Battle Report: At noon on February 1st, 1943, units from the American CCA, 1st Armored Division moved west toward the town of Rebaou where they clashed with elements of the German 21st Panzer Division. The US troops approached the town from the northeast in force with a small scouting group about two miles to the south. The Germans had their armor well concealed behind hills on the south side of the pass, while three platoons in Hanomags were lying in wait on the north side. Mortar and anti-tank groups were on hills along both sides of the pass, and the town was fortified along with an MG42 emplacement in the wadi north of town. By 1230, American units had taken casualties while engaged on three fronts: town, wadi MG42 group, and the 75 mm AT platoon on the hill south of town. Both the north and south sides of the road in the Rebaou town region were secured by 1400, and the town was in American hands by 1445. At that point, the Germans still had the hills surrounding the pass well covered, while the Americans took time to regroup from the initial attacks. A PzIVh platoon that had been protecting the entry to the pass was finally removed by Sherman crossfire, and thirty minutes later US units were assaulting both the north and east ridges of the highest hill north of the pass. As dusk began, the last remaining protection from the American armored forces, a Marder III platoon, was eliminated and the Americans stormed the north summit. Major Apfelbaum and his few remaining charges retreated from the hill under fire as night fell. The Americans had succeeded in securing the pass with units controlling both the north and south hills,and troops moving west along the road.Analysis: This 25-turn scenario has multiple opportunities for obtaining VP’s from hill & town control, step loss, and American unit exit. The Germans start the match in a good defensive position with 65 VP’s in hand for the hill and town hexes, while the US has a numerical superiority in unit count, albeit with lower morale. The strategy used in this playthrough was to secure the eastern sector including the town before heading west to the pass, but this proved to be time-consuming due to German resistance and seven FOW rolls on the first 10 turns. By the time the town was secured, the Americans had lost 36 steps to the German’s 32 while only accruing 13 additional points for terrain.Since the Germans must set up first, another option would be to hit one of their flanks with a heavy force and pass by the 9 VP’s for the town. Things were going fairly well for the Germans, who had initiative on 12 of the first 16 turns and wreaked havoc on the American armor and mobile AT units. However, the worm turned, and the US had initiative on eight of the last nine turns. The FOW rolls also decreased with only seven more on the last 15 turns, so the US got to get more units moving west to engage the enemy. This resurgence allowed for a major American victory; steps lost were fairly close with the US losing 54 to 57 for the Germans. However, the US had exited seven units and controlled 36 of the 40m hills and all of the 60m ones, while the Germans only had eight of the 40m hills. In addition, the Americans controlled the three town hexes, so the final VP count was a lopsided 119-62 VP victory for the Americans. The only discrepancy that appeared in this scenario was the rules and terrain chart information that allowed mechanized vehicles to ascend the slopes. The battle conclusion section of the monograph notes that “armor was for all practical purposes restricted to the pass floor”, a finding consistent with what I have read about the djebel topography. So, there probably should be a special rule limiting armor to the valley floor. Had this stipulation been in place, the Americans would have had much tougher going due to the morale disparity. The game ended with many of their ground troops unable to press forward due to disruption or demoralization that took many turns to recover, but armor support on the hills certainly helped those units that could get to the front to gain precious ground.