Grunto IV Posted June 11, 2001 Share Posted June 11, 2001 Name: Road to Luneville Location: South of Nancy, France Version Number: 1.0 Editor Version: 1.12 Date: 18 Sept., 1944 Type: Meeting Engagement Based On: Screening action of the U.S. 42nd Cavalry Squadron Length: 60 Turns Map Size: Huge (2000m x 2000m) Conditions: Day, Dry, Overcast Play First As: Not an AI battle. Has to be played Hotseat or "PBEM" Description: "U.S. Cavalry Squadron" attempts to screen German 111th Armored Brigade. Author: Andy Thomas This scenario is based upon the following account: On the 18th of September 1944 the 2nd Cavalry Group was screening the southern flank of the XII Corps as the corps attacked east of Nancy, France. That morning a counter-attack by the German 111th Panzer Bde hit the 42nd CRS which fought a day-long delaying battle to permit the withdrawl of the 2nd CRS and the repositioning of CCR, 4th Armored Division. The delay (described below) was successful but cost the 42nd most of the equipment in E Troop and all of the tanks in F Company (Troop). The action of the 42nd CRS provided the warning and the time needed for the Corps to reposition CCR to deffeat the counter-attack and hold the city of Luneville. "TANK TRAP" 2LT A.L. Wessling E Troop, 42nd CRS, 2nd Cavalry Group "On the afternoon of the 17th of September I had returned with my platoon to the squadron bivouac area, from a road block we had established with a section of Lt. Lindoerfer's platoon on the road to Baccarat, just a mile or so below Chenevieres. While the block was in operation a Frenchman told us that there were six German tanks in Baccarat. We reported this and promptly forgot it. That evening we went to Luneville for a badly needed shower and change of clothes. On the morning of the 18th, Captain Welsh, the Troop's C.O. was called to Squadron Headquarters at 8 o'clock. Upon his return he told us that there were six German tanks reported coming up the road from Baccarat and that we were to got out and lay for them. As we pulled into position about 900 yards from the highway I noticed a French wagon loaded with hay, standing on the road to our direct front. I was standing on the ground beside one of my guns (M8 Assault Gun) observing in the direction of Chenevieres when one of our armored cars came up the road and passed our front heading to Luneveille. I thought then that were were well ahead of time, until a jeep came zooming up the road and with the driver screaming at the top of his voice, "fire, fire!" I took a quick look around but could not see anything to fire at. A moment later a civilian came out and started to lead away the horse and wwagon, which had remained stationary all this time. The hay wagon had moved only its own length when I saw that three Tiger tanks had been sitting behind it all this time (research indicates that the tanks described as Tigers were in fact Panthers -- an understandable mistake given the circumstances). They had backed off of the highway into the ditch so that only their turrets and guns were visibile to me. I thought afterwards that if I had only known this I would have put a round of smoke into the hay, thus setting it on fire and giving us a little time, for what I still can't imagine. I had two assuault guns, 75mm howitzers with a 53 inch tube and a muzzle velocity of 1900 feet per second* and that definitely is not the type of weapon for a successful tank duel. At that time the Tiger guns looked a mile long and I remember thinking to myself as I watched one of the Tigers bring its gun to bear on my gun, "Wessling, somebody is going to win this fight and it won't be you!" I gave the gun chief the fire order, with range 1000 yards. He said, "But I've already told the gunner 800." So I told him to fire anyway and get one out there to adjust on. Just as his gun went off, I saw the muzzle smoke from the Tiger and I started to drop to the ground beside my gun. I had been standing upright in the open field observing through my glasses. As I got halfway down there was a blinding flash and a terrific explosion and I was kknocked down the rest of the distance I had yet to go to the ground. The Tiger's first round hit 10 yards in front, just a little to the right of my gun, putting 14 holes of various sizes and shapes in me. I ran about 10 yards to the edge of the woods where Capt. Welsh was crouched down to have him tie my handkerchief around my right wrist, which had been punctured by a piece of shrapnel and wes bleeding badly. I told my halftrack driver to get the halftrack, which had been backed into the woods, out of there and told my guns to go to the other side of the dirt road to our right** and continue firing from the better cover there. One never got there as his track was blown off. I then ran about a hundred yards through the woods to the dirt road where