"Arnaville Bridgehead" on Der Kessel

[Aacooper]

The historical scenario "Arnaville Bridgehead" is out on Der Kessel. This is related to the fighting portrayed "Dornot Bridgehead", except the historical result was different -- the 5th ID withdrew from the Dornot Bridgehead, and broke out from the Arnaville Bridgehead. It's available at http://www.derkessel.de/

The scenarios are rather different too, here's the briefing:

Description:

While the 11th Regiment was entangled in a bridgehead near Dornot, the 10th Regiment of the 5th US Infantry Division crossed the Moselle near Arnaville. The terrain was more suitable for a defensible bridgehead near Arnaville, and the fighting at Dornot distracted the Germans. Quickly, elements of three battalions got across the river on September 10th and 11th. The American infantrymen took several wooded hills about 1500 meters in from the Moselle River. Unfortunately for the men of the 10th, there was a militarily more signficant hill to the east that wasn't taken -- because the maps the officers had did not extend far enough!

The Germans had three divisions in the area, and troops from the 15th Panzergrenadier Division quickly launched some unsupported tank counterattacks on September 10th that caused some casualties, and spurred a minor withdrawal in one area to more wooden terrain. By the next day, as the bridgehead continued to fill up with troops, the Germans were better prepared to counterattack...

The Germans counterattacked in two areas -- this scenario depicts the attack against hills 370 and 369. If the Germans took the hills, they would be able to direct artillery fire on the pontoon bridges crossing the Moselle.

Designer's Notes:

This is based on "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo, and Schmidt", an excellent book about three smaller-scale battles. The scenario map is based on a map in the book, though the vertical scale had to be compressed. The US OOB is fairly accurate, and the German OOB was designed to provide play balance. This scenario is suitable for PBEM, or as an attack against the AI (but give the AI bonuses).

Historical Result:

The coordinated German attack caused serious difficulties for the US. Machine gun posts were knocked out, and the situation began to look hopeless. Captain Lewis R. Alexander coordinated the US fire which broke the back of the German attack. The line had held, but the 2d Battalion suffered over 100 casualties.