Scenario 43 Action at Kommerscheidt
Scott B
ACTION AT KOMMERSCHEIDT
SCENARIO 43, G.I.: ANVIL OF VICTORY
AFTER ACTION REPORT
The Siegfried Line Campaign image. The Aachen Front image.
The 28th Division Objectives image.
Defense of Kommerscheidt image.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Kommerscheidt, Germany. November 4, 1944.
The Allies had broken out of Normandy and advanced rapidly across France. The Germans could not stabilize their front and put up little resistance. By mid-September 1944 three Allied army groups were abreast near the German border. Monty’s 21st Army Group was north, Bradley’s 12th Army Group was center and Dever’s 6th Army Group was south. It was an incredible advance across France but now increasing enemy resistance and over-stretched supply lines slowed the advance.
The German line ran from the Schelde estuary southwestward along the Dutch-Belgian border to the West Wall (the Siegfried Line) to the western boundaries of Lorraine and Alsace. Beyond this lay the Rhine River and the Ruhr industrial basin. SHAEF planned the main thrust into Germany through the Aachen Gap, a major east-west route since Roman times. Passing through this gap would involve the Battle of Aachen, the attack on Schmidt and the fight for Huertgen Forest.
The attack on Schmidt was assigned to the 26th Infantry Division and they succeeded in taking Kommerscheidt and Schmidt, respectively by 3 November. The Germans counterattacked Schmidt the next day and drove them back to Kommerscheidt, but were unable to dislodge them after the arrival of three Shermans bolstered the position.
The position held until 8 November when the order was given to withdraw and the US abandoned the town. The Kall Trail was inadequate to properly supply the forces in Kommerscheidt and the communication difficulties proved too much to overcome. Poor staff planning made the position untenable. The US would not take Schmidt until February of 1945.
INITIAL PLACEMENT AND GERMAN TURN ONE
US Comments
The town is held by the 6-6-7s manning the MMGs as the 8-0 operates the radio. They are high up to cover the open ground. Other units are placed to slow the enemy down. We won’t be fighting as long as we can withdraw and pray for air support.
The Sherman on the hill is manned by the Armor Leader -2 and anchors the left flank. His presence should dissuade a push and will relocate if the enemy takes to the woods and right flank.
German armor on the right flank is too far for the Sherman to engage the Panthers. The long range adds +1 penetration and the -1 height advantage is lost over 24 hexes. The Panthers outnumber the Sherman and have double the probability of knocking it out in a two vs one duel. The base TK on the 75LL is ‘10’, even higher than the Tiger’s 88L of ‘8’.
German Comments
German setup to use the central woods to help the infantry last as long as possible. A lot of open spaces and danger areas make this look very difficult for the Germans, if dice rolling and luck are even. The Germans need to have luck on their side. Gott mit uns!
Tasks:
1. Armor: Split into 2 x detachments. One detachment (2 x Panther, 1 x Mk IV) is to survive long enough to clear US Shermans away from my right flank to allow infantry to engage enemy infantry a bit more fairly. Once Shermans are cleared out of right flank, use this detachment to support the right flank infantry advance. Second detachment (2 x MK IV) supports the infantry in the center to help them possibly move across the open ground (if smoke, OBA, etc are effective). The two armor detachments are not too far away from supporting each other if needed.
2. Infantry. Start with a broad-attack, with left flank, center, and right flank movements to see if headway can be made vs a less lucky or softer enemy position. Very difficult to identify a schwerpunkt right off the bat- hope that one develops and I can exploit it.
Of course this scenario introduces Typhoons. As you’ll see immediately below, I do not adjust my movement and placement out of fear of the jabos. I’ll treat the Typhoons like I treat OBA. You never know what you are gonna get! So can’t let the fear of them paralyze the attack. My Germans do have limited time to accomplish the mission.
