After Falaise, the battle of Normandy quickly transitioned into the battle of Western France. Maj. Gen Wyche’s veteran 79th Infantry Division crossed the Seine against little opposition. Generalfeldmarschall Model called for the standard response: an all-out counterattack against the bridgehead. Model had at his disposal only several weakened infantry formations that were barely intact or currently reforming, including the Leftwaffe troops of Generalleutnant Joachim von Tresckow’s Feld-Division 18. But he also had a power punch in the form of the King Tigers of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503.
Attacker: German (Jäger-Regiment 36, Feld-Division 18 with schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503)
Defender: American (Company I, 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division and 411th Anti-Aircraft Battalion with 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion)
5.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:14.0 D:7.0
AFVs: A:3
PzKpfw VIB x 3
D:4
M10 GMC x 4
Guns: A:0 D:2
M51 Multiple .50-cal MG Carriage x 2
Misc Rules:
Mist turns 1-2
Map Board(s):
11b
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
Played this one again as the defending US. The US left held on quite nicely with 1.5 squads in the forward buildings screwing up more almost three times their number of Germans. Most of the remaining Germans came in on the US right. To get forward fast, my opponent tended to move in stacks which mostly worked fine since I had only a token force on that flank. I said mostly, because one of this stacks was taken apart by one of the meat-choppers. The first time in something like half a dozen scenarios that featured such weapons, M16s or Wirbelwinds that I ever got a result which could be expected by such beasts. The King Tigers were extremely hard to tackle. They just moved up, stopped adjacent and shot my units to pieces with the German infantry rushing on unhampered to close in on the US right. My M-10 GMCs entered from the US left. One took onto the rear of one of the King Tigers, re-DM'ing some broken Germans on the way. The King Tiger turned three hexsides, rolled snakes but - phew - missed his chance for an improbable hit and broke his MA on intensive fire to be recalled. The Germans were solidly within half of the middle buildings along the VC road supported by two Tigers with two 666 a 7-0 and a MMG hanging on in the other half. A lucky BAZ shot from the central buildings at range 4 managed to take out one of those King Tigers. At that point, it looked quite well for the US despite one of the M-10s being recalled due to Sniper attack: I had 3x M-10s left, the 9-2 plus company was lodged in the leftmost buildings, the middle buildings were still held by 2 squads+MMG and a leader. Last but not least, the open ground between the middle buildings and the leftmost buildings were covered by the still HIP second meat-chopper. As we were running out of time, my opponent ceded me the win.
2019-10-18
(D) X von Marwitz
vs
Michael Koch
American win
Scenario with interesting American A51 Meatchoppers and German King Tigers on newish map 11b (as of Oct. 2019). I had the defending Americans in this one.
The VC for the Germans are not easy given a 5.5 Turn scenario. The Germans have a 2:1 ratio of Infantry, though more than half of it is 2nd Line. German reinforcements consist of 3 King-Tigers, US reinforcements of 4 M10 tank-destroyers.
The Germans have plenty of ground to cover to fulfil the VC and not much time to lose. The US must fight a delaying tactic with is not easy because the terrain can make it tricky to fall back. The 24FP and 2 ROF (for IFE) M51s can be a real pain, however, the US should think carefully where to place and when to reveal them.
In our game, the Germans came in with the strong Schwerpunkt on his right flank with a small group on the very left to take care of the US pickets or dummies in the southern area.
Altogether, the delaying went quite well for my Americans. In German Turn 3, I managed to destroy one King Tiger with a Bazooka side-shot and hat yet one M51 hidden. The US troops further up front were partly overcome and partly would have difficulties to pull back, however would be in a position to make gaining ground for the Germans a pain. The best German leader with the HMG and MMG was stuck in the open on the DD hexrow.
The Germans called it a day at the start of US Turn 3. The 8-1 + HMG would have gotten a pasting and my 4 M10's would have various options to be a pain either by swarming one of the King Tigers or impeding the progress of the German infantry so that the Germans would very likely have run out of time to fulfill the VC.
2019-05-20
(D) David Stoffey
vs
David Ready
American win
2019-04-13
(D) Paolo Cariolato
vs
Stefano Isella
German win
A king tiger was immobilized on the turn it entered by a bazooka. The other 2 were destroyed at the end of the 3rd turn, but it wasn't enough. My americans couldn't pass a MC and when the 3rd TD was recolled I thrown the towel. The scenario is nice and much more balanced than its ROAR record would suggest.
