Tonights game was one of the scenarios from the new Wacht am Rhein book for Battlegroup. Elements of Task Force Rose try to stop the lead elements of 2nd Panzer Division pushing westwards.
We expected this to be a reasonably easy run out for the Germans to start our Ardennes campaign, but as always with Battlegroup, we should have known better...
The German advance began rather slow and methodical, trying to soften up the defenders with artillery fire, instead of pushing forwards while the heavy smokescreen was in effect. The artillery did little to the US troops in foxholes and a fortified farmhouse, though one MG position was knocked out by a well placed 105mm shell. Sadly as the Germans finally started moving the smokescreen lifted a little too soon...
Forced to close with the enemy and having fatally split their forces in an over confident attempt to strike the US line in two places, with the smokescreen gone, was not to prove pleasant for the Germans. Poor dice all round saw few commands and pitiful firing, plus a Panther crew who clearly needed eyetests. This was then compounded by the horribly lucky early arrival of US reinforcements of four Shermans. While the German artillery did little, the US commander managed to whistle up a barrage from some 105s that further disjointed the German attack. As battle was joined on both flanks, several Shermans lived charmed lives. One had five or six rounds miss it, while another had two hits from the Panzer IVs bounce off... The Panther didnt even manage to spot the enemy and was promptly dispatched, without firing a round, by a 76mm round through the side armour...
It didnt get much better and German dice rolls got worse. However some good Area Fire saw the Germans able to make an attempt to assault the line of US foxholes, but one unit wasnt pinned down and that 60mm mortar on Ambush Fire slapped rounds into the advancing Germans and did enough to stall the advance. US reserves then came up and very soon after that the snowy ground was littered with German corpses.
The game finally ended with the German battle rating exceeded, and the shattered remnants withdrew to find a less well defended route west...
The Germans took 39 points of their 38 Battle Rating, exceeding by a single point. The US however ended the game on 33 out of 34! It had been a far closer affair than the Germans had realised but they withdrew and the US defenders breathed a sigh of relief...
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