(South of Carentan): Twilight for GvB

[manchildstein (ii)]

Name and Location: "South of Carentan"

Version Number: 1.0

Editor Version: 1.12

Date: 13 June 1944

Game Type: Axis Attack

Based On: Historical

Length: 45 Turns

Map: Huge (1600x1600m)

Conditions: Raining, Wet

Play First As: Axis against Computer

Description: Elements of 37th Panzergrenadier Regiment, 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, supported by StuGs and Paratroopers from 3rd Battalion, 6th Fallschirmjager Regiment, attack elements of U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne, supported by tanks from 2nd Armored Division. 5228:8532 German:U.S. points.

Author: Andy Thomas

If you're interested in a tough attack against the AI, try this one.

Andy

[manchildstein (ii)]

oops... weather conditions:

overcast, dry, dawn

andy

[CombinedArms]

Sounds interesting, but where do we find it? It would be great if you could email it to me, but is it posted somewhere?

[SS Sniper]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by CombinedArms:

Sounds interesting, but where do we find it? It would be great if you could email it to me, but is it posted somewhere?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'd like to try it out also please. Were can we D/L it from?

SS Peiper

[manchildstein (ii)]

i have sent it to the two of you. it should be really tough. try it in default setup and see how it goes.

andy

[Kingfish]

I would like to give it a go as well. Please send it my way, my address is in my profile. Many thanks.

[manchildstein (ii)]

My AAR (possible spoiler info further down):

Ok, this mapboard is designed after some maps i found on a u.s. 101st airborne site. this particular section was taken from maps for 12 and 13 of june, 1944. the one from the 12th had better detail in some ways, so it was referred to, even though the one from the 13th reflected the actual date of the 17th ss' counterattack.

so first of all, i took a section of map from the battle map of the 13th. i checked a mile in the scale indicator, and it was 161 pixels on my machine. i cut a piece from the map itself, 161 pixels across each way. the cmbo map here is 1600x1600 meters so i figure that corresponds pretty closely with 1x1 miles.

oh... first before cutting the piece out of the map from the 13th, i rotated the map 45 degrees so the arrow depicting the 'axis of the german attack' pointed due north.

so 'north' on the game map is really 'northwest' in terms of the map from the 101st site.

ok... it looks like battalions from the 501st and 502nd american paratroop brigades were both there along the axis of the attack. from what i could gather, elements of the 2nd armored (cca?) were also there that day.

american defenders: 6 companies of either u.s. glider or paratroopers (a combination); all Crack; add in 17 shermans (3 platoon plus 2 command tanks; a "Company" of tanks)

so 6 companies of crack airborne supported by 17 shermans. throw in a battalion commander, 2x75mm FO, 2x105mm FO, and 2x37mm AT + 2x57mm AT.

That is the entire defending force. They're basically on a perimeter around the town of 'la billionnarre' at the northeastern part of the map. the approaches to the town around the right side and left rear are blocked - at least to vehicles - by 'fingers of marsh and woods' which extened out into the mapboard.

thus the germans will best attack into a 'funnel' formed by the twin roads leading to carentan (itself off board). one of these roads leads down the right (e) side and passes through la billonnarre at the top of 'hill 30.'

the other road runs into the map from the left (w) side and exits to the w of la billonnarre, at about the center of the rear (n) map edge.

next: the german troops, setup, and first 15 turns.

[manchildstein (ii)]

ok... for the attacking german forces, we have the remnants of "horst trebe's" 3rd fallschirmjager (paratroop) battalion, 6th regiment. i believe the 6th regiment was from the 2nd paratroop division, but that the other two regiments were not in normandy at the time. anyway, this battalion had evacuated carentan the day before, and is now under command of the 17th ss 'gvb' (gotz von berlichtingen) panzergrenadier division.

now from what i can tell, the 17th should have been called 'motorized' rather than 'panzergrenadier, as they had no armored spws, but instead were transported by truck and bicycle.

they had a battalion of stugs, and represented here is a company of stug IVs in support of the attack. there are 14; 3 platoons x 4 (all 12 Green) + 2 command stugs (both Crack).

the 3rd battalion of paratroopers is down about 25% or so in strength.

the german motorized troopers represent one of the battalions of the 37th panzergrenadier regiment (the 17th ss had 2 such regiments, the 37th and 38th). it seems the 37th was the one involved in this particular attack.

so the germans have a battalion hq and 3 companies. research indicates that the 17th ss had 1008 machineguns on hand for the normandy battles. that's a lot of mgs! i gave this battalion 81 of them, but even so i'll bet they're underrepresented here. my calculations figured about 125 mgs per battalion (1008 divided by 8 (6 (37th and 38th) + 1 (recon) + 1 (pioneers)).

so the platoons here are 2 motorized squads, + 4 LMGs. Each Company HQ has 3 MG 42s with it.

ammo: all squads, paratrooper or motorized have 60 ammo. somewhere it mentions that the 17th had no 'panzerfausts until july' so here those are taken away, and no panzerschrecks given. the paratroopers have a good amount of both. since the paratroopers are well-stocked with at weapons on what amounts to a low-visibility mapboard, the stugs ostensibly support the anti-tank-weaponless motorized infantry.

ok... the LMGs have 37 ammo each, and the HMGs 142. all units are maxed out in small arms ammo. so this makes the MG units just that much more valuable to aid in the attack.

all paratroopers are Crack, and the motorized squads, leaders, and supporting MGs are mostly green, with veteran, crack, and elite mixed in. the scenario briefing goes into a bit more detail on this.

