Yet more travails on the German Westwall. Those Amis keep pushing. This time saw us at the town of Hastenrath on a miserable muddy day, and once more those 12th Infantry Division 'Wild Buffaloes' were charged with holding back the American invaders.

2nd and 3rd Armoured Divisions had already deployed from England when the rest of the American armoured divisions had been reorganized. This was unfortunate as their ‘heavy’ organization was very unbalanced, and if infantry from another division was not available, it left them very vulnerable in many tactical situations. With no other infantry available, CCB sent out two task forces, each with a battalion of tanks supported by only one company of infantry.

Meanwhile in the village of Hastenrath, the two companies of German infantry from the famed 12th Wild Buffaloes had busied themselves preparing the town for its defence. This was in spite of and against the wet and windy conditions of the last week, turning the ground of the locale into something of a quaggy mire. Entrenchments had been constructed to the south of the town to face on the expected and inevitable Ami advance, whilst mines had been placed to the west of the town in case the enemy tried to come through the tilled land that surrounded that approach. On the morning of the enemy attack, a platoon of StGIV’s had hunkered down on the south-side to support the entrenchments and some mortars positioned themselves in Hastenrath too. More northerly and hidden in the fields were a battery of 75mm AT guns. The two companies of Buffaloes had readied themselves and were positioned to defend the perimeters of the town.

At 1230 hours the first of the American CCB were spotted making the advance down the road to Hastenrath. Make no mistake, this was not a proper road and had been turned equally to slush as the surrounding countryside. This initial sighting of the enemy masked their flanking attack to the west consisting of infantry, M3 half-tracks and M4 tanks that had set-off at the same time. As the frontal attack of CCB came into range, the aforementioned StGIV’s belched out their opening salvo. Two M4/76’s burst into flames (1 step) on the road with the rest of that platoon scurrying for the cover of the fields. Other American tanks replied. Their missiles speared toward Hastenrath and the StG’s. Most missed, but a couple of shots found their target only to skim off the German armour and ricochet off the walls of homesteads. The battle was now underway !

1300 hours, and events were rolling along pretty fast. The determined StG’s had hit and destroyed another 4 M4’s (2 more steps), whilst a German artillery spotter was bringing accurate fire down on a US Recon platoon. Where were the rest of the Americans ? They were bogged down and moving slowly around the west and quite unable to assist on the frontal attack at all ! Whoever was in charge of the frontal attack was far too cautious. Instead of using superior numbers of tanks to engage in the battle and accept a few but necessary losses to boot, they instead fought piecemeal and were seen off emphatically. The road to Hastenrath was most definitely littered with American tin far too numerous for the situation faced.

Eventually, the maneuver in the west made it to the edge of the fields. As they came into sight of Hastenrath, one American infantry platoon moved forward to assume firing positions. What they saw and what they were greeted with must have been a most terrible sight. German MG’s entrenched, pillboxes and an infantry platoon opened up with devastating accuracy. The platoon was cut down completely. The engineer platoon following up could only hear the noise of battle, but as they too entered the killing zone, the German bullets scythed them down like a hot knife through butter. Within fifteen minutes, two complete US platoons had been wiped out. The German StG’s had redeployed to this part of the town and they too began loosing shells off at approaching American armour scoring some successes. The German Major in charge of the town had collected two of his platoons of grenadiers and in true Buffalo fashion, jumped on the confused American armour. This whole American attacked had been utterly and devastatingly stopped in its tracks. All that remained were a mass of demoralized tankers and little order at all amongst the Amis.

There was little good news that the Americans could take from the battle. Their OBA had removed any of the major casualties suffered by the Germans (2 steps), and maybe, for the rest of the campaign the Americans might have picked up a bloody lesson or two ? But this battle had been all bad news. At 1500 hours, the remaining US forces withdrew from the attack and had found themselves at the end of a major German victory having only captured an outlying hamlet and none of the main town. Casualties: Germans 2 steps, Americans 25 steps. Points Tally: German 53pts, American 4pts

The American commander was far too cautious with his armour in this one and after the growing confidence Joe showed in our last battle, I think to be fair, there were far too many different types of units in this one to get his head round and utilise to their best advantage. To be honest, as the defender, I think what would have been worse for me was for the US armour to go forward, accept a couple of losses and then use their mass of guns to guarantee a hit on the German StG's. In the event, these StG's were allowed to pick the American tanks off bit by bit. But a win is always welcome, and even without all that, the assault on the town against the Buffaloes is always going to be a close battle. Rated a solid 3 from me.