This was the July SotM that I took on as a Solo effort. it took over 3 months of on and off playing to get this one in, as I began playing more Skype battles. Due to the length of time to complete, the later turns are more clear in my mind than the earlier ones. Here it goes...

Setup

The US setup concnetrated around the town hexes and put AT units in dug-in positions outside of town hexes in 0913 and 0807. The Germans entered from the East (12th SS) and Southern (560th TD) edges of the board, the east approaching units planning to use the vast fields east of town as cover and the southern approaching units determined to strike fast on the southwestern town (0914).

Battle

Early on, the Americans dropped illumination rounds in the hopes of catching the approaching Germans in the open, making easy targets for other artillery fire. The illumination was only partially effective, revealing units but not in enough quantity to allow bombardment to stall the advance. In the meantime, The 560th made good time and in the first 30 minutes, suffered several step-losses in op-fire and artillery barrages and launched an assault into 0914. In the meantime, the 12th SS slowly approached from the east through the fields and taking adavantage of cover, tried to move into positions where they would be able to make a concerted attack on the units in town, actually initiating an assault in 0810. 15 minutes later, the US inflicted 6 step losses in defensive direct fire and a counter-attack in the assault in 0810. Over the course of the next 45 minutes, the US would inflict more casualties and by 0115 (turn 6), the casualty count was US:0, Germans:15. By 0230 (end turn 10), All the town hexes and an additional hex of dug-in US troops were under assault, the US AT Guns and 81mm units were destroyed in addition to 5 other US step losses with the Germans suffering 3 more to bring the casualty count to US:8 Germans:18.

The second half of the battle raged on as bloody assaults continued in all towns with the Americans continuing to hold out in assault defense while the Germans continued to move units into position to support attacks. Headway was finally made at 0330 (turn 15) as the armored units were able to slip into several of the contested areas and provide much needed support to the Grenadiers attacks. Combined Armor and Grenadier assaults resulted in the capture of town hexes 0609 , 0709 and the loss of the ranking US officer (LT COL), causing mass confusion in the US ranks for the next 45 minutes. During the final 3 turns (0415 - 0445), the Americans were beginning to feel the effects of continued assaults and were down to defending the town hexes in 0914 and 0809. The Germans ordered their JagdPanther armored platoons to 0914 to assist in the capture there and continued to press the assaults, Finally clearing the town in 0914 by 0430 and attempting a final attack at 0445 in hex 0809. The attack demoralized the US defense but a final recovery in the town prevented a US rout and preserved a costly American victory.

Final Casualty count: US: 20 step losses, German: 27 step losses.

Observation

As I mentioned, this battle took three months to finish but not because of a lack of interest. This was a fun scenario, which probably would have been enhanced against a live opponent. This was interesting becuase after half the battle was over, The Germans had almost 4 times as many casualties as the Americans, yet the battle was far from over, and in fact, with a few different dice rolls, a German victory could have been easily attained.