed and DM-ed. The northeast "point" of the large town, in particular, held out like heroes in the face of repeatd pastings by OBA and three-hex DF (thanks to a centrally-located leader with a "2' fire rating.)

Still, the French wre overmatched - though two assault hexes where the only defenders were mortars held out for an amazingly long time (in fact, one was still in progress at game's end.) The German juggernaut rolled relentlessly on, taking out just under 50% of the French INF amd 11 od their 12 HMG steps. And the Germans did not even lose enough steps to impact their initiative! But at game's end, six town hexes still held out - four of those in the midst of assaults. A few more turns and the Germans probably would have won, but there wasn't enough time (even after I increased FOW to 17+ midway through the contest.)

The French played about as solid a game as they could. In retrospect, I think the two biggest German mistakes were (a) starting the tanks on the ridge, instead of bringing them on by the small bridgehead and having them begin their crossing attempst by Turn 3, and (b) emplacing the guns in the ridge-top town, where they were 3 hexes away from the nearest French (thus getting a -3 mod for firing at town hexes at a 3-hex distance.) They should probably have been dug in along the ridge at 2-hex range from the large town instead.

In any case, a very fun scenario, and a surprising result. I rate as a "4' because of the need to dig out something like 8 town hexes - not easily done at any time, but especially not in 1940.

Also - for the record - this was played solo. In my heart I was rooting for the Germans (after all, it is Rommel) but that obviously did not reflect my gameplay, since the French played their hearts out.