Despite the actual historical outcome mentioned this seems to be a very hard scenario for South Africa to lose. To claim a minor victory all the South Africans have to manage is to keep one undemoralized unit in control of one road hex; for a major victory they have to have at least 10 undemoralized steps on the road or in hill hexes north of it. The Germans have a lot of desert area to cover to prevent this.

Since South African units can enter anywhere from the south edge of the map I spread the German units out in four groups with one 37mm AT gun on each flank. Once the South Africans attacked one area other German units would be redeployed piecemeal to reinforce the assaulted area, as needed, but still leaving some units behind to contend with armored reinforcements that would arrive later.

The German advantage was that they had very powerful OBA at: 1x20 and 4x16; along with air support every other turn. The disadvantage was low morale at 7/6 plus the surrender rule in effect. Also, the Germans did not receive a very good leader draw either. The South Africans also had a poor leader draw but overall morale was better at 8/6 and they also had a 2 point initiative advantage to start.

The Boks get pounded on the advance to the hill by OBA and airstrikes initially, taking step losses right away on the first turn. Airstrikes are also deadly; at 13:30/turn 5 a He111 eliminates 2 3-inch mortar units in one shot along with Lieutenant! A few units and leaders get stranded out in the open desert far from the objective after failing morale checks but despite early losses the bulk of the advancing force keeps trudging on and makes it to the ridge. What ensues the rest of the scenario is one long slugfest with heavy South African casualties but that is almost entirely from OBA and the occasional successful air attack. The actual German units are not holding up well with their low morale and lackluster leadership. Soon they get pushed back and out of dug-in positons and the Boks easily occupy road and upper hill hexes and then dig-in themselves.

German units from other posts make their way down to attempt some counterattacks but most of those don't go so well except that once the South African armoured cars arrive they do fall as easy prey to a successful German assault and half of the MHIIs are eventually eliminated. Eventually it is clear that German OBA and airattacks cannot win this battle alone and that there is no way of pushing the majority of the unbreakable Boks back off the ridge. Eventually some demoralized German units actually surrender along with a Lieutenant making matters worse. Then at 17:45/turn 22, right after sunset, the Crusader reinforcements arrive and there is really no way of stopping them from getting to the ridge or chasing them down with the few units left at the isolated outposts. Some German units vainly try to catch up with them, they get close but can't outrun them with their mechanized movement of 9 and visibility has also dropped to 2 hexes making spotting them tougher as well. These reinforcements are probably what make it nearly impossible to prevent at least a minor South African victory as there is just too much hill area for the Crusaders to get to and occupy to meet the VCs. However, I did try a pot-shot with an air attack and it almost worked! A Ju88 was drawn and "snake eyes" were rolled, forcing the Crusaders to make a morale check but both units passed. Had at least one or both of them had failed morale checks then that would have allowed German foot units to get close enough to attempt an assault but really, even then, there were still many other South African foot units still embedded in the hills with no intention of giving up their ground.

So, in the end, a grand total of 21 steps of South African units occupy hexes on or north of the road in hill areas making it a major South African victory. Losses were high for the Boks however, losing 4 leaders (including the Lieutenant Colonel) and 20 steps; about half from the original OOB. Though this scenario seems to be very unbalanced in favor of South Africa I really enjoyed it as a solo play and give it a '3' for that. I knew straight on that it would be near impossible winning with the Germans but it was fun trying anyway.