One interesting risk decision immediately in Turn 1. In order for the 2nd detachment to get to a position to support the center infantry attack, I go into the 5I4 woods with a MkIV and check mechanical reliability. Fortunately he passes, creates a trailbreak, and can enter the battle in the center.
The other tanks I move to make it as difficult as possible for a Sheman to engage them (especially the one on the hill- I stay at least 25 hexes away from him to try and survive. I also move them to engage his left flank Sherman, and also to be able to engage the Level 2 buildings with long-range BTT shots to help the infantry.
Terrain feature of note: the grassy lanes in between 5I4 and 5J3, 5I5 and 5I4, and 5H5 and 5H4. They are wide enough for vehicle bypass and are treated as such: bypass lanes.
Unfortunately for my armor Det 1, the US left flank Sherman destroys a Panther during Turn 1 defensive fire. Of course I knew the risk, but the odds were in my favor, so I took the chance. Turns out that kill really ends what I was hoping to accomplish with those three (now two) tanks. I think that is the game right there. 1xPanther and 3x Mk IVs on the attack vs 3 x defending Shermans is not favorable at all. My tanks are attacking, thus very vulnerable. The Mk IVs are nice tanks, they just aren’t Panthers or Tigers.
GAME TURN TWO AND THREE - TYPHOONS
German Comments
Gotta keep the attack moving along. The destruction of the Panther in my first turn, and thus my impaired ability to deal with the Shermans, tells me I just need to keep moving and just hope I get some favorable dice rolls. Time is not on my side.
Once it is identified that the Typhoons arrive, I decide that “hope” is my only hope. I will try to flood the zone. Move all my infantry, even in the open, to give the Typhoons too many targets to try and interdict, even if it means giving them juicy shots. I can’t sit back for 3 x turns and cower away. So I keep my armor pretty much where they are and lay smoke or use HE BTTs shots to disrupt the Level 2 MMGs to assist the infantry movements.
Turns out the Typhoons are highly effective with excellent dice rolling, so my “hope” was dashed by the rolls of the dice. I knew I would take casualties, but felt like I had to press on regardless of the cost. Maybe that is how the Germans felt in late 1944 (Battle of the Bulge ring a bell..?)
US Comments
The Cavalry has arrived. Three Typhoons appear over the Germans as they advance to Kommerscheidt. There were no mistaken air attacks and the pilots put their 20LL and 150 rockets on target skillfully. They neutralize the German armor and now the Shermans can concentrate on stopping the infantry. Their presence was decisive.
Results of Attack
Typhoon A - The 20LL destroyed a Pzkw IV and the rockets destroyed a Panther.
Typhoon B - The 20LL broke a squad and the rockets destroyed a Pzkw IV.
Typhoon C - The 20LL eliminated three squads, one for failure to rout, and several SWs.
Air Support - Typhoons
Probability of knocking out armor
In GIA the Typhoon is a very capable weapon. Its 20LL is effective against armor (see below chart) and may strafe infantry and soft targets up to four contiguous hexes with 12 FP. Its rockets are possibly the most effective anti-armor system in the game and also very effective against infantry. Mobility is its greatest strength because it can attack anywhere on the board; the Germans simply have nowhere to hide. They can remain on the board for up to three turns.
Its biggest weakness is the relatively low probability of receiving air-support early enough to affect the outcome of battle. Arrival is checked each game turn with a dr of ‘1’ (16.67%), so the US has a 60% probability of support by turn five in the nine turn scenario. That will very likely turn the tide of battle. The probability increases to 80% by game turn nine, but the Typhoons will probably find the Germans already established in the village and their attack one of vengeance rather than protection.
Another significant weakness is Mistaken Air Attack. It always checks for this, even against armor and will misidentify the target 11 out of 36 times (30.5%). If it fails then any unit, even friendly, may be attacked up to a certain distance. The attack is aborted if nothing is in range.
Typhoons are probably the most capable system in the game considering their ability to immediately attack anywhere on the boards. However, like all things Squad Leader, fate may twist your best attack against your own troops.