Capt. Welsh, Capt. Harris, and Major Potts were standing. I said to Welsh, "What do we do now?" and he said, "You're not going to do anything, you're going to the medics." I said I wouldn't go and about that time he and the 1st Sergeant threw me in a bantam and the sergeant drove me off to the medics, who were further back in the woods. I remember seeing C Troop lined upon the the dirt road in their vehicles facing me as I rode out. At the cross roads I saw Major Pitman for the last time (MAJ Pitman was killed by artillery fire later that day). He was standing beside the road and asked me what was going on down there. What happened after that I got from Capt. Welsh. I had fired the first shot that day around 0830 and it was after five when the rest of the troop got back to the other side of Luneville. We lost four of our six guns, and three halftracks. Two men in the troop were killed. Cpl. Campbell from Idaho, a gunner in the first platoon, was killed when an 88 pierced the front of his gun, and Pvt. Caldernone from New York, Brooklyn I believe, was hit in the heart as he was running down the road. One man besides myself was wounded. Sgt. Tillotson from Idaho, who was the crew chief in the 1st Platoon, was wounded above his right eye when a shell glanced off the turret shield, taking the .50 caliber A.A. gun, mount and all, on its way by. We had miraculously few casualties considering that not only were the Germans pouring everything they had at us but also our own artillery was dumping big stuff in the area. It took E Troop about three months to recover from that day's work, at least it was that long before all of our equipment was replaced. The men whose veihcles were demolished lost everythign they owned. I was more angry at the Germans because thaty had filled my clean clothes full of holes and blood and got all my equipment, than I was because they had shot me up." * This comment makes me wonder if the M8 HMCs carried AP ammo, as muzzle velocity probably wouldn't have been a consideration with either HE or HEAT. ** "Dirt road to our left" in this scenario. Scenario Notes: 1) Given the fairly even matchup of forces here, what I have done is to put a string of large flags along the main road and around key terrain features (farms, wood edges overlooking the main road, etc.), with no 'unit exit mapboard side' for the Germans. Instead it's simply a contest to see who can control this section of the Baccarat-Luneville road. I had a "Germans exit to the North" parameter put in, but with the forces given that probably would have been too much to have asked of them. In any event, the Americans will certainly have ample opportunity to "lose every tank in F Troop," just as they did in the actual battle. 2) If you have the computer horsepower and the bandwidth, this could be a really good PBEM scenario. 3) If you're into playing scenarios "hotseat," this could also be a good one. I don't think that the AI will give you any kind of decent challenge here though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted June 11, 2001 Share Posted June 11, 2001 Andy, Your scenario sounds great, where do I find it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Sniper Posted June 11, 2001 Share Posted June 11, 2001 Sounds good were can we find it? SS Peiper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
son of sevenless Posted June 11, 2001 Share Posted June 11, 2001 Andy, Sounds interesting. Please send them my way. Thanks seventh_son_of_sevenless@yahoo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunto IV Posted June 11, 2001 Author Share Posted June 11, 2001 i've emailed it to the 3 of you. thanks for your interest, andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Four Stringer Posted June 11, 2001 Share Posted June 11, 2001 I'd appreciate it very much if you e-mailed me a copy. Sounds like an interesting scenario. Thanks in advance. Mike A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunto IV Posted June 12, 2001 Author Share Posted June 12, 2001 emailed: bugs: -- 1 greyhound is apparently stuck in some woods. -- the american briefing says 3 platoon hqs per platoon... that's actually per troop (company). andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergeltungswaffe Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Grunto IV: I had two assuault guns, 75mm howitzers with a 53 inch tube and a muzzle velocity of 1900 feet per second* and that definitely is not the type of weapon for a successful tank duel. * This comment makes me wonder if the M8 HMCs carried AP ammo, as muzzle velocity probably wouldn't have been a consideration with either HE or HEAT.