You may remember, I was in charge of the Germans, Ian and Mark taking the Americans.
I had 2 divisions - regular and green, armed with a couple of PAKs, an 88mm, mortars, infantry gun, HMG's etc.
The Americans had all kinds of goodies as expected of an armoured division - Chaffees, M16's, Priests and a host of other stuff.
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| The target. My green division is in the town on the right. I couldn't cover every approach so I put some troops where the Americans HAD to come. |
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| Ambush Alley - my regular division is hidden in the woods on both sides of the road. I hoped that one of the American divisions would use the road. If not, I was goosed. |
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| Ian (not Mr Bean as was cruelly suggested by my son) hatches a cunning plan. |
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| Here come the Americans. John goes down the road while Ian takes the scenic route. The route I couldn't cover. |
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John's jeep and half tracks roll down the road - and immediately come under fire from the German defenders.
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Typical dice throwing from me. Denied the use of my American dice, I have to use Marks.
The German Cross denotes a '1'. Grrrrrrr!!!! |
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| The recce jeep is blown up. |
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| More incoming fire and the American's lose some half-tracks. |
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| Undeterred, John ploughs forward - into the PAK outside the town. |
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The Chaffees follow up the half-tracks, and lose some of their number to the PAK in the woods.
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Ian's division appears on the outskirts of town unscathed as John's battered veterans appears from the right.
Not looking good for me, that's for sure! |
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| One of Ian's half-tracks blown up in the town. |
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More vehicles are lost on the road to the bridge and the Americans are briefly held up.
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| The Americans smoke the far end of the bridge to suppress any fire at the bridge exit. All Germans (apart from the indirect support and the 88mm) are on the other side of the bridge though. |
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| The German regulars, with no more American units to shoot at, move to get round the back and into the town - but have left it too late. |
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| The Americans close assault the town to clear the road to the bridge and stop more casualties being taken. |
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Unable to reach the town in time, the Gemans attempt to reduce the American forces to force a morale check. The infantry surround a Chaffee on the hill to this purpose as the PAK turns itself around to shoot at anything it can see.
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With the German forces in the town suppressed, the lead American units cross the bridge and assault the green infantry's support fire units. Note the useless 88mm at the top of the picture. Mark made me place it on the hill in that position to 'duel' with the Chaffees and M16's he expected to crest the hill on the opposite bank (as in the film). I couldn't depress it and - as no American's actually arrived on the hill - it was entirely useless.
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| As all opposition in town is removed, the Americans manage to get more units on and over the bridge - and the Rhine is crossed. |
SummaryA good battle. I knew Ian would try to avoid the road and just as well for them that they did. John took horrendous casualties going in and lost over 2/3 of his force (luckily making the morale roll otherwise Ian may well have not made it across. John's remaining forces were key in close assaulting the green Germans and by doing so clearing the way for Ian to get through the town.
My placement of the second PAK was wasted. This should have pointed the other direction (I knew Ian would probably be coming that way). Taking a couple of vehicles off him would have made a big difference. Maybe a few more units covering that approach could have taken a couple more and possibly stopped him completely.
My dice were crap as usual so I was suprised to have done so much damage to John's division. A couple more hits while he was coming up the road could have forced the morale check earlier.
So closer than it seemed at the time. Some good tactics from Ian - using smoke and getting his AA into position to put off my bombers.
My only gripe was the positioning of the 88mm. As the Americans were unlikely to want to take the heights above the river, it was wasted. I would have preferred free rein to place the 88mm where I wanted.
But well done to Mark for running a great battle and a fun night. This was a perfect scenario for a Thursday. 2 divisions per side is just about enough.
