At first this one seemed to be a relatively simple scenario. However (and there ALWAYS seems to be a however) The Germans Panther tanks put up the bulk of the fighting and held out in a town until the last three turns. It is really frustrating to have a couple of units almost turn around a whole battle.

Festival Day, Foy-Notre Dame, East of Dinant Christmas morning 1944 dawned bright and clear. The first sentence of the scenario intro doesn’t lie. It is indeed bright, not a cloud in the sky, giving a Winter Wonderland hue to the Ardennes. If not for the war, the scenery matches the occasion. Yesterday, the British have given the Nazis a bloody nose when they tried to push through to Dinant in the mist. The enemy pulled back and are expected to hide along the north-south connection, probably cursing this fine weather.

The British 29th Armoured Brigade order the 3rd RTR with 2 platoons of 8th Rifle Brigade to recce where Fritz is hiding and , in the process, meet up with Command B of the American “Hell on Wheels” 2nd Armored Division that are supposed to come in from the North. Together they have to clear the road towards Celles and occupy all villages in the vicinity without suffering substantial damage. Clearly a walk in the park.

British command splits the troop into two columns, B Squadron taking the north route towards Sorinne, while C Squadron moves out along the south road to Boisseilles, just northeast of Celles. After yesterday’s fight, not much opposition is expected, especially now that dozens of Allied aircraft are clearing the way.

C Squadron are rudely made aware of German presence in Boisseilles when their Stuart platoon gets obliterated by 75mm AT fire. Quickly, the Shermans and the Firefly platoon abandon the road and take shelter in the woods, blind to what the enemy force comprises. B Squadron takes a different approach and first send in the Rifle platoon to investigate Sorinne. They make it to about 400m of the first buildings, when a hail of small arms fire and incoming 105mm, stops them dead in their tracks.

Right on cue, the vast bulk of Command B arrives from the North but upon hearing shots fired ahead of them, they decide to send in their lone M36 Jackson platoon to investigate. Within seconds , the M36s receive heavy fire from Panther tanks, lurking inside the village. By a small miracle, the Panthers miss. The Jacksons fire back, taking out a few tanks and demoralizing the Panther platoon and witness the monsters withdrawing into the belly of the town. The cheers of the tankers are shortlived when a second Panther platoon lifts cover and smashes the M36s into oblivion. The eery silence following these events is broken when 88mm AA together with 105mm shells find the British infantry of B Squadron and send them broken towards the nearest treelines.

With the Panthers and God knows what inside Sorinne, plus the overlooking 88 and 105s, this battlefield isn’t looking particularly tank-friendly country. So the US commander decides to launch a grunt assault on Sorinne, while three M5 platoons are ordered to sneak around a forest to take out the 88mm position. Overlooking from the West, B Squadron’s Sherman tanks move out towards Sorinne to support the American assault and to take out the demoralized Panther platoon. But the Germans have other plans, a Puma unit nestles itself between the Shermans and the Panthers and despatches a Sherman platoon before succumbing to the fire of the 2nd Sherman unit. Their sacrifice is not in vain, when witnessing this slaughter, the Panther crews shake off their broken morale. The Shermans, seeing their opportunity vanish into thin air, decide to not engage the German hulks and wisely withdraw back into the safety of the woods.

Two hours into the fight, all British troops are cowering in the Ardennes woods, all American infantry are taking heavy opportunity fire while preparing for assaults and the M5s are still waiting for the air support that was promised to help them take on the 88mm. All other American rolling stock is waiting idly until ordered to do something. High command is questioning what “the goddamn holdup” is. But radio is working for a change and upon hearing from B Squadron that just about half the German army is defending Sorinne, they decide to make good use of the small highground just southwest of Boisseilles to approach the town from the south. On the other side of the battlefield, the M5’s patience has run dry and they decide to take on the 88mm position by themselves, while the Bullet Catchers assault Sorinne. The M5s take damage from the 88mm, and after taking up perfect position to attack the AA guns, suddenly notice one of the Panther units leave the cover of the buildings, rumbling towards them. Not good, totally not good! Immediately the American commander reacts, diverging 3 infantry platoons, both M4/76s and all the M4 platoons towards the Panthers and the 88mm. All hell is about to break lose.