[/QB]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Muzzle velocity is always a concern. At 1900 fps, it is extremely difficult to hit a vehicle size target at all but the shortest ranges. And if that target is moving, forget it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunto IV Posted June 13, 2001 Author Share Posted June 13, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Vergeltungswaffe: Muzzle velocity is always a concern. At 1900 fps, it is extremely difficult to hit a vehicle size target at all but the shortest ranges. And if that target is moving, forget it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> good point. thanks andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunto IV Posted June 15, 2001 Author Share Posted June 15, 2001 i've playtested this a bit more and think that, despite the first impressions one might have of it, that the americans might have an advantage here. 1) the board seems to be a fairly 'low los' environment, and this is ideal for the 'american cavalry vehicle swarms.' 2) the large amount of american artillery will keep the germans moving, otherwise large, immobile concentrations of germans will tend to get shelled into oblivion upon discovery. has anyone else played this one yet? i've designed a new version, and in it: spoiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ... the flags are removed, and instead it is a 'west exit' game for the germans. the whole flow is now e-w instead of se-nw. i've gotten rid of the german towed guns, and instead given them a combination of 10 20mm armored cars and halftracks. the sturmgruppe stuhs have been removed and replaced by spw 251/9s and 251/16s. the 20mm vehicles, (former) tank and sturmgruppe reinforcements are on the board at the start, so the sturmgruppe squads can ride the tanks into battle. the reinforcement locations have been changed from n-s (american-german) to w-e (american-german). so now it is an e-w battle instead of a fight for the section of road. it appears that the germans must still defeat the americans in detail before they can exit. i'm not sure whether this is an impossible task or not. the germans have some real options in their initial setup; the 11 tanks, 10 20mm vehicles, and the sturmgruppe (and support halftracks) are available to be set up anywhere along the east edge of the map, so the americans will be clueless to their whereabouts. the points are now: 7691:7881 german:american. it used to be 7080:7863. the hmg 42s in the motorized battalion now have truck/kubelwagen transport so should be able to keep up with the infantry squads as they advance on foot. the main change to the americans was to split up troop f into 3 reinforcement groups instead of 1 (6-6-5 instead of 17); and of course, to move their reinforcement locations from the n to the w. i don't know if the germans will have much more of a chance in this version, but hopefully it is improved nonetheless. the original scenario-starting positions for the 2 m8 hmcs versus 3 panthers on the road are retained. the map has been polished up. in playing the other version, i came up with a new rule of thumb; try to keep all important locations at least 300 meters away from the map edge. this allows for more manuevering instead of the weirdness which typically occurs when major fighting breaks out around a board edge. so the old 'sw crossroads' has been moved n by a couple of hundred meters. andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted June 15, 2001 Share Posted June 15, 2001 Andy, Is the updated version availible from Manx's site? If not, can you send me the latest and greatest? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHARPER Posted June 15, 2001 Share Posted June 15, 2001 I wouldn't mind giving it a try, if someone would kindly send it to me. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunto IV Posted June 16, 2001 Author Share Posted June 16, 2001 ok... i am still fine tuning it. i will send it out in awhile. andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunto IV Posted June 16, 2001 Author Share Posted June 16, 2001 have fired off new version to manx and admiral keith... andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunto IV Posted June 16, 2001 Author Share Posted June 16, 2001 if you have the new luneville, you might want to fire it up in the editor and lock down all of the units outside of the setup zones.... that was one thing i'd forgotten to do before having hurriedly sent it out to you guys... the 'final' version should be making its way to combat missions and scenario depot soon. i'm playing it hotseat now... man what a battle.... that is if a person likes a vehicle-heavy scenario... ok... enough from me for now... andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunto IV Posted June 16, 2001 Author Share Posted June 16, 2001 ok.. one more post.. latest scenario (with fixed units 'fixed') is now at combat missions. andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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