The appeared to me to be a straightforward scenario: attack the towns and hold them for the SS. For the US it was apparent that one of the town hexes would have to be an "Alamo" to hold or deny control of in the face of a much superior force. I also noted that the US artillery would need to be effective to counter the SS; and it was.

The US defended with one company and the BN XO defending the 0914 town; HMG and rifle platoon on the town and a dug-in infantry in on each flank. The bulk of the battalion defended the three town hexes in the center with a 57mm ATG in the north hex and one in the south hex. The Bn Cdr decided to also protect the flanks with dug in infantry while one platoon dug in in the center as a reserve to reinforce a town hex under assault.

The SS attacked the center town hexes first braving the artillery illumination and HE fires in the open ground in order to envelope the whole town network. Then they assaulted the dug in flank units and drove them back then hit the North and South town hexes. Surprisingly the 57mm AT guns took out a Jagdpanther step and Jagdpanzer step each. This set back the SS a bit and the US artillery took its toll. But soon the overwhelming numbers reduced the three town hexes. Even before this was accomplished some German units moved towards the west town hex (0914) to take it under fire for the soon to come assault.

A Jagdpanther Platoon overeat the north flank hex near 0914 and it looked like the SS were going to do short order of this final defending company. But the US illuminated the sky and brought down a world of hurt on the SS, breaking up the fire groups. So the SS attacked without adequate prep into 0914 and the final fight was on. As this assault went back and for the SS surround the town by all but one hex with half step Grenadier platoons and a half strength Jagdpanzer platoon. But the US showed aggressiveness and the flanking rifle platoon south of the town attacked and killed the Jagdpanzer platoon. Then on the next turn, this platoon reinforced the fight in 0914 while some of the German platoons broke and ran. Now the final German victory was not so clear. But the next two turns brought SS initiative and they were able to reduce the American platoons with the final step and leaders surrendering when they could not flee. There was still one fleeting chance of a victory as a half step demoralized rifle platoon that remained form the center fighting could roll snake-eyes and then, if surviving a turn of fire, assault 0809 and deny SS control of the hex. But it only recovered to disrupted. As there were no US units capable of entering a town hex, the game was ended on turn 19.

“Take the Town” scenarios are about my least favorite in PG as they can turn into tedious die rolling assault-fests with little maneuver. Just before mid-game, I thought this one was going to turn out that way, but the small aggressive actions of the defenders at Town 0914 made for an exciting ending. It was a one of the more bloody fights for me too: with the SS losing 19 Steps/1 leader and the Americans suffering 20 steps, 5 leaders and two trucks lost. The US force was nearly whipped out, but the SS didn’t fare much better.