On the morning of November 8, 1942, troops of the First Infantry Division, a.k.a. “The Big Red One”, landed at the beaches east of Oran as one arm of a pincer movement to capture that city. In moving west, they approached the small town of St. Cloud, where the Vichy French 16th Tunisian Infantry Regiment was stationed. The town was well protected with a strong force in the town itself, mortar & infantry platoons on the hills north of town, and an HMG on the hill southeast of town. At 1115 hours, troops from the 1st Battalion, 18th Regimental Combat Team moved towards the town on all three flanks from the east, with the greatest strength on the French right using the southern hill as a screen. By 1145, both sides had lost a mortar platoon to OBA. By 1215, US units had advanced to the east edge of St. Cloud, and to the hills both north and south of town, meeting heavy resistance on all fronts. However, the US was not able to actually enter the town until 1315, at which time Lt. Baker led his combined force of engineers, HMG and infantry in from the south. The French position north of town on the hill was well dug in and repelled an Allied assault causing significant casualties. By 1330, all US mortar platoons that had been positioned on the hills east of town were eliminated by OBA. Lt. Baker’s group was successful in eliminating all Vichy French from the south sector of St. Cloud, and was joined by Major Hextall in assaulting the northern sector. Here, they ran up against crack Vichy troops led by Commandant Talbot, who rallied the remnants of the Tunisian Infantry. The two adversaries continued to square off against one another, but fought to a draw with neither side being able to secure the town. The battle ended at 1430 with the French controlling the South and East sectors of St. Cloud, and the US holding the Northern one. This is a nice introductory scenario to An Army at Dawn. It involves the US troops attempting to seize and hold a well-fortified Vichy French village in one of the first Allied skirmishes of Operation Torch. The victory conditions involve either side having control of St. Cloud and loss of US five steps. Both of those are necessary for a French “major” victory, which was not achieved in this case; the US lost six steps to the French loss of five steps, but the US held one sector of St. Cloud at battle’s end. A French “minor” victory is achieved if they control St. Cloud at the end of play, but technically this was accomplished either. A US “minor” victory would have called for control of at least two hexes of St. Cloud, also not achieved. So, technically none of the victory conditions were met, resulting in a draw. Due to the limited time and morale, this is a difficult one for an American major victory, but a minor victory is certainly possible. In fact, a few different die rolls on assaults would have given that result in this case. Similarly, a French major victory would be difficult to achieve as there are so many US units that could assault the town late in the skirmish and remove French control. Although a small scenario, it offers some great strategic questions in terms of both the French setup and the US response to it. The French may choose to consolidate strength in St. Cloud and surrounding hexes, letting the US come to them, or as in this case, may spread their forces create fields of fire on the approaches.