Scenario 36 Weissenhof Crossroads
Scott B
WEISSENHOF CROSSROADS
SCENARIO 36, G.I.: ANVIL OF VICTORY
AFTER ACTION REPORT
The German Plan here and the LXVI Corps attacks the 106th Infantry Division here.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Schnee Eifel Region, Germany, December 16, 1944.
The German 62th Infantry Division was a memory of itself, with few veterans left to tell the stories of Russia. The division was built around those few, replenished with those too young or too old, foreign Czechs and Poles pressed into service. They were Volks Grenadiers now, waiting in the cold to start down the road to the Our River and St Vith.
Between them and their first day’s goal lay the unaware US 106th Infantry Division. Its talent was siphoned off as replacements until it was no longer combat effective; it posted in the area of Schnee Eifel and Winterspelt to reconstitute itself a few days ago. History is about to hit the division like a train out of the fog.
The 62th Volks Grenadiers are tasked with enveloping the Schnee Eifel, crossing the Our River and capturing St Vith on day one. Together with XLVII Panzer Corps and LVIII Panzer Corps they made up the 5th Panzer Army, the center pushing toward the ultimate goal of Brussels. They succeeded in breaking through the US lines and pushed toward the Meuse River. Once past the river, the Ardennes would be left behind and the terrain and roads to Antwerp good. So they hoped.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
German must exit twelve squads off the west edge of board 5A1-5J1 or exit ten squads off of 5W1-5AA1.
If no unbroken US squads on 5Y9 to 13I,9 subtract one squad exit for each game turn vacant.
SSR - A unit crossing a stream must take an NMC each rally phase thereafter unless in a building. Fords are an exception. Choose your crossing points wisely.
US Comments
In looking at the board, it is apparent that the Germans can threaten an exit from many places across the front line. With the front line being the river. The VCs are a bit easier to accomplish if the Germans move left as they are closer to that side. It would help them more if they can gain control of the road from 5Y9 to 13I9.
My strategy is that the Americans will set up near the flanks with their heavier MG units to prevent the Germans from making a flank run for the board edge. The center has the woods and should take them longer to get through. I will keep the jeeps in reserve and start trying to deploy a 667 squad into HSs to load on the jeeps. Each turn, the American units will try to fire when the Germans are moving and then retreat back out of LOS to avoid Defensive Fire in the German player's turn. Once it is apparent where the Germans are going, the unengaged flank will move to the battle. I don’t think the 106th American Infantry can stop them. Let’s see if they can slow them down.
German Comments
A quick survey of the terrain reveals slightly more cover on the left side than the right. The brush, walls, hedges and elevated road should shield the German advance from US firepower. The right side has too much open ground to cover. Additionally, the stream has more crossing points allowing for greater flexibility in the schwerpunkt. The Germans will attempt to exit on the left side at hexes 5A1-5J1.
The bulk of the forces will move along the left axis of advance, along with the armor. A few units will move to the center and right in an attempt to interdict and harass US units shifting to the left side. They can also threaten an exit on the right side.
The German force is a mix of 4-6-7s and second line 4-4-7s to reflect the poorer quality of Volksgrenadier. The stacks are composed of one 467 and two 447s to provide inherent smoke ability with each stack. 4-6-7s may place smoke on a dr of 1, which is nothing to rely on but gives Fate the opportunity to pop smoke at a key moment. That might make the difference between winning and losing.
If the armor can hit a target or two, avoid depleting its ammo (x11) and getting stunned, we may have a chance. Victory will be determined in large part by the armor, and maybe a lucky smoke roll.
GAME TURNS ONE TO THREE - SECURING THE FLANK
German Comments
The Germans couldn’t ask for better results. The German holding units are in position and cover the open ground to their flank. The US screen has broken and the Germans can advance forward to the cover of the raised road. EDIT: The German 447 cowarded and had no effect against the 8-1, 666 and .50 on the left. The .50 cal on the right is out of action. They are ready for the next stage - crossing board 13.
However, this only means they have not been defeated. The US has the forest-road network to safely move units to the south (left). The Germans must still cross open ground and US forces could deploy to block them. Even if they do get across, US resistance may cover the exit hexes and prevent a timely exit. The exit point feels a long way off.
US Comments
The Germans have a well planned assault. They have sent forward units to pin down the right flank as they move against the left. They quickly break the heavy units on the right and center. They move to pick off the left flank American units. The Germans posted on the center and right keep the rest of the GIs pinned down as the bulk of the force moves to the left. This is looking very bad and I am regretting my setup.
The Americans start trying to rally units and take them out of the right flank. All of these mixed bag units will be sent left along the board 5 woods road. One good bit of news as the Germans are not trying to move against the 5Y9-13I9 road. This means the Germans will need to exit 12 squads from the left. A quick count of the mobile force shows them at 15 squads and 2x sIGs. That is more than enough for a German win. The GIs will have to slow the German advance and inflict losses to turn this around. Someone will have to make a stand!!!!