finally, there is a 'recon platoon' made up of 2 trucks, 3 spw 250/9, 2 spw 251/9, 1 motorized squad, and 1 platoon hq. i always have to find a way to mix in some gunned spws... the 37th and 38th regiments did share a recon company (outside of the divisional recon battalion), so this 'platoon' represents elements from that.

the battle: the setup zone is shallow, so it is tough to put a lot of units into depth.

i scan the terrain and - as the designer - try to forget how the americans are set up.

i'm playing default american setup with them at +3 experience.

i decide that the default german setup is too thin and wide and opt for a 'fisted schwerpunkt' approach.

i set them up in some depth, moving all units from the right side of the road into la billionnare into the orchard to the left of that road. units on the far right are moved further left. still, the setup zone doesn't allow for drastic depth in my formation.

so instead, turn 1 has all units from the left moving at an angle, forward and right ('ne') while the other units move straight ahead.

the plan is to get all units into the first major field to the left of the earlier-mentioned road through la billonare.

by about turn 5 or 10 the whole thing has turned into a major 'cluster****' (cf). still, eadch platoon has its commander nearby, even though the companies and platoons are highly intermingled.

the whole thing resembles a sort of giant, unorganized, 'bounding overwatch.'

so i'm thinking, where might those americans be? i didn't set them up there did i? there on the northern (n) edge of this large field? nah... they must be further back... how am i ever going to get to that town in 45 turns? this is boring....

turn 15... contact!!!

i'd forgotten exactly where i'd placed the americans. they were there on the other side of the 'hedgerow' at the northern end of the field. on turn 14 the right side of my advancing forces had met a squad or two and a couple of machineguns.

i thought, 'oh the computer must have moved the shermans away...' bzzzt. wrong answer again.

by turn 15 i've got 3 toasted stugs and 1 toasted spw 251/9, and there are at least 3 shermans in that field.

ok... this is where the rubber hits the road.

almost my entire force is nearby or straddling that hedgerow into the field where the americans are. this turn i will give detailed orders and a platoon or 2 will either charge or sneak into every known american troop position.

meanwhile my remaining stugs will (hopefully simultaneously) cross over/through the hedgerow and engage the shermans there all at once.

a note on why i'm using scattered trees for hedgerow: ok... it's tough for me to believe that the americans had 'hedgehogs' on all of their tanks by the 13th of june. it's equally tough for me to believe that no german armor could get through them. my understanding was that the german armor could get through them, but only by exposing their bellies in a major way, going over them.

so here i'm using scattered trees, raised 1 or 2 levels above the terrain on either side, to represent hedgerows. i like the effect, both visually and on movement/combat.

i will post more as the battle progresses. this next turn should be interesting.

one other thing for me to keep in mind is that, if my troops 'lollygag' then they could be in a world of hurt in their 'compressed' state should the u.s. artillery start raining in.

in an earlier version of this scenario, in a similar situation i lost about 2 companies of motorized infantry to such a barrage. i'm beginning to think that the +3 experience on the ai commander makes the artillery murder.

andy

[Guest PondScum]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by manchildstein II:

i'm beginning to think that the +3 experience on the ai commander makes the artillery murder.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's not +3 on the AI itself, it's +3 on the AI's unit experience levels, i.e. you've maxed out all its units to "elite" status. For the FOs, this only affects their arrival time.

[manchildstein (ii)]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PondScum:

It's not +3 on the AI itself, it's +3 on the AI's unit experience levels, i.e. you've maxed out all its units to "elite" status. For the FOs, this only affects their arrival time.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

but don't the units still say "crack" even though they've been maxed to elite?

anyway, turns 16-18:

first, about the stug IVs: they have 51 rounds of he and 12 of ap apiece.

ok.. some of the mg42s were lagging behind so the trucks picked them up. a few others jumped onto 2 stugs. when i replay this one i'll have to load the trucks up with them at the start.

so contact has been made at the hedgerow... unfortunately, the attack was not properly coordinated, so about 1/3 of my force was engaged before the other 2/3 had even arrived.

turns 16-18 saw a lot of hard fighting, and at least 4 shermans were taken out. on the other hand, at least 5 or 6 stugs have been lost, and the attack has bogged down where the 2/3 of the force arrived late on the left.

on the right, the platoons have burst through, and a stug is making its way up through the former american positions, surrounded by motorized and paratroop squads.

3 spw 250/9s are in support there.

on the left, i abandoned the stug support there and backed them off the line, where they are now moving over to the right where they will assist.

the bottom line is this: the attack already appears to be faltering.

for all of the progress made on the right, the americans are holding firm in the opposite field on the left.

many casualties have been taken, and to top it all off, american 75mm and 105mm artillery is dropping in on the right... just where things were so promising only a few turns ago. so although the americans are shattered there, i have very little to follow up with. many of my squads are stuck under the barrage. i doubt that they will get out in any good order.

i'll give it a few more turns and see what happens.

for the time being though it appears as though 3 american companies supported by 7 shermans have fatally blunted the assault...

[manchildstein (ii)]

ok... a screen shot from after turn 17... hopefully this will work:

[edit]

naw it didn't work.

anyway, i gave that one up after turn 20 and re-designed it a bit. i'm now playing the new version and will post an aar sometime later.

suffice it to say that the attack was shattered not by 3 companies, but by less than 2 companies of u.s. airborne/glider troops.

i added 45 more machineguns to the german side and raised it to 60 turns so hopefully they will have a chance.

andy

[ 08-17-2001: Message edited by: manchildstein II ]

[Panther G]

It didn't. It said "Sorry this photo is not currently unavailable" Sounds like a cool scenario though.

Regards,

Ryan

[Panther G]

Oops, Sorry. I must have been typing it up as you edited it.

Regards,

Ryan