Meanwhile, at Boisseilles, the tankers attack the town with the infantry troop following up close behind. Resistance of 2 grenadier and an HMG platoon led by a smashingly fine Lt (10-1-1) is heavy. When the Firefly unit’s morale breaks, the young British Lt leads his lone rifle platoon into the assault. The officer and his unit get hit and suddenly the whole southern flank is left leaderless. The Shermans are now stuck into an urban assault with amounting bleak prospects when the close by 75mm AT unit limbers up to come even closer and seal their doom.

Back to Sorinne. All M5s are destroyed by the Panthers and the 88mm guns. The artillery fire from the 105mm units, situated at La Ferme de Mahenne, wreak havoc amongst the infantry units trying to pin down the Panthers. A lone GI platoon manages to lock the hulks into close combat, allowing the American tanks to finally turkeyshoot them into submission. This action frees up the halftracks that race towards Sorinne to support the infantry assaults. This proves to much for the Nazi defenders. At 11.30AM, the town of Sorinne falls to the allies. The road to Foy-Notre-Dame, a small village between Sorinne and Boisseilles, is empty but with the combined AT fire from the still active 88mm, the 105mm and Wespe units in the farm, and 2 halfplatoons of PzIV’s and Stugs located in Foy, it is once again up to the grunts to take point. Right when the infantry moves out, an accurate BritishTyphoon attack smashes the Wespe unit, the only air support hit worth mentioning this whole day.

It is now 1.00PM and suddenly the German defense line looks thin compared to the might of the American stampede. So far they haven’t had any supply mishaps, but that luck runs out. At Boisseilles, the SPW with the 75mm AT limbered, runs out of fuel. It only had to cover 200m of ground but it doesn’t make it. In Foy-notre-Dame, the same thing happens when the Stugs try to join the PzIVs. When allied infantry are finally able to assault the 88mm position, the American tank column surges out of Sorinne to take Foy-Notre-Dame. The firefight is swiftly decided by the overwhelming allied firepower. At 1.30PM (turn 22), the village is secure into allied hands. Infantry, having brought down parts of the village, now veer off towards la Ferme de Mahenne and its 105mm battery, while the tanks rush over to Boisseilles to help out the Brits.

But those British tankers straighten their backs and, after regaining their morale, they push again and have a lucky break when German morale and logistics breaks down completely. Boisseilles falls rapidly afterwards. The only German units still on the field are the heroic 88mm, the 105mm battery and two 81mm mortars situated northeast of Boisseilles. With only 90 minutes of daylight remaining, the US commander has no choice and throws most of his tanks into taking these positions. The 88mm takes out a complete “Fury” platoon during such an attack and continues to harass the allies. At 2.30PM, the 2 mortar units are overrun in a joint British-American tank assault. Moments later, the crews of the 88mm guns finally surrender after having withstood countless infantry and tank assaults throughout the whole day. And with only 2 turns on the clock, La Ferme de Mahenne, the last German position, caves in. After a days fighting, dusk falls over the Ardennes. Shattered remnants of the2nd ‘Vienna’ Panzer Division abandon their unsupplied vehicles and scamper back eastwards on foot, hoping that the von Rundstedt Offensive had more success at other places.

In the end, a very minor allied victory, a very close call indeed, 2 more turns and the Germans could claim the victory themselves. Without the German supply difficulties (read mire and logistical shortfall rules) the Brits would have been shot out of Boisseilles. After action debrief concluded that the allied player played way to conservative, was to preoccupied in preservation of his troops, especially his tanks. Sure, it was one of the objectives of the game, but it brought the whole operation into peril. American losses (41 steps) were practically as high as the Germans (48 steps). Once again, a very close battle with minor details deciding faith and glory.

Historically, Foy-Notre-Dame turned out to be the farthest nazi reaching point of the Bulge. A monument still commemorates the events of 1944-45. I believe that there used to be a small museum as well at the site, but I might be proven wrong about that one. You will have to ask Mr Philippe Léonard, he’ll know for sure. By the way, great scenario Philippe, we had a blast!

I'm not much into writing AARs, but this scenario was a bit problematic. The Germans lost within just 3 turns although I played on until turn 8. This list shows the problems facing them in my play.

1- They were hit with a Logistics Shortfall on turn 1, 2- The Second Armored arrived on time on turn 2, 3- They were then hit with a Critical Logistics Shortfall on turn 3!

This left the Germans fairly powerless in the face of the British advances.