GAME TURNS FOUR TO FIVE
German Comments
The opportunity to exit quickly passed between the third and fifth turns. The final nail in the coffin was disabling the second sIG. It was a double whammy - the loss of fire support and the loss of 2 squad equivalents to exit. The Germans couldn’t cope with both sIGs down and decided Antwerp was too far off. It was a feasible plan (even though it needed fine tuning) but fate wasn’t having it this time.
US Comments
With the American middle silent, the German assault moved to their left. Those 15 squads and 2 AFVs moved up to a massive firing position. The first shots by a sIG toward the center of the American line were ineffective and then ultimately disabled the MA. With that, one AFV down. A stack of Germans came into range and the American 8-1 leader, squad, and HMG broke them with their first shot. The American stack used its turn to move out the back door of their building and set up using the building as a shield. This stack was trying to work its way back to an escape in the woods, but they were quickly cut off by the advancing Germans.
In the next turn, the remaining AFV moved into position for a shot and two German stacks moved up to take the American HMG stack from both the left and right side. The American dropped smoke to his right and fired on one stack to break it. They would have to weather the fire from the remaining German stack which they did. The remaining sIG fired a shot through the smoke to get that HMG. It failed and disabled the MA of the AFV.
Now the Germans had no AFVs to exit and at least 4 squads were broken. In desperation, the Germans advance more men across the bridges and through the freezing stream to finish off the resistance behind the wooden building. This assault final worked with only the 8-1 leader surviving to rout back into the woods. With only 12 squads still advancing, American reinforcements coming down the woods-road and valuable time lost reducing this strong point, the Germans decided to throw in the towel.
AFTERMATH
German Comments
The Germans resigned at the end of turn five after realizing they had a twelve turn strategy for a nine turn game. They didn’t want to subject moving stacks to 2 FP -2 or 6 FP -2 shots and therefore prep fired to clear a path instead of moving. The clock ran down. The blocking units on the right and middle did deter the US from the flank, however they were too far to exit. I should have assigned fewer units to block. Finally, the sIG150s both disabled their MA on turns three and four, respectively, without hitting a target. So much for punching through, the only value they provided was +1 cover. Worse, they no longer qualified as two squads for the exit condition thus increasing the burden from from eight to twelve squads. By the end of turn five, it was clear the Germans would not be able to exit twelve squads off the board.
If the sIGs do manage to punch through, then the Germans stand a chance of winning. However, the lower breakdown of ‘11’ means only a 45% chance of firing nine times before disabling. Of those nine shots, only four would be expected to hit infantry in Woods at seven hexes. That's a rather short life and it really depends if the targets are hit before the guns break. A wise player must balance firing against the risk of permanently disabling the gun. The sIGs can be the greatest strength or greatest weakness in this scenario.
US Comments
In this game, a brilliant German attack plan was derailed by one American leader, squad and HMG. It is luck. However, I don’t think it is that easily explained as the scenario requires the Germans to stretch their advance by breaking through the American line quickly. Any delay can kill the German chances for victory.
The American plan was to provide a line of defense for the Germans to deal with while reinforcements moved to the sound of the advance. Once there, the GIs would form a series of small defensive positions that would force the Germans to run past. This would have to happen as time ran out and the Germans would make a final dash for the board edge. The American defense came down to timing. Should the Germans break through the first line quickly, then subsequent defensive positions would have to be dealt with at the cost of movement. In this game, the final stack in the original defensive line held up the advance for 3 turns. That was enough.
The MGs are the best defense as their fire lanes provide multiple chances to stop several columns of advance. The best of those are the AAMGs on the Jeeps. They can move quickly from one flank to the other through the woods-road.
Thanks to Scott for a real education as he quickly showed me the weakness in my defense. I'm sure he can get me in our next game.
RESOURCES
“Weissenhof Crossroads”. G.I.: ANVIL OF VICTORY. Baltimore MD; the Avalon Hill Game Company, 1982.
https://storage.googleapis.com/archivesqlt/DAO00036A.pdf
“Battle of the Bulge”, wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge
“Battle of St Vith”, wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_St._Vith
The German Plan map.
Wacht Am Rhein 16-24 December map.
Cole, Hugh M. “The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge”. Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army. Washington, D.C. 1965.
https://history.army.mil/portals/143/Images/Publications/catalog/7-8.pdf#page=179
Cirillo, Roger. “Ardennes-Alsace: 16 December 1944- 25 January 1945”. Center of Military History, United States Army. Washington, D.C. 2019.
https://history.army.mil/portals/143/Images/Publications/catalog/72-26.pdf
“Saddles and Sabers: Timeline of St. Vith”. Armor Magazine 2014.
https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/earmor/content/issues/2014/oct_dec/Timeline.html
“Marking the 80th Anniversary of an ever-famous American Victory: A look at the US National Archive’s Battle of the Bulge Records”. National Archives 2024.
“CSI BattleBook 4-A: The Battle of St Vinth”. Combat Studies Institute. Fort Leavenworth, KS. 1984.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA156948.pdf
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA156948