Turn 81 German – 2am 25th Dec Snow – Magerotte - Redanges
Now you see them, now you don’t? At Magerotte the 2nd SS do not pursue? The only activity is a small bombardment on the 1-501st. Why did he stop? Waiting for dawn? So do I take advantage and pull back or just sit tight?
The 3-101st didn’t recover from disruption but the 735th Tank Bn did....but will probably disrupt if I try to move it again.
Down at Hotte the Germans are still having digging problems. They are still at IMPROVED. Meanwhile over the river my 1278th Engineer Bn put down their shovels and shout....”finished!” to the Germans over the river! (1) TRENCH...kerching!
The 2-319th pays the price for holding the line and is werfer’d and hit by tank fire. (2) The 19th Tank Bn which pulled back does not recover disruption so I might as well keep moving it.
The 212th have given up at Ell and pulled back. Two of the three groups were disrupted. Indragnir said in his email that with 5th Division withdrawn he has stopped the attacks.
The 10th Arm Inf Bn is werfer’d before they leave. The 37th Tank Bn does not recover disruption but again it offers me a chance to move it further out of the way.
Patrols from Redange show a FJD Bn and 88mm group digging in? (3) This is Clear terrain (no previous Trenches) and will be in view of my units?? Of course he will have a good view of my forces especially my artillery in woods in the Ell-Redange area. It does however signal that he may not be content to just sit back? Add this information to the spotted artillery units (4) which are possibly werfers? (or self propelled guns?) The hex they are sitting in is a Trench so they have just moved in. Is this someone intending to defend?
Ok last map coming up.....
Turn 81 German – 2am 25th Dec Snow – Mersch
I’ve already looked at this area but I’ve watched the replay to see what happened.
His 9th Panzer motorised infantry moved up and was hit by a hail of tank shells from my armour at Mersch. (3)
There was 3 assaults. I think the first assault was with the 2 x Bn’s of 352nd? One disrupted?
The second assault involved his 9th Pz recon unit as he lost a vehicle. He might have used the motorised infantry as well as they definitely did not fire during the turn.
The last assault was probably by the 276th VGD Bn which moved up during the turn.
The 55th Engineers were asked to start taking the bridge down last turn on the assumption that it would take several turns and I didn’t want the unit to be sitting there being pounded by artillery or Panthers waiting on it coming down. And guess what they did it one turn. 121 men of the 1-11th and 2-11th are left marooned on the other side of the R. Alzette now. Two more battalions wiped off the OOB.
The only consolation is that I get to hit his 9th motorised for another 40-60 men with my tanks in Mersch.
As for Indragnirs intentions in the south I’ll cut and paste his email to me which came with the turn.
"My plans for the south...well I can reach Berg in a single turn with the 9th PzD. I can cross back the Alzette with my forces there or I can left a VGD to guard the river and sent the others with the panzers and mass Lehr, 9th PzD, FGB, 5 FJD, 79, 212 and 352 VGDs and try to force my way up to Attert... decisions, decisions... if I reach Attert I can cut all the forces between Attert and Mersch against the river... maybe the unchecked 9 and 167 VGDs could play a role."
I think I got most of this right apart from the VGD’s he has in reserve in this area. I thought he had the 79th VGD down here but it looks like its the 167th. Which means the 167th is elsewhere? Bastogne?
Anyway that’s it folks time to do my turn.
Turn 81 Allied – Night 2am 25th Dec Snow – Hoes Venn
I have advanced the 741st Tank Bn to interfere with his fatigue recovery. I guess this is the one of the few benefits I have from being the second player in the game. After I moved it I realised I had better move the 3-23rd as a safeguard in case he disrupts and assaults the tank unit and it retreats the wrong way. The second move costs me 13 men.
I hit all of the 326th units I could see with artillery. The units to the south east of the 741st are in clear terrain so I expect them to withdraw further next turn. The units to the south are in Forest TRENCH. They are the bigger threat. My tanks pick on the 75mm guns and take out 2 for no losses. The 75mm units goes from XX size to X.
The 277th VGD Bn digging in receives some artillery and direct fire (1-23rd/2-23rd/1-9th) in an effort to disrupt it. I failed to do this and suffered fairly heavily in return fire.
Most of my units in this area rest. I did think about rotating out the 3-39th (fat 143 men 163) but decided to sit tight.
Further south the battle with the 12th SS and 12th VGD continues. I managed to disrupt one of the VGD units digging in but the other two are unaffected.
My 745th Tank Bn did kill another 3 armoured cars to add to the 3 from the last turn. The 1-517th does not make much of an impression on the 12th SS. I hold back my artillery against the 12th SS here and save it for SPA.
I expect Indragnir will hit back next turn. Its dawn so he will not have to worry about fatigue. He also likes to put me on the back foot and keep the initiative. I know the 246th VGD is in reserve somewhere in the north and the 3rd PGD is also available. I don’t think he will sit on the defensive and wait on me slowly building up an offensive.
Turn 81 Allied – Night 2am 25th Dec Snow – Magerotte - Pratz
At magerotte I made the decision to hold my positions south of Magerotte and not withdraw any further. The circled line shows the wooded position I am holding.
I use artillery against his 2nd SS half track BN and then use the 1-501st/2-327th to fire. He is in woods but has only minimum defenses 'trench' so casualties are high. The 3-104th and 745th Tank sit it out. I manage to disrupt the enemy unit.
Artillery hits his 2nd SS recon unit and I manges to hit one of the units killing an armoured car and disrupt it.
East of Martelange I withhold fire from my adjacent infantry unit and hit his 212th VGD with a little artillery fire. (-10)
There is no action at Redanges. I redeploy my armour.
With no real targets my artillery (7-8 Bn's) is forced to fire at his spotted artillery unit. Again he is not fully dug in, only Trench level -20%, so I knock out 9 guns.