Time To Administer A Bloody Nose?

When one reads the preamble and short historical note, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Germans will initially be attacking in this scenario. Wrong ! I am assuming the German attack has already taken place and it is now the turn of the Americans to try and hit back?

Thats because the Germans hold all the objectives in this battle and the aim of both sides is to inflict casualties and take and hold trenches and towns along the infamous Siegfried Line. Here is how our battle went followed by a summary

Report Of The Battle

About 0645 hours the opposing forces came into view of each other near Mausbach. The Germans could be seen to be positioned solely in the north-east area of the zone of the intended American advance. The local German commander had deemed the western section and its villages undefendable from the troops he had available from the 353rd Infantry Division and had therefore forsaken these villages to the enemy. This left him with two rather larger urban areas to defend, but on a front half the size as the original in which he placed his men, supported by chains of pill-boxes and entrenched positions in depth, as well as a knoll overlooking the towns from the south. The Americans advanced from the south and also from the west in two combat groups and were soon greeting their enemy with some horrible OBA modules.

It was the US attack from the west where the initial exchanges and action occurred. They came to grips with the fringes of the German defence around 0715 as they stumbled along in the fir-tree covered west flank of the German position. In these wooded areas they found hidden AT gun platoons awaiting to pounce on any unaware US tankers as well as a platoon of StG’s and some supporting infantry. The battle here was brief indeed, just 20-30 minutes. German fire initially cut down some GI’s ahead of the advance, but once the ‘Amis’ composed themselves, they were able to quickly deploy their troops and out-maneuver the defenders, including the StG’s as American armour reacted quicker and took out the tank destroyers in no time. With this section now clear of the enemy and pretty easily cleared at that, albeit with some casualties, the Americans pushed on towards the western most town edge and its defenders. More of this later.

Meanwhile, in the south, the GI’s here had a comparatively easy advance. Untouched and unmolested, they reached the east-west road that signaled the boundary around the other town the Germans would be defending. Overlooking this road and ahead of the town was a 20m high knoll. On here, the Germans were properly dug-in. They had positioned pill-boxes with HMG’s and a platoon of Grenadiers. These were all entrenched. Unknown to the Americans was also a 75mm AT platoon set back behind the forward knoll defences in case the Americans attacked with their armour here. On seeing this defended hillock, the US commander set about trying to engage it in a firefight by collecting his troops before it in the woods and laying down plenty of fire. It was also bombarded by 4 mortar platoons and intermittent OBA. In response, the Germans answered back with their own fire from the hill with their CO continually ensuring his men were in good order and in a position to fight. The stubborn defenders could not be budged, and along with other supporting nearby troops concentrations, these Germans were actually able to inflict annoying casualties and disruptions against their enemy. This situation would remain as such, with the German line little rustled until at least 0945 when US reinforcements arrived.

Back on the west flank of the battle, the US troops there had now got themselves in a position in the firs so as to begin an attack on their target village. This proved to be an absolute nightmare for the men involved. The German position had been lined with HMG platoons and supporting grenadiers. Behind these were deployed four mortar platoons. Worse still, one of the officers involved in the defence was an expert fire control leader having learnt his trade in the East, he was able to combine these men all along the line to fire together when needed. After some ineffective bombardment, the Americans went forward. The attack was like film footage from 1918. Men were cut down like nothing more than wheat being scythed. The numbers are sketchy, but around 250-300 GI’s became casualties in this attack alone over the space of an hour. The problem was that even when trying to take refuge in the light wooded area and at range, the combined MG’s delivered far too thick a fire that burrowed into every nook and cranny on the outskirts of the wood. This attack was failing dismally. Even a platoon of Shermans that were sent forward to try and oust the enemy infantry was easily dispatched by trained tank destroying infantrymen knocking out all four tanks.(funnily enough though, somebody left the bag of panzerfausts behind!). By 1100 hours, this attack had been completely and utterly repelled.

