Early on January 31, 1943, units from the US task force headed by Lt. Col. William B. Kern attempted to clear Ain Rebaou Pass of German units. The pass was defended by the 21st Panzer Division, which had units dug in on both sides of the pass, on the hill south across the road from the city and freestanding units in the wadi northwest of Rebaou. By 0715, US units had secured the town and were moving southeast. At 0745, two Panzer platoons had their nose bloodied in an armor battle west of the southeast hill. All other German units that presented a threat to American armor were cleared by 0900, as the 28mm and 75mm gun emplacements surrounding the pass and two remaining Panzer platoons were dispatched by Allied armor and precision OBA. All remaining German units were cleared from the south side of the pass by 0930, and remaining German units were off the hill on the north side of the pass by 1030 hours. The last German infantry unit, which had held out after taking the southeast hill at 1000 hours, was finally dispatched at 1245 hours along with the German Major. The US achieved a major victory.

This is an interesting scenario with multiple objectives including step elimination, town control, hill control, road control and American unit exit. In this playthrough, the large numbers of US units made it difficult for the German force to defend, and they were ultimately overwhelmed, a situation that mirrors the actual history of the African campaign, albeit a month or so earlier than expected. The scenario offers a number of different tactical options that give it excellent replay value. While a spread approach was used for the German forces here, an alternate approach would be to staunchly defend the large north central 40- and 60-meter hills and try to prevent American exit, but there may not be enough German firepower to make that work either. This playthrough ended up in a lopsided victory for the Americans. Despite losing two Sherman platoons and having three more reduced, the US had 107 VP’s to 22 for the Germans, an 85 point differential and a major American victory.