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JasonC Senior Member

JasonC

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OK, Adam, here is what I find for your OOB issue.

First there is a question of time and scope, assuming you intend to focus on the fight of the US 35th ID north of St. Lo. It entered the battle on 11 July. At that time, one of its regiments, the 134th Infantry Regiment, was in corps reserve. It was committed on 14 July east of the rest of the division, taking over a sector of the 29th ID to enable the latter to concentrate for its own attack, and to cover losses. It basically took part in the battle as part of the 29th rather than part of the 35th.

So the scope question is whether you intend to include that region of the front. If so, then you wind up with the right of the 29th before the 134 appears. The 134th's attack became a main effort on 15 July, when it was supported by 2 Sherman companies, 1 TD platoon, 2 engineer platoons, a cavalry troop, P-47 air support, and massive fires from 4.2 inch corps level mortars (7000 rounds in one day) plus div and corps arty (11000 more the same day).

I would consider the attack on the 15th by just the 134th to be a separate mini-campaign in its own right, and if you intend instead to focus on the main sector of the 35th ID, I would recommend *not* including this fight in the same campaign. Instead, start on 11 July, and keep the sector of front to what the 35th ID had then. Which means their forces engaged will be limited to the 137th Infantry Regiment and the 320th Infantry Regiment, supported by div arty and occasionally corps arty. They also had a TD company and a tank company - dribbles of armor rather than major amounts. Initially the 2nd battalion, 320th Infantry was in division reserve, but it was committed in the 35th sector and would be included in the US OOB.

The other reason to restrict the front in this manner is that it simplifies the opponents. The sector where the 29th ID was attacking was held by the German 3rd FJ division, and corps elements of the 2nd FJ corps (a StuG battalion and a motorized recon battalion, plus a little heavy Flak, pretty much). If you include the 134th sector you would have to include some portion of this, ground down for losses etc. It would also mean a divided unit on the German side.

A much more natural division of forces on both sides of the line occurs if instead you restrict to the 35th division's own sector as of 11 July, and leave the 134th out of it. In that case the Germans opposite are exactly the 352 Infantry division and its attachments.

The 352 was by this time a shell. It was on Omaha beach on D-Day and lost as least a third of the division's front line fighting force that day. It had lost nearly 8000 men by 11 July. It stayed in the line to utilize its experienced and effective staff, which knew the ground and the battle so far. Reinforcements were sent in the form of KGs from other divisions, to replace its own dwindling internal resources.

By this point in the fighting, there were 2 of them. They were (1) KG Bohm from the 353rd Infantry division, a 2 battalion KG formed around the 943rd Grenadier regiment, by detaching its I battalion and replacing it with the Fusilier battalion, 353rd division.

KG Bohm initially had -

943rd Regiment staff

II/943 battalion with 51 MG, 12 81mm

Fusilier battalion with 63 MG, 12 81mm

IG company with 2 150mm sIG, 5 75mm leIG

PAK company with 3 75mm PAK, 36 panzerschreck

The infantry were on bicycles and the guns motorized. It reached the St. Lo sector early, on 17 June, so it had been in action (subordinate to the 352 ID) for 24 days.

The second KG was from the 266th ID and was based on the 897 Grenadier regiment, plus an attached artillery battalion formed from mobile elements. (Much of the rest of the division was slower to get to the front from Brittany and was committed elsewhere). Call this KG 897. It had -

897 Regiment staff

I and II battalions 897. MG and mortar allotment unknown, but probably typical (lower than the 353 figures above).

IG company with 2 150mm sIG and 6 75mm leIG

PAK platoon with 3 75mm PAK

8 155mm (French) in 2 batteries (used 150mm)

3 122mm (Russian) in the 3rd battery (use 120mm mortar, but extend map range).

KG 897 reached the St. Lo sector on 23 June, so it had been in action for 18 days prior to fighting the 35th ID.

As for what 352 had left, that is less clear. Initially it was a very powerful division, with 6 line battalions, a Fusilier battalion, and a field replacement battalion, all with 63 MGs and 12 81mm apiece. The division also had 10 StuG, 14 Marder, 10 75mm PAK (towed), 9 37mm Flak motorized, 6 150mm sIG, 14 75mm leIG, 36 105mm and 12 150mm howitzers in div arty, and a pioneer battalion with 37 MG, 6 81mm, and 20 flamethrowers. But most of this excellent division had been ground to powder by the time the fight with the 35th division opened.

Only the pioneer battalion and the div arty may have been in reasonable shape. There are reports during the fighting of German pioneers fighting as infantry from the US side, and the 352nd's organic pioneer battalion is the only one that can be meant. Other evidence it was present and working come from German engineering works in their defense - one strongpoint clearly had concrete MG bunkers for example.

As for the div arty, it might be half strength by now - it certainly suffered heavily on D-Day and immediately afterward, and probably lost some to counterbattery and air gradually through the rest of the campaign. The artillery from KG 897 undoubtedly rebuilt the artillery park.

US reports mention heavy mortar fire, consistent with all the 81s in the German OOB, and sometimes medium artillery fire. They also mention fire from "88s", but this probably reflects mis IDs of all the 75mm PAK (all high velocity weapons counted alike).

How reduced should the attached KGs be by now? Well, they held the line in late June, but the sector went relatively quiet after they appeared. The US main effort in June was the penisula and Cherbourg. They only reoriented south from 4 July onward. That means the heavy fighting those 4 infantry battalions would have faced, only lasted about a week. It was however pretty intense combat during that week. They might be at 2/3rds strength, therefore.

The 352 might be represented by a single full strength pioneer battalion of 3 companies. There might or might not also be one battalion of line left - if so they would be well equipped and veteran, but potentially "weakened".

Notice that roughly half the German infantry would be on a high MG standard. 63 MGs per battalion is enough to field 2 per squad. So I'd use types so equipped for the Fusilier battalion in KG Bohm. The other battalion in KG Bohm had enough for 2/3rds to have 2 per squad, and with left overs from 352, you should probably bump that to all of them. The other 2 battalions from KG 897 could be normal 1 LMG each heer infantry.

Getting the German direct fire guns remaining correct, is harder. It is quite doubtful they had 10 sIG left - 2 is more likely. Similarly, there might be 6 to 8 leIG but not all 25. There are potentially up to 16 75mm PAK but more like 3-6 is more credible after losses. Schrecks should still be plentiful, notably so in KG Bohm.

That is how I would design it.

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JoMac Senior Member

JoMac

Posted
Posted

AdamL,

I have already put myself down for BN Commander for either side.

I was thinking thou, what if you scaled it back to say a Regiment in size instead of Div.

This way you could look for BN as COs and then Company commanders for the other players. Just a suggestion that would make the game alittle bit more managable, but you probably already considered that.

Joe

[ September 29, 2007, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: JoMc67 ]

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L4Pilot Senior Member

L4Pilot

Posted
Posted

Long time CMBO, BB, AK player. Interested in any level command. Lot's of time now that my favorite team is out of the playoffs.

Edit: to remove email address to defeat evil spam crawlers.

Looking forward to the campaign.

[ October 08, 2007, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: L4Pilot ]

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