Sadly for the Americans, after such an initial success clearing the fringes of the German positions at dawn, these enthused soldiers had met with the reality of a determined defence and would probably not be going back unless things changed here. But maybe they were changing? The defenders in front of them were now having to send a good number of their grenadiers southwards. Why was this? With American reinforcements entering in the south, the US situation there was looking far more favourable. Their numbers had swelled and they were now laying strong fire on that entrenched knoll position. Overtime, enemy pill-boxes were being snuffed out, infantrymen were becoming disrupted and the OBA was now giving it its full attention. This German position on the knoll appeared to be crumbling as chaotic scenes of trench walls collapsing under bombardment and bullets pinging all around their ears left the defenders clinging on for survival alone, let alone organizing a defence. Through binoculars, seeing the maelstrom the enemy infantry were going through, the American Lt Col. Launched his assault. American soldiers scrambled up the hill and around both flanks with a handful of M3’s lending MG support close in. Miraculously, the GI’s reached the top with few casualties and fought their way in the entrenched positions. A vicious melee and close range fighting followed now for 45 minutes. The M3’s were blown away by the now revealed AT guns set behind the entrenched positions, but the American infantry and MG’s gained the advantage and finally overwhelmed the knoll. On the flanks of the knoll, the eastern probe had come to a stop as more defenders were met and on the west side, no headway could be made as a supporting entrenched position kept laying down strong enfilading fire preventing a quick advance. But overall, this attack had succeeded in two ways. A route to the village had been opened and it had also been a painful period for the Germans, losing some numbers over the last 30 minutes of the attack.

Looking down from the knoll, the objective village could now be seen. It was well defended with numbers on its edges, and again entrenchments set around its outskirts. This objective would have to be hit in the same manner as the knoll. The Americans, perhaps a little too enthusiastic about the results of the assault on the knoll set themselves to bounce the town. However, the problem here was that rather than a 200m frontage, the defenders were lined-up up to 600m-800m or more along a defended line. Any attack would attract a lot more enemy fire and this is exactly what happened. The attack was unable to get any momentum despite the élan. The German defenders laid down a much better and more accurate fire than was received from the knoll and the Americans had to reel back in the face of such a blanket of hot metal being thrown at them. However, US OBA and infantry fire was also extracting a severe toll on the defenders and these Germans did have to call in whatever extra troops had arrived from the west flank as officers ran around trying to keep their men in fighting order and not have them wilt away from the on-coming attack. Seemingly suddenly, the American line and reserve was getting visibly much thinner and ragged than it was an hour before the assault on the knoll. Their attack, sustaining casualties and slowly becoming disordered and erratic was now bogging down into a series of assaults outside the village.

Back on the east flank, the Americans there did not see enough thinning out of the enemy line in response to the southern attack and as such no further assault was initiated from here in the fear of repeating the senseless high casualty count again. The day’s effort for the 47th regiment had realized some 641 casualties and 4 tanks (33 step equivalents), the German defenders of the 353rd Division had sustained 533 casualties and also 4 tanks, (31 step equivalents). With the stark reality of loss coupled with the fact that none of the defended town areas were taken and only one entrenched position overrun, the Americans pulled back from the attack and conceded the field at precisely midday.

To précis. The Germans had defended just the north-east corner of the field and entrenched and pill-boxed all round this reduced area and in depth. American assaults on the south and west flanks met with a hard won small gain in the south and nothing but casualties on the west. One further reinforced American assault on the south flank, although close to penetrating through, run out of steam and the hard-pressed defenders finally won the day holding onto the main objectives. Final points tally was German 71pts against a US 45pts.

This received a 4 point vote as both of us thought it captured the essence of the Siegfried battles and more than that was a bloody exciting scenario ! The Germans ran out winners in what was a well contested battle and never fully in the bag for either side until the closing stages. I think the condensing of the German front is wholly important in this battle. I shrunk down to just the North-East corner reducing my frontage by half and allowing me to concentrate strongpoints with important stacks and getting a deeeper grouping of interlocking entrenched psoitions. For this, I effectively handed over 4 of the 12 town hexes, but gained a tiny front very very well defended and bristling with a frightening defence. I think as the German, if you try and defend it all, then all will be lost. Of course, that said, I guess even on a reduced front, the defender will need to judiciously set-up any defence if he wants it to work