INTRODUCTION

Tri-le-Chesling. Elements of the SS Panzer Grenadier division look to dislodge the US Airborne units from Tri-le-Chesling. The Germans are tasked with two objectives: 1) Take control of Tri-le-Chesling and 2) Kill at least 6 steps of Americans AND inflict more step losses than the Germans receive. The Americans are tasked with preventing the German victory conditions.

SETUP

Americans setup in a roadblock with units on the main approach to the village along with AT Units hidden in the hills. THey also cover the dirt roads leading to town with a sargeant and a platoon of infantry. SS Units setup on the hill south of the road with Mortar support behind. Both Americans and Germans have excellent leaders on the draw.

BATTLE

At 0630, The SS units approach en-masse and come out from cover spread over 1km on the hill. The Americans open fire with OBA and small arms fire to disrupt a few SS units, but the SS units are able to close with the units blocking the road at the bottom of the valley on the road and force the American officers and units to fall back into the light woods. A unit of 57mm AT guns fires from the southern edge of Tri-le-Chelsing at the approaching StuG Platoon. At the same time, another unit of 57mm guns fires from the hilltops on the eastern edge of the valley (hex 1105 board 10), enables cross-fire on the StuGs but is unable to damage them. A company of SS Grens on the far left of the attack formation move up the hill under fire from US Infantry units and are able to assault and destroy the 57mm emplacements, preventing further cross-fires. Meanwhile, the Main SS attack continues to advance toward Tri-le-Chelsing between 0700 and 0830, continuing to approach under OBA and supporting mortar fire as the Americans moved back towards town. By 0845, the ranking U.S. officer and a subordinate were killed along with almost a company of infantry in a vicious assaut and the German troops and armor were on the edge of town. As this assault ended, the US mortar units in the northern sector of town were able to demoralize the the vanguard of the SS attack and stall the advance.

At this point, The Germans were starting to suffer as units were becoming disrupted and demoralized from artillery and would need at least 1-2 turns to recover before continuing. At the same time, The US defense missed several opportunities to cement the victory as point-blank shots would miss. German attacks from artillery and direct fire were hitting targets but the combination of being in town with excellent leaders meant that unless the shot was a step-loss, the Americans would recover fairly quickly. With time starting to slip away making the capture of Tri-le-Chesling all but impossible, the Germans attempted to inflict more casualties in order to secure the minor victory. At this point, I looked at the KIA piles off the board and noticed that the US pile had 3 INF counters, a 57mm counter, a truck and a few leaders. that was 7 casualties plus I knew of a reduced step unit in the town. 8 casualties, not bad, I thought. Then I looked at the German KIA pile...... and saw a single 81mm unit. I knew there were some reduced step units but not really looking, I figured that I was maybe a few units ahead.

In the final few turns, I moved to maximize assault opportunities and provide HMG support but in the end, the assaults fell short and a counterattack by the Americans reduced one final step.

That one step marked the difference between a German Minor Victory and an American Major Victory.

AFTERMATH

This was my first skype game against Alan and he couldn't have picked a more interesting scenario to play. despite the numerical superiority of the SS units over the Americans, It boiled down to the effectiveness of artillery and the morale and recovery checks. The game played very tight the entire time and there was never a clear-cut, run-away victor. As Alan stated in his AAR, several rolls either way would have made the difference. The end of turn 13, had the Americans with a point-blank shot that should stalled an assault and missed. On Turn 14, the Germans had two activations and moved two different stacks to assault and ended up failing both, instead, inviting the counter-attack that caused that critical single German step loss.

I really enjoyed this short, tense scenario and do recommend this as a very interesting FTF or skype game.

Losses:

US: 8 (7 INF steps, 1 AT Gun)

GER: 8 (1 81mm, 1 ENG step, 6 GREN Steps) ,