Its April 1945 in Germany, and the war is all but over for Hitler. The American 100th Infantry Division has carried the fight into the region north of Stuttgart. This scenario depicts a counterattack in the town of Heilbronn by a mixed force of Germans. The German OOB is strong. 18 squads and 2 AFV’s strike into board 51 ( one of my personal favorites ) attempting to control warehouses/factories held by 9 American squads, reinforced by 3 more, and two Jackson’s with their tough 90mm guns.
The scenario designates 4 large buildings on the board, as factories. The Germans must enter the map, and control 3 of them. D1 is important as it counts for 2. The Germans can also win, if there are no good order Americans in any of the factories.
Three unique SSR’s add flavor to the scenario. The German squads are of all types. 658 SS, 467,447,436 – and by SSR their ELR depends on their current morale level. Also, if a German unit ends up broken adjacent to a US unit, they may undergo a HoB roll. This is going to most likely cause the tough SS guys to become tougher, and the weak German units to surrender. Furthermore, the Germans can use Sewer movement.
Considering all of this, I set up strong on the flank of the 2VP worth hex D1 factory, a string of units up front ready to fall back, my two Baz’s in the factories to use when I figured the German AFV’s would attempt to support the attack on the factory, and a MMG up in a steeple in back.
The Germans entered in a broad front. A platoon near G10, their tank loaded with the PSK on the far left flank DD10 and the rest of the infantry taking a protected, out of LOS path , thru the Z7 area.
My steeple unit could not see much, so I brought him down early in the game. A few +3 were exchanged, and not a lot happened the first turns. The second turn, the Germans entered the rest of their force right on the middle of the map.
So at this point, the Germans had 1/3 of their force driving up the map at the D1 factory, the N2 factory and the combo S2/U2 factory area.
At that point the action really heated up. A 658 SS unit dashed out of the X5 building, was fired at, and went Berserk. He made it all the way into the U2 factory, where a CC developed. A line of Germans deployed in the N4 building hoping to jump across the street to the N2 factory, and most of the SS were attacking the D2 factory, although since that’s where most of the US force had setup, that was going slow.
The two German AFV’s swung around the flank, and moved up behind the U2 factory. One ventured too close to an American squad, and went down in CCRF, and another was taken out by a US Baz. But more Germans poured into the U2 factory. CC raged in the factory in two hexes, as the berserker continued to be held in melee, which was finally completed with the Germans rolling a 12, then the Americans rolling a snakes! The Americans withdrew to the S2 factory.
Then the Germans hit the sewers! Using mostly conscripts, the 436’s used the sewers to cross the streets, emerging in the rowhouses adjacent to US squads. This was a bit unnerving to say the least. I fell back farther to man the factories, and soon all the US units were packing them, and the Jacksons drove right into the factories as well, one in R3 and one in E3. I figured the tank battle was over with the demise of the German AFV’s and wanted to use that 90mm HE in the factories as PBF. And it was effective, actually scoring a CH as the Germans cleared factory U2 and moved into attack mode to S3.
The Germans had a lot of firepower as they assaulted out of factory U2 into S2. One Baz had Malf’d for the US, and the half squad holding the other broke. Only the Jackson’s entry into that factory saved it. All PF shots at it failed, and as stated earlier, its 90mm HE shots with 2 ROF were quite a weapon. Factory S2 was in jeopardy, but finally US MG fire out of N2 into the German 447s across the street, and the complete halting of the German attack towards factory D2 by 4 US squads and the other Jackson forced a German concession.
Thoughts:
While this appears to just be another US v German 1945 fight on a city board, the unique SSR’s make it different enough to be interesting.
The Germans really need to move fast.
Read up on your Sewer rules. I thought the Germans could have used it to greater effect. Its not the lack of squads that the German suffers from, but time. Designate 3 to 5 of the lower quality Germans, and have them hop sewers all game, only to emerge right at the end in the factories. Yes, if the US is occupying the emerging hex, it might turn out badly for those squads, but they are quite distracting! This forces the US to sit on the manhole hexes and worry. Even pop up in an intersection and threaten a PF shot vs a Jackson.
The steeple setup didn’t really help a lot. There are a lot of blind hexes and cover.
Realize there are going to be a lot of prisoners in this game. This is not something the US player really wants. Then they are burdened by them in CC and limited FP if guarding too many. Either way that HoB SSR is not your friend.
Realize you can drive your AFV’s into the factories in many spots. The Germans cannot lose their armor early. Unopposed US armor at end game is tough to beat.
We had fun with the scenario. Give it a try!
Steve Etzelmueller