GAME TURN FOUR TO SEVEN
US Comments
The US defended and stopped the German infantry. Their better terrain, supporting Shermans and lack of opposing armor enabled them to repel the German attackers. The Typhoon’s successful attacks carried the day.
AFTERMATH
German Comments
Really just playing out the game for purposes of exercising the rules. Game was effectively over in German turn 1. Then the Typhoons delivered the coup-de-grace from the air.
Rules situations that did arise, and was good to work out:
1. GIAV does not allow direct fire ordnance to fire smoke into upper building levels. Of course this does happen in real life, but GIAV says no, and is fixed in ASL.
2. Had a berserk German squad amidst the forward US positions, so was good to go through the iterations of rule changes pertaining to those guys seeing red. Technique-wise, I think it best to place a CX counter on the unit as soon as it becomes berserk- the CX counter is a good visual reminder of the restrictions of berserkers always having to use DT, without the gain of MF.
3. Multiple weapon acquisition dice rolls, enough to ingrain it more solidly into the grey matter. A lot of unpossessed LMGs and PFs littered the German side of the lines. Not by choice.
4. How high is an OBA SR? 2 levels. Can it be seen behind level 1 trees that block ground-level LOS? Yes. Can the OBA SR be adjusted in such a case? Yes. Is treated like a SR that lands in regular LOS. Be mindful of blind hexes though, so SR may not be seen if the observer is in a blind hex to that Level 2 SR.
5. Mounted Assault and the cost of MPs based on the infantry MF/mounting expenditure.
6. I think we forgot about Heroes! I didn’t even think of heroism when I got the berserk squad. Could have been interesting..
7. Hidden ordnance: The US mortars revealed themselves immediately. Germans just couldn’t take advantage of that knowledge. Good to work the rules though.
8. Crew self-rally. Reminder crews can only self-rally in hex with functional ordnance. We are 0-for-2 getting this one right without questioning it.
And others, and others..
All-in-all a tough one for the Germans, but still a lot of fun!
US Comments
The Typhoons have a significant impact on balance. Should they arrive by mid-game then the US will likely win, otherwise the Germans will likely force a US retreat. Worth playing for the demonstration of US air-support but fate plays too much in determining victory for my tastes.
SQUAD LEADER has always modeled the psychology of combat with its morale, routing, leadership and fate rules. The Air-Support rules present the psychological impact of Allied air-supperiority on the German player. He must grapple with a decisive yet uncertain event that can derail his plans and rout his forces. The correctness of his decisions are determined by a fate he has no control over. It's worth playing this scenario just for the perspective gained on the effect of Allied airpower on German psychology and morale.
REFERENCES
“Action at Kommerscheidt.” G.I.: ANVIL OF VICTORY. Baltimore, MD: The Avalon Hill Game
Company, 1982. https://storage.googleapis.com/archivesqlt/DAO00043A.pdf
MacDonald, Charles B., Mathews, Sidney T, (1993) “Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt”. Center of Military History, United States Army. Washington, D.C. pp 295-320.
https://history.army.mil/portals/143/Images/Publications/catalog/11-7.pdf#page=317
“Battle of Hürtgen Forest”. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 21, 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_H%C3%BCrtgen_Forest
“Siegfried Line campaign”. Wikipeida. Retrieved March 21, 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Line_campaign
Calahan, Patrick. “The Men Behind the Cardboard: Who was the 9-2; or 7-0s are People Too!” The Avalon Hill General, 21(1), 26-27.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d_No3v-ShQZX3CW2jdNGJKgohbDvfC1Y/view
MacDonald, Charles B. (1963) “The Siegfried Line Campaign.” Center of Military History, United States Army. Washington, D.C.
https://history.army.mil/portals/143/Images/Publications/catalog/7-7.pdf#page=342
“Armor in Battle (FKSM 17-3-2)”. U.S. Army Armor School. Fort Knox, Kentucky, March 1986.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA166608.pdf#page=45